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Stupid dwarf trick

2023-09-18T15:49:26Z

Antsy555: /* Bolt splitting operation */

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}

{{D for Dwarf}}

A '''stupid dwarf trick''' is any project that requires a large amount of time and/or effort. They may provide a practical benefit, but are frequently done for the sake of doing them; they exist primarily as a [[challenge]] for experienced players.

==Adventure mode fortress==


Build a fortress specifically for exploring in [[adventure mode]]. You can either make a nasty monster-filled challenge, or a smörgåsbord of masterpiece adamantine weapons and armor. Possibly both. Breaching the [[caverns]] or [[hidden fun stuff]] should ensure the fortress is occupied. Building a fortress is now possible ''inside'' of adventure mode as of DF v0.43.

'''Difficulty:''' The sky's the limit.

'''Usefulness:''' None for fortress mode, but filling it with high-quality equipment can certainly be useful for adventure mode.

==Alarm clock==
Are your soldiers all sound asleep while blood soaks the walls? No need to deconstruct their beds one by one, ''if'' you bought the Dwarf Wakey 3000! Simply a solitary floor tile balanced on a support, one or more can be toppled with the pull of a lever to produce an earth-shaking racket that'll have them leaping for their axes!

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Limited. They'll sleep through <s>'''anything'''</s> the noise. Although they have been known to awaken when drenched in water, possibly due to thinking it's alcohol. This means an alarm clock is not impossible if carefully prepared.

==Alphabet cages==
[[Image:Cage.gif|right]]
Use captured monsters in cages to spell messages.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Vowels are hard to come by.

'''Usefulness:''' Absolutely none whatsoever. Even less if using sprites. (Easy reminders in case you're too lazy to use notes?)

==Altar of Armok==

Build a large altar made out of adamantine, clear glass, magma, and obsidian. The main altar should be hollow adamantine with clear glass "windows." It should have magma inside. The altar should be adorned with large obsidian spikes, as it pleases Armok.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, raising with the amount (and respective difficulty) of bonuses you add.

'''Usefulness:''' Low to medium. If the chamber containing the altar is consecrated as a [[temple]], dwarves will go there to pray, and may gain additional happy thoughts for admiring the altar's materials and craftsdwarfship.

*Bonus: Guard the altar with a megabeast.
*Bonus: Cover the altar with blood of a Titan.
**MegaBonus: Cover the altar with blood of a denizen of the HFS.
***ArmokBonus: Build the altar in the HFS.
*MegaBonus: Cover the altar in a temporarily lasting strength inducing extract.
*BerserkBonus: Cover the altar in a nausea-inducing extract.
*BloodBonus: Also cover the altar in an extract inducing slow death.
**SychronizationBonus: Make it so that a dwarf that goes into contact with the altar dies the moment the strength runs out.
*SacrificialBonus: Sacrifice a dwarf to the altar every day.
**MegaSacrificialBonus: Sacrifice an elf to the altar every day.
**HistorySacrificialBonus: Sacrifice a human to the altar every day
***MegaArmokBonus: Sacrifice all three species to the altar every day!
*MonarchBonus: Build the altar in the monarch's throne room! Yes, this stacks with the ArmokBonus up above.

==Aqueduct power==
If your river's a long way away from your fortress, building a trans-map axle may be less efficient than building an aqueduct and pump stack driven by waterwheels in the river. The pump stack raises it to the height of your fort, where it flows through the long, long aqueduct and drives waterwheels on the other end. Getting the water pressure just right so it powers your waterwheel without flooding the fort can be [[Fun]]. Diagonal channels make good pressure reducers.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Lots of stone, lots of engineering, lots of dangerous outdoor work, lots of trial-and-error for the receiving waterwheels. Aquifers will absorb any amount of water at any rate. Using an aquifer as drain for the reservoir will nullify the risk of flooding the fortress due to the drain not keeping up with the supply.

'''Usefulness:''' High. As much water and power as you want, wherever you want, whenever you want.

==Aquifer power==
Aquifers can be a resource of immense power. If you have two levels of aquifer, you can generate a continuous flow by draining one level of aquifer into another and plant waterwheels above it. One stream can power a lot of wheels.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Anything to do with draining aquifers is very [[Fun]]. It is now very rare to find a powerful enough aquifer.

'''Usefulness:''' High.

==Archaeological excavation==
A Fortress in the Caverns, built by the first dwarf tribes. Build the Fortress however you see fit for those prehistoric Dwarves (e.g. only primitive metals, elaborate tombs for the chieftains with burial objects, cave art, etc.) and abandon it. Then, embark with modern Dwarves, and excavate the ancient Fortress. Sort of like the Adventure Fortress above, only for Reclaim Mode

'''Difficulty:''' As High as you want.

'''Usefulness:''' Variable. Carving a premade fort or building controlled access to caverns can potentially be useful for a Reclaim effort, effectively making the first wave dispoable setup so your would-be archologists to dig up and exploit their new home. The more Fun you leave behind, the harder it will be for your second wave to repurpose the place.

*Bonus: A museum detailing the lives of those early dwarves.
*Bonus: Create a save with your First Tribe fort collapsed/flooded/etc, for other users to explore. Leave them some Fun what-does-this-lever-do problems to solve.
*EncinoDwarfBonus: Some of those early dwarves frozen in a block of ice.
*FunBonus: Breach the HFS.
**MegaBonus: Do a cave in to the HFS after fighting it leaving multiple signs of battle in the fortress, to be dug by your modern dwarves.

==Artificial waterfall==
{{main|Waterfall}}
To keep the waterfall going, you need a [[pump]] stack, preferably powered by a [[windmill]] or [[water wheel]]. Alternatively, an [[aquifer]], or other limitless water source, makes for a waterfall entirely underground.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate (Low if there is an aquifer above pouring down).

'''Usefulness:''' Dwarves love [[waterfall]]s. Putting a waterfall in your [[meeting hall]] will give your dwarves good [[thought]]s, although it can significantly lower frame rate.

*Bonus: Build it in a "Warm" or hotter [[climate]] so it does not freeze.
*DwarfBonus: Build it in a freezing/cold/temperate climate and keep it going entire year!
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[magma]]. It does not freeze, even in a freezing climate!
*MegaDwarfBonusEXTREME+: Use magma and water in the same waterfall. The results will enshrine you in dwarf history! Possibly permanently.

==Ballista battery==
{{main|Ballista}}
Overlap a few ballistas to completely cover a narrow corridor. There is an unavoidable risk of your operators wandering into the line of fire.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. If you insist on highly trained operators with high-quality ballistas, it gets harder.

'''Usefulness:''' A complicated and dangerous way to defend a single corridor. Ultimately extremely effective. Sometimes.

==Bastion==
Construct an isolated burrow containing a farmer and some labourers, containing at least an uncontaminated well (an [[aquifer]] is great for this) and some farms. Use whatever elaborate mechanism you wish to seal it off from the rest of the fortress. Congratulations; your bastioned dwarves and their descendants will keep your fortress alive forever until one of them goes nuts.

* Bonus: Build your bastion at least in part in a clay or sand layer, add a little magma, and continue manufacturing useless crap even as the world crumbles around you!
** StonksBonus: Rig a way for your bastion to transfer supplies to the outside world without exposing themselves to danger, so they can be somewhat useful to the rest of your fort before their inevitable downfall. Doubles as a way to restock the bastion with fresh supplies and/or bodies, or a way to let the apocalypse in a little at a time if your survivors get too comfortable.
* Bonus: Build it on top of a tower outside, and then deconstruct the stairs up.
* Bonus: Fill it exclusively with vampires, to avoid having to worry about food, children, and aging.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Hollow out a shell around your bastion, connecting it to the rest of the cavern by a single 1x1 adamantine support, and flood the shell with magma.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' High. If your bastioned dwarves have high enough quality living space and few enough nonbastioned friends, it makes the fortress functionally immortal.

==Bathtub==
Stop dwarves from hauling in tons of exotic, poisonous sludge into your fortress by creating a tub filled with 3/7 water that everyone has to get through to enter the fortress. Include a system to change the water, so that they don't bathe in grime.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate

'''Usefulness:''' Low in most cases. High in some evil areas.

* DwarfBonus: Make it drain and refill itself with clean water automatically once in a year.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Clean it with magma.
* *MegaDwarfBonus*: Have an alternative bathtub-buffered entrance next to the main one, which opens automatically when sanitizing the main one and closes and sanitizes itself when it is no longer needed, so that no jobs are canceled during cleansing cycle.
* ≡MegaDwarfBonus≡ : Make it clean itself with magma automatically once in a year, but make it wait for the moment when it's unused, so that no dwarves or pets are incinerated.
* ☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: All of the above, plus make it detect when there should be no dwarves or pets around, but invaders are in it, so that the cleansing cycle can be started prematurely.

==Boat==
In intermittently freezing biomes, [[ice]] may be used to create actual floating boats, submarines, or other floating objects/forts; as constructions built on top of ice do not collapse when the ice thaws.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Needs an intermittently freezing biome, construction is limited to frozen periods, and there's a substantial risk of flooding, drowning and being encased in ice.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Forts within boats are protected from invaders while the water is unfrozen, but they're also trapped within the confines of the boat.

Note: You'll probably want to limit your saves to the colder months.

* DwarfBonus: Have the dwarves live on the boat.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Make miscreants/nobles walk the plank.
* *MegaDwarfBonus*: Bury your treasure on shore.
* ≡MegaDwarfBonus≡ : Have a pet [[kea]] for each of your dwarves.
* ☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build it on top of an ice tower.

==Bolt splitting operation==

## Note: no longer works due to climbing mechanics ##

One curious property of Dwarven physics is that a bar of metal makes 25 bolts, but if each of those 25 bolts is melted separately, they will become 2.5 bars, generating metal from nothing. Prior to the update that allowed splitting stacks at the [[trade depot]], the difficult part was separating the stacks of bolts into individual bolts without destroying them. EliDupree originally discovered this trick:
{{diagram|spaces=yes|color=#888|\
∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙
∙++++[#05F]☻∙+++++++++
∙+∙∙∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#BBB]╬
∙+∙[#F00]g∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#FF0]@
∙+∙∙∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#BBB]╬
∙+++++∙+++++++++
∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙
}}

The yellow @ at the right is a stack of marksdwarves (all in different squads so that they'll stand on the same tile) equipped with [[adamantine]] bolts, standing on top of a stairway surrounded by [[fortification]]s. The blue ☻ at the left is a single [[Attributes#Agility|Perfectly Agile]] soldier with orders to patrol up and down the line of green doors, with little delays at the top and bottom. (The doors are free-standing; they were built attached to a wall, then the wall was removed.) The "g" at the left is a goblin standing on a pillar (pitted from the z-level above).

When the dwarf at the left runs up or down the line of doors, it opens all of them, and some of the marksdwarves loose their bolts. By the time the bolts get there, the doors have closed, so they hit the doors and fall into the channel, where they can be collected and melted separately. (That distance is exact, by the way. Any less and they sometimes get shots through the doors, which kills your goblin. Also, with less-skilled marksdwarves, some of the bolts will stray and land on the floors, but that isn't enough to worry about even with mere dabblers.) Naturally, this is also an excellent way to train marksdwarves.

Another design resembles a tower where marksdwarves shoot from the top, with the following setup: (click then press '<' and '>' to go through different z-levels)
<diagram>
<frame type="level" level=0>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%203][%205][%187]
[%186]<[%204][%185][#5:1]g[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%202][%202][%205][%188]

< 01
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=1>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%203][%205][%187]
[%186]X[%204][%185][#7:1]O[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%202][%202][%205][%188]

< 02 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=2>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%205][%205][%205][%187]
[%186]X+[#3:1]/[#7:0].[%186]
[%200][%205][%205][%205][%205][%188]

< 03 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=3>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%205][%187]+
[%186]X[%186].[%186]+
[%200][%205][%202][%205][%188]+

< 04 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=4>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%205][%187].
[%186]X[%186].[%186].
[%200][%205][%202][%205][%188].

< 05 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=5>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%205][%205][%187]
[%186]>+[#6:1]@[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%205][%205][%188]

06 >
</frame>
</diagram>
The '@' is any number of marksdwarves standing on a down stair. You may want to use a defend burrow order to restrict them to that tile. The 'g' is a goblin or any other creature your marksdwarves will normally fire at upon encounter (pitted from 2 z-levels above). The 'O' is a well, which is suspected to be preventing dwarves from plunging in and starting brawling with the creature. Marksdwarves will be able to see the goblin or whatever creature below and will loose all bolts in their quivers on them. Curiously, nearly all the bolts will fail to cross the bend in the middle and will fall onto the tile '/' where they can be collected. This disregards crossbow and archery skills and the only difference they make is the speed at which the bolts are split. This design has the advantage of taking less space and being easier to set up, however it is reported that sometimes the dwarves will not miss some of the bolts. If you are only stationing one marksdwarf in the tower, stationing another one may help the first one miss all of his bolts, even after the newly added one is then removed. Sometimes dwarves will spam job cancellation on the bolt collection level, and it is also reported that sometimes some dwarves will start firing when they are on the bolt collection level. In such cases you may want to seal the collection level off and open it once in a while to retrieve the bolts.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate. The hardest part is keeping the system running reliably.

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate. While there are certainly [[Exploit#Infinite metal|easier ways to generate adamantine]], this is perhaps the most dwarfy.

*Bonus: Build a [[repeater]] to open and close the doors automatically.

==Break the dam (release the river!)==
Dam a river (or brook) using something non-permanent (floodgates, drawbridges) and build your fortress entrance in the now dry river bed, make sure you can seal it off nicely (floodgates anyone?) then wait till the first Goblin siege, let them get to your entrance floodgates, seal them, open the dam and laugh maniacally.

'''Difficulty:''' Low

'''Usefulness:''' Instantaneous death to all sieges

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

==Bridge-a-pult==
A bridge that raises under its victims' feet, flinging enemies away.

Bridges don't fling creatures in any specific direction, apart from "up". So it's more of a spring-board than a catapult. If there's a lot of open space above the bridge, creatures can get flung very high - ten z-levels and more - and take appropriate falling damage. Most of them will land atop the bridge, and bringing the same bridge down will simply crush them.

'''Difficulty:''' Fairly easy. Getting the timing right promises to be the biggest challenge.

'''Usefulness:''' There are far more effective ways to defend a fortress, but few are as entertaining.

===Cat-a-pult===
Essentially a Bridge-a-pult with specific ammo.

'''Difficulty''': Very easy, given that you have live cats in your fortress.

'''Usefulness''': Can be used as a way to stop a [[catsplosion]] if used with male cats. [[Unfortunate accident|Cats can also be replaced with elite citizens of your fortress.]] 

==Corpse processing facility==
WARNING: The system can freely jam on any body parts, besides hands and heads, without killing undead.
With the help of a necromancer, corpses your dwarves refuse to butcher can be brought back to life and re-killed to yield bones and skulls for your bonecarvers if they are mushed up enough.

1. The simplest way to do this is with the help of height. A 1x1 pit with a minecart stop that dumps corpses down the chute, and several alternating [[floor hatch]]es that close and open (linked to a repeater) with necromancers behind windows overlooking each layer of hatches to revive the bits of corpses. 2 windows with a mechanism controlled door in between, in front of each necromancer group can be used to control vision; but the system can only be stopped by unlinking the minecart dump to the refuse pile in your routes. Note: when I built this I had 3 hatches with 6 necromancers overlooking each (I had plenty of them since I embarked close to 4 towers). Revived corpses drop to their death and explode onto a tile with unright spikes linked (note that some of them will survive, so you need the spikes with a repeater or lever). The corpses that explode from the impact of height (or from other body parts/undead crashing into them) will hopefully yield bones. You make choose to re-haul up the body parts for another round, but only body parts still attached to a grasping part or the head will be revived, and this system isn't very efficient in the first place, so it may not be worth the trouble. Note that whole corpses usually yield 5-8 bones upon death (avg 6), arms only yield 1-4 (avg 2). You may also use this system with or without necromancers and pit live [[goblin]]s into it, they usually yield 6 bones and some body parts.

2. The second way is much more efficient than the first, but requires 1 or more [[artifact]] [[mechanisms]] to make it work. Instead of using height to kill the corpses, a weapon trap with an artifact mechanism and 10 serrated blades of any material can be used instead (since artifact mechanisms never jam). Only 1 necromancer is needed for this method, and is positioned 3 tiles away from the weapon trap, overlooking it behind 2 glass windows with a mechanism [[door]] in between to control its vision. Your 1x1 pit should still be 5 tiles deep at least though, to prevent dwarves being spooked by the revived corpses. When you're ready, link up the route to the minecart and watch body parts revive and slowly get mowed down. It's recommended you have more than 1 of these small pits set up so you can grind more corpses and clear out 1 pit at a time while the others keep grinding.

Note: To clear out pits, turn off all refuse stockpiles that accept anything other than bones and skulls by turning on "accept from links only" so your dwarves only haul out the bones and not the trash.

Note: Try to use raising bridges as the door for each pit, kobold body parts tend to get mixed into the grinders which can lock-pick its way out of doors and result in doors with "door taken by intruder" and a couple hundred zombie body parts overrunning your fortress from the inside (a.k.a fun).

Note: I didn't try this with many building destroyers, but I'm pretty sure the glass windows are safe. Fortifications are not usable since corpses and body parts tend to get tangled up in them and are hard to get out, and spook dwarves trying to clean out the pits.

*Bonus: Use water to clean out the contents of the pits and wash them onto a 1x1 refuse stockpile.

'''Difficulty:''' Hard

'''Usefulness:''' High, and becomes higher the more corpses you have; especially useful for getting something more out of necromancer sieges than just useless corpses. Can also be used to recycle dead stray animals and your own dwarves that your dwarves refuse to butcher (don't forget slabs).

NOTE: necromancer siege's corpses now drop clothes and gear.

==Crocodile farm==
They're a thing in real life, and you can make them a thing in-game too! Use cage traps to capture multiple breeding pairs of [[alligator]]s, [[cave crocodile]]s or [[saltwater crocodile]]s, [[Animal trainer|train]] them, then create an area to store them with [[nest box]]es. Breed them so you have more crocodilians to keep laying eggs, rinse and repeat.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, somewhat dependent on RNG - you need to find someplace with available crocs, you want said crocs to actually spawn and you want said crocs to actually get caught in the traps. <s>May</s> Will also lead to an explosive and FPS-shattering [[Catsplosion#Crocsplosion|crocsplosion]] sooner or later.

'''Usefulness:''' Very high, you'll never have to worry about food again simply from cooking the eggs, and that's not counting butchering the crocs when they're adults.

*Bonus: Have alligators, cave crocs and saltwater crocs '''all''' present in the farm.
*SwampBonus: Have your croc farm submerged in anywhere between 1/7 to 3/7 [[water]]. You gotta keep your crocs healthy and wet! But make sure not to submerge the nest boxes!
*SavageBonus: Have [[giant alligator]]s or/and [[giant saltwater crocodile]]s as part of your farm.
*TrainerBonus: Have your dwarves become Expert alligator/cave croc/saltwater croc trainers.
**SteveIrwinBonus: Have your dwarves become Expert trainers of all croc species.
*HungryHungryCrocBonus: Build your farm in such a way that [[siege]]s have to go through it to reach your fortress.
*UltraCrocBonus: Have [[Alligator man|alligator men]] or/and [[Saltwater crocodile man|saltwater crocodile men]] inhabiting your fortress and helping train the croc farm.
**UltraArmokCrocBonus: Have an entire fortress of croc men handling a croc farm. You're dwarves in spirit.

==Dam==
{{main|Dam}}
Build a wall across a riverbed to stop the flow of water. Floodgates optional.

'''Difficulty:''' On a map that freezes in the winter, or an aquifer located below the river, this is easy. Otherwise, very difficult. (See [[dam]], or Moses effect, below. But with the bonuses it gets a bit harder.)

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on how many bonuses you fulfill. The power station is obvious, and with the control room you could build up a nice defense system.

*Bonus: Excavate a reservoir and a lower river valley. 
*Bonus: Build a control center to control the water flow. 
*Bonus: Draw your entire energy from a power station within. 
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use screw pumps and another dam to replace the water with magma.

==Danger room==
{{main|Danger room}}
A room full of upright spear traps linked to a lever or pressure plate. Teach your dwarves to dodge the pointy sticks!

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium, depending on how you activate the traps.

'''Usefulness''': Low. While this used to be a very effecting training method in past versions, the combat changes in 0.43.04 has made them much more deadly, even for militia dwarves. They also wear down your dwarves' armor and shields quickly, making them harmful for your long term survival even if your militia dwarves manage to survive the room itself.

'''Downside''': Civilians and pets that wander into the danger room will inevitably get killed, even if you use low quality training spears.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Menacing spikes greatly increase the danger, and may help train your medical team (and/or your coffin construction crew).
*UltraDwarfBonus: Use [[adamantine]] spikes! On the plus side, you have a thriving coffin industry going now.

==Day care==
A room where you put all your dwarf children so they cannot be kidnapped by snatchers, or get into accidents. Make a room with beds and tables and stuff, then turn it into a burrow, then add all your children to it. Remember to include a food chute to [[quantum stockpile]] a huge amount of food and alcohol on a 1x1 stockpile (so it doesn't rot) in the room. High quality food, furniture, toys, clothing, and socializing should keep them happy. Note that the children will no longer be able to perform certain useful tasks like hauling, crop harvesting and deconstruction, and will not level up their skill in miscellaneous professions like an otherwise vulnerable child, but this is a small trade-off if they usually get kidnapped before maturing anyway. This is probably obvious, but make sure this room is guarded, otherwise it will turn into a Dwarf Orphanage (Dorfanage) (with Goblins and Minotaurs welcome!)

'''Difficulty:''' Low. With the invention of burrows, you can designate the Day Care to contain all children, so it is unnecessary to use suicide-booth-micromanagement to contain the children.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies, depending on the bonuses built. With v50, children are a lot easier to mentally scar for life, making them prone to fell moods and tantrums, so having a safe form of daycare allows them to grow up into adults whose stress levels are usually easier to manage

*SchoolBonus: Make the daycare a guild hall, and add a highly skilled dwarf and another adult to the burrow. The two will give demonstrations that the kids will occasionally watch, gaining experience in a profession of your choice
*OlympicBonus: Build a swimming pool of 4/7 between critical parts of the daycare, so the kids have to go through the water for their everyday tasks, gaining swimming skill and associated stats.
*ChildSoldierBonus: Make the daycare a barracks, and have your crack squad of dwarves spar and demonstrate there to train up the military skills of your dwarven children

==Doberman bomb==
Whenever a dog or cat gives birth, stuff all the kittens and puppies in one cage in your entryway. Link this cage to a pressure plate beside it. Should your last lines of defense be breached, goblins will step on it and in the next instant be torn apart by dozens of goblin-seeking hostiles and distracted by dozens of surplus targets. The trap actually going off will probably be very bad for your frame rate.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to high, depending on the animal you use

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to very high, potentially fortress-saving

*Bonus: Train the dogs inside as war dogs
**DwarfBonus: Use [[giant badger]]s, [[tiger]]s, [[alligator]]s, bears, or anything big and aggressive when tamed
***MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave dragon]]s, [[blind cave ogre]]s, [[jabberer]]s or something really dangerous and rare.
****UltraMagmaArmokBonus: Use one (or more!) of the following list: [[dragon]]s, [[bronze colossus]]es, [[forgotten beast]]s (bonus points for flesh-melting secretions), an [[undead]] [[giant sponge]], or [[Hidden Fun Stuff|Clowns of Hidden Funland]].

==Drophole==
Imagine an execution tower, for rocks and pants. It's nothing but a very deep 1x1 up-down staircase for express service to the depths. Designate a garbage dump beside the top and dwarves will pitch anything marked for [[Dumping]] into it.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds, there's always snags along the way. Surprise caverns can cost you miners and tools. Hitting water can be vexing. Dumping and reclaiming things can be a chore. It may serve as an unintended highway for Fun of any liquid or airborne variety

'''Usefulness:''' It's '''far''' easier to drop ore 100 z-levels to the magma sea than carry it. You can use this to transfer items between burrows.

*Bonus: Minecarts can make this semi-automatic, fed from a stockpile.

==Drowning chamber==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
'''Difficulty:''' Moderate.

'''Usefulness:''' You can kill prisoners, useless peasants, irate nobles, hammerers, untamable animals, or anything else. Just be ready for something that knows how to swim. Also useful for catching fishies.

*Bonus: Utilize lava.
*Bonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the raws and do both.

==Dwarfputer complex==
{{main|Computing}}
A big mess of [[fluid logic|fluid]], [[machine logic|machine]], and/or [[creature logic|creature]] logic full of hatches, floodgates, gears, pumps, etc. and powered by waterwheels, windmills, or useless idle dwarves. Hook it up to doors, bridges, and traps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on what you want to build. You'll want to build for very high water flow if you have more than a few fluid gates.

'''Usefulness:''' Your mechanics will level up very fast. Manual pumps give something for your haulers to do. Try and make a clock to trigger different mechanisms in different seasons. See if enemies actually blunder into your intricate traps. Watch all hell break loose as water freezes and building destroyers (''bugs, perhaps?'') enter your computer.
*Bonus: Use lava.
**Doombonus: Use lava ''and'' build it so that building destroyers that enter the complex get killed by the mechanisms they destroy.
***SelfRepairingbonus: Use both lava and water and implement the building destroyer killing system, but modify it so it's self-repairing, filling up broken spaces with obsidian.

==Dwarven apartment complex==
Essentially, one of the many possible [[megaprojects]] dedicated to providing dwarves with rooms so high above the ground they get vertigo. Every floor must have plenty of rooms of at least 2x3 squares, with walls and a door surrounding this. Oh, and it has to go up as many Z-levels as possible. For extra credit, decide on what the top story will be (i.e. as many levels up as you deem possible, minus one so you can build a roof) and turn this into a Royal bedroom for a [[noble]], complete with gem windows, artifact/masterwork components, and untold numbers of armour stands and weapon racks. And then build some shorter but wider apartment buildings nearby to turn your fortress into essentially a giant fist with extended middle finger. Extra points for adding extra useless things for luxury, such as a magma-based heating system, fireplaces in rooms, and a lock-down lever in case of goblin attack. (or a self-destruct lever connected to the main supports, in case your dwarfish tenants are unsatisfied with your ☼5-star service☼).

'''Difficulty:''' Low, although the walls around the rooms can be a bit fiddly due to the impossibility of building walls on constructed floors (yes, an extra credit challenge is to do this without using Remove Construction).

'''Usefulness:''' Limited, because you could just dig the things underground and save yourself the hassle. However it is much harder to flood a tower than a cave, in case you're prone to [[Losing|fun]] by water. Additionally, if you have the time and resources to train a sizable force of marksdwarves, placing a few "security rooms" (with barracks, ammunition store, ration cache, armory, etc.) at appropriate floors, complete with fortified balconies, will allow you to take advantage of the higher vantage point.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Extend the tower to have levels below ground as well as above.
*MegaOrwellBonus: Make the whole construction out of clear glass. (privacy? Whatever for?)

==Dwarven courtyards==
Dig large shafts [first dig the staircase to the desired depth, digging out the size you want the shaft to be on all layers. Channel the outer later, then install supports on the base floor. Link the support to a trigger, clear everyone out, destroy the remaining staircase and pull the trigger] then cover them in glass, creating an indoor but light area that will keep dwarves from being irritated and nauseated by the sun, also improving general happiness and allowing close proximity to caverns and magma.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, make sure not to mess up or you will lose your miners

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. creates vertical circulation and brings light to lower levels.

*Bonus: Punch a large shaft through a multi-level aquifer (hint: punch through the aquifer from below).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Create a network of self-sufficient communities per shaft, allowing them to be sectioned off in case of disaster. (I plan on colonizing HFS eventually on this paradigm, creating a mining team of soldiers to extract, manufacture and ultimately use adamantine products without being connected to the main colony in order to take on the [[Demon|clowns]] while keeping the rest of the burrow safe.)

==Dwarven disco ball==
Why waste all those cut gems on things that only some selfish noble will enjoy? Create as large a wall-less sphere as you can, then cover it in Gem Windows of 3 different-colored gems to make it shine! The bigger, and more valuable gems involved (e.g., [[ruby|rubies]], [[sapphire]]s, and [[emerald]]s, or colored diamonds if you're really masochistic), the dwarfier.

'''Difficulty:''' Constructing a sphere is very hard, especially the larger you make one. Gathering enough differently colored gems can also be very hard, depending on stone layers. Trading helps a lot.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative. More value can be created by encrusting furniture, and Gem Windows lack quality.

*Bonus: Alternating [[alunite]] and [[obsidian]] tiles to make a 'dance floor'.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use lava contained in glass for illumination.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Caged "[[Elf|dancers]]".

==Dwarven labor camp (aka Dwalag)==
Create an aboveground walled fortress in a freezing climate with guard towers, barracks, housing, and armories. Dig a long ramp downward and add a large mining network below the surface. Make some small military squads to guard the camp. Designate the lower levels as workshops, and when migrants arrive, assign them to the mines. Give the workers minimal food and only water (no booze, booze is for the hypocritical decadence of Dwarkuta's leaders). Have them haul the stone and metal they mine back to the surface and ship the raw materials off to the Motherland. Import only food, booze, weapons, fuel, and other necessities.

*Bonus: Build the giant digging machines. They don't actually have to dig anything.
*Bonus: Go into the raws and rename the beverage of your choice to "Dwarven Vodka", and drink to the glory of the Motherland!
*MegaBonus: Escape. Wait for a goblin siege, then get everyone underground and block the entrance. Let the goblins in. Wait a few months. The goblins are now the guards you must kill.

Step 1. Secure the keys: Make improvised weapons. If you have obsidian at your disposal, make rock short swords.

Step 2. Ascend from darkness: Get your dwarves out of the mines and into the camp.

Step 3. Rain fire: Use your imagination. Try using magma, if possible.

Step 4. Unleash the horde: Attack!

Step 5. Skewer the winged beast: If the goblins brought a giant bat or other flying creature, kill it.

*Bonus: Use a ballista.

Step 6. Wield a fist of iron: Break open the armory and equip your rebels with armor and weapons.

Step 7. Raise hell: Exactly what it says on the tin.

Step 8. Freedom!

*MegaDwarfBonus: In Adventure mode, try (and probably fail) to lead the prisoners to freedom.

==Dwarven refrigerator==
Dig down to the 3rd cavern layer and harvest as many [[nether-cap]]s as you can. Make them all into barrels! Nether caps have the unique property of being 10000° Urist, which is 32°F or 0°C. Now your dwarves can enjoy their favorite alcohol, cheese, and plump helmets chilled to perfection! If you've set your population cap very low in the INIT files, caverns aren't extremely dangerous, but you should still be on the lookout for nasties down there. Remember to wall off your entrance to the cavern once you're finished.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to Medium

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Booze stored inside will not perish due to heat if say, [[magma]] is dumped on it.

Bonus: Also use nether-cap wood to build the walls, floor, ceiling, and door.

Bonus: While we are at it make all your coffins out of it. 'Cryogenically' freeze those corpses!

==Dwarven machine gun==
Build a high fire rate, minecart firing machine gun. Must be fully automatic, capable of reloading itself, and should not jam due to minecarts being disrupted by collisions or derailments.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on fire rate, reload downtime, and whether or not minecarts are filled with [[magma]].

'''Usefulness:''' High. A sophisticated minecart trap can keep out even the most persistent invaders.

*Bonus: Automatically reload minecarts with [[magma]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Integrate the trap with a dwarfputer so that it can automatically send minecarts to where they are needed most.

==Emergency destruct stairs==
A tall column of stairs plunging all the way down into the underdark, with a one-tile wide area of thin destructible floor all around it. In case of subterranean invasion, a thrown switch drops a stone O straight down, ringing the staircase and neatly severing all inter-level connections at a blow. Does with one lever and one support what would take dozens of bridges or hundreds of retracting grates.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds.

'''Usefulness:''' Sometimes... sometimes they fly.

==Execution tower==
Just a tall tower to chuck your captives to their deaths.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy.

'''Usefulness:''' Lets you dispose of prisoners, and claim expensive silk, meltable iron, and (eventually) useful bones. Also highly amusing.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Send prisoners straight to hell. May make retrieving items difficult, however.

==Flak==
If flying enemies circumventing your walls and causing mayhem inside your fortress is a problem, don't use marksdwarves, just make some flak! Simply cover a series of drawbridges in rocks, and when fliers come by pull the lever.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Contrary to the description, marksdwarves are more accurate, versatile, and just better. However, if you manage to hit something with this, there's a large chance of it getting stunned and crashing to the ground. Remember, what goes up must come down, wear your helmet Urist!

*Bonus: Use minecarts and pressure plates to make it fully automatic.
*SuperBonus: Make it closer to real world flak by using burning lignite bins.
*EfficiencyBonus: Use goblins as ammo
*AlternateBonus: Instead of drawbridges and stone, use jets of water to stun flyers, and then release the dogs. Alternatively, burn them in midair with lava.
*FunBonus: Use the above method with lava, except use the lava as a propellent to throw the circus at the local crow population.
*ArmokBonus: Use all of the above to emulate what happens when you drift into American airspace.

==Flamethrower bunker==
If your fortress happens to be visited by a [[dragon]], capture it in a [[cage trap]], then release it into a sealed bunker with [[fortification]]s around the edge. When invaders arrive, watch them get roasted.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but requires a fair bit of luck - a dragon (or fire-breathing forgotten beast) needs to survive worldgen, then it needs to attack your fortress (instead of a giant/minotaur/ettin/cyclops or other megabeast), and finally it needs to make it to your cage trap without being killed by something else.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. [[Dragonfire]] can kill almost anything, but will be blocked by a [[shield]] greater than 99% of the time. Adding a combustible floor (such as a paved [[lignite]] [[road]]) will significantly increase lethality for shield-toting targets. Also, any protective bridges in front of the fortifications may melt under sustained fire, leaving you with a bunker that ''nobody'' can safely approach; ensuring the bridge center tile isn't near the fire, or building the bridges (and mechanisms) from [[ash]], dragon [[soap]], [[divine metal|divine]]{{version|0.43.03}} [[metal]] (or [[slade]]) will make them immune to the fire. Additionally, a skilled enemy archer can easily kill your dragon with a lucky shot, if line-of-sight access is available.

*Bonus: Capture a fire-breathing [[titan]] or [[forgotten beast]] and use it.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Release the denizens of the hidden fun stuff and use them.

==Flood the world==
'''Difficulty:''' High danger. Will kill your frame rate unless you sink the world below water level (river or ocean).

'''Usefulness:''' Will prevent any sieges, at least. Or anything else, save for the occasional invasion of sociopathic [[giant sponge]].

*Bonus: Use magma, just like [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use trained fish to kill off all creatures not of your colony.
*MegaArmokBonus: Mod the game and do both.

==Gladiator arena==
{{main|Live training}}
Station some soldiers at the bottom of a shallow [[Activity_zone#Pit/Pond|pit]] and dump your captives in. You can also use dangerous animals instead of soldiers. For extra points, put the prisoners in cages connected to ramps underneath the arena floor. One lever will open both the cage and a hatch above the ramp. Variant: build prisoner cages inside the arena, link to a lever outside the arena, lock the soldiers in, and then open the cages. Keep in mind that you can't actually make your dwarves "watch" the battles like an actual gladiator arena, as civilians will flee in fear at the sight of non-restrained hostile creatures, even if they're in a pit and not actively attacking them.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but time consuming. Some danger depending on the relative skill of your soldiers and the danger of the captive. (If the prisoners have weapons, you can remove them by using {{k|d}}-{{k|b}}-{{k|d}} to dump the cage and its contents, then looking at and undumping the cages themselves with {{k|k}}-{{k|d}}).

'''Usefulness:''' Low to High, depending on how long your soldiers can draw out the execution. Equipping your soldiers with wooden training weapons can greatly increase the fun (and/or [[Fun]] if their armor isn't as good as you thought).

*Bonus: Losers get incinerated by Magma.
*DwarfBonus: Winners also get incinerated by Magma.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use your arena as a "trial by fire" for migrants.

==Grazer reanimation facility==
Just as stables, but without grass, and on a reanimating biome. Pasture every grazer in a separate box, and build [[cage trap]]s to recapture the animal after it joins [[undead|the Dark Side]]. Make sure to forbid the area after you finish setting things up, because you don't want your dwarves getting <s>killed</s> caught instead.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You always get some grazing animals to start with.

'''Usefulness:''' You get a decent supply of zombies to use in your [[trap design|cunning traps]]. Depending on your style of play, this may prove to be worth the effort.

* DwarfBonus: Use war [[elephant]]s, or any other giant [[:Category:DF2014:Grazer|grazing animal]] you <s>bought</s> seized from elves.
** MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant elephant]]s.
*** BoatMurderedBonus: Release them all simultaneously to challenge your militia/play out a [[fun|!fun!]] scenario for your fort.
* MenagerieBonus: Create a zoo using only undead grazers.
** DwarvenMenagerieBonus: Combine this with the [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Zombie_thunderdome|Zombie Thunderdome]] and have a rotation of undead cows fighting in the arena only to be re-caged when they try to leave.
*** ChampionBonus: Give each grazer rooming in the zoo according to their kills, with the champion having the most luxurious room.
**** AltarBonus: Turn the champion's room into an [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Altar_of_Armok|Altar of Armok]].
**** FreedomBonus: Let the champion and higher-ranking zombies roam freely in their rooms, having to be re-captured for each battle.
***** !FreedomBonus!: Release the champion into your fort.
* HolyGrailBonus: Use white [[bunny|bunnies]].

==Greenhouse==
A [[farming|greenhouse]] is just a farm with the ceiling channeled out from above. This lets you grow outdoor plants without venturing above ground. For maximum style, build the greenhouse above ground and cover it with a glass roof to keep your farmers safe.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Surface plants can be grown at any time of the year, and some are more useful than those available underground - for example, [[sun berry|sun berries]] can be brewed into valuable [[Sunshine]], and [[whip vine]]s can be milled into superior quality flour. Having greater food and booze diversity can also keep your dwarves happier.

*Bonus: Give it a glass floor to allow surface plants even lower down.
**DwarfBonus: Utilize [[obsidian|volcanic glass]].

==Hammer of [[main:armok|Armok]]==
A gigantic hammer made out of pure steel and/or valuables looming over your fortress entrance ready to smite those foolish enough to lay a siege on you. Also gives you a psychological advantage over the traders who unload their goods under it. Attach to a lever-linked support for quick-smiting.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. Depends on size and materials, though. Make it a gold hammer menacing with adamantine spikes, if you're going for high quality.

'''Usefulness:''' Low-medium. 10x10 size is minimum for practical effectiveness. 30x30 attached to a handle extending from your entrance actually works against sieges.

* Bonus: Cover it with blood.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Make it hollow and fill it with Magma
* ArmoksMachineHammerBonus: Set up an automated system that allows you to reset it quickly. Obsidianizers and the magma sea will be your friends here.

==Human Fortress==
Instead of digging a fortress, build above-ground houses. Create walls to keep the nasties out. The only thing you may have underground are mines and stockpiles. Create a huge stone fort for your nobles.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Building stuff will cost you resources instead of gaining them and flyers can be a real pain. Keep several Marksdwarfs handy!

'''Usefulness:''' N/A. (No cave adaptation)

*Bonus: Pave the roads between houses.
*HumanBonus: Dig a moat around your castle.
*MegaHumanBonus: Fill the moat with lava.
*MegaHumanBonusPlus: Designate multiple dumping spots into the lava moat.
*SurfaceDwellerBonus: Get the stone for your constructions entirely from open-pit quarries, i.e. by c[h]annelling instead of [d]igging.
*MegaSurfaceDwellerBonus: Never use picks at all, all stone and metal must come from caravans or embark.
*WhereTheBeardedLadiesAtBonus: Enforce as many <s>pointless</s> quaint human quirks as feasible, for instance: nominating officials per wealth/popularity/relationships instead of merit and suitedness, coddling Nobles, burrowing farmers, miners, brewers, craftsdwarves and other backbones of society into the most tattered ridings, enforcing a specific religion upon the populace, and so forth.

