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scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL



Bad Munki's Fortress Mode primer // Jothan's Adventure Mode gabbing // Modding & utilities // Mind-melting combat science

CURRENT RELEASE:

0.44.04

Are the important bits updated yet for v0.44.04?
  • Nah, not yet



What's the good news?

Toady One posted:

This is another bug fix release to start the new year. A few of the bad five-second freeze/lag problems caused by the new release have been fixed, and large beasts should move off the edge of the map again. Over in adventure mode, inappropriate creatures shouldn't yell 'identify yourself' and companions should participate in conflicts as they used to, and some other issues of reputation should be solved, especially among citizens of the starting town.

Major bug fixes

Stopped displayed artifacts from duplicating on retirement/offloading of site
Made attacking giant monsters path to targets properly again
Stopped extraneous dwarf mode conversation text generation (freezes)
Stopped negative artifact location rumors from passing around so much (freezes)
Made removing first stop of hauling route w/ assigned vehicle not cause issues/crashes
Stopped crash caused by yielding to muggers
Stopped creatures from asking for identity when they shouldn't be able to speak
Fixed problem with companions and other close people not always recognizing your relationship to them


Other bug fixes/tweaks

Made returning mercenaries stop petitioning for sanctuary (existing petitions will still be there)
Prevented unirrigated etc. top-left corners etc. from stopping planting in farms
Stopped inaccessible pile tiles from stopping bin/barrel placement throughout pile
Allowed stairs to be carved in ice that is one tile above stone properly
Added building item TSK indicator to ground items as well
Stopped designations for removal of ramps/constructions from working on hidden tiles
Removed incorrect back instruction from burrow naming
Properly saved freeing hf in relevant historical event (Quietust)
Fixed a few cases of historical event for identities reporting wrong historical figure
Fixed kitchen job hotkeys


A real big new update???? What's new what's new what's UP

:frog: posted:

This is the artifact release, featuring the ability to send your dwarves off to cause trouble in the world, improved kobold sites, cover identities, artifact questers, and a bit of artifact diplomacy.

In fort mode, the 'c' screen which used to list civilizations still does that as a suboption, but its main purpose now is to show the world map and allow you to interact with it. You can either raid a neighbor generally, or send off squads to recover specific artifacts or rescue particular people (in which case, the squads will still bring back other artifacts and prisoners, but focus on the goal.) A squad questing after an artifact will seek out information if the first site doesn't work out, and this might take several months, so be prepared. Squads can also be captured during raids, though typically someone will return to tell the tale. When squads return, a report will become available; a yellow 'R' will appear over on the left margin, and pressing 'r' will let you see it. Sometimes reports are quite lengthy as squads stumble from tavern to tavern; you can press enter to skip to the end of the path animation.

There are some rough edges here! Be sure not to send off your commander if you are planning to reorganize your military, as they are the only one with the power to assign new squads and cannot do so while off the map. There was a last-minute hiccup with artifacts known to be held by people (rather than stored on sites); these fort-mode missions will be fruitless for the moment; the most common instance here is books authored by people that then hang on to them, so don't try to steal their books! It says on the map screen when an artifact is held by somebody, so it should be easy to avoid. Raids do not bring back non-artifacts or build skills; these issues may or may not be addressed in the short-term depending on difficulties that arise.

The interactions with heroes and invading armies are more straightforward. There will either be 'P'etitions or a diplomacy popup to handle.

In adventure mode, you can assume a cover identity. You do this from the 'k' conversation menu (if you are already talking to somebody, it'll be hidden in "start new conversation".) If you choose to link your identity to a civilization, you'll be carrying that baggage with you, especially when you are being interrogated by goblin guards, so one should be prudent. To turn off the identity, go back to the "assume an identity" menu and choose the 'x' "no identity" option. You can also reuse existing identities from this menu.

People in adventure mode that are seeking an artifact will list "missing treasure" among their troubles, and you can then inquire further.

In order to name an object, use 'I' to interact with it, and it'll be one of the options for appropriate objects. For example, you can give a name to your spear or waterskin, but not to the water or food you start with.

There are also various adventure rough edges. For instance, if you pick up and then immediately replace a museum piece in adventure mode, and then tell somebody about it, you'll get credit as a Treasure Hunter. It'll be difficult to fix that without additional property information, etc. It's also generally hard right now to find artifact quests, as most things are in their proper place and/or not subject to an outside claim. We'll be working with this a bit as we generally work on stabilizing the release.

Overall, many of the changes occurred under the hood, in preparation for the myth and magic release, but now the magic release will be able to incorporate artifacts of all kinds without additional delay, so hopefully it was time well spent.

As usual, your old saves should work, but please back them up before diving into the new release! It is quite likely that forts will fall into technical ruin as bugs come up and are handled at this early stage. Old forts won't have object additions like the pedestals and display cases, but they should be able to send out raids from the 'c' screen.

We will be focusing on the worst bugs (crashes etc.) at first, and then we'll broaden out into other bugs, old and new, and minor suggestions/usability improvements, as well as a general smoothing out of the new features. We're still working on the design side of the first magic release, so we anticipate we'll be doing smaller releases for a while.

ADDENDUM: My Linux computer died during the release process, so the Linux version will have to be delayed until we figure that out.

New stuff

Ability to send out squads to raid sites, rescuing prisoners and recovering artifacts
Display cases and pedestals, museum zones, both in forts and other sites
Can view the world map w/ rumors from fort mode
Artifacts created during worldgen: dwarf moods, named heroic objects, holy relics, heirlooms
New artifact events in play and worldgen: questers seek artifacts and ask for or steal them, invaders demand artifacts
New historical events associated to the creation of artifacts (used in fort and worldgen)
Agents used by civilizations to gather information, can assume cover identities
Improved kobold site maps
Goblin site denizens demand an identity instead of immediately attacking every stranger
More modding control over pets and other animals
Adventurer can assume a cover identity at will
Adventurer can name their possessions
New adventurer reputations related to artifacts
New religious activity: monks, pilgrims and prophets
Museums and other room types can be added to fort locations like taverns and libraries
Various additional data in the XML export


Major bug fixes

Fixed weapon trap crash vs. item breakage
Fixed bug preventing monster slayers from visiting those forts with monsters to slay
Made animated skulls, hair and other bits easier to pulp
Made idle and vermin-hunting dwarves come down from trees more successfully
Made thirst/hunger and being pushed out of the way less likely to terminate dances


Other bug fixes/tweaks

Alphabetized broad stock screen categories
Fixed problem with historical bodies not respecting wounds/processing
Fixed bug causing religions to worship too many gods, with duplicates
Made simple burrow beasts start in caves as possible
Fixed broken historical collection linkage with beast attacks during festivals
Fixed one instance of broken animal person greetings
Stopped natural animals from w.g. rampaging through sites owned by entities at peace with wildlife
Took age into account for w.g. fights vs. body size (e.g. proper dragon size)
Stopped people from being enough to satisfy a need to see great beasts
Made visitors less nervous about going to neutral locations



What is this thing? A roguelike? A Bullfrog-like? A Tolkien story generator? A nerd vortex? The Let's Play equivalent of morris dancing?

Yes.


In the beginning there was a keep, a dwarf, and a horde of reanimated meat. Note the pink necromancer warming his hands at a campfire.

When you get down to it, Dwarf Fortress is two games. There's the Fortress management simulator bit and then there’s the Adventurer roguelike bit. Both take place in the same weird world that Dwarf Fortress generates from scratch. More than anything, Dwarf Fortress is a triumph of procedural generation - even in its current state.

You can operate only one entity in the world at a time; if you want to start a new fortress, you must retire your adventurer and so on. There’s also a third option in the menu, but that's just for ogling the world’s events from a historian's perspective.

Is this poo poo seriously all text? My head hurts already.

