Difference between revisions of "Strange mood"

{{Quality|Exceptional|00:23, 18 May 2015 (UTC)}}

Periodically, individual dwarves are struck with an idea for a [[legendary artifact]] and enter a '''strange mood'''. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else.  They will not stop to eat, drink, sleep, or even run away from dangerous creatures. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go [[#Failure|insane]] and die soon afterward.

Note: All controllable civilizations are currently able to enter strange moods, though in earlier versions of DF the only civilization this applies to is dwarves.

# The conditions necessary for a strange mood to occur are not fully understood, although they may possess even dwarf children.

# The game will pause, center on a dwarf, and announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The [[#Types of moods|types of moods]] are listed below.  While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see [[Status icon|status icons]]).

# Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction.  Upon completion the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain [[legendary]] (or higher) status in that skill (unless the mood type is [[#Possessed|possessed]]).  See the [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] for information on which skills can be gained, or the [[#Artifacts created|artifacts created]] section for more details on the artifacts themselves.

For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is [[Announcement|announced]]; the second message appears in the dwarf's profile when he or she is viewed with the {{K|v}} key. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent [[thought]]s they may have had.

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon successful construction of an artifact.  No controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods. It is pure luck-based. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on (which, under some circumstances, might end up being ''their own name'') once they have all the materials they need.

A possession is the only mood that does '''''not''''' result in a jump in [[experience]].

A possessed dwarf that "keeps muttering <name of the artifact>..." has already gathered everything it needs.

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will always take over a [[butcher's shop]] or a [[tanner's shop]]. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then ''murder'' the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf [[leather]] or [[bone]]. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a legendary [[bone carver]] or [[leatherworker]].  Only unhappy dwarves may enter a fell mood.

Amusingly, it seems fell dwarves can murder [[ghost]]s as well.

If no one is around to witness the murder, whichever dwarf Urist McEmo decides to slaughter will be reported as missing some time after his death. If the murder is witnessed, the moody dwarf will be subject to dwarven [[justice]].

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require bones, skulls{{verify}}, or vermin remains; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to make some, e.g. by butchering an animal and/or allowing a [[cat]] to go hunting, or let the moody dwarf go insane. Like fell moods, only unhappy dwarves can enter macabre moods.

* Shells are perhaps the most difficult to obtain material for a strange mood, though there are several {{catlink|Shell|creatures}} that produce shells. Some of these, such as [[armadillo]]s and [[common snapping turtle]]s, are butcherable. Vermin from [[fishing]] are the easiest and most renewable source of shells.  [[Pond turtle]]s are common in many embarks in [[murky pool]]s, but usually only appear in small numbers, and can go extinct easily.  A stream or river almost guarantees a functionally inexhaustible supply of [[mussel]]s. [[Nautilus]]es can also serve as sources of shells when cleaned at a fishery. Nevertheless, shells are rare and hard to acquire. Currently, the only way of trading for shells is to hope that the [[elven]] caravan brings some tamed shell-producing large creature. Traded [[cave lobster]]s and [[turtle]]s are ''processed'' fish (with the shells already removed). Tamed vermin with shells cannot be butchered for their shells, since the only way to get a vermin's shell is to [[Fish cleaning|clean]] it. Since all shelled non-vermin animals are [[exotic pet|exotic]], only elves will bring them. If you should be fortunate enough to acquire some breeding shelled butcherable animals, it's probably worth keeping a breeding pair around in case of future need. Only dwarves with a [[preference]] for shells will demand shells in a strange mood.

* Should the claimed workshop be a [[magma forge]] and lose power due to insufficient magma beneath it, the mood will fail immediately and the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]]. Should the forge be in danger of losing power, you should forbid it before it is claimed and wait until it is powered up reliably. Once magma forges are built, at least some dwarves will no longer be satisfied with a regular forge.

* The item type of the artifact to be created is not decided until the instant the mood ''ends''. Saving (even after a dwarf has begun to gather materials) will allow you to reload and the result may be a different artifact (unless the moody dwarf's preferences force a particular item type). If you want to get an artifact platinum warhammer, make sure to have platinum nearby and/or block access to any other materials. You can reload the artifact creating process, even after the dwarf has gathered most of components by forbidding the claimed items (use {{k|t}} to view the contents of the workshop, select the undesired material, and press {{k|f}} to forbid it). If other items of that type are available, the dwarf will immediately switch to them.

* Requests for bones are actually requests for any kind of bone stacks, not individual bones. Slaughter a puppy. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0]

Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials.  Each artifact will require 1-3 "base items" and up to 7 additional items for decorations. The dwarf may well need several items of one material! If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available.  [[Forbid|Forbidden]] items must be reclaimed ({{K|d}} - {{K|b}} - {{K|c}}) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding [[economic stone]]. Press {{K|q}} and highlight the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs.  Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. However, the mood's '''primary''' material will always be shown for only 2 seconds even if more than one is required. Materials will always be fetched ''in order'', so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with "TSK" ("task") next to them when the workshop is viewed with the {{K|t}} context menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

If you want your dwarves to construct their artifacts out of valuable materials instead of whatever useless thing happens to be close at hand, you can selectively forbid types of material through the stocks screen so that only the material you want them to use is available; though this might interfere with the normal crafting operations of your fortress, the disruption is generally short-lived (as long as you remember to unforbid them again afterwards!). You can even forbid something a moody dwarf is carrying (which may be necessary sometimes, since while they are not waiting in the workshop they will not tell you what they need); the dwarf will finish hauling it to the workshop, but then immediately go searching for another. This trick can mean the difference between a bauxite statue decorated with moss agates and a native platinum statue encrusted with diamonds. Be aware that this may not always work - see below for more information.

