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[Gnomeknows]

I finally get rooms built and farming started and start to focus on other things and around then is usually when the artifact madness begins where I slowly lose dwarf after dwarf to insanity because they can't make their artifact and my fort just falls apart.  I really don't want to disable artifacts, it's like cutting out a big part of the game but it's been the downfall of almost all my forts.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Keep a supply of wood, bones, leather, cloth, gems and bars around. Not too difficult.
Shells too, but that's trickier and you can probably afford to wall up the one or two dwarves who demand them.

[NJW2000]

With the artifact thing, it is pretty odd to have entire forts destroyed just by that.


Try tunnelling out a big underground room and building one of every workshop in it near the start, and buying some of every raw material from all the caravans.

[Zuglarkun]

Sounds like you're having this trouble early on, which is not uncommon. Embark with a variety of misc items next time, things like yarn cloth, silk cloth and glass are harder to get really early on. Cloth is especially troublesome because there are 3 different types and the moody dwarf doesn't really specify which of the 3 they want. Other potentially problematic items include leather and bones, where they might demand more than one stack, as well as glass, which can be a nightmare to procure if your embark lacks any form of sand.

If your dwarf does not claim a workshop, have a look under their labors and you can deduce what workshops they might need. (If they don't have any specific skills, its craftsdwarf.) Enable that labor temporarily on another dwarf and get them to build the appropriate workshop for the moody dwarf. Otherwise, just stockpile a few of each essential item when you can from the caravans to avoid troubles later on.

[Bouchart]

Make sure you have 2-3 of each type of cloth in reserve.  Same with raw glass.  You'll probably have all of the other materials you need.  If a moody dwarf needs leather or bones just butcher a dog or something.

Shells can be a problem.  A pond turtle shell or mussel shell works, but not every map has them.  A giant snail shell should work too although giant snails are a bit rate.  I don't know if a snailman shell would work since they're sentient.

In a large fort, most moods just take care of themselves since you'll have at least one of every workshop and tons of material.  Micromanagement is only really a problem in small forts.

[§k]

I turn off artifact.

[Astrid]

Once you have placed most of your workships artifacts aint a huge issue at all. Unless they demand something exotic, which is rather rare but hey. *shrugs*

I advice to go with them, Artifacts can be quite entertaining.

[PatrikLundell]

My understanding is that they won't start to demand glass until you've started to produce glass items (and I've never had demands for any other kind of glass than the standard green one, which is the only one I bother with). Shell demands are rare: I've so far had a total of one, and I managed to meet that one with some emergency fishing (I generally don't fish). You'd have to be extremely lucky to be able to use a snail man shell, as their sentience means they can't be butchered, so the process of killing them would somehow have to remove the shell from them so no butchering would be required (and I don't even know if it's possible to kill something with such a result).

Otherwise, keeping a few of each kind of item 'f'orbidden is a way to ensure you've got a supply, as said by others. I always embark with silk thread, for instance, as it can take some time to get access to that. I did get into a bind when undead were besieging me and I got two moods demanding wood during that year. I was over an aquifer I hadn't yet pierced, so cavern wood was out of the question. I managed to scrounge the material by dismantling a number of workshops (and replace them with ones built from clay).

Moods don't start to happen until your pop reaches 20, which normally means you're mood free until the second spring's immigration deluge, so you should get some time to build up a source material stock.

[vanatteveldt]

There's no need to "preventively" placing all workshops. When a dwarf moods, just check her skills, and build a workshop for her highest moodable skill (http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Strange_mood#Skills_and_workshops). Also with the exception of shells, almost any material can be made on demand and you have quite a bit of time before the dwarf is lost to depression or rage. Need glass? Just burn some charcoal, build a glass furnace, collect a sand, and make one glass. Need silk? Dig to the cavern, build a loom, collect one silk, etc. I find it quite exhilarating in a way to try to get access to a material in time for a mood, I think it certainly adds flavour...

[NJW2000]

Yeah, surgical strike on the caverns was one of the tensest moments for my latest fort, and I have a funny story about a galss artifact from my first one, but it sounds like this guy's having a buncha trouble, and it's simpler to mass build workshops.

Also, sounds like he might be playing on an earlier version, when the line separating man from maniac was not so far from normal for dwarves

[Ghills]

I finally get rooms built and farming started and start to focus on other things and around then is usually when the artifact madness begins where I slowly lose dwarf after dwarf to insanity because they can't make their artifact and my fort just falls apart.  I really don't want to disable artifacts, it's like cutting out a big part of the game but it's been the downfall of almost all my forts.

How many seasons does it take you to start farming? It should be instantaneous unless you embark somewhere with no soil layers.  Artifacts are related to mining, do you strip mine extensively before getting industries up and running?  What version are you playing?

More details would help us help you.

[Uggh]

I'm tired of looking up the demands in the wiki, so I normally use dfhack/showmood to learn what is needed.

[BadLeo]

I used to have problems like that, too. Not as much as you, though. But now I can't remember the last time A dwarf of mine failed a mood because I follow pretty much what has already been said above:

1. As early as you can, build all the mood-related workshops;

2. Always maintain stocks of the material needed for mood. It pretty much grants you not to fail it, unless the dwarf is too damn picky on what he wants. If needed, forbid the more scarce things in your stocks and unforbid when someone gets a mood and is in need of it (if you can't guess the dwarves asks, run showmood on DFHack to reveal the current mood needs. It might sound kinda cheatty, but it's better than lose a dwarf, specially one with good skills, because you lack one damn shell;

3. Fish! Your fisherman is your best bet on getting some shells. And hunting can get you some leather and save your dwarves' skins (pun intended).

[endlessblaze]

I don't see how your losing to this.

If your fort was on the edge of a spiral I could understand.

But if your losing to artifacts early on you might want to reevaluate your tactics. A death or two from a failed mood should not send your fort to an early grave.

[SimRobert2001]

I don't see how your losing to this.

If your fort was on the edge of a spiral I could understand.

But if your losing to artifacts early on you might want to reevaluate your tactics. A death or two from a failed mood should not send your fort to an early grave.

If those two people are the most popular on the fort before the rewrite, then i understand.