Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

v0.34:Leech man

2013-07-25T20:49:57Z

GibMoniPls: made the game reference a bit less obvious.

{{quality|Fine|22:47, 26 February 2013 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

{{D for Dwarf}}

One of the more evil residents of savage lakes, these creatures have been proven quite a challenge to kill, even by the most skilled dwarven leech hunters.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

v0.34:Crab

2013-07-25T20:34:13Z

GibMoniPls: added butchering data.

{{quality|Fine|19:47, 20 September 2012 (UTC)}}
{{creaturelookup/0
|meat=10
|fat=10
|brain=1
|skin=chitin
|contrib=no
|wiki=yes}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

This multi-legged critter is found on beaches, usually running away from any threats. Butchering them yields a surprisingly large amount of meat - despite being described as "tiny", they are actually significantly larger than adult [[cat]]s. Note that, despite their description, they do not yield a [[shell]] when butchered.

{{gamedata}}
{{creatures}}

v0.34:Squid man

2013-07-25T03:05:17Z

GibMoniPls: added some actually useful information RE: undead/thralled squid men

{{quality|Fine|22:13, 7 March 2013 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|contrib=no
|death=nobutcher
|wiki=no}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

Squid men, like most anthropomorphic sea life, can be found in savage oceans. They will suffocate if they go out of the water, meaning they pose no threat whatsoever to your fortress.

...in most cases, that is.

Testing in the arena (5 [[undead]] squid men VS. 5 human swordsmen) has shown that one re-animated squid man, in addition to being able to travel on land, has the potential to quickly become an army of re-animated body parts, as they have twelve limbs and eight sets of hands, all of which are theoretically capable of holding a weapon or item.

===Creature Behavior===
{{D for Dwarf}}The Squid man is considered the most sophisticated of the aquatic animalmen, as it has been known to use tools and play instruments, the clarinet being most commonly used. It has also been observed to have a strange aversion to [[sponge man|sponge men]]. More research is necessary to determine the cause of this.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

The Sun

2013-07-25T02:48:10Z

GibMoniPls: page now uses the proper dwarven name for elves.

{{D for Dwarf}}

The '''Sun''' is a floating ball of [[fire|flame]] that comes out during the day. It is spherical, luminous, and travels through the sky starting every dawn, for reasons no one knows. The sun makes things bright and hot and can be considered a menace, but while the sun is not a friend to [[Dwarves]], it is nonetheless the enemy of things [[Night creature|far scarier]].

The [[Above_ground|light of the sun]] is required for the [[farming]] of surface [[plants]] such as [[Sun berry|sun berries.]] Dwarves who spend too much time in the sun will get used to it and start living on the dirt like the [[elf|smelly hippies]]. True dwarves avoid the sun if they can, since [[Cave adaptation|exposure to the harsh rays]] can cause awful [[vomit|vomiting]] to one who rightly embraces the [[stone]].

[[Stone_detailing|Engravers]] often draw pictures of the sun for a variety of reasons. The Sun can be useful for telling time; in fact, most days begin at "sunrise" and end at "sunset," after which night begins.

One day, the Dwarves will succeed in surrounding the sun with [[Gem window|gemstone windows]] before learning to weaponize it. The [[Calendar|Age of Dwarves]] will soon follow.

[[Category:Lore]]

v0.31:Giant

2013-01-21T23:01:58Z

GibMoniPls:

{{quality|Fine|05:21, 18 June 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|death=nobutcher
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Giants''' are [[building destroyer]]s and semi-megabeasts of great [[size]]. They dwell in [[cave]]s, and if you happen to [[embark]] near one, you may (or may not) be in for a quick dose of [[fun]].

They are similar to the [[cyclops]] and the [[ettin]].
Can be stopped with a simple cage trap.

Female giants are known as Giantesses.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}
{{Category|Semi-megabeasts}}

v0.34 Talk:Giant

2013-01-21T23:00:53Z

GibMoniPls: Updated combat AI in DF2012?

== Giant behavior in DF2012 ==

Were giants fixed in the 0.34.11 update? Most of the discussion on [[v0.31 Talk:Giant]] regards their combat-impaired AI, and it would be useful to know if this behavior persists in the new version. My fortresses have yet to see a giant, so I'm afraid I have nothing to add personally. If anyone else has, please post the info, and possibly a notice on the previous version's page. [[User:GibMoniPls|GibMoniPls]] 23:00, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

v0.34:Magma-safe

2013-01-20T23:09:50Z

GibMoniPls: /* Magma-safe material */ fixed a few links.

{{quality|Exceptional|10:15, 12 August 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

'''Magma-safe materials''' are materials which will not melt, burn, evaporate, or otherwise take damage when in close contact with [[magma]]. Most frequently, this comes into play when using [[floodgate]]s operated by [[mechanism]]s.

For [[reaction]]s and custom buildings using the [MAGMA_BUILD_SAFE] token, only a material which is solid and stable at the temperature {{ct|12000}} (i.e. MELTING_POINT/BOILING_POINT/IGNITE_POINT/HEATDAM_POINT greater than 12000 and COLDDAM_POINT less than 12000) is considered magma-safe. Furthermore, only [[bar]]s, [[block]]s, [[stone]], [[log]]s, and [[anvil]]s can be recognized as magma-safe - all other item types are considered unsafe, even if they are made of magma-safe materials.

In order to construct mechanisms from a magma-safe stone, simply ensure that they are the closest available stone to your [[mechanic]], ideally by placing a restricted [[stockpile]] around your [[mechanic's workshop]]. [[Burrow]]s can also be of assistance here, as dwarves will not attempt to pick up stone outside of their burrow assignments. However, if you have an active metalworking industry and have access to [[iron]] or [[steel]], constructing [[metal]] mechanisms is much more straightforward.

When linking a trigger to an object, the ''first'' mechanism selected is attached to the object, and the ''second'' is attached to the trigger. Unless the trigger itself will be submerged in magma (as could be the case with a [[pressure plate]]), only the first mechanism (attached to the object that will be submerged) need be magma-safe. If you do not have any magma-safe stones available, you can also work around floodgate-based flow control by using [[screw pump]]s to pump the magma over [[wall]]-barriers, or using water to form [[obsidian]] to plug flows and channel through them to reopen them (necessity and invention and all that).

This property is also relevant when choosing the appropriate method for disposing of unneeded items, which can impact [[FPS]] when in large numbers. Items made of non magma-safe materials can be simply dumped into magma, which is the easiest disposal method; however, magma-safe items will need more [[Dwarven atom smasher|drastic]] measures.

Constructions that resist magma are:

* Constructions ([[Wall]], [[Floor]], [[Ramp]], and [[Stairs]]) of any material can never melt or burn - there is nothing wrong with a [[wood]]en magma reservoir. Natural (i.e. non-constructed) [[ice]] walls/floors/ramps/stairs will melt if exposed to sufficient heat.
* [[Fortification]]s will allow the passage of [[magma]]; however, if fortifications fill up to 7/7 depth, magma creatures will be able to swim freely through them.
* If not submerged (that is, not opened to let magma flow over/past/around them), [[door]]s, [[floodgate]]s, and raised [[bridge]]s (provided that there is no magma on the space the bridge would occupy when lowered) of non-magma-safe stone or metal are safe. So long as they are just in contact with magma, only acting as a passive "wall", they are fine. If opened, they will melt.
** Raised drawbridges have a notable exception, in that allowing magma to flow over the center of the area that the bridge would normally occupy when lowered ''will'' cause the bridge's components to heat up and potentially melt.
* A [[pump]] made with magma-safe material for pipes, screws and and blocks is fully magma-safe, and will not melt even when submerged in magma. Pumps containing any item that is not magma safe will be destroyed after prolonged operation.

== Game calculations ==
In the game, magma's temperature is exactly {{ct|12000}}.

The chance of striking a magma-safe stone is roughly around 32%, not including the natural abundance of certain stone. It is important to note whether or not your fortress may already have access to magma-safe resources before attempting to deliberately find some.

==Magma-safe material==

The following materials will not melt when submerged in magma. Although true for any item/construction, it's worth specifically mentioning that this includes [[door]]s, [[floor hatch]]es, [[floodgate]]s, [[bridge]]s, [[screw pump]]s, and [[mechanism]]s.



{{MS table head}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Alunite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=13,690°U (3722°F/2051°C)|Where=All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(L)''', [[Kaolinite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Anhydrite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|v|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:0}}|Temp=12,610°U (2642°F/1450°C)|Where=[[Gypsum]]'''(S)''', [[Satinspar]]'''(1)''', [[Alabaster]]'''(1)''', [[Selenite]]'''(1)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Basalt]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,160°U (2192°F/1200°C)|Where=[[Igneous extrusive]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Bauxite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|+|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2000°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=dark red}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Calcite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|"|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,902°U (2934°F/1613°C)|Where=[[Limestone]]'''(S)''', [[Marble]]'''(S)'''|Notes=[[flux]] stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Chert]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:0}}|Temp=13,101°U (3133°F/1723°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Chromite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=13,645°U (3677°F/2026°C)|Where=[[Olivine]]'''(V)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Dolomite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=16,507°U (6539°F/3619°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone|Notes=[[Flux]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Gabbro]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|▒|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,160°U (2192°F/1200°C)|Where=[[Igneous intrusive]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Ilmenite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|.|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,457°U (2489°F/1365°C)|Where=[[Gabbro]]'''(S)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Kaolinite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:0}}|Temp=13,150°U (3182°F/1751°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=dark red, [[porcelain]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Mica]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|v|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,295°U (2327°F/1275°C)|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(L)''', [[Granite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Obsidian]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|▒|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Where=[[Igneous extrusive]] layer stone|Notes=value 3, can be "[[obsidian farming|manufactured]]"}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Olivine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|2:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0}}|Temp=13,168°U (3200°F/1761°C)|Where=[[Gabbro]]'''(L)'''|Notes=green}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Orthoclase]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|6:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:1}}|Temp=12,250°U (2282°F/1250°C)|Where=All [[Igneous intrusive]]'''(L)''', All [[Metamorphic]]'''(L)'''|Notes=yellow}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Periclase]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|,|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=15,040°U (5072°F/2803°C)|Where=[[Marble]]'''(S)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Petrified wood]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|4:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:1}}|Temp=12,970°U (3002°F/1650°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(S)'''|Notes=bright red}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Pitchblende]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|*|5:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|5:0}}|Temp=12,070°U (2102°F/1149°C)|Where=[[Granite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=purple}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Quartzite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|-|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,970°U (3002°F/1650°C)|Where=[[Metamorphic]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Rutile]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|5:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|5:0}}|Temp=13,285°U (3214°F/1826°C)|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(S)''', [[Granite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=purple}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Sandstone]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|#|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:0}}|Temp=12,070°U (2102°F/1149°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Talc]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|||7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,700°U (2732°F/1500°C)|Where=[[Dolomite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Adamantine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|3:3:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|3:1}}|Temp=25,000°U (15,032°F/8333°C)|Notes=Highest value/utility material in game}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Iron]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,768°U (2800°F/1538°C)}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Nickel]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:3:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|7:0}}|Temp=12,619°U (2651°F/1455°C)}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Pig iron]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,106°U (2138°F/1170°C)|Notes=used in steel making process}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Platinum]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|7:1}}|Temp=13,182°U (3214°F/1768°C)|Notes=High value metal}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Steel]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,718°U (2750°F/1510°C)|Notes=Armor/weapons}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Cassiterite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|6:0}}|Temp=12,025°U (2057°F/1124°C)|Where=[[Granite]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[tin]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Galena]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:1}}|Temp=12,005°U (2037°F/1113°C)|Where=All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(V)''', All [[Metamorphic]]'''(V)''', [[Granite]]'''(V)''', [[Limestone]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[lead]] and [[silver]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Hematite]]<sup>3</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|4:0}}|Temp=12,736°U (2768°F/1520°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(V)''', All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[iron]]<sup>3</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Magnetite]]<sup>3</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|~|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|0:1}}|Temp=12,768°U (2800°F/1538°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=Ore of [[iron]]<sup>3</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Native platinum]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:1}}|Temp=13,182°U (3214°F/1768°C)|Where=[[Olivine]]'''(V)''', [[Magnetite]]'''(V)''', [[Chromite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=Ore of [[platinum]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=''[[Sphalerite]]''<sup>4</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|0:1}}|Temp=''12,133°U (2165°F/1185°C)''|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[zinc]]<sup>4</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Wood|Matl=[[Nether-cap]]<sup>5</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|♠|1:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|▬|1:0:0}}|Temp=N/A|Where=[[Cavern]] (depth 3)|Notes=Naturally cold<sup>5</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Special|Matl=[[Raw adamantine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|3:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|3:1}}|Temp=25,000°U (15,032°F/8333°C)|Where=The depths|Notes=Ore of [[adamantine]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Leather|Matl=[[Fire imp]]|Appear=|Temp=15,000°U (5032°F/2780°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Leather|Matl=[[Dragon]]|Appear=|Temp=55,000°U (45032°F/25,044°C)|Notes=Dragon scales actually cannot be tanned}}

{{MS table row|Type=Bone|Matl=[[Fire imp]]|Appear=|Temp=15,000°U (5032°F/2780°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Bone|Matl=[[Dragon]]|Appear=|Temp=55,000°U (45032°F/25,044°C)|Notes=}}

{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=[[Glass|Green glass]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|2:2:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|2:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=[[Glass|Clear glass]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|3:3:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|3:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=[[Glass|Crystal glass]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|7:1}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}

|}

'''Notes:'''
:1. Each stone is one of 16 [[color scheme|colors]] in the game. Different un-mined stone of the same color have a different symbol to distinguish between them. Once mined, the individual stones themselves can sometimes look identical if the color is the same. Use {{k|k}} to loo{{k|k}} at items or the terrain for specific information.
:2. '''°U''' = degrees in [[Main:Urist|Urist]], the measure of temperature within the Dwarf Fortress world. As far as is known, there is no functional difference between a material that melts at {{ct|12005}} or {{ct|55000}} — they are both equally "magma safe".
:3. There are three iron ores in the game (four if you count [[Goblinite]]). Of these, only [[hematite]] and [[magnetite]] are magma safe.
:4. Sphalerite has ''no'' melting point, but ''sublimates'' at {{ct|12133}}. This still qualifies as being magma-safe.
:5. [[Nether-cap]] logs have a fixed temperature of {{ct|10000}}, rendering them fully magma safe, except that nether-cap products [[dump]]ed into magma are destroyed.

{{Magma FAQ}}
{{Category|Physics}}
{{Category|Magma safe materials}}

v0.34:Magma-safe

2013-01-20T23:08:24Z

GibMoniPls:

{{quality|Exceptional|10:15, 12 August 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

'''Magma-safe materials''' are materials which will not melt, burn, evaporate, or otherwise take damage when in close contact with [[magma]]. Most frequently, this comes into play when using [[floodgate]]s operated by [[mechanism]]s.

For [[reaction]]s and custom buildings using the [MAGMA_BUILD_SAFE] token, only a material which is solid and stable at the temperature {{ct|12000}} (i.e. MELTING_POINT/BOILING_POINT/IGNITE_POINT/HEATDAM_POINT greater than 12000 and COLDDAM_POINT less than 12000) is considered magma-safe. Furthermore, only [[bar]]s, [[block]]s, [[stone]], [[log]]s, and [[anvil]]s can be recognized as magma-safe - all other item types are considered unsafe, even if they are made of magma-safe materials.

In order to construct mechanisms from a magma-safe stone, simply ensure that they are the closest available stone to your [[mechanic]], ideally by placing a restricted [[stockpile]] around your [[mechanic's workshop]]. [[Burrow]]s can also be of assistance here, as dwarves will not attempt to pick up stone outside of their burrow assignments. However, if you have an active metalworking industry and have access to [[iron]] or [[steel]], constructing [[metal]] mechanisms is much more straightforward.

When linking a trigger to an object, the ''first'' mechanism selected is attached to the object, and the ''second'' is attached to the trigger. Unless the trigger itself will be submerged in magma (as could be the case with a [[pressure plate]]), only the first mechanism (attached to the object that will be submerged) need be magma-safe. If you do not have any magma-safe stones available, you can also work around floodgate-based flow control by using [[screw pump]]s to pump the magma over [[wall]]-barriers, or using water to form [[obsidian]] to plug flows and channel through them to reopen them (necessity and invention and all that).

This property is also relevant when choosing the appropriate method for disposing of unneeded items, which can impact [[FPS]] when in large numbers. Items made of non magma-safe materials can be simply dumped into magma, which is the easiest disposal method; however, magma-safe items will need more [[Dwarven atom smasher|drastic]] measures.

Constructions that resist magma are:

* Constructions ([[Wall]], [[Floor]], [[Ramp]], and [[Stairs]]) of any material can never melt or burn - there is nothing wrong with a [[wood]]en magma reservoir. Natural (i.e. non-constructed) [[ice]] walls/floors/ramps/stairs will melt if exposed to sufficient heat.
* [[Fortification]]s will allow the passage of [[magma]]; however, if fortifications fill up to 7/7 depth, magma creatures will be able to swim freely through them.
* If not submerged (that is, not opened to let magma flow over/past/around them), [[door]]s, [[floodgate]]s, and raised [[bridge]]s (provided that there is no magma on the space the bridge would occupy when lowered) of non-magma-safe stone or metal are safe. So long as they are just in contact with magma, only acting as a passive "wall", they are fine. If opened, they will melt.
** Raised drawbridges have a notable exception, in that allowing magma to flow over the center of the area that the bridge would normally occupy when lowered ''will'' cause the bridge's components to heat up and potentially melt.
* A [[pump]] made with magma-safe material for pipes, screws and and blocks is fully magma-safe, and will not melt even when submerged in magma. Pumps containing any item that is not magma safe will be destroyed after prolonged operation.

== Game calculations ==
In the game, magma's temperature is exactly {{ct|12000}}.

The chance of striking a magma-safe stone is roughly around 32%, not including the natural abundance of certain stone. It is important to note whether or not your fortress may already have access to magma-safe resources before attempting to deliberately find some.

==Magma-safe material==

The following materials will not melt when submerged in magma. Although true for any item/construction, it's worth specifically mentioning that this includes [[door]]s, [[floor hatch]]es, [[floodgate]]s, [[bridge]]s, [[screw pump]]s, and [[mechanism]]s.



{{MS table head}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Alunite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=13,690°U (3722°F/2051°C)|Where=All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(L)''', [[Kaolinite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Anhydrite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|v|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:0}}|Temp=12,610°U (2642°F/1450°C)|Where=[[Gypsum]]'''(S)''', [[Satinspar]]'''(1)''', [[Alabaster]]'''(1)''', [[Selenite]]'''(1)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Basalt]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|#|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,160°U (2192°F/1200°C)|Where=[[Igneous extrusive]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Bauxite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|+|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2000°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=dark red}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Calcite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|"|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,902°U (2934°F/1613°C)|Where=[[Limestone]]'''(S)''', [[Marble]]'''(S)'''|Notes=[[flux]] stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Chert]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:0}}|Temp=13,101°U (3133°F/1723°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Chromite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=13,645°U (3677°F/2026°C)|Where=[[Olivine]]'''(V)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Dolomite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=16,507°U (6539°F/3619°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone|Notes=[[Flux]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Gabbro]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|▒|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,160°U (2192°F/1200°C)|Where=[[Igneous intrusive]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Ilmenite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|.|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,457°U (2489°F/1365°C)|Where=[[Gabbro]]'''(S)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Kaolinite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|=|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:0}}|Temp=13,150°U (3182°F/1751°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=dark red, [[porcelain]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Mica]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|v|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=12,295°U (2327°F/1275°C)|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(L)''', [[Granite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Obsidian]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|▒|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|0:1}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Where=[[Igneous extrusive]] layer stone|Notes=value 3, can be "[[obsidian farming|manufactured]]"}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Olivine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|2:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|2:0}}|Temp=13,168°U (3200°F/1761°C)|Where=[[Gabbro]]'''(L)'''|Notes=green}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Orthoclase]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|6:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:1}}|Temp=12,250°U (2282°F/1250°C)|Where=All [[Igneous intrusive]]'''(L)''', All [[Metamorphic]]'''(L)'''|Notes=yellow}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Periclase]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|,|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=15,040°U (5072°F/2803°C)|Where=[[Marble]]'''(S)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Petrified wood]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|%|4:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|4:1}}|Temp=12,970°U (3002°F/1650°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(S)'''|Notes=bright red}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Pitchblende]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|*|5:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|5:0}}|Temp=12,070°U (2102°F/1149°C)|Where=[[Granite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=purple}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Quartzite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|-|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,970°U (3002°F/1650°C)|Where=[[Metamorphic]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Rutile]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|`|5:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|5:0}}|Temp=13,285°U (3214°F/1826°C)|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(S)''', [[Granite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=purple}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Sandstone]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|#|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|•|6:0}}|Temp=12,070°U (2102°F/1149°C)|Where=[[Sedimentary]] layer stone}}

{{MS table row|Type=Stone|Matl=[[Talc]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|||7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|•|7:1}}|Temp=12,700°U (2732°F/1500°C)|Where=[[Dolomite]]'''(L)'''}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Adamantine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|3:3:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|3:1}}|Temp=25,000°U (15,032°F/8333°C)|Notes=Highest value/utility material in game}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Iron]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,768°U (2800°F/1538°C)}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Nickel]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:3:0}} {{Raw Tile|≡|7:0}}|Temp=12,619°U (2651°F/1455°C)}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Pig iron]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,106°U (2138°F/1170°C)|Notes=used in steel making process}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Platinum]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|7:1}}|Temp=13,182°U (3214°F/1768°C)|Notes=High value metal}}

{{MS table row|Type=Metal|Matl=[[Steel]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|≡|0:1}}|Temp=12,718°U (2750°F/1510°C)|Notes=Armor/weapons}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Cassiterite]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|6:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|6:0}}|Temp=12,025°U (2057°F/1124°C)|Where=[[Granite]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[tin]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Galena]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:1}}|Temp=12,005°U (2037°F/1113°C)|Where=All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(V)''', All [[Metamorphic]]'''(V)''', [[Granite]]'''(V)''', [[Limestone]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[lead]] and [[silver]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Hematite]]<sup>3</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|4:7:0}} {{Raw Tile|*|4:0}}|Temp=12,736°U (2768°F/1520°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(V)''', All [[Igneous extrusive]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[iron]]<sup>3</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Magnetite]]<sup>3</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|~|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|0:1}}|Temp=12,768°U (2800°F/1538°C)|Where=All [[Sedimentary]]'''(L)'''|Notes=Ore of [[iron]]<sup>3</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=[[Native platinum]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|7:1}}|Temp=13,182°U (3214°F/1768°C)|Where=[[Olivine]]'''(V)''', [[Magnetite]]'''(V)''', [[Chromite]]'''(S)'''|Notes=Ore of [[platinum]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Ore|Matl=''[[Sphalerite]]''<sup>4</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|0:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|0:1}}|Temp=''12,133°U (2165°F/1185°C)''|Where=All [[Metamorphic]]'''(V)'''|Notes=Ore of [[zinc]]<sup>4</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Wood|Matl=[[Nether-cap]]<sup>5</sup>|Appear={{Raw Tile|♠|1:0:0}} {{Raw Tile|▬|1:0:0}}|Temp=N/A|Where=[[Cavern]] (depth 3)|Notes=Naturally cold<sup>5</sup>}}

{{MS table row|Type=Special|Matl=[[Raw adamantine]]|Appear={{Raw Tile|£|3:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|*|3:1}}|Temp=25,000°U (15,032°F/8333°C)|Where=The depths|Notes=Ore of [[adamantine]]}}

{{MS table row|Type=Leather|Matl=[[Fire imp]]|Appear=|Temp=15,000°U (5032°F/2780°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Leather|Matl=[[Dragon]]|Appear=|Temp=55,000°U (45032°F/25,044°C)|Notes=Dragon scales actually cannot be tanned}}

{{MS table row|Type=Bone|Matl=[[Fire imp]]|Appear=|Temp=15,000°U (5032°F/2780°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Bone|Matl=[[Dragon]]|Appear=|Temp=55,000°U (45032°F/25,044°C)|Notes=}}

{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=Green glass|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|2:2:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|2:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=Clear glass|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|3:3:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|3:0}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}
{{MS table row|Type=Glass|Matl=Crystal glass|Appear={{Raw Tile|X|7:7:1}} {{Raw Tile|■|7:1}}|Temp=13,600°U (3632°F/2001°C)|Notes=}}

|}

'''Notes:'''
:1. Each stone is one of 16 [[color scheme|colors]] in the game. Different un-mined stone of the same color have a different symbol to distinguish between them. Once mined, the individual stones themselves can sometimes look identical if the color is the same. Use {{k|k}} to loo{{k|k}} at items or the terrain for specific information.
:2. '''°U''' = degrees in [[Main:Urist|Urist]], the measure of temperature within the Dwarf Fortress world. As far as is known, there is no functional difference between a material that melts at {{ct|12005}} or {{ct|55000}} — they are both equally "magma safe".
:3. There are three iron ores in the game (four if you count [[Goblinite]]). Of these, only [[hematite]] and [[magnetite]] are magma safe.
:4. Sphalerite has ''no'' melting point, but ''sublimates'' at {{ct|12133}}. This still qualifies as being magma-safe.
:5. [[Nether-cap]] logs have a fixed temperature of {{ct|10000}}, rendering them fully magma safe, except that nether-cap products [[dump]]ed into magma are destroyed.