==Ice tower==

Building a huge tower is easy. To make things more [[fun]], make one out of some exotic material, like [[glass]], [[ice]], [[gold]], or [[soap]].

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You need to be on a freezing map to pull off an ice tower.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends entirely on you.

* BabelBonus: Use [[DFHack]]'s <code>infiniteSky</code> and build to the heavens themselves.

==Journey to the Center of the Earth==

Construct a sturdy vessel hanging over the top of a magma pipe or volcano, outfitted with everything your intrepid crew might need for their journey of exploration - food, booze, sleeping quarters and a bridge are a must, but depending on the amount of effort it can include other items such as a recreation deck, water reservoir and trade depot for dealing with the natives. When all is ready, lock the explorers inside and send them on their way. Bonus points if you can detach it from inside so you can use it in Adventure mode later.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to High, depending on the size of the ship. For bonus points, carve the entire thing out of existing rock overhanging a magma pipe and engrave it with messages. Burrows help to get the whole crew inside at the same time.

'''Usefulness:''' [[Cave-in|Negative]]. For some reason, no explorers have returned. Of course, if you select only the [[Nobles|Best and Brightest]] for the ship's crew...

*Bonus: Drop the vessel into a deep cavern
*SuperBonus: Make the outer walls, roof and ground floor completely out of glass, so that the explorers can watch everything around them.
*VampireBonus: Send a vampire with the crew!
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a halfway-empty adamantine vein
*YouHorribleEvilDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into the [[Hidden Fun Stuff]]!
*YouHorribleInsaneDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a glowing chasm.
*OhMyArmokBonus: When you arrive to the bottom of the magma sea, excavate and then create a new community under it!
**OhMyF****ingArmokBonus: Send supplies every year!
**IsThatEvenPossibleBonus: Send a piece of an aquifer down there to provide water! (Mine around a water-producing tile, build the ship around it, then send it!)
**≡MegaDwarfBonus≡: create a high enough tower and drop it into the magma sea to connect the surface and the undersea community!
***☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: create ''two'' towers and use one to send water down there!

==Single-lever emergency lockdown (LEL)==

The only real requirement is that you need a fort based around a central stairwell. All you need to do is leave space for and eventually build the same number of bridges (that raise!) as your stairway is tall on each side of your stairwell on every level, and then link them all to the same lever. Friends get through all your best traps and champions? Simply pull the lever, and they're trapped in the central stairwell forever! Remember to roof off the entrance if your fort is situated on flat land otherwise the bonuses become much less useful. Also important is to ensure that you either wall off access or include sealable bridges or doors (linked to the same lever of course) for any inter-level paths that bypass the main stairwell, like vertical axles running out of centralised power generators.

3*3 stairwell setup:

{{diagram|1=
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
[#6ff]╥XXX[#6ff]╥
[#6ff]║XXX[#6ff]║
[#6ff]╨XXX[#6ff]╨
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
}}

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to High, depending on whether you use the MegaDwarfBonus below or not and how much you spread your fortress over the layers - although more spread means more usefulness. Extremely time-consuming, and requires architects, masons, and mechanics, as well as a lot of mechanisms (2 per bridge, ~4 bridges per level)

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to High, also depending on whether you use the Bonuses. With all bonuses applied it becomes a guaranteed last resort way of destroying the toughest enemies with minimal dwarven casualties; without the bonuses it's still a damn sight better than letting temporarily victorious enemies run freely about your fortress.

*DwarfBonus: Connect your cistern to the stairwell (remember to put a floodgate in too). Once the impossible-to-defeat enemies are safely trapped inside, Pull lever number 2 and watch them slowly, slowly, drown (VERY IMPORTANT: have the level of the cistern input at at least the same height as the level of the stairwell, else there won't be enough pressure to properly flood the stairwell, meaning nasties WILL survive).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Connect your MAGMA cistern to the stairwell. Laugh maniacally. (Remember to build your bridges and floodgates out of magma-safe material or a lot of !!FUN!! will be had)
*MegaArmokEntombmentBonus: Do both and cast your enemies in obsidian and boil the survivors in steam as a semi-permanent testament to their foolhardiness. This also means that you will have stairs cut out of lovely obsidian once your miners are finished making your stairwell usable again.
*MegaArmokEntombmentEXTREME+Bonus: "Forget" to pull the lockdown lever before you pull lever number 2.
*MegaArmokEntombment<s>'''Bait&Switch'''</s>Diplomatic+Bonus: Set the highest level up on another switch, with a particularly <s>'''demanding and annoying noble'''</s> skilled diplomatic representative is waiting at the very bottom to <s>'''lure'''</s> invite them all down for a nice meal on <s>'''his flesh'''</s> the stockpile of food and booze that's keep him ever so happy. Then you can wait for the entire army to flow into the stairwell before flipping the switches. Don't forget to carve a statue out of the block of the noble! What noble doesn't want their grand <s>'''sacrificial defense'''</s> diplomatic skills to be immortalized in volcanic glass?
**UltraArmokBonus: Defeat all your invasions this way, and build a temple to Armok full of the once noble, now obsidian statues, as well as only the highest of quality (and value) memorial slabs.

==Magma Lock System==
This system is a little more complicated than the LEL system described above, and requires that you space out all of your floors so that there's a 'plumbing floor' between each level. From there you set up tons and tons of magma proof floodgates and hatches. Each 'area' you wish to be self-contained from one another needs at least a 3x2 hallway separating it from the other areas. 4 of these will contain flood gates, and the other two must remain bare. Above one of the two bare points you need to have a hollowed out space, and connecting into it from one side you need to have a hatch leading to your water plumbing system, to the other, a hatch to your lava plumbing system. You need two levers for controlling this, one lever is connected to all of the lower floodgates, the other to the upper floodgates. Pull the first hatch to lock in the flood gates just in case, the second to the upper flood gates to begin pouring in water and magma and have them make obsidian filling the entire hallway, sterilizing it of literally anything that could have contaminated it. You do this instead of hatches so they'll drop in properly and mix with no risk of only one side or the other of the hallway turning to obsidian and resulting in a dangerous leak. Throw the first switch again to open up the floodgates and begin mining to access the old chambers again. Whatever was invading your fortress, whether plague, necromancer, clowns, or forgotten beast, will be safely locked away, and unable to break back out whether or not it possesses building destroyer or not. Then you just have to wait for your miners to dig their way out. You can simply avoid the chambers that still have FUN inside, and any the purity of magma and obsidian will have utterly obliterated any traces of contaminants between containment zones.

'''Difficulty''': Medium to High. While not dealing with anything overtly hostile, this process more or less demands that you plan your fortress from the start for this specific system and deal with lots and lots of moving parts, mechanisms, and similar, plus the power necessary to pump magma and water into this network in a timely manner.. If you screw up part of it then it's very easy to end up with your entire fortress flooded with water or magma. Build it on small and give it a test run then expand it once you've gotten the process working for a single chamber, such as the chamber leading to your cavern layer.

'''Usefulness''': High. Depending on how you prepare things (See the bonuses below) the necessary set up for all of this will result in a network of magma and water pipes in every single level of your fortress, powering forges, wells, baths, showers, and defenses of all sorts. Then when things are at their worst, throw a switch and barring one or two (or many depending on how many dwarves are transitioning between containment areas) horribly swift deaths, your entire fortress is safe from any possible threats. You can also prepare chambers ahead of time for other activities and use this to trap enemies in them for later usage.

*DwarfBonus: Put a stockpile of food, drink, and pickaxes in each containment area.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Put a lever in every zone connected just to their own, so your dwarves can heroically seal off an entire section by themselves if necessary.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Extend the hallways, and make the water half of them use grates and constant water falls to give good thoughts while traversing between zones. Change up your levers to shut off the water for when digging begins again.

==Maze==

A maze of twisty little passages, all alike. [[Trap]]s and dangerous animals are essential. You can have a retracting bridge drop invaders in, or just have a labyrinth as a back door.

'''Difficulty:''' It's a lot of mining. Having a bridge drop invaders inside is more difficult, but more useful. You can also use the free maze-generating program Daedalus, available [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/daedalus.htm here] if you're too lazy to come up with your own.

'''Usefulness:''' It makes a nice element of fortress defense, and you can dump your prisoners inside it. Also makes a great place to explore in [[adventure mode]].

*Bonus: Generate a world with large mountain [[cave]]s. Instead of using the labyrinth as your backdoor, use it as your fortress.
*Filodorima: Release a live caged [[minotaur]] into the maze.
*MegaBonus: Make it three-dimensional and [http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/design/index.htm#uni unicursal].
*MemorialBonus: Capture the Goblin King and make him fight the Minotaur.

==Magma chamber==
'''Difficulty:''' Dangerous as any magma project.

'''Usefulness:''' It's like a drowning chamber, but any non-iron items carried by the victim will be destroyed. Depending on your style of play, this may be a good thing.

==Magma cannon==
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=33837 It can be done!] It uses a row of pumps to pressurize the magma in a chamber with only one exit. When the floodgate opens, the magma flies out a short distance.

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. You need [[metal]] (or [[glass]]) [[screw pump]]s to make it work, [[magma-safe]] floodgates and mechanisms, plus a big above-ground construction.

'''Usefulness:''' Marginal. But very cool.

==Magma access early==
ASAP from embark, dig down to the magma. 
Make 2 magma proof pumps, 
make a small (5x5?) room that you can pump magma into and out of and 
make a stockpile for only iron & steel minecarts in the room. 
Be sure to make enough minecarts to fill the room. 
Once the room is full of minecarts, seal room and pump it full of magma. 
Then pump the magma out. 
Delete the stockpile. 
Make a new stockpile near your forge/smelt/glass/kiln area. 
Haul minecarts by hand (or magma proof wheelbarrow). 
Use tracks and stops to dump 4 deep magma into shallow pits. 
2 minecart loads per pit. 

'''Difficulty:''' Low. 
'''Usefulness:''' Very High. 
*Bonus: !!Magma Economy By Autumn!!
*ObsidianBonus: Instead of pumping the magma out, drain water from a nearby lake or aquifer cistern onto it to turn it into obsidian. Carve out the minecarts, magma safely still inside, and enjoy the extra obsidian you have. Watch out not to flood the fortress!

==Magma highway==
Magma moves across the map annoyingly slowly, due to its thickness and lack of pressure. But a tunnel several Z-levels high, with magma entering at the top, will flow much faster because the magma's '''falling''' in, not flowing in, and can expand on either Z-level before falling down.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Not hard to make, but cutting open a multi-Z magmafall is [[fun]].

'''Usefulness:''' Medium.

==Magma mausoleum==
This trick involves dripping water on to the middle of a magma pool until you have a column of obsidian, then channeling down into the obsidian ''more than'' one Z level, and putting a burial receptacle there. This probably won't work in magma tubes or Volcanos since the created obsidian would fall into the bottomless pit. The trick is getting the water to fall onto the magma in a controlled manner.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Requires certain resources from the start, plus lots of setup. And your dwarves tend to erupt into dwarf steam occasionally.

'''Usefulness:''' None, since an obsidian lined room with exactly the same furniture somewhere else will please your nobles just as much.

*Bonus: Put the coffin at least 20 floors down.
*MegaBonus: Build it in a volcano if possible, and put the coffin at the very bottom of the map

==Magma sea colony==

If you cast obsidian around the edges of the magma sea, it is possible to pump out the magma and build a colony in the empty space. Once the colony is built, you can destroy the obsidian walls and refill the magma sea. Note: you cannot cast obsidian on the bottom layer of the magma sea, so building a colony on this layer is nearly, but not quite, impossible (see below).

'''Difficulty:''' High. You need to get water down to each edge of the magma sea, and you need a pump stack to get rid of the magma.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.
* Bonus: Obsidianize the entire magma sea, leaving a single spot to use as a source for pumps. Then proceed to carve your new fortress subsection out of this bounty.

'''Difficulty:''' Insane. The project will take at least ten years of dwarf time and claim many lives.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. You can finally get the last bit of adamantine when you drain the magma sea, and the magma sea floor has a cool twinkly effect.

==<s>Magma</s> Lava sprinkler==
Build a twisting <s>magma</s> lava aqueduct above the entrance to your fortress. Leave a few thin (diagonal) holes in it, so that lava can seep out of it. When invaders arrive, pump magma into the sprinkler. Diagonal holes will limit the rate at which the fluid flows out of them, ensuring a nice steady lava rain rather than a big wave.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Similar to magma canon, except with a bit more engineering, but less pumps and smaller reservoir needed (due to less magma being required for the same effect).

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Like magma cannon it can obliterate a siege, but this time you can have a bit more control over how it happens. Lava rain doesn't depend on ground structure (your entrance doesn't need to be in a valley for it to work well) and leaves less magma to evaporate.

*Bonus: Cover the holes with floodgates or hatches and keep the lavaduct filled with lava rather than filling it only when using it.
*Bonus+1: Build the lavaduct in such a way that it starts raining on the outermost part of the area first, then goes inwards, to ensure that invaders who start burning can't escape.

==Mass cage recycling system==
{{main|Mass pitting}}
Build a [[mass pitting]] system to recycle your cage trap cages quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Very easy. Requires basic digging and very little time.

'''Usefulness:''' Very. Keeps you from having to build cages before releasing monsters from them. With six hatches you can safely empty out 48 cages very quickly. You can build lots of cage traps without having to worry about emptying each cage individually.

*Bonus: Cover the floor of your pit with cage traps, creating a neverending cycle and giving your dwarves something to do during the long harsh summer when going outside is overly taxing on their stomachs.
*ConcentrationCampBonus: Combine with Pit of Doom below.

==Mega/Water drowning trap-thing==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
This is basically a channel above some pressurized water with a short tunnel leading to a door. The door needs to be connected to a lever somewhere in a safe part of the fortress. Position the door facing the main stairs into your fortress (for multiple stairs use multiple traps). When enemies come down the stairs, pull the lever and make them drown. (It helps to seal off the rooms).

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Needs flowing water under pressure and levers.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Depends on the size of your fortress/defences/amount of attackers. Works well with fire creatures to create a sauna.

==Minecart spiral==
Build a giant spiral [[Minecart#Impulse ramps|minecart impulse ramp]] all the way from the [[magma sea]] to the surface. You can use it to transport ores to the [[magma smelter|magma smelters]] at the bottom from [[sedimentary layer|sedimentary layers]] near the surface. You can build [[statues]] in it to prevent dwarves from walking in and [[fun|dying]].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium-High. You will most likely have to use [[macros]]. Additionally, when crossing caverns you will have to [[construct]] minecart ramps which can be tedious.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. It depends on how tall your map is and how much ores you consume.

*TrapBonus: Use [[bridge|drawbridge]] to guide invaders to the spiral, then [[screw pump|pump]] water into it and drown them.
**BetterTrapBonus: Make it [[magma]] instead.
*SuperBonus: Make the tower go all the way to the highest [[Z-axis|Z level]].
**ArmokBonus: Make it go through the magma sea, and [[HFS|further below]].
*Bonus: At the top, set up a system where dwarves can guide minecarts to different vertical shafts where the will fall to different Z levels, for loading. Then, the minecarts fall further down to the smelters, where the empty minecarts are sent back up for loading.
**MegaBonus: Divide your dwarves into two separate [[burrows]] connected only by the minecart spiral and the shaft. The higher burrow is in charge of mining, growing food, and operating the minecart system, and the lower burrow is in charge of smelting ores and making crafts.
***HyperMegaBonus: Close off all stairs and add a minecart loading and unloading station at every inhabited z level. All vertical transport of goods should be done via minecarts only. Also, dwarves are not allowed in minecarts.
****UltraSuperBonus: Build a minecart loading and unloading station at every Z level, even the uninhabited ones you never use.

==Mist generator==

Using whatever screw-pump-statue contraption your dwarves can muster up, create an endless mist-generating machine which will hopefully not obliterate your [[Frames_per_second|FPS]].

'''Difficulty:''' Extremely easy. You will only need a basic understanding of screwpumps and gear assemblies. However, you can scale it to any size or level of complexity. The [[Mist|mist page]] has a handy guide.

'''Usefulness:''' Borderline cheating. Keeps your dwarves in a state of constant euphoria. Mist does funny things to a dwarf's mind. Also a one-up from artificial waterfalls as they only need to travel a single Z level, (hopefully) reducing the FPS strain.
*Bonus: Build an absolutely horrible fortress with as much [[miasma]] and [[hateable]] vermin that you can fit in one bunker. Keep your dwarves sane with the power of Mist™ alone.
**FUNbonus: Build it in a semi-freezing climate instead. Watch as winter rolls by and your dwarves are deprived of their only source of joy. [[Fun]] will surely ensue.

==Monumental statue==
'''Difficulty:''' Depends on how big you want the statue to be. If you are feeling really masochistic, cast it out of obsidian using magma and water.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*Bonus: Make the statue hollow and have dwarves live inside it.
*BestWayToGetRidOfStoneBonus: Make one for every dead dwarf.
**UberTombBonus: Use the statue as a tomb and put their coffins in it.
*Dwarfbonus: Give the statue magma eyes.
**HellNo,DwarfsYesBonus: Combine the magma eyes idea with the magma cannon idea above and place the statue just behind (and above) the entrance to your fortress.

==Moses effect==
With enough pumps, you can pull water out of a square faster than it flows in. This can create a reverse waterfall, or a dry spot in the middle of a flowing river. The effect is like Moses parting the Red Sea.

'''Difficulty:''' Surprisingly easy.

'''Usefulness:''' You can use this trick to create a waterfall or drowning chamber. It is also important if you want to pass through an [[Aquifer]], although that is far more difficult. The same trick can be used in lieu of a drawbridge, although its practicality as compared to the drawbridge is highly questionable.

*Bonus: Use the Moses effect to make doors from water, which are opened/closed using a lever.
*TechBonus: Automatize the doors so that they open (only!) when a dwarf is near.

==Never-ending shower==
{{main|Waterfall}}
Don't you get angry when your dwarves carry enough grime on them to dirty the entire fortress? And how they get infected because of that griminess? Suffer no more! With the Never Ending Shower (NES for short), dwarves will be able to stay (relatively) clean without having to take the time to run for a bath or dirtying your drinking water!

It is easy to understand: use the same instructions as in the Artificial Waterfall, but make it so that the waterfall is somewhere where the dwarves will be going through almost daily--a central stairway works well. It cleans them and gives them happy [[thought]]s for the same price!

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to high. You do have to make sure that dwarves don't try anything funny, and create a drain to draw the dirty water out.

'''Usefulness:''' Incredibly high. Reduces risk of infection and keeps your dwarves happy.

*Bonus: Use an aquifer to get clean water AND drain dirty water.
*Bonus: Use levers to control the NES.
*SuperBonus: Make it work as a trap!
*SuperDuperBonus: Make it work as a trap AND as a recovery system!
*ArmokBonus: Make it so that magma can be poured down, too!

==Nuclear Fallout Bunker==
Build a mini fortress with everything your dwarves could need deep underground. Stock it with enough food, drinks, and materials to last your small band of survivors for years or alternatively make it self-sufficient with its own food production. Lastly, add a bridge that allows you to seal off the bunker from the rest of the world.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy-Medium depending on the relative luxury of the bunker and how many dwarves you intend to shelter from the apocalypse.

'''Usefulness:''' High. If your fort is threatened by some particularly nasty disaster (be it zombie goblin horde or Bronze Colossus) simply rush your best and brightest dwarves down to the Nuclear Fallout Bunker and raise the bridge, sealing it off from the rest of the world.
*MutallyAssuredDestructionBonus: Have a self-destruct lever in the bunker that is pulled once everyone is safely inside.

==Obsidian factory==
{{main|Obsidian farming}}
You need one reservoir of water, and one of magma. Mix, cool, mine, and repeat as necessary.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium.

'''Usefulness:''' Obsidian is 50% more valuable than [[flux]] and 3 times as valuable as ordinary stone, making it ideal for your [[mason]]s and [[stone crafter]]s. Done properly, it can also serve as a magma chamber, a drowning chamber and even an obsidianizing chamber that can kill any creature that gets in (except [[ghost]]s and possibly [[vermin]]).

* MegaDwarfBonus: Make the system fully automated using [[computing]] principles.

==Pit o' doom==
Combine with an Execution Tower for maximum z-level executions! Traps which menace with spikes are a must.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You want it nice and deep though.

'''Usefulness:''' Dispose of prisoners, execute nobles, gruesome fatal injuries, laugh maniacally. If high enough, you may be able to recover [[bone]]s from creatures your dwarves refuse to [[butcher]].

* Bonus: Link the spikes to a lever so you can proceed to make swiss cheese of whatever didn't die from the fall.

==Pixel art stockpiles==
Arrange several stockpiles of similar items of different colors (gems work well for this) so the different colors make some sort of picture. Don't forget to set "max bins" to 0 on all the stockpiles so you can actually see the items!

It's probably also a good idea to forbid the items once they're in place, to prevent them from being moved later (and allow you to remove the stockpiles if you want.)

'''Difficulty:''' Medium; only tricky parts are (potentially) finding enough items of different colors, and keeping track of which colors are where before the hauling is done.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative

==Pressure washer==
A huge tower with floodgates at the bottom on one side. When opened, the pressurized water fires out and instantly submerges anything in the way of the flow. Depending on size, can be surprisingly powerful. You can see an example tower [http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-7485-griffonwind here].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, construction technique takes some consideration.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium-High. Tested in version 0.28.181.40d with 50 recruits standing in front of it when the floodgates opened, killed 46 of them, including ones not pushed into the pit.

* Bonus: Fill it with Magma instead (though it won't flow out nearly as quickly).

==Quantum Blizzard Cannon==

Do you need to kill something? Is atom-smashing no longer a viable option? Do you wish to bring glory to Armok? Do not fear, the QBC is here! By creating individual stops to fill minecarts with projectiles of your choosing, then loading up to 12 filled minecarts into a final “Launcher” minecart (using a stop designated to fill the "launcher" with minecarts), you can effectively fire as many items as you would like at your foe using a standard minecart shotgun. It is also possible to fill this with fluids, to great effect (and risk of crashing the game). This can often have interesting effects because hitting a goblin with 996 bars of lead at extreme speeds is not good for the squishy bits. The cannon gains its name from its creator.

''' Difficulty:''' excessive, lots of time in menus and loading per shot, but really ((Fun))

''' Usefulness:''' medium to low. The same trick can be used to move large amounts of items via minecart, but ultimately the QBC is excessive for even the HFS.

==Redesign the fortress==
And when we say "redesign", we mean completely replanning and rebuilding the entire fortress, from scratch. Ever thought about a cool thing that you could add to your fortress, but can't because a critical area(such as the dining room, general-purpose stockpile, central workshop area etc.) are in the way? Did you start the fortress by building the most critical areas in the first available spot? Well, now is a good time to get rid of that! For added effects, put the sleeping areas especially close to the booze stockpile so that dwarves are always happy!

'''Difficulty:''' Varies depending on the size of the fortress.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies depending on how you carry it out, a.k.a. the efficiency of the new organization.

* Bonus: use [[obsidian]] casting to carve the new fortress entirely out of obsidian.
** DwarfBonus: but keep valuable walls such as [[native gold]].
*** PurpleDwarfBonus: using controlled [[cave-in]]s, arrange for your king's new room to be entirely bordered by native gold/platinum/aluminium walls.

==Rehabilitation centre==
Had any problems with dwarves charging brainlessly towards the enemy, getting slaughtered, and then starting a tantrum spiral that will destroy your fortress? Turn your prison into a luxurious room full of things that make dwarves happy. Add artifact furniture, beds, a booze stockpile, chains made of gold (or anything valuable,) a waterfall, creatures in cages, etc. Hopefully they will return to society as a happy, productive dwarf.

'''Difficulty:''' Low-Medium. Acquiring valuable items and setting up the waterfall can be annoying sometimes. Also you need guards to actually put them in jail. And it can be a real pain when those ungrateful sobs destroy the nice furniture you give them.

'''Usefulness:''' High. A tantrum spiral can quickly turn a productive fort of 200+ dwarves into a rioting fortress inhabited by a bunch of insane, miserable dwarves who spend their time punching people and breaking furniture. Don't let it happen to you.

* MegaDwarfBonus: Points for making every other dwarf drink water and sleep on cheap beds.

==Road of the damned==
Create a giant channel filled with spike traps, 10 tiles wide and going all the way from your fort to the map edge. Pave it over with crystal glass so traders can get that foreboding feeling that'll make them seal the deal without bargaining too hard!

'''Difficulty:''' Low-mid, depending on the rarity of crystal glass.

'''Usefulness:'''Low. The same as a normal road.

* Bonus: Spike a goblin on every trap!
* Megabonus: Spike traders who annoy you on the traps!

==Roof of the world==
Sick of having your dwarves vomit all the time when they go out to retrieve loot or lumber? Despair no more! Build an almost-infinitely tall tower, and then put a floor on the highest level, spanning the entire map. For extra kicks, make a mechanism that will crash the entire thing upon the heads of the one goblin horde that manages to get through all your other deathtraps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Very grueling.

'''Usefulness:''' Low, but potentially fortress-saving. (see above)

==Sectorized world==
Divide the world edges into multiple sectors and then gate access to each one separately. This allows you to protect your fortress from sieges whilst keeping access to most of the outside world and allowing most traders into and out of the fortress (those unfortunate enough to enter the world from the same direction as the siegers may be screwed, of course). For bonus points, build separate gateable access routes for each sector. For further bonus points, design your fortress so that you can simultaneously allow access to traders ''at the same time'' as siegers are exposed to your defensive mechanisms.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, unless you allow separate access routes for each sector in which case high.

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate, increasing with each bonus you fill. Mostly for those who want to build the best possible defenses. Can also double as a means of easily trapping wild animals.

==Self-contained vampire-based factory==
Take advantage of the independence of vampires by building a self-contained factory. The best industries are those that require no special raw materials-- a factory containing both a magma glass furnace and a sand tile, for instance, would work well, as would a clay industry, but if you're feeling ambitious, consider building a vampire into your [[giant cave spider|GCS]] [[silk farm]]-- if you happen to have scored an [[undead]] GCS, your vampire won't even spook! You can treat your factory as a piggy bank to be broken into as needed, or for perfect fire-and-forget action, build a dropping [[User:Vasiln/Undump|undump]] into the factory, and the vampire will deliver the output to your front door.

'''Difficulty:''' The only hard part is getting yourself a [[vampire]].

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on how many green glass blocks you plan on using.

==Sapient zoo==
Start by creating a [[zoo]] containing at least one of every [INTELLIGENT] and [CAN_SPEAK] creature
including [[humans]], [[elves]], [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s.

*Bonus: include a berserk dwarf in cage

'''Difficulty:''' Easy for some, Hard for others

'''Usefulness:''' None, really, a place for dwarves to throw a [[party]].

==Self-destruct lever==
A mechanism that, for example, could flood your fort with magma, or release a trapped megabeast. For bonus points, build the whole fort on a single [[support]].

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. Extremely fun.

'''Usefulness:''' Could serve as kind of a last revenge on a goblin siege, but also highly amusing. If done properly it can make reclaim easier.

* DorfBonus: Make it have a timer before your fortress self-destructs. You can do this with a water channel, or if you're particularly technical, make a [[Computing|seven segment display]].
** For bonus Dwarfy-ness, make the timer be the depth number of the magma or water that will actually trigger your fortress' destruction.
* Bonus: Build your fortress high above ground, connect the fortress to a roof through just one support and have the system, when activated, drop the whole construction into the magma sea, destroying the whole thing permanently.
* FunBonus: use the lever to drop the fortress off a pillar while simultaneously opening the [[hidden fun stuff]], preferably in a whole lot of places.
*ExtraFunBonus: do as many of these bonuses as you please (as long as they still function together) AND unleash a whole lot of dwarves throwing tantrums near the lever when you wish to set the fun things off.

==Shark catcher==
Capture of [[Bull shark|sharks]] or [[Carp|other]], [[Sturgeon|dangerous fish]] achieved by making an artificial bay, filling it with [[Cage trap|cage traps]], opening the floodgate to the sea or river and some sort of drainage system, likely pumps and/or floodgates.

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium as drowning while setting up is very possible with bad planning.

'''Usefulness''': Low, purely aesthetic, but very cool to have a shark infested moat (Potentially kills invaders).

==Silk farming==
{{main|Silk farming}}
Capture a web-slinger (generally a [[giant cave spider]]) and build a farm to efficiently harvest its [[silk]].

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium; the hardest part is generally catching the web-spinner.

'''Usefulness''': Medium to High. Provides an endless supply of potentially-valuable [[silk]] cloth and rapidly [[cross-training|cross-trains]] [[weaver]]s.

==Steamed vegetables==
Make a pot and drop <s>elves</s> vegetables in from about three levels up. This makes it so the vegetables do not <s>run</s> get overcooked. Proceed to bask the vegetables in [[steam]].

'''Difficulty''': Medium. Can be annoying to boil some water.

'''Usefulness''': Great way to make friends with the merchants.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Add <s>goblins</s> seasoning.
*ArmokDoubleBonus: Use [[magma mist]].
*DwarfBonus: feed any vegetables you did not steam to your dear friends, the [[Demon|clowns]].

==Swimming pool==
{{main|Swimming#Learning/Teaching swimming|l1=Swimming § Learning/Teaching swimming}}
It's a reservoir that fills to 4/7 exactly. Station soldiers inside, lock them in, and fill. This way they gain [[swimming]] skill.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. It's just a pair of reservoirs.

'''Usefulness:''' The swimming skill is only slightly useful. This is most useful if the entrance to your fort has narrow walkways/moats surrounded by water, and you station your soldiers there. It does help gain attributes though. Though if you utilize a '''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform, this is a priceless necessity.

==Swimming track==
{{main|Swimming#Minecart_training|l1=Swimming § Minecart_training}}

[[Image:Swim track 0.png|thumb|right|250px|A large swimming track]]

A [[minecart]] ride that trains [[swimming]] safely and automatically.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Minecart tracks can be fiddly, and adding a non-traversable depth of water makes any mistakes more difficult to fix.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. The swimming skill is only slightly useful, but it does provide [[cross-training]] for attribute gains.

==Tower of Death-Struction==

Have you ever wondered, "What would it take to make my [[Siege|friends]] all [[Gravity|fall]] at once into a pit of [[Trap|fun times]] while also not risking failure?" Elementary, my aspiring architect -- [[Fun|THE TOWER OF DEATH-STRUCTION]]!

Step 1: Build a tower with a [[bridge]], to allow for non-lethal access to the fortress. Build the tower roughly 25-30 blocks high, though higher towers tend to result in roughly equivalent amounts of [[Fun]]. The access bridge should be linked to a lever, to close it like a standard gate.

Step 2: Build a thinner tower 20 blocks away, for maximum bridge length. Any number of middle towers can be constructed, though one is recommended.

Step 3: Build another tower, one that can be ascended by [[Goblin|curious friends]]. Fill it with cage traps, to thin out the number of [[Troll|friends]] to take up space on the bridge.

Step 4: Build two bridges on either side of the skybridge, to trap attackers on the skybridge.

Step 5: Hook up the skybridges to one lever, and the trap bridge to another.

Once this is done, just wait for a [[Siege|surprise party]] to be thrown for you. Close the access bridge, forcing the [[Goblin|visitors]] to path onto it. Trap them, and when the time looks right...

'''Pull the lever, Kronk!'''

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to hard. If all of your dwarves have cave adaptation, the construction might take a lot longer to complete. As well, the cost of floors and traps alone will mean that just acquiring the materials will need its own stupid dwarf trick.

'''Usefulness:''' Low to high, depending on how well you use it. If you forget to open the access gate, you might find your dwarves trapped inside the tower, or even worse, they may run up to the bridge to fight and meet a [[Gravity|bad time]]. Also, the goblin corpses piling up in the spike pit might cause extra [[Miasma|fun]] depending on how regularly you take care of it. If done correctly, this tower might become the most efficient and effective defence against all problems that one could possibly ask for.

*Bonus: Build enough middle towers to build a bridge path long enough to trap an entire siege and drop them onto spikes below.
*SuperBonus: Build the towers above a river.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a lava pit.
*SuperMegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a ticket straight to [[HFS|the circus]].
*ArmokBonus: Build the towers out of [[Slade]] (Note: This should be impossible, so if you do it...))
*SuperMegaUltraHardcoreDwarvenMasterpieceArtifactBonus: Build the fortress at the top of the tower that the goblins have to try to get to.

==Underground forest==
{{main|Tree farming}}
Break into an underground cavern, make some muddy floors over a big area and wait.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium - need to dig out a suitably large area, then find a way of introducing water to the area and subsequently draining or evaporating it.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size (bigger is better) as well as proximity to wood stockpiles. A tree farm outside the caverns can grow trees from all 3 layers, and you'll never have to worry about hostile creatures threatening your wood cutters.

==Underground perpetual motion power plant==
Combine with a use for the power and you either have an awesome setup, or a ticking time bomb.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Maintaining the correct water level is annoying difficult at times. Note: Incredibly easy with an aquifer.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size of plant and what it's connected to. Also useful as a puzzle for adventurers.

==Underwater statue room==
A simple room filled with statues that just also happens to be flooded. Simply dig a room near to a water source smooth and engrave the walls and floors then fill with statues. Dig a tunnel to the water source and a separate escape route. seal both off with floodgates pull the levers in the right order and bam! underwater statue room. For added effect make the meeting room a room directly above with a glass floor.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Absolutely positively none.

*Bonus: Build it on area with trees and shrubs; make walls from ice or use windows; fill it with fish and merfolk; now you'll get a big aquarium
*Note: It doesn't count if you accidentally flood your fortress and wind up with one of these. It does count if one of your nobles has an unfortunate accident in their sculpture garden.

==U.R.I.S.T. artificial intelligence==
Basically, a dwarf in a bunker that controls your fortress. Being that there are no supercomputers in DF at the moment, we'll have to use the closest substitute, a dwarf. Seal your dwarf in a room full of levers that activate various floodgates, bridges, doors, hatch covers, traps, etc. Make sure this room has no exits or entrances, but it needs a luxurious bedroom and dining area, and you must include a chute for dropping in <s>food</s> biomass and <s>alcohol</s> coolant fluid. Profile the levers so that they can only be used by the A.I. dwarf.

It would be a good idea to make the system into two rooms. The food/drink/bed room and the lever room. Should you need to add more levers, you can lock the A.I. dwarf outside the lever room and have your mechanics set up more levers without interacting with or releasing the A.I.

You can make the lodging room suited for the particular dwarf by adding furniture made from their favorite materials, and smoothing and engraving everything. Use quantum stockpiling to give them 10+ years of food and drink. Make sure the A.I. is unable to communicate with other dwarves. His/her mood must not be affected by the deaths of the walking meat-bags who tried to befriend him/her.

In order to ensure that your A.I. doesn't find sleep interfering with crucial lever pulling, you might consider incorporating an alarm clock. If a goblin siege turns up on your doorstep, a single external lever to dump 7/7 of water on the sleeping A.I. might well save your fortress (and is so much cooler than having backup levers in your meeting hall).

You must also make a snazzy/lame acronym name for your AI, here are some examples:
*A.R.M.O.K. - '''A'''ll-'''R'''eaching '''M'''achine '''O'''f '''K'''illing
*A.S.S. - '''A'''lmost-autonomous '''S'''ystems '''S'''elector
*C.A.T. - '''C'''reepy '''A'''utonomous '''T'''echnology
*D.E.E.P.E.R. - '''D'''warf of '''E'''ngineering the '''E'''ldritch and '''P'''ractical '''E'''xploitation of '''R'''esources''
*D.I.E.D. - '''D'''edicated '''I'''rrigation and '''E'''verything else '''D'''warf(s)
*D.O.M.E.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perated '''M'''echanics and '''E'''ngineering '''S'''ystem
*D.O.R.F. - '''D'''oes '''O'''rders '''R'''ather '''F'''ast
*D.O.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*D.W.A.R.F. - '''D'''rains '''W'''ater '''A'''nd '''R'''ecruits '''F'''armers
*G.L.A.D.O.S. - '''G'''enetic '''L'''ifeform '''A'''nd '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*H.A.L. - '''H'''airy '''A'''lternate '''L'''ifeform
*M.A.G.M.A. - '''M'''assively '''A'''lcoholic '''G'''ear-'''M'''achine '''A'''ssembly
*N.O.B.L.E. - '''N'''arcissistic '''O'''bnoxious '''B'''oastful '''L'''aughable '''E'''xcrement
*P.O.T.A.T.O. - '''P'''ossibly '''O'''rganic '''T'''echnically '''A'''live '''T'''rash '''O'''mitted
*U.R.I.S.T. - '''U'''nderground '''R'''easonably '''I'''ntelligent '''S'''ettlement '''T'''echnologist
*V.A.C.A.T.E.D. - '''V'''ampire '''A'''ssisted '''C'''omputerized '''A'''ssembly '''T'''errorizes '''E'''xtra-'''D'''warves
*V.O.D.A.P.H.O.N.E. - '''V'''ampire '''O'''perated '''D'''efence '''A'''pparatus, '''P'''erpetrating '''H'''arm '''O'''f '''N'''efarious '''E'''ntities (See Bonus for more information)


'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Setting up all the levers and lodgings can be a micromanagement hassle. Further research is required as to how well the A.I. will fit into a dwarven economy.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Having a dwarf dedicated to pulling levers will ensure that they are pulled on time. Additionally, you will have a constantly-ecstatic dwarf who is virtually invulnerable to all threats. Should your fortress be slaughtered by invaders or drowned by flooding or tantrum spiraled, your fortress will be preserved until more migrants arrive, or the AI runs out of food.

Bonus: Make the A.I. dwarf a vampire. Vampires don't need food, alcohol, or sleep and cannot age, which makes them perfect for the job. As an added bonus, keeping a vampire in this way will make your fortress completely indestructible, as sealing him in will prevent the possibility of the vampire of being killed in combat or from a syndrome, while keeping the vampire from making friends he will inevitably outlive will prevent him from going insane. (It also ensures that the bloodsucker won't use any of your dwarves as a midnight snack.) NOTE: Vampires may still go insane without any blood. Might be worth considering adding on a 3rd "feeding chamber" where you assign an unfortunate victim to sleep whenever the vampire gets hungry.

===D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P.===

Dwarven Organic Switch Toggle, Neutered Gastrectomied Overpersistent Sober Prisoner. Goblins have several advantages over dwarves in the lever pulling department: they live forever, do not breed or tantrum, and need not eat, drink, or sleep. Seal one or more goblins in your supercomputer complex, and use their predictable pathing in combination with instantly lockable doors and pressure plates to make dwarven lever pulling a thing of an older, less advanced era.

Also known by several product names:
*G.O.B.L.I.N.A.T.O.R. - '''G'''oblin '''O'''perated '''B'''astion of '''L'''ogic to '''I'''nfalliably '''N'''eutralize '''A'''ntiquated '''T'''ypes of '''O'''perational '''R'''egimes
*N.G.O.K.A.N.G. - '''N'''efarious '''G'''oblin '''O'''f '''K'''illing '''A'''nd '''N'''eedless '''G'''riping
*S.T.O.Z.U. - '''S'''ecret '''T'''echnological '''O'''perative who '''Z'''aps '''U'''nruly Nobles

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. While goblin pressure plate runners require more space than dwarven lever pullers, once their room is set up, it's done, and easily copied for the next one. With only one goblin, you'll need a pressure plate for every possible combination of lever states, but it's easy to add more goblins instead.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Instant response time (<50 ticks is possible) can make lever worries a thing of the past. The D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P. requires absolutely no maintenance once set up. Unlike with the U.R.I.S.Ts of the previous generation, modern POW-based computing is never held hostage to eating, drinking, or breaks. Stay tuned for the next-generation C.A.C.A.M.E.!

==Vomitorium==
[[Image:Vomit_Trail.png‎|thumb|right|Vomitoria: preventing cave adaptation since [[23a:Vomit|23a]].]]

Prevents [[cave adaptation]]. It's like the greenhouse, only instead of a farm, it's a [[meeting hall]] or [[barracks]]. Since you can't build [[table]]s or [[bed]]s outside, build the room and [[channel]] down to it. Variant: above-ground statue garden or zoo.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Make sure to wall the pit in, or it will become very [[fun]] once [[goblin]] archers become involved.

