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Difficulty
v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
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While previous versions of Dwarf Fortress allowed you to toggle invaders on or off, v50 added more granular difficulty settings to fine-tune one's experience. Difficulty settings will affect whether your fortress can be attacked by outside forces, how frequent said attacks are, how big invading armies are, and noble neediness. You can modify these settings before and after embarking at any time.
Default settings
Enemies has 3 options:
- Off will disable ambushes, sieges, uninvited guests, werebeasts, and agitated wildlife attacks. It will not disable intrigue, HFS, or misbehaving dwarves, so it is still recommended to train a military.
- Normal is the standard Dwarf Fortress experience.
- Hard ensures a never-ending stream of Fun, causing invaders to show up earlier, more often, and with more bodies to throw at the gates.
Economy has 2 options:
- Normal is the standard Dwarf Fortress economy.
- Hard requires you to produce more wealth in order to receive higher-ranking nobles, requires temples and guildhalls to be more valuable before satisfying petitions, and causes nobles to make more mandates and demands.
Custom settings
If you wish, you can also fine-tune individual settings - maybe you only want megabeasts to assault your fortress, and would prefer the elves to leave well enough alone. The following options are available for enemy settings:
| Setting | Possible values | Description | Default values (Off, Normal, Hard) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civilizations can attack | Yes/No | Controls whether ambushes and sieges can occur. | No, Yes, Yes |
| Megabeasts can attack | Yes/No | Controls whether megabeasts and forgotten beasts can attack. | No, Yes, Yes |
| Werebeasts can attack | Yes/No | Controls whether werebeasts can attack. | No, Yes, Yes |
| Curious wilderness creatures can come to cause trouble | Yes/No | Controls whether agitated animals can assault your fortress, and whether animals will spawn with the intent to steal items. | No, Yes, Yes |
| Enemy population triggers | 1 to 300 | Likely affects when invasions attacks occur, and how difficult they are. Met when you have this many citizens.[Verify] | 0/0/0/0/0, 20/50/80/110/140, 15/30/40/55/70 |
| Enemy production triggers | 0 to 100,000,000 | Likely affects when invasions occur, and how difficult they are. Met when you've created this much wealth.[Verify] | 0/0/0/0/0, 5000/25000/100000/200000/300000, 2500/12500/50000/100000/150000 |
| Enemy trade triggers | 0 to 100,000,000 | Likely affects when invasions occur, and how difficult they are. Met when you've exported this much wealth.[Verify] | 0/0/0/0/0, 500/2500/10000/20000/30000, 250/1250/5000/10000/15000 |
| Megabeast attack period (seasons) | 0 to 100 | How many seasons must pass before a megabeast may attack your fortress.[Verify] | 10, 10, 8 |
| Forgotten beast sensitivity | 1 to 100,000 | Unknown; a smaller value will cause forgotten beasts to attack sooner. | 10000, 10000, 10000 |
| Forgotten beast irritation minimum | 1 to 100,000 | Unknown; a smaller value will cause forgotten beasts to attack sooner. | 5000, 5000, 2000 |
| Forgotten beast wealth divisor | 1 to 100,000 | Likely increases the amount of wealth you need to create before a forgotten beast attacks.[Verify] | 40, 40, 40 |
| Wilderness sensitivity | 1 to 100,000 | Performing nature-disrupting actions such as cutting down trees will agitate wildlife and may cause them to attack. A smaller value will increase the amount wildlife is agitated by. | 10000, 10000, 10000 |
| Wilderness irritation minimum | 1 to 100,000 | Likely affects the maximum rate at which agitated wildlife will attack.[Verify] | 2000, 2000, 0 |
| Wilderness irritation decay | 0 to 100,000 | Causes wildlife to be less irritated after every season[Verify]. A higher value will make them less irritated faster. | 2000, 2000, 0 |
| Werebeast attack period (seasons) | 0 to 100 | How many seasons must pass before a werebeast may attack your fortress.[Verify] | 10, 10, 8 |
| Vampire migrant fraction | 1 to 1,000 | Affects what percentage of new migrants will be vampires. A value of 0 will disable vampiric migrants. (Only on Off difficulty) | 0, 100, 75 |
