So the latest poll of what I should focus on next has equal voting for 5/6 questions. Guess I'll have to do all of them. I have a few events coming up in my schedule so progress will be slow for the next three days. I'll get started on the reorganizing of values first.
Random notes time :
Metals
- Useful metals should be more expensive.
- Decorative metals (ex gold) should be less expensive
- Alloys should make the player choose between making a lot of low value bars, or making a few higher value bars, but overall, keeping the values similar. Kind of like how pewter is now.
- Probably should be associated with their use at weaponry. Crucible Steel would be 25% more expensive than iron for example.
Weapons
- Guns and bullets are super cheap, even with their size. Hopefully either the VALUE tag will work, or increasing the MATERIAL_SIZE will do.
Food
- I like the idea of having expensive food, not a big fan of how it's handled now. You can rack up 1000+ points by selling all the seeds and taking the plants on embark. Perhaps 10* for seeds, and 15 for the plant.
- Meat should be more expensive. About 10* for one or 50* for a stack of 5. That's a cheap trade good, but that may make legendary meal problem even more worse.
- Perhaps I could give some animal 'spoiled meat' or something that's significantly cheaper, but can cause bad symptoms. Probably just a 'sick cow' that doesn't breed or something.
Animals
- Animals themselves are extremely cheap! A cow should cost a small fortune, might make the player actually think twice before sacrificing that piglet.
Wood / Bone / Stone
- All these will probably remain the same price, useable ore will probably be 1/4 of what it is as a metal bar.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
While I was trying to find another use for zinc. I found out that Zinc (oxide) is commonly used in the manufacturing of rubber. So I decided to make a manufacture rubber reaction.
Well, it turns out rubber is quite complicated to create. You need a resin + coal tar + sulfur + zinc + fuel.
Coal Tar is a result from burning coal. Other uses for Coal Tar include :
Paints / synthetic dye
+ alcohol = soap (used in anti-dandruff and kills head lice probably won't require alcohol as there's a bug where it will use the entire stack of alcohol)
Asphalt Blocks
Fuel
It also requires a 'plasticizer' but I wasn't able to find a definitive answer of what a plasticizer is without having to go ask my chemistry teacher. So I skipped that step.
I was thinking 20 tires was enough to make the procedure worth it. That will equip an entire squad with tire armor.
While we're on the subject, perhaps other items could be made of rubber. Gloves and boots being my primary concern. I think there's a bug with gloves, I'll have to do a quick search on the forums.
Of course the entire process seems very tedious, 'would anyone actually use this?' remains at the forefront of my mind. After all, it's so much easier to just build a forge and get metal armor yourself. I suppose I could make tires just tough leather x2, but still, the effort required is questionable. However, since rubber would be x2 leather, and Coal Tar would be a natural by product of coal smelting. I can see players saying "Well I have all the items, might as well." rather than going out of their way to actually create the thing.
Second issue is materials, you need Coal, Gypsum, and Zinc on the same embark site, and have access to them. This seems like a very specific embark site. Something that I try to avoid is embark specific items as it blocks off a game feature. Furthermore, considering that gypsum, and zinc are both located farther below than most ores doesn't help. By the time you reach them, no doubt you will already have plenty of tire armor just by gathering from the surface.
Coal Tar seems extremely useful though, and I am seriously considering adding it.
Well, it turns out rubber is quite complicated to create. You need a resin + coal tar + sulfur + zinc + fuel.
Coal Tar is a result from burning coal. Other uses for Coal Tar include :
Paints / synthetic dye
+ alcohol = soap (used in anti-dandruff and kills head lice probably won't require alcohol as there's a bug where it will use the entire stack of alcohol)
Asphalt Blocks
Fuel
It also requires a 'plasticizer' but I wasn't able to find a definitive answer of what a plasticizer is without having to go ask my chemistry teacher. So I skipped that step.
I was thinking 20 tires was enough to make the procedure worth it. That will equip an entire squad with tire armor.
While we're on the subject, perhaps other items could be made of rubber. Gloves and boots being my primary concern. I think there's a bug with gloves, I'll have to do a quick search on the forums.
