Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

v0.34:Flow

2013-09-04T01:37:06Z

ZortLF2: Undo revision 192067 by ZortLF2 (talk)

{{av}}
{{quality|Masterwork|02:44, 08 November 2010 (UTC)}}
:''The term '''flow''' can be used to refer to several completely different things in Dwarf Fortress: things like [[miasma]] and [[smoke]], and the mechanism by which [[water]] and [[magma]] move. This article describes the latter.''

{{Material properties}}
'''Flow''' is a game mechanic used to simulate the motion of '''fluids'''. The two fluids that exist in dwarf fortress currently are '''[[water]]''' and '''[[magma]]'''. You can identify fluids that are flowing by looking for a tile that is blinking between {{Tile|≈|1:0:1}} and {{Tile|~|1:0:1}} tiles. If you have turned on [[Technical_tricks#Tiles|SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS]] you will see the fluid '''depth''' indicator of {{Tile|1|1:0:1}} through {{Tile|7|1:0:1}} instead and will not be able to easily tell if the game considers a tile to be flowing or not. Flow is typically present any time a fluid is in motion, but there are some exceptions which confuse things a bit.
*Note: In the current release flow does not seem to appear in magma. Magma follows the same rules of fluid motion and flow, it simply doesn't have flow in the sense that would allow it to power a water wheel.

==Basic Fluid Motion==
'''[[Water]]''' and '''[[magma]]''' both move in much the same way following a fairly simple set of rules. The only difference between the motion of [[magma]] and water is that magma behaves differently with regards to [[pressure]].

Fluids move mostly as one might expect: they will fall straight down if they can, or else they will spread out to the sides. Fluids can flow diagonally on the same z-level, but will never move sideways and down at the same time. Under basic fluid motion, fluid never moves back up, but it can appear to do so if pressure is involved.

Here is a quick example of how fluids can move to adjacent tiles. Also as water moves to an adjacent tile flow is generated in both tiles. This flow will remain for a short time before reverting back to being non-flowing water. Falling water does ''not'' generate flow, so only the 3rd example will result in flow (in both tiles).

'''Before (side view)'''
▒7▒ ▒7▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒2▒ ▒7
▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒

'''After (side view)'''
▒ ▒ ▒2▒ ▒
▒7▒ ▒7▒ ▒43
▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒

*1. Fluids move down
*2. Fluids spread out to the sides

These rules are incomplete, however, without consideration of [[pressure]].

==Fluids under pressure, aka Teleportation==

Magma, which has no natural pressure, flows according to the rules of basic fluid motion. Water, however, can move by pressure when it falls down on top of full 7/7 water. In addition, pumps create pressure in both water and magma, and water entering the map at from a stream or river follows pressure as well.

Fluids moving under '''[[pressure]]''' do not just move to adjacent tiles, they also trace a path through other full tiles of fluid trying to move to more distant tiles. Fluids moving under [[pressure]] can effectively teleport through other tiles that are already filled with fluid. When teleporting, fluids do not generate '''any''' flow, neither will they push objects around.

{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
▒[#00f]7▒ ▒
Before ▒[#00f]7▒ ▒
▒[#00f]7[#00f]7[#00f]7▒
▒▒▒▒▒
--------------------
▒ ▒ ▒
After ▒[#00f]7▒[#00f]7▒
▒[#00f]7[#00f]7[#00f]7▒
▒▒▒▒▒
}}
When a fluid tries to move by pressure, it tries to trace a path through full 7/7 fluids going down, and horizontally, but ''not'' diagonally. In this way it is like basic flow, except that pressure works faster; fluid from the source is teleported to the open space at the end, rather than having to wait for open space to open up at the source via normal flow. This is why, for example, diagonal squeezes in channels make water flow slower (they block pressure, forcing it to only spread out sideways), and why rivers and streams on the map are usually full of 7/7 water until close to the edge of the map where the rules of basic fluid motion are draining the water off the map while pressure teleports new water from the source all the way down to the end.

What's more, unlike basic flow, the path pressure traces can even go back up--but never higher than the z-level of the first 7/7 tile on the path it was tracing. So it may appear that pressure 'pushes fluids up', but in fact it's only teleporting fluid to a level even or lower.

Thus the result is that pressure movement of fluids (especially water) is common and doesn't create very much flow. However rivers and streams still seem to have some kind of flow that powers water wheels, called natural flow.

==Fluid Displacement by Cave-in, aka Pistons==
:''(see also '''[[magma piston]])'''''

There's one way to push a fluid higher than its starting level, but it might be considered a bug on the flow mechanics and probably will be changed in following versions since allows for what could be considered exploits.

A ''natural'' wall of any material '''[[cave-in|falling]]''' onto both water ''or'' '''[[magma]]''' will teleport each tile of displaced fluid to open space directly above it, leaving 1 additional tile of open space directly above the wall itself:
Start Step 1 Step 2
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ I ▒ Collapse ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒ 7 ▒ -----------> ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ Support ▒ ▒ Spreads ▒232▒
▒▒7▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒
When done in an u-bend example the pushing above original fluid level can be easily appreciated, although it breaks the laws of regular fluid physics:
Start Step 1 Step 2
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ I ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ 7 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ Collapse ▒ 7 ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒545▒ ▒
▒▒7▒▒7▒ Support ▒▒▒▒▒7▒ Spreads ▒▒▒▒▒7▒
▒▒7777▒ ▒▒▒777▒ ▒▒▒777▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
This is the basic principle that the '''[[magma piston]]''' exploit, if you want to prevent a future fix or simply want to simulate regular physics fluid behaviour, you can do something like this:
z-level Start Step 1 Step 2
z+0 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-1 ▒ | ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-2 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ 7 7 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-3 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ Collapse ▒ 7 7 ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒ ▒
z-4 ▒ ▒?▒ -----------> ▒ ▒?▒ -----------> ▒55455▒?▒
z-5 ▒▒777▒▒7▒ Support ▒▒▒7▒▒▒7▒ Spreads ▒▒▒7▒▒▒7▒
z-6 ▒▒777777▒ ▒▒▒7▒777▒ ▒▒▒7▒777▒
z-7 ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

z-3 Top View z-5 Top View z-3 Top View (Step 1) z-4 Top View (Step 2)
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒ ▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒ ▒ ▒44544▒
Axis ▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒777▒▒▒▒ ▒ 777 ▒▒▒ ▒45554▒▒▒ Axis
--------▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒--------------▒▒777▒▒7▒--------------▒ 7 7 ▒?▒---------------▒55455▒?▒--------
Cut ▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒777▒▒▒▒ ▒ 777 ▒▒▒ ▒45554▒▒▒ Cut
▒ ▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒ ▒ ▒44544▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
This example involves dropping a giant ''(minimum size 3x3x1)'' donut/cylinder/tube of natural walls onto the fluid pool, given that it will teleport a donut/cylinder/tube of fluid in the same way ''(step 1)'' but after it spreads ''(step 2)'' it'll seem that the fluid actually went through the opening in the middle of the donut/cylinder/tube like a real fluid should behave, of course one exception it won't be pushed through the right tube like it should, you'll probably want to close the tile marked with a question mark "?" so it can give the impression of real fluid mechanics.

==Natural Flow==
Many water sources such as [[river]]s and [[brook]]s are constantly flowing with '''natural flow'''. This is different from other flow effects in that it is always considered to be flowing water. This remains true even when the water flows into a complete dead end channel or even when blocked off with a floodgate. Any channels that link up to a naturally flowing source will soon become naturally flowing water as long as they remain on the same z-level. Diagonal steps have no effect on natural flow although they can be used to change [[pressure]].

Trying to move natural flow up or down to a different z-level may have unpredictable results but in most cases this will break the natural flow effect resulting in still water that can only be made to flow by artificial means.

Naturally flowing water, depending on its environment, flows in a specific direction - when SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS is disabled, water which flows directly into a wall will flash white while other water remains blue. This flow direction is important to note, since it affects the operation of [[water wheel]]s: water which flows directly north or south will not power an east/west-aligned water wheel, and the opposite is also true. Diagonally flowing water, however, works for everything.

==Fluid Depth==
{{Main|Water depth}}
Fluids can have a depth anywhere from 1 to 7. To see the depth of a tile of fluid you can look at it with {{k|k}} which will reveal the depth in the text at the right. Alternatively you can enable SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS which will replace the {{Tile|≈|1:0:1}} and {{Tile|~|1:0:1}} tiles with a numerical representation of the depth at all times. Turning on SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS does come with the drawback that you will no longer be able to see if a tile is flowing or not.

==Obstructions==
Water can be stopped by most solid tiles. These include [[wall]]s and [[building]]s as well as closed [[floodgate]]s, [[door]]s, and [[hatch]]es. Exceptions are vertical [[grate]]s, vertical [[bars]], and [[fortification]]s, which will allow fluids to pass freely.

==Evaporation==
Fluids that remain at a depth of 1/7 for long enough will evaporate. Evaporated fluids are simply removed from the game. In '''hot''' or '''scorching''' environments, [[murky pool]]s can evaporate at greater depths.

==Bugs==
*Items pushed by flowing water may disappear {{Bug|895}}
*Flowing water seems to cause contaminants to multiply {{Bug|296}}

{{Category|Physics}}

v0.34:Flow

2013-09-04T01:35:56Z

ZortLF2: /* Natural Flow */

{{av}}
{{quality|Masterwork|02:44, 08 November 2010 (UTC)}}
:''The term '''flow''' can be used to refer to several completely different things in Dwarf Fortress: things like [[miasma]] and [[smoke]], and the mechanism by which [[water]] and [[magma]] move. This article describes the latter.''

{{Material properties}}
'''Flow''' is a game mechanic used to simulate the motion of '''fluids'''. The two fluids that exist in dwarf fortress currently are '''[[water]]''' and '''[[magma]]'''. You can identify fluids that are flowing by looking for a tile that is blinking between {{Tile|≈|1:0:1}} and {{Tile|~|1:0:1}} tiles. If you have turned on [[Technical_tricks#Tiles|SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS]] you will see the fluid '''depth''' indicator of {{Tile|1|1:0:1}} through {{Tile|7|1:0:1}} instead and will not be able to easily tell if the game considers a tile to be flowing or not. Flow is typically present any time a fluid is in motion, but there are some exceptions which confuse things a bit.
*Note: In the current release flow does not seem to appear in magma. Magma follows the same rules of fluid motion and flow, it simply doesn't have flow in the sense that would allow it to power a water wheel.

==Basic Fluid Motion==
'''[[Water]]''' and '''[[magma]]''' both move in much the same way following a fairly simple set of rules. The only difference between the motion of [[magma]] and water is that magma behaves differently with regards to [[pressure]].

Fluids move mostly as one might expect: they will fall straight down if they can, or else they will spread out to the sides. Fluids can flow diagonally on the same z-level, but will never move sideways and down at the same time. Under basic fluid motion, fluid never moves back up, but it can appear to do so if pressure is involved.

Here is a quick example of how fluids can move to adjacent tiles. Also as water moves to an adjacent tile flow is generated in both tiles. This flow will remain for a short time before reverting back to being non-flowing water. Falling water does ''not'' generate flow, so only the 3rd example will result in flow (in both tiles).

'''Before (side view)'''
▒7▒ ▒7▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒2▒ ▒7
▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒

'''After (side view)'''
▒ ▒ ▒2▒ ▒
▒7▒ ▒7▒ ▒43
▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒

*1. Fluids move down
*2. Fluids spread out to the sides

These rules are incomplete, however, without consideration of [[pressure]].

==Fluids under pressure, aka Teleportation==

Magma, which has no natural pressure, flows according to the rules of basic fluid motion. Water, however, can move by pressure when it falls down on top of full 7/7 water. In addition, pumps create pressure in both water and magma, and water entering the map at from a stream or river follows pressure as well.

Fluids moving under '''[[pressure]]''' do not just move to adjacent tiles, they also trace a path through other full tiles of fluid trying to move to more distant tiles. Fluids moving under [[pressure]] can effectively teleport through other tiles that are already filled with fluid. When teleporting, fluids do not generate '''any''' flow, neither will they push objects around.

{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
▒[#00f]7▒ ▒
Before ▒[#00f]7▒ ▒
▒[#00f]7[#00f]7[#00f]7▒
▒▒▒▒▒
--------------------
▒ ▒ ▒
After ▒[#00f]7▒[#00f]7▒
▒[#00f]7[#00f]7[#00f]7▒
▒▒▒▒▒
}}
When a fluid tries to move by pressure, it tries to trace a path through full 7/7 fluids going down, and horizontally, but ''not'' diagonally. In this way it is like basic flow, except that pressure works faster; fluid from the source is teleported to the open space at the end, rather than having to wait for open space to open up at the source via normal flow. This is why, for example, diagonal squeezes in channels make water flow slower (they block pressure, forcing it to only spread out sideways), and why rivers and streams on the map are usually full of 7/7 water until close to the edge of the map where the rules of basic fluid motion are draining the water off the map while pressure teleports new water from the source all the way down to the end.

What's more, unlike basic flow, the path pressure traces can even go back up--but never higher than the z-level of the first 7/7 tile on the path it was tracing. So it may appear that pressure 'pushes fluids up', but in fact it's only teleporting fluid to a level even or lower.

Thus the result is that pressure movement of fluids (especially water) is common and doesn't create very much flow. However rivers and streams still seem to have some kind of flow that powers water wheels, called natural flow.

==Fluid Displacement by Cave-in, aka Pistons==
:''(see also '''[[magma piston]])'''''

There's one way to push a fluid higher than its starting level, but it might be considered a bug on the flow mechanics and probably will be changed in following versions since allows for what could be considered exploits.

A ''natural'' wall of any material '''[[cave-in|falling]]''' onto both water ''or'' '''[[magma]]''' will teleport each tile of displaced fluid to open space directly above it, leaving 1 additional tile of open space directly above the wall itself:
Start Step 1 Step 2
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ I ▒ Collapse ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒ 7 ▒ -----------> ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ Support ▒ ▒ Spreads ▒232▒
▒▒7▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒
When done in an u-bend example the pushing above original fluid level can be easily appreciated, although it breaks the laws of regular fluid physics:
Start Step 1 Step 2
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ I ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ 7 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ Collapse ▒ 7 ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒ ▒
▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒ ▒ ▒ -----------> ▒545▒ ▒
▒▒7▒▒7▒ Support ▒▒▒▒▒7▒ Spreads ▒▒▒▒▒7▒
▒▒7777▒ ▒▒▒777▒ ▒▒▒777▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
This is the basic principle that the '''[[magma piston]]''' exploit, if you want to prevent a future fix or simply want to simulate regular physics fluid behaviour, you can do something like this:
z-level Start Step 1 Step 2
z+0 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-1 ▒ | ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-2 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ 7 7 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒
z-3 ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ Collapse ▒ 7 7 ▒ ▒ Fluid ▒ ▒ ▒
z-4 ▒ ▒?▒ -----------> ▒ ▒?▒ -----------> ▒55455▒?▒
z-5 ▒▒777▒▒7▒ Support ▒▒▒7▒▒▒7▒ Spreads ▒▒▒7▒▒▒7▒
z-6 ▒▒777777▒ ▒▒▒7▒777▒ ▒▒▒7▒777▒
z-7 ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

z-3 Top View z-5 Top View z-3 Top View (Step 1) z-4 Top View (Step 2)
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒ ▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒ ▒ ▒44544▒
Axis ▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒777▒▒▒▒ ▒ 777 ▒▒▒ ▒45554▒▒▒ Axis
--------▒ ▒ ▒ ▒ ▒--------------▒▒777▒▒7▒--------------▒ 7 7 ▒?▒---------------▒55455▒?▒--------
Cut ▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒777▒▒▒▒ ▒ 777 ▒▒▒ ▒45554▒▒▒ Cut
▒ ▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒ ▒ ▒44544▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
This example involves dropping a giant ''(minimum size 3x3x1)'' donut/cylinder/tube of natural walls onto the fluid pool, given that it will teleport a donut/cylinder/tube of fluid in the same way ''(step 1)'' but after it spreads ''(step 2)'' it'll seem that the fluid actually went through the opening in the middle of the donut/cylinder/tube like a real fluid should behave, of course one exception it won't be pushed through the right tube like it should, you'll probably want to close the tile marked with a question mark "?" so it can give the impression of real fluid mechanics.

==Natural Flow==
Many water sources such as [[river]]s and [[brook]]s are constantly flowing with '''natural flow'''. This is different from other flow effects in that it is always considered to be flowing water. This remains true even when the water flows into a complete dead end channel or even when blocked off with a floodgate. Any channels that link up to a naturally flowing source will soon become naturally flowing water as long as they remain on the same z-level. Diagonal steps have no effect on natural flow although they can be used to change [[pressure]].

Trying to move natural flow up or down to a different z-level may have unpredictable results but in most cases this will break the natural flow effect resulting in still water that can only be made to flow by artificial means.

Naturally flowing water, depending on its environment, flows in a specific direction - when SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS is disabled, water which flows directly into a wall will flash white while other water remains blue. This flow direction is important to note, since it affects the operation of [[water wheel]]s: water which flows directly north or south will not power an east/west-aligned water wheel, and vice versa. Diagonally flowing water, however, works for everything.

==Fluid Depth==
{{Main|Water depth}}
Fluids can have a depth anywhere from 1 to 7. To see the depth of a tile of fluid you can look at it with {{k|k}} which will reveal the depth in the text at the right. Alternatively you can enable SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS which will replace the {{Tile|≈|1:0:1}} and {{Tile|~|1:0:1}} tiles with a numerical representation of the depth at all times. Turning on SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS does come with the drawback that you will no longer be able to see if a tile is flowing or not.

==Obstructions==
Water can be stopped by most solid tiles. These include [[wall]]s and [[building]]s as well as closed [[floodgate]]s, [[door]]s, and [[hatch]]es. Exceptions are vertical [[grate]]s, vertical [[bars]], and [[fortification]]s, which will allow fluids to pass freely.

==Evaporation==
Fluids that remain at a depth of 1/7 for long enough will evaporate. Evaporated fluids are simply removed from the game. In '''hot''' or '''scorching''' environments, [[murky pool]]s can evaporate at greater depths.

==Bugs==
*Items pushed by flowing water may disappear {{Bug|895}}
*Flowing water seems to cause contaminants to multiply {{Bug|296}}

{{Category|Physics}}

Template talk:Verify

2013-08-28T15:33:24Z

ZortLF2: /* Perpetual verification */

How about a nice box like [[template:deletion]]? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 14:40, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

: Because it is one statement that needs verification - not the entire article. This clearly identifies the statement and also allows multiple verification statements in an article. It is akin to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Unreferenced Template:Unreferenced] on Wikipedia that puts in "Citation needed". (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_Luftballons for an example) --[[User:Shagie|Shagie]] 14:57, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

:: I like it that way, useful but not obtrusive. --[[User:Senso|Senso]] 15:03, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

:: Good points, I agree. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:17, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

== Perpetual verification ==

What mechanism is in place to prevent every article from constantly attracting "verify" tags? Compare this to "citation needed" on Wikipedia: the addition of a citation handily prevents (well, hopefully at least deters) future editors from adding another "citation needed" tag. But here, if I spend the time to research a fact/sentence/paragraph/article? marked "verify" and yank the tag, it'll pop back up again as soon as another editor decides that the statement is not glaringly obvious. This results in a perpetual verification cycle that wastes everyone's time and doesn't improve the quality of the wiki. (And, let's be honest: having "verified" the same sentence several times, are you really going to load up the game and check it again every time another editor demands verification? No; you either give up and let some other editor waste his time verifying, or you reflexively remove the "verify" tag making it effectively useless.)

I would much rather see something like a "disputed" tag--then the burden falls on the tagger to provide at least a basic level of evidence that the statement is incorrect. Making it an "active" process (as opposed to the current "reactive" process) would focus our effort on improving articles instead of constantly spinning our collective wheels. --[[User:Loci|Loci]] 00:05, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

:I assumed the idea was you link the "verify" tag to the talk page wherein you prove the point in question, you don't just yank it. Or was your comment made before "verify" tags linked to the talk page? [[User:ZortLF2|ZortLF2]] ([[User talk:ZortLF2|talk]]) 15:33, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

v0.34:Exploit

2013-08-27T01:00:11Z

ZortLF2: added backpack of holding

{{quality|Exceptional|15:49, 24 August 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

An '''exploit''' is a quirk of a game that allows players to gain what other players may consider an unfair advantage, usually by making use of a feature that is not working properly or which defies logic. 'Exploiting the game' is distinct from '[[Main:cheating|cheating]]' because exploits occur within the game as written and do not need any external [[Main:utilities|utilities]] or [[Main:modding|modding]]. Whether a player chooses to make use of an exploit or not depends on their personal taste; given that [[Main:Dwarf Fortress|Dwarf Fortress]] is a single-player game, the user alone can decide what liberties to take and what options to shun. Among DF players there is much discussion about what actually should be considered an exploit, going from making sweetpod syrup instead of sugar, growing crops in winter, or even underground, as the one extreme, to justifying 'water wheel batteries' as the other. This page takes a rather relaxed approach in that you considering it an exploit is basically enough to add it, if you don't get too much opposition.

== Atom Smasher ==
{{main|Dwarven atom smasher}}

Lowering a raised [[drawbridge]] can be used to obliterate most creatures or items beneath it. The drawbridge will be destroyed if it is used to crush a creature of too large a size.

==Manager Exercise Program==

As a [[Manager]], skill is gained as tasks are approved, not completed. Simply by queuing lots of jobs ({{key|j}} {{key|m}} {{key|q}}) (and providing a meager office), the manager will quickly level to [[legendary]] as an [[Organizer]]. The tasks can then be removed once approved.

==Merchant Swindles==

There are a variety of ways to steal cargo from [[merchant]]s without seizing it; all amount to naked theft. Tearing down the [[trade depot]] while the merchants are there is the easiest way.

Also, marking items for [[dump]]ing, using view creature mode ({{key|v}}), the stocks menu ({{key|z}}), items in room mode ({{key|t}}), or mass dump mode ({{key|d}})-({{key|b}})-({{key|d}}) then marking the entire depot, lets you relieve merchants of their goods. Just reclaim the items from your garbage dump [[zone]] later. You can even take clothing and equipment off merchant and guards this way.

You can make a wall around the merchants (and even the poor animals) and let them starve to death, letting you take what ever you want. Wait quite a while for them to starve. They will become [[Insanity|very angry]] if you do, so never open the door once they are on the brink of death.

However, the merchants will consider any lost goods to be stolen goods regardless of the method used to take possession of them, or used to destroy them.{{Verify}} See [[40d:Trading#Note_that_the_civ|the 40d page]] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=43771.msg829692#msg829692 This forum post]. So unless you specifically want to take the clothing off the backs of the merchants or steal from your own civ, you might as well just seize the goods anyway.

== Quantum stockpiles ==

A Quantum Stockpile (QSP) allows you to store an infinte number of items in a single tile. QSPs can make for super efficient storage, allowing more compact fortresses, shorter hauling routes, more efficient manufacturing flows, stocktaking at a glance with look {{K|k}} and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 possibly higher FPS].

Note that, due to {{bug|5994|cat=nocat}}, deconstructing [[construction]]s near a quantum stockpile can potentially create many simultaneous [[hauling]] jobs. There is currently no easy way to prevent this. Undumps, due to their single-job nature, will not have this problem, and minecart stops will generate only a limited number of jobs due to their [[minecart#Capacity|capacity]].

=== Simple Quantum Stockpiles ===
The simplest QSP is created by designating a garbage pit zone instead of a [[stockpile]], dumping the items you want to store and then reclaiming them when you are ready to use them.

A similar effect may be achieved for stones by building a wall two tiles in front of a catapult and digging a channel between the wall and catapult. By firing the catapult at the wall, the stone falls into the trench. The stone will pile up in the channel, putting it out of sight and out of mind. Not only does this train [[siege operator]]s, but it clears the stone that your [[miner]]s leave everywhere.

Another way to quantum stockpile is to not have appropriate stockpiles to move items back to after you move them to the trading depot. The depot can hold an infinite number of items, and those items will not be removed if there is nowhere else to place them. This is also useful for anything you want to trade anyway.

=== The Minecart Stop ===
This method allows the type of items to be stored in the Quantum Stockpile to be completely controlled and to be as broad or specific as required. Collection of items is automatic with no user input required (just like a normal stockpile), and the number of haulers collecting for the stockpile is controlled by the size and number of receiving stockpiles. Distribution is also automatic, with dwarves coming to collect items as needed (just like from a normal stockpile).

This can be utilised as part of a [[minecart]] transport system, or standalone with no tracks or moving minecarts whatsoever. The steps below are to create a standalone Quantum Stockpile, but the same general principles apply if used in a minecart transport system.

''Setup:''
rrrr r receiving stockpile
S S track stop, set to dump south
d d distribution stockpile

# Build a track stop {{K|b}} - {{K|C}} - {{K|S}}. Ensure you set the dumping direction {{K|d}}.
# Designate a 1x1 distribution stockpile {{K|p}} on the square where the stop will dump and define preferences {{K|q}} to make the settings {{K|s}} store only what you want, with no barrels {{K|E}}, bins {{K|C}} or wheelbarrows {{K|w}}.
# Designate a receiving stockpile {{K|p}} (can be anywhere, but optimally right next to the constructed track stop) of any size. The larger it is, the more dwarves will simultaneously collect items. Define the preferences{{K|q}} of this stockpile to be the same as the distribution stockpile, with the possible exception of the number of wheelbarrows. If the QSP is for heavy items (eg loose [[stone]]s), you may want to use wheelbarrows in the receiving stockpile to speed up collection. Wheelbarrows will place a limit of up to three dwarves simulatenously collecting, unless you make multiple receiving stockpiles, each with its own set of wheelbarrows.
# Construct a new hauling route {{K|h}}, assign a vehicle {{K|v}}, and define a new stop {{K|s}} on your constructed track stop. {{K|Enter}} to define the stop, {{K|Enter}} again to set the desired items to the same as your stockpiles, {{K|x}} to remove all existing conditions, {{K|s}} to make a stockpile link and choose the receiving stockpile/s to tell the minecart track stop to take from them.

It is a little fiddly to initially set up, and if you miss any step it won't work at all, but once in operation it's an extremely efficient storage system, and scales easily with the size of your fortress, number of haulers and number of items to store.

This method cannot store any items in [[bin]]s or [[barrel]]s at all, including bolts (which often need bins to be stored effectively), and all types of drinks (you will see your dwarves leave barrels and pots of alcohol all over the place). This method also tends to attract [[vermin]] more, especially hordes of swarms of [[fly|flies]], since [[food]] stored using this method can't be placed in barrels.

=== The Undump ===
This technique was [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 developed] before minecarts were implemented. While still a valid method, it has been superseded by the Minecart Stop QSP which achieves the same result, is easier to set up and has fewer drawbacks.

''Setup:''
H Hatch cover
===== ^ pressure plate, citizens trigger, linked to hatch
^sHs= = Wall
===== s Stockpile (same type)

The idea is that haulers try to place some item on the right stockpile, step on the pressure plate and make the hatch cover retract. This makes them cancel the hauling job because they can't reach the right stockpile. They then drop the item on the left stockpile, on top of as big of a pile as you want.

More information on this method can be found on the inventor's [[User:Vasiln/Undump|user page]].

Drawbacks to this design:
#It's slow, because the one target stockpile generates only one job at a time. If you have more than one target stockpile they create lag because of pathing issues. You probably want to keep your normal stockpiles and use the undump to clean them up slowly. At which point you could consider just using the normal quantum stockpile dumping. Or you build more undumps.
#Job cancellation spam. You can turn that off.
#Oftentimes, dwarves drop the item on top of the pressure plate instead of on the stockpile. A feeder stockpile just outside the undump helps here.
#You obviously need some materials to build it.
#You need to create an open space tile where the hatch cover is (channelling only leaves a ramp), which means digging in the level below.
#You want to set the pressure plate to the lowest minimum weight (10000, which gets a zero cut off and displays as 1000). This can get tedious, so getting a macro is advised.
#If your stockpile management is exceptional already, the undump may not be of as much use to you.
However, there is a multitude of potential applications that get discussed in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 this] thread.

== Building destroyer door ==

Forbid something a dwarf is carrying as he goes through a door, and he'll drop it. The door won't close and won't stop any normal creature from going through, but building destroyers seem to stop in their tracks, waiting for it to close before moving on. Note: your civilians can pass the creature safely, but attacking it cancels your protection. {{Verify}}

== HFS's back door ==

There's a convoluted way to dig down through [[semi-molten rock]] and evade the head-on encounter with [[hidden fun stuff]]. Doing this can enable you to, among other things, mine undiggable [[slade]] and duplicate rare minerals. See the page for [[semi-molten rock]] for details.

== Forgotten beast zoo ==

Wall off all the passageways into your lowest level at the outermost square of the map - except one, which leads to a little vestibule surrounded by fortifications. Wave hello to the various ungainly "[[forgotten beast]]s" which accumulate inside.

== Dwarven Water Reactor ==

A [[screw pump]] requires 10 power to move water; a [[water wheel]] supplies 100 power if it's got water moving it. Arrange the former to feed the latter, while the latter powers the former, and you can get perpetual motion going - with a surplus of power available. See [[Water wheel#Perpetual motion|here]] for more details.

== Urist McAdventurer the Shield-wall ==

Adventurers are not limited in the number of items they can hold in their hands, allowing them to equip a virtually unlimited number of shields or bucklers with little effect to the adventurer's performance. This offers multiple chances to block attacks (vastly reducing the number that cause damage) and quickly trains up the shield user skill, further increasing the effectiveness of those shields. There is an indirect limit on how many shields you can equip based on how the total weight of your adventurer's items affects your speed, but the tradeoff between wearing a dozen (or more) shields is well worth the minor reduction in speed.

== Infinite drink in adventure mode ==

Thirst can be quenched indefinitely in adventure mode by emptying a waterskin when you only have 1 unit of liquid left and refilling it from the pool that forms; giving you 3 units of drink. This is especially useful if you managed to find alcohol and fill your waterskin with some, as alcohol never freezes in cold weather.

== Backpack of holding ==

In adventurer mode, if you try to pick something up while both your hands are already holding something, it'll go straight in your backpack, even if it would not have fit had you first picked it up and then tried to put it inside. That means you can stuff as much as you want into your backpack.

== And we'll throw in the barrel/bag for free ==

On [[embark]] buying things which are stored in [[barrel]]s gets the barrel for free, with at most 10 items per barrel, so, for example, the 15 units of randomly chosen [[meat]] which come with the default supplies will get you two free barrels, one completely filled with 10 units of meat and one half filled with 5 units of meat; you get another two free barrels from the 15 units of randomly chosen [[fish]]. You can get rid of all of that food, then for the same cost select one unit each of meat from 30 different kinds of animals, giving you 30 free barrels instead of only 4, since each different kind of animal meat is put in its own barrel. Note that different types of meat from the same kind of animal goes into a single barrel, so choosing 1 yak brain + 1 yak eye + 1 yak spleen will get you only one free barrel instead of three.

The same thing goes for things stored in [[bag]]s. Each unit of [[sand]] comes in its own bag, and since each unit of sand costs only 1 embark point while bags cost a minimum of 10 embark points each, you can get bags for ten times cheaper by buying sand, then [[dumping]] out the sand after embark.

== Infinite Adamantine / Metals ==

Because one bar of metal produces 25 bolts and a single bolt can be melted to 0.1 bars of metal, you can create unlimited adamantine wafers in your fortress using a [[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Bolt_Splitting_Operation|clever setup]] with marksdwarves to separate the stacks of adamantine bolts into single bolts. See this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=51423.0 forum thread] for more details.

Coins may also be split at a [[trade depot]] and melted down individually for up to a 50x return. Smelt a stack of coins, then trade it to a caravan. You can then buy the stack back in pieces, and each individual smaller stack will melt and produce .1 bars. One bar produces 500 coins, but splitting it into stacks of 1 coin each would create 500 melt jobs, producing 50 bars in return. The process is discussed in greater detail, both with and without use of macros on this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111680.0 forum thread]. While potentially time consuming, this new method both results in far more bars produced per stack (potentially a net profit of 49 bars instead of 1.5), and can duplicate any metal, not just military ones while simultaneously training your broker. Combined with a magma smelter and properly written macros, this method turns a smelter into a free metal generator. Those who are less patient may instead opt to simply melt the coin stacks immediately after they are minted - while this yields only a 10% gain, it is far less time consuming.

For multiplying weapons/armor-grade metals, forging and melting giant axe blades, large serrated discs, and leggings will yield a 50% gain per item; note that this does ''not'' work with adamantine, since adamantine goods require 3 times as many wafers, instead leading to a 70% loss per item.

See the [[Melt item]] article for the best yields when melting down items made of mundane metals for the current version.

== Quick trade goods ==

Since [[trap component#spiked ball|spiked balls]] have an extremely high base [[item value]] of ''126'', they can be produced en masse from cheap [[wood]] or other materials and sold off to unsuspecting merchants. This makes for quick cash in any fortress that has a skilled carpenter and an excess of wood on hand.

In fact, any [[trap component]]s make extremely high-value trade goods, especially since metal components require only 1 [[bar]]. (They also increase the [[value]] of [[noble]]'s rooms, and are useful in defense.)

[[Prepared meal]]s can also be quick and valuable trade goods. Purchase an abundance of raw food when the traders arrive, and set your [[kitchen]] to work cooking that food into lavish meals. Then haul the stacks of meals back to the depot and trade them for whatever supplies you really want. The caravan will buy back meals composed of their own ingredients at 25x to 100x their initial value.

== Silk farm ==

{{main|Silk farming}}
A silk farm can serve as a safe and endless source of silk thread from [[giant cave spider]]s or other [[forgotten beast|web-spewing beasts]]. Its essence is a room with a bait creature separated from a web-spewing creature by fortifications. The webber will attempt to attack the bait by shooting [[web]]s through the fortifications. Weavers can collect the webs as silk thread and create silk cloth.

v0.34:Exploit

2013-08-27T00:51:02Z

ZortLF2: /* And we'll throw the barrel/bag in for free */ changed word order

{{quality|Exceptional|15:49, 24 August 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

An '''exploit''' is a quirk of a game that allows players to gain what other players may consider an unfair advantage, usually by making use of a feature that is not working properly or which defies logic. 'Exploiting the game' is distinct from '[[Main:cheating|cheating]]' because exploits occur within the game as written and do not need any external [[Main:utilities|utilities]] or [[Main:modding|modding]]. Whether a player chooses to make use of an exploit or not depends on their personal taste; given that [[Main:Dwarf Fortress|Dwarf Fortress]] is a single-player game, the user alone can decide what liberties to take and what options to shun. Among DF players there is much discussion about what actually should be considered an exploit, going from making sweetpod syrup instead of sugar, growing crops in winter, or even underground, as the one extreme, to justifying 'water wheel batteries' as the other. This page takes a rather relaxed approach in that you considering it an exploit is basically enough to add it, if you don't get too much opposition.

== Atom Smasher ==
{{main|Dwarven atom smasher}}

Lowering a raised [[drawbridge]] can be used to obliterate most creatures or items beneath it. The drawbridge will be destroyed if it is used to crush a creature of too large a size.

==Manager Exercise Program==

As a [[Manager]], skill is gained as tasks are approved, not completed. Simply by queuing lots of jobs ({{key|j}} {{key|m}} {{key|q}}) (and providing a meager office), the manager will quickly level to [[legendary]] as an [[Organizer]]. The tasks can then be removed once approved.

==Merchant Swindles==

There are a variety of ways to steal cargo from [[merchant]]s without seizing it; all amount to naked theft. Tearing down the [[trade depot]] while the merchants are there is the easiest way.

Also, marking items for [[dump]]ing, using view creature mode ({{key|v}}), the stocks menu ({{key|z}}), items in room mode ({{key|t}}), or mass dump mode ({{key|d}})-({{key|b}})-({{key|d}}) then marking the entire depot, lets you relieve merchants of their goods. Just reclaim the items from your garbage dump [[zone]] later. You can even take clothing and equipment off merchant and guards this way.

You can make a wall around the merchants (and even the poor animals) and let them starve to death, letting you take what ever you want. Wait quite a while for them to starve. They will become [[Insanity|very angry]] if you do, so never open the door once they are on the brink of death.

However, the merchants will consider any lost goods to be stolen goods regardless of the method used to take possession of them, or used to destroy them.{{Verify}} See [[40d:Trading#Note_that_the_civ|the 40d page]] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=43771.msg829692#msg829692 This forum post]. So unless you specifically want to take the clothing off the backs of the merchants or steal from your own civ, you might as well just seize the goods anyway.

== Quantum stockpiles ==

A Quantum Stockpile (QSP) allows you to store an infinte number of items in a single tile. QSPs can make for super efficient storage, allowing more compact fortresses, shorter hauling routes, more efficient manufacturing flows, stocktaking at a glance with look {{K|k}} and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 possibly higher FPS].

Note that, due to {{bug|5994|cat=nocat}}, deconstructing [[construction]]s near a quantum stockpile can potentially create many simultaneous [[hauling]] jobs. There is currently no easy way to prevent this. Undumps, due to their single-job nature, will not have this problem, and minecart stops will generate only a limited number of jobs due to their [[minecart#Capacity|capacity]].

=== Simple Quantum Stockpiles ===
The simplest QSP is created by designating a garbage pit zone instead of a [[stockpile]], dumping the items you want to store and then reclaiming them when you are ready to use them.

A similar effect may be achieved for stones by building a wall two tiles in front of a catapult and digging a channel between the wall and catapult. By firing the catapult at the wall, the stone falls into the trench. The stone will pile up in the channel, putting it out of sight and out of mind. Not only does this train [[siege operator]]s, but it clears the stone that your [[miner]]s leave everywhere.

Another way to quantum stockpile is to not have appropriate stockpiles to move items back to after you move them to the trading depot. The depot can hold an infinite number of items, and those items will not be removed if there is nowhere else to place them. This is also useful for anything you want to trade anyway.

=== The Minecart Stop ===
This method allows the type of items to be stored in the Quantum Stockpile to be completely controlled and to be as broad or specific as required. Collection of items is automatic with no user input required (just like a normal stockpile), and the number of haulers collecting for the stockpile is controlled by the size and number of receiving stockpiles. Distribution is also automatic, with dwarves coming to collect items as needed (just like from a normal stockpile).

This can be utilised as part of a [[minecart]] transport system, or standalone with no tracks or moving minecarts whatsoever. The steps below are to create a standalone Quantum Stockpile, but the same general principles apply if used in a minecart transport system.

