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[LumenPlacidum]

Ability to assign armor/weapons to dwarves, who then keep said armor and weapons in the appropriate furniture that they own.

The descriptive statues one is also really good.

[Dolohov]

And if you melt that suit of armor back down again you only get three bars out of it. In fact, make this one my vote; allow realistic recycling of metals. I hate wasting valuable non-renewable resources unless I absolutely have to, so my fortresses will frequently wind up with vast stockpiles of bars stacked to the ceiling and my military dressed almost entirely in purchased or captured equipment. Used to be the same for gemstones until I discovered gem windows.

I think the amount of lost metal should depend on the condition of the armor (you can't use rusted iron, right?), the number of embellishments (carving out the expensive gems or gold filigree is going to cause you to lose some metal to the workshop floor, which is never, ever swept), and the skill of the dwarf working the furnace (oops, I just splashed molten steel all over that kitten)  But you should always lose some -- this reflects not only the imperfectness of the recycling, but also the metal that would have been lost in the process of constructing the item in the first place, tossed out because of imperfections, or simply snipped off and left on the workshop floor.

[Spoggerific]

(you can't use rusted iron, right?)

Actually... most iron ores are actually just rust. Hematite, for example, is Fe₂O₃. Smelting isn't actually melting the ore so that it turns into a liquid and the metal parts separate from the non-metal parts; it's an actual chemical reaction. For example, smelting hematite:
2 Fe₂O₃ + 3 C -> 4 Fe + 3 CO₂

So, basically, you could just smelt rusty iron and it should be usable. You would lose some material, yes, but it's not lost forever.


As for my suggestion... I think mechanical siege weapons. Goblin steps on a pressure plate? BAM! Ballista arrow in the face.

[Bryan Derksen]

But you should always lose some -- this reflects not only the imperfectness of the recycling, but also the metal that would have been lost in the process of constructing the item in the first place, tossed out because of imperfections, or simply snipped off and left on the workshop floor.

Real metalworking shops do recycle their shavings, though. Especially when the shavings are of precious metals.

But even if you do allow for some loss to wear and tear in the field I don't think it'd be anywhere remotely close to 66%. Maybe 1-2%, which is hardly worth keeping track of. A helm that's lost 66% of its mass isn't merely "worn", it's a tinfoil hat.

[penguinofhonor]

I don't know what game some of you guys are playing, but in my DF a suit of armor takes three bars and melts into one bar.

[Dolohov]

Real metalworking shops do recycle their shavings, though. Especially when the shavings are of precious metals.

But even if you do allow for some loss to wear and tear in the field I don't think it'd be anywhere remotely close to 66%. Maybe 1-2%, which is hardly worth keeping track of. A helm that's lost 66% of its mass isn't merely "worn", it's a tinfoil hat.

Real metalworking shops also clean up vomit and blood off the floor in a relatively timely manner, and do not allow their employees to drink on the job

I guess I just think of this as a game-balance issue that can be semi-convincingly explained away using in-world rationale, rather than an accurate simulation of metal-working.

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Penguin, they're now have scientific debate.

People like you, go, to 4chan. Destroy them for us, DFV [Dwarf Fortress Veteran]

[G-Flex]

Inefficiencies in the melting/forging process make sense from a gameplay standpoint.

That being said, I definitely think that items should require a SINGLE bar of metal. The only reason I can see for multiple bars being necessary is that a bar of metal is less material than the rock of ore it came from, but then again, you can probably forge metal a lot more efficiently than you can chisel away rock.

Also, you get absurdities like native metal "rock" somehow (in addition to being forgeable in the first place for some reason) comprising more material than that same native metal melted into a bar. Unless you consider that "native metal" includes some waste rock, which makes it really silly for them to have the same *value*.

[LegacyCWAL]

The only reason I can see for multiple bars being necessary is that a bar of metal is less material than the rock of ore it came from, but then again, you can probably forge metal a lot more efficiently than you can chisel away rock.

Two words:  Game.  Balance.

DF is a game.  As such, realism is all well and good, but going for realism at the cost of making the game suck is NOT.  If you want something put in the game for the sake of realism, you MUST show how it will help the actual fun of the game, or at the very least, not make things worse.

[Granite26]

...What would it be?  Nothing huge, and has to be usable within the current (40d) version of DF (i.e. no massive framework changes to make it work).

If I could ask for one thing, it'd be just a rotation sensor (I'm predictable, what can I say).  Just, no unknown-tick-count lags, so that way I could go off and make my own massive mechanical devices.

So, what one thing would you guys want?  More stone types, more weapons, bigger sieges or more ways to piss off the elves?  Speak up!

Change the civ definitions to take out the 'skulking' and 'evil' tags, so we can have as many civs of as many types as we want.

[Bryan Derksen]

Two words:  Game.  Balance.

DF is a game.  As such, realism is all well and good, but going for realism at the cost of making the game suck is NOT.  If you want something put in the game for the sake of realism, you MUST show how it will help the actual fun of the game, or at the very least, not make things worse.

I really don't see how properly implementing the law of conservation of mass will make the game suck. Part of what makes DF not suck (IMO of course since suckage is subjective) is its realism. Having a bar of metal be forged into an object that, when melted back down again, turns out to contain much less than a bar of metal breaks my suspension of disbelief. Metal doesn't just evaporate, where did it go? It bothers me and makes me reluctant to forge items I normally wouldn't be reluctant to have forged, and hence it harms my fun.

Perhaps we could propose the age-old solution to this sort of difference of opinion, putting it in init? Have the default metalrecovery = 0.3 so nobody is surprised by new behavior, and let folks set it to 0.9 or 1.0 (or maybe 0.1 if they don't like how easy goblin sieges make iron to come by) if they want to try out things differently.

[LegacyCWAL]

I was mostly trying (apparently poorly) to tell you that saying something should be put in for realism and realism alone is a Bad Thing.  Now, if you explain why that realism will help the game, as this post does, then yes, that's fine.  It's become a post about how it will help the game by helping the game.

[Inindo]

One small thing?  Let hauling increase stats.  That way I can have dedicated haulers that will actually get better at their jobs.

[Align]

I don't know what game some of you guys are playing, but in my DF a suit of armor takes three bars and melts into one bar.

full suit rather than just the chest piece
chest=3
vest=2
greaves=2
boots,gauntlets,helm=3
...hmm, that's 10, not 9...

[LegacyCWAL]

Plate mail = 3
Chain mail = 2
Greaves = 2
Gauntlets = 1
Boots = 1
Cap = 1
Helm = 1
Shield = 1

12 Bars total


As a side note, making the whole thing out of steel without magma costs 32 fuel per each such full suit.