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[lodester]

I'm writing specifically to the last section of this screen, where it describes the dorf's disposition to various activities/traits.

While I don't mind a bit of ambiguity, I am trying to undersrand better the implications of what all of these traits/dispositions are trying to let me know about how to manage the dorf.

I've made a bunch of logical assumptions, some are obvious like "Does not vs. Enjoys helping others" = thoughts derived from healthcare
Some are more obtuse, like "Sometimes overindulges" vs. "does the first thing that comes to mind" vs. "Sometimes procrastinates" etc -- while i can easily take these to mean the dorf is a slacker and not a good candidate to put in an important role, this is just a general impression.

I'm basically trying to weed out who is better suited to value production (Crafts/skilled work) -- those hard working dwarves with things like "Is self-disciplined" and "is very creative" (does this modify quality of crafts, or just generate a + thought from doing work they like?
I'm also in the process trying to steer the right mix of army and hauling/unskilled task drones in that same process.

I guess I'm just looking for folks' feedback on what they've seen as absolute Do's and Don'ts for these resepctive preferences., or any thoughts you'd care to share.

cheers

[Nexii Malthus]

I was going to do this too, but I feel there isn't much enough information about what they actually affect. It seems a step too far into micromanagement and not worthwhile enough to cause a significant or even a noticeable difference.

Not to discourage experimentation though, it would be great to see the pros and cons.

[Albedo]

It's hard to be certain what is what, because: 1) the diffs are subtle, b) there are many variables that (seem to?) overlap, and iii) there is a lot of randomness involved as well.  So, once you get them into a fortress, it's absolute chaos to try to see any clear pattern.

So emphasize words like "seem" in the following... I'll do it only for the first one...

"Activity" seems to influence how much they work vs how many breaks they take.

Drinking ("over-indulge") seems to influence how long their drink breaks are and/or how often they take them, consuming more drinks/year on average.

"self-discipline/procrastination" might involve how long a dwarf takes to figure out what to do next - some have that "?" over them longer, and end up in the Meeting Zones when there is work to do, and others latch on to the next job right away.

"routines/change" might influence how a dwarf continues pursuing one type of labour vs. shifting between different possible labours - some seem to do the same thing over and over, and others seem to bounce around a lot more.

"Doesn't do more work than necessary & procrastination" vs "strives for perfection" This might influence whether a task is completed before any sort of break is taken.  Or just the amount of work vs breaks? average quality? unclear, but it sounds bad enough.

Some dwarves clearly work longer than others before breaking, eating, drinking and/or sleeping - this is obvious whenever you get a large wave of migrants, and they do those activities in waves - at least at first.  (Later those breaks seem to move further apart, and an averaging effect arrives over time.)

Many seem to deal with cracking under stress - tantrums, insanity, whatever.  No work/task related.

[lodester]

Thanks, Albedo. Your post reinforces my general impression on these as well

It seems like some are easily dismissed with regular +thought management , like "does not like to be in crowds/around others" by legendary dining hall or simply giving them their own table+chair in their rooms, etc.

Others, it would seem are similarly obvious - your legendary armorsmith or mason that you are relying on for the top wares and quick turnaround should not be cultivated from slackers with procrastination, easily distracted, does first thing that comes to mind, etc.

I find this design in the game quite compelling, it really adds depth to, for lack of a better term, "behavioral automation" that you simply don't see in other designs and really helps bring the ant-farm dorfs to life, at least for me.

A tip o' the hat to ToadyOne. I like it.

[Albedo]

<nods>

If I'm looking for a hard worker, I look for

• Active & energetic (and NOT relaxed/liesurely)
• non-indulger/cravings
• strives for excellence (not "rarely does more work than necessary)
• willpower/non-distractions

Not all of those may be relevant, and/or there may be others that are more so, but that's what ~I~ believe in.

(If I'm going for a dwarf that will be outside, like my woodcutter/building designer/herbalist/mason/axedwarf/ambusher (not all skilled at embark), I also go with "excitement" and "not crack under pressure" - again, might be superstition, but they sound right.  (I'll also look for a preference for dogs, and make them my (unskilled) animal trainer - wardogs follow their trainer around until assigned permanently.)

[zooeyglass]

"self-discipline/procrastination" might involve how long a dwarf takes to figure out what to do next - some have that "?" over them longer, and end up in the Meeting Zones when there is work to do, and others latch on to the next job right away.

just to take this point and run with it a little:

i have a fortress which rarely has idlers. when the economy kicked in, i had a period of months (2 seasons i believe) when things went haywire and dwarves had to get used to things (not sure if that was my unique experience - anyone else had odd things happen at the start of the economy?) but now things run at 0 idlers quite comfortably. however, i have noted a few serial offenders who will always go to idle and visit the meeting place before starting a new job. some dwarves are never idle, and just work and work. others will keep take breaks. example: one of my weavers will leave the loom to visit the meeting area, instead of just taking up the next spinning job. as it turns out, he then decides his next job will, in fact, (oh shock!) be spinning thread into cloth. but he needs that break before he can decide to do that.

[geoduck]

The only ones I really pay attention to are: assigning someone who likes art to be stonecrafter, and not choosing a total nervous wreck to be leader.

[Grendus]

Wow. The only things I know about preferences are that

1. Dwarves who dislike helping others should never be put into a primary-healthcare role. They'll put off the jobs long enough to be dangerous and be unhappy about having to help the sick.

2. Dwarves who hate flies are doomed. I can't seem to get rid of the flying demons. It's worse if they have no strong likes to counter this (for example, dwarves that like cats but hate flies are usually fairly normal, the thoughts counter each other).

[Duuvian]

One thing to watch out for, especially in military dwarves, is "takes time to make decisions." It makes the dwarf idle for a while before he does anything. Such as move to a new squad station. I had this preference on the military dwarf out of my starting 7 once. A giant bat flew into my fort and killed my cat and several dogs while he was trying to figure out what to do.

[IronBeer]

1. Dwarves who dislike helping others should never be put into a primary-healthcare role. They'll put off the jobs long enough to be dangerous and be unhappy about having to help the sick.

If by "primary-healthcare role", you mean "rescuer of wounded", then you're absolutely right. But then again, this might only be an issue in forts where healthcare is hand-selected.

As far as preferences, such as the materials and animals a dwarf likes, they may manifest themselves in decorations, moods, demands and mandates, and engravings. Oh, and objects made out of a material a dwarf likes will have a higher perceived value to that dwarf.
As an example of moods, say a dwarf likes ...oh, Felsite. He gets a strange mood and starts collecting stuff. If Felsite is available, expect to see a lot of it in the final product.
Regarding engravings, dwarves will engrave stuff they like, and will be more pleased (due to the perceived increase in value) by seeing engravings of things they like.

[Albedo]

Objects made by a dwarf with preferences for that material/object also have a chance of being higher quality.  (And multiple preferences seem to be additive in some way.)

I found this out the hard way when I had a 1st-wave peasant whip off a silver practice axe to give him a moodable skill - axe came out +finely crafted+, x1.4 damage, not the practice axe I was expecting! (And silver was rare at that point.)  I was like "WTF?!!!" - turns out the little shite had preferences for both silver and battle axes.  Sheesh.


As for Health Care, I find it critical enough to designate (almost) all my dwarves with that labour.  If/when it's needed, I can live with some skilled crafter taking a break and keeping another dwarf alive.  I'm usually all about minimizing wasted effort and never interrupting tasks (my miners usually won't have it), but for this I make an exception.