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[Loci]

Counter to the experiences expressed above, I found marriage arranging relatively quick, though complicated.

First, a little backstory: I unknowingly embarked from an entirely extinct civilization. Once I realized that no more migrants would be arriving (ever!), I started looking at ways to sustain my fortress long-term. Unfortunately my two hard-coded migrant waves had only delivered one married couple. While they reliably pumped out kids, there would be no dwarves for those children to marry.

I tried creating a single, small meeting area and suspending most fortress operations. After years of leisure most of my dwarves had formed many friendships, but only one couple had entered a romantic relationship. Clearly it was time for a more direct approach.

I examined my dwarves using Therapist to identify age ranges; a full third of my population were "old maids" (old women with no prospect for a mate). Of the remaining dwarves, I examined their "orientation" in dfhack to exclude the three who weren't interested in marriage. That left the one romantic couple and two other potential couples. I attempted to match traits, but with such a short list it wasn't possible (nor, apparently, was it necessary).

I created "pre-honeymoon suites"; specially modified bedrooms for my chosen dwarves:



Of note, the rooms contain two beds (each defining a bedroom), enough fancy furniture to make the rooms high-quality, and impassible furniture (statues) to prevent the owners from avoiding each other. (Designate the rooms *before* adding the statues, since you can't designate a room through them.)

I then assigned the bedrooms appropriately to my chosen dwarves, and removed all meeting areas. I specifically did not lock the dwarves in, so they were free to leave (to eat, drink, and work, though I did reduce their work schedules significantly). This detail might be key since it keeps the dwarves happy (good dining facilities, decorations, etc.) while allowing them to enter each other's presence repeatedly. Returning dwarves would often stop in the doorway, presumably to "talk" with their arranged partner (if they never left sight of each other the talking might occur much less frequently).

Results: All three couples married in three months. 

(The "romantic" couple was actually last, presumably because the planter consistently kept harvesting plants until I specifically forbade it.)

[taptap]

@loci: Congratulations, which version is this in? If arranged marriages work well this way, a small mixed dormitory for bachelors (w/ free partner choice) would probably be a good idea for the next family friendly fortress? Does "old maids" represent anything in the game? (The two couples I finally got feat. females well in the 100s. A few years later they have happy families and a bunch of kids.)

[Maolagin]

Counter to the experiences expressed above, I found marriage arranging relatively quick, though complicated.

First, a little backstory: I unknowingly embarked from an entirely extinct civilization. Once I realized that no more migrants would be arriving (ever!), I started looking at ways to sustain my fortress long-term. Unfortunately my two hard-coded migrant waves had only delivered one married couple. While they reliably pumped out kids, there would be no dwarves for those children to marry.
...
I examined my dwarves using Therapist to identify age ranges; a full third of my population were "old maids" (old women with no prospect for a mate). Of the remaining dwarves, I examined their "orientation" in dfhack to exclude the three who weren't interested in marriage.

Funny, I did the exact same thing for the exact same reason a couple of weeks ago. Unexpectedly extinct civ, combined with tiny migrant waves, left me with 11 dwarves total. I also resorted to dfhack and pulled out age, gender, and orientation for each. It turned out I only had three female dwarves, and while all of them had a potential mate, one of them had already formed a romantic relationship with a dwarf who would never marry. So, no room for error if I wanted to ensure sustainability.

I tried creating a single, small meeting area and suspending most fortress operations. After years of leisure most of my dwarves had formed many friendships, but only one couple had entered a romantic relationship. Clearly it was time for a more direct approach.

Ditto, with a small legendary dining room meeting area, I only got one romantic couple, and actually a counter-productive one at that!

I created "pre-honeymoon suites"; specially modified bedrooms for my chosen dwarves:



Of note, the rooms contain two beds (each defining a bedroom), enough fancy furniture to make the rooms high-quality, and impassible furniture (statues) to prevent the owners from avoiding each other. (Designate the rooms *before* adding the statues, since you can't designate a room through them.)
...
This detail might be key since it keeps the dwarves happy (good dining facilities, decorations, etc.) while allowing them to enter each other's presence repeatedly. Returning dwarves would often stop in the doorway, presumably to "talk" with their arranged partner (if they never left sight of each other the talking might occur much less frequently).

I think you've discovered the trick here! My suites were much less compact -- each one was a 3x3 room with beds on either side, with partially overlapping room designations. They couldn't overlap completely, because cabinets. (Seriously, try it! Watch your dwarves get in a hilarious endless fight over whose socks get to go in the cabinet!) I periodically checked on their thoughts to see when "talked with a friend/lover" showed up, and it seems like they can only get that thought once per visit, and only when idle, never when "On break". I did turn off the main meeting area, but I'm not even sure that was necessary -- with the meeting area on, idle dwarves seem to cycle back and forth between the dining hall and their rooms, otherwise they still pop in and out as long as they are only intermittently doing jobs.

Anyway, with 3x3 rooms, both of my couples married within a season or so, and now the fort is awash in children. Success!

[Maolagin]

@loci: Congratulations, which version is this in? If arranged marriages work well this way, a small mixed dormitory for bachelors (w/ free partner choice) would probably be a good idea for the next family friendly fortress? Does "old maids" represent anything in the game? (The two couples I finally got feat. females well in the 100s. A few years later they have happy families and a bunch of kids.)

I think loci just means they didn't have any eligible partners. I haven't seen this properly SCIENCEd, but supposedly dwarves won't marry with more than a ten-year age gap between partners. And both must have the "will marry <other gender>" trait, which right now is only discoverable with dfhack.

[Loci]

@loci: Congratulations, which version is this in?

v0.40.24

Does "old maids" represent anything in the game?

No. Only that the RNG gave me six old females without any old males. If the genders had been better balanced I could have arranged a few more marriages. As far as I know female dwarves remain capable of reproduction until they die from old age.