I have been playing for a while, for anew, my very first embark. Enjoying 4Ghz speed on it really.
One year ago, in Adventure Mode I was concerned with how satisfaction annoyingly fast goes away from fulfilled needs. This was such a burden that I re-started adventuring making my Dwarf super happy and supper focused with one simple smashing of two stones. It was so annoying. This was before stress mechanics was re-introduced with last two horror patches.
In Fortress Mode, I am noticing now the full impact of returned stress mechanic. Dwarves' satisfaction goes from fulfilled in green color down to urgent need to fulfill it again in yellow color, by the very same season, the need was filled up to 100%. Every Dwarf has about 12 different needs, which can be fulfilled through activities. Making a craft in workshop can fulfill 2-3 of them near instantaneously. However to achieve 100% satisfaction from praying or from socializing or from thinking abstractly, it takes a Dwarf 1 complete month of such activity bound to a single location. This is clearly not thought through game mechanics, which makes Dwarves run around constantly distressed, unhappy, sad and unfocused even in fortress smothered with masterful art, furniture made out of expensive metals, masterful roasts and 12 different kinds of booze.
This is why Dwarves keep remembering not good events, but bad and are dwelling on them for ever and ever.Every single month each Dwarf is hit with 20-30 different moods in brown color from this list of {self-pity, dejection, bitter,worry, restless, lonely, annoyed, resentful, frustrated, exasperated, uneasy}. Even if this Dwarf spent whole month only on fulfilling his needs, those few satisfactions in green color are sunk deeply in a brown sea of repeated hammering from missing satisfaction from unfulfilled needs during this same season.
This is why rain is such efficient Dwarf population killer. Rain is impacting the relation to depression. Rain makes even toughest and hardest against stress and depression Dwarves go at random into nervous depression breakdowns. I have seen Dwarf do that after 20 years being OK with rain and he was even thriving in nature. Rain depression alone kills yearly at rate of 5%-10% of fortress SAD Dwarven population. Expelling seems to be only and also partially broken (bugged) mechanics to avoid casualties and tantrums.
Unless Dwarven satisfaction from fulfilled needs is not prolonged from 1 season to 1 year, then all Dwarves in Dwarf Fortress have to go crazy and die! Eventually. All.
Dwarf Fortress with stress mechanics in, is just a depression simulator.I never played DF with DFHack. However I can not phantom this game play-ability for long periods of time without disabling the existing stress mechanic. I think simple fix to this issue of this Dwarven depression simulator would be:
1. To make the whole month lasting prayer or socializing and such, not last a whole one month to fulfill just one need put in yellow or in red color!
2. To make satisfaction from fulfilled needs last not 1 season, but 1 whole year.
3. To make list of favorite foods and drinks larger by 2-3 times, so Dwarves can find favorite food easier.
I can not understand the reason behind, why Toady is insisting in not seeing this stress issue? It is so easily fixed otherwise. Players were complaining about it for years with Toady simply disabling it for a while and not doing anything about it during that pause. Toady promised fixes to this system, when it was reintroduced to horror of all DF players last year. 3 patches are out and even a new version of DF. Still, why I can not see any improvements in this still broken mechanics in my fortress? Toady forgot his promises? Is anyone seeing any powerful improvement in this stress system? Is anyone playing DF embarks for longer time then 3-5 years,
when first psycho Dwarf appears, or is it only me?
I am playing this embark for 12 years with this stress mechanic on and I see nothing else, but more and more depressed Dwarves every year. In overage 5 new cases every year. Population went from 180 to 156 due expelling. This is with around dozen workshops in shrine, so all stressed Dwarves can make 1 bone bolt every 1 month with entirely disabled hauling on them. BTW tantruming Dwarf killing another Dwarf results only in beating... Still, reloading an earlier save, can cost player 6 lost hours of spent time.
Hauling activity is connected with mechanic of acquiring items for personal possession. This is one of the Dwarven needs. So, if anyone ever wondered why those distressed and swamped by depression Dwarves work themselves to death by hauling, then it is simply because they try to become owners of some item, they have personal preference for. There are few Dwarves, who have no preferences for items though and are perfect candidates for barons. Majority of Dwarves have preferences for items, which can not be obtained. It would be much simpler, if this need's satisfaction was fulfilled with just 1 grab of 1 coin from stockpile (just don't build them any chests or bags in their rooms to get it back for smelting).
Cooking & Dwarves needs. The cooking system is clunky. Cooking special foods for special Dwarves is impractical. You need linked special stockpiles. To differentiate from automatic chains for producing booze, there you need 1 still for 1 alcohol type, here you need 1 kitchen for 1 Dwarf. There is 200 Dwarves!!! Unfortunately, Dwarves do not consume their preferred booze by drinking it, but through eating it in their food. Dwarves also often prefer to eat rather fluids over solid foods. Dwarves' preferred foods are often unobtainable on the map or through caravan. I had one "dwelling over lack of decent meals" Dwarf to go into downward spiral of depression over just this need.
Edit:
I have distressed Dwarves becoming now haggard for no apparent reason. Like into 14th year of this embark with 0.47.03 game play.
One had wife and friends and still flipped out mad for no apparent reason, which I could see clearly.
He was complaining about the same things, as everyone else.
I understand depression -> rain thing.
I do not understand haggard ->
. What is causing it?
).