At its core, yes. It’s a top-down perspective, with only one plane on the Z-axis visible at a time. If the ASCII burns your eyes, there’s plenty of options from picking a softer color scheme to altering most of the tileset into custom graphics. The installation is a fairly simple process, but the Lazy Newb Pack streamlines a lot of it. Skip to the Modding section for details.


The very busy and very filthy dwarf fortress of Kilrudzat, presented in both basic ASCII and the latest Phoebus tileset.
Can you find the silk robe soaking in puke?




Fortress mode

A band of merry idiots dancing around their swag cart. An astute overseer may note wild highwood trees, hills of sand, granite poking from beneath the grass and a wagon full of buckets, quivers and other useless crap.

This is the game's main attraction. Your job is to take an expedition of seven dwarves, prepared and outfitted per your instructions, to a promising location in the world and build a wealthy outpost your Mountainhome can be proud of. More often than not it ends in terrible, majestic tragedy, but that’s life!



Adventurer mode

The peasant warrior Boki Omsosronum pokes his pike where he shouldn't.


Adventuring is kind of basic compared to the rest of roguelike competition, but it receives more and more attention with every release. Wander the world. Barge into the homes of notables. Demand errands. Interrogate children. Get lost in the wilderness. Kick a lynx in the teeth and suplex it into a tree. Run into the bandit lord by accident. Get beaten to death with your own shoes.



Legends mode

Holy poo poo, these minotaurs have a circular family tree!


Legends mode is just for utility purposes, but even still it’s only usable while you’re between fortresses or adventurers. Important men are etched in history, ancient carvings on fortress walls reveal facets about lost cultures, civilizations rise and fall while horrors from beyond dwarven reckoning burst into the world and cleave bloody swathes through the ages. When you generate a world, you can specify whether all of the historical events prior to starting actual gameplay are revealed or not, so anything you discover is added into this database for your perusal. Playing adventurer mode as a demigod vampire anthropologist has never been so immersive!



Arena mode

Arise, my son!


The Arena mode isn’t really a game mode as it doesn’t happen inside a generated world, but in a special sandbox map instead. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a very fast and entertaining way to see some knobs pummel each other dead or a prized testbed of modding science. It speaks for the nuance of the combat system that there is a (rather old) DF Arena Combat thread in the Let’s Play subforum. There’s gambling.



How do I get in on this?

Dwarf Fortress is free and available for download at Bay 12 Games for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. The main focus of modding and utility development favors the Windows side, but there’s efforts for Macintosh and Linux as well. This game kicks processors in the teeth, so install it on something with a brawny processor. Even then, don't expect a steady framerate throughout.



I don’t understand what I should do!

Lose horribly, that’s what! There aren’t really any win conditions, just a plateau until everything goes pear-shaped in an interesting manner. To get an idea what buttons to press, what to think about and how to recognize progress, read the Fortress Mode primer written by Bad Munki in the next post. Keep one eye constantly on the wiki and ask, ask questions in the thread! Dwarf Fortress is the kind of game that makes people want to talk about it a lot. Some burnouts sit around yammering about armor layering theory without having played the drat game in years.



I'm vaguely dissatisfied with things, where’s the options menu?

You must mangle the configuration files yourself. They’re well documented and pretty clear to read, though. They can be found in \Dwarf Fortress\data\init. init.txt has more technical stuff while d_init.txt focuses more on Fortress mode quirks. If in doubt about something, just ask the assholes in the thread. The Lazy Newb Pack has a simple shortcut to edit these if you can’t be arsed to operate a proper text editor.



I'm sick of these water tables ruining my sites! How do I get rid of aquifers?

You must perform some modding. If you don’t want to go the trouble of getting your hands dirty, the current flavor of Lazy Newb Pack can also automate this little procedure. See the Utilities section for more.

If you don’t have the option for some reason or don't want to overwrite your mods, you must tweak a few things by hand. Open up \Dwarf Fortress\raw\objects. These plaintext files define nearly everything in the game, from creature toenails to civilization ethics, plant growth seasons and melting points of minerals in a simple square bracket tag format.

These raw world files (raws) are what the game looks at when it’s generating a new world. Each save file keeps its own set of raws for reference, so if you want to affect a running game, you must alter those. What we want to change is only applied during map construction, so our only option is to modify the stem files and then generate a new world with those.

You must modify these files that contain the distinguishing information for different rocks and soil types:
inorganic_stone_layer.txt
inorganic_stone_mineral.txt
inorganic_stone_soil.txt


Find and remove (Notepad++ is great for this) all [AQUIFER] tags you see from all three files. You could also batch replace them all with something like *AQUIFER* if you want to just comment them out for an easy undo later. Save all changes. The worlds you generate with this set of raws won’t have any aquifers in them.

Also, I have fixed the main binary patch that you need for DFHack fix-armory stuff to work: see here.

Useful and important links

The Game: https://bay12games.com/dwarves
The current developer diary, download links, forum shortcut and everything else. Bay12 forums are a fermenting keg of poo poo at the best of times, but they’re still the nexus of all modding efforts. See the Modding section for highlights.

The Wiki: https://dwarffortresswiki.org
Unlike some other games, DF hasn’t had its vital information scattered over several contradictory wikis. This one has everything important. Read it often.

The Bug Tracker: https://bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt
Is it really a bug? Go see for yourself! Don’t let the enormous mound of unsolved issues bother you, just tell yourself they’re part of the charm.

Dwarf Fortress File Depot: https://dffd.wimbli.com
The definitive mod warehouse. This is where almost every download link in Bay12 modding forum goes. The file transfer speeds are often rear end, though.

The current community fortresses:

Stonewealth!
Status: ongoing

Ever since Boatmurdered blew the bank, the Let's Play forum alone has usually had a community fortress or two or three going. Only spectacular, wonderful and in all ways groundbreaking ones are admitted into the LP Archive these days, so don't expect fame.

Steam Version Technical tips! posted:

thunderspanks posted:

I have made my modified announcements.txt file available as a onedrive download for simplicity's sake.
Navigate to install dir>data>init, rename your old file and simply drop this one into place.
Now your game will pause, recenter, AND give you a popup box for the following events:

Migrants
Ambushes
Skulking Thieves
Snatchers
Caravans
Caravans Need Depot
Caravans Bypass Site
Noble arrivals
Diplomats
Liaisons
Cave Collapse
Citizen Births
Strange Moods
Strange Mood Building Claiming
Artifact Creation
Artifact Naming
Megabeast Arrival
Werebeast Arrival
Citizen Death
Ghost Attack
Undead Attack
Strange Cloud
Trained Animal Reverts to Wild
Noble Position Succession
Citizen Lost to Stress
Citizen Tantrum
Citizen Snatched
Election Results
New Demand
New Mandate
Possessed Tantrum
Deity Curse
Crime Witnesses
"End Game Events"

lunar detritus posted:

I don't know if this will help anyone other than me, but I finally found a way to have non-blurry text. The game will apply some sort of text upscaling any time you go above 1080 in height OR if you go too much over 4:3. Why does it do that when only the screen width changes and not the font's? :iiam:

So, the largest resolution you can go is 1528x1080 (technically 1529 but the extra pixel adds an upscaling artifact the next step)


Then, using something like Lossless Upscaling set to Nearest Neighbor, you can have crisp fonts in 4k.




Sadly it doesn't solve the blurry tileset when zoomed in/out but it's something.


Previous threads:
So big. So archived.

Dwarf Fortress v0.31.25: Welcome to hospital California
Dwarf Fortress v0.34.11: Vampires, were-asses and minecart colliders

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scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL







Chances are, when someone says “Dwarf Fortress,” they’re talking about this mode. In fortress mode, you start off with a group of seven dwarves and some relatively meager supplies and attempt to create a successful, thriving fortress. There are many things that can hinder your progress, and many ways to deal with those threats. One example would be the typical raiders that attempt to steal your supplies. They can be dealt with in any number of ways, from simply walling yourself in, to maintaining a well-trained and well-equipped military, to automatic magma-cannon land-mines. The only limit is how you decide to work within the system.

