Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Flok Speargrabber]

A few suggestions that will make the game a tad more difficult.
All the following are, unless otherwise noted, very rare occurances.

1. Dormant Volcano Eruption
Fire and smoke rain from the sky as a nearby volcano erupts. Chance of a magma vent appearing in the area. If magma vent/volcano tip already exists, magma vent refills and overflows, as well. Unlikely to occur in areas far from volcanoes.

2. Earthquake
The earth is ripped asunder. A chasm is formed in the area. If it passes through existing dwarf tunnels, it separates them. It could also have an opposite effect, where land is pushed together. This is far more deadly as those caught in the squeezing earth are crushed to death.

3. Tsunami
A giant wave comes over and crashes over the fortress. Water drains down into the water source and, if possible, into the fortress. Not possible on non-coastal fortresses.

4. River flood
Too much rain has caused the river to overflow with water. No river = no chance.

5. Plant disease
A disease spreads through the zone, killing touching plants and trees. No plants means no chances. Does not affect seeds.

6. Ancient Tomb
Your dwarves dig upon the tomb of an ancient king/queen/hero/avatar of a god. They find money and great tombs to put nobles. May be guarded by undead and/or demons.

7. Vein Discovery
New processing technology has revealed that a common stone actually contains a rare metal. A bit higher chance than normal. Will only occur if you dig.

8. Ancient Temple
Your fortress has been founded near an ancient temple. The temple holds a masterwork statue made of a precious metal, and masterwork chairs. However, moving the objects increases the likelyhood of...

9. Wrath of a God
Your dwarves actions have angered a god. Fire rains from the sky, tsunami, chasms sprout out, demons, and so forth. If you survive, however, good tidings may come. Angrier dwarves, high body count, high dead animal count, high dead friendly count all contribute to increasing the chances of this happening.

10. Present from a God
Your actions have appeased a god. You might get food, weapons, crafts, rare metals, metals your nobles like, rock crystals, and so on. Happier dwarves, high money count, and lots of food make this more likely.

11. Animal Stampede
A group of animals are passing by your fortress. In their wake, grass is turned to mud or dust. The animals could be anything, and it provides a great time to hunt. They'd leave after a time.

12. Population boom
The extra food, space, and free time has left your dwarves more time to enjoy life. And each other. Children are born at a higher rate for a while until the causes of the event run low.

13. Erosion
Constant water is eroding some of the dirt and rocks away. Only occurs by rivers and oceans.

14. Mass Murderer
One of your dwarves has gone insane. He or she isolates other dwarves and kills them, before fleeing. VERY low chance.

I know some are unusable, but give it some thought?

Edit: Here're some more.

15. Ancient underground cave
Unlike the cave that already exists ingame, this one has underground plants and creatures (Namely, descendants of dinosaurs). It is completely isolated from the outside.

16. Landslide
An outcrop of rock has gotten too top-heavy and is collapsing. Surprisingly minimal damage to anything inside and not connected to the collapsing thing, though exits will be clogged.

17. Molemen
'Nuff said. Might be an FPS killer, though, since it's basically a second fortress. Ally or enemy, though?

18. Discovery of a maddening item
An item, say an offworldly beautiful statue or a strange flower, causes insanity on dwarves whom stray too close.

19. Pirate's treasure
(Islands and coastals only) Chance on upper layers to dig up a bin containing a lot of coins and cut gems, as well as some crafts.

20. Survivors
Humans/elves/kobolds/etc that have survived a perilous encounter come to your fortress for aid until their respective caravan shows up. It's up to you to decide what to do with them.

21. Dwarves leave the fortress
Some dwarves may leave to form new fortresses, work in different ones, make an inn along trade routes, and so on. About 1 - 20 dwarves leave, depending on how happy they are.

22. Civil war
When a higher-up and a lot of lower-ups have long-term disagreements, the Fortress' dwarves split in two, each side supporting one side of the view. Control one side to try to re-claim your fortress.

23. Festivals
Harvest festivals, victory parties, rememberances of major events, and so on. This would have a set date and would have a cause, so a standard chance of happening.

24. Drought
A severe water shortage goes so far as to dry the lake down an entire level, makes aquifiers temporarily stop giving water, and all rivers, ponds, and brooks all lose one water depth level until it ends.

[ November 25, 2007: Message edited by: Flok Speargrabber ]

[ November 25, 2007: Message edited by: Flok Speargrabber ]

[Bad_Skeelz]

I like one through five. Six through Ten I'm not so keen on. I don't think eleven would be very fun, unless you add the chance that a Dwarf might get stampeded.

Population can already grow far too fast if you get migrants, though I see nothing wrong with an increase in Dwarven hanky panky.

Thirteen I don't think is very workable, as usually erosion is such a slow process as to be barely noticeable. Of course, there are the exceptions that prove the rule: I can see your seaside tower tumbling into the water at one point.

And Dwarves will already happily slaughter each other if you push enough of their buttons  

[SquashMonster]

I think items one and two could actually be fairly common.  Start with a small chance and increase it every year until it has happened at least once, then reset it to a very small chance.  It would make the non-magma locations a lot more balanced.

