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[Naryar]

ALSO, the goals of ancient alchemists were not as unrealistic as we are generally led to believe:

Well, explain me how you can turn lead into gold with subatomic chemical reactions like they did.

[Girlinhat]

Well, explain me how you can turn lead into gold with subatomic chemical reactions like they wanted to do.

They never actually did it.

[Naryar]

Obviously didn't re-read my post 

[forsaken1111]

While it may never be commonplace to transmute lead into gold, it is practical to obtain gold from lead ores. The minerals galena (lead sulfide, PbS), cerussite (lead carbonate, PbCO3), and anglesite (lead sulfate, PbSO4) often contain zinc, gold, silver, and other metals. Once the ore has been pulverized, chemical techniques are sufficient to separate the gold from the lead. The result is almost alchemy...almost.

That isn't alchemy. It is extracting trace amounts of metal. Chemistry certainly, alchemy? no. Not even close.

[Bohandas]

Well, explain me how you can turn lead into gold with subatomic chemical reactions like they wanted to do.

They never actually did it.

But he DID transmute BISMUTH into gold

http://prc.aps.org/abstract/PRC/v23/i3/p1044_1

[Lord Zack]

I'd like to see something that most people think is an anachronism, but isn't. That being (albeit primitive) firearms. Dwarf Fortress is supposed to be basically based on the 14th century right? Well firearms appeared in Europe in the 14th century. However, many people have an ingrained dislike of firearms in fantasy, so I'm not sure whether they'd ever appear in Dwarf Fortress. Also, medieval firearms sucked in comparison to later versions, and weren't really all that better in comparison to other weapons of the time.

[JohnieRWilkins]

I'd like to see something that most people think is an anachronism, but isn't. That being (albeit primitive) firearms. Dwarf Fortress is supposed to be basically based on the 14th century right? Well firearms appeared in Europe in the 14th century. However, many people have an ingrained dislike of firearms in fantasy, so I'm not sure whether they'd ever appear in Dwarf Fortress. Also, medieval firearms sucked in comparison to later versions, and weren't really all that better in comparison to other weapons of the time.

Think about this for more than a minute. Are you sure you want firearms? That means no more knights, or melee weapons, or heroes and co. If crossbows are the instant death of all adventurers, think of how much death firearms would be. If they were implemented realistically I mean and not WC3 gimmicks you're probably thinking of.

But I'm all for barrels of gunpowder to detonate castles, dragons, nobles, and their goblin friends. I think that can be implemented without being gamebreaking.

[Girlinhat]

I'd support cannons, perhaps shoddy cannons that aren't actually cannons, like detonating a gunpowder barrel in a narrow tunnel and launching stray bricks out at high speed.  This would be hilarious and adaptable to many situations, but would require an actual explosive template that the game lacks right now.  A siege engine that fires stones or blocks and uses gunpowder, might be fun as well.  As for actual guns?  I like armor too much, and no armor really protects against bullets.  Even after a few hundred years of development, soldiers still struggle to block bullets.  Maybe if they were shod-awful, with no accuracy and do less damage to organs, more damage to muscle and bone, MAYBE, but it's too un-balancing.  Which would be accurate.  Firearms unbalanced the battlefield in the real world.  But there must be differences made, and sometimes you have to sacrifice historical accuracy to make the game playable.

[Bohandas]

I'd like to see something that most people think is an anachronism, but isn't. That being (albeit primitive) firearms. Dwarf Fortress is supposed to be basically based on the 14th century right? Well firearms appeared in Europe in the 14th century. However, many people have an ingrained dislike of firearms in fantasy, so I'm not sure whether they'd ever appear in Dwarf Fortress. Also, medieval firearms sucked in comparison to later versions, and weren't really all that better in comparison to other weapons of the time.

Think about this for more than a minute. Are you sure you want firearms? That means no more knights, or melee weapons, or heroes and co. If crossbows are the instant death of all adventurers, think of how much death firearms would be. If they were implemented realistically I mean and not WC3 gimmicks you're probably thinking of.

But I'm all for barrels of gunpowder to detonate castles, dragons, nobles, and their goblin friends. I think that can be implemented without being gamebreaking.

What about grenades? Grenades wiould be cool (and they date all the way back to the 1100's).

[TerryDactyl]

ALSO, the goals of ancient alchemists were not as unrealistic as we are generally led to believe:

Well, explain me how you can turn lead into gold with subatomic chemical reactions like they did.

The goals of ancient alchemists were more accurately the PHILOSOPHICAL transmutation of "lead" into "gold". Of course, there were those misguided fools, "Puffers", who wasted their lives attempting to perform said operation on a chemical level. Needless to say, they failed.

What about grenades? Grenades wiould be cool (and they date all the way back to the 1100's).

Or pitch... or aiming mechanisms for siege engines...

[JohnieRWilkins]

But there must be differences made, and sometimes you have to sacrifice historical accuracy to make the game playable.

I demand you retract that statement immediately. DF is great only because it doesn't sacrifice scientific validity for half-baked subjective notions of "fun gameplay." Everything about DF says that Toady strives for his game to obey science rather than handwave away physics and chemistry at every opportunity, something that every other game does as some stupid rule.

Also, grenades? I think that strong adventurers will be able to throw entire barrels of explosives with their fuses in the future. I just wouldn't really want someone to throw a barrel of explosives at my adventurer. That would be an overdose of fun.

[Lord Zack]

I'd like to see something that most people think is an anachronism, but isn't. That being (albeit primitive) firearms. Dwarf Fortress is supposed to be basically based on the 14th century right? Well firearms appeared in Europe in the 14th century. However, many people have an ingrained dislike of firearms in fantasy, so I'm not sure whether they'd ever appear in Dwarf Fortress. Also, medieval firearms sucked in comparison to later versions, and weren't really all that better in comparison to other weapons of the time.

Think about this for more than a minute. Are you sure you want firearms? That means no more knights, or melee weapons, or heroes and co. If crossbows are the instant death of all adventurers, think of how much death firearms would be. If they were implemented realistically I mean and not WC3 gimmicks you're probably thinking of.

But I'm all for barrels of gunpowder to detonate castles, dragons, nobles, and their goblin friends. I think that can be implemented without being gamebreaking.

Medieval firearms (yes there was such a thing) were pretty much not any better than a crossbow. It took hundreds of years before they ended the dominance of the knight and castle. The idea that the introduction of the firearm instantly ended the middle ages is nothing more than a very pervasive myth.

[Bohandas]

But there must be differences made, and sometimes you have to sacrifice historical accuracy to make the game playable.

I demand you retract that statement immediately. DF is great only because it doesn't sacrifice scientific validity for half-baked subjective notions of "fun gameplay." Everything about DF says that Toady strives for his game to obey science rather than handwave away physics and chemistry at every opportunity, something that every other game does as some stupid rule.

  Yes, historically there certainly were a lot of elves and dwarves and hydras and stuff running around during medieval times......

[TerryDactyl]

Sure. I think they were called "Pagans", at the time.

[Bohandas]

But there must be differences made, and sometimes you have to sacrifice historical accuracy to make the game playable.

I demand you retract that statement immediately. DF is great only because it doesn't sacrifice scientific validity for half-baked subjective notions of "fun gameplay." Everything about DF says that Toady strives for his game to obey science rather than handwave away physics and chemistry at every opportunity, something that every other game does as some stupid rule.

  Yes, historically there certainly were a lot of elves and dwarves and hydras and stuff running around during medieval times......

Sure. I think they were called "Pagans", at the time.

There were people who believed in things like elves and hydras, but there were no actual elves and hydras