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[NW_Kohaku]

Because I've seen this being asked around the modding forum fairly frequently, and all we have are some barely-functional workarounds, I'd like to ask for Toady to spend a little time making graphics that are capable of recognizing castes. 

Especially in modded races where castes can be radically different from one another (like worker and soldier and queen antpeople, for example), and having almost everything about the data in a creature being caste-level except for graphics and a couple things that couldn't be caste-level for specific interbreeding reasons, it seems like not having caste-level graphics was just an oversight.

Looking back, I also see an old suggestion I made back last year, asking for a caste name, rather than a "♀" sign under a dwarf's name.

Again, these just seem like really simple oversights that wouldn't take much work to add a functionality that really should be there.

[IT 000]

Supported.

[EmperorJon]

Caste name and adding caste graphics supported with possibly one exception, the name would still have the gender tag after it, or maybe if the case was simply called Male or Female the game would just leave the tag.

[NW_Kohaku]

Right now, it just says

Code: [Select]

Name, job
♀/♂
It can, however, say:

Code: [Select]

Name, job
♀/♂ castename/creaturename
Right now, there isn't even something that tells you in a creature's v-status page that the creature you are looking at is a dwarf.  It's just assumed.  If you have more than one type of creature as your playable civ, then you can't tell anything about the creature besides its gender outside of having a different tile for each type of caste or creature.

[Sutremaine]

You can alter the profession names for each caste, but it's a pain in the backside and bloats the creature raw. As it stands the game barely uses the given caste names for civ creatures -- you have to alter the peasant names to see what you're even getting on embark.

So yeah, more caste support in general would be very good.

[Bohandas]

You can alter the profession names for each caste, but it's a pain in the backside and bloats the creature raw. As it stands the game barely uses the given caste names for civ creatures -- you have to alter the peasant names to see what you're even getting on embark.

So yeah, more caste support in general would be very good.

You could move the species description to the caste level and then look at each embark member's description.

[NW_Kohaku]

You could move the species description to the caste level and then look at each embark member's description.

You can do this (it's the only way I can tell my guys apart, aside from giving them different tiles), but it is inconvenient to do so, compared to just putting it up on the look page.

[Sutremaine]

You could move the species description to the caste level and then look at each embark member's description.

I have caste-level descriptions as well. It's a little bit annoying checking seven individuals to see how the caste ratios pan out at embark, and would be even worse if I were adding more creatures to simulate a full fortress.

[NW_Kohaku]

Worse still, Dwarf Therapist doesn't have Caste Support, either.  Chmod quit working on it soon after 31.01, and never got around to those.  So all castes beyond the first one are marked "female" by default, regardless of caste or gender.

[Bohandas]

Worse still, Dwarf Therapist doesn't have Caste Support, either....

A workaround for dwarf therapist would be to give each caste a different natural skill level in alchemy or some other unused skill. This would make them identifiable in the main labors screen of dwarf therapist.

[Bohandas]

I'd just like to say that despite the existence of these workarounds that I've mentioned, easier lookup od castes would be appreciated.

[Sutremaine]

And the workarounds require modding, which shouldn't be the case. I wonder how many people play pure vanilla DF?

[Jeoshua]

Probably not alot, given how much fun you can have with mods.  There are a few, tho.  Thing is, to even notice the lack of caste graphics, you need mods.

More support for castes, in general, would be nice.  I'd like to be able to make a caste of males who do not impregnate women (sterile men).  You can fake sterile women, but worldgen doesn't take this into account and gives them babies anyways, or so it seems.  They would be a low segment of the population, but they would deffinitely help keep down the population explosions.

Also, it would be nice to have a caste that works like real-world indian castes did.  You can move up or down the ladder under extreme circumstances, but for the most part you are stuck where you were born.  And your caste is your parents' caste.  And presumably your grandparents' caste as well.

I'd use a more comprehensive caste system to make the "sentient" creature.  Elves, Humans, and Dwarves together as one Creature entry.  Elf + Elf = Elf.  Elf + Human = Half-elf.  Half-elf + Elf = Elf, and so on.  Dwarves wouldn't get to breed with Elves, but could breed with Humans to create Muls (who are sterile).  Maybe that's all wishful thinking, but fantasy literature is rife with humans bearing an ancient touch of the blood of the gods/fairies/dragons/elves, and it would be nice to model this.