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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

[CobaltKobold]

Why did medicine score so low? 5.1%... That's less than astronomy. In a game where you can't even look up!

You can in ad'enture mode...

Argh, all you soft science fans, get in there and vote for them!

(Voting closed: March 01, 2010, 06:44:55 PM)

Do it for that guy who ran all the electro shock social experiments,

Milgram.

[CaptApollo12]

Why did medicine score so low? 5.1%... That's less than astronomy. In a game where you can't even look up!

You can in ad'enture mode...

Argh, all you soft science fans, get in there and vote for them!

(Voting closed: March 01, 2010, 06:44:55 PM)

Do it for that guy who ran all the electro shock social experiments,

Milgram.

lol short and to the point

[Mel_Vixen]

Dont forget Kinsey! Kinsey and his report are very important to df.

[nenjin]

Yeah, can't forget Kinsey. Devoting his life to human's second favorite activity besides hurting each other.

[Rowanas]

Yeah, can't forget Kinsey. Devoting his life to human's second favorite activity besides hurting each other.

wow.. that was a bit dark...

[slink]

I suppose Physics was a reasonable top-three choice, although I would be willing to bet that Tarn Adams hasn't re-written much if any of the physics portion and the community has pretty well explored that.

Psychology and Sociology is the other major hard-coded section and it will be nice to see what he has to say on that.

Chemistry is an odd choice for the top-three, because it is largely, if not entirely, defined by the raws.  Certain aspects, such as the conditions under which heat transfers and thereby boils or freezes Dwarves and other vital materials, comes under Physics.  The actual boiling and freezing points are in the raws.  Allowable reactions are defined in the raws, also.  Oh well.   

For the record, I voted for Psychology and Sociology (the great black box which runs Dwarven behavior annd interactions), Medicine (a new system), and Genetics (which I suspect to be a non-existent, but with which it would be possible to pass behavioral and physical features from parents to children).  Ecology could have been my third choice, but it is largely determined by the raws, combined with some pattern of choosing which we can deduce through playing.

[Nether]

Physics:

Obvious, I love it. I would like to see everything put under physics


Chemistry:

I would love to see more possibilities here, it is true that a lot is possible by the raws, but more dwarven interaction would be nice. For one I like the soap thing that is coming, maybe different flavours/colors/anything would sprout happier thoughts? Things like that make this interesting in my opinion.


Medicine:

With the new healthcare part in DF it would be great to have medicine for different diseases. I would like to see dwarves get ill out of no-where with contaminating diseases (Did any-one say H1N1?). Not only tauntrum spirals would cripple your fortress, but also disease spirals killing your dwarves (and followed by tauntrums, your fortress).
The medicine science is the most appealing to me, due to the wonderfully FUN possibilities

[Quatch]

I should explain my votes, just incase you re-mine this topic for a second podcast.

Geology: obviously rocks are important to dwarves, however only a subset of geology is used.

• When will we get jointing, faulting, better permiability modeling (leaky ceilings and such gone wild)
• plastic deformation (deep tunnels slowly seal themselves (ie: this tunnel is filled with 3/7 rock as it re-seals under pressure)
• realistic* cave-ins (*max unsupported size, stacking stuff, not necessarily a real transfer model)
• anticlines! Synclines! Non-level layers! Is continent scale deformation (arches and depressions, tectonic uplift, isostatic rebound--glaciers!)
• caves as both karsting and lavatubes, more than 1 mineral block per region (you have struck microcline!), and so forth.
• Earthquakes (a earthquake occurs, throwing up half your map a few tiles!)! Mining debris.
• Bowens reaction series! Different types of magma (silica rich/poor? aa/ropey(flow rates!))? magma fractionating as it cools?
• local metamorphism around magma!
• Will ternary diagrams ever become necessary on the wiki/while coding?
• Have you considered exploratory drilling (a workstation that allows you to sample stone in a fixed direction (ie down) without tunneling?
• Could miner skill factor into the quality of gem removed from the wall (a legendary-ily mined gem has a higher chance of becoming a large gem)?

Meterology: There is a weather model, what does it do?

• what was it based on
• exactly how much memory/processor does it take in comparison to some of the other major components?
• Why did you choose it over a simple random walk model?
• Will there eventually be storms and lightning that might make outside dangerous (to trees or creatures)?
• What happens when weather is turned off in the init--is there a fallback?
• What is the interaction between temperature and weather options?
• Hurricanes and tornadoes? Will we see them?