{{Magma FAQ}}
{{Category|Physics}}
{{Category|Magma safe materials}}

v0.34:Goblinite

2013-01-20T23:06:28Z

GibMoniPls: a humorous page made more so with proper grammar.

{{Quality|Fine|21:26, 1 June 2012 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

'''Goblinite''' refers to the metal and clothing resources that can be gathered off of [[goblin]] corpses. Depending on the fortress they may be an important supplement to normally produced or traded [[armor]], [[weapon]]s, and [[clothing]]. The clothing content of [[siege]]s can almost single-handily provide an entire fortress with clothes, while [[melt|melting]] down weapons and armor can make up for a lack of iron bearing ore in an embark.

{{D for Dwarf}}

Goblinite is an important ore, good for [[iron]], [[copper]], [[bronze]], and/or [[silver]]. Unlike other ores, goblinite is not restricted to any particular layer, though it is most often found on or near the surface. It occurs in [[Thief|small clusters]], which can sometimes be dealt with by a solitary dwarf with a [[pick]], and [[Ambush|veins]] and [[Siege|large clusters]] which require greater effort to excavate and process. The discovery of a large vein of goblinite is cause for celebration, a holiday known as [[Goblin christmas]]. Also, there have been some reports of goblinite spontaneously materializing in the vicinity of armed weapon traps.

Once the [[Combat|mining]] is complete, the goblinite can be [[Forbid|unforbidden]] and your dwarfs can carry it off to the [[stockpile]]. To yield the precious metal, each piece of ore must be designated for [[melt]]ing and processed at a [[smelter]]; the yield is typically less than that of normal ores of iron and copper, but can be an important resource in a particularly metal-poor location, provided you have sufficient [[Military|fuel]]. Many [[caravan]]s prize [[Goblin|raw goblinite]], along with its attendant wrappings.

As of the current version dwarves and goblins have the same adult body size, therefore allowing goblinite to be equipped directly without melting and reforging as an early or cheap source of low quality armor for a fortress.

Recent advances in the field of dwarven fashion have increased the demand for the [[clothing|wrapping paper]] in which goblinite is often packaged. While the dwarves of yore would often throw this into the [[magma]] while muttering about [[FPS]], the young dwarves of today have been spotted wearing it.

{{Category|Ore}}

v0.34 Talk:Cave-in

2013-01-16T00:29:20Z

GibMoniPls: Possible bug related to cave-in combat reports.

== "boiling magma" ==
Whenever I view the combat report for a dwarf caught in the dust from a cave-in, it always says "Urist McMiner is caught in a cloud of boiling magma", even if the cave-in takes place nowhere near magma. The dust also leaves no trace of this "boiling magma", and the dwarf suffers no injuries whatsoever. Does this happen to anyone else? [[User:GibMoniPls|GibMoniPls]] 00:29, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

v0.34:Challenges

2013-01-14T01:59:52Z

GibMoniPls: /* Mesoamerican dwarves */

{{av}}
{{Quality|Exceptional|[[User:Reilwin|Reilwin]] 03:58, 3 April 2012 (UTC)}}
==Pre-Embark Build Ideas==
Before you embark, you can optimize or sabotage your fortress from the very start, depending on how you distribute your points. After a few years, a well-developing fortress may or may not stabilize (depending on your idea of [[fun]]), leaving you to other challenges.

=== Diplomacy ===
* Six dwarves with only social [[skill]]s
* One skilled dwarf

Six courtiers of the king's court made some ill-advised remarks within earshot of the king, and as a result have been ordered to go found an outpost. They've hired you to make sure they survive. The six nobles only have social skills and refuse to do any work that is beneath them.

=== Minimalist/Survivalist build===

* 1 anvil
* 1 copper ore

Nothing else. From that alone, forge your pick and axe. Real dwarves won't need to peek...

{{Spoil small|
* Deconstruct the initial wagon for the 3 wood it provides.
* Build a wood furnace with the copper nugget
* Make 1 ash and 2 charcoal from the wood.
* Deconstruct the wood furnace.
* Build a smelter with 1 ash ''(a fire-safe "bar")''.
* Smelt the nugget into 4 copper bars using 1 charcoal.
* Deconstruct the smelter.
* Build a metalsmith's forge with 1 anvil and 1 ash.
* Forge a battle axe using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
* Chop more trees.
* Deconstruct forge, construct wood furnace.
* Make more charcoal.
* Deconstruct wood furnace, construct forge.
* Forge a pick.
... and proceed as normal.|Step-by-step}}

Alternative: use 1 of the wagon logs to make a wooden practice axe, and use that to chop down more trees. This saves some workshop deconstruction and reconstruction.

===Peasantry===
* Spend 0 Points on embark

This challenge is moderately difficult to impossible, depending on the wildlife and outdoor food and water sources. Note that the three logs from the wagon are just enough to build a trade depot.

Sadly, the wooden axes of v0.31 make this challenge remarkably easy. All you end up with is a fort that decided not to dig until the first caravan. Of course, you could just choose not to use wooden axes (on the honor system, naturally).

===Race Against the Clock===
* Spend all embark points on [[cat]]s; 50/50 male and female

A variant of Peasantry: can you slaughter enough cats to prevent the [[catsplosion]] while eking out your pitiful livelihood?

Why not spend it 1/99 Male/Female as it only take one male to do the job?

=== Stranded Scout Squad ===
* Military skills
* Weapons, ammunition, armor, war dogs
* Picks are not weapons

Your civilian 'friends' promised a caravan in the fall as they left, laughing. Hopefully, you can survive until then with your forward scouts.

==Races==
Pretend to be another race! You can mod the game or just pretend that Elves have hair. It doesn't matter what you look like, just what you build, with what materials, and what's for lunch after we build it.

===Elves - The Ultimate Hippy Challenge===
Peace, man.
* Don't gather plants except those you plant yourself.
* Don't gather wood nor trade for it with humans or dwarves.
* Trade for plants and wood only with the elves; they understand your environmental code.
* Don't burn any [[fuel|coal]]. Do you know what that does to the environment, man?
**Magma-smelting is an option, but steel can't be had.
* Don't cause any creature's death, except in self-defense.
**No military, induced submerging, or lethal implementation of corkscrews.
* Only use cage traps, and either tame the creatures you catch, or release them back into the wild.
* [[Elf|Hippies]] prefer sunlight and wooded areas, with minimal use of rock (digging and building).

Bonus: Declare war on human and dwarven caravans that try to trade you wooden items.

For an extra challenge try this in an area with a cave.

===Hobbitton===
Forget about deep-delving adventures and armoursmithing. You're playing hobbits.

* You're not in a dwarf fortress. You're in a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
** Hobbit-holes are all on one level - store-rooms, wine-cellars, bedrooms and all.
** One family per hobbit-hole, though that may include the help. No underground connections between holes, either.
** Walls are to be lined with blocks of good polished wood, or clay bricks. Floors can be surfaced in stone or wood.
** Don't forget your glass skylights and brick chimneys over the kitchen! While you're at it, how about a greenhouse for those exotic plants?

* Your primary industries are farming and distilling. Trade primarily in these. Purchase all metals and avoid industrial mining.

* Hobbits are uninterested in machines more complicated than the odd water-mill - no traps of any sort, though a drawbridge, dogs and militia as a concession to safety may be acceptable. And, of course, a mill.

* Elves are your friends - always give them your preference as a trading partner. Go to the effort of storing your trade goods in barrels and large pots, so you can sell them your finest liquors for their valuable woodcrafts.

===Humans - Living Large and Standing Tall===
Pretend you're a filthy above-ground dwelling [[Human|human]].
* Build a town wall.
** Only hovels and farms outside the town walls.
* House your dwarves in small town homes
** 5-10 dwarves per house (they had pretty big families back in the day)
** Upstairs bedrooms, small dining room, maybe a single level basement.
* House your workshops according to profession, not convenience.
* Build warehouses for stockpiles, and set guards outside them.
* Create a keep, with its own wall, barracks, treasury, etc.
** House your nobles within the keep.
* Create a market square.
* Create a main street from the town wall to the market square and/or keep. Well-paved blocks, statues and decorative shubbery are a must.
* No underground connections between different areas.
* For obtaining stone, metal, etc. a mine may be built, but must have separate entrance from other buildings. It can be outside the fortress, but must not connect to the interior, or vice versa.
** If you create a side hill mine, only carve large (at least 2 tiles) tunnels, and create shaft to the surface to allow air circulation.
** Or better than that, create an open pit mine / quarry, with ramps to access lower floors.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Build a large, multiple-z-level fountain complete with decorations.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Human Inn, containing your only booze stockpile and should be party-oriented.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Farm simulation, complete with crops and free-range livestock, etc.
* BOUNS: Miniproject: Have a series of canals for transport.
* BONUS: Easy Play: Embark on top of a Human Town.
* BONUS: Advanced Play: Modify the raws and actually use humans to make the fort.
* MEGABONUS: Build your entire fortress as [[mega construction|one huge arcology]].
* MEGADWARFBONUS: Build your City in a giant, artificial cave. (or the caverns, if you can't manage that)

==="Humans"===
Make your dwarves pretend to be an ordinary, albeit short human village, to disguise the secret diggings below. Prepare to launch an invasion on the unsuspecting Big Folk.

* Embark as close to the human towns as possible.
* Construct a "manor house" to house your mayor and broker, with a stone-walled ground level containing office, dining room and kitchens, wood-block walls and windows above for the mayor's bedroom, and a large cellar with a discreetly concealed entrance to the Secret Fortress.
* Construct a walled village including a token number of shacks, barns and workshops, a mill and a blacksmiths' for that authentic touch.
* Surround the village with large fields, growing typical human crops.
* While all this is going on, excavate an extensive fortress underground, with a focus on a well-trained militia. If the map permits, build a secret training area for your army, perhaps hidden in the top of a large hill.
* Trade only raw crops to the human and elven caravans, in exchange for the minor needs of a human village.
* Lure the goblins underground before meeting them in battle - best to hide the evidence, you understand.

===Luddite===
Shun technology and contraptions. Who can really trust them, with all those [[Gremlin|gremlins]] running around? This may be challenging, as it forbids easy isolation/defense from attacks, all traps and wells. Irrigation is reduced to solid elbow grease and maybe a bucket or two. This challenge may be even harder combined with another challenge.
* No mechanics or [[mechanism]]s
* No [[machine]]s

** BONUS: Hey, wait, aren't crossbows machinelike?

===Earthworms===
Live constantly tunneling. Churn up the soil as you go and visit the surface only rarely to collect the stuff you need..
* Create one long tunnel. Dig forward at one end whilst sealing off (collapsing, building walls across) the other end.
* Workshops should be built directly behind the row of miners. When they reach the point where they would be destroyed, take them apart and rebuild back by the miners again.
* To make it easier, you can come up to the surface now and then.
* Try to keep the tunnel as short as possible.
* Like this: ||||||||==========> (| is walled off end section, = is tunnel and > is the miners.
* BONUS: Leave those pesky nobles walled in as you tunnel away from them!
* BONUS: Leave stockpiles of armour and weapons for any future diggers to find!
* MEGABONUS: Surprise a goblin siege by tunneling up underneath them!
* MEGABONUS: Leave a group of dwarves behind in a cavern farming. Carry no food, and return to the cavern to restock the dwarves.

=== Kill demons ===
Try to kill as many demons as possible. Use siege-engines and fortifications. Remember, that collapsing caves (use supports) kills everything.

===Eskimo===
Live like the Eskimo! Only try if you are an expert
* Embark somewhere with tundra or glacial biome.
* Lot of fishermen, hunters and only a few diggers.
* Every dwarf is at least novice mason
* Build everything out of ice.
* Only spears and crossbows allowed in the military
* BONUS: Axes? what axes?
* BONUS: Only BONE crossbows, bolts and spears. Metal is for losers.
* BONUS: Embark near an ocean and create a floating ice fortress.

===Amazon dwarves===
*Kill or lock in somewhere all male dwarves, kids are allowed until they grow up.
*BONUS: military use only bows and spears.

Alternative :
instead of killing the male, use them as slaves and make them work for the females dwarves and put all the females in the military, no male noble allowed.

===The Oregon Trail===
Settle like those who traveled the (in)famous Oregon Trail.
*Optional: Wait to stop world gen until the year 1840.
*Embark in an area that has mostly grassland biome.
*Bring 10 food and 15 booze per dwarf.
*All dwarves must embark as peasants.
*Bring a few rabbits along for skins.
*Bring a few chickens along for eggs, meat and skins.
*Bring 10 copper bars and three random rocks, but only one axe and pick.
*If points allow, bring some leather along.
*If points allow, bring some cloth along.
*Hint: You may want to find an area with clay.

Post-Embark:
*Set one miner, one woodhacker, one main farmer, one weaver/clothier, one potter/glazer, one metalsmith and one glassmaker/gem cutter if you have or found sand.
*All dwarves must plant their own crops, process their own plants, spin their own cloth and cook their own meals.
*Chop down enough of one tree to make one 4x5 inner-tile log cabin.
*Repeat the above step for the rest of the 6 dwarves you came with.
*Hint: Use a rock you brought with to make a kiln. Set a clay collection zone and set Collect Clay on repeat. Use the clay to make houses, instead.
*Dig your dwarves a 5x5 root cellar and place food stockpiles in them.
*Place a 10x10 farm plot by each dwarf's cabin.
*Dig a side hill mine for stone and ore, and make it go down 5 to 6 levels.
*BONUS: Make a huge 40x40 quarry and decrease size by 2 tiles for each level going down.
*Settler BONUS: Place 1x10 farm plots that all grow the same crop 1 tile from each other, channel between them, tap into a surface river, and voila. Western-style irrigation.
*See how long you can survive like this.
*Modding BONUS: Mod the raws and actually embark as humans.
*Naming BONUS: Name the fort 'Tombstone'.
*Modding BONUS: Mod the raws to make sentinents butcherable, cause a food shortage and attempt to recreate the Donner Party.
*Modding BONUS: Add dysentery.
*Mega Modding BONUS: Add guns and bullets of some sort.

As you can see, this challenge is similar to the City-States challenge below. Try 'em both and see which one you like better!

==Utter Dwarfiness==
Need new ways to behave or new techniques to dip your toes into? Give any or all of your starting 7 some quirks to live up to. Want to try making your Boss a hell-bent, paranoid despot? Or establish a routine mass murder of small animals to provide your fort with raw meat by a vaguely intimidating, estranged butcher?

===Bandit Camp===
* Three or more Marksdwarves (perhaps with [[Ambusher|ambushing]])
* Embark site featuring places to hide

Attack and loot every enemy sentient creature you can find, such as goblins & kobolds. Develop sneaky and even horrific methods of trapping and 'processing' friendly sentients (merchants, diplomats, and even migrants). Take no prisoners and leave no evidence of foul play.

===City-States===
* All dwarves embark as peasants
* 7 or multiple of 7 of everything you bring (especially picks and axes)
* BONUS: Make one state for only nobles and force the other states to sustain it

At the start your dwarves split everything equally and move to 7 different locales that are not interconnected. They have to mine their own rooms, plant their own crops, use their own craft piles. This will probably require a bit of cross-fertilization until you get [[door]]s and can lock everyone in, but after that it is every dwarf for him/herself!

Burrows are very useful for this.
===Dwarftopia===
*Embark only with dwarves that have max skills, with no more than one miner; but bring extra copper picks.
*Separate the fortress into 2 parts: a vibrant city above, and a depressed slum below.
**BONUS: Reverse the order; elite dwarves get to live underground, while the poor have to scratch a living off the surface.
*Throw all low-skill immigrants into the pits, where they will spend the rest of their lives (unless called up for the draft).
*'''DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES''' let said immigrants socialize whatsoever with the Elite; so nobody (who matters) will be upset when they die.
**BONUS: Make it impossible for anybody to escape by using trapdoors to drop them in and bridge-a-paults for sending goods out (preferably with a carp-based sterilization system).
***MEGADWARFBONUS: Set it all up so that none of the 'elite' have to do any work; all their needs are met by the laborers. Watch what happens and laugh as the laborers die out and high society breaks down.
****MEGAUBERLITERARYBONUS: build the community from "The Giver", all dwarves keep all jobs they come with, 3-time troublemakers get "released" (spoiler alert) use magma instead of lethal injection, and remember, no death or pain! (mod the game for ultra control over marriage and jobs!)

===Equaland===
* No embark requirements
* Construct a successful fortress
* All dwarves are given equal attention regarding quarters, dining, armament and burial
* One dwarf elected to be "The Leader" commands a lever system capable of killing a single dwarf of your choice in their room, however you wish
* Allow the Leader (your id) free reign on his power, enforcing impossible and unannounced criteria on your other dwarves with death being the only punishment
* BONUS: Construct a large sickle-hammer at the fortress enterance to show the regime.

===Hermit===
* Spend points ONLY on ONE [[Pick]]

A well known and popular challenge. Kill off 6 starting dwarves and any [[immigrant|immigrants]] as they arrive, and try to make a living for the last dwarf. Turn away merchants. If they don't leave, kill them.

'''Variants'''
To moderate difficulty, feel free to allow these exceptions:
* Keep one male and one female dwarf as the Dwarven Adam and Eve.
* Keep your starting seven, but no immigrants.
* Selectively admit dwarves based on name, profession, etc.
* Embark with an anvil as well.
* Become a lone fisherman. The old man and the sea.

===Hunting Party===
* One Marksman+Ambusher
* One Cook+Farmer
* One Brewer+Farmer
* Four exclusively social dwarves
* Embark with no anvil, many hunting dogs, into a challenging biome (terrifying areas may have no supply of wood)

===Immigration and customs enforcement===
* One miner/mason/architect
* One woodcutter/carpenter/architect
* Five military dwarves
* Embark into a canyon or on a road
* Don't embark with an anvil

Spend the first year building fortifications to interdict traffic. Immigrants can build a town around you, but your original seven dwarves remain dedicated to their mission (purely military in purpose).

*BONUS: Make the two areas self-sufficent of each other, no resource-sharing.
*BONUS: Make the main construction capable of dispatching any interlopers into the main building through drowning.

==="Let Slip the Dogs of War"===
* No military Dwarves are permitted, including Fortress Guard.
* No weapons or armor may be forged, and any obtained from looting must be melted down.
* War dogs must be your only form of attack and defense.
** Bonus : No traps or defense mechanisms of any kind may be utilized, only dogs.

===28 Drinks Later===

*Embark in an evil biome. Set up a wall around your camp. Never leave the perimeters. All migrants are survivors from the Zombie plagued cities, decide carefully whether to let them into your walls.
*Bonus: If you have "reason" to believe the migrants are infected, sacrifice them to [[Main:Armok|Armok]]. Remember, he loves Magma!
*Bonus: Only Marksdwarves for defense, You shouldn't get near the zombies, they tend to bite. If they are wounded, they must be quarantined, and shall therefore die.
*AdvancedPlay: Embark in a evil biome near a necromancer, so you will occasionally be besieged by hordes of zombies.
**Bonus: Send one heroic guy to save the migrants from the zombies, like in 28 days later.
***Bonus: Keep a diary from one of the character's perspectives, to be read when the world is repopulated.

===Master Of One===
Pre-Embark:
* All starting dwarves must have only one skill

Post-Embark:
* No changes are allowed on any dwarf's labor screen, except to ''disable'' hauling labors (enabling hauling is forbidden)
* All immigrants must stay with the profession(s) they arrive with
* All peasants must be activated into the military

'''Variant:'''
*Only allow one dwarf for each skill to remain in your fort (1 mason, 1 miner, 1 farmer, etc.). Slaughter or draft all other dwarves.

