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Need

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This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

Needs affect a creature's focus - needs that are unmet for long enough will cause stress, become bad thoughts, and increasingly damage the creature's focus, while sufficiently well-satisfied needs will improve it.

The need system replaces the generalized on break feature of previous versions. Dwarves will sometimes perform jobs that satisfy their personal needs, instead of working for the betterment of the fortress. These personal-fulfilment jobs generally come in two varieties: low-priority (indicated by green text, e.g. Listen to Poetry), or high-priority (magenta text with an exclamation point, e.g. Pray to Lorsïth!). Low-priority jobs may be cancelled to undertake a fortress job. High-priority jobs will not be cancelled for fortress jobs.

Focus

Overall, Urist is unfocused by unmet needs.

Focus affects a dwarf's ability to perform. A dwarf with high focus will work faster and produce better results, while a distracted dwarf will take longer to do everything poorly. Focus is separate and independent of overall mood; a dwarf can be happy even with largely-unmet needs, or unhappy yet focused. However, prolonged insufficiency in meeting needs is a cause for both low focus and bad thoughts. Thus, Focus can, with prudence, be used to predict future mood developments.

Focus represents the percentage of the combined totals of met over unmet need values. The ratio of 1:1 (100%) represents a neutral state.

Focus statuses:

Very focused + 140% (?)
Quite focused 120-139% (-149%?)
Focused 101-119%
Untroubled 100%
Unfocused 80-99%
Distracted ...-79% (?)
Badly distracted (?)

A highly-focused dwarf can receive an effective-skill bonus of up to 50%; a badly distracted dwarf can receive an effective skill penalty of up to 50%.[1]

Diversity

She is unfocused by a lack of trouble-making.

An individual creature's set of needs and their weights (levels) are affected by personality traits. For instance, a dwarf that values romance will be unfocused "after being unable to make romance", while a dwarf that personally values nature will be unfettered "after seeing animals". Unreligious dwarves will have no need to pray or meditate; dubious and casual worshippers will have low or medium level needs to pray; committed believers will have high level need; and dwarves following multiple deities will have a separate prayer need, with separate level for each of their deities. Proposed weights per need level are 1, 2, 5, and 10.

As expected, high-level needs hold a much larger sway in a dwarf's overall focus than low-level needs. For example, immoderation controls the need for alcohol; dwarves, thus, are more likely to have a need for alcohol than humans (but most of the time won't have a very strong one). A small percentage have no need for alcohol at all, though they'll still slow down without it, due to dwarves' alcohol dependence.

Needs are shown in a dwarf's thoughts and preferences description page, which can be accessed by viewing that dwarf then z, Enter, or from the unit menu with view, Enter.

Degree of fulfillment:

Descriptor Range
Unfettered 400 to 300
Level-headed 299 to 200
Untroubled 199 to 100
Not distracted 99 to -999
Unfocused -1,000 to -9,999
Distracted -10,000 to -99,999
Badly distracted -100,000 and below

When a need is satisfied, its value is refreshed to maximum (400), regardless of previous value. There is no minimum to how Badly distracted a need can get. A deeper negative value won't further reduce total Focus, which is based on a ratio of all needs' Focus rating.


In the absence of needs rated as "Badly distracted" the focus score is expressed as the ratio of:

[6     * number of Unfettered scores +
 5 1/3 * number of Level-headed scores +
 4 2/3 * number of Untroubled scores +
 4     * number of Not distracted scores +
 3 1/3 * number of Unfocused scores +
 2 2/3 * number of Distracted scores] / (4 * number of scores total)

where the numerator is rounded down to a whole number.

It is currently unknown how "Badly distracted" needs contribute to focus, pending further science, but it is likely that they contribute 2 points each to the numerator.

Fortress actions per need

Positive Negative Related Belief or Facet Job
spending time with people being away from people GREGARIOUSNESS Socialize
drinking being kept from alcohol IMMODERATION, SELF-CONTROL drink alcohol
communing with [deity] / meditation being unable to pray (to [deity]) Pray/meditate in a Temple
staying occupied being unoccupied HARD_WORK, ACTIVITY_LEVEL (assumedly a sufficient amount of fortress tasks*)
doing something creative doing nothing creative ARTWORK Create or perform any artistic work
doing something exciting leading an unexciting life EXCITEMENT_SEEKING Varied; including at least being in danger or catching a live vermin
learning something not learning anything KNOWLEDGE, CURIOUS Gain a rank in any Skill, learn a new subject from written content.
being with family being away from family FAMILY (Socialize with close family members? Note that this need can currently be assigned to dwarves without families)
being with friends being away from friends FRIENDSHIP (Socialize with friends?)
hearing eloquent speech being unable to hear eloquent speech ELOQUENCE Hear or recite poetry
upholding tradition being away from traditions TRADITION (Perform any improvisational form?)
self-examination a lack of introspection INTROSPECTION read anything, compose song or poetry (automatically self-indulgent)
making merry being unable to make merry MERRIMENT, HUMOR (Recite any poem?)
practicing a craft being unable to practice a craft CRAFTMANSHIP Craft any item
practicing a martial art being unable to practice a martial art MARTIAL_PROWESS Gain a rank in any combat Skill
practicing a skill being unable to practice a skill SKILL Use any Skill (?)
taking it easy being unable to take it easy LEISURE_TIME (assumedly spending a sufficient time idle or self-fulfilling?)
making romance being unable to make romance ROMANCE, LOVE PROPENSITY (interacting with spouse/partner)
seeing animals being away from animals NATURE Animal must also see the dwarf.*
seeing a great beast being away from great beasts EXCITEMENT_SEEKING, NATURE, CURIOSITY Uncertain, possibly encounter LARGE_ROAMING?
acquiring something being unable to acquire something GREED, COMMERCE Acquire any trinket (happens automatically when performing a "Store item in stockpile" job on an eligible trade good)
eating a good meal a lack of decent meals IMMODERATION Eating a preferred food (or a preferred alcohol cooked into a meal), or a sufficiently valuable mealv0.47.05.
fighting being unable to fight VIOLENT Partake in a fight or any combat.
causing trouble a lack of trouble-making HARMONY, DISCORD Fight or Argue
arguing being unable to argue FRIENDLINESS Argue
being extravagant being unable to be extravagant IMMODESTY Wear any item with a quality modifier
wandering being unable to wander NATURE, ACTIVITY LEVEL Complete a Fish, Return kill (hunt) or Gather plants job
helping somebody being unable to help anybody ALTRUISM, SACRIFICE Bring water or food to patient/prisoner/animal*; bring wounded units to rest; leading demonstration; being yelled at by unhappy citizens (for relevant nobles).
thinking abstractly a lack of abstract thinking ABSTRACT_INCLINED Read or write any written content, or compose music or a poem. Playing make-believe. (Using Architect skill does not satisfy this need.)
admiring art being unable to admire art ARTWORK Exposure to artful furniture, artistic crafts, or engravings. Watching certain performances.
(* See also animal caretaker)

