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Author Topic: A suggestion on poop handling  (Read 18358 times)

RavingManiac

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A suggestion on poop handling
« on: May 20, 2009, 11:06:12 pm »

I understand that the implementation of feces and toilets is already on the Eternal Suggestion Voting thread, but how exactly it is to be implemented isn't explained.

I thus propose the following system:


Poop:

Just like a dwarf needs to eat or drink, a dwarf will need to poop. Excrement will be handled as an item and cannot be traded.

When a fortress is abandoned, EXCREMENT WILL STAY IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE. The last thing anyone wants is turds strewn all over the fortress for no adequately explained reason.


Latrines:

A latrine will have to be built over an open space, and have a room designated from it(pooping in public? Hell no). When used by a dwarf, excrement will be deposited on the tile below the latrine.

In a normal latrine, the feces will eventually rot away by itself, generating miasma(disgusting the unlucky dwarf inside). In a latrine over magma, the feces will simply burn away. In a latrine over water, the feces will dissapear, turning the water into sewage water the same way blood disperses in water(feces will not dissapear in water that has already been turned into sewage water, so the water must be kept running).


Chamberpots:

You may also use chamberpots, which are built on top of a normal floor. When a dwarf poops in a chamberpot, excrement will be stored in the chamberpot itself, the same way items are stored in coffins. A chamberpot with 5 or more feces in it will be unusable.

For the purpose of emptying the chamberpot, a dwarf designated with the 'gong farmer' labor will pick up a gong bucket(using the same bucket dwarves use to supply the wounded would be baaaad), and use it to empty the chamberpot, dumping the feces in a designated sewage dump zone(which may be a landfill or an open space over water/magma). The gong farmer will get an unhappy thought from having to dump poop initially, but will get used to it just like how military dwarves get used to death.


No toilet:

Without a toilet, your dwarves will poop outdoors, preferably in a shrub. They will get a minor unhappy thought from this. I would propose that they poop in any open space over water/magma, but there are just too many potential complications.
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Fossaman

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2009, 11:26:17 pm »

The real question is how often should dwarves poop?

I propose no more than once or twice a year, just because nobody wants to see all of their dwarves with the 'defecate' task at once.
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Deimos56

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2009, 01:39:35 am »

Obviously, all dwarves are dangerously constipated.  ;D
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Craftling

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2009, 03:26:52 am »

Latrines would be linked into a sewer like open space. Maybe cleaning it would be a MASSIVELY unpleasant job, resevered for slaves(when it comes). I would be ok with seeing the "Taking a dump" status often, because other wise it leads to some unpleasntry about what they do with their waste
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Lymojo

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #4 on: May 21, 2009, 03:38:58 am »

When a fortress is abandoned, EXCREMENT WILL STAY IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE. The last thing anyone wants is turds strewn all over the fortress for no adequately explained reason.

Close.

But what if you abandon when your fortress is being ransacked by Tentacle Demons?

Shit and cum everywhere.
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Lidhuin

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2009, 04:41:17 am »

A suitably deep latrine will be usable for decades, if not centuries. I believe a six metre latrine can serve a family of five for pretty much a lifetime, if not longer.

I like the sewage system too.
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Silverionmox

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2009, 05:51:37 am »

The real question is how often should dwarves poop?

I propose no more than once or twice a year, just because nobody wants to see all of their dwarves with the 'defecate' task at once.
Pacing the occurrence of basic tasks like eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating, partying etc. is a major game balancing tool. It should have its own raw.
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Deimos56

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #7 on: May 21, 2009, 12:46:07 pm »

When a fortress is abandoned, EXCREMENT WILL STAY IN THE EXACT SAME PLACE. The last thing anyone wants is turds strewn all over the fortress for no adequately explained reason.

Close.

But what if you abandon when your fortress is being ransacked by Tentacle Demons?

Shit and cum everywhere.

...I'm going to go remove my vote for half-breed creatures now. :-[
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Tenebrais

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2009, 02:13:44 pm »

I'd suggest handling poop as a liquid like blood or vomit, rather than an item. It feels like it works better that way. Also, it would contaminate water it gets into, so you can't really have your dwarves drinking out of a septic tank. (Actually, can dwarves drink from a bloody pool? I'd assume not, but...)

Otherwise your idea is pretty much how I imagine it.
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Draco18s

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2009, 03:32:30 pm »

Why has this come up again?
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Capntastic

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2009, 04:32:55 pm »

Why has this come up again?

Because people like to suggest ideas without reading or searching.

Toady's said a few times he's fairly sure he doesn't want to put shit and piss into the game.
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Silverionmox

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #11 on: May 21, 2009, 04:37:56 pm »

Why has this come up again?

Because people like to suggest ideas without reading or searching.

Toady's said a few times he's fairly sure he doesn't want to put shit and piss into the game.
Rotting corpses, slime and vomit, on the other hand, seem to pose no problem.

They need to be there, if only for their vital role as a fertilizer or tanning agent. I don't care if they are named euphemistically or whether you can drown goblins in it. Sewers are a classic fantasy environment by now, we shouldn't shy away from that because of our hyperhygienic culture.
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sonerohi

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #12 on: May 21, 2009, 05:03:19 pm »

At least make the code for it open-ended enough that the ever-devoted efforts of the modding section could produce it for us.
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Wiro

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2009, 05:15:02 pm »

She has been quite content lately. She enjoyed a wonderful defecation recently.  ::)
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Enzo

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Re: A suggestion on poop handling
« Reply #14 on: May 21, 2009, 08:29:46 pm »

Well, in medieval europe (which DF most mimics) there was really feces everywhere with only the most developed urban centers getting any sort of sewage system...Eventually the horrible diseases caught up to us and people got (pardon the expression) their shit together and built more sewers.
I think it would be an elegant solution (I don't expect anyone to agree, though) to have a zone designation for, erm...dump zones. It's not like dwarves are very modest. Channel a square, build walls and a door, designate as a latrine, to prevent miasma spreading. If feces are treated as a liquid, a full scale sewersystem would become megaproject material. Then fertilizer production as a farmers workshop/alchemists lab job and we're set.
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