===Urist of All Trades, Master Of None===
Opposite of "Master Of One" above.<br><br>
Pre-Embark:
* You may distribute points to as many skills as you want on each dwarf, but no more than 1 point on any skill (no dwarves above Novice).
<br>
Post-Embark:
* Enable all labors on all dwarves, at all times.
* Since only one of Mining, Woodcutting, or Hunting can be enabled at once, try to have an equal number of dwarves in each job. At least once every year, change them around, try to assign them to whichever they have the lowest skill in. Of course, you can leave out Woodcutters if there are no trees (but enable some if you reach a cavern with underground trees), and leave out Hunters if there are no huntable critters.
* Make/buy enough Picks, Axes, and Crossbows so any dwarf who wants to try Mining, Woodcutting, or Hunting can at any time.
* Shuffle around your Administrators yearly, or whenever you notice them getting too skilled in their jobs. You can check the personalities of your replacements to make sure they're at least capable of learning appropriate social skills for the job.
* Draft any (or better yet, every) dwarf into the military. Use the default uniforms. You can only add Individual Choice Melee/Weapon/Ranged, do not assign specific weapons. Keep a variety of weapons in your stockpiles (including any exotic weapons from other races) so your soldiers have plenty to choose from. Periodically switch out your Militia Commander/Captains and squad leaders, so everyone gets a chance to lead. Unless there is a siege, only 1 squad can be active/training at any time.
* Always have some areas designated for Digging/Channeling, tree Cutting, Smoothing/Detailing, and Plant gathering, so dwarves can practice Mining, Woodcutting, Stone Detailing, or Herbalism whenever they want.
* No workshop restrictions via profiles or burrows. Let anyone work anywhere they want, regardless of skill level.
* Try to build at least 2 of every type of workshop, so if a moody dwarf claims one, other dwarves can still have a chance to try that kind of work.
* BONUS: If any dwarf manages to become Legendary, disable the labor(s) associated with that skill. If one reaches Legendary in a weapon or other combat skill, discharge them from the military. You may re-enable the labor(s) (or re-enlist) ONLY if the skill rusts all the way back down to Novice.
* SUPERBONUS: Set that skill threshold lower, (eg. Master, Expert) depending on your own masochism.

===Monarch with a grudge===
* Forbid any and all use of stone and metal
* No exposed tile may be labeled "Underground"
* Artifacts containing stone and metal are to be destroyed '''utterly''' (magma or the [[Dwarven atom smasher|DAS]])

"Nay, no ponderous stone doors or shining silver arcades, not while I live!"
The new king has decided rocks and metals can no longer be used in construction. He'll be overthrown shortly, but in the meantime construct your fortress without them.

'''Variants'''
* Embark with no construction materials, into an area devoid of trees.
* Construct a fortress made entirely out of glass. Try not using magma or limit yourself only to clear and crystal glass.
* Build with soap bars. Show those elven traders just how much you despise their philosophies by building with stuff derived from dead trees ''and'' dead animals. Cats are an excellent source of tallow.
* Choose one type of rock, one type of metal, one type of gem, one type of wood, and optionally one type of glass. All constructions can only use those types in their construction. An easy way to enforce this with stone is to mark all but your choice "Economical".
* Bonus points: Stone is forbidden along with digging

===Noblesse requiro===
* Construct a fortress only to please nobles (who, for the sake of this challenge, are all criminally psychotic)
* Criminals who deserve justice should be incarcerated, tortured, and executed for ''any'' offense. Use your imagination for every step of the process. Remember, there is no right to a fair and speedy trial in Armok's eyes.
* All Nobles must be treated to the highest quality living conditions
* All others must be treated to the bare minimum needed to physically keep them alive
* Elected nobles are to be treated as regular dwarves, but mandates hold equal sway regarding justice

===Urist McHoHoHo===
* Embark in a glacier biome
* Take at least 3 craftsdwarves to serve as Santa's Elves.
* Export as many toys as possible. These are your only permitted trade good.
* Bonus: Use this Christmas-themed tileset: [[http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User:Sphr/gfx_set#Christmas_Special_2007]]
* Bonus: Cycle nobles frequently, use their mandates as people's wish lists.
* Mega Bonus: Use [[Olivine]], [[Serpentine]], [[Bauxite]], [[Kaolinite]], [[Cinnabar]], [[Petrified wood]], [[Realgar]], (red and green) to build your fortress.
* Dwarven Spirit Bonus: Edit the raws to embark with [[elves]]. Utilize elf labor to craft your toys.
* Mega Dwarf Bonus: Embark with a group of elves, choose the fattest elf to be Santa. Clothe him in reindeer wool clothing, dyed red, with accents of un-dyed wool. Feed him ☼Longland Flour Cookies☼ and reindeer milk. Build a brick fireplace and burn coal for a warm cozy fire. Train Santa to be a legendary pump operator to make him flash red.

===Sitting on trees===
* Construct a wooden "tree" or several, spanning many (a dozen or so) z-levels
* Establish a successful fortress not inside, but around, these constructed trees

===The Mad Butcher===
* One dedicated Butcher+Tanner
* Minimal supplies and skills, so you can bring...
* As many puppies and kittens you can afford
* All food-gathering skills (except your Butcher+Tanner and Brewing) are forbidden

Caging your animals will increase performance to prepare a suitable butchery. Construct a wide, deep shaft to be zoned as an animal pit. At the bottom, outfit an isolation chamber complete with food and alcohol stockpiles, a bed, a butchery and a tanner's workshop. An active well will prevent mishaps. You should include during the construction either an airlock chamber (to enable the butcher to pass on food) or a second pit where the butcher dumps his created food. After construction, seal your butcher+tanner inside and live only off of his work.

===The Night's watch===
Make a replica of The Wall from the novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire"
* Embark on area with north half of terrifying glacier area and south half of some non-evil taiga.
* IMPORTANT: build a HUGE ice wall to cut the north half away
* BONUS: assign each dwarf to one group: rangers, stewards, builders where rangers go regularly ranging to the other side of The Wall, builders build it (duh) and stewards do everything else
* MEGA BONUS: All of your dwarves have to have basic 1-year battle training after which are they assigned to some group and start to be somewhat useful

===The World is Flat===
* No pre-embark requirements
* You'll probably want a region with lots of hills/mountains.
* You may only work/build/live on the original Z level where your wagon was
* No moats allowed, as this requires a channel, which goes below your z-level

===Hunter and Gatherer===
Pre-Embark (World-Gen)
* Try creating a world in year 1 (optional)
Post-Embark
* Everything allowed except Farming and Cattle Breeding.
Bonus
* BONUS: Embark in a desert, so only hunting and (aquifer) fishing.
** Extra Points: Dont fish in the aquifer. How could the turtles get there anyway?
** Create a huge pyramid and sacrifice living beings or valuables to Armok for rain by dropping it in the hollow inaccessible pyramid from the top.
*** Extended version: Fill the pyramid with magma!
** Create lines like the Nazca to honour Armok, so he will send some rain (maybe).
* BONUS: No Mechanics and only limited (i.e. only copper) or no metalworking.
* BONUS: Live underground in the caverns. Create there little huts out of rock and shrooms

===Cave Men===
Pre-Embark
An Overworld accessible cave

Post-Embark
Go into the cave with all your dwarves, and try to survive the harsh environments of the new cave systems.
You can't use items from ground zero, all wood must be harvested in the caves, along with food.

*Bonus: no trading, who wants to enter that creepy cave anyways?
*MEGA BONUS: No dogs and no warrior dwarves.

===Fort wars!===

*The initial 7 create 2 forts on opposite sides of a map.

*After the initial 7, 1/2 of all immigrants get assigned to a burrow that encompasses one of the forts. New children get assigned to their parents' fort. Each fort is self-sustaining and produces their own goods. Then it turns into a competition to see which fort can produce the most wealth.
* Nobles are given free reign and will be quartered in the winning fort.
* Make a giant wall separating the forts above ground. On one side of the wall is an artificial lake made of water and on the other, one made of magma. Call forts Reliable.Excavation.Demolition and Builders.League.United.
** Bonus points if you make residents of both sides wear only team colors.

===Deep dwarves===
Following the embark, lock yourself up under the ground.
Don't let any of your dwarves go outside. Let invaders into your underground maze of doom!

*BONUS: Dig deeper and deeper, abandoning the upper levels and rebuilding your fortress as you get more deep.
*MEGA BONUS: create a caste of deep dwarves (nobles?), who will only live on the bottommost levels.

===Earth Mover===
*Do what you need to get a huge guild of miners
*Dig every square in the map.
**Hint: you might want to turn cave-in on
**Another hint: Do you really want to put your castle up there, when your dwarves are digging down there?

===Minimalist===
The opposite of Earth Mover
*Only dig a stone you need
*There should be no unused stones on the map
*BONUS: No spare items or furniture also
*MEGA-BONUS: No wars, as war leaves corpses and other useless crap

===Oh, The Humanity!===
*Live like humans do.
*Make about half of your buildings out of wood- structures that serve no defensive purpose, such as workshops, meeting halls, dining halls, the homes of the serfs and peasants etc should be wooden. You can also divide a large building up as sensible- you might make the main structure of a castle or wall out of stone for strength, then make the interior detailing, shacks, and other "addon" buildings out of wood. The important thing to keep in mind is that for humans, drafty, damp stone buildings are sometimes a functional necessity, not something they prefer.
*Build an aboveground outer wall of wood to start- you can replace it with stone once you reach fifty individuals.
*Underground areas are ONLY for mining shafts, root cellars, plumbing/mechanics, and perhaps a secret passage for your nobles to take in emergencies. No workshops, living spaces, or large-scale storage allowed.
*Most of your mining for ore and minerals should be done quarry-style, as humans are not well-suited to long-term underground life. A quarry should be a big, wide-open pit, shaped like an inverted pyramid, with a ramp leading out, so you don't feel boxed in and claustrophobic. Don't worry about the ecological impact of your surface strip mining.
*An exception to the mining rule is excavation for purposes of putting up outdoor buildings- so you can carve away a cliff wall to make room for a building, but you can't actually build *into* the wall like a dwarf would, so channel that natural dirt/stone roof out!
*All farming must be done with surface plants. No underground plants.
*Humans need several pubs so they can go bar hopping in their free time- they get bored with just one. Make sure you have a separate pub for every 15 individuals.
*Unlike dwarves, few humans have enough beard to hide their naughty bits when they run around naked. Make sure your humans have enough clothing to wear at all times.
*Finally, you need an aboveground castle. Early on, a small building will suffice but by the time royalty arrives, you'll need to have at least begun constructing a castle worthy of their station.

*BONUS: Humans enjoy bathing. If there is no pond inside your walls, build a channel to carry fresh water to an artificial pond so your people have a place to cleanse themselves. Build a 1-level waterfall in it so they can shower, and stock soap nearby.
*BONUS: Every family has its own house. Each house has a "sink" (well), garage (shack) filled with owned tools, a driveway leading to the main thoroughfare, etc. Multiple-floor apartment buildings for the poor/immigrant dwarves. Once they become useful, they become "wealthy" and are moved to better housing. If they get married, they are moved to better housing for a year - if they're not "wealthy" by then, their house is foreclosed. If they arrive married/with kids, they get cheap housing anyway.
*BONUS: Humans, as opposed to the elves reverence for nature and the dwarves utter disregard for it, actually believe it is their duty to pollute and destroy nature.
**Designate large refuse stockpiles and garbage dumps in the wilderness, and fill them.
**Chop down enough trees to piss off the elves every once in a while.
**Fill the map with paved roads. Pavement rules!

*MEGABONUS: The ultimate in human engineering. Build a 5-level above-ground mega-mall displaying all your salable wares. Build various stores for your goods, back room storage, a wishing pool for the main atrium, a food court with several "restaurants" specializing in specific foods and meals, a hair salon, a bank, and a security office staffed with rent-a-cops. Come up with more if you feel like it.
**UBER-ULTRA-BONUS: Give all the mall's stores security doors that can be controlled from the security office, for instant lockdown in case of a shoplifter. Can't have too much security!

=== Orbital Defense Network[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=61614.0] ===

Build a 40z-level high magma rain-dropper. Build reservoirs connected to a volcano with retractable bridges at the bottom to drop magma on invaders! In a 50 tile wide hexagonal system, a 4x4x4 is all that is needed per reservoir.

=== Dwarven Prison ===
Faced with raising criminal rates the king has decided to go for a zero-tolerance policy. He sent out seven dwarves to build and manage a prison to hold the worst of the worst criminals of dwarvenkind.

* Only your initial 7 dwarves may do any work
* All immigrants are treated as inmates sentenced to life-long prison sentences. Yes, even the children. Don't ask, you are just doing your job and who are you to criticize the dwarven justice system?
* Every inmate is locked up in solitary confinement within his/her own <strike>bedroom</strike> cell with only a bed and a forbidden metal door. Metal bars instead of walls are optional.
* Inmates have to be kept alive in their cells, but don't pamper them: Make them live on a diet of water and raw plump helmets. Feed them by dumping the plump helmets through holes in the cell ceilings or using an airlock system. Water can be provided through a water hole in the floor leading to a sewer system.
* Should an inmate [[tantrum|start to rebel]] the <strike>[[sheriff]]</strike> chief warden should restore discipline with an iron hand.
* It won't take long until a few inmates start to [[strange mood|go insane]] from sensory deprivation. Too bad for them.
*BONUS: build a lever for mad dwarves to commit suicide by cave-in

=== Cavernous Dwarves ===
A version of ‘Deep Dwarves’ and ‘Cave Men’, this challenge takes advantage of the large, underground caverns you find when you dig deep enough.

*Dig out a few rooms near the surface to hold all your starting goods and move them all underground as quickly as possible. (Don’t forget to disassemble your wagon.)
*Designate a meeting area underground so that none of your dwarves will be on the surface and then remove the stairs/ramps leading up.
*Start digging. Dig until you find the underground caverns (around lvl 10 - 15 depending on your map).
*Treating the caverns as ‘outside’, build your rooms and halls with windows looking into the caverns/underground lakes.
*Try as much as possible to not disturb the natural formations of the caverns. Building around a pillar is fine, carving out a pillar and building inside of it is fine, but avoid removing pillars. Use the cavern floor as your main hallway.
*Starting with at least one combat-ready dwarf is advisable (you may want more than one) as there creatures lurking around every corner.
*'''BONUS POINTS''': Construct a castle in a large cavern to house your nobles and make sure that all their rooms/offices overlook the working peasants.
*'''Extra Room Challenge''': If you are looking to expand the caverns, you may drain lakes into magma seas. (WARNING: This is a frame-rate killer!!! If you try this, make sure to disable the auto-pause/re-centering for collapsing cavern messages, and expect it to take a long time to complete.) Once you have one or more lake drained, you will likely have doubled the size of available caverns to build in.
*Optional: you can have 1 year above surface

=== Roman Empire ===
This challenge tries to emulate Europe during the Roman Era.

*All new male non-noble dwarves must be conscripted into the military for a period of no less than a year. Your initial seven are exempt, as they may be thought of as having fulfilled their military duty earlier in life.
*Steel, Aluminum, and Pig Iron are banned.
*All full-time military dwarves must have a matching set of iron platemail ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorica_segmentata lorica segmentata]) and iron short swords.
**All conscripted dwarves must have a full set of leather armor (material doesn't matter) and wooden crossbow.
***BONUS: All conscripted dwarves must have bows and arrows instead of crossbows and bolts. Trade with the filthy [[elf|Gauls]] for them.
*BONUS '''Peloponnesian War''': All full-time military units may only wear bronze armor and use spears.
*BONUS '''Aztec Empire''': All military may only use jaguar leather armor, obsidian short swords, bows, and copper war hammers.
**MEGA BONUS '''Pre-Historical''': All metal production is banned.

=== Incompetent Advisors ===
After wrongly advising the king about which stones were safe from magma's fiery heat, he sent you off with a party of six others, most of which never made it out of dwarf high.

*Using the wiki and asking questions on the forums are forbidden! The king only laughs when your inquiries arrive. You only know what you knew from the start, anything else has to be tested with experiments
**BONUS only embark with peasants and only accept immigrants with adequate or lower skills.
***MEGABONUS when the king comes (to apologize) decide he isn't sincere and dump him into the magma with his advisors (anyone who comes with him)

===Steve Jackson's Dwarfanoia===
*Make colored layers for the dwarves to live in Black (infrared), red, yellow orange green blue EVERYTHING in each layer must be that color a purple computer is at the "best" layer
** If you see a dwarf leave his color to go to a nicer one kill them.
*** Bonus: make it impossible to function without crossing the color boundary once in a while. (bedroom must cross a blue hallway or something)
**** hey wait, didn't the blue dwarves make the purple computer? and its room?
** decide with random goals or by random when dwarves may go to the next color
** Bonus: everybody in the black level should be miserable -- the red should be merely unhappy, the yellow and orange mildly happy, and green and blue ecstatic.
* computer is in charge of random death traps
* encourage grudges between dwarves
** put dwarves with grudges in the same military unit
*Sheriff is the most deadly dwarf (and everybody other than soldiers go in civvies)
*Bonus make a weapons testing area which may kill the dwarves or give them awesome weapons via untested modding.
** Extra bonus -- the weapons are all either effective or deadly.
*Mega bonus -- have the computer give a sign to check happiness. Press "v" if the first dwarf it finds is unhappy or had an unhappy thought kill them.

Notes: I think you have to mod [mostly from scratch) for orange, so instead you may make cheap stone layer, flux stone etc, or just skip orange.

===Paladins===
* decide which dwarves are paladins and which are support -- paladins refuse to work and support may not fight
* embark to an evil (preferably terrifying) locale
* nothing evil may live
** how to define evil: standard -- use the wiki -- if it says that it lives specifically in an evil climate, it is.
** bonus - include trees
** bonus - all non-good
** bonus - all non-dwarf
** bonus - all non-controlled dwarf
** ultra-bonus - all non-related to the 7 first dwarves
* no profit may be made from anything evil -- that includes trees and plants.
* if all paladins die, end your game -- the other dwarves have no purpose there and will leave/ commit suicide
* how long will you survive?

===Survivor Dwarves===
Dwarves try to survive, stranded on an uninhabited island.

* Find an island in your generated world (or keep making worlds until at least one island appears).
* Try to ensure that there are no neighbors on the island (except other dwarves, of course).
** Bonus: try to find an island that only has hostile neighbors (ie [[goblin|goblins]], [[Kobold|kobolds]], [[Evil#Evil|evil]]).
* Take only the bare essentials along with you (see [[Challenges#Minimalist.2FSurvivalist_build|Minimalist/Survivalist]] build above).
** Bonus: only peasants managed to survive the incident which landed your dwarves on the island (see [[Challenges#Peasantry|Peasantry]] above).
* NO TRADING! Ignore the dwarven traders that come (or kill them).
* [[immigrant|Immigrants]] are now other survivors; limit the number of survivors your island can have (either by changing the population cap or just killing off new immigrants).
** Bonus: play 'Survivor' with your dwarves and have them vote a dwarf 'off the island' once a month (or some other frequency).
*** Bonusx2: tribal colony sacrifices any dwarf that is 'voted off'.
** Bonus: new survivors (immigrants) are a rival survivor band (or tribal dwarves) that are trying to steal your supplies/kill you. Kill them or sacrifice them to Amok!

* Bonus: try to build large outdoor fires to signal rescue craft.
* Bonus: if a new mayor is elected, sacrifice the old mayor for 'failure to ensure the rescue of the survivors.' (Obviously you will need a large enough population to be able to have mayors).

===Venice===
Build a perfect replica of Venice.

*Building next to a river-side, carve out canals and make a picture-perfect replica or Venice, down its basilicas and plazas.
*Make sure to have an expansive glass industry.

* Bonus: make models of other famous historical-era cities.

===Dwarf Hoarder Challenge===
(edit and improve this please)

Step 1: Embark with 7 proficient miners and 7 picks.

Step 2: Once you reach the outpost location, strip the outside world of all valuable minerals.
(valuable = metal ores, gems and anything else that you can make a decent profit from)

*BONUS : Ravage the land! Take everything! Cut down every tree, gather all the plants! Leave NOTHING outside!

Step 3: Mine deep underground and make a very large room to store all of your wealth in.

Step 4: Kill and loot the bodies of all migrants and caravans that come to your fortress and take it down into the stockpile

*BONUS: Put all nobles that arrive in cage traps in your stockpile.

Step 5: Do what you did in step two, but underground!

Step 6: Install over complicated, dwarfy defenses to your underground stockpile.

Step 7: Continue until the King or Queen arrives.

Step 8: Cage them and store them in the stockpile.

*BONUS: Cast them in obsidian and have the obsidian mined and carved into masterwork statues.

**MEGABONUS: Make them statues of the nobles you have captured thus far. (Including the king or queen.)

Step 9: Continue until your fortress crumbles in a spectacular and hilarious way.

Step 10: Brave your defenses in adventure mode and gain access to your great fortune!

*BONUS: Make a system so the nobles stay alive.
**MEGABONUS: Make a system so the nobles can be set free.
***MEGADWARVENBONUS: Make that system be part of the defenses so when you get to the stockpile the nobles are released and tear you apart.

NOTE: Modding may be required so the nobles stay there and so that you may release them.

===You Can't Teach an Old Dwarf New Tricks===
* Never enable new labors.
* You may disable labors, but never re-enable them. Disabled labors on your Broker/Expedition Leader to stop distractions from them meeting the Caravan/Trade Liaison? Now, diplomacy is all they're good for.
* Only dwarves who already have combat skills when they immigrate/embark may join the militia. Assign whatever armor you want, but only assign them weapons they are already skilled with, NOT "Individual Choice". They're skilled in some foreign weapon, like blowgun? Better try your darndest to get them a blowgun if you want them to be useful!
* "I have tenure" - The Nobles/Administrators you appoint keep their positions for life, even if somebody with better skills/personality shows up. You can only appoint new dwarves when the position opens up due to the previous Noble's death/madness. [[Unfortunate_accident|Intentionally forcing the position open]] is against the rules of this challenge.

EASYMODE variations:
* Enable whatever labors you want on your starting seven, regardless of the skills you've given them, to make sure all your initial bases are covered. You can only do this right at the start of the game though, as soon as you unpause you're stuck with your choices.
* When immigrants show up with multiple skills, often only the labors associated with the highest-ranked skills will be enabled. Go ahead and enable all the labors in which the dwarf has at least Novice skill. However, you can only do this right when the immigrant first arrives (while there is a flashing X over the character).
* Unskilled Peasant immigrants and dwarven children who grow up may be assigned ONE labor. You can only do this right when they show/grow up, so check the population on your status screen to see what jobs your fortress is lacking, and choose carefully. If you play without this variation, your Peasants are destined to be nothing more than haulers/cleaners (and harvesters if you have "all dwarves harvest" enabled in the .ini), or deadbeat welfare bums if you disabled their labors for some reason.
** SUPEREASYMODE variation of the above: new Peasants may be assigned 1 labor Category, ex. press shift+enter on the Stoneworking category to enable Masonry and Stone Detailing.

