Happy 2013, Narhiril. Hope this will be a good year for both you and your wonderful mod
So, what's the general idea for the next update?
It's taken a rather radical turn after Meph informed me about this plugin that is in development. It's going to take me a bit of time to get everything working, but the plugin uses DFHack to allow a syndrome to be placed directly on a unit (or units, if specified) rather than having to be inhaled randomly. While the documentation has been released for it, the actual plugin won't be released until the next version of DFHack, so I can get to work getting everything set up, but the release is going to have to wait for the plugin to be finished.
After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided that the newer versions of LFR are going to be moving towards full integration of DFHack and its plugins simply because they allow for some exciting new possibilities that mods like Masterwork and Genesis are already starting to utilize. I am reluctant to create any sort of external dependencies, but the increase in both balancing and creative potential has gotten hard for me to ignore.
The way it works is rather exciting, and allows me to utilize the plugin for a "unit creation" reaction with 100% effectiveness, and still keep things like experimental disasters entirely random. It's going to be a bit of work to go back and modify a bunch of existing documentation and reactions to use this new system, but I think it's going to be a lot more pleasing once it's done. Here are a list of changes you can expect to see in the coming days:
-Mechanical construct assembly will no longer fail. Ever.
-Tier 3 ritual units will now have a set cost to build and will always succeed.
-Stacking a bunch of dwarves on top of a workshop to increase the chances of a successful inhalation will no longer be necessary - or effective.
-Tier 4 ritual units (currently only paragons are finished) will have two possible methods of creation. The originally planned random effect (risky) reaction will remain as-is, complete with demonic possessions, curses, etc. A safe, 100% success reaction will be added, but this reaction will require a substantial number of additional reagents.
-It will now be possible to station a squad of soldiers inside a temple to receive a blessing before sending them to battle. I haven't even started on the raws for this, but this plugin makes it possible.
-Effectively coating weapons with poison.
-A building that creates power (a coal version, a magma version, and a lustrum version).
-Manual targeting of siege engines - including firing across z-levels.
-Magical weapons and ammunition.
Stay tuned!