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Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

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Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#91
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rimworld is kinda lame if you've played DF. They are not even comparable.

how so? the production chain is almost as deep. the damage model it's close in detail, and it's not terribly broken (whips anyone?) which should count as far as features go. you can actually caravan, explore people and exterminate faction without being restricted into adventure mode. and when you ask a neighbor for something in the caravan, you get what you asked. weather and climate is much more prominent, including…

I've played both. RimWorld became... repetitive really quick compared to DF, however, certain limitations in DF have significantly hindered how much I want to play it, namely I find it super hard to have a good overview of what goes on in my DF fortress after a while while in Rimworld I didn't get that feeling.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#92

I've never been able to get into DF but I would suggest people check out RimWorld. I've heard it described as "Dwarf Fortress is Rimworld for people who hate fun" [0] and people often draw parallels between the two [1]. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/7dm7j8/how_does_r... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/6xeie3/coming_ove...

I heard some people recommend Oxygen Not Included, as also being in a similar vein, albeit at a smaller scale(ie, you have only 2 or 3 people in your colony), but with nice visuals (Klei are generally good with the animations, most things are animated, machines have cranks and pinions that move, water and other liquids actually flow with gravity, and visuals match the simulation as far as I have seen). ONI has a some…

Hardly comparable to Rimworld. ONI doesn't have combat beyond slaughtering animals. You can end up with your colony starving or suffocating, but you usually caused it yourself / were not careful enough. It also feels like the later part of ONI was quite a bit influenced by Factorio, leading to lots of automation while Rimworld pretty much only only tech subsystem is an electrical grid that explodes whenever you do well.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#93
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since they live around Seattle, maybe they should consider immigrating a few hundred miles north to Canada? They might qualify under the self-employed artist category? https://www.settler.ca/english/immigration-to-canada-for-art...

If you are able to pay, American healthcare can be higher quality and more timely than Canadian care. Especially the hospitals and doctors in and around Seattle. That's why wealthy Canadians come to the US for some treatments. The hope is that they earn enough from the Steam royalties (which should happen given the popular rumor and storytelling around the game among gamers). Also, Canada has medical requirements and…

> If you are able to pay, American healthcare can be higher quality and more timely than Canadian care. Especially the hospitals and doctors in and around Seattle. That's why wealthy Canadians come to the US for some treatments.

It's unlikely you'll find higher quality or more timely care in the US than Canada for anything that would be triaged as urgent (such as a cancer scare). The entire ethos of the Canadian healthcare system is that there should be a single tier system regardless if you're wealthy or poor--everyone gets the same quality of care. This means triaging happens based on urgency of treatment instead who has the most money.

You will certainly be able to bypass any triaging in the US for elective or non-urgent matters, for a sufficient premium (effectively a bribe).

If you're comparing quality with Seattle specifically, then compare against Toronto which has some of the best cancer treatment facilities and doctors.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#94
post #9

Three points of interest: 1) Full developer announcement on their Patreon page -> https://www.patreon.com/posts/25343688 2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system "after Zach's latest cancer scare, we determined that with my healthcare plan's copay etc., I'd be wiped out if I had to undergo the same procedures . . " 3) Cool to see that they are going to use graphics built by two…

2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system I know both sides of this. Obamacare was truly a boon to me when I was an "independent consultant." We in the USA need to value our liberty. But if you want people to value liberty, you first have to keep them safe from Kafkaesque nightmares which involve their bodies not working correctly and not getting fixed. Basically, it works just…

I don't understand what you've written at all. Are you in favour of the US healthcare system, or against it?

