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Author Topic: Religion rewrite  (Read 1484 times)

Grand Sage

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Religion rewrite
« on: December 14, 2018, 10:26:05 am »

Anyone else who is really scared of the religion rewrite Toady is toing right now? It seems like it will shake up a lot of the otherwise solid stereotypes, like the godlessness of goblins, or that elves, as long as they are part of elven civs, pray to a "force". It just seems like such an integrated part of the different races...

Also, Im kind of feeling wierd about having "dwarven" gods in human cities and visa versa. I mean, if A human gets converted, i can buy that, but an entire city or even civ? I really hope that they get more resistant to that...
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2018, 10:50:56 am »

Gods have been civ based for years now. Dorfs born in human civs worship human gods. Change and actually generating unique worlds as opposed to a bunch of world's where everything is mostly the same is the point.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2018, 10:53:28 am by Shonai_Dweller »
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therahedwig

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2018, 12:26:19 pm »

On top of that, the mythgen arc will probably create some overlap between gods of different civs as the gods won't necessarily be created for the civ like they are now. Makes sense to me that all creatures who value life would worship Bob the divine avenger of helpless creatures.

And to be honest, given that outside of the humans the different civs are virtually identitical, I think it wouldn't suit them badly to have a little difference.
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Grand Sage

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2018, 12:33:09 pm »

i dont uderstand the last comment there. Wouldn't it make the civs MORE homogen if they shared the same gods?
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therahedwig

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2018, 12:45:27 pm »

i dont uderstand the last comment there. Wouldn't it make the civs MORE homogen if they shared the same gods?
Not necessarily, as civs will still have different values, the devlog mentioned two different religions for the same god, for example. Maybe a martial arts valuing civ will see Bob as primarily a martial arts god, while a peace valuing civ will see Bob as an ender of conflicts. Right now you cannot really see those kind of different interpretations if you just look at the pantheon of each civ.

I was also thinking more, like, all Elves will worship forces right now, and with this kind of religious fluidity it might make sense for an Elven civ which has had good relations with Humans to have elves worship their nature deity, while an Elven civ who just keeps getting into conflict with Humans wouldn't have this. And that in turn makes it easier for me as a player to distinguish the two Elven civs.
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Starver

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2018, 01:31:12 pm »

I haven't actually looked at the Religion aims, but if it's a move away from "hardcoded to this fantasy trope" and towards the full 'random' procedural (and slider-for-realism/fantasticism) setting, then it's in keeping with the game's intended direction. For better or worse (it's not just Religion where people might dislike breaking out of the existing bounds - see the fuss over user-suggested Tea for dwarf consumption, before they started talking about energy densities/availabilities in caverns).

It has not been unknown in Roundworld history for a monarch of a land to decree that their subjects shall now adhere to their new (or pre-monarchically existing) thoughts on religious adherence, with various types of trickle-downs from "You must... (and/or" must not") "...now adhere to <insert subtle or otherwise differentiation of faith> now, under pain of Pain" (instead of/on the way to Death) to the rarer "But, hey, whatever floats your boat!", by way of the not uncommon "But the Duchy next door is your kind of place, they'll take you, while we take some of their odds'n'sods off of them".

Inter-'species' conversion? Well, it's not exactly a thing we've seen this side of the Denisovans or Neanderthaals, unless you count the results of the African/etc missionary position, the historic Etheopian Jews (that might have been naturalisation/assimilation), etc. Which I don't.
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Grand Sage

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2018, 02:17:30 pm »

you make a valid point about realism. It will just be that much harder to move a story the way that you want it to move, when for example the elven civ that you had chosen to be "the enemy" now converted to your primary religion.
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Lestrage

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2018, 02:39:07 pm »

Well civs and different species could adopt from any of a given set religions, but it could be that depending on their civ/species values they gravitate toward certain kinds of religion.

I'm curious about the kinds of religion there can be. Do they all have to be gods, (I see sky is a god), do some believe in forces / other things about the world (eg. afterlife )that define the religion
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Starver

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2018, 05:04:06 pm »

you make a valid point about realism. It will just be that much harder to move a story the way that you want it to move, when for example the elven civ that you had chosen to be "the enemy" now converted to your primary religion.
That could be the story, having awkward new bedfellows and all that arises. And just because someone starts to worship the same god as you doesn't mean they worship them the Right way... As is proven time and time again in our reality.
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PlumpHelmetMan

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2018, 05:16:35 pm »

I'm not scared at all TBH (inevitable bugs aside, some of which are at least sure to be fun in their own right). I'm very much excited for it in fact, but then again I'm not one of those players who have come to embrace a particular way the game is "supposed" to be set up. If I ever come to feel nostalgic then the earlier versions will always exist. I'm honestly pretty chuffed for the increased realism, diversity, and attention to detail it seems to entail.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2018, 05:40:37 pm by PlumpHelmetMan »
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Death Dragon

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Re: Religion rewrite
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2018, 10:40:22 pm »

you make a valid point about realism. It will just be that much harder to move a story the way that you want it to move, when for example the elven civ that you had chosen to be "the enemy" now converted to your primary religion.
DF is a world simulator. It generates the history and events and you have to make use of them to piece together the story. Don't think of it as having to force the story in the right direction. Take what the game gives you and just go with it. (It will make for a better story anyway.)

You can still (or will be able to in the future) steer the world a little by changing worldgen settings and by modding. If you want a purely evil civ that does not engage in any friendly activities with other places, I'm sure you can (or will) create that with modding.
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