What follows is, believe it or not, a brief, fairly light-weight introduction to creating a fortress. The following is written somewhat as a guide, somewhat as a tutorial, and somewhat as an LP. It assumes you have little to no knowledge of DF. This is not intended as an all-inclusive walkthrough, but it should get you to the point of at least knowing how to get around in-game and get the basics of your fortress started. If you are new to DF, you will likely find yourself with more questions than when you started out, but that’s part of the goal here: to get you to the point where you can actually formulate questions that will help you progress in the game.




The first thing you’ll need to do is generate yourself a nice, fresh world to muck about in, so from the main screen, choose choose the create new world option and you’ll find yourself looking at the following:




For the most part, the default settings are fine. If you want a larger or smaller world, more or fewer civilizations, more or less mineral ore, feel free to tweak those settings. Be aware that the larger the world, and the longer the history, the longer it will take to generate, since DF literally simulates and tracks everything from the dawn of time to the moment you begin playing. Go ahead and generate your world, and once it’s done, you should see something like this:




Hit ‘enter’ to save the world and DF will do a bunch of arcane stuff and then dump you back to the title screen. However, this time you should see a new option: “Start Playing.” Select that option, and choose “Dwarf Fortress” (that’s fortress mode), and let’s get going!

The first thing you need to do is to choose your embark location. Using the arrow keys, you can move around the world and examine various locations. The right-most map shows the most zoomed-out view, the middle map shows the local region, and the left-most map shows the most zoomed-in view. Pressing tab will cycle through showing neighboring civilization, parent civilizations, an elevation map, a steepness map, and then back to the original terrain map.




For now, let’s just ignore most of that and pick a spot that seems nice. Move about the world using the arrow keys until you find a spot that has qualities similar to the list on the right in the above screenshot (temperate, at least some trees, surroundings not sinister, haunted, or terrifying, and no aquifer listed in the soil layers.) A river can be nice but is not required. Really, for your first game, choosing the perfect embark site is not all that important, since there will be plenty of other things that cause you to lose. Still, there’s no reason to abuse yourself more than is necessary right off the bat.

Once you’ve found your site, hit ‘e’ to continue. If you get a warning about aquifer, salt water, or other obstacles, consider choosing a different embark site. For the purpose of completing this guide, however, we won’t get as far as running into those issues, so if you’re having trouble finding a site, you can ignore those particular warnings. There are ways to deal with these issues, of course, but they’re probably better left for a later fortress.

The next screen asks you if you want to prepare for the journey carefully, or if you want to simply play now. For your first fortress, “play now” is fine, and you should end up with the proper supplies. Selecting the other option lets you change your fortress name, your group name, the starting skills your dwarves will have, the exact supplies you begin with, and so on. You can also save starting configurations if you create one you really like, and you can then choose that from the screen you’re currently at.

You have arrived. After a journey from the Mountainhomes into the forbidding wilderness beyond, your harsh trek has finally ended. Your party of seven is to make an outpost for the glory of all of Monom Thum.
There are almost no supplies left, but with stout labor comes sustenance. Whether by bolt, plow, or hook, provide for your dwarves. You are expecting a supply caravan before winter entombs you, but it is Spring now. Enough time to delve secure logings, ere the cougars get hungry. A new chapter of dwarven history begins here at this place, Uremerith, “Fatherlabors”. Strike the earth!

Your introductory text will vary slightly depending on your generated world and starting location, but once you’re ready, press any key to continue. Congratulations, you are now playing DF!

By default, the game starts unpaused, so the first thing you might want to do is mash the space bar to pause things and then have a look around. Let’s take a look at what we’ve got here:




Okay, that’s a lot to take in. On the left is your actual view into the world, on the right is the region map, and in the middle is a bit of menu to help get you started. I don’t really care so much about the overview map, so let’s hit tab a couple times and change what we see.




Okay, that’s better, I can see what’s going on now. Bear in mind you can maximize the window at any time and greatly increase your screen real estate. I’ll continue with itty bitty windows for now.

So the first thing I notice is my wagon in the middle of the screen, surrounded by my hapless dwarves. It appears everything is white, and there are some mysterious b’s hanging off to the left. The down triangles are all ramps down to the next level, so I know those b’s must somehow be floating in the air over there.

To look around and examine particular squares, hit ‘k’ as in loo’k’. Makes perfect sense, right? Better get used to it! Anyhow, I now have a yellow X cursor that I can move around with the arrow keys, and information about the selected square shows up on the right. Using that cursor, I discover that the reason everything is white is because it is covered in snow, that the d and the M next to my wagon are a dog and a mule respectively, and that the mysterious b’s off to the left comprise a wake of buzzards. We’ll just ignore them for now. They may attempt to pester us a bit later on but for the immediate future, they should just charge the wagon and then shy away when they get too close to any dwarves.

The first thing to do is to get some mining going on. Since I seem to be on a hill top of some sort, I’ll move down a level (< and > move down and up respectively, but be aware that you have to hold shift when pressing those keys as , and . perform entirely different tasks.) Now that I can see the next level down, I’ll hit ‘d’ for designate, and then ‘d’ again to mine. Using the cursor and the enter key to start and end rectangles, I’ll mark out a small area to be dug out:




I then unpause the game and one of my dwarves will immediately run over and being digging out the area requested. I’ll just let him finish, and then we’ll move on.




Great, all done! Now, I was fortunate in that the ground I dug in to was all soil of some sort (sand, loam, clay, silt, etc.) instead of stone, so I can plant a farm directly on it. You can farm on stone, but doing so involves irrigation and is better left for later. With my new area ready to go, I’m going to build a small farm plot in one of those 2x2 rooms. We’ll need a bigger one later, but for now, it should do. To build a farm plot, first press ‘b’ for build and then ‘p’ for farm plot. Unlike designations, we set the area to be farmed by setting a size and then placing the rectangle. It starts off as a 1x1 farm, so hit ‘u’ to make it taller and ‘k’ to make it wider. Similarly, ‘m’ makes the area shorter and ‘h’ makes it narrower. Once I have the right size plot, I move the cursor into the room I want to farm and hit enter. Unpausing the game should lead to a dwarf running in and setting the area up for farming.




While he does that, let’s get some other work going. One thing we’ll need is a place for our dwarves to meet up. For that, we’ll need a table and some chairs. Normally, we’d make them out of a nice classy stone like microcline or an even classier metal like aluminum, but we haven’t even hit any stone yet, much less metal ore, so we’ll have to chop down a few trees and live like filthy elves. Moving the view back up to the wagon, we can see a few trees just begging to be cut down. Hit ‘d’ for designate and ‘t’ for trees, and then select an area containing a few of those nasty woodland foes. Someone should grab an axe and make logs of them in no time.




Of course, we need a way to do something useful with those freshly cut logs, so let’s build a carpenter’s workshop. Similar to the farm, we start off hitting ‘b’ for build, and this time press ‘w’ for workshop and then ‘c’ for carpenter’s workshop. You’ll get a cursor showing the outline of the workshop you’re going to build. Be aware when placing buildings in closed spaces that dark X’s will not be passable, while light X’s will be. It is quite possible to trap dwarves in their own workshops if you’re not careful! In this case, I’m just going to build it out in the open.




Once the workshop is where you want it, hit enter, and a materials screen will come up. All we have available is wood, so I’ll just hit enter to use wood, and then hit escape a couple times to back out of the menus. Momentarily, a dwarf runs over and constructs my workshop.

