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[Erils]

I think that I must be doing something wrong because my dwarves are dropping like flies.

It all started when one of my dwarves spotted a goblin snatcher about to kidnapp a child. My militia gave chase, but this was still an early fortress and one of my men didn't have any armor or weapons at all. He was also a newer immigrant so he wasn't skilled at combat in any way. This dwarf reached the snatcher first, only to be killed by one quick stab to the head. The goblin escaped afterwards as my militia were too far away to catch him.

I made sure to give him a memorial slab and a small tomb. Shortly afterwards, the dwarf's best friend became melancholy and, after some time, died of dehydration. This lead another dwarf to become melancholy and die, which led another dwarf to become melancholy and die. This has been going on for some time now and I've lost 4 dwarves so far with one melancholy right now.

What should I do?

[Sutremaine]

Cheer the rest of them up. Nice dining room, nice food, nice bedrooms, nice things to look at.

[Grim Portent]

You must punish them. Remind them that happiness is mandatory. Forbid the booze, order excessive amounts of tunnels to be dug, kill all their pets!

[misko27]

Oh dear. Melancholy is a type of Insanity, an incurable condition where dwarves will make a general nuisance of themselves until they die, whether by your hand or their's.


Each one is already upset and miserable due to whatever, and the deaths make them worse. At any given time, they could go Melancholy, or start tantruming, or worse. Each death will compound the problem, and it can run away away from your ability to control it. Look through your remaining dwarves and determine how they are doing. Set up attractive furniture to admire, stockpile booze, improve living standards for everyone, but especially the miserable. If you move quickly you can nip this in the bud.

[floundericiousWA]

Look through your remaining dwarves and determine how they are doing. Set up attractive furniture to admire, stockpile booze, improve living standards for everyone, but especially the miserable. If you move quickly you can nip this in the bud.

Yep, designate nice bedrooms (3x3 or better), put in furniture and smooth/etch the floor/walls, and get them lots of booze...

Dwarves are easily distracted like Dug, from Up!:  ETCHING!!!!!

[Nidilap]

It appears you are experiencing a Tantrum Spiral. Make things happy, by ordering doors to be made, and place them in halls. Also, begin construction of a statue garden. They help with sad dwarves.

[Sutremaine]

Yep, designate nice bedrooms (3x3 or better), put in furniture and smooth/etch the floor/walls, and get them lots of booze...

Dwarves also have low standards, with a bedroom being sufficent to make them happy. Usually I dig 1x4 rooms into the sides of a corridor. Because they're 1 tile wide, the miners dig them out in one go, and because they're 4 tiles long, a bedroom designated from a bed at the back wall stops just short of the corridor.

Then you can smooth them (get everybody on the smoothing; it makes for happy thoughts about job satisfaction), and think about adding doors and furniture. Place statues and stuff at the entrance to the bedroom complex, where everyone can admire them on their way to bed. Doors are also useful for locking melancholy dwarves in their bedrooms, where they will not be reported dead until another dwarf sees the body. Berserkers, too -- since the game will pause and zoom when that happens it's very nice to have them dealt with even before you unpause.

[Erils]

All right I built some bedrooms for them instead of the dormitory I had and put up a few more statues. I think its helping as no one has become melancholy since the last dwarf died. Oh wait, that's because my militia commander just went berserk in my dining hall/meeting area and I have no one strong enough to stop him.

I get the feeling that this fortress is just plain doomed.

Any ideas to solve this or do I just watch the 'fun'?

btw, my dwarf militia commander was the only dwarf who actually got a good skill in a weapon (axe) and wore my best armor (bronze). He is the only dwarf I have who ever got a kill and was the prime hunter and source of food as my farms have failed miserably.

[Broken]

If all your rooms have doors (as they should!) you can lock up him in the dining hall once all/most other dwarfs have fled.

or you can just watch and enjoy, reclaim, and be slain by the ghost of the old inhabitants.