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Biology

142 (4.4%)

Astronomy

197 (6.2%)

Geology

266 (8.3%)

Medicine

163 (5.1%)

Physics

497 (15.6%)

Chemistry

366 (11.5%)

Zoology

84 (2.6%)

Botany

120 (3.8%)

Podiatry

10 (0.3%)

Psychology & Sociology

326 (10.2%)

Meteorology

87 (2.7%)

Pogonology

123 (3.8%)

Geography

105 (3.3%)

Ecology

119 (3.7%)

Genetics

298 (9.3%)

Mathematics

158 (4.9%)

Linguistics

134 (4.2%)

Total Members Voted: 1121

Voting closed: March 01, 2010, 08:44:55 pm

[blur]

Maths: Dig a moat right 90° down.
Physics: Calculate the fall of the panically screaming Gobbos.
Chemistry: Find out how they react with the magma in the moat.

[General Pattern]

Astronomy - Astronomy was the first science, and all other disciplines (even mathematics and agriculture!) came from it. So it's only right that we start with it.

Chemistry (Alchemy, since DF tech is supposed to be equivalent to ~1400's if I remember correctly) - I want to see a dwarf shut himself in a workshop and try to make the philosopher's stone. Also, petroleum processing!

Physics - Will it be possible to make wheels and attach them to objects?

[Zifnab]

Astronomy and engravings would also be good if cults could develop.  A group of your dwarves could start believing that that comet in the sky was really the mothership come to take them to dwarf heaven.

[RedKing]

wanted to know how Toady would handle that.
But I'd still prefer to hear about Toady's plans for implementing languages to a higher degree, and about his threatened poetry/novel generator.

I kinda want a poetry/novel generator.

I imagine Dwarven poetry is on par with Vogon poetry.

[Knight Otu]

Astronomy could prove quite interesting in DF, even outside a magical/astrological angle. At the very least, it can provide further unique flavor to the generated worlds. A world with seven moons or two suns, a world with recognized constellations (and perhaps a zodiac chosen from them). Sphere relations, obviously. Maybe dwarves can have favorite constellations, and when they're well visible, they might go stargazing and get a good thought.

As things get more developed and magic enters the equation, the cosmos might get "wilder" (if the worldgen settings allow) - constellations with actual effects, a HFS metal moon, or maybe a hexagonal elemental planet carried by an elephant whose steps disturb time, but those are at least as far away as magic.

[RedKing]

Astronomy could prove quite interesting in DF, even outside a magical/astrological angle. At the very least, it can provide further unique flavor to the generated worlds. A world with seven moons or two suns, a world with recognized constellations (and perhaps a zodiac chosen from them). Sphere relations, obviously. Maybe dwarves can have favorite constellations, and when they're well visible, they might go stargazing and get a good thought.

As things get more developed and magic enters the equation, the cosmos might get "wilder" (if the worldgen settings allow) - constellations with actual effects, a HFS metal moon, or maybe a hexagonal elemental planet carried by an elephant whose steps disturb time, but those are at least as far away as magic.

HFS metal moon = impetus for the first Dwarven space elevator. How many Z-levels do think it would take to reach a geosynchronous orbit? 

[Knight Otu]

HFS metal moon = impetus for the first Dwarven space elevator. How many Z-levels do think it would take to reach a geosynchronous orbit? 

Probably enough to melt your computer. Not that I really expect those last two things to actually happen. Just some "really out there" stuff.

