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Need
v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
Needs affect a creature's focus. Needs that are unmet for long enough will cause stress, become bad thoughts, and increasingly damage the creature's focus. Sufficiently well-satisfied needs will improve the focus.
The need system replaces the generalized on break feature of previous versions. Dwarves will sometimes perform jobs that satisfy their personal needs, instead of working for the betterment of the fortress. These personal fulfillment jobs generally come in two varieties: low-priority (indicated by green text, e.g. Listen to Poetry), or high-priority (magenta text with an exclamation point, e.g. Pray to Lorsïth!). Low-priority jobs may be cancelled to undertake a fortress job. High-priority jobs will not be cancelled for fortress jobs.
Focus
- Overall, Urist is unfocused by unmet needs.
Focus affects a dwarf's ability to perform. A dwarf with high focus will work faster and produce better results, while a distracted dwarf will take longer to do everything poorly. Focus is separate and independent of overall mood; a dwarf can be happy even with largely unmet needs, or unhappy yet focused. However, prolonged insufficiency in meeting needs is a cause for both low focus and bad thoughts. Thus Focus can, with prudence, be used to predict future mood developments.
Focus represents the percentage of the combined totals of met over unmet need values. The ratio of 1:1 (100%) represents a neutral state.
Focus statuses:
| Very focused | + 140% (?) |
| Quite focused | 120-139% (-149%?) |
| Focused | 101-119% |
| Untroubled | 100% |
| Unfocused | 80-99% |
| Distracted | ...-79% (?) |
| Badly distracted | (?) |
A highly-focused dwarf can receive an effective-skill bonus of up to 50%; a badly distracted dwarf can receive an effective skill penalty of up to 50%.
Diversity
- She is unfocused by a lack of trouble-making.
An individual creature's set of needs and their weights (levels) are affected by personality traits. For instance, a dwarf that values romance will be unfocused "after being unable to make romance", while a dwarf that personally values nature will be unfettered "after seeing animals". Unreligious dwarves will have no need to pray or meditate; dubious and casual worshippers will have low or medium level needs to pray; committed believers will have high level need; and dwarves following multiple deities will have a separate prayer need with a separate level for each of their deities. Proposed weights per need level are 1, 2, 5, and 10.
As expected, high-level needs hold a much larger sway in a dwarf's overall focus than low-level needs. Curiously, the large majority of dwarves currently seem to only have low-level needs for alcohol and function quite well without it as long as they are otherwise satisfied. A small percentage have no need for alcohol at all, in effect being immune to alcohol withdrawal.
Needs are shown in a dwarf's thoughts and preferences description page, which can be accessed by viewing that dwarf then z, Enter, or from the unit menu with view, Enter.
Degree of fulfillment:
| Unfettered | 300 - 400 |
| Level-headed | 200 - 299 |
| Untroubled | 100 - 199 |
| Not distracted | -999 - 99 |
| Unfocused | -9999 - -1000 |
| Distracted | -99999 - -10000 |
| Badly distracted | < -100000 |
When a need is satisfied, its value is refreshed to maximum (400), regardless of previous value. There is no minimum to how Badly distracted a need can get. A deeper negative value won't further reduce total Focus, which is based on a ratio of all needs' Focus rating.
Fortress actions per need
| Positive | Negative | Related Belief or Facet | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| spending time with people | being away from people | GREGARIOUSNESS | Socialize |
| drinking | being kept from alcohol | IMMODERATION, SELF-CONTROL | drink alcohol |
| communing with [deity] / meditation | being unable to pray (to [deity]) | Pray/meditate in a Temple | |
| staying occupied | being unoccupied | HARD_WORK, ACTIVITY_LEVEL | (assumedly a sufficient amount of fortress tasks) |
| doing something creative | doing nothing creative | ARTWORK | Create or perform any artistic work |
| doing something exciting | leading an unexciting life | EXCITEMENT_SEEKING | Varied; including at least being in danger |
| learning something | not learning anything | KNOWLEDGE, CURIOUS | Gain a rank in any Skill, learn a new subject from written content. |
| being with family | being away from family | FAMILY | (Socialize with close family members?) |
| being with friends | being away from friends | FRIENDSHIP | (Socialize with friends?) |
| hearing eloquent speech | being unable to hear eloquent speech | ELOQUENCE | Hear or recite poetry |
| upholding tradition | being away from traditions | TRADITION | (Perform any improvisational form?) |
| self-examination | a lack of introspection | INTROSPECTION | read anything, compose song or poetry (automatically self-indulgent) |
| making merry | being unable to make merry | MERRIMENT, HUMOR | (Recite any poem?) |
| practicing a craft | being unable to practice a craft | CRAFTMANSHIP | Craft any item |
| practicing a martial art | being unable to practice a martial art | MARTIAL_PROWESS | Gain a rank in any combat Skill |
| practicing a skill | being unable to practice a skill | SKILL | Use any Skill (?) |
| taking it easy | being unable to take it easy | LEISURE_TIME | (assumedly spending a sufficient time idle or self-fulfilling?) |
| making romance | being unable to make romance | ROMANCE, LOVE PROPENSITY | (interacting with spouse/partner) |
| seeing animals | being away from animals | NATURE | Animal must also see the dwarf. |
| seeing a great beast | being away from great beasts | EXCITEMENT_SEEKING, NATURE, CURIOSITY | Uncertain, possibly encounter LARGE_ROAMING? |
| acquiring something | being unable to acquire something | GREED, COMMERCE | Acquire any trinket (happens automatically when performing a "Store item in stockpile" job on an eligible trade good) |
| eating a good meal | a lack of decent meals | IMMODERATION | Eating a preferred food (or a preferred alcohol cooked into a meal) |
| fighting | being unable to fight | VIOLENT | Partake in a fight or any combat. |
| causing trouble | a lack of trouble-making | HARMONY, DISCORD | Fight or Argue |
| arguing | being unable to argue | FRIENDLINESS | Argue |
| being extravagant | being unable to be extravagant | IMMODESTY | Wear any item with a quality modifier |
| wandering | being unable to wander | NATURE, ACTIVITY LEVEL | Complete a Fish, Return kill (hunt) or Gather plants job |
| helping somebody | being unable to help anybody | ALTRUISM, SACRIFICE | Bring water or food to patient/prisoner/animal; bring wounded units to rest; leading demonstration. |
| thinking abstractly | a lack of abstract thinking | ABSTRACT_INCLINED | Read or write any written content, or compose music or a poem. Possibly using Architect skill? |
| admiring art | being unable to admire art | ARTWORK | Exposure to artful furniture, artistic crafts, or engravings. |
Satisfying any need will result in a good thought and a decrease in stress.