==Arbitrary Law==
Rule your fortress with a Soapen Fist! Or see how far you get until a (voluntary) significant flaw sends you into an inevitable sadness spiral. Whatever it is, be sure to stick by it or you'll be meeting the Hammerer.

===Work with what you have===
* Build for one year as you normally would. Be as efficient as you like.
* At the end of the year, no more mining, constructing, or anything else.
* Wood may be gathered
* Walls may be constructed, but can only be used in already-existing constructions, like dividing a room into multiple separate rooms
* No new aboveground/belowground space-creation. You may only use the space you mined out in the first year
This challenge forces you to utilize space you haven't before. A large 5x hallway may be converted into a 1x with bedrooms on either side. Whatever you have to do to fit your current population. Be sure to build without any thought into the future of the fortress when you can no longer build. Instead, make it as hard as possible.
Variations:
* you may build aboveground to a maximum of two stories above ground. Make big slums/refugee camps/bazaars. Anything that involves mass-small-one-story-buildings
* you may increase/decrease the time before you can no longer dig or build new space
* (decreased difficulty) you may plan ahead

===DSPCA===
* [[Animals]] are forbidden from the fortress
* Animals following immigrants cannot enter the fortress
* Lethal traps forbidden, caged non-sentients must be immediately released
* Butchery is forbidden, but leatherworking is allowed

Rather than forbidding immigrant pets from entering, you can choose to deal with the owner of that pet instead for a more sadistic challenge.

===Commune===
* After embarking, enable all labors on all dwarves (including immigrants).
* Beds can only be designated as barracks or a dormitory, and no dwarf can be assigned to a bed (even nobles).
* Coins are forbidden.
* Be aware that nobles are to be considered part of the "bourgeoisie" and [[Unfortunate accident|dealt with]] immediately.
* Establish a communal military plan and force everybody to be a part of the military at some time or another. Share all weapons and armor, anybody that tries to make an artifact weapon, either share the weapon, or somehow destroy it, and then execute the individual who made it.
* Force everybody to take turns and act as the executive dwarf for the month/season/year. If that person makes decisions that go against the good of the commune, execute them.

===Couples only===
* As soon as a married couple exists in your fortress:
** Kill all single dwarves (or put them in a meeting area for a year to find a lover. Kill the rest)
** Kill all incoming single dwarves
** Try to save children, until they are adult and single

===Dieting Dwarves===
* Exclusively dine on a food type of your choice (meat, fish, plants, alcohol)
* Optionally, forbid alcohol consumption to limit carbohydrate intake
**Note: forbidding alcohol permanently is as good as accepting a slow but continuous fortress death

===Dwarf Liberation Movement===
* Nobles are worthless scum, we give them nothing!
* As soon as possible, cage your expedition leader.
* Never appoint any dwarf into becoming a noble.
* Cage any dwarf that appears on the nobles and administrators screen.
* When your population elects a new mayor, release your old one and cage the new one.
** Bonus : Cage the king and all of his escorts!
** Extra Bonus : Once you have caged all nobles, administrators, the king and his advisor; you must unleash the Dwarf Atom-Smasher upon them.

===Citizenship===
* All dwarves must earn citizenship. To do so they must prove themselves by reaching legendary mining skill. Because REAL dwarves know how to dig. Until then they are forbidden to do any work.
** Bonus : Hauling is forbidden too.
** Extra Bonus : Non-citizens are prohibited from entering into a fortress, and they must remain outside. Above-ground constructed buildings count as part of the fortress.

===Fight for your name===
* Before embarking, randomly generate a fortress name and be sure to know its English translation
* Do the same with your group name
* Creatively designate a serious goal for your fortress, based on these names
* Fanatically reach your goal

===Fort Geneva===
* Lethal traps are forbidden
* Caged sentient creatures are to be considered prisoners of war and treated humanely

Suggested provisions for prisoners: a bed, a personal cell, a commons area, aboveground exercise yard, and the clothes the creature was wearing when captured. For more inspiration, go to: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions Geneva Conventions]

===Government in Exile===
* Only Military and Social skills can be purchased and enabled in your entire fortress

All dwarves are either nobles or in the military. The only useful dwarves you'll have will be your broker, manager, mayor, bookkeeper, and dungeon master. If you can survive until the sheriff arrives, transfer your entire military into the fortress guard. With a little luck, and a lot of exported roasts, you too can rule without proletarian interference.

===Hardcore Altruism===
* Do not allow the death of any Dwarf

Though not viscerally entertaining, an incredible challenge. All strange moods must be given what they crave. All medical attention must be done ASAP. Mining, fishing and hunting must be done with much care. Sadness must be met with excellent social skills and quality furniture.

===Industrial Plant===
* Choose one industry that produces commercial goods
* No other industries permitted, only imported

===Johannesfort===
* Find a starting location with a lot of gabbro, containing Kimberlite
* Mine and cut all the diamonds on the map
* Only gems can be traded.
** BONUS: Your leader [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_denialism#In_South_Africa denies the existence of infections]. Soap is neither manufactured nor traded for. Even if you know a dwarf has an infection, do not quarantine it or treat it any differently.
** BONUS: Use the Burrows tool to establish "gated communities" for select dwarves, such as legendaries and nobles. Keep the fortress guard confined to these gated communities. If a dwarf throws a tantrum outside these designated areas, let him or her rage.

===Realistic Dwarves?===
* No magma smelters- magma doesn't have the heat to smelt ores
* No use of perpetual motion machines
* All doors must be locked by the use of levers- no auto-locking doors for you!
* No use of the Dwarven Atom Smasher
* Load only one weapon per weapontrap
* No use of Adamantine

===Sexist Segregation===
* Establish two functioning and stable fortress
* One must be entirely male, the other entirely female
* Married couples are to be processed

===THIS! IS! SPARTAAAA!===
* Change your population cap to 300.
* At least half of your fortress population must be active in the military.
* Crossbows and traps are forbidden.
* Only spears, swords, wrestling, helmets (helms) and shields may be equipped by military and used to fight.
** BONUS: All weapons and armour must be made from bronze.
* Civilian dwarves have all labors enabled.
** If ever activated, cannot use quality weapons or armor.
* Maimed dwarves (perceived to be) incapable of being fully healed must be killed. (This includes incurable spinal injuries in military dwarves!)
* Devise methods of dropping Liaisons down pits during meetings. Yell, "THIS IS SPAARRTAAAAA..." at your monitor.
* Demand goods be turned over from all caravans.
* Recreation is forbidden, as well as any 'improving' action, such as smoothing/engraving, or constructing things out of metals what can be done with rock and wood (besides spears, swords and shields).
* Building city walls is considered weak and cowardly.
Note that the above suggestions are modeled on the popular movie [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film) 300], an adaption of the graphic novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(comics) 300], both of which historically inaccurate. For a more "realistic dwarven Sparta", try reading the Wikipedia article on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta#Society Spartan society].

===Xenophobia===
Difficulty increases with each bullet point:
* Kill all non dwarves...
* ...and dwarf traders (or are they race traitors?)
* ...and all immigrants (or are they spies?)
* Make sure you kill all animals and especially find those collosi, dragons etc.,
Extra-gore version - make sure to make elves, goblins, humans etc., butcherable and wear only sentient hide clothing.
* BONUS: You realize this is how most experienced players run their forts anyway.

===Mesoamerican dwarves===
* All food must be grown above ground, on small plots, surrounded by canals (chinampas)
** BONUS: Flood the farms annually.
* All buildings must be above ground.
* Capture as many of your enemies as possible.
* Build a massive step pyramid at the center of your fortress. Appoint one dwarf high priest and have him kill the prisoners at the top.
** BONUS: Build it upside-down.
*** MEGABONUS: Build the entire city on top of the upside-down pyramid, with another pyramid-temple in the middle.
* Surround your fortress with an artificial lake.
** BONUS: Build it in the middle of a natural lake.
* Use only copper or bronze metal for weapons. Gold may be also be smelted.
* BONUS: The filthy steel-wearing [[human|conquistadors]] have come to plunder your city! sacrifice them to the blood god!
* Soldiers can only use obsidian short swords. Axes are only for wood cutting.
* No armor except leather and only let champions use it. All others must fight unarmored.
** BONUS: Divide your soldiers into "Jaguar[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_warrior]" and "Eagle[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_warrior]" warrior societies and outfit them with leather armor made from their respective animals.
* BONUS: Demand that all non-dwarf caravans surrender their goods as tribute.

===French Revolution===
*Keep your nobles happy and your proles subjugated until you have a king issue a particularly stupid mandate.
*Build some manner of guillotine.
*Kill the king, everyone he is aquainted with, and everyone within the same room.
*Kill other important nobles as soon as your guillotine frees up.
*Unimportant Nobles are to be executed upon first mandate, or exiled at a random point in time.
*Any dwarf that has any relation to any noble must be executed.
* Kill any other dwarf if he has any whiff of aristocracy about him. Use your discretion.

===Specialized economy===
* The goal is to reach maximum efficiency. To do this, you must assign all your workshop dwarves to an individual burrow.
* Each dwarf must have his own dining room, bedroom just next to his workshop.
* You have to assign a stockpile for food and booze next to each of your workshop dwarves so they can feed. Specialized haulers will have to bring them their foods.
* You have to assign a raw material stockpile next to your workshop so your dwarf can work. Specialized haulers will have to bring them these raw materials.
* No workshop dwarf should leave their respective burrow. Ever.
* Good luck keeping all these stockpiles supplied all the time without getting lost!

===Becoming the abomination you sought to kill===

The seven founders are trying to hide a terrible secret that can doom all dwarfkind, so each took on an arbitrary law that must be followed until the related dwarf is dead. Their ultimate goal is to kill everyone in the forteress but none of them actually KNOWS the other are pursuing the same goal undetected!

Here is a typical set of laws:

-No hunting

-No trading

-Only one batch of alcohol is to be produced per year (that's 1 drink per dwarf, tops).

-Constant war with all elves

-No military training

-No magical materials (nothing above steel)

-Forteress should be over a magma-based doomsday trap, with 20 levers able to trigger it at any time (aka the "glorious death defeating the dragon by any means necessary" plan). Did I mention the alcohol restrictions turns dwarf insane?

You shall attempt to make as many of the original dwarves as possible die from old age rather than any other cause. So pray for strategic deaths early(no cheating)! This way even your UNCONCIOUS is untrustworthy...

Overall, any of the seven laws shouldn't be TOO deadly, but certain death should be a result of following them all permanently.

Success is acheived by one criteria only: at the death of the forteress you must have learned your unconscious planned Dwarf deaths you didn't plan consciously... that's the only way to "win".

=== Dwarves need magma===
*Every workshop needs to be a "magma"workshop -- Magma carpentry, for example.
*Magma workshoprs must have one tile touching a magma tile (preferably 3 and for bonus be nearly surrounded by magma tiles)
*Every trap must be magma powered -- including cage traps
*Dining rooms and bedrooms need magma lights to keep dwarves happy.
*extra bonus - forbid all non-magma safe materials
** superbonus - include clothes
** utter dwarfy bonus but superbonus removed Mod so that the dwarves all wear obsidian clothes.

===The Hive===
*All dwarves have all labors on.
**Dwarf Therapist helps with this.
**Hunting and fishing are optional.
*The endgoal is to make a fully functioning "bee hive" like fortress, All rooms inside the hive must be the same size.
*The hive must be suspended in the sky like below (scale is your choice)
**BONUS: Suspend it over a volcano.
***MEGABONUS: Have a lever to drop the whole thing down into the volcano.
= is a Up/down stairway
O is the hive parts

======
OOOO =
OOOOOO =
OOOOOO =
OOOO =
=

'''Urist's Legion'''
*Women are allowed no jobs, and must be held as breeding stock.
*Most of the men are military, and the rest are workers.
*All military armor must be leather. All weapons must be iron swords and spears.
*Only appoint named dwarves to noble position.
*The expedition leader must be kept safe, and will do nothing.
*He must also have a royal bedroom, dining room, and tomb.
*BONUS: Build an artificial lake. Make a replica of Hoover Dam. Build walls to make sure the goblins only appear west of the dam. Guard it againts the GolbiNCR!
MEGABONUS: Build a camp with walls out of aluminum bars. make the entire thing a barracks.

===Alcoholic Dwarves Anonymous===
*Make your fort a rehab center for dwarves trying to stay sober.
*Alcoholic beverages are not allowed. Water only.
*Any booze brought by migrants must be confiscated and destroyed.
*BONUS: Keep the booze and have the expedition leader/mayor secretly be an alcoholic. Make a stockpile that holds only booze behind a secret door in his quarters. Ensure he is the only one that can access it.
**MEGABONUS: Have him removed from his position and/or imprisoned if a dwarf sees him access this stash.

==The Bunker==
*No Embark Requirement
*Set up a fort as you usually would, build , mine, construct and so forth.
*Dig out a self sufficient bunker, containing farming facilities, A massive area for water storage (at least 20x20x5) with a purifying mechanism (pumps can purify stagnant water), Plenty of wood (at least 100), Seeds for whatever crops you will plant (at least 75), a large storage of food (at least 300), have fully operational medical facilities, worker facilities, as well as recreational facilities
*When you get a siege, gather up a fourth of your dwarves, regardless of who they are, and put them in the bunker. Seal up the bunker permanently, no one gets in or out. That also includes the water supply. That's right, once you run out of water, you are screwed.
*You may dig out mines for the bunker, but if you open a cavern then you must immediately wall it off, with the miner trapped outside, sentenced to death.
*All crimes are punished with death once inside the bunker.
*What the leader says is law.
**BONUS: Dedicate your bunker to a specific goal, such as producing enough booze for 100 years, or some arbitrary and pointless lay
***MEGABONUS: Cause an accident that will kill off a majority of the bunker, except for a handful of dwarves (such as cracking open the water tank to flood the residential areas of the bunker)
*Variant: Send a quarter of your dwarves into the bunker while it's being constructed with only the farm functional as well as a small amount of food, seed, water, and wood.

==Überdwarves==

Basically, each and every dwarf in your fortress must aim to be the pinnacle of dwarvenkind. Both a great talker and possible leader of men, an exceptional craftsdwarf in multiple disciplines, and a deadly warrior whose body is a terrific weapon. See Friedrich Nietzsche's work for more info.

* All dwarves are to be conscripted into the military. Dwarves must kill personally the animals they wear the skin/bone of.
**BONUS : no weapons better than iron, unless you are faced with an enemy made from a better metal
***MEGABONUS : no weapons other than base quality
**BONUS : all dwarves must be at least at least Proficient in military skills
***MEGABONUS : all dwarves must be Legendary in MS
****ULTRABONUS : all dwarves must have slain a whole siege all by themselves
*****SADISTICDWARFBONUS : Assault [[HFS]] with your bunch of überdwarves. Win. No traps allowed.
* All dwarves have to have and train at least one truly dwarven skill, like leatherworking, metalworking (any), stoneworking, bone carving, or brewing.
**BONUS : one of these to legendary.
* All dwarves have to train mining. Not allowed for fighting, excepted for creatures that cannot be harmed by weaponless combat. (iron FB's, steel titans, demons, etc.)
* All dwarves must have very high willpower.
** BONUS : All dwarves must have MAXIMUM willpower
* Dwarves may eat only animal based products. You need lots of protein for these überdwarves. Plant-based drinks are alright.
**BONUS : All dwarves must have generally superior physical attributes
***MEGABONUS : No attributes in the red
****ULTRABONUS : All attributes at maximum. We're talking about überdwarves after all.
*No dedicated haulers. No large amount of idlers.
**BONUS : Keep a minimum amount of idlers, excluding breaks
*No hospital. If the dwarf doesn't heals by himself and becomes useless, kill him.
**BONUS : No tombs, dump the corpses in lava
***MEGABONUS : No drinking water, of for that matter anything else than alcohol. Water is not dwarven.
****ULTRABONUS : Infect your whole fort with a werebeast curse. (A sufficiently dwarven animal is required, like badgers). No more need for hospital.
* All dwarves must have at least Adept in most social skills.
** BONUS : Legendary in most social skills.
*As soon as your babies turn into children, put them into a hellish training regimen that will train him and make him into a true dwarf. Death is of course, synonym of weakness.
**BONUS : Make them fight wild creatures into an arena.
***MEGABONUS : 40 children VS 1 megabeast. WHO WILL SURVIVE ?
****ULTRABONUS : Get all the children at Legendary Fighter skill by the time of their adulthood. If they aren't, kill them.
*****SADISTICDWARFBONUS : Each young dwarf must pass a test of adulthood : killing enough creatures in fair combat and earning a title. If they don't, kill them.
*All dwarves must be hardened of spirit. You must give all of your dwarves "doesn't care about anything anymore" trait.
**BONUS : Trait must be earned by killing, NOT seeing death.
*Each dwarf must kill at least one beast and one sentient enemy.
**BONUS : Each dwarf must have earned a title by slaying enemies, which MUST be suitably appropriate and badass.
***MEGABONUS : Each dwarf must have killed at least 10 sentient enemies. Each dwarf must also have some Butcher skill, for added terror.
****ULTRABONUS : Each dwarf must have killed at least 100 sentient enemies
*Each dwarf must have a pet that will help him in combat.
**BONUS : each dwarf must have a fearsome predator as pet
***MEGABONUS : each dwarf must have a semimegabeast as pet
****ULTRABONUS : each dwarf must have a megabeast as pet
*No vampires allowed, vampires gain things far too easily.
**BONUS : Mod difficult creatures that blood gives stat bonuses to your dwarves.
*Fortress must end in a loyalty cascade and a fight to the death, to see which dwarf/which faction are the REAL überdwarves. Then abandon fort and follow your überdwarves in legends mode.

==Megaprojects==
Try building some <s>ridiculously</s> humongous, <s>over</s>complicated construction, using whatever <s>in</s>appropriate building method your fevered imagination can come up with! Need some ideas? Take a look at the [[Megaprojects|Megaprojects page]]!

v0.34:Challenges

2013-01-13T18:37:13Z

GibMoniPls: /* 28 Drinks Later */ changed challenge to reflect the addition of zombies/necromancers into vanilla DF.

{{av}}
{{Quality|Exceptional|[[User:Reilwin|Reilwin]] 03:58, 3 April 2012 (UTC)}}
==Pre-Embark Build Ideas==
Before you embark, you can optimize or sabotage your fortress from the very start, depending on how you distribute your points. After a few years, a well-developing fortress may or may not stabilize (depending on your idea of [[fun]]), leaving you to other challenges.

=== Diplomacy ===
* Six dwarves with only social [[skill]]s
* One skilled dwarf

Six courtiers of the king's court made some ill-advised remarks within earshot of the king, and as a result have been ordered to go found an outpost. They've hired you to make sure they survive. The six nobles only have social skills and refuse to do any work that is beneath them.

=== Minimalist/Survivalist build===

* 1 anvil
* 1 copper ore

Nothing else. From that alone, forge your pick and axe. Real dwarves won't need to peek...

{{Spoil small|
* Deconstruct the initial wagon for the 3 wood it provides.
* Build a wood furnace with the copper nugget
* Make 1 ash and 2 charcoal from the wood.
* Deconstruct the wood furnace.
* Build a smelter with 1 ash ''(a fire-safe "bar")''.
* Smelt the nugget into 4 copper bars using 1 charcoal.
* Deconstruct the smelter.
* Build a metalsmith's forge with 1 anvil and 1 ash.
* Forge a battle axe using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
* Chop more trees.
* Deconstruct forge, construct wood furnace.
* Make more charcoal.
* Deconstruct wood furnace, construct forge.
* Forge a pick.
... and proceed as normal.|Step-by-step}}

Alternative: use 1 of the wagon logs to make a wooden practice axe, and use that to chop down more trees. This saves some workshop deconstruction and reconstruction.

===Peasantry===
* Spend 0 Points on embark

This challenge is moderately difficult to impossible, depending on the wildlife and outdoor food and water sources. Note that the three logs from the wagon are just enough to build a trade depot.

Sadly, the wooden axes of v0.31 make this challenge remarkably easy. All you end up with is a fort that decided not to dig until the first caravan. Of course, you could just choose not to use wooden axes (on the honor system, naturally).

===Race Against the Clock===
* Spend all embark points on [[cat]]s; 50/50 male and female

A variant of Peasantry: can you slaughter enough cats to prevent the [[catsplosion]] while eking out your pitiful livelihood?

Why not spend it 1/99 Male/Female as it only take one male to do the job?

=== Stranded Scout Squad ===
* Military skills
* Weapons, ammunition, armor, war dogs
* Picks are not weapons

Your civilian 'friends' promised a caravan in the fall as they left, laughing. Hopefully, you can survive until then with your forward scouts.

==Races==
Pretend to be another race! You can mod the game or just pretend that Elves have hair. It doesn't matter what you look like, just what you build, with what materials, and what's for lunch after we build it.

===Elves - The Ultimate Hippy Challenge===
Peace, man.
* Don't gather plants except those you plant yourself.
* Don't gather wood nor trade for it with humans or dwarves.
* Trade for plants and wood only with the elves; they understand your environmental code.
* Don't burn any [[fuel|coal]]. Do you know what that does to the environment, man?
**Magma-smelting is an option, but steel can't be had.
* Don't cause any creature's death, except in self-defense.
**No military, induced submerging, or lethal implementation of corkscrews.
* Only use cage traps, and either tame the creatures you catch, or release them back into the wild.
* [[Elf|Hippies]] prefer sunlight and wooded areas, with minimal use of rock (digging and building).

Bonus: Declare war on human and dwarven caravans that try to trade you wooden items.

For an extra challenge try this in an area with a cave.

===Hobbitton===
Forget about deep-delving adventures and armoursmithing. You're playing hobbits.

* You're not in a dwarf fortress. You're in a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
** Hobbit-holes are all on one level - store-rooms, wine-cellars, bedrooms and all.
** One family per hobbit-hole, though that may include the help. No underground connections between holes, either.
** Walls are to be lined with blocks of good polished wood, or clay bricks. Floors can be surfaced in stone or wood.
** Don't forget your glass skylights and brick chimneys over the kitchen! While you're at it, how about a greenhouse for those exotic plants?