[G-Flex]

I voted for Physics, Chemistry, and Genetics, and I might as well give a comment on each:

• Physics
  • Lots of good questions here, like how the temperature system works/should work, material interactions (especially with the new combat/material systems), thermodynamics (or lack thereof), cave-ins, etc.
• Chemistry
  • Smelting and metallurgy come to mind. DF currently has some metals that weren't isolated in the medieval era (for good reason), and right now you can smelt without a source of carbon, oddly enough.
• Genetics
  • Boilerplate dominant/recessive stuff aside, it'll be interesting to know how creature variation might be treated later on. It's easy enough to say that dogs can be anywhere between h_min and h_max height, for instance, but in the real world, the only such restrictions are practical ones. Creatures mutating beyond their current parameters (and handling it well) or acquiring entirely new traits over time would be quite interesting, although I'm not sure how much would/should be done with this. Either way, an interesting subject.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

HFS metal moon = impetus for the first Dwarven space elevator. How many Z-levels do think it would take to reach a geosynchronous orbit? 

Probably enough to melt your computer. Not that I really expect those last two things to actually happen. Just some "really out there" stuff.

Wikipedia says the geostationary orbit above Earth is 36,000 km up, around the equator.

Spoiler: Why I think we can use Earth's geostationary orbit elevation for a DF world (click to show/hide)

A generated DF world always has Earthlike gravity regardless of size, and its internal composition appears to be Earthlike in most ways. Because of this we must assume until proven otherwise through experiment that generated DF worlds are Earthlike in all other reasonable respects. Occam's Razor suggests that when you generate a small-size DF world you're just viewing a small section of a larger planet rather than a very small planet with an incredibly dense core.

So since the composition of a DF world is probably Earthlike, and it has Earthlike gravity, and we can assume from these that it has Earthlike size, the geostationary orbit ought to be somewhat close to Earth's. I'm sure rotational velocity plays some part. I don't know how much. In any case, I'd be surprised if the geostationary orbit for a non-Earthlike DF world was more than an order of magnitude higher or lower than Earth's.

We can give a tile arbitrary and large dimensions, perhaps even 10 meters (32 feet) to accomodate things like Dragons and Bronze Colossi, and as a compromise allowing for Dwarves to climb over each other when they move through a tile. Admittedly a tile's size should be both smaller and larger, but we can meet in the middle.

Which means to reach a geostationary orbit from a mountaintop the height of Mt Everest (8,848 meters, let's be generous and say you have a 9 km elevation mountaintop) you still have to climb 35,991 km.

Which is roughly 3.6 million tiles. That's a 3-tile wide road crossing an entire Large DF world map. Six times.

[shadow_slicer]

I don't understand why everyone seems so excited about Astronomy. They're dwarves! They live underground out of the sun for years without ever even seeing the sky. The very thought of leaving their cave into the outside world causes them to be nauseous. I can't imagine that dwarves would even bother naming constellations, much less tediously recording their positions. Further, their gods would also likely not be thought affected much by stars, much as the dwarves' homes underground are relatively unaffected by the passing seasons.

I would imagine the dwarves would not look up, but instead down to determine fate and the wishes of their gods. The source of all they use comes from the earth. It is more likely that they would have extraordinarily developed geology instead. Their gods would probably communicate, not through floods or drought, but instead through geologic activities such as tremors, changes in magma and water levels in pools, ores found in mines, and various other things that we don't even know about because we live on the surface.

[Rainseeker]

Of course, those are "standard" dwarves.  If all goes as planned, dwarves will develop other beliefs as well through procedural generation.  Also keep in mind the goal is to be able to run other races' sites as well, so astronomy may well end up being very important in the game to humans, elves, or goblins.  As it stands right now, there is not much to it, but that may change in time.

[Mephansteras]

Geology, Geography, and Genetics. Although I really wish I could have voted for at least another 3-4 options.

To give toady some more info on why I chose those:

Geology: I really like the detailed Geology that is in the game already. I think I've learned more about rocks by looking up all the stuff in game then I did in any of my science classes in college. It'd like to see it get even more detailed, with layer information and cluster/veins in a more realistic fashion. Since much of dwarven life revolves around mining, it seem like a good area to put extra effort into. For the talk, I'd like to hear about what ideas Toady has in this direction and what he sees going into the game in the future.

