I'm not sure if I'm experiencing this to the degree you people are, but there's three things which I've done while playing that probably relate to the issue. And they are:
1. I haven't had the dwarves really engaging in combat, or at least, I've tried to avoid it. My preferrable way of playing dwarf fortress is not very militaristic and more focused around making fort designs and trying to learn the various industries. So this is probably a big factor, as I've noted that dwarves are traumatized by combat. However, I've also tried to make it so that eventually if I would have a military, I'd have only the dwarves who can handle stress and who are bold doing those actual confrontations. I haven't really gotten around to actually doing that, while I've been busy with the "more important stuff" like making furniture.
2. I've limited the fortress population, which allows keeping track of what the dwarves are like and what they're into. I've changed the value every now and then, last fort attempt I think I had the limit at 28 dwarves (But hard cap was much higher so there should still be pregnancies and births and visitors could join and so on).
3. I also made this dwarf template to help working out what each dwarf should be doing. It takes a lot of time to write down the details, especially since it's an actual writer document rather than a chart (which would be faster to edit). So I'll post an example of what that means exactly here..
https://www.docdroid.net/ZZGiBFH/dwarves-template-example-pdfUnfortunately dwarf fortress crashed amidst this round so it's somewhat early into the fort. It's probably hard to decipher what the abbreviations mean, but I'll write an explanation here, incase someone is interested in this. The properties I've associated with the dwarves don't actually correspond with the hard coded dwarf properties, but I almost prefer it that way. The idea is that I try to take a look at what the dwarves are like, and what they're into, and the descriptions of their personality, and then codify that information into this template, which I then use for trying to work out what jobs each dwarf should have. Additionally I'm also not engaging in butchering animals, because that seems kind of bad and unnecessary - speaking of which, it's kind of troublesome when a possessed dwarf requires bones, as if there's no deceased creature left around by fighting wild animals and the like, then this means that they'll get somekind of inevitable death sentence. Which by the way also spawned this idea that I thought it might be interesting if a cavern tree would yield bony fruits (Vegan bones in other words), to counteract this possession problem.
Anyway here's the explanations for the codification:
The general rule is that uppercase is mostly used for a positive quality, and lowercase is used for negative quality.
No letter means
somewhat average.
Physical propertiesFirst cluster listed as "Sw/Tf/Et/Ac" refers to the physical attributes of the dwarves.
Sw is for Strong/weak, Tf is for Tough/flimsy, Et is for High endurance t is for tiring and Ac is for Agile and clumsy.
So I can for an example look at if the dwarves tire easy to determine if they should be doing something arduous. Like hauling heavy items, mining or like.
Properties relevant for physical activityThe second cluster "Kk/Ss/Ff" refers to Kinesthetic sense, Spatial sense and Focus. I'm not sure if these are the properties in the code which actually affect physical activities, but that's the way I think it kind of should be. I'm also using the Spatial sense attribute for determining whether a dwarf can become an Architect. Typically for any military related dwarf I would want to have at least well above average physical properties and properties relevant to physical activity. Spatial sense would be more relevant for archers, and kinesthetic more relevant for melee. For another example I try to set Potters to have both above average Kinesthetic and Spatial sense, if possible.
Classical intellectThe third cluster "Ii/Mm/Aa" codifies classical intellect, where I is Intellect, M is for Memory and A is for Analytical abilities. Perhaps verbal abilities should also be in this cluster, but I've placed them in the next one instead.
Properties relevant for social interactionThe fourth cluster "Ss/Ee/Ww/Pp" codifies `Social perception` `Empathy` `Verbal fluency (Words)` and `Patience`. Typically I would want only dwarves who have high empathy to be doing caring tasks such as taking care of animals and hauling animals. I'm also considering Patience relevant for farming, as you've to wait for crops to grow, I think impatient dwarves would enjoy farming less than the patient ones.
