Dungeon Settlers Mood, Stress and Treatment Expectation
How mood, stress and mental breaks connect
- Mood is the sum of every positive and negative effect on a settler. You can check the breakdown in the Mood tab of the status panel.
- Stress rises while mood is below zero and falls while it is positive, especially while the settler sleeps at home.
- A mental break happens when stress fills up. It resets the stress bar but leaves the settler in a broken, exhausted state.
- A second mental break before they recover kills the settler on the spot. There is no revive.
Mood is effectively a second health bar, and the 10 Advanced Tips video calls it “the true life” of the colony.
Common mood effects
| Effect | Mood | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Recruit | +3 | Temporary | On joining |
| Treatment Expectations | +5 at level 1, falls to 0 by level 3, negative from level 4 | Permanent | Scales with level |
| Dungeon Stay | -4 on day 1, worse each day | While in the dungeon | Moves up a stage every midnight |
| Severely Damaged | -5 | While Near Death | Also a strong after-effect |
| Growth Fatigue (Humans) | -2 | While XP is full | Level them up |
| Pessimistic trait | -2 | Permanent | Optimists get +2 |
| Plant Rage (Lizardmen) / Carnal Guilt (Elves) | -2 | 5 minutes | Wrong diet |
| Wild Herb | -10 | 10 seconds | Heals, but tanks mood |
| Companion Dead / Abandoned Companion | -2 / -1 | Some time | Losing or leaving a settler |
Values come from the community wiki’s Mood page, which documented the demo; several are marked unknown there, and the Dungeon Stay penalty is harsher on higher management difficulty.
Treatment Expectation, the one everyone asks about
Treatment Expectation rises with a settler’s level. At level 4 it becomes a permanent penalty that players on the Steam forum still see with a “Decent” base of private rooms, a temple, a dining room and workshops. It is working as designed: CanOpener’s own notes say it exists so you keep improving the settlement instead of only diving, and the penalty size depends on management difficulty. You cannot remove it, only outweigh it.
How to raise mood
- Private bedrooms. Players consistently report that a settler in their own room is happier than four bedrolls in one room, regardless of room size. See room quality.
- Good meals in a dining room. High-quality food eaten in a proper dining room gives a longer mood buff.
- Recreation. Dice, dart and card tables; alternate them, since repeating one activity loses effect.
- The right diet. Separate meat and vegetable lines for Lizardmen and Elves (food guide).
- Short dungeon runs. Leave before Dungeon Stay reaches its later stages. See depletion and Dungeon Stay.
- Sleep before you go. A rested, recently slept party enters with fresh room bonuses.
- Torches. A torch-bearer gives nearby allies a small mood boost as well as vision.
When a settler is about to break
Pull them out of the dungeon, feed them their preferred food and let them sleep in a private room. If they already had a break, treat the next few days as the danger window, because the second break is the lethal one.
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