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I really loved this game when it came out. It was one of my favorites. But as time went on and I got further into the game, I found it to be fairly frustrating. My monsters kept fighting with each other over and over and over again. Even if I kept them separate from each other, they found ways to be discontent. Eventually, it seemed like the later levels were a frustrating war of attrition between my resources and my creatures' faltering mood bars. In other words, it sort of turned into an evil monsters version of the Sims.

I have some very fond memories of DK, but I worry that if I buy it again I'm just going to get frustrated with the same situation all over again.

Was I doing something wrong, or is that sort of how it goes?
Some of the best ways to deal with that is to build separate areas for some of the minions, bribe them into contentness, or sacrifice the least useful of the feuding minions. Via temple,or throw at the enemy. Failing that put one in the training room that usually keeps them busy.

So go for it. Another thing to conceder is the whole older,wiser factor to.
Avatara's explanation is short & sweet, and to the point. Here's my wall of text.


The biggest pair I have problems with are the flies and spiders, as it's usually early in the game and I don't have the resources to build two different lairs.

Remember that you can't have creatures who hate one another in the same lair. Those creatures are
Flies & Spiders
Bile Demons & Skeletons
Warlocks & Vampires
Demon Spawn & Hell Hounds
Dark Mistresses & Samurai

This also means you don't want those creatures even walking through the other's lair. So some intelligent design for your dungeon is in order. Don't make lairs "throughfares" that all creatures have to travel through to reach, say, a hatchery, treasure room, or whatever. Try to keep lairs needing only one entrance and away from your main concourses. By mid-game always plan to have two lairs, seperate from one another. Force creatures to live there by dropping them into them.

Sometimes you can't help this due to restraints on your designs, and even if you design well, conflict is often inevitable. Depends on the creature's demeanor. The Horned Reaper is the most notorious troublemaker, then, to a lesser degree, you have vampires, then warlocks. Those are really the problem three.

Creatures get unhappy for various reasons, but the big ones are not getting fed, not getting paid, and being picked up too often. Late in one game ( I'd already conquered it) I pissed off all my trolls by dismantling all the workshops, heh. Many creatures get unhappy just because they're bored.

Reapers I never allow to mix with the general population - I always build a seperate (and locked!) area for them, consisting of (minimum) a lair, training room, treasury, and hatchery. Once they're trained to 10th level I convert the training room to one of these two: a temple or a guardpost. Either one will often keep Horny busy and thus happy.

Vampires are almost as bad, they're very temperamental. Warlocks are less so, but they're ambitious and vain, and in large numbers they'll rebel. I almost always have one 1st level warlock being tortured on the rack by mid-game. It teaches the other's a lesson and makes them work (study or train) harder. Also, by this time I want vampires, so I grab a high level wizard, put him in a scavenger room, then start "sacrificing" 1st level warlocks that appear by dropping them in the graveyard and then slapping them to death. If you keep warlock numbers low they'll behave.

Problem vampires I either bribe, or torture if they just won't get happy. Sometimes dropping them on a Temple tile (not *in* it!) will help their attitude, but often not.

I also pay more "attention" to these creatures. If they gain a level I give them a lil' extra gold as a reward. Whenever I "visit" the Horned Reaper I give him a taste (one) of gold to show I'm pleased with him ( I often hand-feed him also, believe it not- and keep all my fingers!). I don't slap the Reaper (never!) and never slap the vampires, either. Warlocks I slap around a good deal, to teach them who's the boss. Still, if the level, or if there's a bit of gold lying around, I reward these guys fairly often, and it keeps them happy.

Spiders and flies, skeletons and bile demons, etc - it really depends on whether I want the creature or not. Both flies and spiders are weak creatures, so I usually just let 'em fight it out, the fittest will survive. Skeletons and BD's I both like, so I seperate them.

If a creature just won't "get happy", put them on the rack for the Dark Mistresses to enjoy.
Post edited June 08, 2011 by SlackerSupreme
Awesome post, I didn´t know about what made warlocks or trolls unhappy. I think I rarely had that problem in previous playthroughs. The thing I learned about warlocks is that the library must always be in the most quiet part of the dungeon. If the imps or any other creature keeps makind noise, they will get angry.

Another curious thing I remember is that dragons are actually good researchers. So if you have a bored good lvl dragon you can put him on the library.
Also, Bile Demons are cranky as hell, the biggest thing is they want a mix of combat training and manufacturing. So try and keep the rooms close by. The thing that sets them off the most is long walks. Bile Demons are REALLY slow walking...errr...sliding/dragging speed, and tend to eat the most for their level. So if you have some dragging themselves to food, or are about to leave for it, drop some chickens on them, or drop them in the chicken coop.
Once they have some levels, they are excellent in trap/door production. Different keepers think differently, and hwork better with different minions, if BD's get on your nerves here, when they finally get DK2, you will end up like my other half. Swearing at them and either sending them out to die as an overgrown doorstop, or sacrificing them once you get temples.

Also, throughout the campaign, in almost every map, I think about 8 consecutive by now, and im on map 14, there is a transfer creature Dungeon special..... sometimes you gotta REALLY dig for it though. Get the creature you like best and force them to lvl10 ASAP, hand feed them, bribe them etc, once you know the battle is won Xfer them. Nothing stops early game invasion attempts like my LVL10 Mistress. If you like her in DK, you'll love her in DK2.

