Large chambers should collapse

[Diavid]

I often see other players (and myself sometimes) making huge chambers that almost extend over the half map.
This looks somehow unrealistic.

If they would collapse or partially collapse when they get too big, players would be forced to build more naturally.
Maybe there could be different surround materials that have different strengths to shoulder different chamber sizes.

 

[darktoto9510]

I support this idea, my games suffer the same "dungeon keeper" illness where i just dig everything and make big chambers.

I don't really know a lot about ants but a good start might be to ask ourselve why do they do small chambers in the first place...

 

[MikeSlugDisco]

This has been suggested multiple times. Personally I quite like the idea, but there are other ways to encourage sensible nest layout - bonuses for tiles being next to walls, speed penalties for running over occupied tiles to encourage the use of paths, etc... I think the guys on the team agree that more needs to be done to push the player in the direction of making an ant-like colony and this is being talked about a lot internally.

 

[JohnSlugDisco]

As Mike says we have been discussing this a lot. There are a few ways you could do this and it is important that the player understands any system we implement.

So here is how I could see it working. Each time a tile is dug out it tells its neighbors to check for structural stability.

Not sure what this check should entail but these tiles also check if their neighbors also need to do a check.

If a tile fails the check, the tile collapses killing (or pushing) any creature and destroying any tiles below.

If a tile is close to collapse, there needs to be a visual warning so the player can stop digging in time.

I would be interested to hear how others would like a system like this to work.

 

[AntsAreAwesome]

I support this idea, my games suffer the same "dungeon keeper" illness where i just dig everything and make big chambers.

I don't really know a lot about ants but a good start might be to ask ourselve why do they do small chambers in the first place...

Well, ants do this, well for one, because if they did make huge nests it could collapse. 2. because of the way they regulate temperature. And 3. Well, simply its just their instinct that they were made with.