Genetics: Now that it's coming in, how and what can we do?

• How does it interact with the caste system, and where is the whole model going?
• Without some non-'spore' breeding, how will you facilitate breeding programs?
• I recall a mention about seeding diversity. How did that turn out? Will it be possible for new phenotypes (don't hate me, not a biologist--different intra-species variability not before seen) to evolve?
• will adaptation have in-game consequences beyond look?
• How difficult and perhaps some examples for generating those description blocks. How did you overcome the order-of-importance in listing issues?
• What kind of inspection tools will we have- will the game catalogue viewed creatures so we can observe the shape of the distribution of attributes, or (for example) will we have to remember that this is an abnormally small cat?

   

Thanks again for the awesomeness.


Edit: questions for the current choices (sadly without reviewing everyone elses)

Physics:

• What is the cosmology of the dwarven world? Heliocentric?
• Is gravity normal? Is there terminal velocity? Now that you have volume and mass, this might be possible, assuming a perfect physics world, and objects shaped like a sphere...
• When will walls melt? Can the destruction of engraving/decoration be implemented before the full deal?
• Will touching surfaces/air warmed by magma ever be dangerous? magma fumes (a common hazard)? Thermal updraft for fliers/fallers over heat sources?

Chemistry:

• Are we thinking here in game reactions at the alchemist? Will the alchemist work under modern chemistry, or alchemical principles?
• Will we have access to strong acids and bases? Will these have the desired effects on living/non-living materials? Can we do etching? Require specific liquids to tan leather?
• Require chemistry to identify some rock subtypes, assay for quality? Contaminants/poisons from toxic materials?
• Where does adamantium fit on the periodic table?
• Gunpowder-its chemically simple, and none of the components is unfindable/uncommon. Whether for fireworks, alchemy, or stuff toady doesn't want in, how does this fit into having a real-world chemistry available to players?
• Farming enhancements: chemical fertilizers (many sources in rocks!), bio-char (charcoal as a soil additive), accidental poisoning of crops (watered with water that has leached through arsenic rich rocks), salting the ground
• Dwarven knowlege vs physical potential, where and how will you restrict what dwarves can do, while adding levels of realism to the simulation? Will all dwarves know all possible things that can be done? Will scientific discovery ever be required to unlock buildings/reactions?

Psych:

• Moods: how do dwarves view moods? Why is death the only failure option? Can/will failed mood dwarves be recovered by application of treatments (chemical or verbal)?
• Expansionism: It seems strange the way 7 dwarves are cast into the wild to found a new fort. How does this fit into the dwarven (individual or racial) mind?
• Will you eventually be able to drive dwarves mad/insane without first making them miserable? (the sight of cthulu..)
• How about temporary insanity? Bezerker warriors, driven past the breaking point, but only until a little violence brings them back?

[Armok]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I should explain my votes, just incase you re-mine this topic for a second podcast.

Geology: obviously rocks are important to dwarves, however only a subset of geology is used.

• When will we get jointing, faulting, better permiability modeling (leaky ceilings and such gone wild)
• plastic deformation (deep tunnels slowly seal themselves (ie: this tunnel is filled with 3/7 rock as it re-seals under pressure)
• realistic* cave-ins (*max unsupported size, stacking stuff, not necessarily a real transfer model)
• anticlines! Synclines! Non-level layers! Is continent scale deformation (arches and depressions, tectonic uplift, isostatic rebound--glaciers!)
• caves as both karsting and lavatubes, more than 1 mineral block per region (you have struck microcline!), and so forth.
• Earthquakes (a earthquake occurs, throwing up half your map a few tiles!)! Mining debris.
• Bowens reaction series! Different types of magma (silica rich/poor? aa/ropey(flow rates!))? magma fractionating as it cools?
• local metamorphism around magma!
• Will ternary diagrams ever become necessary on the wiki/while coding?
• Have you considered exploratory drilling (a workstation that allows you to sample stone in a fixed direction (ie down) without tunneling?
• Could miner skill factor into the quality of gem removed from the wall (a legendary-ily mined gem has a higher chance of becoming a large gem)?

Meterology: There is a weather model, what does it do?

