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Often: The fortress isn't meant to protect them. It's meant to entertain me.

On Occassion: We all need a bit of dark laughter now and then.

When necessary: As a means to an end, I'll kill a dwarf to save a dozen.

Never: The world is dangerous enough.

[CreamyDoughnut]

I'm a lurker honestly, always have been one.

I've read a lot of topics that have struck with me like locking children in pits with vicious dogs to make unfeeling super-soldiers. The Mermaid harvesting one was fantastic too, but I don't want to side-track.

I'd say I'm apathetic towards my dwarves' quality of life.. I rarely give them new clothes until much, much later in my forts lifespan (And only if it's the cheapest crap available). I kill elves without justification and make a note to put any particularly useless dwarves under a drawbridge. All the regular rooms in the fortress have a bed and about two-feet worth of space. The food stinks too, nothing but plump-helmets and kea meat. Only people that get anything of value are soldiers, and those poor sods have rotten luck.

So, does anyone do the opposite here? In the sense that you're constantly manufacturing fine clothes for your dwarves, varying up the food stock, etc? You got any tips on making my dwarves lives seem less grim-dark? Maybe how I can come to love Urist McMissingfoot and not sacrifice him to the Blood God because he moves to fucking slow.

Edit: added a poll for fun and community science!

[SixOfSpades]

My fort is now 30 years old, and not a single dwarf has yet to be even seriously wounded. Really, 1 or 2 might have dents or small scars, that's it. I grow all the crops I can (edible/brewable ones, anyway), import lots of things that I can't get locally (mainly fish), and make tons of delicious roasts. Most citizens have a 10-tile bedroom that also includes a table, chair, coffer, cabinet, weapon rack, & armor stand.

On the downside, the rest of the populace have no rooms at all (the new dormitories are dug, but I'll get around to furnishing them someday), and everybody but the duke is absolutely stark naked. (I'm running the last version before the clothing fix, so if I let clothes exist all they'll do is claim them, then leave them lying around on the floor for ever.)

[CreamyDoughnut]

My fort is now 30 years old, and not a single dwarf has yet to be even seriously wounded. Really, 1 or 2 might have dents or small scars, that's it. I grow all the crops I can (edible/brewable ones, anyway), import lots of things that I can't get locally (mainly fish), and make tons of delicious roasts. Most citizens have a 10-tile bedroom that also includes a table, chair, coffer, cabinet, weapon rack, & armor stand.

On the downside, the rest of the populace have no rooms at all (the new dormitories are dug, but I'll get around to furnishing them someday), and everybody but the duke is absolutely stark naked. (I'm running the last version before the clothing fix, so if I let clothes exist all they'll do is claim them, then leave them lying around on the floor for ever.)

So, a nudist utopia? I can't say I've ever seen anything like that in my life.

[klefenz]

My dwarves have quite a good life quality, with the least happy one dwarf over 125, and the rest much higher.
My defenses are solid, the food industry gives them nice meat and a wide variety of drinks, the clothing industry goes smooth as well, and im building individual rooms for everyone, 3*3 with silver furniture, i already made 60.
Only 3 dwarves died to vampire attacks, then i killed 2 dwarves for being vampires (actually i was sure one was a vampire, but not so sure about the other) and a mayor who sent 4 people to jail for moving crowns to the trading depot, he deserved to swim in lava.

However i have murdered some elves, but that doesnt count. Oh and dumped a lot of kittens into the lava.

[Erils]

I always try to be nice to my dwarves.

While some of them have been slain, I have not caused any of the deaths myself. One was killed by a Goblin Thief and two failed strange moods because I didn't have silk cloth. I built a tomb for each one and give them each a memorial slab in front of the tomb. I have a few kittens, not a lot, but haven't killed anyone. I have good relations with the other dwarves, humans and even the elves. I have had to rely on the caravans for food seeing as my farmers aren't working, but they help with butchering, hunting and mining. I still don't understand why people attack the elven caravans. I have almost had some famines, but so far, there have been no major problems.