''Setup:''
rrrr r receiving stockpile
S S track stop, set to dump south
d d distribution stockpile

# Build a track stop {{K|b}} - {{K|C}} - {{K|S}}. Ensure you set the dumping direction {{K|d}}.
# Designate a 1x1 distribution stockpile {{K|p}} on the square where the stop will dump and define preferences {{K|q}} to make the settings {{K|s}} store only what you want, with no barrels {{K|E}}, bins {{K|C}} or wheelbarrows {{K|w}}.
# Designate a receiving stockpile {{K|p}} (can be anywhere, but optimally right next to the constructed track stop) of any size. The larger it is, the more dwarves will simultaneously collect items. Define the preferences{{K|q}} of this stockpile to be the same as the distribution stockpile, with the possible exception of the number of wheelbarrows. If the QSP is for heavy items (eg loose [[stone]]s), you may want to use wheelbarrows in the receiving stockpile to speed up collection. Wheelbarrows will place a limit of up to three dwarves simulatenously collecting, unless you make multiple receiving stockpiles, each with its own set of wheelbarrows.
# Construct a new hauling route {{K|h}}, assign a vehicle {{K|v}}, and define a new stop {{K|s}} on your constructed track stop. {{K|Enter}} to define the stop, {{K|Enter}} again to set the desired items to the same as your stockpiles, {{K|x}} to remove all existing conditions, {{K|s}} to make a stockpile link and choose the receiving stockpile/s to tell the minecart track stop to take from them.

It is a little fiddly to initially set up, and if you miss any step it won't work at all, but once in operation it's an extremely efficient storage system, and scales easily with the size of your fortress, number of haulers and number of items to store.

This method cannot store any items in [[bin]]s or [[barrel]]s at all, including bolts (which often need bins to be stored effectively), and all types of drinks (you will see your dwarves leave barrels and pots of alcohol all over the place). This method also tends to attract [[vermin]] more, especially hordes of swarms of [[fly|flies]], since [[food]] stored using this method can't be placed in barrels.

=== The Undump ===
This technique was [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 developed] before minecarts were implemented. While still a valid method, it has been superseded by the Minecart Stop QSP which achieves the same result, is easier to set up and has fewer drawbacks.

''Setup:''
H Hatch cover
===== ^ pressure plate, citizens trigger, linked to hatch
^sHs= = Wall
===== s Stockpile (same type)

The idea is that haulers try to place some item on the right stockpile, step on the pressure plate and make the hatch cover retract. This makes them cancel the hauling job because they can't reach the right stockpile. They then drop the item on the left stockpile, on top of as big of a pile as you want.

More information on this method can be found on the inventor's [[User:Vasiln/Undump|user page]].

Drawbacks to this design:
#It's slow, because the one target stockpile generates only one job at a time. If you have more than one target stockpile they create lag because of pathing issues. You probably want to keep your normal stockpiles and use the undump to clean them up slowly. At which point you could consider just using the normal quantum stockpile dumping. Or you build more undumps.
#Job cancellation spam. You can turn that off.
#Oftentimes, dwarves drop the item on top of the pressure plate instead of on the stockpile. A feeder stockpile just outside the undump helps here.
#You obviously need some materials to build it.
#You need to create an open space tile where the hatch cover is (channelling only leaves a ramp), which means digging in the level below.
#You want to set the pressure plate to the lowest minimum weight (10000, which gets a zero cut off and displays as 1000). This can get tedious, so getting a macro is advised.
#If your stockpile management is exceptional already, the undump may not be of as much use to you.
However, there is a multitude of potential applications that get discussed in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.0 this] thread.

== Building destroyer door ==

Forbid something a dwarf is carrying as he goes through a door, and he'll drop it. The door won't close and won't stop any normal creature from going through, but building destroyers seem to stop in their tracks, waiting for it to close before moving on. Note: your civilians can pass the creature safely, but attacking it cancels your protection. {{Verify}}

== HFS's back door ==

There's a convoluted way to dig down through [[semi-molten rock]] and evade the head-on encounter with [[hidden fun stuff]]. Doing this can enable you to, among other things, mine undiggable [[slade]] and duplicate rare minerals. See the page for [[semi-molten rock]] for details.

== Forgotten beast zoo ==

Wall off all the passageways into your lowest level at the outermost square of the map - except one, which leads to a little vestibule surrounded by fortifications. Wave hello to the various ungainly "[[forgotten beast]]s" which accumulate inside.

== Dwarven Water Reactor ==

A [[screw pump]] requires 10 power to move water; a [[water wheel]] supplies 100 power if it's got water moving it. Arrange the former to feed the latter, while the latter powers the former, and you can get perpetual motion going - with a surplus of power available. See [[Water wheel#Perpetual motion|here]] for more details.

== Urist McAdventurer the Shield-wall ==

Adventurers are not limited in the number of items they can hold in their hands, allowing them to equip a virtually unlimited number of shields or bucklers with little effect to the adventurer's performance. This offers multiple chances to block attacks (vastly reducing the number that cause damage) and quickly trains up the shield user skill, further increasing the effectiveness of those shields. There is an indirect limit on how many shields you can equip based on how the total weight of your adventurer's items affects your speed, but the tradeoff between wearing a dozen (or more) shields is well worth the minor reduction in speed.

== No thirst in adventure mode ==

Thirst can be quenched indefinitely in adventure mode by emptying a waterskin when you only have 1 unit of liquid left and refilling it from the pool that forms; giving you 3 units of drink. This is especially useful if you managed to find alcohol and fill your waterskin with some; as alcohol never freezes in cold weather.

== And we'll throw in the barrel/bag for free ==

On [[embark]] buying things which are stored in [[barrel]]s gets the barrel for free, with at most 10 items per barrel, so, for example, the 15 units of randomly chosen [[meat]] which come with the default supplies will get you two free barrels, one completely filled with 10 units of meat and one half filled with 5 units of meat; you get another two free barrels from the 15 units of randomly chosen [[fish]]. You can get rid of all of that food, then for the same cost select one unit each of meat from 30 different kinds of animals, giving you 30 free barrels instead of only 4, since each different kind of animal meat is put in its own barrel. Note that different types of meat from the same kind of animal goes into a single barrel, so choosing 1 yak brain + 1 yak eye + 1 yak spleen will get you only one free barrel instead of three.

The same thing goes for things stored in [[bag]]s. Each unit of [[sand]] comes in its own bag, and since each unit of sand costs only 1 embark point while bags cost a minimum of 10 embark points each, you can get bags for ten times cheaper by buying sand, then [[dumping]] out the sand after embark.

== Infinite Adamantine / Metals ==

Because one bar of metal produces 25 bolts and a single bolt can be melted to 0.1 bars of metal, you can create unlimited adamantine wafers in your fortress using a [[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Bolt_Splitting_Operation|clever setup]] with marksdwarves to separate the stacks of adamantine bolts into single bolts. See this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=51423.0 forum thread] for more details.

Coins may also be split at a [[trade depot]] and melted down individually for up to a 50x return. Smelt a stack of coins, then trade it to a caravan. You can then buy the stack back in pieces, and each individual smaller stack will melt and produce .1 bars. One bar produces 500 coins, but splitting it into stacks of 1 coin each would create 500 melt jobs, producing 50 bars in return. The process is discussed in greater detail, both with and without use of macros on this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111680.0 forum thread]. While potentially time consuming, this new method both results in far more bars produced per stack (potentially a net profit of 49 bars instead of 1.5), and can duplicate any metal, not just military ones while simultaneously training your broker. Combined with a magma smelter and properly written macros, this method turns a smelter into a free metal generator. Those who are less patient may instead opt to simply melt the coin stacks immediately after they are minted - while this yields only a 10% gain, it is far less time consuming.

For multiplying weapons/armor-grade metals, forging and melting giant axe blades, large serrated discs, and leggings will yield a 50% gain per item; note that this does ''not'' work with adamantine, since adamantine goods require 3 times as many wafers, instead leading to a 70% loss per item.

See the [[Melt item]] article for the best yields when melting down items made of mundane metals for the current version.

== Quick trade goods ==

Since [[trap component#spiked ball|spiked balls]] have an extremely high base [[item value]] of ''126'', they can be produced en masse from cheap [[wood]] or other materials and sold off to unsuspecting merchants. This makes for quick cash in any fortress that has a skilled carpenter and an excess of wood on hand.

In fact, any [[trap component]]s make extremely high-value trade goods, especially since metal components require only 1 [[bar]]. (They also increase the [[value]] of [[noble]]'s rooms, and are useful in defense.)

[[Prepared meal]]s can also be quick and valuable trade goods. Purchase an abundance of raw food when the traders arrive, and set your [[kitchen]] to work cooking that food into lavish meals. Then haul the stacks of meals back to the depot and trade them for whatever supplies you really want. The caravan will buy back meals composed of their own ingredients at 25x to 100x their initial value.

== Silk farm ==

{{main|Silk farming}}
A silk farm can serve as a safe and endless source of silk thread from [[giant cave spider]]s or other [[forgotten beast|web-spewing beasts]]. Its essence is a room with a bait creature separated from a web-spewing creature by fortifications. The webber will attempt to attack the bait by shooting [[web]]s through the fortifications. Weavers can collect the webs as silk thread and create silk cloth.

v0.34:Attack

2013-08-27T00:40:37Z

ZortLF2: /* Dwarf Fortress Mode */ trimmed it a bit, since it's supposed to be short and quick

{{av}}
{{Quality|Fine|02:45, 24 May 2010 (UTC)}}
== Dwarf Fortress Mode ==
:''(See the [[Military]] article for a full discussion of how to manipulate squads and options with your military, like arming or armouring them, among many other important concepts. This article is for unarmed, immediate response only, the most basic concept.)''

The military menus (plural) can be confusing at first. You should learn how they work. But if you haven't done that, and all you want/need to do is deal with a minor target ''right now'', without any complex preparation, no armour or weapons, perhaps a [[thief]], perhaps a [[creature]], this is the easiest way to do it (short of relying on [[Kennel#Trainable_Animals|attack animals]] or [[trap design|complex traps]])...

:*1) '''Pause''' the game (by hitting {{k|spacebar}}).

:*2) In the '''{{k|n}}obles menu''', assign a "militia commander". Select a dwarf you ''don't'' plan to use for this skirmish.

::*2.1) Exit and re-enter the {{k|n}}obles screen and you'll notice a new position appears at the bottom, "militia captain". Assign one of the dwarves you want to use for this skirmish to "militia captain". {{k|Esc}} out of the nobles menu.

:*3) Open the '''{{k|m}}ilitary menu'''. Use the up/down arrows to highlight the "militia captain" and hit {{k|c}}reate squad.

::: When prompted, use the up/down arrows to highlight "'''no uniforms'''", and hit {{k|Enter}}. You should see the name of the squad and the captain you just assigned.

::*3.1) Use the left/right/up/down arrows to highlight an "AVAILABLE" slot, and then choose the next dwarf you want in that squad. (You can {{k|Esc}}ape to check the map and ID your dwarves and then come back to this {{k|m}}ilitary screen to finish filling in the squad.)

::*3.2) Once you have all the dwarves you want, hit {{k|u}} for "supplies". Use the {{k|-}}/{{k|+}} keys to select "'''Do not carry water'''", and the {{k|/}}/{{k|*}} keys to select "'''Do not carry food'''". Hit {{k|Esc}} to exit the military menu.

:*4) Now hit {{k|s}} to open the '''{{k|s}}quads sub-window'''.

::*4.1) Hit the letter key corresponding to your new squad (it should be {{k|a}} unless you have other squads set up previously). Typing the letter should just select the whole squad, highlighting the squad name in light blue - if it instead takes you to the individual recruit selection page, hit {{k|esc}} to go back to the squad page, then {{k|p}} once to reset to squad-level selection, and hit the squad's letter again.

::*4.1.5) Skip to the next step if the squad is already in range of the target(s) (which is likely if you formed the squad from the nearest <s>victims</s>volunteers); if not, hit {{k|m}}, move the cursor near (within 10 to 20 steps) to your target, and hit {{k|enter}} to order them to {{k|m}}ove to that location. (Note, though, if the target is moving or a long way away, ordering short hops may be better than ordering one move). Unpause (you may press space to unpause without leaving the squad window) and let them go to the location. When close, pause again and...

::*4.2) Hit {{k|k}} to attack ({{k|k}}ill!) a target. Now you have several ways to choose your target - or more than one target, depending on the method...

:::* If you move the cursor over the target, you can hit {{k|Enter}}.
:::* Hit {{k|l}}ist for a list of possible targets. The actual creatures/targets will flash on the main map with their identifying letter to aid you in differentiating.
:::* If you have a number of targets, you can move the cursor and hit {{k|Enter}} to form the opposite corners of a (highly visible!) rectangle - all non-friendly creatures within that area will then be targeted.

:::The squad should now be listed as assigned to "Kill _____", flashing in red at the top of the sub-window. Once you see that, hit {{k|Esc}}...

:*5) ...And '''un-pause''' the game.

:(When the deed is done, simply go into the {{k|m}}ilitary screen, select that squad, and {{k|d}}elete that squad. Since the dwarves have no equipment/weapons, they won't drop anything, and will simply find a new job and wander back to work.)

If the target escapes from the map or otherwise becomes inaccessible, then the order to kill may be cancelled without deleting the squad. Go to {{K|s}} squad, {{K|a}} select exclusively, {{K|o}} cancel Order. (Note that drowning does not count as "inaccessible" - a dwarf will cheerfully jump off an edge and fight a drowning rhesus macaque until he drowns 12 squares out in the open ocean)

Note that unarmed, untrained dwarves are not very impressive in their death-dealing abilities, not even against minor opponents - and one with a knife can prove to be quite dangerous. Sending four or more against a goblin/kobold thief will eventually kill the little bugger, but not before some injuries to the home team.

For a truly safe response system, you need regular military - and to expand on this by reading and understanding the [[military]] and related articles.

== [[adventure mode|Adventure Mode]] ==
There are two kinds of attacks in adventure mode: manual and automatic. When you bump into an enemy, you will automatically attack it, except in the times where there is more than one on the square, whereas you target the enemy you wish to hit. Manual targeting is based on the {{k|A}} key then the letter which corresponds the enemy you wish to attack, which allows more than just attacking manually. It allows you to [[wrestler|wrestle]] an enemy by pressing {{k|Enter}} in order to change attack modes from punching/weapon attacks, to wrestling, enabling you to choose in a list of using any body part that allows you to grab an enemy, and later being able to do more than just holding onto them. You can also use a takedown technique, that allows you to put them to the ground, plus a strangling technique, which enables you to slowly kill your enemy. It's the same as the way you attack in dwarf fortress mode: Fight to kill.

You do not need to worry about attacking friendly targets, as auto target prevents it. It instead replaced both squares both units were on to move to their own squares, instead of attacking. Manual attacking gives a confirmation before attacking, which will also cause any other [[civilization]] unit to attack you, however, other civilizations will remain unaffected.{{verify}}

{{Military}}

v0.34 Talk:Pressure plate

2013-08-18T18:44:15Z

ZortLF2: Created page with "The level of detail in this article is truly impressive. I thank thee, whoever had to do the experiments to figure it out. ~~~~"

The level of detail in this article is truly impressive. I thank thee, whoever had to do the experiments to figure it out. [[User:ZortLF2|ZortLF2]] ([[User talk:ZortLF2|talk]]) 18:44, 18 August 2013 (UTC)

v0.34:Health care

2013-08-11T19:38:45Z

ZortLF2: /* Skills and Injuries */ typo

{{quality|Exceptional|23:44, 17 April 2011 (UTC)}}{{av}}{{Buggy}}

A '''hospital''' is a [[Activity zone#Hospital|zone]] designated via the [[Activity zone|zone menu]]. Hospitals use any beds, tables, traction benches, and coffers/bags that have been built within the zone. The hospital will requisition [[thread]], [[cloth]], [[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[plaster powder]] (for casts), [[bucket]]s, and [[soap]] for medical use. These will be stored within the hospital's coffers/bags; you may adjust the desired quantities.

'''Doctors''' are dwarves assigned to any of the five medical labors: [[wound dresser|dressing wounds]], [[diagnostician|diagnosis]], [[surgeon|surgery]], [[bone doctor|setting bones]], and [[suturer|suturing]]. All doctors in the fortress operate under the instruction of the [[Chief medical dwarf]], an appointed [[noble]]. Doctors <strike>inflict</strike> perform medicine on a dwarf only after treatment has been prescribed by a diagnostician. Doctors do not perform any healthcare on animals, despite injured animals "requesting" diagnosis in the [[Health screen|z-health screen]].

All beds within a hospital zone are automatically hospital beds, where injured dwarves will go (or be brought) to recuperate. Tired healthy dwarves will occasionally camp there too if the hospital is close, even if they have their own bed.

==Setting up a Hospital==
* Hit {{k|i}} and set up a hospital [[zone]] in the area you plan on having your hospital. Be sure "Hospital" is highlighted. Proximity to [[water]] is a plus, since patients need to be washed and cannot drink alcohol.
* Place enough [[bed]]s in that zone to ensure you can keep all wounded dwarves in the hospital, plus a few spare that will be occupied by lazy couch-surfers.{{bug|647}} Note that normal beds or [[bedroom]]s can and will accept wounded dwarves whether or not a hospital zone exists, though hospital beds will be preferred if they are free. Doctors do not need a hospital zone, though a lack of equipment will probably limit care options.
* Build [[container]]s ({{k|b}}-{{k|h}}) to store hospital supplies. (A small hospital can manage with 2 containers, a fully fledged fortress with an adventurous military may need as much as 8. Also note that some people recommend setting up custom stockpiles instead.)
* Build at least one [[table]] ({{k|b}}-{{k|t}}) for surgeons to perform surgery on. You may perform surgery without tables; it will be more messy.
** Place the tables right next to the beds, or you may get "cancels surgery, patient not resting" spam, as moving the sleeping patient more than one square from the bed to the table wakes up the patient. {{bug|2773}}
** Multiple dwarves may undergo simultaneous surgeries on the same table.
* Build one or more [[traction bench]]es to handle compound fractures when the dwarf requires "immobilization." Remember to check back on the <strike>victim</strike> patient after a while or they may be in the traction bench a long, long time.{{bug|4470}} (Or be lucky; sometimes immobilization requests simply disappear with no bad consequences.)
** Each traction bench can only accommodate one dwarf at a time, and the dwarf may be there for quite some time, so plan accordingly.
* Stockpiles are not needed but can be used instead of chests and bags in the hospital zone.
* Assign a [[chief medical dwarf]] (in the [[noble]]s screen) to enable the fortress-wide [[health screen]] as well as invidual dwarves' health summary screens ({{k|v}}-{{k|z}}-{{k|h}}).
* Pick one or more dwarves to be doctors, and enable the health labor(s) on them (through {{k|v}}-{{k|p}}-{{k|l}}). Be sure the diagnosis labor is well covered. Without a diagnosis, patients cannot be treated. If they cannot be treated, they will occupy the hospital area until they die, performing no function. (Any dwarf with the Diagnosis labor enabled can diagnose dwarves, but the Chief Medical Dwarf may impact the diagnosis job creation{{verify}}. Once a patient is diagnosed, you can see on the individual health screen what procedures are needed, for example washing or suturing.)
* If you use a [[burrow]] to keep doctors near the hospital zone, ensure that this burrow covers all needed materials or you could get job cancellations because of lack of material. Thread/cloth stockpiles, and items bought from caravans (e.g. plaster early in the game) are often the most troubling.

== Skills and Injuries==
'''Doctors''' have 5 specialized skills and 2 support healthcare labors.

[[Diagnostician]] -- [[Surgeon]] -- [[Suturer]] -- [[Wound dresser]] -- [[Bone doctor]] -- Feed patients/prisoners -- [[Recovering wounded]]

Those with the '''recover wounded''' labor will attempt to bring a wounded dwarf to the hospital zone, or lacking one to the nearest unoccupied bed. Note that recovering wounded appears to be an extremely low priority task. Since immobile patients will need to be carried to a hospital before diagnosis, it may be necessary to temporarily disable all other labors on another dwarf to move them first.

A '''diagnoser''' will then identify and prescribe a treatment which any doctor (including himself) may carry out. A dwarf cannot be treated without a diagnosis. Depending on the injury a treatment labor will occur. Diagnosis is often required between procedures as well.

[[Wound|Injuries]]
:{| border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1 style="background: black"
|-
| '''NONE: No recorded active wounds on the part.'''
|-
| '''MINOR: Any damage that doesn't have functional/structural consequences (might be heavy bleeding, though).'''
|-
| '''INHIBITED: Any muscular, structural, or functional damage, without total loss.'''
|-
| '''FUNCTION LOSS: An important function of the part is completely lost, but the part is structurally sound (or, at least partially intact). '''
|-
| '''BROKEN: The part has lost all structural integrity or muscular ability.'''
|-
| '''MISSING: The part is completely gone. '''
|}
If a chief medical dwarf is appointed you can view your fortress' health using the {{k|z}}-status key), or individually by selecting a dwarf and using {{k|w}} for wounds section.
* '''Bones''' can be set and treated by bone doctors depending on severity using thread and cloth for fractures, splints and casts, or traction benches. Grasping is often impaired during healing. The {{DFtext|Immobilization Request}} status tag is an indication that a splint or plaster cast is required. Multiple overlapping and compound fractures require a surgeon. Caused by [[attack_types#Blunt_weapons|blunt]] trauma.
*'''Skin and muscle''' can be treated by a suturer using thread and cloth. The wound will continue to bleed until sutured, severe wounds impair grasping during healing. Closed wounds will be dressed by a wound dresser. Caused by [[attack_types#Edged_weapons|slashing]] injuries.
*'''Internal Organs''' can be treated or removed by a surgeon using tables and traction benches. Repair of infected or rotten wounds is treated similarly. Caused by [[attack_types#Piercing_weapons|piercing]] injuries.

Any dwarves with the Feed patients/prisoners labor will attempt to give food or a bucket of water to a hungry or thirsty patient. By default all dwarves start with the non-doctor labors designated. These have no corresponding [[skill]]s - they do not cause experience gain, but merely are activities that can be turned on/off for each dwarf.

==Infection==
Every open wound can become infected. Infections may heal over time; however, many dwarves will die due to infection, often months after the actual wounding.

Causes of infection include:
* No cleaning of the wounds.
* Cleaning with water from a [[Water#Stagnant_Water|stagnant water]] source.
* Cleaning with [[Water#Water_laced_with_mud|water laced with mud]]. {{Verify}}
* Cleaning without [[soap]].
* <s>Bad luck</s> [[Fun]]!

== Equipment ==
=== Traction Benches ===

A '''traction bench''' is used by a [[doctor]] in a [[Hospital|hospital zone]] to immobilize a dwarf that has sustained complex or overlapping fractures.

It is constructed in the [[Mechanic's workshop]], and requires a [[table]], a [[mechanism]], and a [[rope]] or a [[chain]] to construct. Note that if any [[Stockpile|stockpiles]] have been linked to "Give" to the workshop, all of the resources needed to construct the traction bench must be found in the linked piles (e.g., linking only a stone stockpile may prevent access to the necessary tables/ropes/chains).

Currently there is a bug that may prevent fully healed dwarves from ever leaving the traction bench. {{bug|4470}} Removing the traction bench will free the dwarf.

Do not be hasty in removing a presumably-stuck dwarf from traction, however. Such treatment takes weeks or months to succeed and removing the dwarf prematurely will undo all the progress that has been made. If the dwarf has been in traction without being diagnosed or otherwise treated for a month and the health screen shows no scheduled treatment, they probably were forgotten and need the traction bench deconstructed to release them.

=== Casts ===

Casts are made out of [[plaster powder]] and are used to keep broken bones in their proper place until healed. To store it in a hospital, build a chest or other container inside the hospital zone. Applying a cast also requires a bucket and cloth, and a water source.

Plaster powder is produced at a [[kiln]] or [[magma kiln]] from [[gypsum]], [[alabaster]], [[selenite]], or [[satinspar]] and an empty [[bag]] by a dwarf with the furnace operator skill enabled. They can also be bought at embark for 3 points per unit; each unit comes with a free [[bag]].

=== Splints ===
Splints immobilize limbs that have sustained bone fractures. They allow the broken limb to be utilized until it is fully healed, Dwarves will be able to leave the hospital and resume their normal duties once securely splinted up since by this stage their wounds have already been cleaned, sutured and dressed. Applied by a bone doctor.

They can be made out of one [[wood]] at the [[carpenter's workshop]] or out of one metal [[bar]] at the [[metalsmith's forge]] or the [[magma forge]]. The use of splints seems to be an effective alternative to applying a plaster cast, which are also easier to obtain and prepare. Splints are categorized as [[finished goods]].

=== Other equipment===
*[[Crutch]]es {{DFtext|┬|770}} help a crippled dwarf walk again.
*[[Table]]s are used to conduct operations on.
*[[Bed]]s are used by patients to rest.
*[[Thread]] is used to suture closed wounds.
*[[Cloth]] is used to clean wounds, wash patients and dress wounds.
*[[Soap]] is used to clean wounds, sterilizing and preventing infection.
*[[Water]] is used to clean wounds, bathe patients and give drink. Patients do not drink alcohol.
*[[Bucket]]s are used to gather and hold the water for its uses.
*[[Container]]s are used to store hospital supplies.

==Tips for an Effective Hospital==
* Regularly use ({{k|i}}-{{k|H}}) to examine your hospital stockpile. Ensure your hospital is well-stocked. If you run out of materials regularly, increase the limits.
** Due to an annoying years-old [[#Bugs|bug]], hauling dwarves routinely oversupply hospitals. This can be troublesome in many ways, particularly when all the cloth in the fortress is routed to the hospital, leaving your clothier without clothmaking materials and filling the hospital containers with cloth and thread, which leaves no room for soap. Because of this, ''do not, ever,'' place containers in a hospital zone; instead, designate separate stockpiles nearby for cloth, thread, soap and other hospital implements. Setting those stockpiles to not accept bins or barrels, while space-consuming, can help to visualize the state of hospital stocks and prevent further container-capacity related issues.
**A workaround is to set cloth and thread to 0, add one container which will be filled by other items, and then set the cloth and thread to 1 unit. The hospital will only claim as much cloth and thread as will fit into the container after accounting for the other items.
**Another workaround is to disable hauling for all but one dwarf, since the oversupply problem is caused by the hospital calling all hauling dwarves for a unit of cloth or thread, and all dwarves responding at once, resulting in a unit of cloth or thread for every available dwarf.
**A third workaround is to allow your dwarves to fill up the containers however they want, then use {{k|t}} to examine the contents of the containers and {{k|d}}ump the items that you need to reclaim for other uses. Remember to reclaim the items after they have been dumped.
** It is safe to set the hospital stocks for everything but soap to 0 and then build a container. Soap in the hospital zone is reserved for hospital use and will not be used up by bathing dwarves as stockpiled soap can be.
* It is possible to do without soap in the hospital stockpile. Choosing to do so, however, increases the risk of infection, which most likely will kill your dwarf. Consult the [[soap]] page to understand that industry. Bring 1 lye on embark for one bar of soap, which translates to 150 units.
* Put a well inside the hospital for maximum efficiency. Doctors need to wash regularly, and clean water reduces infection.
* Do not place chairs next to your surgery tables. A chair is an invitation for rat-roast eating freeloaders to block the medical process.
* Consider making use of burrows to ensure your healthcare workers stay in the area.
* You may wish to consider individual rooms for each bed if you find your doctors are choosing to treat Urist McScratched over Urist McBloodFountainTheGushing. A locked door minimizes the mess and thereby infection and allows you to prioritize.
* The Chief Medical Dwarf only enables the Health status screen. The position has no in-game use. Look after your CMDs if you rely heavily on this screen, but otherwise they can be treated as any other dwarf.
** Diagnosis skill level does not affect the diagnosis, only the time it takes for the diagnosis to happen. Embarking with a dwarf skilled diagnosis (and other medical skills) is helpful, both to speed diagnosis and to stave off skill rust when long periods of time go between injuries.
** Also helpful is enabling medical skills on all dwarves in the fortress, which allows medical jobs to be picked up immediately so long as there is an idle dwarf.
* Create "nurses" by setting dwarves to only use the Recover Wounded, Bring Food and Water labors.
** It is important not to distract doctors from treating patients (or other medical helpers such as crutch haulers, or wounded recoverers) [Why? Other than delaying treatment?].
** "Recover wounded", "Give food" and "Give water" are low priority jobs, so it is entirely possible for a patient to starve to death, dehydrate to death, or bleed to death if no one ever gets "unbusy" enough to bring them food, water, or move them to the hospital.
** Similarly, it is important not to put your doctors at risk by recovering wounded in the middle of a battle—if they become injured, they cannot treat themselves.
* You can select nurses who enjoy helping people to give them good thoughts. This also prevents dwarves that hate bringing others food from receiving unhappy thoughts.
* When a serious injury happens, don't exit (or save) the game until the injured are in the hospital zone, especially if a dwarf is immobile. "Bring crutch" and "Recover Wounded" jobs will be lost, keeping the patient away from the hospital, and doctors will NOT go to patients, even if burrowed with them, because a diagnose job hasn't been created. Sometimes a second "crutch required" or "recover wounded" request will be generated, but often too late for the patient's full recovery. Best bet is ensure someone (not burrowed) has "recover wounded" enabled at all times; burrow doctors doing non-medical tasks immediately; hope the patient makes it to the hospital.

Dwarves will prefer to store and use the most expensive thread and cloth. Yes, that includes special "[[raw adamantine|exotic]]" strands. You may want to forbid these during medical emergencies.

==Bugs==
* Hospital stores more materials than assigned. {{Bug|191}} {{Bug|4406}}
* Dwarves with healthcare jobs will use the closest supplies to do their work, even if they are not stored in the hospital. {{Bug|287}}
* Dwarves will steal items from the caravan and store them in hospital. {{Bug|66}}
* For a variety of reasons, an injured dwarf may leave the hospital and/or refuse to go to the hospital. {{Bug|309}}
* Injured nails won't heal, leading to eventual infection and death. {{Bug|3756}}
* Adamantine thread used for suturing. {{Bug|1346}}
* Wounded [[justice|criminals]] don't get sent to the hospital. {{Bug|3901}}
* Your dwarf may get stuck in traction, even after the wounds have healed. If this happens, simply remove the traction bench. {{Bug|4470}}
* The quality and value of a finished traction bench doesn't account for all of the inputs used to make it. {{verify}}
* Purchased plaster powder does not appear in the hospital storage. {{verify}}
* Dwarves resting in bed may be starving/dehydrated and not being taken care of, deconstructing the bed to generate a new Recover Wounded task and force them to rest properly fixes this.

{{d for dwarf}}
Soap is the only item dwarves will use to sterilize a wound. While dwarves are of course aware that humans will pour perfectly quaffable alcohol over their bloody wounds and onto the filthy ground to get the same effect, dwarves understand that some things are more precious than a single life, and face oblivion with a bit more dignity. Application of extreme heat is also well known to prevent infections and seal a wound, but dwarves consider magma the only legitimate heat source, and the non-lethal application of magma a sacrilege.

{{Category|Healthcare}}
{{Industry}}

v0.34:Security design

2013-08-11T02:34:41Z

ZortLF2: /* Airlock defenses/buffer zone */

{{av}}
{{Quality|Exceptional}}

:''This page is one of several inter-related articles on the broader topic of defending your fortress and your dwarves. '''Security design''' focuses on how to turn the physical layout and architecture of a fort into a defensible whole. For a general overview of the threats that will challenge your fortress and things to consider when preparing a standard defence, see the '''[[defense guide]]'''. For complex traps that are not a minor/optional part of a larger defensive plan (but might be adapted or plugged into one), see '''[[trap design]]'''. For specific advice on how to get your soldiers prepared for any threat, see '''[[military design]]'''.

:::::'''''Editors & Contributors''' - Please see the discussion page before posting.''

==Standard key==

'''Key:'''
'''symbol tile'''
· - Empty space
+ - Constructed floor, or top of wall section from lower level
'''0''' - Isolated wall section
╔╦═╗
╠╬═╣ - Connected wall
║║ ║
╚╩═╝
╬ - Fortifications
X - Up/down [[stairs]]
< - Up stair
> - Down stair
▲ - Up ramp/slope
▼ - Down ramp/slope
. - natural ground
☺ - dwarf

==General suggestions==
General designs should include suggestions that can be "plugged in" to a part of any typical fortress, and/or can be modified to suit a number of purposes.

Any fortress defenses need to be able to protect your dwarves while outside, whether that's military or civilians. On the truly labor intensive end, you can fully enclose areas of wilderness you wish to utilize in walls or behind moats with the only access being from within your base. Hostile creatures, even 'invisible' ones like ambushers, start at map edges and travel across the map - they will only spawn in regions where they can path to a dwarf. By controlling which areas have access to paths to dwarves, you can force all hostile forces to appear in predictable and limited killing zones and battlefields that you control.

===Castle with a moat===
One of the easiest ways to protect your dwarves is to build a castle with a moat. The first step is to start your journey on a river. The first part of the castle that should be built is a canal about five wide with drawbridges to keep anything from getting into your fort. The next step is to build a two-thick wall with ramps to get up so that the dwarves can shoot from it and keep aquatic threats from simply swimming to the other side of the fort. You can also carve fortifications into the wall to allow your dwarves to more efficiently shoot from the wall.

===Meeting area as defense===

Especially in the very early game, you can use a [[Zone#Meeting_Area|meeting zone]] to attract animals and idle dwarves to a given area. This makes a pretty poor defense in general, but it's not a bad way to create an alarm system against minor threats such as [[thief|thieves]] near your stockpiles, at least until you have something better (which won't be hard). Remove the zone later, or it attracts idle dwarves and children. Note that until you designate something else, the site of your wagon (even once deconstructed) is a default meeting area.

===Guard Animals===

Both [[thief|thieves]] and [[ambush]]es are invisible until something detects them - a dwarf, a [[caravan]], a wild creature, a [[domestic animal]], anything. Once this happens (even if it was triggered by a wild [[groundhog]] on the far edge of the map), the game will pause with the appropriate [[announcement]], forcing your attention to the situation - which is nice. Therefore, it's a common practice to use animals to act as alarm systems, by [[restraint|restrain]]ing or assigning them to a [[pasture]] in entryways.

There are some considerations to good placement of such animals. If you have a 1- or 2-wide hall, one animal is enough. If you have a 3-wide hallway, a single pastured animal placed in the middle is still sufficient, or you can restrain two animals, one at each side of the hall.

══════════ R = restraint
+++1R1++++ 1 = area of animal 1
+++bbb++++ 2 = area of animal 2
+++2R2++++ b = area of both
══════════

Either arrangement creates a thief-proof barrier against unannounced intrusion, as there is no combination of locations where an invisible enemy can sneak by without bumping into an animal. Caravans can pass over [[restraint]]s and [[pasture]]s and their contained creatures without problem (however, do note that wagons will not appear on the map edge if a creature is blocking their intended location). Guard animals can also see hidden enemies one z-level below them, so long as there is no intervening floor, so if space is tight you can also place them above your entranceway.

Unless you're happy losing these animals on a regular basis, you should try to keep them alive.
:* Put them around a corner or behind a U-bend, so archers cannot fire at them from a distance.
:* Don't have them as your "first line of defense"; put them deeper in the entry, behind some traps.
:* Put them inside, so flying creatures have to come down to their level to attack them.
:* Use [[window]]s to protect your guard animal (note, however, that some intruders may not be detected if they are not forced to move directly adjacent to your animal).
:* Consider using a [[pressure plate]] at the extreme entrance to seal off the hall further down and keep your guard animal(s) safe. Thieves won't trigger them, but the animals can deal with those - ambushes ''will'' trigger them, and you don't want them getting to your guard animals.

Remember that anything short of a [[megabeast]] is not a good match for an armoured opponent.{{verify}} While watching your tame [[grizzly bear]] or [[alligator]] tear a thief apart has an amusement value, watching the goblin maceman send them flying across the map, mangled and dying, has less.

[[Animal trainer|Hunting animals]] have better observation (sight range) than their regular or war counterparts.

===Defending the edge===
You're not allowed to wall within five squares of the edge of the map... but this rule has more loopholes than the US federal income tax code. Until more versatile attackers emerge, it is not clear where effective play ends and exploit begins. ''(Note: we disclaim any responsibility for damage involving [[harpy|harpies]] and skeletal [[giant eagle]]s)''

* To start with, you can channel the '''''second''''' square from the edge. This will block the appearance of trade caravan [[wagon]]s and prevent their movement along that edge of the map. If barriers are used to prevent a Trade Depot near the edge of the map from being accessed from any other direction, caravans will be forced to appear in the un-channeled or bridged section of the edge. Your depot can be ready with stockpiles of favored trade goods, offset behind a wall to protect from archers a few squares away.
* You can also build drawbridges all the way up to the edge. A long, skinny, raised bridge is effectively a wall; however, it looks the same whether it's open or closed.
* If you channel to the second square from the edge where the '''''edge square''''' contains a tree then you have an impassible barrier while the tree survives.
* You can with some work use [[Obsidian]] casting to wall to the map edge

Train up diggers in soft soil and you can surround most of the map with a moat by the time the first migrants arrive. Be very, very wary of cave-ins, especially on highly sloped diagonal terrain - note that a downward ramp does not support adjacent floor tiles, and no tiles are supported diagonally.

Diplomats have a strange habit of appearing well inside the moat, but need to be allowed out when finished. ''[Note: On one 6x7 map [[horse]]s and other animals were also found to appear one embark unit (48 squares) left and up from the lower right corner, inside or atop the walls of a 5x5 doorless enclosure. Defend all leaks...]''

==== Design considerations ====

* The moat should be designed to prevent entry except by falling and exit except by climbing, from both sides. (Otherwise inside and outside forces might be tempted to shake hands from adjacent squares, with much annoyance) Despite an abundance of giant corkscrews, grates, ballista bolts, etc., no one has ever invented the ladder, so this keeps anyone from entering or leaving the rest of the map.
* The moat should be dry, because sooner or later you will be tempted to let someone visit the edge to loot goblins or hunt varmints, and next thing you know your Legendary Weaponsmith who outpaces all your smelters will be whiling away his time carrying a leather thong to a stockpile when he runs into a groundhog and decides to react by jumping into the moat and holding his breath beneath the shallow waters until he drowns. (As always, the notice that he has drowned is the first you'll hear of it)
* The moat doesn't actually ''need'' to be adjacent to the edge of the map except when conserving valuable surface terrain (such as [[tree|trees]] on a map that is mostly rock). It is easier to free trapped miners when they can dig further outward, and placing the moat on the sixth or further square in from the edge allows further modification with floodgates, walls, and doors. Any [[channel]]ing permanently changes the dug-out tile to "Light Above Ground", which restricts these features from tiles near the edge even if floors are later constructed to close the space.
* Because migrants might turn up near wild animals or be followed closely by [[goblin|goblins]], it is nice to wall off the last square in shorter segments. Each one or two segments are served by a separate lever bridge. This can be done by:
** Natural barriers. The map edge is mostly continuous ramp, but occasionally a break appears on an uneven surface, by a river channel, etc.
** Trees. If left intact they separate any fertile patches into many small segments.
** Floors. Although you can't directly Remove Stairs/Ramps at the edge, building a single square of floor on an up-ramp at the edge will destroy that up-ramp (and the down-ramp above it) and block movement around the edge. Building a square of floor on a down-ramp and then removing it creates a [[one-way]] path.{{verify}}
** You can build drawbridges *along* the edge and raise them. Combined with a channel right next to the drawbridge, this can completely obstruct passage of anything which can't destroy the bridge.
** You can build up ramps at the edge, which may disrupt passage?Needs testing
** Fortifications carved into the outer edge rock the next layer down? It may be possible to carve fortifications all the way around the edge of a rocky map, allowing entrance only onto designated bridges surrounded by moat and with a steep drop beneath, with some sized appropriately to admit siegers only and one other sized for a trade wagon. In this way combat can be reduced to a simple thumbs up/thumbs down decision at the lever.Probably not.
* Migrants, thieves, and sieges turn up all around the map, and can be allowed in by remote controlled bridges. (Doors will not hold back [[building destroyer|building destroyers]], and remote [[lever]] control is needed because other gates can be "taken by invaders" and become non-lockable) Invaders can be allowed in by small groups and fought if desired, or preferably admitted into underground zigzags with a door waiting to be locked at the far end once they get close to it. If most of the invaders can be trapped inside such spaces, the remainder will stand and be wiped out completely without retreating.

