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Author Topic: Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy  (Read 1685 times)

Mr Crabman

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Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy
« on: December 02, 2021, 08:27:01 am »
In principle, it makes sense that for most creatures capable of destroying something if they need to, they won't necessarily have any motive or interest in doing so. An elephant may knock down a door to chase down something that has angered it for example, but they won't go out of their way to knock something over unless they have some specific reason to.

But the BUILDINGDESTROYER token, in addition to letting creatures be able to break things, also apparently makes them compulsively and actively seek out things they can break.

This is a bit odd; that compulsive "wants to destroy everything it can find" behavior should be separated from the ability to destroy things if necessary, which may be done in pursuit of some specific thing (an enemy, food etc), or just by accident when walking past (you could imagine a giant beast toppling a statue because it happened to bump into it).

The current behavior could be put into another tag, or perhaps BUILDINGDESTROYER could be the behavior one, and there would be a seperate tag defining its strength when it comes to breaking various constructions either accidentally or in pursuit of a specific goal (or in later updates, actual map tiles, particularly constructed ones).
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Quietust

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Re: Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2021, 10:41:50 am »
For the record, the reason BUILDINGDESTROYERs actively seek out buildings is to make things like Trolls and Megabeasts more dangerous - they can't find a path into your fortress if all of your doors are locked, so by deliberately finding and smashing them they can make an entrance.
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A_Curious_Cat

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Re: Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2021, 04:04:01 pm »
I wonder if an [ITEMDESTROYER] tag should be added…
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IndigoFenix

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Re: Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2021, 03:05:23 am »
Quote from: A_Curious_Cat on December 02, 2021, 04:04:01 pm
I wonder if an [ITEMDESTROYER] tag should be added…

And give players an alternative to atomsmashers?  I see no problem with this.
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Shonai_Dweller

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Re: Make the BUILDINGDESTROYER tag no longer actively seek out things to destroy
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2021, 05:23:05 pm »
Quote from: IndigoFenix on December 03, 2021, 03:05:23 am
Quote from: A_Curious_Cat on December 02, 2021, 04:04:01 pm
I wonder if an [ITEMDESTROYER] tag should be added…

And give players an alternative to atomsmashers?  I see no problem with this.
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