Bonus: Make an ACTUAL Vomitorium for this - Build a [[meeting hall]] with a [[grate]]d floor. Let [[cave adaptation]] set in, then open the place up for the most extravagant and lavish of parties every 3~4 years! Those will be some Armok grade hangovers though....

==Water tower==
This functions much like real life: Lifting water above ground level creates pressure, allowing buried pipes to deliver water to any elevation below the top of the tower. This is smarter, faster, and cheaper than a map-spanning raised aqueduct. A pump stack at the river, raising water into a sealed, pressurized U-bend, can deliver large volumes of water to whatever level you want, very quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. No harder than any other pump stack to design, but high pressure can amplify minor errors into abandon-worthy disasters. You could conceivably divert the river into your fort. Be sure to make an off-switch.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Once the pump stack is operating, you no longer need to be anywhere near your water source.

==Watervator==
By creating a vertical "'''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform" chamber, or HELP (so named for the cries of the passenger dwarf) with lever controlled water levels, you can move a dwarf up several z-levels without any stairs. All it takes is the dwarf's ability to swim up to the surface of the water to breathe.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Moderate possibility of Fun by way of flooding your fortress. Any dwarves that can't swim will instead experience Fun when using the Watervator. The actual construction time and resource usage is very low. Using the Watervator often leads to unhappy thoughts about drowning

'''Usefulness:''' Low to Medium. The Watervator requires manual micromanaging, while stairs do not. On the other hand, it can be used to create a pathway that most <s>Dwarves</s> enemies will simply be unable to use. Those that can would still be doing so at great risk of drowning or falling to their death. It is recommend that with the exception of the entrance you use stairs.

*Bonus: Utilize vampires (who can't drown).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Engineer it so that it performs a full cycle on one activation of a pressure plate and include that pressure plate as a part of the patrol route, then create a reverse Watervator and also include it as a part of same patrol route, so that your militia automatically uses it to get in and out the fortress.

==Werewolf clock==
The changing of the werewolf is the most reliable indicator of the passing of seasons. For precisely one day per full moon, he will go berserk and trigger standard pressure plates.

'''Difficulty:''' You will get a were sooner or later. Getting him pitted in the right spot without havoc is the hard part.

'''Usefulness:''' Low.

*Bonus: Make the werewolf do most of the work himself.

==Zombie thunderdome==
Embark in a [[surroundings#Evil|reanimating]] biome in the current version (preferably savage as well), find or dig a deep pit, and dump any unused (non-dorf) corpses and butchery products into it. They will animate and begin to walk around, providing you with the endless entertainment afforded by watching horse hair walk. Make sure the pit is deep enough not to scare your dwarves!

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Keeping your fort safe from the threat of animated beak dog beaks is worth any price. However, [[DF2012:Defense guide|there may be better things]] [[DF2012:Mega construction|to do with your time]].

*Bonus: Set up a series of [[bridge|defenses]] that drop invaders into the pit.
*DwarfBonus: Set up a series of bridges and walls that flings invaders into the pit.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop a Megabeast into the pit and watch it do battle with multiple layers of undead.
*CavernFunBonus: Channel the bottom into a cavern and let your zombies hunt [[forgotten beast|the wonderful creatures there]].
**BonusFunBonus: Let them hunt [[Demon|Clowns]] as well.
*ZombieDwarfBonus: Ignore the suggestion above and dump dwarven corpses in anyway.

==Zombie shooting gallery==

In a reanimating biome, build a holding room for your undead, wall it off with fortifications. In the adjacent (accessible) area, build an archery range and order your archery squads to train there. Your marksdwarves will go to their scheduled archery training and whenever a zombie is raised, they'll switch focus from the boring old archery target and instead shoot down the undead. Once the zombies are dead, they'll return to regular shooting practice until the corpses rise again. The raised corpses cannot attack through fortifications and thus cause no unhappy thoughts from seeing them, but will spook haulers trying to collect errant socks from the shooting range.

A viable (if finicky) alternative to a reanimating biome could be a [[necromancer]]. This has the benefit of being more controllable, but comes with the threat of [[intelligent undead]] and their abilities. Most would be relatively harmless or a minor inconvenience, but some are potentially lethal to your dwarves. Whether or not this is a downside depends on how many corpses you have available to restock the gallery.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. The difficulty lies in finding a source of permanent undead, the actual construction is trivial.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. This setup significantly increases the skill gain from bolts used by training dwarves, since every bolt shot at a zombie counts as combat action, giving much more experience. The scheme works without any supervision once set up.

{{Category|Design}}
[[ru:Stupid dwarf trick]]

Talk:Main Page

2023-09-18T15:39:02Z

Antsy555: /* Multithreading */

{{Archive|
# [[Talk:Main Page/archive1|Archive 1]]
# [[Talk:Main Page/archive2|Archive 2]]
# [[Talk:Main Page/archive3|Archive 3]]
}}

== How to create a new language page? ==

I've just seen one dwarf requesting a Japanese page.

If possible, I'll gladly translate this wiki into Korean. Korea is relatively a small country so the language is not that widely used, but surely there are some players, I guess.

I don't know where to ask about this :9

== Free SSL Certificate ==

If the operators want to re-enable https, they can get a free (as in beer) certificate from https://letsencrypt.org/ . Instructions are on that site and it's very easy.
:HTTPS is enabled now as of the June 2019 upgrades. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 22:53, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

== Re: Discord ==

I notice there's a Discord on this page. But shouldn't it be the Kitfox Games Discord, since that's the only official Discord for Dwarf Fortress?

[[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 13:43, 12 February 2020 (UTC)
;I wasn't aware of it. If that is the case, then it should probably be added to the page. [[User:OluapPlayer|OluapPlayer]] ([[User talk:OluapPlayer|talk]]) 16:03, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Yeah, the only reason there is one at all is because somebody added some random one. I changed it to the only DF discord I knew of at the time. The only way I've now been able to find it is to search for 'Kitfox Games discord'. It's not listed on the bay12 links page, a forum thread, the reddit, or the Steam pages. Anyway, I've DMed Victoria on the KitfoxGames discord to make sure they're OK with adding the invite to this page. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 20:08, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

...Sorry, is it too late for this? I mean, while we're still discussing this, it looks like [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Talk:Main_Page#B12G_Discord someone else got left behind as well]. Add, or not? [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 22:21, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you were trying to link to. Do you mean this: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=163555.0 Note that the thread was locked because of drama. There's a lot of red flags: the drama, despite using the name Bay12Games it never uses the word 'unofficial', the rules channel posts are from a deleted user, the announcements channel hasn't updated in well over a year, many channels haven't been active in months. I'm not so much saying no, but I am asking: should it be linked?

There's also this: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=157332.0 But that invite is invalid. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 02:35, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

Ah, it's a ''dead'' discord. I see now. There was just no response to the April '17 topic, I stumbled across it all and got curious. No, I don't think it should be linked. Thanks for the analysis, anyway! [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 11:44, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

== [[Multithreading]] ==

Would it be OK to create [[Multithreading]] page describing why (preferably with citations)
* even perfectly implemented boost would not be significant
* multithreading is not something that can be bolted on complex program
* DF is complicated case where taking advantage of multithreading is not obvious http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=34311.msg7833713#msg7833713
* DF is filled with many gamebreaking bugs unfixed for many years, multithreading bugs are unusually awful to fix
* author of DF has minimal experiences with multithreading
* writing multithreaded code is hard
* writing correct multithreaded code is awfully hard
* fixing bugs in a multithreaded code is nightmare

and multithreading is not going to happen, ever

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=34311.msg7833713#msg7833713
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107833.0
https://bholley.net/blog/2015/must-be-this-tall-to-write-multi-threaded-code.html + “At Mozilla, there is a sign on the wall behind one of our engineer’s desks. The sign has a dark horizontal line, below which is the text, ‘You must be this tall to write multi-threaded code.’ The line is roughly nine feet off the ground. We created Rust to allow us to lower that sign.” http://www.oreilly.com/programming/free/files/why-rust.pdf

[[User:Mko|Mko]] ([[User talk:Mko|talk]]) 03:07, 28 March 2020 (UTC)
:I disagree with some of your talking points
:* In DF each AI actor makes its own decisions, the computations can be done in parallel for an ncores speedup
:* This parallelism should be built into the lowest design levels of the program, it can be done in a DF-like program
:* With training and experience a good developer can write and debug multithreaded code.
:I agree that multithreading is unlikely to be done in DF; It can not easily be bolted on and I rather see the developer spend time on game-play.
:Is it worth to create a wiki page for what is essentially a one line explanation?
:--[[User:MathFox|MathFox]] ([[User talk:MathFox|talk]]) 18:40, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
::We would essentially be writing a page about a thing that doesn't matter to Dwarf Fortress. I can't agree to the existence of a page that's basically "This subject doesn't exist in the context of the game but here's the reasons why it should or shouldn't". This is better reserved for forum discussion, not a wiki. [[User:OluapPlayer|OluapPlayer]] ([[User talk:OluapPlayer|talk]]) 12:54, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

::: Well this aged poorly
-- [[User:Antsy555|Antsy555]] ([[User talk:Antsy555|talk]]) 15:38, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

== Re: Discord II ==

Good morning.

I was confiding with some friends, who had alerted me to the "Unofficial Bay 12 Discord" posted on this Wiki. Simply put, allegations of the use of ableist slurs were thrown, as well as screenshot evidence of using hard racist slurs against people of colour.

I feel that the Unofficial Discord should hereby be removed from the social media part of the website for the following reasons:
* No official connection to Bay 12 or the publishers [and, by extension, every non-Bay12 forum should be removed - especially dead ones]
* This unofficial Discord is actively opposed to the standpoints that Toady One and Threetoe have posted on the bay12games site over the recent days.
* This unofficial Discord uses slurs and other problematic language that actively harms the image of the Dwarf Fortress community
* This unofficial Discord will likely make it so that people steer away from the game.

I do not feel comfortable with the Wiki platforming a known racist Discord server, as that is de facto support of the messages of that server.
[[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 12:02, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Update: Apparently, this same Discord has been banned from the r/dwarffortress subreddit for as long as one of the mods can remember, and the link to it was banned on the official Kitfox Discord as well. I can post the screenshots I have of actively problematic behaviour on this Discord but I will not do it unless necessary, as the contents are alarming like that which will not be named. [[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 12:10, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

:I've removed the link. Safe to say, we don't need the wiki to be associated with this sort of people. [[User:OluapPlayer|OluapPlayer]] ([[User talk:OluapPlayer|talk]]) 21:58, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

::The "Unofficial Bay 12 Discord" was already not linked on the main page - the only place it was mentioned is this talk page. Are you talking about that one or the Unofficial Dwarf Fortress Discord that is linked on the main page? The latter does have it's #elfposting channel, but that channel is initially hidden, opt-in only, and clearly labelled as a lawless zone. For an analogy, there are many very awful subreddits, but we still link to reddit - (yeah that's a little different but not much). Otherwise the unofficial DF discord is well modded and such behavior is not allowed in other channels. So, are you certain which discord/channel the screenshots came from? [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 22:29, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Since there's some confusion, AlastríonaCatskill, could you confirm and/or provide some evidence that following the link that was on the main page (removed in [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=253449&oldid=251109]) takes you to the discord that you were referring to? The only reference I can find to a discord removed from the /r/dwarffortress sidebar is for a different discord, not the one that was linked on the main page (although it's possible that just the invite link was different). I just want to make sure that we're removing the right one here. If you have anything that you don't want to share publicly, you can PM me on the forums (same username) or [[Special:EmailUser/Lethosor|email me]] through the wiki, which I think is working. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:45, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

:@Lethosor, I have emailed you the relevant images via the link you had created. The Discord that was on the main page and removed today is indeed what was being referred to, especially with the confirmation of the #elfposting channel being from said Discord. In my opinion, @Ziusudra, the inclusion of a problematic part of that community, even as opt-in, is unacceptable in my book for a community to be platformed on this Wiki. [[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 03:26, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Hello, I am the owner of the Unofficial Dwarf Fortress discord. I just want to clear a few things up and open a channel of communication.
Several years ago, the original owner of the discord left, in no small part due to all the sexism and racism and such.
After a few days of an having an interim owner, it was given to another user, who onboarded several users as admins, including me.
The new owner tried a lot to curb terrible stuff on the server, however this often lead to drama.

The r/dwarffortress delisting happened after some of that drama spawned a new discord with a more "free speech" orientation,
things spilling over to the forums and other places. Some time after that, she left the server to me, due to the amount of
stress running that place caused her. When I took over I also tried to make it a better place, but with slower and subtler
methods that wouldn't spark drama. Completely disallowing some behaviour outside of #elfposting was part of that,
and later making that channel hidden by default was another. Now, the discord is much much better to be in
than it ever was before, though it still has major flaws. I don't like #elfposting at all myself, but I don't rule with an iron fist nor
do I know what much I can do without sparking massive drama again. Since April this year I have had some plans to make the discord
quite a bit better, however some of my mods have been against it in part due to feeling it would cause bigger problems
(though, as you probably know, some of them participate in #elfposting).
With recent events, both within and outside the DF community, we have decided to move ahead, every mod on board,
with some plans including phasing out the #elfposting channel in a way which will not create large issues for moderation.
It will be fully gone within one (1) week of now.

Also, I am a tad annoyed that you posted about this here but completely neglected contacting us. In the future, could you
please contact me or one of my mods when you have any concerns about the server? I really do care about these things and we need feedback.
—[[User:Lonjil|Lonjil]] ([[User talk:Lonjil|talk]]) 10:32, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

: Thank you for replying here Lonjil. Unfortunately, I cannot trust your take on this matter for several reasons.
: # One of the moderators has an anti-semitic stereotype profile picture
: # Even if the only place of no censorship is the elfposting channel, and even if it is opt-in, the complete chaos of racist slurs allowed there is completely unacceptable for minority players and an extremely toxic environment. There have been instances of straight hate speech on the channel / server as well, suggesting to kill people of colour and LGBTQIAA+ people.
: In short, the toxicity of your Discord's community makes it not just uncomfortable, but downright dangerous for minority people playing Dwarf Fortress. As Tarn and Zach have made liberal-to-leftist political views in the past, the chances of minorities to play the game is higher - and I wouldn't want to be a person of colour signing up for a shitposting channel to only be met with over 10,000 instances of the hard-n word being used. The Discord should remain off of the Wiki until things shape up and all instances of hate speech be purged from server history. Personally I would rather all non-official channels of communication be removed from the page, period, but that is a less pressing discussion than active hatred of minorities being platformed on the Wiki via your unofficial Discord. [[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 12:30, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

:: Small edit / follow-up to my previous message. My friend tells me that elfposting is the most commonly used channel, which goes to show the level of hatred allowed into the community. It may be best to remove the channel in entirety, and make a new meme channel with no hate speech allowed. [[User:AlastríonaCatskill|AlastríonaCatskill]] ([[User talk:AlastríonaCatskill|talk]]) 12:33, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

::: The admin you are referring to is a jew, who lives in Israel. I prefer to not police people of other ethnicities when it comes to negative stereotypes and such of themselves, they know what they are comfortable with far better than I ever could.

::: Elfposting is not, by any reasonable measure, the most used channel. It has fewer users than any other channel. It has a fair number of messages, but only because there is no rule against spamming in there. So, nearly all of it is spam, which was the point of the channel to begin with.

::: "It may be best to remove the channel in entirety" this is exactly what is happening, as I already said. We're giving the channel regulars a few days to hear the news, but then the channel will be gone. We already have a more pleasant meme channel from an experiment we did in April, which we are bringing back. —[[User:Lonjil|Lonjil]] ([[User talk:Lonjil|talk]]) 13:57, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi all - thanks for keeping this discussion civil. I've been investigating the policies of other DF communities, and I've come to the conclusion that it would be best for the wiki to only link to the official DF Discord (Kitfox). I'll also make a pass through the other sites linked on the main page. I'm sorry to those of you working hard to maintain Discords and other unofficial communities out there - I know it's difficult, and I don't want to judge your communities without being a part of them. However, there will always be debates like these about whether a community deserves to be linked from a more "official" place, like the wiki, and no matter where we draw the line(s), people will be upset. The policy of only linking to the Kitfox Discord seems to have worked for other communities, which is why I'm applying it here. I would be happy to have a broader discussion at [[DF:Centralized Discussion]] if anyone wants to. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:48, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

== Put Chinese language wiki on other Languages ==
Found it on Internet([http://cdf.wikidot.com/start]) – [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment by [[User:45.58.187.66|45.58.187.66]]

:I added a link to it. I'm not sure what the process is for adding interwiki link support (support for links to pages in the sidebar, like how [[DF2014:Cat]] links to http://dfwk.ru/Cat) but I can look into that too. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:40, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
::Hello! I'm the admin of [https://dfzh.huijiwiki.com/ Chinese Dwarf Fortress wiki], and I've previous put its link on the main page. We've now enabled interwiki link from our site to English site, and we wish to get one back from English site to CN site as well. Hope that is possible, and thanks so much! The URL for our site should be: <code>https://dfzh.huijiwiki.com/wiki/$1</code> [[User:Xjtu-blacksmith|xjtu-blacksmith 黑山雁]] ([[User talk:Xjtu-blacksmith|talk]]) 11:26, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

:::Added. Prefix is "zh", for example: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&diff=266849&oldid=266730 —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 19:45, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

== Villains Wiki ==

To started putting some creatures on the Villains Wiki, because I want to spread the word of Dwarf Fortress around, and these creatures fit the theme of the wiki anyway. Here's an example page, and the template of all pages: 
[https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Goblins_(Dwarf_Fortress) Villains - Goblins] 
[https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Template:Dwarf_Fortress_Villains Villains - Template of DF Villains]

If anyone could add more info to those pages, or think more creatures should be on that wiki, please let me know. Or you could add it yourself. -- [[User:Zippy|Zippy]] ([[User talk:Zippy|talk]]) 13:37, 9 January 2021 (UTC)

== Replace Chinese Wiki with the new one on Fandom ==

The previous Chinese wiki on wikidot seems to be inactive for a long time, with its main page refers to the download link of v0.44.10, and most pages are never updated even earlier than that version. Recently we are working on a new site on Fandom ([https://dwarf-fortress.fandom.com/zh]), trying to keep everything up to date. Wish to replace the links on dwarffortresswiki's main page and the sidebar link (inter-language link) with the one at Fandom, so that more people may get to the right place and join us. [[User:Xjtu-blacksmith|xjtu-blacksmith 黑山雁]] ([[User talk:Xjtu-blacksmith|talk]]) 04:16, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

:I've added the link of Fandom site onto the main page, without removing the previous one. [[User:Xjtu-blacksmith|xjtu-blacksmith 黑山雁]] ([[User talk:Xjtu-blacksmith|talk]]) 11:09, 12 May 2022 (UTC)
:We've migrated Chinese Wiki to huijiwiki.com, which is now shown on Main Page. [[User:Xjtu-blacksmith|xjtu-blacksmith 黑山雁]] ([[User talk:Xjtu-blacksmith|talk]]) 07:41, 29 May 2022 (UTC)

::Added. The "zh" prefix should work for links. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 19:43, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

== Kitfox Discord ==

<blockquote>
''2022-04-15 BlueManedHawk . . (8,594 bytes) (-135)‎ . . (The Kitfox Games discord server has an unethical code of law. I don't think the wiki should be supporting it.)''

''2022-04-15 Ziusudra . . (8,729 bytes) (+135)‎ . . (Undo revision 263652 by BlueManedHawk[:] please discuss changes such as this on the talk page first) (Tag: Undo)''
</blockquote>

Alright, I can do that.

The Kitfox Games discord server has a code of law that contains the following immoralities:

:- Is very vague and nebulous, allowing the moderators to exploit the vagueness to be able to do very different things in similar circumstances in alignment with their biases. (Not that they do that, but the fact that it's possible is concerning.) 
:- Contains a "These rules are subject to common sense." clause, essentially meaning that the moderators are able to do whatever they want and hide it behind the barrier of "common sense". This goes completely against the point of the concept of rules in the first place as a promise from those in power in regards to what they will and will not do. 
:- Allows for infinite punishment.

That last one could do with a bit of explaining. Let us begin with the premise that the punishment for a crime should be proportional to the severity of the crime. I think we can all agree on this. Therefore, an infinite punishment should only ever be given for an infinite crime. However, humans are not infallible. People make mistakes. And this means that if a court of law is able to administer an infinite punishment, they run the risk of accidentally giving somebody an infinite punishment that they do not deserve. This, I think we can all agree, is unnacceptable. Therefore, infinite punishment cannot every be administered ethically.

I hope that this explains why I want the link to the Kitfox games discord removed.

Regards,

—[[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 22:29, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:* Their rules are not vague or nebulous, they even give examples of what the rules cover. Of all the discords I am on, their rules are some of the most detailed.
:* The "''depending on the action and our judgement''" is quite similar to the "''depending on how disruptive you were and your prior history''" found in the DF forum rules, and is pretty standard social media boilerplate and is itself common sense.
:* Their rules state "''Breaking these rules will result in a warning or ban''", which is not at all "''infinite punishment''", and is again quite similar to the "''If you violate the guidelines, you will be warned, muted for a period of days, or banned completely''" on the forums. It's not like they can keep anyone from playing the game or interacting with the other communities.
: Your referring to their rules as "code of law" is hyperbolic. Their rules are quite similar to the rules of the forum. So, I disagree and think the link should stay. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 23:13, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
::* The rules are pretty vague. Examples aren't enough. A strict, clear, unambiguous definition is necessary to prevent abuse.
::* While it is true that their clause is ''normal'', that doesn't mean it's ''right''.
::* The explanation of bans doesn't explain how long the bans will last. Since there's nothing explicitly stating that infinite punishment won't be given, and since "ban" by itself generally refers to a permanent ban, I think that it's allowing infinite punishment.
::* I'm not sure how the term "code of law" is hyperbolic. I use the term synonymously with "set of rules".
::* I can't seem to find a code of law for the forums. However, if what you said is true, then clearly we should also remove the link to the forums.
::
:: Regards,
::
:: —[[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 02:59, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
::: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=27009 It's linked in the header at the top of every forum page, though if the header is collapsed you won't see it.
::: Unambiguous rules are technically impossible since human behavior is limitless. That's why we hav judges for actual laws - even society's strictest laws need a human adjudicator. Then, even with "permanent bans", both Kitfox and Bay12 hav public email addresses and twitter accounts which can be used to petition to hav a ban removed.
::: Finally, suggesting the removal of the links to the official forums for the game this wiki is dedicated to is unreasonable, to the point of making me wonder if you're trolling. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 04:59, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

::::I agree with Ziusudra. More broadly, I think we should keep links to "official" DF channels, and Kitfox is a DF publisher. If a potential for "infinite punishment" warrants removing links to the offending site, then by your logic, we should remove all links to the wiki from the wiki because users here have been banned permanently. That has been done based on the best judgement of the people who volunteer their time to run the wiki and has been open to appeals, and I expect other channels are similar. I'm not interested in entertaining this argument here. If you have specific issues with a specific external site, I suggest that you get in touch with the moderators there instead. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 05:34, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

:::::Hello.

:::::As I mentioned below, the DFWiki is in a position of power, and by removing the link to them, we can potentially force their hand into making their code of law more moral. On the other hand, keeping the link there could potentially be seen as supporting their immoral behavior, tarnishing the reputation of the site. This is why I brought up my issues with an external site onto this one: because these issues also affect it.

:::::It is true that by my logic, the DFwiki is operating immorally. However, I would like to mention that ''you are in a position of power on the wiki'', Lethosor. I would think that you have the ability to change the Wiki's code of law to be more moral. You have the choice to make the wiki a better place, and I advise that you take it.

:::::Regards,

:::::—[[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 06:22, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

::::Hello.

::::* I don't know which header you're referring to—wherever it is, it seems to not be there for me. Regardless, I thank you for clarifying which guidelines you were referring to.
::::* Unambiguous rules are largely impossible because nobody has yet created an unambiguous language. However, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't still seek to get as close to unambiguous as possible when constructing a code of law.
::::* Claiming that the bans are transient because it's possible to appeal them is optimistic, and while there is a place for optimism, this is not it. Any potential that a legal system has for corruption is one that we cannot assume will not be used, and often, corruption begets corruption, continuing the cycle until a revolution happens.
::::* Being a central repository of knowledge on DF, the DFwiki is in a position of power. If we do remove the link to the Kitfox discord under the condition that they make their code of law more moral, then we can theoretically force their hand, maybe. There is, of course, a risk to this, and this should be deliberated before a decision is made.
::::* I am not a troll. Why does everybody keep thinking that?

::::Regards,

::::—[[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 06:22, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

== Advertisements problem ==

One of the full-page advertisements(a pop-up that obscures the whole page) had what looked like a "close" button, but it just tried to redirect me to another page.
Full page advertisments aren't untoward but like, web elements that say 'close' are expected to do what they say, otherwise it's intercepting clicks. – [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment by [[User:Eerr|Eerr]]

:Do you have a screenshot of the offending ad, or can you take one if it happens again? My understanding is that that is something we (admins) don't have control over, but we can report misleading ads to Google. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 03:09, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

== Kitfox Discord (again) ==

Hi. I'm again requesting the removal of the link to the Kitfox discord server for only two reasons this time: the code of law gives infinite power to the moderators, and the criminal justice system uses punishment to deal with criminals. These are obviously both immoral, and until the server fixes these issues, the DF wiki ought to remove the link so as not to seem to be promoting them. [[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 21:45, 15 September 2022 (UTC)
:And again, I don't support removing the official publisher's discord just because you think that there is some thing wrong with their completely normal and reasonable moderation practices, none of which involves "infinite power", "punishment", "criminals", or other such hyperbole. Banning is not "punishment", it is protection of the community from those that act to harm it, nor is it "infinite power" since all it does is keep those rule breakers off one discord server and nothing else. All of which also happens on both the Bay12 Forums and this very wiki, both of which, by your logic, you should immediately stop using lest you appear to be promoting them. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 03:45, 16 September 2022 (UTC)
::Normalizing of horribly unethical practices is not okay. I do not think it is hyperbole to use the terms "infinite power, "punishment", and "criminals". The server is a jurisdiction like any other, and it should be held to the same standards of morality as any other—this includes not using punishment as a means to deal with those who break the law. It is completely possible to protect the community without using bans—bans simply get rid of problems instead of fixing them, and are ineffective against the diligent. Infinite power is not an okay thing to give to those who govern a jurisdiction—dictatorial power structures have been shown to fail many times over throughout history.
::
::If we simply must keep any official venues for DF on the main page, regardless of morality (this includes the forums, which i agree should also be removed), then the Wiki ought to put a disclaimer of some sort clarifying that they are being listed not in support of the governance policies of the communities, but simply because they are official.
::
::[[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 17:24, 17 September 2022 (UTC)
:::Good god, how many of these discussions are you gonna keep making? Is there anything that ''doesn't'' offend you? -- [[User:Zippy|Zippy]] ([[User talk:Zippy|talk]]) 13:14, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
::::There's no need to be rude. But to answer your question, i'm going to have as many discussions as are necessary until a concensus is reached. [[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 21:43, 22 September 2022 (UTC)
:::::You can't keep just keep making constant requests of "guys can we please remove that and that and that and this and this because of like business and anti-competitive stuff and yeah and like" but then turn around and go "why does everyone think I'm a troll?" Can you seriously not connect those two things together? I've been part of this community for a long time, and you are the one and only person who gets all offended by things that no one else would even care to think about. This wiki is not the place for that. -- [[User:Zippy|Zippy]] ([[User talk:Zippy|talk]]) 10:48, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
::::::I really don't understand why people think that i'm a troll. If you or someone else were to explain it to me in a manner that's more polite than your previous messages have been, i'd be happy to listen. [[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 20:18, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
:::::::Hmmmmmmm, no. I'm gonna skip the "polite" thing and just speak the truth. No regrets. The fact that you can't see why people think you're a troll makes the situation even worse. You're someone who got all bent out of shape over a Minecraft diamond reference, something that no one else would ever care about. You keep saying you don't see how people think you're a troll when it was explained to you many times. All this goofy legal stuff you keep bringing up is best left elsewhere. Not here. -- [[User:Zippy|Zippy]] ([[User talk:Zippy|talk]]) 13:59, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

== Wiki logo ==

The new wiki logo requires getting used to. Personally, I wouldn't mind something simpler like [[:File:Dfhack-logo.png|DFhacks]] with a more fancy version going to the mainpage. Maybe someone from the community can come up with something, here is what [https://ibb.co/26J569S my meager skill] able to come up with --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 13:20, 7 December 2022 (UTC)
:I just noticed it and I have to agree. It's like being hit in the face with a brick. It references DF relatively deep lore ([[obsidian]] and [[semi-molten rock]]) and it feels way too harsh compared to the relatively relatable and much more early-game relevant icon of a dwarf mining. --[[User:Lurker|Lurker]] ([[User talk:Lurker|talk]]) 13:01, 10 December 2022 (UTC)
:: For reference here is the [[:File:DFDefault.png|digger]] from the classic intro and bellow rendering of what steam version uses in its loading phase, as well as [https://ibb.co/mtzdLm3 this simple variant]
<diagram>
¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦ ¦
¦ ¦
¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
▒ ▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒ ¦¦ ▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒
▒▒
</diagram> --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 15:39, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

== steam release ==

: "''We are working on a migration that will be complete in the next few days''"
Any estimate on how long that is going to take? --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 08:53, 10 December 2022 (UTC)
: Additionally, who is working on this wiki migration, and why is it a closed process? I feel like the migration could have been largely completed by now if everyone was able to help, but that sentiment may just be coming from my ignorance. [[User:Trainzack|Trainzack]] ([[User talk:Trainzack|talk]]) 00:40, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
::See thread at [[Dwarf_Fortress_Wiki_talk:Versions#v50_organization]]. Emi and I are planning to use a MediaWiki bot for this. My current ETA is 2 days from now. I've asked for help in a few places to write such a bot and have had no responses. My concern with a manual migration (e.g. if we have people copy over just some pages manually) is that it would likely result in a state that is much more complicated to finish. I'm sorry it hasn't gotten done yet. Open to help with automating this. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 04:39, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
:::Ah, that page completely eluded me! Thanks for pointing in that direction. I would be totally willing to help write a bot, just let me know what I can do. [[User:Trainzack|Trainzack]] ([[User talk:Trainzack|talk]]) 14:37, 17 December 2022 (UTC)
::::Thanks for offering. I actually ended up with some time today to work on the migration script. It's almost done, just need to run some final checks before setting it loose. Hopefully tomorrow. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 07:15, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

== wiki tasks ==

Dwarf old head but new account. I'm trying to do a little grunt work for migrating raws and stuff every time I browse the wiki but adding raws is gated behind the adding a page permission. Is there a honey-do list for stuff that needs editing in order to get some contributions under my belt? ☺ --[[User:Hotty gremlin|Hotty gremlin]] ([[User talk:Hotty gremlin|talk]]) 01:47, 24 December 2022 (UTC)
:This lists every page that still has the migration template on it: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Migrated_article [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 02:26, 24 December 2022 (UTC)

== New main page gallery images ==

Should we start some sort of initiative, maybe over discord as well, for people to provide a few new images from the premium version to use on the main page? --[[User:Vallode|Vallode]] ([[User talk:Vallode|talk]]) 15:47, 6 January 2023 (UTC)
:What's stopping us from just extracting the sprites? [[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 23:05, 6 January 2023 (UTC)
::Nothing, but I'm talking about screenshots from in-game similar to the ones in [[Main_Page/gallery]]. :) --[[User:Vallode|Vallode]] ([[User talk:Vallode|talk]]) 09:26, 7 January 2023 (UTC)
:::Ahhh. Yeah, i suppose that half of the screenshots should be from Premium. [[User:BlueManedHawk|BlueManedHawk]] ([[User talk:BlueManedHawk|talk]]) 20:21, 7 January 2023 (UTC)
::Same as one can do from any official screenshots or youtube videos. And lets just say that anyone who want to get their hands on the sprites will not waste time here, there are far easier/quicker alternatives so much so that I can probably make you lmgtfy link for it. --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 11:32, 7 January 2023 (UTC)
:For what it's worth, I think there has historically been some level of notability in the screenshots provided, and I'd like for that to continue. E.g. a screenshot of an interesting event would be a good fit, but a screenshot of two cats for the sake of showing something with the premium tileset might not be such a good fit. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 03:13, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

== Migration Progress ==

{{User:OddballJoe/Sandbox/MigrationProgress}}
Made a migration progress bar we could use for the main page. I think it might be a bit too depressing, haha. I'd add a separate category for [[Template:migrated section]] to populate it. Might need to double-check [[User:OddballJoe/Sandbox#stats|my math]] before adding it. [[User:OddballJoe|OddballJoe]] ([[User talk:OddballJoe|talk]]) 02:23, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

:Fixed the math, looks good to me. Will add if nobody objects. [[User:OddballJoe|OddballJoe]] ([[User talk:OddballJoe|talk]]) 19:28, 10 January 2023 (UTC)

== Proposal for holistic crafting/construction format changes across the wiki ==

I propose that any item, workshop, or building that can be constructed or crafted have a unified formatting applied to its entry page pertaining to its constituent components ("Rock boulder x1"), product output ("Rock block x4), and workshop of construction ("Stoneworker's Workshop").

Problem being solved: User visiting pages on the wiki is met with inconsistent or absent information regarding the production and workshop location of many if not most items. When this information does exist, it is typically located inconsistently within the page in-line with narrative text.

"Steel" on the wiki is the best example of this being done but with this proposal I feel that a unified tabled format would help improve readability across the board and build user expectation.

I'm new to wikis but I am starting my workday now and will revisit this topic throughout the day to propose a format to seek feedback and gauge temperature on the subject.

Individual item names within a recipe should be hyperlinked to the wiki entry for that item for good UX, contributing to a user's ability to flow through their problem and quickly find the information they're seeking.

To get the ball rolling, parameters for some examples would be:

"Rock Block"

Recipe

Skill used: Stonecrafter

Workshop: Stoneworker's Shop

Required Components: Economic or Non-economic Stone Boulder x1

Resulting Product: Stone Block x4

"Metworker's Shop"

Recipe

Required Components: Stone Boulders, Blocks, Bars x1

"Bridge"

Recipe

Required Components: Stone Boulders, Blocks, Bars x(Variable)

Note: Please mind the formatting on this proposal, though the idea is sound I've yet to interface with this markup, my field is UI/UX and I will revisit this post once I've brushed up on wiki formatting to make this proposal shine. – [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment by [[User:Venality|Venality]]

: I'm in favor of something like this. We already do it for workshops with {{tl|V50_workshop}} and could do something similar for items. Couple of thoughts:
* Some of the recipes (aka reactions) are defined in the raws, not sure what proportion. It might be worth considering automating the inclusion of some of this data from raws, with parser functions or Scribunto or an external script.
* A lot of this data would be helpful to cross-reference. E.g. an item page lists the workshop needed to make it, the workshop page lists the items it can make, and a material page lists the items that can be made from it. This could be set up to stay up-to-date with an extension like [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cargo Cargo]; I've never used it but it looks reasonably straightforward. That could help organize a lot of other data too, like creatures. [[User:OddballJoe|OddballJoe]] ([[User talk:OddballJoe|talk]]) 19:31, 11 January 2023 (UTC)

== Bad caching of main page ==

Viewing the main page right now, logged out in an incognito window, displays the latest version as v50.05 and the "up-to-date" article count as 266, instead of v50.07 and 310. The html shows "Cached 20230205190127", so it's a 3-day old cached page. It also says "Cache expiry: 3600", which seems to imply hourly expiry. Maybe adding <nowiki>{{CURRENTHOUR}}</nowiki> to the page will force a cache expiry via the magic word cache logic? In any case, caching needs to be fixed so we're not serving outdated pages. —[[User:OddballJoe|OddballJoe]] ([[User talk:OddballJoe|talk]]) 17:43, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

== Outdated Knockout Link ==

Please update the link to the Knockout forum thread to [https://knockout.chat/thread/46824 this one], as the current link on the page links to a closed thread. I'd do it myself but the Main Page appears to be locked to admin-only edits now. [[User:OluapPlayer|OluapPlayer]] ([[User talk:OluapPlayer|talk]]) 13:53, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

== Duplicate version links ==

At the top of the page, under the number of articles, are links to the previous versions. At the bottom of the page, more version links are listed after "Archives", which appear to be redundant and can be removed. --[[User:Cali|Cali]] ([[User talk:Cali|talk]]) 01:28, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

== Remove the link to Masterwork ==

Hello. Currently the Other/Mods section has a link to [[Masterwork:Main_Page|the Masterwork namespace]]. I vouch for that link to be removed for three reasons:
#
# It no longer works with the current version of DF, due to the mod changes in v50.01. A mod(pack) which is not playable on the version of the namespace, should not be advertised before all others, if at all. The [[list of mods]] does not include mods which are outdated for the namespace.
# I believe that its popularity has heavily waned, and though it once was a contender for the most popular raw setup (including vanilla!), this is far from the case now. It not being updated for a long time likely contributes. So the break-out popularity of its past which warranted a link does no longer exist.
# The downloads are broken/removed due to the whole Meph debacle. This is an issue with the Masterwork namespace as a whole, which needs separate discussion over there. But essentially it breaks the purpose of the Masterwork namespace, since they document an unavailable mod, and fail in providing (links to) downloads for the mod. The Main Page should not link to pages that serve no purpose.

--[[User:Voliol|Voliol]] ([[User talk:Voliol|talk]]) 11:26, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

:That sounds fine to me. The only edit in the past [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Special:RecentChanges?hidebots=1&namespace=1000%3B1001&limit=500&days=90&enhanced=1&urlversion=2 90 days] was a spam edit to [[Masterwork:Salamander]]. What link should we put in its place? It would be nice to keep an even number of links if we can. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 03:43, 22 July 2023 (UTC)

::Category:Game_development maybe? Fits the category of "other", isn't already on the main page, and is of general interest. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 22:04, 22 July 2023 (UTC)

:::What about [[DFHack]]? It is an utility like others in the linked [[utilities]] article, but it is greater in scope and likely popularity, to the point of being on Steam separately from ''Dwarf Fortress'' itself. The Other/Mods section seems to be about a combination of ways players can interact with the game and add to it, beyond its usual scope, and technical details. DFHack fits right into this by not only being a player-made utility, but by providing an environment for players to binary hack the game, and of course being highly technical. —[[User:Voliol|Voliol]] ([[User talk:Voliol|talk]]) 09:09, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

Messenger

2020-06-26T18:11:10Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Tattered" to "Fine" using the rating script

{{Quality|Fine|18:11, 26 June 2020 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{new in|0.44.11}}
{{stub}}

'''Messengers''' are an assigned [[occupation]] at your site. They can be assigned in the Locations and Occupations menu ({{key|l}}), and will act as liaisons with your [[holding]]s and conquered sites. When a messenger has been assigned, they can be sent on missions from the Civilizations screen ({{key|c}}) to request ({{key|r}}) dwarves from your [[holding]]s and conquered sites to become [[Citizenship|citizen]]s of your fortress. Only dwarves that are considered [[historical figure]]s may be summoned to join your fortress in this way.

==Bugs==

Messengers can be distracted from missions by other jobs/needs.{{bug|10795}}

[[Category:Occupation]]
[[ru:Messenger]]

Hide Items or Buildings

2020-06-26T18:10:31Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Tattered" to "Fine" using the rating script

{{Quality|Fine|18:10, 26 June 2020 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
:''This article refers to "hide" in terms of removing items or buildings from view, for the article on creature skin, see [[cv:skin|Skin]].''

You can '''hide and unhide Items and Buildings''' using the designation menu or look mode.

Hidden items/[[building]]s will still be there and will still be available to [[dwarf|dwarves]] usage, except they will not be visible on screen and will instead show what is on the tile other than they (or just the tile alone). You can still view the object in look mode.