Next up, we have to actually order the construction of some furniture. I’m going to start with a table, two chairs, and a couple beds to start things off. To do that, we must first view the building by pressing ‘q’ and moving the cursor close enough to the workshop to highlight it. Once highlighted, press ‘a’ to add a new order. Using the +-/* keys, move about the list of possible orders until “wooden chair” is highlighted and hit enter. Alternately, just hit ‘c’ for chair. Not all orders have shortcuts, but learning the common ones is incredibly handy. “Construct wooden chair” now shows up on the workshop’s orders. Adding the rest of the furniture in a similar fashion, we should have the following:




While those orders are being fulfilled, let’s head back downstairs and get that farm running properly. Using the ‘q’ cursor again, highlight the farm (if it’s not built yet, let the game run for a bit until it is, and then continue.) Farm crops are chosen by season. Currently, we’re in spring, so hit ‘a’ to bring up the spring menu, and use the +/- keys to highlight plump helmets, and hit enter. While we’re at it, let’s just choose plump helmets for all the other seasons, too. ‘b’, ‘c’, and ‘d’ will select the summer, fall, and winter seasons respectively. For each of those, choose plump helmets.

Hit escape to back out of the menu and let the game run for a while. Moving around the map while the game is running, you should see a dwarf working the fields and another working at the carpenter’s shop. Once the carpenter is done, we need to place the furniture he’s built. To do so, press ‘b’ for build again, and then ‘t’ for table. A cursor will appear showing where you will place the table. I’ll put mine against the wall in the large room at the end of the hall. Press enter, and then enter again to select the table you wish to actually use. Then hit ‘c’ for chair, and repeat the process. Once more for the second chair, and then ‘b’ a couple times for the beds, which I will put in the room between the farm and the dining area. Escape to back out of the menus (and unpause if needed) and your dwarves should jump into action, installing the new furniture right away.




Great! We just have a few things left to do before we can call this a proper fortress. The first is to make that meager dining area a proper meeting hall. To do that, use the ‘q’ cursor to select the table we had built a minute ago. Press ‘r’ to make it a dining room, and use the +/- keys to change the size of the area. I want mine to fill the whole room, so I’ll just leave it as-is:




Press enter to confirm, and then ‘h’ to set the room as a meeting area. Now when dwarves are eating or have nothing to do, they will come here to hang out, instead of loitering about your shoddy old wagon.

Okay, just a couple more things to do: booze and the military. For the first, we need a still. And for that, we’re going to need more building supplies. Chop down a couple more trees, and then, similar to the carpenter’s workshop, ‘b’, ‘w’, and then ‘l’ for “still.” I’ll put my still right outside the entrance. It would be much better to have it inside, but that’ll just have to wait until there’s space.




There it is, right outside the cave. Oh, and the snow melted! How nice, we can see the grasses and shrubs that were hiding beneath it. Once the still is constructed, highlight it with the ‘q’ cursor and add a new task (‘a’, remember?) We want to ‘b’rew a drink, so select that. If you get an alert that you need a food storage item, don’t worry: that just means you have no empty barrels or pots. Depending on what you have available, wooden barrels can be made at the carpenter’s shop, and stone pots can be made at a craft workshop (perhaps now would be a good time to take a look at all the workshop options available in the ‘b’, ‘w’ menu?)

The last thing we need is a functioning military. To get that started, let’s first make a barracks. We’ll need some sort of focal point to base the barracks off of, so let’s just order up a wooden armor stand at the carpenter’s shop. Remember the ‘q’ cursor? Use it to add an order to “construct wooden ‘a’rmor stand” and once the stand is complete, ‘b’uild the ‘a’rmor stand in the empty room nearest the cave entrance.




Use the ‘q’ cursor to highlight the stand, ‘r’ to make it a barracks, and shrink the area down to just fit the available space. With that done, we’re now ready to venture into the military screen. Hit escape to back out of any menus you may be in, and then press ‘m’ to bring up the military window.




Okay, this is a little different, but we can handle it. First, ‘c’reate a squad. We’ll pick the default “metal armor” uniform. What this really means is that dwarves will attempt to wear the best armor up to and including metal, such as copper, iron, and steel. Press enter, and you will now have the option to assign specific dwarves to this particular squad. Now, you need to be a little careful in that you don’t want to give your woodcutter or miner 24/7 military duty, or they won’t get anything else done and your fort will grind to a halt. I haven’t bothered to actually check the labor assignments of any particular dwarves yet, so I’m just going to pick a couple that look otherwise useless at this point, in my case, a jeweler and a fisher. Just use the arrow keys to highlight the dwarves you want, and hit enter to move them to the squad.




With that out of the way, let’s take a quick look at the schedule. We won’t change anything right now, but it’s good to know that it’s there and how to examine it. Press ‘s’ to change to the schedule view.




From this view, we can see all the various squads and what months have which activities assigned to them. It looks like our guys are set to train all year round, and we’ll just leave it at that. They can certainly use the practice. Hit escape until you’re out of the military screen.

The last thing we need to do for our little squad is to give them a place to train. We’ve already set up a barracks but we need to tell them that’s where they should be training. Using the ‘q’ cursor again, highlight the armor stand we built earlier. Our new squad should show up in the list there, along with a number of different activities that can be performed at that location. Press ‘t’ to order the selected squad to train there.




Once unpaused, your two-dwarf squad should make their way to the barracks and begin training, likely via “individual combat drill.” Later on, once you have more dwarves in the militia and they are more highly skilled, group training activities will occur.

With all that accomplished, we are almost done here. While this fortress would technically survive, we need to address one more topic: stockpiles. Let’s just go ahead and set one up to store seeds from the farm. From the main screen, press ‘p’ for pile. A menu appears with a number of pre-defined stockpile settings. Those are, in general, fine for most of what you need to do. We’re going to jump straight into custom stockpiles, however, since it’s immediately useful in this case. With the stockpile menu up, select ‘c’ustom stockpile, then press ‘t’ to change the stockpile’s setting.




Initially, nothing should be enabled, but if any categories are, move the cursor to that group and ‘d’isable it. Next, move to the “food” category and ‘e’nable it. We don’t want all that crap, though! So ‘b’lock all to leave the category enabled but nothing specifically allowed. Next, move the cursor to the second column and down to “seeds.” ‘p’ermit seeds.




Escape out to the previous window. Now move your cursor to that last empty room, the one across from the bedroom. Press enter in one corner, and then move the cursor to the opposite corner and press enter again to designate the entire room. Congratulations, you now have a seed stockpile!




And with that, this fortress is complete! It’s not very impressive, though. And that’s where you come in: it’s your job to take this fortress to the next level and make it thrive. You may feel you are still often at a loss, but hopefully now you at least have the basic idea down and are perhaps formulating some actual questions to ask.




‘u’ shows the unit list, which shows your dwarves, pets, invaders, wild animals, and the deceased, as well as what everyone is doing.

‘z’ will bring up the stocks screen, which allows you to see how much food, drink, and other supplies you have available, as well as a number of other handy functions. You may notice that a lot of values have a ? mark next to them, which brings us to...

‘n’ will display the nobles screen, which allows you to assign dwarves to certain positions such as sheriff, manager, broker, and bookkeeper. That last one is important for maintaining an accurate count of your current supplies. This screen also allows you to see what various nobles require in order to accomplish their jobs. Example: the bookkeeper needs an office (a room designated from a chair and assigned to that dwarf) in order to update the stockpile records.

Stone is by far your most plentiful resource. As such, stone pots are incredibly useful for storing food and booze. You make stone pots at a craft workshop.

‘v’ is similar to the ‘q’ cursor except it shows creature info instead of displaying information about buildings. By using this cursor, you can set the labor preferences for specific dwarves, so that you can choose your miner and woodcutter and crafter carefully and specifically. However, this is an incredibly cumbersome way to control dwarf labors, and you should instead be using Dwarf Therapist, which comes with the Lazy Newb Pack, and is also available for OS X.

scamtank fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Mar 13, 2014

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL





It's a big, big world full of murder out there. Our very own Jothan has taken it on himself to open this Pandora's Box and explain some.

