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[pavlov]

- More flexible siege engines. Ability to catapult/shoot *anything*, including flaming kitten heads and vomit-covered pig tail socks. And while we're at it, allow siege engines to fire across z-levels.

- Conveyor belts. Imagine a system that has a constant train of stones (loaded by a dwarf deep in the fortress) that feeds into a catapult which repeatedly fires on and off or is controlled remotely via a lever. (Solves the problem of stupid siege operators running at the first sight of a groundhog). Of course accuracy would suffer, it would basically be aiming at a general area. The key to mechanics improvements is allowing us to create "set it and forget it" type systems.

- Water nozzles/regulators that control pressure (hose down gobbos such that they go flying into a pit full of hungry dogs).

- Disallow perpetual motion (as others are saying). This might take a bit of work.

- Fans, but only if an 'air' model is added where dwarves need ventilation, especially in deeper mine shafts.

- The ability to place arbitrary buildings/objects (or containers- like a cart) on rails. Catapult on rails, anyone? Quick transportation across the map? Mine elevators? (a pulley and a rope can't be that hard to figure out for dwarves)

- An easier way to create alternators. Result: constantly repeating drawbridges that demolish anything that dares enter the Hallway of Atom Smashing (tm)

[Granite26]

There seems to be three philosophies on mechanics:

A:  Not in my dwarf fortress!!!  These seem to be the people who think that more in depth mechanics would be a detriment to the game, either in terms of opportunity cost or in terms of spoiling the atmosphere of the game.

B:  I want repeating crossbows!!  The people who want the complexity to stay the same, with more toys added in to circumvent existing restrictions.

C:  Rube Goldberg is my Hero!!!  The people who want to see the physics model and existing mechanics made more robust so that they can design more interesting machinery.  Time spent designing, cost of materials and space aren't really a problem for these players, building toys is a good way to keep the dwarves busy.

Most people are a mix of all three.  From the responses I've seen, there's a lot of type-A's out there.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Actually, from what I've seen the last few days, opportunity cost is on a lot of people's minds

The votes on the thread seem to point to Type C's being common.

[Sukasa]

I am very definitely a Type-C, with a little Type-B.

And, I'll Clarify on my complaint about people saying no.

I don't mind that people don't want something- that doesn't bug me.  What does bug me is that these people aren't, or at least don't seem to be willing to compromise 'fine, have it but let me turn it off'.  For example, in an older thread a very simple electrical implementation was discussed.  Instead of saying 'well, let me init it' or agreeing to that, Tormy (sorry, but you're the most notable example) was very against Electricity to the point at which I wound up getting into an argument with him.  What I have trouble with is that people don't seem willing to compromise, basically.

Myself, I think Magic would ruin Dwarf Fortress.  Go figure, eh?  That said, I'm all for it being in Dwarf Fortress - Just for the love of Armok, make it an init option so I don't have to play with it, and do that same for my Rube Goldberg-ian technology, so that you don't have to play with it, whilst I still can.

[G-Flex]

- More flexible siege engines. Ability to catapult/shoot *anything*, including flaming kitten heads and vomit-covered pig tail socks. And while we're at it, allow siege engines to fire across z-levels.

Whoa there. First, wouldn't it be a good idea to let siege engines actually AIM at things?

Seriously, right now they more or less can only fire in the cardinal directions. Maybe a few degrees of variance. Personally, I think an operator should be able to aim (based on skill/quality) at anything within, say, a 90-degree arc, so that you still have to orient it properly. Or, just let the dwarf aim at anything, and have the machine auto-rotate in the best-fitting direction for display.

[Othob Rithol]

I am very definitely a Type-C, with a little Type-B.

And, I'll Clarify on my complaint about people saying no.

I don't mind that people don't want something- that doesn't bug me.  What does bug me is that these people aren't, or at least don't seem to be willing to compromise 'fine, have it but let me turn it off'.  For example, in an older thread a very simple electrical implementation was discussed.  Instead of saying 'well, let me init it' or agreeing to that, Tormy (sorry, but you're the most notable example) was very against Electricity to the point at which I wound up getting into an argument with him.  What I have trouble with is that people don't seem willing to compromise, basically.