To hide or unhide a building or item, you can loo{{k|k}} at an item, and then press {{k|h}} to hide/unhide that item, or, alternatively, you can use the {{k|d}}esignations menu, get into the item options menu with {{k|b}} and {{k|h}}ide or un{{k|H}}ide a large group of items/buildings.

Note that if you hide all [[stone]] from the stock menu, all buildings made of stone will be hidden as well.

To unhide a building, you can use the {{k|t}}ask menu to see the items it is built with, and use {{k|h}} to toggle hidden.

This can cause what appear to be bugs, if cage traps are hidden after they're set. In this case, use {{k|t}} to select only the mechanisms, and not the cage. This will hide the trap, but still allow the cage to be seen after trigger. Weapon traps need all their weapons and the mechanisms hidden to disappear.

{{Category|Designations}}

DF2014 Talk:Kimberlite

2020-06-24T11:21:32Z

Antsy555: Created page with "what type of rock is kimberlite? some form of igneous i think, but i'm not sure, and don't know how to access the raws to check ~~~~"

what type of rock is kimberlite? some form of igneous i think, but i'm not sure, and don't know how to access the raws to check [[User:Antsy555|Antsy555]] ([[User talk:Antsy555|talk]]) 11:21, 24 June 2020 (UTC)

Health care

2020-06-22T11:55:06Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Exceptional" to "Masterwork" using the rating script

{{Quality|Masterwork|11:55, 22 June 2020 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{buggy|bugsection=Bugs}}

A '''hospital''' is a [[Activity zone#Hospital|zone]] designated via the [[Activity zone|zone menu]]. Hospitals use any beds, tables, [[traction bench]]es, and coffers/bags that have been built within the zone. The hospital will requisition [[thread]], [[cloth]], [[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[Gypsum plaster|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 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. 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, while a fully-fledged fortress with an adventurous military may need as many as 8. (Containers are not strictly necessary; doctors can and will use supplies from anywhere, but dedicated hospital containers allow you to earmark some supplies for medical use - for example, to prevent the auto-looming of ''every'' last thread.)
* 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.
** Multiple dwarves may undergo simultaneous surgeries on the same table.
* Build one or more [[traction bench]]es ({{k|b}}-{{k|R}}) to handle compound fractures when the dwarf requires "immobilization."
** 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 individual 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 -- [[Labor|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"
|-
| {{gametext|'''NONE: No recorded active wounds on the part.'''|7:1}}
|-
| {{gametext|'''MINOR: Any damage that doesn't have functional/structural consequences (might be heavy bleeding, though).'''|8:1}}
|-
| {{gametext|'''INHIBITED: Any muscular, structural, or functional damage, without total loss.'''|9:1}}
|-
| {{gametext|'''FUNCTION LOSS: An important function of the part is completely lost, but the part is structurally sound (or, at least partially intact). '''|3:1}}
|-
| {{gametext|'''BROKEN: The part has lost all structural integrity or muscular ability.'''|4:1}}
|-
| {{gametext|'''MISSING: The part is completely gone.'''|#999}}
|}
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, or cleaning with [[Water#Water_laced_with_mud|water laced with mud]]. {{Verify}}
* Cleaning without [[soap]].
* Bad luck

An infection effectively causes constant internal bleeding, and if the infected dwarf is healthy enough, they can naturally replenish their blood quickly enough to outpace the infection.

== Equipment ==
=== Traction benches ===

A '''traction bench''' is used by a [[bone 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. The [[quality]] of each component is not reflected in the quality of the traction bench, and only the [[material]] of the table is used as the material for the bench. "Recycling" low-quality, low-value components into high-quality traction benches can provide a modest increase in [[value]]. 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).

=== Casts ===

Casts are made out of [[Gypsum plaster|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]]. Splints seem to be an effective alternative to plaster casts, and are 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, as 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.
** Note that the quantities listed in the "Set Hospital Information" screen are different than those used in stockpiles.
*** 1 stockpile unit of thread = 15000 in the hospital
*** 1 cloth = 10000
*** 1 soap = 150
*** 1 gypsum powder = 150
* It is possible to do without soap in the hospital stockpile. Choosing to do so, however, increases the risk of infection, which will most likely kill the patient. 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 (or near) the hospital for maximum efficiency. Doctors need to wash patients 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 [[burrow]]s 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 McPaperCut 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 in 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, Give food and Give water labors.
** It is important not to distract doctors from treating patients (or other medical helpers such as crutch haulers, or wounded recoverers).
** "Recover wounded", "Give food" and "Give water" are low-priority jobs, so it is entirely possible for a patient to starve, dehydrate, or bleed to death if no one ever gets "unbusy" enough to bring them food or 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.
* If you use Dwarf Therapist, try to select strong or large sized dwarves to recover wounded. Weak dwarves slowly inching back to the hospital from a hostile area with a dying patient can result in [[fun]].
* 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.
* Long-term residents will seek medical care if injured. This includes non-dwarves. Doctors will treat them the same as dwarves and the different physiology doesn't seem to be an issue.
* Set the hospital zone to inactive and forbid everything in it when you don't have any real medical issues. Doing this will prevent adamantine thread and cloth from being stored. It will also prevent dwarves who have no real injuries from useless resting there (harmless evil weather syndromes can result in this, medics will cancel diagnose patient due to "not resting" because the resting phase usually ends very fast).
* You may want to disable the hospital if your dwarves are doing something physically dangerous like engaging in battle with a goblin army. Dwarves will go into "resting mode" at the slightest injury and "wait" to be recovered, being promptly struck down. They will continue to fight until they actually pass out from pain or exhaustion with the hospital temporarily disabled. You can re-enable the hospital once all hostiles have been dealt with.

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==
* For a variety of reasons, an injured dwarf may leave the hospital and/or refuse to go to the hospital. {{Bug|309}}
* Wounded dwarves are not always recovered properly. {{bug|94}} Re-injuring the dwarf (with a [[minecart]] collision, dropped item, etc.) may trigger proper recovery.
* Adamantine thread used for suturing. {{Bug|1346}}
* The quality and value of a finished traction bench doesn't account for all of the inputs used to make it. {{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 as a sacrilege.

{{Category|Healthcare}}
{{Industry}}
[[ru:Health care]]

Tavern

2020-06-22T10:48:20Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Fine" to "Masterwork" using the rating script

{{Quality|Masterwork|10:48, 22 June 2020 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{new in v0.42}}

[[File:Tavern v0.43.png|thumb|300px|A tavern in adventure mode]]

A '''tavern''' is a place where people [[drink]], lodge, socialize, and entertain with each other. They exist in both [[Fortress mode|fortress]] and [[adventure mode]].

==Fortress mode==
Taverns are designated [[locations]] in fortress mode. You may designate them from any [[meeting area]] or [[dining room]]. Upon creation, the new tavern will be given a random name, but you can rename it by pressing {{k|n}} in the locations screen.

Taverns are places where your fortress's idle dwarves can mingle with [[visitor]]s from nearby civilizations. These visitors can be members of any nearby humanoid race, and will come with one of five occupations: performer, mercenary, bandit, monster slayer, or diplomat. Once a character is in the tavern, it can do the following:

* '''Socialize''': So long as there are at least two characters in the tavern, they may socialize. This can involve telling each other stories, reciting poetry, or sharing music. Its only requirement is that you include a moderate amount of empty space in the tavern's floor plan, which the game recognizes as a "dance floor." Stocking the tavern with a variety of [[instrument]]s will improve the quality of the music, as performers will simply improvise the sound of any missing instruments. Selecting a socializing creature with {{k|v}} and then pressing {{k|Enter}} will allow you to see the details of the story, song, or poem being performed, though this only works for fortress dwarves and long-term residents.

* '''Eat/Drink''': If you've built [[throne]]s and [[table]]s in your tavern, and have [[food]] and [[drink]] [[stockpile]]s within its boundaries, then tavern goers will eat and drink while here. You should also include [[container]]s full of [[mug]]s and [[goblet]]s in your tavern, as drinkers receive bad thoughts when drinking without one.

* '''Rent Rooms''': If you build a [[bed]]room and assign it to the tavern (select the bedroom with {{k|q}}, then press {{k|l}} to bring up a list of locations to assign it to), it will now be known as a "rented room" and become available for rent by long-term mercenary and performer [[visitor]]s whose [[petition]]s you've accepted. These visitors don't actually pay you anything for use of the room, but will offer their services in exchange for room and board, essentially joining your fort but refusing to accept labors. Mercenaries can be assigned to serve in any [[military]] [[squad]], but not as a leader, while performers simply socialize with tavern goers.

Because taverns serve all the same purposes as dining halls (and then some), there is no reason why you can't have them be one and the same. Lavishly decorating your tavern and filling it with such [[Stress|mood]]-enhancing items as [[mist]] generators will greatly boost your fort's happiness, as every dwarf will eventually need to visit the place to eat and drink. You can also assign dwarves to the [[occupation]]s associated with taverns: [[performer]]s and [[tavern keeper]]s. However, assigned performers do not appear to actually perform more often than unassigned dwarves, and both performers and tavern keepers will serve drinks in mugs to tavern-goers if your tavern has mugs and a drink stockpile. Serving dwarves tend to provide more alcohol than a creature would normally drink, which can lead to issues with [[drunk]]enness and even [[#Bugs|death]], particularly for your non-dwarven long-term residents!

Although taverns attract foreign visitors by default, you can adjust this option in the location menu. If you feel that your dwarves would be better off without fraternization with other peoples, you can simply change the tavern's policy on guests to serve locals only. You can also adjust the number of mugs and instruments the tavern will keep on hand from this menu.

===Tavern risks===

==== Alcohol problems ====
Although it may be fun to see your dwarves singing, dancing, and socializing their spare time away, be aware that having a tavern in your fort puts your citizens at risk of both [[alcohol#Alcohol poisoning|alcohol poisoning]] and drunken brawls. Drunk creatures are more prone to violence, especially those with [[human|weak]], [[elf|tiny]] [[goblin|livers]]. Although these outbursts usually begin as a simple fist fight between peasants or children, they can escalate quickly; friends and family of combatants will often join in, leading to huge, undesirable melees which may include highly-trained military dwarves. Even if soldiers don't get involved, lucky punches and scratches can deal permanent wounds or even kill. Worst of all, unless you have a massive hospital with multiple doctors, you can find yourself suddenly buried under dozens of lightly injured dwarves, watching their wounds grow fatally infected as they wait for preliminary diagnosis.

There is not much you can do to control for this event besides getting your medical industry up and running before opening the tavern doors, or outright not assigning any alcohol to your tavern. But hey, if you want, you can simply think of it as an exciting source of hands-on experience for your med team!

==== Agents ====
Taverns are your window to the external world, with all the good and bad it has to offer. If you happen to be in possession of a much coveted [[artifact]], foreign [[agent]]s ''will'' eventually venture at your tavern to gather information, assuming your dwarves can't hold their tongue. They will pose as any other [[visitor]], chat with your dwarves and other tavern patrons before reporting back home. If your fortress is confirmed to hold artifacts that other entities have laid a [[claim]] on, you may attract a lot of [[siege|unwanted attention]].

{{D_for_Dwarf}}
A little-known idiom about taverns and cats is the ancient dwarven expression, "Oh Urist, curiosity didn't kill the cat, the booze did." This became popularized early on due to cats liking booze just as much, if not more, than dwarves did, which led to a century-long friendship between cat and dwarf kind—and many cats dying of alcohol poisoning in taverns. Many, many cats. Sadly, cats have recently become less inclined to drink booze. Scholars claim this is probably due to the process of [[Bugs|natural selection]].

==Adventure mode==
Taverns are founded in [[fortress]]es and [[town]]s in adventure mode. They are also visible in the [[structure]]s list of [[legends]] mode. In the fast travel screen, their names will be in yellow with a brown background ({{DFtext|example|6:6:1}}). Taverns are represented with a {{Raw Tile|¶|6:6:1}} symbol.

An adventurer can order drinks and rent rooms at taverns. To do this simply talk to the [[tavern keeper]] and choose to {{DFtext|Ask about available services, drinks, rooms, etc.}} then choose the drink you want to order or the room you want to rent. This is the only way you can sleep in a building in a city in the current version. People in towns are far less accommodating than rural folk. The drinks are different for each tavern and they occasionally change, so going to a tavern one week and coming back the next will mean you will likely have different options of drinks you can order. Just remember that you have to pay the tavern keeper. Of course, you could just ignore your payment and run off if you aren't planning to return any time soon, but that will get you labeled as a [[Thief|criminal]].

You don't have to pay off your debts immediately unless you plan to leave the tavern, you can even pay it off the next day if you have a room at the tavern. However if you do plan on leaving the tavern and you wish to pay off your [[drunk|night of debauchery]] or your room, talk to the tavern keeper and choose to {{DFtext|Trade or settle debts}} you can pay in currency or trade items of equal or greater value than what you owe them in order to pay off your debts.

===Other types of taverns===
Other forms of drinking establishments exist, but are highly dubious in the "drinking" aspect. Drinking mounds are found in [[hillock]]s, but instead of mounds of alcohol, [[drunk|drunken dwarves]] fill the hollow structure. Fortunately, the drunks make easy meat shields for early playthroughs.

"Tavern trees" are built by elves in [[forest retreat]]s. As their name implies, they are completely made of tree trunks and branches, and resemble modern outdoor picnic shelters. Despite having a tavern keeper, they provide no services nor drinks, just instruments and a place for elves to group together and sing about their usual nature stuff.

=== Custom taverns ===
The [[Adventurer_mode#Woodcutting, building and site management|build menu]] gives you the zoning option to allocate a tavern area. Companions left here will behave as if they are in a tavern. Even without a tavern keeper, drinking vessels, furniture or instruments, they will mill about, gossip and [[Performance|perform]] all kinds of entertainment.

==Bugs==
* Tavern keepers/performers repeatedly serve alcohol until visitors and even dwarves drink themselves to death.{{bug|9653}}
* Tavern keepers, particularly in retired forts, sometimes claim "I don't work here" and refuse to serve drinks.{{bug|9327}}

{{world}}
{{Category|Locations}}
{{Category|Adventurer mode}}

DF2014:Release information/0.47.01

2020-06-17T14:01:24Z

Antsy555:

{{release notes}}

:Here is the villains release! There are various bits we're going to have to loop back around to after the graphics work is complete (see previous lengthy dev log), so perhaps this should be called the first villains release, or more "the guilds and temples and adventurer parties and pets release which also has artifact heists and extensive historical villainy, with lots of new mostly evil magical stuff", ha ha. We will get to the fortress plots beyond artifact heists when we return, as well as the ability for the adventurer to be a villain and to investigate them more effectively.

:The features are listed below. For fortress mode, the most important new elements that will be commonly encountered are petitions for guildhalls and temples. When enough believers or laboring dwarves are in the fort, you'll receive a petition, and it's up to you if you want to try to build the location for them or not. To satisfy the temple petitions, you must assign a priest (the game will remind you with an announcement when your temple is ready for one, after a certain value threshold is crossed.) The main benefits of guildhalls and priests currently is the ability of guild members to share knowledge, and of priests to give inspiring sermons and comfort stressed-out dwarves.

:Less commonly, but also important, a villain may target your fortress, especially when you get up to having artifacts they might covet. If you notice an artifact has been stolen in a non-kobold way (the announcements will be different, make sure you have a sheriff to receive the reports), you will be able to interrogate anybody about the crime - witness reports might be useful with a name, or they might just indicate the artifact is missing. Interrogation leads to a report indicator on the left, which you can read in the usual way (with 'r'.) This also opens up the counterintelligence screen, which will keep track of information for you. If you manage to interrogate the handler of any treacherous dwarf, generally on a return visit, you might even get the name of their master, if they have one, or get details of other plots throughout the world, though most of them cannot impact your fort directly (yet.)

:Dwarves have some more general relationship types now (especially the historical ones, who can arrive as war buddies or athletic rivals), and they can also have multiple lovers or get divorced or have children before they are married.

:Most aquifers in the fort are now slower filling. You still have to act pretty quickly (this makes them remain useful for wells and other liquid matter), but it is very possible to just wall them off or otherwise deal with the water if you are ready. You can still place a wall on top of shallow water. If you want an old-style aquifer, just embark where there's a "heavy aquifer."

:Your fort may also be invaded by horrible things if the necromancers or demons have been entertaining themselves.

:The main new bit in adventure mode is right in the beginning - well, not quite. Don't be fooled by the first character creation screen (which is unchanged), you'll get to the good stuff right after. There are a lot of new options there (starting background, religion, starting site selection, equipment including quality, mounts/pets), including the option to make party members, who can be from different civilization. Mounts greatly speed up travel if everybody has one (make sure the mount is their pet.) If you forget a mount or meet with tragedy, you can claim a new mount generally from the pastures of human cities, or wherever tame animals can be found. You do not have to purchase them currently. Just press 'h' near one (the same key you use to mount and lead animals.) If the wrong party member claims it, that party member can give it to the right one as a gift (a new conversation option which can be applied to anybody.) Pack animals (including many mounts) can also carry items. Press 'p' to place an item on a creature. This can greatly increase your capacity to carry food or treasure. If you claim a pet that is unnamed, you can name them as a conversation option (with the pet.)

:In adventure mode, if you have judge of intent, you'll be able to see the new readout of your conversation partner's mood/relationship with you (without that skill, you still get some basic info.) You have the ability to interrogate people, using the persuade and intimidate skills, though this is limited now because we didn't get to most evidence. People can confess to schemes, and sometimes that'll even be meaningful, but it's mostly a giant mush of data until we add more structure. But it shouldn't be hard to find some even without proper story/evidence hooks - just go to a nearby castle in a human town, and some portion of the nobles and administrators there will be up to something. But it'll be ultimately unsatisfying until we get to more. As a small note, only confessions of schemes will show up in the new adv mode intrigue view currently (confessions of masters/handlers don't have a proper evidence link yet.) Finally, there were a ton of existing conversation options and most are not linked to the new conversation variables (like confidence and agitation and how much they want to leave.) But you should see them in action if you interrogate, argue about values, flatter, tell jokes or pacify. Additionally, depending on personality, most people slowly loses patience with a conversation no matter what the subject is, unless they are kept entertained. These ephemeral conversation values are reset every two hours, so don't worry if you lose a chance to speak to somebody at a given time.

:If you want to play with divination dice, you'll need to find a pedestal with some at a shrine. About half of the shrines should have them, though a lot of the smaller road and intersection shrines won't have room and will just have statues. Shrines labeled in text on the travel map have the best chance, since they are large. Temples can also have them in the basement with the relics. To roll dice, make sure they are in your hand and 'I'nteract with them. Rolling should be an option there. Once you do that, the roll announcement has a lot of information. Statues generally give some idea as to whose shrine you are at. Shrines can be both for organized religions or generally to a deity, and both types can have divination traditions.
:—Toady One, January 29, 2020

==New stuff==

*[[Guild]]s organize and petition for guildhalls, guild members can do skill demonstrations
*Members of organized religions can petition for [[temple]]s and [[priest]]hood recognition, priests give sermons and comfort stressed dwarves
*[[Traitor]] dwarves, [[artifact]] heists, interrogation for crime from the [[justice]] screen, counterintelligence readout with organization charts
*Most [[aquifer]]s are much slower filling
*Can start with a party in [[adventure mode]]
*Specify background and starting location and [[beliefs]] in adventure mode (most labor skills still meaningless)
*Can start with specified equipment and [[pet]]s in adventure mode
*Tactical combat mode for adventurer party
*Adventurer can ride mounts, place items on pack animals, lead animals, claim pets, gift pets, and name pets ([[rider]] skill matters for melee/ranged rolls currently)
*Can pet animals in adventure mode
*Addition mood information in adventure mode [[conversation]]s, (simple) interrogation options, flattery, joke-telling, calming remarks, (very simple) sermons
*Simple [[intrigue]] display with actors and charts discovered in interrogation in adventure mode (in 'Q')
*Divination [[shrines|https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Temple#Shrines]] with [[dice]] and various effects
*Lots of new intermediate [[position]]s (mostly without new mechanics) in entities ([[chamberlain]]s etc.)
*Alliances against world-ending threats in [[world generation]]
*Various villainous activity in world generation, in play off-site, and (more limited) in fort mode, world generation surveillance, interrogation and punishment. Historical plots include theft, sabotage, abduction, assassination, coups, corrupt advancement promises, embezzlement, starting wars, and framing enemies.
*Romantic [[relationship]] changes (multiple lovers, affairs, children outside marriage, divorces, etc.) as well as other relationship changes and details (friendship/rival types, variables like trust, respect and loyalty)
*Merchant companies, military orders and mercenary companies, craft guilds in world generation
*Individual mercenaries and companies can upgrade their equipment, and richer world gen people can purchase houses and build up their own city towers
*Various religious interactions (shrine building, sermons, persecution) in world generation, lots of religious demographics tracking which influences shrine creation, religious sites and sermons influencing membership numbers, holy cities and a few levels of priest
*Various horrifying new necromancer/mummy/demon/vampire etc. matter - snow-balling zombie invasions, multiple [[experiment]] types, intelligent undead lieutenants with new powers, nightmarish [[summons]], spreading evil zones, promises of immortality in villainous plots
*Dwarves can trigger dig-deep disasters in world generation, with repercussions coming to other sites, including fort mode
*Some new [[location]]s, some map details still in-progress, monasteries, private city towers, guildhalls, merchant counting houses, [[fort]]s ([[bandit]]s and mercenaries), [[castle]]s have returned (basically unchanged), better necromancer towers and simple outlying buildings

==Major bug fixes==

*Fixed visitor crash related to broken meetings
*Fixed crash related to broken crimes and travelers/sent-away dwarves

==Other bug fixes/tweaks==

*Changed [[werecreature]] trigger condition
*[[Bogeyman]] limited to a few regions and given new powers
*Fixed error where bandit groups would be deleted prematurely in worldgen
*Fixed size issue with certain werecreatures
*Fixed bug where only last half of performance sentence was shown
*Fixed problem where biome and landmass names were sometimes split on the same biome/landmass

DF2014:Traitor

2020-06-17T13:56:10Z

Antsy555: Created page with "Traitor dwarves were added with the first villainy update."

Traitor dwarves were added with the first villainy update.

Mechanical logic

2018-10-31T12:28:48Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Superior" to "Exceptional" using the rating script

{{Quality|Exceptional|12:28, 31 October 2018 (UTC)}}
{{Computing}}

{{av}}

Mechanical logic is one discipline of [[computing]] using mechanical [[power]] to perform logical operations. In this case powered or unpowered [[machine component|machine components]] represent the binary information.

The principles of mechanical logic are simple. [[Gear assembly|Gear assemblies]] linked to [[lever]]s or [[pressure plate]]s will be toggled between disengaged and engaged when they receive an on/off signal. In this manner, you can conditionally attach power supply from [[windmill]]s or [[water wheel]]s to specially arranged gears to build logic gates.

== Mechanical logic compared with other logic disciplines ==
===Advantages===
* Mechanical logic is very fast. Gears don't have a reaction delay like many components used by [[fluid logic]]. If a gear is toggled the flow of power will change immediately, there will be no added delay introduced by the movement of creatures, fluids or minecarts.
* Mechanical logic is very flexible. Gears can toggle, so inverting signals is easy and you don't have to deal with different machine components.
* Mechanical logic is very reconfigurable. You don't have to deal with [[creature|creatures]] or fluid before changing anything.
===Disadvantages===
* Mechanical logic needs a substantial amount of wood to create and transmit power.
* Mechanical logic still needs converters to trigger something else than machine components, either by applying [[minecart logic]] or by using [[water|fluid]].
* Mechanical logic needs a substantial amount of mechanisms, particularly if you stick to [[mechanical logic#Load based|load based mechanical logic]].

== General concepts ==
There are two general concepts. The older and less popular one is the so-called load-based mechanical logic. The other one is the so-called toggle-based mechanical logic. Note that the two can be integrated, however.

=== Load based ===
Load based mechanical logic uses logic gates with a defined amount of power. They have an additional amount of load in terms of mechanism or other machine components, consuming all of the power if connected. The gates are designed in a way that the load is disconnected while the output is true, and connected while the output is false. Every circuit has to have its own power supply. Compact complex circuits are very difficult to design, because power and load need to be controlled for each circuit, and each gate in a circuit needs to be connected to others it interacts with. However, the advantage is that load-based mechanical logic computes instantly.

=== Toggle based ===
Toggle based mechanical logic works more like [[fluid logic]], not controlling the flow of fluid but the flow of power. It uses the fact that gears don't have a defined state when receiving an on or an off signal, but toggle between connected and disengaged, independent of the type of signal. It normally uses a central power supply. It is quite easy to create very complex gates with multiple output signals such as, for example, a binary to decimal converter. The cost of this ease of use and design, however, is that toggle based circuits need to be converted not just for output, but sometimes also for further processing.

=== Example ===
The first example shows a load based XOR gate. It takes input signals from two different triggers. Its output gear (O) is powered when exactly one of the two input triggers is on and the other one is off. This is done as follows: The power will be connected to the gear with the P (from the bottom of the diagram or another z-level). One input is linked to gear 1 the other to gear 2. This way power will flow from P to O if either one of the input signals is off. The power input is linked directly to the load L which must be calibrated precisely so that the power provided can move the output and load and ''one'' of the input-toggled gears, but not ''both''. You can build this on top of a [[Mechanical logic#Power to signal converter|power to signal converter]] as shown on this page. As you can see, this gate is complicated to construct. You will need four gears and four more to connect the input in addition to all the components needed for the converter and the load, and your load assembly will need to be precisely calibrated and can only be used for this circuit. When using a common load (shared with other circuits), the gate would have to be linked to it through two signal-driven gears put in line. This would increase the parts count by two installed and four link gears.
<div style="width:1px; white-space:nowrap;">
'''load based XOR'''
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; border-style:solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#000000;"
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{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; padding:0; margin:0; vertical-align:middle;"
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|{{RTL|#FFF}}
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|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#444|*|#DDD||||1|#F4F|right}}
|{{RTL|#222|*|#BBB||||O|#FF4|right}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|-
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF| |#FFF|L|#F44|right}}
|{{RTL|#444|*|#DDD||||P|#4F4|right}}
|{{RTL|#444|*|#DDD||||2|#D4D|right}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|}
|}
</div>
 A toggle based XOR gate looks much simpler:
<div style="width:1px; white-space:nowrap;">
'''toggle based XOR'''
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; border-style:solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#000000;"
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{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; padding:0; margin:0; vertical-align:middle;"
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|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|-
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#222|*|#BBB}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|-
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|{{RTL|#FFF}}
|}
|}
</div>
In stark contrast to the load-based XOR, it consists of a single gear. While it requires a power source and an output, it can accept power from an axle and serve as output gear by itself. This is how it works: Connect it to your source of power, and link it to one of your input triggers. Build a temporary lever anywhere and connect it, too. Pull the lever once. You can deconstruct the temporary lever now. Now the gear is disengaged, and you link the second input trigger to it. Since gears toggle, every time your trigger changes state and sends a signal the gear will change state. Initially both triggers are off, and the gear is disengaged. When one trigger changes state, it will activate the gear. Independent of which trigger changes next, both will have the same state afterwards, and the gear will be disengaged again. So the gear will transport power when both input triggers are at different state: XOR. You can build this on top of a [[Mechanical logic#Power to signal converter|power to signal converter]] as shown on this page. As you can see, you won't need many mechanisms to build this gate. 1 for the gear, 4 to connect to the input and 1 will be lost after disconnecting the temporary lever (that needs 3 temporarily). And of course you will need all the components for the converter, but no load. 

'''toggle based XNOR'''
* Use a single gear as for the XOR, but omit the temporary lever step.

'''toggle based NOR'''
* Multiple gears in series, with one (and only one) input connected to each gear. Any single ON(signal) input will produce an OFF(power) output.
* Can be converted to OR by adding an [[inverter]] to the output
* No temporary levers, so it uses fewer mechanisms.

'''toggle based AND'''
* Same as the NOR except use temporary levers to pre-toggle each input gear. For large logic arrays it is probably best to convert your Boolean equations to NOR logic, as that is the quickest simplest and least expensive (in mechanisms) to implement. With the added benefit that all mechanisms can be recovered from gears.

'''toggle based NAND'''
* A 3x1 gear assembly for each input. Input goes to the center (signal) gear. Power goes to either one of the other gears (the power gear), output is the other outer gear (output gear). Can be expanded indefinitely by adding additional 3x1 arrays in parallel (i.e. 3x2 for a 2 input, 3x5 for 5 input). The theory is that power is transmitted across all of the power gears (which are all connected to each other in parallel. Any single signal gear which has an OFF state (gear engaged) will allow power through to the output gears. It requires every input gear to be disengaged (ON signal) in order to produce an OFF (unpowered) output.

'''toggle based OR'''
* Same as the NAND except pre-toggle each signal gear.

== Power to signal converter ==
When you are dealing with mechanical logic, you'll finally want or have to trigger something else than machine components like doors or bridges (or, with toggle-based mechanical logic, another gear assembly). Currently, there exists no trigger in dwarf fortress that reacts on the working state of machine components, that is, the presence or absence of power. The traditional solution to this was to use a hydromechanical power-to-signal converter, remarkably similar to hydromechanical [[Memory_(computing)|memory]].
<div style="width:1px; white-space:nowrap;">
'''Z 0'''
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; border-style:solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#000000;"
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{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; padding:0; margin:0; vertical-align:middle;"
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|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|-
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#222|·|#BBB}}
|{{RTL|#444|÷|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#444|÷|#DDD|►|#00A|center|►|#00A|center}}
|{{RTL|#222|·|#BBB}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|-
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#DDD}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|}
|}
</div>
<div style="width:1px; white-space:nowrap;">
'''Z-1'''
{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; border-style:solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#000000;"
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{| cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-spacing:0; padding:0; margin:0; vertical-align:middle;"
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|{{RTL|#222}}
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|{{RTL|#222}}
|{{RTL|#00A|^|#DDD||||7|#88F|left}}
|{{RTL|#DDD||||||7|#88F|left}}
|{{RTL|#DDD||||||7|#88F|left}}
|{{RTL|#DDD||||||7|#88F|left}}
|{{RTL|#222}}
|-
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|{{RTL|#222}}
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|}
</div>
 
When the pump is connected to power, it will suck water from the pressure plate and pump it to the right. The water level on the pressure plate will fall to 0. The plate can be constructed to react on 0…3 water. You can invert it to get an off signal instead setting it to 4…7. In both cases the ''off signal'' will have a delay of about 100 steps. This gate is fluid conserving.

However, the introduction of minecarts have created alternatives that are more compact and don't require water, largely rendering the hydromechanical PTS device obsolete. The following minecart-based PTS converter is fast, easy to build, and extraordinarily compact:

[[File:2x2pts.png]]

[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=114923.0 Bloodbeard's Minecart Dwarfputing Ideas thread] on the DF forums has other examples of minecart-based PTS.

==Load based Mechanical signal-input power-output gates==
* These gates can be used either by adding a power -> link signal converter (also known as a "rotation sensor"), or directly used to control pumps, such as in other logic gates (the unsourced fluid logic gates use these, for instance). The conventional "rotation sensor" consists of a pump powered by the gate's OUTPUT gear, pumping an infinite supply of water onto a water-sensing pressure plate with an infinite drain.
* There are certain things important to all the gates:
* Each gate has an OUTPUT gear, which will be placed next to a pump which the gate will control.
* In diagrams, the OUTPUT gear is below the 'O' gear, connected to it by gears or vertical axles. The P indicates where you should hook power up, and L indicates where load (gears or pumps that don't have a water source) should be connected, and ¦ and - are horizontal axles. The Is are gears linked to INPUTs (some gates have one input, but most have two).
* Gates which incorporate a NOT will have the power network branch off from the 'O' gear, and have a train of power-draining stuff connected to the input gears, whereas gates which do not incorporate a NOT will have the power connected to the input gears instead. The principle behind normal gates is that when the INPUTs are ON, power is connected. The principle behind the NOT gates is that power is always connected, but when the INPUTs are ON, a large enough power requirement is connected to send the power requirements above the power supply, shutting down the system.
* If your windmills produce no power, you'll have to come up with some way to use water wheels for power instead.
* You should build only enough windmills (or water wheels) to power the system, and should not connect the network for one gate to another gate's network, since the load would shut everything down or nothing at all.
* The gates' instructions will explain how much load and power you need to have at each P and L in the more complicated gates.

===Legend===
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Symbol
! Meaning
|-
| {{diagram|[#ff0]O}}
| A gear which connects to your OUTPUT gear, which outputs power when the gate is producing an ON output.
|-
| {{diagram|[#aaf]I}}
| A gear connected to an INPUT. In most gates you will have two Is, with each one connected to a different input.
|-
| {{diagram|-}} and {{diagram|¦}}
| Horizontal axles
|-
| {{diagram|[#0f0]P}}
| Power goes here
|-
| {{diagram|[#aaf]i}}
| Two more gears, each connected to the two different inputs.
|-
| {{diagram|[#f00]L}}
| a chain of gears or pumps which serve to add load to the system, generally shutting it off when connected.
|-
| {{diagram|*}}
| A gear which isn't linked to any inputs or outputs and just serves to connect the power or whatever.
|}

===Mechanical identity gate ===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I--[#0f0]P}}

* This takes an linked input signal and converts it to power without changing it.
* Connected to the input gear, such that they will only be connected to the system if the input gear is receiving an ON signal, are gears with windmills on top of them. Build only enough windmills to power the devices that the gate's OUTPUT gear are connected to (and the gears/axles).
* When the INPUT is ON, the INPUT gear will be active, and the network will provide power to the OUTPUT. When the INPUT is OFF, it will not provide power to the OUTPUT.

===Mechanical NOT gate===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I[#f00]L
¦
¦
[#0f0]P}}

* When the INPUT is ON, the INPUT gear will be active, and the network should need more power than is available. The devices connected to OUTPUT should shut down. When INPUT is OFF, the devices should have power since the INPUT gear will be disconnected.

===Mechanical NAND gate===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I[#aaf]I[#f00]L
¦
¦
[#0f0]P}}

* This works just like the NOT gate, except that there are two inputs and both have to be active to shut down the system instead of one. Make sure you have enough power to run the system when one of the input gears is active.

===Mechanical AND gate===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I[#aaf]I[#0f0]P}}

* This works like the identity gate, except that there are two inputs and both have to be active for the system to get power.

===Mechanical OR gate===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I
[#aaf]I*[#0f0]P}}

* This works like the identity gate, except that there are two inputs, and if either is active, the system receives power. Note that the entire power network is connected to both inputs, such that if either input is active the entire power network is powering the system.

===Mechanical NOR gate===
{{diagram|
[#aaf]I*[#f00]L
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I
¦
¦
[#0f0]P}}

* This works like the NOT gate, except that there are two inputs, and if either is active, the gear train or pump stack signified by the 'L' will be connected to the system. You need to have enough load to push power requirements above the amount of power produced by the power supply, shutting the system down.

===Mechanical XOR gate===
{{diagram|
[#ff0]O[#aaf]I
[#aaf]I*-[#0f0]P
[#000].[#aaf]i
[#000].[#aaf]i
[#000].[#f00]L}}

* Except for the 'i's and 'L', this gate is identical to the OR gate. The additional components add the 'exclusive' part of the 'XOR' to the gate.
*The 'i's are additional gears connected to each of your inputs, and the L is additional load (large enough to stop the system, of course).

===Mechanical XNOR gate===
{{diagram|
[#000].[#000].[#aaf]I*[#f00]L
[#000].[#000].[#ff0]O[#aaf]I
[#000].[#000].¦
[#0f0]P[#aaf]-*
[#000].[#000].[#aaf]i
[#000].[#000].[#aaf]i
[#000].[#000].[#0f0]P}}

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! A
! B
! Drain
! Power
! Extra Power
! Result
|-
| 0
| 0
| No
| Yes
| No
| 1
|-
| 0
| 1
| Yes
| Yes
| No
| 0
|-
| 1
| 0
| Yes
| Yes
| No
| 0
|-
| 1
| 1
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| 1
|}

* The XNOR gate is an equality gate: The output is ON when both inputs are equal, and OFF when they are not equal.
* This gate may be '''even more complicated''' to build than the XOR gate!
* First, your 'i's are again gears connected to your two inputs. The extra P below them is additional power source, ideally only one windmill.
* Here's where it gets complicated. The load has to be sufficient to shut down the system when additional power supply is disconnected. However, when BOTH inputs are on, there needs to be enough power from additional P to bring the system back online.
* Thus our gate does what it is supposed to: Produce enough power to have the OUTPUT gear be ON when both A and B are either 0 or 1, but not when they are not equal.

{{Category|Computing}}
{{Category|Logic}}

Civilization

2018-10-31T12:19:22Z

Antsy555: /* Holdings and Tribute */ rephrased first bit to good english

{{Quality|Masterwork|17:28, 28 July 2018 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

A '''civilization''', also known as an '''entity''', is an organized society formed by a group of distinct, intelligent [[creature]]s. Civilizations are characterized by recognizable symbols, arts, and [[language]], communities possessing common [[ethic]]s and [[Personality trait#Beliefs|value]]s, the development of advanced [[site]]s and [[structure]]s, the use of defined resources, governing systems with individuals or groups exercising authority, interactions with the [[surroundings|environment]], and the creation of complex relationships between other entities, which can result in global networks of [[trade]], the sharing of [[knowledge]], and conflicts due to disagreements, which may break out into [[war]].

When you start a game in [[fortress mode]], there are typically one or more dwarven civilizations which you can choose to be the parent civilization of your fortress. You can select your civilization at the [[location|site selection]] screen. Different civilizations will have different items available when you [[embark]].

Only dwarven civilizations are currently playable by default; to play as other civilizations requires [[modding]].

==Types of civilizations==
===Mountain===
The '''mountain civilization''' is established by the [[dwarf|dwarves]] {{Tile|☺|3:0}}. Mountain civilizations centralize in [[industry]], [[alcohol]], [[mining]] deep, producing ☼masterful [[craft]]s☼, and creating pretty epic [[stories]]. Mountain civilizations build great [[fortress]]es on the edge of mountain ranges, smaller [[hillock]]s in the hill-lands, and [[mountain halls]] deep in the mountain. Fortresses and mountain halls are connected by roads and underground [[tunnel]]s.

===Plains===
The '''plains civilization''' is established by the [[human]]s {{Tile|U|3:0}}. Humans are the most variable out of all the civilizations. Plains civilizations build vast [[town]]s and rural [[hamlet]]s in low plains near bodies of water. Broad roads connect nearby towns together.

===Forest===
The '''forest civilization''' is established by the <s>hippies</s> [[elf|elves]] {{Tile|e|3:0}}. Forest civilizations are firmly devoted to the protection and well-being of nature, including [[tree]]s. ''Especially'' trees. Harming of plants (most importantly, trees) is considered an unspeakable act of crime. Forest civilizations build [[forest retreat]]s made of large, outdoor structures of living trees in wooded areas.

===Evil===
The '''evil civilization''' is established by the [[goblin]]s {{Tile|g|7:0}}. Evil civilizations are keen on going to war and <s>rescuing</s> [[snatcher|kidnapping]] innocent children. They are undoubtedly the most cruel of all the civilizations. Evil civilizations construct sinister [[dark fortress]]es and blot the land with [[dark pit]]s.

Evil civilizations are actually formed by certain supernatural [[demon|beings]] from an [[hidden fun stuff|eerie place]].

===Skulking===
The '''skulking civilization''' is established by the [[kobold]]s {{Tile|k|6:0}}. Skulking civilizations [[thief|steal]] items from nearby civilizations and stay distant from other affairs. Skulking civilizations populate natural [[cave]]s. Cave residents do not show as neighbors on the embark screen, and in default [[advanced world generation|world-gen settings]], the caves themselves are hidden from the map.

