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40d:On break
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
Yes, dwarves do have days off; sooner or later, all dwarves will go on break for some time. There is nothing you can do to stop it from happening, but at least it's less annoying than parties. A dwarf will still go on a break even if they hadn't been doing any work at the time anyway.
Technically, a break is different from eating or drinking or sleeping, but the result is often the same - your dwarves leave their current activity (sometimes in mid-job, dropping any materials where they stand) and walk to where they can take their "break", in whatever form. (See meeting area.)
Mechanics[edit]
Every 10-100 frames (happening less frequently as your fortress population increases), each dwarf has a 1 in 50 chance to evaluate their current Break status.
- If the economy is not yet active and it has been at least 3 months since their last break, they have a further 1 in 50 chance to go On Break (and otherwise subtract 1 day from their "since last break" timer).
- If the economy is active and it has been at least 3 months since their last break, they have a further 1 in 5 chance to try to go On Break (and otherwise subtract 1 day from their "since last break" timer). If this check succeeds and they have earned at least 100☼ during the current season and have at least enough money to pay their rent and still have 200☼ left over, then they will go On Break.
- If the dwarf is currently On Break and has been for at least 12.6 days, then their break will end.
How to stop breaks[edit]
You can cancel dwarves' breaks by drafting them into the military and then immediately releasing them. This causes an unhappy thought if the dwarf has no military skills at novice or better. Some players consider this an exploit, while others think it is balanced by the unhappy thought. If all your dwarves have novice in even a single military skill, however, there will be no unhappy thought. You could rationalize this as having "military culture" at your fort if you wanted, but it's definitely an exploit which Toady has acknowledged.
Unless a dwarf's Break causes major problems in your workflow, you can simply wait it out.