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[FlipFlop]

Hi,

I'm rather new at DF (what a great game!) and this is my first post. I've tried out a few fortresses and I often run into the same problem that ends in lots of Fun:

1. Goblins ambush and kill off a couple of my dwarfs.
2. Friends of these unfortunate dwarfs go berserk.
3. Berserk friends go on a rampage, killing more dwarfs.
4. More dwarfs go berserk and the cycle continues...

I try to kill off the berserk dwarfs as soon as possible but usually it's too late as they would have already killed a couple of his innocent neighbours, making the problem worse. I also try to keep my dwarfs happy with a big dining room, individual bedrooms with cabinets and chests but maybe I'm not doing enough?

Does anyone have any advice to prevent this endless cycle of berserking dwarfs? And is there an effective way to stop the cycle once it has started?

Thanks!

[Oliolli]

It's quite common.

Here you can find some more info on the subject: http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Tantrum_spiral

[obeliab]

The tantrum spiral is a commonly-cited fortress-ender.  In your case, I think the best way to avoid it would be to make an earlier push towards getting better equipment for your military and to limit the number of dwarves you have doing possibly dangerous outside jobs (like woodcutting and herbalism).  Also, are you surveying your dwarves' happiness levels (the first line in their status description sheet)?  Are you finding that they're "content" more than "happy?"  If most of your dwarves are just fine or content, try to make them happier.  An ecstatic husband can even take the death of his wife in relative stride, if he's overflowing with so many good thoughts.

[zooeyglass]

The other alternative angle is to try to avoid friendships too much. If you have social areas (like statue gardens, zoos, places designated off slabs or cages or statues or so) and idle dwarves, they are going to socialise and become friends over time. Keeping them working avoids the close-knit friendships.

Agree on ecstatic helping a dwarf get through a loss. In my current fort, the militia commander lost his wife and five children in just over 2 seasons and coped peachily. Admittedly he is a hardened psychopath but still....

[Dutchling]

Yeah, Tantrum Spirals tend to kill my fortresses too
My mayor (Moldath Rulasen) died together with most of his family...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[FlipFlop]

Thanks for all the advice, glad to know that this is quite common and it's called 'tantrum spiral'. So it seems like the major issue is that my dwarves are generally not happy enough (roughly 60% content, 30% happy, 10% ecstatic).

As for the military, they have decent equipment it's just that by the time they get to a trouble spot where an ambush is happening, it's usually too late. I'm just curious, do you usually make your military scout outside the fort? I just let them train inside all the time, maybe it's a bad idea?

Interesting the idea to avoid friendship, I didn't think about that. But is there a down side to avoiding friendship? I suppose having friends contribute to the dwarves' happiness?

[Hyndis]

It okay, you'll always get more migrants who won't care about the fate of the existing dwarves in the fortress.

Just make sure you bury the dead and/or make slabs for them, otherwise they may continue the tantrum spiral from beyond the grave as murderous ghosts.

[martinuzz]

They do get thoughts that (temporarily) increase happiness, like "made a new friend recently", "talked with a friend recently". This would be an argument in favour of having your dwarves make many friends.

Losing friends will give a major unhappy thought. Being forced to watch a friend decay will add to that unhappiness even more.
This would be an argument in favour of not having your dwarves make many friends.

If your dwarves don't socialize, you will not get lovers, and consequently, marriages. Ofcourse, whether those (and the children coming forth from them) are a good thing to have is debatable.

Aside from that, when your fort gets big enough to get a mayor, the dwarf who has the most friends will be elected. Restricting socializing can give you some more control over which dwarf will be your mayor, so this would be an argument in favour of that.

That being said, most of the time, I don't really care how many friends my dwarves make. I tend to give the dwarf that I want to be mayor little to no jobs, which will usually result in him having the most friends of all dwarves.
For the rest, I keep my dwarves happy enough not to care for losing a few friends.

[Dutchling]

Interesting the idea to avoid friendship, I didn't think about that. But is there a down side to avoiding friendship? I suppose having friends contribute to the dwarves' happiness?

Yes, husband/wife/children produce a lot of happiness, my mayor and my other named dwarfs (I name married dwarfs and children) all started tantrumming last.
Making friends also helps but not a lot.
And you'll obviously won't get any babies.

[bobhayes]

That being said, most of the time, I don't really care how many friends my dwarves make. I tend to give the dwarf that I want to be mayor little to no jobs, which will usually result in him having the most friends of all dwarves.

The danger of that is that if there are a few casualties, odds are high they're all friends of your leader, and s/he goes berserk and starts smashing babies.

[Di]

Isolate ecstatic ones from the rest, make your military patrol the inside of your fortress, get guards, build a fabulous jail.
About the last one, jail is bad only when you've chosen wrong nobles, unhappy dwarves usually start tantruming before going completely nuts. While also dangerous tantrums are inferior to madness. Their faults aren't as horrifying but you can put put them on chain. Great about that is the fact that their happiness resets to content instantly upon releasing. Place beds, statues and food and booze stockpiles there and you'll be fine. Just make sure you've placed chains at least two or three tiles away from each other just in case 

[proxn_punkd]

I responded to a tantrum spiral in Tinwonders by building and designating enough beds for everybody to have their own bedroom. It's amazing how well the thoughts "slept in own bedroom lately" and "admired own fine bed lately" can counteract "friend/pet died" and "friend/pet rotted because we couldn't bring them inside because of the goblins".

One of these days I'm going to have to look into making a mist generator so my dwarves can have even more happy thoughts.

[tolkafox]

It's a bit complicated, but outside of making a large and furnished dining room that's legendary, having a jeweler/craftsdwarf decorate all of your beds with gems and bones/shells/ivory is a great way to keep your dwarfs happy. Bonus points if you decorate statues and put them where all your dwarfs walk.

Just make a furniture stockpile that only has beds and takes from your main furniture stockpile. Create a burrow that contains the jeweler's workshop, cut gems stockpile, and bed stockpile. Assign your jeweler to it and have him encrust furniture. Same goes for craftsdwarf and his goodies.

My beds are worth 250-300 dwarfbucks They make the dwarfs ecstatic even though they are 6 dwarfs to one room.

Also: Cage all kittens. Attach kitten cage to lever. Pull lever in case of tantrum spiral. Be prepared for imminent catsplosion of happiness.

[FlipFlop]

Just make a furniture stockpile that only has beds and takes from your main furniture stockpile. Create a burrow that contains the jeweler's workshop, cut gems stockpile, and bed stockpile. Assign your jeweler to it and have him encrust furniture. Same goes for craftsdwarf and his goodies.

Great idea, I didn't know how to have my jeweler encrust specific items...now I know, thanks!

[FlipFlop]

I responded to a tantrum spiral in Tinwonders by building and designating enough beds for everybody to have their own bedroom. It's amazing how well the thoughts "slept in own bedroom lately" and "admired own fine bed lately" can counteract "friend/pet died" and "friend/pet rotted because we couldn't bring them inside because of the goblins".

This might be a silly question: but do you have to assign individual dwarves to each bed before they will have the thought "slept in own bedroom"? Or is it enough just to make separate rooms, each with only a single bed inside?