===Subterranean animal people===
Unnamed tribes spawn in deep [[cavern]]s underground and are populated by various [[animal people|humanoids resembling animals]], forming small, crude camps. Unlike other civilizations, they do not appear in the civilizations screen. Creatures that form underground civilizations are as follows:

*{{Tile|a|6:0}} [[Amphibian man]]
*{{Tile|a|0:1}} [[Antman]]
*{{Tile|b|0:1}} [[Bat man]]
*{{Tile|f|7:1}} [[Cave fish man]]
*{{Tile|s|0:1}} [[Cave swallow man]]
*{{Tile|o|7:1}} [[Olm man]]
*{{Tile|r|2:0}} [[Reptile man]]
*{{Tile|r|0:1}} [[Rodent man]]
*{{Tile|s|7:1}} [[Serpent man]]

==Dead and struggling civilizations==
When a civilization is destroyed by war or other calamities, it becomes a dead civilization. A civilization that is quite close to being dead is said to be struggling or dying.

In Fortress mode, a player may embark while part of a struggling civilization – sometimes even as part of a dead civilization.
If you are embarking as a dead or struggling civilization you are warned about that at embark. It can be tricky to determine if your civilization is struggling or dead, but here are some indicators:

===Struggling===
*Dwarven caravan may appear, but may also be absent for one or several years at a time.
*The outpost liaison may also appear with the caravan, but could also be absent (even if the caravan comes) for several years.
*Migrants should arrive as normal.
*Your (struggling) civilization will show on the Civilization screen right after embark, though it may be said to have no important leaders.
*A monarch might be appointed: most likely triggered by some unknown event, at which one of your dwarves become monarch after a polite discussion with its peers, but at the latest at the turn of the second year of your fortress (and frequently it's the expedition leader). Note that a monarch can be elected in your fortress even when the civilization was healthy at embark, in which case the election was triggered by the death of the previous monarch and nobody was elected at the other sites.

===Dead===
*All dwarven civilizations in existence are dead. If at least one is not, the dead ones will not be available for embark.
*Only two migrant waves, no more.
*No dwarven caravans, ever.
*No monarch in the fortress or out in the world, ever.
*Right after embark, the Civilization screen is completely empty. Your (dead) dwarven civilization will show up once you make contact with any other civilization, including kobolds.

Civilizations can be struggling even though they should by normal logic be dead, such as having had no living members or sites for over 1,000 years.{{bug|9503}}

==Fortress Mode==
As of version 44.11, there exist 7 information screens in the [[Civilization and World Info]] screen: World, Missions, News and Rumors, People, Artifacts, Holdings and Tribute, and Civilizations.

===World===
The world map can be accessed by pressing {{k|w}} from the [[Civilization and World Info]] menu. Use the cursor keys to navigate around the map and view other lands.

===Missions===
[[DF2014:Mission|Missions]] are commands that send one or more of your squads to visit sites outside of your fortress. They are created in the [[Civilization and World Info]] screen (accessed by pressing {{k|c}}-{{k|m}} in the main fortress view). There are multiple types of missions, such as raids, explorations, artifact recovery, and citizen recovery. ([[DF2014:Mission|Mission Page]])

===News and Rumors===
News and rumors can be accessed from the [[Civilization and World Info]] menu by pressing {{k|n}}. Display items include:
* Armies and settlers on the move as moving dots (The dots start at one location and move to a destination)
* O - Towns that were conquered
* A - Red: Towns that were attacked
* A - Yellow: An artifact's last known location
* R - Refugees fleeing an army
* P - Political event

===People===
The People view can be accessed by pressing {{k|p}} from the [[Civilization and World Info]] menu. It lists the recoverable missing citizens.

===Artifacts===
The Artifact view can be accessed by pressing {{k|a}} from the [[Civilization and World Info]] menu. It lists all known artifacts. Artifact recovery missions can be launched by selecting an artifact and pressing {{k|r}}

===Civilizations===
Civilizations that you have been in contact with (either by trade or war) can be viewed by pressing {{k|c}} to go to the [[Civilization and World Info]] and then {{k|c}}. Once you've selected a civilization to view, you can switch between viewing figureheads, export/import tallies, and trade agreements for that civilization with {{k|Tab}}. Friendly civilizations will generally report positive import/export values, while hostile civilizations generally trade in [[death]] and [[fun]]. You can peruse trade agreements with the arrow keys and {{k|Enter}}. [More information is needed about the other screens.

The {{Tile|P|2:1}} or {{Tile|W|4:1}} to the right of the civilization screen indicates the current relationships between the selected civilization with other civilizations on the list. {{Tile|P|2:1}} indicates peace (note for goblins, you will still get sieges even if you are at "peace" with them) and {{Tile|W|4:1}} indicates war. As an example, if you select the dwarven civilization, and next to a goblin civilization is {{Tile|W|4:1}} (which is not uncommon) it means that—congratulations—your civilization is at war with the goblins. If you view your trade agreements with a civilization you are at war with the imports will be terror and the offerings will be vengeance. Do note that it is possible to be at war with your own civ, this is often caused by [[Mission|raids]].

Be aware that "neighbors" on the screen are not necessarily close neighbors, they are merely civilizations that have been contacted with yours. Your civilization may have connections with another civilization that are found on the far side of the world.

===Holdings and Tribute===
Pressing {{k|h}} will change the world tab to a map-like version. You can press {{k|l}} for the legend. Each civilization will have its own symbol (Ex: {{Tile|T|3:1}}) surrounded by a certain color of tile. If those tiles are red, you are at war with that civilization. If the tiles are light green, you are at peace. If they are dark blue, it is your civilization. Your site will be surrounded in light blue and your occupied holdings will be surrounded by magenta. Your vassal holdings will be surrounded by a grayish-blue color. Your tributaries will by a "T" surrounded by gray. Occupied tributaries will be an "O" surrounded by purple. If you are economically linked to a settlement, the settlement will show up as an "E" surrounded by green.
[[File:HoldingsandTribute.png|thumb|right|A world on the Holdings and Tribute tab]]
{{World}}
{{Category|World}}

Monster slayer

2018-07-06T11:29:13Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Superior" to "Fine" using the rating script

{{Quality|Fine|11:29, 6 July 2018 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{New in|0.44.01}}

'''Monster slayers''' are [[visitor]]s that will visit and petition to stay in order to slay creatures in [[cavern]]s. If you accept their service, they will live among your dwarves like regular citizens, although they will spend most of their time in any breached caverns on your map (provided they can get to them). Here they will relentlessly attack any cavern creatures that show up. Monster slayers do not seem to be able to be given orders or controlled by burrows and other means. This can be troublesome if you want to close the cavern off without leaving them inside.

Monster slayers will arrive already equipped with a weapon and armor, although they may not be particularly skilled at using them.

{{Category|Occupation}}

Quickstart guide

2018-07-05T17:56:38Z

Antsy555: Updated quality rating timestamp ("Masterwork") using the rating script

{{Quality|Masterwork|17:56, 5 July 2018 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[Dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.''
:''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, Dwarf Fortress uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0cb|Feedback|
If you have any feedback on this guide, please see the instructions in the [[#Feedback|feedback section]].
}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in Dwarf Fortress you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

As this article doesn't always contain the exact key sequences needed to do everything described, you will likely need to refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the rest of the wiki while reading this.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|500px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

Contrary to what you might be used to, the Dwarf Fortress interface uses a combination of key presses instead of clicking through menus with the mouse. So for example, instead of clicking on the Build menu, then on the Workshop submenu and finally on the specific workshop, you press {{k|b}}-{{k|w}}-{{k|c}}. All the keys you can use in a menu are always shown on the screen somewhere.
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_Screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen. There are usually seven available options:
* Return to Game: Exits the options menu (shortcut {{k|Esc}}).
* Save Game: Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
* Key Bindings: Allows you to change the keys that trigger nearly any function in the game. This can appear extremely confusing to use, but it is fairly simple to navigate through (as it uses the standard arrow keys, {{k|Esc}} and {{k|Enter}}). Changing keys for menus is probably a bad idea, since this guide assumes the default keybindings — however, it may occasionally be useful to change navigation keybindings on some laptops (for example, changing menus to use {{k|{{=}}}} instead of {{k|+}}).
* Export Local Image: Saves full-size images of your fortress.
* Music and Sound: Controls for volume adjustment.
* Retire the Fortress (for the time being): {{tc|#d00|Do not select this option unless you know what you are doing!}} It retires the fortress from your control and gives control to the normal world updating process. You can later reclaim the fortress but it may not be as you left it.
* Abandon the Fortress to Ruin: {{tc|#d00|Do not select this option unless you know what you are doing!}} It will end your fortress permanently and return to the main menu (all progress in your fortress will be lost). Your fort and most items will remain, however, so this can be useful in extreme circumstances (e.g. when you know your fortress is doomed and want to start again) – see [[abandon]] for more information.

Notably lacking is an "exit without save" option. Players who wish to quit and leave their previous save unchanged may manually kill the Dwarf Fortress process using the "die" command in [[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]], the Windows Task Manager (you might then have to end the process dumprep.exe), or the Unix "kill" command (on some systems, {{k|ctrl}}-{{k|\}} in the terminal running DF accomplishes the same thing). '''Do not''' attempt this while saving, as your save folder '''will''' become corrupted. Alternatively, you can make a copy of your region folder in the (DF)/data/save folder (e.g. "regionXX") ''before saving'', save the game normally, remove the "regionXX" folder and rename the copy.

=World Generation=

The first thing you will need to do is [[World generation|generate a new world]]. Unlike many games, the world that your game takes place in will always be procedurally randomly generated by you or someone else. There is no "default" or "standard" world.

Luckily the basic version of this process is rather simple, and doesn't usually take too long unless your computer is a bit outdated or the world's history is set to Long or Very Long.

A common new player error is to stop the World Generation once the History year counter slows down. Do not do this, as this may impede trading later on. Instead, wait until the game shows that the world has been generated.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create New World!}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World Size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History}} is {{DFtext|Short|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}

Then hit {{k|y}} to generate the world. This should help to avoid difficulties. Note that you don't need to understand what's happening during world generation at this point. You will have an opportunity to inspect the world more closely during embark.
}}

= Pre-Embark =

:''Also see: [[Embark]]''

'''Embarking''' is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

Select {{DFtext|Start Playing}} from the main menu, then select {{DFtext|Dwarf Fortress}}. The game will go through a few screens doing various world loading and updating activities. Then it will show the "Choose Fortress Location" screen.

The map you see on the right is the '''World Map''' which will show you the whole world. The one in the middle is the '''Region Map''' which will show you a zoomed-in view of the part of the world indicated by the cursor in the world map. The '''Local Map''' on the left will show a zoomed-in view of the part of the region indicated by the cursor in the region map. In the local map area there will be a highlighted embark region that you can move around with {{K|u}} {{K|m}} {{K|k}} {{K|h}} and resize with {{K|U}} {{K|M}} {{K|K}} {{K|H}}. This highlighted square is what will become your play area after you embark (This means that you cannot do or see anything outside of this area during your game). Use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} to move the region and world cursors around. Hold down {{K|Shift}} while doing this to move more rapidly.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. (Very) highly skilled players can create a functional fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, let's stick to dwarf (and newbie) friendly environments. You will want to look for certain features in your initial embark site that will make your first fort much easier to manage.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:Quickstart-good-location.png|thumb|300px|right|An example of a good starting site.]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (This is '''''very''''' important!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''Temperature:''' Warm
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Shallow Metals''' (That's Metals, plural, not Metal. You want more than one.)
*'''Deep Metal(s)'''
*'''Flux Stone''' For your steel industry
*Use {{k|Tab}} to check your neighbors and avoid places with '''towers''' or '''goblins''' or groups at war with you.

You may want to use the {{K|f}}ind tool to help you find a site. You may find it easier to put only some of the criteria into the tool (at the very least, No Aquifer). Once the find tool has finished running, the general areas which it has found will be indicated by flashing characters on the map.

'''Notes about the find tool:'''

"Calm" is classified as Neutral, Low Savagery (see [[Surroundings#Combinations_of_surroundings|the chart here]] for why). The find tool will also only indicate a ''general area'' containing suitable sites, so you will still need to check the attributes manually by moving between flashing regions on the world and region maps (with the arrow keys or numpad) '''and''' by moving around on the local map (with {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} {{k|h}}) until you find the most suitable site.

The find tool may take a few minutes to run. When it's done, '''press {{K|ESC}} to look at the results'''. If the world map is just covered with red flashing Xs, it means that it couldn't find an area matching your criteria. Try again with different criteria, or make a new world. What you want to see are some flashing green Xs, which are areas that match your criteria. As you move your yellow X over those suggested sites, the info bar on the right will tell you what features are present in that general area, such as sand, soil, minerals, an aquifer, etc. Choose the one that looks best to you!

Your highlighted embark site - the moveable rectangle shown on the leftmost map - may contain '''multiple biomes'''. If so be sure to press {{K|F1}}, {{K|F2}}, etc, to take a look at all of them (Macs and laptops may require {{k|fn}}-{{k|F1}}, depending on your settings). Each may have significantly different characteristics. Note that occasionally a site with multiple biomes may contain an aquifer which ''isn't shown in the info bar'' due to it not being in the predominant biome (the one visible with {{k|F1}}). If your site has multiple biomes, it is '''very important''' to check all of them to avoid surprises like this.

Additionally, you can resize your embark area using {{k|U}} {{k|M}} {{k|K}} {{k|H}}. A 4x4 embark (the standard) is usually reasonable, but you may want to decrease the size to avoid an undesirable biome (or if your computer [[Maximizing framerate|can't handle]] a 4x4 embark).

See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

Press {{K|e}} to embark once you're sure you have the right area highlighted on the local map.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}

Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.

Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:Quickstart-map-starting.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the sandy cliff on the right. (You can use {{K|Tab}} to show or hide the overview map.)]]

At this point you have embarked and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagon full of supplies somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Surveying the Area==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around. Use the {{K|k}} command and the arrow keys (remember that {{k|Shift}}+arrow keys will move faster). Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with {{K|<}} and {{K|>}} ({{k-|Shift|,}} and {{k-|Shift|.}} on many keyboards). The Mousewheel will zoom the map in and out. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.)

Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

Remember that this is more of a simulation than a game. It is not "play balanced", and you can very easily find yourself in impossible situations. That is all part of the [[fun]] because even when you lose, you create an interesting story.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone using {{K|i}} (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat then he will go eat and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors or no dwarf has a [[pick]] then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Stout Labor===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keybindings|
If you're on a laptop (or using a restricted keyboard), you may notice that using {{k|+}} to scroll upward on some menus is inconvenient, since it requires the {{k|Shift}} key. Fortunately, this is easy to change by modifying your [[key binding]]s:
# Press {{k|Esc}} to access the [[#Options menu|options menu]] and select {{DFtext|Key Bindings}}
# Select {{DFtext|General}}, scroll down to {{DFtext|Move secondary selector down}} (using the arrow keys), move right, and select {{DFtext|Add binding}}
# Press {{k|1==}} and select either option that appears. (Technically, you can choose any key you like at this point. However, {{k|1==}} (equals) is probably a good choice, since it's next to {{k|-}} and isn't used for anything else in menus.)
# Scroll down, select {{DFtext|By letter: +}}, and press {{k|Backspace}} (or {{k|Delete}}, depending on your keyboard)
# Press {{k|Esc}} and select {{DFtext|Save and exit}}
You can now use {{k|1==}} instead of {{k|+}} to scroll these types of menus (including the labors menu), which can be significantly easier than using {{k|+}} on certain keyboards.
}}
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf will do. For example, if the [[Fishing]] labor is enabled for a dwarf, that dwarf is allowed to engage in fishing.

When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation thinking that it isn't their job.

Dwarves will automatically have some labors enabled if they start out with skill in those labors, and some labors (such as hauling and cleaning) are enabled for all dwarves by default. This is why you didn't need to enable any labors on dwarves to get them to haul and mine, but later you may need a labor that no dwarf is currently capable of.

Look over your dwarves' assigned [[labor]]s. Press {{K|v}} (View Units) then place the cursor on a dwarf. Now, press {{K|p}}-{{K|l}} for "preferences: labors". You will see a list of labor categories that you can navigate using {{K|-}} and {{K|+}}. You can enter each category with {{k|Enter}} (except for mining, which is a single labor), toggle each labor off and on with {{K|Enter}}, and get back out with {{K|Esc}}.

After exiting the View Units menu, you can use {{K|u}} (the units screen) to help you locate dwarves. Hit {{K|u}}, select a dwarf, hit {{K|z}} for "zoom to creature" and you'll automatically be placed in view mode on that dwarf. (Then use {{K|p}}-{{K|l}} to get to the labor configuration menu if necessary.)

Even if no dwarves have the corresponding skills, ensure the following labors are set as specified:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
! Dwarves Assigned
|-
| Woodworking || [[wood cutter|Wood Cutting]] || 1 or more
|-
| Stoneworking || [[engraver|Stone Detailing]] || 1 or more
|-
| Hunting/Related || [[ambusher|Hunting]] || 0 (disabled for all)
|-
| Farming/Related || [[wood burner|Wood Burning]] || 1 or more
|-
| Farming/Related || [[herbalist|Plant Gathering]] || 1 or more
|-
| Fishing/Related || [[fisherdwarf|Fishing]] || 0 (disabled for all)
|-
| Metalsmithing || [[furnace operator|Furnace Operating]] || 1 or more
|-
| Metalsmithing || [[armorsmith|Armoring]] || 1 or more
|-
| Metalsmithing || [[weaponsmith|Weaponsmithing]] || 1 or more
|-
| Metalsmithing || [[blacksmith|Blacksmithing]] || 1 or more
|-
| Metalsmithing || [[metal crafter|Metalcrafting]] || 1 or more
|-
| Jewelry || [[gem cutter|Gem Cutting]] || 1 or more
|}

It's important to disable fishing and hunting until you have your initial fort completed — dwarves with these labors enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them. When you're first starting out you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials. Dwarves with no skill will simply be slow and produce a smaller quantity of lower quality goods in a given time period, but they will gain skill points as they do so.

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{k|i}}, then draw the rectangle to create a zone. Afterwards make it a Meeting Area. ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The {{K|d}}esignations menu allows you to select areas to dig. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|d}} to bring up the [[Designations Menu]].
#Hit {{K|d}} to mine or {{k|h}} to channel (see above)
#Place the cursor on one corner of the rectangular area you want to designate and press {{K|Enter}}.
#Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangle and press {{K|Enter}}. A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you exit the menu (with {{K|Esc}}) and unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

This is basically how all of the designation commands work. Everything has to be designated one rectangle at a time, but rectangles can be many tiles wide.

[[File:Digging Channeling tiles.PNG|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope.

In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|d}}-{{K|d}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|d}}-{{K|h}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|>}} and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|d}}-{{K|d}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20 ({{k|Shift}} moves 10 tiles when digging, so this can be easily accomplished by pressing {{k|Shift}}+an arrow key twice). This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big bad outside world. You want this to be your only entrance so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening.

A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== Additional miners ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Press {{k|v}}, navigate to the dwarf, and press {{k|p}}-{{k|l}}
* Enable the "Mining" option (see [[#Stout Labor|Stout Labor]] above)
* Exit with {{k|Esc}}
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 2 picks. If you want more than two miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:Quickstart lodgings 1.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== Room dimensions ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower.

In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a convenient size for stockpile rooms, as the {{k|Shift}}+arrow keys move the cursor 11 tiles. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoner's bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== Mining safety ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== Stockpiles ===
[[File:Quickstart-custom-stockpile.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile using {{K|q}}, selecting the stockpile, then pressing {{K|s}}. Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Use {{K|t}} to change the [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|custom stockpile]] settings to {{K|e}}nable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. Use directional keys, {{K|e}}nable, {{K|d}}isable to do this.
#{{k|Esc}} out of that screen back to the stockpiles menu.
#Hit {{K|c}} to select Custom Stockpile, if it isn't already selected.
#Designate the whole 11x11 storage room as a custom stockpile. This works just like designating an area to dig: place the cursor on one corner of the room, hit {{K|Enter}}, move to the opposite corner, and hit {{K|Enter}} again.
#Press {{K|Esc}} to get out of the Stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|q}} (Set Building Tasks/Prefs), placing the cursor on the stockpile, then pressing {{K|s}} to get to the stockpile settings.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.

Note: When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant before assigning a stockpile.

=== Stairways ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

Consequently, you will normally use up/down stairs, and use down and up stairs only for the top and bottom-most level of your staircase respectively. If you're not sure whether you want to expand the staircase in the future, use up/down stairs at the end.
}}

Designate a downward [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier) with {{K-|d|j}}. Notice that after your miner digs the stairway, it doesn't automatically create another stairway on the z-level below. If you hit {{K|>}} to move the view down a z-level you'll see that there's no stairway below, but there is a revealed tile of rock/soil. Because of the down stairway that was dug, this tile is now accessible to miners. You can then designate an up/down stairway on it with {{K-|d|i}} and the miner dwarf will dig it out. Below that you can then dig out another up/down stairway and so on. For now just dig down one level; we will deepen the stairwell later.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

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==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:Quickstart lodgings 2.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future.

Using the {{k|i}} key, create an activity zone in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you draw the rectangle before defining what the area is for. Draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and set it to be a {{K|m}}eeting area. Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

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==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} followed by {{K|r}} to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|{{K|r}}efuse]] ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, use {{K|q}} on the general stockpile and check its {{K|s}}ettings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
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==Food==

To keep functioning, your dwarves require constant supplies of food and drink. You can use the {{k|z}} stock screen to monitor how much food and drink are available. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===Farming===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer accessible from inside your existing fortress (5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction). You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

[[File:Quickstart layout 3.png|thumb|right|A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot]]


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{K|b}}-{{k|p}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Notice that some types of buildings (as well as most constructions) are not designated corner-to-corner like digging designations, stockpiles, or activity zones. Instead, you define the length and width of the building using {{K|u}}{{K|m}}{{K|k}}{{K|h}} and position it with the directional keys. Use {{K|u}}{{K|u}}{{K|k}}{{K|k}} to make the plot 3x3 and position it in the room, ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

Remember that you must enable the {{DFtext|Farming (Fields)}} labour for at least one dwarf or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. (If you selected "Play Now" earlier then you will start with a dwarf with farming enabled.)

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, use {{K|q}} to set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You can use {{K|+}} and {{K|-}} to select plump helmets (pressing {{k|-}} once should do the trick). Select with {{K|enter}}. '''You will need to press {{K|a}}, {{K|b}}, {{K|c}}, {{K|d}} and select Plump Helmets for each season''' — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
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=== Emergency food sources ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== Plant gathering ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gathering}} labor enabled (under {{dftext|Farming}}), and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{k|d}}esignate some {{k|p}}lants to be gathered on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====Butchering====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop ({{k|b}}, {{k|w}}, {{k|u}}) and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|v}}, move the cursor to the animal, then press {{k|p}}, {{k|s}}). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building materials, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|d}}-{{k|i}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Press {{K|q}}, place the cursor on your wagon, and hit {{K|x}} to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===Woodcutting===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood.

Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for {{K|w}}ood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one), so don't worry about placement too much.

Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|d}}-{{K|t}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity zone ({{k|i}}-{{k|w}}) around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a [[brewer]] to brew drinks. Unfortunately, your brewer is also your woodcutter (with a default embark), who is busy cutting down trees. You will want to make a different dwarf your brewer instead, since both your brewer and woodcutter will be busy (and one dwarf can't do both jobs at the same time).
# Find your woodcutter in the {{k|u}}nits list, select it, and press {{k|z}} (this selects the dwarf without you having to search your entire map). Use the {{k|p}}-{{k|l}} menu to disable brewing (located under "Farming/related" — you can navigate this menu with the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} buttons).
# Pick another dwarf that isn't doing anything useful. Right now, this can probably be your fish cleaner, but you can change this as soon as some migrants arrive (by following these steps again).
# Use the {{k|u}}-{{k|z}}-{{k|p}}-{{k|l}} menu again to enable brewing on the new dwarf.

[[File:Quickstart still 1.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{k|b}}-{{k|w}}-{{k|l}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created and press {{k|Enter}}.
# Use {{K|Enter}} to select a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
# Use {{k|Esc}} to exit the menu, and unpause the game.
After a short delay, your new brewer should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, use {{k|q}} to select the still and press {{k|a}}dd task-{{k|b}}rew drink. '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
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==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|i}} to create a Pe{{K|n}}/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it using {{K|N}} (while still selecting the zone). This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all.

The amount of grass required varies greatly depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing Your First Fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest.

Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:Quickstart workshops 1.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is east of the Carpenter's workshop (northwest corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow (Ö/umlaut-O) in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal).

Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|d|i}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Mason's_workshop|mason's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your mason and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Note however that some tiles of workshops are impassable: they appear as dark green 'X' when you choose a location (the specific wiki pages of the workshops also show you this). So before you build small 3x3 rooms for each workshop, make sure your dwarves will be able to reach them.

Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase (you can designate multiple z-levels at once using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}, just like moving up and down). Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually.

While your miners are busy, use {{K-|b|w}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Stout Labor|Stout Labor]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" just use {{K|q}} to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}
Remove the temporary wood stockpile you created outside (using {{K-|p|x}} and selecting the entire stockpile) and dwarves will move the wood to the new wood storage area.

Go to your mason's shop with {{K|q}} and use {{K|a}} to queue up one [[table|{{k|t}}able]] and one [[throne]]/{{k|c}}hair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, on a separate page. They are not visible initially, so you'll need to scroll with {{k|+}} or {{k|-}} — scrolling up with {{k|-}} is more efficient, as it wraps to the bottom of the list.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, select your stone stockpile with {{k|q}} and use {{k|w}} to increase "Max Wheelbarrow" to 3 (the maximum). Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.
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== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. The stockpile you set up earlier will use as many barrels as possible to store items in, which means they can't be used to store drinks. To change this, press {{k|p}} to access the stockpile menu and use {{k|*}} to increase the number of "reserved" barrels (i.e. barrels kept out of stockpiles - 5 barrels is good for now).

Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop with {{k|a}}-{{k|v}}. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again.

Go back to your still and order some drinks to be {{k|a}}-{{k|b}}rewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress.

Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

Use {{K|i}} to create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your mason's and mechanic's workshops and set it to be a garbage {{k|d}}ump. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it.

Press {{k|d}}-{{k|b}} to get to the mass dump/forbid screen and select the {{k|d}}ump option. With "dump" selected, designate a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've build your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling.

Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using the same {{k|d}}-{{k|b}} screen, hitting {{k|c}} to claim it.

Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all.

If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", you can disable the "Refuse Hauling" labor (under the "Hauling" category). Miners are good candidates, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players. It takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{K|b}}-{{K|D}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where caravans will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by).

You will need one [[architect]], which will be enabled on your mason if you selected {{DFtext|Play now!}} at embark. You also need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot.

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the Depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to Elves; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. Also note that the Traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) and some [[bone]]s are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, use {{K|D}} from the main menu to make sure your depot is accessible. ( This command is only available once the depot is built – before building, the command will be disabled, and while the depot is under construction everything will flash red until the depot is built). Once completed, checking {{k|D}}epot access will flash some of the following symbols:
* {{raw tile|X|4:4:1}}: This tile is not accessible by wagon. This could be because something is blocking it (a tree, a natural [[boulder]], etc.).
* {{raw tile|W|2:2:1}}: This tile is accessible by wagon. (These tiles will radiate outward from the depot, not from the map edges.)
:This is good, but does not guarantee wagons will be able to reach the depot. Make sure you see the words {{DFtext|Depot accessible|2:1}} in the menu.
* {{raw tile|D|3:2:1}} The depot is accessible via wagon.
* {{raw tile|D|6:2:1}} The depot is '''not''' accessible by wagon. See below.

If you see the message {{DFtext|Depot inaccessible|4:1}} in the menu (or the {{raw tile|D|6:2:1}}) symbol over the depot, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If not, expand the entranceway and try {{k|D}} again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few (you probably won't need to cut ''all'' the trees in a 3-tile wide path; usually cutting some at the end of a path of {{raw tile|W|2:2:1}}'s clears a path.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need an [[engraver]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Select {{k|d}}-{{k|s}}mooth Stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so keep checking {{k|D}}epot access until the {{DFtext|Depot accessible|2:1}} message appears.

''Note that even if your depot is inaccessible to wagons, traders still will come without wagons. They will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options works equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Beds are queued with {{k|q}}-{{k|a}}-{{k|b}} at a [[carpenter's workshop]] and built with {{k|b}}-{{k|b}}. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it near the middle of the room (towards the end away from the entrance).
# Use {{k|q}} to select the bed and {{k|r}} to turn it into a bedroom. Resize the room until it fills the area you dug out (positioning the bed away from the entrance makes it easier to avoid extending the room out into the hallway). If you decide you don't like the position of the bed, remove it with {{k|q}}-{{k|x}} and place it again.
# Press {{k|d}} to turn the room into a dormitory (the menu should read {{DFtext|d: Dormitory <Y>}})
Once you have more beds built, you can place them in the same room. You don't need to mark them as dormitories as long as they're in the area you designated for the bedroom.

[[File:Quickstart-level-7-bedrooms.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed in a room when ready
# Use {{k|q}}-{{k|r}} to mark the bed as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen.

The most important positions to assign are '''[[broker]]''', '''[[bookkeeper]]''' and '''[[manager]]'''. Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for bookkeeper and manager when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long. The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping when a trade delegation arrives to actually talk to the traders.

Having a manager will allow you to queue up work orders which will greatly simplify managing your production. Having a bookkeeper will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the {{K|z}} screen so you'll know what you do and don't have. A broker is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your trade depot.

[[File:Quickstart-noble-selection.png|right|thumb|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns white once an office is assigned.]]
Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. He/she will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

Lastly, while you are on this screen, highlight the bookkeeper and {{K|s}}et them to work for "Highest Precision" (all counts accurate). This will help train bookkeeping faster and ensure that you aren't dealing with vague inventory counts.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the {{k|z}}-stocks screen.''

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your mason's shop, and they should be done by now. Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5). Place the furniture in it with {{k|b}}-{{k|c}} (chair) and {{k|b}}-{{k|t}} (table). Once dwarves have installed the furniture, use {{K|q}} to select the '''chair''' (not the table), select "Make Throne Room or Study" ({{k|r}}), size the room appropriately, and assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be your bookkeeper and manager). Hit {{K|n}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, {{DFtext|[REQUIRE]|7:1}} should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?

Using the manager screen {{k|j}}-{{k|m}}, hit {{k|q}} to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "construct bed." Set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:Quickstart_dining_area.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K|b}}-{{K|w}}-{{k|z}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create {{K|f}}ood stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room.

Go back to your general purpose stockpile on the top level and use {{K|q}} to change the {{K|s}}ettings to {{K|d}}isable Food. This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles.

Hit {{K|z}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food.

If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves.

Eventually go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the {{K|b}}uild command. Put the new {{k|c}}hairs and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Use {{K|q}} on one of the tables you just placed in the dining room, define the area as a {{k|r}}oom, and configure it to be a meeting {{k|h}}all. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier) with {{K|i}}-{{k|x}}.

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the {{K|z}} ([[status]]) screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them.

Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the {{K|z}} screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms.

Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

==Situational Awareness==
At this point you might already have lost one or two times. Understanding why that happened is the most important part to get better and avoid frustration. To do so, you should be aware of what situation your fortress is in at all times: Are there enemies on the map? Do your dwarves have enough food? How many dwarves do you have? What season is it?

Along with just loo{{K|k}}ing around periodically, there are 4 screens that can help you with these questions:

* The {{K|u}}nit screen with its various tabs. Keep an eye out for invaders, dangerous animals and so on
* The status screen ({{K|z}}) and its "stocks" subscreen ''(Remember to appoint a [[bookkeeper]] and set him to the highest accuracy)''. Pay attention to the current date and your supplies.
* {{K|a}}nnouncements, and
* Combat {{K|r}}eports

Check them periodically and you will be able to recognize problems earlier and avoid disasters better.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a mason's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff.

At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{K|b}}-{{K|T}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. Stationing animals, such as the dogs previously mentioned, near your entrance will alert you to these ambushers.

Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful outside where invaders can come from the sides – inside, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls)
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement it you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it with {{k|t}}-{{k|x}} ({{k|q}}-{{k|x}} will work, but it won't display the name of the trap, making it harder to select the correct one). {{bug|1540}}

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|i}}. Using the {{K|N}} key inside the zone interface, assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
Build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{K|b}}-{{K|g}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to use {{K|w}}, {{K|a}}, {{K|d}}, or {{K|x}} to make it raise up in the right direction; otherwise it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up to form a barrier. And therefore, enemy ranged units will be able to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{K|b}}-{{K|T}}-{{K|l}}) near your meeting area and connect it to the drawbridge by using {{K|q}} on the lever.

In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the goblins so your military will only have to mop up.

==Metal Industry==
[[File:Quickstart-level-2-forge.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with ore stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|e|s}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|w|f}}). Designate stockpiles for {{K|b}}ars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later.

Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a {{K|s}}tone stockpile, then use {{K|q}} to change the {{K|s}}ettings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore.

Finally, go to your general purpose stockpile on the top level and use {{K|q}} to disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|e|w}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap).

Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process.

If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. Note that ores usually look like {{Raw Tile|£|6:7:1}} before they are mined and {{Raw Tile|*|6:1}} after, though the colors will differ. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on.

Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters.

Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves's legs.

[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, and [[bronze]] is also good. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year.

[[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world then you will want at least some sort of military.

Once you reach this point you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important.

If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.)

When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above_Ground_Farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
{{Feedback reporter|triggers=section:Feedback, tab, sectionlink}}
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message
* by using [[#Feedback|the feedback reporter]] (assuming JavaScript is enabled),
* on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article, or
* in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=83452.0 this thread] on the forums.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[de:DF2012:Schnellstart]]
[[ru:Быстрый старт]]

Wood burner

2017-02-03T13:18:41Z

Antsy555: Updated quality rating timestamp ("Exceptional") using the rating script

{{Quality|Exceptional|13:18, 3 February 2017 (UTC)}}
{{Skill
| color = 6:0
| skill = Wood Burner
| profession = [[Farmer]]
| job name = [[Wood burning]]
| tasks =
* turn wood into ash
* turn wood into charcoal
| workshop = [[Wood furnace]]
| attributes =
* Strength
* Toughness
* Endurance
* Kinesthetic Sense
}}
{{av}}

[[Dwarf|Dwarves]] with the wood burning skill turn [[wood]] into either [[ash]] or [[charcoal]] at a [[wood furnace]]. Dwarves with high skill level accomplish these tasks more quickly. Typically a wood stockpile and a bar/block stockpile are placed near the furnaces.

==How do I get dwarves to burn wood?==

Wood burner is somewhat tenuously considered a farming related job (because ash can be made into [[potash]], which fertilizes fields) and thus the labor is filed under Farming/''Related'' labor menu, and not [[DF2014:Furnace operator|Furnace Operating]].

{{Skills}}

Mass pitting

2015-08-08T16:44:45Z

Antsy555: /* Fortifications */ added CORRECT advice on the difficulty of firing through fortifications

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#c00|textbg=#ffd|Warning!|There have been multiple reports of hostile creatures escaping confinement while pitting. In previous versions, only "thief" type creatures, flyers, or large creatures like titans would escape using this system. The 0.40 behavior is still being investigated. If in doubt, build the cage manually or have sufficient military hanging around the top stockpile area.}}

{{Quality|Exceptional|18:43, 24 January 2014 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

'''Mass pitting''' refers to [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pitting]] many [[cage]]d creatures at one time without having to build each cage and link it to a lever. This allows you to recycle many cages quickly, freeing them up for reuse in [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] in minimal time.

=Mass Pitting System=
:Also called the '''Mass Cage Recycling System'''.
Here's a simple design that keeps you from having to build cages before releasing hostile creatures from them. This is safe for most hostiles, but see warnings below.

==Building==

#Dig out a room and another room of at least the same size directly below it.
#In the upper room [[channel]] out openings into the lower room which are evenly spaced and exactly 2 tiles away from each other ''(see image below)''.
#Build floor [[hatch]]es and place them over all of the openings.
#Mark each hatch [[forbid]]den and [[Door#Usage|tightly closed]] to pets (''not'' "locked"). ''(In experiments this has been shown to help stop normal creatures in 0.40.xx from escaping.)''
#Place one big [[Stockpile#Animal|animal stockpile]] over the room such that every tile in the stockpile is adjacent ([[orthogonal]]ly or diagonally) to one of the hatches. Disable "empty cages" on the stockpile.
#Create '''one''' large [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pit zone]] that covers '''all''' of the openings such that all of them are part of the same pit zone. This is critical to prevent hostiles from being led around and spooking your civilians.
#Disable all other animal stockpiles except for one empty-cage-only "animal" stockpile somewhere.
#See [[Mass pitting#The Pit|below]] for some suggestions on what to drop your invaders into.

The top room should end up looking something like this:

<diagram>

=========
=[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]=
=========
=========
=[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]=
=========

= Stockpile

[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@] Hatch cover

</diagram>

The bottom room can look like whatever you want as long as all of the openings you channeled out lead into it from the ceiling.

Obviously you can scale the design with more or fewer hatch openings to get a larger or smaller stockpile area in the upper room, but a 6x9 room with 6 hatches in allows you to empty out 48 cages very quickly, without spooking dwarves, which is ample for most players - ymmv.

Variations of this design exist, but they all use the same basic principle - that is, all hostiles in cages must be directly adjacent to a suitable pit. Dwarves must not be required to haul hostile creatures across any distance or else they can become startled and release the dangerous creature, then free to do as it will.

==Use==

Before pitting your captives, you may wish to [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|disarm them]] -- depending on what you've built for them to fall into.

Now, wait for the stockpile above to fill and assign creatures to the pit all in one shot. Being pitted through the hatches will keep dwarves from being spooked by hostile creatures below and with all cages directly adjacent to pits creatures can be dumped in instantly without having to be led around.

A mass of dwarves will pile into the room, pit the creatures at the about same time, and haul the empty cages off to your empty cage stockpile. The poor pathetic creatures they pitted will then be left to the mercy of whatever is at the bottom of the pits.

==The Pit==

After your dwarves have dumped out the cages the inhabitants will be dropped into the room below. Here you can find some suggestions on its construction:

====Drowning chamber====

Fill up the room below with water and watch as the invaders drown. Requires only some buckets and a water source. May be difficult or troublesome to recover anything dropped into the waters below. Consider a filling and draining method using floodgates bordered by fortifications. Ensure that the hatches over the openings are permamently set to forbidden, otherwise things can and will swim back into the room above resulting in [[Losing|fun]]. Dwarves will not have an issue dumping things through the forbidden hatches.

EX

This is a possible drowning pit where water flows through a tunnel to the right and drains out the left. Be sure they are hooked to separate levers, and remember the fortification keeps dead things from flowing out, not live things from swimming out. A door along the bottom of this design allows dwarfs in to loot the spoils, and or clear out any unwanted buildup of bodies ETC.

░░░░░░░░░░░░
░ ░
░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░
FX X
░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░
░ ░
░░░░░X░░░░░░
░ ░

X=Floodgate
F=Fortification

====Lava Pool====

Alternatively you can fill the room with magma and watch as the hostiles are instantly incinerated! Requires an [[aqueduct]] and/or magma safe materials.

====Weapon Trap Hallway====

On the level below the pit opening place weapon traps in a 1 square wide hallway. The dumped creature will run for the exit through the weapon traps until dead. You can put a cage trap at the end just in case the creature successfully escapes with his life.

Level 1
░░░░░
░nnn░
░░░░░░░npn░
cDnnn░
░░░░░░░░░░░

Level -1
░░░░░░░
░TTTT ░
░T░░░ ░
░T░T░ ░ <-- align p n Lvl 1 with center T n this level.
░TTT░ ░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░
cD ░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

p=Pit opening
D=Door
c=cage trap
T=weapon trap
n=cage staging area

====Empty Room====

Leaving the room down below empty has its benefits. When your melee military has nothing better to do beating [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|unarmed]] goblins will train fighting skills quickly. Be sure to haul off corpses before [[miasma]] begins forming.
If you are planning to kill your goblins by pitting them into an empty room, remember that height alone is not a reliable method of enemy disposal. Even if your empty room is 10-15 z-levels below, you will still get a high number of survivors and some will escape unharmed - especially when falling on top of enemies pitted previously.

====Goblin Training====

Through the use of [[trap|spike traps]], goblins can be trained in the same manner as a standard [[danger room]]. Uses for these master goblin fighters include extended target practice, an expendable military addition to be dumped on particularly nasty [[forgotten beast|forgotten beasts]], or a last resort contingency plan against non-goblin invader-induced [[fun]].

