Mayor - Revision history

Joostheger: Preparing a candidate is a perfectly legal way, and has nothing to do with rigging /* Ppreparing a candidate */

2026-03-09T09:10:38Z

Preparing a candidate is a perfectly legal way, and has nothing to do with rigging Ppreparing a candidate

Joostheger: Preparing a candidate is a perfectly legal way, and has nothing to do with rigging. /* Rigging an election */

2026-03-09T09:10:05Z

Preparing a candidate is a perfectly legal way, and has nothing to do with rigging. Rigging an election

Joostheger: /* Mayoral elections */

2026-03-09T09:04:43Z

Mayoral elections

108.85.197.99: link social skills

2026-03-08T01:55:14Z

link social skills

108.85.197.99: /* Mayoral elections */ tweaks

2026-03-07T03:23:30Z

Mayoral elections: tweaks

108.85.197.99: /* Mayoral elections */

2026-03-06T23:41:11Z

Mayoral elections

108.85.197.99: /* Mayoral elections */ subsections on "non/preferred" candidates, and what to do about it

2026-03-06T23:23:53Z

Mayoral elections: subsections on "non/preferred" candidates, and what to do about it

Silverwing235: overhaul (typos)

2026-01-24T12:38:37Z

overhaul (typos)

87.143.77.206: /* Mayoral elections */ Children prefer playing over socializing (and in the current version the average social skill gain of the children does not seem to be higher than that of the average working dwarf). And Broker being a possible main candidate to become mayor (if the player chooses to).

2026-01-24T00:35:42Z

Mayoral elections: Children prefer playing over socializing (and in the current version the average social skill gain of the children does not seem to be higher than that of the average working dwarf). And Broker being a possible main candidate to become mayor (if the player chooses to).

Joostheger: /* Mayoral elections */

2026-01-11T12:36:13Z

Mayoral elections

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 The "best" candidate then is a dwarf that has no ''item preferences'' at all, which is uncommon but not too rare - perhaps(?) one in fifteen or twenty or so.  No item preferences means no mandates - and that's better for everyone.  Just hope that dwarf has solid social skills, or at least a potential for such (see previous).
-===Ppreparing a candidate ===
+===Preparing a candidate ===
 If an undesirable dwarf is elected, it is far from impossible to "groom" a different dwarf to win the next election.

@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 The "best" candidate then is a dwarf that has no ''item preferences'' at all, which is uncommon but not too rare - perhaps(?) one in fifteen or twenty or so.  No item preferences means no mandates - and that's better for everyone.  Just hope that dwarf has solid social skills, or at least a potential for such (see previous).
-=== Rigging an election ===
+===Ppreparing a candidate ===
 If an undesirable dwarf is elected, it is far from impossible to "groom" a different dwarf to win the next election.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 If you don't have a mayor, then the first [[elections|election]] will be triggered at the beginning of any season when you have 50 or more dwarves (including [[children]]).  Also, if you have have 50 dwarves and no mayor, ''any'' change in the [[nobles]]' screen (including selecting "leave vacant") will trigger an election ''immediately''.  (This can be used to "force" an election if one is not triggered normally.)
-Once you have a mayor, elections take place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of [[calendar|summer]] (specifically, 2000 season-ticks after the beginning of that season). Mayors elected in summer serve for that one year duration, but can be re-elected at that time.
+Once you have a mayor, elections take place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of [[calendar|summer]] (specifically, 20000 season-ticks after the beginning of that season). Mayors elected in summer serve for that one year duration, but can be re-elected at that time.
 When an election happens, it's usually the dwarf with the highest [[social skill]]s who gets elected. In previous versions [[children]] had nothing to do but socialize, and did, therefore, gain lots of social skill, which carries over when a child becomes an adult at age 18, and so an 18-year-old mayor was not a rare sight. But in the current version, children prefer playing over socializing, and thus will only rarely become a mayor (with the possible exceptions of migrant children who already had high social skill on arrival, and of unhappy children constantly complaining).

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 * Meet with foreign dignitaries
 * Talk with unhappy citizens}}
-The '''mayor''' is a [[noble]] whose job it is to speak with unhappy citizens, and (until a [[baron]] is appointed) entertain foreign [[diplomat]]s. They are automatically elected from the most social [[dwarf]], most likely the [[expedition leader]], once the population reaches 50. A new mayor may be elected from time to time as your dwarves' social skills change.
+The '''mayor''' is a [[noble]] whose job it is to speak with unhappy citizens, and (until a [[baron]] is appointed) entertain foreign [[diplomat]]s. They are automatically elected from the most social [[dwarf]], most likely the [[expedition leader]], once the population reaches 50. A new mayor may be elected from time to time as your dwarves' [[social skill]]s change.
 == Mayoral nobility ==

