

The Dwarven Computer - A programmable computer built in Dwarf Fortress - samd
http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-8269

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jmillikin
This is an example of a mechanical computer. There are other popular computer
implementations in Dwarf Fortress, including fluidic (pumping water around)
and biological (enclosing creatures in specially-designed mazes).

Once the basic logic gates are designed, it's easy (though tedious and time-
consuming) to build arbitrarily large computing devices. One famous example is
a multifunction calculator, documented at <
<http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User:BaronW> >.

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ejames
Building amazingly complex (if tedious and time-consuming) objects in Dwarf
Fortress is pretty much what the game is about after you manage to get past
the early learning stages.

This is the kind of game I would recommend to hackers - it definitely supports
the mind set of figuring out the rules in a system, then exploiting them to
build something incredible.

For example, I remember discovering that if you build your dwarf fortress in
certain freezing climates, it was possible to take water from a flowing source
underground, then release it aboveground, whereupon it would flash-freeze into
solid walls that dwarves could stand on, tunnel through, or build on top of.
That immediately led to Operation: Build An Enormous Ice Palace, a plan to
create an aboveground megaplex by making dwarves haul unfrozen water bucket by
bucket and pour it, like concrete, into a planned mold. (I was exploiting the
loophole that water carried in a bucket does not freeze until dropped from the
bucket.)

It was ridiculous, arbitrary, and destructive of my free time - but most games
are anyway... so why not take a game that also challenges your hacking
mindset?

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ghotli
I have long assumed that it will eventually be a moral quandary as to whether
or not it will be ethical to turn off dwarf fortress.

~~~
prodigal_erik
I think the question will be whether it's ethical to _start_ a game that
commonly ends in mass starvation, riots inspired by the rotting corpses of
one's closest friends, and sometimes even running out of booze.

~~~
mkramlich
Some believe that God has already created just such a game.

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phoboslab
Some years ago someone figured out how to build logic gates in Quake 3 maps
out of doors and shooters (entities that shoot a projectile when triggered).
This was actually used in some single player maps and to create special game
modes that aren't present in vanilla Q3.

I guess this could, in theory, be used to create a Turing Complete computer.
It might hit the entity limit of Quake 3 though.

PDF: <http://www.skore.de/images/stories/Q3A/Q3A_Electronics.pdf>

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sasmith
Presumably the next step is to write Dwarf Fortress for this.

~~~
mustpax
My first CS course in college was Structure and Interpretation of Computer
Programs. It was quite a thrill when we finally got our hand-written Scheme
interpreter to run itself and give us a REPL prompt. Turtles all the way down.

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kaddar
I think the question we are all wondering is whether or not the computational
engine here can be used to aid the dwarf decision making and increase
automation and profit margins?

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mkramlich
It's interesting that from a design complexity standpoint, what he did was way
more difficult than say building Craigslist.

Perhaps that leads to his next challenge: upgrade the computing power of his
DF contraption enough that he can reimplement Craigslist on top it!

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shabble
I particularly liked kitten logic:

<http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User:Bidok#Animal_Logic>

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dzuc
Semi-related: LittleBigPlanet 8-bit calculator:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiRgYBHoAoU>

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mhd
...and begins to learn at a geometric rate.

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RodgerTheGreat
I suppose it would be vaguely on-topic to mention the WireWorld computer, a
particularly pretty MOV-machine implemented in the WireWorld cellular
automaton:

<http://www.quinapalus.com/wi-index.html>

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jared314
This is right up there with the Universal Turing Machine implemented in
Conway's GoL (<http://rendell-attic.org/gol/utm/index.htm>).

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robobenjie
Dude, I totally implemented Reddit in a weekend in Dwarf Fortress...

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mkramlich
Now he should port his DF-based computer to run on the iPhone, that way he
could use it as a sort of "intermediate layer" with .... _looks at 3.3.1_ ...
oh, nevermind.

