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[Cardinal]

While I like the new caverns, they'd be a lot more interesting if they had more flat ground, and weren't always so chasm-like.  It's like founding your fort on a dozen bottomless crevices all the time.  I expected more  in the way of broad, open spaces, like one would find on the surface.

[Hyndis]

Same.

I would love to build freestanding buildings out of masonry in those large empty, and flat caverns.

However, you can of course make the current caverns into being exactly what you want with some dwarven engineering.

When I reach a cavern, first thing I do is to see if any particularly hostile creatures are there, then I start carving it into a proper flat cavern so I can build.



Flat caverns are not realistic though. The current caves are actually very realistic. Cave in real life are 3 dimensional, with a lot of vertical space. It sucks to build in these kinds of natural caverns, but natural caverns aren't building friendly to begin with.

[Cardinal]

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the current caverns if DF wasn't fundamentally a top-down visualized game.  I just hate < > back and forth to follow the giant rat my guys are killing.  In the future, when something like Stonesense is the interface, natural caverns would be fine by my.

[Julius Clonkus]

I changed the cavern min openness to 100 and set the passage density to 0 in advanced world generation to get a huge underground layer which is more like a second surface under the surface.
Even though I must have messed up somewhere and 70% of the first underground layer on my map is a subterranean sea, it is really nice to farm down there and make a living in the natural pillars that appear here and there.
Especially cultivating those pillars into guild houses is a challenge because your dwarves will always find a way to get stuck while digging it into proper shape and starving there.

[Silverionmox]

I really like the deepness of the caverns. There's plenty of space, it's just not ready-made.

[Cardinal]

There's plenty of space, it's just not ready-made.

Yeah, you could say the same thing about the non-cavern part.  Me, I'm looking for the admittedly non-realistic but fun and cool Journey to the Center of the Earth experience.

[Safe-Keeper]

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the current caverns if DF wasn't fundamentally a top-down visualized game.  I just hate < > back and forth to follow the giant rat my guys are killing.  In the future, when something like Stonesense is the interface, natural caverns would be fine by my.

The proposed system where everything below your current z-level is shown, but in darker tones the deeper you get, would be incredibly welcome.

[GaxkangtheUnbound]

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the current caverns if DF wasn't fundamentally a top-down visualized game.  I just hate < > back and forth to follow the giant rat my guys are killing.  In the future, when something like Stonesense is the interface, natural caverns would be fine by my.

The proposed system where everything below your current z-level is shown, but in darker tones the deeper you get, would be incredibly welcome.

And watch your FPS crash extremely quickly?

[AKAfreaky]

And watch your FPS crash extremely quickly?

Unless your game slows down when you look at the surface, I don't think displaying the extra tiles would really cause an FPS decrease. The game still processes the tiles even though you can't see them, and adding a tint to some tiles shouldn't take up much processing power at all

[Cerion]

Yeah it's really an interface problem. Caves being totally flat is unrealistic, but it can be hard to figure out which cave areas are connected on the default settings, never mind follow any sort of action. I find something like 20 minimum cavern openness or so leads to a decent compromise for actually building stuff in the caverns.

[Jimmy]

The shading issue's been discussed to death (want links? Go bother Footkerchief, I'm too lazy) and Baughn was questioned about it in relation to the OpenGL 40d# series. The overall verdict is: Interface Arc.

[Rowanas]

Anyone else thinking of avernum?

[Silverionmox]

Anyone else thinking of avernum?

Avernum... Exile I-II-III was brilliant, until the late-game sectors of part three. From then on, the guy started to worry about deadlines and monthly profit too much instead of having fun while making the game: from then on his games became formulaic and predictable. After he went professional he made double the amount of games, but they weren't even half as good. For example the graphics became more smooth and fancy animations, but they lost their spirit: Exile was a vast, dank, dark and narrow cavern - Avernum is a kindergarten sandbox with halogen lights.

Depth by darkening thread with mockups and an animation at the end, with corresponding entry in the eternal suggestions list.

[Squirrelloid]

what do you guys settle on, flat plains?  I settle on mountainsides and next to waterfalls - my surface is often more up-and-down than my caverns!

[Qloos]

Caverns are not meant to be your friend.