* Your primary industries are farming and distilling. Trade primarily in these. Purchase all metals and avoid industrial mining.

* Hobbits are uninterested in machines more complicated than the odd water-mill - no traps of any sort, though a drawbridge, dogs and militia as a concession to safety may be acceptable. And, of course, a mill.

* Elves are your friends - always give them your preference as a trading partner. Go to the effort of storing your trade goods in barrels and large pots, so you can sell them your finest liquors for their valuable woodcrafts.

===Humans - Living Large and Standing Tall===
Pretend you're a filthy above-ground dwelling [[Human|human]].
* Build a town wall.
** Only hovels and farms outside the town walls.
* House your dwarves in small town homes
** 5-10 dwarves per house (they had pretty big families back in the day)
** Upstairs bedrooms, small dining room, maybe a single level basement.
* House your workshops according to profession, not convenience.
* Build warehouses for stockpiles, and set guards outside them.
* Create a keep, with its own wall, barracks, treasury, etc.
** House your nobles within the keep.
* Create a market square.
* Create a main street from the town wall to the market square and/or keep. Well-paved blocks, statues and decorative shubbery are a must.
* No underground connections between different areas.
* For obtaining stone, metal, etc. a mine may be built, but must have separate entrance from other buildings. It can be outside the fortress, but must not connect to the interior, or vice versa.
** If you create a side hill mine, only carve large (at least 2 tiles) tunnels, and create shaft to the surface to allow air circulation.
** Or better than that, create an open pit mine / quarry, with ramps to access lower floors.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Build a large, multiple-z-level fountain complete with decorations.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Human Inn, containing your only booze stockpile and should be party-oriented.
* BONUS: Miniproject: Farm simulation, complete with crops and free-range livestock, etc.
* BOUNS: Miniproject: Have a series of canals for transport.
* BONUS: Easy Play: Embark on top of a Human Town.
* BONUS: Advanced Play: Modify the raws and actually use humans to make the fort.
* MEGABONUS: Build your entire fortress as [[mega construction|one huge arcology]].
* MEGADWARFBONUS: Build your City in a giant, artificial cave. (or the caverns, if you can't manage that)

==="Humans"===
Make your dwarves pretend to be an ordinary, albeit short human village, to disguise the secret diggings below. Prepare to launch an invasion on the unsuspecting Big Folk.

* Embark as close to the human towns as possible.
* Construct a "manor house" to house your mayor and broker, with a stone-walled ground level containing office, dining room and kitchens, wood-block walls and windows above for the mayor's bedroom, and a large cellar with a discreetly concealed entrance to the Secret Fortress.
* Construct a walled village including a token number of shacks, barns and workshops, a mill and a blacksmiths' for that authentic touch.
* Surround the village with large fields, growing typical human crops.
* While all this is going on, excavate an extensive fortress underground, with a focus on a well-trained militia. If the map permits, build a secret training area for your army, perhaps hidden in the top of a large hill.
* Trade only raw crops to the human and elven caravans, in exchange for the minor needs of a human village.
* Lure the goblins underground before meeting them in battle - best to hide the evidence, you understand.

===Luddite===
Shun technology and contraptions. Who can really trust them, with all those [[Gremlin|gremlins]] running around? This may be challenging, as it forbids easy isolation/defense from attacks, all traps and wells. Irrigation is reduced to solid elbow grease and maybe a bucket or two. This challenge may be even harder combined with another challenge.
* No mechanics or [[mechanism]]s
* No [[machine]]s

** BONUS: Hey, wait, aren't crossbows machinelike?

===Earthworms===
Live constantly tunneling. Churn up the soil as you go and visit the surface only rarely to collect the stuff you need..
* Create one long tunnel. Dig forward at one end whilst sealing off (collapsing, building walls across) the other end.
* Workshops should be built directly behind the row of miners. When they reach the point where they would be destroyed, take them apart and rebuild back by the miners again.
* To make it easier, you can come up to the surface now and then.
* Try to keep the tunnel as short as possible.
* Like this: ||||||||==========> (| is walled off end section, = is tunnel and > is the miners.
* BONUS: Leave those pesky nobles walled in as you tunnel away from them!
* BONUS: Leave stockpiles of armour and weapons for any future diggers to find!
* MEGABONUS: Surprise a goblin siege by tunneling up underneath them!
* MEGABONUS: Leave a group of dwarves behind in a cavern farming. Carry no food, and return to the cavern to restock the dwarves.

=== Kill demons ===
Try to kill as many demons as possible. Use siege-engines and fortifications. Remember, that collapsing caves (use supports) kills everything.

===Eskimo===
Live like the Eskimo! Only try if you are an expert
* Embark somewhere with tundra or glacial biome.
* Lot of fishermen, hunters and only a few diggers.
* Every dwarf is at least novice mason
* Build everything out of ice.
* Only spears and crossbows allowed in the military
* BONUS: Axes? what axes?
* BONUS: Only BONE crossbows, bolts and spears. Metal is for losers.
* BONUS: Embark near an ocean and create a floating ice fortress.

===Amazon dwarves===
*Kill or lock in somewhere all male dwarves, kids are allowed until they grow up.
*BONUS: military use only bows and spears.

Alternative :
instead of killing the male, use them as slaves and make them work for the females dwarves and put all the females in the military, no male noble allowed.

===The Oregon Trail===
Settle like those who traveled the (in)famous Oregon Trail.
*Optional: Wait to stop world gen until the year 1840.
*Embark in an area that has mostly grassland biome.
*Bring 10 food and 15 booze per dwarf.
*All dwarves must embark as peasants.
*Bring a few rabbits along for skins.
*Bring a few chickens along for eggs, meat and skins.
*Bring 10 copper bars and three random rocks, but only one axe and pick.
*If points allow, bring some leather along.
*If points allow, bring some cloth along.
*Hint: You may want to find an area with clay.

Post-Embark:
*Set one miner, one woodhacker, one main farmer, one weaver/clothier, one potter/glazer, one metalsmith and one glassmaker/gem cutter if you have or found sand.
*All dwarves must plant their own crops, process their own plants, spin their own cloth and cook their own meals.
*Chop down enough of one tree to make one 4x5 inner-tile log cabin.
*Repeat the above step for the rest of the 6 dwarves you came with.
*Hint: Use a rock you brought with to make a kiln. Set a clay collection zone and set Collect Clay on repeat. Use the clay to make houses, instead.
*Dig your dwarves a 5x5 root cellar and place food stockpiles in them.
*Place a 10x10 farm plot by each dwarf's cabin.
*Dig a side hill mine for stone and ore, and make it go down 5 to 6 levels.
*BONUS: Make a huge 40x40 quarry and decrease size by 2 tiles for each level going down.
*Settler BONUS: Place 1x10 farm plots that all grow the same crop 1 tile from each other, channel between them, tap into a surface river, and voila. Western-style irrigation.
*See how long you can survive like this.
*Modding BONUS: Mod the raws and actually embark as humans.
*Naming BONUS: Name the fort 'Tombstone'.
*Modding BONUS: Mod the raws to make sentinents butcherable, cause a food shortage and attempt to recreate the Donner Party.
*Modding BONUS: Add dysentery.
*Mega Modding BONUS: Add guns and bullets of some sort.

As you can see, this challenge is similar to the City-States challenge below. Try 'em both and see which one you like better!

==Utter Dwarfiness==
Need new ways to behave or new techniques to dip your toes into? Give any or all of your starting 7 some quirks to live up to. Want to try making your Boss a hell-bent, paranoid despot? Or establish a routine mass murder of small animals to provide your fort with raw meat by a vaguely intimidating, estranged butcher?

===Bandit Camp===
* Three or more Marksdwarves (perhaps with [[Ambusher|ambushing]])
* Embark site featuring places to hide

Attack and loot every enemy sentient creature you can find, such as goblins & kobolds. Develop sneaky and even horrific methods of trapping and 'processing' friendly sentients (merchants, diplomats, and even migrants). Take no prisoners and leave no evidence of foul play.

===City-States===
* All dwarves embark as peasants
* 7 or multiple of 7 of everything you bring (especially picks and axes)
* BONUS: Make one state for only nobles and force the other states to sustain it

At the start your dwarves split everything equally and move to 7 different locales that are not interconnected. They have to mine their own rooms, plant their own crops, use their own craft piles. This will probably require a bit of cross-fertilization until you get [[door]]s and can lock everyone in, but after that it is every dwarf for him/herself!

Burrows are very useful for this.
===Dwarftopia===
*Embark only with dwarves that have max skills, with no more than one miner; but bring extra copper picks.
*Separate the fortress into 2 parts: a vibrant city above, and a depressed slum below.
**BONUS: Reverse the order; elite dwarves get to live underground, while the poor have to scratch a living off the surface.
*Throw all low-skill immigrants into the pits, where they will spend the rest of their lives (unless called up for the draft).
*'''DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES''' let said immigrants socialize whatsoever with the Elite; so nobody (who matters) will be upset when they die.
**BONUS: Make it impossible for anybody to escape by using trapdoors to drop them in and bridge-a-paults for sending goods out (preferably with a carp-based sterilization system).
***MEGADWARFBONUS: Set it all up so that none of the 'elite' have to do any work; all their needs are met by the laborers. Watch what happens and laugh as the laborers die out and high society breaks down.
****MEGAUBERLITERARYBONUS: build the community from "The Giver", all dwarves keep all jobs they come with, 3-time troublemakers get "released" (spoiler alert) use magma instead of lethal injection, and remember, no death or pain! (mod the game for ultra control over marriage and jobs!)

===Equaland===
* No embark requirements
* Construct a successful fortress
* All dwarves are given equal attention regarding quarters, dining, armament and burial
* One dwarf elected to be "The Leader" commands a lever system capable of killing a single dwarf of your choice in their room, however you wish
* Allow the Leader (your id) free reign on his power, enforcing impossible and unannounced criteria on your other dwarves with death being the only punishment
* BONUS: Construct a large sickle-hammer at the fortress enterance to show the regime.

===Hermit===
* Spend points ONLY on ONE [[Pick]]

A well known and popular challenge. Kill off 6 starting dwarves and any [[immigrant|immigrants]] as they arrive, and try to make a living for the last dwarf. Turn away merchants. If they don't leave, kill them.

'''Variants'''
To moderate difficulty, feel free to allow these exceptions:
* Keep one male and one female dwarf as the Dwarven Adam and Eve.
* Keep your starting seven, but no immigrants.
* Selectively admit dwarves based on name, profession, etc.
* Embark with an anvil as well.
* Become a lone fisherman. The old man and the sea.

===Hunting Party===
* One Marksman+Ambusher
* One Cook+Farmer
* One Brewer+Farmer
* Four exclusively social dwarves
* Embark with no anvil, many hunting dogs, into a challenging biome (terrifying areas may have no supply of wood)

===Immigration and customs enforcement===
* One miner/mason/architect
* One woodcutter/carpenter/architect
* Five military dwarves
* Embark into a canyon or on a road
* Don't embark with an anvil

Spend the first year building fortifications to interdict traffic. Immigrants can build a town around you, but your original seven dwarves remain dedicated to their mission (purely military in purpose).

*BONUS: Make the two areas self-sufficent of each other, no resource-sharing.
*BONUS: Make the main construction capable of dispatching any interlopers into the main building through drowning.

==="Let Slip the Dogs of War"===
* No military Dwarves are permitted, including Fortress Guard.
* No weapons or armor may be forged, and any obtained from looting must be melted down.
* War dogs must be your only form of attack and defense.
** Bonus : No traps or defense mechanisms of any kind may be utilized, only dogs.

===28 Drinks Later===

*Embark in an evil biome. Set up a wall around your camp. Never leave the perimeters. All migrants are survivors from the Zombie plagued cities, decide carefully whether to let them into your walls.
*Bonus: If you have "reason" to believe the migrants are infected, sacrifice them to [[Main:Armok|Armok]]. Remember, he loves Magma!
*Bonus: Only Marksdwarves for defense, You shouldn't get near the zombies, they tend to bite. If they are wounded, they must be quarantined, and shall therefore die.
*AdvancedPlay: Embark in a evil biome near a necromancer, so you will occasionally be besieged by hordes of zombies.
**Bonus: Send one heroic guy to save the migrants from the zombies, like in 28 days later.
***Bonus: Keep a diary from one of the character's perspectives, to be read when the world is repopulated.

===Master Of One===
Pre-Embark:
* All starting dwarves must have only one skill

Post-Embark:
* No changes are allowed on any dwarf's labor screen, except to ''disable'' hauling labors (enabling hauling is forbidden)
* All immigrants must stay with the profession(s) they arrive with
* All peasants must be activated into the military

'''Variant:'''
*Only allow one dwarf for each skill to remain in your fort (1 mason, 1 miner, 1 farmer, etc.). Slaughter or draft all other dwarves.

===Urist of All Trades, Master Of None===
Opposite of "Master Of One" above.<br><br>
Pre-Embark:
* You may distribute points to as many skills as you want on each dwarf, but no more than 1 point on any skill (no dwarves above Novice).
<br>
Post-Embark:
* Enable all labors on all dwarves, at all times.
* Since only one of Mining, Woodcutting, or Hunting can be enabled at once, try to have an equal number of dwarves in each job. At least once every year, change them around, try to assign them to whichever they have the lowest skill in. Of course, you can leave out Woodcutters if there are no trees (but enable some if you reach a cavern with underground trees), and leave out Hunters if there are no huntable critters.
* Make/buy enough Picks, Axes, and Crossbows so any dwarf who wants to try Mining, Woodcutting, or Hunting can at any time.
* Shuffle around your Administrators yearly, or whenever you notice them getting too skilled in their jobs. You can check the personalities of your replacements to make sure they're at least capable of learning appropriate social skills for the job.
* Draft any (or better yet, every) dwarf into the military. Use the default uniforms. You can only add Individual Choice Melee/Weapon/Ranged, do not assign specific weapons. Keep a variety of weapons in your stockpiles (including any exotic weapons from other races) so your soldiers have plenty to choose from. Periodically switch out your Militia Commander/Captains and squad leaders, so everyone gets a chance to lead. Unless there is a siege, only 1 squad can be active/training at any time.
* Always have some areas designated for Digging/Channeling, tree Cutting, Smoothing/Detailing, and Plant gathering, so dwarves can practice Mining, Woodcutting, Stone Detailing, or Herbalism whenever they want.
* No workshop restrictions via profiles or burrows. Let anyone work anywhere they want, regardless of skill level.
* Try to build at least 2 of every type of workshop, so if a moody dwarf claims one, other dwarves can still have a chance to try that kind of work.
* BONUS: If any dwarf manages to become Legendary, disable the labor(s) associated with that skill. If one reaches Legendary in a weapon or other combat skill, discharge them from the military. You may re-enable the labor(s) (or re-enlist) ONLY if the skill rusts all the way back down to Novice.
* SUPERBONUS: Set that skill threshold lower, (eg. Master, Expert) depending on your own masochism.

===Monarch with a grudge===
* Forbid any and all use of stone and metal
* No exposed tile may be labeled "Underground"
* Artifacts containing stone and metal are to be destroyed '''utterly''' (magma or the [[Dwarven atom smasher|DAS]])

"Nay, no ponderous stone doors or shining silver arcades, not while I live!"
The new king has decided rocks and metals can no longer be used in construction. He'll be overthrown shortly, but in the meantime construct your fortress without them.

'''Variants'''
* Embark with no construction materials, into an area devoid of trees.
* Construct a fortress made entirely out of glass. Try not using magma or limit yourself only to clear and crystal glass.
* Build with soap bars. Show those elven traders just how much you despise their philosophies by building with stuff derived from dead trees ''and'' dead animals. Cats are an excellent source of tallow.
* Choose one type of rock, one type of metal, one type of gem, one type of wood, and optionally one type of glass. All constructions can only use those types in their construction. An easy way to enforce this with stone is to mark all but your choice "Economical".
* Bonus points: Stone is forbidden along with digging

===Noblesse requiro===
* Construct a fortress only to please nobles (who, for the sake of this challenge, are all criminally psychotic)
* Criminals who deserve justice should be incarcerated, tortured, and executed for ''any'' offense. Use your imagination for every step of the process. Remember, there is no right to a fair and speedy trial in Armok's eyes.
* All Nobles must be treated to the highest quality living conditions
* All others must be treated to the bare minimum needed to physically keep them alive
* Elected nobles are to be treated as regular dwarves, but mandates hold equal sway regarding justice

===Urist McHoHoHo===
* Embark in a glacier biome
* Take at least 3 craftsdwarves to serve as Santa's Elves.
* Export as many toys as possible. These are your only permitted trade good.
* Bonus: Use this Christmas-themed tileset: [[http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/User:Sphr/gfx_set#Christmas_Special_2007]]
* Bonus: Cycle nobles frequently, use their mandates as people's wish lists.
* Mega Bonus: Use [[Olivine]], [[Serpentine]], [[Bauxite]], [[Kaolinite]], [[Cinnabar]], [[Petrified wood]], [[Realgar]], (red and green) to build your fortress.
* Dwarven Spirit Bonus: Edit the raws to embark with [[elves]]. Utilize elf labor to craft your toys.
* Mega Dwarf Bonus: Embark with a group of elves, choose the fattest elf to be Santa. Clothe him in reindeer wool clothing, dyed red, with accents of un-dyed wool. Feed him ☼Longland Flour Cookies☼ and reindeer milk. Build a brick fireplace and burn coal for a warm cozy fire. Train Santa to be a legendary pump operator to make him flash red.

===Sitting on trees===
* Construct a wooden "tree" or several, spanning many (a dozen or so) z-levels
* Establish a successful fortress not inside, but around, these constructed trees

===The Mad Butcher===
* One dedicated Butcher+Tanner
* Minimal supplies and skills, so you can bring...
* As many puppies and kittens you can afford
* All food-gathering skills (except your Butcher+Tanner and Brewing) are forbidden

Caging your animals will increase performance to prepare a suitable butchery. Construct a wide, deep shaft to be zoned as an animal pit. At the bottom, outfit an isolation chamber complete with food and alcohol stockpiles, a bed, a butchery and a tanner's workshop. An active well will prevent mishaps. You should include during the construction either an airlock chamber (to enable the butcher to pass on food) or a second pit where the butcher dumps his created food. After construction, seal your butcher+tanner inside and live only off of his work.

===The Night's watch===
Make a replica of The Wall from the novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire"
* Embark on area with north half of terrifying glacier area and south half of some non-evil taiga.
* IMPORTANT: build a HUGE ice wall to cut the north half away
* BONUS: assign each dwarf to one group: rangers, stewards, builders where rangers go regularly ranging to the other side of The Wall, builders build it (duh) and stewards do everything else
* MEGA BONUS: All of your dwarves have to have basic 1-year battle training after which are they assigned to some group and start to be somewhat useful

===The World is Flat===
* No pre-embark requirements
* You'll probably want a region with lots of hills/mountains.
* You may only work/build/live on the original Z level where your wagon was
* No moats allowed, as this requires a channel, which goes below your z-level

===Hunter and Gatherer===
Pre-Embark (World-Gen)
* Try creating a world in year 1 (optional)
Post-Embark
* Everything allowed except Farming and Cattle Breeding.
Bonus
* BONUS: Embark in a desert, so only hunting and (aquifer) fishing.
** Extra Points: Dont fish in the aquifer. How could the turtles get there anyway?
** Create a huge pyramid and sacrifice living beings or valuables to Armok for rain by dropping it in the hollow inaccessible pyramid from the top.
*** Extended version: Fill the pyramid with magma!
** Create lines like the Nazca to honour Armok, so he will send some rain (maybe).
* BONUS: No Mechanics and only limited (i.e. only copper) or no metalworking.
* BONUS: Live underground in the caverns. Create there little huts out of rock and shrooms

===Cave Men===
Pre-Embark
An Overworld accessible cave

Post-Embark
Go into the cave with all your dwarves, and try to survive the harsh environments of the new cave systems.
You can't use items from ground zero, all wood must be harvested in the caves, along with food.

*Bonus: no trading, who wants to enter that creepy cave anyways?
*MEGA BONUS: No dogs and no warrior dwarves.

===Fort wars!===

*The initial 7 create 2 forts on opposite sides of a map.

*After the initial 7, 1/2 of all immigrants get assigned to a burrow that encompasses one of the forts. New children get assigned to their parents' fort. Each fort is self-sustaining and produces their own goods. Then it turns into a competition to see which fort can produce the most wealth.
* Nobles are given free reign and will be quartered in the winning fort.
* Make a giant wall separating the forts above ground. On one side of the wall is an artificial lake made of water and on the other, one made of magma. Call forts Reliable.Excavation.Demolition and Builders.League.United.
** Bonus points if you make residents of both sides wear only team colors.

===Deep dwarves===
Following the embark, lock yourself up under the ground.
Don't let any of your dwarves go outside. Let invaders into your underground maze of doom!

*BONUS: Dig deeper and deeper, abandoning the upper levels and rebuilding your fortress as you get more deep.
*MEGA BONUS: create a caste of deep dwarves (nobles?), who will only live on the bottommost levels.

===Earth Mover===
*Do what you need to get a huge guild of miners
*Dig every square in the map.
**Hint: you might want to turn cave-in on
**Another hint: Do you really want to put your castle up there, when your dwarves are digging down there?

===Minimalist===
The opposite of Earth Mover
*Only dig a stone you need
*There should be no unused stones on the map
*BONUS: No spare items or furniture also
*MEGA-BONUS: No wars, as war leaves corpses and other useless crap

===Oh, The Humanity!===
*Live like humans do.
*Make about half of your buildings out of wood- structures that serve no defensive purpose, such as workshops, meeting halls, dining halls, the homes of the serfs and peasants etc should be wooden. You can also divide a large building up as sensible- you might make the main structure of a castle or wall out of stone for strength, then make the interior detailing, shacks, and other "addon" buildings out of wood. The important thing to keep in mind is that for humans, drafty, damp stone buildings are sometimes a functional necessity, not something they prefer.
*Build an aboveground outer wall of wood to start- you can replace it with stone once you reach fifty individuals.
*Underground areas are ONLY for mining shafts, root cellars, plumbing/mechanics, and perhaps a secret passage for your nobles to take in emergencies. No workshops, living spaces, or large-scale storage allowed.
*Most of your mining for ore and minerals should be done quarry-style, as humans are not well-suited to long-term underground life. A quarry should be a big, wide-open pit, shaped like an inverted pyramid, with a ramp leading out, so you don't feel boxed in and claustrophobic. Don't worry about the ecological impact of your surface strip mining.
*An exception to the mining rule is excavation for purposes of putting up outdoor buildings- so you can carve away a cliff wall to make room for a building, but you can't actually build *into* the wall like a dwarf would, so channel that natural dirt/stone roof out!
*All farming must be done with surface plants. No underground plants.
*Humans need several pubs so they can go bar hopping in their free time- they get bored with just one. Make sure you have a separate pub for every 15 individuals.
*Unlike dwarves, few humans have enough beard to hide their naughty bits when they run around naked. Make sure your humans have enough clothing to wear at all times.
*Finally, you need an aboveground castle. Early on, a small building will suffice but by the time royalty arrives, you'll need to have at least begun constructing a castle worthy of their station.