===Simple 5x5 Archer's Tower===

Build a [[tower]] specifically to post archers on, possibly away from your main defenses. This lets you open fire before the enemy approaches your gates. A pillbox can be attached to your walls, or separate, so that the only access is from tunnels below. These tunnels can stretch across the map, and only need be 1-tile big if no regular traffic is expected. Construct [[wall]]s up to the second or third floor and then carve fortifications into them, so your dwarves can fire out. For extra usefulness, build a [[barracks]], [[archery target]], [[food]] [[stockpile]], [[well]] and/or [[dining room]] in or near the tower. Add a door or hatch to lock them in.

NOTE: It is better to construct walls and then carve fortifications into them, than to construct fortifications. The reason for this is that constructed fortifications do not provide a walkable tile on the layer above them, as walls do. Walls cannot be constructed without access from one of the four compass directions. Because of this, if you were to construct fortifications, when you progress to the level above, you would need to build a walkable path to the corner tiles. This path would need to be deconstructed before the wall or fortification could be built. Once deconstructed, the building material will drop onto the tile below with the fortification, trapping it until the fortification is deconstructed.

As discussed step-by-step in the article on [[mega construction]], this particular design is about as basic as it gets. As shown, it assumes entry from an underground tunnel, but a door or drawbridge (with moat!?) could easily be added, or even access via a protected sky-bridge.

When placing multiple towers, know that crossbows have a range of 20 tiles, so, depending on whether you want overlapping fire or not (and how intense/accurate), anywhere from maybe 15 to 38 tiles between the edge of the towers is recommended. Crossbows actually have their range ''reduced'' by extra height in DF, so all you need is 1 level up to keep enemy archers from using your fortifications against you, and you're set. (Channeling a defensive moat further out will also work, moving potential enemy archers even further away, but also moving non-missile targets that far as well.)

Side Below Ground Archer Roof
view: ground: Level: Level: Level:
╔═╗ ╔═══╗ ╬╬╬╬╬ ·····
___ ║<║ ║X..║ ╬>++╬ ·+++·
╬>__╬ ║.║ ║...║ ╬+╬+╬ ·+++·
___║X__║___ ║.║ ║...║ ╬++B╬ ·+++·
<...... ║.║ ╚═══╝ ╬╬╬╬╬ ·····
(Fortress->)

This can hold 3 archers/side, and has the potential to be as many "archer levels" tall as you wish. The fortification in the center of the building prevents low-level archers from standing there (since they are unable to fire through any non-adjacent fortifications) while allowing high-level archers a full 360 field of fire. Including a [[bed]] allows the room to be designated as a [[barracks]], so your marksdwarves can train while serving as lookouts and defending your fortress. Adding [[bridge]]s outside the fortifications will allow you to protect your marksdwarves when an elite enemy archer threatens. Building a secure "roof" will require a temporary exterior stairway. Alternately you can build stairs at the Archer Level in place of a non-corner wall to allow roof access, then once the roof is completed remove the stairs, put a wall in its place and finally carve fortifications into it. Remember to use the "corners first" technique when necessary. (See [[40d:Mega_construction#Towers]].)

All told, for a simple 1 archer-level tower, this takes just over 50 stones or blocks (plus 25/extra archer level).

Larger towers (or this with larger floors on higher levels) could house barracks, practice ranges, and other facilities. Just expand to preferred size with floors, and then attach walls to those to act as a base for the next level of building. Add more stairs (adjacent to each other is always better) if high traffic is anticipated.

====Siege engine turrets====
If it's big enough, build a [[siege engine]] inside a pillbox. Since siege engines cannot fire at targets higher or lower than them, the device needs to be on the same [[z-level]] as any targets, but this could be across a large gap to a nearby plateau. Only a single tile of fortifications is needed to fire through the wall. Position the tower to fire where invaders tend to congregate.

You will want to guarantee that enemies do not approach the position and scare the civilian operators - this distance has been reported to be up to 20 tiles or so. Dig a moat, have some intervening valley or build some secondary fortifications to keep enemies at a distance. Unlike walls, fortifications on the same z-level do not block siege engine missiles, at any range. Unfortunately, if an enemy can walk up to them, fortifications will protect enemies from your archery fire (but not siege engine fire.)

===Control Room===
Have one (large?) room (or several stacked on top of each other) for all defense-related levers, and central to idle dwarves - near your [[Activity zone#Meeting Area|meeting area]]s and [[noble]]s quarters, with one or more halls or stairs leading to it for quick access. Connect a lever to all those doors and hatches as the first lever to be pulled in an emergency, and the respondent will lock themselves in for you, guaranteeing that they will then have nothing else to do but stay there and pull levers. This can, however, backfire when your chosen dwarf decides to go [[on break]], take a nap, or throw a [[tantrum]] in the middle of a crisis.

It may also be an idea to have a second lever to at least one door, for emergency access. And possibly to add a stockpile of booze and food or a well for longer sieges.

===AI abuse===
Taking advantage of the game's Artificial Intelligence and [[path]]finding is a whole article in itself. Try leaving a door un-forbidden during an attack. When the bad guys approach the door, forbid it, and the enemy will wander off. Unlock it again, and they turn around and head back towards the door again. You can get enemies to march back and forth over a set of traps this way, or lure them deep into a complex trap. This could be fully automated via [[pressure plate]]s if you're feeling adventurous.

===Bait animal===
[[Restraint|Restraining]] or [[Pasture|pasturing]] a sacrificial animal just outside your walls, but within range of your marksdwarves and/or siege engines, can lure an enemy into attacking that while you cut them down. Make sure to place a pattern of some walls (or statues, see below) so enemy archers cannot simply shoot the creature from a safe distance.

=====Fortifications=====
Adding a ring of fortifications to help defend the animal against missile fire will keep melee troops away, but invite archers to come adjacent to the fortifications - and under your walls and crossbows. If you allow any path, the melee troops will try to follow it to the animal - be creative with that fact.

=====Traps=====
Surround the animal with traps to kill or capture approaching goblins.

Build a long, narrow, and twisty passage, accessible from the outside, possibly even unconnected to your fortress. Build as many simple traps as you like. Place a bait animal inside. Enemy attackers walk right in, and get torn apart by the traps. If any manage to make it to the end, and kill the useless animal, they're surrounded by traps, and no closer to your fortress.

If the animal is underground, you can build a tunnel above it, channel down, and mark the channel a [[Activity_zone|pit/pond]]. That way, you can "reload" a new bait animal from the safety of your fortress. Note that this requires using a non-pet-passable door and that falls more than a couple z-levels may injure your bait.

=====Distractions=====
Releasing a [[cage]] full of surplus animals will keep the enemy archers very busy. They may even be out of ammo when your wrestlers show up. This can be useful as an emergency measure since the animals need to be stored somewhere anyway.

Alternatively, you can use remotely-actuated doors tied to a [[repeater]]: open providing a tempting target for enemy archers, then closed to block their arrows and protect the bait. Similarly, a captured [[necromancer]] can continually raise a few undead to give enemy archers easy targets to pincushion.

=====Vanishing act=====
Having a linked drawbridge that can open/shut (perhaps on both a lever to open and a nearby pressure plate to close), to lure the enemy in under your guns and then protect the animal when they get too close (for multiple uses.)

=====Vs. building destroyers=====
For [[building destroyer|building destroyers]], spare furniture can serve the same purpose as bait animals. Building destroyers will hunt down and destroy structures, so carefully placing them can control their movements.

=====Trap chokepoints=====
Enemies can be herded by constructed features. If you have a particular zone covered by catapults and would like enemies to pass through it, strategically placed walls can make enemy pathfinding more favorable. A trap occupying a single tile in the middle of a barren plain is likely to never get triggered. However, if walls are placed in a cross-hair pattern around the trap, animals and invaders are much more likely to pass over it as they wander across the map. This can be a very useful trick when capturing wildlife with cage traps.

<pre>
+++++║+++++
+++++║+++++
+++^^║^^+++
+++^^║^^+++
═════^═════
+++^^║^^+++
+++^^║^^+++
+++++║+++++
+++++║+++++
</pre>

=====Pathing slowdowns=====
If you're playing on a low-powered machine and you close up all entrances to your fortress during a siege, your game may grind to a halt and/or crash as the siegers continuously fail at pathfinding into your fortress. Bait animals may alleviate this.

==Entrance designs==

===Airlock defenses/buffer zone===
Build two walls, each with a drawbridge. Build the trade depot in the buffer zone between them. Keep the outer bridge open, and the inner one closed. When the merchants appear, put crossbows on the walls to guard their approach. Once all the merchants are safely inside, close the outer bridge. Once there's no enemies left in the buffer zone, open the inner bridge so your civilians can start loading up the depot.

The airlock pattern can be useful even without putting the depot there. Let a few siegers in at a time, and crush them. Reset the traps, rest up the soldiers, and repeat.

===Siege Engines===
One effective way to have [[siege engine]]s (help) defend your fortress is:

'''One ballista vs 3-wide hallway'''
══════════════════════════╦═════
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····║▐▀\
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····╬◄═«
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····║▐▄/
══════════════════════════╩═════

Using this design you can cripple an army using a well timed volley. The hallway can be much longer than shown if you wish, as ballistae have extended ranges well over 100 tiles. The channeled area is necessary, as civilians (siege operators are "civilians") will run when enemies get within about 5-10 tiles of them, regardless of the actual path to that threat.

====Ballista battery====
Three (or more!) ballistae can be put into a "battery" if overlapped - one per tile-width of the hallway, with each ballista aiming down their row of tiles.

╔═══
══════════════════════════╦══╦══╝▐▀\
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····╬ ╬▐▀\◄═« (~ammo~)
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····╬▐▀\◄═«▐▄/
Entrance++++++++++++▼·····╬◄═«▐▄/ (~ammo~)
══════════════════════════╣▐▄/ (~ammo~)
╚═════════

Be sure to use fortifications to prevent dwarves from wandering in front of the ballista to their deaths. If desired (and you have the <s>man</s>dwarfpower to spare), catapults may be put behind those, as they shoot safely ''over'' workers in front of them. Although less effective than ballistae, it's a little more firepower - and that can't be a bad thing.

For added flavour, channel out one or more tiles down the length of the 3-wide hallway and install retractable bridges. When invaders attack, retract the bridges, forcing them into paths that are only 1-tile wide.

Adding additional channels on either side of the hall will allow stray ammo to be recovered at a later time. Make sure to add locked doors, to prevent siege operators from walking down below enemy archers during a battle.

===Flooded entrance===
Using a chamber as your entrance alongside a chamber full of water and some machinery you can flood or drain the entrance at will.

The basic premise requires two levers, two [[screw pump]]s and two [[Gear assembly|gear assemblies]]. The amount of power required and the number of additional components needed to get the power to the screw pumps varies depending on distance/setup. One pump is placed to draw from chamber 1 and dump into chamber 2. The other is set in reverse. A gear assembly is placed next to each pump and connected to the main power system. Each gear is linked to a lever. Now at the flip of a switch you can submerge your entrance with [[water]] or [[magma]] for easy, secure defense against creatures that aren't amphibious or magma-dwelling, depending.

[[Image:Entflood.jpg|200px]]

The picture above shows the design in action. The green pump is currently on while the red has been disconnected through the grey marked axle. The yellow X is just to mark that there is a channel under the axle.

=== The "Reverse Battlement" design ===

Level Z+0 (ground):
...............
F ═══════════════
O .≥.g≥...g......
R ..≤......g.....
T ...g≤..g....... <-- enemies enter here
R ..≥......g.....
E .g.≤.........g.
S ═══════════════
S ...............

Level Z+1 (bridge):

E ·····║+++║·····
N +++++║+++║+++++
T ·····╬☺++║·····
R ·····╬☺++║·····
A ·····╬☺++║····· <-- archers shoot them from up above
N ·····╬☺++║·····
C ·····╬☺++║·····
E +++++║+++║+++++
·····║+++║·····

Note that in this diagram, the fortress interior is to the West, and the enemy forces come from the East. The marksdwarves on the bridge with the [[fortification]]s are one level above the [[goblin]]s (or other attackers), who will pass under the bridge and charge on toward the west. As the first clear from under the bridge, they are targeted from behind (which is one level above), as the marksdwarves wait in ambush. This allows the marksdwarves to face far fewer enemies at any one time, at least to begin with, and any enemy archers must clear the bridge, take their lumps, and then return fire back the other way before the marksdwarves are ever under attack.

If you're feeling especially nasty, make the tunnel really long into the mountain and add a ballista battery (see above).

''(Adding ammo stockpiles, of your best quality bolts, to these stations will speed up reloading for longer sieges/battles. Even adding small, convenient food and alcohol stockpiles is not unheard of. Some designers place access to/from archery ranges very close to these stations, for faster deployment.)''

===Twisty maze===
A maze of turns and blindspots patrolled by quality military can be a very formidable defense. Wide enough for wagons to pass though, but with no clear shots for any ranged weapons. Missile weapons do have a minimum range, so if a target is closer than that range, they will instead just charge to melee - and meet a dwarf with a much better melee skill. Downside to this is that you'd be mixing it up in melee all the time, but so long as you have at least 10 dwarves greeting the goblins as one coherent mass, you should win.

Variations on the twisty maze include:

*A wagon-wide twisty maze, and a not-so-twisty 1-tile wide hall o'traps, with a drawbridge that can force one or the other as the only [[path]] into your fortress.

*Making the side of the maze into fortifications, with a channel separating the fortifications from the actual floor of the maze, and having your archery targets on the other side of the fortifications so your marksdwarves can practice. When the goblins round the corner, they charge through a hail of crossbow bolts, and drop dead.

===Forced Detour===

This particular design works well with plenty of archers, siege engines, and other ranged weaponry. A walled maze gives melee an advantage, but an open maze gives advantage to ranged attackers.

++++++++++++++++++ENTRANCE+
══╦════════════════O╞═╡O╦══ <-- Bridge 1
+☺╬·+++++++++++++++++++·╬☺+
++╬·+···············╞═╡·╬++ <-- Bridge 2
++╬·+·+++·+++·+++·+++++·╬++
+☺╬·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+++·╬☺+
++╬·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+++·╬++
++╬·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+·+++·╬++
+☺╬·+++·+++·+++·+++·+++·╬☺+
++╬·················+++·╬++
++╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╗·+++·╬++
++☺++☺++☺++☺++☺++☺╬·+++·╬☺+
++++++++++++++++++╬·+++·╬++
++++++++++++++++++╬·+++·╬++
══════════════╗++☺╬·+++·╬☺+
║+++╬·+++·╬++
║+++╬·+++·╬++
║++☺╬·╞═╡·╬☺+ <-- Bridge 3

The 3 tile wide lane is for traders, so if your [[trade depot]] is located before this set-up, cut it down to a 1 tile lane to slow down invaders more.

===Bridge Use===

[[Image:defense_3bridges.png|thumb|right]]
An example of bridge construction tactics to deal with vile forces of ''any'' size. (See picture).

*'''Bridge 1''' seals off the entire base
*'''Bridge 2''' forces everyone to take the long, winding, heavily trapped/defended path of death.
*'''Bridge 3''' seals the inside of the fortress

Clever triggering of the bridges allows you to break the hostile forces into smaller chunks to be trapped in the courtyard while being caught in traps and a crossfire of arrows from the fortifications around.

===Pulling it all together===

Using ballistae, marksdwarves, bridges, traps, and guard animals in tandem brings up a few more considerations.

*Given the tendency of ballistae to pierce through enemies and knock out an entire row, forcing invaders along narrow paths can score multiple hits per shot. This is the most efficient use of these valuable pieces.
*Be careful about positioning your marksdwarves and ballistae opposite each other as an unlucky bolt might pierce a battlement on the other side.
*Ballista are operated by Dwarf civilians. Therefore putting your ballista right next to the path the [[Goblin_christmas|friendly neighbors]] use, will cause your BallistaDwarfs to run off right as you want them to fire.
*Adding a stair back at the entrance of a trap hallway allows dwarves to access loot that falls; it also forces anything that dodges off the edge to walk the entire length again.
*Filling the walkway with traps is also highly recommended. Throwing random weapon traps around the map in high-traffic areas isn't a bad idea. Traps are cheap and effective, use them liberally.
*War animals are convenient for catching thieves. They also serve as bait. Don't place them where enemy archers can reach them easily, and keep them well out of range of the inevitable hailstorm of bolts.
*Bridges, and for non-building-destroyers, doors, can be used to control the movement of enemies.
*Don't use cage traps as the front line of defense. Currently, a goblin squad will follow its leader indefinitely, and if its leader is caught in a cage the rest of the goblins will just stand there until they find [[Wood cutter|something]] [[fisherdwarf|to]] [[hunter|do]] rather than exploring the lovely, pointy playground you've created.

Base
║╞═╡║
║D+D║ ╞═╡= Bridge
║D+D║ D = War Dog (chained)
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ║+++║ ^ = Trap
╔╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬═╝+++╠════
║.......................+++║▐▀\
║.++^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^++++++++╬◄═«
║.+.....................+++║▐▄/
║.+.....................+++║▐▀\
║.++^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+++..+++╬◄═«
║....................+..+++║▐▄/
║....................+..+++║▐▀\
║.++^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+++..+++╬◄═«
║.+.....................+++║▐▄/
║.+.....................╞═╡║▐▀\
║.++^+^+^+^+^+^+^+^++++++++╬◄═«
║.....................+++++║▐▄/
║....................>+++++╠════
╚════════════════════╗+++++║
║╞═══╡║
Entrance

Base
║╞═╡║
║D+D║ ╞═╡= Bridge
║D+D║ D = War Dog (chained)
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ║+++║ ^ = Trap c= cage trap
╔╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╬╝+++╚═══╗
/▀▌╔════════════╝.......................+++.+..║ P= Gathering Pit
»=►╬++++++++++++..ccc+^+^+^+^+^+^+^++++++++.+..║ connected to
\▄▌║++++++++++++..+.....................+++.+.P║ Base next
/▀▌║++++++++++++..+.....................+++.+..║ z-level down
»=►╬++++++++++++..ccc+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+++..+++.+..║
\▄▌║++++++++++++.....................+..+++.+..║
/▀▌║++++++++++++.....................+..+++.+..║
»=►╬++++++++++++..ccc+^+^+^+^+^+^+^+++..+++.+..║
\▄▌║++++++++++++..+.....................+++.+..║
/▀▌║++++++++++++..+.....................╞═╡.+..║
»=►╬++++++++++++..ccc+^+^+^+^+^+^+^++++++++.+..║
\▄▌╚════════════╗.....................+++++.+..║
║....................>+++++.+..║
╚════════════════════╗+++++.╔══╝
║╞═══╡.║
Entrance

{{Military}}
{{category|Fortress defense}}
{{category|Design}}

Bloodline:Boatmurdered

2013-08-10T22:18:30Z

ZortLF2:

'''Boatmurdered''' was a [[succession game]] of Dwarf Fortress on the Something Awful forums from 2007. From this spawned an epic tale, incorporating hordes of belligerent dwarf-eating [[23a:elephant|elephant]]s, floods of biblical proportions, flaming [[23a:dog|puppies]], and more hilarious pranks. After many goblin raiders and elven traders were fried with floods of lava, there was a brief period of tranquility. Then one of the last few dwarves, unhappy from the recent defacement of a masterwork engraving, caught [[fire]] and started a fist fight with another dwarf (setting it on fire too), causing a [[tantrum]] and [[insanity]] spiral that eventually destroyed the whole fortress. To be fair, she'd given plenty of warnings that she was becoming unhinged, such as attempting to drink from the [[23a:magma flow|magma river]] and making numerous engravings depicting dwarves on fire, elephants killing dwarves, and a carving of a carving of cheese. How many other fortresses manage to create artifact caskets?

The entire saga can be [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/ read online], or downloaded to read offline [http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4120 in PDF format]. As the editor says, the madness surrounding Boatmurdered speaks for itself. Be warned: the language contained within can cause necrosis of the ears, and should be avoided by [[children]], the stunningly susceptible to disease, [[kitten]]s, and other worthless [[Syndrome|disease]] spreaders.

There is also an animation of Boatmurdered being made by LavaLevel right now. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=60750.0 Check its progress.] However it seems to have succumbed to the "Let's wait, OP will surely deliver!" Syndrome.

[[Category:Bloodline Games]]
[[ru:Boatmurdered]]

v0.34:Strange mood

2013-07-27T01:37:55Z

ZortLF2: /* Skills and workshops */ errant asterisk (no corresponding footnote...)

{{quality|Exceptional|02:25, 4 May 2011 (UTC)}}{{av}}

{{buggy|bugsection=Bugs}}
{{minorspoiler}}
Periodically, individual dwarves are struck with an idea for a [[legendary artifact]] and enter a '''strange mood'''. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else. They will not stop to eat, drink, sleep, or even run away from dangerous creatures. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go [[#Failure|insane]] and die soon afterward.

Note: All controllable civilizations are currently able to enter strange moods, though in earlier versions of DF the only civilization this applies to is dwarves.

==Overview==

# The conditions necessary for a strange mood to occur are not fully understood, although they may possess even dwarf children.
# The game will pause, center on a dwarf, and announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The [[#Types of moods|types of moods]] are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see [[Status icon|status icons]]).
# For the duration of the mood, the dwarf will claim a workshop related to the skill that the mood affects (not all skills are eligible), kick out any dwarf who was using it, and render it otherwise unusable until the mood has been resolved. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop does not exist. (See [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.) A moody dwarf will ''not'' be able to build a needed workshop; another dwarf with the appropriate [[labor]] designation must do so for them, if one is necessary. Furnaces are also counted as a workshop.
# After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact. If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the [[#Demands|demands]] section to determine what may be required. Important Note: They will only collect these materials in the order that they require them. In other words, you have to determine where they are on the list of required materials and then provide the next one before they will continue collecting other materials.
# Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain [[legendary]] (or higher) status in that skill (unless the mood type is [[#Possessed|possessed]]). See the [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] for information on which skills can be gained, or the [[#Artifacts created|artifacts created]] section for more details on the artifacts themselves.

== Types of moods ==
For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is [[Announcement|announced]]; the second message appears in the dwarf's profile when he or she is viewed with the {{K|v}} key. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent [[thought]]s they may have had.

=== Fey ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> is taken by a fey mood!|7:1}}
: ''Has the aspect of one fey!''

This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.

=== Secretive ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> withdraws from society...|7:0}}
: ''Peculiarly secretive...''

Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands if they cannot find what they need. Descriptions of all these [[#Demands|secretive requirements]] can be seen only by viewing the workshop that the moody dwarf has claimed, with {{k|q}}, and then only while the dwarf is waiting inside it. More than one "picture" is likely; these will cycle through the entire list automatically if any one is not available. (Since materials are gathered ''in order'', it's quite possible that only one of a long list is needed to allow the moody dwarf to continue on their project. If the dwarf has gathered some of the materials (seen as "tasked" when looking at the workshop with {{k|t}}), then the next in the list is what they are looking for.)

=== Possessed ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> has been possessed!|5:1}}
: ''Possessed by unknown forces!''

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon successful construction of an artifact. No controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods. It is pure luck-based. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on (which, under some circumstances, might end up being ''their own name'') once they have all the materials they need.

A possession is the only mood that does '''''not''''' result in a jump in [[experience]].

A possessed dwarf that "keeps muttering <name of the artifact>..." has already gathered everything it needs.

=== Fell ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!|5:0}}
: ''Has a horrible fell look!''

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will always take over a [[butcher's shop]] or a [[tanner's shop]]. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then ''murder'' the nearest dwarf (bonus if it's a noble), drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf [[leather]] or [[bone]]. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a legendary [[bone carver]] or [[leatherworker]]. Only unhappy dwarves may enter a fell mood.

Amusingly, it seems fell dwarves can murder [[ghost]]s as well.

Aside from the loss of a potentially important dwarf in the wrong place at the wrong time, there doesn't seem to be any downside to a fell mood. The end result is always an artifact and a legendary craftsdwarf. Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.

If no one is around to witness the murder, whichever dwarf Urist McEmo decides to slaughter will be reported as missing some time after his death. If the murder is witnessed, the moody dwarf will be subject to dwarven [[justice]].

=== Macabre ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> begins to stalk and brood...|0:1}}
: ''Brooding darkly...''

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require bones, skulls{{verify}}, or vermin remains; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to make some, e.g. by butchering an animal and/or allowing a [[cat]] to go hunting, or let the moody dwarf go insane. Like fell moods, only unhappy dwarves can enter macabre moods.

==Caveats==
* Shells are perhaps the most difficult to obtain material for a strange mood, though they can be acquired more easily in DF2012 than in earlier versions. Previously, [[turtle]]s, [[mussel]]s, [[oyster]]s, [[cave lobster]]s, and certain [[titan]]s were the only source of shells. DF2012 adds several {{catlink|Shell|other creatures}} that produce shells. Some of these, such as [[armadillo]]s and [[common snapping turtle]]s, are butcherable. DF2012 also adds [[nautilus|another vermin fish]] that can serve as sources of shells when cleaned at a fishery. Nevertheless, shells are rare and hard to acquire. Currently, the only way of trading for shells is to hope that the [[elven]] caravan brings some tamed shell-producing large creature. Traded [[cave lobster]]s and [[turtle]]s are ''processed'' fish (with the shells already removed). Tamed vermin with shells cannot be butchered for their shells, since the only way to get a vermin's shell is to [[Fish cleaning|clean]] it. Since all shelled non-vermin animals are [[exotic pet|exotic]], only elves will bring them{{verify}}. If you should be fortunate enough to acquire some breeding shelled butcherable animals, it's probably worth keeping a breeding pair around in case of future need. Only dwarves with a [[preference]] for shells will demand shells in a strange mood.
* Should the claimed workshop be a [[magma forge]] and lose power due to insufficient magma beneath it, the mood will fail immediately and the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]]. Should the forge be in danger of losing power, you should forbid it before it is claimed and wait until it is powered up reliably. Once magma forges are built, at least some dwarves will no longer be satisfied with a regular forge.
* The following can happen (v .31.12) "OVERWROTE JOB: Strange Mood BY Starting Fist Fight".
* The mood's primary material will only be mentioned ''once'' in the dwarf's requests, even if the dwarf wants more than one unit of it. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75139.0;topicseen]
* The item type of the artifact to be created is not decided until the instant the mood ''ends''. Saving (even after a dwarf has begun to gather materials) will allow you to reload and the result may be a different artifact (unless the moody dwarf's preferences force a particular item type). If you want to get an artifact platinum warhammer, make sure to have platinum nearby and/or block access to any other materials. You can reload the artifact creating process, even after the dwarf has gathered most of components by forbidding the claimed items (use {{k|t}} to view the contents of the workshop, select the undesired material, and press {{k|f}} to forbid it). If other items of that type are available, the dwarf will immediately switch to them.
* Requests for bones are actually requests for any kind of bone stacks, not individual bones. Slaughter a puppy. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0]

==Bugs==
* There are bugs reported related to moody dwarves. As has been the case in 40d, most turned out to be (understandable) failures of the player to grasp the mechanics of artifact creation and demands. Bug tracker: [http://bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view_all_bug_page.php]
* Moody Dwarves don't respect burrows when grabbing a workshop, but DO when looking for items. If his claimed workshop is outside his assigned burrow, the dwarf will continue to grab materials until all materials of the needed type are exhausted within his assigned burrow, this is similar to the [[Main:Planepacked|Planepacked]] glitch.
* If a dwarf dies because of failing to complete an artifact, a memorial made to the dwarf will read that the dwarf did create it, despite the failure, and will even list the name of the artifact that never came to be.
* When producing an item that is normally made in pairs (gloves, boots, etc.), only a single legendary item will be created.

== Demands ==
Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require between one and ten materials to complete. The dwarf may well need several items of one material! If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. [[Forbid|Forbidden]] items must be reclaimed ({{K|d}} - {{K|b}} - {{K|c}}) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding [[economic stone]]. Press {{K|q}} and highlight the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. However, occasionally a hint shown for only 2 seconds will require more than one item to fulfill it; this behavior seems to occur mainly (only?) with the primary material (the base material of the artifact, and the first item gathered).{{Verify}} Materials will always be fetched ''in order'', so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with "TSK" ("task") next to them when the workshop is viewed with the {{K|t}} context menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

If you want your dwarves to construct their artifacts out of valuable materials instead of whatever useless thing happens to be close at hand, you can selectively forbid types of material through the stocks screen so that only the material you want them to use is available; though this might interfere with the normal crafting operations of your fortress, the disruption is generally short-lived (as long as you remember to unforbid them again afterwards!). You can even forbid something a moody dwarf is carrying (which may be necessary sometimes, since while they are not waiting in the workshop they will not tell you what they need); the dwarf will finish hauling it to the workshop, but then immediately go searching for another. This trick can mean the difference between a bauxite statue decorated with moss agates and a native platinum statue encrusted with diamonds. Be aware that this may not always work - see below for more information.

Burrows allow even better control over moody dwarf's material usage. Simply by creating a burrow around claimed workshop and another part over desired material, moody dwarf can be controlled without forbidding every single stone in fortress. A moody dwarf will follow the burrow-definitions just like a regular worker, but be mindful that they will not leave the burrow to get materials that are outside of their assigned burrow. A problem can arise when bones from an outside refuse stockpile are needed by a moody dwarf that is assigned to a burrow.

The various demands are translated here:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;width:90%;"
|-
! Material
! Fey
! Secretive
! Possessed
|-
|
| <dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!"
| <dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>.
| <dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..."
|-
| [[Stone]]
| rock
| a quarry
| stone... rock
|-
| Stone/metal [[block]]s
| rock blocks
| square blocks
| blocks... bricks
|-
| [[Wood]]
| wood logs
| a forest
| tree... life
|-
| Metal [[bar]]
| metal bars
| shining bars of metal
| bars... metal
|-
| [[Gem]]s (cut)
| cut gems
| cut gems
| gems... shining
|-
| [[Gem]]s (raw)
| rough gems
| rough gems
| rough... color
|-
| Green [[glass]]
| raw green glass
| glass
| raw... green
|-
| Clear glass
| raw clear glass{{verify}}
| glass and burning wood
| raw... clear
|-
| Crystal glass
| raw crystal glass{{verify}}
| rough gems and glass
| raw... crystal
|-
| [[Bone]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0;topicseen stack] {{verify}}
| bones
| skeletons
| bones... yes
|-
| [[Shell]]{{verify}}
| shells
| shells
| a shell...
|-
| [[Leather]]
| tanned hides
| stacked leather
| leather... skin
|-
| [[Cloth]] (plant fiber)
| plant cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (silk)
| silk cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (yarn)
| yarn cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Skull]]{{verify}}
| body parts
| death
| a corpse
|}

Dwarves in macabre moods will list their demands in the same fashion as those in fey moods (though with them brooding "Yes. I need <item>." instead of screaming "I must have <item>!"). They may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want special items such as [[skull]]s or vermin [[remains]].

Related to the above behavior, moody dwarves demanding rock blocks will also accept blocks forged from metal bars.

*Moody metalworkers will demand their favorite type of metal as their artifact's primary material '''if''' you have smelted any bars of it - for secretive moods and possessions, take a look at the dwarf's material preferences to see which metal the dwarf wants to use. If you have any [[adamantine]] wafers available, then they will demand that instead.
*Moody clothiers and weavers who have a preference for any type of plant fiber cloth, silk, or yarn will demand that generic type (e.g. a dwarf that likes cave spider silk will require ''any'' type of silk). If you have any [[adamantine]] cloth available, then they will demand that instead.
*Moody glassmakers will demand their preferred type of glass, but only if you've actually produced some of it - if not, they will randomly select one type of glass you've produced. Acquiring raw glass from a caravan does '''not''' count as producing it.
*Moody bone carvers will demand shells if they like a type of shell; if not, they will demand bones.
*Moody gem cutters and gem setters have a chance of only gathering a single rough gem and nothing else, producing a perfect gem with a single decoration.

Once all materials have been gathered, viewing the workshop with {{K|q}} will display a special message depending on the type of mood:
* Fey - "<dwarf> works furiously!"
* Secretive - "<dwarf> works secretly..."
* Possessed - "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."
* Macabre - "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."
* Fell - "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

== The mechanics of moods ==

=== Frequency===
When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented when it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or ''very approximately'' a 50% chance of a strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike - might be sooner, might be (almost) never.

=== Conditions ===
In order for a dwarf to be struck with a strange mood, three conditions must be met:
:* There is no currently active strange mood,
:* The maximum number of artifacts is not met,
:* There are at least 20 eligible dwarves ''(see below)'', including dwarves who have already created artifacts.

If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency.

==== Maximum number of artifacts ====
The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:
* The number of items created divided by 100.1 Mined-out rock '''does''' count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.
* The number of revealed [[subterranean]] tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Once you discover and explore the [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]], this limit becomes largely irrelevant, and using a [[utilities#DFHack|"reveal" utility]] will eliminate it altogether.
:1 - actually the sum of all items by type '''and''' by type+subtype+material, divided by 200. Furthermore, destroying items does '''not''' decrement these counters, so casting and mining [[obsidian]] will count toward this.

==== Eligibility ====
The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual [[profession]]. ''(Note that "[[Skill#Custom profession labels|custom professions]]" have no effect on this!)'' Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts '''may''' enter strange moods and will simply become even ''more'' legendary.

Dwarves with a [[Soldier#Soldier professions|military profession]] other than "Recruit" '''cannot''' enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference - eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual ''[[profession]]'' as listed at the time, so soldiers '''can''' enter moods if they are ''off duty'' and thus in Civilian mode. Children may enter moods, but babies will not.

Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same ''chance'' to enter a mood...

:''('''Note''' - Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, [[Strand extractor]], [[Clerk]]/[[Administrator]]/[[Trader]], [[Doctor]] (and related), [[Building designer|Architect]], [[Soldier#Recruits|Recruit]] and [[Child]] '''are''' moodable professions.)''

There are several additional factors which will prevent a dwarf from entering a mood:
* Being unable to pick up items ("cannot grasp")
* Being dragged by another unit (off to [[jail]])
* Dragging another unit (leading livestock to a [[cage]], [[chain]], [[pasture]], [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|pit/pond zone]], or to the [[butcher's shop]])

=== Chance ===
When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery. The odds are assigned a higher or lower weight based on the dwarf's [[profession]]. The default weight is 6, but some professions are more likely to enter a strange mood than others. (This is like most dwarves getting 6 tickets to the lottery, and others getting more.)

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="2" cellpadding="5"
|-
! Weighting
! Professions

|-
| 21 ||Armorer, Blacksmith, Bone Carver, Clothier, Craftsdwarf, Jeweler, Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Glassmaker, Leatherworker, Metalcrafter, Metalsmith, Stonecrafter, Weaponsmith, Weaver, Woodcrafter
|-
| 11 ||Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Mason, Woodworker
|-
| 6 ||Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, & all other [[profession]]s (including Peasant).

|}

:'''''Example:''' What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance (20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total) of the mood striking them. That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24. The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.''

Note that not every profession is from a moodable skill. A Soaper, Architect, Furnace Operator or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not make those skills legendary, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, building, bar of metal or wafer of adamantine.

=== Skills and workshops ===

{| class="wikitable sortable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;float:right;margin:0 0 20px 30px;vertical-align:top;"
|-
! Highest skill
! Workshop required
|-
| [[Armorsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|-
| [[Bone carver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|-
| [[Bowyer]]
| [[Bowyer's workshop]]
|-
| [[Carpenter]]
| [[Carpenter's workshop]]
|-
| [[Clothier]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|-
| [[Engraver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|-
| [[Gem cutter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|-
| [[Gem setter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|-
| [[Glassmaker]]
| [[Glass furnace]] (or [[Magma glass furnace]])
|-
| [[Leatherworker]]
| [[Leather works]]
|-
| [[Mason]]
| [[Mason's workshop]]
|-
| [[Mechanic]]
| [[Mechanic's workshop]]
|-
| [[Metal crafter]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|-
| [[Metalsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|-
| [[Miner]]
| [[Mason's workshop]]
|-
| [[Stone crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|-
| [[Tanner]]
| [[Leather works]]
|-
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|-
| [[Weaver]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|-
| [[Wood crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|-
| <none>
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|}

A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill, and upon completion of the artifact, gain 20,000 [[experience]] in that skill (excepting [[Strange mood#Possessed|possessed]] dwarves). This will give the dwarf a legendary-level [[skill]] (specifically, "legendary+1" or higher, depending on the dwarf's initial skill level). The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements - there are only 20 skills that determine the workshop and that can be affected by a mood (sometimes referred to as '''moodable''' skills.) If a dwarf does not possess at least one of the moodable skills listed to the right, they will take over a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] and gain one of [[bone carver]], [[stone crafter]], or [[wood crafter]] skills, producing an artifact [[craft]].

This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with the specific legendary skill you want: since ''non''-moodable skills are ignored, whenever possible make sure that each dwarf's highest ''moodable'' skill is one of those you want. Have all your peasants, [[farmer]]s, non-professional military and other dwarves without any moodable skills do a tiny bit of work in the skill(s) you most want; if a "[[experience|dabbling]]" skill is the highest moodable skill they have, that is the skill that will be used.

[[Weaponsmith]], [[Armorsmith]], [[Bowyer]], [[Leatherworker]], [[Clothier]], and [[Mechanic]] are the only skills that provide a uniquely beneficial item other than an extremely valuable trinket or piece of furniture. Note that artifact furniture is useful for increasing [[room value]].

== Artifacts created ==
The type of artifact created depends on the type of mood, the dwarf's highest moodable skill, and the base material. Masons and miners will always create some kind of stone furniture; bone carvers, a bone or shell object (including furniture); carpenters, a piece of wooden furniture; engravers and stone crafters, a stone craft; metalworkers, metal crafts, weapons, or armor (depending on the type of metalworker); weavers and clothiers, an article of clothing; tanners and leatherworkers, a leather armor or object. If a dwarf has no moodable skills, they will randomly select stone crafting, wood crafting, or bone carving as their mood skill and produce their artifact accordingly. The precise type of craft created is usually somewhat random, but if a dwarf has a personality preference for a particular thing, such as gauntlets or floodgates or crowns, and that thing is an available choice given the dwarf's profession, they are guaranteed to create an object of that type (if multiple preferences match, one will be randomly selected).