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#95

I've played DF a lot. Biggest problem that I had is that it eventually becomes a challenge to manage the framerate. I realize there are ways to fix this that are intertwined with the gameplay, but I'd rather play the game instead of butchering kittens and other things in an effort to keep the game performant. Second issue is with military organization. I never really became confident in my ability to get the squads d…

Multithread w h e n ??? Also, early embark setup fatigue is real. Setup the stockpiles. Plan the rooms. Have the plans outpace your current productivity and have it take way too long. Do this every time. Once that's over, though, you get to enjoy sorting through droves of migrants, assigning each to the tasks they're most appropriate to or which need the most dwarves right now (the game actually approximates this aut…

Given what we can see on the surface, DF is probably a mess under the hood. I'd bet a competent C programmer could speed it up a LOT with old-fashioned single-threaded optimizations.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#96
post #65
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love RimWorld, and have hundreds of hours in it, but I'd say it's really more like Babby's First DF game than truly comparable to DF. It just doesn't have the depth, or capability to present a deep challenge forever. It also takes place in a single layer, whereas DF has gobs of layers.

I actually really enjoy the way RimWorld's gameplay is simpler and more focused. Feels more like a game you actually get to play and less like a simulation you feel compelled to tweak every few hundred ticks. Obviously, you're not going to get "infinite hours of gameplay" out of it the way you can with DF, but it can be a fun ride for hundreds of hours.

The other thing going for Rimworld is Steam Workshop integration and a very robust modding community.

You want Warhammer 40K in Rimworld? Got it.

You want Lovecraftian horrors in Rimworld? Got it.

You want different types of cats, or barbed wire, or typewriters? Got it.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#97
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system I know both sides of this. Obamacare was truly a boon to me when I was an "independent consultant." We in the USA need to value our liberty. But if you want people to value liberty, you first have to keep them safe from Kafkaesque nightmares which involve their bodies not working correctly and not getting fixed. Basically, it works just…

I don't understand what you've written at all. Are you in favour of the US healthcare system, or against it?

I can tell that he is against but the rest of it was completely opaque to me

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#98
post #35

One thing that amazes me about Dwarf Fortress is that the creator(s) don't use version control[1] (as of 2014, things may have changed): "I don't use version control -- I didn't like the feeling of having the code get committed into a black box thingy with no immediate upside." I can't fathom how you can manage the complexity of a game like DF without a VCS. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_a…

I think one problem is he doesn't, or at least it is managed through heroic effort as opposed to efficiently. Updates take longer and longer and have a longer period of 'everythings broken' as the game progresses. From all reports the code is a complete mess. It's an amazing piece of work, but it does seem like there is some wasted potential there (though I can believe that it may not be possible to harness that potential without giving up on the incredible ambition of the game, because this is the kind of thing that can only really be accomplished by someone who is completely unreasonable).

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#99
post #9

Three points of interest: 1) Full developer announcement on their Patreon page -> https://www.patreon.com/posts/25343688 2) They are putting on steam largely because of the USA's shit healthcare system "after Zach's latest cancer scare, we determined that with my healthcare plan's copay etc., I'd be wiped out if I had to undergo the same procedures . . " 3) Cool to see that they are going to use graphics built by two…

Also in the article but buried: 4) Steam/itch.io and Katfox take a cut so if you want to really help out Zach and Tarn you should donate directly @ http://www.bay12games.com/support.html

Steam also lets you sell steam keys on your own site, and they don't take a cut of that.

There is a bit of an issue with selling your own Steam keys and selling on multiple platforms though. The more people who purchase your game on Steam, the higher Steam's algorithm will rank the game, so there's something to be said for not spreading out sales.

Re: Dwarf Fortress is coming to Steam with graphics

#100
post #21

I've never been able to get into DF but I would suggest people check out RimWorld. I've heard it described as "Dwarf Fortress is Rimworld for people who hate fun" [0] and people often draw parallels between the two [1]. [0] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/7dm7j8/how_does_r... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/comments/6xeie3/coming_ove...

Rimworld is kinda lame if you've played DF. They are not even comparable.

Honestly, Rimworld is the better game. DF may be the better simulation, but most of the time that simulation does not contribute that much to gameplay, and many aspects of DF detract from the gameplay. I would like rimworld to develop more depth, but it has at least acknowledged that how the player interacts with it is important.
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