Editing v0.31:Road

{{quality|Exceptional|18:26, 8 November 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}


A '''road''' is a construction that paves over a large section of flat terrain. Roads are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge. A dwarf with the [[Architect]] labor must haul any materials to the site and design the structure before it can be finished by any available dwarf.

'''Dirt roads''' ({{k|b}} - {{k|O}}) can be constructed for free on any soil, removing [[shrub]]s and [[tree]]s and preventing new ones from growing. However, they wear away over time, and have to be reconstructed periodically. Depending on the size of the road, this can be a hassle.

'''Paved roads''' ({{k|b}} - {{k|o}}) can be constructed with any building material, including [[stone]], [[block]]s, [[wood]] and metal [[bars]]. These roads are permanent, and use less material than paving the same space with constructed [[floor]]s. To avoid the hassle of long-distance hauling, it is advisable to place a [[stockpile]] near the desired site for your architect to get materials from. Broken bolts do not show up on tiles with paved roads, so paving your archery ranges can keep them looking neat.  The number of units of material needed to construct a road is given by one fourth the number of tiles the road would cover plus one ( Tiles/4 + 1 ); this is not reduced by unpavable areas such as walls and statues.

Paved Roads cannot be built over water (except 'Brooks'). They can, however, be built ontop of 'Ice Walls' (i.e. frozen water), but will fully deconstrust themselves if the Ice Walls they're built on thaw out. A simple work-around is to build constructed floors ( {{k|b}} - {{k|C}} - {{k|f}}) ) over the water, which you can (but don't have to) then pave over. A [[bridge]] may also work, providing the body of water is no more than 20 squares wide.

== World Gen Roads ==
During [[world generation]], roads are created connecting [[Human]] towns.  In the past, sufficiently powerful Dwarven and Goblin civilizations also created underground roads connecting their sites, which could be discovered in caverns after embark.

== Paving at an Angle ==
[[Image:roadangle.jpg|thumb|right|Sleight Angles]]It is possible and fairly simple to pave at nearly any angle. In the picture to the right, the road begins 3 squares below the river, and ends 5 squares below the river. Notice also that the road is not exactly stepped with the river, which helps to reduce the blocky look. To get angles that are not horizontal/vertical, the trick is to find the stepping pattern that will get you there.

Let's say we want the road to travel 50 east and 30 down. The ratio is 50/30 = 5/3. For every 5 squares over, go 3 squares down. To make a stepping pattern, spread the smaller number evenly across the bigger number. In the example
* 1 down, 1 over
* 1 over
* 1 down, 1 over
* 1 over
* 1 down, 1 over
Repeating the pattern results in a pair of [1down,1over] instructions next to each other every five steps, which is part of the pattern that gets a road to go 50 over and 30 down.

{{buildings}}