Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vanzetti]

I was thinking about how to make elven gameplay unique, and yet retaining the diversity of dwarf fortress.

My idea is this: instead of digging a mine, you are growing a huge-ass tree. You designate a central trunk, branches extending from it, and perhaps various other things like "flowers", "fruits" etc that may have special attributes. The difference between this and a tree-shaped dwarven megaproject is that a tree isn`t built, it grows. So when you want it higher you designate the base level of your trunk, and then the entire structure moves 1 z-level up and stands on the new base.

How do you retain the random diversity of stones and ores found DF? By having many different kinds of branches that can grow on your uber-tree. You design the shape of the branches, using your elven woodoo, but what type will grow is up to the gods. So you randomly get all kinds of woods, leaves and fruits that you use for creating stuff.

It gets much more complicated better. The middle of the trunk is a Stele, a vascular tissue that transports water (Xylem) and nutrients (Phloem) up your uber-tree. You need to design them both. The higher and bigger your tree gets, the more transpirational pull you need. Transpirational pull is created by water evaporating from leaves, so you will need more leaves - and more water. If you are in a dry climate, you will need to grow roots in search of water deep underground. And if you fail, parts of your tree will dry, wither and break off. And since it begins with the higher branches, they will fall on the lower, still functioning branches, creating much fun for you and your treehuggers.

The way your uber-tree grows also depends on the environment. Things like wind speed and direction, temperature, day length, light exposure, atmosphere pressure and geology will all influence the way your tree grows, so you have to consider them when you design.

You create various rooms and tunnels by "mining" inside your tree. This way you can also create hollow roots, to breach and colonize the Caverns for the glory of the elfs. Then you can grow the roots even deeper and discover why dwarves don`t live forever...

What do you think?

[Megaman_zx]

if i could ever play fortress mode as elves, i would, even if it was vanilla, but the tree thing sounds really unique and stupidinteresting. jk on the stupid thing, i thought it looked funny.

[stabbymcstabstab]

this pretty good and i think toady might and i mean might work on this near the end of this there if the great one finishes the caravan arc and starts working on the army arc

[GreatWyrmGold]

This sounds awesome.
Twig farms, tended by elven acolytes, giving wood for those who are not rude enought to kill the tree without asking first.

[jseah]

I would say do the uber tree thing, but instead of making it a hardcoded addition, make the ubertree building or zone or whatever it is not a unique thing. 

Then apply NWKohaku's farming suggestions to make growing that tree require study of nutrients and the ecosystem. 

Imagine, not just growing one tree, but growing the whole forest itself. 

[thunktone]

Sounds interesting. Nitpicking though, trees don't grow from the base and push themselves up, only grasses do that. Trees grow at the tip of the branches and only get broader lower down. Most of the matter (carbon) is absorbed by the leaves from the air, not by the roots from the ground. Of course you could have a variant where your elves live in giant bamboo.

On a more aesthetic note, I have always pictured wood elf cities as being multiple trees with branches from neighbouring trees inosculated (grafted in to each other) to form bridges in the canopy. They could form gate houses at the base of some of the trees by growing the roots aeroponically and shaping them.

[antymattar]

elves should be able to mine as well.

[IT 000]

Perhaps limited mining, but it wouldn't have much of a use (short of storage) as elves would lack fancy dandy masonry and forging abilities.

[Vanzetti]

elves should be able to mine as well.

If you give elves full mining, they would just turn into beardless dwarves with extended abilities, which isn't fair to the dwarves. Each race must be unique, IMO.

[Vanzetti]

Sounds interesting. Nitpicking though, trees don't grow from the base and push themselves up, only grasses do that. Trees grow at the tip of the branches and only get broader lower down. Most of the matter (carbon) is absorbed by the leaves from the air, not by the roots from the ground. Of course you could have a variant where your elves live in giant bamboo.

Well, Biology of Plants wasn't one of my favorite courses... 

But you could have both options. Elven palms would grow from the bottom, and elven oaks from the top. Hell, you should be able to live in a giant elven mushroom. It will give +10 to happiness and -10 to speed. 

On a more aesthetic note, I have always pictured wood elf cities as being multiple trees with branches from neighbouring trees inosculated (grafted in to each other) to form bridges in the canopy. They could form gate houses at the base of some of the trees by growing the roots aeroponically and shaping them.

That's another good idea. You shouldn't be limited to just one uber-tree.

[Vanzetti]

More ideas: warfare. Elves spend their times on trees, so they should have abilities to Climb and Rappel. And use giant Dandelion seeds to Parachute down on their enemies. And in a pitch, collapse entire branches on invading goblins dwarves.

[RabidAnubis]

Okay, I'm not sure if this is what you said, but here I go anyways.

Elves can go up to a tree and make them grow how they want to by magic.  Natural effects will effect them.  Everything in an elves life is in a tree, from the bedrooms, to the leaves.  The tree has special areas where it makes food, and elves can summon things that make the phloem give you elf food.  The branches are randomly generated, but the trunk is made by you.  You can change the branches with magic to have rooms, storage ect.  You can strengthen trees with magic, but natural effects may make the trees fall apart.  Every time a nearby tree is killed, your tree gets weaker.  Carpenters instead shape things with magic rather than cutting them down.

Is that good?  That's what I was thinking.

[Cespinarve]

elves should be able to mine as well.

Elves CLEARLY don't mine, nor do they have any reason to do so. This is their defining tribute.

[thunktone]

elves should be able to mine as well.

Elves CLEARLY don't mine, nor do they have any reason to do so. This is their defining tribute.

I guess elves could do a bit of surface mining or something. But the kind of large scale hard rock mining the dwarfs are doing should be outside of human capabilities in my opinion, let alone the hippieselves. And unless they are at war with all dwarfs it would almost certainly make more sense to trade food or something for stone and metal.

[Sir Iryn]

You could always do a modified cave adaptation. Make it especially life threatening for the pointy eared gits.