I think the closest you can get to to this is making the projectile out of a material that does weird things and then you'd have to experiment with it but even then I don't think you could achieve what you're trying to to get, I made a mod that added a special type of wood that I called styrofoam that bursts into flames at very low temperatures and then when you have big stock piles of them they can create pretty wicked explosions of fire it's about as close as I could get to explosions

It has been nearly 2 years but thanks for the answer. The only way to make an explosive projectile is to use dfhack, and even then it's super hacky and difficullt.

2 years ago... No. Now, with LUA update in unstable branch and eventually vanilla game... Prolly yes. WHY it explodes... depends on how you want to explain it/make it work; coding in gunpowder would be legit (ie, combined material from saltpeter, sulfur and carbon/charcoal), but since game also now has some basic magic stuff added I'm sure you could also just say the bolts explode 'cuz magic.

Clouds of dust (usually from cave-ins) are essentially "explodey", minus the actual concussive wave that liquifies your internal organs. Some FBs have it as their attacks (described as deadly dust). When you get hit by the dust, you get thrown around. Seems like it would be easy to mod that in once the LUA update comes in. If you want it to actually be deadly, make it ignite fires as well.

Originally posted by amade:

Clouds of dust (usually from cave-ins) are essentially "explodey", minus the actual concussive wave that liquifies your internal organs.

Hmm, interesting, been wondering how this game handles gases in game code, I guess I'm gonna have to look into that. Mostly curious how this game handles gases compared to Caves of Qud... although admittedly dust isn't a gas. But still, crop dust can be quite explosive, fun things you learn from reading OSHA regulations!

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

Originally posted by amade:

Clouds of dust (usually from cave-ins) are essentially "explodey", minus the actual concussive wave that liquifies your internal organs.

Hmm, interesting, been wondering how this game handles gases in game code, I guess I'm gonna have to look into that. Mostly curious how this game handles gases compared to Caves of Qud... although admittedly dust isn't a gas. But still, crop dust can be quite explosive, fun things you learn from reading OSHA regulations!

Eh, cave in dust usually just sends you flying without actually damaging you.

The LUA update also won't allow you to interact with the game the same way that dfhack does. It'll mostly be for procedurally generated content.

The only real way to have pseudo "explosions" is to use dragonfire, and even then, it's usually incredibly random. Not to mention that it's way too powerful. And with how fire works in this game, it just ends up quickly making your fort unplayable.

Originally posted by Cheese wheel from Skyrim:

Eh, cave in dust usually just sends you flying without actually damaging you.

The LUA update also won't allow you to interact with the game the same way that dfhack does. It'll mostly be for procedurally generated content.

The only real way to have pseudo "explosions" is to use dragonfire, and even then, it's usually incredibly random. Not to mention that it's way too powerful. And with how fire works in this game, it just ends up quickly making your fort unplayable.

In an actual explosion, what harms you is the shockwave (not really simulated in DF) and the shrapnel. The latter could be spawned on or near the point of impact and the dust will fling it about. I've had several kills using cave-in traps that flung discarded weapons, armor, and body parts into invaders. Oddly enough, live bodies hitting each other do not seem to do any harm, but I've had one instance where a creature fell on another creature that was standing on some spikes and got impaled because the falling creature slammed it into the spikes.

Originally posted by amade:

In an actual explosion, what harms you is the shockwave (not really simulated in DF)

Extremely true, there's a reason why you get taught to keep your mouth open when diving into a prone position to avoid a close grenade blast (ie, point top of helmet TOWARDS live grenade while in prone position, keep mouth open while looking at ground. Congrats, you might survive). Hard to breath with collapsed lungs!

Was also curious how game handles shockwaves, I guess the answer is, not really. Hopefully that changes when the magic update finally finishes happening in like 2028...

Originally posted by amade:

In an actual explosion, what harms you is the shockwave (not really simulated in DF) and the shrapnel. The latter could be spawned on or near the point of impact and the dust will fling it about. I've had several kills using cave-in traps that flung discarded weapons, armor, and body parts into invaders. Oddly enough, live bodies hitting each other do not seem to do any harm, but I've had one instance where a creature fell on another creature that was standing on some spikes and got impaled because the falling creature slammed it into the spikes.

Hmmm, that could work. It would probably be really jank, but it could work.

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

Hmm, interesting, been wondering how this game handles gases in game code, I guess I'm gonna have to look into that.

To answer my own question, at least based on a brief inventory of the (prolly not very up-to-date) wiki, gases exist in a very basic sense with mist, miasma, dust clouds, and steam existing, but that's basically it. No REAL gaseous concentrations (some diffusion, actually), air isn't a fluid (only 1.5/2 liquids currently have fluid dynamics; water and sorta magma), etc.

Air being a fluid is prolly not worth the game simulating, since it would prolly melt down most lower-end CPUs, but at least simulating gas diffusion from highly concentrated gases to medium to low to nothing would be nice. Be cool if that got added sooner rather than never...

Edit: Forgot mist, although mist is technically not a gas. Game just sort of treats it as such.

Edit 2: Missed Miasma, which DOES have dissipation/diffusion, as does steam apparently. But the wiki non-existent regarding a gases page, the info is scattered across like 4-5 different articles (including gravity page). So unclear if each gas behavior coded entirely separately or via some shared phenomena. Plus, wiki out-of-date anyways.