The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the base material; all other materials will be used as [[decoration]]s. If a dwarf grabs a piece of [[chalk]] and makes a statue, for instance, it will be a "chalk statue", but an artifact can potentially include bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood decorations all at once. In some cases, a moody dwarf will produce an item which normally cannot be made from that material, leading to such odd constructions as an [[obsidian]] [[bed]], [[ruby]] [[floodgate]], or turtle [[shell]] [[cage]], but the actual item types available for each mood type are still very much restricted (e.g. only a glassmaker or jeweler can make a [[window]], and a moody clothier cannot produce an article of clothing that could not normally be made from cloth).

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;"
|-
! Mood / Skill
! Artifact type
|-
| [[Armorsmith]]
| Mail shirt, breastplate, leggings, greaves, gauntlet, low boot, high boot, cap, helm, mask, any shield
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (bone)
| Leggings, greaves, gauntlet, helm, any shield, instrument, toy, door, bed, chair, table, statue, coffer, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, chain, cage, animal trap, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (shell)
| Leggings, gauntlet, helm, figurine, amulet, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, cage, animal trap, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Bowyer]]
| Crossbow, bow, blowgun
|-
| [[Carpenter]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Clothier]]
| rowspan=2| Dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, bag, rope
|-
| [[Weaver]]
|-
| [[Engraver]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| Fell Mood
| rowspan=3| Dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, armor, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, leggings, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausses, low boot, high boot, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, helm, any shield, bag, backpack, quiver, instrument
|-
| [[Leatherworker]]
|-
| [[Tanner]]
|-
| [[Gem cutter]]
| rowspan=3| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, box, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, window, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Gem setter]]
|-
| [[Glassmaker]]
|-
| Macabre Mood (vermin remains)
| Amulet, bracelet, earring
|-
| [[Mason]]
| rowspan=2| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, quern, millstone, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate
|-
| [[Miner]]
|-
| [[Mechanic]]
| Mechanism
|-
| [[Metal crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Metalsmith]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, anvil, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, pipe section†, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Stone crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| Any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Wood crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|}
:† ''chance of selection for this entry is reduced by 90%''

If your dwarf does not have a preference for any possible items, the game will randomly select one from the list. Entries with "any" are treated as collective entries with a single chance, and only include items your civilization is capable of making. This explains why bowyers and clothiers will regularly produce foreign artifacts, while weaponsmiths will not.

== Success ==
Once created, most [[artifact]]s will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact [[armor]] and [[weapon]]s gain extra bonuses in combat, while artifact clothing is immune to [[wear]]. Artifact furniture is useful for raising the value of a [[noble]]'s room. Artifact mechanisms, trap components, or weapons in [[weapon trap|weapon trap]]s can also boost a room's value considerably. Other artifacts that can be used in construction (such as [[barrel]]s, [[bucket]]s, and [[anvil]]s) may be used similarly. Artifact [[door]]s and [[hatch]]es are immune to [[building destroyer]]s. Artifact crafts are currently useless.

Successfully creating an artifact grants a very strong happy [[thought]], enough to make the creator totally ecstatic for several months, as well as granting the creator partial ''immunity to insanity'' - even if your fortress enters a [[tantrum]] spiral, any dwarf who has created an artifact is exempt from going [[insane]] due to prolonged unhappiness.

== Failure ==
If you can't provide the desired workshop and all the required component materials within a couple of months, the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]], which cancels the mood and the artifact. As if that's not bad enough, any dwarf who goes insane will soon die, one way or another.

A dwarf who is '''stark raving mad''' or '''melancholy''' is harmless to others (until they die and start a [[tantrum]] spiral), but a '''berserk''' dwarf will attack other dwarves and possibly pull levers at random. You may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms with doors you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves. In extreme cases, building a wall around an open workshop is the best precaution.

{{Category|Dwarves}}

v0.34:Adventurer mode

2013-07-25T01:59:15Z

ZortLF2: /* Quests */

{{quality|Exceptional|15:19, 17 April 2011 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''This is a detailed reference guide for Adventurer Mode. For a tutorial see the [[Adventure mode quick start|Adventure Mode Quickstart Guide]].
:''See [[Adventure Mode quick reference]] to quickly look up key commands.

In '''adventurer mode''' (also called "adventure mode") you create a single adventurer ([[dwarf]], [[human]], or [[elf]]) who starts out somewhere in one of your generated worlds. You can receive [[quest]]s, venture into the wilderness to find [[cave]]s, shrines, lairs, abandoned towers, and other [[Site|towns and settlements]]. You can even visit your abandoned [[fortress]]es and find whatever riches were left to be guarded by the [[creature]]s that sealed their fate.

Unlike [[fortress mode]], adventurer mode is a sort of advanced [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_game open world] version of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29 rogue] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nethack nethack] taking place in the same procedurally generated worlds used for fortress mode, but you control a single character in a turn-based manner rather than manage a group of creatures acting in real time.

=World Selection=

You can play Adventurer mode in any world that has a civilization with the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|ADVENTURE_TIER]] token (which are elf, dwarf, and human in unmodded raws) but as of the current version only human civilizations have towns, NPC fortresses, or shops {{v|0.34.07}}. As a result you need at least one human civilization if you want quests or anything but basic wilderness survival. Alternately, you can alter the other races to also use human towns -- see the talk page under "Dwarven Fortresses."

If you have previously built a fort in the world that you select, your adventurer will be able to go visit it. However, the fort must be abandoned because you will not be able to start an adventure mode game in the same world with an active fortress mode game. Note, though, that you can always save your fortress mode game, duplicate the save folder (copy ''regionX'' to ''regionX-copy'' or something), abandon the fortress in the copy of the world, then start adventure mode in the new clone world.

=Character Creation=

==Race and Civilization==

Any race with the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|ADVENTURE_TIER]] token is playable in adventure mode. In an unmodded game, this means [[Dwarves]], [[Elves]], and [[Human|Humans]]. All three races can complete the same quests.

*'''Civilized Humans''' begin with bronze or iron weapons and can use any of the items sold by shopkeepers (who, for the time being, are only found in human towns and only sell human-sized clothing/armor). They also start with the widest variety of weapon skills.

*'''Human Outsiders''' can only start with Spear User and Knife User as weapon skills, and they cannot start with Armor User or Shield User. They also start out literally naked with no clothing, but can wear any human-sized armor that they trade for, steal, or loot. "Outsiders" of other races can be played if you add the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]] token to the race's entity definition.

*'''Dwarves''' have the advantage of being able to go into a [[Martial trance|martial trance]] when fighting multiple foes at once. They are the only race which can start with steel weapons, but they wear "small" sized clothing (like goblins and elves) which means that they're unable to wear human clothing and armor found in shops. They can start with almost all of the same weapon skills as civilized humans. Most human-sized weapons (such as long swords) must be wielded two-handed by dwarves, due to their size.

*'''Elves''' start with very weak wooden weapons and have a more limited list of weapon skills during character creation. They have the advantage that they have higher natural speed. Like dwarves they wear small sized clothing so will have the same problem finding suitable armor in shops.

*'''Kobolds''' can be played only if there are no other civilizations and there are kobolds.

If no civilization for the given race exists in a world, you won't be able to play as that race except perhaps as a human outsider.{{Verify}}

== Status ==

Determines the number of starting skill and attribute points, which does not change based on race:
*'''Peasant:''' 15 attribute, 35 skill
*'''Hero:''' 35 attribute, 95 skill
*'''Demigod:''' 105 attribute, 161 skill
The number of skill points is less significant than the number of attribute points because the time it takes to go from Peasant to Demigod in skill terms is much less than what it would take to go from Peasant to Demigod in attribute terms.

== Starting Attributes ==

[[Attribute|Attributes]] are divided into Body and Soul attributes. This section provides some guidance for allocating attributes as it relates to adventurer mode.

=== Body ===

*'''Strength''' - Alters the damage done in melee, increases muscle mass (thicker muscle layer also resists damage more), and increases how much a creature can carry. Increasing strength, at least in adventurers, increases movement speed (albeit not as much as agility) due to better carrying capacity.
*'''Agility''' - This attribute is directly related to a character's Speed and is also used in combat skills.
*'''Toughness''' - Reduces physical damage. Also relates to defensive combat skills.
*'''Endurance''' - Reduces the rate at which the adventurer becomes exhausted. Used in Wrestling.
*'''Recuperation''' - Increases the rate of wound healing. Not as important as Toughness. Recuperation isn't that useful in adventurer mode since you usually have as much time to rest as you need assuming you can escape a situation alive.
*'''Disease Resistance''' - Reduces the risk of disease. Reduces the "risk" of becoming a vampire in adventurer mode.

Strength, Agility, and Toughness are the Body attributes that most impact combat skills, and Endurance to a lesser extent.

=== Soul ===

Some of these are useful for adventure-mode-applicable skills, but some are totally useless except as dump stats. (The useless ones are in ''italics''.)

*'''Analytical Ability''' - Useful for certain crafting skills, the only one currently being Knapping.
*'''Focus''' - Affects Archer, Ambusher, Observer.
*'''Willpower''' - Fighter, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, and helps resist ''pain effects'' such as those caused by chipped bones.
*'''''Creativity''''' - Currently completely useless in adventure mode. Normally it impacts crafting skills.
*'''Intuition''' - Only helps with Observer.
*'''''Patience''''' - Currently useless.
*'''Memory''' - Records more of previously traveled areas when you return to them. Deletes all memory when you travel.
*'''''Linguistic Ability''''' - Currently useless because adventurers don't have social skills.
*'''Spatial Sense''' - Important. Affects combat skills, Ambusher, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, Observer, Knapping.
*'''''Musicality''''' - Completely useless as of yet.
*'''Kinesthetic Sense''' - Important. Combat skills, Crutch Walker, Swimming, Knapping,
*'''Empathy''' - Might increase chance of persuading people to Join you.{{Verify}}
*'''Social Awareness''' - Increases the number of followers you can have at a given "fame" level. Normally you start with a limit of two. Increasing this stat by one level raises that to three.

=== Attribute Advancement Cap ===

Adventure mode attributes are capped at double the starting value or the starting value plus the racial average, whichever is greater. Humans, for example, have a racial average strength of 1,000. If a human adventurer starts with an ''above average'' strength of 1,100, then his strength will ultimately be capped at 2,200. Had this human started with a ''below average'' strength of 900, then his strength would be capped at 1,900 instead. For the purpose of maximizing final attributes, this makes it important to start with as many attributes in the ''superior'' range as possible (more attributes per point allocated), while avoiding taking any penalties to even remotely important attributes (big attribute deductions per point recovered). As a consequence of the attribute cap, demigod adventurers will always have a much higher potential for advancement than mere peasants and heroes.

== Starting Skills ==

Not all races have the same sets of skills available at character creation time, but keep in mind that all starting [[skill]]s, as well as ones not available at character creation, can be improved through use in game. [[Reader]] is an exception to this.

This section will specifically address starting skills as they relate to adventure mode. For a full description of combat skills see [[Combat skill]]. Other skills that you can't start with, but which can be increased in game (such as Butchery) are described elsewhere.

=== Weapon ===

The weapon you start out with will be based on which of these, plus the unarmed combat skills, is the highest. In other words, even if Swordsman is your highest weapon skill, you won't start with a sword if your Wrestler or Striker skills are better. Usually the best choice anyway is to specialize in just one melee weapon skill. Regardless of weapon skills, a '''large copper dagger''' will always be included in the starting equipment, which is handy for throwing at enemies that are just a step away or finishing off a foe pinned down by a stuck weapon.

Because these tend to take a bit longer to increase in game, it makes sense to put some points into one at the beginning.

Not all races/civilizations can start with all of these skills. (For example, Dwarves can't start with Bowman or Lasher).

*'''Axeman''' - allows characters to use axes, great axes, and halberds more effectively.
*'''Bowman''' - skill allows characters to use bows more effectively.
*'''Crossbowman''' - allows characters to use crossbows more effectively. The dwarven version is called '''Marksdwarf'''.
*'''Hammerman''' - allows characters to use crossbows in melee, mauls, and war hammers more effectively.
*'''Knife User''' - allows characters to use large daggers and knives more effectively.
*'''Lasher''' - allows characters to use whips and scourges more effectively.
*'''Maceman''' - allows characters to use flails, maces, and morningstars more effectively.
*'''Pikeman''' - allows characters to use pikes more effectively.
*'''Spearman''' - allows characters to use spears more effectively.
*'''Swordsman''' - allows characters to use blowguns and bows in melee, long swords, scimitars, short swords, and two-handed swords more effectively.

=== General Combat ===

These two skills can be raised rather quickly in game and so you probably want to skip spending any points on them at the start.

*'''Fighter''' - This increases with, and contributes to, melee combat whether armed or unarmed. It appears that the purpose of it is to allow melee experience to contribute to melee combat in general regardless of weapon. Repeatedly wrestling (grabbing and releasing) even a small creature will raise this skill.
*'''Archer''' - This increases with, and contributes to, ranged combat including throwing. It works similarly to Fighter except for ranged attacks. It can be easily raised by repeatedly throwing rocks, making it advisable for archers to practice their marksmanship with rock throwing before using up the more finite and expensive forms of ammunition. Shooting at a wall with adjacent upward ramp one level below and picking back projectiles is also a good idea (such places often happen to be in castles). See the FAQ section on [[#powerleveling|powerleveling]] for information on raising bowman/marksman skills.

=== Defensive ===

These skills are critical for survival. Starting out with good ability in one (especially Shield User or Armor User) if not all is strongly advised.

*'''Shield User''' - Ability to block attacks with shields. Starting with skill in this means that the adventurer will start with a shield.
*'''Armor User''' - Related to how well an adventurer moves in armor, and increases whenever an adventurer wearing armor is attacked. A higher level of this skill reduces the encumbrance penalties of armor, allowing up to normal speed movement when wearing full steel plate. Unfortunately, starting with this skill does not provide any starting armor.
*'''Dodger''' - Ability to dodge out of the way of attacks.

=== Unarmed Combat and Improvised Weapons ===

While some of them come in handy at times, they can generally be raised fairly easily in game, especially Wrestler and Thrower.

*'''Wrestler''' - Ability to grapple, restrain, take-down, throw opponents, etc. See [[#Wrestling and Unarmed Attacks]] for details. Can be raised very easily in game.
*'''Striker''' - Punching ability. Turns handy when weapons get stuck and there is no time to wrest them back.
*'''Kicker''' - Kicking ability. Same as Striker.
*'''Biter''' - Biting ability.
*'''Thrower''' - Throwing any miscellaneous object including rocks, knives, axes, swords, heads, etc.
*'''Misc. Object User''' - Ability to beat things to death with anything that comes at hand, from bags to coins to their own severed body parts. Also somewhat more commonly used for shield bashing.

=== Movement and Awareness ===

*'''[[Observer]]''' - Helps one to notice things like ambushes, enemies who are "sneaking" (stealth movement), and traps. Detection range increases with skill, but up to a maximum of 3 tiles away. Hard to train. Adding some points here is advisable.
*'''[[Swimmer]]''' - Allows movement through water without drowning. A Novice swimmer can swim but will revert to being unable to swim if stunned, which happens when falling even 1 z-level into the water. An Adequate swimmer can swim normally (not drown) while stunned. For this reason, ''starting out as an Adequate swimmer is advisable.'' If you don't, at least start as Novice and go get some swimming practice right away.
*'''[[Ambusher]]''' - The skill of {{K|S}}neaking around unobserved. This can be raised fairly easily by sneaking around while traveling from place to place when speed is not important. At lower skill levels, speed is greatly reduced, but the penalty gradually reduces until negated at Legendary skill and it's possible to sneak at full movement rate. Chance of detection is also reduced at higher skill levels; a more skilled ambusher can remain in close combat for longer without being detected. It is worth noting that ambusher only is checked once the adventurer is 3 tiles or closer to the enemy - at 4 tiles and up, you will remain hidden from the enemy even if you have no skill in Ambusher, as long as you are sneaking.

=== Crafting ===

These allow your character to create things. There is only one skill currently available in an unmodified game.

*'''[[Knapper]]''' - The fine art of sharpening rocks by banging them together in a clever manner. The resulting rocks become sharp rocks which do more damage when thrown and can be used for things requiring a sharp edge like butchering. Easy to raise in game and doing so helps with Kinesthetic and Spatial Sense.

=== Other ===

*'''[[Reader]]''' - Allows you to read books, signs, and writing in Adventurer mode. Novice level is required in order to become a [[Necromancer]]. There is no way to increase this skill.
*'''[[Butcher]]''' - The art of cutting bodies into many pieces. You cannot allocate points here during character creation.

= Gameplay =

== Common UI Concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving Around ==

=== Local Movement ===
[[File:adventure-local-map.png|thumb|400px|The local travel screen. The lower left shows a small overview map of the area. The upper right shows a small area 1 z-level above the adventurer in the middle. The adventurer is standing in front of the door to a house full of humans, and visibility behind the house is obscured. In the upper left is a small box showing the direction to various sites (which may be quite far away).]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| {{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| {{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for a step
|-
| {{k|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{k|S}}
| Sneak
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, you will start out in a human town or hamlet; in the standard tileset the @ sign is your character. In the lower left-hand corner of the screen is a mini-map, with the @ sign showing your relative location to other things in the town/hamlet. The ▐ symbols are small collections of buildings.

The directional keys allow movement. Diagonal movement is particularly important especially when chasing or running away from things.

Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water it's best to enter the actual water and not the open space over the water as, in the later case, you will fall in causing you to become stunned which may lead to drowning.

Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move.

Use {{k|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{k|s}} to stand back up then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

{{k|S}}neak will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your Ambusher skill and the Observer skill of nearby creatures. The closer you get to a creature, the more likely you are to be detected. Your movement rate will also be very slow at low Ambusher skill levels while sneaking. If you are within observation range of anything then you will be unable to go into stealth mode. Hiding somewhere you can't be seen (such as the inside edge of a murky pool, if you can swim) will allow you to go into stealth mode when creatures are around. Stealth mode will also allow you to move onto/through townsfolk.

=== Fast Travel ===
[[Image:adventurer-fast-travel.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. A fort is on the west side, and a town is on the east side of the map. The regional map is displayed on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{k|>}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode.

See the [[Map legend]] for information on what the map symbols mean. Settlements are indicated by {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} tiles and you can find houses by exiting fast travel while standing on one of these tiles. Yellow tiles of the same shape {{Tile|■|6:0:1}} indicate the presence of shops rather than houses.

Pressing {{K|m}} will put a fully zoomed-out map on the right side of the screen, with your current location marked by a blinking "X". When seeking out a quest, move in the direction of the quest site until the blinking "X" is on top of the symbols indicated in the Adventure Log (you can press {{K|Q}} at any time to look at it again).

Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and the position of the sun and/or moon from west to east. This primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark at which point you won't be able to see very far and will be more vulnerable to attack.

While in the fast travel screen you can:

* {{k|c}} - Display/hide clouds/weather
* {{k|m}} - Display/hide the regional map on the right
* {{k|Q}} - Display the Quest log
* {{k|Z}} - Display the sleep menu

Other commands are not available until you exit fast travel with {{k|>}}.

== Status and Information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{k|a}}
| View Announcements
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking Around ===

If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{k|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old messages by pressing {{k|a}}.

=== Status Screen ===

This screen shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the Game ===

Hit the {{k|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and Manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{k|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in your abandoned forts. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well so you can get water to refill your waterskin with.

{{k|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some small creatures.

== Managing Equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{k|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{k|g}}
| Get (pickup) an item off the ground
|-
| {{k|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{k|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{k|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{k|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way. (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{k|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} to scroll the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck in your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/Dropping Things ===

You can {{k|d}}rop items in your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen.

{{k|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. Fires aren't as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most)enemies to path around them, making your crowd control slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{k|p}} and removed with {{k|r}}.

=== Wearing ===

Items can be worn using {{k|w}} and removed using {{k|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{K|r}}emoving items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{key|r}}emove or {{key|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, DF allows you to wear more than one item in the same location in many situations.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{k|g}}et them from the ground or {{k|r}}emove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{k|r}}emove command and the {{k|p}}ut into container command.

While normally one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full. This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

It should be noted that the world of DF seems to have a lot of left handers, so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon with the left hand and the [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] with the right hand.

=== Advanced Interaction ===

The {{k|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory. This is used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, and refilling waterskins, but in theory various types of objects could implement some sort of behavior to be activated. Basically this is similar to "use" commands in other games.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, yielding 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{k|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{k|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

More importantly, this can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory(or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink.

== Time and Weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date/Time
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather
|}

The game has a day/night cycle with time passing as various actions take place. When in the fast travel screen you can just look at the bar along the top to see where the sun is an estimate the time, but in local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command.

When using quick travel mode the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day and further to the left is later in the day.

At night you won't be able to see nearly as well and you will be more vulnerable to ambush.

The game also has weather and temperature. Weather is, to some extent, directly viewable on the fast travel screen. Temperature is important because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you're dead instantly. Therefore you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day.

Weather can also reduce visibility.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|3:1}} and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{K|k}} to talk to a human, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next press {{K|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. ('''NOTE''': You can disable bogeymen by going into advanced world builder and setting "Number of Night creatures" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way to there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest best is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety.

Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing then you can travel from lair to lair using each lair as a safe lodging. This is much much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on. The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to stand up and lie down {{K|s}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks.

== Food and Drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|e}}
| Eat or drink something
|}

The easiest way to stay hydrated and full when starting out is by finding and fighting something weak (say, a vulture, or a raccoon, or a fox). You will almost certainly end up covered in blood. You can drink any liquid covering you using 'e' and then simply selecting the fluid - perhaps a little salty in real life, but in Dwarf Fortress it works. The corpse can then be butchered {{k|x}} for edible parts, to cure your hunger - the first two problems are solved. It is possible that drinking vampire blood will lead to infection.

Make sure to eat or drink regularly even if you're not hungry or thirsty, as you can only eat or drink three times in a row: after that you'll need to rest, go out or wait until you can consume another meal. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you might be already dead by the time you can drink again.

== Combat ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Attack adjacent hostile creature
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Attack adjacent hostile creature
|-
| {{k|A}}
| Attack an adjacent creature.
|-
| {{k|A}} then {{k|Enter}}
| Wrestle an adjacent creature.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Fire a projectile
|-
| {{k|t}}
| Throw an item
|-
| {{k|C}}
| Open combat preferences interface
|}

[[Combat]] is the fine art of using physical force to cause injury and death, and it is particularly fun in Dwarf Fortress.

=== Melee Attacks ===

Hostile creatures can be attacked using a non-aimed attack by simply advancing towards your enemy using the arrow keys. Doing a non-aimed attack will also free up any stuck weapon.

Any creature can be attacked by standing next to it and pressing {{k|Shift}}+{{k|A}}. Attacking a friendly or unconscious creature (which includes wild animals for elves) will further require a confirmation, given using {{k|alt}}+{{k|y}}.

Attacking a creature with {{k|A}} will allow you to make an '''aimed attack'''. You must first select the body part that you want to attack. Look at the difficulty rating for various possible attacks. Impossible attacks will be impossible to land and Easier attacks will be very easy to land. The difficulty rating for an attack does not change depending on your weapon skill. Based on player experiences, a Grand Master weapon user can almost always land a "Tricky" strike, while a Novice generally cannot. Attacks on various locations will also have limits on how "squarely" they can land (due to being out of reach, for example). Square and very square attacks will deal more damage.{{Verify}} Attacks which "can't land squarely" are generally still effective.

Attacks aimed at the head are the most effective; a single attack to the cranium with a weapon will usually put an end to the fight. Aimed attacks are especially useful for dismembering opponents. Opponents who are missing a foot will fall over, thereby greatly lowering their speed, and giving you an immediate edge in the fight. Cutting off both hands also highly recommended for obvious reasons. After all, a field full of armless, one-legged enemies can be a big experience booster for your companions.

Aimed attacks are also especially helpful when fighting giant beasts. Some enemies like giant desert scorpions have lots of redundant body parts, and random attacks waste valuable time on low priority areas while the scorpion is busy injecting venom into the whole party. Very large enemies, like giants and hydras, are too tall for effective strikes at the head. Fighting such beasts with random attacks will prove mostly futile until the monster has been knocked over, either due to spinal injuries or loss of feet. Lastly, aimed attacks allow you to grab trophies that are not available via butchering. For example, a minotaur's horns can be cut off during a fight, but since its a humanoid, most adventurers will refuse to butcher its corpse after the fight.

=== Ranged Attacks ===

To attack with a ranged weapon press the {{k|f}} key and select the square where you want to attack. Similarly use the {{k|t}} key to throw any random object in the same manner. Random objects appear to make a random attack if they happen to have more than one possible type.{{Verify}} For example, if you throw a sword it may hit with a blunt impact, a stabbing impact, or a slicing impact. Throwing crossbow bolts with sufficient throwing skill and strength seems to have an effect similar to firing them, although less powerful. On the plus side, you will never lose ammo if you throw it.

It is not possible to aim for specific body parts with ranged or thrown attacks.

Throwing is generally a good skill to have for any adventurer, as it allows you to slow down fleeing foes, both on the ground and in the air without the need of equipping a (cross)bow. Just like {{k|l}}ooking, you can use throwing to view and hit enemies multiple Z levels away from you. If you're lucky, you can simply land a hit that causes the flying enemy to give in to pain, and then let gravity do the rest of the work. Even if the fall doesn't kill them, they will most likely be stunned long enough for you to run up and slaughter them.

=== Wrestling and Unarmed Attacks ===

:''Main article: [[Wrestling]]''

'''[[Wrestling]]''' (grappling) can be performed by standing next to an enemy and pressing {{k|A}} followed by {{k|Enter}} to switch to wrestling. You can wrestle any enemy. Wrestling works somewhat like a targeted attack. Once you grab a creature by some body part, you may be able to make another wrestling attempt that will allow you to perform a throw or takedown.

For a detailed list of moves such as takedowns, throws, choke holds, etc, see [[Wrestling]].

It's also possible to punch, kick, and bite. These are not in the wrestling menu but are performed like normal targeted attacks with {{k|A}}.

=== Weapons ===

[[Weapon]]s are basically divided into axe, sword, spear, pike, mace, whip, bow and hammer, with various versions of these taking up the gray area.

=== Wounds ===

If you get wounded during combat, there's not much that you can do except perhaps run before you get more wounded. Your wounds will heal over time, so just travel around or sleep in a safe place. Some wounds however may never heal, leaving you permanently crippled. Obtaining a crutch may help with this. Or if you are not already a vampire, then you can get bitten by a werebeast during full moon, which will heal all injuries once per month.

If you have some bolts or arrows stuck in your body, they can be removed by using the complex interaction menu {{k|I}}. Select the stuck bolt or arrow from the list and then pull it out with {{k|a}} You'll probably start bleeding after you pull it out, but the bleeding is rarely anything to worry about.

=== Combat Preferences ===

At any time during gameplay (Except travel mode), you can press {{k|C}} to open the Combat Preferences menu. There are three different preferences you can set: Attack, Dodge and Charge Defense. These have a few different preferences each:

*'''{{k|a}}ttack'''
**'''According to Opponent''' - The default setting. When set to this, charging happens more or less frequently, depending on the difference in size between you and the opponent. Bigger opponents get charged less, smaller more often. Can be very risky, since a random charge against a huge opponent is likely to get you knocked down and stunned. In the same vein, charging when close to obstacles or other environmental hazards is very dangerous, potentially fatal, if the enemy dodges you.
**'''Strike''' - This setting ensures that you never charge an opponent, but rather just swing your weapon at them. This carries less risk than the above, but you're never going to knock anyone down without hitting their legs or spine. Very preferable against large opponents.
**'''Charge''' - When set to this, you ALWAYS charge. When faced with numerous small enemies (Bogeymen in particular), this can be extremely useful, but remember to switch back when facing something bigger. Charging a large dragon is almost a certain death sentence.
**'''Close Combat''' - With this setting, all your auto-attacks are grapples. Generally not very useful, since the random nature of it tends to prevent you from actually doing any damage with it, but if you continually auto-attack a harmless creature with it your wrestling-skill will be legendary in no time.

*'''{{k|d}}odge'''
**'''Move Around''' - This means you can jump away from attacks, physically moving in a random direction. While this lets you dodge attacks more often, it can also result in you jumping into a wall or down a lake. If you're fighting in really tight spaces, you might want to switch it off.
**'''Stand Ground''' - As can be expected, you stand your ground. No jumping around, which is useful in the above situation, but risky in the open. If you have room for jumping around, go with Move Around, but otherwise this could be a good idea.

*'''{{k|c}}harge Defense'''
**'''According to Opponent''' - Again, the default setting. You're more likely to stand still against small enemies charging, but will probably prefer moving away from larger ones. Somewhat risky, in that even a somewhat small enemy can stun you by charging.
**'''Dodge Away''' - With this, you'll dodge away from charging enemies, if you can. It's not a sure bet, but it's very much worth it against enemies who like to charge. This is probably the most preferable mode, since you're not losing a whole lot by dodging a small foe charging, but dodging an angry night beast can save you from a world of pain.
**'''Stand Ground''' - If you're certain of your physical superiority to the opponent, you can safely choose this. Standing your ground like a real man/woman might feel hardcore, but getting knocked down in a fight can be extremely dangerous. It probably has some use against bogeymen though, since they're quite small. If you really are much bigger than the enemy, you'll end up knocking THEM down. Most of the time though, charges heavily favor the attacker, so dodging away is probably preferable.

Using Combat Preferences properly can actually save your hide, so it's worth fiddling with. Just don't forget that you've fiddled with them, since a malplaced charge or dodge could end up killing you.

== Talking ==
[[File:adventurer-talking.png|thumb|400px|Talking to someone in Adventurer mode.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|k}}
| Talk to somebody
|}

Now that you know how to kill people, you may also want to know how to talk to and otherwise interact with them in a less violent manner. While this is less entertaining, it can sometimes be useful.

Press {{k|k}} to enter tal{{k|k}} mode. Move the cursor over a being and a list of language-capable beings on that tile will be shown in the lower left of the screen. If there is more than one creature on the tile, you can select the one you want to talk to using the {{k|-}}/{{k|+}} keys. Hit {{k|Enter}} to begin the conversation.

Normally you will need to Greet someone first, then you will have the following options when it comes to subjects of discussion:
*'''Trade''' - Attempt to initiate [[#Shops|trade]]. This only works for NPCs in shops.
*'''Join''' - Ask the individual to join you as one of your [[#Companions|Companions]]. Soldiers will join you 100% of the time if you don't already have too many companions, but the chance of regular townsfolk joining you will be highly impacted by your reputation.
*'''Surroundings''' - Ask about sites and things in the general geographical area. This may reveal hidden sites (such as lairs) on the map, and may also reveal bits of history such as, "in 123 Urist McSucker founded Boatmurdered". This can be selected repeatedly to reveal multiple facts about the area.
*'''Capital''' - Ask where the capital of the current civilization is. As with the "Surroundings" topic, a random bit of the capitol's history will also be given.
*'''Service''' - Ask for a [[#Quests|quest]].
*'''Profession''' - Ask the individual about their profession. If the person is willing to '''Join''' you, they will add a line such as, "How I long for some excitement in my life..."
*'''Family''' - Ask about a random family member. If the person has more than one family member then selecting this option repeatedly will eventually reveal all of them. Like "Surroundings", this can also reveal bits of information about history such as, "Gor Lorthor was my son. In 123, Gor Lorthor was struck down by Trogdor the Burninator."
*'''Accuse of being a night creature''' - If the individual is a vampire in hiding, then they will become hostile to all around them and will fight you. Note, if said vampire has a cult (vampire law-givers usually seem to) the cultists will reveal themselves as well and become hostile to any non-vampire (the one the cult is based around, that is), non-cultist they see, including you.
*'''Report success/spread news''' - This option will only appear once you have completed a quest. Selecting it will cause you to regale people with tales of your amazing adventures, increasing your fame/reputation level. After you have done this once, with one person, the option will not appear again anywhere in any conversation until another quest has been completed. Apparently, everyone is telepathic, and won't want to hear the same story again.
*'''Goodbye''' - End the conversation.

Sometimes other options may also appear. Experiment with them and see what happens.

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|c}}
| View companion interface
|}

Companions are the guys who follow you around after you've asked them to Join and they've accepted. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions that is based on fame/reputation level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions.

You can use the {{k|c}} key to open up a list showing your companions and their relative position to you. This can be useful if one of them runs off somewhere and you want to find them. You can select specific companions who are in visual range in order to view them. This is the same as viewing them with {{k|l}}ook.

Short of using special utilities and hacks, you can't change your companions' equipment. When they die you can loot their corpses however. (One devious and evil way to get equipment is to intentionally get your companions killed and then take their stuff.)

However, if they survive long enough/are trained well enough they seem to be capable of leveling stats or skills in some way, and are susceptible to having title or job title changed as well.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you until they either die or are left behind by entering fast travel mode while they are too far away from you. Companions with missing feet and legs will attempt to hobble along behind you. If you need to ditch '''ALL''' of your companions, retire your adventurer in a settlement, and start playing that adventurer again. You will lose all companions by doing this(as well as resetting your thirst/hunger/sleep needs.)

If you keep losing your companions while traveling through rivers, try going to a spot where the river becomes a "minor river(single dark blue line.)" Brooks are obviously also safe to cross.

== Civilization ==

Civilizations are organized groups of creatures (generally of the same race) which build sites such as towns.

=== Towns ===

Humans live in towns comprised of buildings and often a paved road. Human villages are highly modular. The small 5x5 buildings are citizen houses and shops.

Towns appear on the fast travel map as {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} or {{Tile|■|6:0:1}} symbols which are small collections of buildings. Yellow buildings indicate the presences of shops where you can trade. The buildings can be spaced rather far apart, so even when you get your @ on top of a {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} it might take some wandering about in local travel mode to find a building.

Once you find a building, step through the door. It should have multiple U's, each of which is a human.

=== Fortresses ===

Humans also live in fortresses which appear on the fast travel map as large buildings. You can't walk over them. Instead you must move over to what looks like the entrance, exit fast travel with {{k|>}}, and walk toward the direction of the fortress.

Fortresses, if they haven't been abandoned, will be populated by soldiers, a Lord or Lady of some sort, and possibly others. If they have been abandoned then they may be overrun by various wild animals. They do not contain shops.

If control of a civilization has been taken over by a Demon, the fortress may be empty except for that demon, who acts as the Lord. He will behave as any human lord. Sometimes in an abandoned fort you might also find a demon that is a prisoner, who you can actually recruit without any significant amount of fame. If they can be trusted or not is more or less up for debate, but it is still better than Urist McFaceplant.

=== Other Sites ===

'''Note:''' Currently, only humans have civilization sites.

Elves live out in the forest, literally. Although defined to specific regions on the map, they have no structural wealth whatsoever. Some trees are named.

Dwarves live underground. Their entrances are large square pits with stairs around the perimeter, and a row of leading down into the fortress halls at the bottom. The main halls are wide and have pillars near the walls, long and occasionally turn corners. Different levels in the fortress are marked by a row of ramps with two pillars on the side (walk towards the side of the ramp that has the pillars) and, although the number of floors in a fortress can vary, they are usually little and only become deep if the lay of the land above is variable. There are two-tile-wide hallways, empty 5x5 rooms, and scant Dwarves in these pre-fab fortresses. It's obvious the computer is playing a completely different game than you are in [[Fortress mode]]!

Goblins live in [[obsidian]] towers, usually found built in twos, though they both don't necessarily have to be built up. One could be a "tower," one could be an over-glorified "basement." There is probably a temple nearby, completely similar to human temples. Goblin towers have tight 1-wide hallways, spacious and empty rooms, and strange hall extensions that end in remote cross-like dead-ends. Like dwarf fortresses, there is rarely anything in a Goblin tower asides from Goblins, and they have a strange tendency not to attack non-Goblin visitors. They seem to have lots of children.

You may come across what the map defines as a "Goblin" city that is actually populated by Humans or Dwarves living in or around the towers.

=== Shops ===

==== Trading (barter) ====
In human towns (not hamlets or castles), you can find [[building|shops]]. Once you're inside of a shop and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{K|k}} to talk to him/her, then select trade. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. Once the trade is accepted all of the items you offered will be on the floor underneath you.

After buying an item, you must pick it up manually from somewhere in the shop. {{K|l}}ook around for an item without $ signs around it. If NPCs are standing directly over the items you just bought, go prone with the {{K|s}} key so you can move onto the same space as them and pick them up.

Due to some limitations, there are only "human town" shopkeepers in a pre-fab Adventure mode civilization.

====Theft====
You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft. It is punishable by death if you are caught, and excommunication if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store, i.e. goods bounded by the $$ signs, the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to warp out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill response in another country.

In recent versions, you may find towns that are entirely deserted. In this case, you can steal from their shops with no consequences.

'''Note that if you steal anything, then nobody in that civilization will talk to you anymore, making it impossible for you to get new quests, use the shops, or get new companions.'''

==== Selling and buying with money ====
In addition to bartering, you can sell items to a shop for coins, then use the coins to buy stuff at another shop. Just select the items you want to sell or buy, and then set a price using the following buttons:
* {{k|a}}sking for money for your goods.
* {{k|o}}ffering money for their goods.

Shopkeepers are used to adventurers with inflated ideas about the value of their goods, so it may be simplest to ask for 9000☼ for your goods, or offer 1☼ for theirs and suggest a {{k|t}}rade. The shopkeeper will counteroffer with the actual value of the goods, and will be quite delighted to accept a {{k|t}}rade at the price they've just quoted to you. You can then purchase things with your store credit.

When you end the trade session ({{k|esc}}), the items you sold will be dropped at your feet, and the balance of your coins and the items you bought will appear in your hands.

====Managing coins====
You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in other civilizations. This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of now useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing your speed. To reduce that effect you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones. To do that you can purchase goods from a merchant to the sum of your copper coins, then sell them back. Check the merchant's chest to see how much gold and silver coins they have. You can delay the problem by selling your loot to many merchants, as they will try to pay you in higher denomination currency first. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations.

A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably giant cave spider silk items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. Giant cave spider silk is a non-renewable resource in a given world - please harvest responsibly.

==== Where to get items to sell ====
The best place to get items to sell is at bandit camps, after you've slaughtered all the bandits. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods.

The next best way to get items to sell is to kill non-talking monsters, butcher their corpses (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering.

Another good early source of income can be bags left in abandoned houses/shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag.

At the bottom of the list comes {{k|L}}ooking Carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your backpack from river - it can hold up to 100 units of water which is worth 100☼ total. After your sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This may be considered an [[exploit]] by some, though.

Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{k|g}}rab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quests ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Adventure (Quest) log (tasks, map, et cetera...)
|}

Once you have a quest, press {{K|Q}} to look at them (this screen is called the Adventure Log). The world map is on the left, with your current location highlighted by a blinking "O", while on the right is the list of your quests. You can select a quest and press {{K|z}} to find the location of the quest site: the blinking "O" will move to the quest site, with a green line drawing the path you need to take. Pressing {{K|m}} will tell you the species of the monster you're supposed to kill. You can also use the arrow keys to move the "O" around to examine the surrounding terrain and sites.

Note that once you complete a quest that you can report your success to ''any'' human. Once you tell one human, everyone in the same civilization will know about it. The Adventure Log will tell you to report back to a particular hamlet/town/castle, but you can safely ignore that.

If you're having trouble finding the site on the fast travel map for some reason, exit quick travel mode by pressing {{K|>}}. In the upper left-hand corner of the screen will be a box with symbols running down the left-hand side. At the top of the box will be the symbol of your quest site, with the compass direction to the site at to its right, and "TSK" to the right of the direction indicating an unfinished quest at that site. You can then go back into fast travel mode and head in that direction.

Once you get to the quest site, you'll be unable to enter it when using quick travel mode. Attempting to do so will give the message "You cannot travel through the [site]". You must exit quick travel mode by pressing {{K|>}} and move the rest of the way using the normal movement mode. The box in the upper left-hand corner will tell you the direction to go. When you complete the quest the "TSK" will be gone from the site's line in the box, and looking at the Adventure Log ({{K|Q}}) will show "Report Death of ..." instead of "Kill ...". You then have to move off the site using the slow travel method before entering quick travel mode again with {{K|T}} (trying to do so on the site will tell you "You cannot travel until you leave this site".)

The difficulty of the quests a certain civilization will give you goes up as your fame/reputation with that civilization increases. This is important to remember, you may want to increase your adventurer's skills or gather more companions in between quests to keep up with the rising difficulty level.

==Crafting==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|x}}
| Perform action (butcher, create item...)
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, (also known as "reactions"). To access the crafting menu, press {{k|x}}.

'''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. '''Knapping does not work with stones in containers, only ones on the ground or in your hand.''' Stones can only be {{k|d}}ropped if the stone type does not naturally exist in the biome you are in, so to use ground stones it is worthwhile to {{k|T}}ravel far from the area you {{k|g}}ot the stones. Otherwise, you can place both stones into your hands. This can be achieved by {{k|d}}ropping whatever is held in your left and right hands, then {{k|g}}etting small stones from the ground. Next, press {{k|x}} to open the action menu, and press {{k|c}}reate and then {{k|→}} to select "Make sharp stone". You will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version.

'''Butchering''' acts similarly to Fortress Mode's [[Butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be {{k|d}}ropped onto the ground to be butchered, or held in one hand. With a sharp object (such as a dagger or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand or on the same tile of the corpse, press {{k|x}}, {{k|b}}, and {{k|→}} to select the corpse, and then the sharp tool. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

These are the only reactions possible in an unmodified game though others can be added through modding.

== FAQ ==

===How do I get past NPCs which are in my way?===
Press {{K|s}} to sit, then move to roll between their legs. Once you're done press {{K|s}} to stand again.

===How do I find an entrance to the underworld?===
You cannot find caves by asking for quests. Instead, repeatedly ask NPCs about the surroundings, and they might tell you about the location of a cave. If this doesn't show any caves, travel to a hamlet/town/castle some distance away and try again. If you ever get lost, you can quickly get back to the surface by traveling under a village and retiring there. When you unretire, you'll be aboveground.

===I keep getting maimed and killed! How can I fight without getting seriously hurt?===
The best defense is a good offense. If you let your enemies attack you, you're (unsurprisingly) likely to get hurt eventually.
* Try to ''avoid fighting difficult enemies until you get some armor''. Don't fight enemies at all unless you're sure you can beat them. If you're unsure, you're probably going to get hurt.
* If you have good speed, try to ''fight enemies one-by-one'' - keep moving backwards and only attack when you're within range of just one enemy.
* If you have a slashing weapon, try to ''chop parts off of your enemy'' - it makes them stop fighting for a turn, allowing you to keep attacking them without being attacked in exchange. Chopping off limbs will also weaken your enemies - taking their arms can prevent them from using weapons, taking their legs can make them slow and knock them down.
* Remember that ''it's better to let your enemy come to you, than to go to your enemy''. You have to either move or attack. If you move, you can't attack, so if you move within range to attack your enemy, you allow them to have the first strike (unless you're much faster than them). On the other hand, if you let them move within range of you, then you get to have the first strike.
* Follow the advice under [[#Combat Preferences|Combat Preferences]].

===How can I obtain armor as quickly as possible?===
* Here's the evil way. If you don't mind causing an entire civilization to be hostile to you (preventing trade, etc. with that civ):
** It's relatively easy to obtain some armor by killing a sleeping soldier in a fort and taking his stuff.
** Most villagers are pretty easy to kill and while their stuff isn't usually too valuable it is worth something. Instead of killing animals you can go around killing villagers and taking their stuff, then travel to another civilization that doesn't know (or maybe care) how evil you are in order to trade.
** Don't try this in the beginning if the next civilization over is more than a day or so away. You need to be able to flee to another country in order to escape justice and continue to quest/trade.
* Raid friendly fortress keeps and the dungeons of towns. They don't mind parting with just a few pieces of armor. Beware in the dungeon, you're not the only one attracted to shiny things.
* Pick companions with good equipment so you can "inherit" it when they get killed. Letting them do all of the fighting for a while might help speed up this process. While this might be kind of evil, it's not as evil as the first option and will cause you much less trouble. Even better: if you have Adequate in Swimmer, you can take a dip in the water and they will follow suit.

<div id="powerleveling"></div>

===How do I increase my skills and attributes? (powerleveling)===

Here are some techniques for raising your skills, very rapidly in some cases.

Most of these skill-raising techniques involve repeatedly entering the same keystrokes. To assist with this you can use a [[Main:Macro|Macro]] to make entering the same sequence of keystrokes over and over again much easier.

Increasing skills increases associated attributes which may in turn benefit other skills. For example, sharpening rocks using {{k|x}} will increase Knapping which will increase a number of attributes that help with combat skills. See [[Attribute#Skills_and_associated_attributes|Skills and Associated Attributes]] for a mostly complete list.

*'''Fighting and Wrestling''' - A good way to raise your Fighting and Wrestling skills and related attributes is to go find a small relatively harmless animal and wrestle with it over and over again. You can wrestle using {{k|A}} followed by {{k|Enter}}. Continually grabbing and releasing a creature is sufficient to raise your skill, and this will not injure the animal so you can do it infinitely with the same one. Wrestling will increase Endurance as well as other stats. You can also take down a powerful bandit with stones while ambushing, improving your throwing and ambush, drop your shield or weapon, and gouge out both of their eyes. This allows you to stand as near as you want to them without being detected, and completely negates any counter-striking skills they may have. Knock out all their teeth, take their weapons, and try it out on them, knowing that they are completely helpless. Give them a chance to heal their bruises so you can attack them more before they die.
*'''Shield User, Armor User, and Dodging''' - In addition to wrestling the creature, you can also sit and let it attack you to raise your defensive skills. If you have metal armor then a small animal like a gopher can't do any real damage to you even if it hits. Also change your {{K|C}}ombat preferences to "stand ground" to increase the amount of shield blocking you do, unless you want more dodging practice than shield practice.
*'''Weapon Skills and Fighting''' - Once your defensive skills are getting up there and your agility is high enough to make your speed 1300+, you might want to try fighting bogeymen to increase your weapon skill. Just make sure to fight them one at a time while running away. If you don't know what a bogeyman is yet then you are probably not ready to try this. Also, doing difficult targeted shots will gain more experience and keep the training dummy alive longer.
*'''Throwing and Archery''' - Throwing rocks with {{k|t}} will raise your Throwing and Archery skills. Being able to throw objects at creatures, while not terribly devastating (in fact, it used to be. In early 31.xx, somebody killed a bronze colossus by throwing a fluffy wambler at its head. We can only hope the wambler survived), can still come in handy. Since throwing also raises your archery skill, you can improve your aim with bows and crossbows by throwing, but it is also possible to improve bow/crossbow skills without wasting ammunition.
*'''Marksman, Bowman, and Archery''' - Raising the bow and crossbow weapon-specific skills is best done by shooting at a wall or cliff with no floor in front of it. If bolts or arrows hit a wall that has a floor (or ground) in front of it on the same z-level the ammunition will be destroyed, however ''ammunition that falls at least one z-level after hitting a wall will remain intact.'' So, you just need to find something like a hill inside a castle, stand on the hill, then shoot at the wall on the same z-level that you're on. The arrows will hit the wall and fall one z-level to the ground, remaining intact. You can then go pick up the arrows and fire them at the wall from the hill again, ad infinitum. You can also stand next to a wall that's at least 2 z-levels high, then shoot up a z-level at the wall by hitting {{k|<}} after you hit {{k|f}}. How ever you decide to do it, the key is that the arrow needs to be able to fall at least one z-level after it hits a wall in order to remain intact. Using a macro will speed this up greatly.
*'''Ambushing and Swimming''' - When approaching a camp or other site, you may want to use {{k|S}} to sneak in and loot any loose items first. While it's very slow, you can sneak over large distances instead of using fast travel in order to increase your sneaking skill (Ambushing). It's also possible to sneak and swim at the same time, so training these things can be combined. Just make sure you '''start with at least Novice (or, if you want to be really safe, Adequate) in swimming''' or you will find it practically impossible to train swimming. Swimming can very quickly improve your strength, agility, and endurance. In addition, if you can safely drown and recover (e.g., by moving under a bridge and then back before you run out of air), this will train up both toughness and endurance ''extremely'' quickly -- a single step spent drowning will raise toughness and endurance by a fifth of a point apiece.
*'''Observer''' - You can't really powerlevel this skill as it is slow and difficult to train, which is why you're advised to sink some points into it during character creation. One way to train this skill appears to be sleeping or walking around in the wilderness, repeatedly getting ambushed. Running away from the ambush, if you can, will probably allow you to repeat this cycle faster if you live. Detecting traps found in tombs and catacombs successfully (done automatically) will also raise Observer, though without decent starting skill to begin with, you would be torn to pieces by the traps you failed to see. Once you've found one or more traps, it is possible to grind experience by sleeping/waiting an hour, which will reset them, then re-detect them, and repeat.
*'''Spatial and Kinesthetic Sense''' - Sharpening rocks with {{k|x}} will improve your Knapping skill, but more importantly, raising this skill will raise your Spatial Sense and Kinesthetic Sense attributes which help with a number of other skills. This can be combined with throwing, using a macro, to keep your inventory from filling up.
*'''Other Stats''' - Other useful stats like Strength, Agility, and Toughness will increase significantly as the fighting and defense skills increase, so you don't need to do anything other than what you'd normally be doing to increase these.

===I managed to escape but my limbs are chopped off. Now what?===

'Tis but a scratch!

Unfortunately, there is only one way to get them back, and that is by being bitten by a [[werebeast]] and surviving until the next full moon. But as long as you have at least one leg and one arm left you can actually do pretty well. First, get a crutch from somewhere, such as a general store, and make sure it's in one of your hands. Once you do that you should be able to {{k|s}}tand back up again. You will notice that your speed is now much slower than before.

Now go find someplace reasonably safe and walk back and forth until your Crutch Walking skill gets up to Legendary or above. You will notice your speed increasing as your skill levels up until your speed is completely back to normal. As a bonus you'll probably see some stat increases as well. You can continue to dodge with a crutch just as well as before.

You can wield a sword, shield, and crutch all in one hand, so even if you are missing an arm then you're all set. If you are missing both arms but still have both legs then unfortunately you'll be limited to biting, dodging, and wrestling with legs. If you're missing both arms and one leg then your movement will be limited and you'll be limited to biting and wrestling with your one remaining leg. And if all limbs are missing then you'll be limited to rolling around on the ground biting things.

Though you might actually be able to do surprisingly well as a Legendary Biter, especially if you powerlevel your strength to the point where you can shake things around by the teeth ripping limbs off, if you lose both legs then your character is going to be severely limited just due to the poor movement rate, so at that point it's probably best to opt for retirement or a glorious death in battle.

=== How do I keep my companions from running off after random wildlife? ===

In unmodified games, only human companions are typically available and humans currently seem to have the philosophy that all wildlife MUST DIE AN IMMEDIATE BRUTAL DEATH ASAP. While there's currently no way to order them to ignore wildlife and other neutral creatures, you can modify the ''raw\objects\entity_default.txt'' file and add the '''<nowiki>[AT_PEACE_WITH_WILDLIFE]</nowiki>''' to the entity definition for humans. This will cause humans to have an elf-like attitude toward wildlife, and vice versa. Humans will then avoid killing animals and animals will not run away from humans, also giving you somewhat of an advantage when hunting as a human.

Animals... either you love them and they love you, or they must die a horrible death right now.

===What creatures of night can I become?===

You basically have four different choices.

Firstly, you can become a [[necromancer]].
* That gives you some traits of an undead. Namely, you don't need to eat, sleep or drink, don't tire or age, zombies or mummies don't attack you and you physic stats are permanently fixed.
* The last one means it's wise to train them beforehand.
* You also can raise dead from the {{K|x}} menu. Depending on the flavor of your spell, zombies can be slow, very slow or not slow at all. They will be listed as companions.
* To become a necromancer, find a necromancer tower and obtain a book or slab containing secrets of life and death from there, then read it. Note that most of the books are useless. In younger worlds necromancers may not have built their towers yet, in which case they'll be hanging at a zombie bandit camp, slab under the arm.

Secondly, you can become a [[vampire]].
* That gives you most traits of an undead. In addition to the listed above, you don't feel pain, don't breathe and immune to most syndromes.
* Your strength, agility and toughness are doubled.
* They're still fixed forever, so, again, be prepared.
* Despite not needing to drink water, you have a hunger for warm blood. To satisfy it, beat someone or something unconscious and {{K|e}}at their blood.
* To become a vampire, defeat one in combat and drink his blood.

Thirdly, you can become a [[werebeast]].
* This gives you the (uncontrolled) ability to transform into a powerful half-man, half-beast on a full moon.
* There's a fixed list of animals on which the werebeast is based, including goat, llama, lizard, horse, monitor, buffalo, moose, tortoise, camel, kangaroo, ape, gecko, bear, hyena, warthog, iguana, skink, shrew, elk, skunk, pig, raccoon, panda, mole, badger, armadillo, mammoth and more.
* Most importantly, upon transformation (both ways) all your wounds, including missing limbs, are instantly healed.
* You don't show any abnormalcy outside of beast form. You are still mortal.
* When in beast form, everything is hostile to you, you don't need to drink, eat, sleep or breathe, don't feel pain, don't tire and are immune to some syndromes.
* One randomly chosen metal is ten times as deadly to you than usual. All other materials deal you half damage.
* Werebeast's size is several times their base animal size, but no less than 80000. This means all armor will be too small for you while in beast form. But you can still use a shield.
* Also, some werebeasts are truly gigantic — weremammoth has a size of 9000000, on par with demons.
* To become a werebeast, make one bite you. It has to be in the beast form.
* You cannot be a werebeast and a vampire at the same time.

And finally, you can become a mist [[zombie]].
* This makes you undead. In addition to vampire traits, you can see without eyes and can't die via blood loss or beheading. Note that you don't have health point limit raised zombies have.
* You become permanently hostile to everyone except other undead.
* You strength and toughness are tripled and fixed. Train beforehand.
* Depending on the flavor of zombie virus, you speed may or may not drop to 20% or 60% of its normal value.
* To become a mist zombie, find a mist/fog cloud that zombifies creatures and delve headdeep into it.
* You cannot become vampire or werebeast if you are already zombie. Other way, however, is fine.

=See Also=
*[[Main:Adventure Mode quick reference|Adventure Mode quick reference]]
*[[Adventure mode quick start|quick start guide]]

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
{{Category|Interface}}

v0.34:Adventurer mode

2013-07-25T01:42:26Z

ZortLF2: /* Talking */ edited away "I"

{{quality|Exceptional|15:19, 17 April 2011 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''This is a detailed reference guide for Adventurer Mode. For a tutorial see the [[Adventure mode quick start|Adventure Mode Quickstart Guide]].
:''See [[Adventure Mode quick reference]] to quickly look up key commands.

In '''adventurer mode''' (also called "adventure mode") you create a single adventurer ([[dwarf]], [[human]], or [[elf]]) who starts out somewhere in one of your generated worlds. You can receive [[quest]]s, venture into the wilderness to find [[cave]]s, shrines, lairs, abandoned towers, and other [[Site|towns and settlements]]. You can even visit your abandoned [[fortress]]es and find whatever riches were left to be guarded by the [[creature]]s that sealed their fate.

Unlike [[fortress mode]], adventurer mode is a sort of advanced [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_game open world] version of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29 rogue] or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nethack nethack] taking place in the same procedurally generated worlds used for fortress mode, but you control a single character in a turn-based manner rather than manage a group of creatures acting in real time.

=World Selection=

You can play Adventurer mode in any world that has a civilization with the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|ADVENTURE_TIER]] token (which are elf, dwarf, and human in unmodded raws) but as of the current version only human civilizations have towns, NPC fortresses, or shops {{v|0.34.07}}. As a result you need at least one human civilization if you want quests or anything but basic wilderness survival. Alternately, you can alter the other races to also use human towns -- see the talk page under "Dwarven Fortresses."

If you have previously built a fort in the world that you select, your adventurer will be able to go visit it. However, the fort must be abandoned because you will not be able to start an adventure mode game in the same world with an active fortress mode game. Note, though, that you can always save your fortress mode game, duplicate the save folder (copy ''regionX'' to ''regionX-copy'' or something), abandon the fortress in the copy of the world, then start adventure mode in the new clone world.

=Character Creation=

==Race and Civilization==

Any race with the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|ADVENTURE_TIER]] token is playable in adventure mode. In an unmodded game, this means [[Dwarves]], [[Elves]], and [[Human|Humans]]. All three races can complete the same quests.

*'''Civilized Humans''' begin with bronze or iron weapons and can use any of the items sold by shopkeepers (who, for the time being, are only found in human towns and only sell human-sized clothing/armor). They also start with the widest variety of weapon skills.

*'''Human Outsiders''' can only start with Spear User and Knife User as weapon skills, and they cannot start with Armor User or Shield User. They also start out literally naked with no clothing, but can wear any human-sized armor that they trade for, steal, or loot. "Outsiders" of other races can be played if you add the [[Entity_token#Gameplay|INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]] token to the race's entity definition.

*'''Dwarves''' have the advantage of being able to go into a [[Martial trance|martial trance]] when fighting multiple foes at once. They are the only race which can start with steel weapons, but they wear "small" sized clothing (like goblins and elves) which means that they're unable to wear human clothing and armor found in shops. They can start with almost all of the same weapon skills as civilized humans. Most human-sized weapons (such as long swords) must be wielded two-handed by dwarves, due to their size.

*'''Elves''' start with very weak wooden weapons and have a more limited list of weapon skills during character creation. They have the advantage that they have higher natural speed. Like dwarves they wear small sized clothing so will have the same problem finding suitable armor in shops.

*'''Kobolds''' can be played only if there are no other civilizations and there are kobolds.

If no civilization for the given race exists in a world, you won't be able to play as that race except perhaps as a human outsider.{{Verify}}

== Status ==

Determines the number of starting skill and attribute points, which does not change based on race:
*'''Peasant:''' 15 attribute, 35 skill
*'''Hero:''' 35 attribute, 95 skill
*'''Demigod:''' 105 attribute, 161 skill
The number of skill points is less significant than the number of attribute points because the time it takes to go from Peasant to Demigod in skill terms is much less than what it would take to go from Peasant to Demigod in attribute terms.

== Starting Attributes ==

[[Attribute|Attributes]] are divided into Body and Soul attributes. This section provides some guidance for allocating attributes as it relates to adventurer mode.

=== Body ===

*'''Strength''' - Alters the damage done in melee, increases muscle mass (thicker muscle layer also resists damage more), and increases how much a creature can carry. Increasing strength, at least in adventurers, increases movement speed (albeit not as much as agility) due to better carrying capacity.
*'''Agility''' - This attribute is directly related to a character's Speed and is also used in combat skills.
*'''Toughness''' - Reduces physical damage. Also relates to defensive combat skills.
*'''Endurance''' - Reduces the rate at which the adventurer becomes exhausted. Used in Wrestling.
*'''Recuperation''' - Increases the rate of wound healing. Not as important as Toughness. Recuperation isn't that useful in adventurer mode since you usually have as much time to rest as you need assuming you can escape a situation alive.
*'''Disease Resistance''' - Reduces the risk of disease. Reduces the "risk" of becoming a vampire in adventurer mode.

Strength, Agility, and Toughness are the Body attributes that most impact combat skills, and Endurance to a lesser extent.

=== Soul ===

Some of these are useful for adventure-mode-applicable skills, but some are totally useless except as dump stats. (The useless ones are in ''italics''.)

*'''Analytical Ability''' - Useful for certain crafting skills, the only one currently being Knapping.
*'''Focus''' - Affects Archer, Ambusher, Observer.
*'''Willpower''' - Fighter, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, and helps resist ''pain effects'' such as those caused by chipped bones.
*'''''Creativity''''' - Currently completely useless in adventure mode. Normally it impacts crafting skills.
*'''Intuition''' - Only helps with Observer.
*'''''Patience''''' - Currently useless.
*'''Memory''' - Records more of previously traveled areas when you return to them. Deletes all memory when you travel.
*'''''Linguistic Ability''''' - Currently useless because adventurers don't have social skills.
*'''Spatial Sense''' - Important. Affects combat skills, Ambusher, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, Observer, Knapping.
*'''''Musicality''''' - Completely useless as of yet.
*'''Kinesthetic Sense''' - Important. Combat skills, Crutch Walker, Swimming, Knapping,
*'''Empathy''' - Might increase chance of persuading people to Join you.{{Verify}}
*'''Social Awareness''' - Increases the number of followers you can have at a given "fame" level. Normally you start with a limit of two. Increasing this stat by one level raises that to three.

=== Attribute Advancement Cap ===

Adventure mode attributes are capped at double the starting value or the starting value plus the racial average, whichever is greater. Humans, for example, have a racial average strength of 1,000. If a human adventurer starts with an ''above average'' strength of 1,100, then his strength will ultimately be capped at 2,200. Had this human started with a ''below average'' strength of 900, then his strength would be capped at 1,900 instead. For the purpose of maximizing final attributes, this makes it important to start with as many attributes in the ''superior'' range as possible (more attributes per point allocated), while avoiding taking any penalties to even remotely important attributes (big attribute deductions per point recovered). As a consequence of the attribute cap, demigod adventurers will always have a much higher potential for advancement than mere peasants and heroes.

== Starting Skills ==

Not all races have the same sets of skills available at character creation time, but keep in mind that all starting [[skill]]s, as well as ones not available at character creation, can be improved through use in game. [[Reader]] is an exception to this.

This section will specifically address starting skills as they relate to adventure mode. For a full description of combat skills see [[Combat skill]]. Other skills that you can't start with, but which can be increased in game (such as Butchery) are described elsewhere.

=== Weapon ===

The weapon you start out with will be based on which of these, plus the unarmed combat skills, is the highest. In other words, even if Swordsman is your highest weapon skill, you won't start with a sword if your Wrestler or Striker skills are better. Usually the best choice anyway is to specialize in just one melee weapon skill. Regardless of weapon skills, a '''large copper dagger''' will always be included in the starting equipment, which is handy for throwing at enemies that are just a step away or finishing off a foe pinned down by a stuck weapon.

Because these tend to take a bit longer to increase in game, it makes sense to put some points into one at the beginning.

Not all races/civilizations can start with all of these skills. (For example, Dwarves can't start with Bowman or Lasher).

*'''Axeman''' - allows characters to use axes, great axes, and halberds more effectively.
*'''Bowman''' - skill allows characters to use bows more effectively.
*'''Crossbowman''' - allows characters to use crossbows more effectively. The dwarven version is called '''Marksdwarf'''.
*'''Hammerman''' - allows characters to use crossbows in melee, mauls, and war hammers more effectively.
*'''Knife User''' - allows characters to use large daggers and knives more effectively.
*'''Lasher''' - allows characters to use whips and scourges more effectively.
*'''Maceman''' - allows characters to use flails, maces, and morningstars more effectively.
*'''Pikeman''' - allows characters to use pikes more effectively.
*'''Spearman''' - allows characters to use spears more effectively.
*'''Swordsman''' - allows characters to use blowguns and bows in melee, long swords, scimitars, short swords, and two-handed swords more effectively.

=== General Combat ===

These two skills can be raised rather quickly in game and so you probably want to skip spending any points on them at the start.

*'''Fighter''' - This increases with, and contributes to, melee combat whether armed or unarmed. It appears that the purpose of it is to allow melee experience to contribute to melee combat in general regardless of weapon. Repeatedly wrestling (grabbing and releasing) even a small creature will raise this skill.
*'''Archer''' - This increases with, and contributes to, ranged combat including throwing. It works similarly to Fighter except for ranged attacks. It can be easily raised by repeatedly throwing rocks, making it advisable for archers to practice their marksmanship with rock throwing before using up the more finite and expensive forms of ammunition. Shooting at a wall with adjacent upward ramp one level below and picking back projectiles is also a good idea (such places often happen to be in castles). See the FAQ section on [[#powerleveling|powerleveling]] for information on raising bowman/marksman skills.

=== Defensive ===

These skills are critical for survival. Starting out with good ability in one (especially Shield User or Armor User) if not all is strongly advised.

*'''Shield User''' - Ability to block attacks with shields. Starting with skill in this means that the adventurer will start with a shield.
*'''Armor User''' - Related to how well an adventurer moves in armor, and increases whenever an adventurer wearing armor is attacked. A higher level of this skill reduces the encumbrance penalties of armor, allowing up to normal speed movement when wearing full steel plate. Unfortunately, starting with this skill does not provide any starting armor.
*'''Dodger''' - Ability to dodge out of the way of attacks.

=== Unarmed Combat and Improvised Weapons ===

While some of them come in handy at times, they can generally be raised fairly easily in game, especially Wrestler and Thrower.

*'''Wrestler''' - Ability to grapple, restrain, take-down, throw opponents, etc. See [[#Wrestling and Unarmed Attacks]] for details. Can be raised very easily in game.
*'''Striker''' - Punching ability. Turns handy when weapons get stuck and there is no time to wrest them back.
*'''Kicker''' - Kicking ability. Same as Striker.
*'''Biter''' - Biting ability.
*'''Thrower''' - Throwing any miscellaneous object including rocks, knives, axes, swords, heads, etc.
*'''Misc. Object User''' - Ability to beat things to death with anything that comes at hand, from bags to coins to their own severed body parts. Also somewhat more commonly used for shield bashing.

=== Movement and Awareness ===

*'''[[Observer]]''' - Helps one to notice things like ambushes, enemies who are "sneaking" (stealth movement), and traps. Detection range increases with skill, but up to a maximum of 3 tiles away. Hard to train. Adding some points here is advisable.
*'''[[Swimmer]]''' - Allows movement through water without drowning. A Novice swimmer can swim but will revert to being unable to swim if stunned, which happens when falling even 1 z-level into the water. An Adequate swimmer can swim normally (not drown) while stunned. For this reason, ''starting out as an Adequate swimmer is advisable.'' If you don't, at least start as Novice and go get some swimming practice right away.
*'''[[Ambusher]]''' - The skill of {{K|S}}neaking around unobserved. This can be raised fairly easily by sneaking around while traveling from place to place when speed is not important. At lower skill levels, speed is greatly reduced, but the penalty gradually reduces until negated at Legendary skill and it's possible to sneak at full movement rate. Chance of detection is also reduced at higher skill levels; a more skilled ambusher can remain in close combat for longer without being detected. It is worth noting that ambusher only is checked once the adventurer is 3 tiles or closer to the enemy - at 4 tiles and up, you will remain hidden from the enemy even if you have no skill in Ambusher, as long as you are sneaking.

=== Crafting ===

These allow your character to create things. There is only one skill currently available in an unmodified game.

*'''[[Knapper]]''' - The fine art of sharpening rocks by banging them together in a clever manner. The resulting rocks become sharp rocks which do more damage when thrown and can be used for things requiring a sharp edge like butchering. Easy to raise in game and doing so helps with Kinesthetic and Spatial Sense.

=== Other ===

*'''[[Reader]]''' - Allows you to read books, signs, and writing in Adventurer mode. Novice level is required in order to become a [[Necromancer]]. There is no way to increase this skill.
*'''[[Butcher]]''' - The art of cutting bodies into many pieces. You cannot allocate points here during character creation.

= Gameplay =

== Common UI Concepts ==
{{KeyConventions|3}}

== Moving Around ==

=== Local Movement ===
[[File:adventure-local-map.png|thumb|400px|The local travel screen. The lower left shows a small overview map of the area. The upper right shows a small area 1 z-level above the adventurer in the middle. The adventurer is standing in front of the door to a house full of humans, and visibility behind the house is obscured. In the upper left is a small box showing the direction to various sites (which may be quite far away).]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move
|-
| {{k|Alt}} and a direction key
| Move carefully / Deliberately enter dangerous terrain
|-
| {{k|<}} or {{k|Shift}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Ascend
|-
| {{k|>}} or {{k|Ctrl}}+{{key|5}} (num lock off)
| Descend
|-
| {{k|.}}
| Wait for a step
|-
| {{k|s}}
| Stand or lie down
|-
| {{k|S}}
| Sneak
|}

Unless your character is an outsider, you will start out in a human town or hamlet; in the standard tileset the @ sign is your character. In the lower left-hand corner of the screen is a mini-map, with the @ sign showing your relative location to other things in the town/hamlet. The ▐ symbols are small collections of buildings.

The directional keys allow movement. Diagonal movement is particularly important especially when chasing or running away from things.

Use {{k|Alt}}+direction to enter water, jump off of cliffs, or otherwise attempt to enter anything that you can't enter using normal movement commands. Note that when entering water it's best to enter the actual water and not the open space over the water as, in the later case, you will fall in causing you to become stunned which may lead to drowning.

Hitting {{k|.}} allows you to stay in one place and wait for other things to move.

Use {{k|s}} to sit/lie down. Moving while laying down (crawling) will let you move past NPCs which are standing in your way. Also note that you will frequently get knocked to the ground in combat, and if you don't hit {{k|s}} to stand back up then you will crawl slowly along the ground, giving your opponent a lot of opportunity to attack you.

{{k|S}}neak will allow you to move around invisibly, limited by your Ambusher skill and the Observer skill of nearby creatures. The closer you get to a creature, the more likely you are to be detected. Your movement rate will also be very slow at low Ambusher skill levels while sneaking. If you are within observation range of anything then you will be unable to go into stealth mode. Hiding somewhere you can't be seen (such as the inside edge of a murky pool, if you can swim) will allow you to go into stealth mode when creatures are around. Stealth mode will also allow you to move onto/through townsfolk.

=== Fast Travel ===
[[Image:adventurer-fast-travel.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. A fort is on the west side, and a town is on the east side of the map. The regional map is displayed on the far right.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|T}}
| Fast Travel
|-
| {{k|>}}
| Exit fast travel mode
|}

Entering Fast Travel mode will allow you to move large distances in a single keypress. Of course, the same amount of time will go by and you can also be interrupted (ambushed) while moving in fast travel mode.

See the [[Map legend]] for information on what the map symbols mean. Settlements are indicated by {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} tiles and you can find houses by exiting fast travel while standing on one of these tiles. Yellow tiles of the same shape {{Tile|■|6:0:1}} indicate the presence of shops rather than houses.

Pressing {{K|m}} will put a fully zoomed-out map on the right side of the screen, with your current location marked by a blinking "X". When seeking out a quest, move in the direction of the quest site until the blinking "X" is on top of the symbols indicated in the Adventure Log (you can press {{K|Q}} at any time to look at it again).

Along the top of the map is a line showing the sky, and the position of the sun and/or moon from west to east. This primarily helps you determine how long you have before it gets dark at which point you won't be able to see very far and will be more vulnerable to attack.

While in the fast travel screen you can:

* {{k|c}} - Display/hide clouds/weather
* {{k|m}} - Display/hide the regional map on the right
* {{k|Q}} - Display the Quest log
* {{k|Z}} - Display the sleep menu

Other commands are not available until you exit fast travel with {{k|>}}.

== Status and Information ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|l}}
| Look around
|-
| {{k|Space}}
| Advance/Clear Messages
|-
| {{k|a}}
| View Announcements
|-
| {{k|z}}
| Status
|}

=== Looking Around ===

If you're not sure what a tile is, the {{k|l}}ook command will tell you. In addition to being useful for identifying tiles and creatures, you can also view creatures' equipment and what items are sitting on the ground in a given tile. If in doubt, try the look command.

Move the cursor to the tile you want to look at using direction keys and {{k|Shift}}+direction. It's possible to look up and down z-levels (assuming you have line of sight) using the {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} keys. This, for example, allows you to find out if any flying creatures are above you. Hit {{k|Esc}} to exit look mode and go back to movement mode.

=== Messages ===

The game makes frequent use of messages on the screen to tell you what is going on. If there are a lot of these you may need to use {{k|Space}} to display the rest of the messages that won't fit on the screen. You can always go back and view old messages by pressing {{k|a}}.

=== Status Screen ===

This screen shows your skills, attributes, wounded body parts, health (along with more detailed descriptions of your wounds), lets you view your description, and change your nickname if you want.

=== Saving the Game ===

Hit the {{k|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

== Searching and Manipulating ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|u}}
| Interact with building, furniture, or mechanism
|-
| {{k|L}}
| Search the nearby area very carefully
|}

The {{k|u}} key can be used to do stuff like pull levers in your abandoned forts. It is also used to lower and raise the bucket when standing right next to a well so you can get water to refill your waterskin with.

{{k|L}} will perform a thorough search of the area that you're standing in, possibly revealing some small creatures.

== Managing Equipment ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|i}}
| Show Inventory
|-
| {{k|d}}
| Drop an item
|-
| {{k|g}}
| Get (pickup) an item off the ground
|-
| {{k|p}}
| Put an item into a container
|-
| {{k|r}}
| Remove an item you are wearing or from a container
|-
| {{k|w}}
| Wear an item
|-
| {{k|I}}
| Interact with an object in an advanced way. (unstick a weapon, refill waterskin etc)
|}

=== Inventory ===

Press {{k|i}} to display a list of what you are currently carrying. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} to scroll the list. This list will show you if items are being worn, held in hands, stuck in your body, or are inside a container. Detailed information about an object can be viewed by pressing the key associated with the item.

=== Getting/Dropping Things ===

You can {{k|d}}rop items in your inventory, as well as {{k|g}}et items on the ground on the same tile that you are standing on. If there is more than one item a menu will be listed. Press {{k|-}} {{k|+}} to scroll the list if the list is too long to fit on the screen.

{{k|g}} will also allow you to ignite foliage/any flammable objects adjacent to you. Fires aren't as devastating as one might imagine, but they will cause (most)enemies to path around them, making your crowd control slightly more effective when taking on multiple enemies. As an added bonus, it will also surely piss off the elves.

=== Containers ===

Items can be placed into containers with {{k|p}} and removed with {{k|r}}.

=== Wearing ===

Items can be worn using {{k|w}} and removed using {{k|r}} (the same command used for removing from containers). If an item you want to wear does not show up as an option, then it means you are already wearing too many items in the location used by that item. Try {{K|r}}emoving items in that location and then wear them again in order of priority.

''Note that "large" or "small" clothing items are too big / small for your race'' (e.g. a '''large''' giant cave spider silk sock). If you have that problem, try getting clothing from a different source.

After acquiring [[armor]] from one source or another, you'll most likely want to equip it. To do this, first make sure it is in your possession--not on the ground. You can then {{key|w}}ear it, granted you don't already have too much on that equipment slot already. You can {{key|r}}emove or {{key|d}}rop inferior equipment as necessary.

See [[Armor]] for more information on wearing things. One thing to note in particular, DF allows you to wear more than one item in the same location in many situations.

=== Wielding ===

There is no command for wielding items such as [[weapon]]s in specific hands. Instead, they are automatically equipped when you either {{k|g}}et them from the ground or {{k|r}}emove them from your [[backpack]] - provided the hand that would wield them is free. So in order to change [[weapon]]s or [[shield]]s you should drop items or place them into containers (such as your backpack) until your hands are free, then get items from the floor or remove them from containers which will place them in your hands. For example, put all items into backpack, remove sword from backpack, remove shield from backpack. The items will end up in the right and left hand. Simply remember the {{k|r}}emove command and the {{k|p}}ut into container command.

While normally one would only be able to equip one item in each hand, removing items from your inventory results in them being wielded regardless of whether one's hands are full. This is especially useful with shields, as every shield will contribute a block chance to each incoming attack.

It should be noted that the world of DF seems to have a lot of left handers, so do not be surprised if your character holds the weapon with the left hand and the [[Armor#Shields and Bucklers|shield]] with the right hand.

=== Advanced Interaction ===

The {{k|I}} key allows "complex interaction" with objects in your inventory. This is used for removing arrows and weapons stuck in wounds, and refilling waterskins, but in theory various types of objects could implement some sort of behavior to be activated. Basically this is similar to "use" commands in other games.

This command is particularly useful for getting water. When standing next to a well you press the {{k|u}} key to lower, then raise the bucket, yielding 10 units of water in the bucket. Then you can press the {{k|I}} key to fill your waterskin from the full bucket (alternatively you can press the {{k|e}} key to drink directly from the bucket).

More importantly, this can be used next to a campfire to heat things, such as any frozen liquids you have in your inventory(or snow lying on the ground) and need to drink.

== Time and Weather ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|D}}
| Date/Time
|-
| {{k|P}}
| Temperature
|-
| {{k|W}}
| Weather
|}

The game has a day/night cycle with time passing as various actions take place. When in the fast travel screen you can just look at the bar along the top to see where the sun is an estimate the time, but in local travel mode you'll have to use the {{k|W}} command.

When using quick travel mode the top line of the screen will indicate the position of the sun in the sky with a yellow "☼"; further to the right of the screen is earlier in the day and further to the left is later in the day.

At night you won't be able to see nearly as well and you will be more vulnerable to ambush.

The game also has weather and temperature. Weather is, to some extent, directly viewable on the fast travel screen. Temperature is important because if it happens to drop below freezing while you're swimming through water, you're dead instantly. Therefore you might want to keep an eye on the temperature while swimming, especially if it's getting cold. Also, unlike fortress mode, rivers/other bodies of water can be liquid during the day, and freeze at night. The cycles of freezing can also be erratic from day to day.

Weather can also reduce visibility.

== Sleep ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Z}}
| Sleep
|}

Eventually your character will become {{DFtext|Drowsy|3:1}} and this will get worse until you get sufficient sleep.