====Fortifications====

[[Image:Pitting_room.png|thumb|right|200px|Marksdwarf training room]]
By lining the pit room with fortifications you are able to safely train your marksdwarves. This provides a feasible and quick alternative to the slow process of using archery targets. By ordering your military to use [[bone]] [[bolts]] and leaving your hostiles fully armored even a small group of goblins will live to be used as target practice for months. Miasma produced during this time may give dwarves unhappy [[thoughts]]. To avoid this stagger fortifications with solid walls in such a way that diagonal gaps are between you and the rot.

Remember that goblin marksmen will still be able to shoot through fortifications if they are armed sufficiently. To avoid this exclude or [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|disarm]] them.

Also remember that you must keep civilians out of sight of the fortifications. Despite blocking the pathing of the hostiles, it does not prevent civilians from canceling jobs when they see the baddies through your fortifications.

'''''Note''''' if you use 2-wide fortifications then your marksdwarves won't fire through them unless they are journeyman or higher. You can avoid this by alternating fortifications and walls for the first layer of wall, then blocking the outer orthogonal tiles adjacent to the fortifications with walls; though you will still need to force the marksdwarves to stand adjacent to the fortifications in order for them to fire through.

====Long Term Maintenance====

In order to protect frame rate, spread of miasma if you are using this for melee training, gather any remaining loot that was not removed before pitting the creatures, or simply a desire for fortress cleanliness, you can make a bridge as part or all of one wall to the pit. When retracted it acts as a wall and removes any danger of escaping prisoners, but when all are dead or sufficient military is waiting, you may lower this to retrieve any bodies or valuables. If you do not like having a pit unavailable during this time, you may consider building a second to alternate uses between which one is being filled and which one is being emptied.
Another alternative is to build a raising (instead of a retracting) bridge and use it to atomize all of the miasma producing corpses instead of hauling them topside.

==Alternative Minecart Design==

It is possible to automate a mass pitting system with [[minecart]]s. Minecart "shotgunning" is when a minecart traveling at significant speed encounters an obstacle and "launches" its contents. Cages which were in the minecart, and which encounter an obstacle while traveling at significant speed will similarly "shotgun" their contents, launching their inhabitants. This can empty an entire minecart full of cages simultaneously, without fear of escape. Note, however, that [[flying]] creatures may still be problematic.

Mass pitting

2015-08-08T16:44:05Z

Antsy555: Undo revision 220149 by Antsy555 (talk) - wrong

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#c00|textbg=#ffd|Warning!|There have been multiple reports of hostile creatures escaping confinement while pitting. In previous versions, only "thief" type creatures, flyers, or large creatures like titans would escape using this system. The 0.40 behavior is still being investigated. If in doubt, build the cage manually or have sufficient military hanging around the top stockpile area.}}

{{Quality|Exceptional|18:43, 24 January 2014 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

'''Mass pitting''' refers to [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pitting]] many [[cage]]d creatures at one time without having to build each cage and link it to a lever. This allows you to recycle many cages quickly, freeing them up for reuse in [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] in minimal time.

=Mass Pitting System=
:Also called the '''Mass Cage Recycling System'''.
Here's a simple design that keeps you from having to build cages before releasing hostile creatures from them. This is safe for most hostiles, but see warnings below.

==Building==

#Dig out a room and another room of at least the same size directly below it.
#In the upper room [[channel]] out openings into the lower room which are evenly spaced and exactly 2 tiles away from each other ''(see image below)''.
#Build floor [[hatch]]es and place them over all of the openings.
#Mark each hatch [[forbid]]den and [[Door#Usage|tightly closed]] to pets (''not'' "locked"). ''(In experiments this has been shown to help stop normal creatures in 0.40.xx from escaping.)''
#Place one big [[Stockpile#Animal|animal stockpile]] over the room such that every tile in the stockpile is adjacent ([[orthogonal]]ly or diagonally) to one of the hatches. Disable "empty cages" on the stockpile.
#Create '''one''' large [[Activity_zone#Pit.2FPond|pit zone]] that covers '''all''' of the openings such that all of them are part of the same pit zone. This is critical to prevent hostiles from being led around and spooking your civilians.
#Disable all other animal stockpiles except for one empty-cage-only "animal" stockpile somewhere.
#See [[Mass pitting#The Pit|below]] for some suggestions on what to drop your invaders into.

The top room should end up looking something like this:

<diagram>

=========
=[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]=
=========
=========
=[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]==[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@]=
=========

= Stockpile

[@6:0][#0:0]¢[#@] Hatch cover

</diagram>

The bottom room can look like whatever you want as long as all of the openings you channeled out lead into it from the ceiling.

Obviously you can scale the design with more or fewer hatch openings to get a larger or smaller stockpile area in the upper room, but a 6x9 room with 6 hatches in allows you to empty out 48 cages very quickly, without spooking dwarves, which is ample for most players - ymmv.

Variations of this design exist, but they all use the same basic principle - that is, all hostiles in cages must be directly adjacent to a suitable pit. Dwarves must not be required to haul hostile creatures across any distance or else they can become startled and release the dangerous creature, then free to do as it will.

==Use==

Before pitting your captives, you may wish to [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|disarm them]] -- depending on what you've built for them to fall into.

Now, wait for the stockpile above to fill and assign creatures to the pit all in one shot. Being pitted through the hatches will keep dwarves from being spooked by hostile creatures below and with all cages directly adjacent to pits creatures can be dumped in instantly without having to be led around.

A mass of dwarves will pile into the room, pit the creatures at the about same time, and haul the empty cages off to your empty cage stockpile. The poor pathetic creatures they pitted will then be left to the mercy of whatever is at the bottom of the pits.

==The Pit==

After your dwarves have dumped out the cages the inhabitants will be dropped into the room below. Here you can find some suggestions on its construction:

====Drowning chamber====

Fill up the room below with water and watch as the invaders drown. Requires only some buckets and a water source. May be difficult or troublesome to recover anything dropped into the waters below. Consider a filling and draining method using floodgates bordered by fortifications. Ensure that the hatches over the openings are permamently set to forbidden, otherwise things can and will swim back into the room above resulting in [[Losing|fun]]. Dwarves will not have an issue dumping things through the forbidden hatches.

EX

This is a possible drowning pit where water flows through a tunnel to the right and drains out the left. Be sure they are hooked to separate levers, and remember the fortification keeps dead things from flowing out, not live things from swimming out. A door along the bottom of this design allows dwarfs in to loot the spoils, and or clear out any unwanted buildup of bodies ETC.

░░░░░░░░░░░░
░ ░
░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░
FX X
░░░░░░░ ░░░░░░░░
░ ░
░░░░░X░░░░░░
░ ░

X=Floodgate
F=Fortification

====Lava Pool====

Alternatively you can fill the room with magma and watch as the hostiles are instantly incinerated! Requires an [[aqueduct]] and/or magma safe materials.

====Weapon Trap Hallway====

On the level below the pit opening place weapon traps in a 1 square wide hallway. The dumped creature will run for the exit through the weapon traps until dead. You can put a cage trap at the end just in case the creature successfully escapes with his life.

Level 1
░░░░░
░nnn░
░░░░░░░npn░
cDnnn░
░░░░░░░░░░░

Level -1
░░░░░░░
░TTTT ░
░T░░░ ░
░T░T░ ░ <-- align p n Lvl 1 with center T n this level.
░TTT░ ░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ░
cD ░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

p=Pit opening
D=Door
c=cage trap
T=weapon trap
n=cage staging area

====Empty Room====

Leaving the room down below empty has its benefits. When your melee military has nothing better to do beating [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|unarmed]] goblins will train fighting skills quickly. Be sure to haul off corpses before [[miasma]] begins forming.
If you are planning to kill your goblins by pitting them into an empty room, remember that height alone is not a reliable method of enemy disposal. Even if your empty room is 10-15 z-levels below, you will still get a high number of survivors and some will escape unharmed - especially when falling on top of enemies pitted previously.

====Goblin Training====

Through the use of [[trap|spike traps]], goblins can be trained in the same manner as a standard [[danger room]]. Uses for these master goblin fighters include extended target practice, an expendable military addition to be dumped on particularly nasty [[forgotten beast|forgotten beasts]], or a last resort contingency plan against non-goblin invader-induced [[fun]].

====Fortifications====

[[Image:Pitting_room.png|thumb|right|200px|Marksdwarf training room]]
By lining the pit room with fortifications you are able to safely train your marksdwarves. This provides a feasible and quick alternative to the slow process of using archery targets. By ordering your military to use [[bone]] [[bolts]] and leaving your hostiles fully armored even a small group of goblins will live to be used as target practice for months. Miasma produced during this time may give dwarves unhappy [[thoughts]]. To avoid this stagger fortifications with solid walls in such a way that diagonal gaps are between you and the rot.

Remember that goblin marksmen will still be able to shoot through fortifications if they are armed sufficiently. To avoid this exclude or [[Cage#How_to_disarm_hostiles_in_cages|disarm]] them.

Also remember that you must keep civilians out of sight of the fortifications. Despite blocking the pathing of the hostiles, it does not prevent civilians from canceling jobs when they see the baddies through your fortifications.

====Long Term Maintenance====

In order to protect frame rate, spread of miasma if you are using this for melee training, gather any remaining loot that was not removed before pitting the creatures, or simply a desire for fortress cleanliness, you can make a bridge as part or all of one wall to the pit. When retracted it acts as a wall and removes any danger of escaping prisoners, but when all are dead or sufficient military is waiting, you may lower this to retrieve any bodies or valuables. If you do not like having a pit unavailable during this time, you may consider building a second to alternate uses between which one is being filled and which one is being emptied.
Another alternative is to build a raising (instead of a retracting) bridge and use it to atomize all of the miasma producing corpses instead of hauling them topside.

==Alternative Minecart Design==

It is possible to automate a mass pitting system with [[minecart]]s. Minecart "shotgunning" is when a minecart traveling at significant speed encounters an obstacle and "launches" its contents. Cages which were in the minecart, and which encounter an obstacle while traveling at significant speed will similarly "shotgun" their contents, launching their inhabitants. This can empty an entire minecart full of cages simultaneously, without fear of escape. Note, however, that [[flying]] creatures may still be problematic.

Mass pitting

2015-08-08T16:42:33Z

Antsy555: /* Fortifications */

Crossbowman

2015-08-08T16:32:23Z

Antsy555: Added note concerning difficulty in firing through fortifications

{{Quality|Exceptional|09:32, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
Dwarves or other creatures armed with [[crossbow]]s, or bows, can pierce targets from a long distance. A dwarf '''crossbowman''', or marksdwarf, will usually open fire at a distance of 20 tiles or so from their target, but a bolt may travel 30 or more tiles. Note that a difference in height (z-levels) ''hurts'' range, rather than helping it.

While doing decent general [[Weapon#Weapon statistics|damage]], a [[bolt]] does a fine job at piercing the internal organs of a [[creature]], which can possibly cause organ failure, instant death, [[unconscious]]ness or crippling of any size target. This is of limited use against creatures without internal organs, such as [[Magma man|magma men]], but works well against most other creatures. Occasionally a bolt will get stuck in a target; the only known use for this is that a [[wrestling]] dwarf may grab the bolt and twist it in the [[wound]]. Functionally, bows work by the same laws.

A marksdwarf who is forced into melee will use the [[hammerdwarf]] skill to bash enemies with their crossbow.

[[Immigrant|Immigrating]] marksdwarves bring their own crossbows and a quiver with 30-40 bolts. Immigrating [[ranger]]s often arrive with marksdwarf skill, but will only bring a crossbow and bolts if they also have [[ambusher]] skill. (See [[Ambusher]] for more details.)

==Training==
Higher skill levels grant better accuracy and a higher rate of fire. Additionally, they significantly reduce the probability of the enemy dodging. Increasing the crossbowman skill requires firing upon a target (hitting is not required), with "[[Vulture|live]] [[Buzzard|targets]]" granting much more experience than an [[archery target]]. The difference is huge, on the order of ~67 bolts fired (~7.5 [[experience]]/shot) in practice vs. 17 bolts fired (30 [[experience]]/shot) against live enemies in order to achieve novice rank.

==Notes==
Marksdwarves won't fire through fortifications unless directly adjacent if their skill is below "journeyman". This means that for live training exercises which use 2-width diagonal fortifications (see [[mass pitting]]) the marksdwarves '''won't fire''' through the fortifications '''unless they are of journeyman level or higher'''.

==See also==
[[Archery]]

{{Skills}}
{{Category|Skills}}
{{Category|Military}}

DF2014 Talk:Cage

2015-08-08T12:34:18Z

Antsy555:

==High-temp critters==

Regarding:

:Beware of cages that contain creature(s) with very high internal temperature, such as [[fire imp]]s. They cannot harm your dwarves directly while caged, but their body heat ''can'', and dwarves will dutifully continue to haul such a cage until their head melts off. To move "hot" cages safely, try letting a dwarf haul it for a while, then forbid the cage and let them cool off, unforbid it and repeat.

Has anyone actually seen this happen? Dwarves will regularly carry minecarts full of magma significant distances without injury (though wooden wheelbarrows hauling the same minecart disappear due to the heat). I agree that it *should* happen, but hot creatures in cages don't even damage the cage currently.--[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 18:54, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

== Disarming Caged Prisoners ==

Just tried disarming a load of goblins in the general way - mass dumping then undumping cages. I hadn't tried it before in DF2014 (but had successfully in DF2012), it seems that none of the dump orders are being taken up. Do we know whether any of the mechanics have changed since DF2014 was released?? --[[User:Antsy555|Antsy555]] ([[User talk:Antsy555|talk]]) 15:10, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Could it be that the goods you marked for dumping are also forbidden? --[[User:Bouchart|Bouchart]] ([[User talk:Bouchart|talk]]) 18:47, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Nah i tried doing it manually from the stocks screen as well. sucks a bit --[[User:Antsy555|Antsy555]] ([[User talk:Antsy555|talk]]) 12:34, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

DF2014 Talk:Cage

2015-08-07T15:10:38Z

Antsy555:

DF2014 Talk:Cage

2015-08-07T15:10:16Z

Antsy555: /* Disarming Caged Prisoners */ new section

Defense guide

2015-07-21T12:08:59Z

Antsy555: Updated quality rating timestamp ("Masterwork") using the rating script

{{Quality|Masterwork|12:08, 21 July 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}




:''This page is one of several inter-related articles on the broader topic of defending your fortress and your dwarves. The '''defense guide''' is a general overview of the threats that will challenge your fortress and things to consider when preparing a standard defense. For tips on laying out your architecture to protect your military, see '''[[security design]]'''. 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]]'''.

In Dwarf Fortress, you will often find yourself beset by hostile creatures looking to murder your dwarves or take their treasures. Protecting your fortress from intruders is a challenging task and a broad, complex topic. A wide variety of [[creature]]s can threaten your dwarves, and there is no one approach or philosophy that perfectly addresses every possibility. Fortress layout, military organization and training, traps and more, all contribute to the overall "defense" and survivability of your fortress and the dwarves that live and work both within there and in the world around it, and likewise no one article can include every last detail. This guide will pull from many other articles, but will prefer to refer to those rather than re-post information that is already found (and better placed) there.

There are three important things to consider when planning the defenses for your fortress. First, you must protect the fortress itself - the buildings, the hallways, the dwarves within it. But second, protecting the dwarves outside and topside as they go about their work is also important. These two goals can often be rather divergent, as your dwarves may need to wander the open countryside to collect herbs, cut trees, hunt, fish, and while outside the bounds of your fortress they can find themselves quite vulnerable. 
Lastly, there is game style - you want the game to be "fun" for you, and with some strategies it's quite possible to defend yourself into complete boredom, or just go down a road that is not attractive style-wise. While this article cannot tell you how to have fun, it will comment on this when appropriate, and you should keep it in mind as well.

'''Note''' - There is not room in this article to expand adequately on every sub-topic - ''please'' see specific articles for a ''complete'' discussion as desired.

==General guidelines==

While admitting that "Rules are made to be broken", there are some general recommendations that have a proven value in defending a fortress:

* '''Minimize fortress entrances:''' Have a strong and clear distinction between inside and outside. This usually corresponds to underground and surface, but not always - you can have a complete medieval-style castle complex on the surface. But each point of entry should be hardened against attack. Don't make more entrances than really necessary. If there is a useless or redundant opening, seal it off, one way or another. (Some creatures can destroy [[door]]s if they can reach them, but [[bridge|drawbridges]] are safe.)

* '''Concentric circles:''' Think redundancy - one wall may not be enough. With the existence of door-destroying and bow-wielding attackers, double or multiple hard barriers between the inside and the outside are essential to fend off the worst assaults, and if they get inside one barrier it's nice to have another behind that. Sometimes captives will escape their [[cage]]s ''inside'' your fortress. The choke points between the circles are where you build traps and lockable doors, and station troops.

* '''Assume the worst:''' Build up your defenses ''before'' the enemy shows up - like right now! Plan on being [[siege]]d by scores of [[goblin]] archers, door-breaking [[troll]]s, invisible [[kobold]] master thieves, dive-bombing [[giant eagle]]s, flame-breathing [[fire imp]]s, angry [[elephant]]s, and a [[bronze colossus]] - ''all at once''. Hopefully, you will never have to face that kind of threat, but being ready for anything is the best bet, and, more realistically, when things go wrong (and with dwarves, they will, just believe it) you will have a buffer of defense to fall back on.

==Threats==
Danger comes in a variety of forms in Dwarf Fortress. Understanding the diverse threats is the first step to keeping your dwarves alive.

:*'''Wild animals'''
::Creatures vary in threat and habits. Some [[animal]]s are quite dangerous, but most are easily excluded by the humble [[door]] or [[Hatch cover|hatch]], even if it's not [[forbidden]]. Some few are able to destroy doors and hatches, statues and other [[building]]s, and some are thieves (see below), or will eat your food (such as [[Grizzly_bear|bear]]s). A lone animal, even a clear predator, will usually flee from a stronger force, but some [[undead]] and evil creatures can be blindly aggressive. Combat is random, and any animal can kill any dwarf - and vice versa.

::Wild animals can appear from the topside, but also from the [[cavern]]s that you may accidentally open up while mining (in fact, the worst ones are often from below). In evil or savage [[surroundings]], the creatures can be both much tougher and more aggressive.

:*'''Thieves & child snatchers'''
::Many creatures are "thieves" in the general sense, and offer their own potential headaches - a [[raccoon]] or small tribe of [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] monkeys can enter an unsecured area unannounced, grabbing items of value and running, and it doesn't matter how many you kill if one or three make off with some prized possessions. But a creature with a listed ( {{k|u}} ) [[profession]] of [[Thief]] has a few additional nasty surprises, namely being invisible until spotted by your dwarves or [[domestic animal]]s, being able to bypass locked or forbidden doors, being armed with a real weapon, and some imperfect ability to avoid triggering traps (though some seem better at it than others). [[Kobold]]s and [[goblin]]s are individually more dangerous than animals, but when spotted there's a special message, either "'''Protect the hoard!'''" or "'''Protect the children!'''", as appropriate.

:*'''Ambushes'''
::An [[ambush]] is a small number of enemies (less than ten) that are invisible until spotted, but are easier to spot than thieves. The alert message is "'''An ambush! Curse them!'''" They skulk around the outside of your fortress, unseen until they strike, looking for wandering dwarves or caravans entering or leaving. They will often flee off the map if challenged.

:*'''Siege'''
::A [[siege]] is a large number of armed and organized attackers that are announced as soon as they appear on the map. The alert message varies by race - the most common being a goblin siege announcement: "A vile force of darkness has arrived!". While siegers are on the map, the word "SIEGE" appears in the top corners of the screen. Siegers are organized into a number of squads, each squad having a different weapon choice. Some sieges bring dangerous creatures to aid the armed attackers. If you are at [[war]] with a civilization, expect annual sieges at least.

:*'''Enemy archers'''
::Attackers with bows or [[crossbow]]s are worth separate mention as they are much, ''much'' more threatening than those with melee weapons. Out-shooting them with your marksdwarves is risky, and charging them with melee fighters is even worse. Special techniques are needed to shield your dwarves from the deadly rain of arrows.

:*'''Building destroyers'''
::Some creatures have the [[Creature token|BUILDINGDESTROYER tag]] in their [[Raw file]]. This gives them the fearful capacity of tearing apart your doors and workshops. Constructions built with the {{k|b}} + {{k|C}} keys are safe, and so are [[bridge]]s.

:*'''Flying animals'''
::Currently, tame flying animals cannot fly{{bug|4776}}. Thus, the only flying creatures will be either wild animals (e.g. mundane birds, [[roc]]s, some [[titan]]s) or affiliated with a different (usually hostile) civilization (e.g. some [[animal people]], certain [[exotic mount]]s).

::Melee units sit there and do nothing against flying enemies, slowly losing their teeth from attacks from usually weak fliers like buzzards. Therefore you need to make sure you have flak. Often the case is that the ranged weapons disable the enemy such that they can't fly and the melee units finish them off. This is especially the case with flying Forgotten Beasts.

:*'''Megabeasts'''
::A [[megabeast]] is a particularly powerful and dangerous creature, such as a [[dragon]] or [[hydra]]. Megabeasts appear alone, with an alert message that mentions the beast by name. They often have unique characteristics which present unusual challenges, but are universally dangerous.

:*'''Titans and Forgotten Beasts'''
::[[Titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s are similar to megabeasts in terms of size and strength, but are procedurally generated from random creature parts and may have procedurally generated special attacks (such as fire breath or web shooting) as well. Titans and forgotten beasts appear alone, with an alert message that mentions the creature by name. The two are very similar; titans attack from outdoors and forgotten beasts attack through underground caverns, but otherwise they present the same challenge. A titan from a benign biome will not attack your fort.

:*'''War'''
::Before hitting that {{k|e}} and embarking, {{k|tab}} to civilizations on the pre-embark screen, and see if you are at [[war]] with anyone. If so, things can get hot fast, with more and larger ambushes and sieges, and sooner. This is unusual, but a nasty surprise if you didn't check.

==Elements of a defense==

Dwarf Fortress is very open-ended, and any number of defensive, engineering, fortification and military principles that have worked in reality will work in DF. Combine different elements into the defense you want.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moat moat] with a drawbridge is perhaps the simplest defense known to Dwarvenkind, and not a bad start. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortifications Fortifications article on Wikipedia] is also a good source of inspiration. But simply shutting the outside world out and allowing invaders to mill about outside your moat is not always a desirable solution. Enemies will still prevent [[caravan]]s and [[migrant]]s from arriving, will kill [[liaison]]s, and prevent any desired outdoor activities. In addition, Dwarf Fortress players often find it enjoyable to perpetrate mass slaughter of invaders rather than helplessly glare at them from inside their caves.

For this, you will need a more complicated defense than a passive ditch and walls. One common method of defense is to build a walled structure above the entrance to your fortress, stationing Marksdwarves on the second floor overlooking the drawbridge-entrance. Another is to engineer a very long but narrow entrance, at the end of which are [[ballista]]e waiting to unload at unfortunate monsters in the field of fire. The variations are infinite.

===Physical layout===
These are the [[wall]]s, [[floor]], [[fortification]]s and so on that create the [[archery tower|towers]] and perimeters of your fortress, acting as physical barriers for your dwarves and against threats. However, they always work in conjunction with the other elements. Creative use of layouts can achieve some quite satisfying results.

For reference, arrow fire is usually about 20 tiles, though stray shots can travel further, and firing from higher elevations actually reduces the range about 1:1.

=====Terrain=====
:The lay of the land can be your friend, but the way of the dwarf is to shape the land as needed. Removing [[Ramp|slopes]] can create safe, private terraces and valley walls that prevent all access. Chasms and [[river]]s (not brooks!) create hard barriers, but an open chasm or magma vent can be a source of dangerous creatures. Small hills can serve as vantage points for [[archer]]s (yours or theirs!), but if carved with stairs leading up from within, they can be quick strategic strongpoints. Narrow valleys can become chokepoints for entrances, where your [[marksdwarf]]s can overlook any who come and go. Augmented by [[construction]]s below, the terrain becomes your first option for defense.

:Some players take quite a while before their first unpause, using that time to look around and think about the terrain, planning their fortress entrance and envisioning basic defenses.

=====Walls=====
:Constructing walls around your entrance is the simplest start, and an essential part of fortress defense, but a wall alone is not a complete defense. Currently, no creature can knock down a wall but they can climb on 1 z high walls. Not only does it keep enemies out, your archers can stand on top of the wall and fire down. Keep in mind that this makes them vulnerable to enemy fire. To help protect against that, build [[fortification]]s.

Also, keep in mind that flying enemies (such as swarms of birds) can fly over a wall, so you might want to build a ceiling to seal off particularly important areas.

=====Fortifications=====
:[[Fortification]]s are the marksdwarf's friend. They do not allow passage, but allow hand-held missile weapons to pass through, and are often placed on top of walls for tactical advantage. Projectiles have a chance of being blocked, based on the firer's skill and distance to the fortification. There's no chance of the missile being blocked if the firer is adjacent to the fortification, with increasing chances as any distance increases. Keep your marksdwarves close and keep enemies away - if an enemy archer can walk up to your fortifications, now they're adjacent too, and the fortifications will have zero effect. Build fortified firing platforms above ground level and put a nice wide moat between the wall and the enemy. Fortifications have no effect on [[siege engine]]s.

:Like Fortifications, Vertical [[Bars]] and Wall [[Grate]] will also allow projectiles to fire through them while impeding units' movement, but these constructions provide no defense - the missile fire works both ways equally. Unlike Fortifications, Bars and Grates may be connected to a [[Lever]], and opened or closed remotely - thus, they are good for forming a portcullis.

:: Consider a wall of fortifications, then further away from your fort a wall of Bars. Your marksmen are always adjacent to the Fortifications however the enemies can only ever get as a close as the bar wall. While the wall doesn't offer any extra protection it does stop the enemy at the fortification problem. Also can be achieved by a ditch in front of the fortification.

=====Doors (& Hatches)=====
:[[Door]]s are the simplest way to keep an enemy out. (A [[floor hatch]] in this sense is just a [[Z-level|Z-axis]] door, and in most ways works the same.) Most creatures will be stopped by any door or hatch, though some others can smash them. With a little tinkering, doors can be made 3 tiles wide or more, but this remains mostly for aesthetics without much practical use, as [[caravan|wagons]] will still not be able to pass them. You can [[forbid]] doors to keep (most) hostile humanoids and creatures out, and your dwarves in.

:Additionally doors can specifically be closed only against animals, to keep beloved [[pet]]s from wandering into enemy fire (they may pile up at the door and use the chance to slip out with a dwarf).

:Forbidding all doors and entrances breaks the pathfinding of enemies, making them lurk at the map border where they entered, which can be quite inconvenient in the case of an invisible ambush that then rushes at your fort in just the moment your civilian dwarves move out to, say, cut trees.

=====Floodgates=====
:[[Floodgate]]s, alone or in a line, may be used as removable walls since they need no support and disappear when "opened" remotely, although using a wide drawbridge will be much more economical in terms of materials and [[mechanism]]s. (Be aware that [[building destroyer]]s can batter down closed floodgates, and ''any object'' can prevent a floodgate from closing again, even a single, stray crossbow bolt or [[monarch butterfly]] remains.)

:A floodgate can be used just like a door, with two differences: A floodgate can be placed anywhere, unlike a door, which needs to be adjacent to a wall. A floodgate is closed by default, and can only be opened with a lever. Be careful not to trap your dwarves.

=====[[Moat]]s=====
:Channeling a ditch is a fast and effective defense. Creating an effective moat requires several steps, including designating ramp removal. The moat doesn't have to be filled with water or magma. A dry moat is actually a better defense than a water-filled moat, because many creatures can swim across a water-filled moat. If you want to build an access/escape route for your moat, consider where it leads - the enemy might use that too.

:Keep in mind that moats filled with water will freeze periodically in Temperate climates. This can work against you, letting the enemy cross it with ease and waltz right up to your defenses, but they can also work in your favor if the enemy happens to be swimming or treading on it as it freezes or thaws, respectively. A compromise would be if the moat and wall combination had at least five z-levels (preferably block walls) to climb above the water level; then the enemy would still have to climb.

:A moat cuts off access for your dwarves as well, so a retractable- or drawbridge is usually included in the design. But a moat with a non-retractable bridge is still potentially useful: It keeps enemy archers away from your fortifications, and it channels enemies into a narrow and predictable path. A drawbridge without a moat can be a big remote control door, sealing an entrance when it's "up". (This doesn't work with retracting bridges.) However, an actual [[door]] activates immediately and is more suitable for smaller-scale one-tile doors.

=====Bridges=====
:Bridges come in 3 forms - a permanent construction ''(a [[floor]] or top of a [[wall]] built out over a void)'', a retractable bridge, and a drawbridge. The movable type have a maximum size of 10x10 (including one solid "anchor" line of tiles at the base), and require a lever and two mechanisms to link them to be raised. Permanent bridges can be designed or later modified to include the latter.

:A retractable/raise-able [[bridge]] over a deep trench is a simple and almost air-tight defense - only flying creatures can pass it (''once the bridge is raised''). The raised bridge also blocks arrow fire for anything behind it. [[Channel]]s may be dug to form ditches, or moats - be aware of what might exist or be planned for the next [[z-level]] down. For defensive purposes they do not need to be filled with anything - as in the middle ages, a dry ditch is more than enough to prevent ground units from approaching (though of course, projectiles may be launched over it with impunity). With a retracting [[bridge]] over the moat, any units or items on top of the bridge will be dropped into the moat (and, if the moat is filled with water, drown unless they can swim out; if it is filled with magma, they burn to death.)

:Bridges can throw creatures a distance (in a random direction) when the bridge is raised/retracted, possibly injuring them on landing. Creatures on top of drawbridges will be utterly destroyed if they are flush against wall and have a floor tile above them, as will anything, friend, foe or object, on a floor that is covered when the drawbridge is lowered. This offensive use of drawbridges is known as the [[Dwarven Atom Smasher]].

:A drawbridge works as a door when "raised", sealing the passage it raises against. Consider this when choosing the direction a drawbridge is to raise.

:There are three important things to remember:
:# Always build the bridge to raise towards the ''inside'' (so that it completes your wall).
:# The [[lever]] has to be pulled by a civilian or off-duty militiadwarf, not a full-time soldier.
:# Water can freeze solid in cold weather.

:Also, some rare creatures can cross fluids, even magma. Nothing but flying creatures can get out of a channel.

====Remote control====
:*'''Barriers'''
::If you link a [[lever]] to a door, hatch cover or floodgate, it becomes impossible for your dwarves to open and close it normally. Pulling the lever is the only way to open it. This keeps your dwarves locked in as well as keeping enemies out. (It's unknown if [[thief|thieves]] can bypass a closed door once it's linked to a lever or pressure plate.) There is often a frustrating delay between ordering a lever pulled and when a dwarf pulls it, and another shorter one between pulling the lever and the barrier responding.

::Any item or creature in an open barrier at the moment it tries to close will not only prevent that barrier from closing, but that "close" signal will be lost. Any lever will have to be pulled twice more - to reset to "open", and then to (try to) close again. This is not the case with drawbridges, which crush anything and everything below them when they close.

:*'''Automated barriers & traps'''
::You can automate a barrier or trap by using a [[pressure plate]] instead of a lever, but there are complications there. Unless the 'Citizen' setting is set, only "enemies" or wild creatures will trigger a pressure plate; your dwarves and tame animals can walk on it all day long. If the 'Citizen' setting is set, dwarves, diplomats, traders, and tame animals can also activate the pressure plate. No device, trap or barrier, can be constructed in a tile where a pressure plate is - that is the only constructed object that can be there. But with creativity, this can still be a powerful addition to your fortress defense.

===Traps===
:''Full article: [[Trap design]]

Walls, bridges and fortifications provide barriers that stop intruders. However, the easiest way to ''kill'' intruders is to use [[trap]]s. A line of traps can wipe out an entire ambush, and inflict significant damage on a siege. However, be aware that a design using vast numbers of traps has the potential to take some of the [[fun]] and challenge out of the game - use accordingly. Also, some creatures avoid traps (kobolds, forgotten beasts) and will simply walk right over them with impunity, unless they fall unconscious or get webbed while on one.

===Defensive Engineering===
There are several types of [[trap]]s that a [[mechanic]] can place in a single tile and that target a single creature, but there are larger, more complex traps that only you can design, using [[lever]]s, [[pressure plate]]s or other constructions. The limiting factor is your own imagination. Some examples of the more common designs include:

====The drowning chamber====
Take reservoir filled with water, and put a retracting bridge over it. When enemies are on the bridge, retract it -- they will fall (or be flung) into the water and drown. Variant one: use magma instead of water. Variant two: trap the enemies in a room and then flood it.

If you allow a way to remove the water temporarily, you can even retrieve their [[:goblinite|belongings]] for your own use.

====The dodge-em trap====
One of the disadvantages of the weapon trap is that skilled or lucky enemies can dodge the pointy bits. The dodge-em trap uses the targets' dodging ability against them. Create a narrow, elevated walkway with empty space on the sides. Place weapon traps on the walkway. The goal of the weapon traps is not to kill the enemy, but rather, to make the enemy ''dodge'' -- typically into the open space on one side of the walkway. [[Gravity]] takes over at that point, and the deceleration trauma at the end of the trip has the final say. The higher the walkway is, and the more dense the floor material at the landing site, the more damage the enemies will take upon impact.

Using lots of low-power weapons (such as training spears or spiked wooden balls) in the traps can increase the chances of forcing a dodge, rather than impaling the enemy ''in situ'' and [[Trap#Weapon_Trap|jamming]] the trap.

Don't let your dwarves engage the enemy in melee on the walkway. Your dwarves will dodge and fall.... Firing crossbow bolts at enemies on the walkway from behind fortifications is fine, though.

===Military===
:''Full article: [[Military]]

A [[training|trained]], [[weapon|armed]], and [[armor]]ed [[military]] is the only way to bring the fight to the enemy. Building defenses to keep them safe is easy - keeping your military ready and in position is the tricky part.

A sufficiently large military can be used as a reactive force to rescue ambushed dwarves and safeguard the passage of caravans through unknown dangers, or even to sally out and meet a sieging force ''mano a mano''. The disadvantages are many -- soldiers must physically move to the conflict zone which may be many screens away from the nearest entrance to your fortress, by which point dwarven lives may have already been lost. Training is slow and erratic unless carefully micromanaged (or unless a [[danger room]] is employed). On-duty dwarves will not retreat under any circumstances, and ''hold your position'' is way beyond their tactical ability, so battles may quickly spill out of your control. Therefore, keeping a lot of dwarves in a squad will increase your odds of survival when someone picks a fight with a pack of [[undead|zombie]] [[troglodyte]]s. Dwarves are also failure-prone -- even when not injured, they need time off for sleeping, eating and drinking.

Nevertheless, a military force gives you options not available any other way. See [[military design]] for various possibilities.

===Animals===
Any animal (or dwarf) can act as a sentry - if a hidden enemy comes close to them, that enemy may be revealed (depending on the sentry's [[Observer]] skill). If that happens, an [[announcement]] is generated and the game is paused. Most animals aren't strong enough to take more than one armored goblin warrior, and enemies with bows are even worse. The real purpose of guard animals is to spot thieves. Anything will do here, even a kitten will do the job, and some players prefer not to risk a useful animal. You can also use this as opportunity to [[pasture]] some unwanted pets in strategic locations.

Guard animals are a good second line of defense in open entrances after your traps. A wardog can usually tear a thief apart, and will (briefly) delay goblin warriors while you respond. Also, the death of any animal will be [[announcement|announced]] (but the game will not pause), alerting you to the threat if you were not already aware of it. (Note - Some [[tame]]d animals will not fight goblins!)''

Most enemies will go after your animals just as blindly as they attack your dwarves. An expendable chained animal can bait enemies into dangerous passages, even into places unconnected to your fortress. Such an animal chained out on the far side of the map can alert you to ambushes that start there before they threaten your local dwarves.

[[Restraint|Restrain]] animals in narrow corridors (width 1 or 2), or in matched pairs against the walls of 3-wide corridors, preferably in places where enemy archers can't easily fire at them.

Or, if you feel like being <strike>evil</strike> resourceful, you could attempt to get a dragon (good luck), and watch as goblins run towards it and get burned to ashes. (Be careful not to ignite your dwarves!)

===Siege engines===
:''Full article: [[Siege engine]]

Siege engines take some planning to use effectively, and have a range of about 100 tiles compared to a crossbow's 20 or so. Both catapults and ballistae can be very deadly, but both have their drawbacks -- they take time to reload and can only hit targets at the same z-level, and they are woefully inaccurate in the hands of unskilled operators or when loaded with low-quality bolts. Furthermore, they're manned by civilians, who will abandon their posts should the enemy get too close.

==Considerations==
Now you know what you might face, and what cards you have in your hand. To that we add complications, things that make defense so much [[fun]]...

===Surface jobs===
There are many times when dwarfs want to work on the surface. [[Wood cutting]], [[Herbalist|gathering plants]], [[hunting]], [[fishing]], [[mining]] exposed [[vein]]s or [[gem]]s, building defenses or other structures, [[grower|growing]] above-ground [[crop]]s, [[Health care|helping wounded comrades]] or recovering dropped items are only the most likely. Often they are alone and vulnerable to [[creature|wild beasts]] or [[ambush]]es.

[[Burrow]]s are one option to handle civilian eagerness, but only [[squads|soldiers]] can currently be broken up by burrow - civilians are all grouped into the same category, so when you try to restrict civilians to one burrow to stop them from going outside, you should make sure they can still access the whole of your fort (especially if it's still expanding). You can try to wall in huge areas of the map, possibly with drawbridge gates that can open for caravans, but the larger the area, the vaster the project, the further your dwarves will be from existing defenses, and the more time they will spend working above ground.

Making smaller enclosures in key areas with underground tunnels leading to them can be an easier first step. Likewise, tunneling to the inside of an exposed vein of ore keeps your miners sealed from the outside until you are prepared to mine the last tiles, possibly after placing doors or walls just inside that tunnel. Having military stationed or patrolling nearby is another option.

* '''Burrows.''' Making effective use of the burrow system, it's very easy to set a safe place designated as an emergency burrow and restrict civilians to it. Setting that alert state when there are enemies about causes your dwarves to immediately run to the emergency burrow and stay there until the alert is turned off.

* '''Lock the front doors.''' It takes a truly airtight fortress to keep the entrance open while there are still enemies outside. If there's even one exit, your dwarves will use it. Try testing this while it's safe: Raise the bridges, just like you would in a siege, and designate some trees for cutting. If there's a way out, your woodcutters will find it.

* '''Forbid dropped equipment and corpses.''' Mark every item on the battlefield as [[forbidden]]. This includes any items dropped by dead merchants or scuttled wagons. You can have this done automatically for dwarf and enemy corpses and inventories in the '''orders''' {{key|o}} menu at the '''forbid options''' {{key|F}}.

* '''Delete stockpiles and turn off tombs.''' As a preemptive measure, you can easily delete your Graveyard [[stockpile]]s. Dwarves don't haul things if there's no stockpile to place them in. Turning off or removing [[coffin]]s stops burials as well.

* '''Keep them busy.''' Make a bunch of busy-work for your dwarves, just to keep them underground. It's not perfect but it helps. Time to re-organize your stockpiles.

===Water sources===
Access to [[water]] can be vital. Wounded dwarves need water, so if there's not an underground water source you'll lose valuable soldiers to thirst. Try to have a [[well]] or cistern your dwarves can use safely. Remember to keep an extra [[bucket]] or two available.

Some water sources are good locations for [[fishing]], providing food during longer sieges.

===Civilians trapped outdoors===
Anything that blocks intruders will also block your dwarves. This can cause the problem of dwarves being trapped outside with the enemy, and the enemy ''will'' find them. Having more than one entrance can be useful here, but each requires adequate defenses - the weakest link and all that. If you make these entrances accessible by drawbridge only, with a (short) moat outside that, and keep the drawbridge up most of the time, having lots of entrances shouldn't be too much of a problem.