| Invasion caps (regulars) | 0 to 500 | The maximum amount of humanoid enemies that can be thrown at you when a civilization sieges you.[Verify] | 0/0/0, 10/40/120, 20/60/120 |
| Invasion caps (monsters) | 0 to 500) | The maximum amount of mounts and other tamed creatures that can be thrown at you when a civilization sieges you.[Verify] | 0/0/0, 0/5/40, 1/10/40 |
| Minimum raids before first siege (per civ) | 0 to 500 | Affects how many ambushes must be performed before a civilization can try a proper siege for the first time. | 0, 2, 2 |
| Minimum raids between sieges (per civ) | 0 to 500 | Affects how many ambushes must be performed before a civilization can try a proper siege from the second time onwards. | 0, 3, 1 |
| Siege frequency (percentage, otherwise raid) | 0 to 100 | Percentage chance to receive a siege instead of an ambush. | 0, 25, 50 |
| Cavern dweller scale (increase per attack) | 0 to 100 | Unknown. Likely affects how rapidly the amount of enemies cavern dwellers will send increases.[Verify] | 0, 10, 20 |
| Cavern dweller maximum attackers | 0 to 500 | The maximum amount of enemies that can be thrown at you when cavern dwellers attack. | 0, 50, 75 |
| Diplomacy tree-fell count | 1 to 1000 | Affects the default amount of trees elven diplomats will request you limit your felling to. Your negotiator will still try and increase the tree limit. | 25, 25, 10 |
| Diplomacy tree-fell count (untamed wilds) | 1 to 1000 | Affects the default amount of trees elven diplomats will request you limit your felling to if you've settled in a savage area instead. Your negotiator will still try and increase the tree limit. | 5, 5, 1 |
The following options are available for economy settings:
| Setting | Possible values | Description | Default values (Normal, Hard) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy population triggers | 1 to 300 | Likely affects how many citizens you need to increase the rank of your fortress.[Verify] | 20/50/80/110/140, 20/50/80/110/140 |
| Economy production triggers | 1 to 100,000,000 | Unknown. Maybe affects trade caravans?[Verify] | 5000/25000/100000/200000/300000, 25000/125000/500000/1000000/1500000 |
| Economy trade triggers | 1 to 100,000,000 | Unknown. Maybe affects trade caravans?[Verify] | 500/2500/10000/20000/30000, 2500/12500/50000/100000/150000 |
| Land holder population triggers | 1 to 300 | Likely affects how barons and upwards are achieved.[Verify] Values 4 through 10 are not used in the base game. | 20/20/20, 20/20/20 |
| Land holder production triggers | 1 to 100,000,000 | Likely affects how barons and upwards are achieved.[Verify] Values 4 through 10 are not used in the base game. | 10000/200000/300000, 500000/1000000/1500000 |
| Land holder trade triggers | 1 to 100,000,000 | Likely affects how barons and upwards are achieved.[Verify] Values 4 through 10 are not used in the base game. | 10000/20000/30000, 50000/100000/150000 |
| Value of temple | 1 to 100,000,000 | Affects how valuable a designated temple zone must be before it satisfies a petition to create it. | 2000, 6000 |
| Value of temple complex | 1 to 100,000,000 | Affects how valuable a designated temple zone must be before it satisfies a petition to upgrade it. | 10000, 30000 |
| Priesthood unit count | 1 to 300 | Affects how many members of a religion must be citizens in your fortress before a petition for a temple is made. | 10, 10 |
| High priesthood unit count | 1 to 300 | Affects how many members of a religion must be citizens in your fortress before a petition to upgrade an existing temple is made. | 25, 25 |
| Value of guildhall | 1 to 100,000,000 | Affects how valuable a designated guildhall zone must be before it satisfies a petition to create it. | 2000, 6000 |
| Value of grand guildhall | 1 to 100,000,000 | Affects how valuable a designated guildhall zone must be before it satisfies a petition to upgrade it. | 10000, 30000 |
| Guild unit count | 1 to 300 | Affects how many members of a profession must be citizens in your fortress before a petition for a guildhall is made. | 10, 10 |
| Grand guild unit count | 1 to 300 | Affects how many members of a profession must be citizens in your fortress before a petition to upgrade an existing guildhall is made. | 25, 25 |
| Mandate period (more = fewer) | 1 to 10,000 | Affects how long nobles must wait before making new mandates. | 1000, 500 |
| Demand period (more = fewer) | 1 to 10,000 | Affects how long nobles must wait before making new demands. | 500, 250 |