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Author Topic: What turns you off about DF?  (Read 308843 times)

Neonivek

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1155 on: December 15, 2009, 01:25:38 am »

Well don't worry, for the most part your right.

As annoying, frustrating, insane, and nonsense as the Nobility are in Dwarf Fortress... We know from history that real Nobility often wasn't much better and could even become worse then even the most demanding DF Noble.
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Rowanas

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1156 on: December 15, 2009, 03:10:10 am »

Let them eat +kitten stew+!

Or even better...

Let them eat !!+Kitten stew+!!
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I agree with Urist. Steampunk is like Darth Vader winning Holland's Next Top Model. It would be awesome but not something I'd like in this game.
Unfortunately dying involves the amputation of the entire body from the dwarf.

darkflagrance

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1157 on: December 15, 2009, 09:33:18 am »

Bitchin'.

I missed one more, and I was reminded of it when my Dungeon Master arrived with his entourage.

I've had a massive issue with migrant-splosions in all of my fortresses, larger than the catsplosion *Both conventional and thermonuclear* could ever hope to become. All of my migrant waves have been well over 20 *My first migrant wave in one fortress was 35!!!*, which, even with huge surpluses I enjoy, cause the entire economy to nearly implode unto itself. Would there be a way to limit the number of migrants that arrive at one time? I mean, for Armok's sake, they're dwarves, not Mexicans.

You actually can already limit population by changing the appropriate option in the Init file.
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JimiD

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1158 on: December 15, 2009, 10:41:23 am »

For me the issue is not the absolute pop limit, but the rate of growth.  To the best of my knowledge this cannot be controlled in the init, only by limiting the wealth of your fortress.
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Flaede

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1159 on: December 15, 2009, 12:21:09 pm »

For me the issue is not the absolute pop limit, but the rate of growth.  To the best of my knowledge this cannot be controlled in the init, only by limiting the wealth of your fortress.

this. yes. If I am being attacked by ambush parties, I'd rather not have to babysit a whole 35 incoming migrants and their kittens. And yet, I don't want to limit my maxpop. Just rate incoming.

...And it's really hard to limit fortress wealth when your dwarves like to up and create artifact querns encrusted with rhinestones and plush silk spikes.
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Toady typically doesn't do things by half measures.  As evidenced by turning "make hauling work better" into "implement mine carts with physics".
There are many issues with this statement.
[/quote]

Graebeard

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1160 on: December 15, 2009, 09:43:17 pm »

In case ThreeToe is still monitoring this thread for its original purpose, I thought I'd contribute some feedback.  I haven't read all through the list, so I'm sure some of these have been covered to death already, but I wanted to give some feedback.  I started playing about 8 months back so I could understand the PhD thesis my buddy was writing on DF.  And before Footkerchief points me to the devlog, I know some of these are being addressed in the new release.

Things that bothered me when I started playing:


(1) No mouse functionality.  I had been hard coded to have one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse.  While I've come to appreciate deal with the current interface for the most part, I still would like to see the mouse usable for designations.

(2) Other interface issues.  Particularly the confusing k/v/q menus.  I could go on and on. I eventually got over my objections and don't mind the system any more now that I have it memorized, but that took me probably 50+ game hours.

(3) The music.  I don't have any complaints about the song.  Actually, I think it's great.  But playing as much DF as anyone who actually surmounts the learning curve would need to... listening to the same song on repeat got really frustrating really fast.  I just turned the sound off after about 6 hours of gameplay and I've never turned it back on.

Things that bothered me once I got hooked:

(1) FPS.  I cannot overemphasize how much this kills it for me.  Many times I've given up when FPS drops through the floor.  Sometimes I'd start a new fort, sometimes I'd just walk away in frustration for several weeks.  This remains the single biggest turnoff for me by a large margin, particularly since many features of the game don't trigger until after the game becomes un-fun to play.

(2) Extinguishing the local wildlife.  After a few years (a relatively short time in a developed fort) my hunters become useless.  That sucks.  It's also unrealistic to depopulate a whole region from one single embark location.

(3) All or nothing traps.  As they exist now, traps are either a perfect defense or perfectly useless.  Having a 27% chance that an enemy would trigger some traps would complicate defense design and be a welcome challenge.

(4) Relatively easy enemies.  Orcs are popular for a reason, and I'm glad that we're able to mod them in, but the game would be better if it hostiles became more challenging over time, or if there were a way to ratchet up the difficulty in-game.

(5) The relatively sparse maps produced by the world generator default.  The sheer amount of time dedicated to world generation on the forums is a testament to how much players want a map incorporating many (or all) of the features DF provides, and even with all the work people have done I still can't find maps with all the features I'm looking for.  I'm not saying every embark location should have every feature, but it should be easier to find some locations that allow you to play with everything the game has to offer.

(6) Useless items/workshops.  Alchemy?  Toy hammers?  Golden Salve?  I can't really complain about this in an alpha release, but I will anyway since it's true.

Regarding new players, I plan on trying to get a few of my friends hooked on the game as soon as finals are over.  I'm going to give them copies of 40d16 with tilesets, modify the init file to make things easier on them (fluid depth, pop cap, economy off), modify the cat raw, write a quick FAQ for them, and tattoo the Wiki URL on the back of their hands.  I think there's a good chance they'll stick with it.   :)

Finally, props to you and Toady for this awesome game!

-Graebeard
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Foa

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1161 on: December 15, 2009, 09:51:37 pm »

Mouse has functionality, you haven't allowed it in the init.

The interface is going to be improved.

