Editing v0.34:Keeping your dwarves happy

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Some tips on how to keep your dwarves [[thoughts|happy]], thus reducing the chances of [[tantrum]]ing and tantrum spirals:

==Food and Drink==
* Make the community [[dining room]] your non-[[noble]] dwarves dine in high [[room#quality|quality]].  You can increase its quality by making the room bigger, putting in more [[chair]]s and [[throne]]s, [[smoothing]] and [[engraving]] it, and putting in valuable [[furniture]] like [[gold]] [[statue]]s.
* [[Embark]] with or train up a [[cook]], so your dwarves can enjoy high [[quality]] [[food|meals]].
* Make sure you never run out of [[booze]], since a sober dwarf is an unhappy dwarf.
** Make sure to have at least two different kinds of booze on hand, since dwarves will get bored if there's no variety in their drinks.
** Try to have all different varieties of booze on hand, since dwarves get a happier thought out of drinking the kind of booze they prefer.

==Living Quarters==
* Give your dwarves individual [[bedroom]]s rather than making them live in a communal [[dormitory]].  Not only will they get a good thought from sleeping in their own bedroom, they'll get good thoughts from admiring the furniture they own.
* Improve the bedrooms by making them of respectable size, smoothing/engraving the ground, and adding basic furniture such as coffers and cabinets.
* If you still wish to use a communal bedroom to protect your dwarves from [[vampire]]s, designate each bed as a room itself.  This way dwarves can keep an eye on each other and have their own rooms.
** Overlapping the bedrooms will reduce the overall value of each "room" but a high enough overall room value can overcome this.
** You can also make the shared suites large enough that the bedroom designations do not overlap.

==Fortress Improvements==
* Place highly valuable [[furniture]], if possible artifacts, in a high traffic area of your fort, since dwarves get a happy thought if they pass right next to or over expensive furniture.
* Dwarves who [[cave adaptation|spend most of their time underground]] will get an unhappy thought when exposed to sunlight.  If the dwarves who need to work outside aren't already regularly exposed to sunlight, put some combination of these high traffic areas on the surface:
** [[activity zone#Meeting Area|Meeting area]] or [[sculpture garden|Statue garden]] - Won't catch dwarves that never idle.
** [[Dining room]] - Will need to ensure nobles that have private dining rooms have another means.
** [[Booze]] stockpile - Requires a custom stockpile but otherwise very reliable.
* Keep at least a few [[cat]]s around to hunt down irritating [[vermin]].  [[Pasture]] some in with your food stockpiles.
* Put a [[cage]] in a high traffic area (like the meeting area) and stuff it full of (non-[[pasture|grazing]]) tame animals so your dwarves can enjoy seeing their [[preferences|favorite]] type of animal.
** The [[elf|elven]] [[caravan]]s bring random animals, and you can request specific domestic animals from the [[dwarven]] caravan.
** You can use [[cage trap]]s to capture wild animals, train them at a [[kennel]], and then stick them in your zoo.
* Create a [[waterfall]] in a location all dwarves frequent regularly.
* Keep your fortress clean and avoid [[miasma]], or at least confine it to your refuse stockpile if it is underground.

==Miscellaneous==
* Keep your dwarves [[clothes|clothed]]. A naked dwarf is an unhappy dwarf.
* If a dwarf dies, [[coffin|bury him]] or [[slab|engrave a memorial in his name]]. This will prevent more unhappy thoughts for his friends, and [[ghost]]s to haunt your dwarves or your FPS.
* [[Pasture]] all dwarf [[pet]]s somewhere safe.  Wandering pets are likely to die from goblins or construction accidents.
{{Category|Thoughts}}