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[Juason]

Howdy everyone.

The last version of DF I played heavily was DF 0.27.176.38c (February 24, 2008).  I enjoyed this version except for a few bugs (meeting bugs, equipment littering bugs from wrestling) and disruptive features (wounds that never heal, dead envoy = no more trading, massive late game slowdown).

Is there any good reason to upgrade to the latest version?  If so, might it be possible to get a really brief update as to what has changed?

I've tried searching the forums/dev log/wiki for this info but its kind of mish mashed and hard to piece together.  If a better way exists please let me know, and thank you in advance for the help!

[Magua]

Not sure which meeting bug you mean, but 40d doesn't fix wrestling leaving clothes all over, dead envoys means you can't order things (but can still trade), and you get massive late game lag from having a lot of dwarves (which has caused me to start playing with a 50 pop cap).  So from that point of view, no.

On the other hand, assuming you're starting a new fort, why would you *not* upgrade?  I mean, you can drop it in a folder all by itself if you've still got some old version forts you want to run, so it seems like a no-brainer.

[chaoticag]

Only a dead dwarven envoy = no trading. You can now wage war against humans and elves provided their diplomat dies of Fortress/old age.

Adventure mode is more fun... but no more ruins.

No huge cliffs right now, goblin invaders might have Elves, humans and dwarves mixed in, cats constantly complain about injuries, and the bug where no skin no corpse no bone creatures getting a fell mood, and thus going on a massacre has been fixed.

World gen takes longer per year but generally ends at the year 200 now, and there are now zombie whales.

[sneakey pete]

You can also have elves at war with you. Need i say more?

[Thndr]

The cat injury thing has a workaround fix posted in the bug forum.

But the only good cat is a cat buscuit.

[Juason]

why would you *not* upgrade?

The user-created utilities may not function yet with the new version, and I like the added control they provide me with.

New bugs could be introduced that make the new version less enjoyable then the old.

Framerates can suffer as new features are added.

My old map SEEDs will probably not work the same with the new version.

These aren't terribly important, but if there's not much difference between the old and new version I'd probably just hang onto what I have  

It's tough, I kind of wish Toady would focus just a little effort on keeping the game playable then starting on another big expansion. There's nothing more frustrating then having to abandon a fortress due to a bug or crippled fps - because its in the losing that I have the most fun   Some of the bugs like the clothing thing really get on my nerves.  Late game I have hundreds of abandoned clothes all over, no way to clean them up, and idiot dwarves running in circles trying to interact with them. 

Don't get me wrong, the army arc and expanded history and lore of the game seems very very interesting.  But while they are being developed I'd like to more thoroughly enjoy what is available. 

Thank you everyone for the replies.

[Skanky]

The latest version was released 6th September - over 3 months ago. Its safe to say that any utilities not yet functioning with this version never will. Support / information on the wiki and on the forums will both also be geared towards the later version. Old map seeds you have will still work with the old version, but new seeds won't.

Regarding the clothes, there is an option to hide them from view. If the option isn't in your current version, then that is a reason to upgrade.

[G-Flex]

The new world generation histories/wars/parameters alone are worth the upgrade, trust me.

[beorn080]

Area dumping, area forbidding, autoforbid for used ammo and dead enemies clothing. Quicker world gen since it ends 800 years earlier then normal. Partial print = upgraded framerate possibly. No reason not to unless you have the perfect world genned.

[Tormy]

The new world generation histories/wars/parameters alone are worth the upgrade, trust me.

Agreed. 
Sometime I am spending a lot of time with reading the various stuffs in Legends mode...yes it is _THAT_ awesome. 

[Yami]

I honestly Have reverted back to starting forts in old versions and then moving the save to my 40d version folder, if only because 40d smooths cliff faces so they are traversable.  Something to do with the road building if I remeber.

Otherwise 40d seems to beat out 38c in most regards.  I still refuse to train wrestling though due to it gaining skill far too fast.

[Juason]

So a few thoughts after playing with it for a bit...

1). I really like some of the new options.  The Embark location finder is awesome.

2). My old tools work (Tweaker, Companion).

3). Two very annoying bugs exist - wrestling levels so fast I cannot get anything BUT wrestledwarves and I have been unable to gen a world where goblins are still alive and at war with dwarves...

4). The hide options are nice.  They clean up the littered clothing.  It doesn't stop the fatal dwarf AI lockup bug involving clothing on the ground, but at least I can pretend it doesn't exist

5). The effort Toady is making to release the graphically speed-enhanced Mac/Linux/PC versions is VERY awesome.

I guess I'll stick with it for now and see what happens.

[Jim Groovester]

Don't forget about the healthcare improvements. Most injured dwarves will now reliably get food and water and won't interrupt their rest because of falling unconscious, so the survival rate of injuries greatly increased.

I say most because there are some special cases where this will not occur, like an elite wrestler of mine several forts back who got his throat cut out and then proceeded to tell me no less than ten thousand times that his rest was being interrupted by a goblin wrestler that had been killed several months prior. I had to deconstruct all my beds so that he would die.

[Shurikane]

If you like outdoors construction, the newest version is a must.  With it is the ability to mass-designate construction building, so you can build strings of, say, 10 wall sections or 10x10 floor areas in a snap.

[Peewee]

OH YEAH we forgot to mention mass-designation!

d > b (I think) brings you to a GREAT menu for designating a whole area to dump/forbid/hide/un-dump/reclaim/un-hide everything in it. Hiding makes whatever is hid invisible, and it's great for all that stone laying around the fortress.

Also, as mentioned by Shurikane, you can use the u-h-k-m keys to manipulate how many constructions you want placed instead of placing a hundred floors individually.