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[Footkerchief]

I recall reading in Popular Science about a way to make glass beads.  I think you drop molten glass into freezing water, which results in a drop with a very long tail.  The round part can stand up to hammer blows, but cracking the end of the tail causes a cascading energy release, splintering the whole thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drop

[Volfram]

Yep, that's the one.  I'm a little surprised my memory served as well as it did.  YouTube video demonstrates the effect nicely.

So yeah, apparently a large glass sphere which cooled rapidly on the outside but slowly on the inside would be nigh-indestructable.

Glass is actually pretty funky stuff.

[Random832]

I recall reading in Popular Science about a way to make glass beads.  I think you drop molten glass into freezing water, which results in a drop with a very long tail.  The round part can stand up to hammer blows, but cracking the end of the tail causes a cascading energy release, splintering the whole thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drops

The king would do as a prank "hold this" *snap* *SHATTER* - fun

[SirHoneyBadger]

Those should be in DF.

[Khym Chanur]

Some questions for Toady (I've tried to make sure that these questions haven't already been answered; apologies if I've failed in that respect)

• The next release is going to have changes to the reactions raw, though it hasn't been finalized yet.  Could you give an overview of the changes and/or some highlights, even if the details haven't been nailed down yet?
• In the next release, will blood be extractable from corpses? If so, will what's extracted be generic blood, or specific to the creature? (For example, if you wanted to make a reaction which used dragon blood as a reagent).
• In the next release you'll be able to define creatures which are made entirely out of (for example) dwarven livers, and when asked if you could define a creature which was made out of whole dwarves Toady said "yes". Will it be possible to define a creature that is made out of (for example) whole gremlins, which will, when it dies, fall apart into living gremlins?  Or fall apart into gremlin corpses?
• How far in the future are the plans to allow for booze to be brewed out of material besides plants? (Bone wine made from bones, dragon wine made from dragon blood, etc)

[Kennel]

3. In the next release you'll be able to define creatures which are made entirely out of (for example) dwarven livers, and when asked if you could define a creature which was made out of whole dwarves Toady said "yes".

Is it really that way? I've understood that you could make creatures out of dwarven liver material, not livers themselves. And same with creatures: dwarf bone golem could be possible but not something that is made of ten physical dwarf bodies.

But hey - it wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong (third actually). Do you have a quote from Toady?

[Footkerchief]

I believe this is the quote.

My question; Will just about everything become materials? Dwarfs will the made out of muscle and bone and whatnot, but will objects be able to be made out of "dwarf" material?

In general, yeah, though an example would let me clarify.

I'm 99% sure Toady didn't mean there's anything like a "generic dwarf material."  The original question was very ambiguous and "in general" probably just meant that other raws can make use of dwarves' specific materials.

For the other questions:
1. This isn't a complete answer, but the MATERIAL_REACTION_PRODUCT tags in the new material definitions will probably play a role.
2. You could probably define a custom extract (using LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:BLOOD or something), which is a bit of a hack.  We aren't likely to get new corpse processing options this time around -- it's taking some work just to get the existing butchering, etc. back to a working state.

[Volfram]

The king would do as a prank "hold this" *snap* *SHATTER* - fun

That is awesome.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Did I read that Wiki article wrong or do these drops disintegrate at four times the speed of sound? Funky stuff. Imagine finding some way of using that speed. Say, tiny titanium pellets...

[Random832]

Did I read that Wiki article wrong or do these drops disintegrate at four times the speed of sound? Funky stuff. Imagine finding some way of using that speed. Say, tiny titanium pellets...

Crack propagation; that doesn't mean there's a physical object moving that fast.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Hehe, yeah. But still, were it possible, it would be an epic-level weapon. A harmless-looking dotted glass pebble...  until you break the tail.

[SirHoneyBadger]

I'm not sure about weaponizing them, but I think of lots of uses for them in traps.

[Untelligent]

Ngom Nom Nom, Goblin commander: "Yar, how heavily be the fort defended?"
 
 Stuko Incestsnout, Goblin scout: "The outer wall is sealed, but there's not place to shoot at us from. I also saw some shiny things sticking out of the wall."
 
 Ngom Nom Nom: "Shiny things, you say?"
 
 
 The goblins approach the wall and eye the shiny things; hundreds of elongated glass spheres are sticking out of holes in the gate. Ngom reaches for one to pull it off and get a closer look.

The Prince Edward Drop shatters in Ngom's hand!
It is mangled!
Ngom gives in to pain.

[Mel_Vixen]

Well you Toady could make a "shards" object if a Glass-object gets destroyed. This shards could do cutting damage on touch thought they should have a low rel-size (or whatever) so they dont behead someone. Therefore they could slit wrists etc. if they are dumped on someone who is unprotected.

This would be a entirely new trap made from a presure-plate a hatchcover and masses of shards.

edit: This shards could be used for other stuff too like as Shard-art, as improvised dagger or to be resmelted.

[0x517A5D]

Did I read that Wiki article wrong or do these drops disintegrate at four times the speed of sound? [...].

From a materials mechanics standpoint, I would guess that the crack propagates at or under the speed of sound.  The crack, as I envision it, must travel atom-by-atom, breaking bonds as it goes.  Therefore subsonic.

(Supersonic propagation of a state change is possible: consider detonation of high explosives or a sonic boom from a fast airplane or a rifle bullet.  But that's not what's happening here.)

However, the speed of sound in question is the speed of sound in that material, glass, not air.  As glass is quite a bit denser than air, the speed of sound in it is also quite a bit faster.

So four times the speed of sound in air is entirely possible.

Off topic?  Moi?  You must be joking.