Sleep does not necessarily have to coincide with night, but if you're traveling alone when night comes you'll be in danger of being attacked by [[bogeymen]]. To avoid this while traveling solo you need to make it to shelter before nightfall and sleep the night away inside a building or abandoned lair. Enter a building, use {{K|k}} to talk to a human, and ask for permission to stay the night. Next press {{K|Z}} to sleep, {{K|d}} to sleep until dawn, then {{K|Enter}} to confirm. ('''NOTE''': If you stay the night in a castle, you have to sleep in the keep which houses the lord/lady of the castle. Sleeping inside the castle but outside the keep still leaves you vulnerable to attack.) Sleeping on an ocean beach also prevents bogeymen from attacking. ('''NOTE''': You can disable bogeymen by going into advanced world builder and setting "Number of Night creatures" to 0)

Though sleeping inside can be safe, it's also limiting: any quest site you want to go to has to be within a daytime's round-trip time of a safe habitation, and you have to make your way to there by hopping from one habitation to the next, sleeping at each along the way. A way to avoid this is to travel with companions. If you have any companions with you then [[bogeymen]] won't attack you. You'll still have to sleep at night, though, both to avoid sleep deprivation and because there's no visibility at night. You can still be ambushed at night by wildlife, but that's much less likely than being ambushed by [[bogeymen]] when traveling alone. If you find yourself alone at night with nowhere safe to sleep, the safest best is to keep traveling until dawn, even if that means running around in circles. You will eventually feel unwell from sleep deprivation, but this can take a considerable time. You can make up for lost sleep once you've found your way to safety.

Note that sleeping in lairs, shrines, and labyrinths makes you safe from ambush, assuming that you or someone has killed whatever was living there. If you have sufficient shrines/lairs/etc between you and your goal and they are either uninhabited or inhabited by things you are capable of killing then you can travel from lair to lair using each lair as a safe lodging. This is much much safer than sleeping out in the open, day or night, even with companions.

If no other options are available, completely surrounding yourself with campfires will keep night marauders at bay as they cannot pass through the fires; the fires will go out after several hours and enable you to move on. The bogeymen or other enemies may be outside your line of sight, which will prevent you from firing arrows or throwing things at them. In this case, you will have to stand up and lie down {{K|s}} repeatedly until the enemies wander into your range, the fires go out and the enemies can path to you, or dawn breaks.

== Food and Drink ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|e}}
| Eat or drink something
|}

The easiest way to stay hydrated and full when starting out is by finding and fighting something weak (say, a vulture, or a raccoon, or a fox). You will almost certainly end up covered in blood. You can drink any liquid covering you using 'e' and then simply selecting the fluid - perhaps a little salty in real life, but in Dwarf Fortress it works. The corpse can then be butchered {{k|x}} for edible parts, to cure your hunger - the first two problems are solved. It is possible that drinking vampire blood will lead to infection.

Make sure to eat or drink regularly even if you're not hungry or thirsty, as you can only eat or drink three times in a row: after that you'll need to rest, go out or wait until you can consume another meal. If you find yourself in need of both food and hydration, make sure to take care of the most urgent problem first, as if you are moderately hungry but severely dehydrated and eat three times, you might be already dead by the time you can drink again.

== Combat ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}}
| Attack adjacent hostile creature
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Attack adjacent hostile creature
|-
| {{k|A}}
| Attack an adjacent creature.
|-
| {{k|A}} then {{k|Enter}}
| Wrestle an adjacent creature.
|-
| {{k|f}}
| Fire a projectile
|-
| {{k|t}}
| Throw an item
|-
| {{k|C}}
| Open combat preferences interface
|}

[[Combat]] is the fine art of using physical force to cause injury and death, and it is particularly fun in Dwarf Fortress.

=== Melee Attacks ===

Hostile creatures can be attacked using a non-aimed attack by simply advancing towards your enemy using the arrow keys. Doing a non-aimed attack will also free up any stuck weapon.

Any creature can be attacked by standing next to it and pressing {{k|Shift}}+{{k|A}}. Attacking a friendly or unconscious creature (which includes wild animals for elves) will further require a confirmation, given using {{k|alt}}+{{k|y}}.

Attacking a creature with {{k|A}} will allow you to make an '''aimed attack'''. You must first select the body part that you want to attack. Look at the difficulty rating for various possible attacks. Impossible attacks will be impossible to land and Easier attacks will be very easy to land. The difficulty rating for an attack does not change depending on your weapon skill. Based on player experiences, a Grand Master weapon user can almost always land a "Tricky" strike, while a Novice generally cannot. Attacks on various locations will also have limits on how "squarely" they can land (due to being out of reach, for example). Square and very square attacks will deal more damage.{{Verify}} Attacks which "can't land squarely" are generally still effective.

Attacks aimed at the head are the most effective; a single attack to the cranium with a weapon will usually put an end to the fight. Aimed attacks are especially useful for dismembering opponents. Opponents who are missing a foot will fall over, thereby greatly lowering their speed, and giving you an immediate edge in the fight. Cutting off both hands also highly recommended for obvious reasons. After all, a field full of armless, one-legged enemies can be a big experience booster for your companions.

Aimed attacks are also especially helpful when fighting giant beasts. Some enemies like giant desert scorpions have lots of redundant body parts, and random attacks waste valuable time on low priority areas while the scorpion is busy injecting venom into the whole party. Very large enemies, like giants and hydras, are too tall for effective strikes at the head. Fighting such beasts with random attacks will prove mostly futile until the monster has been knocked over, either due to spinal injuries or loss of feet. Lastly, aimed attacks allow you to grab trophies that are not available via butchering. For example, a minotaur's horns can be cut off during a fight, but since its a humanoid, most adventurers will refuse to butcher its corpse after the fight.

=== Ranged Attacks ===

To attack with a ranged weapon press the {{k|f}} key and select the square where you want to attack. Similarly use the {{k|t}} key to throw any random object in the same manner. Random objects appear to make a random attack if they happen to have more than one possible type.{{Verify}} For example, if you throw a sword it may hit with a blunt impact, a stabbing impact, or a slicing impact. Throwing crossbow bolts with sufficient throwing skill and strength seems to have an effect similar to firing them, although less powerful. On the plus side, you will never lose ammo if you throw it.

It is not possible to aim for specific body parts with ranged or thrown attacks.

Throwing is generally a good skill to have for any adventurer, as it allows you to slow down fleeing foes, both on the ground and in the air without the need of equipping a (cross)bow. Just like {{k|l}}ooking, you can use throwing to view and hit enemies multiple Z levels away from you. If you're lucky, you can simply land a hit that causes the flying enemy to give in to pain, and then let gravity do the rest of the work. Even if the fall doesn't kill them, they will most likely be stunned long enough for you to run up and slaughter them.

=== Wrestling and Unarmed Attacks ===

:''Main article: [[Wrestling]]''

'''[[Wrestling]]''' (grappling) can be performed by standing next to an enemy and pressing {{k|A}} followed by {{k|Enter}} to switch to wrestling. You can wrestle any enemy. Wrestling works somewhat like a targeted attack. Once you grab a creature by some body part, you may be able to make another wrestling attempt that will allow you to perform a throw or takedown.

For a detailed list of moves such as takedowns, throws, choke holds, etc, see [[Wrestling]].

It's also possible to punch, kick, and bite. These are not in the wrestling menu but are performed like normal targeted attacks with {{k|A}}.

=== Weapons ===

[[Weapon]]s are basically divided into axe, sword, spear, pike, mace, whip, bow and hammer, with various versions of these taking up the gray area.

=== Wounds ===

If you get wounded during combat, there's not much that you can do except perhaps run before you get more wounded. Your wounds will heal over time, so just travel around or sleep in a safe place. Some wounds however may never heal, leaving you permanently crippled. Obtaining a crutch may help with this. Or if you are not already a vampire, then you can get bitten by a werebeast during full moon, which will heal all injuries once per month.

If you have some bolts or arrows stuck in your body, they can be removed by using the complex interaction menu {{k|I}}. Select the stuck bolt or arrow from the list and then pull it out with {{k|a}} You'll probably start bleeding after you pull it out, but the bleeding is rarely anything to worry about.

=== Combat Preferences ===

At any time during gameplay (Except travel mode), you can press {{k|C}} to open the Combat Preferences menu. There are three different preferences you can set: Attack, Dodge and Charge Defense. These have a few different preferences each:

*'''{{k|a}}ttack'''
**'''According to Opponent''' - The default setting. When set to this, charging happens more or less frequently, depending on the difference in size between you and the opponent. Bigger opponents get charged less, smaller more often. Can be very risky, since a random charge against a huge opponent is likely to get you knocked down and stunned. In the same vein, charging when close to obstacles or other environmental hazards is very dangerous, potentially fatal, if the enemy dodges you.
**'''Strike''' - This setting ensures that you never charge an opponent, but rather just swing your weapon at them. This carries less risk than the above, but you're never going to knock anyone down without hitting their legs or spine. Very preferable against large opponents.
**'''Charge''' - When set to this, you ALWAYS charge. When faced with numerous small enemies (Bogeymen in particular), this can be extremely useful, but remember to switch back when facing something bigger. Charging a large dragon is almost a certain death sentence.
**'''Close Combat''' - With this setting, all your auto-attacks are grapples. Generally not very useful, since the random nature of it tends to prevent you from actually doing any damage with it, but if you continually auto-attack a harmless creature with it your wrestling-skill will be legendary in no time.

*'''{{k|d}}odge'''
**'''Move Around''' - This means you can jump away from attacks, physically moving in a random direction. While this lets you dodge attacks more often, it can also result in you jumping into a wall or down a lake. If you're fighting in really tight spaces, you might want to switch it off.
**'''Stand Ground''' - As can be expected, you stand your ground. No jumping around, which is useful in the above situation, but risky in the open. If you have room for jumping around, go with Move Around, but otherwise this could be a good idea.

*'''{{k|c}}harge Defense'''
**'''According to Opponent''' - Again, the default setting. You're more likely to stand still against small enemies charging, but will probably prefer moving away from larger ones. Somewhat risky, in that even a somewhat small enemy can stun you by charging.
**'''Dodge Away''' - With this, you'll dodge away from charging enemies, if you can. It's not a sure bet, but it's very much worth it against enemies who like to charge. This is probably the most preferable mode, since you're not losing a whole lot by dodging a small foe charging, but dodging an angry night beast can save you from a world of pain.
**'''Stand Ground''' - If you're certain of your physical superiority to the opponent, you can safely choose this. Standing your ground like a real man/woman might feel hardcore, but getting knocked down in a fight can be extremely dangerous. It probably has some use against bogeymen though, since they're quite small. If you really are much bigger than the enemy, you'll end up knocking THEM down. Most of the time though, charges heavily favor the attacker, so dodging away is probably preferable.

Using Combat Preferences properly can actually save your hide, so it's worth fiddling with. Just don't forget that you've fiddled with them, since a malplaced charge or dodge could end up killing you.

== Talking ==
[[File:adventurer-talking.png|thumb|400px|Talking to someone in Adventurer mode.]]
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|k}}
| Talk to somebody
|}

Now that you know how to kill people, you may also want to know how to talk to and otherwise interact with them in a less violent manner. While this is less entertaining, it can sometimes be useful.

Press {{k|k}} to enter tal{{k|k}} mode. Move the cursor over a being and a list of language-capable beings on that tile will be shown in the lower left of the screen. If there is more than one creature on the tile, you can select the one you want to talk to using the {{k|-}}/{{k|+}} keys. Hit {{k|Enter}} to begin the conversation.

Normally you will need to Greet someone first, then you will have the following options when it comes to subjects of discussion:
*'''Trade''' - Attempt to initiate [[#Shops|trade]]. This only works for NPCs in shops.
*'''Join''' - Ask the individual to join you as one of your [[#Companions|Companions]]. Soldiers will join you 100% of the time if you don't already have too many companions, but the chance of regular townsfolk joining you will be highly impacted by your reputation.
*'''Surroundings''' - Ask about sites and things in the general geographical area. This may reveal hidden sites (such as lairs) on the map, and may also reveal bits of history such as, "in 123 Urist McSucker founded Boatmurdered". This can be selected repeatedly to reveal multiple facts about the area.
*'''Capital''' - Ask where the capital of the current civilization is. As with the "Surroundings" topic, a random bit of the capitol's history will also be given.
*'''Service''' - Ask for a [[#Quests|quest]].
*'''Profession''' - Ask the individual about their profession. If the person is willing to '''Join''' you, they will add a line such as, "How I long for some excitement in my life..."
*'''Family''' - Ask about a random family member. If the person has more than one family member then selecting this option repeatedly will eventually reveal all of them. Like "Surroundings", this can also reveal bits of information about history such as, "Gor Lorthor was my son. In 123, Gor Lorthor was struck down by Trogdor the Burninator."
*'''Accuse of being a night creature''' - If the individual is a vampire in hiding, then they will become hostile to all around them and will fight you. Note, if said vampire has a cult (vampire law-givers usually seem to) the cultists will reveal themselves as well and become hostile to any non-vampire (the one the cult is based around, that is), non-cultist they see, including you.
*'''Report success/spread news''' - This option will only appear once you have completed a quest. Selecting it will cause you to regale people with tales of your amazing adventures, increasing your fame/reputation level. After you have done this once, with one person, the option will not appear again anywhere in any conversation until another quest has been completed. Apparently, everyone is telepathic, and won't want to hear the same story again.
*'''Goodbye''' - End the conversation.

Sometimes other options may also appear. Experiment with them and see what happens.

== Companions ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|c}}
| View companion interface
|}

Companions are the guys who follow you around after you've asked them to Join and they've accepted. Your character will have a limit on the maximum number of companions that is based on fame/reputation level and the ''Social Awareness'' attribute. With average social awareness and the maximum level of fame, the limit is 19 companions.

You can use the {{k|c}} key to open up a list showing your companions and their relative position to you. This can be useful if one of them runs off somewhere and you want to find them. You can select specific companions who are in visual range in order to view them. This is the same as viewing them with {{k|l}}ook.

Short of using special utilities and hacks, you can't change your companions' equipment. When they die you can loot their corpses however. (One devious and evil way to get equipment is to intentionally get your companions killed and then take their stuff.)

However, if they survive long enough/are trained well enough they seem to be capable of leveling stats or skills in some way, and are susceptible to having title or job title changed as well.

Your companions will continue to follow you and fight hostile creatures around you until they either die or are left behind by entering fast travel mode while they are too far away from you. Companions with missing feet and legs will attempt to hobble along behind you. If you need to ditch '''ALL''' of your companions, retire your adventurer in a settlement, and start playing that adventurer again. You will lose all companions by doing this(as well as resetting your thirst/hunger/sleep needs.)

If you keep losing your companions while traveling through rivers, try going to a spot where the river becomes a "minor river(single dark blue line.)" Brooks are obviously also safe to cross.

== Civilization ==

Civilizations are organized groups of creatures (generally of the same race) which build sites such as towns.

=== Towns ===

Humans live in towns comprised of buildings and often a paved road. Human villages are highly modular. The small 5x5 buildings are citizen houses and shops.

Towns appear on the fast travel map as {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} or {{Tile|■|6:0:1}} symbols which are small collections of buildings. Yellow buildings indicate the presences of shops where you can trade. The buildings can be spaced rather far apart, so even when you get your @ on top of a {{Tile|■|7:0:1}} it might take some wandering about in local travel mode to find a building.

Once you find a building, step through the door. It should have multiple U's, each of which is a human.

=== Fortresses ===

Humans also live in fortresses which appear on the fast travel map as large buildings. You can't walk over them. Instead you must move over to what looks like the entrance, exit fast travel with {{k|>}}, and walk toward the direction of the fortress.

Fortresses, if they haven't been abandoned, will be populated by soldiers, a Lord or Lady of some sort, and possibly others. If they have been abandoned then they may be overrun by various wild animals. They do not contain shops.

If control of a civilization has been taken over by a Demon, the fortress may be empty except for that demon, who acts as the Lord. He will behave as any human lord. Sometimes in an abandoned fort you might also find a demon that is a prisoner, who you can actually recruit without any significant amount of fame. If they can be trusted or not is more or less up for debate, but it is still better than Urist McFaceplant.

=== Other Sites ===

'''Note:''' Currently, only humans have civilization sites.

Elves live out in the forest, literally. Although defined to specific regions on the map, they have no structural wealth whatsoever. Some trees are named.

Dwarves live underground. Their entrances are large square pits with stairs around the perimeter, and a row of leading down into the fortress halls at the bottom. The main halls are wide and have pillars near the walls, long and occasionally turn corners. Different levels in the fortress are marked by a row of ramps with two pillars on the side (walk towards the side of the ramp that has the pillars) and, although the number of floors in a fortress can vary, they are usually little and only become deep if the lay of the land above is variable. There are two-tile-wide hallways, empty 5x5 rooms, and scant Dwarves in these pre-fab fortresses. It's obvious the computer is playing a completely different game than you are in [[Fortress mode]]!

Goblins live in [[obsidian]] towers, usually found built in twos, though they both don't necessarily have to be built up. One could be a "tower," one could be an over-glorified "basement." There is probably a temple nearby, completely similar to human temples. Goblin towers have tight 1-wide hallways, spacious and empty rooms, and strange hall extensions that end in remote cross-like dead-ends. Like dwarf fortresses, there is rarely anything in a Goblin tower asides from Goblins, and they have a strange tendency not to attack non-Goblin visitors. They seem to have lots of children.

You may come across what the map defines as a "Goblin" city that is actually populated by Humans or Dwarves living in or around the towers.

=== Shops ===

==== Trading (barter) ====
In human towns (not hamlets or castles), you can find [[building|shops]]. Once you're inside of a shop and right next to any of the NPCs, you can use {{K|k}} to talk to him/her, then select trade. Use {{K|Enter}} to select which items to trade, left/right arrow keys to switch between the list of shop items and your items, and up/down arrow keys to scroll through the lists. Once done, press {{K|t}} to trade. The shopkeeper won't get angry if you're not offering enough in trade, so you can start offering just a few items, keep trying again with a little more until the trade is accepted. Once the trade is accepted all of the items you offered will be on the floor underneath you.

After buying an item, you must pick it up manually from somewhere in the shop. {{K|l}}ook around for an item without $ signs around it. If NPCs are standing directly over the items you just bought, go prone with the {{K|s}} key so you can move onto the same space as them and pick them up.

Due to some limitations, there are only "human town" shopkeepers in a pre-fab Adventure mode civilization.

====Theft====
You may also pick up the item before buying it, but you should never walk out of a shop carrying an unbought item, as that is theft. It is punishable by death if you are caught, and excommunication if you are not. On any occasion when you have stolen goods from a store, i.e. goods bounded by the $$ signs, the game requires you to exit the site ''and'' move a considerable distance before allowing you to quick travel. This may make a getaway more difficult if your adventurer is not already faster than anyone else. This only applies to goods in stores; killing townsfolk and taking their personal things, including those of the shopkeep still only requires exiting the site. The moment you are out of sight, you will be able to warp out as usual. Theft and murder remain within entities; even depopulating one country and stealing all its things will not generate ill response in another country.

In recent versions, you may find towns that are entirely deserted. In this case, you can steal from their shops with no consequences.

'''Note that if you steal anything, then nobody in that civilization will talk to you anymore, making it impossible for you to get new quests, use the shops, or get new companions.'''

==== Selling and buying with money ====
In addition to bartering, you can sell items to a shop for coins, then use the coins to buy stuff at another shop. Just select the items you want to sell or buy, and then set a price using the following buttons:
* {{k|a}}sking for money for your goods.
* {{k|o}}ffering money for their goods.

Shopkeepers are used to adventurers with inflated ideas about the value of their goods, so it may be simplest to ask for 9000☼ for your goods, or offer 1☼ for theirs and suggest a {{k|t}}rade. The shopkeeper will counteroffer with the actual value of the goods, and will be quite delighted to accept a {{k|t}}rade at the price they've just quoted to you. You can then purchase things with your store credit.

When you end the trade session ({{k|esc}}), the items you sold will be dropped at your feet, and the balance of your coins and the items you bought will appear in your hands.

====Managing coins====
You will find that coins from one civilization are nearly worthless in other civilizations. This will typically result in adventurers carrying around lots of now useless coins. Coins can and will encumber your adventurer, eventually reducing your speed. To reduce that effect you can try to exchange your copper and silver coins for gold ones. To do that you can purchase goods from a merchant to the sum of your copper coins, then sell them back. Check the merchant's chest to see how much gold and silver coins they have. You can delay the problem by selling your loot to many merchants, as they will try to pay you in higher denomination currency first. Alternatively, you can take your excess coinage and use it to purchase [[Gem|large gems]] at a trinket shop. Large gems make good investments because they are 1) light, 2) variably priced, and 3) equally valuable between different civilizations.

A few goods are strictly superior to all forms of coinage as a store of value, most notably giant cave spider silk items. A suitably sneaky (or powerful) adventurer can murder a few dwarves or goblins for such items for trade and sale for human goods. Giant cave spider silk is a non-renewable resource in a given world - please harvest responsibly.

==== Where to get items to sell ====
The best place to get items to sell is at bandit camps, after you've slaughtered all the bandits. You can loot the clothes and equipment off of the corpses of the bandits (and off your fallen companions, too), plus at the very center of camp there'll be a few scattered weapons and a few bags/chests containing various goods.

The next best way to get items to sell is to kill non-talking monsters, butcher their corpses (see below for how), and pick up the edible bits. Butchered bits from the corpses of people (dwarves, elves, humans, etc) can sometimes be found in monster lairs and these seem to be just as desired by shopkeepers as the products you gain from your own butchering.

Another good early source of income can be bags left in abandoned houses/shops, which usually contain plants and food. No one will complain, and the plants inside can be sold at about 2☼ each plus the value of the bag.

At the bottom of the list comes {{k|L}}ooking Carefully and selling any small creatures you might find. However, shops will not accept live creatures unless they are in cages. Some rocks, piles of sand, and other things found on the ground nearly everywhere can also be sold for 1☼ each.

You can also try filling your backpack from river - it can hold up to 100 units of water which is worth 100☼ total. After your sell it, water will drop to the floor as a pool, and backpack can be refilled instantly and for free from there. In fact, you can infinitely fill any container from any pool/pile of any liquid/powder, so if you happen to find some precious substance like [[sunshine]] or [[dwarven sugar]], money won't be a problem for you anymore. This may be considered an [[exploit]] by some, though.

Another devious method is to go outside the shop, {{k|g}}rab handfuls of mud and throw it into your backpack, then sell them for 1☼ each. The merchants will gladly buy your rare and valuable mud despite the unlimited free mud just outside their shop.

== Quests ==

{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|Q}}
| Adventure (Quest) log (tasks, map, et cetera...)
|}

Once you have a quest, press {{K|Q}} to look at them (this screen is called the Adventure Log). The world map is on the left, with your current location highlighted by a blinking "O", while on the right is the list of your quests. You can select a quest and press {{K|z}} to find the location of the quest site: the blinking "O" will move to the quest site, with a green line drawing the path you need to take. Pressing {{K|m}} will tell you the species of the monster you're supposed to kill. You can also use the arrow keys to move the "O" around to examine the surrounding terrain and sites.

Note that once you complete a quest that you can report your success to ''any'' human. Once you tell one human, everyone in the same civilization will know about it. The Adventure Log will tell you to report back to a particular hamlet/town/castle, but you can safely ignore that.

If you're having trouble finding the site on the fast travel map for some reason, exit quick travel mode by pressing {{K|>}}. In the upper left-hand corner of the screen will be a box with symbols running down the left-hand side. At the top of the box will be the symbol of your quest site, with the compass direction to the site at to its right, and "TSK" to the right of the direction indicating an unfinished quest at that site. You can then go back into fast travel mode and head in that direction.

Once you get to the quest site, you'll be unable to enter it when using quick travel mode. Attempting to do so will give the message "You cannot travel through the [site]". You must exit quick travel mode by pressing {{K|>}} and move the rest of the way using the normal movement mode. The box in the upper left-hand corner will tell you the direction to go. When you complete the quest the "TSK" will be gone from the site's line in the box, and looking at the Adventure Log ({{K|Q}}) will show "Report Death of ..." instead of "Kill ...". You then have to move off the site using the slow travel method before entering quick travel mode again with {{K|T}} (trying to do so on the site will tell you "You cannot travel until you leave this site".)

The difficulty of the quests a certain civilization will give you goes up as your fame/reputation with that civilization increases. This is important to remember, you may want to increase your adventurer's skills or gather more companions in-between quests to keep up with the rising difficulty level.

==Crafting==
{| class="wikitable" style="border:1px solid #ccc;"
|-
| {{k|x}}
| Perform action (butcher, create item...)
|}

Adventurers can perform limited crafting, (also known as "reactions"). To access the crafting menu, press {{k|x}}.

'''[[Knapper|Knapping]]''' allows an adventurer to sharpen a rock. '''Knapping does not work with stones in containers, only ones on the ground or in your hand.''' Stones can only be {{k|d}}ropped if the stone type does not naturally exist in the biome you are in, so to use ground stones it is worthwhile to {{k|T}}ravel far from the area you {{k|g}}ot the stones. Otherwise, you can place both stones into your hands. This can be achieved by {{k|d}}ropping whatever is held in your left and right hands, then {{k|g}}etting small stones from the ground. Next, press {{k|x}} to open the action menu, and press {{k|c}}reate and then {{k|→}} to select "Make sharp stone". You will be prompted to choose a rock to sharpen ("tool stone"), and then the hammerstone. The tool stone will be replaced in your hand by a sharp version.

'''Butchering''' acts similarly to Fortress Mode's [[Butchery]] by converting a corpse into edible products, bones, and skin. A corpse must be {{k|d}}ropped onto the ground to be butchered, or held in one hand. With a sharp object (such as a dagger or knapped stone or even a bolt/arrow) in your hand or on the same tile of the corpse, press {{k|x}}, {{k|b}}, and {{k|→}} to select the corpse, and then the sharp tool. The corpse will be replaced by its butchering returns.

These are the only reactions possible in an unmodified game though others can be added through modding.

== FAQ ==

===How do I get past NPCs which are in my way?===
Press {{K|s}} to sit, then move to roll between their legs. Once you're done press {{K|s}} to stand again.

===How do I find an entrance to the underworld?===
You cannot find caves by asking for quests. Instead, repeatedly ask NPCs about the surroundings, and they might tell you about the location of a cave. If this doesn't show any caves, travel to a hamlet/town/castle some distance away and try again. If you ever get lost, you can quickly get back to the surface by traveling under a village and retiring there. When you unretire, you'll be aboveground.

===I keep getting maimed and killed! How can I fight without getting seriously hurt?===
The best defense is a good offense. If you let your enemies attack you, you're (unsurprisingly) likely to get hurt eventually.
* Try to ''avoid fighting difficult enemies until you get some armor''. Don't fight enemies at all unless you're sure you can beat them. If you're unsure, you're probably going to get hurt.
* If you have good speed, try to ''fight enemies one-by-one'' - keep moving backwards and only attack when you're within range of just one enemy.
* If you have a slashing weapon, try to ''chop parts off of your enemy'' - it makes them stop fighting for a turn, allowing you to keep attacking them without being attacked in exchange. Chopping off limbs will also weaken your enemies - taking their arms can prevent them from using weapons, taking their legs can make them slow and knock them down.
* Remember that ''it's better to let your enemy come to you, than to go to your enemy''. You have to either move or attack. If you move, you can't attack, so if you move within range to attack your enemy, you allow them to have the first strike (unless you're much faster than them). On the other hand, if you let them move within range of you, then you get to have the first strike.
* Follow the advice under [[#Combat Preferences|Combat Preferences]].

===How can I obtain armor as quickly as possible?===
* Here's the evil way. If you don't mind causing an entire civilization to be hostile to you (preventing trade, etc. with that civ):
** It's relatively easy to obtain some armor by killing a sleeping soldier in a fort and taking his stuff.
** Most villagers are pretty easy to kill and while their stuff isn't usually too valuable it is worth something. Instead of killing animals you can go around killing villagers and taking their stuff, then travel to another civilization that doesn't know (or maybe care) how evil you are in order to trade.
** Don't try this in the beginning if the next civilization over is more than a day or so away. You need to be able to flee to another country in order to escape justice and continue to quest/trade.
* Raid friendly fortress keeps and the dungeons of towns. They don't mind parting with just a few pieces of armor. Beware in the dungeon, you're not the only one attracted to shiny things.
* Pick companions with good equipment so you can "inherit" it when they get killed. Letting them do all of the fighting for a while might help speed up this process. While this might be kind of evil, it's not as evil as the first option and will cause you much less trouble. Even better: if you have Adequate in Swimmer, you can take a dip in the water and they will follow suit.

<div id="powerleveling"></div>

===How do I increase my skills and attributes? (powerleveling)===

Here are some techniques for raising your skills, very rapidly in some cases.

Most of these skill-raising techniques involve repeatedly entering the same keystrokes. To assist with this you can use a [[Main:Macro|Macro]] to make entering the same sequence of keystrokes over and over again much easier.

Increasing skills increases associated attributes which may in turn benefit other skills. For example, sharpening rocks using {{k|x}} will increase Knapping which will increase a number of attributes that help with combat skills. See [[Attribute#Skills_and_associated_attributes|Skills and Associated Attributes]] for a mostly complete list.

*'''Fighting and Wrestling''' - A good way to raise your Fighting and Wrestling skills and related attributes is to go find a small relatively harmless animal and wrestle with it over and over again. You can wrestle using {{k|A}} followed by {{k|Enter}}. Continually grabbing and releasing a creature is sufficient to raise your skill, and this will not injure the animal so you can do it infinitely with the same one. Wrestling will increase Endurance as well as other stats. You can also take down a powerful bandit with stones while ambushing, improving your throwing and ambush, drop your shield or weapon, and gouge out both of their eyes. This allows you to stand as near as you want to them without being detected, and completely negates any counter-striking skills they may have. Knock out all their teeth, take their weapons, and try it out on them, knowing that they are completely helpless. Give them a chance to heal their bruises so you can attack them more before they die.
*'''Shield User, Armor User, and Dodging''' - In addition to wrestling the creature, you can also sit and let it attack you to raise your defensive skills. If you have metal armor then a small animal like a gopher can't do any real damage to you even if it hits. Also change your {{K|C}}ombat preferences to "stand ground" to increase the amount of shield blocking you do, unless you want more dodging practice than shield practice.
*'''Weapon Skills and Fighting''' - Once your defensive skills are getting up there and your agility is high enough to make your speed 1300+, you might want to try fighting bogeymen to increase your weapon skill. Just make sure to fight them one at a time while running away. If you don't know what a bogeyman is yet then you are probably not ready to try this. Also, doing difficult targeted shots will gain more experience and keep the training dummy alive longer.
*'''Throwing and Archery''' - Throwing rocks with {{k|t}} will raise your Throwing and Archery skills. Being able to throw objects at creatures, while not terribly devastating (in fact, it used to be. In early 31.xx, somebody killed a bronze colossus by throwing a fluffy wambler at its head. We can only hope the wambler survived), can still come in handy. Since throwing also raises your archery skill, you can improve your aim with bows and crossbows by throwing, but it is also possible to improve bow/crossbow skills without wasting ammunition.
*'''Marksman, Bowman, and Archery''' - Raising the bow and crossbow weapon-specific skills is best done by shooting at a wall or cliff with no floor in front of it. If bolts or arrows hit a wall that has a floor (or ground) in front of it on the same z-level the ammunition will be destroyed, however ''ammunition that falls at least one z-level after hitting a wall will remain intact.'' So, you just need to find something like a hill inside a castle, stand on the hill, then shoot at the wall on the same z-level that you're on. The arrows will hit the wall and fall one z-level to the ground, remaining intact. You can then go pick up the arrows and fire them at the wall from the hill again, ad infinitum. You can also stand next to a wall that's at least 2 z-levels high, then shoot up a z-level at the wall by hitting {{k|<}} after you hit {{k|f}}. How ever you decide to do it, the key is that the arrow needs to be able to fall at least one z-level after it hits a wall in order to remain intact. Using a macro will speed this up greatly.
*'''Ambushing and Swimming''' - When approaching a camp or other site, you may want to use {{k|S}} to sneak in and loot any loose items first. While it's very slow, you can sneak over large distances instead of using fast travel in order to increase your sneaking skill (Ambushing). It's also possible to sneak and swim at the same time, so training these things can be combined. Just make sure you '''start with at least Novice (or, if you want to be really safe, Adequate) in swimming''' or you will find it practically impossible to train swimming. Swimming can very quickly improve your strength, agility, and endurance. In addition, if you can safely drown and recover (e.g., by moving under a bridge and then back before you run out of air), this will train up both toughness and endurance ''extremely'' quickly -- a single step spent drowning will raise toughness and endurance by a fifth of a point apiece.
*'''Observer''' - You can't really powerlevel this skill as it is slow and difficult to train, which is why you're advised to sink some points into it during character creation. One way to train this skill appears to be sleeping or walking around in the wilderness, repeatedly getting ambushed. Running away from the ambush, if you can, will probably allow you to repeat this cycle faster if you live. Detecting traps found in tombs and catacombs successfully (done automatically) will also raise Observer, though without decent starting skill to begin with, you would be torn to pieces by the traps you failed to see. Once you've found one or more traps, it is possible to grind experience by sleeping/waiting an hour, which will reset them, then re-detect them, and repeat.
*'''Spatial and Kinesthetic Sense''' - Sharpening rocks with {{k|x}} will improve your Knapping skill, but more importantly, raising this skill will raise your Spatial Sense and Kinesthetic Sense attributes which help with a number of other skills. This can be combined with throwing, using a macro, to keep your inventory from filling up.
*'''Other Stats''' - Other useful stats like Strength, Agility, and Toughness will increase significantly as the fighting and defense skills increase, so you don't need to do anything other than what you'd normally be doing to increase these.

===I managed to escape but my limbs are chopped off. Now what?===

'Tis but a scratch!

Unfortunately, there is only one way to get them back, and that is by being bitten by a [[werebeast]] and surviving until the next full moon. But as long as you have at least one leg and one arm left you can actually do pretty well. First, get a crutch from somewhere, such as a general store, and make sure it's in one of your hands. Once you do that you should be able to {{k|s}}tand back up again. You will notice that your speed is now much slower than before.

Now go find someplace reasonably safe and walk back and forth until your Crutch Walking skill gets up to Legendary or above. You will notice your speed increasing as your skill levels up until your speed is completely back to normal. As a bonus you'll probably see some stat increases as well. You can continue to dodge with a crutch just as well as before.

You can wield a sword, shield, and crutch all in one hand, so even if you are missing an arm then you're all set. If you are missing both arms but still have both legs then unfortunately you'll be limited to biting, dodging, and wrestling with legs. If you're missing both arms and one leg then your movement will be limited and you'll be limited to biting and wrestling with your one remaining leg. And if all limbs are missing then you'll be limited to rolling around on the ground biting things.

Though you might actually be able to do surprisingly well as a Legendary Biter, especially if you powerlevel your strength to the point where you can shake things around by the teeth ripping limbs off, if you lose both legs then your character is going to be severely limited just due to the poor movement rate, so at that point it's probably best to opt for retirement or a glorious death in battle.

=== How do I keep my companions from running off after random wildlife? ===

In unmodified games, only human companions are typically available and humans currently seem to have the philosophy that all wildlife MUST DIE AN IMMEDIATE BRUTAL DEATH ASAP. While there's currently no way to order them to ignore wildlife and other neutral creatures, you can modify the ''raw\objects\entity_default.txt'' file and add the '''<nowiki>[AT_PEACE_WITH_WILDLIFE]</nowiki>''' to the entity definition for humans. This will cause humans to have an elf-like attitude toward wildlife, and vice versa. Humans will then avoid killing animals and animals will not run away from humans, also giving you somewhat of an advantage when hunting as a human.

Animals... either you love them and they love you, or they must die a horrible death right now.

===What creatures of night can I become?===

You basically have four different choices.

Firstly, you can become a [[necromancer]].
* That gives you some traits of an undead. Namely, you don't need to eat, sleep or drink, don't tire or age, zombies or mummies don't attack you and you physic stats are permanently fixed.
* The last one means it's wise to train them beforehand.
* You also can raise dead from the {{K|x}} menu. Depending on the flavor of your spell, zombies can be slow, very slow or not slow at all. They will be listed as companions.
* To become a necromancer, find a necromancer tower and obtain a book or slab containing secrets of life and death from there, then read it. Note that most of the books are useless. In younger worlds necromancers may not have built their towers yet, in which case they'll be hanging at a zombie bandit camp, slab under the arm.

Secondly, you can become a [[vampire]].
* That gives you most traits of an undead. In addition to the listed above, you don't feel pain, don't breathe and immune to most syndromes.
* Your strength, agility and toughness are doubled.
* They're still fixed forever, so, again, be prepared.
* Despite not needing to drink water, you have a hunger for warm blood. To satisfy it, beat someone or something unconscious and {{K|e}}at their blood.
* To become a vampire, defeat one in combat and drink his blood.

Thirdly, you can become a [[werebeast]].
* This gives you the (uncontrolled) ability to transform into a powerful half-man, half-beast on a full moon.
* There's a fixed list of animals on which the werebeast is based, including goat, llama, lizard, horse, monitor, buffalo, moose, tortoise, camel, kangaroo, ape, gecko, bear, hyena, warthog, iguana, skink, shrew, elk, skunk, pig, raccoon, panda, mole, badger, armadillo, mammoth and more.
* Most importantly, upon transformation (both ways) all your wounds, including missing limbs, are instantly healed.
* You don't show any abnormalcy outside of beast form. You are still mortal.
* When in beast form, everything is hostile to you, you don't need to drink, eat, sleep or breathe, don't feel pain, don't tire and are immune to some syndromes.
* One randomly chosen metal is ten times as deadly to you than usual. All other materials deal you half damage.
* Werebeast's size is several times their base animal size, but no less than 80000. This means all armor will be too small for you while in beast form. But you can still use a shield.
* Also, some werebeasts are truly gigantic — weremammoth has a size of 9000000, on par with demons.
* To become a werebeast, make one bite you. It has to be in the beast form.
* You cannot be a werebeast and a vampire at the same time.

And finally, you can become a mist [[zombie]].
* This makes you undead. In addition to vampire traits, you can see without eyes and can't die via blood loss or beheading. Note that you don't have health point limit raised zombies have.
* You become permanently hostile to everyone except other undead.
* You strength and toughness are tripled and fixed. Train beforehand.
* Depending on the flavor of zombie virus, you speed may or may not drop to 20% or 60% of its normal value.
* To become a mist zombie, find a mist/fog cloud that zombifies creatures and delve headdeep into it.
* You cannot become vampire or werebeast if you are already zombie. Other way, however, is fine.

