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[Haven]

But what about those times when we loosen up just a bit, and take pity on the poor fellas?

What is this "pity"? I know not the word!

You sentimental fools! Saps! Lovers of romance and art! You befoul the dwarfworld with your touchy feely emotions! The only proper fortress abandons everything for efficiency!

Your fervent abstract antiquities have no place in this world! Begone!

And then your efficiency fails due to your squishy, organic brain, and you have nothing left at all. Thus, it is more efficient to have sentiment as well, in that it cannot be destroyed by error alone.

If someone dies of a failed mood, they go into a special burial area. Clear glass coffins, and as soon as I accquire a sample of the thing they needed, it goes straight to the side of the coffin. Those who needed something that couldn't be provided go into opaque green glass coffins, with empty coffers or boxes. In the event I lack sand, silver and iron are substituted, or materials of equal value. The workshop demanded by any future mooding dwarf has a slot for it in the center of the room, with a single precious material block reserved for the workshop's building, in the hope that those who went before will guide the dwarf in their task.

Every dwarf gets a real job once the economy sets in, even if it's just churning out blocks or cutting wood. Hauling is designated by suspending the workhall workshops. Haulers going outside the fort get armed escorts.

Also, every deity gets it's temple, and particularly feverent followers get tombs in the temple. If the leadership is leaning strongly toward one deity in particular, activities are focused on those spheres for a while.

[Skorpion]

Everyone gets their own bedroom, with a bed and a door and smoothed stone. Doors assigned on a basis of first arrived getting them first.

Dead legendary dwarves get mourned.

Everyone gets leather armour to keep them safe.

Squads rotated on and off duty to keep them happy.

Trapped animals will be kept for breeding as livestock.

[Solara]

In my fortresses every dwarf must bow to the greater good, I don't pamper the beardy little bastards in any way, shape, or form, and if they get pissy about it I won't hesitate to murder them....with the exception of the original seven.

I can't help it, I always wind up getting so attached to those guys before the first wave of migrants hits. I'll give them affectionate nicknames and make sure they have their favorite foods and pets and the nicest rooms and tombs made out of their favorite materials, even if it means I have to kill many, many nobles for throwing hissy fits about pretentious living arrangements. For the good of the fortress, you see.

I don't know what's wrong with me. 

[ShunterAlhena]

I read through the thread once more and the two general trends that emerge:
* We're attached to the original seven.
* We regard death as special, with some ritual of tomb arrangement or burial in effect at many fortresses.

In fact, the DF community doesn't look as twisted as it first meets the eye: we honor hard work and sacrifice.

[JoshuaFH]

I read through the thread once more and the two general trends that emerge:
* We're attached to the original seven.
* We regard death as special, with some ritual of tomb arrangement or burial in effect at many fortresses.

In fact, the DF community doesn't look as twisted as it first meets the eye: we honor hard work and sacrifice.

and hate Elves, don't forget we hate elves!

[Mad Larks]

I read through the thread once more and the two general trends that emerge:
* We're attached to the original seven.
* We regard death as special, with some ritual of tomb arrangement or burial in effect at many fortresses.

In fact, the DF community doesn't look as twisted as it first meets the eye: we honor hard work and sacrifice.

and hate Elves, don't forget we hate elves!

Oh gods no, I love the elves. They give me all kinds of neat stuff and this way, I never have to worry about making sure I have enough cloth to clad my dwarves.

As for sentimental habits:

- Access to clean water

- NEVER seize ANY goods. Traders come here to my fort expecting goods and by Armok, they will leave with a smile on their face and a bounce in their steps!

- Tombs for everyone. I will not have my dwarves rotting away in some designated graveyard.

- Attempts at keeping my nobles happy. I know they're annoying, but they're dwarves, too. Unless I'm building something massive, I go out of the way to avoid needless dwarven death.

- Mandates gets fulfilled. Need I say more?

- I try to keep my dwarves clothed. The idea that they're all running around covered in puke and blood on bare rock...yeah, no. If silk is available, then they will be clad in silken finery. If not, rope reed or pig tail will have to do.


