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[Aquillion]

I was thinking of things we could do with mechanisms in another thread when this came to me.  Why not create a few basic mechanism-types that the dwarves can use to create far more complicated systems?  Specifically, I'm thinking of the following; all would require a mechanism to create and another for each link, and would take up a whole space:

* First, registers.  They're noisy every time they get updated, which is done by other machines.  Dwarves can also be sent to set them directly.

* Second, branch-machines.  These can be linked to a register and up to two other triggerable items, like bridges or floodgates; it also needs an incoming link of its own to trigger it.  When a branch machine is triggered, it consults its target register; if that register is zero, it triggers whatever object it has been linked to for its 'false' branch.  Otherwise it triggers whatever has been linked to its 'true' branch.  If a link is blank, nothing happens on that branch.

* Finally, incrementers/decrementers.  When one of these is triggered, it adds or subtracts one from register it has been linked to, as appropriate.  It can be set to then automatically trigger another object...  say, a branch machine or a floodgate.

The player can, in effect, chain these devices up into an 'execution chain' to do more complicated things; using them, it would be simple for the dwarves to set up a pressure plate that floods the room the tenth time it has been stepped on, for instance.  With a little more ingenuity, the player could set up 'one-way' pressure plates that require a pull of a lever to reverse, or a while line of pressure-plate flood traps that can all be reset with the pull of a single lever, or anything else they want handled.

For ease of use, there could be a few more mechanisms; these are not strictly necessary, but would save untold space and time:

* An addition mechanism, which links to up to three registers; it adds the value of two of them and puts it in the third.  If either of the two are unlinked, it uses a zero for that one.  Likewise, a subtraction mechanism using the same concept.

* The branch mechanism could be expanded to support two registers to compare, and could be set to branch on not equal, branch on equal, branch on less than, and so forth.

Of course, although the above is more than sufficient to calculate anything that can be calculated, it is unlikely to satisfy the dwarves' thirst for rube-goldberg death machines.  So, a few other ideas:

* A clock mechanism, which triggers whatever it has been linked to on a set schedule.  The player can set it to trigger at the start of a specific season, or to trigger every X days, or whatever.  In fact, with the above, a mechanism that triggers every day would be sufficient...

* A water switch, which triggers when it is flooded.  Similarly, a heat switch, which can be set to trigger for steam, lava, or both.

* Pressure plates that can be set to trigger for friendlies, or even only for friendlies, or only dwarves, or only pets, or whatever.

Now, if these were combined with alarms that could be set to attract pets, then the player could make a dog-powered logic engine.

[odd2k]

Great idea. You know, the whole spirit of this game is to take many small, simple things and let the player figure out what to do with them. Instead of giving the player a house, you give him bricks.

I even think the current trap systems can be "deconstructed" further. For example, instead of specific weapon traps you can simply use pressure plates and weapon mechanincs. Instead of rock traps, you could again use pressure plates with a fall-in compartment loaded with rock. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but I really like using simple things to construct complex inventions on my own as a player.

[SquidDNA]

Well you can already do that by linking a pressure plate to a support, but I see where you're going.

I'm not sure I like the idea of constructing cavern-spanning logical pathways. What does it add?

Granted I do like the idea of a timing mechanism, although I think the "float switch" (which someone else renamed for me) is a great idea, and acts as a timer with a three-month period should you set it up that way.

[Tortanick]

I like this, no idea what people will come up with but it will definately be usefull.

[ctrlfrk]

Zomg, with my newfound Compsys 302 knowledge, i could build a crude microprocessor in my fortress... is it worth the risc?

[SquidDNA]

"is it worth the risc?"
ugghhh...

[Telok]

Do we want to turn a quarter of the mountain into a water/floodgate calculator?

YES!

Please give us another way to destroy ourselves! A steam-power calculator that checks for goblin sieges and automaticaly incinerates them is a good thing. But a steam-power calculator that checks for goblin sieges and automaticaly incinerates you because you cross linked one mechanism incorrectly is a Great thing.

I love this game.

[Aquillion]

quote:Originally posted by SquidDNA:
<STRONG>I'm not sure I like the idea of constructing cavern-spanning logical pathways. What does it add?</STRONG>

Part of the fun is that it lets people add just about behaviors for their traps and mechanisms that they want, so we don't know specifically what they'll do.  But some of the possibilities:

* "Failsafe" levers that have to be pulled twice to activate their effects, to prevent accidents or sabotage by kobold agents.

* Reusable one-way levers and pressure plates to open and close floodgates and so forth.

* Floodgates that close automatically after being open for a certain amount of time.

* "Airlock"-style setups where the doors are always closed when the floodgate is open, or vice-versa.

* Pressure-plate traps that go off after a certain number of creatures have walked over them within a short time period, to keep them from, say, triggering a collapse over one goblin or something.

* You can create puzzles for adventurers and then encourage your friends to play them!

[ October 02, 2006: Message edited by: Aquillion ]

[Draco18s]

LMO at this.  I love it.
We could start contests.  Give people a save file with a dug out self-sufficient fortress (or not) and tell them to solve a problem ("Build a 32 bit CPU", "set up a trap system to stop the goblin seiges", "build 32MB of RAM" (my gods, that would probably use the entire mountain!), etc.)

[Toady One]

That's a lot of links...  they'd probably invent smaller, metal components (I tried to spell miniturization and failed completely) at some point, for things like watches...  and then you could build a larger box with 10 metal mechanisms and place it in a square and link it to something else, especially if you have a talented mechanic...  the mistakes made by untalented mechanics could be amusing, though mostly they'd just crash and not work at all...  you'd need some larger mechanisms to handle the actual links to buildings.  I suppose there could be certain advancements that are made over time, though that's somewhat dangerous, since it would require lots of plays to get there, unless you could gen a more advanced world...  technology seems to devolve in many fantasy universes (from magic to no magic, etc) anyway.  Not that I want to turn this into a completely mechanized steam-driven universe.  I also think it's a bit much to force people to learn how to program to get certain simple effects running.

[Tortanick]

I think mechanisums should allways work, it would be too frustrating for a bad machanic to ruin 200 tiles of computing.

[Draco18s]

Toady, you could always build some kind of gimped version of DF where you can test build stuff.  Including things like flooding farms.
I know I've had trouble making that work out on a first try, so if you could set up some kind of world where none of the dangers exist and things happen quickly (such as building, digging, etc.) and use it as a training world for newbies.
And building rediculously complicated machinery  

[Aquillion]

You could mod that into existence.  Make your dwarves immune to sleep, food, whatever; make them speed:50, immune to damage, and emotionless.  Presto, you've got a test-universe!

[redeye]

I would like to be able to flood the entrances during sleep periods.

Also, have heavy stone mechanisms close over wells when not during designated collection periods.

Have reservoirs set up to run my water stuff when the river and well access is blocked off.

[Gakidou]

quote:Originally posted by redeye:
<STRONG>I would like to be able to flood the entrances during sleep periods.

Also, have heavy stone mechanisms close over wells when not during designated collection periods.
</STRONG>

Well, you can already do these things, just not automatically.

code:

Safety Well - Forbid the door when Dwarves sleep
#####
#...###
#.O.D..
#...###
#####

If you are really paranoid, have a floodgate set to dump lava in there. Good for both lizardmen and obnoxious dwarf parties!

Of course, the real problem is that dwarves don't all sleep at the same time, so time-based mechanisms don't make much sense. (Of course, if they all slept at the same time, that would be boring. Maybe a Noble could schedule dwarves' sleep?)

[ October 18, 2006: Message edited by: Gakidou ]