#1 Getting Started:
Character creation, interface basics, talking and traveling


#2 Things/People/Stuff to Do/Kill/In General:
Sneaking, jumping and other movement, UI worries, finding friends and tasks to do, tactical hippo-wrestling, the reason why we don't go near towers


#3 Powergaming
Strangling birds for fun stats and skill

scamtank fucked around with this message at 08:43 on May 11, 2015

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


Modding & Utilities


What is this Lazy Newb Pack thing?

It’s a very conservative mod compilation. It’s built around a simple launcher GUI that brings most easily automated or finicky tasks like tileset installation, init tweaking and external utility launching only a click or two away. It also comes with a bundle of utilities to ease some of the most popular gripes like labor management.


Not so daunting anymore, is it?

After the original developer left the source code open and hosed off, a few people have picked up development, most visibly a bloke named Peridexis. Now it comes with a recent version of the essential DFHack suite with additional UI scripts, a custom version of the game executable augmented with community bugfixes, nearly a dozen different tilesets and an even wider array of useful utilities, all kept admirably up to date. It’s a boon even if you find no use for most of the extra toys and whirlygigs.

The exact contents of the Windows pack can be found here, in the mod's own Bay12 thread. The other versions have links at http://lazynewbpack.com/.



What is Masterwork? People keep mentioning mushroom people and black plagues and warlocks.

It’s another mod compilation, but that description doesn’t really do it justice.


Look at all this poo poo.

It’s an unholy mashup of dozens of different mods from different authors with different priorities, woven together with a nifty selector app that tailors the raws prior to starting up the game. There’s completely new playable races with customized gameplay, new workshops, weapons, creatures, civilizations, concepts, dynamite arrows and so on and so on. The sheer gravity of this thing has coaxed many useful DFHack innovations from the community, including weapon coating and runic enchantments, projectiles that perform interactions like explosions or dragonfire on impact, buildings that do their thing by activating DFHack scripts in the background and others.

It’s quickly turned into the most popular total conversion so far despite the schizophrenic game balance, bugs and other difficulties that arise from building something of this scope from something so rickety. See the Masterwork subforum for download links.



Notable utilities and their sources

All of these come with the Lazy Newb Pack these days. Fancy that.

DFHack is a cornerstone of the game these days, be it for cheats or fixes or patching the .exe on the fly. There is no executable component - install it properly so that the necessary .dll files get overwritten and you get a console window when you start Dwarf Fortress. Writing plugins and scripts requires command of actual grown-up coding in C, Ruby or Lua, but they can go much farther than anything the raws can do. Spawn items, liquids or solid rock walls? Check. A workshop that puts venom from a vial onto a weapon and won’t wash off? Check. Actual transformations? Check. New interface screens? Check. Fixed military training and armory behavior? Check and check. The only drawback is that major version changes completely break compatibility until the new memory addresses have been remapped by volunteers, which can take weeks.

Falconne’s UI plugins are basically magic. Place them amongst the other DFHack scripts, set them to a keybind and press the combination to call an all-new interface screen in the game. Most of them have been integrated with the basic DFHack suite already, but he constantly comes up with new ones and updates the old.

Dwarf Therapist is familiar to many. This is an external program that takes over the terrible labor management interface in the game itself. Load game, start DT, click Connect and marvel at the data flowing in. You can easily see everyone’s assigned labors, skill levels, professional suitability as calculated by their physical and mental attributes and more.

SoundSense is a clever program that listens in real time to gamelog.txt and then blarts out noises according to the announcements. Season-appropriate music, too!

logarithm posted:

SoundSense's music selection gets repetitive after a while, so here's a custom sound pack I made with songs from Gemclod and Bronzestabbed. You can even use it alongside the normal sound pack without any issues, at least going by 30 minutes of testing. There are packs for both of those LPs, but the one for Gemclod probably doesn't work anymore and the one for Bronzestabbed seems to only have the 6 first songs of the LP.

Download link

There are 15 or so songs that play alongside the normal seasonal BGM, not really sorted by season at the moment except for one obvious song, and a bunch more that play in specific situations like someone getting bitten by a spider, or an invasion. A lot of songs are supposed to trigger on parties so that each party event plays one song from a list of more vocal-heavy tracks and then returns to the normal playlist for that season. The menu and worldgen also have songs set to them. I would list everything, but there's a lot of songs and I accidentally deleted the file I planned the song triggers on initially :v:

Stuff might be broken, I'll try to get around to fixing it maybe

Sirocco, Loden Taylor, Krysmphoenix and all the others are awesome and it was great listening to all these songs again while making this. :3: Song-specific credits are in the ID3v2 artist tags.
Oh, and the zip contains all the .mp3 files from the fanart posts of the LPs even though not all of them are used, so I guess you can consider this a mirror of those.

What looks to have changed between 0.40 and 0.42 raws
b_detail_plan_default
The STANDARD_MATERIALS bunch is joined by [ADD_MATERIAL:PARCHMENT:PARCHMENT_TEMPLATE]. No other changes.

c_variation_default
Add [CV_NEW_TAG:LOCAL_POPS_CONTROLLABLE] and [CV_NEW_TAG:LOCAL_POPS_PRODUCE_HEROES] to beastman variations (ANIMAL_PERSON, ANIMAL_PERSON_LEGLESS).
Giant animals are further modified with [CV_REMOVE_TAG:PET_EXOTIC] and [CV_REMOVE_TAG:MOUNT_EXOTIC].

creature_domestic
Modify cows to produce a specially named parchment with:
code:
[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:VERTEBRATE_TISSUE_LAYERS:SKIN:FAT:MUSCLE:BONE:CARTILAGE]
	[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:BODY_HAIR_TISSUE_LAYERS:HAIR]
	[SELECT_MATERIAL:PARCHMENT] <--- this stuff is new
		[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:vellum]
		[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:vellum]
		[PREFIX:NONE]
creature_large_mountain
Mountain gnomes and dark gnomes need to react to alcohol. Add [SYNDROME_DILUTION_FACTOR:INEBRIATION:500] to both.

creature_next_underground
Gorlaks and plump helmet men also have the [LOCAL_POPS_CONTROLLABLE] and [LOCAL_POPS_PRODUCE_HEROES] tags.

creature_standard
Dwarves get new [STRANGE_MOODS] and [SYNDROME_DILUTION_FACTOR:INEBRIATION:150] tags.
Humans also get [OUTSIDER_CONTROLLABLE] and beak dogs are now [COMMON_DOMESTIC].

entity_default
All instances of [CIV_CONTROLLABLE] are replaced by [SITE_CONTROLLABLE].
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE] and [ADVENTURE_TIER:x] tags of any kind are replaced by just [ALL_MAIN_POPS_CONTROLLABLE].
All [INSTRUMENT:x] availability tags are removed.
Added new cultural value, KNOWLEDGE, to all civilizations. (dwarves +15, goblins -15, others 0)
Humans are now much more randomized. The 30+ lines of cultural values are replaced by a single [VARIABLE_VALUE:ALL:-30:30] tag. Scholars are mixed with a [SET_SCHOLARS_ON_VALUES_AND_JOBS] tag.
Dwarves produce all kinds of scholars:

code:
	[SCHOLAR:PHILOSOPHER]
	[SCHOLAR:MATHEMATICIAN]
	[SCHOLAR:HISTORIAN]
	[SCHOLAR:ASTRONOMER]
	[SCHOLAR:NATURALIST]
	[SCHOLAR:CHEMIST]
	[SCHOLAR:GEOGRAPHER]
	[SCHOLAR:DOCTOR]
	[SCHOLAR:ENGINEER]
...while elves only produce philosophers, astronomers, naturalists and geographers. Goblins and the lesser creatures don't.

