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[Tormy]

Hey guys, I was playing a lot with DF before, and recently Ive visited the site again, and I was like wow! No new release since january? How come? The development has been slowed down? I stopped to play some time ago, I wanted to wait for the military feature and start to play again...but as I see theres still no military feature added at all.
Please can you tell me whats going on? Why no new release yet?

[Gaulgath]

Have you been reading the Dev Now page? Or the "Future of the Fortress" thread in the announcements forum? There has been a lot of work, and a ton of stuff still needs to be done before the next release.

[Will]

yea check out the future of fortress and development section you'll see everything that Toady has been getting done.

[Fieari]

Before you check out dev now, you'll need to read Dev next to understand what's going on.

Summary: ARMIES ARE COMING.

Why has it taken so long?  Because for armies to work, dwarf mode and adventure mode need to use the same map.  The world map, in fact, has to become 100% seamless.  This has proven time consuming.  But in the process, we're getting the Z-axis for Dwarf mode!  As well as the ability to start our fortress on ANY walkable tile of the world map.  

The mountain is also no longer a flat face, and the interior of the mountain is no longer fixed to River -> Chasm -> Magma -> Pits -> Adamantium -> Demon.  You are no longer guaranteed iron, or any other ore for that matter.  You are no longer guaranteed water, or magma, but picking your start location wisely will help with this.  How do you pick wisely?  Read a book on geology.  Wikipedia is the design document.  (of course, we have no idea how we'll find adamantium anymore.  Rumors from adventure mode maybe?)

The count down to the next version is getting closer and closer.  You can watch the items on this list: dev notes get fewer and fewer, day by day.  A couple weeks ago, that list must've been six or seven pages long, and now it's less than three (your "number of pages" may vary depending on screen resolution)... and the items left seem less complicated than the items that used to be on there.

So, almost.  A LEETLE BEET more patience.

[Xgamer4]

Just something to throw out there for Toady: The next version of Dwarf Fortress would be an amazing Christmas Present. <_<

[ElectricEel]

As far as I can tell, Toady has finished all the major overhauls and it's just a lot of cleanup, bugfixes, optimizations and some minor additions left before next release. I'd be very surprised if the next version is not released within two months (barring any unforeseeable disasters).

[Faces of Mu]

Two MONTHS!!

My money is on three weeks (I would say two, but I thought I was being too lenient).

[Grue]

The next version is gonna be on the anniversary of the first release, August 8th (or was that 6th?).

[Xgamer4]

Seriously? Oh man, I can't wait now. And I'll have all of August to play before I have to start school again. Now, who was it that built the shrine for Toady?

[Faces of Mu]

quote:Originally posted by Grue:
<STRONG>The next version is gonna be on the anniversary of the first release, August 8th (or was that 6th?).</STRONG>

Really?

This is bad coz that seems like an arbitrary date (I'd rather it was released when Toady was ready, even if that means before or after the anniversary).

This is good coz it's gonna be on, or after my 26th birthday.

This is bad coz I'm gonna be going away on birthday holidays then.

This is good because I can plan a DF party with DF-playing friends.

This is bad coz I'm gonna be going away on birthday holidays then.

This is good coz I can finally give up my vigil and start studying for my exams.

Did I mention I was going away for holidays then?

[Tormy]

quote:Originally posted by Fieari:
<STRONG>Before you check out dev now, you'll need to read Dev next to understand what's going on.

Summary: ARMIES ARE COMING.

Why has it taken so long?  Because for armies to work, dwarf mode and adventure mode need to use the same map.  The world map, in fact, has to become 100% seamless.  This has proven time consuming.  But in the process, we're getting the Z-axis for Dwarf mode!  As well as the ability to start our fortress on ANY walkable tile of the world map.  

The mountain is also no longer a flat face, and the interior of the mountain is no longer fixed to River -> Chasm -> Magma -> Pits -> Adamantium -> Demon.  You are no longer guaranteed iron, or any other ore for that matter.  You are no longer guaranteed water, or magma, but picking your start location wisely will help with this.  How do you pick wisely?  Read a book on geology.  Wikipedia is the design document.  (of course, we have no idea how we'll find adamantium anymore.  Rumors from adventure mode maybe?)

The count down to the next version is getting closer and closer.  You can watch the items on this list: dev notes get fewer and fewer, day by day.  A couple weeks ago, that list must've been six or seven pages long, and now it's less than three (your "number of pages" may vary depending on screen resolution)... and the items left seem less complicated than the items that used to be on there.

So, almost.  A LEETLE BEET more patience.</STRONG>

Ive read the devlist, so this means that we can raise armies even. This is fantastic. My question is for now: What can we do with the attacked cities if we win the battle? Can we make them vassals and let them pay tribute? Can we conquer the city and let the AI to manage it? How will this work?
Will we have diplomacy? Can we make alliances? Can we ask for help from our allies?
Sorry for the lot of questions, but I couldnt find the answers to these.

Also IIRC there were plans to add some gfx engine support or something before? It would be so cool to have some gfx in the game [tile based or something]

[ June 24, 2007: Message edited by: Tormy ]

[ June 24, 2007: Message edited by: Tormy ]

[Gaulgath]

Hm, I don't think Toady has mentioned any specifics on what will happen to conquered cities. I'm confident we'll have a few options when armies are done.

[Fieari]

Tile graphics are partially implemented now, for creatures only.  Check out Object Tilesets on the wiki.  Full tile support is not -yet- available, but Toady has promised that it'll come eventually.  Not in the next version though.

On the other hand, there is a 3D visualizer coming right up... see:

Now, As far as I understand, in the upcomming release, we won't quite yet be able to control real armies.  However, immigrants and merchants will be really traveling the map, just as armies will.  And we get the Z-axis.  Once we have that, then Toady is working on the actual military portion.  My guess is that the first military release will have it merely that you can depopulate enemy civilizations, with more complicated things coming after that.

[ June 25, 2007: Message edited by: Fieari ]

[Toady One]

Right now, migrants are just used to repopulate towns over time.  The migrants for your cave have to wait for the life cycles arc to be complete.  The merchants have to wait for the caravan arc.  It'll all be coming in over time, but the basic order is to get them fighting each other first, just to get the technical stuff handled, then to get you fighting them from dwarf mode, then to handle life cycles and caravans later on.

[hactar1]

I was under the impression that the 3D depth visualization thing was not going to be in the actual game, and it was made "just for fun" as part of the development build.