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[xZippy]

This is my first ever suggestion on this forum, I hope people find some good in it. It can be frustrating to deal with dwarves getting all moody even when you give them almost everything. The last fort I had was overwhelmed with tantrums and depressions, and I'd like something to tip the scales. I understand Dwarf Fortress is a "you're gonna lose eventually" game, but I still think it'd be nice to have some help with the bad moods your dwarves get into, especially if you have over 100 dwarves and you can't spend all day managing the mood of every single one.

You might think that a psychologist dwarf would just simply alleviate a dwarf's negative thoughts, but this isn't the case. The more skilled a psychologist dwarf is, the more methods that dwarf will have in helping someone out. A low level psychologist may have a chance to "undo" a negative thought, while a mid-level psychologist has a chance to teach a dwarf to reevaluate negative experiences, whereas a high-level dwarf has a chance to nearly change a dwarves thought process for the better. Even to the point where they might gain skill points more efficiently.

So, instead of a dwarf thinking "Mikud Madeupname felt horrified remembering seeing a goblin's dead body.", a dwarf that's spent time with the psychologist might think "Mikud Madeupname felt relieved after reassessing seeing a goblin's dead body." In a logical sense, the "patient" dwarf can reevaluate or see negative things in a different light than before, or simply be unaffected by it.

I hope this was a decent read, even if you don't like the idea.

[IndigoFenix]

In real life, up until recent times, the role of "psychologist" was typically filled by religious leaders. So it would make sense for them to have that role in DF.

[therahedwig]

Yeah, in game the expedition leader/mayor does take up this role.

The biggest problem right now though is that Dwarven talking is not working as it should. The biggest problem seems to be that Dwarves don't properly talk to one another, due the fact they move around too much, which means they don't make friends in the first place, which in turn means that they don't have a very important destressor. The stress thread in dwarf discussions was trying interesting architecture to avoid this.

In a sad way, current DF is a good parable for modern society: we are too busy working to talk to others, leading to a loneliness epidemic and mass insanity because everyone is too stressed out :<

[DG]

I had a look at the topics that scholars can discover and discuss. https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Topic

Looks like there are two branches with topics that are relevant.

Medicine
Classification of mental illnesses
Treatment of mental illnesses
Naturalist
Social behavior

Maybe if you have a scholar that decides to specialize in these they could become a psychologist.

[xZippy]

So... the game already has my idea, but it's just not implemented fully? I've read things like this a few times.

Edit: As in... dwarves reassess things or..?

[therahedwig]

So... the game already has my idea, but it's just not implemented fully? I've read things like this a few times.

Edit: As in... dwarves reassess things or..?

The problem is that the mayor complaining doesn't do enough to reduce stress, and the main reason the stress issue happens because dwarven AI is buggy.

[SixOfSpades]

The biggest problem right now though is that Dwarven talking is not working as it should.

While that is a very important factor, I would say that the most important problem is that dwarves do not currently want to fulfill their needs. I had a dwarf go berserk because he hadn't prayed to his gods for so long. Even though I had disabled all of his labors for over a year, he would do nothing but hang out in the temple, and Meditate constantly. He wouldn't Pray, just Meditate. Even though his very sanity depended on prayer, he had no desire to do so.

Plus the usual things about being too deeply traumatized by seeing dead bodies, equating a lack of their ONE favorite food with a total "lack of decent meals", etc.

[darkhog]

I agree this could be useful but should be only implemented after fixing bugs mentioned in this thread won't have enough of an impact. Also, in RimWorld characters tend to talk when they're passing each other. Why can't dwarfs do that as well?

[xZippy]

I agree this could be useful but should be only implemented after fixing bugs mentioned in this thread won't have enough of an impact. Also, in RimWorld characters tend to talk when they're passing each other. Why can't dwarfs do that as well?

In the "thoughts and preferences" screen, you sometimes see something like "Hooch McClocken felt satisfied talking with her friend"

[Pillbo]

Are you saying that this is happening when they walk past each other? I thought they only did that will Socializing. Either way I see this message rarely.

In Rimworld basically anytime a person is within a few tiles of another person they say something to each other.

[darkhog]

Yeah, that's what I've said earlier. Sometimes I think Toady should play DF-inspired games (RimWorld, P***** Architect, Gnomoria and so on) and see what features they have that aren't in DF proper but would make sense to implement them and then implement them.

[darf]

This fits with my suggestion for an expanded social system. For example, citizen couples may have marriage problems, where one of them is forced to stay at the inn until they are resolved (because there are some unused rooms in my inn). There could be a shifting scheme of alliances, emotions, ideologies, and personality traits that cause more interaction between dwarves, positive of negative. A psychologist or religious figure could affect these in conversation. So far, a dwarf's preferences don't seem to affect their interaction with others very much. (The system could be based on well-known relationships in quantitative history and anthropology).

[therahedwig]

Er, actually, dwarves do actually talk during fort mode, and right now, when they talk and aren't sharing rumours, depending on their personalities they can joke, or argue about values, and they can get into fist fights as well when the arguing gets too much(it uses the same system as the adventure mode histfigs do). That stuff is in the game, but somehow it isn't being triggered. Previous experiments have shown dwarves to talk to one another while passing too, so it's still a bit of a mystery what is precisely causing it.