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[Moonlighter]

Hello. I used to play the older versions more regularly, and have just started to delve back into the newest update for Dwarf Fortress

In version 31 and 34, I seem to remember my lovely dwarves being a heck of a lot more volatile. I am vaguely aware that Toady instituted a new Stress system which seems to focus on personality traits, however, I'm not noticing dwarves getting that upset that often, frankly. I'm two years in, and I've had a werebeast attack. I didn't get beds, tables, and chairs down all that fast, either. And yet, it only describes them as "annoyed" and "horrified". Not one dwarf has gone insane, comitted suicide, or even beat the crap out of their fellow dwarves.

What gives? Did Toady nerf tantrum spirals or what? I'm also curious about these new personality traits and how directly they relate to stress, etc.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Chevaleresse]

Dwarves now only tantrum if they have high ANGER_PROPENSITY, and stress in general takes longer to build. On the flipside, it's also MUCH harder to eliminate as de-stressing happens much more slowly than stress builds.

[Bouchart]

Your main source of stress is probably going to be cleaning up dead goblin bodies after a failed siege, and more generally when dwarves see dead bodies.  You'll notice it more and more as the years pass and sieges get larger.

[Niddhoger]

The whole point of hte revamp was to "normalize" stress.  One-two bad things arent' supposed to immediately break soemone, just as one-two good things don't immediately fix someone.  Dwarves are supposed to break after several seasons of trauma that slowly broods.  Good thoughts can help offset, and even reverse this, but it doesn't happen immediately. 

All in all, its a good change.  Dwarf therapist will show you hte most stressed dwarves still, so you can find them early.  Also, any dorf that starts meeting with your mayor is getting cllose to blowing a gasket. 

Also as mentioned, there are other insanity flags.  Dorfs can snap and go beserk, they can strip and run around babbling incoherently, or they can go catatonic (curl in a ball and wait to die).  It depends on their personality.  Dwarves can be naturally more resilient tostress or naturally neurotic messes.  They can love trading or feel disgusted at being the broker.  They can love fighting or hate it.  You can have awkward thought preferences where a dorf "felt satisfied at a good fight" immediately followed by "horror at a lost loved one" when the two are directly correlated...