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[mickel]

I just came from a bout of Black & White, and got a couple of ideas from there for buildings that cause happiness in various ways. We've got a few, but then, there could always be more. Especially for those nauseatingly whiny nobles. How about some baths? Dwarves soaking in nice, warm water... and I expect the fisherdwarves would manage to drown in the kiddie pool.  

There's more, of course. Taverns (once the economy gets going) and temples, maybe a bowling alley? What a way to train their throwing ability! Wrestling rings for prize fights, etc... Good times!

[Gaulgath]

More happiness buildings sounds nice, but the bowling alley... no. This is Dwarf Fortress, not The Flintstones.

[Stromko]

Dwarves already get happiness from a good drink, and they get happiness from attending parties, so taverns are already in. Make a meeting room with some tables and chairs, maybe defined from a drinking well or whatever, store your alcohol in that room, there you go you've got a tavern.

Dwarves also get happiness from waterfalls, and I once experimenting with placing my statue garden there so that dwarves would spend a lot of time right next to said waterfall. Of course they'd make sure they drowned themselves every season or so as a sacrifice to the 'water god' or whatever..

I think 'happiness buildings' are already done, in that dwarves get happiness from various aesthetic things. 'Admiring a fine statue', 'admiring a fine door', or what-have-you. Dining rooms are the big 'happiness room' right now, making a huge difference if you've got a nice one.

Baths don't seem very dwarvish, but we can make pools. I've actually never made an artificial lake so I've no idea the benefits, but I bet they get happiness from them and I've heard, but could be wrong, they don't cause dwarves to drown.. so baths are pretty much already in the game too, if so.

I think the main difference with the original poster's idea ofhappiness buildings is adding entirely new behaviors branching off from the new types of rooms. Worshipping at temples, fighting in gladiatorial rings, bathing at baths, and I'm just not very sold on the need vs the development time.. at the end of the day we need our dwarves to work, it's not like in Black & White where we just want them to breed and maybe, occasionally, sometimes manage to actually cut down a tree or gather some grain inbetween begging you to do all the work for them.. in Dwarf Fortress, every time in which your dwarves are eating, drinking, or taking a break is when something isn't getting done, and you can't reach out with your Godly Hand and do it yourself. A lot of players think their dwarves are indisposed entirely too much already.

The contrived complications of dwarves taking part in gladiatorial fights, or praying at a temple, may get in the way of more reasonable complications and mess up the narrative. That said, if done right they might add to the narrative and be pretty cool. Nobles can waste their time with these extra activities with no harm to the efficiency of the fort, and dwarves can spend their break times taking part in same activities for greater benefit than just standing around.

I wouldn't be surprised if temples at least were added at some point. Eventually it will be necessary to continue creating a fantasy world that allows for all the classic fantasy story themes.

[ August 11, 2007: Message edited by: Stromko ]

[PTTG]

quote:Originally posted by Gaulgath:
<STRONG>More happiness buildings sounds nice, but the bowling alley... no. This is Dwarf Fortress, not The Flintstones.</STRONG>

I disagree- "nine pins", the precursor to bowling, was supposedly invented by dwarves (the American colonists attributed thunder to the games high in the mountains. Though I may be confusing that.)
I think that more fun buildings would be great- especially things like pubs and libraries.

[wallish]

Hmm, while the idea of baths does not entirely sound dwarvish, the idea of hot springs does.  After all, you're in a mountain that even has a river AND a magma flow, there's bound to be patches of hotsprings.  It could be a randomly generated feature, much like demon pits but located sporatically between the river and the chasm.  maybe 7 or 8 per location and only if your location has both a river and magma flow.

[Tormy]

quote:Originally posted by Gaulgath:
<STRONG>More happiness buildings sounds nice, but the bowling alley... no. This is Dwarf Fortress, not The Flintstones.</STRONG>

Bowling alley?!  

[Lightman]

I agree with Stromko in that generally, I think there's enough to keep them occupied and happy (for now), including zoos and pets.

[schm0]

Hot springs, saunas or baths are definately something that could occur in the dwarf-world, even in our own medieval times... one would be found naturally, the other is constructed. Hot springs occur near areas of volcanic activity with a water source. The others would not be hard to construct, and if the dwarves ever learn how to tame fire in the game, instead of falling asleep ablaze, then they could easily make saunas and hot baths. The Romans did it all the time and it was a common thing to find bath houses with heated floors in major cities.

[mickel]

A tavern is more than a place with drinks and tables to drink them at, but yes, I see your point there. It's pretty much in. I'm still not happy with my dwarves spending their time on breaks by just standing around and doing nothing. Granted, if I had spent eight hours straight hammering stones into blocks, just standing around and staring at a wall or a pretty hinge might be a nice change of scenery, but if I could invent something better to do, I'd do that instead.

I'm standing by my idea that there ought to be recreational areas. And the positive effect to the player would be that doing something fun is a lot more relaxing than doing nothing. Instead of spending two hours standing in a cave and pondering life's great questions the dwarves could have a quick one-hour sit in the sauna and then a rinse, and get five times the relaxation from it.

And don't forget all the idle dwarves. At any one time my fortresses tend to have about one third to one fifth of the population actually doing work. Especially during winter. The rest are sitting around and getting all melancholy from too much thinking. Wouldn't it be better to have them lifting weights, practicing their throwing arms, or whatever?