Editing Difficulty

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{stub}}

While previous versions of ''Dwarf Fortress'' allowed you to toggle [[Invader|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 [[Ambush|ambushes]], [[Siege|sieges]], [[Megabeast|uninvited]] [[Forgotten beast|guests]], [[Werebeast|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 [[Temple|temples]] and [[Guildhall|guildhalls]] to be more valuable before satisfying petitions, and causes [[Noble|nobles]] to make more [[Mandate|mandates]] and [[Demand|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:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Setting !! Possible values !! Description !! Default values (Off, Normal, Hard)
|-
| Civilizations can attack || Yes/No || Controls whether [[Ambush|ambushes]] and [[Siege|sieges]] can occur. || No, Yes, Yes
|-
| Megabeasts can attack || Yes/No || Controls whether [[Megabeast|megabeasts]] and [[Forgotten beast|forgotten beasts]] can attack. || No, Yes, Yes
|-
| Werebeasts can attack || Yes/No || Controls whether [[Werebeast|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 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 || Performing nature-disrupting actions within the caverns will agitate forgotten beasts and may cause them to attack. Noise will also increase agitation. A smaller value will require less actions before the maximum attack chance is reached. || 10000, 10000, 10000
|-
| Forgotten beast irritation minimum || 1 to 100,000 || If the hidden agitation counter is at this value or below, no forgotten beasts will attack. || 5000, 5000, 2000
|-
| Forgotten beast wealth divisor || 1 to 100,000 || Your current fortress wealth is divided by this number - the result is added to effective irritation to determine forgotten beast attacks. A smaller number will cause forgotten beasts to attack sooner. || 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 require less actions before the maximum attack chance is reached. || 10000, 10000, 10000
|-
| Wilderness irritation minimum || 1 to 100,000 || If the hidden agitation counter is at this value or below, no agitated wildlife will spawn. || 2000, 2000, 0
|-
| Wilderness irritation decay || 0 to 100,000 || Causes wildlife to be less irritated after every year. A higher value will make them less irritated faster. Normal default values are 500 on '''Normal''' and 100 on '''Hard'''. Currently broken - changing this setting instead modifies the Minimum value above.{{bug|12181}} || 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 [[Vampire|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 [[Ambush|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 || Every time cavern-dwellers attack your fortress, the maximum number of attackers increases by this number. || 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 [[Elf|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:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Setting !! Possible values !! Description !! Default values (Normal, Hard)
|-
| Economy population triggers || 1 to 300 || Affects how many citizens you need to increase the rank of your fortress. Must meet population and one of production or trade. Triggers 1 through 5 correspond to Hamlet, Village, Town, City, and Metropolis. || 20/50/80/110/140, 20/50/80/110/140
|-
| Economy production triggers || 1 to 100,000,000 || Affects how much created wealth you need to increase the rank of your fortress. Must meet population and one of production or trade. Triggers 1 through 5 correspond to Hamlet, Village, Town, City, and Metropolis. Setting this trigger to 0 causes it to be met immediately. || 5000/25000/100000/200000/300000, 25000/125000/500000/1000000/1500000
|-
| Economy trade triggers || 1 to 100,000,000 || Affects how much exported wealth you need to increase the rank of your fortress. Must meet population and one of production or trade. Triggers 1 through 5 correspond to Hamlet, Village, Town, City, and Metropolis. Setting a trigger to 0 causes it to be met immediately. || 500/2500/10000/20000/30000, 2500/12500/50000/100000/150000
|-
| Land holder population triggers || 1 to 300 || Likely affects how [[Baron|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. A higher value forces them to wait longer before mandating something.|| 1000, 500
|-
| Demand period (more = fewer) || 1 to 10,000 || Affects how long nobles must wait before making new demands. A higher value forces them to wait longer before making a demand.|| 500, 250
|}