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Author Topic: Engraving priorities (difficult question)  (Read 772 times)

Foxite

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Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« on: November 19, 2014, 07:50:35 am »

So, to increase the overall happiness of the fort, I've started training some engravers and getting the fort smoothed out and engraved. I started by letting them practice on the nobles' offices, which were already at the minimum requirements but still let them smoothe and engrave them. My mayor now has an "opulent throne room", "opulent dining room" and a "great bedroom". My Captain of the Guard now has a "royal throne room", "royal dining room" and an "opulent bedroom". I also dug out some pampering rooms in case of unhappiness and started letting them practice their engraving skills on these rooms. I also gave my metalcrafters some excercise by ordering 30 gold statues to be made, which will soon be put all over the fortress' frequented areas. Finally, I started digging out 200 bedrooms for each dwarf in my fortress, even though I am just at 84 dwarves, to train my newly-minted miners a bit :P Now, I am choosing between two things.

I can now start engraving my dining room, or engrave the bedrooms. I want to know which gives better results in happiness increase, so that I can do the other option first to train the engravers even more, and once that's done, do the first option. So if engraving the whole dining room would give a higher happiness boost to the dwarves than engraving the bedrooms, I would engrave the bedrooms first, and when they're done, engrave the dining room. This ensures that the effectiveness of the happiness boost is maximized.

I know that owning and sleeping in a bedroom gives a much higher boost than eating in a dining room of the same quality, but since my dining room is already of a much higher quality, I want to know which one gives a better hapiness boost.

My bedrooms are all 3x3, intented to get cabinets as well, and not yet smoothed. My dining room is approximately 30x30 and not yet smoothed, but it has many tables and chairs and is also lined with gold statues. Which of these two gives a higher happiness boost to dwarves eating in it/sleeping in it when the engraving is done?
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The best way to demonstrate it to him is take a save of 40 year old fortress with 150 dwarves in it on a good sized embark with a volcano that just breached the circus and install it on his gaming rig and watch it bring his rig to its knees.

WDDworf

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2014, 08:14:34 am »

I don't think it's a good idea to engrave -everything-.
Your higher nobles want better rooms than their underlings and by making everything opulent/royal.. This will probably upset your higher nobles.

I am not sure wether this is still the case in the current version, but I'm pretty sure it was for the older versions of DF.
I always smooth everything and only engrave in rooms, which needs to be upgrades in status. (or engraving rooms, not assigned to a specific dwarves.. ex. dining hall)

I generally train the engravers by smoothing as much as possible, before engraving. Although I think the skill increases more, when engraving.
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Foxite

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2014, 08:38:16 am »

I only made the Captain's and the Mayor's rooms opulent or royal, the captain's rooms being more valuable because they were slightly bigger. I am not going to make the civilians' rooms as big, of course. But if the mayor starts complaining about his dining room being less valuable than the civilian dining room, then I guess it's time to test my drowning chamber again.
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The best way to demonstrate it to him is take a save of 40 year old fortress with 150 dwarves in it on a good sized embark with a volcano that just breached the circus and install it on his gaming rig and watch it bring his rig to its knees.

WDDworf

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2014, 08:44:17 am »

So, to increase the overall happiness of the fort, I've started training some engravers and getting the fort smoothed out and engraved. I started by letting them practice on the nobles' offices, which were already at the minimum requirements but still let them smoothe and engrave them. My mayor now has an "opulent throne room", "opulent dining room" and a "great bedroom". My Captain of the Guard now has a "royal throne room", "royal dining room" and an "opulent bedroom". I also dug out some pampering rooms in case of unhappiness and started letting them practice their engraving skills on these rooms. I also gave my metalcrafters some excercise by ordering 30 gold statues to be made, which will soon be put all over the fortress' frequented areas. Finally, I started digging out 200 bedrooms for each dwarf in my fortress, even though I am just at 84 dwarves, to train my newly-minted miners a bit :P Now, I am choosing between two things.

