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[Safe-Keeper]

Blocking off passages with chains: once ships are in, it'd be nice to have the ability to block off rivers and narrow sounds by stretching heavy chains across. This was often done in reality to deter access to strategic bays, or by robber barons to force passing merchant ships to pay a toll to the baron.

How the chain would be constructed I don't know, but it'd probably require the making of a special kind of "Heavy Chain", as an ordinary Restraint probably wouldn't suffice. One method, once ships are in, would be to attach one end of the chain one one side of the strait, for then to transport the other end by boat across the strait. Whether this is even possible, AI-wise, though, I don't know.

[SirHoneyBadger]

By the way, I'd like to add environmental divisions in the oceans:

Water temperature, oxygen level, and water pressure, could all cause abrupt divisions in flora/fauna adaptability, divisions that many species might not be able to cross at all.

[snelg]

By the way, I'd like to add environmental divisions in the oceans:

Water temperature, oxygen level, and water pressure, could all cause abrupt divisions in flora/fauna adaptability, divisions that many species might not be able to cross at all.

A salt level might be useful too.

[varkarrus]

If we have boats, they should be constructed objects, rather than wagon-like entities.

First, you would designate a bunch of supports, then build floors, then walls (with holes for cannons), then another floor above, some masts, and finally, a sail. Then you load it up, and designate half your fortress to haul it into the water.

[Heron TSG]

So they'd be buildings that you designate a 3d room inside of in order to make it a boat, which is then movable? That'd work pretty well, as long as you found a way to keep the room from spilling out into the rest of the fort.

[Dvergar]

Huh, were we to build boats it would make more sense to use cranes to move the boat..... actually cranes in general sound pretty cool.  A dockside crane that works in conjunction with the trading depo would be pretty beast.  A single crane operator could do the work of several hundred dwarf hauling trips

[MaXMC]

I confess I did not bother to read the whole thread, just the first and the last pages.

How about making rivers deeper?

The difference now between a brook and a river is that you can walk over a brook. They are both just as wide and deep (correct me if I'm wrong).
I want to see rivers that are at least 2z-levels deep. That when winter comes only freeze in the top layer. Or only freeze when in contact with open sky.
That way it wouldn't be so freaking hard to start in freezing temperature zones.

[HAMMERMILL]

There already is deeper rivers. Make a custom world gen and put in nearly the maximum number of river spawn points and you'll get all kinds of impressively deep and wide rivers.

[SirHoneyBadger]

How about retaining true "bottomless holes/lakes"? As in, even with the current massive Z levels going on, still have these blue hole type areas, that would lead down to...well, infinity/HFS/the nether regions, whatever bizzarity is down there.

You could start seeing weird otherworldly aquatic fauna, but with divisions in pressure, light, heat, salinity, what have you, the really dangerous stuff wouldn't necessarily (atleast very often) pop up and start devouring your Fortress, en masse, ala 'The Cthulhu Carp from 1000 Fathoms'.

[Mel_Vixen]

And with z-levels you could calculate preasure. Maybe some beings cant live under or above a certain z-level of water.

[zwei]

There already is deeper rivers. Make a custom world gen and put in nearly the maximum number of river spawn points and you'll get all kinds of impressively deep and wide rivers.

I routinelly embark on 500+ river worlds (i like building fortresses in place where 2+ rivers meet), I have yet to find river wider than 6 tiles and deeper than 1 tiles.

Maybe it is bad luck, but I'd say those rivers as myth.

[cameron]

Estuaries already exist actually they are area where rivers empty into the ocean they just aren't as common as they ought to be, also lagoons are just any ocean water that been separated from the ocean.
one thing i would like to see are more ocean cliffs maybe have world gen not set anything below a height as water but just a few random places and set erosion to work. (not certain how world gen works so that might not make any sense)

and zwei if you look for "major river" in the biome bit you can find rather large ones though they are rather rare

[Artanis00]

I was just thinking earlier today that water ice could use an overhaul similar to what geology got while browsing through the wikipedia article in a fit of boredom.

For example, on glaciers, snow tends to undergo similar changes--analogous, not exactly--that sediments do (deposits -> sedimentary -> metamorphic) only on a faster time scale. It'd be pretty awesome to dig into a glacier, loose snow on top as it is now, a layer of névé below it followed by a layer of firn and finally glacial ice down to the rock. Névé and Firn are white, glacial ice would be the traditional blue.

If it could eventually be managed, it would be further awesome if snow fall could be converted to new walls of ice, and the wall below it into the next stage. If you were not careful, it would be possible to get your glacier fort buried in ice. I believe this has been suggested before, though.

Also, some random cosmetic features like ice needles and frost flowers--which also come in frost beard varieties, see the images in the article. Frost flowers and ice needles form when the air is below freezing, but a plant or the soil, respectively, is not. The cold air basically wicks water out to where it freezes into long thin structures.

They would occur in cold biomes. Have them spawn during spring/fall (think spider webs), and melt by day or break when pathed over. A dwarf lucky enough to notice one would get a happy thought: "Admired a lovely frost flower recently." Possibly an unhappy thought if a dwarf notices he broke one: "Has accidentally destroyed a frost flower lately." Perhaps not... sparking a tantrum spiral because Urist McClumsyyetattentive broke a bit of frost is... "Slept uneasily due to noise lately. Has witnessed death. Has accidentally destroyed a frost flower lately."

In seas and lakes, when it's very cold but not enough to solidify the body, frazil ice and ice discs could be implemented as contaminants on the surface (that don't affect the water quality like real contaminants do). Anchor ice could also be spawned on the bottom of the body of water.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Artanis00: I really like your ideas here. Glaciers should be more interesting in the game (one of the things I've learned from this Forum is how much more interesting glaciers are in real life, than seems immediately obvious.)

[Siquo]

Then I want Volcanic Ice Caves.

Caves with entrances such as in D40 tend to lose heat during the day, and don't gain it during the night. This, with good insulation from the rock, allows for ice caverns even in places like mexico. They also tend to grow really cool ice crystals.