Of course the entire process seems very tedious, 'would anyone actually use this?' remains at the forefront of my mind. After all, it's so much easier to just build a forge and get metal armor yourself. I suppose I could make tires just tough leather x2, but still, the effort required is questionable. However, since rubber would be x2 leather, and Coal Tar would be a natural by product of coal smelting. I can see players saying "Well I have all the items, might as well." rather than going out of their way to actually create the thing.
Second issue is materials, you need Coal, Gypsum, and Zinc on the same embark site, and have access to them. This seems like a very specific embark site. Something that I try to avoid is embark specific items as it blocks off a game feature. Furthermore, considering that gypsum, and zinc are both located farther below than most ores doesn't help. By the time you reach them, no doubt you will already have plenty of tire armor just by gathering from the surface.
Coal Tar seems extremely useful though, and I am seriously considering adding it.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Finals are over. There's not enough time for me to update to 31.10 today. I'll get it done tomorrow. Whereupon I will continue to work on random stuff until I get a goal in mind.
There will be quite a few incomplete features in the next release. Feel free to take a look at them. Booster's are in the next release, but there's no way of actually performing them.
Right now I seem to be locked onto metals.
* I want to make rarer metals rarer. Notably gold, in Corrosion, I find that when I hit a gold vein I just make it a non-economic stone and I have my masons play with it for furniture. I've changed that by making them small clusters in stone layers. So in order to increase the amount of your high value items, it's wise to alloy gold with something else.
* I'm still hesitant on 'Titanium' per say, mostly because it conjures up the thought of an impenetrable metal. Yet my stats are very arbitrary. As it stands it's the second lightest metal, but all other stats are 10% stronger than iron. This is kind of kludgy, I'd like to add one of the formal ways of smelting it. But I won't be able to make one before the next release.
* Cupronickel has been vastly improved. It's now well worth making, just slightly less dense than Crucible Steel. It copies all other stats from bronze.
The Release After :
I'd also like to make certain useless jobs less useless. These won't be implemented in the next release, but rather the release after.
Bowyer : I'm leaning towards the removal of metal crossbows. You'd still be able to make xbows out of wood. I believe this is beneficial because it makes the bowyer skill extremely valuable if you use crossbows. Bayonet Crossbows / Heavy Crossbows (need a new name for the heavy crossbow things) will have to be made by combining a large knife and crossbow to produce a metal xbow.
Spinner : Going to experiment with reduced shearing times and greater quantities. The problem is that it has to compete with farming and silk gathering. Both which are automated and easy, as opposed to Spinning which is tedious to preform for very little game. So I doubt the reduced shearing times will solve the problem. It'd be better if I could have it produce more than one hair. The longer you wait, the more hair you'll get. I think this is possible. This way, shearing would be something that rewarded you for waiting, something that silk and crops do not allow.
Animal Caretaker : The apex of useless. it'll need a custom reaction in order to every be useful. If someone figures out an idea for this job, let me know, because you deserve a medal made of cookies mounted on a wreath of bacon.
Architects : While not useless, they are rather use-lacking, an extra job or two wouldn't hurt Perhaps some complex trap component.
Presser : Similar to the Spinner, lots of work, little gain. Needs to be changed. Truth be told I've never pressed anything in the game. We'll see where this one leads.
There will be quite a few incomplete features in the next release. Feel free to take a look at them. Booster's are in the next release, but there's no way of actually performing them.
Right now I seem to be locked onto metals.
* I want to make rarer metals rarer. Notably gold, in Corrosion, I find that when I hit a gold vein I just make it a non-economic stone and I have my masons play with it for furniture. I've changed that by making them small clusters in stone layers. So in order to increase the amount of your high value items, it's wise to alloy gold with something else.
* I'm still hesitant on 'Titanium' per say, mostly because it conjures up the thought of an impenetrable metal. Yet my stats are very arbitrary. As it stands it's the second lightest metal, but all other stats are 10% stronger than iron. This is kind of kludgy, I'd like to add one of the formal ways of smelting it. But I won't be able to make one before the next release.
* Cupronickel has been vastly improved. It's now well worth making, just slightly less dense than Crucible Steel. It copies all other stats from bronze.