=See Also=
*[[Main:Adventure Mode quick reference|Adventure Mode quick reference]]
*[[Adventure mode quick start|quick start guide]]

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Adventurer mode}}
{{Category|Interface}}

v0.34:Animal trainer

2013-07-23T12:25:30Z

ZortLF2: /* Train a war animal */

{{quality|Exceptional|03:36, 10 January 2012 (UTC)}}
{{Skill
| color = 2:0
| skill = Animal Trainer
| profession = [[Ranger]]
| job name = [[Animal training]]
| tasks =
* Train [[dog|war animal]]
* Train [[dog|hunting animal]]
* Tame large animal
* Tame small animal
| workshop = [[Kennel]]
| attributes =
* Agility
* Toughness
* Endurance
* Intuition
* Patience
* Empathy
}}
{{av}}

'''Animal trainer''' is the skill associated with the '''animal training''' [[labor]]. An animal trainer works with [[animal]]s, either taming wild ones, or training certain species for war or hunting.

The Animal [[status]] tab ({{k|z}} - {{k|Enter}}) has a list of all animals that are tame (and belong to your civilization) or are caged and can be tamed. Each animal on the list can be assigned a trainer, who will then tame (if needed) the animal, increase its tameness (if not born from tamed animals) or train it for war or hunting (if selected for hunting or training). Which animals are known and how well can be checked in the second sub-tab in "Animals" tab.

An [[Activity_zone#Animal_Training|animal training zone]] is required for all training activities.

== Domesticating wild animals ==
=== Capture ===
In order to domesticate an animal you must first have an animal to domesticate, so before you can do any training you must capture some wild animals. Which animals appear at your fortress (and thus which animals you can attempt to tame, besides the [[Caverns|subterranean]] creatures that are randomly present) is dependent upon your [[surroundings]], which is in turn dependent upon the local [[biome]], or biomes if your fortress overlaps multiple [[region]]s.

Wild [[creature]]s can only be captured by [[cage trap]]s; as above-ground traffic is, as a rule, unrestricted, and as creatures can enter and exit the map from any direction, the only reliable way to force wildlife into your cages is to build a lot of them. The same is true of the [[caverns]], although since they are usually not nearly so expansive capturing passing creatures is a little easier; on the other hand you have to be much more worried about exposing your dwarves to the various subterranean nasties. Note that [[animal trap]]s are ''not'' used in this role, but are instead used by [[trapper]]s to capture live [[vermin]], and thus surprisingly enough trappers are not involved in the trapping of actual creatures.

Just because you have a creature stowed away in your cages [[stockpile]] does not mean that it can be trained, as only creatures with the <tt>[PET]</tt> or <tt>[PET_EXOTIC]</tt> [[creature token]] can be trained. Additionally, <tt>[TRAPAVOID]</tt> creatures ignore cage traps entirely. Captured [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s can also be trained, but they will, regardless of training level, remain hostile to your civilization and will, if released from bondage, attack your units without mercy; even worse these creatures [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if you order your [[military]] to deal with the situation.{{bug|6051}} To make use of captured creatures that you cannot or do not want to tame, see [[live training]] and [[mass pitting]].

=== Taming ===
{| style="text-align:center; float:right; margin:8px;" class=wikitable
! '''Designation'''
! '''Description'''
|-
| Wild || Not tamed
|-
| Semi-wild || Semi-wild
|-
| Trained || Trained
|-
| -Trained- || Well-trained
|-
| +Trained+ || Skillfully trained
|-
| *Trained* ||Expertly trained
|-
| ≡Trained≡ || Exceptionally trained
|-
| ☼Trained☼ || Masterfully trained
|-
| Domesticated || Tame
|}

Once you have a captured, trainable creature trapped in a cage, you can start trying to domesticate it. You will need [[trap#Cage_Trap|cage trap]], an [[Activity zone#Animal training|animal training zone]], and some [[plants]] or [[meat]] depending on whether the animal is herbivorous or carnivorous. To have your animal trainer begin taming a wild animal, use {{k|z}} to open the status screen and select the animal menu. Scroll through the list until your captured wild animal is selected and use {{k|t}} to set a trainer to tame it. Note that if a caged animal is fed a plant, [[seed]]s will stay in the cage. This has no effect on training, but if you later release the animal, you will need to [[Activity zone#Garbage Dump|dump]] the seeds from the cage before it can be reused.

The trainer will bring food to the cage and interact with it, bringing it to one of the trained levels (see table at right). A fully wild animal must be trained from its cage, but once an animal has been initially trained and it is no longer wild, it may be safely released from its cage (and preferably assigned to an enclosed [[pasture]] or [[restraint]], to keep it hemmed in case problems arise later). Be warned: trained animals immediately become trapavoid, and will stay so if they ever go wild again, making recapture impossible.{{Bug|6002}}

Animals left in a cage cannot be retrained from beyond a wild state (ae. will only be trained from and revert to a wild state), so moving the no longer wild animal out of its cage is necessary for further training. Alternatively, with a difficult to train animal or a poor trainer, you may want to leave the animal in its cage; the Animal will eventually revert back to its wild state, at which point your trainer will train it again, safely giving your trainer experience and also more knowledge about the animal if it's exotic. Note that <tt>[GRAZER]</tt> animals need a pasture to survive, and will die if left to linger in a cage for too long.

The overall difficulty and time required to tame an animal is roughly proportional to its [[List of creatures by pet value|pet value]]. As a general guideline, animals with pet value less than a hundred are easy to train, those with values in the hundreds take some effort and a few years to train well, and creatures with pet values in the thousands such as [[dragon]]s are very slow to train and almost impossible to completely domesticate.

Adult trained animals will slowly revert to their wild origins over time and must have a trainer permanently assigned to them (through the animal [[status]] menu) to ensure they remain friendly through regular re-training. Trained animals have a quality associated to their training that affects how long they will retain composure before reverting to the wild, but which may have other effects as well. The last state an animal reaches before it becomes fully wild is semi-wild, at which point the animal sporadically attacks passerby and which prompts a major [[announcement]].

Dwarves will instinctively know when their animal training partners need retraining, and will prioritize doing so, but will obviously not be able to if they are [[wound|injured]], experiencing a [[strange mood]], do not have the necessary treats, or are otherwise unable to reach their trainees. If you assign a single dwarf to an animal (Any available trainer is also an option) only that dwarf will ever attempt to train or retrain the creature, so care must be taken to keep your trainers healthy and available.

When training animals that your [[civilization]] has never domesticated before, successful training will result in some knowledge being transferred to your civilization every time the dwarven [[caravan]] returns to the mountainhomes. This has no effect on gameplay within your fortress, but is conjectured to reduce training barriers for future fortresses established by your civilization. Although a number of farm animals are domesticated by your civilization from the beginning of the game, your fortress cannot individually "civilization-level" domesticate a species.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1]

{|class="wikitable" style="width:80%; align:center"
! Announcement
! Training level in {{k|z}} screen
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) now know a few facts about (animal) training.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|A few facts|red}}
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) have attained a general familiarity with (animal) training methods.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|General familiarity|yellow}}
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now quite knowledgeable (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Knowledgeable|white}}
|-
| {{Gametext|The dwarves of (civ) are now expert (animal) trainers.|cyan}}
| {{DFtext|Expert|cyan}}
|-
| {{center|-}}
|{{DFtext|Domesticated|lime}}
|}

=== Taming children ===
Only animals with the <tt>[CHILD]</tt> tag can [[breeding|breed]] and have children, but any animal children that they have offer a significant perk: the possibility of eventually fully domesticating a species. Note that animals cannot get pregnant in cages (in fact, this is the ''only'' time they can't), so you'll have to move past the initial training stage to have them - ae. there is no such thing as wild fortress-born animal children.

Animals born from partially tamed parents will not revert to a wild state while they are still children: for example, if a wild female wolf is captured and trained up to the +T+ level, and gives birth, the pups may forget any training they're put under as pups, but will never go lower than Semi-Wild while they're still pups. They can, and will, revert to a wild state when they become adult wolves, though going back to a fully wild state will still take some time after they've reached adulthood.

Animals who are born from a trained animal will inherit the mother's trained status, including the training quality. This allows procession to full domestication, as when children with a high enough taming level are tamed well enough, they may become domesticated (and will never need retraining again, unlike their mother). Interestingly, the training level of the father does not count for anything when it comes to the child, but perhaps this is unsurprising given that in Dwarf Fortress animals can breed from across the entire map, without ever even seeing each other. Only children can be domesticated, and once the young animal grows up the opportunity for domestication will no longer be available.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1]

Animals in Dwarf Fortress give birth in one of two ways, either with live births or by laying and incubating [[egg]]s. Child-rearing animals that give birth to their young is easy: as long as there is at least one male of that species is somewhere on the map, children will be born, inheriting their parent's pasture statuses in the process. Egg-layers are more complicated; there must be an open constructed [[nest box]] for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, and they and the mother must remain undisturbed during the process as the mother must incubate her eggs, even for training. Thus the eggs must be [[forbid]]den and the mother should have her trainer de-assigned during the duration of her stay; they also will ''not'' inherit their mother's pasture status.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=121150.0 1] The resultant children will have the taming status of their mother when they were ''laid'', not hatched.

== Training tame animals ==
Tame animals can be trained for hunting or for war, for which you need a [[Zone#Animal_Training|training zone]] ({{k|i}}-{{k|t}}) and a dwarf with the animal training labor enabled. Then you can go to your animal status screen ({{k|z}}-{{k|Enter}}) and find your trainable animal. Trainable animals are those where you see you can press either {{k|w}} for war training or {{k|h}} for hunting training. If you wish you can also select a particular trainer {{k|t}} to perform this task.

===Train a hunting animal===
This requires an [[Cage|uncaged]] tame animal with <tt>[TRAINABLE]</tt> or <tt>[TRAINABLE_HUNTING]</tt>, an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. Note that an animal that is in a pasture can only be trained if the zone is also in the same [[pasture]]. Hunting animals can be assigned ({{K|v}}-select dwarf-{{K|p}}-{{K|e}}) to follow a hunter and assist in the hunting process. They are intrinsically faster and more agile than a regular tamed animal, and can [[ambusher|sneak]] alongside their partner, but are not as strong as a war animal and cannot be unassigned.

=== Train a war animal ===
Requires: An [[Cage|uncaged]] tame animal with <tt>[TRAINABLE]</tt> (or <tt>[TRAINABLE_WAR]</tt>, although no such animals exist, as currently all war-trainable animals can be trained for hunting as well and are under the inclusive <tt>[TRAINABLE]</tt> tag), an animal training activity zone, and an animal trainer. [[Pasture|Pastured]] animals can only be trained if the zone is located within their pasture.

War animals are significantly stronger than their untrained counterparts; war dogs make excellent companions when starting a fortress, when you can't spare many dwarves for fighting.

Like hunting animals, they can also be assigned to individual dwarves; combined with their strength, this makes them effective expendable bodyguards for any dwarf likely to see danger or who you feel is valuable enough to be worth protecting. Even if they fail to defeat an attacker, they can often buy their charge time to escape or for additional reinforcements to arrive.

== Bonding ==
As animal trainers work with an animal, they may become [[Relationships|bonded]] to it ("formed a bond with an animal training partner"), and this relationship is visible in the dwarf's relationships screen. This happens even if the dwarf is not specifically assigned to the animal and appears to disregard training quality. The death of a bonded animal results in a bad thought for the trainer ("has lost an animal training partner to tragedy"), whose exact severity is unknown but fairly significant. It is unknown whether working with a bonded animal gives a happy thought similar to the one gained from talking to a friend.

== Trainable war/hunting animals ==
The following creatures can be trained into war animals or hunting animals:
If you trade for one of these animals, and they are already tame then they will remain tame when they become yours.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Animal
! Size
! Notes
|-
|[[Dog]]
|30,000
|† ♪
|-
|[[Mandrill]]
|20,000
|☼ †
|-
|[[Gorilla]]
|150,000
|☼ †
|-
|[[Grizzly bear]]
|200,000
|☼
|-
|[[Polar bear]]
|400,000
|☼
|-
|[[Gigantic panda]]
|1,160,900
|‼
|-
|[[Elephant]]
|5,000,000
|‼
|-
|[[Rhinoceros]]
|3,000,000
|‼
|-
|[[Giraffe]]
|1,000,000
|‼
|-
|[[Giant bat]]
|200,000
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Giant cave swallow]]
|200,000
|♪ Hunting only
|-
|[[Jabberer]]
|4,500,000
|☼
|-
|[[Cheetah]]
|50,000
|♪
|-
|[[Leopard]]
|50,000
|♪
|-
|[[Jaguar]]
|75,000
|♪
|-
|[[Lion]]
|200,000
|† ♪
|-
|[[Tiger]]
|225,000
|† ♪
|-
|[[Bobcat]]
|8,000
| Too small
|-
|[[Ocelot]]
|25,000
|?
|-
|[[Lynx]]
|25,000
|?
|-
|[[Giant bobcat]]
|256,320
|♪
|-
|[[Giant ocelot]]
|377,750
|♪
|-
|[[Giant lynx]]
|377,750
|♪
|-
|[[Giant cheetah]]
|560,000
|♪
|-
|[[Giant leopard]]
|560,000
|♪
|-
|[[Giant jaguar]]
|750,000
|♪
|-
|[[Giant lion]]
|1,700,000
|♪
|-
|[[Giant tiger]]
|1,900,000
|☼ ♪
|-
|[[Cave dragon]]
|15,000,000
|☼
|-
|[[Roc]]
|20,000,000
|☼ ♪ [[Megabeast]]
|-
|[[Dragon]]
|25,000,000
|☼ [[Megabeast]]
|}

''☼ - These animals are a good choice for your army.'' 
''† - These animals are good choices for protecting important civilians, attacking dangerous creatures so the dwarf can escape.'' 
''♪ - These animals are good companions for hunters and marksdwarves.'' 
''‼ - These animals are a poor choice for training due to their voracious appetites for [[grass]].''

Remember to keep a breeding pair out of harm's way around if you want more of a particular animal, in case the ones in service somehow die.

==Tame water creatures==
With a great deal of effort and some clever engineering, it is possible to capture, tame, and butcher water creatures.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75780.0 2] Water creatures can survive indefinitely in [[cage]]s, but will drown at water levels below 4/7 while dwarves will cancel tasks at water levels at or above 4/7, making training extremely tricky. This basic problem can be solved with one of more interesting bugs in the game: [[ghost]] trainers.[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=127659 3] It is currently unknown what bug causes this, but some animal trainers that are killed and never [[burial|buried]] or [[memorial]]ized will continue to perform their job from the grave. This removes the fundamental problem of water depth incompatibility and makes the task much easier. An easier solution, however, would be [[vampire]] animal trainers: they are unbreathing and will path through such water normally, so long as there is no flow. Taming water creatures in vanilla is fairly useless, however, as without [[modding]] they never have children, nor can they receive war (or hunting, however that would work) training.

==Bugs==

* Trained animals immediately become trapavoid, and will stay so if they ever go wild again, making recapture difficult.{{Bug|6002}}

* Capturing and training [[siege|war]] [[mount]]s [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=111357.0 may cause] a [[loyalty cascade]] if your [[military]] has to put them down.{{bug|6051}}

* Trained [[flying|fliers]] may swap positions with dwarves, leaving the dwarves stranded in an inaccessible area.{{bug|3371}}

* Taming herbivores leaves [[seed]]s in [[cage]]s, which must be manually removed.{{bug|201}}

{{skills}}

v0.34:Double-slit method

2013-07-22T13:49:23Z

ZortLF2:

{{av}}
{{quality|Masterwork|02:30, 16 June 2012 (UTC)}}
[[File:Double-slit-name.png‎|frame|right|The two eponymous slits are highlighted]]

QuantumMenace has developed a very easy method to dig through an [[aquifer]] of unknown depth commonly known as the '''double-slit method'''. Its name derives from two channeled-out slits at the sides of a 2×2 area.

The slits are used to break into the aquifer layer below, hence their ramps are flooded (blue). Water can be pumped from one slit to another slightly faster than the aquifer is flooding it. While a dwarf operates the pump, another dwarf can access the source slit via the ramp and seal off the surrounding walls of the aquifer one by one.

== Draining an aquifer ==

Before we will have a look at the double-slit method itself, it is good to know these basic things about the aquifers and how to drain them.

Aquifers produce infinite amounts of water, but they can also absorb infinite amounts of it. We can drain an aquifer into itself either within one z-level or across multiple z-levels.

=== Draining across multiple z-levels ===

QuantumMenace's double slit method uses this kind of aquifer draining for all but the lowest aquifer level. Once one of the lower aquifer levels has been cracked open, it can absorb all of the water being produced by the aquifer level above it.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aquifer draining.png|left|350px|]]
|}

=== Drain within one z-level ===

The double-slit method uses this for the lowest aquifer level. Here we pump out the water from a tile being flooded by the aquifer to the level above it (which is already secured) and let it flow back down to another tile where it becomes absorbed by the same aquifer layer again. Note that the target tile of the aquifer must be cracked open (e.g. by downstairs or a channel) to be able to receive water.

{|class="wikitable1" style="padding-top: 2em"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aquifer_pump_scheme.png|left|600px|Water flow between the two slits.]]
|}

== Tutorial embark setup ==
The double-slit method will be presented in a form of a play-along tutorial. Practice it first on an embark which you don't intend to play after you've made it through the aquifer. Try to embark at some forested place near the ocean where multi-level aquifers are almost guaranteed. Take this embark setup:

* 1 Proficient Miner
* 4 Proficient Carpenters
* 2 Proficient Wood cutter

You can sell the anvil, one pick, and all quivers, splints and crutches to buy loads of wooden logs. It will save you time cutting down trees.

Make sure you have at least two battle axes and one pick to cut down trees and mine.

== Procedure ==

=== Preparation ===

Using your logs of wood, build a carpenter's workshop and craft all the parts necessary to build a pump, i.e.:

* a [[block]] 
* an [[Trap_components#Enormous_corkscrew|enormous corkscrew]]
* a [[pipe section]]

=== Find out what you are dealing with ===

==== Access the aquifer ====

Dig a 2×2 staircase down to the aquifer

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Safe-layer.png‎|frame|left|Your last non-aquifer layer]]
| [[Image:Aq01.png‎|frame|left|Your first aquifer layer]]
|}

==== Check whether there is more than one level of the aquifer ====

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq02.png‎‎|frame|left|Dig downstairs next to your 2×2 stairs.]]
| [[Image:Aq03.png‎|frame|left|Dig up/down stairs into the aquifer below. Use {{K|.}} One-Step!]]
|}

When digging the up/down stair into the aquifer, better pause the game and use {{K|.}} One-Step to see the revealed tile below the first aquifer level before it gets flooded.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq04.png‎‎|frame|left|The up/down stairs have just been dug and are not yet flooded.]]
| [[Image:Aq05.png‎|frame|left|Check the description of the tile revealed below them.]]
|}

If it says "Damp X" (X is the name of the stone/soil), it is another aquifer level and we proceed [[#Dealing with the upper aquifer levels|dealing with the upper aquifer levels]]. If it is regular stone (not damp), we will be [[#Dealing with the lowest aquifer level|dealing with the lowest aquifer level]].

=== Dealing with the upper aquifer levels ===

We want to drain one level of the aquifer into another further below.

==== Drain the upper aquifer level to the lower one ====

We need access to the lower aquifer level and crack it open.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq06.png‎|frame|left|Dig down stairs left and right of your 2×2 stairs.]]
| [[Image:Aq07.png‎|frame|left|Dig up/down stairs into the aquifer level below. They will quickly become flooded.]]
|}

Now we will pump the water from one slit into the other. A pump can only be placed on a floor, not a staircase.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq08.png‎|frame|left|Construct two floor tiles instead of two up/down stairs between the slits.]]
| [[Image:Aq09.png‎|frame|left|Build a screw pump there (e.g. pumping from the west).]]
|}

Unfortunately, this pump won't work if there is stairs in its source tile.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq10.png‎|frame|left|Remove the downstairs from the source tile (channel it out).]]
| [[Image:Aq11.png‎|frame|left|Start pumping.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq12.png‎|frame|left|Now your miner can access the stairs previously flooded.]]
| [[Image:Aq13.png‎|frame|left|Mine two up/downstairs into the lower aquifer level. Use {{K|.}} One-Step!]]
|}

Here, too, you should {{K|.}} One-Step to peek under the second layer of your aquifer to know what you will have to deal with further below. Once the up/down stairs are dug, disassemble the pump, turn it to the other direction and dig more stairs there. (Don't forget to channel out the downstairs in the pump's source tile.) You should end up with something like this:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq14.png‎|frame|left|Lowest non-aquifer level (or a secured aquifer level)]]
| [[Image:Aq15.png‎|frame|left|First aquifer level (being drained into the level below)]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq16.png‎|frame|left|Second aquifer level (receiving aquifer water from above)]]
| [[Image:Aq17.png‎|frame|left|The level below the second aquifer level]]
|}

Now you can stop and dismantle the pump. The upper aquifer level is being drained into the lower one and is accessible without the help of a pump.

==== Secure the upper aquifer level ====

You can now secure the upper aquifer level by cautiously walling it off. The procedure described here takes about one in-game month per level of aquifer. It involves building walls to seal the aquifer off. To build walls more quickly, build them out of [[block]]s, rather than stone or wood. To get the least amount of job cancellations, build them in the order suggested here.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq18.png‎|frame|left|Dig the aquifer tiles to the north and south of the slits.]]
| [[Image:Aq19.png‎|frame|left|Build walls there.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq20.png‎|frame|left|Dig and build walls here.]]
| [[Image:Aq21.png‎|frame|left|Dig and build walls here.]]
|}

Now the water from the aquifer will start to push your miners and workers around, so better be careful and do this step by step. Expect some job cancellations. You can minimize them by building out of blocks (e.g. wood blocks) rather than normal logs (or stone):

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq22.png‎|frame|left|Dig one staircase.]]
| [[Image:Aq23.png‎|frame|left|Dig one wall.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq24.png‎|frame|left|Build one wall.]]
| [[Image:Aq25.png‎|frame|left|Proceed until you have this.]]
|}

Now you have secured one level of the aquifer. If there are at least two other levels below this one, you can repeat the procedure described in [[#Dealing with the upper aquifer levels|Dealing with the upper aquifer levels]]. Else, follow the procedure described in [[#Dealing with the lowest aquifer level|Dealing with the lowest aquifer level]].

=== Dealing with the lowest aquifer level ===

If you have come here after you've been drilling through several aquifer levels above, your starting point looks like this:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq25.png‎|frame|left|Secured level above the lowest aquifer layer]]
|}

Or you were just lucky and have encountered only a one-level aquifer. In that case you are starting with this:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq26.png‎|frame|left|Secured level above the lowest aquifer layer]]
|}

In any case, we must now prepare our grounds for pumping the last aquifer level from one slit to another.

==== Preparing the grounds ====

If you have nothing but your probing downstairs, you'll be done with this step in no time:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq27.png‎|frame|left|Dig three channels and build floors for a pump.]]
| [[Image:Aq28.png‎|frame|left|Build a pump pumping from the west.]]
|}

Once you have this, you can skip the rest of this section and proceed with [[#Walling off the last aquifer level|Walling off the last aquifer level]].

If, however, your slits are filled with nothing but up/down stairs, things become more complicated. Pumps cannot pump from a source tile which has stairs. Yet you must keep both slits accessible for your dwarves. Therefore:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq29.png‎|frame|left|Replace two of your up/down stairs with floors.]]
| [[Image:Aq30.png‎|frame|left|Channel out the source tile for the pump.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq31.png‎|frame|left|Build the pump (here: pumping from the east).]]
| [[Image:Aq32.png‎|frame|left|Start pumping and build a ramp in the pump's source tile in lowest aquifer level.]]
|}

Don't dig out both stairs of a slit. The slit must remain accessible at all times. Either via a ramp or via stairs. Only now when you have built the ramp which will serve your dwarf for accessing the slit, you can prepare the next tile of the slit like this:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq33.png‎|frame|left|Channel out the other tile of the slit.]]
| [[Image:Aq34.png‎|frame|left|While pumping, build another ramp there.]]
|}

Now we need to place the pump instead of the other pair of stairs. But we must be careful not to lose access to this level from above. We proceed this way:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq35.png‎|frame|left|Deconstruct the pump and the floor.]]
| [[Image:Aq36.png‎|frame|left|Construct up/down stairs to keep this level acessible. Make sure they connect to other stairs in the level above.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq37.png‎|frame|left|Build floor instead of the other pair of stairs.]]
| [[Image:Aq38.png‎|frame|left|Build a pump (pumping from the west) and channel out its source tile.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq39.png‎|frame|left|Start pumping and build a ramp in the pump's source tile in lowest aquifer level.]]
| [[Image:Aq40.png‎|frame|left|This is how your lowest secured level should look like now.]]
|}

You can now proceed with [[#Walling off the last aquifer level|Walling off the last aquifer level]].

==== Walling off the last aquifer level ====

This part will take you 2–3 months in-game time. You start this step with either of these scenarios:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq28.png|frame|left|Your lowest dry level if you haven't been digging through aquifer yet.]]
| [[Image:Aq40.png‎|frame|left|Your lowest dry level if you have been digging through aquifer.]]
|}

They only differ in a down vs. up/down staircase and constructed vs. natural walls or stairs. The procedure from now is the same for both of them. Since multi-level aquifers are more [[Fun]], we will use the latter one for the rest of this tutorial.

As you will be constructing walls in an aquifer layer, the construction will get suspended very often. Yet every time your carpenters or masons get the chance to touch the wall, its construction will proceed a little bit and will be done eventually. Just be patient and keep unsuspending the work. Constructing these walls out of blocks rather than usual logs or stones speeds it all up considerably.

Keep in mind, that dwarves cannot construct a wall if they only can access it diagonally. Hence you will need to build the hardly accessible walls first. Best you follow this tutorial exactly.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq41.png|frame|left|Start the pump and dig these two walls.]]
| [[Image:Aq42.png‎|frame|left|Build this wall first.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq43.png|frame|left|Then build this wall.]]
| [[Image:Aq44.png‎|frame|left|Build these walls (one by one).]]
|}

Theoretically, you could now take a shortcut and build a wall instead of the stairs in the south-western corner. Then you would be safe to make an up/down staircase instead of the ramp in the pump's source tile. This would grant you a 1×1 access under your aquifer. You could in turn find a sink for all aquifer levels (e.g. a lake in a cavern) and pierce through the aquifer from below, draining it across multiple z-levels and drill a hole of any size and shape into it. (See a youtube tutorial video about this in the [[#Links|link]] section.)

However, you are only a few more steps away from a nice 2×2 stairway through the aquifer (easily extendable to 4×2), so you can as well proceed. It is safer, anyway:

Leave the ramp and stairs in the slit—you will need them both for access and as a water sink. Deconstruct the pump and rebuild it pumping from the other direction (here: pump from the east). You will repeat the procedure mirrored:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq45.png|frame|left|First build this wall.]]
| [[Image:Aq46.png‎|frame|left|Then build the rest.]]
|}

Deconstruct the ramp in the source tile of the pump and build a wall there. You will be able to build a wall there right away if you have dug the ramp, rather than constructed it.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq47.png|frame|left|Deconstruct the ramp in the pump's source tile if it was constructed rather than dug.]]
| [[Image:Aq48.png‎|frame|left|Construct a wall there.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq49.png|frame|left|Deconstruct the pump and the two floor tiles underneath it.]]
| [[Image:Aq50.png‎|frame|left|Build an up/down stairs there. Make sure they connect to some stairs above!]]
|}

Now the finale. Here we will need to build the pump instead of the two southern up/down staircases. You can build the floor over them right away if they are dug, else you will have to deconstruct them first.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq51.png|frame|left|Build a pump next to the south-eastern slit tile to pump from the east.]]
| [[Image:Aq53.png|frame|left|Start pumping and dig these walls.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq54.png‎|frame|left|Build this wall first.]]
| [[Image:Aq55.png|frame|left|Then build this wall.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq56.png‎|frame|left|Then build this wall.]]
|}

Don't dig or wall the last piece of aquifer in that corner. You will now need it as a sink. Deconstruct the pump and turn it over to pump from the west. For the pump to work, you will need to remove (channel out) the stairs over the pumps source tile.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq52.png‎|frame|left|Channel out the stairs above the pump's source tile.]]
| [[Image:Aq57.png|frame|left|Pumping from the west, dig these walls.]]
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq58.png|frame|left|Build this wall first.]]
| [[Image:Aq59.png|frame|left|Then build three other walls (one by one).]]
|}

Now deconstruct the pump and the floor underneath it, you won't need it anymore. The only way how to safely dig the last piece of aquifer is diagonally or from above, because aquifers don't leak that way, therefore:

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq60.png‎|frame|left|Construct up/down stairs where the pump was. ]]
| [[Image:Aq61.png|frame|left|Dig up/down stairs into the last aquifer tile.]]
|}

You are basically done now. The rest of the water will evaporate.

==== Cleaning up ====

Once the last aquifer tile is gone, the 7/7 water on the ramp tile will spread and eventually evaporate. It is safe to deconstruct the inner walls and ramps now.

{|class="wikitable1"
|-valign="top"
| [[Image:Aq62.png‎|frame|left|Deconstruct the inner walls and ramps.]]
| [[Image:Aq63.png|frame|left|Build up/down stairs as necessary.]]
|}

Congratulations to your 4×2 hole through the aquifer. Be very careful not to mine the first non-aquifer layer any wider than your secured staircase dimensions. The aquifer above this level would flood it. Leave at least one layer of stone between your aquifer and the layer where you want some spacy rooms.

==Links==
* [http://youtu.be/TXQH9dliFZE A good youtube tutorial] covering this method, taking the shortcut later and working the aquifer from below
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79224.msg2060636#msg2060636 Quantum's original forum post] — QuantumMenace improved Hans Lemurson's pump method.

[[Category:DF2012:Guides]]

v0.34:Metal industry

2013-07-19T23:28:44Z

ZortLF2: /* Flux stone */

{{av}}
{{Quality|Masterwork|04:44, 24 June 2012 (UTC)}}

The '''metal industry''' is a catch-all phrase for both the smelting of raw [[ore]] into [[metal]] [[bar]]s (including [[Metal#Alloys|alloys]]), and turning those bars into [[crafts]], [[furniture]], [[weapon]]s, and [[armor]]. Some sort of metal industry is essential in most fortresses, as without one your [[military]] will have to fight off [[invader]]s with [[trap]]s, traded (mediocre) or even [[wood]]en weapons and mostly [[leather]] armor. Because of metal's high base value, it can be a very [[wealth|profitable]] industry, allowing the creation of valuable [[statue]]s and [[furniture]] for your fort or as trade goods. Specific information on the [[metal]]s and [[ore]]s themselves are covered on their respective pages, and will not be included on this page.
[[Image:MetalIndustry3.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Metal Industry Flowchart.]]

==Ores==
[[Ore]]s are naturally occurring [[stone]]s that leave behind valuable material after being [[mining|mined]], and are your primary source of metal. Although metal bars can be imported via caravans, these come in very limited amounts; you will have to rely on native ores if you wish to build a sizable metal industry.

The [[site finder]] lists two different types of ore occurrence in a region: shallow metal(s), which indicates high [[z-level]] ore(s) in the [[biome]], and deep metal(s), which indicates low z-level ore(s) in the biome. Different biomes can contain different resources; as such, you should scroll through the region with the F keys to see all of the available resources by biome. The exact position of your ores can be influenced by local factors; for instance, if you have embarked on a [[mountain]] adjacent to a flat plain, you can expect all of the ores to be located within the mountainside, and concentrate your search there. If you have neither shallow nor deep metals, surviving in the region will be very [[fun]]. Shallow metals are desirable not only because they are easy to find/access, but because [[iron]] ores are almost always found in shallow sedimentary layers.

Different ores tend to occur in different [[stone layers]] and among different rocks; for instance, two of the ores of iron only occur in the [[sedimentary layer]], while the third occurs both there and in the [[igneous extrusive layer]]. The type of surrounding rock is a clue as to the types of ores it contains. Within these rock layers, ores occur in [[vein]]s -- sinuous, single z-level groupings of the rock that weave through the [[stone layer]] in no discernible pattern (multi-layer veins are planned for future releases) -- or in [[cluster]]s, smaller and more circular groupings of typically rare ores (like [[platinum]]). With luck, you might happen upon valuable ores while digging out your initial fortress, but generally finding your resources requires significant [[exploratory mining]] first, digging up a z-level to discover all of the goodies it contains.

Whenever you strike a new ore on a z-level, the game will [[announcement|announce]] its presence with the message "You have struck <ORE>!", similar to what it does for more mundane stones and for [[gem]]s. Where there is one ore, there is an entire vein or cluster, and this is your cue to mine out the area to explore your new-found resource.

By default, ores are reserved for smelting; that is, they are unavailable for use by [[Mason]]s, [[Stone crafter]]s and so on. If you want to (temporarily) allow your dwarves to make ore stone furniture, for example if you have found considerable deposits of an ore, you can change permissions in the [[Status#Stone status screen|status menu]]. This can be advantageous for several reasons:
* Your [[Mason]] may have higher skill than your rarely-used [[Blacksmith]]
* You may save the cost of fuel, and the time spent hauling/smelting the ore
This does not apply to furniture that cannot be made of stone, such as [[bin]]s; and obviously you cannot make furniture from alloys in this way, since alloys only exist in the form of metal bars or forged items. Constructing stone furniture out of metal ores typically results in a roughly 25% loss in total value compared to refining the ore.

==Fuel==
The metal industry consists of two parts: the ores from which the metals are made, and the fuel which powers the making. With the exception of [[stud]]ding, all metalworking requires a unit of fuel (or more, if it is part of the reaction itself). There are currently three types of fuel in Dwarf Fortress.

The simplest is [[charcoal]], made from wood [[log]]s at a [[wood furnace]] by a [[wood burner]] (note: ''not'' [[furnace operator]]). It may be necessary to produce a couple of bars of charcoal at the very least, as creating fuel from the other, mineral sources of fuel requires fuel itself. Charcoal can be used to jump start the process, but if your location is lacking in the other fuel sources, you will have to use charcoal exclusively (and whatever the caravans can bring in). Using charcoal as your main fuel source requires a lot of effort, and a heavily forested environment, as you will have to chop down many, many trees and potentially keep multiple burners on repeat to keep your metalworkers supplied, at least until you get down to [[magma]].

Note that (although by the name and method of production there does not seem to be a difference), [[ash]] is distinct from charcoal and cannot be used as fuel.

The next fuel source is [[coke]], made from two types of depository coal: [[lignite]] and [[bituminous coal]]. When lignite is burned at a furnace, it consumes a unit of fuel while producing five units of coke, thus creating a net profit of four fuel; bituminous coal consumes one and produces nine, for a net profit of eight fuel (obviously being the better of the two). There is currently no way to know if a location does or does not have these resources, except through external [[utilities]] like [[DF2012:Utilities#DFHack|DFHack]].

The final fuel source is [[magma]]. [[Channel]]ling a hole to a tile containing at least 4 units of magma will allow you to build magma forges, buildings that uses the heat of the magma instead of an actual fuel to do its work. The challenge is getting there; going down that deep requires passing through the [[caverns]] first, a feat to be concluded only by a fairly mature fortress. Once you hit magma, you will no longer need any other fuel source (except for [[Steel|steelmaking]]).

If you have neither trees nor one of the two coals on hand, getting your industry together will be extremely difficult. You will have to buy up every log and as much charcoal as possible, but if you do not have enough trees you will not have enough [[bed]]s either; hurtling towards [[magma]] while avoiding the caverns is possible, although risky. To avoid this problem, try not to embark in a location without wood until you have some experience.

==Smelting==
Ores cannot be made into metal objects raw; first they must be processed into metal [[bar]]s by a [[furnace operator]] at a [[smelter]]. Smelting, like most metalworking, requires a unit of fuel; you can create fuel by making coke from either lignite or bituminous coal, as discussed above.

Smelting itself is pretty simple: make sure to have some dwarves with furnace operating enabled, and be sure to set one or a few of your smelters to continuously smelt lignite or bituminous coal if you have them. Since bars have no quality modifiers, increased furnace operating skill only increases the speed with which the operator works. Smelters are very prone to [[clutter]]ing, so having a non-filled bar stockpile and plenty of [[bin]]s is important for efficiency. In addition you should make an ore stockpile nearby, to reduce your furnace operators' walking distance.

==Alloys==
[[Image:Ores_and_alloys_flowchart.png|thumb|Flowchart of ore refining and common alloy formulas.]]
Pure metal bars and, in some cases, ores can be combined at a smelter to produce [[Metal#alloys|metal alloys]]. These are special blends of materials that generally have an advantage over their components, be it in value, a unique color, decreased fuel consumption (when made directly from ores), or military application. For instance, [[brass]] can be smelted for a net gain in value, whereas [[rose gold]] is used for its unique color. In the case of [[bismuth]], its only use (besides as a trade good) is as a component in [[bismuth bronze]]. For a complete list of alloys and their uses, see [[Metal#Alloys]].

==Flux stone==
Easily the most useful alloy of them all is [[steel]], which requires a complex series of steps to produce, as well as a resource which is not necessary for any of the other alloys: [[flux|flux]]. Flux stones are stones rich in reducing agents, used to remove impurities from iron during the steel smelting process: [[calcite]], [[chalk]], [[dolomite]], [[limestone]], and [[marble]]. Although iron is a good weapons-grade metal, steel is a good deal better, and well worth the investment - if you have the resources. Unlike coal, flux stone appears on the location viewer when you are looking for a site to embark on, and if you want to have a powerful military, a location with flux stones and metals is key. If you have none, it is possible to import it via caravans. Flux stone also have the advantage of being worth more than more mundane stones, and are thus good stonecrafting and masonry material, if you have enough of it.

==Goblinite==
[[Goblinite]] is the humorous name coined by players to the metal of enemy [[siege]]s (usually [[goblin]]s, hence the moniker). [[Reclaim]]ing the remains from killed enemy combatants can be highly profitable; their metal arms and armor can be used as is or [[melt|melted down]] into bars (except in the case of elves, which do not use metal equipment). Once an object has been marked, it will sent to a smelter with an active "Melt Object" job. When an object is melted the amount of metal recovered from an item is consistent and varies from 10%-150% [[DF2012:Melt#Yield|based on the item type]]. Any amount less than a full bar is invisibly stored in the Smelter and will be automatically combined with future melted objects to form a complete bar.

The equipment of [[Cage|caged enemies]] can also be taken by mass dumping a caged creature (manually reclaim the caged creature via the {{k|k}} inspect menu to prevent it from being dumped too) and then reclaiming and marking for melting as explained above.

==Smithing==
Once you have the metal bars or alloys created, you are ready to turn them into your finished products at a [[metalsmith's forge]].

Metal bars can be turned into a variety of products for use by your fortress, for the purpose of [[trade|exporting]] [[weight|low-weight]] items such as [[Finished goods#Craft|craft]]s are suggested. Four of the five [[metalsmith]] jobs are performed at this stage:
* [[Weaponsmith]]s can create [[weapon|weapons]], [[trap]] components, [[bolt|bolts]], and [[ballista arrowhead|ballista arrowheads]]
* [[Armorsmith]]s can create [[armor]]
* [[Metal crafter]]s can create [[chain|chains]] and "Other Objects" ([[craft|crafts]], [[coins]], [[goblet|goblets]]), as well as performing [[stud|studding]]
*[[Blacksmith]]s can create [[anvil]]s, [[block]]s, and all [[furniture]] except chains.