Dwarves perform all creative arts:

code:
	[GENERATE_KEYBOARD_INSTRUMENTS]
	[GENERATE_STRINGED_INSTRUMENTS]
	[GENERATE_WIND_INSTRUMENTS]
	[GENERATE_PERCUSSION_INSTRUMENTS]
	[GENERATE_POETIC_FORMS]
	[GENERATE_MUSICAL_FORMS]
	[GENERATE_DANCE_FORMS]
...while the others omit some. Only dwarves care about keyboarded instruments, elves aren't interested in percussion, goblins don't care about stringed instruments, kobold culture is exclusively about drum banging (percussion instruments, nothing else) and tribal beastmen don't understand creative arts at all.
The library and temple builders (dwarves, elves, humans, goblins) use the suitable naming conventions:

code:
	[SELECT_SYMBOL:TEMPLE:NAME_BUILDING_TEMPLE]
	[SELECT_SYMBOL:LIBRARY:NAME_BUILDING_LIBRARY]
Humans and dwarves also make books and paper, using the new tools, reactions and professions:

code:
	[TOOL:ITEM_TOOL_SCROLL_ROLLERS]
	[TOOL:ITEM_TOOL_BOOK_BINDING]
	[TOOL:ITEM_TOOL_SCROLL]
	[TOOL:ITEM_TOOL_QUIRE]
	[TOOL:ITEM_TOOL_BOOKCASE]
code:
	[PERMITTED_JOB:PAPERMAKER]
	[PERMITTED_JOB:BOOKBINDER]
code:
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_QUICKLIME]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_MILK_OF_LIME]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_PARCHMENT]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_SCROLL]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_QUIRE]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_SHEET_FROM_PLANT]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:MAKE_SLURRY_FROM_PLANT]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:PRESS_PLANT_PAPER]
	[PERMITTED_REACTION:BIND_BOOK]
inorganic_other
Earthenware, stoneware and porcelain all get new [IS_CERAMIC] tags.
The definitions for quicklime and milk of lime are tacked on to the bottom.

inorganic_stone_layer
Limestone, chalk and marble (but not dolomite!) belong to the new CALCIUM_CARBONATE reaction class.

inorganic_stone_mineral
Calcite is also added to the CALCIUM_CARBONATE reaction class.

item_instrument
GONE. Totally deleted.

item_tool
Added definitions for the new tools - scroll rollers, book bindings, scrolls, quires and bookcases.

language_DWARF/ELF/GOBLIN/HUMAN
Added 22 new words to each vocabulary (human excerpt shown):
code:
	[T_WORD:END:zuso]
	[T_WORD:START:tad]
	[T_WORD:BEGIN:dujan]
	[T_WORD:BIRTH:onru]
	[T_WORD:LEARN:cando]
	[T_WORD:MISCHIEF:quesh]
	[T_WORD:WISDOM:mospar]
	[T_WORD:KNOW:agal]
	[T_WORD:KNOWLEDGE:fedem]
	[T_WORD:CRACK:emat]
	[T_WORD:SHATTER:throm]
	[T_WORD:LEAP:kupek]
	[T_WORD:JUMP:itni]
	[T_WORD:DIVE:odi]
	[T_WORD:VAULT VERB:zop]
	[T_WORD:VAULT PLACE:pamnot]
	[T_WORD:TREASURY:somlis]
	[T_WORD:BETRAY:zewoth]
	[T_WORD:TREASON:tixom]
	[T_WORD:REASON:kab r]
	[T_WORD:SQUAT:smoro]
	[T_WORD:FESTIVAL:raqui]
language_SYM
Add two new symbol classes and distribute new words into the old ones:
code:
[SYMBOL:NAME_BUILDING_LIBRARY]
	[S_WORD:HOME]
	[S_WORD:HOUSE]
	[S_WORD:LIBRARY]
	[S_WORD:SANCTUARY]
	[S_WORD:MANSION]
	[S_WORD:PALACE]
	[S_WORD:BASTION]
	[S_WORD:VAULT PLACE]
	[S_WORD:TREASURY]

[SYMBOL:NAME_FESTIVAL]
	[S_WORD:CELEBRATE]
	[S_WORD:FESTIVAL]
SYMBOL:FLOWERY gets FESTIVAL.
SYMBOL:NATURE gets BIRTH, LEAP, JUMP and DIVE.
SYMBOL:EVIL gets BETRAY.
SYMBOL:NEGATOR gets CRACK, SHATTER, BETRAY and TREASON.
SYMBOL:VIOLENT gets CRACK and SHATTER.
SYMBOL:UGLY gets SQUAT.
SYMBOL:NEW gets START, BEGIN and BIRTH.
SYMBOL:ARTIFICE gets VAULT PLACE and TREASURY.
SYMBOL:MYSTERY gets VAULT PLACE.
SYMBOL:NEGATIVE gets BETRAY, TREASON and SQUAT.
SYMBOL:AQUATIC gets DIVE.
SYMBOL:PROTECT gets VAULT PLACE.
SYMBOL:THOUGHT gets LEARN, WISDOM, KNOW, KNOWLEDGE and REASON.
SYMBOL:WILD gets SHATTER and LEAP.
SYMBOL:NAME_CAVE gets CRACK.
SYMBOL:DANCE gets FESTIVAL.
SYMBOL:FESTIVAL also gets FESTIVAL.
SYMBOL:FAMILY gets BIRTH.
SYMBOL:GAMES again gets FESTIVAL.
SYMBOL:TRUTH gets WISDOM, KNOW, KNOWLEDGE and REASON.
SYMBOL:WEALTH gets VAULT PLACE and TREASURY.

language_words
Define the 22 new words listed above. No other changes.

material_template_default
SKIN_TEMPLATE is modified with [MATERIAL_REACTION_PRODUCT:PARCHMENT_MAT:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:PARCHMENT].
Added the new PARCHMENT_TEMPLATE.
PLANT_ALCOHOL_TEMPLATE and CREATURE_ALCOHOL_TEMPLATE are saddled with the new inebriation syndrome:
code:
	[SYNDROME]
		[SYN_NAME:inebriation]
		[SYN_IDENTIFIER:INEBRIATION]
		[SYN_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON]
		[SYN_INGESTED]
		[SYN_INJECTED]
		[SYN_NO_HOSPITAL]
		[SYN_CONCENTRATION_ADDED:100:1000]
		[CE_NAUSEA:SEV:35:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4]
		[CE_DIZZINESS:SEV:50:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:20:PEAK:240:END:600:DWF_STRETCH:4] for ataxia
		[CE_UNCONSCIOUSNESS:SEV:25:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4]
		[CE_CHANGE_PERSONALITY:FACET:BASHFUL:-50:FACET:PRIVACY:-50:FACET:BRAVERY:25:FACET:CONFIDENCE:25:FACET:POLITENESS:-25:FACET:THOUGHTLESSNESS:25:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4]
		[CE_FEEL_EMOTION:EMOTION:EUPHORIA:SEV:75:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4]
		[CE_ERRATIC_BEHAVIOR:SEV:50:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4]
		[CE_IMPAIR_FUNCTION:SEV:20:BP:BY_TYPE:BREATHE:ALL:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4]
plant_crops
Flax, jute, hemp, cotton, ramie, kenaf and papyrus sedge get the tags required for paper production. Papyrus uniquely gets the straightforward PAPER_PLANT class:
code:
	[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:STRUCTURAL:STRUCTURAL_PLANT_TEMPLATE]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:SOLID_PRESSED:papyrus]
		[PREFIX:NONE]
		[REACTION_CLASS:PAPER_PLANT]
...but all the others are processed into mush first (hemp shown):
code:
	[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:STRUCTURAL:STRUCTURAL_PLANT_TEMPLATE]
		[MATERIAL_REACTION_PRODUCT:PRESS_PAPER_MAT:LOCAL_PLANT_MAT:THREAD]
code:
	[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:THREAD:THREAD_PLANT_TEMPLATE]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:SOLID:hemp]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:SOLID_PASTE:hemp slurry]
		[STATE_NAME_ADJ:SOLID_PRESSED:hemp paper]
		[PREFIX:NONE]
		[MATERIAL_VALUE:2]
		[REACTION_CLASS:PAPER_SLURRY]
plant_standard
Pig tail and rope reed also get paper slurry production/definition tags like shown above.