*BONUS: Humans enjoy bathing. If there is no pond inside your walls, build a channel to carry fresh water to an artificial pond so your people have a place to cleanse themselves. Build a 1-level waterfall in it so they can shower, and stock soap nearby.
*BONUS: Every family has its own house. Each house has a "sink" (well), garage (shack) filled with owned tools, a driveway leading to the main thoroughfare, etc. Multiple-floor apartment buildings for the poor/immigrant dwarves. Once they become useful, they become "wealthy" and are moved to better housing. If they get married, they are moved to better housing for a year - if they're not "wealthy" by then, their house is foreclosed. If they arrive married/with kids, they get cheap housing anyway.
*BONUS: Humans, as opposed to the elves reverence for nature and the dwarves utter disregard for it, actually believe it is their duty to pollute and destroy nature.
**Designate large refuse stockpiles and garbage dumps in the wilderness, and fill them.
**Chop down enough trees to piss off the elves every once in a while.
**Fill the map with paved roads. Pavement rules!

*MEGABONUS: The ultimate in human engineering. Build a 5-level above-ground mega-mall displaying all your salable wares. Build various stores for your goods, back room storage, a wishing pool for the main atrium, a food court with several "restaurants" specializing in specific foods and meals, a hair salon, a bank, and a security office staffed with rent-a-cops. Come up with more if you feel like it.
**UBER-ULTRA-BONUS: Give all the mall's stores security doors that can be controlled from the security office, for instant lockdown in case of a shoplifter. Can't have too much security!

=== Orbital Defense Network[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=61614.0] ===

Build a 40z-level high magma rain-dropper. Build reservoirs connected to a volcano with retractable bridges at the bottom to drop magma on invaders! In a 50 tile wide hexagonal system, a 4x4x4 is all that is needed per reservoir.

=== Dwarven Prison ===
Faced with raising criminal rates the king has decided to go for a zero-tolerance policy. He sent out seven dwarves to build and manage a prison to hold the worst of the worst criminals of dwarvenkind.

* Only your initial 7 dwarves may do any work
* All immigrants are treated as inmates sentenced to life-long prison sentences. Yes, even the children. Don't ask, you are just doing your job and who are you to criticize the dwarven justice system?
* Every inmate is locked up in solitary confinement within his/her own <strike>bedroom</strike> cell with only a bed and a forbidden metal door. Metal bars instead of walls are optional.
* Inmates have to be kept alive in their cells, but don't pamper them: Make them live on a diet of water and raw plump helmets. Feed them by dumping the plump helmets through holes in the cell ceilings or using an airlock system. Water can be provided through a water hole in the floor leading to a sewer system.
* Should an inmate [[tantrum|start to rebel]] the <strike>[[sheriff]]</strike> chief warden should restore discipline with an iron hand.
* It won't take long until a few inmates start to [[strange mood|go insane]] from sensory deprivation. Too bad for them.
*BONUS: build a lever for mad dwarves to commit suicide by cave-in

=== Cavernous Dwarves ===
A version of ‘Deep Dwarves’ and ‘Cave Men’, this challenge takes advantage of the large, underground caverns you find when you dig deep enough.

*Dig out a few rooms near the surface to hold all your starting goods and move them all underground as quickly as possible. (Don’t forget to disassemble your wagon.)
*Designate a meeting area underground so that none of your dwarves will be on the surface and then remove the stairs/ramps leading up.
*Start digging. Dig until you find the underground caverns (around lvl 10 - 15 depending on your map).
*Treating the caverns as ‘outside’, build your rooms and halls with windows looking into the caverns/underground lakes.
*Try as much as possible to not disturb the natural formations of the caverns. Building around a pillar is fine, carving out a pillar and building inside of it is fine, but avoid removing pillars. Use the cavern floor as your main hallway.
*Starting with at least one combat-ready dwarf is advisable (you may want more than one) as there creatures lurking around every corner.
*'''BONUS POINTS''': Construct a castle in a large cavern to house your nobles and make sure that all their rooms/offices overlook the working peasants.
*'''Extra Room Challenge''': If you are looking to expand the caverns, you may drain lakes into magma seas. (WARNING: This is a frame-rate killer!!! If you try this, make sure to disable the auto-pause/re-centering for collapsing cavern messages, and expect it to take a long time to complete.) Once you have one or more lake drained, you will likely have doubled the size of available caverns to build in.
*Optional: you can have 1 year above surface

=== Roman Empire ===
This challenge tries to emulate Europe during the Roman Era.

*All new male non-noble dwarves must be conscripted into the military for a period of no less than a year. Your initial seven are exempt, as they may be thought of as having fulfilled their military duty earlier in life.
*Steel, Aluminum, and Pig Iron are banned.
*All full-time military dwarves must have a matching set of iron platemail ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorica_segmentata lorica segmentata]) and iron short swords.
**All conscripted dwarves must have a full set of leather armor (material doesn't matter) and wooden crossbow.
***BONUS: All conscripted dwarves must have bows and arrows instead of crossbows and bolts. Trade with the filthy [[elf|Gauls]] for them.
*BONUS '''Peloponnesian War''': All full-time military units may only wear bronze armor and use spears.
*BONUS '''Aztec Empire''': All military may only use jaguar leather armor, obsidian short swords, bows, and copper war hammers.
**MEGA BONUS '''Pre-Historical''': All metal production is banned.

=== Incompetent Advisors ===
After wrongly advising the king about which stones were safe from magma's fiery heat, he sent you off with a party of six others, most of which never made it out of dwarf high.

*Using the wiki and asking questions on the forums are forbidden! The king only laughs when your inquiries arrive. You only know what you knew from the start, anything else has to be tested with experiments
**BONUS only embark with peasants and only accept immigrants with adequate or lower skills.
***MEGABONUS when the king comes (to apologize) decide he isn't sincere and dump him into the magma with his advisors (anyone who comes with him)

===Steve Jackson's Dwarfanoia===
*Make colored layers for the dwarves to live in Black (infrared), red, yellow orange green blue EVERYTHING in each layer must be that color a purple computer is at the "best" layer
** If you see a dwarf leave his color to go to a nicer one kill them.
*** Bonus: make it impossible to function without crossing the color boundary once in a while. (bedroom must cross a blue hallway or something)
**** hey wait, didn't the blue dwarves make the purple computer? and its room?
** decide with random goals or by random when dwarves may go to the next color
** Bonus: everybody in the black level should be miserable -- the red should be merely unhappy, the yellow and orange mildly happy, and green and blue ecstatic.
* computer is in charge of random death traps
* encourage grudges between dwarves
** put dwarves with grudges in the same military unit
*Sheriff is the most deadly dwarf (and everybody other than soldiers go in civvies)
*Bonus make a weapons testing area which may kill the dwarves or give them awesome weapons via untested modding.
** Extra bonus -- the weapons are all either effective or deadly.
*Mega bonus -- have the computer give a sign to check happiness. Press "v" if the first dwarf it finds is unhappy or had an unhappy thought kill them.

Notes: I think you have to mod [mostly from scratch) for orange, so instead you may make cheap stone layer, flux stone etc, or just skip orange.

===Paladins===
* decide which dwarves are paladins and which are support -- paladins refuse to work and support may not fight
* embark to an evil (preferably terrifying) locale
* nothing evil may live
** how to define evil: standard -- use the wiki -- if it says that it lives specifically in an evil climate, it is.
** bonus - include trees
** bonus - all non-good
** bonus - all non-dwarf
** bonus - all non-controlled dwarf
** ultra-bonus - all non-related to the 7 first dwarves
* no profit may be made from anything evil -- that includes trees and plants.
* if all paladins die, end your game -- the other dwarves have no purpose there and will leave/ commit suicide
* how long will you survive?

===Survivor Dwarves===
Dwarves try to survive, stranded on an uninhabited island.

* Find an island in your generated world (or keep making worlds until at least one island appears).
* Try to ensure that there are no neighbors on the island (except other dwarves, of course).
** Bonus: try to find an island that only has hostile neighbors (ie [[goblin|goblins]], [[Kobold|kobolds]], [[Evil#Evil|evil]]).
* Take only the bare essentials along with you (see [[Challenges#Minimalist.2FSurvivalist_build|Minimalist/Survivalist]] build above).
** Bonus: only peasants managed to survive the incident which landed your dwarves on the island (see [[Challenges#Peasantry|Peasantry]] above).
* NO TRADING! Ignore the dwarven traders that come (or kill them).
* [[immigrant|Immigrants]] are now other survivors; limit the number of survivors your island can have (either by changing the population cap or just killing off new immigrants).
** Bonus: play 'Survivor' with your dwarves and have them vote a dwarf 'off the island' once a month (or some other frequency).
*** Bonusx2: tribal colony sacrifices any dwarf that is 'voted off'.
** Bonus: new survivors (immigrants) are a rival survivor band (or tribal dwarves) that are trying to steal your supplies/kill you. Kill them or sacrifice them to Amok!

* Bonus: try to build large outdoor fires to signal rescue craft.
* Bonus: if a new mayor is elected, sacrifice the old mayor for 'failure to ensure the rescue of the survivors.' (Obviously you will need a large enough population to be able to have mayors).

===Venice===
Build a perfect replica of Venice.

*Building next to a river-side, carve out canals and make a picture-perfect replica or Venice, down its basilicas and plazas.
*Make sure to have an expansive glass industry.

* Bonus: make models of other famous historical-era cities.

===Dwarf Hoarder Challenge===
(edit and improve this please)

Step 1: Embark with 7 proficient miners and 7 picks.

Step 2: Once you reach the outpost location, strip the outside world of all valuable minerals.
(valuable = metal ores, gems and anything else that you can make a decent profit from)

*BONUS : Ravage the land! Take everything! Cut down every tree, gather all the plants! Leave NOTHING outside!

Step 3: Mine deep underground and make a very large room to store all of your wealth in.

Step 4: Kill and loot the bodies of all migrants and caravans that come to your fortress and take it down into the stockpile

*BONUS: Put all nobles that arrive in cage traps in your stockpile.

Step 5: Do what you did in step two, but underground!

Step 6: Install over complicated, dwarfy defenses to your underground stockpile.

Step 7: Continue until the King or Queen arrives.

Step 8: Cage them and store them in the stockpile.

*BONUS: Cast them in obsidian and have the obsidian mined and carved into masterwork statues.

**MEGABONUS: Make them statues of the nobles you have captured thus far. (Including the king or queen.)

Step 9: Continue until your fortress crumbles in a spectacular and hilarious way.

Step 10: Brave your defenses in adventure mode and gain access to your great fortune!

*BONUS: Make a system so the nobles stay alive.
**MEGABONUS: Make a system so the nobles can be set free.
***MEGADWARVENBONUS: Make that system be part of the defenses so when you get to the stockpile the nobles are released and tear you apart.

NOTE: Modding may be required so the nobles stay there and so that you may release them.

===You Can't Teach an Old Dwarf New Tricks===
* Never enable new labors.
* You may disable labors, but never re-enable them. Disabled labors on your Broker/Expedition Leader to stop distractions from them meeting the Caravan/Trade Liaison? Now, diplomacy is all they're good for.
* Only dwarves who already have combat skills when they immigrate/embark may join the militia. Assign whatever armor you want, but only assign them weapons they are already skilled with, NOT "Individual Choice". They're skilled in some foreign weapon, like blowgun? Better try your darndest to get them a blowgun if you want them to be useful!
* "I have tenure" - The Nobles/Administrators you appoint keep their positions for life, even if somebody with better skills/personality shows up. You can only appoint new dwarves when the position opens up due to the previous Noble's death/madness. [[Unfortunate_accident|Intentionally forcing the position open]] is against the rules of this challenge.

EASYMODE variations:
* Enable whatever labors you want on your starting seven, regardless of the skills you've given them, to make sure all your initial bases are covered. You can only do this right at the start of the game though, as soon as you unpause you're stuck with your choices.
* When immigrants show up with multiple skills, often only the labors associated with the highest-ranked skills will be enabled. Go ahead and enable all the labors in which the dwarf has at least Novice skill. However, you can only do this right when the immigrant first arrives (while there is a flashing X over the character).
* Unskilled Peasant immigrants and dwarven children who grow up may be assigned ONE labor. You can only do this right when they show/grow up, so check the population on your status screen to see what jobs your fortress is lacking, and choose carefully. If you play without this variation, your Peasants are destined to be nothing more than haulers/cleaners (and harvesters if you have "all dwarves harvest" enabled in the .ini), or deadbeat welfare bums if you disabled their labors for some reason.
** SUPEREASYMODE variation of the above: new Peasants may be assigned 1 labor Category, ex. press shift+enter on the Stoneworking category to enable Masonry and Stone Detailing.

==Arbitrary Law==
Rule your fortress with a Soapen Fist! Or see how far you get until a (voluntary) significant flaw sends you into an inevitable sadness spiral. Whatever it is, be sure to stick by it or you'll be meeting the Hammerer.

===Work with what you have===
* Build for one year as you normally would. Be as efficient as you like.
* At the end of the year, no more mining, constructing, or anything else.
* Wood may be gathered
* Walls may be constructed, but can only be used in already-existing constructions, like dividing a room into multiple separate rooms
* No new aboveground/belowground space-creation. You may only use the space you mined out in the first year
This challenge forces you to utilize space you haven't before. A large 5x hallway may be converted into a 1x with bedrooms on either side. Whatever you have to do to fit your current population. Be sure to build without any thought into the future of the fortress when you can no longer build. Instead, make it as hard as possible.
Variations:
* you may build aboveground to a maximum of two stories above ground. Make big slums/refugee camps/bazaars. Anything that involves mass-small-one-story-buildings
* you may increase/decrease the time before you can no longer dig or build new space
* (decreased difficulty) you may plan ahead

===DSPCA===
* [[Animals]] are forbidden from the fortress
* Animals following immigrants cannot enter the fortress
* Lethal traps forbidden, caged non-sentients must be immediately released
* Butchery is forbidden, but leatherworking is allowed

Rather than forbidding immigrant pets from entering, you can choose to deal with the owner of that pet instead for a more sadistic challenge.

===Commune===
* After embarking, enable all labors on all dwarves (including immigrants).
* Beds can only be designated as barracks or a dormitory, and no dwarf can be assigned to a bed (even nobles).
* Coins are forbidden.
* Be aware that nobles are to be considered part of the "bourgeoisie" and [[Unfortunate accident|dealt with]] immediately.
* Establish a communal military plan and force everybody to be a part of the military at some time or another. Share all weapons and armor, anybody that tries to make an artifact weapon, either share the weapon, or somehow destroy it, and then execute the individual who made it.
* Force everybody to take turns and act as the executive dwarf for the month/season/year. If that person makes decisions that go against the good of the commune, execute them.

===Couples only===
* As soon as a married couple exists in your fortress:
** Kill all single dwarves (or put them in a meeting area for a year to find a lover. Kill the rest)
** Kill all incoming single dwarves
** Try to save children, until they are adult and single

===Dieting Dwarves===
* Exclusively dine on a food type of your choice (meat, fish, plants, alcohol)
* Optionally, forbid alcohol consumption to limit carbohydrate intake
**Note: forbidding alcohol permanently is as good as accepting a slow but continuous fortress death

===Dwarf Liberation Movement===
* Nobles are worthless scum, we give them nothing!
* As soon as possible, cage your expedition leader.
* Never appoint any dwarf into becoming a noble.
* Cage any dwarf that appears on the nobles and administrators screen.
* When your population elects a new mayor, release your old one and cage the new one.
** Bonus : Cage the king and all of his escorts!
** Extra Bonus : Once you have caged all nobles, administrators, the king and his advisor; you must unleash the Dwarf Atom-Smasher upon them.

===Citizenship===
* All dwarves must earn citizenship. To do so they must prove themselves by reaching legendary mining skill. Because REAL dwarves know how to dig. Until then they are forbidden to do any work.
** Bonus : Hauling is forbidden too.
** Extra Bonus : Non-citizens are prohibited from entering into a fortress, and they must remain outside. Above-ground constructed buildings count as part of the fortress.

===Fight for your name===
* Before embarking, randomly generate a fortress name and be sure to know its English translation
* Do the same with your group name
* Creatively designate a serious goal for your fortress, based on these names
* Fanatically reach your goal

===Fort Geneva===
* Lethal traps are forbidden
* Caged sentient creatures are to be considered prisoners of war and treated humanely

Suggested provisions for prisoners: a bed, a personal cell, a commons area, aboveground exercise yard, and the clothes the creature was wearing when captured. For more inspiration, go to: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions Geneva Conventions]

===Government in Exile===
* Only Military and Social skills can be purchased and enabled in your entire fortress

All dwarves are either nobles or in the military. The only useful dwarves you'll have will be your broker, manager, mayor, bookkeeper, and dungeon master. If you can survive until the sheriff arrives, transfer your entire military into the fortress guard. With a little luck, and a lot of exported roasts, you too can rule without proletarian interference.

===Hardcore Altruism===
* Do not allow the death of any Dwarf

Though not viscerally entertaining, an incredible challenge. All strange moods must be given what they crave. All medical attention must be done ASAP. Mining, fishing and hunting must be done with much care. Sadness must be met with excellent social skills and quality furniture.

===Industrial Plant===
* Choose one industry that produces commercial goods
* No other industries permitted, only imported

===Johannesfort===
* Find a starting location with a lot of gabbro, containing Kimberlite
* Mine and cut all the diamonds on the map
* Only gems can be traded.
** BONUS: Your leader [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_denialism#In_South_Africa denies the existence of infections]. Soap is neither manufactured nor traded for. Even if you know a dwarf has an infection, do not quarantine it or treat it any differently.
** BONUS: Use the Burrows tool to establish "gated communities" for select dwarves, such as legendaries and nobles. Keep the fortress guard confined to these gated communities. If a dwarf throws a tantrum outside these designated areas, let him or her rage.

===Realistic Dwarves?===
* No magma smelters- magma doesn't have the heat to smelt ores
* No use of perpetual motion machines
* All doors must be locked by the use of levers- no auto-locking doors for you!
* No use of the Dwarven Atom Smasher
* Load only one weapon per weapontrap
* No use of Adamantine

===Sexist Segregation===
* Establish two functioning and stable fortress
* One must be entirely male, the other entirely female
* Married couples are to be processed

===THIS! IS! SPARTAAAA!===
* Change your population cap to 300.
* At least half of your fortress population must be active in the military.
* Crossbows and traps are forbidden.
* Only spears, swords, wrestling, helmets (helms) and shields may be equipped by military and used to fight.
** BONUS: All weapons and armour must be made from bronze.
* Civilian dwarves have all labors enabled.
** If ever activated, cannot use quality weapons or armor.
* Maimed dwarves (perceived to be) incapable of being fully healed must be killed. (This includes incurable spinal injuries in military dwarves!)
* Devise methods of dropping Liaisons down pits during meetings. Yell, "THIS IS SPAARRTAAAAA..." at your monitor.
* Demand goods be turned over from all caravans.
* Recreation is forbidden, as well as any 'improving' action, such as smoothing/engraving, or constructing things out of metals what can be done with rock and wood (besides spears, swords and shields).
* Building city walls is considered weak and cowardly.
Note that the above suggestions are modeled on the popular movie [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(film) 300], an adaption of the graphic novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_(comics) 300], both of which historically inaccurate. For a more "realistic dwarven Sparta", try reading the Wikipedia article on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta#Society Spartan society].

===Xenophobia===
Difficulty increases with each bullet point:
* Kill all non dwarves...
* ...and dwarf traders (or are they race traitors?)
* ...and all immigrants (or are they spies?)
* Make sure you kill all animals and especially find those collosi, dragons etc.,
Extra-gore version - make sure to make elves, goblins, humans etc., butcherable and wear only sentient hide clothing.
* BONUS: You realize this is how most experienced players run their forts anyway.

===Mesoamerican dwarves===
* All food must be grown above ground, on small plots, surrounded by canals (chinampas)
** BONUS: Flood the farms annually.
* All buildings must be above ground.
* Capture as many of your enemies as possible.
* Build a massive step pyramid at the center of your fortress. Appoint one dwarf high priest and have him kill the prisoners at the top.
** BONUS: Build it upside-down.
*** MEGABONUS: Build the entire city on top of the upside-down pyramid, with another pyramid-temple in the middle.
* Surround your fortress with an artificial lake.
** BONUS: Build it in the middle of a natural lake.
* Use only copper or bronze metal (except for iron anvils).
* Soldiers can only use obsidian short swords. Axes are only for wood cutting.
* No armor except leather and only let champions use it. All others must fight unarmored.
** BONUS: Divide your soldiers into "Jaguar[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_warrior]" and "Eagle[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_warrior]" warrior societies and outfit them with leather armor made from their respective animals.
* Demand that all non-dwarf caravans surrender their goods as tribute.
* Build a giant, multistory building for holding skulls.

===French Revolution===
*Keep your nobles happy and your proles subjugated until you have a king issue a particularly stupid mandate.
*Build some manner of guillotine.
*Kill the king, everyone he is aquainted with, and everyone within the same room.
*Kill other important nobles as soon as your guillotine frees up.
*Unimportant Nobles are to be executed upon first mandate, or exiled at a random point in time.
*Any dwarf that has any relation to any noble must be executed.
* Kill any other dwarf if he has any whiff of aristocracy about him. Use your discretion.

===Specialized economy===
* The goal is to reach maximum efficiency. To do this, you must assign all your workshop dwarves to an individual burrow.
* Each dwarf must have his own dining room, bedroom just next to his workshop.
* You have to assign a stockpile for food and booze next to each of your workshop dwarves so they can feed. Specialized haulers will have to bring them their foods.
* You have to assign a raw material stockpile next to your workshop so your dwarf can work. Specialized haulers will have to bring them these raw materials.
* No workshop dwarf should leave their respective burrow. Ever.
* Good luck keeping all these stockpiles supplied all the time without getting lost!

