Digging down? (z-levels)

[Keyreper]

im not 100% sure this has been suggested before, but how about being able to dig down to gain materials and be "safer" from raiders, visit dangerous caves that go across the entire map and have rabid bats and strange new man eating plant life! steam filled caves that almost instantly vaporize your Dwarves colonists and destroy a/some steam vents above! at the same time opening these steam filled caverns may show that the pocket of steam goes farther down than expected and can be continued to be harvested in a safer spot that before! just remember to fill the hole you left behind! annoying moles that sleep in under ground caves! disturbing them or getting near their nest will awaken them to continue their annoying mining (it would be a nice feature for "mole" day)!

(obviously) Rare uranium ore which threatens to kill your Dwarves colonists in frightening ways such as skin melting and loosing their ability to feel pain! Uranium reactors made from said ores! frightening giant bear sharks that mutated from the Uranium roaming out of the caves looking for a quick bite! Under ground civilizations with advanced yet simple technology such as acid vials and basic guns, did i mention they where hostile? Ancient ruins full of Ancient technology and Ancient stuff like Ancient pizza and guns and TVs!, such as a strange staff that shoots out bolts of light that are like small 1 tile explosions that are very effective against giant Bears sharks.

So much more i could say in such a small amount of time! But i think ill stop here.

[Semmy]

Question: Will there be z-levels (vertical mapping)?

Answer: All the coordinates are tracked in 3-vectors already (though only the two horizontal axes are used), so the potential for 3D is in the game.

I am afraid that there is basically no way a modder would ever be able to mod Z-axis into the game. It is a beast of a feature. Here's some basic issues you'd have to handle:
-Pathfinding
-Lighting spilling over Z-levels
-Save/load of a geometrically larger amount of stuff (e.g. 200x200 map = 40k squares, 200x200x10 = 400k squares!)
-Line of sight for shooting
-AI tactical analysis of shooting lines of sight etc
-Cover usefullness varying at vertical angles
-Interface for moving through Z-levels
-Rendering visible lower Z-levels while being on higher ones

I could go on and on... Anyway, there is tons to do in RimWorld, my general thought is that the best cost/benefit move is to leave Z-levels to Towns, DF, Gnomoria, Stonehearth, and all those other games and focus on what RimWorld is really uniquely about: AI Storyteller, tactical AI, and so on.

What you are talking about is refered to as z-levels. Used alot in games like dwarf fortress and others. Above here is tynan's answer

[Conti027]

IF Tynan does put add more z-levels I hope its only one up and one down.

[GC13]

That Q&A doesn't quite capture everything: Z-levels add in some programming difficulties that he is not convinced are worth the effort. Not at first, anyway.

For my part, I can certainly see how opening up the Z-levels can be cool. In particular, it would be so cool to have world settings where your buildings should be built underground. On the other hand, I think of how I build in Gnomoria (all on one level, really), and how the Z-levels really only serve to divvy up stuff to mine (and mining isn't what RimWorld is about).

[Keyreper]

Question: Will there be z-levels (vertical mapping)?

Answer: All the coordinates are tracked in 3-vectors already (though only the two horizontal axes are used), so the potential for 3D is in the game.

What you are talking about is refered to as z-levels. Used alot in games like dwarf fortress and others. Above here is tynan's answer

Thanks for telling me! i always want to call Z-Levels Y-Levels for some reason so i kept my mouth shut, i guess this is just a suggestion for what to put on the different Z-Levels then.....