Intuitive and artistic talentsThe fifth cluster "Mm/Cc/Ii" loosely describes fluid artistic ability and things of that like. M is for Musical talent, C is for creativity, and I is for intuition. For an example, I'm trying to set Cooks to have high Intuition, Creativity and Memory (from the classical intellect cluster), as I think cooking requires intuitive ideation of what's going to work, and eating the same food every time seems kind of boring, so creativity would probably make for better chefs, and cooking probably involves memorization of various recipes. I have no idea if these attributes actually impact cooking, but anyhow I find this kind of thing kind of enjoyable - but also kind of arduous.
Mental toughness related propertiesThe sixth cluster "Ss/Bb/Ww/Pi/Hl" codifies properties relevant to mental or psychological resilience and or strength. S is for Stress handling, B is for boldness, W is for willpower, Pi is kind of a mixed thing where I'm looking for cues of `Perseverance` and weighing them against cues for `Impulsivity`. I'm fairly sure that's not the way it's coded in DF, but that's the way this assignment works. The last pair Hl is for attitude or properties related to 'Hard working' and the lowercase 'l' is for leisurely/lazy. I'm also using the Hardworking property as a cue for cooperative quality later on. I've also tried to set it so that only dwarves who can handle stress do burials or refuse hauling.
Decency and proper behaviorThe seventh cluster "Ji/Hc/Om/Aa/Ps/Dd/Ee" is kind of like the ethical, moral or decency cluster. Ji is for Justince/injustice, Honest/cunning, Organized/messy, Altruistic/(not)altruistic, Perfectionist/sloppy, Decorum and Eloquence. How to exactly measure or describe these in real world terms, as a side point, is a bit confusing. Is pompous speech eloquent, for an example? I suppose it is, on some level. Using language precisely and in a refined way though is another way to measure eloquence, as opposed to using language sloppily and rudely (cursing for an example). Same could be said of decorum or outward appearance and clothing. Appropriate or flashy, in other words? Being clothed in rags and so forth. Anyhow these I'm trying to use for cues like who is suitable for a bookkeeper, or who is suitable for a manager, or if they should be cleaning (if they're messy, they probably don't enjoy cleaning that much), or if they should be crafting something involving precious resources (E.g. I'd prefer if possible that a perfectionist were making armour from rare metals).
Social attitude and styleThe eight cluster "Cc/Ss/Tt/Ap/Ff" stands mostly for socially relevant attitudes, interests and habits. C is for competive, S for prosocial and s for anti-social, T for teamwork, and capital F is for fighting and fighting related skills or how peaceful the dwarves are. Lower case f typically means the dwarf is not interested in fighting related skills.
General interest categoriesThe ninth cluster "Cc/Ii/Aa/Nn/Ss" refers to what the dwarves are interested in broadly, e.g. Craftdwarfship, I is for information/introspection/abstract thinking (mostly using it in the context of whether the dwarf is suitable to be a scholar or a doctor), A is for art, N is for attitude towards nature (If they should be outside, involved with farming, animals, herbalism etc.) Usually I'm just trying to make sure that those dwarves who are into nature, get to go outside, and those who are not, don't have to go outside. Everyone else is more or less variable. S refers to development of skills. Also I include the `dream` category automatically here. If a dwarf wants to create a masterwork, then I think they are interested in Craftdwarfship, etc. This I think is relevant for trying to find jobs that the dwarves will enjoy, thus improving dwarven moods, hopefully.
Couple of additional attitudesThe last 10th cluster "Pw/Mm/Ai" contains some fairly niche or straightforward purposes, Pw is for Peace/war evaluation. I try to make sure that Pacifist dwarves don't have to engage in actual combat, as that would seem wrong. M refers for attitude towards the Market, and if the dwarves are Materialistic. I'm mostly using this to check if the dwarf can be a broker or not. The last Ai is something I've not sorted out myself either yet, but it's intended to be some general measure for whether the dwarves prefer to be engaged in a lot of Activity involving other dwarves, or if they are more like introverts who would prefer jobs they can do on their own. I'm using this mostly to check if the dwarf should be a tavern keeper or a performer, but haven't wrapped my head around how to exactly declare if a dwarf is A or i or neither in this context.
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Topic: Attempting to recreate the pre 2014 dwarf mentality (Read 3229 times)