The Release After :
I'd also like to make certain useless jobs less useless. These won't be implemented in the next release, but rather the release after.
Bowyer : I'm leaning towards the removal of metal crossbows. You'd still be able to make xbows out of wood. I believe this is beneficial because it makes the bowyer skill extremely valuable if you use crossbows. Bayonet Crossbows / Heavy Crossbows (need a new name for the heavy crossbow things) will have to be made by combining a large knife and crossbow to produce a metal xbow.
Spinner : Going to experiment with reduced shearing times and greater quantities. The problem is that it has to compete with farming and silk gathering. Both which are automated and easy, as opposed to Spinning which is tedious to preform for very little game. So I doubt the reduced shearing times will solve the problem. It'd be better if I could have it produce more than one hair. The longer you wait, the more hair you'll get. I think this is possible. This way, shearing would be something that rewarded you for waiting, something that silk and crops do not allow.
Animal Caretaker : The apex of useless. it'll need a custom reaction in order to every be useful. If someone figures out an idea for this job, let me know, because you deserve a medal made of cookies mounted on a wreath of bacon.
Architects : While not useless, they are rather use-lacking, an extra job or two wouldn't hurt Perhaps some complex trap component.
Presser : Similar to the Spinner, lots of work, little gain. Needs to be changed. Truth be told I've never pressed anything in the game. We'll see where this one leads.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
I don't know what the focus of the next release is going to be on. So I'll just throw some science at the wall. What's the worst that could happen?
Here's some random stuff.
* Diseases : Common Cold and Flu etc. Don't know what I'll do with it or how they will spread.
* Boosters : I've been looking at Deon's Post-Apocalypse (LINK) and I'm fascinated by the drug system he's set up. So I've been working on some of my own, they will be made in the Lab (don't know how yet), but they will be used in a new workshop. The reaction will require the Alchemy skill, and will create a boulder that will give the person the effects. Here's what I got so far.
glass + fuel -> syringe
syringe + {something} -> medicine
medicine -> syringe + boulder of effect
Vitamin may be a bunch of plants or extracts or something.
Other medicine that I'm thinking of (names are WIP)
Mettle Shot : Increases strength+endurance, lowers speed by 25% and prevents skill gain for a season.
Raving Frenzy Shot : Adds CRAZED tag and a whole bunch of other things to make the user a fearsome wrecking ball. May not be reversible.
Knowledge Retention : Prevents rusting for a year.
Precision Shot : Increases chance to hit by 50% for a season. After though, they'll sleep for a little while.
Apathetic Shot : Adds a lot of numbness for an entire season. Essentially makes the user feel no pain. Needs a negative.
Random thoughts : Perhaps the Enlightened could get involved somehow, they'd bring some tool called 'syringe needle' that is necessary to put together the syringe. They could also provide you with 'metal vials of x' that would contain the boosts. Warlords would provide you with more aggressive but dangerous boosts such as Raving Frenzy and Mettle.
I kind of like the idea of traders being the sole source for the medicine. You'll get multiple shots per vials.
Here's some random stuff.
* Diseases : Common Cold and Flu etc. Don't know what I'll do with it or how they will spread.
* Boosters : I've been looking at Deon's Post-Apocalypse (LINK) and I'm fascinated by the drug system he's set up. So I've been working on some of my own, they will be made in the Lab (don't know how yet), but they will be used in a new workshop. The reaction will require the Alchemy skill, and will create a boulder that will give the person the effects. Here's what I got so far.
- Adrenaline Shot : Increases speed, prevents sleep, and makes the user numb.
- Hibernation Shot : Makes the person go into a deep sleep for an entire season. Doesn't need food or drink. Could be used if the fortress is dying of starvation/dehydration and you want to save someone.
- Vitamin : Provides a 25% boost to all physical attributes.
glass + fuel -> syringe
syringe + {something} -> medicine
medicine -> syringe + boulder of effect
Vitamin may be a bunch of plants or extracts or something.
Other medicine that I'm thinking of (names are WIP)
Mettle Shot : Increases strength+endurance, lowers speed by 25% and prevents skill gain for a season.
Raving Frenzy Shot : Adds CRAZED tag and a whole bunch of other things to make the user a fearsome wrecking ball. May not be reversible.