Items three through five seem like things that should be there in the first place.

I like item six, but it's more of a world generation deal than an event.  We actually already have something really similar to it, as well.  But this is a bit less extreme than the existing one, and it'd be nice for it to happen occasionally.

I think item eight could be tied to a more mundane event.  Perhaps the statue blocks the entrance to a cave full of X, where X is something you don't want to let free.

Items nine and ten really don't belong here until Toady adds magic.  I hear an old version of the game included a necromancer attack, which sounds fantastic for this sort of thing.  Also, the Zoroastrian version of the end of the world involves molten iron raining from the sky.  Which is far more awesome than fire and brimstone.  Finally, I think item ten should still be dangerous.  Perhaps it rains rare metals, which could kill you if you stand outside, but is valuable later.

Item 11 is cool.  As long as, as was mentioned, they actually can stampede over a dwarf, it's a good concept.

I don't like items 12, 13, and 14.  14 already happens, 12 should happen emergently when conditions are right, and 13 sounds like it'd kill the framerate if it was done properly.

[slMagnvox]

I love all these ideas, and am in favor of any additions involving extra chaos and excitement.

I look forward to a real DF Renaissance soon.  As these new mechanics are properly tuned, gameplay will really get a chance to expand.

[Karlito]

I like these.  The game can get to dull at times.  I think an earthquake actually creating a chasm should be very rare but having other smaller quakes cause random cave-ins around your fortress could be fun.

[PTTG??]

I agree that events like these (and the above suggestions are good) should be in the game, however, they need to be in as natural and moddable as possible. What I mean by natural is that the events arise indirectly, for instance a stampede could occur when a herd of animals with a [stampede] tag gets spooked. Catastrophic landslides should be built up from realistic soil structure and rainfall settings, and so on.

[Markham]

25. Alien abduction
Highly advanced elves from the future secretly abduct dwarves and humans.  They eventually reveal themselves to the humans telling them to "live long and prosper"  while prancing around and going all "Look at me, I'm better than you! I have no need for emotions!  Blah, blah, blah!"

[Lokum]

26. Zombie outbreak (case 1)

Zombie creatures from the outside seem to have evolved a virus within their bloodstreams and have injured a dwarf. The dwarf complains of dehydration, nausia and then dies. As a fellow dwarf begins to pick up this dwarf to the graveyard, it comes alive and ravishes the other. Immediately the other dwarf beings to bite other dwarves. Try to contain the outbreak or it may spread across the entire region and more.

27. Zombie outbreak (case 2)

A new virus randomly manifests in a dwarf or in the water supply and the rest is history. Very very low chance.

28. Grand Army of the Dwarven Republic Draft.

Recruiters come from the homelands and begin to dwarft many of your men dwarves, peasants voulenteer, some of your military is also taken. Within a few years some of them may comback, battle-hardened adorned with veteran armor.

29. Refugees

A large number (20-50) refugees of either Elf, Dwarf, Human knock on your fortress dwarves for shelter. These poor souls have had their own houses burnt to the ground and witnessed murder from goblins. House them for a few years and their capital cities may return the favour with grand riches. Leave them in the cold for the carp and zombie elephants to eat, and diplomatic relations are tense.

30. OMGHAWTBOYBAND.

A geniously marketed boyband with no talent and fake acoustics tour the region and have hit your fortress. Many of the women race outside to watch this long and boring spectacle. This is just bad for productivity and generally creates alot of waste becuase boy bands do that.

31. Vampires.

A vampire lord seems to have been laying dorment in a tomb which one of your legendary miners seems to have uncovered. Its best not to disturb this tomb and re-wall. Or else this awesome demi-god will unleash his fury on the stubby dwarves and spread his disease. Best to make a fortress on the outside world. Vampire Lords tend to have purrdy armor and weapons.

32. Terrorists.

It seems that Ist Volaslodhf wasn't a fisherdwarf after all, but a crazed extremeist. Terrorists will either plant IED's on workshops, places where many people congregate and houses of important nobility. The Captain of the Gaurd may be able to spot a terrorist before anything happens. Other times it will be swift assassinations on important nobles and dwarves.

33. Franco-Dwarf revolution

Working dwarves carry aprehend all the nobles and chop of their heads. A nice spectacle.

[ November 26, 2007: Message edited by: Lokum ]

[Thallone]

#21 - 7 dwarves leave, taking with them everything a normal expidition would- possibly including your only anvil!

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Helmaroc]

Hmm...What about tornados/hurricanes? Could move around the map in a 3x3 or a 6x6 square and destroy everything in it's path, and an area around it has a chance of getting damaged, if it's in range of the storm.

Also, Blizzards/Severe Hail Storms could injure outside dwarves and animals. Covers land like a snowstorm, and maybe can damage buildings (they would need repairing before being used again) or cover them in snow/ice/hail (need to be dug out before being used again.

Also, I think the Boy Band idea is out of the question. And the terrorist.

[ December 31, 2007: Message edited by: Helmaroc ]