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Author Topic: Improved ramp graphics that allow for the construction of pointed pyramids  (Read 718 times)

Tamren

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When you build a pyramid in DF you have the choice of making it an even number of tiles wide, or an odd number. This results in the top of the pyramid being 2x2 or 1x1 tiles wide respectively. Currently there is no way to create a capstone to have a properly pointed top to the pyramid, if you place ramps on top they will simply appear to be flat because they are invalid without an orthogonally adjacent wall. So my suggestion would be to add new graphics for ramps placed in 1x1 and 2x2 squares with no supporting wall tiles. A single ramp standing on its own should display a four sided pyramid. A 2x2 square of ramps should combine to create a larger pyramid using four corner ramp tiles.

This would not be difficult to implement because the graphics for this partially exist already. 1x1 ramp tiles are displayed as a pyramid, but only if they are carved out of natural soil instead of constructed. The graphics for 2x2 ramp pyramids are four of the existing corner ramp tiles put together, since this is purely a cosmetic change you would just have to tell the game to display them this way, there is no additional gameplay effect.

Another minor graphical issue is that the existing single-tile ramps have black dots at the corners of the tile, which are even more noticeable when several ramp tiles are placed beside each other. These dots could be recoloured to match the ramp and do not seem to serve a purpose.

« Last Edit: January 15, 2023, 07:32:28 pm by Tamren »
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FantasticDorf

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+1

I've took to using the new ramps just as scaffolding floors, because they alter their graphics when they've been arranged by walls anyway, so pointed solo ramps would be a lot more engaging.
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Tamren

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In addition to having single-tile pyramids for lone ramps I think they could just have adjacent ramps "ramp" up onto each other by default, the same way they would ramp onto a wall tile. That way you can always tell visually that a ramp is present in a location instead of it appearing flat when no walls are around, which is not a problem shared by the ASCII version. I don't think this would cause any confusion because if a player looks at two ramps side by side will see that any creature moving over it will walk up one ramp and immediately down the other side. You will never have a ramp that leads to "nowhere'.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2023, 07:24:36 pm by Tamren »
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BeefotronX

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What might be nice, though, is if capstones could be made as furniture, since sometimes they were made out of other materials and embellished.
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Tamren

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That would actually be pretty neat. Maybe they could add a function to carve large capstones and/or stone obelisks as a subset of "statues" that are large enough to occupy several tiles at once. Instead of making them in a workshop you could construct it from several components like a bridge or road.
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