40d Talk:On break

Not sure if this page makes any sense to keep in the Wiki.
a) Spelling not okay
b) Insulting wordings
c) no useful information
d) "Holiday" is not a game concept; the Wiki should stick to DwarfFortress terminology
– unsigned comment by Samyotix

I think it needs to be either turned into a more reference article or the humour improved. But it would be nice to know how often a dwarfs status becomes On break, and how long the break is inclined to last, and is there anything you can do (in improving efficiency) to make the breaks shorter and less frequent.GarrieIrons 09:40, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Changed the wording a bit, hope that's better. --AlexFili 04:05, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

Ick. While this page is currently useless, Garrie does make a good point. It does need to be moved to On break, though. --Savok 09:31, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

YATTA! Move successful. Kudos to Savok! Lord of the Wiki! --AlexFili 10:53, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

The good parts of breaks

If you ever get huge waves of unhappiness in a fort (meaning about 3/4 of the population is unhappy to SOME extent, generally after a few friendly dwarves die), you should know that matters get really difficult since dwarves are randomly tantruming, going berserk and murdering others, or becoming melancholy/stark, raving mad (making themselves useless). So I tried making all the unhappy dwarves have no jobs at all, so they are free to do nothing. Some took breaks, and their unhappiness decreased fairly well (like from miserable to unhappy).--Stinhad Limarezum 06:06, 28 October 2008 (EDT)

Well, but when you seriousl need a job done and your only semi-skilled dwarf is currently on break which is going on for over one week, it's annoying SanDiego 16:11, 2 December 2008 (EST)

Better than getting hammered to death for punching a baby while in a tantrum. --Smartmo 19:35, 16 January 2009 (EST)

That has nothing to do with the break as such but with hanging out and socialising (made a friend, talked to a friend...), which they do anyway when they have no job and a meeting place. Never wondered why useless immigrants train social skills so fast? --Höhlenschreck 00:18, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Ending Breaks

Ending a break by drafting into the military creates an unhappy thought usually. You can avoid this while still ending the break if you cause some other interruption such as a released goblin or having the meeting area be a shower of mist and water which fluctuates between 3 and 4 depth. At 3 depth, dwarves will pathfind in to start their break and enjoy the mist. At 4 depth they will cancel their break to swim to safety. This also keeps dwarves clean and trains swimming for everyone, which is useful for skill boosts and because it will let them swim up out of rivers or pools they happen to fall into. --Rkyeun 12:25, 22 January 2009 (EST)

Economy

In my last long-lived fortress, I noticed that none of my dwarves ever went on breaks anymore (all of them had been trained to Legendary in at least one skill). In my current fortress, though, where I disabled the economy, they go on breaks all the time. Perhaps the economy provides dwarves an incentive to be less lazy? --Quietust 21:13, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Upon activating the economy in my current fortress, I'm now noticing that none of my legendary dwarves are on break, while there were several immediately beforehand. --Quietust 02:16, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

I have definitely seen breaks in a fortress with an economy, and definitely seen legendary dwarves do so. The frequency with which a given dwarf takes breaks seems to be related to his or her personality somehow. --Squirrelloid

I, too, have noticed a few dwarves going on break after my economy activated, but I've noticed that they're all non-legendary. In my last fort, I recall seeing one of my miners go on break shortly after he turned legendary, but never again after that. --Quietust 18:48, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I have a theory that breaks may be related to the quality/duration of sleep. Might be something to look out for. --Earin 01:14, 8 February 2010 (UTC)