reaction_other
Added new reactions for making quicklime, milk of lime, parchment, scrolls, quires, papyrus, plant slurry, proper paper and binding books.

creature_desert_new/large_ocean/large_riverlake/large_temperate/large_tropical/next_underground/other/reptiles/riverlakepool_new/small_ocean/small_riverlake/standard/subterranean/temperate_new/tropical_new
Creatures that gain or lose their skin-related stuff with specific exceptions need to account for parchment, too. Tack on [REMOVE_MATERIAL:PARCHMENT] to every instance of leather getting removed:
code:
[REMOVE_MATERIAL:LEATHER]
...and likewise with [USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:PARCHMENT:PARCHMENT_TEMPLATE] with every time it's added:
code:
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:LEATHER:LEATHER_TEMPLATE]

scamtank fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Dec 4, 2015

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


With no documentation and Toady himself not really remembering what he did ten years ago, it falls on fools and maniacs to disassemble the memory and start looking for patterns on how the game works. The Bay12 savant UristDaVinci is to thank/blame of most of this, largely quoted verbatim.

Breaches of physics posted:


Conservation of momentum:
  • There is no recoil for throwing or shooting high-momentum projectiles. IRL, you will fall backwards if you try to do this.
  • Body parts are assumed to stay put while being attacked, as if the creature had its back to a wall or was lying on a concrete slab. IRL if you punch someone's arm, it could swing away from you. Kicking a standing person in the head should move it backwards and cause some neck strain, but is currently implemented as curbstomping.

Conservation of energy:
  • If an attack does not have enough momentum to cut a layer (based on the momentum costs), it stops there and does some blunt damage. If the attack does cut through or fracture through the entire layer, the attack speeds up again to close to the original momentum before hitting the next layer. The game does decrease the momentum a bit depending on the layer's stiffness/flexibility/dentability. This might make sense if a creature was holding a weapon and "following through" on the swing, but projectiles really need to respect the energy required to cut or fracture material. Currently, it is like arrows are propelled by constantly burning rocket engines.

Square cube law:
  • Clothing for large creatures grows thicker in proportion to the creature's volume, whereas skin (correctly) grows thicker in proportion to the cube root of the creature's volume.
  • Creatures can always attack at a full nominal speed with their body parts, whereas large creatures do sub-par damage with held weapons.
  • There is no bonus for holding a weapon in a larger, stronger, or faster moving limb/grasp. You could have a fist the size of a car, and still do crap damage when stabbing someone with a featherwood training sword.

The mechanisms of an attack posted:

The wounds that creatures get from slashy/stabby/smashy weapons and body part attacks, as well as from ranged projectiles that were thrown/shot/fell/driven (minecarts), and even falling damage are all handled through a few common functions.
Wrestling-related bendy/pinchy wounds are handled through different code that I haven't yet explored, so the comments below don't apply there.

The incoming attack always has a certain set of properties. Even the ground, at least in the arena, is a size 7290 object with a density of 2000, contact area of 100000, and no sharpness. The key property is the momentum of the attack, which is some variation on weight*velocity. The velocity is calculated differently for melee attacks, ranged attacks, falling, and new parabolic projectiles.

There is one set of defense calculations for use against edged attacks, and another set for use against blunt attacks. Both work on a "momentum cost" basis, but use the material property numbers differently. There is no difference at this stage between armor layers and tissue layers.

Edged defense:
1. Is the weapon better at SHEAR_YIELD than the layer? If yes, make a dent and proceed.
2. Is the weapon better at SHEAR_FRACTURE than the layer? If yes, start cutting and proceed.
3. The big test, can the weapon saw all the way through the layer? The shear fractures butt heads with each other, assisted by the layer's thickness and the weapon's sharpness respectively. If yes, cleave through the layer and move on the the layer below.

If the layer wins at any point, the edged attack starts getting resolved as a blunt attack, using the original amount of momentum.

Blunt defense:
1. Is this attack like punching a steel pillar? If the weight of the layer portion making contact with the weapon is heavier than the rating figured through the weapon's VOLUME and IMPACT_YIELD, it deflects with no ill effect. Really light wood that cuts through anything will still clink off a silver breastplate.
2. Does this attack have enough momentum to dent a layer with this much IMPACT_YIELD and thickness? If yes, make a dent and proceed. Also, check for IMPACT_STRAIN_AT_YIELD. If it's at least 50000, skip steps 3-4 and move on to the layer below.
3. Does this attack have enough momentum to make the layer start cracking, dictated by the difference between the layer's IMPACT_YIELD and IMPACT_FRACTURE? If yes, start a crack and proceed.
4. Does this attack have enough momentum to break through the entire layer, dictated again by the difference between the layer's IMPACT_YIELD and IMPACT_FRACTURE? If yes, crush the layer and move on to the layer below.

If the layer wins at any point, the blunt attack stops there and the muffled percentage of momentum is passed down. The amount of muffling is the STRAIN_AT_YIELD value divided by 50000 - a value of 12500 means 25% left and so on. Of course, this means that default metals are so rigid that the differences are meaningless. If they can stop a blow, then that's that.

~The hosed up crazy part ~

When the attack defeats the layer, its momentum is reduced only by 10% of the first step's cost, whichever is higher. No, gently caress reality. If the layer was not defeated even through blunt crushing, reduced blunt damage is passed through to the layer below depending on layer strain/denting and flexibility.

So what should be think when we see a number?

IMPACT_YIELD: varies! Easily dentable but hard to fracture armor might be good. If the fracture is equal to the yield, it takes zero additional momentum to fracture the layer after denting. Then again, if the SHEAR_YIELD value is very low, a higher IMPACT_YIELD will step in to slow the hit down as it passes through the layers.
SHEAR_YIELD: higher is better.
*_FRACTURE: higher is better.
STRAIN_AT_YIELD: lower is better. 50000 or more makes blunt attacks just do the denting step and zip right past.
Sharpness (MAX_EDGE adjusted by item *quality*): higher is better. Sharper edge means better performance in all stages of the cutting calculations.

The momentum costs are only for the volume of layer under the weapon, so having a small contact area allows you to cut deeper and so on. Severing only occurs when all the CONNECTS tissue on a body part is completely cut/fractured. Due to the blunt bypass, normally the skin/fat/muscle on organic creatures will prevent blunt attacks from severing body parts. If you mod out their connectivity or lower their strain values, it becomes possible to sever parts by breaking the bones.

Here is the best guess for the actual formula.



The "factors" bit is the element of chance. That multiplier varies from a minuscule 0...001% and up to 2x depending on all the other things we can imagine having an effect and more that don't. Mood, anger, skill, curses, nausea, personality, whatever you're thinking that might, all of it.

scamtank fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Jun 9, 2015

Shibawanko
Feb 13, 2013

The silk robe soaking in puke can be found to the right, in a smoothed but non-engraved corridor, next to a wall.

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


Oh hey, I see you used my header graphics. I still have the original PS doc with whatever font that was, if you want me to make matching new ones, let me know.

Facebook Aunt
Oct 4, 2008

wiggle wiggle




Header graphic thief!

Capntastic
Jan 13, 2005

A dog begins eating a dusty old coil of rope but there's a nail in it.

Hello, I'm obligated to tell people to go and listen to DF Talk if they haven't.

my dad
Oct 17, 2012

this shall be humorous
Remember, kids, LOSING IS FUN!

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


Angela Christine posted:

Header graphic thief!

