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Keep it burning! Smoke!

2 (11.8%)

Make it HOTTER!

13 (76.5%)

Stop the madness!

2 (11.8%)

Total Members Voted: 17

[Hortun]

I feel like a lack of quality is being compensated by quantity. But no one asked for my opinion.

You know, I don't see a whole lot of positive posts coming from you.

[The Architect]

I do dearly love Sparkgear. That is why it pains me to see it go downhill so badly, and why I have made negative comments. I did make a disclaimer about no one asking for such comments, but that didn't lessen my personal need to make them. Sparkgear shouldn't compensate for quality with quantity (churning out a new failure every month isn't really in keeping with SG's style, but we have been doing that).

[Heron TSG]

That's exactly SparkGear's style. There's a new one every month. That's what sets it apart from other community games and stories.

[Lord Shonus]

Sparkgear's been on a monthly bases since very early, if not the very beginning.

[The Architect]

Sparkgear's been on a monthly bases since very early, if not the very beginning.

Maybe that's true. But they've gone from 50+ pages to less than 20. Perhaps we need Nahkh.

[Lord Shonus]

OR its a symptom of the same cause that's slowing the community games section in general, namely that there's been a lot of holidays and that the new version is expected to come out in a month or three.

[The Architect]

or three.

I hear you, nothing that hasn't been said before. However all I can get out of your post is the part above. And it makes me sad to think that it might really be that long.

[Lord Shonus]

Well, the flu's pretty nasty.

[The Architect]

Well, the flu's pretty nasty.

I hadn't heard about that, no net for about a week. I wish him well.

[Heron TSG]

Although I like to watch the Countdown decrease, it has ceased to be a motivator for me and has even been a hindrance at times.  Instead, here is the list of remaining items for the next release.  I'll be coloring/modifying this post as work progresses.  The list is more or less fixed, though there might be minor changes, omissions and additions as I go along.

Keep in mind that this is the list of remaining items as of the original posting, not the total list of changes for the next version.

Wounds/Combat (last changed Aug 29)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Updating material spatter display
• Updating snow-covered building colors
• Updating blood spatter on weapons/clothing during wounds
• Updating bleeding/pain during weapon twists
• Updating HFS wound-related stuff
• Updating wrestling shakes
• Updating wrestling tear-aways
• Updating strangulation
• Updating joint-lock breaks
• Updating gouge damage
• Updating some spatter removal code
• Updating spatter map text strings and other text info
• Updating melting snow
• Compound fractures and some other traumatic layer to layer interactions
• Verify that thrusts are working properly
• Make relations work correctly on initial strike, not just organ strikes
• Non-solid tissue support
• Update fireball damage
• Get numbered BPs to work properly with wounds
• Better establish tissue ordering
• Do more with momentum dampening effects as attacks pass from layer to layer
• Reestablish combat text
• Update temporary criticals
• Create dwarf mode combat reports
• Update historical figure wounds
• Update army strength function for legends
• Item/attacking part damage

Creature Raw Update (last changed Aug 3)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Subterranean Creatures
• Standard Creatures

Descriptions (last changed Aug 10)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Appearance paragraph
• Start appearance modifiers at proper levels respecting age
• Wrinkles
• Bearing, mannerisms, with personality tie-ins
• Handle tissue density variable properly
• Creature art elements vs. castes
• Conversation context vs. castes
• Styling of cosmetic tissue layers

Skills/Attributes (last changed Aug 4)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Do creature raws vs. attributes (at least for dwarves/elves)
• Update attribute effects on job duration
• Update attribute display
• Handle attribute increases
• Handle skill rusting
• Handle skills vs. grasp/stance strikes
• Update skill user names
• Update dwarf skill start values
• Handle counterstrikes vs. skills
• Handle undead vs. souls (at least in some quick way)
• Update equipment improvements based on initial creature skill level
• Consider size vs. layer thickness for changeable layers
• Do the fat thickness, perhaps with some appetite/metabolism effects to avoid homogeneity
• Update (temperature) layering effects

Venom (last changed Aug 29)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Venom raw definitions and structures
• Inhaled poisons
• Contact poisons
• Injected poisons
• Update poison weapon framework
• Neurotoxins
• Necrosis
• Other poison effects as needed
• Delayed poison effects
• Arbitrary material breath weapons
• Resistance in terms of attributes and also developed against specific toxins through exposure
• More organ links to function
• Syndromes linked to failure of body systems (instead of materials)
• Digestive venoms and generalization of bruises/blisters/necrosis to other damage types
• Move many death effects over to brain death (maintaining original cause text)
• Wound infection and sepsis
• Other diseases

Health Care (last changed Sep 24)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• New setup for hospital
• Realigning of compound fractures and traction
• Sutures for open wounds
• Use of soap to clean patients
• Surgery to remove rotten tissue
• Dressing wounds with bandages
• Splints
• Crutches
• Plaster casts
• Soldiers able to perform basic first aid
• Separate out feeding of patients as a job
• Medical information and chief physician appointment
• Make dwarves clean themselves up and groom/trim their cosmetic tissue layers

Map Features (last changed Apr 25)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We're not spoiling specific features, but there are general goals:

• Possibility for unending attacks
• Underground feature resources more likely and useful (farmable areas, etc.)
• Easy to find features (if you want lots) throughout all Z levels, arranged to permit ample area for a fortress
• Features spanning multiple world map squares
• Consider rope/ladder/etc. building particularly for downward movement into large open spaces

