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Author Topic: Doors and walls: worth it?  (Read 1969 times)

joelpt

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Doors and walls: worth it?
« on: July 11, 2011, 01:48:45 pm »

Are doors and walls around rooms important to have for general use? I often try to create my rooms with defined walls and doors, but other than for specific uses (moodable workshops, fluid containment, prison, etc.) is it really worth the space (and doors) used?

Would FPS be impacted by having a large, many-z-level fort that is almost entirely dug-out?

Something like a grid of 3x3-bedrooms could be done without any walls or doors, just one big open room with beds spaced 3 tiles apart in the grid. If we require walls and doors around each bedroom we take a lot more space.

Thoughts?

Cruxador

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2011, 02:14:23 pm »

Why would you need that extra bit of space?

Also it's worth it for defense purposes, because you can't lock empty space.

FPS would actually be helped, I think, because pathing would be simpler.
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Caldfir

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2011, 02:24:06 pm »

If the whole fortress was done that way, FPS would be improved I think. 

People do it mainly because it seems like the right thing to do.  Also, back when there was the economy, 2-tile rooms were the best possible option, which is impossible without walls (at least that's how I played). 
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jfsh

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2011, 02:55:45 pm »

My fort is in a giant grid shape (thanks to Quickfort! ;) ) and I found that my FPS rose quite a few ticks when I mined out one full level and set it as a high-traffic area.  I'm considering simply doing away with all the rest of the walls as well.  The only reason you would need them is to prevent invaders from just going crazy, but there are other ways to do that.

orrey

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2011, 05:08:52 pm »

They're not 'worth it' in the sense they're necessary.  Walls and Doors only add value to a room; unless you need to contain something they're not really needed.  In fact, a large communal dormitory works fine in place of bedrooms, just balance out the lack of a happy thought from a bedroom with a legendary dining hall.


It is more efficient in terms of FPS, but to me, a fortress just doesn't feel like a fortress without labyrinthine corridors, forbidding doors lining the hallways, and needlessly complex designs winding throughout the underground.
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Sphalerite

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2011, 06:33:39 pm »

I became a big fan of putting periodically spaced doors in main hallways after a really bad flood in one fort.  Doors make it a lot easier to contain flooding, miasma, berserk dwarves, and other sources of Fun.
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Dakk

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2011, 06:54:55 pm »

My fortresses are aways divided into multiple rooms and sections with doors in them. It gives you alot of control over what goes on inside your fortress, except when building destroyers are involved :P
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Draco18s

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2011, 09:44:02 pm »

Also, back when there was the economy, 2-tile rooms were the best possible option, which is impossible without walls (at least that's how I played).

Actually, those rooms were 2 walkable tiles + 9 wall tiles + 1 door.  If you hit - you could actually shrink the room farther (and have a 1 walkable tile bedroom with only a bed in it).
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tolkafox

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2011, 09:50:52 pm »

Just dig a hole in a wall, put a bed in it, and assign it to a dwarf. They don't deserve walls, doors, or floors. Don't even make a room out of them, just let them pick a bed that's available and hopefully it isn't ridden with vermin.

I'd make them sleep outside, but they don't deserve a constructed ceiling and I haven't found a way for them to be rained on while sleeping. Yet.
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Aramco

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2011, 10:11:18 pm »

Just dig a hole in a wall, put a bed in it, and assign it to a dwarf. They don't deserve walls, doors, or floors. Don't even make a room out of them, just let them pick a bed that's available and hopefully it isn't ridden with vermin.

I'd make them sleep outside, but they don't deserve a constructed ceiling and I haven't found a way for them to be rained on while sleeping. Yet.
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Alastar

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2011, 03:50:20 am »

An open, spherical fort with stairs on every free tile may be very efficient... but it's neither dwarfy nor fortressy, and it's very likely to end in tears.
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Kay12

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2011, 03:57:51 am »

An open, spherical fort with stairs on every free tile may be very efficient... but it's neither dwarfy nor fortressy, and it's very likely to end in tears.

Flying dwarves is what you'd get.

And flying invaders, forgotten beasts, everything...
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Oliolli

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2011, 05:00:47 am »

And an extremely quick magma-purification system, once the magma is hauled up.
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Reverie

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2011, 08:58:27 am »

If anything, walls make the fortress prettier. My aesthetic sense supercedes any real use for them besides keeping things out!
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Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

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Re: Doors and walls: worth it?
« Reply #14 on: July 12, 2011, 09:15:53 am »

Without walls, it's not a fort, it's a settlement :P

My understanding was that the more paths a given dwarf has between point A and B, the longer the pathing algorithm takes. So the ideal fort in terms of fps efficiency would have exactly one path from any one single spot to any other.
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