===Becoming the abomination you sought to kill===

The seven founders are trying to hide a terrible secret that can doom all dwarfkind, so each took on an arbitrary law that must be followed until the related dwarf is dead. Their ultimate goal is to kill everyone in the forteress but none of them actually KNOWS the other are pursuing the same goal undetected!

Here is a typical set of laws:

-No hunting

-No trading

-Only one batch of alcohol is to be produced per year (that's 1 drink per dwarf, tops).

-Constant war with all elves

-No military training

-No magical materials (nothing above steel)

-Forteress should be over a magma-based doomsday trap, with 20 levers able to trigger it at any time (aka the "glorious death defeating the dragon by any means necessary" plan). Did I mention the alcohol restrictions turns dwarf insane?

You shall attempt to make as many of the original dwarves as possible die from old age rather than any other cause. So pray for strategic deaths early(no cheating)! This way even your UNCONCIOUS is untrustworthy...

Overall, any of the seven laws shouldn't be TOO deadly, but certain death should be a result of following them all permanently.

Success is acheived by one criteria only: at the death of the forteress you must have learned your unconscious planned Dwarf deaths you didn't plan consciously... that's the only way to "win".

=== Dwarves need magma===
*Every workshop needs to be a "magma"workshop -- Magma carpentry, for example.
*Magma workshoprs must have one tile touching a magma tile (preferably 3 and for bonus be nearly surrounded by magma tiles)
*Every trap must be magma powered -- including cage traps
*Dining rooms and bedrooms need magma lights to keep dwarves happy.
*extra bonus - forbid all non-magma safe materials
** superbonus - include clothes
** utter dwarfy bonus but superbonus removed Mod so that the dwarves all wear obsidian clothes.

===The Hive===
*All dwarves have all labors on.
**Dwarf Therapist helps with this.
**Hunting and fishing are optional.
*The endgoal is to make a fully functioning "bee hive" like fortress, All rooms inside the hive must be the same size.
*The hive must be suspended in the sky like below (scale is your choice)
**BONUS: Suspend it over a volcano.
***MEGABONUS: Have a lever to drop the whole thing down into the volcano.
= is a Up/down stairway
O is the hive parts

======
OOOO =
OOOOOO =
OOOOOO =
OOOO =
=

'''Urist's Legion'''
*Women are allowed no jobs, and must be held as breeding stock.
*Most of the men are military, and the rest are workers.
*All military armor must be leather. All weapons must be iron swords and spears.
*Only appoint named dwarves to noble position.
*The expedition leader must be kept safe, and will do nothing.
*He must also have a royal bedroom, dining room, and tomb.
*BONUS: Build an artificial lake. Make a replica of Hoover Dam. Build walls to make sure the goblins only appear west of the dam. Guard it againts the GolbiNCR!
MEGABONUS: Build a camp with walls out of aluminum bars. make the entire thing a barracks.

===Alcoholic Dwarves Anonymous===
*Make your fort a rehab center for dwarves trying to stay sober.
*Alcoholic beverages are not allowed. Water only.
*Any booze brought by migrants must be confiscated and destroyed.
*BONUS: Keep the booze and have the expedition leader/mayor secretly be an alcoholic. Make a stockpile that holds only booze behind a secret door in his quarters. Ensure he is the only one that can access it.
**MEGABONUS: Have him removed from his position and/or imprisoned if a dwarf sees him access this stash.

==The Bunker==
*No Embark Requirement
*Set up a fort as you usually would, build , mine, construct and so forth.
*Dig out a self sufficient bunker, containing farming facilities, A massive area for water storage (at least 20x20x5) with a purifying mechanism (pumps can purify stagnant water), Plenty of wood (at least 100), Seeds for whatever crops you will plant (at least 75), a large storage of food (at least 300), have fully operational medical facilities, worker facilities, as well as recreational facilities
*When you get a siege, gather up a fourth of your dwarves, regardless of who they are, and put them in the bunker. Seal up the bunker permanently, no one gets in or out. That also includes the water supply. That's right, once you run out of water, you are screwed.
*You may dig out mines for the bunker, but if you open a cavern then you must immediately wall it off, with the miner trapped outside, sentenced to death.
*All crimes are punished with death once inside the bunker.
*What the leader says is law.
**BONUS: Dedicate your bunker to a specific goal, such as producing enough booze for 100 years, or some arbitrary and pointless lay
***MEGABONUS: Cause an accident that will kill off a majority of the bunker, except for a handful of dwarves (such as cracking open the water tank to flood the residential areas of the bunker)
*Variant: Send a quarter of your dwarves into the bunker while it's being constructed with only the farm functional as well as a small amount of food, seed, water, and wood.

==Überdwarves==

Basically, each and every dwarf in your fortress must aim to be the pinnacle of dwarvenkind. Both a great talker and possible leader of men, an exceptional craftsdwarf in multiple disciplines, and a deadly warrior whose body is a terrific weapon. See Friedrich Nietzsche's work for more info.

* All dwarves are to be conscripted into the military. Dwarves must kill personally the animals they wear the skin/bone of.
**BONUS : no weapons better than iron, unless you are faced with an enemy made from a better metal
***MEGABONUS : no weapons other than base quality
**BONUS : all dwarves must be at least at least Proficient in military skills
***MEGABONUS : all dwarves must be Legendary in MS
****ULTRABONUS : all dwarves must have slain a whole siege all by themselves
*****SADISTICDWARFBONUS : Assault [[HFS]] with your bunch of überdwarves. Win. No traps allowed.
* All dwarves have to have and train at least one truly dwarven skill, like leatherworking, metalworking (any), stoneworking, bone carving, or brewing.
**BONUS : one of these to legendary.
* All dwarves have to train mining. Not allowed for fighting, excepted for creatures that cannot be harmed by weaponless combat. (iron FB's, steel titans, demons, etc.)
* All dwarves must have very high willpower.
** BONUS : All dwarves must have MAXIMUM willpower
* Dwarves may eat only animal based products. You need lots of protein for these überdwarves. Plant-based drinks are alright.
**BONUS : All dwarves must have generally superior physical attributes
***MEGABONUS : No attributes in the red
****ULTRABONUS : All attributes at maximum. We're talking about überdwarves after all.
*No dedicated haulers. No large amount of idlers.
**BONUS : Keep a minimum amount of idlers, excluding breaks
*No hospital. If the dwarf doesn't heals by himself and becomes useless, kill him.
**BONUS : No tombs, dump the corpses in lava
***MEGABONUS : No drinking water, of for that matter anything else than alcohol. Water is not dwarven.
****ULTRABONUS : Infect your whole fort with a werebeast curse. (A sufficiently dwarven animal is required, like badgers). No more need for hospital.
* All dwarves must have at least Adept in most social skills.
** BONUS : Legendary in most social skills.
*As soon as your babies turn into children, put them into a hellish training regimen that will train him and make him into a true dwarf. Death is of course, synonym of weakness.
**BONUS : Make them fight wild creatures into an arena.
***MEGABONUS : 40 children VS 1 megabeast. WHO WILL SURVIVE ?
****ULTRABONUS : Get all the children at Legendary Fighter skill by the time of their adulthood. If they aren't, kill them.
*****SADISTICDWARFBONUS : Each young dwarf must pass a test of adulthood : killing enough creatures in fair combat and earning a title. If they don't, kill them.
*All dwarves must be hardened of spirit. You must give all of your dwarves "doesn't care about anything anymore" trait.
**BONUS : Trait must be earned by killing, NOT seeing death.
*Each dwarf must kill at least one beast and one sentient enemy.
**BONUS : Each dwarf must have earned a title by slaying enemies, which MUST be suitably appropriate and badass.
***MEGABONUS : Each dwarf must have killed at least 10 sentient enemies. Each dwarf must also have some Butcher skill, for added terror.
****ULTRABONUS : Each dwarf must have killed at least 100 sentient enemies
*Each dwarf must have a pet that will help him in combat.
**BONUS : each dwarf must have a fearsome predator as pet
***MEGABONUS : each dwarf must have a semimegabeast as pet
****ULTRABONUS : each dwarf must have a megabeast as pet
*No vampires allowed, vampires gain things far too easily.
**BONUS : Mod difficult creatures that blood gives stat bonuses to your dwarves.
*Fortress must end in a loyalty cascade and a fight to the death, to see which dwarf/which faction are the REAL überdwarves. Then abandon fort and follow your überdwarves in legends mode.

==Megaprojects==
Try building some <s>ridiculously</s> humongous, <s>over</s>complicated construction, using whatever <s>in</s>appropriate building method your fevered imagination can come up with! Need some ideas? Take a look at the [[Megaprojects|Megaprojects page]]!

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-13T02:01:05Z

GibMoniPls:

{{Dwarfpage
|Title= GibMoniPls, Internet Tough Guy
|Thoughts=GibMoniPls has been quite content lately. He admired his own [[Armok|Avatar of Armok mod]] recently. He has been satisfied by work lately. He was forced to talk to somebody annoying lately.
|Worship=He is a casual worshipper of God.
|Citizen=He is a citizen of the [http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Virginia Commonwealth of Virginia]. He is the expedition leader of the outpost Relicskin.
|Age=He has the appearance of someone who is twenty years old.
|Appearance=He is muscular. His short sideburns are neatly combed. His hair is brown. His eyes are green.
|PhysicalPositive=He is incredibly tough and slow to tire,
|PhysicalNegative=but he is quite susceptible to disease.
|Preferences=GibMoniPls likes dwarf fortress, 4chan, the color green, and [[grizzly bear]]s for their strength. When possible, he prefers to consume deer meat and cow cheese. He absolutely detests spiders.
|MentalPositive=He has a natural inclination towards music and understands social relationships,
|MentalNegative=but he would be unable to remember what he did yesterday.
|Character=He is quick to anger. He can handle stress. He tends to avoid crowds. He is a risk-taker and a thrill-seeker. He admires tradition. He is not easily moved to pity. He is occasionally given to procrastination. He likes working outdoors and grumbles only mildly at inclement weather.
|Description=A medium-sized creature prone to great ambition.
}}

= The Story of Relicskin (AKA Zombie Fortress) =
'''Spring, 6:'''
* embarked into a haunted forest with 2 swordsdwarves for protection
* arrive on the bank of a small brook, next to a mountain
* immediately get attacked by 2 eagle zombies, which kill one of my wagon yaks
* swordsdwarves dispatch eagle zombies just as gate is finished (a glumprong door at this point)
* make a burrow encompassing my entire fortress, and order everyone inside
* last time my dwarves (other than woodcutters and broker) see the outside

'''Summer, 6:'''
* herd of zombie emus gather outside gate, things do not look good for my first caravans

'''Autumn, 6:'''
* foolishly butcher my last yak, sparking a flood of reanimated hair and skin for my dwarves to flee from
* spend the better part of the month frantically tanning and spinning the zombies

'''Winter, 6-Spring, 7:'''
* continued fighting undead yak skin
* made a bunch of rock crafts and cut gems
* no caravans or migrants have arrived yet, possibly because the emus are still outside my gate (still just a door)

'''Autumn, 7:'''
* got metal industry started, immediately began hammering out swords and armor
* migrants finally arrived, only 2 were slain by zombies on the way to the fort
* still no caravans

'''Winter, 7:'''
* The First Battle of Relicskin: 14 zombie boars + a zombie panda vs. 7 caravan guards + 3 Relicskin militia
* Phyrric victory: 2 militia and 3 guards killed, boar forces wiped out
* frantically build dwarven atom smasher to dispose of corpses
* 13 boar corpses destroyed without incident
* 1 boar gets loose in fort, cuts off hand of my expedition leader
* frantically build hospital before he bleeds to death
* "a diplomat left unhappy"

'''Spring, 8:'''
* Elven caravan came and went without incident
* more migrants raise population to 32
* hospital finished, assign my fisherdwarves as medics

'''Summer-Autumn , 8:'''
* Zombie migrants begin piling up
* they amass outside my gates just as the human caravan arrives
* Second Battle of Relicskin: 3 zombie dwarves + 8 zombie emus + 1 zombie kobold thief vs. 5 caravan guards + 6 Relicskin militia
* Victory: all zombies dead + atom smashed, 2 caravan guards and 1 militiadwarf killed
* humans spend entire season trying to get their pack animals to path back to the depot without being spooked by a zombie toenail
* create my first artifact: Ungeg Kirar, "The Failure of Right", a glumprong blowgun
* wat

'''Winter, 9:'''
* human caravan doesn't finish setting up until early winter
* realize i have 30+ idlers, decide to bulk up military
* Relicskin militia expands to 10 melee units and 5 marksdwarves
* test marksdwarves against stray herd of zombie boars
* forget to assign them any ammunition before issuing kill order. much [[Fun]] ensues.
* coffin+slab industry exhausts stone stockpile

v0.34:Pig iron

2013-01-13T01:56:43Z

GibMoniPls: made Cltail's joke just a bit more dwarf-y.

{{quality|Exceptional|15:22, 29 October 2010 (UTC)}}{{Alloy3
|name=Pig iron
|color=0:7:1
|color1=0:7:1
|color2=7:0:1
|tile2=•
|color3=0:0:1
|uses=
* Make [[steel]] at [[smelter]]
|recipe=
* 1 [[Iron]] [[bar]]
* 1 [[Flux]] [[stone]]
* 1 [[Fuel|Coal]] [[bar]]
|properties=
* [[Material value]] 10
}}{{av}}

'''Pig iron''' bars can be created at a [[smelter]] by a dwarf with the [[Furnace_operator|furnace operating]] labor activated.

The recipe for pig iron is: one [[iron]] [[bar]], one [[flux]] material and one [[fuel]] create one pig iron bar. Note that this fuel is part of the reaction.You will need another item of fuel (coke or charcoal, but ''not'' wood) to power the smelter unless you're using a [[magma smelter]].

Pig iron is used solely as a component in the manufacture of [[steel]] and cannot be used for any other purpose other than buildings and constructions allowed by all types of [[Bar|bars]]. Dwarves who like pig iron may be happier in a room whose floors and walls are made of it, but otherwise there is little point in keeping spare pig iron bars (aside from [[strange mood]]s).

{{D for Dwarf}}
After years of extensive dwarven research, scientists have concluded that no, pig iron is not related to pigs in any way, and is therefore impossible to craft into ☼steel bacon☼.

{{gamedata}}
{{metals}}

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-10T00:19:02Z

GibMoniPls:

v0.34:Vampire

2013-01-09T15:17:02Z

GibMoniPls: minor grammatical errors.

{{quality|Masterwork|03:44, 22 June 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}
{{buggy}}

'''Vampires''' are [[night creature]]s that feed on blood, cursed during [[world generation]] by profaning against their [[Deity|gods]]. In [[fortress mode]], they occasionally appear in migrant waves and hide themselves amongst your dwarves. Vampirism can be further spread by [[thirst|drinking]] either vampire [[blood]] or [[water]] contaminated by said vampire blood.

==Description==
Vampires, like other [[night creature]]s, are created during [[world generation]]. Every once in a while a deity will curse a worshiper who smites their temple or otherwise offends them, cursing them to become either a vampire or [[werebeast]]. Only the major races can have gods, and thus only they can become vampires. The amount of vampires created during world generation is closely related with world size, population, and history.

Vampires are much more powerful than normal humanoids, possessing enhanced speed, strength, stamina, and pain resistance in combat, are [[food|inediate]], do not need to breathe (and thus cannot drown), and never get [[sleep|drowsy]]. They do, however, get thirsty, albeit not in the normal way; vampires thirst for warm fresh [[blood]], and will suck [[unconscious]] [[creature]]s (usually others of their own kind) dry given the chance, usually killing them. In the rare case that the victims survive and recover, they will not remember what happened to them, and may very well fall victim once more. It appears that when a vampire feeds successfully they receive a large happiness boost. This can be used to keep your vampire workers happy and sane.

Vampires do not [[age]], and their great physical capacity means that most vampires live for hundreds or even thousands of years. Thus all but the newest vampires are vastly more [[skill]]ed and more experienced than their peers, spurred on by the countless lives detailed on their [[kill list]]s. They usually live amongst their peers, and are very good at protecting their identities from discovery. These two facts combined mean that vampires are naturally good candidates for leadership, and thus vampiric [[monarch]]s are a not uncommon sight atop [[civilization]]s, which tend not to wonder as to how their king has been alive for so many centuries.

Younger vampires stalk the streets of towns and cities, indistinguishable from the average mortal, and drink the blood of unsuspecting innocents. Elder vampires, those with power and ambition, mislead the gullible and power-hungry into forming vampire cults dedicated to worshipping and feeding their master. Should a vampire rise to a position of power in mortal society, it may deign to expose itself and impose a rule of tyranny upon the subjects who so unknowingly elevated it to power.

== Habits ==
Vampires are secretive, subtle, and, for better or for worse, a fairly common occurrence. Many fortresses can expect to see a vampire resident by the time they hit their population limit, and some may see two or more. Vampires arrive in disguise, masquerading as another dwarf and hiding their true names and kill lists until they are discovered. Vamps act as do any other dwarves, except for subtle differences too small to notice easily in any sizable population. A vampire will act like any other citizen of your fortress, performing jobs which are assigned to them and generally acting as expected of them. They can be [[military|drafted]], assigned to [[burrow]]s, be given or claim [[room]]s, and possess items.

The exception is that their [[On break|breaks]] tend to be for sinister purposes, often seeing them help themselves to the blood of the unwary to sustain their unnatural existence. Vampires will from time to time drink the blood of dwarves that they catch sleeping, whomever they can get their <strike>hands upon</strike> fangs into. If any tame animals somehow fall asleep (for instance, via a syndrome), vampires will drink their blood as willingly as they will a dwarf's.

If vampires are caught in the act of draining a victim, their crime will be reported in the [[justice]] [[menu|screen]] as murder (they will not, however, stop drinking when caught). If only the corpse is discovered, the crime will be labeled as a murder sans suspects, and the player can accuse dwarves of the act. Even in the case that someone is accused, be aware that the deceitful vampire is capable of framing others for its crimes to send suspicion away for a time. Vampires routinely lie about their past so as to avoid identification by others, going so far as to adopt a false name when entering a new fortress.

If a vampire is killed, the corpse will bear the original name of the creature rather than that of the dwarf who was seen to die, which might lead to some confusion among managers of such things. A [[coffin]] will be designated for burial of the vampire's cover identity, with the corpse bearing the original name entombed in it. Memorial slabs will be dedicated to the vampire's original name.

== Indicators ==
None of your seven starting dwarves will ever be vampires, nor will [[child]]ren or babies, [[caravan]]s, [[siege]]s{{verify}}, [[ambush]]es{{verify}}, [[outpost liaison]]s{{verify}}, or [[thief|thieves]]{{verify}}, but any of the rest of your dwarves can be. (Foreign diplomats can be vampires, and will be labeled as such.) It might be smart to scan the [[thoughts and preferences]] screens of incoming migrants before welcoming them to their new home, as a safety measure; it really sucks when you don't discover you have a vampire until ''after'' they've drained your only legendary [[armorsmith]] of blood.

A dwarf who is suddenly pale or faint for no explained reason is a good but rare indicator. They were probably fed upon by a vampire, but survived. Dwarven [[corpse]]s being discovered "drained of blood" are more common; a vampire fed upon them and killed them, and their body was discovered. These dwarves should be buried well, lest an axe-crazy [[ghost]] arise from their death. Dwarves inexplicably going missing for more than a week are the last indicator, although this might be the result of dwarven stupidity (ae. falling down a [[well]], walking off a [[waterfall]], etc.) as well.

== Identification ==
Once you discover you have a vampire, finding them becomes necessary, a practice complicated by their penchant for secrecy. Nonetheless, there are a number of good indicators of a vampire; and the more points they hit, the more likely they are, indeed, a vampire. The difficult vampires to identify are young ones, as they have not had time to build up the indicators that are obvious on older bloodsuckers.

Firstly, there are the consequences of their age. Vampires tend to be high in [[social skill|social]] and [[military]] [[skill]]s, and Great or better in at least one domestic skill. They are almost always more skilled, in total, than any of your other migrants. They also tend to have very long lists of [[Thoughts and preferences#Civilization membership|group associations]], on the order of dozens, far more than your normal dwarves. They have abnormally long lists of [[relationships|relations]] and often many, many children, but none of them are present in the fortress (in stark contrast to the parents, siblings or cousins whom most dwarves will share their home with). If they are married to a dwarf that is not present in the fortress, this should be treated as especially strong evidence. Note, however, that lacking relatives within the fortress is not an automatic indicator of being a vampire.

Their [[Personality trait|personality]] can also be scrutinized for abnormalities. Their biographies may indicate that they "have the appearance of somebody who is (x) years old," a very good indicator of a vampire in cases where they have too many children or too many civilization associations to be that young. As vampires do not eat, sleep, or drink, they will never have recent thoughts about meals, drinks, beds, dining rooms, or chairs, leaving their thoughts especially bare and suspicious. In the case of vampires who have been in the fort for a while, a comment may be added to the effect that "s/he could really use a drink," "s/he has not had a drink in far, far too long," or "can't even remember the last time s/he had some," indicating that they have been sober of alcohol for a time.

There are two "normal" ways to be absolutely sure a dwarf is a vampire. The first is to catch them in the act; the dwarf will be clearly marked for the duration of the attack (ae. Urist McBastard, Vampire Mayor on the [[unit list]]). The second is to have a dwarf witness the event happening. This will permanently uncover their identities, but almost always results in a dead dwarf first. More arcane are indicators based on their physical abilities; vampires with injured guts do not [[vomit]], vampires with injured lungs have no problem "breathing", and submerged vampires will not [[drown]] (evoking the concept of an olden witch test for finding vampirism). Technically being undead, animated corpses will not evoke cancellation spam when a vampire sees them. An easy (albeit, cheap) way of screening migrants is to send them through a hallway with a zombie on the other side of fortifications/windows in clear sight. Normal dwarves will run away from the horrible sight of a harmless zombie but vampire dwarves will walk right through.

Feeding is apparently treated as a job by the game, and thus appears in the Unit List with its text in cyan. The text reads 'On Break'. It is possible that the genuine 'On Break' (teal) and the fake 'On Break' (cyan) occupy different positions in the Job List.

Looking at the [[deity|deities]] that the dwarf believes in can be quite helpful. As long as only "cursed" vampires immigrate (and not blood drinking ones), one of the deities of a vampire should have a "cursed the dwarf [untrue alias] . . ." Lacking this clause in their deities seems to be a clear sign that you do ''not'' have a vampire. This non-bugged way of checking a vampire is linked to the "cheap" bugged way of checking of vampires.

