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[Himmelhand]

OK, so I think I'm finally going to get into DF modding.  My plan was to make a mod to more accurately reflect medieval times (mostly..).  For this, I plan on removing most fantasy elements.  Different human civilizations will take the place of the various races.  Races I plan on including: Generic European: Close to current humans, Desert Peoples: Akin to dark ages Muslim societies (their Golden Age), Noble Savages: Like DF elves but not so peaceful, Temple Builders: Akin to DF goblins, Far Eastern (need better name): In a word, China.  Note that I'm not trying to be racist with any of these, it's just that certain stereotypes do lend themselves to a more interesting and diverse cast of civilizations.

On the economic side of things, I won't do much with metallurgy (not sure about keeping adamantine), but I will try to increase farming difficulty significantly.  Hopefully, this will mean that players will have fields of farms to keep their cities fed.  I will probably include farmable wood, because that can be a real pain otherwise.

The most fantastic element I plan on adding will be Monsters.  These will represent the fabled creatures that lurked in the shadows of the wilderness by all accounts, and exist to make adventuring interesting.  I will probably have them in small, auto-hostile civs.  They will be generic (at least to start) for simplicity's sake.  I intend to have multiple tiers of monsters: regular, horrid, fabled, and legendary.  These tiers will increase in rarity and power (obviously).  This may make megabeasts irrelevant, as hopefully the monsters will just siege instead.

I can't promise any degree of speed on it, as I am entirely new to modding, and school is a higher priority.  However, I hope to keep you updated on my progress, if people are interested in it.

As an addendum, if any wonderful, wonderful tileset artists would care to contribute, I would love you.

Thanks for reading.

[jester]

Hey, if you make it ill play it.  Who would the dwarves become? or would it all be aboveground style races. 
  No underground farming would make things a bit harder.  The new castes system might fit in well with your monsters Idea.

[Himmelhand]

I was thinking all aboveground, although perhaps there could be room for an underground race somewhere.  That would probably be deviating from the quasi-realistic setting, but it could still be worth it.

If anyone has any suggestions for other civilizations or anything, feel free to shout it out.  I was thinking of Vikings and coastal/aquatic focused as well.

Also, a question: can farming be done on muddied aboveground constructions/rock?  If so, I want to build a terraced farming system.

[ElChad]

Above ground farming has always been around, it can only be done on soil or muddied ground. (Trees, Shrugs and I think those blocking stones all block, but you can still build around it [meaning it will just ignore that square and build all around it])

[Fugue]

Ditching adamantine probably makes sense if you want primarily above ground civs anyway. You can 'replace' it with more complex reactions to create steel alloys.

I'm pretty sure tree farming can't be done. Not sure if you can create fast respawning tree types, but you can't create plantable/harvestable crops that drop logs. The best you can do is make a reaction that produces logs, but it's a bit weird to be taking harvested plants to a smelter. 

But I do like the idea.

[Himmelhand]

I'm willing to sacrifice some realism on the smelter thing to have my delicious trees.

Perhaps I could justify it by it being a fast-growing tree that has tough bark that needs to be burned off?  It's probably better to just not think about it.

I also plan on having thatch, because what would medieval world be without it?

[jester]

you could have a look at the nuclear reactor in neoadepts zombie mod, it doesnt make wood but it is an interesting smelter reation.  Maybe add in a stone that you could use for special smelter reactions.  Although if you are thinking of usuaing a plant in a smelter I think that that would satisfy most peoples demands for realism, make it produce planks or something.

  Thatch? process wheat into straw bales maybe?   I know a few people who live in mud and straw houses.

[Silverionmox]

The most fantastic element I plan on adding will be Monsters.  These will represent the fabled creatures that lurked in the shadows of the wilderness by all accounts, and exist to make adventuring interesting.  I will probably have them in small, auto-hostile civs.  They will be generic (at least to start) for simplicity's sake.  I intend to have multiple tiers of monsters: regular, horrid, fabled, and legendary.  These tiers will increase in rarity and power (obviously).  This may make megabeasts irrelevant, as hopefully the monsters will just siege instead.

For the mythological angle, you might want to read about Ars Magica (an RPG system, concept: Medieval Europe, but the myths are real) and Darklands (old dos game).