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[khearn]

What determines what pets can be requested via the liaison? I've had some civs that had, for example, things like Unicorns or Elephants but they're never selectable via the liaison and (as far as I know) they don't ever show up in the caravan either.

How do you know the civ has Unicorns and Elephants if you've never seen them in the liaison's list or a caravan?

[knutor]

I'm using a ☼Obsidian Short Sword☼ on almost all the 10 soldiers in this squad.  With the exception of two.  I was curious what the Material stats for Obsidian were. Just to comparison shop it with the other stats.  I looked as best I could the numbers on the Wiki, but it doesn't show anything regarding Obsidian as a material, as you can see over here:

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Weapon_damage
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User:Shinziril#Weapons_and_Armor

I'm still hunting thru the forum posts, anyone have any other !!Science!! links?

Thanks,
Knutor

[Sutremaine]

Obsidian raws:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:STONE_TEMPLATE]
   [MELTING_POINT:13600]
   [BOILING_POINT:16000]
[STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:obsidian][DISPLAY_COLOR:0:7:1][TILE:177][LAVA]
[MAX_EDGE:20000]
[IGNEOUS_EXTRUSIVE]
[MATERIAL_VALUE:3]
[IS_STONE]

Stone template raws:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   [STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:GRAY]
   [STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:stone]
   [STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:stone]
   [STATE_COLOR:LIQUID:ORANGE]
   [STATE_NAME:LIQUID:magma]
   [STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:magma]
   [STATE_COLOR:GAS:ORANGE]
   [STATE_NAME:GAS:boiling magma]
   [STATE_ADJ:GAS:boiling magma]
   [DISPLAY_COLOR:7:0:0]
   The modifier used to all values involving the material.
   [MATERIAL_VALUE:1]
   Temperature information.
   [SPEC_HEAT:800]
   [IGNITE_POINT:NONE]
   [MELTING_POINT:11500]
   [BOILING_POINT:14000]
   [HEATDAM_POINT:NONE]
   [COLDDAM_POINT:NONE]
   [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:NONE]
   Density information.  Not used for very much, but it comes up in inventory weight and fighting.
   [SOLID_DENSITY:2670]
   [LIQUID_DENSITY:3300]
   Not used.
   [MOLAR_MASS:36000]
   Used for blunt-force combat, measured in KPa.  Data scattered around the net (used compressive strength).  All very spotty.
   [IMPACT_YIELD:120000] used marble
   [IMPACT_FRACTURE:120000]
   [IMPACT_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   Not used.
   [COMPRESSIVE_YIELD:120000]
   [COMPRESSIVE_FRACTURE:120000]
   [COMPRESSIVE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   [TENSILE_YIELD:15000]
   [TENSILE_FRACTURE:15000]
   [TENSILE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   [TORSION_YIELD:15000]
   [TORSION_FRACTURE:15000]
   [TORSION_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   Used for cutting calculations in combat, measured in KPa.  Data scattered around the net (used tensile strength).  All very spotty.
   [SHEAR_YIELD:15000] used marble
   [SHEAR_FRACTURE:15000]
   [SHEAR_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   Not used.
   [BENDING_YIELD:15000]
   [BENDING_FRACTURE:15000]
   [BENDING_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100]
   A unitless measure for how sharp the edge is for combat purposes.
   [MAX_EDGE:1000]
   Used for pressing oil into jugs -- anything greater than zero needs to be glazed first.
   [ABSORPTION:0]
   Determines what sorts of objects can be built with the item.
   [ITEMS_HARD]
   [ITEMS_QUERN]
   [REACTION_CLASS:CAN_GLAZE]

[knutor]

It says numbers in stone template raws are from marble?  I suppose I can look this up myself; however I have been hesitating looking in the raws, so as not to spoil the game.  Would marble and obsidian have the same numbers for:

Impact fracture: Used for blunt-force combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 103 (i.e., kPa)
Shear fracture: Used for cutting calculations in combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 103 (i.e., kPa).
Density: Used in conjunction with other factors - heavier weapons (higher numbers) hit with more force, light weapons tend to have less penetration. Value shown here is g/cm3, which is the raw value divided by 103

What file shows the raws for this?  I will look it up.  I'm curious how Obsidian Small Swords stack up against metals.  Some moves by the sword are blunt, that's why I also want the Impact fracture number.

Thank you,
Knutor

[krisslanza]

What determines what pets can be requested via the liaison? I've had some civs that had, for example, things like Unicorns or Elephants but they're never selectable via the liaison and (as far as I know) they don't ever show up in the caravan either.

How do you know the civ has Unicorns and Elephants if you've never seen them in the liaison's list or a caravan?

Because I could select them at embark. A unicorn costs 501 points by the way 

[proxn_punkd]

I recall reading somewhere that obsidian swords aren't as good as steel or the shiny stuff, but are competitive with most other metals.

Until Toady implements breakable weapons, that is. (obsidian IRL is basically a glass, so I suspect it'll shatter pretty easy)

[knutor]

obsidian swords aren't as good as steel.

Thank you.  I hate to waste good bars.  I'll stick to using Obsidian for Edged, and Silver for Blunt until I get the armor finished.