===Trade depot & caravans===
Factoring in 3-tile wide access to the [[trade depot]] adds a layer of complexity. Letting merchants in while keeping enemies out requires a careful balance. The merchants can reveal ambushes and thieves like any other creature, and their arrival is frequently accompanied by an ambush or a [[siege]]. If the merchants run into an enemy squad, they can be slaughtered before reaching your doors, and that hurts your reputation (as well as possibly causing your civilian dwarfs to want to go running out and collect their dropped items). Consider sending heavily armored escorts when expecting a caravan (usually the middle of the third month of each season, except winter). Unless it's an elven caravan, it will have some guards escorting it, and you can take advantage of the distraction to attack an enemy from both sides, but keep in mind that if the merchants themselves are under attack, they will flee.

You will possibly want to build the depot inside your walls/defenses with retractable-/draw-[[bridge]]s, so you can seal an enemy out while you conduct your trading. Keeping the Depot at the center of the map also lets your dwarfs drag things to it faster, and leaves it to the caravan to do the hauling.

A common trade depot design involves ''two'' separately sealable paths: one from the outside to the depot, and the other from the depot to the inside of the fortress. This "airlock" design helps keep your inner fortress safe even if the trade depot becomes compromised.

The Depot Access command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take. Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.

===Branching corridors===
Enemies will take the most direct path to your fortress, (even if it's not very direct at all). You can use this to your advantage. Have two paths to the fortress: a long, twisting, three-wide road, and a shorter, one tile wide, trap-filled passage. Attackers will usually prefer the short and deadly path. This makes a good line of fire for a ballista, too.

Alternately, you can have a primary, convenient, direct 3-wide path to your fortress open most of the time, with a convoluted detour that is forced (by drawbridges) only during sieges, lined with traps and overseen by marksdwarves. The possibilities are infinite.

===Levers===
Be careful where you place the [[lever]]s controlling your various entrances, traps and other defenses. Or any lever at all, for that matter. Make sure they are either central or close to locations of idle dwarfs, or both - near a [[Activity zone|meeting area]] or bedrooms of [[nobles]] is often a good plan. Make sure that the entire path to each lever is [[underground]] or your dwarves might be unable to reach them if told to stay in certain warrens (test this during peacetime!) Try putting all your defense-related levers in a single room, perhaps down a staircase from your meeting area, and put a door (or hatch) on the entrance(s). Then you can lock your lever-puller inside to ensure rapid response time.

Another solution to the problem of rapid response time is to make your lever room double as a [[Screw pump|pump]] room. Pumping is a good way to build up your dwarves' [[attribute]]s regardless of whether the pump is doing work or not. If you want a dedicated lever operator or three, turn off all their labors except pumping, and set the pumps up so that they can be operated exclusively by your dedicated lever operators. Rotate these positions every so often so the attribute gain will be distributed among multiple dwarves.

For the truly ambitious, the lever room could be spread over multiple levels, and the pumps could work together to power one or more artificial [[waterfall]]s. (Waterfalls work well in this case because their operation is not fortress-critical, and your dwarves like the mist they produce.)

Use [[Note]]s to label each lever and attached device and trap clearly - if you come back to a game after a week and can't remember your levers, they are useless (or, worse, <s>dangerous</s> [[Fun]]!) Color code your levers with different color [[mechanism]]s if that works for you.

==General Suggestions==

===First concerns===

====Pre-embark decisions====
Defense starts before the game does, at embark when you're choosing your location, your dwarves' starting skill mixes, and your starting equipment and supplies. If you expect trouble (an evil biome, perhaps), then it can be crucial to bring at least one axe. Picks make decent weapons. A supply of wood means you don't have to chop trees for a while, and similarly a few simple stone (a few [[bauxite]] can't hurt) allows you to make immediate workshops even before your miner has swung her pick. While an untrained dwarf can usually wrestle most small and medium beasts, one unarmored (semi-)military dwarf with an axe or crossbow can be a big edge against most early threats.

For most starts, unless your embark location is very close to the mouth of an open [[volcano]] or you are starting in an [[evil]] biome, there should be no serious immediate threats. Unless you are at [[war]] with a civilization (visible on the pre-embark screen), sieges and ambushes don't start until you've created some wealth, the first winter at the earliest. So wild animals are your only concern, predators that might prey on lone dwarfs and thieving animals that will target your valuables.

====Striking the earth====
First, look around. At the terrain, at the animals present. Scan the {{k|u}} menu before un-pausing the game at the start, and regularly. More animals will enter the map, constantly and without warning, so keep an eye on visitors.

One of your first priorities is to get things underground or otherwise secure, to prevent rot but also to prevent theft. Carving out a channel/moat, or removing the slopes to a hill, or building a wall, or a combination of those will work fine, but better if you don't have an unwanted entrance to wall up later. Soil is very fast to dig out, and just as strong against enemies, but may not be desirable for a later, mature fortress. Balance convenience against your long-range plans and visible threats.

Consider and plan the entrance to your fortress - perhaps a ramp leading down, or a tunnel into the side of a hill or cliff. A long, narrow entrance (a valley and/or tunnel) allows you to control it, with archers, with traps, with a siege engine at the end. It gives you time to prepare your military. However, it also means that your dwarfs will have to walk that entire distance every time they enter and leave your fortress, and be that much further from help should they need it. Entrances vary from a few tiles to many dozens. Start with something smaller for now, but plan on how to develop the entrance you want later.

An L-bend, or several, or drops in z-level may provide better security, or a firing platform for siege engines and/or archers. Many complex traps involve several levels beneath the entrance (for drainage of liquids or other diabolical purposes.) Using some of the principles above, it might look something like this...

####################
(a)? (-trap ...#
? area-) . .# (A's/SE)
################...#
# #
#D D#
# #
<Inner Fortress> (Not to Scale)

(a) = bait animal, on [[restraint]]
# = tunnel walls, above-ground walls, valley walls with slopes removed, and/or channels
? = ramp up, drawbridge, moat, defensive structures, or combination of all
traps = mechanic's traps and/or complex death traps, as you wish.
...
. . = area open to sky, to prevent "dwarves staying inside" from archers outside entrance
...
D = wardog on [[restraint]]
(A's/SE) = future site for archers and/or [[siege engine]]s (planning ahead)

The above might be longer or shorter, partially or entirely above or below ground, or have more turns. The "inner fortress" might only be a Trade Depot, with another similar entryway behind that. Instead of the turn, it might drop a level and dive below the sight of the Siege Engines. Since the first caravan won't arrive for at least 6 months, you can dig a 1-tile wide tunnel for now, or a staircase, and then dig out to another location for a more formal entrance. This is only a very rough, very simple example of combining possibilities.

====It's mine!====
Consider how you will secure your valuables, your entrance, and any land you want to claim as "dwarf only" - by channeling, removing the slopes from nearby hills, maybe walls? At first, consider including at least enough above-ground terrain for any [[farm plot]]s and [[Activity zone|meeting area]]s. This could perhaps be as small as a 5x5 walled enclosure, or be multiple compounds, but some players aim at claiming (most of) the entire map. Any barrier limits your dwarfs, but keeps enemies out until you have your fortress up and running at a basic level and are prepared to respond properly. Due to thieves' ability to get past locked doors, and a caravan needing a path that's 3-wide, you won't be able to create a hard "gate" that you can open and shut until you have a [[mechanic's workshop]] and some [[mechanism]]s for levers, to link to a [[drawbridge]].

====Inside vs. outside====
Not "above ground" vs "subterranean", but the border where the inside of your fortress starts, what you claim as "yours" vs "out there". Some fortresses just have one main gate, some try to own the entire map. Some have an "airlock", a middle ground (remembering multiple, layered defenses!) where a Trade Depot is kept, that visitors can access and is protected, but then a deeper, even more secure inner fortress - think of a castle courtyard - inside the walls but not yet inside the castle itself. A safe zone for friends, still unfriendly for enemies but taking extra precautions against full intrusion.

This can be above ground or deep underground, a direct line or a maze of z-levels - that's all up to you, how much work you think "security" is worth. Hey, it's not like ''you'' have to do the heavy lifting.

That line of defense - any line - can be passive (walls and barriers and traps only) or active, with military, either on permanent duty or with stations to report to when activated. Use remote controlled bridges to create movable walls and closed gates or open hidden moats to reroute visitors, enemies and/or your dwarves depending on the situation, so there is no one "configuration", but several different options all side by side.

====Mechanic's traps====
Traps are a good friend for the starting player. We're talking the simple traps that a mechanic places - complex death traps are up to you. Stone traps are a good start - they're easy, effective against all but the biggest creatures, and ammo is plentiful if you're mining in stone. When goblins show, they can number less than a dozen to start, but grow over time. Start with a row in an early chokepoint, maybe your entry hall or outside it, make that one row into a few, and go from there. But lead your target - count on the next attack being larger than the last.

If you want to breed monkeys for skin, bone and meat, or amuse yourself with live goblins, a row or five of cage traps at the very entrance of your fort would be a good start. Leave room for this when you place your stone traps - killing the monkeys first won't allow live monkeys to be caged. (You still get the meat & etc. from those corpses, just not breeding stock.)

As your dwarfs create weapons, or you trade for them, or (later) as you [[goblinite|gather]] those of your fallen enemies, [[Trap#Weapon_Trap|weapon traps]] will become attractive. There is no hard rule or formula for all this - be creative.

====Complex traps====
Between levers, pressure plates, water and magma, much [[fun]] can be had. But this article won't deal with any specifics. (See [[Trap design]] for those.) We will say - plan ahead. Think about what you might want to do, and leave ample room for it, in all 3 dimensions.

====Military====
To start, you will probably have few if any full-time military standing guard over your dwarfs - there is just too much to do at first, and serious threats are (hopefully) several seasons away. If you are going to make weapons and armor, have stockpiles near where your draftees work and rest, perhaps near an entrance/exit, but not so close that it might get over-run before your dwarfs can equip. Eventually you might have perhaps a quarter (or more or less) of your dwarfs as full-time military, and they'll need a barracks where they will sleep and practice, archery ranges if that's their weapon of choice, and quick, safe routes to their battle stations or patrol areas. When to begin a full-time military presence is personal choice and influenced by your game situation, but plan on eventually having them live and practice near where they will be fighting as much as possible. See [[Military design]] for a more complete discussion on planning and deploying military and militia.

==Different philosophies==
There are many, ''many'' ways to play DF. Some players play hard and tight, and some fast and loose. Some take no risks and protect every last dwarf and cat, and others happily leave a highway of dwarf and animal bodies for the next immigration wave to follow. Some live for the slaughter of ASCII goblins, and others for the mega-project. No one "defense" will serve everyone's tastes.

===Losing is fun===
There is no final "win" in Dwarf Fortress, no end point or Easter egg that says "Congratulations!" - it just keeps going, until, inevitably and unavoidably, you will lose. That's part of the game. So it's all about how you play until then, and finding your type of fun in that process.

==="Fun" vs. security===
It's not hard to create an acre of traps that, realistically, simply no threats can survive. If you want to pursue a megaproject (that is not a defensive trap) in peace and security, this may be a good plan. However, if you look forward to the military end of things, then you want to allow, or at least be able to invite combat at your choosing. Inexperienced players are recommended to use the hall-of-traps entryway, at least to start. Many experienced players challenge themselves by limiting their use of simple traps, or other voluntary handicaps. It's all about what you think is [[fun]]. To prevent ambushes and sieges altogether, <code>[INVADERS:NO]</code> can be set in [[d_init.txt]].

===Turtling===
The fewer surface jobs your dwarves have to run, the less exposed they will be to potential harm. There are a number of ways to reduce surface exposure while keeping your fortress well-stocked:
* Hunting requires chasing animals across the map, almost invariably far from home. For maximum safety, you're better off disabling your hunters.
* Woodcutting requires trees to chop down, and trees grow on the surface. Once you discover the [[cavern]]s, you can build [[Tree farming|tree farm]]s underground to solve your wood needs.
* Grazing livestock require grassy pastures. Once you discover caverns, you can likewise establish pastures underground, on well-grown underground floor.
* Giving water to the wounded requires fresh water. Internalize your water supply with a [[well]].
* [[Caravan]]s need to get in while ambushers and siegers need to stay out. Using the fact that wagons need a three-tile-wide path to your trade depot, you can place strategic constructions around the map to force them to always take one easily-defended route.

==See also==
:*[[Siege engine]]

{{Military}}

{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
{{Category|Design}}

Defense guide

2015-07-21T12:05:18Z

Antsy555: /* Threats */

{{Quality|Masterwork|17:48, 26 March 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}




:''This page is one of several inter-related articles on the broader topic of defending your fortress and your dwarves. The '''defense guide''' is a general overview of the threats that will challenge your fortress and things to consider when preparing a standard defense. For tips on laying out your architecture to protect your military, see '''[[security design]]'''. 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]]'''.

In Dwarf Fortress, you will often find yourself beset by hostile creatures looking to murder your dwarves or take their treasures. Protecting your fortress from intruders is a challenging task and a broad, complex topic. A wide variety of [[creature]]s can threaten your dwarves, and there is no one approach or philosophy that perfectly addresses every possibility. Fortress layout, military organization and training, traps and more, all contribute to the overall "defense" and survivability of your fortress and the dwarves that live and work both within there and in the world around it, and likewise no one article can include every last detail. This guide will pull from many other articles, but will prefer to refer to those rather than re-post information that is already found (and better placed) there.

There are three important things to consider when planning the defenses for your fortress. First, you must protect the fortress itself - the buildings, the hallways, the dwarves within it. But second, protecting the dwarves outside and topside as they go about their work is also important. These two goals can often be rather divergent, as your dwarves may need to wander the open countryside to collect herbs, cut trees, hunt, fish, and while outside the bounds of your fortress they can find themselves quite vulnerable. 
Lastly, there is game style - you want the game to be "fun" for you, and with some strategies it's quite possible to defend yourself into complete boredom, or just go down a road that is not attractive style-wise. While this article cannot tell you how to have fun, it will comment on this when appropriate, and you should keep it in mind as well.

'''Note''' - There is not room in this article to expand adequately on every sub-topic - ''please'' see specific articles for a ''complete'' discussion as desired.

==General guidelines==

While admitting that "Rules are made to be broken", there are some general recommendations that have a proven value in defending a fortress:

* '''Minimize fortress entrances:''' Have a strong and clear distinction between inside and outside. This usually corresponds to underground and surface, but not always - you can have a complete medieval-style castle complex on the surface. But each point of entry should be hardened against attack. Don't make more entrances than really necessary. If there is a useless or redundant opening, seal it off, one way or another. (Some creatures can destroy [[door]]s if they can reach them, but [[bridge|drawbridges]] are safe.)

* '''Concentric circles:''' Think redundancy - one wall may not be enough. With the existence of door-destroying and bow-wielding attackers, double or multiple hard barriers between the inside and the outside are essential to fend off the worst assaults, and if they get inside one barrier it's nice to have another behind that. Sometimes captives will escape their [[cage]]s ''inside'' your fortress. The choke points between the circles are where you build traps and lockable doors, and station troops.

* '''Assume the worst:''' Build up your defenses ''before'' the enemy shows up - like right now! Plan on being [[siege]]d by scores of [[goblin]] archers, door-breaking [[troll]]s, invisible [[kobold]] master thieves, dive-bombing [[giant eagle]]s, flame-breathing [[fire imp]]s, angry [[elephant]]s, and a [[bronze colossus]] - ''all at once''. Hopefully, you will never have to face that kind of threat, but being ready for anything is the best bet, and, more realistically, when things go wrong (and with dwarves, they will, just believe it) you will have a buffer of defense to fall back on.

==Threats==
Danger comes in a variety of forms in Dwarf Fortress. Understanding the diverse threats is the first step to keeping your dwarves alive.

:*'''Wild animals'''
::Creatures vary in threat and habits. Some [[animal]]s are quite dangerous, but most are easily excluded by the humble [[door]] or [[Hatch cover|hatch]], even if it's not [[forbidden]]. Some few are able to destroy doors and hatches, statues and other [[building]]s, and some are thieves (see below), or will eat your food (such as [[Grizzly_bear|bear]]s). A lone animal, even a clear predator, will usually flee from a stronger force, but some [[undead]] and evil creatures can be blindly aggressive. Combat is random, and any animal can kill any dwarf - and vice versa.

::Wild animals can appear from the topside, but also from the [[cavern]]s that you may accidentally open up while mining (in fact, the worst ones are often from below). In evil or savage [[surroundings]], the creatures can be both much tougher and more aggressive.

:*'''Thieves & child snatchers'''
::Many creatures are "thieves" in the general sense, and offer their own potential headaches - a [[raccoon]] or small tribe of [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] monkeys can enter an unsecured area unannounced, grabbing items of value and running, and it doesn't matter how many you kill if one or three make off with some prized possessions. But a creature with a listed ( {{k|u}} ) [[profession]] of [[Thief]] has a few additional nasty surprises, namely being invisible until spotted by your dwarves or [[domestic animal]]s, being able to bypass locked or forbidden doors, being armed with a real weapon, and some imperfect ability to avoid triggering traps (though some seem better at it than others). [[Kobold]]s and [[goblin]]s are individually more dangerous than animals, but when spotted there's a special message, either "'''Protect the hoard!'''" or "'''Protect the children!'''", as appropriate.

:*'''Ambushes'''
::An [[ambush]] is a small number of enemies (less than ten) that are invisible until spotted, but are easier to spot than thieves. The alert message is "'''An ambush! Curse them!'''" They skulk around the outside of your fortress, unseen until they strike, looking for wandering dwarves or caravans entering or leaving. They will often flee off the map if challenged.

:*'''Siege'''
::A [[siege]] is a large number of armed and organized attackers that are announced as soon as they appear on the map. The alert message varies by race - the most common being a goblin siege announcement: "A vile force of darkness has arrived!". While siegers are on the map, the word "SIEGE" appears in the top corners of the screen. Siegers are organized into a number of squads, each squad having a different weapon choice. Some sieges bring dangerous creatures to aid the armed attackers. If you are at [[war]] with a civilization, expect annual sieges at least.

:*'''Enemy archers'''
::Attackers with bows or [[crossbow]]s are worth separate mention as they are much, ''much'' more threatening than those with melee weapons. Out-shooting them with your marksdwarves is risky, and charging them with melee fighters is even worse. Special techniques are needed to shield your dwarves from the deadly rain of arrows.

:*'''Building destroyers'''
::Some creatures have the [[Creature token|BUILDINGDESTROYER tag]] in their [[Raw file]]. This gives them the fearful capacity of tearing apart your doors and workshops. Constructions built with the {{k|b}} + {{k|C}} keys are safe, and so are [[bridge]]s.

:*'''Flying animals'''
::Currently, tame flying animals cannot fly{{bug|4776}}. Thus, the only flying creatures will be either wild animals (e.g. mundane birds, [[roc]]s, some [[titan]]s) or affiliated with a different (usually hostile) civilization (e.g. some [[animal people]], certain [[exotic mount]]s).

::Melee units sit there and do nothing against flying enemies, slowly losing their teeth from attacks from usually weak fliers like buzzards. Therefore you need to make sure you have flak. Often the case is that the ranged weapons disable the enemy such that they can't fly and the melee units finish them off. This is especially the case with flying Forgotten Beasts.

:*'''Megabeasts'''
::A [[megabeast]] is a particularly powerful and dangerous creature, such as a [[dragon]] or [[hydra]]. Megabeasts appear alone, with an alert message that mentions the beast by name. They often have unique characteristics which present unusual challenges, but are universally dangerous.

:*'''Titans and Forgotten Beasts'''
::[[Titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s are similar to megabeasts in terms of size and strength, but are procedurally generated from random creature parts and may have procedurally generated special attacks (such as fire breath or web shooting) as well. Titans and forgotten beasts appear alone, with an alert message that mentions the creature by name. The two are very similar; titans attack from outdoors and forgotten beasts attack through underground caverns, but otherwise they present the same challenge. A titan from a benign biome will not attack your fort.

:*'''War'''
::Before hitting that {{k|e}} and embarking, {{k|tab}} to civilizations on the pre-embark screen, and see if you are at [[war]] with anyone. If so, things can get hot fast, with more and larger ambushes and sieges, and sooner. This is unusual, but a nasty surprise if you didn't check.

==Elements of a defense==

Dwarf Fortress is very open-ended, and any number of defensive, engineering, fortification and military principles that have worked in reality will work in DF. Combine different elements into the defense you want.

A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moat moat] with a drawbridge is perhaps the simplest defense known to Dwarvenkind, and not a bad start. The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortifications Fortifications article on Wikipedia] is also a good source of inspiration. But simply shutting the outside world out and allowing invaders to mill about outside your moat is not always a desirable solution. Enemies will still prevent [[caravan]]s and [[migrant]]s from arriving, will kill [[liaison]]s, and prevent any desired outdoor activities. In addition, Dwarf Fortress players often find it enjoyable to perpetrate mass slaughter of invaders rather than helplessly glare at them from inside their caves.

For this, you will need a more complicated defense than a passive ditch and walls. One common method of defense is to build a walled structure above the entrance to your fortress, stationing Marksdwarves on the second floor overlooking the drawbridge-entrance. Another is to engineer a very long but narrow entrance, at the end of which are [[ballista]]e waiting to unload at unfortunate monsters in the field of fire. The variations are infinite.

===Physical layout===
These are the [[wall]]s, [[floor]], [[fortification]]s and so on that create the [[archery tower|towers]] and perimeters of your fortress, acting as physical barriers for your dwarves and against threats. However, they always work in conjunction with the other elements. Creative use of layouts can achieve some quite satisfying results.

For reference, arrow fire is usually about 20 tiles, though stray shots can travel further, and firing from higher elevations actually reduces the range about 1:1.

=====Terrain=====
:The lay of the land can be your friend, but the way of the dwarf is to shape the land as needed. Removing [[Ramp|slopes]] can create safe, private terraces and valley walls that prevent all access. Chasms and [[river]]s (not brooks!) create hard barriers, but an open chasm or magma vent can be a source of dangerous creatures. Small hills can serve as vantage points for [[archer]]s (yours or theirs!), but if carved with stairs leading up from within, they can be quick strategic strongpoints. Narrow valleys can become chokepoints for entrances, where your [[marksdwarf]]s can overlook any who come and go. Augmented by [[construction]]s below, the terrain becomes your first option for defense.

:Some players take quite a while before their first unpause, using that time to look around and think about the terrain, planning their fortress entrance and envisioning basic defenses.

=====Walls=====
:Constructing walls around your entrance is the simplest start, and an essential part of fortress defense, but a wall alone is not a complete defense. Currently, no creature can knock down a wall but they can climb on 1 z high walls. Not only does it keep enemies out, your archers can stand on top of the wall and fire down. Keep in mind that this makes them vulnerable to enemy fire. To help protect against that, build [[fortification]]s.

Also, keep in mind that flying enemies (such as swarms of birds) can fly over a wall, so you might want to build a ceiling to seal off particularly important areas.

=====Fortifications=====
:[[Fortification]]s are the marksdwarf's friend. They do not allow passage, but allow hand-held missile weapons to pass through, and are often placed on top of walls for tactical advantage. Projectiles have a chance of being blocked, based on the firer's skill and distance to the fortification. There's no chance of the missile being blocked if the firer is adjacent to the fortification, with increasing chances as any distance increases. Keep your marksdwarves close and keep enemies away - if an enemy archer can walk up to your fortifications, now they're adjacent too, and the fortifications will have zero effect. Build fortified firing platforms above ground level and put a nice wide moat between the wall and the enemy. Fortifications have no effect on [[siege engine]]s.

:Like Fortifications, Vertical [[Bars]] and Wall [[Grate]] will also allow projectiles to fire through them while impeding units' movement, but these constructions provide no defense - the missile fire works both ways equally. Unlike Fortifications, Bars and Grates may be connected to a [[Lever]], and opened or closed remotely - thus, they are good for forming a portcullis.

:: Consider a wall of fortifications, then further away from your fort a wall of Bars. Your marksmen are always adjacent to the Fortifications however the enemies can only ever get as a close as the bar wall. While the wall doesn't offer any extra protection it does stop the enemy at the fortification problem. Also can be achieved by a ditch in front of the fortification.

=====Doors (& Hatches)=====
:[[Door]]s are the simplest way to keep an enemy out. (A [[floor hatch]] in this sense is just a [[Z-level|Z-axis]] door, and in most ways works the same.) Most creatures will be stopped by any door or hatch, though some others can smash them. With a little tinkering, doors can be made 3 tiles wide or more, but this remains mostly for aesthetics without much practical use, as [[caravan|wagons]] will still not be able to pass them. You can [[forbid]] doors to keep (most) hostile humanoids and creatures out, and your dwarves in.

:Additionally doors can specifically be closed only against animals, to keep beloved [[pet]]s from wandering into enemy fire (they may pile up at the door and use the chance to slip out with a dwarf).

:Forbidding all doors and entrances breaks the pathfinding of enemies, making them lurk at the map border where they entered, which can be quite inconvenient in the case of an invisible ambush that then rushes at your fort in just the moment your civilian dwarves move out to, say, cut trees.

=====Floodgates=====
:[[Floodgate]]s, alone or in a line, may be used as removable walls since they need no support and disappear when "opened" remotely, although using a wide drawbridge will be much more economical in terms of materials and [[mechanism]]s. (Be aware that [[building destroyer]]s can batter down closed floodgates, and ''any object'' can prevent a floodgate from closing again, even a single, stray crossbow bolt or [[monarch butterfly]] remains.)

:A floodgate can be used just like a door, with two differences: A floodgate can be placed anywhere, unlike a door, which needs to be adjacent to a wall. A floodgate is closed by default, and can only be opened with a lever. Be careful not to trap your dwarves.

=====[[Moat]]s=====
:Channeling a ditch is a fast and effective defense. Creating an effective moat requires several steps, including designating ramp removal. The moat doesn't have to be filled with water or magma. A dry moat is actually a better defense than a water-filled moat, because many creatures can swim across a water-filled moat. If you want to build an access/escape route for your moat, consider where it leads - the enemy might use that too.

:Keep in mind that moats filled with water will freeze periodically in Temperate climates. This can work against you, letting the enemy cross it with ease and waltz right up to your defenses, but they can also work in your favor if the enemy happens to be swimming or treading on it as it freezes or thaws, respectively. A compromise would be if the moat and wall combination had at least five z-levels (preferably block walls) to climb above the water level; then the enemy would still have to climb.

:A moat cuts off access for your dwarves as well, so a retractable- or drawbridge is usually included in the design. But a moat with a non-retractable bridge is still potentially useful: It keeps enemy archers away from your fortifications, and it channels enemies into a narrow and predictable path. A drawbridge without a moat can be a big remote control door, sealing an entrance when it's "up". (This doesn't work with retracting bridges.) However, an actual [[door]] activates immediately and is more suitable for smaller-scale one-tile doors.

=====Bridges=====
:Bridges come in 3 forms - a permanent construction ''(a [[floor]] or top of a [[wall]] built out over a void)'', a retractable bridge, and a drawbridge. The movable type have a maximum size of 10x10 (including one solid "anchor" line of tiles at the base), and require a lever and two mechanisms to link them to be raised. Permanent bridges can be designed or later modified to include the latter.

:A retractable/raise-able [[bridge]] over a deep trench is a simple and almost air-tight defense - only flying creatures can pass it (''once the bridge is raised''). The raised bridge also blocks arrow fire for anything behind it. [[Channel]]s may be dug to form ditches, or moats - be aware of what might exist or be planned for the next [[z-level]] down. For defensive purposes they do not need to be filled with anything - as in the middle ages, a dry ditch is more than enough to prevent ground units from approaching (though of course, projectiles may be launched over it with impunity). With a retracting [[bridge]] over the moat, any units or items on top of the bridge will be dropped into the moat (and, if the moat is filled with water, drown unless they can swim out; if it is filled with magma, they burn to death.)

:Bridges can throw creatures a distance (in a random direction) when the bridge is raised/retracted, possibly injuring them on landing. Creatures on top of drawbridges will be utterly destroyed if they are flush against wall and have a floor tile above them, as will anything, friend, foe or object, on a floor that is covered when the drawbridge is lowered. This offensive use of drawbridges is known as the [[Dwarven Atom Smasher]].

:A drawbridge works as a door when "raised", sealing the passage it raises against. Consider this when choosing the direction a drawbridge is to raise.

:There are three important things to remember:
:# Always build the bridge to raise towards the ''inside'' (so that it completes your wall).
:# The [[lever]] has to be pulled by a civilian or off-duty militiadwarf, not a full-time soldier.
:# Water can freeze solid in cold weather.

:Also, some rare creatures can cross fluids, even magma. Nothing but flying creatures can get out of a channel.

====Remote control====
:*'''Barriers'''
::If you link a [[lever]] to a door, hatch cover or floodgate, it becomes impossible for your dwarves to open and close it normally. Pulling the lever is the only way to open it. This keeps your dwarves locked in as well as keeping enemies out. (It's unknown if [[thief|thieves]] can bypass a closed door once it's linked to a lever or pressure plate.) There is often a frustrating delay between ordering a lever pulled and when a dwarf pulls it, and another shorter one between pulling the lever and the barrier responding.

::Any item or creature in an open barrier at the moment it tries to close will not only prevent that barrier from closing, but that "close" signal will be lost. Any lever will have to be pulled twice more - to reset to "open", and then to (try to) close again. This is not the case with drawbridges, which crush anything and everything below them when they close.

:*'''Automated barriers & traps'''
::You can automate a barrier or trap by using a [[pressure plate]] instead of a lever, but there are complications there. Unless the 'Citizen' setting is set, only "enemies" or wild creatures will trigger a pressure plate; your dwarves and tame animals can walk on it all day long. If the 'Citizen' setting is set, dwarves, diplomats, traders, and tame animals can also activate the pressure plate. No device, trap or barrier, can be constructed in a tile where a pressure plate is - that is the only constructed object that can be there. But with creativity, this can still be a powerful addition to your fortress defense.

===Traps===
:''Full article: [[Trap design]]

Walls, bridges and fortifications provide barriers that stop intruders. However, the easiest way to ''kill'' intruders is to use [[trap]]s. A line of traps can wipe out an entire ambush, and inflict significant damage on a siege. However, be aware that a design using vast numbers of traps has the potential to take some of the [[fun]] and challenge out of the game - use accordingly. Also, some creatures avoid traps (kobolds, forgotten beasts) and will simply walk right over them with impunity, unless they fall unconscious or get webbed while on one.

===Defensive Engineering===
There are several types of [[trap]]s that a [[mechanic]] can place in a single tile and that target a single creature, but there are larger, more complex traps that only you can design, using [[lever]]s, [[pressure plate]]s or other constructions. The limiting factor is your own imagination. Some examples of the more common designs include:

====The drowning chamber====
Take reservoir filled with water, and put a retracting bridge over it. When enemies are on the bridge, retract it -- they will fall (or be flung) into the water and drown. Variant one: use magma instead of water. Variant two: trap the enemies in a room and then flood it.

If you allow a way to remove the water temporarily, you can even retrieve their [[:goblinite|belongings]] for your own use.

====The dodge-em trap====
One of the disadvantages of the weapon trap is that skilled or lucky enemies can dodge the pointy bits. The dodge-em trap uses the targets' dodging ability against them. Create a narrow, elevated walkway with empty space on the sides. Place weapon traps on the walkway. The goal of the weapon traps is not to kill the enemy, but rather, to make the enemy ''dodge'' -- typically into the open space on one side of the walkway. [[Gravity]] takes over at that point, and the deceleration trauma at the end of the trip has the final say. The higher the walkway is, and the more dense the floor material at the landing site, the more damage the enemies will take upon impact.

Using lots of low-power weapons (such as training spears or spiked wooden balls) in the traps can increase the chances of forcing a dodge, rather than impaling the enemy ''in situ'' and [[Trap#Weapon_Trap|jamming]] the trap.

Don't let your dwarves engage the enemy in melee on the walkway. Your dwarves will dodge and fall.... Firing crossbow bolts at enemies on the walkway from behind fortifications is fine, though.

===Military===
:''Full article: [[Military]]

A [[training|trained]], [[weapon|armed]], and [[armor]]ed [[military]] is the only way to bring the fight to the enemy. Building defenses to keep them safe is easy - keeping your military ready and in position is the tricky part.

A sufficiently large military can be used as a reactive force to rescue ambushed dwarves and safeguard the passage of caravans through unknown dangers, or even to sally out and meet a sieging force ''mano a mano''. The disadvantages are many -- soldiers must physically move to the conflict zone which may be many screens away from the nearest entrance to your fortress, by which point dwarven lives may have already been lost. Training is slow and erratic unless carefully micromanaged (or unless a [[danger room]] is employed). On-duty dwarves will not retreat under any circumstances, and ''hold your position'' is way beyond their tactical ability, so battles may quickly spill out of your control. Therefore, keeping a lot of dwarves in a squad will increase your odds of survival when someone picks a fight with a pack of [[undead|zombie]] [[troglodyte]]s. Dwarves are also failure-prone -- even when not injured, they need time off for sleeping, eating and drinking.

Nevertheless, a military force gives you options not available any other way. See [[military design]] for various possibilities.

===Animals===
Any animal (or dwarf) can act as a sentry - if a hidden enemy comes close to them, that enemy may be revealed (depending on the sentry's [[Observer]] skill). If that happens, an [[announcement]] is generated and the game is paused. Most animals aren't strong enough to take more than one armored goblin warrior, and enemies with bows are even worse. The real purpose of guard animals is to spot thieves. Anything will do here, even a kitten will do the job, and some players prefer not to risk a useful animal. You can also use this as opportunity to [[pasture]] some unwanted pets in strategic locations.

Guard animals are a good second line of defense in open entrances after your traps. A wardog can usually tear a thief apart, and will (briefly) delay goblin warriors while you respond. Also, the death of any animal will be [[announcement|announced]] (but the game will not pause), alerting you to the threat if you were not already aware of it. (Note - Some [[tame]]d animals will not fight goblins!)''

Most enemies will go after your animals just as blindly as they attack your dwarves. An expendable chained animal can bait enemies into dangerous passages, even into places unconnected to your fortress. Such an animal chained out on the far side of the map can alert you to ambushes that start there before they threaten your local dwarves.

[[Restraint|Restrain]] animals in narrow corridors (width 1 or 2), or in matched pairs against the walls of 3-wide corridors, preferably in places where enemy archers can't easily fire at them.

Or, if you feel like being <strike>evil</strike> resourceful, you could attempt to get a dragon (good luck), and watch as goblins run towards it and get burned to ashes. (Be careful not to ignite your dwarves!)

===Siege engines===
:''Full article: [[Siege engine]]

Siege engines take some planning to use effectively, and have a range of about 100 tiles compared to a crossbow's 20 or so. Both catapults and ballistae can be very deadly, but both have their drawbacks -- they take time to reload and can only hit targets at the same z-level, and they are woefully inaccurate in the hands of unskilled operators or when loaded with low-quality bolts. Furthermore, they're manned by civilians, who will abandon their posts should the enemy get too close.

==Considerations==
Now you know what you might face, and what cards you have in your hand. To that we add complications, things that make defense so much [[fun]]...

===Surface jobs===
There are many times when dwarfs want to work on the surface. [[Wood cutting]], [[Herbalist|gathering plants]], [[hunting]], [[fishing]], [[mining]] exposed [[vein]]s or [[gem]]s, building defenses or other structures, [[grower|growing]] above-ground [[crop]]s, [[Health care|helping wounded comrades]] or recovering dropped items are only the most likely. Often they are alone and vulnerable to [[creature|wild beasts]] or [[ambush]]es.

[[Burrow]]s are one option to handle civilian eagerness, but only [[squads|soldiers]] can currently be broken up by burrow - civilians are all grouped into the same category, so when you try to restrict civilians to one burrow to stop them from going outside, you should make sure they can still access the whole of your fort (especially if it's still expanding). You can try to wall in huge areas of the map, possibly with drawbridge gates that can open for caravans, but the larger the area, the vaster the project, the further your dwarves will be from existing defenses, and the more time they will spend working above ground.

Making smaller enclosures in key areas with underground tunnels leading to them can be an easier first step. Likewise, tunneling to the inside of an exposed vein of ore keeps your miners sealed from the outside until you are prepared to mine the last tiles, possibly after placing doors or walls just inside that tunnel. Having military stationed or patrolling nearby is another option.

* '''Burrows.''' Making effective use of the burrow system, it's very easy to set a safe place designated as an emergency burrow and restrict civilians to it. Setting that alert state when there are enemies about causes your dwarves to immediately run to the emergency burrow and stay there until the alert is turned off.

* '''Lock the front doors.''' It takes a truly airtight fortress to keep the entrance open while there are still enemies outside. If there's even one exit, your dwarves will use it. Try testing this while it's safe: Raise the bridges, just like you would in a siege, and designate some trees for cutting. If there's a way out, your woodcutters will find it.

* '''Forbid dropped equipment and corpses.''' Mark every item on the battlefield as [[forbidden]]. This includes any items dropped by dead merchants or scuttled wagons. You can have this done automatically for dwarf and enemy corpses and inventories in the '''orders''' {{key|o}} menu at the '''forbid options''' {{key|F}}.

* '''Delete stockpiles and turn off tombs.''' As a preemptive measure, you can easily delete your Graveyard [[stockpile]]s. Dwarves don't haul things if there's no stockpile to place them in. Turning off or removing [[coffin]]s stops burials as well.

* '''Keep them busy.''' Make a bunch of busy-work for your dwarves, just to keep them underground. It's not perfect but it helps. Time to re-organize your stockpiles.

===Water sources===
Access to [[water]] can be vital. Wounded dwarves need water, so if there's not an underground water source you'll lose valuable soldiers to thirst. Try to have a [[well]] or cistern your dwarves can use safely. Remember to keep an extra [[bucket]] or two available.

Some water sources are good locations for [[fishing]], providing food during longer sieges.

===Civilians trapped outdoors===
Anything that blocks intruders will also block your dwarves. This can cause the problem of dwarves being trapped outside with the enemy, and the enemy ''will'' find them. Having more than one entrance can be useful here, but each requires adequate defenses - the weakest link and all that. If you make these entrances accessible by drawbridge only, with a (short) moat outside that, and keep the drawbridge up most of the time, having lots of entrances shouldn't be too much of a problem.

===Trade depot & caravans===
Factoring in 3-tile wide access to the [[trade depot]] adds a layer of complexity. Letting merchants in while keeping enemies out requires a careful balance. The merchants can reveal ambushes and thieves like any other creature, and their arrival is frequently accompanied by an ambush or a [[siege]]. If the merchants run into an enemy squad, they can be slaughtered before reaching your doors, and that hurts your reputation (as well as possibly causing your civilian dwarfs to want to go running out and collect their dropped items). Consider sending heavily armored escorts when expecting a caravan (usually the middle of the third month of each season, except winter). Unless it's an elven caravan, it will have some guards escorting it, and you can take advantage of the distraction to attack an enemy from both sides, but keep in mind that if the merchants themselves are under attack, they will flee.

You will possibly want to build the depot inside your walls/defenses with retractable-/draw-[[bridge]]s, so you can seal an enemy out while you conduct your trading. Keeping the Depot at the center of the map also lets your dwarfs drag things to it faster, and leaves it to the caravan to do the hauling.

A common trade depot design involves ''two'' separately sealable paths: one from the outside to the depot, and the other from the depot to the inside of the fortress. This "airlock" design helps keep your inner fortress safe even if the trade depot becomes compromised.

The Depot Access command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take. Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.

===Branching corridors===
Enemies will take the most direct path to your fortress, (even if it's not very direct at all). You can use this to your advantage. Have two paths to the fortress: a long, twisting, three-wide road, and a shorter, one tile wide, trap-filled passage. Attackers will usually prefer the short and deadly path. This makes a good line of fire for a ballista, too.

Alternately, you can have a primary, convenient, direct 3-wide path to your fortress open most of the time, with a convoluted detour that is forced (by drawbridges) only during sieges, lined with traps and overseen by marksdwarves. The possibilities are infinite.