Geography: Kind of related to Geology. I'd like to see more interesting natural formations, like arches, as well as things like large lakes and rivers with various small islands in them. It'd also like to see more geologic based geography, like mountains formed by tilting earth from tectonic movement. Hot springs, geysers, and other such rare places would also be awesome to run across. For the Talk I'd like to hear about Toady's thoughts on the matter, what he's considering including, and what stuff might be too hard to put in.

Genetics: Like most other people who voted for it I'm interesting in how much of an effect it'll have. I know basic cosmetic traits will be passed along, but how far will it go? Will constantly interbreeding your animals eventually cause health issues? What about inter-racial marriages between elves/goblins/humans/dwarves/etc. ThreeToe has done a few stories about it, so you've obviously thought about it a bit. What needs to be in place before we're going to see this happen in-game?

[G-Flex]

Will constantly interbreeding your animals eventually cause health issues?

The best part about making inbreeding problematic is that it's not even problematic, at least not for some of its effects.

A lot of it boils down to recessive traits. Pretty much everybody has a bunch of recessive genes lurking around inside them doing nothing that would cause a lot of problems if they didn't also have the dominant (and in this case, normal) copy as well. But when you have extremely low genetic diversity (say, inbreeding) people tend to have a lot of the same ones, and when they produce offspring, there's a much greater likelihood of them having two copies of the recessive and no copies of the dominant. And since basic dominant/recessive traits are pretty much the easiest to simulate, that's good.

Of course, low genetic diversity is bad for groups in other ways; if everybody's good and bad at similar things, that produces problems. For an obvious example, a group where each 3% segment of the population is highly susceptible to a different disease/allergy/what-have-you isn't worth worrying about very much, but one where 60% of the population is susceptible to the same thing is more likely to face extreme problems in the face of it.

[monkeyfetus]

The inclusion of joke topics like podiatry and pogonology can't help either.

I disagree. If someone feels strongly about only one or two of the topics, they'll still feel the need to use all three votes. Podiatry and pogonology work as a sink for those votes, so not as many people will vote for a topic they don't really care about. Just so long as they don't win, it's fine.

Edit: My votes:
Psychology/Sociology
I'm interested in how dwarven personality affects happiness, relationships, and, well... everything. I hope more effects are added in the future, though there is a worry of it being too complex and random. It may be difficult to find a balance between personality effects be negligible and pointless, and being forced to tediously tailor each dwarf's job to their personality lest they become useless or insane.
Linguistics
I'm actually thinking of changing this one. I thought a lot on it, and everything I wanted from it I now realize is stuff about the content of adventurer interactions/conversation, rather than the actual language.
Astronomy
I'm really interested in this one, just because I've heard absolutely nothing about it. It's the only one up there that's completely unrepresented in game, and I haven't seen any talk about it. When you're looking straight down at your dwarves, it's hard to remember that they can look up, to the stars.
Meteorology
I'm a little interested in this one, mostly thinking about floods, drought, and lightning. I imagine a drought would be much less fun than a flood.
Geology
I'm sure there's some interesting stuff about rocks here, but I really just want to know about volcanoes. Eruptions sound like a lot of FUN, and seismic activity could also be implemented when cave-ins are fixed. Fault lines? Ash disrupting weather patterns? This one could turn out really interesting.

With floods, drought, earthquakes, and eruptions, there's an issue of things getting out of player control. Eruptions and floods are easy enough, because you can assume the player is opting in to these situations by embarking on a volcano or a marsh or a large river. Drought and earthquakes on the other hand... If your stream dries up and you have no way of irrigating your crops (which perhaps now require it due to lack of rain), that would be bad. Earthquakes might be alright as long as they only did minor damage, and don't just completely destroy your fortress, killing 80% of your dwarves.

This post is getting really long, I think I need to stop now

[penguinofhonor]

I voted Biology, Psych/Sociology (though they're quite different, I can see why the difference wouldn't be too distinguishable in DF), and Genetics.