I can now start engraving my dining room, or engrave the bedrooms. I want to know which gives better results in happiness increase, so that I can do the other option first to train the engravers even more, and once that's done, do the first option. So if engraving the whole dining room would give a higher happiness boost to the dwarves than engraving the bedrooms, I would engrave the bedrooms first, and when they're done, engrave the dining room. This ensures that the effectiveness of the happiness boost is maximized.

I know that owning and sleeping in a bedroom gives a much higher boost than eating in a dining room of the same quality, but since my dining room is already of a much higher quality, I want to know which one gives a better hapiness boost.

My bedrooms are all 3x3, intented to get cabinets as well, and not yet smoothed. My dining room is approximately 30x30 and not yet smoothed, but it has many tables and chairs and is also lined with gold statues. Which of these two gives a higher happiness boost to dwarves eating in it/sleeping in it when the engraving is done?

To actually answer the question.. I'd focus on your dining hall.
You can set your dining hall as meeting area, so it will be used for more than just eating, while the bedroom should basically only be used for sleeping.
How much 'happiness' is created, is probably about the same, but the amount of events are bigger in a dining hall.

For example, I've had a big dining hall (without engravings actually, because the tons of tables/chairs already gave it the highest rating).
In the center of the hall I've had a tile with dropping water, encircled with gem windows. (there was no waterfall / mist)
The hall itself gave positive thoughts; often the table/chair gave a positive thought; the gem windows gave the biggest positive thoughts.
Add this with several engravings and you're sure to make every dwarf happy.

A bedroom on the other side.. can't give this many positive thoughts..

This + the fact that nobles want better rooms.. Would make me advice you to upgrade the diner first.
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Brewster

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2014, 08:50:10 am »

I always go for dining rooms too as it's the hang-out spot.

IndigoFenix

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2014, 11:58:18 am »

If you make sure to give everyone their own room, and engrave them all, the bedrooms will have the bigger effect.  But making a really nice dining room gives you a noticeable effect quicker, because everyone will eat in it.

Mechanixm

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2014, 08:56:50 pm »

Noble snobbishness is aggravated when Dwarves beneath them have higher value rooms.  Feel free to engrave everything as long as your nobles have much higher value rooms.  Value, meaning, the total value of all the items in it. 

So, what's single a mid-level gold statue run these days, 1500 dwarf bucks?  Crappy stone furniture will go for around 50-200 dwarf bucks or thereabouts.  As long as your nobles have more higher value items in their rooms, you'll be fine.

Something like that...

§k

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2014, 10:03:03 pm »

The sheer number (and monetary value) of tables and chairs in a dining room for 200 dwarves is enough to make it legendary.
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StagnantSoul

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2014, 10:04:27 pm »

20 flux stone tables and chairs from a good mason, one a smoothed floor, with a gold statue makes it legendary p, by far. In fact, adding in engravings makes it even more of a merry maker.
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m-logik

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2014, 11:25:46 pm »

I don't think I've ever noticed a dwarf get a thought specifically from an engraving. As far as I know they only increase the value of the room, which will upgrade the thought. But if legendary dining rooms all produce the same "tier" of happy thought, and your dining room is already legendary, then engraving bedrooms is more likely to produce additional happiness. Unless every dwarf already has a royal bedroom, or additional dining room value continues to increase the value of the happy thought it causes beyond just reaching legendary.
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Foxite

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Re: Engraving priorities (difficult question)
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2014, 09:49:39 am »

Thanks for all the answers. I know that what I already have is almost legendary anyway(royal), but I want to increase the overall happiness even more from the looking at engravings, and to increase my wealth for some !!FUN!!.
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The best way to demonstrate it to him is take a save of 40 year old fortress with 150 dwarves in it on a good sized embark with a volcano that just breached the circus and install it on his gaming rig and watch it bring his rig to its knees.