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[Darasuum]

I've only recently started playing Dwarf Fortress. I was working on another floor of my fortress last night when my leader announced he was throwing a party. Cool, sounds fun. Next thing I know, I went from 19 people in the fortress to 61 in under 5 minutes.

It's pretty cool, but it scared me. I actually saved and went to bed. (Mind it was 3:30AM)

I guess the point in this thread was to simply say: "How normal is this and how often do you get 42 dwarfs streaming in?"

[rtg593]

Record I've had so far was a 78 migrant wave.

Have fun with that if you use the stock labor interface ;-)

EDIT:

42 actually seems like a rather common number to me.

If you want fewer, keep your wealth low. Don't produce anything more than you need, don't smooth/engrave things, etc. The number is based on how much your fort has grown in wealth. My last fort I managed to go several seasons with "your fortress did not attract any migrants this season" showing up several times. Went into wealth production, 68 came.

Welcome to bay12! :-D

[GhostDwemer]

Very normal. Many people create far too much wealth early on, leading to large migrant waves before a fortress is really ready for them.

[KodKod]

It's more difficult to be dirt poor than it is to be fabulously wealthy. You have to think minimalist if you want to keep the migrants away while you prepare for their eventual arrival.

[rtg593]

It's more difficultfun to be dirt poor than it is to be fabulously wealthy. You have to think minimalist if you want to keep the migrants away while you prepare for their eventual arrival.

That seems a bit more appropriate... :p

[malroth]

yeah but since it conciders empty rooms/beds/spare food/ farm plots/ booze  to all be wealth it makes it almost impossible to really prepare for them before they show up,  and if you fall even slightly behind  the attempt to ramp up production to meet the need will only bring more migrants.

[Garath]

just don't do any smoothing or other value rocketing activities. Don't start to make bedrooms but just make a dormitory in the area that will later be your turkey coop or something. I always work on stockpiles and such first and never had more than 27 in the first big wave.

[Malarauko]

DwarfTherapist is your friend in this situation. I've gotten a 60 odd dwarf migration and its just hell trying to get labour set right.

[Darasuum]

Well, I spent the hours since I posted this working away at making the place fit for more people. My fortress is still alive, thankfully. DwarfTherapist did indeed come in handy, but the more people I get, I find the more lazy the dwarfs get.

[i2amroy]

Well, I spent the hours since I posted this working away at making the place fit for more people. My fortress is still alive, thankfully. DwarfTherapist did indeed come in handy, but the more people I get, I find the more lazy the dwarfs get.

Something that can help this is to start multitasking a little more. Rather then focusing all of your dwarves on doing a single task, try multiple tasks simultaneously. Rather then building that building, build it and dig out some more storage rooms. Or make stone blocks/haul them at the same time as building an aboveground fortress. Multitasking can help to trick your brain into believing that more is getting done even though it seems like less is being done.

In truth more actually is getting done most of the time, it's just that your brain thinks less is getting done because individual tasks happen slower. The total number of tasks that occur simultaneously outweigh the individual task decrease in speed however. (40 dwarves)x(80 FPS)/(10 frames per dwarven step)=(400 dwarf steps per second). (150 dwarves)x(30 FPS)/(10 frames per dwarven step)=(450 dwarf steps per second).

[GavJ]

I got like 110 in a wave once...

Anyway, they're not getting lazier.  It's just that there's only one of you, and the more dwarves there are, the less you are able to tell them all what to do and manage them, so they finish their tasks and you aren't there to give them new ones yet.  That's all.  It isn't really a problem to have dwarves not doing anything, if you don't have anything you need done...

If and when you order something, though, and it is taking forever, just realize that you have spare labor, and perhaps shift more people to that skill.

Burrows are really helpful.  If you have 17 miners, and they all try to dig the same spot, it is actually slower after awhile, because each one digs one block and then goes back to bed.  But if you take 3 miners and put them in a burrow that includes dorms + food + Mining site A, and then another 3 dwarves in a burrow that includes dorms + food + Mining site B, etc., then you get amazing productivity.

Same for masons and mechanics.  Have your really skilled ones work in a burrow with the workshops + dorms + food, where skill matters most.  Have your unskilled ones burrowed everywhere except the workshops, so that the grunt masons are always the ones building the constructed walls, etc., and the grunt mechanics are the ones installing crap, and they dont sneak in and make crappy quality furniture.

If you do stuff like that, then you don't have to worry about any downsides of having 15 masons or miners, etc., and many more dwarves will be working at any given time.

[Mushroo]

I never realized before just now, but this is another use for potash fertilizer.

You get more food & drink per seed planted, without the need to drive up your fortress wealth by crafting more barrels/pots/bags, digging more rooms for farms & stockpiles, etc.

Brilliant!