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[G-Flex]

I think I saw a post about this a while ago, but I have no idea where or what exactly it was.

Basically, it would be nice to build display cases to hold arbitrary items, which can be admired (or have a room defined from it) similarly to a statue. For instance, building display cases to hold your artifacts, masterpiece crafts, etc. and defining a room similar to a statue garden from the items.

Ideally, but not necessarily, the cases could function such that items which can be placed into bins together could be placed into a display together. For instance, in this case, a display case item would be able to hold a single mechanism, several weapons, a single artifact door, or a whole bunch of masterpiece crafts.

If a "display case" type item is created, the player (I think) would ideally be able to build it out of just about any material (similarly to doors and such), since it's a pretty basic (and slightly abstract) thing. Of course, what would happen if you put a display case inside a display case is beyond me.

Mostly, I'd just like to have items placed into rooms so that dwarves can actually admire them like they can with furniture.

[Granite26]

The word you are look for is pedestal.  That's just the most recent incarnation.

I think it's a good idea thematically, but I don't know about game balance.

[G-Flex]

What would be imbalancing about it?

I don't see what would be imbalancing about dwarves being able to admire some objects and not others. It's not as if a craft item you put up for display will be worth as much as an equivalent statue anyway, so I'm curious about what you mean.

[Granite26]

adding that object would, on average, quadruple the amount of 'buildable' artifacts you've got.  That changes the room value dynamic a lot

[G-Flex]

That doesn't affect balance. It just gives more options.

If you don't allow all items to be used for display, then you end up crafting a statue instead of something else. Either way you're using up resources. This would just give you more choice as to which resources you want to use.

The only way it would affect "balance" is in the fact that you could put stuff on display that currently can neither be built nor used but that you'll have anyway, like artifact crafts, and quite frankly, I'd rather see them in a display somewhere than being completely useless. In this sense, I think it would improve balance since artifact crafts and picks and such would actually be useful in the same sense in which artifact furniture is now.

[Granite26]

Adding a new use for something that has none does not improve balance in and of itself.  As it stands, there are three real ways that artifacts are useful as a game.  They increase fortress value, some rare ones can be used in combat (with serious limitations) and a few can be placed to make any room royal level.

Multiplying the number of artifacts that can do this will have a serious effect on the game.  All of a sudden it doesn't take platinum statues to keep the king happy, just stuff in one of the dozen artifacts you got while building the fort to the level he arrives at.

Are there problems with room value vs size that make this a non-issue?  Sure... Do I think that pedestals would be neat, and a positive addition to the game?  Yes.  But that doesn't mean that it won't have an effect on the balance of the game.  It will. 

There's a difference between saying 'OMFG that would break the game!!!' and 'Well, if we are going to add a powerful new option, we should consider the long term affect that's going to have on the game balance in the areas it's affecting.'

[G-Flex]

Yeah, I get what you mean. I think the main issue here is that artifacts are both extremely valuable and also fairly plentiful. After all, having five buildable artifacts is enough to make five rooms top-quality (unless it's some sort of generic pine bucket or something).

How to solve that? I'm honestly not sure! Seriously, I'm clueless.

[Granite26]

Nah man, like I said, I think it's a good idea, and the only problem I can think of is the (currently broken) room value system getting thrown out of wack...

[G-Flex]

I think the question here is how room value calculation could be adjusted to allow for this sort of thing. Maybe some sort of upper cap on how much a single item can contribute to room value? Also, perhaps some tweak to how much money artifacts are worth?

[Derakon]

For what it's worth, you can make just about any buildable object in your fortress game-breakingly valuable just by decorating it with everything you have. Order lots of gemstones from the traders, too. One of my forts had a glass tube worth over 40k thanks to all the decorations on it. A bit trickier than artifacts, but also much less random.

[G-Flex]

Yeah, but there you're still expending resources, at least. The issue is that the value is extremely dense, belonging to a single object.

[Draco18s]

I think the question here is how room value calculation could be adjusted to allow for this sort of thing. Maybe some sort of upper cap on how much a single item can contribute to room value? Also, perhaps some tweak to how much money artifacts are worth?

Oooh!  Oooh!  Like this!

To quote myself (two or three posts down from the link)...

This is probably also a good place to start so that room values don't get widely out of control when you add a single masterwork to a crap room.

[JujuBubu]

I don't think you could make a nobles room royal by just placing one boring
"mudstone with mudstone and crap " artifact worth 4800 dwarfbucks in it.

On the other hand, the creator of it could get bad thoughts if his amazing handywork
was not placed on a display, for all your dwarfs to admire.

While the display itself could also lead to bad thoughts, if your dwarves have a grudge against the creator or just dislike the material or the item .. above that .. displays are great targets for tantrums

[Draco18s]

I think in terms of room wealth artifacts would have to be divided by 50 or so.  It's really easy to get an artifact worth several hundreds of thousands of dwarfbux, and they don't get much cheaper than about 4000, yet the cheapest by itself is 40% of a royal room.