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Author Topic: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge  (Read 2880 times)

Jake

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Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« on: October 09, 2010, 10:29:28 am »

Pretty self-explanatory, really; an option to display the current outside temperature alongside the number of idle dwarves and the FPS rate. Probably easiest to display the mean temperature for all exposed tiles in the z-level the player happens to be on.
An option to display it in Celsius and/or Farenheit as well as the... unique system used by the game would also help.

And now I come to think of it, since we're on the subject, could a future version of DF possibly replace said system with Kelvin or Rankine?
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Never used Dwarf Therapist, mods or tilesets in all the years I've been playing.
I think Toady's confusing interface better simulates the experience of a bunch of disorganised drunken dwarves running a fort.

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Kurouma

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2010, 08:44:47 pm »

I like the idea of DF using the absolute Kelvin, it would fit the feeling of the game well.

Also other interface widgets! I want a day/month/year counter too!
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Jake

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2010, 10:39:49 pm »

I like the idea of DF using the absolute Kelvin, it would fit the feeling of the game well.
I'd rather have it in centigrade really, if only so I wouldn't need a calculator to mod in new materials, but having to cope with negative numbers would probably screw things up royally. What I am sure of, however, is that the current system is both illogical (absolute zero is quite literally over nine thousand degrees Urist) and over-complicated; I think we could all live with it rounding to the nearest whole degree.

Quote
Also other interface widgets! I want a day/month/year counter too!
That's probably got more discussion mileage than a thread about just this suggestion, actually. Think I should alter the thread title accordingly?
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Never used Dwarf Therapist, mods or tilesets in all the years I've been playing.
I think Toady's confusing interface better simulates the experience of a bunch of disorganised drunken dwarves running a fort.

Black Powder Firearms - Superior firepower, realistic manufacturing and rocket launchers!

Kurouma

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2010, 11:44:14 pm »

It's not too hard to pick up, just remember water freezes at about 273K and each Kelvin degree is the same size as a Celsius one, so water still boils 100 degrees above its freezing point.

Yeah, general interface readouts probably have better discussion value. I'm sure there would be many things people would be potentially interested in knowing - all optional via preferences menu, of course. I can think of, along with the current ones, maybe popping up in context like the 'siege' indicator:
  • Date
  • Temperature
  • Idle Workers + active military
  • Diplomacy Status (i.e. is there a diplomat who needs to be met?)
  • Outstanding mandates/Mandate urgency
  • And the name of your fortress/kingdom instead of 'Dwarf Fortress' up the top?

add as needed!
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Olith McHuman

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2010, 03:49:04 am »

What I would really like to see is a temperature gauge on the k menu. Even just using the same temperature adjectives used in adventurer mode would be fine (hot, cold, deathly cold, etc.) (actually, that might be better then just a number).
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Kurouma

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2010, 06:41:30 am »

Yeah, descriptors go better than numbers, which are probably just useful for modders.
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Jake

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2010, 08:01:44 am »

What I would really like to see is a temperature gauge on the k menu. Even just using the same temperature adjectives used in adventurer mode would be fine (hot, cold, deathly cold, etc.) (actually, that might be better then just a number).
That does make more sense, actually. Maybe have an interface widget to indicate the outside temperature with shorthand symbols for freezing, cold, temperate etc and a precise readout in degrees in the k-menu?
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Never used Dwarf Therapist, mods or tilesets in all the years I've been playing.
I think Toady's confusing interface better simulates the experience of a bunch of disorganised drunken dwarves running a fort.

Black Powder Firearms - Superior firepower, realistic manufacturing and rocket launchers!

electromagneticpulse

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2010, 11:50:08 am »

What I would really like to see is a temperature gauge on the k menu. Even just using the same temperature adjectives used in adventurer mode would be fine (hot, cold, deathly cold, etc.) (actually, that might be better then just a number).

I'd ditto this. I'd like it if temperature was truly variable, a Dwarf outside in his skinnies should surely be getting frostbitten when he's in a snow storm. Similarly, the temperature should be a little hot when you're in a magma chamber with no airflow.

I would like to see ventilation being important in mining. Not only could it be used to control Miasma and magma mist, but it adds an element of danger. Dig too deep and not ventilate? Well you might just hit a methane cloud near that coal deposit and suffocate your dwarves.

I doubt we'll see it for quite a while, would probably be an FPS killer too, but it would be nice to have to heat an outside castle and have the risk of a furnace burning down your wooden fort.
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Jake

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2010, 02:24:33 pm »

Local temperature varies a bit already, though it's not especially detailed yet; if it's freezing outside your dwarves suffer brown wounds anywhere they aren't wearing something, but any inside tiles are considered warm enough to wander around naked in.
Ventilation has had a few threads of its own in the past, and the consensus has usually ben that it'd be nice to have in some form, but it's more trouble than it's worth to implement at this stage.
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Never used Dwarf Therapist, mods or tilesets in all the years I've been playing.
I think Toady's confusing interface better simulates the experience of a bunch of disorganised drunken dwarves running a fort.

Black Powder Firearms - Superior firepower, realistic manufacturing and rocket launchers!

Knigel

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2010, 02:28:28 pm »

I'd rather have it in centigrade really, if only so I wouldn't need a calculator to mod in new materials, but having to cope with negative numbers would probably screw things up royally.

I'm pretty sure a thermometer would just have the "real" number put through some function before being displayed, not actually calculated in new units.
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Jake

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2010, 02:50:28 pm »

I'm pretty sure a thermometer would just have the "real" number put through some function before being displayed, not actually calculated in new units.
That would be just fine by me, especially since plenty of people will prefer farenheit. But is a more rational temperature scale 'under the hood' too much to ask?
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Never used Dwarf Therapist, mods or tilesets in all the years I've been playing.
I think Toady's confusing interface better simulates the experience of a bunch of disorganised drunken dwarves running a fort.

Black Powder Firearms - Superior firepower, realistic manufacturing and rocket launchers!

jei

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2010, 09:15:41 pm »

I'm pretty sure a thermometer would just have the "real" number put through some function before being displayed, not actually calculated in new units.
That would be just fine by me, especially since plenty of people will prefer farenheit. But is a more rational temperature scale 'under the hood' too much to ask?
Most of the planet would prefer we moved on to Celsius, but that has never stopped people from using irrational units.
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Knigel

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2010, 12:38:30 am »

That would be just fine by me, especially since plenty of people will prefer farenheit. But is a more rational temperature scale 'under the hood' too much to ask?

Well, we should probably ask Toady exactly why he used such a system in the first place. I'm sure he has some reason.

I suspect it's because without materials having specific heat temperature flow would be even more unrealistic, possibly something about scaling things up not working right, or maybe it's just a coding thing.
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Wyrm

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2010, 12:59:32 pm »

The Urist temperature scale is put together such that you can unnaturally cold objects, below that of absolute zero — though negative temperature exists, it doesn't work at all the way you'd expect.

(I think...)
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Chocolatemilkgod

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Re: Interface Addition: Temperature Gauge
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2010, 06:10:37 pm »

Something like a temperature guage would be nice. Just as long as it's basic and it doesn't crash FPS.
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