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[GhostDwemer]

I read here that tavern keepers and tavern entertainers cause dwarves and guests to drink to much, get in bar fights, and eventually get alcohol poisoning, which sounds hilarious. Yet after I set up a big tavern with lots of booze of all sorts, a tavern keeper, and an entertainer, I get nothing.

No fights.
No alcohol poisoning.

Nothing funny at all, just lots of socializing, storytelling and performing. Which is how Toady described taverns, and how the wiki says they work...

So are the forumites here who made those claims just another case of the infinite dwarf fortress rumor machine spitting out more contrafactual claims? Maybe the "drunken bar fights" are just regular tantrums, and the "alcohol poisoning" is just regular old cave adaptation?

[Dunamisdeos]

Same. I've never had a single ill effect from taverns.

Occasional vomiting.

[h27kim]

Curious if things got toned down...

Both lethal tavern fights and alcohol poisoning were quite common when they were first introduced.  (v. 42.06 is where I was)   But I haven't played more recent versions, though.

[Arcvasti]

Dwarves are just naturally very alchohol resistant. Back when cats could get covered in alcohol and lick it off, they'd die in droves from it. Some dwarves are less resistant to alcohol and can totally die from it. And I've definitely seen people start drunken brawls, although I've yet to see any real injuries from it.

Visitors are much more susceptible[Being less dwarven], but usually don't drink enough to be dangerous unless you have a lot of people serving drinks at once.


If you really want to see this happen, try putting the drinks in the tavern proper and appointing 8-10 more entertainers.

[GhostDwemer]

False rumors are thing that happens with these forums, I've seen it before. Ahem. I may even have accidentally contributed to the spread of misinformation on occasion... Never believe anything you read here, unless Quietust wrote it.

[Urist McShire]

Well I know in precious versions I have had dwarves engage in fisticuffs in the tavern, and seen several dwarves get hauled off to the conveniently nearby hospital to get patched up because of the bar fights.

[King Kitteh]

In the first version with Taverns, I had a dwarf die in a heap of blood and vomit in his chair, only a few months after the Tavern opened. Perhaps the danger has changed?

[GhostDwemer]

Weird how there's no mention of tavern fights or dwarven alcohol poisoning in any of the release announcements. There's a mention of fixing a problem where drunken squad members don't spar correctly, and fixing cats getting alcohol poisoning from cleaning themselves after walking in booze puddles, but no mention of dwarves fighting too much or getting alcohol poisoning themselves being fixed. So I am left to believe that this was always simply a false rumor. If it was an issue, and it was fixed, it would have been mentioned in the release notes.

[SebasMarolo]

Yet after I set up a big tavern with lots of booze of all sorts, a tavern keeper, and an entertainer, I get nothing.

Do you have goblets?

[Urist McShire]

Yet after I set up a big tavern with lots of booze of all sorts, a tavern keeper, and an entertainer, I get nothing.

Do you have goblets?

That's right! You need goblets/mugs/cups to serve the booze in! If there are no goblets in the tavern, the tavernkeeper will not serve booze to patrons, and they will not overindulge.

[wierd]

One could also see if there is a bug related to serving drinks, and multiple tavern keepers.

I am reminded of the early days of beekeeping, where multiple dwarves would pick the same wild hive for hive installation, and cause loitering forever.

In this case though, multiple tavern keepers all grab the same thirsty patron, and all serve them a drink, resulting in toxic intoxication. 

Something to test anyway.  Assign a buttload of tavern keepers and goblets, see if poisoning happens.

[GhostDwemer]

Yet after I set up a big tavern with lots of booze of all sorts, a tavern keeper, and an entertainer, I get nothing.

Do you have goblets?

That's right! You need goblets/mugs/cups to serve the booze in! If there are no goblets in the tavern, the tavernkeeper will not serve booze to patrons, and they will not overindulge.

Of course I have goblets.

[Fleeting Frames]

Well, even without a tavern keeper or performer, just booze stockpile, I've certainly had a goblin resident die as a result of tavern fight, with everyone happy - this was in version 43.03. Though, checking, is your tavern keeper actually serving the booze to others with those goblets? There's been a quite a few mentions of containers and library scribbling failing, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a similar effect going on.

Taverns have gotten quite a few changes, so it is possible they were changed and this was just not mentioned - much like some changes to combat mechanics.

Dwarves dying as a result of alcohol poisoning has never been a bug. Find a dwarf with incredibly low disease resistance and you'll see their lungs becoming yellow after even normal drinking. (At least, I've noticed this in 42.06 - albeit, you'll have to watch them, as this heals up normally on its own and generates no report.)

[GhostDwemer]

Well, even without a tavern keeper or performer, just booze stockpile, I've certainly had a goblin resident die as a result of tavern fight, with everyone happy - this was in version 43.03. Though, checking, is your tavern keeper actually serving the booze to others with those goblets? There's been a quite a few mentions of containers and library scribbling failing, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a similar effect going on.

Taverns have gotten quite a few changes, so it is possible they were changed and this was just not mentioned - much like some changes to combat mechanics.

Dwarves dying as a result of alcohol poisoning has never been a bug. Find a dwarf with incredibly low disease resistance and you'll see their lungs becoming yellow after even normal drinking. (At least, I've noticed this in 42.06.)

My tavern keeper appears to be doing his job, serving booze in the goblets. Nobody using the tavern has alcohol poisoning, not the humans, not the dwarves, not the elves, nobody. Nobody is getting in fights, either.

This whole thing is a just another false rumor. Don't worry, it isn't the first such rumor, nor will it be the last. For example, for the longest time, people thought only marksdwarf squads that weren't activated would train at targets. Don't ask me why, I could never figure it out. It always turned out that those people were just doing it wrong. Marksdwarves in active squads have always trained at targets, yet you would always find people giving bad advice and spreading the rumor.

[Melting Sky]

Weird how there's no mention of tavern fights or dwarven alcohol poisoning in any of the release announcements. There's a mention of fixing a problem where drunken squad members don't spar correctly, and fixing cats getting alcohol poisoning from cleaning themselves after walking in booze puddles, but no mention of dwarves fighting too much or getting alcohol poisoning themselves being fixed. So I am left to believe that this was always simply a false rumor. If it was an issue, and it was fixed, it would have been mentioned in the release notes.

Toady often squashes bugs or tweaks minor stuff without mentioning it all in the developer logs. I seem to remember hearing something from Toady acknowledging some bug with unintended lethal overdosing of alcohol although to be honest it was long enough ago that I could be mistaken. I have no personal experience with this alleged bug, so I can neither confirm nor deny its existence beyond noting that reports of this at one point were both quite common and from multiple sources here in the forums. The reports cropped up after a previous version went live, although I can't remember which version it was.

I know there was a confirmed bug with cats getting spattered with booze while wandering around in taverns and then later dying of alcohol poisoning when they licked themselves clean.

Edit: There was developer log update that included a minor note about alcohol now causing inebriation, erratic behavior, unconsciousness and death so I imagine all the reports that started cropping up about dead tavern patrons after that version's release were probably legitimate. My guess is Toady may have since toned it down a bit in a later update.