Do you get attached to your dwarves? I know a majority of the forum has no problem sending random dwarves out to die... I don't. I get attached to them. I remember specific dwarves names, what they do, veyr rarely what they like. I attach personalities to some.. take for example by militia commander of my current fortress:
Eshtan itonlaltur Aned Zizun
Eshtan Hallcover the Sports of Reticence, militia commander
Incredibly Muscular. Not very attractive in the face. Wrinkles in her raw umber skin. Slight touch of gray in her burnt sienna hair.
She is 'absolutely inexhaustible', 'basically unbreakable', 'unbelievably strong' and 'very agile.'
She has an astounding feel for the position of her own body, an unbreakable will, a stunning feel for spatial relationships, a great ability to focus, great creativity and a sum of patience..
but she's got poor ability to manage or understand social relationships. She's often nervous, and somewhat reserved. She feels helping others to be rewarding.
My militia commander is like.. a social outcast. I see her as secetly being every dwarven boys dream, despite not being all that attractive. A beer guzzling warrior-woman [Shielmaiden, if you will.] who is shy to talk to, but won't hesitate to cut a fool in half if she's gotta. She also have 53 confirmed kills, all in armed 1v1 [or with odds stacked way against her] combat.
I also have another soldier [ I have a preference for the military] who's got almost as many kills.
Shem Uzolfikod Estilatesh Dobar
Shem Oilglaze the Whirling Radiances of Creating
Incredibly muscular. Long double-braided 'stache. braided beard. clean shaven head. hooked nose. His right hand bears a massive straight scar.
Mighty, almost never sick, indefatigable, very agile and tough.
He is slow to anger. Very friendly. Lives life leisurely. Loves a good thrill. dislikes intellectual discussions and lacks confidence.
This guy is my favourite. He looks like your typical dwarf, and behaves like Santa Claus. Good patience, and won't think twice about stepping into a fight if he must. In a recent seige, he and a hammerdwarf were the first on the scene. The hammerdwarf, a scrub, immediately got his leg broken and went down. Shem then started killing anything near the hammerdwarf. I like to think he was protecting him. Then a troll grabbs his arm, and broke his upper arm and shoulder. Then Shem martial tranced and wiped out half the seiging force before the rest of the military got there. I like to think his slow to anger came in here, like he was fine defending his comrade, but once he got his arm broken, he finally got mad and berserked, not unlike the Hulk. Anyways, I'm rambling...
So, Do you actually like your dwarves, guys?