===Levers===
Be careful where you place the [[lever]]s controlling your various entrances, traps and other defenses. Or any lever at all, for that matter. Make sure they are either central or close to locations of idle dwarfs, or both - near a [[Activity zone|meeting area]] or bedrooms of [[nobles]] is often a good plan. Make sure that the entire path to each lever is [[underground]] or your dwarves might be unable to reach them if told to stay in certain warrens (test this during peacetime!) Try putting all your defense-related levers in a single room, perhaps down a staircase from your meeting area, and put a door (or hatch) on the entrance(s). Then you can lock your lever-puller inside to ensure rapid response time.

Another solution to the problem of rapid response time is to make your lever room double as a [[Screw pump|pump]] room. Pumping is a good way to build up your dwarves' [[attribute]]s regardless of whether the pump is doing work or not. If you want a dedicated lever operator or three, turn off all their labors except pumping, and set the pumps up so that they can be operated exclusively by your dedicated lever operators. Rotate these positions every so often so the attribute gain will be distributed among multiple dwarves.

For the truly ambitious, the lever room could be spread over multiple levels, and the pumps could work together to power one or more artificial [[waterfall]]s. (Waterfalls work well in this case because their operation is not fortress-critical, and your dwarves like the mist they produce.)

Use [[Note]]s to label each lever and attached device and trap clearly - if you come back to a game after a week and can't remember your levers, they are useless (or, worse, <s>dangerous</s> [[Fun]]!) Color code your levers with different color [[mechanism]]s if that works for you.

==General Suggestions==

===First concerns===

====Pre-embark decisions====
Defense starts before the game does, at embark when you're choosing your location, your dwarves' starting skill mixes, and your starting equipment and supplies. If you expect trouble (an evil biome, perhaps), then it can be crucial to bring at least one axe. Picks make decent weapons. A supply of wood means you don't have to chop trees for a while, and similarly a few simple stone (a few [[bauxite]] can't hurt) allows you to make immediate workshops even before your miner has swung her pick. While an untrained dwarf can usually wrestle most small and medium beasts, one unarmored (semi-)military dwarf with an axe or crossbow can be a big edge against most early threats.

For most starts, unless your embark location is very close to the mouth of an open [[volcano]] or you are starting in an [[evil]] biome, there should be no serious immediate threats. Unless you are at [[war]] with a civilization (visible on the pre-embark screen), sieges and ambushes don't start until you've created some wealth, the first winter at the earliest. So wild animals are your only concern, predators that might prey on lone dwarfs and thieving animals that will target your valuables.

====Striking the earth====
First, look around. At the terrain, at the animals present. Scan the {{k|u}} menu before un-pausing the game at the start, and regularly. More animals will enter the map, constantly and without warning, so keep an eye on visitors.

One of your first priorities is to get things underground or otherwise secure, to prevent rot but also to prevent theft. Carving out a channel/moat, or removing the slopes to a hill, or building a wall, or a combination of those will work fine, but better if you don't have an unwanted entrance to wall up later. Soil is very fast to dig out, and just as strong against enemies, but may not be desirable for a later, mature fortress. Balance convenience against your long-range plans and visible threats.

Consider and plan the entrance to your fortress - perhaps a ramp leading down, or a tunnel into the side of a hill or cliff. A long, narrow entrance (a valley and/or tunnel) allows you to control it, with archers, with traps, with a siege engine at the end. It gives you time to prepare your military. However, it also means that your dwarfs will have to walk that entire distance every time they enter and leave your fortress, and be that much further from help should they need it. Entrances vary from a few tiles to many dozens. Start with something smaller for now, but plan on how to develop the entrance you want later.

An L-bend, or several, or drops in z-level may provide better security, or a firing platform for siege engines and/or archers. Many complex traps involve several levels beneath the entrance (for drainage of liquids or other diabolical purposes.) Using some of the principles above, it might look something like this...

####################
(a)? (-trap ...#
? area-) . .# (A's/SE)
################...#
# #
#D D#
# #
<Inner Fortress> (Not to Scale)

(a) = bait animal, on [[restraint]]
# = tunnel walls, above-ground walls, valley walls with slopes removed, and/or channels
? = ramp up, drawbridge, moat, defensive structures, or combination of all
traps = mechanic's traps and/or complex death traps, as you wish.
...
. . = area open to sky, to prevent "dwarves staying inside" from archers outside entrance
...
D = wardog on [[restraint]]
(A's/SE) = future site for archers and/or [[siege engine]]s (planning ahead)

The above might be longer or shorter, partially or entirely above or below ground, or have more turns. The "inner fortress" might only be a Trade Depot, with another similar entryway behind that. Instead of the turn, it might drop a level and dive below the sight of the Siege Engines. Since the first caravan won't arrive for at least 6 months, you can dig a 1-tile wide tunnel for now, or a staircase, and then dig out to another location for a more formal entrance. This is only a very rough, very simple example of combining possibilities.

====It's mine!====
Consider how you will secure your valuables, your entrance, and any land you want to claim as "dwarf only" - by channeling, removing the slopes from nearby hills, maybe walls? At first, consider including at least enough above-ground terrain for any [[farm plot]]s and [[Activity zone|meeting area]]s. This could perhaps be as small as a 5x5 walled enclosure, or be multiple compounds, but some players aim at claiming (most of) the entire map. Any barrier limits your dwarfs, but keeps enemies out until you have your fortress up and running at a basic level and are prepared to respond properly. Due to thieves' ability to get past locked doors, and a caravan needing a path that's 3-wide, you won't be able to create a hard "gate" that you can open and shut until you have a [[mechanic's workshop]] and some [[mechanism]]s for levers, to link to a [[drawbridge]].

====Inside vs. outside====
Not "above ground" vs "subterranean", but the border where the inside of your fortress starts, what you claim as "yours" vs "out there". Some fortresses just have one main gate, some try to own the entire map. Some have an "airlock", a middle ground (remembering multiple, layered defenses!) where a Trade Depot is kept, that visitors can access and is protected, but then a deeper, even more secure inner fortress - think of a castle courtyard - inside the walls but not yet inside the castle itself. A safe zone for friends, still unfriendly for enemies but taking extra precautions against full intrusion.

This can be above ground or deep underground, a direct line or a maze of z-levels - that's all up to you, how much work you think "security" is worth. Hey, it's not like ''you'' have to do the heavy lifting.

That line of defense - any line - can be passive (walls and barriers and traps only) or active, with military, either on permanent duty or with stations to report to when activated. Use remote controlled bridges to create movable walls and closed gates or open hidden moats to reroute visitors, enemies and/or your dwarves depending on the situation, so there is no one "configuration", but several different options all side by side.

====Mechanic's traps====
Traps are a good friend for the starting player. We're talking the simple traps that a mechanic places - complex death traps are up to you. Stone traps are a good start - they're easy, effective against all but the biggest creatures, and ammo is plentiful if you're mining in stone. When goblins show, they can number less than a dozen to start, but grow over time. Start with a row in an early chokepoint, maybe your entry hall or outside it, make that one row into a few, and go from there. But lead your target - count on the next attack being larger than the last.

If you want to breed monkeys for skin, bone and meat, or amuse yourself with live goblins, a row or five of cage traps at the very entrance of your fort would be a good start. Leave room for this when you place your stone traps - killing the monkeys first won't allow live monkeys to be caged. (You still get the meat & etc. from those corpses, just not breeding stock.)

As your dwarfs create weapons, or you trade for them, or (later) as you [[goblinite|gather]] those of your fallen enemies, [[Trap#Weapon_Trap|weapon traps]] will become attractive. There is no hard rule or formula for all this - be creative.

====Complex traps====
Between levers, pressure plates, water and magma, much [[fun]] can be had. But this article won't deal with any specifics. (See [[Trap design]] for those.) We will say - plan ahead. Think about what you might want to do, and leave ample room for it, in all 3 dimensions.

====Military====
To start, you will probably have few if any full-time military standing guard over your dwarfs - there is just too much to do at first, and serious threats are (hopefully) several seasons away. If you are going to make weapons and armor, have stockpiles near where your draftees work and rest, perhaps near an entrance/exit, but not so close that it might get over-run before your dwarfs can equip. Eventually you might have perhaps a quarter (or more or less) of your dwarfs as full-time military, and they'll need a barracks where they will sleep and practice, archery ranges if that's their weapon of choice, and quick, safe routes to their battle stations or patrol areas. When to begin a full-time military presence is personal choice and influenced by your game situation, but plan on eventually having them live and practice near where they will be fighting as much as possible. See [[Military design]] for a more complete discussion on planning and deploying military and militia.

==Different philosophies==
There are many, ''many'' ways to play DF. Some players play hard and tight, and some fast and loose. Some take no risks and protect every last dwarf and cat, and others happily leave a highway of dwarf and animal bodies for the next immigration wave to follow. Some live for the slaughter of ASCII goblins, and others for the mega-project. No one "defense" will serve everyone's tastes.

===Losing is fun===
There is no final "win" in Dwarf Fortress, no end point or Easter egg that says "Congratulations!" - it just keeps going, until, inevitably and unavoidably, you will lose. That's part of the game. So it's all about how you play until then, and finding your type of fun in that process.

==="Fun" vs. security===
It's not hard to create an acre of traps that, realistically, simply no threats can survive. If you want to pursue a megaproject (that is not a defensive trap) in peace and security, this may be a good plan. However, if you look forward to the military end of things, then you want to allow, or at least be able to invite combat at your choosing. Inexperienced players are recommended to use the hall-of-traps entryway, at least to start. Many experienced players challenge themselves by limiting their use of simple traps, or other voluntary handicaps. It's all about what you think is [[fun]]. To prevent ambushes and sieges altogether, <code>[INVADERS:NO]</code> can be set in [[d_init.txt]].

===Turtling===
The fewer surface jobs your dwarves have to run, the less exposed they will be to potential harm. There are a number of ways to reduce surface exposure while keeping your fortress well-stocked:
* Hunting requires chasing animals across the map, almost invariably far from home. For maximum safety, you're better off disabling your hunters.
* Woodcutting requires trees to chop down, and trees grow on the surface. Once you discover the [[cavern]]s, you can build [[Tree farming|tree farm]]s underground to solve your wood needs.
* Grazing livestock require grassy pastures. Once you discover caverns, you can likewise establish pastures underground, on well-grown underground floor.
* Giving water to the wounded requires fresh water. Internalize your water supply with a [[well]].
* [[Caravan]]s need to get in while ambushers and siegers need to stay out. Using the fact that wagons need a three-tile-wide path to your trade depot, you can place strategic constructions around the map to force them to always take one easily-defended route.

==See also==
:*[[Siege engine]]

{{Military}}

{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Fortress defense}}
{{Category|Design}}

DF2014 Talk:Melt item

2015-05-17T14:15:45Z

Antsy555: /* Verification */

== Verification ==

There's a lot of verification tags on this page for the "bars back when smelted", I'm not sure where that information resides, but I'm pretty sure It hasn't changed since DF2012. [[User:Antsy555|Antsy555]] ([[User talk:Antsy555|talk]]) 14:15, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

DF2014 Talk:Melt item

2015-05-17T14:15:14Z

Antsy555: Created page with " == Verification == There's a lot of verification tags on this page for the "bars back when smelted", I'm not sure where that information resides, but I'm pretty sure It hasn..."

== Verification ==

There's a lot of verification tags on this page for the "bars back when smelted", I'm not sure where that information resides, but I'm pretty sure It hasn't changed since DF2012

Liquid

2015-05-17T12:13:04Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Fine" using the rating script

{{Quality|Fine|12:13, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

'''Liquid''' is a classification under the [[stocks]] menu, containing nonalcoholic fluids ([[drink]]s are separate) such as [[water]], [[milk]], [[lye]], [[dwarven syrup]], [[honey]] and [[royal jelly]].
Royal jelly which is still part of one of your [[hive]]s is also shown here, while honey will only be shown after it has been [[screw press|pressed]] from a [[honeycomb]].
It also lists [[ichor]], [[blood]] and [[venom]].

[[Magma]] may also be listed as a liquid. This happens whenever the magma fluid melts a non [[magma-safe]] stone. As the raws for any stone list their liquid state as magma, when the magma fluid melts the rocks, they become listed as a magma glob on the stocks page.

Giant sponge

2015-05-17T12:10:39Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Superior" using the rating script

{{Quality|Superior|12:10, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|wiki=no
|contrib=no
|death=nobutcher}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Giant sponges''' are larger versions of [[sponge]]s. They can be found in savage rivers, lakes and oceans.

Physically, giant sponges are blobs made of "sponge" tissue. Despite their lack of articulations or body parts, the combat mechanics of v0.40 have made it invulnerable no longer, due to the mechanics of pulping. Due to the sponge's weak material properties (even weaker than flesh), pulping sponge tissue with blunt weapons is surprisingly not too difficult. However, their large size means they can shatter bones, articulations, bruise organs or even kill a dwarf via headshot using their default [[push]] attack. They may also themselves pulp body parts beyond recognition, as the push attack is also a blunt attack. How a giant sponge's soft structural tissue can break a dwarven skull is a [[physics|mystery for the ages]].

If some hapless [[dwarf]] appears near their water, giant sponges may feel suddenly threatened and charge (!) the hapless dwarf and engage in combat - the only occasion when they move at all. They may also become enraged or unconscious or feel pain, as utterly improbable as that sounds.

''"Without a nervous system, the only thing it can feel is ANGER."

According to its raws, the giant sponge can not only be tamed but even ''ridden as a war beast'' by invaders. No reports of goblins or elves riding giant sponges has been documented, but maybe its strictly aquatic lifestyle prevents it from being chosen.

== Bugs ==

*Rangers and Hunters may try to hunt the Giant Sponge, wasting bolts that become lost in the water or lodged into the Sponge itself. This may also lead to near endless "Urist McHunterpants Ranger cancels Hunt: Could Not Find Path" messages.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

Butcher

2015-05-17T12:08:42Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Exceptional" using the rating script

{{Quality|Exceptional|12:08, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{Skill
| color = 6:0
| skill = Butcher
| profession = [[Farmer]]
| job name = [[Butchery]]
| tasks =
* Butcher [[animal]]
| workshop = [[Butcher's shop]]
| attributes =
* Strength
* Agility
* Endurance
* Kinesthetic Sense
}}
{{av}}

'''Butchers''' do the dirty job of killing tame animals, processing animal [[corpse]]s, skeletons and body parts for [[meat]], [[fat]], [[skin]], [[bone]]s, [[Skull|skull]](s) and many other objects at the [[butcher's shop]].

==Fortress Mode==

The work of a butcher is divided into two distinct categories: '''butchering''' and '''slaughtering'''. While both produce the same results (food and raw materials), they have distinctly different inputs - butchering is done on dead wild creatures (and takes a significant amount of time to perform), while slaughtering is done on live tame/trained creatures (and is instantaneous).

To slaughter an animal, do one of the following:
* go into {{K|v}}iew mode, place the cursor on the animal, go to the {{K|p}}references page and press {{K|s}} to flag (or un-flag) the animal for slaughtering
* go to the {{K|z}} ([[Status]]) screen, then the Animals page, select the animal and press {{k|b}} to flag (or un-flag) for slaughter.

Only tame/trained creatures can be slaughtered, and any adopted [[pet]]s are exempt (and will be automatically undesignated if they happen to be adopted while being led to the chopping block).

Assuming you have enabled "Auto slaughter" in your [[standing orders#Workshop orders|workshop orders]], a butcher will then walk up to the animal, lead it to a [[butcher's shop]], then strike down the creature. As mentioned above, slaughtering living animals is ''instantaneous'' - the moment the dwarf sets their in the workshop, the animal dies and its body is split into individual parts. If "auto slaughter" is ''disabled'' in workshop orders, then nothing at all will happen, since the "slaughter animal" job cannot be added manually.

If the "Auto butcher" order is enabled, then any valid corpse located either in a stockpile or within 43 squares of a butcher's shop will be automatically queued for butchering. During this job, the butcher will pick up the corpse, haul it to the workshop, and then slowly process it into individual parts at a speed based on skill level and [[clutter]] (which can take a long time for particularly large creatures such as [[forgotten beast]]s). If a [[Ambusher|hunter]] successfully kills his target, he will haul the corpse and place it directly inside an appropriate butcher's shop, but unless your butcher happens to be idle at the moment, the corpse will likely be removed from the workshop and placed in a stockpile.

Dwarves will not butcher the corpses of sapient creatures (due to the EAT_SAPIENT_OTHER:UNTHINKABLE [[ethics|ethic]]), and the corpses of tame creatures cannot be butchered (they must be slaughtered while still alive).

The type and number of objects produced from butchering a creature varies greatly, since not all creatures have the same parts. See each animal's page for a breakdown of what happens when you break that animal down.

==Adventurer Mode==
How to butcher in [[adventurer mode]]:

# If the corpse is in your inventory, {{k|d}}rop it or equip it by {{k|r}}emoving it.
# If the corpse is on the ground, move onto the same tile as it.
# Equip a cutting implement or, alternatively, drop it on the same tile as yourself. This can be any object with a sharp edge (i.e.has an EDGE attack type), such as bladed [[Weapon|weapons]] and [[Tool|tools]], [[Bolt|bolts]] and [[Knapper|sharpened rocks]].
# Press {{k|x}} to open the action menu. Then select "{{k|b}}utcher", press {{k|→}} and select the corpse that you want to butcher, press {{k|→}} again and pick the tool that you want to use. [[File:Butchery_adv_action_menu.PNG]]

You will then proceed to butcher the corpse, dropping all of the products on the same tile as yourself.

Also note that small animals like ravens cannot be butchered.

==Effect of skill==
A butcher's skill affects the speed of butchery, which can be important for processing a large number of corpses before they begin to [[rot]]. Note that butcher shops can become [[clutter|cluttered]] quickly, because most animals create a large number of different items of different categories when butchered. So make sure that you have nearby stockpiles for refuse, raw hides, meat, prepared organs and fat. To minimize the amount of [[miasma]] created in case the rotting parts are not removed fast enough, a butcher's shop should always be blocked by a [[door]].

Of course, placing the Butchery outside will prevent any and all miasma generated by rotting, but dwarves won't haul the inedible parts away unless the global orders allow to "gather refuse from outside" ({{k|o}}-{{k|r}}-{{k|o}})
==Bugs==
*A dead tame animal that was not slaughtered cannot be butchered.{{bug|1180}} This includes tame animals killed due to age, starvation or due to goblins.
*Dwarves will not disassemble (butcher) skeletons of sentient creatures for their bones.{{bug|1180}}

==See also==
*[[Meat industry]]

{{Translation
| dwarven = lokast
| elvish = uwale
| goblin = slust
| human = rashcat
}}

{{Skills}}

Biome

2015-05-17T12:08:14Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Exceptional" using the rating script

{{Quality|Exceptional|12:08, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

A '''biome''' is a biotic area with homogeneous features, characterized by distinctive [[plant]]s, [[creatures|animal species]] and [[climate]]. A biome will also contain only one set of stone layers, though these usually expand beyond a single biome. Your [[dwarves]] will find different resources depending on which biomes you select when starting a fort.

== Selecting a biome ==

Biomes are important when choosing a fortress location in order to understand your [[surroundings]]. Individual biomes, which form at least one map-tile of your embark location, can be cycled with the {{Key|F#}}-keys; for example, an area with 3 biomes present can be cycled using {{Key|F1}}, {{Key|F2}} and {{Key|F3}}. The selected biome will be highlighted with flashing Xs on the Local Map, and the biome's information will be displayed on the right side of the screen.

== Characteristics of biomes ==

Selecting different biomes gives you some ability to influence the difficulty of your game. Each biome has a different set of resources; the availability of [[tree]]s, [[sand]], certain [[plant]]s or [[animal]]s, and sometimes [[water]] is specific to a particular biome, and different biomes may have different stone layers containing [[flux]], [[Fuel|coal]] or useful [[ore]]s. [[Mountain]]s have a lot of [[ore]], but no [[soil]].

Generally it is advantageous to plot your embark [[location]] at the convergence of multiple different biomes, the more the better (within reason) - which is made easier if you enlarge your starting embarkation area. However, it is not usually too hard to find three or four biomes using the default size.

''Note: Making the starting plot larger will slow your game down considerably; likewise, a small embark area can dramatically increase framerate. One embark square translates to 48x48 ingame tiles''

By making use of several biomes you can provide more resources for your fort. Making sure one of your biomes contains either a broadleaf or conifer [[forest]] will provide you with an ample supply of [[tree]]s, even if the rest of your plot extends into badlands and [[desert]].

All biomes also have some kind of "alignment" -- good, neutral, or evil -- and a degree of "savagery", which essentially measures how relatively peaceful the biome is. The combination of alignment and savagery is referred to as the biome's [[surroundings]]. However, a named region (which is a contiguous area of one category of biomes, such as [[forest]]s or [[wetland]]s) will be either good, neutral, or evil. It is not uncommon to see a large mountain range with one alignment and a few mountains, disconnected from the main mountain range by a single region tile, with a different alignment. Therefore, the more biomes you have, the more likely it is to have combinations of different alignments and savageries, if so desired.

If your plot contains only [[ocean]], [[lake]] or [[mountain]] biomes you will not be able to embark. The dwarves would have difficulty parking their [[wagon (embark)|wagon]] on water, while mountains are too barren and remote to reach.

== Available Biomes ==

=== Wetlands ===
Wetlands may be [[Swamp]] or [[Marsh]]; may be Freshwater or Saltwater; and may be [[Temperate]] or [[Tropical]]. In addition, there are Mangrove Swamps.

=== Forests ===
*[[Taiga]]
*[[Temperate]] [[Coniferous forest|Coniferous Forest]]
*Temperate [[Broadleaf forest|Broadleaf Forest]]
*[[Tropical]] Coniferous Forest
*Tropical Dry Broadleaf Forest
*Tropical Moist Broadleaf Forest

=== Plains ===
Plains include [[Grassland]], [[Savanna]] and [[Shrubland]]; they may be either [[Temperate]] or [[Tropical]].

=== Deserts ===
*[[Badlands]]
*[[Rocky wasteland|Rocky Wasteland]]
*[[Sand desert|Sand Desert]]

=== [[Ocean]]s ===
*Tropical Ocean
*Temperate Ocean
*Arctic Ocean

=== Murky [[Pool]]s ===
These include Freshwater, Saltwater and Brackish Pools, which may be either [[Temperate]] or [[Tropical]].

=== [[Lake]]s ===
Like pools, these may be Freshwater, Saltwater or Brackish Lakes, and may be either [[Temperate]] or [[Tropical]].

=== [[River]]s ===
Like pools and lakes, these may be Freshwater, Saltwater or Brackish Rivers, and may be either [[Temperate]] or [[Tropical]].

=== Underground ===
* Subterranean Water
* Subterranean Chasm
* Subterranean Magma

=== Other ===
*[[Mountain]]
*[[Glacier]]
*[[Tundra]]

=== Groups ===
Certain creatures and plants use special biome tokens to encompass several similar environments.

* "Not Freezing" includes all land biomes except Mountains, Glaciers, and Tundras. All plants require a "Not Freezing" biome (or a more specific biome group); you will be unable to grow any aboveground crops at all in a Mountain biome.
* "Any Temperate Broadleaf" includes temperate broadleaf forests as well as grasslands, savannas, shrublands, swamps, and marshes.
* "Any Tropical Broadleaf" includes tropical dry/moist broadleaf forests as well as grasslands, savannas, shrublands, swamps (including Mangrove), and marshes.

More information can be found in the [[Biome token]] list.

== Generating a Biome ==

When using [[advanced world generation]] to attempt to create the "perfect" starting location, it helps to understand how biomes are created. Biomes are calculated for each region tile (the center map when choosing an embark), then noise is calculated and applied which causes the irregular region boundaries on the local map. For the most part, a region's biome is a factor of elevation, drainage, rainfall, and temperature, as explained in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=20685.0 this old forum thread for 40d].

When determining the biome, elevation comes first; any terrain with an elevation of 0-99 is ocean, while any terrain with an elevation of 300-400 is mountain. All other biomes lie in between these two extremes. The remaining base biomes are determined by the combination of drainage and rainfall.

[[Image:DF_Biome_Distribution.png|800px|thumb|none]]

All other biomes are variations the corresponding base biome shown above. For example, salinity determines the type of lake, swamp, and marsh. A salinity of 0 is a freshwater biome, 33 is a freshwater swamp or marsh but a brackish lake, 66 is a saltwater biome, and 100 is an ocean. Temperature determines tropical and frozen variants. Region tile temperatures at or below -5 convert all base biomes with drainage below 75 to Tundra, and biomes with drainage 75+ to Glaciers. Similarly, Arctic Oceans replace Temperate Oceans. Between -4 and 9 (inclusive) Conifer Forests become Taiga. At the other end of the temperature scale, biomes become tropical at around 85+; generally speaking you'll need Hot and Scorching temperatures. Tropical Saltwater Swamps are converted to Mangrove Swamps when drainage is 9 or less. Unfortunately, temperature is harder to affect directly in world gen because, according to Toady One, it's affected by both latitude and elevation. Additionally, when the pole setting is none the tropical or frozen biomes variants do not respect the otherwise static divisions.

{{World|Biomes}}

{{Category|Biomes|*}}

Blood

2015-05-17T12:07:15Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Fine" using the rating script

{{Quality|Fine|12:07, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

'''Blood''' is the preferred fluid of [[Main:Armok|Armok]], as well as the fluid that most living creatures contain within their bodies. Some creatures will have ichor instead. It is unfortunate that losing this fluid tends to be invariably fatal to those who possess it.

Blood tends to spread ''everywhere''; you will just have to get used to it. Or go insane, your choice. It is possible to remove blood from a [[soil]] floor by building a [[dirt road]] on it. Allocating bloody [[tile attributes|indoor]] underground areas as a [[activity zone#Meeting Area|meeting area]] seems to increase their [[cleaning]] priority and they will get cleaned pretty quickly if you have enough idle workers. However, this does not seem to work for above ground areas and have in fact the opposite effects. It is better to forbid an area with blood in above areas as rain will randomly clear tiles where it touches it. To rid of blood splattering on a rough wall, designating the splattered area to be smoothed will make it disappear.

Dwarf walking on tiles with blood (smear) will spread it to the next tile, where it will form a spattering of blood, then a smear. That is why blood areas tends to grow quickly on ''above ground'' when heavy traffic is there. A setting in [[d_init.txt]] permits disabling the spreading of blood.

Brooks and similar sources of water appear to replicate any blood that falls on their tiles, resulting in an endlessly growing carpet of blood. This can be dealt with by covering the offending brook tiles with walls or floors.

==Assorted Blood Types==
Not all creatures have the same dark red blood that most do. [[Fire imp]]s, for instance, have a gray goo instead of blood, and [[troll]]s bleed a bright cyan.

==Bloodless Creatures==
Several creatures, such as the [[bronze colossus]] and skeletal [[undead]], do not possess blood. Such creatures are markedly harder to kill.

Some creatures, when injured, may leave residue like a normal creature would bleed, but not actual blood. For example, a Titan made out of salt may leave piles of salt where it was injured.

==Collecting Blood==
Beyond the obvious method of injuring creatures, [[barrel]]s full of blood can be brought with a [[dwarf|dwarven]] expedition upon [[embark]], and bought from dwarven and human civilizations in [[trade]]. The use for this is uncertain, though the stuff may appease [[Main:Armok|Armok]] until you can start "producing" it on your own.

==Disposing of Blood==
Selecting blood inside a barrel for dumping does not empty the barrel. Using the [[soap|workaround]] for dumping liquids from lye buckets works - view the contents of the barrel, select the blood and forbid or dump it. Alternatively, forbid/dump the blood from the stocks screen in 'liquids'. Then order the barrel to be brought for trading at the depot.
Armok will NOT be happy...

{{Translation
| dwarven = nazush
| elvish = cameda
| goblin = ogom
| human = cadem
}}

{{Category|Materials}}

Block

2015-05-17T12:06:20Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Unrated" to "Superior" using the rating script

{{Quality|Superior|12:06, 17 May 2015 (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]] by a [[blacksmith]] (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. The appearance of [[bridge]]s and paved [[road]]s will be different depending on whether blocks or rocks are used. The use of blocks is indicated by the floor tile {{Tile|+|#FFF|#000}}, and the use of rocks is indicated by a rough ground tile {{Tile|≈|#FFF|#000}}.

Unlike raw stone or wood, up to 10 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.

{{Translation
| dwarven = kastar
| elvish = epuba
| goblin = zobo
| human = xugot
}}

{{Category|Materials}}

DF2014:Fruit

2015-05-17T11:59:34Z

Antsy555: Changed quality rating from "Tattered" to "Superior" using the rating script

{{Quality|Superior|11:59, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

{{catbox}}A '''fruit''' is a [[plant]] growth containing [[seed]]s. In comparison to [[pod]]s, fruit are larger structures, usually edible.

Fruit may be produced by both [[crop]]s and [[Tree#Fruit|trees]].

== Collection ==

In [[Fortress mode]] fruit can be picked, on the surface, by setting up a gathering [[zone]] ({{k|i}} then {{k|g}}). If there are any trees in the zone, a dwarf will pick up a stepladder or climb the tree and drop the fruit to the ground, where it will be picked up by a dwarf.

{{Translation
| dwarven = dozeb
| elvish = ile
| goblin = utmak
| human = par
}}

DF2014:Fruit

2015-05-17T11:59:11Z

Antsy555:

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{av}}

{{catbox}}A '''fruit''' is a [[plant]] growth containing [[seed]]s. In comparison to [[pod]]s, fruit are larger structures, usually edible.

Fruit may be produced by both [[crop]]s and [[Tree#Fruit|trees]].

== Collection ==

In [[Fortress mode]] fruit can be picked, on the surface, by setting up a gathering [[zone]] ({{k|i}} then {{k|g}}). If there are any trees in the zone, a dwarf will pick up a stepladder or climb the tree and drop the fruit to the ground, where it will be picked up by a dwarf.

{{Translation
| dwarven = dozeb
| elvish = ile
| goblin = utmak
| human = par
}}

DF2014:Fruit

2015-05-17T11:58:04Z

Antsy555: /* Collection */

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{av}}

{{catbox}}A '''fruit''' is a [[plant]] growth containing [[seed]]s. In comparison to [[pod]]s, fruit are larger structures, usually edible.

Fruit may be produced by both [[crop]]s and [[Tree#Fruit|trees]].

== Collection ==

In [[Fortress Mode]] fruit can be picked, on the surface, by setting up a gathering [[zone]] ({{k|i}} then {{k|g}}). If there are any trees in the zone, a dwarf will pick up a stepladder or climb the tree and drop the fruit to the ground, where it will be picked up by a dwarf.

{{Translation
| dwarven = dozeb
| elvish = ile
| goblin = utmak
| human = par
}}

Beekeeping industry

2015-05-17T11:56:55Z

Antsy555: /* Basic setup */

{{Quality|Exceptional|18:00, 15 August 2014 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{buggy}}

[[Image:Beekeeping Industry Flowchart.png|right|400px]]
The '''beekeeping industry''' is an agricultural process that allows a fortress to produce auxiliary food ([[honey]], [[royal jelly]]), drink ([[mead]]), and craftable materials ([[wax]]) by farming [[honey bee]]s.

== Basic setup ==
Before you can have a beekeeping industry you must logically have bees. There are two types of bees in the game: [[honey bee]]s, which (true to their name) can be used for beekeeping, and [[bumblebee]]s, which cannot currently be so applied (this may or [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=3990#c15308 may not] change in the future). Honey bee colonies appear in any non-[[Freezing#Climate|freezing]] [[biome]] in some number, but are not necessarily guaranteed to appear in your fortress [[surroundings]] if you [[embark]] on such a biome, especially if a large part of your embark site is incompatible.

Honey bee colonies are one of a number of "colony" type tile features, and so it is possible that all of your "slots" are occupied by other, more boring things. If you do not have any honey bee colonies on your screen, then you (obviously) cannot have a beekeeping industry, at least not until a honey bee colony spawns. If you ''really'' want beekeeping you can build [[bridge]]s over existing colonies to "free up" space for honey bee ones (<s>whether or not this is worth the effort is a different story</s> This is so worth the effort for glorious mead that you'd be a fool not to do this to gain your precious golden liquor)

Once you are sure you have a colony of bees, the next step is to create an artificial [[hive]], either from [[stone]] or [[wood]] at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], from [[ceramic]]s at a [[kiln]], from [[glass]] at a [[glass furnace]], or from [[metal]] at a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Hives are [[tool]]s stored in the [[finished goods]] [[stockpile]], and can be {{k|b}}uilt by a [[beekeeper]] using the {{k|Alt}}+{{k|h}} [[hotkeys|hotkey]]. In order to be productive, a hive must be constructed on or adjacent to a [[tile]] that is [[Tile attributes|above ground]]. Dwarves will install colonies in hives installed underground, and such colonies will grow and allow splitting off new colonies, but they will not produce honey.

Once a hive is installed, it is automatically toggled to "install colony when ready", which will generate an "Install Colony in Hive" job onto the [[manager|job list]], unless the player specifies otherwise (with {{K|q}}-{{K|c}}). Hives can have colonies installed into them from preexisting wild colonies or from hives that are ready to split (more on that later); the beekeeper will walk to the location of the colony, pick it up and bring it to the built hive. How exactly the beekeepers carry thousands of bees to a hive with their bare hands is a mystery for the ages. If there are no wild honey bee colonies on your map, no colony can be installed and nothing can be done about it for the moment. It may be beneficial to build a single hive and then see if your beekeeper can find a colony to fill it with rather than go looking for it beforehand if you're unsure whether or not you have any honey bees on your map. You may need to wait a while until you're sure the beekeeper actually doesn't have a colony available and isn't just busy doing other stuff; if there is no available colony, the "install colony in hive" job will not cancel but rather stay "inactive" indefinitely.

== Hive management ==
Once there is a colony (of 10 000 to 20 000 bees) in your hive, you have two options:
* You may toggle the hive (using {{K|q}}-{{K|g}}) so that the product is not automatically gathered. This will prevent your dwarves from collecting the products but at the same time preserves the colony, which will keep growing, so that new colonies can be split off it regularly and placed in additional hives. Assuming you have spare hives built and available, this is the option you set your hives to in order to grow them.
* Or you can choose to have the hive harvested, causing a beekeeper to approach the hive about nine months later to transfer the [[royal jelly]] into an empty [[jug]] and to make the [[honeycomb]] available, so that it can be moved to storage. This is the production option; the hives will produce things for you at a steady rate, but the harvesting destroys the colony in the hive; it can then be repopulated by a colony ready for splitting.

Note: The colony in a hive set to "collect products" will still grow, but splitting off a new colony only becomes possible shortly before the hive is ripe for harvesting, and harvesting will always destroy the entire colony, whether it is ready to split or not. Consequently, dwarves will sometimes replenish hives from colonies set to "collect", but not reliably. To sustain a beekeeping industry without tedious micro-management, a healthy number of "breeding" hives are needed which are not allowed for collection.

Beekeeping as an industry currently doesn't produce as many products as it really should to be worthwhile. In addition, there is no way to tell beekeepers to prioritize fortress hives over wild ones for colony installation (except perhaps by using a [[burrow]]) - they will often wander far out into the map without even the [[ambusher]]'s [[crossbow]]s for self-protection.

===Examining hives===
Interacting with a hive ({{K|q}}) will show:

* Which options have been set for that hive (install colony or don't, gather products or save for split).
* Whether it has {{DFtext|Outdoor access|2:1}} or {{DFtext|No outdoor access|4:1}}.
* If the hive is {{DFtext|Ready to be split|2:1}}.

If interacting with the hive shows {{DFtext|Not ready to be split|7:0}} then it might mean it has a colony too small to be split, or that it has no colony at all. To see if a hive has a colony, uses "view items in buildings" ({{K|t}}), which will show an item [[stack]] of thousands of bees if there's a colony. {{K|t}} will also show if the hive has a honey comb or lump of royal jelly.

===Artificial hive limits===
If your fortress has more than 40 inhabited artificial hives, but less than 60, then interacting with a hive ({{K|q}}) will show:

{{Gametext|Too many hives|6:1}}
{{Gametext|* Output restricted|6:0}}

Presumably this means that existing artificial hives grow more slowly. {{Verify}}

Having more than 40 or more than 60 inhabited artificial hives does not appear to prevent new wild hives from appearing, and these can still be transferred to empty artificial hives.

If you fortress has 60 or more inhabited artificial hives, then interacting with a hive ({{K|q}}) will show:

{{Gametext|Too many hives|4:1}}
{{Gametext|* No output|4:1}}

Presumably this means that existing artificial hives no longer grow, or that grown hives can't be split.

==Products==
Harvesting a hive produces two items, one of which is a lump of [[royal jelly]], which must be collected in an empty [[jug]], an item used only by the beekeeping industry and in the production of [[oil]]. Royal jelly is a liquid [[food]] item, and so can only be used in [[cook]]ing [[prepared meal]]s, and only if another, solid food item is included in the meal. Every harvest will result in a single jug filled with jelly. The other item produced by a harvest job is the [[honeycomb]], which is a little more complicated to process: it is considered a [[wax]] [[tool]] and doesn't have any direct application, but when [[presser|pressed]] at a [[screw press]] produces two products, one jug filled with [[honey]] and a [[wax]] press cake, both of which are handled as food items for storage.

Harvesting a hive requires a jug (ae. you cannot harvest the honeycomb alone), as does pressing the honeycomb; carrying the products to their destination [[stockpile]] or production point is considered an [[item hauling]] job unrelated with the beekeeping labor, so after being harvested by a beekeeper they will be left at the foot of the hive until someone comes by to haul them off, unless the beekeeper has item hauling enabled themselves (in which case they'll send it to nearest applicable stockpiles). The same is true of honeycomb pressing.

[[Honey]] can be cooked into a meal or brought to a [[still]] and processed with a [[barrel]] or [[large pot]] into mead, the only non plant-based alcoholic drink in the game. [[Wax]], meanwhile, can be processed into various wax [[craft]]s by a [[wax worker]] at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]]. Wax crafts are not particularly valuable - they have a [[material value]] of one, the same as [[wood]] and non-[[flux]] [[stone]] - but they're something.

==Bugs==
* Filled [[Jug]]s may be stored in [[bin]]s as [[finished goods]], preventing the use of their contents in the food industry.{{bug|4229}}
* Stacks of [[honey bee]]s in their hives can be [[wear|mangled]] by [[fire|forest fires]], but will still live, resulting in some odd descriptions.{{bug|4101}}

{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}

DF2014:Fruit

2015-05-17T11:50:39Z

Antsy555:

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{av}}

{{catbox}}A '''fruit''' is a [[plant]] growth containing [[seed]]s. In comparison to [[pod]]s, fruit are larger structures, usually edible.

Fruit may be produced by both [[crop]]s and [[Tree#Fruit|trees]].

== Collection ==

In Fortress Mode fruit can be picked, on the surface, by setting up a gathering [[zone]] ({{k|i}} then {{k|g}}). If there are any trees in the zone, a dwarf will pick up a stepladder or climb the tree and drop the fruit to the ground, where it will be picked up by a dwarf.

{{Translation
| dwarven = dozeb
| elvish = ile
| goblin = utmak
| human = par
}}

Bumblebee

2015-05-17T11:31:21Z

Antsy555: added some information about colonies and bumblebee mead.

{{Quality|Superior|09:30, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{buggy}}

{{verminlookup/0}}[[File:Vermin-Bumblebee.jpg|thumb|left|Admired for its woolly appearance.]]

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'''Bumblebees''' are a type of vermin. They are found in any area that isn't freezing. They can sting a nearby dwarf without killing him, causing slight pain but no negative [[thought]] for the dwarf. They are not killed by cats.

Bumblebees spawn from "colonies", and are one of several creatures to do so (the only notable one being the [[honey bee]]). If a map contains bumblebee colonies then it is possible for a [[beekeeping industry]] to be set up on the map.

Bumblebee mead appears in the food stockpile along with standard honeybee mead, though it is not possible to brew it (yet).

==Bugs==
* Bumblebee honey/mead/jelly may be preferred by some dwarves since it exists in the raws, but it isn't obtainable. {{Bug|4735}}
 

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