That would be it, really. Also, I've begun to try and install sanitation in each and every room. That is, one tile of open space, leading down to a water source for each room.

[neo1096]

I've always felt the need to give my dwarves a good resting place so I create a 3 by 3 room, fully engrave and smooth it, and place 9 magma-proof coffins in it. Then when every tomb is filled I fill it with magma and channel out the top. Water is then poured in and the tombs are encased in obsidian for all time.

[HonkyPunch]

I haven't really done anything nice for my dwarves...
I'm not very nice. They work to my ends, and if they can find hapiness in building endlessly, good for them.
Although they tend to starve to death, I just have their co-workers toss their corpses off the towers i build.

[Warlord255]

- I try to keep my dwarves clothed. The idea that they're all running around covered in puke and blood on bare rock...yeah, no. If silk is available, then they will be clad in silken finery. If not, rope reed or pig tail will have to do.

I really want some way to order what dwarves wear so I can get them some nice silk duds. I feel bad about my inability to get them out of those grimy rags.

[Solara]

- NEVER seize ANY goods. Traders come here to my fort expecting goods and by Armok, they will leave with a smile on their face and a bounce in their steps!

Ah yes I forgot about this. If I'm playing a friendly fortress I always offer a stack of roasts and barrel of wine to the traders, treating visitors to a grand feast seems appropriately dwarfy. (not my fault if elves are too uptight to enjoy it...)

I really want some way to order what dwarves wear so I can get them some nice silk duds. I feel bad about my inability to get them out of those grimy rags.

Yeah, I really like messing around with the whole clothing industry actually, but right now there's not much to do besides make bags and ropes. Ideally I'd like to make dyed uniforms and such for dwarves with certain jobs even if it did mean insane levels of micromanagement, only right now all making clothes does is clutter up the place even more. 

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

In my current oldest fortress (9 years) only my senior miner and my champion macedwarves get preferential treatment.
I don't bother with rooms for other dwarves, not that they mind. My dining room has the capacity for all 170 dwarves and more in fully exceptional or better engraving, with exceptional or better tables and an artifact kimberlite statue.
in total, 90% of dwarves live on raw plump helmets and wine, sleep on the floor and have  practically no work whilst the nobles and champions live in opulence.
Most of the graves are just coffins piled into worked out iron or coal veins.

[Dareon Clearwater]

-Cats are never butchered.  Arguably it's more cruel to stuff them into a cage until they either die of old age or get hauled off to some human hovel, but I couldn't kill a cat unless it had multiple red wounds and was collapsing all the time.

-Space gets used.  If I've mined out a vein of stuff and it's not really useful anymore, it becomes the hallway for a new habitation sector or mausoleum.  Rooms get carved out of the sides, the whole thing gets smoothed, the whole nine yards.  Likewise big pockets.  A magnetite pocket gets smoothed and sectioned off for whatever purpose I need at the time.

-Engravers train to legendary with smoothing before they even TRY doodling.

-Lethality is a last resort.  But if you make me be lethal, then by Armok you will NOT walk into my fortress in one piece.  If a siege somehow gets through my 10/20-tile long hallway of cage traps, the next nine traps are 90 giant axe blades followed by a cage of war dogs.

-Artifacts have pride of place.  If an artifact can better the lives of the rabble, they can have it.  If not, it gets put in a dedicated stockpile in my founder's room.

[Aqizzar]

I build my apartment blocks around big open foyers, and since this is usually the first big room I build, it doubles as an all purpose storage zone.  As I build distinct crafting areas, everything gets moved closer to workshops, except one space intensive resource - refuse.

I always have two refuse piles, one outside where everything that can rot goes, and one inside that only holds bones and shells.  I insist on filling gigantic bonehoards, and make my dwarfs grab up every bit of rotting creature on the map, and eat lots of fish and slaughtered animals.  I don't really know why I do this.  It just comforts my OCD to save up an evocative and theoretically finite resource.