Satisfying any need will result in a good thought and a decrease in stress.

Adventurer actions per need

Positive Negative Related Belief or Facet Adventurer activity
spending time with people being away from people GREGARIOUSNESS Speak to anyone or reply to greeting. They don't have to be able to reply back.
drinking being kept from alcohol IMMODERATION, SELF-CONTROL Drink alcohol
communing with [deity] / meditation being unable to pray (to [deity]) Speak, Pray to <Deity> or Begin a performance, Give a sermon
staying occupied being unoccupied HARD_WORK, ACTIVITY_LEVEL Very wide variety of actions
doing something creative doing nothing creative ARTWORK Perform or compose any work
doing something exciting leading an unexciting life EXCITEMENT_SEEKING A wide variety of actions
learning something not learning anything KNOWLEDGE, CURIOUS Gain a rank in any Skill, learn a new subject from written content.
being with family being away from family FAMILY Implemented, but inaccessible without modding. If your character has close family members, this need will be filled by spending time with them (seems to only apply to blood relations). However, there is currently no way to actually do this outside of mods.
being with friends being away from friends FRIENDSHIP Unimplemented
hearing eloquent speech being unable to hear eloquent speech ELOQUENCE Hear or recite poetry
upholding tradition being away from traditions TRADITION Perform any improvisational form
self-examination a lack of introspection INTROSPECTION read anything, compose song or poetry (automatically self-indulgent), craft a figurine of yourself
making merry being unable to make merry MERRIMENT, HUMOR Recite any poem
practicing a craft being unable to practice a craft CRAFTMANSHIP Craft an item (ie, Knapping, Bone Carving)
practicing a martial art being unable to practice a martial art MARTIAL_PROWESS Gain a rank in any combat Skill
practicing a skill being unable to practice a skill SKILL Use any Skill
taking it easy being unable to take it easy LEISURE_TIME Unknown (I fulfilled this need by going to sleep at a tavern, getting interrupted in the middle of the night by a giant alligator (which the bards killed by the time I went down the stairs) and performing with them for a while)
making romance being unable to make romance ROMANCE, LOVE PROPENSITY Unimplemented
seeing animals being away from animals NATURE Animal must also see you
seeing a great beast being away from great beasts EXCITEMENT_SEEKING, NATURE, CURIOSITY Uncertain, possibly encounter LARGE_ROAMING?[Verify]
acquiring something being unable to acquire something GREED, COMMERCE Acquire any item by trade or demand
eating a good meal a lack of decent meals IMMODERATION Unknown. If the same as in Fortress mode, eating a preferred food, or a sufficiently valuable mealv0.47.05.
fighting being unable to fight VIOLENT Engage in any combat of any lethality
causing trouble a lack of trouble-making HARMONY, DISCORD Fight or Argue
arguing being unable to argue FRIENDLINESS Get into any disagreement about values
being extravagant being unable to be extravagant IMMODESTY Wear any item with a quality modifier on a body part - a waterskin will not work, as it can only be worn in another item of clothing
wandering being unable to wander NATURE, ACTIVITY LEVEL Move to/from any site or region tile
helping somebody being unable to help anybody ALTRUISM, SACRIFICE Reunite family members
thinking abstractly a lack of abstract thinking ABSTRACT_INCLINED Read or write any written content, or compose music or a poem
admiring art being unable to admire art ARTWORK Exposure to artistic crafts, examining adornments and coins

Satisfying any need will result in a good thought and a decrease in stress.

Creatures with [NOEMOTION] cannot satisfy any need and will inevitably become 'distracted'. In unmodded games, this concerns only Intelligent undead.

Adventure mode meta-strategy

Upon creating your adventurer you may want to avoid having any of the non-fulfillable needs: romance, family, friends. Otherwise, you will suffer never-ending focus disadvantages. Immoderation too is only technically fulfillable for the itinerant adventurer, without a fortress's industry to reliably produce their preferred food.

Some precaution is necessary in sacrifice/altruism -> helping capability is not available as long as you're quite weak (fighting; companions), and maybe in martial prowess if you're not constantly fighting and so increasing your stats. To fulfill your booze needs, you'll have to visit human towns' taverns or dwarven fortresses quite often (and fill your extra water storage containers with ale from the barrels for on the road).