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v0.34:Preferences
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
Preferences are materials, creatures, or objects described as being liked by a dwarf in their 'thoughts and preferences' tab, accessible for example with u-v-enter.
Food
Every dwarf will like at least one type of booze and may like none to several food ingredients. It has been claimed that a dwarf will only get a happy thought from eating food and drinking booze he likes.[Verify]
Work
A dwarf's preferences (and disliked vermin) tend to feature in artwork the dwarf makes more often than subjects not listed in a dwarf's profile. For example, a mason that likes cows for their haunting moos and absolutely detests bats will make statues of both. This is presumably out of love for cows and horrified fascination for bats.
Benefits to Productivity
A dwarf working with a material they like will produce higher quality goods, and gain a happy thought for being satisfied at work. For example, a mechanic that likes olivine will generally make better olivine mechanisms than granite ones. This is most important during embark, when individual personality profiles and skills can be best matched up according to your specifications.
For example, make the dwarf that likes beds your carpenter and the dwarf that likes gold your blacksmith. Urist McLikesbreastplates would be a good candidate for Armorsmith.
This works less well later with immigrants as it is usually more advantageous to train up the great armorsmith than the novice armorsmith who likes steel.
Value Considerations
Some types of preferences have an effect on how creatures perceive the value of a room and its furniture:
- Preferences for stone or gem types will increase the value of floors and walls which have been smoothed and/or engraved
- Preferences for materials or item types will increase the value of furniture
- Furniture which has been decorated will receive further boosts from each decoration added
- Furniture which was constructed by a creature of a different race will be more valuable to creatures who like that race
- Furniture made from dyed cloth (e.g. bags) will be more valuable to creatures who like that dye's color
- Furniture decorated with images of shapes will be more valuable to creatures who like that shape
For furniture, each preference match multiplies the entire item value - for example, if a dwarf likes the item's type (+1), the materials on two of its decorations (+2), and a shape inscribed on it (+1), the item's value to that dwarf will be multiplied by 5.