Print

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

[TolyK]

++ to the above post.

[Tilla]

It occurs to me the Devlist doesn't mention any ways of managing wounds in adventure mode. An oversight?

[Footkerchief]

It occurs to me the Devlist doesn't mention any ways of managing wounds in adventure mode. An oversight?

Possibly, but also...

This page doesn't represent everything we'd like to do. It just has some of the things we're thinking about doing sooner rather than later.

[Ozyton]

It would be great to be able to go to one of the surgeons in a town and pay to get healed.

Same for curses and such, pay a priest to get rid of the curse at a temple.

[Funk]

It occurs to me the Devlist doesn't mention any ways of managing wounds in adventure mode. An oversight?

no stuff like this in on the todo list some were.

[Nivim]

@The civilization advancement discussion: "For want of a nail,[...]". There are a ridiculous number of factors determining a civilization's failure or success, then a whole lot more determining whether or not an area will produce a civilization of greater advancement than those areas around it. It's quite true that living things are tenacious when stressed, but since they're against other peoples that are equally tenacious when stressed, that doesn't matter very much for relative advancement. The stress does; and not just the quantity of stress, but the kind and quality as well. There are all kinds of patterns; patterns of soil, patters of weather, patterns of plants, patterns of animals, patterns of habit, and patterns of belief.
 And it's all in the details; that one nail, or that one smith, or that one hick outside of history that burned a certain rock so hot it melted. Possibly on a bet.

(you can get close by buffing the surface with excruciatingly fine clay)

This granted me an image of a dwarf crushing clay with his knuckles against rock until it was excruciatingly fine.

[1freeman]

Hey Toady, can you say what the 16 new animals will be? or do you want it to be a surprise?

[Chthonic]

There are a ridiculous number of factors determining a civilization's failure or success . . .

Your post confuzzles me.  I feel like you're scoffing at someone's arguments, but I'm not sure whose.

In any case, to synthesize from the a couple of Jared Diamond books, a civilization's success generally has to do with its geographic and other resources rather than its human intellectual capital (since human ingenuity and capability are pretty well distributed across our entire species).  I'm not sure that your assertion of luck holds true at all, except in-so-far-as a civilization is lucky enough to start out in an area that is organized in an east-to-west rather than north-to-south manner and which has a lot of convoluted coastlines.

[Knigel]

Same for curses and such, pay a priest to get rid of the curse at a temple.

Just like in Dragon Quest!

[Neonivek]

There are a ridiculous number of factors determining a civilization's failure or success . . .

Your post confuzzles me.  I feel like you're scoffing at someone's arguments, but I'm not sure whose.

In any case, to synthesize from the a couple of Jared Diamond books, a civilization's success generally has to do with its geographic and other resources rather than its human intellectual capital (since human ingenuity and capability are pretty well distributed across our entire species).  I'm not sure that your assertion of luck holds true at all, except in-so-far-as a civilization is lucky enough to start out in an area that is organized in an east-to-west rather than north-to-south manner and which has a lot of convoluted coastlines.

Well the difference is if a civilisation is using its Human intelligence capital to its fullest. Some historians note that one problem with "cheap" slaves for example is that the cheap labor inhibits development of methods to increase production as it is cheaper to work slaves to the ground then to treat them right.

[Quatch]

I'm not sure that it's completely out or necessarily racist.  Guns, Germs, and Steel did a good job of saying, basically, that the ground you're standing on is the primary factor in your ability to build a kick-ass civilization (which often proceeds to ass-kick other civilizations).  That humans of all sorts are capable of building incredible stuff for a while even under the most unfavorable conditions speaks to the incredible tenacity and ingenuity that we all share as a species.

I was considering mentioning Diamond's book in my post in support. The thing with geographic determinism is, its founded on the imperialist argument that heat makes you lazy, and thats why the tropic civilizations failed - lack of challenge.

I think we both agree that this is obviously false. However, I can see that you interpret the term differently than me. As I have discarded all of my human geography texts (I am a physical geographer) I can't refer to see if there is a better term

In summary, perhaps calling it resource-limited advancement rather than geographically-determined culture?

[Rose]

It would be great to be able to go to one of the surgeons in a town and pay to get healed.

Same for curses and such, pay a priest to get rid of the curse at a temple.

coming up next: doctors hire bandits.

[Richards]

Hey Toady. Concerning the Siege arc. What about Goblin civilizations choosing to offer an opportunity to pay tribute in exchange for peace. It'd be unfair, and they'd ask for weapons, food, armor, metal, and/or ammo. They'd send a representative for the Goblin civilization leader. Terms would be given for the conditions for peace.

Failing to provide tribute would result in there being no more peace with the goblins.

What do you think?

[zwei]

I'm not sure that it's completely out or necessarily racist.  Guns, Germs, and Steel did a good job of saying, basically, that the ground you're standing on is the primary factor in your ability to build a kick-ass civilization (which often proceeds to ass-kick other civilizations).  That humans of all sorts are capable of building incredible stuff for a while even under the most unfavorable conditions speaks to the incredible tenacity and ingenuity that we all share as a species.

I was considering mentioning Diamond's book in my post in support. The thing with geographic determinism is, its founded on the imperialist argument that heat makes you lazy, and thats why the tropic civilizations failed - lack of challenge.

I think we both agree that this is obviously false. However, I can see that you interpret the term differently than me. As I have discarded all of my human geography texts (I am a physical geographer) I can't refer to see if there is a better term

In summary, perhaps calling it resource-limited advancement rather than geographically-determined culture?

I would not dismiss lack of challenge as easily. Certainly not on a rather hysterical grounds of racism-scare.

My own coutnerarguent to that is, however, that humans tend to fill any potential enviroment to it maximum possible population possible with their technology/resources. Africa has devepoled agriculture and other mechanisms to increase population beyond basic hunter gatherer levels - and "they can get away with just picking bananas" is wrong on so many levels. Challenge is not from eviroment - it is from inner population pressure.

[Rockphed]

While I, personally, think the Diamond is not entirely on the mark, to a large extent his argument was more along the lines of "because europe had access to about half the food crops in the world and had plentiful iron, copper, and tin, it conquered the world."  Or, that is what I gleaned about it from the history of civilization class I just took the final for.  I should probably shut up and go find his books before I start badmouthing them.

On the topic of the dev thread, I, for one, welcome our alpaca overlords.