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40d:Strange mood
Periodically, individual dwarves in your fortress will be struck with an idea for a legendary artifact and enter a strange mood. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else. They will not stop to eat, drink, sleep, or even run away from dangerous creatures. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go insane and die soon afterward. An overview of the entire process:
- Strange moods can only occur when the below necessary conditions are met.
- The game will pause, center on a dwarf, and announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange mood. The types of mood are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see status icons).
- The dwarf will claim a workshop, kick out any dwarf who was using it, and render it unusable until the mood has been resolved. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop does not exist. See skills and workshops below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.
- After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact. If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the demands section to determine what may be required.
- Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion the dwarf will gain a legendary skill (unless the mood type is possessed). See the skills and workshops for information on which skills can be gained, or the artifacts created section for more details on the artifacts themselves.
Conditions
Strange moods can only occur when there is no currently active strange mood, there are eligible dwarves, and the maximum number of artifacts is not met. If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency below.
Eligibility
Military and civilian dwarves, and children, may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have. Dwarves who have created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either death or an artifact, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts may enter strange moods. Appointed nobles may create artifacts, but immigrated nobles may not[Verify].
Maximum number of artifacts
The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:
- The number of items created divided by 200
- The number of revealed subterranean tiles divided by 2308 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square).
Frequency
When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Around 11 or 12 times per day, this counter is decremented by 1. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented when it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means there is approximately a 2.7% chance of a strange mood per day, and a 48.97% chance of a strange mood per month, when all conditions are met.
Types
The first message in the following sections is how the mood is announced; the second message appears in the dwarf's profile when he or she is viewed with the v key. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task.
Fey
- Taken by a fey mood!
- Has the aspect of one fey!
This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.
Secretive
- Withdraws from society...
- Peculiarly secretive...
Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands.
Possessed
- Has been possessed!
- Possessed by unknown forces!
Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon successful construction of an artifact. It is unknown if controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive mods.
Fell
- Looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!
- Has a horrible fell look!
A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will always take over a butcher's shop or a tanner's shop. The dwarf will then murder the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf leather or bone. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a legendary bone carver or leatherworker. Strangely, none of the other dwarves seem to mind the murder. Only unhappy dwarves may enter a fell mood.
Aside from the potential loss of an important dwarf in the wrong place at the wrong time, there doesn't seem to be any downside to a fell mood. The end result is always an artifact and a legendary craftsdwarf. Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.
Macabre
- Begins to stalk and brood...
- Brooding darkly...
Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require dwarf bones, skulls, and chunks/remains; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to "make" some, or let the moody dwarf go insane. Like fell moods, only unhappy dwarves can enter macabre moods.
Skills and workshops
A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill, and upon completion of the artifact, gain 20,000 experience in that skill (excepting possessed dwarves). This will give the dwarf a legendary-level skill and a number of attribute gains. The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements. When multiple workshops are listed, the dwarf may require one or the other, so ensure both are available, if possible. (i.e. if you have a magma forge, you may have to build a regular forge for him). If a dwarf does not possess one of the listed skills, they will take over a craftdwarf's workshop and gain one of the bonecarver, stone crafter, or wood crafter skills. Skills which fall under this catch-all include:
|
This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with a legendary skill you want: where possible, make sure each dwarf's highest skill is one of those you want. Have all your peasants, growers, soldiers (you will have to temporarily deactivate them from the military), and other dwarves without skills do a tiny bit of work in the skill(s) you most want (Armorsmith is possibly the most-desired legendary skill); if a "dabbling" skill is the highest they have, that is the skill that will be used.
Demands
Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require between one and ten materials to complete. If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. Forbidden items must be reclaimed (d - c) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding economic stone. Press q and highlight the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. Hints that stay active for longer than about 2 seconds mean multiple pieces of that material will be required. Materials will always be fetched in order, so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with "TSK" next to them when the workshop is viewed with the t context menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.
Specific sub types of material may be required[Verify], such as a diorite stone, bronze bars, or a specific type of raw gem. For this reason, it is usually a good idea to keep as many types of material on hand as possible, including raw and cut gems and the three different kinds of glass.
The various demands are translated here:
| Material | Fey | Secretive | Possessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| <dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!" | <dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>. | <dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..." | |
| Stone | ? | a quarry | stone... rock |
| Stone block | rock blocks | square blocks | blocks... bricks |
| Wood | wood logs | a forest | tree... life |
| Metal bar | metal bars | shining bars of metal | bars... metal |
| Gems (cut) | cut gems | cut gems | gems... shining |
| Gems (raw) | rough gems | rough gems | rough... color |
| Glass (green) | ? | glass | raw... green |
| Glass (clear) | ? | glass and burning wood | raw... clear |
| Glass (crystal) | ? | rough gems and glass | raw... crystal |
| Bone | bones | skeletons | bones... yes |
| Shell | shells | a shell[Verify] | a shell... |
| Leather | ? | stacked leather | leather... skin |
| Cloth (plant) | plant fiber cloth | stacked cloth | cloth... thread |
| Cloth (silk) | silk cloth | stacked cloth | cloth... thread |
Artifacts created
The type of artifact created will depend on the dwarf's highest skill. Masons will always create some kind of stone object; Bone Carvers, a bone or shell object; Carpenters, a wood object, etc. Miners and engravers will usually turn out a stone craft or piece of furniture; furnace operators, a metal craft or piece of furniture; Weavers, an article of clothing.
The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the "primary" substance; all other materials will be used to decorate the artifact. If a dwarf grabs onyx and makes a bed, for instance, it will be an "onyx bed", but an artifact can potentially be composed of bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood all at once. In some cases, glass makers will actually grab the nearest rough gem instead of a piece of raw glass, leading to such odd constructions as a Moss agate coffer.
Once created, the artifact will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact furniture is useful for high value noble rooms, and weapons can be used to great effect in combat.
Failure
If you can't provide all the required items within a couple of months, the dwarf will go insane and cancel the artifact. This insanity can take several forms:
- Become melancholy. The dwarf will either refuse to eat or drink until dead, or drown themselves at some point. They may also hurl themselves into the river, chasm, or magma immediately.
- Become a babbling wreck. A dwarf experiencing this will drop all the items he or she is wearing, one by one, and eventually starve to death.
- Go on a murderous rampage.
The first two outcomes are harmless (except to the moody dwarf, who will die), but you may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms (with doors), you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves.
Anything that would cause the dwarf to cancel the strange mood job (like being attacked or having the workshop destroyed) will cause insanity. Note that the insanity can happen even when the dwarf is not deadlocked on an item; there have been observed instances where a dwarf goes insane while in the process of carrying a required item back to the commandeered workshop. Notably, giving birth while in a strange mood does not interrupt the dwarf; she will ignore the baby until her mood is resolved and it will wander off in the meantime.