Print

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

[Snikers]

So I'm still new at Dwarf Fortress, and my fort is off to a rocky start (no pun intended). I only have two of my original seven left after a series of disasters - three died of dehydration before I was able to desperately whip some booze out of some plump helmets bought from the first dwarven caravan (one of which was the Cook/Brewer, who barely managed to stave off thirst long enough to produce drinks for her comrades before expiring - something truly heroic if you ask me). The fourth was my woodcutter/axedwarf, similarly dehydrated when bedridden from injuries; all my water was frozen and of course you can't drink booze to recover from wounds so grevious as his: a broken hand. Fifth was the miner who was drafted in a desperate attempt to chase off the wolves and marquesewhatevers and managed to scare them into keeping away from the fort before being killed himself.

So down to just the non-noble Noble (Trader/Bookkeeper/Whatever) and the antisocial farmer (such a non-stressful and solitary job is granted to those with poor social skills, such as said farmer and his new immigrant-apprentice - more on that later) among the dozen or so immigrants, it seems like some good cheer is in order. So they throw parties. Or maybe they're funerals given all the death, but in any case there's a lot of them. That's okay, I think, let them have their fun.

It's spring. Elven traders appear. They hit the depot and are waiting patiently for the trader.

The trader is partying.

It's later, and I worry the traders will soon leave. I wonder when the trader will show up.

The trader is partying. For the third party in a row.

I decide the threat of shanghaied military service is in order and swiftly activate/deactivate her, which will clear her queue for planned activities.

Trader is listed as NO JOB. And one second later - attending a party.

If I lead the horse to water, I think, surely it will drink!

I draft the Trader and march her right up to the depot. The elves are RIGHT THERE. They see her, she sees them. One of them blows a kiss. I deactivate the trader.

Trader TURNS AROUND AND RUNS BACK TO HER PARTY. May I note that this once-in-a-lifetime, can't-miss-a-second party consists of a collection of unwashed dwarves, a single table in the middle of a huge unsmoothed room and was started by one of the two children the Trader seems to hover over in all the time, no doubt to the worry of the child's as-yet-unidentified parents?

Nope, can't miss that party. In desperation I hit ANYONE CAN TRADE and everyone's at the party, even the coincidental line of immigrants march right by. Finally the farmer's assistant (whose profile seems to scream anger issues) sits down and I sigh heavily, starting to trade.

I work out a proposition with plenty of profit for the elves (had a lot of giant cave spider silk clothes from the dead guys) and hit T, and the elf tells me "Whoops, looks like your race is still in love with killing, hurr durr". What the hell? Did my farmerdwarf flip out and attack the elves? Sure, I was eyeing that "seize items" button, but the elves couldn't have known that!

So the elves take off with their gear, a lot of stuff I could have used. The farmer's assistant is left frothing in rage. I sure as hell hope the Trader is enjoying that party she was so desperate to get too!

One quick check later, it seems the party has ended. The Trader is now looking for something to do.

...dwarves, man. What can I say.

[Zanz]

 

Elves won't take anything made of previously live things: Shell, bone, and wood are all off limits and lead to the prissy little elves prancing off in a huff.

[Stromko]

Certain types of rooms can host parties, which tend to go on for a lot longer than is prudent. Just go to whatever furniture is defining the room and 'f'ree it and nobody will be able to party there, thus freeing them up for work.

[Jualin]

Lock the "party room" up if you need a dwarf to dearly do something. Assuming you have a door between the Depot and that room, get the dwarf past the door and lock it. I think that may just do it... assuming the dwarf doesn't spam "Urist McPartygoer cancels Attend Party: Cannot find path." messages.

It'll take some time to test this theory... or, if it happens again, could you tell me what happens if you test out my theory?

[Haven]

Just free and reassign the table. Don't make it a meeting hall until the trading's over.

And that brewer dwarf story is pretty awesome.

[Quift]

NEVER assign meetinh halls or statue gardens or rooms from cages and restraints. Assign a meeting ground using instead.

Then you'll never have any parties.

Another way of doing it that i sometimes do is to build  a specific party room. Engraved, nice furniture, a select amount of booze and a nice table in the middle. I only activiate the table after sieges, marriages etc so as to allow the dwarves to party once or twice per year. Mostly for PRG reasons, and it also keeps them cheery and make friends. (most of my dwarves are not allowed to ever leave the fort. So they wont die. Hence I like them being friends.

[Samyotix]

Just use "anyone can trade". You'll just have to give the merchants a better bargain. And in my experience, usually one of the Nobles rushed up to trade when my main trader was busy elsewhere and I set the Depot to "anyone" ... a couple of them have levels in appraising now.

[Topace3k]

Yeah, you just have to free up the rooms to end the parties.  It works instantly and you can always reassign the room later when there isn't as much work to do.

As to the elves, they will also reject items that have blood on them in addition to any former animal/tree parts.  This means you'll likely have to view each individual piece of dead dwarf clothing to make sure the bloody bits aren't included in the deal.

[Elvenshae]

As to the elves, they will also reject items that have blood on them in addition to any former animal/tree parts.  This means you'll likely have to view each individual piece of dead dwarf clothing to make sure the bloody bits aren't included in the deal.

This is not true.  I've traded them bloody silk garments (thanks, gobbos!) without issue.

[Topace3k]

This is not true.  I've traded them bloody silk garments (thanks, gobbos!) without issue.

Trust me, sometimes they will reject bloody items.  Additionally, the wiki has them listed as rejecting bloody items.  This can be a headache if you forget about it.

[iskurthi]

This is not true.  I've traded them bloody silk garments (thanks, gobbos!) without issue.

Trust me, sometimes they will reject bloody items.  Additionally, the wiki has them listed as rejecting bloody items.  This can be a headache if you forget about it.

I generally stick to giving them stone crafts, which as long as I remember not to use bone or shell for encrusting are always safe. It's not like the elves bring very much stuff you want anyway... If they aren't satisfied with the stone crafts, they can request silk and what have you in the counteroffer; goods they request in the counteroffer will never be rejected in my experience even if they wouldn't have been acceptable if you'd been the one offering them.

[Boatmurderer]

I just take what I want from the tree-hugging fairies. Let 'em try to siege. I've got glass disc weapon traps friggin' everywhere. We'll have finely diced elf confetti in no time. If they get through that, what good is a wood sword against steel plate?

Friggin' Elves, I hate the lot of 'em...

[Alex Encandar]

I had a fortress of 600 or so dwarves. I spent 20 years building a fortress, didn't finish it due to...water control issues. Anyways, all but the most recent immigrants were legendary in all social skills (and it took less then a year for them to fully up their social skills anyways). I would presume this was due to the large number of already legendary socialites.

Anyways the point is, partying isn't worthless, it's an easy way to give all your dwarves maxed attributes.