My "
sacrifice puny recruits" plan is backfiring a bit more than I expected -- I've got a few tantrumers (one habitual one that mangled a bull's head, and another that broke the farm plot), three people are running around babbling, and a fourth is stuck where I forgot to take him off-duty, stricken by melancholy. That last one is one of my best marksdwarves, and I'm sure his death will make Wonderful Things happen (he used to be the fort's mayor until a super popular and skilled child grew up and took his place, so he had to be mayor for a reason). Even better, of all the twelve sane miserable dwarves, one of them is my Legendary weapon-maker, who I really don't want to lose.
If I lose my fort to this, it will be amazing.
(All edits now under a spoiler to save space. Currently on edit 9.)
EDIT: Lesse, and now a soldier that had been bedridden with a mangled arm ever since the ambush before the siege became depressed. I never got to see him tantrum and break the bed he was on, even when he did tantrum but did nothing. =( ...This is the first time he's walked in a long while, and will be the last.
EDIT 2: And the wife of the marksdwarf got got her leg mangled by a tantrumer. Better yet, they had a baby, so she's no longer carrying it. Did I mention she too has hit rock-bottom moodwise and could go insane? I'll keep updating this post. note that no one's actually died yet from the aftermath, although the first two who went insane are hungry and the second to go melancholy actually moves around.
EDIT 3: Okay, yeah now she's gone insane, which means I can also write her baby off if said baby hasn't already tried killing herself. Meanwhile, one of the other insane guys got thirsty so he's taking a dip in a pool right now. At least he stripped himself of anything useful like socks.
EDIT 4: ohgod with the death of another insane peasant a whole bunch of people suddenly became miserable, including a marksdwarf/wrestler, a founder, a miner, and my best (only? One Jeweler is insane, another is bedridden, and the only other one specializes in the cutting) jewel encruster. And now that marksdwarf/wrestler is throwing a tantrum and I half expect her to punch someone hard.
EDIT 5: Three depressed dwarves, four outright insane dwarves, countless tantrumers (of one-second varieties and habitual problems), and everyone seems to be trying to kill my miner/wrestler (who has not been wounded despite tantrumers attacking her).
EDIT 6: Someone finally went berserk. Not gonna let her have too much fun like I did with the last berserk dwarf. Also, I found out one of the insane females had a miscarriage, although I don't know if it was before or after the insanity. She's running around topless, her husband has minor nerve damage and is trying to practice his archery, and they're childess. Okay, now I'm depressed.
EDIT 7: are you frikkin' kidding me now the berserk dwarf's boyfriend is out for blood, too.
BOOTLASHES' MILITARY DUDES ARE NOW THE RULERS OF THE FORT. THEY HAVE POINTY SWORDS AND BOLTS.
EDIT 8: Berserkers are dead, every insane dwarf gets replaced by one or two more. Just became a county, meaning the count is now demanding stupid crap to celebrate. Eff that ess, I can't bother to appease nobles. I'm in favor of killing the nobles, anyway. At least I won't get any immigrants for a while.
EDIT 9: The tantrumers are finally figuring out thta they can punch people, and one of them even managed to kill a peasant. The hammerer beat her unarmed and she still broke her spine. Oh, well, she was a useless dwarf named after a useless person. Plus, now my broker is going to be beaten and imprisoned by the only two fortress guards (I only hired them recently because everyone seems to have drunk some crazy juice).
BOOTLASHES IS DOOMED, I THINK. HAPPY DAYS ARE ON THEIR WAY.
EDIT 4.5: Not an edit directly documenting my experiences, but about something interesting. One of my insane dorfs had her leg mangled by a tantrumer, and no one ever thought to carry her into the hospital bed that a melancholy dorf just left behind. Her status, instead of "running around babbling!", is now
"crawling around babbling!". I'm guessing a dwarf that couldn't even crawl would be labeled as lying around. This is a really cool detail -- kudos to Toady for predicting we'd have injured housewives going crazy because everything they touch dies.