Myself, I think Magic would ruin Dwarf Fortress.  Go figure, eh?  That said, I'm all for it being in Dwarf Fortress - Just for the love of Armok, make it an init option so I don't have to play with it, and do that same for my Rube Goldberg-ian technology, so that you don't have to play with it, whilst I still can.

I really don't think that compromise to the extent you describe is plausible. Essentially you are suggesting that Toady can code a game that has multiple technology and magical settings, which is fully functional (no dependencies, no omissions, no unexpected ghosts) despite how you configure it.

That is an order of magnitude higher in difficulty than what he is doing now. But this is highly off topic. (Sorry Granite)

A little more on topic, but still related: Since this is a "wish list" it doesn't really matter if someone objects to a suggestion. I don't think Granite is going to remove electricity just because I think that is potentially the worst idea I have ever read.

Correction: Parental controls 'disguised' as FPS improvements was the worst. Electricity is second.

[Granite26]

Well, we've already got tech levels in the game in terms of what smelting you can use.  I think once the physics model is down, it's just a matter of enabling or disabling the constructions that allow you to take advantage of them (this for electricity and steam power).  I think people are less concerned with making steam pressure build than they are a turbine device to harness it.

Gunpowder is already possible, if you count a smelting operation that takes sulfer, saltpete, and produces a 'bar' of it, and then another craft reaction that makes 'shot' as an ammo.  Should it be part of the vanilla release?  No.

Actually, I see the future taking something like Sean's ModBase and incorporating it into the core application.  I was looking at the way the Raws were set up, and it looks like you could potentially set it up to where you got a radio button to select which goblins you wanted: (Evil, Normal, Monstrous, Gunpowder) and it would use those for world gen.

Anyway, the more effort that is put into the physics model now, the more quality mods we're going to see being vanilla DF.  Think less Halo here, and more Half-Life...  Better yet, imagine DF's Portal in which your dwarves don't get weapons, only traps and physics gadgets (pull the lever to launch the fire demon into the gobbos to set them on fire, then dump water on that to kill the demon.)

[Nonanonymous]

Some things I'd really like to see are the more elaborate sort of death traps, things like walls and ceilings that can be made to smash together, and then move back into place, or giant fanblades/grinders of some sort that you can use water to push invaders into.

[Dolohov]

Gunpowder is already possible, if you count a smelting operation that takes sulfer, saltpete, and produces a 'bar' of it, and then another craft reaction that makes 'shot' as an ammo.  Should it be part of the vanilla release?  No.

I don't care about having gunpowder for ammunition, but I'd really like it as a means to cause remote explosions to destroy stone, buildings, or goblins.  A barrel of gunpowder linked to a lever could be a whole lot of fun.

[Login]

The thing I would like to see.

Is a pump or system to pump cold freezing air in a moat with gobos.
Imagine a dwarf fortress not with a lava moat but with an empty moat with ice cold air (-90C). Or a slippery ice sloap with a giant deep freeze at the end.  Or a frozen wather fall to block the entrance or exit. I don't know if it could work or that it is conform the df lore/science. I think the traps you could make with it are endless.

                          diffusor
Steam =>========  =========>   =
                       |   ^ |            |     | =====>Cooling water
Cooling water==>|==  |            |     |
                       |      |            |     | <=====Cooling water
Cooling water<==|____|            ____======================>condens
                                            condenser

[catpaw]

The thing I would like to see.

Is a pump or system to pump cold freezing air in a moat with gobos.
Imagine a dwarf fortress not with a lava moat but with an empty moat with ice cold air (-90C). Or a slippery ice sloap with a giant deep freeze at the end.  Or a frozen wather fall to block the entrance or exit. I don't know if it could work or that it is conform the df lore/science. I think the traps you could make with it are endless.