Adventurer actions per need
| Positive | Negative | Related Belief or Facet | Adventurer activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| spending time with people | being away from people | GREGARIOUSNESS | Speak to anyone or reply to greeting |
| drinking | being kept from alcohol | IMMODERATION, SELF-CONTROL | drink alcohol |
| communing with [deity] / meditation | being unable to pray (to [deity]) | Speak, Pray to <Deity> | |
| staying occupied | being unoccupied | HARD_WORK, ACTIVITY_LEVEL | Very wide variety of actions |
| doing something creative | doing nothing creative | ARTWORK | Perform or compose any work |
| doing something exciting | leading an unexciting life | EXCITEMENT_SEEKING | A wide variety of actions |
| learning something | not learning anything | KNOWLEDGE, CURIOUS | Gain a rank in any Skill, learn a new subject from written content. |
| being with family | being away from family | FAMILY | Unimplemented |
| being with friends | being away from friends | FRIENDSHIP | Unimplemented |
| hearing eloquent speech | being unable to hear eloquent speech | ELOQUENCE | Hear or recite poetry |
| upholding tradition | being away from traditions | TRADITION | Perform any improvisational form |
| self-examination | a lack of introspection | INTROSPECTION | read anything, compose song or poetry (automatically self-indulgent), craft a figurine of yourself |
| making merry | being unable to make merry | MERRIMENT, HUMOR | Recite any poem |
| practicing a craft | being unable to practice a craft | CRAFTMANSHIP | Craft an item (ie, Knapping, Bone Carving) |
| practicing a martial art | being unable to practice a martial art | MARTIAL_PROWESS | Gain a rank in any combat Skill |
| practicing a skill | being unable to practice a skill | SKILL | Use any Skill |
| taking it easy | being unable to take it easy | LEISURE_TIME | Unknown |
| making romance | being unable to make romance | ROMANCE, LOVE PROPENSITY | Unimplemented |
| seeing animals | being away from animals | NATURE | Animal must also see you |
| seeing a great beast | being away from great beasts | EXCITEMENT_SEEKING, NATURE, CURIOSITY | Uncertain, possibly encounter LARGE_ROAMING? |
| acquiring something | being unable to acquire something | GREED, COMMERCE | Acquire any item by trade or demand |
| eating a good meal | a lack of decent meals | IMMODERATION | Unknown, possibly eating a preferred food |
| fighting | being unable to fight | VIOLENT | Engage in any combat of any lethality |
| causing trouble | a lack of trouble-making | HARMONY, DISCORD | Fight or Argue |
| arguing | being unable to argue | FRIENDLINESS | Get into any disagreement about values |
| being extravagant | being unable to be extravagant | IMMODESTY | Wear any item with a quality modifier |
| wandering | being unable to wander | NATURE, ACTIVITY LEVEL | Move to/from any site or region tile / completed fish, hunt(return kill) and gather plants in fort mode |
| helping somebody | being unable to help anybody | ALTRUISM, SACRIFICE | Reunite family members |
| thinking abstractly | a lack of abstract thinking | ABSTRACT_INCLINED | Read or write any written content, or compose music or a poem |
| admiring art | being unable to admire art | ARTWORK | Exposure to artistic crafts, examining adornments and coins |
Satisfying any need will result in a good thought and a decrease in stress.
Adventure mode meta-strategy
Upon creating your adventurer you may want to avoid having any of the non-fulfillable needs: romance, family, friends. Otherwise, you will suffer never-ending focus disadvantages. Immoderation too is only technically fulfillable for the itinerant adventurer, without a fortress' industry to reliably produce her preferred food.
Some precaution is necessary in sacrifice/altruism -> helping capability is not available as long as you're quite weak (fighting; companions), and maybe in martial prowess if you're not constantly fighting and so increasing your stats. To fulfill your booze needs, you'll have to visit human towns' taverns or dwarven fortresses quite often (and fill your extra water storage containers with ale from the barrels for on the road).