Sites (last changed Oct 30)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Tie in cave sites to map features
• Handle how mega beasts in world gen move between the new caves
• Update cave size calcs
• Update generation of cave pops
• Entity cave dwellers vs. new caves
• Update cave diggers in world gen
• Update cave generation vs. map features
• Update text/symbol/color of sites (particularly caves) vs. map features
• Update entity site preferences vs. new caves
• New caves vs. skulker stealth during world gen
• Update world gen site defense values vs. new caves
• Update conversation vs. new caves

Entity Positions (last changed Nov 9)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Update entity link addition/removal for position holders
• Handle position names
• Update manager
• Update bookkeeper
• Update priests
• Update guards (as a position, other parts during squad update below)
• Update liaison
• Update meetings vs. new positions
• Update the noble/appointment screens
• Handle selection/arrival of land-associated nobles (Baron etc.) and related position-holders (tax coll., etc.)
• Handle some other election/succession issues
• Update some world gen skills vs. new positions
• Respect gender/caste for generated position holders
• Update position spouse names
• Update personality generation in world gen for position holders
• Update room/furniture privileges vs. new positions
• Update position holder seat of power
• Update general selection during world gen vs. new positions
• Update starting position holders in world gen
• Update importance of position holders in histories
• Handle issue with entity links on abandon
• Update temple greeting triggers vs. new positions
• Update attaining criminal status in adv mode
• Handle entities with variable world gen positions
• Handle world gen soldier selection issue
• Update leader in history text dump
• Update monarch arrival
• Update coin images
• Update positions vs tile graphics
• Fix problem with world gen birthdays
• Remove several obsolete tags
• Remove any final remnants of replaced unit types
• Creature/mount prefs for leaders
• Remove demons as forced powers for goblins and have such arrangements arise through mega-beast behavior

Squads (last changed Dec 1)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Separate squad profiles from individual dwarves
• Ability to create squads associated to positions on military screen
• Add squad command mode to dwarf mode
• Ability to create station point and patrol routes as completely separate objects
• Ability to issue movement orders to squads and individual squad members
• Ability to issue attack orders to squads and individual squad members
• Add yearly squad schedules
• Squad postings to multiple locations per scheduling period (say, holding specific tiles at several doors)
• Make sure the squad leader's activity/status does not cause squad to abandon all positions or to fail movement orders
• Consider alert status options for both squads and the fortress
• Deal with squad schedule/alert status vs. on break/jobs
• Assigning squads to barracks, split up barracks functions
• Weapon rack and armor stand assignments to individual soldiers within the barracks (automatic or manual if you care)
• Squad-based equipment settings with individual overrides
• Appointee to handle individual equipment overrides, automation of equipment upgrades, as well as training supplies
• Soldiers that are standing down should sort out their equipment according to their assignments
• Ability to branch out to other weapon types, especially if that's all you've got around
• More control over archery training materials
• More control over hunter equipment
• Better handling of axe/pick issues with civilian vs. military equipment
• Familiarity with individual weapons, attachment to them, weapon mentions in legends
• Booze instead of water should be allowed
• Framework for instructor-led training, with instructor and evaluation of pupils determining nature of sparring/routines
• Associated skills for leading/teaching
• Basic equipment-based and unarmed drills, paired up or not
• Update sparring as an instructor-led squad-based practice
• Check out sparring injury rates vs. new wound system
• Update archery training and some associated settings
• Ability to use free time for additional practice/drills if so inclined
• Personality effects on training
• Loosen up restrictions on changing elite soldiers
• Replace champion unit type with a single appointed champion
• Ability to create formations and have squads hold a given formation at a position or during movement
• Formation drills, with training having an impact on the ability to hold formation and overall military discipline

Some other unfinished business (last changed Dec 15)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Some corpse material issues
• Handling butchery/rot/fish cleaning/eat leavings vs. body materials
• Few mat issues with processed fish and also generated trinkets
• Updating undead severs
• Some quick function updates based on tissue materials
• Handle issue with totem items vs. castes
• Update some issues with moods vs. new corpses
• Update some of the optimizations for job reactions
• Update automation of tanning jobs
• Update rot miasma
• Update thick webs vs. castes
• Update brittle flag
• Change some instances of color over to color patterns
• Inorganics assume solid state in naming function improperly
• Some other inorganic/mat flags need to be merged
• Issue with stout creatures vs. items
• Update certain dropped items disappearing when they hit the ground (globs/liquids etc.) vs. spatter
• Update 'nastiness' for mats vs. eating/etc.
• Handle a few material contaminant issues
• Update age condition on powers vs. castes if necessary
• Update vermin appearance flags
• Update blood flow/contam pushes
• Update the current seasonal cleaning of blood hack vs. new material spatter

Final

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• Explore a few other (very minor) compat issues
• Fix the annoying cat bug
• Perform the hydra test
• Any remaining tests
• Handle a few misc. bug reports and minor interface requests that have arisen
• Merge with the 40d# stuff

Color Key

• To Do
• Doing Doing Doing Doing Doing Doing Doing Doing
• Done
• Done (contains delayed items)
• Delayed (put off, but might do still them depending on time)
• Put off (definitely out for this release)

Compared to three months ago, this is looking really really close. Once the new version comes out, I'm sure many people will come back.

[The Architect]

Yea, that's been quoted a lot around the forums (especially by me) but it has been like that since well before Christmas.

[Heron TSG]

This isn't constructive, move to the next topic, unless you think that it's too quantified.