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[AceSV]

I'm always disappointed when I see a bunch of unmarried dwarves.  The forums often have little schemes to fix that, but it would be interesting to install some more direct approaches.  Also, I know a lot of romance is going on that I just can't observe without pausing the game and checking everyone's status screen. 

(I often mod the game to play as other races, so if some of these suggestions seem weird for beard on beard action, it's because I'm not approaching the situation from that context.)

Single's Bar
Supposedly the Tavern update is coming up next, so I'm not going to attempt to be specific until I see it, but the basic gist would be that single dwarves could go to a designated area where they seek other single dwarves. Interactions in the single's bar would be more likely to create romantic thoughts.  The "single's bar" need not be taken literally, just a designated area, like at a beach or a park or something. 

A relevant amusing sign:  http://9gag.com/gag/aNebRmr/sex-is-allowed-in-the-park-i-like-living-in-copenhagen-denmark  Not that I expect explicit behavior to go on in DF. 

Aphrodisiacs
Certain substances would cause dwarves to enter a more romantic state of mind.  Natural aphrodisiacs could be nothing more than a source of amusing accidents, but savvy players could strategically cultivate and distribute crops of them. 

Some lists of aphrodisiacs:  http://www.rd.com/slideshows/aphrodisiac-foods  http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/02/07/top-10-aphrodisiacs-foods-to-put-in-mood/  http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/aph.htm

Dating
I'm sure a lot of romantic interaction goes on, but it's hard for the player to witness it.  Visual cues would be more fun.  For starts, dwarves could spend their breaks going on dates with other dwarves.  So instead of seeing Urist ... On Break, you'll see Urist ... On Date with Shumlik Gastnabreth, with the two dwarves spending their time in the same places.  Besides being fun to watch, that should strengthen the relationship between the lovers, since they are spending time with their lover specifically and not waiting for random chance to put them in the same area at the same time.  The date should also improve their mood, assuming it goes well and perhaps assuming it's not programmed to not go well. 

It could also be interesting to display a dating blow-by-blow on the reports screen.  "Urist tries to kiss Shumlik, but the kiss is deflect by her (sheep wool hood)."  "Urist:  I saw a fantastic statue with my date.  I'm so happy."  "Urist reaches for Shumlik's hand.  Shumlik accepts Urist's hand.  Shumlik:  Teehee."  That's probably something players will want the option to turn on and off. 

Arranged Marriage
When all else fails, there should be a way to say "alright you two, you're married now."  Arranged marriage was definitely the norm in the pre-1400s world.  I suspect many players would use this to breed a subrace of super dwarves. 



There are also little things that could be done, like showing an "Attend Wedding" message instead of "Attend Party" message when dwarves get married.  Or some kind of heart symbol could appear when dwarves are experiencing romantic thoughts.  It would be interesting to see a Beauty stat show up on the stats page that could impact their love life. 

For all I know these happen already, but dwarves could feel romance towards another dwarf who saves them during combat, or jealousy over lovers could provide dwarves with motivation to commit crime and cause trouble. 

There's probably a lot of potential for romance in Adventure mode too, but I don't really play it, so I leave that to you. 

[LMeire]

To be honest, I'd just prefer if there were a small chance for a heterosexual couple to produce children even if they're not married. Especially since that one bug earlier with the animal-like breeding seemed to prove the engine was okay with handling half-siblings and such in the family tree. Maybe the chances of "Out-of-Wedlock-Children" (OoWC) could depend on on personality traits:

Increased chance of (OoWC) values: Family, Independence, Romance

Decreased chance of (OoWC) values: Decorum, Tradition, Self-Control

Though the idea of arranging marriages is interesting, I imagine being in an arranged marriage might be a source of stress if not managed properly, it could lead to some FUN play-throughs.

[Vattic]

Dislike the idea of the player commanding dwarves to get married; Think it takes too much from them. Would like to see the families decide if there is to be arranged marriages. Nobles should realistically meddle themselves and that could give an opportunity for the player to influence things. Not sure if Toady intends for dynasty management in fort mode.