Knowledge Retention : Prevents rusting for a year.
Precision Shot : Increases chance to hit by 50% for a season. After though, they'll sleep for a little while.
Apathetic Shot : Adds a lot of numbness for an entire season. Essentially makes the user feel no pain. Needs a negative.
Random thoughts : Perhaps the Enlightened could get involved somehow, they'd bring some tool called 'syringe needle' that is necessary to put together the syringe. They could also provide you with 'metal vials of x' that would contain the boosts. Warlords would provide you with more aggressive but dangerous boosts such as Raving Frenzy and Mettle.
I kind of like the idea of traders being the sole source for the medicine. You'll get multiple shots per vials.
Friday, May 11, 2012
1.1.9 Release Notes
PRIMARY GOALS
Scavenging : I want to emphasize scavenging and bring back the 'wasteland' feel to the game. Having to tie together two weapons adds a lot more character to the game.
Tier Weapon System : Where stronger weapons are harder to make. Pitchfork -> Makeshift Spear and Chop Axe -> Limb Hacker are great examples of this. Spears were giving me some hardships though, I defined pikes as 'primarily slashing polearms' in my mind while spears covered the 'primarily stabbing polearms'. Brainstorming became difficult when my choices are stabby stick or slightly less stabby stick. This was made even more difficult because the pitchfork is already a good weapon. So in the future, the pitchfork will have to be nerfed significantly if spears are to evolve.
More Useful Allies : I toed on this a little by adding the shouldered plate and the riot helmets, each is a huge step up from what you can make. I still kinda feel like the Enlightened aren't worth the hassle, and the warlords are still lacking something. So more work needs to be done. I further toed into this by making both sides bring more types of metal. Suggestions are appreciated.
Better Body System : Did you know that the ribs only protect 5% of shots? Only in DF huh. I expended on the body system by making it more durable, and more realistic. There's still much to do though. I'll do some experiments with tissue thickness to see if I can get a good balance. I'm rather disappointing that I couldn't make someone cover their head with their limbs. On top of that, I simplified teeth, fingers, and toes. This should have a major affect on FPS (for the better) as there are 52 less items to keep track of, and on ten humans that's 520 less items!
Better Husbandry : I tried to make raising domestic animals easier, animals grow up faster, pigs have more births, bees produce so much more exponentially. I removed Cavy, Reindeer, Peacock, and Guinacock as they did not add anything to the game except redundant redundancy.
PRIMARY GOALS
Scavenging : I want to emphasize scavenging and bring back the 'wasteland' feel to the game. Having to tie together two weapons adds a lot more character to the game.
Tier Weapon System : Where stronger weapons are harder to make. Pitchfork -> Makeshift Spear and Chop Axe -> Limb Hacker are great examples of this. Spears were giving me some hardships though, I defined pikes as 'primarily slashing polearms' in my mind while spears covered the 'primarily stabbing polearms'. Brainstorming became difficult when my choices are stabby stick or slightly less stabby stick. This was made even more difficult because the pitchfork is already a good weapon. So in the future, the pitchfork will have to be nerfed significantly if spears are to evolve.
More Useful Allies : I toed on this a little by adding the shouldered plate and the riot helmets, each is a huge step up from what you can make. I still kinda feel like the Enlightened aren't worth the hassle, and the warlords are still lacking something. So more work needs to be done. I further toed into this by making both sides bring more types of metal. Suggestions are appreciated.
Better Body System : Did you know that the ribs only protect 5% of shots? Only in DF huh. I expended on the body system by making it more durable, and more realistic. There's still much to do though. I'll do some experiments with tissue thickness to see if I can get a good balance. I'm rather disappointing that I couldn't make someone cover their head with their limbs. On top of that, I simplified teeth, fingers, and toes. This should have a major affect on FPS (for the better) as there are 52 less items to keep track of, and on ten humans that's 520 less items!
Better Husbandry : I tried to make raising domestic animals easier, animals grow up faster, pigs have more births, bees produce so much more exponentially. I removed Cavy, Reindeer, Peacock, and Guinacock as they did not add anything to the game except redundant redundancy.
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