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[Aquillion]

It makes sense for the sheriff and guard captain to get upset about a long-standing failure to invest in justice equipment, sure, but as it stands now the rate at which they go from perfectly happy to homicidally berserk exclusively over the issue of a few missing chains is just too fast, especially when compared to other nobles' demands.  I got about ten nobles at once and, having already learned about the guard captain's quirks, immediately devoted everything to producing chains and cages for him.  It didn't matter; by the time my second cage was completed, he was already throwing a tantrum and well on his way to going berserk.

Note that I'd completely ignored all the other nobles--including many far higher-ranking nobles--to focus on the guard captain here.  None of these other nobles were below 'happy' when the guard captain snapped.  I eventually, by locking him in his quarters until the chains were done and in place, managed to get it done and stabilize him, but it was a close thing.  At no point during these proceedings did any of my other nobles drop significantly below 'happy', even though I was completely ignoring their demands and mandates to focus on my psychotic guard captain...  but I know, from experience, that if I hadn't gotten lucky and locked him in his quarters he would've torn my fortress apart.

This situation is particularly nasty, of course, because the guard captain is always strong enough to take a few other dwarves down with him when he snaps...  and because, to a new player, it isn't immediately obvious that the guard captain is demanding chains at all, never mind the fact that they're considered several times more important than the more obvious requests made by your other nobles.

It's not really that bad for an experienced player, since it just means that you have to make building eight or so chains or cages an early first priority after getting your forge or rope-making facilities going, long before your nobles start arriving...  but for players who don't know about it in advance, it's really pretty nasty.

[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Aquillion ]

[Toady One]

I think a lot of these problems are being caused by a thought accumulation issue.  You can't see them in the current thought paragraphs, but many copies are the same thought are kept sometimes if the game considers them "separate" events.  This works in a positive way for building admiration, for instance.  I think part of the problem might be that the sheriff is accumulating several of these thoughts, and this causes rapid happiness deterioration.  The same is true of the fortress/royal guard thought, I think, and possibly injury thoughts as well.  I'm try to sort the situation out.

[Arcanum]

I agree with your post.  I also think it's a little absurd to have to devote so much time and energy building infrastructure for the sole purpose of producing a product to satisfy a noble that, at the stage he arrives, serves very little purpose.  I say sole purpose because at the stage the sheriff arrives, you don't really have any particular need for the smelting/metalworking infrastructure except to prevent him from freaking out.

I'd go so far as to say that, at the early stage the sheriff arrives, his propensity for wigging out makes him a bigger liability than the tantruming dwarves he's supposed to help with.

Edit: Ah, so it's not intentional.  Good.    If I had to make a guess based on you post and all the "job canceled" spamming that goes on in certain situations, I'd say the sheriff/captain of the guard/mayor polls for the existence of chains/cages/fortress guards at about the same rate as dwarves poll for the existence of (for instance) buckets for carrying water to sick dwarves, and every time the poll returns as failed they get a happiness penalty.

[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Arcanum ]

[Baro]

I've built chains and cages but it doesn't make him happy.  Do Ineed to make the guard captain the 'owner' of the cage??

[Aristharus]

No, you need to make a room from a chain and designate it for the use of justice from the [q] menu.

[Premier]

quote:[...] a noble that, at the stage he arrives, serves very little purpose.

* Cough * cough *
Emergency flood system tester.

 

[ August 25, 2006: Message edited by: Premier ]

[Aquillion]

Well, you can satisfy him using ropes instead of metal chains.  I'm not sure whether that's intentional or not, but I assume it is...  The sheriff arrives when you hit 20 dwarves or so, so it's entirely possible that the player won't have any metalworking system set up yet when he does.

So, yeah, he often ends up tying people down with silk ropes.  Kinky.

[Baro]

I've had many settlements over 100 and nobles NEVER showed up.

Finally in my last game when it hit 30, the sherrif and a useless noble who's function I can't tell showed up.

How does the economy get started?

[Aquillion]

You need a bookkeeper.  Mint some coins.