v0.34:Cave adaptation

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v50.12 · v0.47 · v0.34.11 · v0.31 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Cave adaptation is caused by dwarves spending too much time underground with insufficient exposure to outdoor sunlight.

Exposure of cave-adapted dwarves to outdoor sunlight can cause two negative thoughts: "irritated by the sun" and "nauseated by the sun". The latter results from more severe cave adaptation and is intended to trigger profuse vomiting (but does not due to a bug). Cave adaptation causes no problems if the affected dwarves simply remain underground.

Prevention

Cave adaptation can be prevented by regular exposure to outdoor sunlight, which can be achieved by having an outdoor meeting area or high-traffic areas above ground. Roofing over these outdoor areas will protect your dwarves from weather while still preventing cave adaptation (though it will not actually cure them). In other words, any tiles that have ever been exposed to sunlight remain sunlit; actual vertical access to the sun is not necessary.

• If a dwarf is in a Dark tile, cave adaptation increases by 1 every tick to a maximum of 800,000 (403,200 ticks is one year, so the maximum is just short of 2 years).
• If a dwarf is in an Outside tile while the sun is out (i.e. not raining or snowing), there is a 1/1000 chance of the following happening every tick:
  • If cave adaptation is at 604,800 or higher (1.5 years), the dwarf will experience significant fatigue (but not the expected nausea, pain, and dizziness) and will receive the unhappy thought "was nauseated by the sun recently".
  • If cave adaptation is between 403,200 and 604,800 (between 1 and 1.5 years), the dwarf will experience fatigue (but not the expected pain and dizziness) and will receive the unhappy thought "was irritated by the sun recently".
  • Otherwise, nothing bad happens.
• If a dwarf is in an Outside tile regardless of weather, cave adaptation then decreases by 10 every tick.

Treatment

Cave adaptation can be treated by exposing dwarves to outdoor tiles. However, due to the negative thoughts brought about by exposure to light in cave-adaptated dwarves, these outdoor areas should be well decorated with statues or the like. This should provide enough positive thoughts to negate those caused by cave adaptation. The progress of treating severe cave adaptation can be observed through Thoughts and Preferences, as limited exposure to sunlight will first convert severe cave adaptation into mild cave adaptation; see Personality traits for details.

Note that dwarves who walk outside in the rain or snow will still be cured of their cave adaptation without suffering its negative effects, but they will still get unhappy thoughts from the weather itself.

A dwarf who is completely adapted to life underground can be cured in a little over nine weeks of constant exposure to outdoors light.

Bugs

• Cave adaptation does not trigger pain, stunning, or nausea as it did in previous versions.^Bug:6512

Explanation

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A scientific explanation of cave adaptation by Deus Machina.

Underground has low levels of light and very little air circulation.

Dwarves develop low-light vision (plump helmets are packed with beta carotene!) and their facial follicles become sensitive to the motions that a breeze produces against their beards, which allows them to tell where tunnels turn.

As they go deeper, their eyes become less relied upon, and they adapt further to rely on their whisker-based folli-cation.

These eventually become so sensitive that, should a dwarf venture outside, the wind is the equivalent of multicolored and varying strobe lights. This is as aggravating to a dwarf's folli-cation as a Pink Floyd show seen while sober is to our sight, up to the point of causing nausea.

While some have proposed beard shaving as a method of treating hyper-folli-cation, these people are believed to be elf spies, and drafted to cavern exploring instead.