Sincerely,
Knutor

[Sutremaine]

Marble raws:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:STONE_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:marble][DISPLAY_COLOR:7:7:1][TILE:178][REACTION_CLASS:FLUX]
[METAMORPHIC]
[MATERIAL_VALUE:2]
[IS_STONE]
[MELTING_POINT:11485]

What the first line (or rather second, since the materials have to be defined first) in the marble / obsidian raws does is tell the game to use 'stone' as the template for each individual material. Then the rest of the entry either adds tags or overwrites the ones found in the template. The numbers in the stone template had to come from somewhere, and I guess marble was just the first stone Toady found information on. There are mods out there that make individual stone types act more like they should, but in vanilla pretty much every kind of stone has the physical properties of marble. Everything has its own appearance and melting point and at least some ores have their own densities, but other than that it's mostly just generic rock that happens to be modelled on marble. Maybe in five years' time Toady will correct the information on each stone type as part of the update that causes the relative composition of pick and rock to affect digging speed and the probability of getting a useable chunk of stone.

[Duuvian]

I seem to remember obsidian being equal to steel in d40 but that was a while ago so no guarentees.

One thing to remember about obsidian is that it's extremely sharp and can be sharpened by hand (with extreme care) to be I believe a few molecules thick, if not monomolecular.

According to someone who seemed to know a great deal about the subject, there are instances of Mesoamerican people cutting charging horses in half with obsidian swords around the time of Cortez.

Also, Cortez and the Spaniards were so surprised by the effectiveness of obsidian javelins in penetrating proofed steel breastplates that he did some testing himself and proved it.

EDIT: Real life obsidian 'sword' and 'spear/glaive':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepoztopilli

These are cool looking:


Very short Tepoztopilli


Another example of effectiveness from the wikipedia page for Macuahuitl:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pedro de Moron was a very good horseman, and as he charged with three other horsemen into the ranks of the enemy the Indians seized hold of his lance and he was not able to drag it away, and others gave him cuts with their broadswords, and wounded him badly, and then they slashed at the mare, and cut her head off at the neck so that it hung by the skin, and she fell dead.[12]

[fergus]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make megabeasts breed?

[Zeebie]

Is there some way to prevent dropped items (such as weapons dropped when I change uniforms) from being forbidden automatically?

[MagmaMcFry]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make megabeasts breed?

Lock 'em in a room together (use bridges). If they can breed, they will.

Is there some way to prevent dropped items (such as weapons dropped when I change uniforms) from being forbidden automatically?

Never met that before. Perhaps you need o-F-i or o-F-p.

[assimilateur]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make megabeasts breed?

Lock 'em in a room together (use bridges). If they can breed, they will.

Having two fertile beasts of opposite sex on the map at any given time guarantees pregnancy regardless of proximity. You wouldn't need to look them in a room together at all, as long as you made sure the female didn't leave the map.

Now, as a rule of thumb, most animals are infertile unless you mod them*. This is because they're exotic pets and those can't breed, regardless of whether they're tame or not. Modding this is simple. Just replace any [PET_EXOTIC] tags with [PET] and make sure their female "castes" have children. The former mod will work without a regen, but I don't know about the latter.


*You'd need a dungeon master for this, but that game feature is broken.

[proxn_punkd]

One thing to remember about obsidian is that it's extremely sharp and can be sharpened by hand (with extreme care) to be I believe a few molecules thick, if not monomolecular.

According to someone who seemed to know a great deal about the subject, there are instances of Mesoamerican people cutting charging horses in half with obsidian swords around the time of Cortez.

Also, Cortez and the Spaniards were so surprised by the effectiveness of obsidian javelins in penetrating proofed steel breastplates that he did some testing himself and proved it.

Mythbusters semi-debunked the horse thing. It took multiple swings to decapitate their fake horse, and the greatest effect was achieved by using the sword like a saw. However, they did acknowledge that they weren't experts in Aztec sword techniques.

However, the rest of this is well worth researching. Faith healers and charlatan doctors used to use palmed obsidian blades to make near-invisible, unnoticeable incisions on their patients for demonstrations, and for a while there was interest in using obsidian blades for modern surgery because of their ridiculous fine edge (though steel proved easier to sterilize and thus won out).

It's pretty neat stuff, actually.

Does anyone know if it's possible to make megabeasts breed?

I believe the answer for this is "no", though it might be possible through the same venues as "mermaid farming" for the ones that are sapient and come in both sexes.

- - - - -

Lastly, thanks to everyone who offered advice on my shooting gallery. I made all three targets into shooting ranges, and now my marksdorfs are coming to practice.

[i2amroy]

Does anyone know if it's possible to make megabeasts breed?

Lock 'em in a room together (use bridges). If they can breed, they will.

Having two fertile beasts of opposite sex on the map at any given time guarantees pregnancy regardless of proximity. You wouldn't need to look them in a room together at all, as long as you made sure the female didn't leave the map.

Now, as a rule of thumb, most animals are infertile unless you mod them*. This is because they're exotic pets and those can't breed, regardless of whether they're tame or not. Modding this is simple. Just replace any [PET_EXOTIC] tags with [PET] and make sure their female "castes" have children. The former mod will work without a regen, but I don't know about the latter.

Also several types of megabeasts (such as dragons) are missing important tags for having children (namely the [CHILD:X] token). This means that though female dragons will lay eggs, none of the eggs will ever hatch into baby dragons, regardless of whether or not you have a fertile male available on the map.