Burrows allow even better control over a moody dwarf's material usage. Simply by creating a burrow around the claimed workshop and another part over the desired material, a moody dwarf can be controlled without forbidding every single stone in the fortress. A moody dwarf will follow the burrow-definitions just like a regular worker, but be mindful that they will not leave the burrow to get materials that are outside of their assigned burrow. A problem can arise when bones from an outside refuse stockpile are needed by a moody dwarf that is assigned to a burrow.

| rock

| rock blocks

| wood logs

| metal bars

| cut gems

| cut gems

| rough gems

| rough gems

| raw green glass

| raw clear glass{{verify}}

| raw crystal glass{{verify}}

| [[Bone]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0;topicseen stack] {{verify}}

| bones

| [[Shell]]{{verify}}

| shells

| shells

| tanned hides

| plant cloth

| silk cloth

| yarn cloth

| body parts

Dwarves in macabre moods will list their demands in the same fashion as those in fey moods (though with them brooding "Yes. I need <item>." instead of screaming "I must have <item>!"). They may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want special items such as [[skull]]s or vermin [[remains]].

*The first item demanded by the dwarf is based on the mood skill being used - stoneworkers (miners, engravers, masons, stone crafters, and mechanics) will demand boulders, woodworkers (carpenters, wood crafters, and bowyers) will demand logs, leatherworkers and tanners will demand leather, weavers and clothiers will demand cloth, metalworkers will demand metal bars, gem cutters/setters will demand rough gems, glassmakers will demand raw glass, and bone carvers will demand bones.

**Metalworkers will demand their favorite type of metal '''if''' you have smelted any bars of it - fey moods will state this outright, while for secretive moods and possessions you will need to check the dwarf's [[preferences]] to see which metal they like. If you have any [[adamantine]] wafers available, then they will demand that instead.

**Weavers and clothiers who have a preference for any type of silk, plant fiber cloth, or yarn will demand that generic type (e.g. a dwarf that likes cave spider silk will require ''any'' type of silk), and a dwarf who likes more than one type of cloth will demand whichever one appears first in their list. If you have any [[adamantine]] cloth available, then they will demand that instead.

**Glassmakers will demand their preferred type of glass, whether you've produced it or not; if they don't prefer any type of glass, they will randomly select one type of glass you've produced (though they will always assume you have created green glass). Note that acquiring raw glass from a caravan does '''not''' count as producing it.

*The remaining "decoration" items are selected randomly from the following list: wood logs, metal bars, small gems, rock blocks, rough gems, boulders, bones, leather, plant/silk/yarn cloth, or green/clear/crystal glass (based on what you've produced).

**Certain mood professions will also explicitly avoid using certain items for decorations - most of these match up with the primary mood material, but miners, engravers, masons, and stone crafters will additionally avoid requesting rock blocks.

**Dwarves in macabre moods have a 50% chance to request additional remains, bones, or ''nothing'' (in previous versions, they would request additional skulls) instead of one of the above items.

*Gem cutters and gem setters have a 50% chance of only gathering a single rough gem and nothing else, producing a perfect gem with a single decoration.

* Fey - "<dwarf> works furiously!"

* Secretive - "<dwarf> works secretly..."

* Possessed - "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."

* Macabre - "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."

* Fell - "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented when it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or a ~52% chance of at least one strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike - might be sooner, might be (almost) never.

* The number of items created divided by 100.¹ Mined-out rock '''does''' count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.

* The number of revealed [[subterranean]] tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Once you discover and explore the [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]], this limit becomes largely irrelevant, and using a [[utilities#DFHack|"reveal" utility]] will eliminate it altogether, though strip-mining an area entirely and exposing it to the surface will count ''against'' this.

:¹ - actually the sum of all items by type '''and''' by type+subtype+material, divided by 200. Furthermore, destroying items does '''not''' decrement these counters, so casting and mining [[obsidian]] will count toward this.

The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual [[profession]]. ''(Note that "[[Skill#Custom profession labels|custom professions]]" have no effect on this!)'' Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts '''may''' enter strange moods and will simply become even ''more'' legendary.

Dwarves with a [[Soldier#Soldier professions|military profession]] other than "Recruit" '''cannot''' enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference - eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual ''[[profession]]'' as listed at the time, so soldiers '''can''' enter moods if they are ''off duty'' and thus in Civilian mode. Children may enter moods, but babies will not.

Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same ''chance'' to enter a mood...

:''('''Note''' - Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, [[Strand extractor]], [[Clerk]]/[[Administrator]]/[[Trader]], [[Doctor]] (and related), [[Building designer|Architect]], [[Soldier#Recruits|Recruit]] and [[Child]] '''are''' moodable professions.)''

* Being dragged by another unit (off to [[jail]])

* Dragging another unit (leading livestock to a [[cage]], [[chain]], [[pasture]], [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|pit/pond zone]], or to the [[butcher's shop]])

When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery, where the chance of being selected is based on the dwarf's [[profession]]. Most professions receive 6 tickets, but some receive additional tickets to improve their odds.

| 11 ||Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Mason, Woodworker

| 6 ||Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, & all other [[profession]]s (including Peasant).

:'''''Example:''' What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance <small>(20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total)</small> of the mood striking them.  That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24.  The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.''

Note that not every profession is from a moodable skill.  A Soaper, Architect, Furnace Operator or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not make those skills legendary, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, building, bar of metal or wafer of adamantine.

=== Skills and workshops ===

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A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill, and upon completion of the artifact, gain 20,000 [[experience]] in that skill (excepting [[Strange mood#Possessed|possessed]] dw