Creature size inconsistencies

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

The problem with making a blood fountain smaller is that it makes it vulnerable to tramplers- and it doesn't have that many hitpoints to begin with.

[Kristoffer O]

Saulot is right on track!

I didn't expect stuff to be larger than the hydra when we first made dom-ppp. And the square limit of 6 sizepoints makes it a problem to change. Thus size 6 =max size.

Winged critters generally have sixe one higher than their actual size, and they have fx_ressize (might be called #ressize in modding) different from their actual size. Ressize is used to calculate resource cost and feedrates (IIRC).

Also size is more on the width than height of a unit, since it determmines how many units fit in a square.

Gryphon takes up more of a square than a horse - size=4 plus wings - size=5.

This makes fliers a bit better tramplers than they should, but on the other hand you might get buffed by wings perhaps.

[Shovah32]

Also wouldnt flying creatures be slightly better tramplers anyway? A big creature hitting you from above would be quite damaging after all .

[PyroStock]

Fliers having wingspan increase size and being better tramplers is fine to me too.

Ewierl said:
All told, far more things need size reductions (Blood Fountain dragon-sized? Come on!) than need increases.

I don't see a problem with a Blood Fountain being size6. There are some big man made fountains IRL. I envision these magic fountains to be more majestic and impressive in size and less like a public drinking fountain.

However, I would envision Dragons and Krakens much bigger than an elephant, especially given the wingspan on dragons. And neither have foot/armor slots in their size6 form.

[Edi]

Shovah32 said:
Also wouldnt flying creatures be slightly better tramplers anyway? A big creature hitting you from above would be quite damaging after all .

Yes, it would. Ever been on the receiving end of an owl's claws? I haven't personally, but my dad has been and the results weren't pretty. Half his face was swollen to twice the normal size, he nearly got a concussion and the only thing that saved his eyes were his glasses (thick frames and thick lenses), and the frames were a writeoff).

Mind you, this was a Ural owl, which weighs somewhere around one kilogram and it only hit him once. When you add anything the size of flying tramplers in Dominions... *shudder*

A flying trampler does not need as much mass as a non-flying one simply because Ek=½mv^2 and flying tramplers generally come at you much faster.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive done wildlife control and to me a flying trampler would indeed have a bonus. Wings are definetly used to increase the attack ability of large flyers. If its large enough to trample you then the large wings would be used to "buffet". They might not do damage but they do tend to cause the victim to crouch or even be knocked down, which would definetly make the trampling more effective.

[Ironhawk]

If we are aiming for realism than flyers should also have a chance of being "shot down" with any given attack and taking massive damage when they crash into the ground.

[Ewierl]

Kristoffer O said:I didn't expect stuff to be larger than the hydra when we first made dom-ppp. And the square limit of 6 sizepoints makes it a problem to change. Thus size 6 =max size.

Oh, I'm by no means proposing that the size list start going up to 7 (or 11). But if a lot of sizes are legacies from a slightly different scale, why not (have someone) go through and make sure everything is adjusted and balanced on the new scale? Just because there's a reasonable origin for a situation, doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Gryphon takes up more of a square than a horse - size=4 plus wings - size=5.

Bigger than a horse, for certain. But is it intended to be bigger than the size=4 pegasus? Or is the pegasus the undersized one?

[Sombre]

Ewierl said: But if a lot of sizes are legacies from a slightly different scale, why not (have someone) go through and make sure everything is adjusted and balanced on the new scale? Just because there's a reasonable origin for a situation, doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Oh dear. "Why doesn't someone do X?"

Here's the stock response: Why don't you do it? You're the one who wants it done.

It's easily moddable you know.

[Ewierl]

Sombre said:Oh dear. "Why doesn't someone do X?"

Here's the stock response: Why don't you do it? You're the one who wants it done.

It's easily moddable you know.

As I said in my initial post, I'm absolutely willing to do the work. If there's enough demand, I'll go through the monster list and come up with a revised list of creature sizes.

That being said, I haven't gotten into modding, and I'm probably not going to learn modding just for a way to implement this, so I will need a little help.

But this seems more of a "bug" (no, not a technical bug, but a misconstruction/inconsistency of the game) than an issue of play preference, so a mod may not be the right solution. And who would take the time to utilize a mod for such a gameplay-trivial alteration?

Anyways, the impression I'm gathering from this thread is that most people are happy just the way things are, so unless I hear more voices otherwise we'll all just keep on enjoying our size-6 sharks.