• what was it based on
• exactly how much memory/processor does it take in comparison to some of the other major components?
• Why did you choose it over a simple random walk model?
• Will there eventually be storms and lightning that might make outside dangerous (to trees or creatures)?
• What happens when weather is turned off in the init--is there a fallback?
• What is the interaction between temperature and weather options?
• Hurricanes and tornadoes? Will we see them?

Genetics: Now that it's coming in, how and what can we do?

• How does it interact with the caste system, and where is the whole model going?
• Without some non-'spore' breeding, how will you facilitate breeding programs?
• I recall a mention about seeding diversity. How did that turn out? Will it be possible for new phenotypes (don't hate me, not a biologist--different intra-species variability not before seen) to evolve?
• will adaptation have in-game consequences beyond look?
• How difficult and perhaps some examples for generating those description blocks. How did you overcome the order-of-importance in listing issues?
• What kind of inspection tools will we have- will the game catalogue viewed creatures so we can observe the shape of the distribution of attributes, or (for example) will we have to remember that this is an abnormally small cat?

   

Thanks again for the awesomeness.


Edit: questions for the current choices (sadly without reviewing everyone elses)

Physics:

• What is the cosmology of the dwarven world? Heliocentric?
• Is gravity normal? Is there terminal velocity? Now that you have volume and mass, this might be possible, assuming a perfect physics world, and objects shaped like a sphere...
• When will walls melt? Can the destruction of engraving/decoration be implemented before the full deal?
• Will touching surfaces/air warmed by magma ever be dangerous? magma fumes (a common hazard)? Thermal updraft for fliers/fallers over heat sources?

Chemistry:

• Are we thinking here in game reactions at the alchemist? Will the alchemist work under modern chemistry, or alchemical principles?
• Will we have access to strong acids and bases? Will these have the desired effects on living/non-living materials? Can we do etching? Require specific liquids to tan leather?
• Require chemistry to identify some rock subtypes, assay for quality? Contaminants/poisons from toxic materials?
• Where does adamantium fit on the periodic table?
• Gunpowder-its chemically simple, and none of the components is unfindable/uncommon. Whether for fireworks, alchemy, or stuff toady doesn't want in, how does this fit into having a real-world chemistry available to players?
• Farming enhancements: chemical fertilizers (many sources in rocks!), bio-char (charcoal as a soil additive), accidental poisoning of crops (watered with water that has leached through arsenic rich rocks), salting the ground
• Dwarven knowlege vs physical potential, where and how will you restrict what dwarves can do, while adding levels of realism to the simulation? Will all dwarves know all possible things that can be done? Will scientific discovery ever be required to unlock buildings/reactions?

Psych:

• Moods: how do dwarves view moods? Why is death the only failure option? Can/will failed mood dwarves be recovered by application of treatments (chemical or verbal)?
• Expansionism: It seems strange the way 7 dwarves are cast into the wild to found a new fort. How does this fit into the dwarven (individual or racial) mind?
• Will you eventually be able to drive dwarves mad/insane without first making them miserable? (the sight of cthulu..)
• How about temporary insanity? Bezerker warriors, driven past the breaking point, but only until a little violence brings them back?

Seconded.

[praguepride]

Aren't you supposed to email those in?

[kotekzot]

Hooray, two of my faves are winning: physics and chemistry. Mathematics are lagging behind, which is unfortunate - without it there would be no other real science.

[piecewise]

Hooray, two of my faves are winning: physics and chemistry. Mathematics are lagging behind, which is unfortunate - without it there would be no other real science.

What are the "real" sciences? Are you implying that things like Sociology aren't real science?

[Christes]

Perhaps

(This one always seems to get people riled up )

[MrWiggles]

Perhaps

(This one always seems to get people riled up )

Not exactly. Social sciences are consider soft sciences because unlike physical sciences it lacks as precise empirical experimentation and observation.

A rough analogy is that a Physicists can always say that X will happen if Y is true, a Psychologist can mostly say that X will happen if Y is true. Or X is more likely if Y is probably true.

[slink]

On the other hand, this poll was supposed to be on what topics we wanted to hear about from Tarn Adams, as they manifest in DF.  It was not supposed to be a poll on what we think is science and what is not science, or what our three favorite sciences might be in real-life.  I'd far rather hear him talk about something I don't know how applies in DF, than about something that is fairly obvious.