Musical programming will come later.

Get 40d##

Animals will become able to enter from the edges of the map, and breed, after update.

Traps will be nerfed.

Damaging will be fixed, so killing will become harder.

Useless shit will become more useful.
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darkflagrance

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1162 on: December 15, 2009, 11:02:44 pm »


Get 40d##

For me, and most likely many others, 40d## represents a gain of 5 fps, if at all. Turning off temperature, rain, partial print, etc. works, but I'd like to see pathfinding addressed soon...
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o_O[WTFace]

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1163 on: December 15, 2009, 11:12:06 pm »

First, obviously the graphics.  Some basic tileset needs to be the default because 90% of computer users are just not ever going to go in and change the init, even if its easy.   

Controlling your dorfs is very indirect and subtle.  There are lots things you need to do to ensure that stuff happens, and lots of tricks, sploits and subtle suggestions are required to make specific things happen (IE encrusting this table and only this table).  Also it should be possible to set priorities like:  Plant until the fields are full, and only then go and make bolts until bones are used up and only then go haul.  This is really important for time critical things like tanning and LEVERS.  Trade especially took me half a dozen forts before I got to work, even looking at the wiki.   

Second, the difficulty in managing a continuous flow of resources.  It should be possible (with whatever bookkeeping and paperwork requirements) to tell my cook to keep my stocks of prepared meals around 100 and make more as neccisary but don't make extra because I don't need them. 

The various buildings, constructions, designations, zones and what not are confusing.  They make perfect sense to me now, but it took a while to figure out what sorts of things I needed to designate and what sorts of things need a building.     

A tutorial, or example fort would be great.  Just something basic that shows how to embark, dig, farm, make stuff and trade.   

FPS is fine for me, but other people must be suffering.  There should be an option to abstract things, like water falling from a river into a chasm becomes "watefall" tiles that eat all the water they touch and emit mist sometimes, but otherwise don't need any falling/pressure calculations unless you mess with them. 
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Foa

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1164 on: December 15, 2009, 11:22:02 pm »

First, obviously the graphics.  Some basic tileset needs to be the default because 90% of computer users are just not ever going to go in and change the init, even if its easy.   

Controlling your dorfs is very indirect and subtle.  There are lots things you need to do to ensure that stuff happens, and lots of tricks, sploits and subtle suggestions are required to make specific things happen (IE encrusting this table and only this table).  Also it should be possible to set priorities like:  Plant until the fields are full, and only then go and make bolts until bones are used up and only then go haul.  This is really important for time critical things like tanning and LEVERS.  Trade especially took me half a dozen forts before I got to work, even looking at the wiki.   

Second, the difficulty in managing a continuous flow of resources.  It should be possible (with whatever bookkeeping and paperwork requirements) to tell my cook to keep my stocks of prepared meals around 100 and make more as neccisary but don't make extra because I don't need them. 

The various buildings, constructions, designations, zones and what not are confusing.  They make perfect sense to me now, but it took a while to figure out what sorts of things I needed to designate and what sorts of things need a building.     

A tutorial, or example fort would be great.  Just something basic that shows how to embark, dig, farm, make stuff and trade.   

FPS is fine for me, but other people must be suffering.  There should be an option to abstract things, like water falling from a river into a chasm becomes "watefall" tiles that eat all the water they touch and emit mist sometimes, but otherwise don't need any falling/pressure calculations unless you mess with them. 
There are like 45 points of delaggifying options in the init, primarily focused on easing graphic rendering.
Indirect? INDIRECT? You set 1,2,3 to haul, and then designate stocpiles, they haul, you are basically telling them what they should do, but not select what they'll do, the way you counteract this is by dis/enabling some labors.

You can send military to do what and where, and what to bring.
There is a merit to the repeat task button, and the manager mandates ( which you mandate ) .
Hey, ever try leading a civilization of 7 to a civilization of 100+ ?
People have made like a billion tutorials, and VIDEO tutorials.
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Keevu

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1165 on: December 15, 2009, 11:45:07 pm »

I hate stone management... they get really annoying fast especially when you weant to build over a stone... and the dwarves go to the bottom floor to haul the farthest stone instead of hauling the one thats impeding him from having a room even though it is really close.
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Lost Requiem

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1166 on: December 16, 2009, 06:38:37 pm »

On a similar note, I don't like having to go rescue dwarves that accidentally strand themselves on top of a perch or behind a wall during construction. I nearly lost 5 dorfs that way.
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Blacken

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1167 on: December 16, 2009, 11:38:12 pm »

Performance.

Yeah, I know it can't be fixed easily. But I have learned to adapt to pretty much everything else. It's just that there is a not-all-that-hard-to-hit limit after which I can't play anymore because the framerate implodes. Then I stop playing DF for a couple weeks.
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Cheddarius

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1168 on: December 16, 2009, 11:45:05 pm »

Idiot dwarves.
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Durin

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Re: What turns you off about DF?
« Reply #1169 on: December 16, 2009, 11:55:35 pm »

Performance.

Yeah, I know it can't be fixed easily. But I have learned to adapt to pretty much everything else. It's just that there is a not-all-that-hard-to-hit limit after which I can't play anymore because the framerate implodes. Then I stop playing DF for a couple weeks.

It's kinda funny.  My first week or so playing this I made the comment that it was rather ridiculous to need a $5000+ computer to play a game with hardly any graphics.  I thought I was exagerating at the time....  Someone even made fun of me for saying it.  I think in retrospect this appears to be a very, very common and serious drawback to the game.

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