I can't keep my Ardyn happy :( (beta build)

[Strong Tiger]

I play the beta build pretty much exclusively these days and previously I don't recall ever having problems with keeping my lil dudes happy, but since starting to play Ardyn I've done 5 different games to get used to them and now I simply can't seem to keep them happy. This is a shame, because as far as their core mechanics go I LOVE them.

I'm not sure what to do- I can't find any indication in the game of them letting me know what they want so I can give it to them, and then they all just end up leaving. The only thing I've been able to find that "works" is to just force idle them by removing all their active skills, but that only ticks up their will by 0.01% every couple seconds which isn't super ideal. I tried resetting the tutorials and letting them all play through to see if it would let me know what I'm missing, but nothing popped up even as 3 of my dudes abandoned me (presumably to die of old age in the wilderness. Am I really so tyrannical of a director!!!!!!) I even thought of building a tavern, but so far I haven't been lucky enough to progress far enough to do so to even find out if they'll use it since they don't eat or drink (and I don't think that should be the only solution?)

AM I missing something? Is there some hidden window I haven't been able to find that tells me what is making my settlers unhappy? Am... Am I the problem?? ;_;

[carriedactyl]

So I haven't played with the Ardyn, just humans, so this might not be entirely applicable to you. One of the most recent beta updates changed how happiness works and I had a similar struggle with my humans, so I have a couple things you can try:

Sleeping: If entities sleep on the ground they get unhappy, and if they sleep in a bed they gain happiness. This doesn't show up as a status, it will just jump up or down by several percent at a time while sleeping. If you already have beds, make sure your "sleep in bed" in the home production panel is set to a higher priority than the "sleep on ground" in the Region production panel. Otherwise entities will sleep on the ground even if they have a home and bed.

Tavern: I think you can use the tavern room without researching alcohol, and the only prop you need for the tavern is a seat, so you can build a tavern with pretty early research (though you will need to cook some food you don't otherwise need to get the 1 tome of cooking). The "relax with drink" blueprint only requires a beverage, not alcohol specifically, so it should work with just water. Entities will fill the "relax with drink" blueprint if they are not happy (that is, they have the "calm" or "angry" status); I don't think it requires them to be hungry or thirsty, so it should work for Ardyn. You will probably need to go to the diets menu and set them up a diet where they are allowed to drink.

[Strong Tiger]

Originally posted by carriesaada:

Sleeping: If entities sleep on the ground they get unhappy, and if they sleep in a bed they gain happiness. This doesn't show up as a status, it will just jump up or down by several percent at a time while sleeping. If you already have beds, make sure your "sleep in bed" in the home production panel is set to a higher priority than the "sleep on ground" in the Region production panel. Otherwise entities will sleep on the ground even if they have a home and bed.

Y'know, this might be it because even though I built each of them their own houses or joint-houses if they had partners, I was so confused that they'd still just conk out on the floor all the time. I thought maybe they were just freaks for grass and didn't like using beds LOL. I'll try this in my next game for sure and see if it changes anything. Thanks for the tip!

Edit: Well this helped for getting some of them to sleep, but I have others that seem to regenerate energy far faster than they use it, so they simply never sleep. Even if I force them to idle they still only regenerate Will at 0.01% a tick, so I'm not really sure what to do about those particular lil guys. It's tough to try to cycle through letting each of them have rest periods when they're like this :'|

Edit 2: Taverns work without any finagling with diets (blessedly) but whew it was rough to get that first cooking book. I feel like something has to be missing, or *I* am definitely missing something, at the very least.

[Sleipnir]

Sleep and the Tavern are the best ways to increase happiness, but I have some tuning coming in tomorrow. The happiness stuff is pretty new, so it's a bit off balanced.

[Strong Tiger]

Originally posted by Sleipnir:

Sleep and the Tavern are the best ways to increase happiness, but I have some tuning coming in tomorrow. The happiness stuff is pretty new, so it's a bit off balanced.

Oh good to know! Once I got the tavern built it was pretty much a non-issue, but the struggle to get that far before everyone up and left was what was getting me (was having horrid luck on forcing an early cooking book lol). Right now I have a set of Ardyn that just *never* sleep, and I don't know if my previous ones were also that way but it is rare to ever see them sleep even when I have them working nonstop for days. Regen energy faster than they can use it, I guess? :Ia

[choppo]

im playing the beta now and humans can get the tavern immidiately but the ardyn cant? is this intended?

[HumanGarbage]

(also on Beta)
> Sleep and the Tavern
How about Ancients? I have some unhappy Ancients and it doesn't feel like these would be the way to make them happy...

[Strong Tiger]

Originally posted by HumanGarbage:

(also on Beta)
> Sleep and the Tavern
How about Ancients? I have some unhappy Ancients and it doesn't feel like these would be the way to make them happy...

Honestly the tavern will probably work if you haven't tried it, since it works for Ardyn who literally do not eat or drink but will sit down and drink water there (though I can see it not *feeling* right for Ancients in the same way). I imagine Waylon will iterate on the happiness system at some point though so for now it's fine as a stopgap. I'd try it just to see if it works, 'cause if it does it effectively negates the entire problem of the happiness system not really doing much atm. :]