Finally downloaded the new version and I'm giving it a go with a new fort. Looks good so far, I've taken back my comments about the castes before. I think it's a reasonable extrapolation of what we know, and without it the ponies do seem sort of too special. I've noticed a couple of oddities though: seems that overwhelming majority of the pegasi I get are solid black. I noticed this in my previous fort too. I kind of dug through the raws to mod a few other things, but didn't see a cause. I dunno. Other thing I noticed is that I haven't gotten any ents with migrant waves yet. Maybe I'm just unlucky.
This fort is turning out to be a lot more interesting than my last fort for a number of reasons. First off, I'm trying a primarily above ground fort since that seems more pony like than digging way underground (although I do have a quarry). Things are progressing much more slowly, as expected when you're working primarily with wood.
Secondly, this is my first experience with kobold like things, since I never played 40d and kobolds are bugged and die off now. The diamond dogs haven't done much yet, but they've been showing up with worrying frequency. I read back some pages that they were actual dog sized, so they're not that dangerous right?
If this fort makes it a little longer, I was considering posting a thread in the stories board tracking its progress. Not sure I want to make it a community fort though, since the Glitterglen fort still seems to be going strong. A pretty entertaining read, that thread is.
In other news, new comic up: My Little Fortress: Fluttershy Meh, Celestia's should be much more interesting.
Diamond are actually dog sized, yes, so they're easy to deal with. They should probably be sized up a little, say about slippy pony sized, which would make them non-trivial but still quite easy to deal with, and is about the size of the jay pegasi. I usually get at least one ent(often a sapling) per migration wave, and I get crimson bananas and golden oranges often enough that I wonder if it's not respecting pop ratios. I don't know what could be causing the solid black thing, would you mind posting a description, and maybe whatever's between [SELECT_CASTE:FEMALE_PEGASUS] and [SELECT_CASTE:FEMALE_UNICORN] in your raws? Are all the pegasi like that all one gender? In which case, it might be a freak occurrence, it's certainly possible for a pony to be all black, but it does look like a bug. One thing you might want to check is that [SELECT_CASTE:ALL] is still there beneath the last royal caste's skill rate modifiers, that can lead to some errors.
EDIT: Also, a question: what's with the creature tanks? I don't get this, is this a reference? To what?
it's a reference to "art of the dress" specifically, the part where she's planning out rainbow's ensemble
Seriously? Wasn't that just a fashion statement/saying ?
Yes, but it implies tanks are a thing in Equestria, so ponies either have mechanised infantry, or it's something I can actually implement in Dorf Fort and we can have a giggle over. Plus, a large, grazing reptilian brings a nice cost/benefit problem, in that you have to be prepared to deal with a beast lightly less ravenous than a water buffalo, that produces five to ten hatchlings per litter and produces shell when butchered.
Still working on writing that piece, but got some questions.
This is an part of it:
New armor for pony creatures:
Peytral - Chest armor for ponies.
Crupper - Armor for the pony flank. (Protect your plot!)
Chanfron - Your basic pony helmet.
Caparisons - A cloth cover often used in conjunction with other pony armor. It's usually worn over other pieces of armor to hide how much of it is actually worn. The higher the status of the owner the more beautiful and elaborate it's design.
Bandanas - Unicorn only item, horn armor item. (necessary to please dwarf fortress)
Hankies - Pony item, mouth armor item. (necessary to please dwarf fortress)
Umbrella Hat - A pinkie invention. You know you want one!
PROBLEMS:
1st: A possible spelling mistake: Chanfron (as copyed from the raw file), wikipedia however calls it Chamfron, with an m.
2nd: I took some liberty with the Caparisons description which may not reflect dwarf fortress reality. Let me know if it's ok or not.
3dr: I'm not sure about the Bandanas and Hankies, read a long while back that they are for the grasping appendages on the pony creatures so I just put down "necessary to please dwarf fortress"
EDIT: I've yet to see any Alfalfa or beet pulp foods in the game, might be nice to have. Found some info here:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/hrs3243
EDIT: The [HARD],[METAL],[SOFT],[LEATHER],[BARRED],[SCALED] captions under each armor item, are these just properties the armor has or are these the different variations of the item that can be made?
EDIT: Also, a question: what's with the creature tanks? I don't get this, is this a reference? To what?
Bandanas and hankies will actually be worn over mouths, too. In the first version of the mod, unicorns would walk around with mittens and gloves on their horns, and everybody would be nibbling mittens and gloves. Considering both those parts are part of the head, a chanfron will probably protect it, but I included grasper-wear just in case.
Caparisons are usually thought of as decorative, but tests with heavy leather caparisons have indicated they'd provide some protection against arrows and small weapons. They certainly provide protection in Dorf Fort.
I've seen chanfron spelt at least four or five different ways, they predate dictionaries.
[METAL] means it can be made of metal, [SOFT] means it can be made of silk/cloth/yarn and will wear out, [LEATHER] means it can be made of leather, [BARRED] means bone, [SCALED], I think, means shell, and [HARD] just means it doesn't wear out.
I've been thinking about expanding the grains to more "horsey" things like hay. Since I'm adding [CAN_SPEAK] to most farm animals, which will make them need to eat like people, being able to turn the wheats and whip vines into low-cost feed would be useful. They'll respect pastures, though, like how gremlins will starve if you pasture them away from food, so they could be limited to cheap food. Beet pulp's a good idea, I've been thinking the sweet pods(basically sugar beets) will need rejigging when the cocktail arc comes around to make rum production more realistic, making it require syrup instead of the base food, and adding a beet pulp product there would be easy. Maybe a reaction convert rotten food to swill, too, for the pigs.
Can I have this mod work with the Wanderer's Friend mod? If not, what adjustments should I make?
Looking at the description of it, you'll need to copy the new reaction permissions Wanderer's Friend adds into the pony civs. I don't know what changes it makes to materials, if they're all added to creatures using the standard body plans, they should be fine, otherwise you will need to copy over new bits in changed files, especially if you want special materials made of tank scale or whatever. I'll have a proper look later, but there's a readme and resources guide included in the download that explains the changes I've made to vanilla. I'm going to be updating in the next couple of weeks to make things a lot more transparent and easier to read, while squashing a few bugs.
For increasing pony success, I'm still not sure how to do it deliberately, but if you copy the site type and biome support from zebras, ponies should become more successful. I think it's mostly a problem with worldgen's food production, though I'm going to mess around and see if I can make ponies more successful and nerf griffons and zebras a little.