To be honest, I'd just prefer if there were a small chance for a heterosexual couple to produce children even if they're not married.

Would be nice. Raises questions about how different civs see this in game if they should have an opinion at all. It's has potential for interesting narrative.

[GoblinCookie]

Much as I support the ideas in this thread, I think that largely the present romance/marriage system is so undeveloped it is rather ahead of the curve.

[Illogical_Blox]

I would LOVE to see this.

Of course, to balance it, dwarves who were forced to be married would be sad, and may have stress over time because they don't get along with their partners. That would be even better.

[AceSV]

I would LOVE to see this.

Of course, to balance it, dwarves who were forced to be married would be sad, and may have stress over time because they don't get along with their partners. That would be even better.

Statistically, free marriages aren't that much more successful than arranged marriages.  They should only be sad if their partners' personalities are incompatible.  The game already tracks personalities, so it might as well. 

[Dwarf4Explosives]

To be honest, I'd just prefer if there were a small chance for a heterosexual couple to produce children even if they're not married. Especially since that one bug earlier with the animal-like breeding seemed to prove the engine was okay with handling half-siblings and such in the family tree. Maybe the chances of "Out-of-Wedlock-Children" (OoWC) could depend on on personality traits:

Increased chance of (OoWC) values: Family, Independence, Romance

Decreased chance of (OoWC) values: Decorum, Tradition, Self-Control

Though the idea of arranging marriages is interesting, I imagine being in an arranged marriage might be a source of stress if not managed properly, it could lead to some FUN play-throughs.

You know, with the way dwarven culture seems to be currently, I think they consider marriage just to be a sign to say "we're okay with having kids now". I like the idea of giving dwarves designated "dating areas" to allow for matchmaking, though.

[MDFification]

Dislike the idea of the player commanding dwarves to get married; Think it takes too much from them. Would like to see the families decide if there is to be arranged marriages. Nobles should realistically meddle themselves and that could give an opportunity for the player to influence things. Not sure if Toady intends for dynasty management in fort mode.

To be honest, I'd just prefer if there were a small chance for a heterosexual couple to produce children even if they're not married.

Would be nice. Raises questions about how different civs see this in game if they should have an opinion at all. It's has potential for interesting narrative.

Agreed. Arranged marriages should be handled by the dwarves themselves as soon as the economy is implemented. Nobles try to marry other nobles, wealthy dwarves try to marry the next-wealthiest dwarf in the fortress, etc.

[LMeire]

To be honest, I'd just prefer if there were a small chance for a heterosexual couple to produce children even if they're not married. Especially since that one bug earlier with the animal-like breeding seemed to prove the engine was okay with handling half-siblings and such in the family tree. Maybe the chances of "Out-of-Wedlock-Children" (OoWC) could depend on on personality traits:

Increased chance of (OoWC) values: Family, Independence, Romance

Decreased chance of (OoWC) values: Decorum, Tradition, Self-Control

Though the idea of arranging marriages is interesting, I imagine being in an arranged marriage might be a source of stress if not managed properly, it could lead to some FUN play-throughs.

You know, with the way dwarven culture seems to be currently, I think they consider marriage just to be a sign to say "we're okay with having kids now". I like the idea of giving dwarves designated "dating areas" to allow for matchmaking, though.

But then why would an informal "let's have kids" agreement mean that either party refuse to get married again after the death of a former spouse? I figure there's some special circumstance involved that just hasn't been implemented in-game yet; IRL the tradition of marriage is usually rooted in inheritance laws and/or religious traditions like the concept of "soulmates".

[Owlbread]

Single's Bar
Supposedly the Tavern update is coming up next, so I'm not going to attempt to be specific until I see it, but the basic gist would be that single dwarves could go to a designated area where they seek other single dwarves. Interactions in the single's bar would be more likely to create romantic thoughts.  The "single's bar" need not be taken literally, just a designated area, like at a beach or a park or something. 

