Toy boat trolling

[pezenwever]

Am I the only one who constantly needs to craft toyboats for the mayor ? It's very annoying since the produced toy types are random. I have a crapton of toys by now and still need to make more.

[Trisapiensaurus]

Omg my mayor is doing the same but with toy hammers, only toy hammers, we have two artifact toy hammers already.

[MattN]

My mayor always wanted flasks, and my king always wanted backpacks. Which is better than toys for sure, but still pretty tiresome to be constantly cranking out stuff that you can't use and most of the time they get upset if you sell.

Supposedly you can see the things they like in their profiles and they always ask for one of the things they like.

If you're sick of toys, you can always arrange for an unfortunate accident for them and the new mayor will want different stuff.

[mr_pan7s]

lol at least kids use toys. each royal has preferences. I had one that wanted querns all the time and small animal traps all the time. then they don't let you sell them haha

[Xcorps]

This is why people have developed "alternative" ways of dealing with annoying and useless important mandates.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by pezenwever:

Am I the only one who constantly needs to craft toyboats for the mayor ? It's very annoying since the produced toy types are random. I have a crapton of toys by now and still need to make more.

You could ask him his opinion about the mysterious Dorf-shaped paint splatters on the Drawbridge...

[Rooter]

could always put him in the hot seat (retracting bridge over lava) but I bet if you look at his preferences, he will likely have those things included. Luckily my most recent mayor likes breastplates, and 1-2 every few months is fine. you could definitely have worse requests than toys.

[creepy-streaker]

wait you all actually follow their mandates? im just like o thats nice, anyway, and then eventually they end the mandate ...

Edit: Ah i just read the wiki about mandates and that explains why my captain of the guard would just randomly beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of people. I thought they were just an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ XD

[Rainbow Jeremy]

I wish my nobles demanded toy boats, that's amazing.

[pezenwever]

Killing the mayor seems a no win situation.
A new mayor is elected and then you can start over again, causing dwarf loss and brain drain. (dwarfs with the highest social skills win the election)
Maybe I should just ignore the mandates since I refused to appoint a captain of the guard and dungeon master in my last fort. These buggers seem to cause nothing but negative effects and do not prevent anything.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

I don't mind noble demands so long as I can fulfill them with non-magma-safe materials. Preferably ones easily replenishable, such as wood, leather, silk, or bone. Atom smashing is viable for magma-safe demands, but I find atom smashers disruptive.

As another note: While mayors can't be directly selected, you can influence who becomes mayor based on their item preferences (or lack thereof!) if you are proactive enough. Your first baron is, thankfully, directly chosen by you.

[Vettig Annikske]

What can you do? The guy liked toy boats

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by pezenwever:

Killing the mayor seems a no win situation.
A new mayor is elected and then you can start over again, causing dwarf loss and brain drain. (dwarfs with the highest social skills win the election)
Maybe I should just ignore the mandates since I refused to appoint a captain of the guard and dungeon master in my last fort. These buggers seem to cause nothing but negative effects and do not prevent anything.

Those things are "gameplay content." :)

In an open-world, free-form, sort of game, especially with building and production elements, players are given a sandbox where they can just use the tools the game provides to set and reach their own goals. AND, many times, some mechanics are added just so the player can kick them over and interact with the results...

For instance, there is some obvious and purposeful "imbalance" potential in the game in regards to a Dorf's needs and mood. Purposefully inefficiency and especially "unbalancing mechanics" are part-and-parcel to management games. In essence, the things one manages in those game have variables that could impact their performance at a task and those variables have purposefully inefficient results or controls. Why design a game like that?

Because "idle games" are in their own genre and a management game should never, ever, encourage the player to walk away from the computer and go make a sandwich. :) A good game screams for the player to engage with it.

The sort of pluig-in mechanics, much like "opt-in" ones, you mention all add depth to the gameplay. Some can reveal some really interesting things, too, that can engage the player and add richness/depth to gameplay, motivating them to try something new. They're like "spices." The gamer can add them to their gaming meal or not, depending on their preferences.

That being said - In an open-world, sandbox, game like this, you can play however you wish and still be able to usually find quality content if you enjoy such games. (Or, should be able to if the game is well designed.)

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by Vettig Annikske:

What can you do? The guy liked toy boats

And, the player is going to remember that they once had a Mayor who was obsessed with Toy Boats. They'll tell others, too, even years down the road.

That's quality content, right there.

It's such a simple thing, but I guarantee that someone, someday, is going to buy Dwarf Fortress just because they read about a crazy Mayor that was infatuated with Toy Boats and demanded their Dorfs bring them... "MOAR TOY BOTES!"

[MattN]

I think I hit the jackpot! My new mayor wants enormous corkscrews! I don't know how to build traps quite yet, but I'm gonna figure it out and my fortress is going to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ death trap.

[Felix]

Mine wants catapult parts, it sucks