quote:
Originally posted by Fedor:
<STRONG>* A series of escalating underground challenges, each with its own rewards. This is the feature I miss the most, by a long, long way. The more valuable gems past the river, the iron and gold past the chasm, the magma, and finally, far far away and not just 10-15 z-levels down, the admantite beyond (not in front of) the deadly Pits - these add gameplay value and wonderment missing in the 3D version at the moment.</STRONG>
On one hand this is true -- but this is also the hardest thing you're asking, by far. The others are mostly things that (I assume) were temporarily turned off until they can be re-adapted to 3D, or issues and optimizations that need to be dealt with eventually but are basically just coding.
This is different. The idea the 2D version used here (a basically preconstructed, interesting environment that was ultimately designed to tell one specific story) is pretty directly opposed to the idea of the 3D version (a wide-open area where you can build fortresses anywhere in random unscripted environments and have your own story.) Of course, various things can be added to try and make 'your own story' more interesting, but the basic conflict here is still not going to be totally resolved.
The game can't present river, chasm, pits in order like it used to; 3D just gives the player too much freedom to miss it or to start from the wrong place (not even if there were, say, 'mystic mountains' where those features were guarenteed.) Likewise, even if you put more valuable things deeper in Z levels, it's still easy for the player to bore straight down and get the good stuff instantly.
I think you'll have to content yourself with the knowledge that, in future versions, the 'story' of Dwarf Fortress is going to focus more on nobles, civilizations, trade, armies and so on than on progressively finding new features and materials... you may find some occasionally, but they're going to be random now, and I don't see any way of escaping that.