IT*S MY FIRST THRE¤AD GET OFF MY CASE

Bad Munki posted:

Oh hey, I see you used my header graphics. I still have the original PS doc with whatever font that was, if you want me to make matching new ones, let me know.

If you could point me towards the font you used, I'd be a happy man. I'm going to tweak everything forever anyway, so I'd rather not have to bother you every time I wanted to do something different.

scamtank fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Mar 13, 2014

AXE COP
Apr 16, 2010

i always feel like

somebody's watching me
That masterwork blurb is pretty out of date. There's a whole new GUI for setting the mod up, the number of playable races has swollen from 2 to 5 (!!) and there's all kinds of insane crap like automatic factory chains, programmable catapults and magma cannons.

LeJackal
Apr 5, 2011
Magma-Cannon land mines? Pfff! Trapdoors and a malevolent murder maze is more my style. Every raider that escapes wins a free party with the militia! :toot:

Baloogan
Dec 5, 2004
Fun Shoe
So is the next version out yet?

Vander
Aug 16, 2004

I am my own hero.
Been playing this for years, and I still have never used the original tile set. Anyone else like that? Can we get an updated startup guide to tiles?

SSJ_naruto_2003
Oct 12, 2012



AXE COP posted:

That masterwork blurb is pretty out of date. There's a whole new GUI for setting the mod up, the number of playable races has swollen from 2 to 5 (!!) and there's all kinds of insane crap like automatic factory chains, programmable catapults and magma cannons.

MMmm, magma cannons.

I want to shoot at some titans.

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


scamtank posted:

IT*S MY FIRST THRE¤AD GET OFF MY CASE


If you could point me towards the font you used, I'd be a happy man. I'm going to tweak everything forever anyway, so I'd rather not have to bother you every time I wanted to do something different.

Looking at the PS doc, it's Myanmar MN and a black drop shadow in multiply blend mode, 30% opacity, 120° angle, 5px distance, 0% spread, 8px size.

Actually, you know what, I just uploaded it to goondorfs. Just duplicate a layer and change the text and you'll have a perfectly matching header every time: http://goondorfs.net/OP_Headers.psd.zip

Zesty
Jan 17, 2012

The Great Twist

Vander posted:

Been playing this for years, and I still have never used the original tile set. Anyone else like that? Can we get an updated startup guide to tiles?

I love the default, but I have it as a 12x12 tileset.

The wiki has a huge list of tilesets. I think Jolly is my favorite tileset outside of the default.

Zesty fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Mar 13, 2014

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


Baloogan posted:

So is the next version out yet?

Of course not. Toady's finalizing the succession stuff right now, if memory serves.

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

scamtank posted:

Of course not. Toady's finalizing the succession stuff right now, if memory serves.

I think a lot of people are going to assume a new thread is because a new version is out, so you might want to headline this in the first post.

Baloogan
Dec 5, 2004
Fun Shoe

Leperflesh posted:

I think a lot of people are going to assume a new thread is because a new version is out, so you might want to headline this in the first post.

Yeah, why the new thread if there isn't a new version? You guys got me all excited.

Is there a new ETA?

Carsius
May 7, 2013

The OP is too short for my liking. It doesn't even take up the entire first page!

But seriously, great job on the post. Have fun rewriting it in a few weeks/months/years when the new update comes out.

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"
It is a new thread of awesomeness. It glitters with spikes of wonder, and menaces with bands of kitten-flesh. Yay!

Vander posted:

Been playing this for years, and I still have never used the original tile set. Anyone else like that? Can we get an updated startup guide to tiles?

Yeah, I'm with you. Personally, I'd have the Fortress post start with the LNP right off the bat, if only for easy tileset support and immediate Dwarf Therapist. Then again, what do I know? If I was sane, I probably wouldn't play DF in the first place :)

LostCosmonaut
Feb 15, 2014

So, did the old thread just grow too large? No big deal in any case.

Regarding the new version, I think DF2010 came out on 1 April, so it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again.

Toadsniff
Apr 10, 2006

Fire Down Below: Crab Company 2
Here's to another 25 months without an update! Cheers :cheers:

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


It was 25 months old today and Scamtank was ready to go. I've been neglecting the old thread long enough, so it was time to take it out behind the shed. :)

Anyhow I think the last post in the old thread should be the new thread title, I think it sums everything up pretty succinctly and should help alleviate any confusion over the new thread.

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


Leperflesh posted:

I think a lot of people are going to assume a new thread is because a new version is out, so you might want to headline this in the first post.

Yeah, I was going to make some flippant little text animation to answer that, but just a number works too.

Baloogan posted:

Yeah, why the new thread if there isn't a new version? You guys got me all excited.

Is there a new ETA?

It's always two months in the making. We're on another pass of tying loose ends up, so I can pretty confidently say that something will happen before Christmas.

scamtank fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 13, 2014

aldantefax
Oct 10, 2007

ALWAYS BE MECHFISHIN'

scamtank posted:

It's always two months in the making. We're on another pass of tying loose ends up, so I can pretty confidently say that something will happen before Christmas 2015.

Given all of the stuff Toady has been doing in the new release it's not a big surprise if it ends up coming out next year.

TildeATH
Oct 21, 2010

by Lowtax

scamtank posted:

It's always two months in the making.

It's like 1984 in here.

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

TildeATH posted:

It's like 1984 in here.

Bronzestabbed is always about a month away from being done.

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


Bronzestabbed vs. DF Release: a race to Forever!

Lawman 0
Aug 17, 2010

Yay a new thread! :)

LostEnder
Jul 3, 2012

This is a good thread! Here's a shot of the new Masterwork screen for you to use.

http://imgur.com/WlXs6FP

Shadowlz
Oct 3, 2011

Oh it's gonna happen one way or the other, pal.



A new DF thread? A good day!

You are missing a thread subtitle though.

Shadowlz fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Mar 13, 2014

madjackmcmad
May 27, 2008

Look, I'm startin' to believe some of the stuff the cult guy's been saying, it's starting to make a lot of sense.
Fantastic OP, kudos on taking on this launch of the new thread.

scamtank
Feb 24, 2011

my desire to just be a FUCKING IDIOT all day long is rapidly overtaking my ability to FUNCTION

i suspect that means i'm MENTALLY ILL


OW OW OW OW OW DEVLOG

Toady One posted:

Looks like succession is done. As a final test, instead of just writing about it, I went ahead added a debug button that makes absolutely everybody interesting or otherwise individually tracked keel over. Only abstracted populations remained alive. The world was very quiet for a while, with no patrols or creatures moving around, because they were either dead or the person that would give the orders was dead, but by mid-morning they had reestablished leadership structures and I got to watch several people journey from site to site to place themselves in their new seats of power. We can add some extra confusion later, but I'm happy for this time that it works at all. There are some more conversation responses there as well, and so on.

Pound_Coin
Feb 5, 2004
£


What will & won't building destroyers go through? trying to design defences with a drowning chamber.

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


scamtank posted:

OW OW OW OW OW DEVLOG

Honestly I'm kind of disappointed nobody beat you to the first dev log of your new thread. :v:

duralict
Sep 18, 2007

this isn't hug club at all

Pound_Coin posted:

What will & won't building destroyers go through? trying to design defences with a drowning chamber.

They can't destroy walls or things they can only access from below (like a forbidden hatch). There are also some weird quirks to diagonals that make them unable to destroy things based on placement.

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Rynoto
Apr 27, 2009
It doesn't help that I'm fat as fuck, so my face shouldn't be shown off in the first place.
My latest Masterwork Short History world gen stopped in the middle of a Golden Age with Kobolds having the biggest and most cities covering the largest landmass. Dwarves are almost completely extinct and a group of Frost Giants is completely ridding the world of evil and is what triggered the Golden Age after the Age of Heroes.

I don't even know anymore.

E: And a female Drake slowly losing ground to the Kobolds lands advance.

Rynoto fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 14, 2014

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