In addition, metal bars can be made into [[mechanism]]s by [[mechanic]]s.

The metalsmith's forge also allows you to [[stud]] objects with your newly-created metal. This will give the object decorations and raise its value while consuming the metal bar - unlike every other process, however, it does not require fuel.

==Magma==
Providing a constant stream of fuel to power a burgeoning metal industry is a time-consuming enterprise, requiring constant work by smelters and/or wood burners to keep coke coming. This extra work can be eliminated as described in the fuel section, and thus an important step in a mature fortress is the establishment of a magma metal industry, removing fuel as a concern and thus making most metalworking simpler (and faster).

The establishment of magma forges requires the tackling of two major obstacles, however: first the [[cavern]]s and second the distances involved. The first is a challenge will require a combination of very careful probing, sealing off the main staircase with constructed walls and stairs, and an already well-equipped military to clobber whatever's inside. Ironically, it's the distance, often a hundred or more z-levels from your main fortress, that makes magma forging difficult, requiring excessively long trips between raw material and the smelters and forges, virtually nullifying any benefit drawn from them being fuel-less.

How quickly you want to dig for magma depends, but the better equipped you are militarily the better, in case you dig right into a [[giant cave spider]]. There are a couple of ways to get magma to a practical level, although neither of them are particularly easy. The first is to settle on the magma itself, moving your fortress and its residents close to the heart of the mountain, so to speak. This works when your fortress is still young, especially if you got lucky and skirted by the caverns entirely, but will isolate you from the surface and all it entails: river [[fishing]], [[hunting]], [[plant gathering]], above-ground [[farming]], and keeping your dwarves from suffering from [[cave adaptation]].

The second and more common way is to [[DF2012:Magma#Bringing_Magma_Up|bring the magma up]] to your existing fortress. The classical approach requires a massive [[pump stack]]; more recent advancements have introduced several other methods. However you approach it, moving magma is a sizeable undertaking, requiring significant commitment of raw resources and dwarven effort. On the other hand, you get easy access to magma, which can be used to do some ''very'' fun things.

==Management==
===Ore management===
Once you have staked out your metal resources, it's important to think about what resources you will be using for what purposes, as different ores have different [[value]]s and applications. Ores can be sorted into two rough categories: military-grade ores and ores of value (with a value multiplier of 10 or higher; iron and its refinement, steel, is special in that it can do both). For instance, if your fortress has [[hematite]] (iron), [[native copper]], and [[native gold]], you will want to use the iron ore for military production, reserve the copper for smiths in training (and noble demands), and use the gold to produce items of value.

If you do not have a certain metal then alloys come into play. [[Billon]] ([[tetrahedrite]] or [[galena]] plus any copper-bearing ore ''or'' just two nuggets of tetrahedrite) has a material value of 6; [[sphalerite]] plus any form of copper makes [[brass]], with a material value of 7. [[Bronze]] can be made with copper and tin, can nearly match iron in military applications, and has a value of 5, making it a worthy choice as well as well. All the better if you have [[bismuth]] as well, as you can tack it on for an extra point of value (6) for the same uses.

===Industry management===
Of all the industries in Dwarf Fortress, the metal industry is easily the most versatile, able to generate high-value, powerful, and durable arms and armor, crafts, furniture, equipment, and tools. This versatility and the high value of metal goods comes at the cost of effort and logistics, however; as wide and powerful as the metal industry is, it is also difficult to set up, and logistically challenging to keep running.

There are two methods to keep a vibrant metal industry running. The first is through judicious use of the workshop [[repeat]] button by smelting a large amount of fuel on repeat, followed by smelting ores on repeat; the bars generated can then be made into the finished products at the metalsmith's forge. A [[bookkeeper]] and resource management through checking the bars and fuel counts in the [[stocks]] menu are necessary with this method, as you have to know when you are running low on certain resources and need to adjust your processes. In particular, you want to avoid running out of fuel, as your dwarves will have to burn more wood to get the smelters jump-started again.

The second method is through judicious use of the [[manager]]. This has the advantage of being easier to control, easier to follow, and easier to maintain then repeating tasks, but it involves a time delay and necessitates prior planning, as in a fortress with any sizable amount of dwarves the manager must first validate all orders before acting upon them. To use the manager to manage your metal industry, queue up the jobs needed for your finished product in order. For instance, if you want to make 10 steel [[Armor|breastplates]], and you have magma forges and magma smelters, you would have to enqueue the following jobs in the following order:
# Smelt [[coke]] from bituminous coal (4 times, producing 36 coke) '''-or-''' Smelt coke from lignite (6 times, producing 30 coke) '''-or-''' Make [[charcoal]] from wood (30 times, producing 30 charcoal)
# Smelt [[hematite]]/[[magnetite]]/[[limonite]] (8 times, producing 32 iron bars)
# Make [[pig iron]] bars (15 times, producing 15 pig iron bars)
# Make steel bars (15 times, producing 30 steel bars)
# (Once all the other jobs are done) Forge steel breastplates (quantity 10)

This requires 160% (or more) additional coke/charcoal if you don't have magma forges and magma smelters (you'd need a total of 78 coke/charcoal when you begin producing the iron bars, instead of 30).

{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}

v0.34:Metal industry

2013-07-19T22:53:58Z

ZortLF2: /* Smelting */

{{av}}
{{Quality|Masterwork|04:44, 24 June 2012 (UTC)}}

The '''metal industry''' is a catch-all phrase for both the smelting of raw [[ore]] into [[metal]] [[bar]]s (including [[Metal#Alloys|alloys]]), and turning those bars into [[crafts]], [[furniture]], [[weapon]]s, and [[armor]]. Some sort of metal industry is essential in most fortresses, as without one your [[military]] will have to fight off [[invader]]s with [[trap]]s, traded (mediocre) or even [[wood]]en weapons and mostly [[leather]] armor. Because of metal's high base value, it can be a very [[wealth|profitable]] industry, allowing the creation of valuable [[statue]]s and [[furniture]] for your fort or as trade goods. Specific information on the [[metal]]s and [[ore]]s themselves are covered on their respective pages, and will not be included on this page.
[[Image:MetalIndustry3.jpg|thumb|right|500px|Metal Industry Flowchart.]]

==Ores==
[[Ore]]s are naturally occurring [[stone]]s that leave behind valuable material after being [[mining|mined]], and are your primary source of metal. Although metal bars can be imported via caravans, these come in very limited amounts; you will have to rely on native ores if you wish to build a sizable metal industry.

The [[site finder]] lists two different types of ore occurrence in a region: shallow metal(s), which indicates high [[z-level]] ore(s) in the [[biome]], and deep metal(s), which indicates low z-level ore(s) in the biome. Different biomes can contain different resources; as such, you should scroll through the region with the F keys to see all of the available resources by biome. The exact position of your ores can be influenced by local factors; for instance, if you have embarked on a [[mountain]] adjacent to a flat plain, you can expect all of the ores to be located within the mountainside, and concentrate your search there. If you have neither shallow nor deep metals, surviving in the region will be very [[fun]]. Shallow metals are desirable not only because they are easy to find/access, but because [[iron]] ores are almost always found in shallow sedimentary layers.

Different ores tend to occur in different [[stone layers]] and among different rocks; for instance, two of the ores of iron only occur in the [[sedimentary layer]], while the third occurs both there and in the [[igneous extrusive layer]]. The type of surrounding rock is a clue as to the types of ores it contains. Within these rock layers, ores occur in [[vein]]s -- sinuous, single z-level groupings of the rock that weave through the [[stone layer]] in no discernible pattern (multi-layer veins are planned for future releases) -- or in [[cluster]]s, smaller and more circular groupings of typically rare ores (like [[platinum]]). With luck, you might happen upon valuable ores while digging out your initial fortress, but generally finding your resources requires significant [[exploratory mining]] first, digging up a z-level to discover all of the goodies it contains.

Whenever you strike a new ore on a z-level, the game will [[announcement|announce]] its presence with the message "You have struck <ORE>!", similar to what it does for more mundane stones and for [[gem]]s. Where there is one ore, there is an entire vein or cluster, and this is your cue to mine out the area to explore your new-found resource.

By default, ores are reserved for smelting; that is, they are unavailable for use by [[Mason]]s, [[Stone crafter]]s and so on. If you want to (temporarily) allow your dwarves to make ore stone furniture, for example if you have found considerable deposits of an ore, you can change permissions in the [[Status#Stone status screen|status menu]]. This can be advantageous for several reasons:
* Your [[Mason]] may have higher skill than your rarely-used [[Blacksmith]]
* You may save the cost of fuel, and the time spent hauling/smelting the ore
This does not apply to furniture that cannot be made of stone, such as [[bin]]s; and obviously you cannot make furniture from alloys in this way, since alloys only exist in the form of metal bars or forged items. Constructing stone furniture out of metal ores typically results in a roughly 25% loss in total value compared to refining the ore.

==Fuel==
The metal industry consists of two parts: the ores from which the metals are made, and the fuel which powers the making. With the exception of [[stud]]ding, all metalworking requires a unit of fuel (or more, if it is part of the reaction itself). There are currently three types of fuel in Dwarf Fortress.

The simplest is [[charcoal]], made from wood [[log]]s at a [[wood furnace]] by a [[wood burner]] (note: ''not'' [[furnace operator]]). It may be necessary to produce a couple of bars of charcoal at the very least, as creating fuel from the other, mineral sources of fuel requires fuel itself. Charcoal can be used to jump start the process, but if your location is lacking in the other fuel sources, you will have to use charcoal exclusively (and whatever the caravans can bring in). Using charcoal as your main fuel source requires a lot of effort, and a heavily forested environment, as you will have to chop down many, many trees and potentially keep multiple burners on repeat to keep your metalworkers supplied, at least until you get down to [[magma]].

Note that (although by the name and method of production there does not seem to be a difference), [[ash]] is distinct from charcoal and cannot be used as fuel.

The next fuel source is [[coke]], made from two types of depository coal: [[lignite]] and [[bituminous coal]]. When lignite is burned at a furnace, it consumes a unit of fuel while producing five units of coke, thus creating a net profit of four fuel; bituminous coal consumes one and produces nine, for a net profit of eight fuel (obviously being the better of the two). There is currently no way to know if a location does or does not have these resources, except through external [[utilities]] like [[DF2012:Utilities#DFHack|DFHack]].

The final fuel source is [[magma]]. [[Channel]]ling a hole to a tile containing at least 4 units of magma will allow you to build magma forges, buildings that uses the heat of the magma instead of an actual fuel to do its work. The challenge is getting there; going down that deep requires passing through the [[caverns]] first, a feat to be concluded only by a fairly mature fortress. Once you hit magma, you will no longer need any other fuel source (except for [[Steel|steelmaking]]).

If you have neither trees nor one of the two coals on hand, getting your industry together will be extremely difficult. You will have to buy up every log and as much charcoal as possible, but if you do not have enough trees you will not have enough [[bed]]s either; hurtling towards [[magma]] while avoiding the caverns is possible, although risky. To avoid this problem, try not to embark in a location without wood until you have some experience.

==Smelting==
Ores cannot be made into metal objects raw; first they must be processed into metal [[bar]]s by a [[furnace operator]] at a [[smelter]]. Smelting, like most metalworking, requires a unit of fuel; you can create fuel by making coke from either lignite or bituminous coal, as discussed above.

Smelting itself is pretty simple: make sure to have some dwarves with furnace operating enabled, and be sure to set one or a few of your smelters to continuously smelt lignite or bituminous coal if you have them. Since bars have no quality modifiers, increased furnace operating skill only increases the speed with which the operator works. Smelters are very prone to [[clutter]]ing, so having a non-filled bar stockpile and plenty of [[bin]]s is important for efficiency. In addition you should make an ore stockpile nearby, to reduce your furnace operators' walking distance.

==Alloys==
[[Image:Ores_and_alloys_flowchart.png|thumb|Flowchart of ore refining and common alloy formulas.]]
Pure metal bars and, in some cases, ores can be combined at a smelter to produce [[Metal#alloys|metal alloys]]. These are special blends of materials that generally have an advantage over their components, be it in value, a unique color, decreased fuel consumption (when made directly from ores), or military application. For instance, [[brass]] can be smelted for a net gain in value, whereas [[rose gold]] is used for its unique color. In the case of [[bismuth]], its only use (besides as a trade good) is as a component in [[bismuth bronze]]. For a complete list of alloys and their uses, see [[Metal#Alloys]].

==Flux stone==
Easily the most useful alloy of them all is [[steel]], which requires a complex series of steps to produce, as well as a resource which is not necessary for any of the other alloys: [[flux|flux]]. Flux stones are stones rich in reducing agents, used to remove impurities from iron during the steel smelting process: [[calcite]], [[chalk]], [[dolomite]], [[limestone]], and [[marble]]. Although iron is a good weapons-grade metal, steel is a good deal better, and well worth the investment - if you have the resources. Unlike coal, flux stone appears on the location viewer when you are looking for a site to embark on, and if you want to have a powerful military, a location with flux stones and metals is key. If you have none, it is possible to import it via caravans. Flux stone also have the advantage of being worth more then more mundane stones, and are thus good stonecrafting and masonry material, if you have enough of it.

==Goblinite==
[[Goblinite]] is the humorous name coined by players to the metal of enemy [[siege]]s (usually [[goblin]]s, hence the moniker). [[Reclaim]]ing the remains from killed enemy combatants can be highly profitable; their metal arms and armor can be used as is or [[melt|melted down]] into bars (except in the case of elves, which do not use metal equipment). Once an object has been marked, it will sent to a smelter with an active "Melt Object" job. When an object is melted the amount of metal recovered from an item is consistent and varies from 10%-150% [[DF2012:Melt#Yield|based on the item type]]. Any amount less than a full bar is invisibly stored in the Smelter and will be automatically combined with future melted objects to form a complete bar.

The equipment of [[Cage|caged enemies]] can also be taken by mass dumping a caged creature (manually reclaim the caged creature via the {{k|k}} inspect menu to prevent it from being dumped too) and then reclaiming and marking for melting as explained above.

==Smithing==
Once you have the metal bars or alloys created, you are ready to turn them into your finished products at a [[metalsmith's forge]].

Metal bars can be turned into a variety of products for use by your fortress, for the purpose of [[trade|exporting]] [[weight|low-weight]] items such as [[Finished goods#Craft|craft]]s are suggested. Four of the five [[metalsmith]] jobs are performed at this stage:
* [[Weaponsmith]]s can create [[weapon|weapons]], [[trap]] components, [[bolt|bolts]], and [[ballista arrowhead|ballista arrowheads]]
* [[Armorsmith]]s can create [[armor]]
* [[Metal crafter]]s can create [[chain|chains]] and "Other Objects" ([[craft|crafts]], [[coins]], [[goblet|goblets]]), as well as performing [[stud|studding]]
*[[Blacksmith]]s can create [[anvil]]s, [[block]]s, and all [[furniture]] except chains.

In addition, metal bars can be made into [[mechanism]]s by [[mechanic]]s.

The metalsmith's forge also allows you to [[stud]] objects with your newly-created metal. This will give the object decorations and raise its value while consuming the metal bar - unlike every other process, however, it does not require fuel.

==Magma==
Providing a constant stream of fuel to power a burgeoning metal industry is a time-consuming enterprise, requiring constant work by smelters and/or wood burners to keep coke coming. This extra work can be eliminated as described in the fuel section, and thus an important step in a mature fortress is the establishment of a magma metal industry, removing fuel as a concern and thus making most metalworking simpler (and faster).

The establishment of magma forges requires the tackling of two major obstacles, however: first the [[cavern]]s and second the distances involved. The first is a challenge will require a combination of very careful probing, sealing off the main staircase with constructed walls and stairs, and an already well-equipped military to clobber whatever's inside. Ironically, it's the distance, often a hundred or more z-levels from your main fortress, that makes magma forging difficult, requiring excessively long trips between raw material and the smelters and forges, virtually nullifying any benefit drawn from them being fuel-less.

How quickly you want to dig for magma depends, but the better equipped you are militarily the better, in case you dig right into a [[giant cave spider]]. There are a couple of ways to get magma to a practical level, although neither of them are particularly easy. The first is to settle on the magma itself, moving your fortress and its residents close to the heart of the mountain, so to speak. This works when your fortress is still young, especially if you got lucky and skirted by the caverns entirely, but will isolate you from the surface and all it entails: river [[fishing]], [[hunting]], [[plant gathering]], above-ground [[farming]], and keeping your dwarves from suffering from [[cave adaptation]].

The second and more common way is to [[DF2012:Magma#Bringing_Magma_Up|bring the magma up]] to your existing fortress. The classical approach requires a massive [[pump stack]]; more recent advancements have introduced several other methods. However you approach it, moving magma is a sizeable undertaking, requiring significant commitment of raw resources and dwarven effort. On the other hand, you get easy access to magma, which can be used to do some ''very'' fun things.

==Management==
===Ore management===
Once you have staked out your metal resources, it's important to think about what resources you will be using for what purposes, as different ores have different [[value]]s and applications. Ores can be sorted into two rough categories: military-grade ores and ores of value (with a value multiplier of 10 or higher; iron and its refinement, steel, is special in that it can do both). For instance, if your fortress has [[hematite]] (iron), [[native copper]], and [[native gold]], you will want to use the iron ore for military production, reserve the copper for smiths in training (and noble demands), and use the gold to produce items of value.

If you do not have a certain metal then alloys come into play. [[Billon]] ([[tetrahedrite]] or [[galena]] plus any copper-bearing ore ''or'' just two nuggets of tetrahedrite) has a material value of 6; [[sphalerite]] plus any form of copper makes [[brass]], with a material value of 7. [[Bronze]] can be made with copper and tin, can nearly match iron in military applications, and has a value of 5, making it a worthy choice as well as well. All the better if you have [[bismuth]] as well, as you can tack it on for an extra point of value (6) for the same uses.

===Industry management===
Of all the industries in Dwarf Fortress, the metal industry is easily the most versatile, able to generate high-value, powerful, and durable arms and armor, crafts, furniture, equipment, and tools. This versatility and the high value of metal goods comes at the cost of effort and logistics, however; as wide and powerful as the metal industry is, it is also difficult to set up, and logistically challenging to keep running.

There are two methods to keep a vibrant metal industry running. The first is through judicious use of the workshop [[repeat]] button by smelting a large amount of fuel on repeat, followed by smelting ores on repeat; the bars generated can then be made into the finished products at the metalsmith's forge. A [[bookkeeper]] and resource management through checking the bars and fuel counts in the [[stocks]] menu are necessary with this method, as you have to know when you are running low on certain resources and need to adjust your processes. In particular, you want to avoid running out of fuel, as your dwarves will have to burn more wood to get the smelters jump-started again.

The second method is through judicious use of the [[manager]]. This has the advantage of being easier to control, easier to follow, and easier to maintain then repeating tasks, but it involves a time delay and necessitates prior planning, as in a fortress with any sizable amount of dwarves the manager must first validate all orders before acting upon them. To use the manager to manage your metal industry, queue up the jobs needed for your finished product in order. For instance, if you want to make 10 steel [[Armor|breastplates]], and you have magma forges and magma smelters, you would have to enqueue the following jobs in the following order:
# Smelt [[coke]] from bituminous coal (4 times, producing 36 coke) '''-or-''' Smelt coke from lignite (6 times, producing 30 coke) '''-or-''' Make [[charcoal]] from wood (30 times, producing 30 charcoal)
# Smelt [[hematite]]/[[magnetite]]/[[limonite]] (8 times, producing 32 iron bars)
# Make [[pig iron]] bars (15 times, producing 15 pig iron bars)
# Make steel bars (15 times, producing 30 steel bars)
# (Once all the other jobs are done) Forge steel breastplates (quantity 10)

This requires 160% (or more) additional coke/charcoal if you don't have magma forges and magma smelters (you'd need a total of 78 coke/charcoal when you begin producing the iron bars, instead of 30).

{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}

v0.34:Alcohol

2013-07-19T21:50:56Z

ZortLF2:

{{quality|Masterwork|01:08, 2 July 2013 (UTC)}}{{av}}

[[File:Thirsty Dwarves.gif|thumb|right|A booze [[stockpile]] at work.]]
'''Alcohol''' is the favored drink of the [[dwarves]]; a dwarf will drink booze an average of four times per [[calendar|season]] to satisfy their [[thirst]], and although they can subsist on [[water]], without booze they will work increasingly slowly and garner a bad [[thought]]. Dwarves like to have some variety in what they drink, and will garner a bad thought if they are forced to drink the same variety of drink repeatedly (has been tired of drinking the same old booze lately). Every dwarf likewise has a [[preference]] for a favored drink, which is at first selected randomly from all possible alcoholic beverages but may change once they have sampled some of your fortress's products. Thus alcohol is important both for maintaining your fortress (at a minimum) and (with some investment in variety) for keeping your dwarves happy.

== Acquisition ==
Most of the [[crop|plants]] in the game can be turned into drink, and thus most drink is sourced from dwarven [[farming]], both indoor and out. Most of the plants [[plant gathering|gathered]] from the wild can also be used for brewing, but the reduced yields relative to farming makes it a less ideal solution. Drinks can be sourced at [[embark#supplies|embarkation]], and taking at least a few barrels with you is recommended to hold your initial dwarves over until you can build a [[still]]. [[Caravan]]s always bring some drinks along as well, although not enough to support a reasonably large fortress. Finally, [[honey]] acquired through [[beekeeping industry|beekeeping]] can be brewed into alcoholic mead, the only form of drink that is not derived from plants.

The most direct way to acquire the booze itself is through a [[still]]; large fortresses will usually have one or more dedicated [[brewer]]s keeping the dwarven drinks cellar well stocked. To brew a drink a dwarf will need an empty watertight container of some kind, either a [[barrel]] or a [[large pot]], and a [[stack]] of brewables. Each brewing job produces five units of alcohol per comestible consumed and deposits it in the container, recovering any plant [[seed]]s in the process. The size of a stack does not affect how long it take the brew it, which is based entirely on the brewer's [[skill]], making brewing jobs performed on large stacks much more efficient then those done on individual consumables. Stacks of alcohol do not have a visible [[quality]], but likely have an invisible one as dwarves can have positive drink quality thoughts (had a fine/pretty decent/wonderful/truly decadent/legendary drink lately); the details are fertile ground for future !!SCIENCE!!.

== Mechanics ==
Dwarven thirst is constrained by the important [ALCOHOL_DEPENDENT] [[creature token]] tag, which causes them to suffer severe performance penalties when deprived of alcohol. Thirsty dwarves increasingly lose [[speed]] in almost every activity, including basic movement; dwarves will also wait longer before drinking from a non-alcoholic water source, resulting in negative [[thought]]s from thirst. Alcohol withdrawal appears in the dwarf's thoughts and preferences as "starting to work slowly due to its scarcity" after 3 months, "really wants a drink" after 6 months, "has gone without a drink for far, far too long" after 9 months, and finally "can't even remember the last time he/she had some" after an entire year. Precisely how much dwarves trudge their feet due to alcohol withdrawal is unknown, and is fertile grounds for more future !!SCIENCE!!.

Setting booze on [[fire]] will not cause it to explode, but exposing it to high [[temperature]]s ''will'' cause it to boil away. If the container is flammable, it (and, subsequently, the booze) will be consumed by fire; [[magma-safe]] containers would never be destroyed by [[magma]], but any booze inside will likely quickly perish due to heat transfer (unless the container is made of [[nether-cap]]).

== Types of Alcohol ==
===Plant-based===
<div style="float:left; width:50%">
==== Indoors ====

{|style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;border-collapse:collapse;" width="90%" class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="40%"|Ingredient
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="50%"|Beverage Produced
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="10%" align="center"|Beverage Value
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Plump helmet]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Dwarven Wine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Pig tail]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Dwarven Ale
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Cave wheat]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Dwarven Beer
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Sweet pod]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Dwarven Rum
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|}
</div>
<div style="float:right; width:50%;">
==== Outdoors ====
{|style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;border-collapse:collapse;" width="90%" class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="40%"|Ingredient
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="50%"|Beverage Produced
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="10%"|Beverage Value
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Muck root]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Swamp Whiskey
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|1
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Bloated tuber]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Tuber Beer
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Prickle berry]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Prickle Berry Wine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|1
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Wild strawberry]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Strawberry Wine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Longland grass]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Longland Beer
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Rat weed]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Sewer Brew
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|1
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Fisher berry]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Fisher Berry Wine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Rope reed]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|River Spirits
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|2
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Sliver barb]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Gutter Cruor
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|1
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Sun berry]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Sunshine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|5
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Whip vine]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Whip Wine
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|3
|}
</div>
{{clear}}
===Animal-based===
{|style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;border-collapse:collapse;" width="50%" class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="40%"|Ingredient
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="50%"|Beverage Produced
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="10%"|Beverage Value
{{Category|Drinks}}
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|[[Honey]]
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|Mead
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"|1
|}

== See also ==
* [[Thirst]]
* [[Crop]]
* [[Brewer]]
* [[Beekeeping industry]]

{{Industry}}

v0.34:Block

2013-07-19T20:42:49Z

ZortLF2: /* Blocks vs. rocks */

{{quality|Exceptional|15:59, 30 September 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For area blocks of 48x48 tiles on a game map, see [[Region]].''
:''For "blocking" in combat, see [[Armor]].''

----

A '''block''' is a type of building material. [[Stone]] and [[wood]] can be shaped into blocks at a [[mason's workshop]] or [[carpenter's workshop]]. [[Glass]] can be formed as blocks at a [[glass furnace]], [[ceramic]] blocks (labeled as "bricks") can be made at a [[kiln]], and [[metal]] blocks can be made at a [[forge]] from a single metal [[bar]] (or, in the case of [[adamantine]], from '''four''' wafers). Blocks are mostly equal to bars, but are used differently and counts as a [[Item token|different type]] of items. Blocks do not have [[quality]] levels.

A single block is required in order to build a [[well]], [[screw pump]], or [[ashery]]. Blocks can also be used in place of raw stone or wood in [[road]]s, [[bridge]]s, [[workshop]]s and [[construction]]s (but not in items like [[craft]]s or [[furniture]]). [[Bridge]]s, [[support]]s, [[road]]s, and [[construction]]s built from rocks are called "rough" while the same built from blocks are not given that adjective. Stone blocks are sometimes used as materials during [[strange mood]]s.

==Blocks vs. rocks==

The clearest distinction between a [[building]] built with a [[stone|boulder]] and building built with a stone block is that more buildings can be built of blocks, as each stone produces four blocks. Note that this does not apply to [[wood]], [[glass]], or [[ceramic]] blocks/bricks, which are only made in sets of 1; [[metal]] blocks are made in sets of 1, but since you get 4 bars at a time from smelting ore, the end result is equivalent to stone.

Blocks have less volume and thus [[weight|weigh]] much less than raw forms of construction materials - stone blocks weigh only 6% as much as a boulder, and wooden blocks weigh 12% as much as the log from which they are carved. This weight difference can dramatically reduce hauling time, especially if you are using large amounts of materials. Forming metal bars into blocks makes no difference in regards to weight, though it does simplify the tracking of resources - if you use metal bars to build workshops and constructions, your [[stocks]] screen will still list them in the summary view, potentially misleading you into believing you have more available bars than you actually have.

Building a bridge out of blocks instead of rocks also cuts the building time by two thirds, independent of clearing and hauling time. This difference in building time presumably extends to other buildings and constructions where you can choose between blocks and rocks.

Unlike raw stone or wood, up to 5 blocks can be stored in each [[bin]] in bar/block [[stockpile]]s. This also can improve hauling time between stockpiles. A minecart can carry up to 83 blocks.

Blocks are more valuable than rocks. Blocks have a [[Value#Items with material but without quality|base value]] of 5, compared to the raw material value of 3 for stone, wood or glass. Metal bars already have a base value of 5.

Metal ores and economic stone will still produce multiple stone blocks if cut in a mason's workshop. However, this breaks use for any purpose other than building and [[strange mood]]s, such as [[reaction]]s: blocks of [[flux]] '''cannot''' be used for making [[pig iron]] or [[steel]], nor can blocks of [[ore]] be [[smelter|smelted]] into metal (without modding reactions). Note that "filler" blocks of [[raw adamantine]] are excellent for increasing [[artifact]] value without wasting too much adamantine on legendary doors, tables, etc.

{{Category|Materials}}

v0.34:Sample Starting Builds

2013-07-19T17:57:13Z

ZortLF2: /* Hop in the minmax-y taxi */ Edited to be less jovial and personal.

{{av}}
This is a collection of '''starting builds''' (or embark setups) which individual players find useful and generally worth trying.

These can be found in [[embark_profiles.txt]]. Each one begins with a [PROFILE] tag. To use a raw starting build, just copy the text and paste it at the end of the file.

== Nagidal's Allrounder ==

Recommended for newbies who want to play a ''defensive'' embark on sites with ''mild conditions'' (warm or temperate [[climate]], easy access to drinking [[water]], [[tree]]s and [[stone]]).

=== Dwarves ===

According to the dwarves' [[attributes]] you assign:

* 2 Proficient [[Miner]]s (high [[Attributes#Endurance|endurance]], high [[Attributes#Willpower|willpower]], good [[Attributes#Kinesthetic_Sense|kinesthetic sense]])
* 1 Proficient [[Mason]] (good [[Attributes#Creativity|creativity]], good endurance)
* 1 Proficient [[Mechanic]] (good [[Attributes#Analytical_Ability|analytical ability]])
* 1 Proficient [[Grower]] (good [[Attributes#Agility|agility]])
* 1 Proficient [[Wood cutter]]
* 1 Proficient [[Carpenter]]

Make one of five non-miners at least an adequate [[Appraiser]] (the one with good [[Attributes#Memory|memory]] or [[Attributes#Intuition|intuition]]).

=== Items ===

Keep all the standard stuff, sell some [[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es and [[quiver]]s to buy a couple of [[cat]]s and a dog or two. (The cats will eat the [[vermin]] trying to eat your food supplies.) You can also sell one of the battle axes or the anvil to buy even more stock or some more [[drink]]s and [[food]] if you wish.

Some dwarven [[civilization]]s start with a [[steel]] [[anvil]] rather than an [[iron]] one which will reduce the amount of points you can use for the dwarves' skills and items. In this case, sell the anvil and rely on [[merchant]]s bringing you one.

=== First year roadmap ===

We deliberately did't take any [[cook]]s or [[brewer]]s. You can pick both from one of the first [[Immigration|migration waves]]. Also, we don't have any [[military]] to start with. The idea is that our mechanic and carpenter will build us many wooden cage [[trap]]s which will easily deal with the first [[ambush]]es, maybe even the first [[siege]]. Any useless migrants of the later waves will become our military.

Your aims for the first year are: farming, traps, trade, healthcare (ordered by importance)

==== Farming ====
Start [[farming]] as soon as possible. Try to harvest the spring crop of your first year. Be careful not to produce too much food. Be sure to have some [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s reserved for drinks rather than stuffed with [[plump helmet]]s. Thirty tiles of farm plots are more than enough to start with. If you really want to farm more, try [[pig tail]]s and get the [[textile industry]] up and running once you have more dwarves.

==== Traps ====
Build a [[mechanic's workshop]] soon and let him churn out about 2–3 dozens of [[mechanism]]s. Your carpenter should produce roughly as much wooden cages before autumn. When you build traps, build them in a one tile wide meandring corridor—preferably outdoors. There should be no way around this corridor for the enemies. Use raising [[bridge]]s to direct the flow of all enemies heading for your fort's entrance through this trap corridor. Lower the bridges to allow your dwarves fast access to the fort's entrance bypassing the trap corridor. You should have at least ten traps up and ready by autumn. To deal with a [[siege]] in the later years without fighting you better have 40 of these traps ready.

==== Trade ====
Make one of your first immigrants a [[Stone crafter|stone crafter]] and let him make stone crafts 24/7. You will need them as [[trade]] goods. Textile industry is also a good starter. If your farms produce enough pig tails, go for it and ship some fine socks to your mountain homes.

==== Healthcare ====
Before you start thinking of having some military, build a [[well]] and a [[hospital]].

== Specialized builds ==
These builds are good for starting [[megaprojects]] with minimal planning.

=== All Miners ===
{{collapsible-pre|title=Profile|
[PROFILE]
[TITLE:MINE 2]
[SKILL:1:MINING:2]
[SKILL:1:WOODCUTTING:1]
[SKILL:2:MINING:2]
[SKILL:2:MASONRY:1]
[SKILL:3:MINING:2]
[SKILL:3:PLANT:1]
[SKILL:4:MINING:2]
[SKILL:4:PLANT:1]
[SKILL:5:MINING:2]
[SKILL:5:CARPENTRY:1]
[SKILL:6:MINING:2]
[SKILL:6:MECHANICS:1]
[SKILL:7:MINING:2]
[SKILL:7:FORGE_FURNITURE:1]
[ITEM:7:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
[ITEM:19:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
[ITEM:19:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:DRINK]
[ITEM:18:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:DRINK]
[ITEM:7:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
[ITEM:6:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
[ITEM:6:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:SEED]
[ITEM:6:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
[ITEM:6:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:BUSH_QUARRY:SEED]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_CUP_DIMPLE:SEED]
[ITEM:15:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:REINDEER:MUSCLE]
[ITEM:15:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
[ITEM:5:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:5:CLOTH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:5:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:CHAIN:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:QUIVER:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:LLAMA:LEATHER]
[ITEM:1:BUCKET:NONE:PLANT_MAT:FUNGIWOOD:WOOD]
[ITEM:1:SPLINT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:FUNGIWOOD:WOOD]
[ITEM:1:CRUTCH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:FUNGIWOOD:WOOD]
[ITEM:1:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:LYE:NONE]
[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:CAT:FEMALE:CHILD]
[PET:2:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:CAT:MALE:CHILD]
[PET:1:BIRD_CHICKEN:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:BIRD_CHICKEN:MALE:STANDARD]

}}

Each dwarf also has some other vital skill as well.
Remember, you can make adjustments to this before you embark, if you feel inclined to. I added a few animals here, which you can change before embarking.

====Challenges====
While 7 miners are useful for building a fort quickly, it definitely isn't a good idea for every fortress. This profile doesn't include any crafting labors, which are usually helpful as an initial source of income. Brewing is '''highly''' recommended, unless you have a source of fresh water.

===Minmax build===
By eliminating the [[battle axe]]s, [[pick]]s, and other equipment from the starting build, and replacing them with the raw goods to [[make your own weapons]] on the spot, many points are saved. To illustrate, a [[steel]] battle axe is around 300 or 500 points; quite an expense. Iron is more affordable but still up there. But the only advantage a steel battle axe or pick has over a silver or copper one is in combat effectiveness, not wood chopping or mining. Bring a [[copper]] [[ore]] and some fuel, and that 300-point axe gets replaced with 16 points of raw ingredients.

Taking this to the logical extreme of removing picks and all the fancy things that are included in the default embark, the build below brings along one copper and one tin ore (enough for 8 bronze tools), some magma-safe rock to build a forge and furnaces (remember - no mining before you have a pick!), and some [[plump helmet]]s for immediate [[brewing]] and [[seed]]s+[[drink]]s.

Now, what for all those saved points? One possibility is to bring along a few pieces of [[iron]] ore to equip a basic guard just in case, or some cheaper [[zinc]] to at least ensure [[bronze]] production at some point. But perhaps the best use of points is to buy a SHITLOAD OF COAL. [[Bituminous coal]] is only 3 points each at embark, as it is a basic "economic stone" rather than an ore. By bringing along some 90 or so coal, not only will there be enough for early production, squad equipping, and buying out the first two years of caravans with metal goods, but with some care literally hundreds of [[coke]] will be ready by the time the first [[magma forge]] is set up. That means mass steel production without any reliance on lucky sedimentary layers.

The dwarves' skills in this build are an afterthought, following the template of Miner/Mayor/Proficient Armorsmith, Miner/Doctor/Proficient Weaponsmith, Carpenter/Cutter, Grower/Cook, Grower/Brewer, Furnace operator/Proficient Metalcrafter, and Mason. One neat trick: there is novice training in [[armorsmith]] on both growers, so that if they avoid doing any job but their planting/cooking, and ever go [[strange mood#Fey|fey]], that's a guaranteed [[legendary]] armorsmith. It happens more than you might think.

{{collapsible-pre|title=Profile|
[PROFILE]
[TITLE:Profile 1SDKFLJDSLKFJSDLFJ]
[SKILL:1:MINING:1]
[SKILL:1:FORGE_ARMOR:5]
[SKILL:1:PERSUASION:1]
[SKILL:1:NEGOTIATION:1]
[SKILL:1:CONSOLE:1]
[SKILL:1:LEADERSHIP:1]
[SKILL:2:MINING:1]
[SKILL:2:FORGE_WEAPON:4]
[SKILL:2:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
[SKILL:2:DIAGNOSE:1]
[SKILL:2:SURGERY:1]
[SKILL:2:SET_BONE:1]
[SKILL:2:SUTURE:1]
[SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:1]
[SKILL:3:CARPENTRY:1]
[SKILL:4:BREWING:3]
[SKILL:4:PLANT:5]
[SKILL:4:FORGE_ARMOR:1]
[SKILL:5:COOK:2]
[SKILL:5:PLANT:5]
[SKILL:5:FORGE_ARMOR:1]
[SKILL:6:SMELT:1]
[SKILL:6:METALCRAFT:5]
[SKILL:6:WOOD_BURNING:1]
[SKILL:7:MASONRY:3]
[SKILL:7:DESIGNBUILDING:1]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
[ITEM:30:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:DRINK]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:SEED]
[ITEM:4:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:BUSH_QUARRY:SEED]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_CUP_DIMPLE:SEED]
[ITEM:16:FISH:NONE:POND_TURTLE:MALE]
[ITEM:40:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
[ITEM:5:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:81:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:COAL_BITUMINOUS]
[ITEM:1:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:MALACHITE]
[ITEM:1:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:CASSITERITE]
[ITEM:15:WOOD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:PINE:WOOD]
[ITEM:9:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:BAUXITE]
[PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:2:DOG:MALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:2:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]
}}

The preceding profile is not completely optimized. The bags can be replaced with thread. The 16 turtles are brought along so there's something to eat between brewing all the helmets and reaping the first harvest, but 7 turtles would probably do just fine.

Upon embarking, immediately use some bauxite to build a [[wood furnace]], [[smelter]], and [[forge]]. Burn a piece of wood to charcoal, then use the charcoal to process a few units of coal. Smith an axe and two picks, build a brewery and brew all the plump helmets. Plant seeds, and then one can proceed as with the normal embark, with some 80-100 coal in the wagon.

Warning: there is a good chance that your starting civilization has neither coal nor lignite. In that case, restart the embark and try another civilization; an entire world of coalless dwarfs is rare. Also, the added burrowing/starting time may prove fatal on inhospitable maps.
[[Category:DF2012:Guides]]