A relevant amusing sign:  http://9gag.com/gag/aNebRmr/sex-is-allowed-in-the-park-i-like-living-in-copenhagen-denmark  Not that I expect explicit behavior to go on in DF.

I don't think a kind of designated area for romance is necessary. If Dwarves want to seek out a partner they should just go to the tavern or meeting hall for that express purpose, as people have done since time immemorial. I'm also not sure about the player forcing marriages. I would suggest the leaders of powerful noble families in your fortress forcing marriages for their descendents autonomously of the player. If the youths are rebellious and they disagree with their arranged partners they could elope with those they truly love in a very Romantic way. Maybe spousal kidnapping could also be a thing; the kind of thing were you supposedly "kidnap" your wife (or perhaps husband in a Dwarven case). Maybe Goblins do that, I don't know. I could still imagine some bandits turning up at your fort and trying to kidnap a woman in your fort for the purpose of making her their leader's bride. Or maybe a female bandit leader kidnaps one of your male woodcutters, I don't know.

I do agree with your ideas on dating, aphrodisiacs though. We should have a deeper chivalrous "courtship" mechanic for nobles - I can imagine young Dwarven knights/adventurers travelling the land, arriving at your fortress to woo your princess. Queue the various "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your beard" jokes. Maybe if he does woo her against your wishes and you try to stop them, they could elope as I talked about earlier, forcing you to hunt them down with your scouts and take her back. It would be good to do that in adventure mode. It would be equally interesting to encounter couples like that on your travels - perhaps they could form civilisations together, become travelling heros and fight monsters, become bandits... who knows.

[Waparius]

Agreed. Arranged marriages should be handled by the dwarves themselves as soon as the economy is implemented. Nobles try to marry other nobles, wealthy dwarves try to marry the next-wealthiest dwarf in the fortress, etc.

Impoverished nobles and wealthy commoner dwarves try to marry one another, and vice-versa...

I could see, when we start doing stuff outside the fort, players being able to try to arrange marriage between their fort's highest-ranked noble and that of another, which would be one way to get more nobles coming to stay.

[AceSV]

The reason I proposed arranged marriages was so that players can force a coupling if they find it absolutely necessary.  Dwarves arranging marriages for economic or social reasons would require an economic or social structure and that's a whole nother suggestion. 

[AceSV]

Having played Adventure Mode a bit now, I found myself really wanting to ship my hero and/or companions.  I also found the conversation system a bit bland, having romantic options would spice it up a bit.  I think I mentioned this in another topic too, but I got the feeling that settling down and raising children in Adventure Mode could be just as interesting as spending your life wandering into Dark Pits. 

[helmacon]

Its not like dwarfs have birth control, so if your dating your having kids, and if your having kids your married. In the time period DF is set in "dating" was fundamentally different. (at least at the lower levels of society) More "courting" than dating. Things like singles bars and dating are relatively modern things, since we can have sex now without having kids. This is really something that should be a mod rather than part of the base game. 

[Vattic]

Its not like dwarfs have birth control, so if your dating your having kids, and if your having kids your married. In the time period DF is set in "dating" was fundamentally different. (at least at the lower levels of society) More "courting" than dating. Things like singles bars and dating are relatively modern things, since we can have sex now without having kids. This is really something that should be a mod rather than part of the base game. 

It's less that DF is based on a specific time/place and more that there is a soft technology cut-off. With that said the game feels very Middle Ages Western/near Eastern because of said technology cut-off and it's fantasy genre roots.

Birth control and abortion in the ancient world was not unheard of or necessarily unacceptable, and has had mixed views in China and India up to the present day. Though religion changed this in the part of the world DF most closely resembles in terms of technology folk remedies still persisted (the danger and commonness of some methods being part of the argument for legal abortion and birth control). Homosexuality is similar in regard to religion pushing the anti message where opinions were more mixed before. In game homosexuality is a non-issue and opinions don't match those of the period/place the technology implies.

I hope ethics are varied greatly with religions spreading and cultural change in the final game. That way we get a more diverse and dynamic world with the possibility for crusades and the like.