Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Momaw]

So, yeah, I'm getting back into DF after a long bout of not playing,and something that's annoying the crap out of me is the dwarven habit of throwing long LONG parties.

Basically the notion is this: that players have control over parties. Dwarves get progressively more and more unhappy the longer they go without a party, and you throw them parties to keep them entertained.

=====
When you throw a party at a designated Meeting Place, you have the following options:

1.) Dwarves invited:  All / Non-Critical / On Break / Idle / Invite-only
"All" invites every dwarf in the fort regardless of what their job is or what jobs come up after the party starts. Dwarves may wander away from the party if they are specially "bound by duty" (personality type), but most will not.  Pretty much the way it works now.
"Non-critical" means that dwarves will party unless a time-critical event comes up, for example, harvesting plants or pulling levers. Dwarves involved with food processing are also considered critical.
"On break" means that all dwarves who go on break will hit the party instead of wandering around being bored. When their break is over, they go back to regular work. Their break starts when they reach the party, not when they stop working. Includes dwarves who are idle.
"Idle" includes only dwarves who have no job to do. If they find a job, they will leave the party.
"Invite-only" allows you to set up a whitelist of dwarves that the party is for. Only these dwarves are allowed to be at the party, and they are considered to be under the effect of the "All" setting (i.e., they won't wander away to pull levers, it's their party and they're staying as long as possible).

Basically this setting controls who is allowed to be at the party at a given time, NOT who is allowed to start the party.  In other words, if you set the party to be only for Idle dwarves, then anybody who finishes their work and becomes idle after the party starts will attend the party.

2.) Refreshments: *2 / *1.5 / *1

Exactly as it says.  If you set this to *1.5 or *2, your dwarves consume beverages and food faster than normal.

Also, once the party has begun, you will get a data line that shows how many weeks it's been going on.

=====
The purpose of the party is to generate happy thoughts. Dwarves must attend a party at least once per year for a cumulative week, or they get an unhappy thought. Having more and longer parties than this will make make them happier. The amount of happiness they get depends on...

=====
Things that make a good party for all dwarves:
- Offering more food and drink
- A party area just large enough for all attendees
- An opulent/impressive party area
- Running the party longer

Things that make a bad party for all dwarves:
- Party is too short
- Party is too crowded (dwarves standing on eachother)

Things that make a party better for a single dwarf:
- Staying long spans of contiguous time instead of having to wander in and out a lot
- Party is attended by friends or spouse

Things that make a party worse for a single dwarf:
- Party is attended by dwarves they dislike

=====
Parties begin mainly as a player action.  "Begin party". Easy enough. Once you decide that the party has run long enough, you "End Party" and everybody gets back to do whatever they were doing.

Dwarves who are very unhappy and have not attended a party lately may take matters into their own hands, and throw a party with the "On break" criteria. They end the party when they are no longer unhappy. They get a significant unhappy thought if you end the party before they are ready to leave.

Another special case is dwarves who become married may decide to throw a short invite-only party for their friends.

The party also ends if you run out of food or alcohol.

=====
That's about it.  Begin discussion.

[Warlord255]

I think player-controlled parties has been brought up; a general consensus is that robbing dwarves of their autonomy is something of a downer.

Ways to make parties NOT murderously painful to allow would be nice, though.

[Pilsu]

Don't much care for dwarves losing their autonomy to such a degree. On the other hand, random parties are really annoying

Personally I'd tie them to the calendar and civ's traditions. They'd be much more fun to arrange if they were predictable. Not to mention the potential for flavor in weddings alone

[Granite26]

Don't much care for dwarves losing their autonomy to such a degree. On the other hand, random parties are really annoying

Personally I'd tie them to the calendar and civ's traditions. They'd be much more fun to arrange if they were predictable. Not to mention the potential for flavor in weddings alone

A calender we could check would be awesome!

Unfortunately, events tied to the calender is kinda nutty considering the compressed time scale.  You think the holidays are crazy here in the real world... Most dwarves wouldn't be able to get to their jobs in between Thanksgiving and Christmas!

[Pilsu]

Not every festivity needs to be in the game though

[Granite26]

What I'm saying is, you average party is going to take a week just getting people to and from the meeting hall, probably 2 weeks total time.  If you have 1 yearly event, that's 4% of your fort's time spent partying. 

[BirdoPrey]

My main problem with parties is how calm they are. Dwarven parties should use up copious amounts of alcohol, and as it goes on fistfights should break out and furniture should be overturned. Only difference is both parties should enjoy the fights, and punishments should be waived for any damage done during a party.

[Momaw]

Let's go back here.  The biggest complaint against this idea is that it makes dwarves less autonomous? When a.) these are creatures that will stand around apathetically doing nothing until they literally die of thirst, unless you tell them what to do?    and b.) their autonomy in this case is running directly contrary to all logic and self-preservation?

[Derakon]

You're the overseer. You hand out tasks, without which the fortress would fail. You don't hand out rewards; dwarves find those themselves (by getting new possessions, enjoying their jobs, chatting with friends, liking their drinks, etc.). Certainly those rewards wouldn't be possible without your efforts, but you aren't saying "Here, Urist, you've been a good dwarf, have a +Giant Cave Spider Silk Mitten+." Urist is saying "Oooh, a GCS mitten. Don't mind if I do!"

In short, it's the difference between "boss" and "parent", and while it can be subtle at times, it's still important.

[Hectonkhyres]

Indeed. Dwarves live under a system of government similar to what you would have found under Stalinist Russia: The state picks what occupation you will will toil at for the rest of your life, can recruit you into the military without pretext, can assign you to sleep in a room rigged to fill with lava or spinning blades, stick you in a cage trap and sell you back to mountainhome, have the resident sociopath and Rorschach-impersonator (the Hammerer) beat your head in until he is simply smearing around wet bone chips because you couldn't make a crystal glass teacup in a fortress without rock crystals ... whatever. The state is god.

It makes no sense for a government that holds you as a slave in all but name not be able to tell you to show up at a party meeting or, on the opposite end of things, to forbid an unauthorized meeting of dissidents. If you try to have an unauthorized party, I wouldn't be shocked if the Hammerer and a dozen legendary marksdwarves appear and decorate the statue garden with dwarf entrails.

[alphafalcon]

"In Dwarf Fortress, party celebrates YOU" 

OnTopic: I'd like to see player-started partys, I don't see any 'mind-control' there. The fortress leadership decides to organize a party for the miners who dug the fort into the mountain. No Mind-Control at all. I'd rather like to see some more options like "Attending is mandatory. Failure to attend is a crime" So I can have a daily muster in my all-military fort, or to the other extreme, the everlasting orgy in the Dwarf Commune

[BirdoPrey]

Masque of the Red Dwarf. I like it!