                          diffusor
Steam =>========  =========>   =
                       |   ^ |            |     | =====>Cooling water
Cooling water==>|==  |            |     |
                       |      |            |     | <=====Cooling water
Cooling water<==|____|            ____======================>condens
                                            condenser

A flash from the future:

"Dwarf Fortress"
Scholars of Thoth -- God of Sicence
Chapter III: the scientific physics simulator.

[Lokomotivet]

Sniper Scope (Built in Mechanics Workshop)

Let's say for an example a Xbow shoots 10 squares away at a target

Attach a scope on it (Made from X-Metal Tube and Glass) and it will increase the weapons range by 3-4 squares but will slow down the dwarf by 5-10% because he has to take his time to aim further away.

Simple Item Quality list:
Green glass: Will give the Xbow a +2 "Square-range"
Clear Glass: Will give the Xbow a +4 Square-range
Crystal Glass: Will give the Xbow a + 6 Square-range

Copper Tube: Will make the dwarf go (Current Weapon/Armor benefit) 66(%)-100+10(Balancing value so scopes doesn't become too powerful) = 54% slower
Bronze Tube: Will make the Dwarf go 75-100+10= 55% slower

You get the rest of the idea, but for material values that cease the 100% will not make the dwarf run faster, it won't have any negative effect on the dwarf speed.

Fire Trap

Very "simple", You need a pressure plate, some kind of container(Maybe one of those old fancy air pumps blacksmiths had) and a tube.
The whole idea is that the pressure plate makes the container spew out coke/charcoal(ash?) from the tube which sets the coke on fire, away fly's a fireball that will go up too 5-7 squares and then leave a burn mark on the floor/ground. The fireball only lits the target on fire, doesn't make them go Ka-boom. The Trap can only fire once and then needs to be reloaded with new coke/charcoal.

Wrote this in the middle of the night with a fever, so excuse me for my messy explanations.

[G-Flex]

1) You're suggesting sniper scopes in a mid-late medieval period game. Think about that for a second.

2) I don't think coal dust can really catch fire THAT easily, and it would make more of a localized, awful fireburst than any sort of cohesive "fireball" whatsoever. And ash doesn't burn (this is kind of the defining part of "ash").

[EDIT]
Wait, you were talking about solid chunks of coal? That wouldn't work. At all. First off, good luck setting the entire chunk on fire as it flies out of a tube, and... well, seriously, have you ever seen a barbecue? Even if the coal manages to light, it'll just hit the guy and annoy him and fall to the ground. It's not like a wad of compressed sawdust and gunpowder.

[Lokomotivet]

1) You're suggesting sniper scopes in a mid-late medieval period game. Think about that for a second.

2) I don't think coal dust can really catch fire THAT easily, and it would make more of a localized, awful fireburst than any sort of cohesive "fireball" whatsoever. And ash doesn't burn (this is kind of the defining part of "ash").

[EDIT]
Wait, you were talking about solid chunks of coal? That wouldn't work. At all. First off, good luck setting the entire chunk on fire as it flies out of a tube, and... well, seriously, have you ever seen a barbecue? Even if the coal manages to light, it'll just hit the guy and annoy him and fall to the ground. It's not like a wad of compressed sawdust and gunpowder.

1) After all, they are nifty dwarves...

2) There is no other "RAW" material that fits into this device, unless Toady puts in Gunpowder or something else. Shooting burning clothes out of a trap is just stupid.

[Granite26]

apparently flour dust has a nasty habit of exploding.

One of the nifty physics things about water is that it doesn't condense. At all.  For a condensor based cooling system, you'd need some other kind of liquid.  That being said, I think that that may be a little bit out of period.  (Same with the scope.  The problem isn't that you can't make one, it's that the metal sight is good enough for the crossbow.  Knowing that you are pointing straight at the goblin's head 300 feet away doesn't help much when there's a 6 feet cone of uncertainty about where the bolt is actually going to go.)

[Align]

Dust of anything explodes pretty nicely, because anything can burn if it's just hot enough - usually it's cooled by the surrounding stone, but a particle of dust in the air will be set aflame fast, and this leads to a chain reaction - or KABOOM