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 == Mayoral elections ==
-If you don't have a mayor, then the first [[elections|election]] will be triggered at the beginning of any season when you have 50 or more dwarves (including [[children]]).  Also, if you have have 50 dwarves and no mayor, ''any'' change in the [[nobles]]' screen (including selecting "leave vacant") will trigger an election immediately.  (This can be used to "force" an election if one is not triggered normally.)
+If you don't have a mayor, then the first [[elections|election]] will be triggered at the beginning of any season when you have 50 or more dwarves (including [[children]]).  Also, if you have have 50 dwarves and no mayor, ''any'' change in the [[nobles]]' screen (including selecting "leave vacant") will trigger an election ''immediately''.  (This can be used to "force" an election if one is not triggered normally.)
 Once you have a mayor, elections take place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of [[calendar|summer]] (specifically, 2000 season-ticks after the beginning of that season). Mayors elected in summer serve for that one year duration, but can be re-elected at that time.
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 The mayor doesn't actually need to be a dwarf, any [[Citizenship|citizen]] can be elected - however, dwarves currently on a [[mission]], or otherwise absent from the fortress, cannot.  Prime candidates for mayor include [[vampire]]s (who tend to have high social skills if they have been around for a long time), tamed [[gremlin]]s, and other non-working citizens of your fortress, since they cannot be put to work either and have nothing to do but socialize and gain experience in all* relevant social skills.
-: ''(* Not all dwarves can learn [[Social_skill#Conversational_skills|all 10]] social skills. Depending on their [[personality value]]s and [[personality facet]]s, they may be unable to earn [[experience]] one or more; for example, [[liar]] is actually relatively uncommon. If darves arrive at your fortress with scores in a skill they do not qualify to learn, that skill will [[rust]] away from lack of new experience; this includes your starting dwarves. The lack of such skills does not prevent them from being elected, but does put them at a disadvantage, both during an election and then, <u>if</u> elected, in handling some of their [[Social_skill#Conversational_skills|mayoral duties]].)''
+: ''(* Not all dwarves can learn [[Social_skill#Conversational_skills|all 10]] social skills. Depending on their [[personality value]]s and [[personality facet]]s, they may be unable to earn [[experience]] one or more; for example, [[liar]] is relatively uncommon. If dwarves arrive at your fortress with scores in a skill they do not qualify to learn, that skill will [[rust]] away from lack of new experience; this includes your starting dwarves. The lack of such skills does not prevent them from being elected, but does put them at a disadvantage, both during an election and then, <u>if</u> elected, in handling some of their [[Social_skill#Conversational_skills|mayoral duties]].)''
 === Preferred candidates ===
-There are, perhaps, three main criteria which separate "good" candidates from unwanted ones.
+There are, perhaps, three main criteria which separate "good" candidates from less desirable ones.
-The first is their current role in the fortress, their current skills, be those artistic, industrial or military. If you're going to war, you don't want your one [[armorsmith]] to constantly leave the forge to [[meeting|hold meeting]]s with whiny dwarves and children. Similarly with outstanding military candidates - a mayor can't console anyone while they are at war. And a distant miner won't dig effectively if constantly walking back to hold a meeting. And so forth - this is personal preference, but it can make a big difference if exactly the "wrong" dwarf is elected.
+The first is their current role in the fortress, the current skills and services that they provide, be those artistic, industrial or military. If you're going to war, you don't want your one [[armorsmith]] to constantly leave the forge to [[meeting|hold meeting]]s with whiny dwarves and children. Similarly with outstanding military candidates - a mayor can't console anyone while they are at war. Likewise, a distant miner won't dig effectively if constantly walking back and forth to hold a meeting. And so forth - this is personal preference, but it can make a big difference if exactly the "wrong" profession suddenly has new demands placed upon them.
 The second is their fitness for the job itself. As mentioned above,  a vampire could be elected; there are uses in a fortress for a Vampire (properly isolated), and you don't want to have to choose between your Mayor draining dwarves or being isolated from their duties in consoling unhappy citizens.  A simple handicap or physical injury may prevent effective meetings.  Or just a lack of some of the social skills, precluding some of the mayoral functions - harder to console unhappy citizens if you're just too cruel to qualify for the [[Consoler]] skill.
-But the most significant factor in (un)desirability might be [[mandate]]s, which are temporary mayoral decrees for mandatory production of specific items, or bans on their export via [[trade]]. Ignoring or overlooking a mandate results in dwarven [[justice]], a potentially fatal outcome and then all the fallout from that victim's bereaved friends - no thank you.  Such mandated items are drawn directly from the [[preference]]s of the mayor, and so are predictable. While it may be not overly burdensome to (not) produce [[figurine]]s, or [[flood gate]]s, or [[buckler]]s for a while, it may be an entirely different matter for [[bed]]s, or [[goblet]]s, or [[breastplate]]s, or [[coffin]]s for the [[ghost|dead]].  Material preferences (e.g. a type of stone, metal, gem, wood, animal, food/drink, etc.) have no bearing on mandates.
+But the most significant factor in (un)desirability might be [[mandate]]s, which are temporary mayoral decrees for mandatory production of specific items, or bans on export of same via [[trade]]. Ignoring or overlooking a mandate results in dwarven [[justice]], a potentially fatal outcome, and then all the fallout from that victim's bereaved friends - no thank you.  Such mandated items are drawn directly from the [[preference]]s of the mayor, and so are predictable. While it may be not overly burdensome to (not) produce [[figurine]]s, or [[flood gate]]s, or [[buckler]]s for a while, it may be an entirely different matter for [[bed]]s, or [[goblet]]s, or [[breastplate]]s, or [[coffin]]s for the [[ghost|dead]].  Material preferences (e.g. a type of stone, metal, gem, wood, animal, food/drink, etc.) have no bearing on mandates.
 The "best" candidate then is a dwarf that has no ''item preferences'' at all, which is uncommon but not too rare - perhaps(?) one in fifteen or twenty or so.  No item preferences means no mandates - and that's better for everyone.  Just hope that dwarf has solid social skills, or at least a potential for such (see previous).
 === Rigging an election ===
-If an undesirable dwarf is elected, it is not always easy to "groom" a different dwarf to win the next election.
+If an undesirable dwarf is elected, it is far from impossible to "groom" a different dwarf to win the next election.
 Elections are based on the Conversational/Social skills of all candidates, with the dwarf with higher social skills winning; but there are limited options for arranging for targeted extra experience in social skills.  The simplest is to remove all labors/tasks from the chosen dwarf, and let them socialize in a central [[meeting area]] full time, season after season - all (possible) skills will increase, slowly but surely. The other side of this coin would be to keep all <u>un</u>desirable candidates away from social interaction as much as possible - keep them busy in workshops or far-away mines, or (better) enroll them in full-time [[military]] training. If the player decides to do mass-trading (with as many trade transactions as possible), the [[broker]] will earn significant additional social skill experience due to the high skill gain per trade transaction.  This is the best reliable way to try to influence that a certain dwarf will gain the social skills to (eventually) become (and stay!) mayor.
-Of course, the brute force method is the ever-popular [[unfortunate accident]], but that requires ''every'' other better-qualified dwarf to meet such an end, which could rapidly thin out otherwise useful citizens.  Less extreme would be to send all such contenders off map on a quick [[mission]] just before election time each year, or (especially in the case of the Mayor themself, to prevent any experience gain) year round, if your other residents can survive without the emotional support of [[meeting]] with the mayor.
+Of course, the brute force method is the ever-popular [[unfortunate accident]], but that requires ''every'' other better-qualified dwarf to meet such an end, which could rapidly thin out otherwise useful citizens.  Less extreme would be to send all such contenders off map on a quick [[mission]] just before election time each year, or  year round (especially in the case of the Mayor themself, to prevent any experience gain) if your other residents can survive without the emotional support of [[meeting]] with the now-absent mayor.
 <!-- was removed in v50 apparently