IMO, Vampires in DK1 are more trouble than they are worth, for the amount of hubbub they require in "administration" id be better off with a Horned Reaper, becasue that guy is a CHAINSAW. Vamps are cranky and even if it is for payday, and you see one walking NEAR a Lair for payday, they will suckerpunch Warlocks that are sleeping. They definitly require babysitting.

I usually use my upper level dragons in the scavenger rooms, until I stop getting more, than move to Mistresses, unless my oponent is trap/meat shield happy, then I scavenge BD's. Also, remember, when Demonspawns hit lvl10, they can still train, they level up into LVL5 dragons.
Yeah, Transfer Creature really makes the game easier. I personally love to put into jail a knight heroe from a level, then torture him. That way, you end up with him in your minions, you train him to Lvl10, and it´s an awesome creature to start any level. He is good at fighting, at researching, at working... He literally kills as good as the best creatures and he can heal himself. It´s hard too to get him angry.
Thanks! The game kept telling me my creatures were unhappy (usually demon spawn) and committing vandalism, but if it ever tells me what made them unhappy I haven't gotten to that point.
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TPmanW: Thanks! The game kept telling me my creatures were unhappy (usually demon spawn) and committing vandalism, but if it ever tells me what made them unhappy I haven't gotten to that point.
You should be getting warnings about your creatures before they anywhere near the point of vandalism. Even the Horned Reaper gives a little warning, but simply existing makes him cranky.

"Your creatures are annoyed. You cannot pay them."
"Your creatures are annoyed because they are hungry."
etc.

Demon Spawn are some of the easiest going creatures. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong to make THEM made at you. About the only more contented creatures are Beetles.
Post edited June 24, 2019 by Bookwyrm627
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Bookwyrm627: Demon Spawn are some of the easiest going creatures. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong to make THEM made at you. About the only more contented creatures are Beetles.
Demon Spawn get angry when they can't train.
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Bookwyrm627: Demon Spawn are some of the easiest going creatures. I'm not sure what you're doing wrong to make THEM made at you. About the only more contented creatures are Beetles.
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Loobinex: Demon Spawn get angry when they can't train.
Nonsense. I lock them out of the training room the vast majority of the time with no problem.
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Loobinex: Demon Spawn get angry when they can't train.
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Bookwyrm627: Nonsense. I lock them out of the training room the vast majority of the time with no problem.
It's not nonsense, it's the truth. It takes a while, but they really have an annoyance for being untrained for too long.
Here, from the KeeperFX Demonspawn.cfg:

[annoyance]
EatFood = -1000
WillNotDoJob = 0
InHand = 0
NoLair = 2
NoHatchery = 2
WokenUp = 200
StandingOnDeadEnemy = -12
Sulking = 2
NoSalary = 2000
Slapped = 200
StandingOnDeadFriend = 30
InTorture = 4
InTemple = -40
Sleeping = -1
GotWage = -750
WinBattle = -330
; Game turns required without training and the annoyance level
Untrained = 5000 1335
OthersLeaving = 10
; Annoyance caused by performing stressful jobs
JobStress = 0
GoingPostal = 0
Queue = 4
LairEnemy = HELL_HOUND
AnnoyLevel = 4000
AngerJobs = DAMAGE_WALLS
Notice it includes an annoyance level for 'untrained'.
Huh. I have never, ever seen a demon spawn get mad. Not without withholding something like food or pay.

How long does it take for 5000 turns to pass? Maybe I've never been in a gemless level that long.

Also, what happens when it is level 10, but it can't transform because dragons aren't available? Does it eventually get mad because it won't train (no point)?
Post edited June 25, 2019 by Bookwyrm627
20 game turns per second. So every 4 minutes without training it gets a bit more unhappy.
The demon spawn getting annoyed untrained is something introduced in KeeperFX back in 2012 though. In the original game, only the Samurai and Warlock have 'untrained annoyance'.

And only creatures that 'can train' can get 'untrained annoyance'. So if a unit reaches it's max level, whatever that is, it will not get annoyed.
Also, there are also many things that get creatures to restore happiness, like winning battles, eating, sleeping and getting payed.

And except for lair, food and treasure room, the things that annoy creatures don't give the player any warnings. It does get get annoyed before it gets angry, so use that as a signal to investigate. Apart for the 'untrained annoyance' an easy way to get units angry is to have dead allied units in your dungeon, slapping your units too much, or waking them up too much.
In general though, dungeon management is easy enough, as long as you have money and food creatures will stay very happy most of the time.

This is about DK1 of course. In DK2 units get much more annoyed if you play it like DK and let converted heroes mingle with evil creatures.
Post edited June 25, 2019 by Loobinex
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Loobinex: The demon spawn getting annoyed untrained is something introduced in KeeperFX back in 2012 though. In the original game, only the Samurai and Warlock have 'untrained annoyance'.
That explains the discrepancy, then. I don't use KeeperFX (I'm assuming it isn't bundled in the standard GOG install).
No, KeeperFX is not bundled.

KeeperFX is basically a standalone DK1 game with fixes and modernization. It only requires some files from GOG or Dungeon Keeper disk for copyright reasons.