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Messages - AnotherL2

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DF General Discussion / Creepy or unsettling aspects of dwarf fortress
« on: October 08, 2020, 09:07:52 am »
I've been seeing a lot of those "iceberg" memes and started wondering if there is any creepy and unsettling community generated folklore about DF. Also it's the spooky month so I though this topic would be relevant.

Aside from the obvious gore and mutilation present in the game, the only thing I can really think of is the whole mermaid bones incident, but even that is quite a stretch. I've also hear rumors about someone actually winning Dwarf Fortress, but I gather that that might just be a joke on the forums.

Maybe DF isn't the type of game to generate this kind of stuff, given the slapstick attitude of the game. Additionally, internet folklore is usually created by young and impressionable audiences which DF doesn't really attract. However I find it hard to believe that nothing like this has come up given DF's long and storied history.

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DF General Discussion / Re: *We need your help with game ending stress*
« on: September 25, 2020, 02:36:21 pm »
I've been playing on and off for the last five years, but have recently jumped back in to teach a new friend to play DF. I don't have a lot to add about my experience with the stress system since my forts rarely last longer than 3 years before I get bored and embark again, but I will add that I think it's a little silly for dwarves to be affected so heavily by weather.

Really? You're traumatized about being in the sun? You've travelled for miles in the sun to get to some outpost in the middle of the desert, and you even worship the sun god. How should any of that even be possible?

Same goes for dwarves having insatiable bloodlust for the goblin that killed their family member, but then having an existential crisis after trying to move the corpse.

Obviously my examples are pretty hyperbolic, but it does happen.

My more serious point now. It gets frustrating when your dwarves are miserable, know they are miserable, and won't do anything about it by themselves. Additionally, I feel like I get nowhere when trying to help out my dwarves. One says he feels overworked, but when I disable his labour all of a sudden he is unfocoused for not being able to practice a skill for too long. I question whether or not to reenable his labours because I don't know if the cycle will continue. Stress is a challenge that the game presents, like sieges or FB's, but the answers to this challenge feel vague and ineffective.

Janxious, earlier in the thread linked to an idea that dwarves should petition to join the military or be assigned a craft labour when they feel that those needs are being unfulfilled by the player, and I think that's a fantastic idea if used sparingly and in severe situations. Dwarves, when threatened by goblins and monsters, will generally try to save themselves by at least running or fighting. Why can't they do the same when it comes to stress?

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