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[Maugrimmau]

Had this idea in the back of my mind for some time now, so I'm just throwing it out here, apologies if it's been considered before.

Wouldn't it be interesting to relate the aura of a region (good/evil, though I know this is being phased out.. presence of curses, etc.) to the thickness of the layer of spoilerite below? The conceit being that the Clowns are restless and can make their presence felt more in the thin places?

Dwarves in the know would then have incentive to embark in the good-leaning regions, knowing that there are bountiful riches to be had if they dig deep enough... but as they actually went ahead and dug it out, the region would gradually take on a more sinister appearance, eyeball grasses would start to dominate, the dead would start to rise, and so forth.

I guess this would give dwarves a bad rep pretty quickly if they made a habit of it 

[Draco18s]

Oohh, this is a clever idea.  I like.

+1

[blizzerd]

what if a fort has a circus going on, and is abandoned?

would the area on the map turn evil for a large spot or?

[Draco18s]

what if a fort has a circus going on, and is abandoned?

would the area on the map turn evil for a large spot or?

That kind of stuff I'd leave to Toady.  The best things for developers with ideas like this one is to say, "wouldn't it be cool if the thinner the spoilerite is, the more the surface landscape goes evil"? and let the Dev figure out what kinds of fun things to do with it

[Conflict]

Neat idea

[Mckee]

Sounds like a good idea.

[Jeoshua]

Nice, simple, and logical.  I can't think of anything to add to it, except maybe that it should vary not just in thickness but in depth, by Savagery and Evil, so that:

Serene - Deep and thick.  If you can get down there, theres goodies to be had.
Mirthful - Normal but thick barrier.  Goodies at a normal depth, but more of them.
Joyus Wilds - Shallow and thick.  Lots of goodies possibly reaching into the first cavern.

Calm - Deep.  Large somewhat boring caverns, with nothing much to show for it.
Wilderness - As normal.  This would be equivalent to what we have now.
Untamed Wilds - Shallow.  Spires reaching into the caverns, but most likely not safe.

Sinister - Deep and thin.  The caverns are bigger and much more dangerous.
Haunted - Normal but thin.  Possible breaks lead to nasty caverns.
Terrifying - Shallow and thin. The Fortresses would be around the 1st cavern layer...

For added fun, the more Evil the area, the bigger the Fortress.  Maybe taking up a 4x4 area if it's at 100 Evil, 2x2 at 50, and only 1x1 at 0 Evilness (100 Good)

[DrKillPatient]

If the spoilerite 'barrier' is less in terrifying regions, wouldn't it kind of be unproductive to embark with murderous zombie creatures when a serene environment gives more of the stuff? Perhaps that'd make terrifying stuff more of a challenge, actually...

[Draco18s]

Well, there doesn't necessarily have to be less of it, just that it's more difficult to mine without breaching the pits.  More hollow.

[Jeoshua]

That's what I envisioned being the case with the settings like that.  Already this happens to a degree in "bugged" areas, so we at least know it's possible for the engine to actually throw things like broken underground stuff into the overworld.

Maybe 100% Terrifying areas could have a degree of that "hell laid open upon the earth" happening.

[Scaraban]

Neat idea.

[Maugrimmau]

Thanks for the feedback, guys - I guess if you all like it then maybe Toady will too

Hadn't thought about the depth aspect - I'm not sure whether tying it to savagery would be the right thing (savagery seems more like something that would vary naturally due to the surface environment?) but it certainly ought to have an effect somehow.

[Umune]

the thickness of the layer of spoilerite below?

If this counted the added layers in mountains, wouldn't dwarves have a much easier time of surviving?

[Urist McArmok]

That.. sounds awesome. And it would help explain exactly *why* in certain areas everyone goes crazy and the land itself tries to kill you.

edit: Conjunction fail.

[Vercingetorix]

I really like that general idea, especially if it were affected by your mining as well; namely, the more you dig out the greater the possibility the atmosphere of the location would shift towards a more evil alignment.  However, on the other hand it would be interesting to have ways of re-sealing breached tubes or strengthening those seals and "purifying" the region either in adventure or dwarf mode; the thought of building a DF version of Watcher's Keep to contain some great evil is intriguing, and the thought of a powerful enough hero or civilization driving back those monsters and sealing them again is equally interesting.

This also fits in to some things I'd like to see as far as the &&& go; there should be multiple tiers so to speak of them, much like regular beasts, semi-megabeasts and megabeasts.  The third category would be demons almost godly in strength and abilities; this of course could also tie in to the thickness of the spoilerite...thickness can either be a good thing or a very, very bad thing depending on what actually lurks below it.  It's also possible those very powerful ones would be more interested in mastery over the civilization rather than its extermination; right now, they seem to be basically bestial in dwarf mode except for human/goblin leaders.