Since bones can only be stored tile by tile, it always takes up a lot of room.  In my recent forts, I grown fond of leaving it in the initial foyer areas.  Ergo, every time my dwarfs go in and out of their bedrooms, they have to trample over a solid carpet of bleached skeletons.  Just a pity they're not programed to actually perceive it.

Totems are likewise special to me, and I often hold onto all that I make, especially those from rare creatures and civ humanoids.  I put them all in a huge "trophy room" deep underground so I have a very graphic visual record of my victories.  Except beheaded creatures' craniums deteriorate into single bones instead of distinct skulls, so it's always just incomplete enough to irritate me.

[Deathworks]

Hi!

I guess I am an accumulation of such sentimental habits:

* All my dwarves get jobs that fit their personalities - unless all my initial seven have similar personality types (I just started a fortress and couldn't find a real volunteer for butcher as they were all too nice).

* I do not kill off my own dwarves or cats. If I have a wounded dwarf, I will do my best to save her/him, even creating special quarters outside and whatnot. If I have a cat that will never heal, if possible, I will sell her off. I try to see that mandates do not end with serious physical punishment.

* All traders get fair deals with me. Be they elves, humans, or dwarves, I will look through their wares and purchase that which fits my needs nicest, if need be even going just for a barrel of clothes (although the elves usually bring some food stuff or drink I can use). Accordingly, I also try to give traders the things they want and try to stay clean with the things elves don't like. (Making mistakes with hidden ornaments are probably the most annoying moments in my game experience)

* Traps are the way to go. Why should I risk getting my loyal dwarves injured by some nasty siegers? Rows of weapon traps are the best friends your fortress can have.

* Permanent workshops (once the fortress is running) always get complete engraving of all walls and floors and will use a stone block rather than a simple stone.

* I try to keep the dwarves from getting cave adaption. Feeling sick isn't fun.

* I never settle near rivers or other extremely dangerous spots (okay, I tried it in the past, but the carp convinced me not to do so again).

* When doing individual rooms (usually for nobles), I try to use their favorite materials for doors and furniture.

* Designing meeting areas and so on, I try to make things look nice, placing tables, chairs and statues so that it makes sense to me.

* I don't use those space saving tricks, you know, having diagonal rooms or having non-blocking furniture fill all free squares.

I have to admit that clothes are currently too much of a hazzle (with all the owned socks lying in the corridors really frustrates me).

Deathworks

[Archaeologist]

-I usually construct the tombs for the Initial Seven out of a symbolic material.  As the first ore my Dwarves struck in the mountain was Copper, my first Dwarves have entire tombs decorated with the substance.  Copper Sarcophagus, Copper Chest, Copper Floor, etc.

- I always construct a giant public Tomb/ Crypt where I store the remains of those not privileged enough to be granted a tomb.  They're quite elaborate.  Newest design is multi-story with huge sections of channeled out floors.  I bury at the top, and then when it's full I dig down.

- Only Legendaries, well-accomplished soldiers, and individuals who performed exceptional feats are granted tombs.    It's my way of saying "You will be remembered after your passing.

- At some point I always make a giant tower that I don't even use for anything.  They're getting quite elaborate.  Now I just have to figure out a way to use them.

- I always dig out small-medium sized rooms deep in the bowels of the fort, and while digging them out I leave a thickness of 3-5 tiles all around.  Sometimes more.  Then I proceed to place all the artifacts and relics, the treasures of the fort, inside the room.  Usually I end up making stockpile of gold coins/ bars as well.  Then I add a few traps to the entrance, Add a Block Wall around the interior to act as one last ditch inhibitor to anyone that would seek to mine their way in, and then I seal the room up, either by building an entire Block wall around the room and making it appear like the corner of a stockpile room.  Sometimes I even collapse a ceiling above it so I get a chunk of natural rock blocking the door.


I have yet to see if it had any effect in reclamation mode, as the last time I tried to reclaim with my 70 Dwarf party, they were driven berserk and annihilated.