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[Xenos]

So, unless gravity magically increases, ants can be dropped from low orbit?

Supposedly.  This also assumes that they do not suffocate or get blown into water on their way down.

Or, you know, burn up in the atmosphere.  There still is plenty of friction.

Unless you started the ant's free-fall far enough away that it was moving significantly faster than its velocity at equilibrium (maximum normal velocity in the atmosphere) it shouldn't be burning up.

I take it back, I thought low orbit to mean outside the atmosphere.

low orbit would still have traces of atmosphere.  If the ant were dropped from far orbit or a little past where there is virtually no atmosphere, it would accelerate without bound until it hit the atmosphere, and then would burn up.  Low orbit could do that but it depends if you mean a true low orbit or if it is just meant as "frakkin high up."

What I want to see tested is whether or not "stagnant water" causes infection more often than "water" when used to clean dwarves without soap.  Or even compare with soap. 

[peregarrett]

Warning SCIENCE content:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I tested falling dwarves in arena mode [31.18] and got interesting results. On impact, the ground generates a semi-random number of blunt attacks (2-9) against random body parts. Most clothing doesn't appear to protect against this damage. The damage usually breaks bones in the area, or heavily bruises tissue (turning organs cyan). More attacks appear to be generated when you fall from a greater height.

On average, 20% of fallers die of brain damage on impact, and 15% die of suffocation due to upper/middle spine fracture. 35% average death rate for heights between 2z and 8z. 1z falls suffer no injury. I couldn't test more than 8z in the arena. You'd need a fort to test greater heights.

A dwarf can fall 2z, land on his head, and die. A dwarf can also fall 8z and live, though all survivors have broken bones and are unconscious from the pain.

Odd stuff:
-only breastplates and greaves appear to deflect the damage
-helms do nothing to protect against brain damage from falls
-each "ground attack" trains armor user and dodger skill
-armor user and dodger skills don't reduce/avoid damage
-heavy animals don't suffer more than light animals
-hard materials like teeth, tusks, and bronze are often severed
-creatures with many body parts fare better than ones with few body parts
-GCS are boneless, painless, have many spare legs, making excellent drop troops

Raw data:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1z:

20 dropped, no injury
_____________________________________________________
2z:

20 dropped
3 died after colliding with an obstacle (skull fractured into brain)
2 suffocated in short order (both had middle or upper spine damage, no lung damage!)
15 unconscious with broken bones, vomiting

number of "ground attacks"

1
2xxx
3xx
4xxxxxxx
5xxxxx
6xxx
7
_____________________________________________________
3z:

20 dropped
2 died cwo (skull=>brain)
6 suffocated (spine broken)
12 survivors

1
2
3xxxxx
4xxxxxx
5xxxx
6xxx
7xx
_____________________________________________________
4z:

20 dropped
5 died cwo (skull=>brain)
1 suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3x
4xxxxxxxxx
5xxxxx
6xxx
7xx
8
_____________________________________________________
5z:

20 dropped
5 died cwo (skull=>brain)
2 suffocated (spine)
13 survivors

1
2
3x
4xx
5xxxxxxx
6xxxx
7xxxxx
8x
_____________________________________________________
6z:

20 dropped
3 died cwo (skull=>brain)
3 suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3
4
5xxxx
6xxxxxxxx
7xxxx
8xx
9xx
_____________________________________________________
7z:

20 dropped
6  died cwo (skull=>brain)
4  suffocated (spine)
10 survivors

1
2
3
4xx
5x
6xxxxxx
7xxxxxxx
8x
9xxx
_____________________________________________________
8z:

20 dropped
5  died cwo (skull=>brain)
1  suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3
4
5xxx
6xx
7xxxxxx
8xxxxx
9xxxx
______________________________________________________
9z+: need to test in a fort, not arena

WOW! That's full and clear investigation!

[Xenos]

Warning SCIENCE content:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I tested falling dwarves in arena mode [31.18] and got interesting results. On impact, the ground generates a semi-random number of blunt attacks (2-9) against random body parts. Most clothing doesn't appear to protect against this damage. The damage usually breaks bones in the area, or heavily bruises tissue (turning organs cyan). More attacks appear to be generated when you fall from a greater height.

