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40d:Exploit
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. Exploits are distinct from cheating because they occur within the game as written and do not need any external utilities or modding. Whether a player chooses to make use of an exploit or not depends on their personal taste; given that Dwarf Fortress is a single-player game, no one is actually harmed when you use an exploit.
Some exploits are listed below.
Self-powered pumps
It is possible to produce a perpetual motion water pump where the act of pumping actually powers itself! See screw pump and water wheel for details.
Corpse mashers
A drawbridge, when rapidly triggered on and off, can be used to crush anything beneath it. Nothing, ranging from an elephant to an adamantine sword to a tentacle demon [Verify], is capable of withstanding a drawbridge crush.
Trap fields
Laying a field of traps with a significant-enough depth can protect your fortress from all invaders with no need to maintain a military. Traps are somehow intelligent enough to distinguish between pets and allies while being dangerous to enemies and wild animals.
Many players do not consider this an exploit.
Get back to work!
When a dwarf is "On Break", it is possible to draft this civilian into the military and then undraft the civilian in order to get him to cancel the break. This does give an unhappy thought (but only if the dwarf has no military and/or civilian skills), so it is not a significant exploit and some may consider it a perfectly acceptable gameplay method.
Quantum stockpiles
By designating a garbage pit zone instead of a stockpile, you may store an infinite number of objects in a single tile by dumping them, then reclaiming them when you want to use them.
A similar effect may be achieved by building a wall two-tiles in front of the catapult, dig a channel between the wall and catapult. Fire the stone into the wall, which then falls into the trench. As the trench is limited in space, stones start piling up. Not only does this train siege operators, but it clears the stone that your legendary miners leave.
Cooking alcohol
Alcohol can be cooked without requiring many other ingredients, producing solid food that is eaten and not imbibed. Doing so is a highly efficient means of producing food, as each plant produces five units of alcohol.
Though undeniably an exploit, many people make use of this feature. It will eventually be plugged with Req129:
Req129, IMPROVE COOKING, (Future): More food. Food should require a substrate, rather than just being seeds etc. Seeds, syrups, drinks and other such objects can contribute to the likes/dislike checks as they do now, but they shouldn't add to the number created. A good roll could lead to the recipe being given a name and saved to the entity definition, where it can then be encountered in other cities in subsequent games.