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[Particleman]

So just for the hell of seeing what would happen, I made a small (2x2 embark) fort with very simple accomodations. No personal beds, just a barracks, and the tables and chairs for the dining room are no-quality.



That's almost the entirety of what I've done with it. I dug a little lower to get some stone for the smelters (I added a custom reaction for free wood, in case I need it for something), but other than that I didn't touch anything. The stairs on the surface are walled off.

Aside from farming and making the occasional bag or barrel of booze or something,t here's nothin to do, so they spend all thier time hanging out in the dining room talking to each other.



Everyone's ecstatic.

Suddenly...



OHSHITGOBLINS

Since I have the entrance to my fort completely walled off, they can't do anything. They just kinda mill around for a few months. Originally I had just intended to wait for them to leave, but evidently they weren't going to do that. Then I got curious...

All my dwarves had no less than a dozen friends. Some were married, and everyone was ecstatic. What would happen if some of them died?

I drafted all but the first seven and sent them out to fight the goblins.


(KEKEKE ZERG RUSH)

Thirty-nine unarmed, untrained, unarmored dwarves pretty much steamrolled the goblins, including another ambush squad that appeared after they engaged the first. Three dwarves died.



Everyone's moods afterward.


They're all still ecstatic The living ones, anyway. Being drafted, seeing thier friends murdered, and several of them being injured wasn't enough to dampen thier moods in the slightest.

Apparently losing a friend works similarly to how losing a masterpiece does- i.e. if a dwarf only has one friend and his friend dies, he'll take a major hit to his happiness, but if he has a dozen friends and one dies, the negative though from it will be relatively minor.

[Jacob/Lee]

but if he has a dozen friends and one dies, the negative though from it will be relatively minor.

That is the beauty of the game's unrealism as far as emotions go.

[ungulateman]

^ That makes it more realistic, if you ask me. A dwarf / person with only one dwarf / person who understands them and is friends with them will go a lot crazier than someone with other friends to support them.

[The Eviscerator of Gods]

And because it's not really a surprise when the quiet guy with nearly no friends goes psycho.

[Particleman]

I let the game run a little longer. A few dwarves became unhappy shortly after the fight because thier friends died, and one female became pretty depressed because she had a hand mangled and miscarried, and she's probably going to be bedridden for the next few seasons. Aside from the latter, though, thier moods went back up pretty fast from talking to thier other friends.

Which is surprisingly realistic. A friend dies, you feel bad for a while, you talk to your other friends, you help each other accept it and you move on.

I also gave my expedition leader an office becase the lack of one was causing negative thoughts.

So I'm thinking this could help with all the unhappiness problems you sometimes run into. Once the fort's up and running and largely autonomous (aside from making booze and trading and such), disable labors for everyone (except farmers, but if you have enough food even they're not neccesary for the next couple season), let them socialize for the next six months so they have a bunch of friends, and when they start to get unhappy from whatever, let them idle for a while. It would also help with the "Oh no these two dwarves are friends and one of them got his ass murdered by goblins because he was a DUMBASS, now the other's going to be all depressed and probably useless for the next couple seasons."

Instead of doing everything in your power to keep your dwarves occupied at all times, let them have some time off once in a while. They'll probably be happier for it.

[ungulateman]

Or you could try the Real Wagon experiment with DTil for infinite amounts of food. Fun!

[Sensei]

Urist Mcdwarf has been ecstatic lately. Urist McDwarf enjoyed a decadent meal lately. Urist McDwarf admired a fine dining room lately. Urist McDwarf was forced to eat a friend to survive lately. Urist Mcdwarf was hungry lately.

[Particleman]

Or you could try the Real Wagon experiment with DTil for infinite amounts of food. Fun!

The Real Wagon thing is what inspired this, actually. I'm just doing it on a slightly larger scale.

Also, what's DTil?