[Xantalos]

A lot of people try to be nice to their dorfs.
It's just that they eventually get bored and have nothing better to do but other things.

[CreamyDoughnut]

A lot of people try to be nice to their dorfs.
It's just that they eventually get bored and have nothing better to do but other things.

I tried to be benevolent until I realized I was struggling to survive. I still have my fourth fort with something like 34 dead dwarfs whose ghosts tried to say I was incompetent until I shut them up with some memorial slabs in the local garbage pit.

[klefenz]

I always try to be nice to my dwarves.

While some of them have been slain, I have not caused any of the deaths myself. One was killed by a Goblin Thief and two failed strange moods because I didn't have silk cloth. I built a tomb for each one and give them each a memorial slab in front of the tomb. I have a few kittens, not a lot, but haven't killed anyone. I have good relations with the other dwarves, humans and even the elves. I have had to rely on the caravans for food seeing as my farmers aren't working, but they help with butchering, hunting and mining. I still don't understand why people attack the elven caravans. I have almost had some famines, but so far, there have been no major problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qKiZZkh93I

That's why everybody hates the elves.

[CreamyDoughnut]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qKiZZkh93I

That's why everybody hates the elves.
[/quote]

Well that Forgotten Beast was made of doom and had a fiery breath.

And they do have wood armor.

Besides, with the madness that goes on in some of these mountains, would you be a bad enough dude to come to rescue of some fortress called 'BowelMurdered'

[WillowLuman]

I believe most people try to be nice to their dwarves, but don't talk about it much, because the other things make for much better conversation. However, I'd say I personally get a bigger sense of accomplishment from the game in setting up a nice town than from wanton cruelty.

[0cu]

I try to be nice and actually care about every dwarf. But if someone just runs out to grab a sock in sigh of a goblin ambush, I'll just call it Natural Selection and let it happen.

On the other hand, anyone willing to share its cruel monarchy?

[WanderingKid]

I believe most people try to be nice to their dwarves, but don't talk about it much, because the other things make for much better conversation.

+1.

Here's the issue.  A town of happy dwarves in whatever state they're in is... BORING.  These are not good stories, no drama.

So, you can't really have a fort that can accomplish your personal goals unless the majority are happy.  What's interesting is when one of them goes sideways.  Suddenly, this moronic, serial killer, permanently unhappy dwarf creates an interesting story in an otherwise calm existence of the other 200+ dwarves kicking around in your creation.

The fort is happy, the stories are the exceptions.  I can understand why a lurker would be confused by that, but you have to spend a few hundred hours in the game to understand the context sometimes if someone doesn't spell it out.

[Doc Voston]

Nope, my nobles can live without fear, otherwise the filthy peasant can go out and try my new trap.

[Sutremaine]

I'm pretty moral. I look after traders, ensure that everyone has a bedroom (even if it just an extended alcove with an engraved floor), and make varied booze and cheese roasts. I try to keep dwarves out of danger, especially the soldiers. They wait for enemies to come to them, and are kept in groups as much as possible.

Heck, I don't even cull the tigerman cubs. I just shove them in a cage and sell them to the elves. A less kind overseer could perhaps keep them for feeding to vampires, as they're about the only non-dwarf creature that falls unconscious naturally.

[Larix]

As others said, nice and caring overseers are not at all uncommon, it's just that the niceness-specific events don't make for spectacular topics: "yay, my least valuable bedroom is rated 'decent'", "hooray, the hundredth fort-born child grew up to adulthood" and "whew, we just got saved by the elves - from fps death: they hauled off the x☼<☼giant cave spider silk socks☼>☼x we were drowning in".

If you posted such news, you might even have people jump in and berate you over not murdering children on principle and accusing you of undwarvenness because you didn't kill the elves (which would have damaged your fps even more).