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[William]

I was just thinking, maybe if your colony has a river going through it...it could possibly have trade caravans via flat bottomed barges. Possibly creating a boat depot or harbour for these boats. It would probably make trade arrivals faster and more efficient, and they could bring more goods.

[Helmaroc]

The carp would tear them apart.

[Dame de la Licorne]

quote:Originally posted by Helmaroc:
<STRONG>The carp would tear them apart.</STRONG>

And the problem is...?

Edit: forgot to say...seconded

[ February 14, 2008: Message edited by: Dame de la Licorne ]

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Draco18s]

quote:Originally posted by Helmaroc:
<STRONG>The carp would tear them apart.</STRONG>

I lol'ed

[Capntastic]

Boats and such are suggested perennially and I'm certain they're all up in the dev notes.    That said, they probably wouldn't function too differently from wagons.

[DrJonez]

Boats would be amazingly badass. I know I've read about it being planned before, and I can only hope it makes it into the game. Think of having a fort that's nothing but a pirate base, where you store the booty you get from sending out your band of pirate dwarves on their ship to loot whoever they come across  

[Reasonableman]

This may not be directly related, but I didn't wanna make a new topic, soooo...

What if you could construct boats and ships to your own specifications by creating a building called a drydock or the like? You would designate an area for the dock, and it would act as a building, but wouldn't block construction: then, you would build walls and all manner of other doohickeys on the drydock arranged in a boat shape (using scaffolding, probably, that would later be automatically removed.) Upon completing your masterpiece, you would select the drydock building and set a "shove off" job, wherein all available dwarves would push the boat into whatever body of water the dock was built next to. Did I mention you'd have to build it next to water? Anywho, the entire structure within the drydock would then act as a single vehicle, although in the current version of the game it'd have to move at perfect right angles all the time. It could also land at a dock structure (that would have to be sized for the ship,) allowing people to get on and off along with supplies and ammunition. A system of drydocks could even be used to make enormous floating cities, with individual, mobile buildings connected by "bridge ships." It would be most epic indeed! 'Course, it's a bit unlikely that this could ever be programmed without incredible amounts of work. But we can dream, can't we?

[ March 30, 2008: Message edited by: Reasonableman ]

[numerobis]

There's been some talk about boats in the "general discussion" board in the "future of the fortress" thread (page 15 or so).  Won't be for a while, but what's there might interest you.

[Captain Failmore]

I can't imagine that this would be hard to do since, yes, functionally the boats and barges would be little more than floating mules and wagons. However, watercraft could possibly carry more with less work. (A small raft could conceivably hold several mules worth of goods, a barge could hold a few wagons worth of goods, and ocean-faring ships could hold more than you could ever want. A good load multiplier between mules, wagons, and their aquatic counterparts might be two or three, with the ship being able to hold three barges worth of stuff - six or nine wagons of goods.) This would be an even greater incentive to build on the water, especially on the coast where drinkable water and mining resources might be scarce. Another incentive might be speed - Since traveling over water is generally faster and less taxing than traveling over land, perhaps civilizations that trade via water could attempt to trade multiple times a year instead of once during a designated season?

-~*~- New Building - Pier:

Function:
Facilitates trade with watercraft.

Notes:
Can only be built over water with an adjacent walkable perimeter. (Such as a bridge or a constructed floor.) Brooks will only be accessible to rafts, rivers to barges and rafts, and deep oceans to ships and anything smaller. A feature for ship accessibility not unlike the wagon accessibility check for trade depots would be necessary. Watercraft traveling downstream or inland from the ocean will approach them (or visibly pass an inaccessible site) and dock at the pier before going on their merry way.

-~*~-

I'm almost totally certain that this has been thought of before but I'm putting it out there anyway.

[Wokeye]

Don't dwarves hate water like cats do? Their beards would get all mussed in the sea breeze and drown them if they fell overboard.

[Captain Failmore]

quote:Originally posted by Wokeye:
<STRONG>Don't dwarves hate water like cats do? Their beards would get all mussed in the sea breeze and drown them if they fell overboard.</STRONG>

On the contrary, they simply fasten themselves to the mast and unfurl their beards, and are carried out to sea by the meticulously combed whiskers of their shipmates.

[Areyar]

Incorporating water-wagons should not be too much trouble...discounting carp.

They would only need water-limited pathfinding, (also the range of 'neighbours' would be longer with water-travel.)

I like failmore's suggestions for buildings and vehicletypes.

player-buildable/usable boats are best left after the army/empire-arc mechanisms are finalized though.

----
coracle/rowboat. to safely cross deep rivers without bridge/tunnel and fish. (assuming the carp/crocodile drag-into-water-power is 'fixed' in later versions)

option: dwarves prefer to cross water using boats.
needs: a rowboat tied with a rope on the side of a waterbody, a jetty for preferred landings, otherwise auto-build roped-ship on leaving boat.
Alternatively, go the way of Powermonger and have boats as personal equipment.

[John]

I've thought about this.  I think elves and humans should build ships, and dwarves and goblins should build, at most, rafts or simple barges.  Just doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

I also though, hey - if you build a wooden structure over water and then remove the supports, the structure should simply drop into the water and, if it has no holes, it should float.  This would make for de facto drydocks, right?  Not sure how hard that would be to code, but just an idea.

[BurnedToast]

Don't forget ocean sieges too, those same trade rivers should also come with barges full of golbins (or angry humans) sometimes!

Once we get better siege AI and such, maybe they could even have barges with catapults mounted on them to shoot at your dwarves!

Imagine an ocean fort being sieges by goblins on barges, and you desperately trying to sink the enemy barges with your own catapults while they fire back.