Editing Dark fortress

{{Quality|Fine|01:15, 4 February 2015 (UTC)}}
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<div style='margin: 1em 2em'>''You may be looking for [[Dwarf fortress mode]].''</div>

[[File:Dark_fortress_map_43.png|thumb|300px|A map of a well-developed dark fortress, exported from legends mode.<br>
Places of interest:<br>
<span style="color:rgb(255,0,255)">█</span> Main tower<br>
<span style="color:rgb(128,128,128)">█</span> Watch tower<br>
<span style="color:rgb(50,30,20)">█</span> Subterranean work pits<br>
<span style="color:rgb(20,50,40)">█</span> Subterranean living pits]]

'''Dark fortresses''' are [[site]]s created by [[goblin]] civilizations. They, along with [[dark pits]], take the form of simple towers surrounded by sprawling networks of trenches. The starting dark fortresses are marked as {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}}, while subsequent ones are marked as {{Raw Tile|Π|0:0:1}} on the world map.

Most of the population of a dark fortress is found at the top of the towers. The towers also have downward stairs, which lead to the underground part of the fortress, consisting of so-called "pits" (not to be confused with [[dark pits]]). These pits come in two variants: "living pits" consisting of corridors and small rooms, and "work pits" consisting of large halls which may contain [[troll]]s, goods and goblin skeletons. Supposedly, the living pits are used as [[bedroom|dwellings]], while the work pits are used as [[industry|industrial]] areas and [[tomb|burial grounds]].

The main difference between dark fortresses and dark pits is the presence of a fortress structure in the middle of the site. Dark fortresses tend to be more developed and populated sites than dark pits, leading to more trenches, watchtowers and more interconnections between the towers through underground areas. Dark fortresses may also be built around a [[underworld spire|certain structure]] of foreign origin.

The central dark fortress structure contains a throne room on the top, few maze-like floors leading up to the throne, the ground floor and 2-4 or more subterranean maze-like prison floors. Often some of the up/down stairs between prison floors are hidden under switches.

Visiting well-developed dark fortresses and pits in adventure mode can result in extreme lag because of the masses of denizens that can rank in the thousands. This is presumably a bug. The lag and impact on fps can be drastically reduced by sleeping in the fortress (or outside) until it's nighttime and most of the creatures are asleep. Changing to a faster gait will also help because it reduces the amount of calculations other creatures make before it's your turn again.

<gallery>
Dark pit 1.png|Trenches surrounding the watchtowers
Dark pit 2.png|The top of a watchtower
Dark pit 3.png|Main tower ground level
Dark pit 5.png|Small living pit area
Dark pit 6.png|Work pits
Dark pit 7.png|Below work pits
Dark pit 8.png|Living pits
</gallery>

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== Potentially connected sites ==
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The initial dark fortresses {{Raw Tile|Π|5:0:1}} have an [[underworld spire]] below them, connecting the tower to the underworld itself. These fortresses were created in a time before time and are constructed out of [[slade]] instead of a common stone type.

A huge open circular stairway makes up most of the spire. This stairway is generally split into two or three multi-level floors, but sometimes up to six or seven. Sometimes these glitch open to the caverns or magma sea. Below the stairway are the underworld entryway levels. If there is an underworld gate it will be here. Sometimes it is glitched into a wall of slade. After the underworld gate come the very lowest series of rooms, which eventually open up directly into the [[underworld]]. There are lots of up/down stair mazes before you reach the actual exit to the underworld.

<gallery>
Dark_Fortress_guide.png|A short guide describing the parts of a dark fortress with underworld spire.
Dark pit 4.png|The underworld gate
</gallery>

{{Translation| dwarven = umom geshud | elvish = mari abeco | goblin = ustro snusp | human = tuth thrathdad}}

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