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 == Mayoral elections ==
-Mayors are elected for one year. [[Elections]] take place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of summer (specifically, 2000 season-ticks after the beginning of the season). If you don't have a mayor, then the election will happen at the beginning of ''every season'', rather than just summer. If an election doesn't trigger after gaining 50 dwarves for whatever reason, any change in the nobles' screen, such as assigning the expedition leader's position as "leave vacant" will force an election.
+If you don't have a mayor, then the first [[election]] will be triggered at the beginning of any season when you have 50 dwarves.  Also, if you have have 50 dwarves and no mayor, ''any'' change in the [[nobles]]' screen (including selecting "leave vacant") will trigger an election immediately.  (This can be used to "force" an election if one is not triggered normally.)
-When an election happens, it's usually the dwarf with the highest social skills who gets elected. In previous versions [[children]] had nothing to do but socialize, and did, therefore, gain lots of social skill, which carries over when a child becomes an adult at age 18 and therefore an 18-year-old mayor was not a rare sight. But in the current version, children prefer playing over socializing, and thus will only rarely become a mayor (with the possible exception of migrant children, who already had high social skill on arrival, and unhappy children constantly complaining). Prime candidates for mayor are [[vampire]]s (who tend to have high social skills, if they have been around for a long time), tamed [[gremlin]]s, and other non-working citizens of your fortress, since they cannot be put to work either. The mayor doesn't actually need to be a dwarf, any [[Citizenship|citizen]] can be elected - however, dwarves currently on a [[mission]], or otherwise absent from the fortress, cannot.
+Once you have a mayor, elections take place at exactly 4:00 PM on the 17th day of [[calendar|summer]] (specifically, 2000 season-ticks after the beginning of that season). Mayors elected in summer serve for that one year duration, but can be re-elected at that time.
-If the player decides to do mass-trading with the broker (with as many trade transactions as possible), the main candidate for the mayor would be the broker (due to the high skill gain per trade transaction in comparison to normal socializing interactions), regardless of any competition, which is the only reliable way to make sure that a certain dwarf will (eventually) become (and stay) mayor.
+When an election happens, it's usually the dwarf with the highest [[social skill]]s who gets elected. In previous versions [[children]] had nothing to do but socialize, and did, therefore, gain lots of social skill, which carries over when a child becomes an adult at age 18 and therefore an 18-year-old mayor was not a rare sight. But in the current version, children prefer playing over socializing, and thus will only rarely become a mayor (with the possible exception of migrant children, who already had high social skill on arrival, and unhappy children constantly complaining).
 <!-- was removed in v50 apparently