On average, 20% of fallers die of brain damage on impact, and 15% die of suffocation due to upper/middle spine fracture. 35% average death rate for heights between 2z and 8z. 1z falls suffer no injury. I couldn't test more than 8z in the arena. You'd need a fort to test greater heights.

A dwarf can fall 2z, land on his head, and die. A dwarf can also fall 8z and live, though all survivors have broken bones and are unconscious from the pain.

Odd stuff:
-only breastplates and greaves appear to deflect the damage
-helms do nothing to protect against brain damage from falls
-each "ground attack" trains armor user and dodger skill
-armor user and dodger skills don't reduce/avoid damage
-heavy animals don't suffer more than light animals
-hard materials like teeth, tusks, and bronze are often severed
-creatures with many body parts fare better than ones with few body parts
-GCS are boneless, painless, have many spare legs, making excellent drop troops

Raw data:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1z:

20 dropped, no injury
_____________________________________________________
2z:

20 dropped
3 died after colliding with an obstacle (skull fractured into brain)
2 suffocated in short order (both had middle or upper spine damage, no lung damage!)
15 unconscious with broken bones, vomiting

number of "ground attacks"

1
2xxx
3xx
4xxxxxxx
5xxxxx
6xxx
7
_____________________________________________________
3z:

20 dropped
2 died cwo (skull=>brain)
6 suffocated (spine broken)
12 survivors

1
2
3xxxxx
4xxxxxx
5xxxx
6xxx
7xx
_____________________________________________________
4z:

20 dropped
5 died cwo (skull=>brain)
1 suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3x
4xxxxxxxxx
5xxxxx
6xxx
7xx
8
_____________________________________________________
5z:

20 dropped
5 died cwo (skull=>brain)
2 suffocated (spine)
13 survivors

1
2
3x
4xx
5xxxxxxx
6xxxx
7xxxxx
8x
_____________________________________________________
6z:

20 dropped
3 died cwo (skull=>brain)
3 suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3
4
5xxxx
6xxxxxxxx
7xxxx
8xx
9xx
_____________________________________________________
7z:

20 dropped
6  died cwo (skull=>brain)
4  suffocated (spine)
10 survivors

1
2
3
4xx
5x
6xxxxxx
7xxxxxxx
8x
9xxx
_____________________________________________________
8z:

20 dropped
5  died cwo (skull=>brain)
1  suffocated (spine)
14 survivors

1
2
3
4
5xxx
6xx
7xxxxxx
8xxxxx
9xxxx
______________________________________________________
9z+: need to test in a fort, not arena

WOW! That's full and clear investigation!

That makes me happy
Do bolts benefit more from having an increased mass or more from having a better cutting edge?  (should I focus on silver bolts, or should I make iron bolts?)

[thijser]

Maybe you could put it on the testing page ?
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Military_testing

[Urist Da Vinci]

What I want to see tested is whether or not "stagnant water" causes infection more often than "water" when used to clean dwarves without soap.  Or even compare with soap.

I'd suggest getting a few dwarves cut up, make a backup save file, and then try out the various healthcare options to see if it matters. Dwarves have different disease resistances, so you use alternate-reality (save file) versions of themselves as the control group. What kind of time is required for infections to appear after an injury? I've never had any infections with patients at my forts, even when the doctors were lazy.

Do bolts benefit more from having an increased mass or more from having a better cutting edge?  (should I focus on silver bolts, or should I make iron bolts?)

I noticed that if bolts cannot penetrate armor, they often still do blunt damage. Bolts have a very small contact area and a high velocity, so they can chip bone through armor like a whip if they don't penetrate. This is very good for disabling, because of the high pain associated with bone injury in the game. However, the target simply won't die unless their skull is fractured into their brain.

I recommend steel, iron, or bronze bolts because they are more likely to penetrate armor and skewer organs. The targets tend to bleed out faster as well. If the targets are unarmored, any bolt will do fine.

Hilariously, adamantine bolts (which have the density of styrofoam) easily penetrate any armor and cause all sorts of nasty internal tearing and bleeding, except for adamantine armor, which they harmlessly deflect off.