Then there are the (in Dwarf Fortress, inevitable) bugged ways. As mentioned in the [[#Bugs|bugs]] section, vampires can be discovered and identified in [[statue]]s and [[engraving]], through their refusal to claim [[bed]]rooms, through [[pet|adoption events]], and through [[weapon]] [[kill list]]s.

There are a few "cheap" ways as well. If you use [[DF2012:Utilities#Dwarf Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]], dwarves will be listed by their true name, and if you find a dwarf on your unit screen not in your labor listing, you know you've got a vampire. [[DF2012:Utilities#DFHack|DFHack]] has a special command, "cursecheck," which returns the count of cursed creatures on a tile, and will report vampires. Checking out a drained dwarf in [[Legends]] mode will tell you that "In the year Z X was drained by of all blood by Y." To see if a vampire was cursed by a deity that it worships, look under the <s>vampire's</s> dwarf's relationships and view the deities that are listed. Give the dwarf a nickname and, when viewing the deity relationship, it will say: "In the [season description] of [year], [deity] cursed the dwarf vampire [nickname you chose] [dwarf's original name] to prowl the night in search of blood in [original location]". Since the nickname applies retroactively, this is a sure way to identify a vampire, and happens to worship the deity that cursed it. This method is very tedious when looking at many suspects, and may apply to only a small fraction of vampires, so you should probably use it after trying the more obvious signs (like many former associations, or tags after "needs alcohol to get through the working day").

== Defense ==
Vampires attack and drink from dwarves who are sleeping, so one defense is to force all dwarves to sleep and meet in the same room, increasing the likelihood of eyewitnesses catching the monster in the act. Curiously, even if convicted of a vampiric murder, a vampire will not necessarily be killed, but given a normal justice penalty such as temporary imprisonment. In this case, it is advisable to take [[justice]] into one's own hands and introduce the leech to a pit of lava, bottomless pit, arena fight, dropping tower, or other elimination method of your choice. This can be facilitated through the use of burrows. However, one must take care that the vampire is properly memorialized because even the ghosts of vampires will seek out your sleeping citizens and kill them.

== Uses ==
If you can correctly identify a vampire and isolate it from the rest of your population, you can make use of them without fear of blood feedings. A lone vampire in a sealed room will never die of hunger or thirst, doesn't need to sleep, and will never age. The only way a vampire can die (without your vengeful intervention) is in combat, through syndromes, or through insanity. Sealing it somewhere prevents the first two, and early detection will prevent the vampire from making friends whom he will obviously outlive. Since a vampire wants for so little it is difficult for him to fall into insanity without [[relationships]].

Once you have your sealed emotionally detached vampire, your fortress becomes effectively eternal, since the vampire will always be alive even if horrible [[Losing|FUN]] claims your entire population. Be wary of [[ghost]]s, though, as they are the only being capable of reaching your vampire's eternal prison. Simply wait for the fun to pass and new immigrants to repopulate your otherwise abandoned fort.

Consider placing a chair and table in your vampire's sealed room and making them an undead accountant. As they have nothing to do but sit around for eternity, once they get their skills up, they may make exceedingly effective [[manager]]s/[[record keeper]]s. Work orders and stockpile updates currently seem to be psychically transmitted from the desk of the dwarf assigned to those labors, so entombing them in their office isn't an issue. However, vampire dwarves are still alcoholics, yet cannot drink anything but blood; the resulting job performance penalty from the "can't even remember the last time he/she had some" level of [[Drink|alcohol withdrawal]] significantly reduces the usefulness of vampires in this sort of role.

A cloistered vampire can also be used as a sleepless, un-eating and drinking dwarf who is always ready for some [[pull lever|lever pulling]], even if the rest of your dwarves die. With all that said, having an eternally cloistered vampire is not without drawbacks. As vampires do not drink, yet are still alcohol-dependent, they will eventually suffer performance penalties and take longer breaks. This can have fatal consequences if you need the lever to keep the goblin siege outside pulled ''now''. Since dwarves get unhappy [[thought]]s from having their clothes rot away, a vampire that's been naked for years is quite prone to [[tantrum]]ing or going [[insanity|insane]], which can lead to [[Fun|even worse outcomes]] should he be assigned to the lever room. Of course, you could drop him some clothes from a chute, but what fun is that when there are [[cave-in|other]] [[dwarven atom smasher|things]] to drop from above? Another way to mitigate cloistered vampire unhappiness is to convict them of one or more of their murders after they've been sealed in; they will eventually derive happiness from having their punishment "delayed".

Vampires do increase their stats like other dwarves, so that a weak vampire may be easily upgraded into a mighty one by using him as a miner or easily trained into a legendary swimmer. A vampire craftsdwarf may be burrow-limited to his workshop plus a stockpile or a miner restricted to specific mining levels, avoiding any other miners. It will be safe, if all of the miners have separate, assigned bedrooms.

So, in general, when under control, vampires tend to be much more useful and valuable than most of your non-bloodsucking dwarves. Without access to any sleeping places or hospitals, they tend to be totally harmless to other dwarves.

=== Vampire fortress ===
It is possible to turn one vampire into many vampires by forcing your dwarves to drink water contaminated by vampire blood. This effect can be achieved by building an upright spear trap, filling the tile with water, having the vampire walk over the tile (or else dropping the vampire inside), then pulling the lever a few times to get them to bleed into the water. Once the water is bloodied, the booze supply can be cut off or [[forbid]]den, and your dwarves will have no choice but to drink the contaminated water and become vampires.

This has a few disadvantages, however. First of all, eating fine food, drinking good drink, and dining in a fine setting are some of the biggest [[thought|happiness]] modifiers in the game, and their absence will have a severe negative effect on your fortress's contentedness. Secondly, some of your residents probably won't make the change, as they will choose to sleep before drinking and will be drunk by some of your newly cursed lieges. Finally, the process must be repeated for all [[migrant|migrant waves]], with the same issue of probable death. These factors combined make a vampiric fortress very hard to keep happy for very long.

== Unfortunate accidents ==
Although keeping a single vampire in eternal solitary confinement can be a bonus for any fortress, it is always important to be capable of killing them whenever necessary (especially if the peasants unwittingly elect one as their leader and an [[unfortunate accident]] becomes necessary). However, vampires have certain abilities which will make it more difficult to properly take care of them - they cannot drown, and their physical strengths could make them tougher to kill with regular weapons. Fortunately, they are not resistant to [[Dwarven atom smasher|high-tech particle physics experimentation]].

==Playing as a vampire==
By drinking the blood of a vampire in adventure mode, you immediately become a vampire. You will be able to feed on other creatures by using {{k|e}} and choosing the "Feed" option on an unconscious target. On becoming a vampire, Strength, Agility and Toughness receive a 200 point bonus, then physical attributes will no longer gain or rust.

*Note: The game does not give you any confirmation that you have become a vampire. {{version|0.34.11}} The only way to make sure that you have transformed is to wait for twenty-four hours (enough time for any regular mortal to hunger for food.) until you get thirsty, which should show up eventually. To get rid of the thirsty tag, you MUST drink directly from another living knocked out, unconscious or sleeping creature. This could lead to hazardous mishaps if you're discovered/if the victim awakes, unless you beat your victim senseless first. Once you have fed on an unsuspecting victim, you will have a red icon denoting you are a vampire next to your name.

Due to such conditions, it is relatively impossible to quench your thirst (on any member of a civilization) without antagonizing any of your companions, and even if you don't have any, there's still that chance that your victim might wake up in the middle of your feast and effectively set a whole civilization against you. One way to counter this is to raid goblin/bandit camps, concentrating on one lone weak unit far from any of his comrades, beat him till he gives in to pain (but not to death) and then feed on him directly. You can do the same with wildlife, although some of them may be more aggressive and most might die too quickly. You can also try to strangle your foes, he have no chance to die and instantly pass out. For this, free one of your hands, wrestle, catch your target's throat with your free hand, then wrestle again, place a choke-hold, then strangle him/her/it.

After becoming a vampire, you become invincible to zombies, since you're now a night creature. It is usually preferred to raid a necromancer tower alone, because bringing companions will only get them killed, and your agility when you become a vampire will rise drastically anyway, causing you to outrun them. This increased agility will also give you better odds against bogeymen and night trolls, since you'll be quicker than both.

Playing as a vampire is a strong advantage, assuming you can manage your bloodthirst. The most convenient method of drinking blood is to wield a blunt weapon such as a mace: as long as you don't strike the head, enemies rarely bleed out or suffocate from blunt damage and it's easy to force them to give into the pain. Interestingly, your allies don't seem to care if you drink blood from enemies, and blood can be drunk in a single turn in combat (occasionally killing the creature, depending on its size and your thirst). Vampire bloodthirst shows up less often than normal thirst, and can usually be sated in a single feeding from a human-sized opponent. Feeding from smaller animals, such as dingos, is possible but multiple feedings may be necessary.

Vampires, as noted before, do not need to eat, nor drink (normal fluids), nor sleep. As an adventurer, this is a huge advantage, as you don't need to stop, or worry about carrying consumables. As long as there's living, pain-feeling enemies, you can feed. Vampires also do not need to breathe and do not tire. They can swim as long as necessary and cannot drown, even to the extent of being able to swim oceans. A sufficiently skilled and armed vampire is essentially immortal for all intents and purposes.

== Bugs ==
* Although vampires don't drink anything except blood in the Fortress mode, they still suffer from [[Alcohol#Consequences of a Sober Fortress|alcohol withdrawal]], which slows them down. {{bug|5189}}
* Statues and engravings may identify dwarves as vampires before it is common knowledge, and may even depict them sucking blood.{{bug|5209}}
* Likewise, [[pet]]s adopted by vampires will identify them as vampires in the adoption [[announcement]].{{bug|5942}}
* Vampires do not bother claiming bedrooms, which doesn't help their disguise.{{bug|5642}}
* Weapon kill lists identify vampires.{{bug|5635}}
* Soldiers will not attack vampires caught red-handed, and can be fooled by their counter-accusations.{{bug|5087}}

{{category|humanoids}}

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-07T21:52:56Z

GibMoniPls: /* Elven sieges */

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. For more info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender, see: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[elephant|exotic beasts]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Demonic sieges are announced with the message: ''"Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!"''

This type of siege occurs only once per game, immediately after breaching Hell through an [[raw adamantine|adamantine tube]] or [[demonic fortress]]. Outlasting a visit from the "circus" is considered one of the most difficult things to do in Dwarf Fortress, and for good reason. The demons that assault your fortress are procedurally-generated, meaning they can be made out of just about any body part or material available in the raws. You could be facing an army of salt wraiths, easily dispatched by an unarmed dwarf. '''OR''' you could be dealing with a horde of invincible steel blobs, that brush off adamantine sword strikes like they were nothing. These demons may melt your traps, inflict your army with various [[syndrome]]s, or just be plain nasty in combat. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-07T21:49:45Z

GibMoniPls: /* The Circus */

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. For more info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender, see: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[exotic beasts|elephant]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Demonic sieges are announced with the message: ''"Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!"''

This type of siege occurs only once per game, immediately after breaching Hell through an [[raw adamantine|adamantine tube]] or [[demonic fortress]]. Outlasting a visit from the "circus" is considered one of the most difficult things to do in Dwarf Fortress, and for good reason. The demons that assault your fortress are procedurally-generated, meaning they can be made out of just about any body part or material available in the raws. You could be facing an army of salt wraiths, easily dispatched by an unarmed dwarf. '''OR''' you could be dealing with a horde of invincible steel blobs, that brush off adamantine sword strikes like they were nothing. These demons may melt your traps, inflict your army with various [[syndrome]]s, or just be plain nasty in combat. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-07T21:48:41Z

GibMoniPls: changed format to fit the rest of the page.

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. For more info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender, see: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[exotic beasts|elephant]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Demonic sieges are announced with the message '"Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!"'.

This type of siege occurs only once per game, immediately after breaching Hell through an [[raw adamantine|adamantine tube]] or [[demonic fortress]]. Outlasting a visit from the "circus" is considered one of the most difficult things to do in Dwarf Fortress, and for good reason. The demons that assault your fortress are procedurally-generated, meaning they can be made out of just about any body part or material available in the raws. You could be facing an army of salt wraiths, easily dispatched by an unarmed dwarf. '''OR''' you could be dealing with a horde of invincible steel blobs, that brush off adamantine sword strikes like they were nothing. These demons may melt your traps, inflict your army with various [[syndrome]]s, or just be plain nasty in combat. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

Armok

2013-01-06T19:00:05Z

GibMoniPls: /* ...Yet. */

'''Armok''', God of [[Blood]], is the name of the mythical godhead in Dwarf Fortress, around whom the game is loosely based. Some have speculated that the player is Armok, since the dwarves are slaves to the player.

According to the lore of Dwarf Fortress' prequel, [http://www.bay12games.com/armok/ Slaves to Armok: God of Blood], Armok is the creator of the world and the in-game explanation for the random world generation:

''"Armok, the God of Blood, is just about the only constant in these chaotic random universes. A general sense of conflict keeps Armok appeased - when the universe becomes too boring it is set on the anvil of creation to be reforged."''

''"The destruction of the world by Armok will arise inevitably in most game worlds. As civilizations spread and the frontier closes, the world will start to look homogeneous. Armok, looking upon this decadence in disgust, will reform the world. Basically, when the universe has become too boring, it will be changed."''

Armok does not appear as a deity available for worshipping in Dwarf Fortress worlds... yet.

==Name Origin==

The name of the Dwarven God comes from the variable "arm_ok", which is from [[Toady One|Tarn Adams]]'s fantasy game, Dragslay (an early precursor of [[Dwarf Fortress]]). The variable was used to count the number of arms left, for inventory purposes. ([http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3549/interview_the_making_of_dwarf_.php?page=2 Source])

==...Yet.==
{{mod}}
Copy this into any creature file in the raws, and play with your very own avatar of the God of Blood! Shoots fireballs, smites heretics with dragonfire, and slays mortal creatures with a single touch!

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
[DESCRIPTION:The blood god is risen.]
[NAME:avatar of armok:avatars of armok:avatar of armok]
[TILE:'A'][COLOR:4:0:1]
[BODY:HUMANOID_SIMPLE]
[EXTRAVISION]
[NOBREATHE][NOBLEED][NOSTUN][NONAUSEA][NOPAIN]
[NOEMOTION][NOSTUCKINS][NOTHOUGHT][NOEXERT][NOFEAR][NO_DRINK][NO_EAT][NO_SLEEP]
[NO_GENDER]
[PARALYZEIMMUNE][WEBIMMUNE]
[NOT_LIVING][NO_AGING]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:2][NOT_BUTCHERABLE]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:2000]
[SPEED:500]
[CANOPENDOORS][CAN_LEARN]
[NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[NO_CONNECTIONS_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[EQUIPS]
[PREFSTRING:omnipotence]
[FIREIMMUNE]
[FLIER]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BITE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DODGING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MISC_WEAPON:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SHIELD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:ARMOR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGECRAFT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGEOPERATE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOWYER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:THROW:16]
[TISSUE:ADAMANTINE]
[TISSUE_NAME:adamantine:NP]
[TISSUE_MATERIAL:INORGANIC:ADAMANTINE]
[MUSCULAR]
[FUNCTIONAL]
[STRUCTURAL]
[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:1]
[CONNECTS]
[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ALL:ADAMANTINE]
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:POISON:CREATURE_EXTRACT_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:GAS:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:GAS:touch of death]
[PREFIX:NONE]
[ENTERS_BLOOD]
[SYNDROME]
[SYN_NAME:curse of the blood god]
[SYN_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON]
[SYN_IMMUNE_CREATURE:ARMOK:ALL]
[SYN_INJECTED]
[CE_NECROSIS:SEV:1000:PROB:100:BP:ALL:START:30:PEAK:60:END:1200]
[BODY_SIZE:0:0:250000]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:HEIGHT:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:BROADNESS:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Hurl fireball]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:FIREBALL]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Smite]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:DRAGONFIRE]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[ATTACK:PUNCH:BODYPART:BY_TYPE:GRASP]
[ATTACK_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE]
[ATTACK_VERB:touch:touches]
[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_PENETRATION_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
[SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:POISON:LIQUID:100:100]
[ITEMCORPSE:STATUE:NO_SUBTYPE:INORGANIC:ADAMANTINE]
[ITEMCORPSE_QUALITY:5]
</pre></div>

then copy this into entity_default.txt to play as the Blood God Incarnate in adventure mode. Don't worry, they won't appear in fortress mode or worldgen... yet.

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[ENTITY:CHEATER]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
</pre></div>

Original creature design taken from GenericOverusedName on the Bay12 Forums. ([http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=45820.45 Source])

[[Category:Lore]]
[[Category:World]]

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-06T18:56:37Z

GibMoniPls:

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-05T21:11:06Z

GibMoniPls:

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-05T21:07:07Z

GibMoniPls:

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-05T21:04:57Z

GibMoniPls:

User:GibMoniPls

2013-01-05T21:03:53Z

GibMoniPls: Created page with "{{Dwarfpage |Title= GibMoniPls, Internet Tough Guy |Thoughts=GibMoniPls has been quite content lately. He admired his own Avatar of Armok mod recently. He has been sati..."

Armok

2013-01-05T01:08:24Z

GibMoniPls:

Armok

2013-01-05T00:49:50Z

GibMoniPls: Added mod tag to modding section.

'''Armok''', God of [[Blood]], is the name of the mythical godhead in Dwarf Fortress, around whom the game is loosely based. Some have speculated that the player is Armok, since the dwarves are slaves to the player.

According to the lore of Dwarf Fortress' prequel, [http://www.bay12games.com/armok/ Slaves to Armok: God of Blood], Armok is the creator of the world and the in-game explanation for the random world generation:

''"Armok, the God of Blood, is just about the only constant in these chaotic random universes. A general sense of conflict keeps Armok appeased - when the universe becomes too boring it is set on the anvil of creation to be reforged."''

''"The destruction of the world by Armok will arise inevitably in most game worlds. As civilizations spread and the frontier closes, the world will start to look homogeneous. Armok, looking upon this decadence in disgust, will reform the world. Basically, when the universe has become too boring, it will be changed."''

Armok does not appear as a deity available for worshipping in Dwarf Fortress worlds... yet.

==Name Origin==

The name of the Dwarven God comes from the variable "arm_ok", which is from [[Toady One|Tarn Adams]]'s fantasy game, Dragslay (an early precursor of [[Dwarf Fortress]]). The variable was used to count the number of arms left, for inventory purposes. ([http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3549/interview_the_making_of_dwarf_.php?page=2 Source])

==...Yet.==
{{mod}}
Copy this into any creature file in the raws, and play with your very own avatar of the God of Blood! Shoots fireballs, smites heretics with dragonfire, and slays mortal creatures with a single touch!

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
[DESCRIPTION:The blood god is risen.]
[NAME:avatar of armok:avatars of armok:avatar of armok]
[TILE:'A'][COLOR:4:0:1]
[BODY:HUMANOID_SIMPLE]
[EXTRAVISION]
[NOBREATHE][NOBLEED][NOSTUN][NONAUSEA][NOPAIN]
[NOEMOTION][NOSTUCKINS][NOTHOUGHT][NOEXERT][NOFEAR][NO_DRINK][NO_EAT][NO_SLEEP]
[NO_GENDER]
[PARALYZEIMMUNE][WEBIMMUNE]
[NOT_LIVING][NO_AGING]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:2][NOT_BUTCHERABLE]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:2000]
[SPEED:500]
[CANOPENDOORS][CAN_LEARN]
[NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[NO_CONNECTIONS_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[EQUIPS]
[PREFSTRING:omnipotence]
[FIREIMMUNE]
[FLIER]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BITE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DODGING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MISC_WEAPON:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SHIELD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:ARMOR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGECRAFT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGEOPERATE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOWYER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:THROW:16]
[FIXED_TEMP:12000]
[TISSUE:MAGMA]
[TISSUE_NAME:magma:NP]
[TISSUE_MATERIAL:INORGANIC:BASALT]
[TISSUE_MAT_STATE:LIQUID]
[MUSCULAR]
[FUNCTIONAL]
[STRUCTURAL]
[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:10]
[CONNECTS]
[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ALL:MAGMA]
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:POISON:CREATURE_EXTRACT_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:GAS:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:GAS:touch of death]
[PREFIX:NONE]
[ENTERS_BLOOD]
[SYNDROME]
[SYN_NAME:curse of the blood god]
[SYN_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON]
[SYN_IMMUNE_CREATURE:ARMOK:ALL]
[SYN_INJECTED]
[CE_NECROSIS:SEV:1000:PROB:100:BP:ALL:START:30:PEAK:60:END:1200]
[BODY_SIZE:0:0:250000]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:HEIGHT:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:BROADNESS:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Hurl fireball]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:FIREBALL]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Smite]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:DRAGONFIRE]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[ATTACK:PUNCH:BODYPART:BY_TYPE:GRASP]
[ATTACK_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE]
[ATTACK_VERB:touch:touches]
[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_PENETRATION_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
[SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:POISON:LIQUID:100:100]
</pre></div>

then copy this into entity_default.txt to play as the Blood God Incarnate in adventure mode. Don't worry, they won't appear in fortress mode or worldgen... yet.

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[ENTITY:CHEATER]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
</pre></div>

Original creature design taken from GenericOverusedName on the Bay12 Forums. ([http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=45820.45 Source])

[[Category:Lore]]
[[Category:World]]

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-04T03:18:23Z

GibMoniPls: /* The Circus */

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do have arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. For more info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender, see: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[exotic beasts|elephant]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Immediately after breaching Hell through an adamantine vein or demonic fortress, you will recieve the message "''Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!''", after which an invasion of demons will spawn in Hell and make straight for the unlucky dwarf who opened the hole into the underworld. Each invasion is unique, as these demons are proceduraly-generated, from a laundry list of body parts and tissue types. You may be dealing with a horde of salt wraiths, killable by an unarmed dwarf or war dog. '''OR''' you could be fighting an army of unkillable blob-demons made out of magma and steel. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these types of sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-04T03:16:37Z

GibMoniPls: /* Structure of a siege */

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do have arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. For more info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender, see: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[exotic beasts|elephant]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Immediately after breaching Hell through an adamantine vein or demonic fortress, you will recieve the message "''Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!''", after which an invasion of demons will spawn in Hell and make straight for the unlucky dwarf who opened the hole into the underworld. Each invasion is unique, as these demons are proceduraly-generated, from a laundry list of body parts and tissue types. You may be dealing with a horde of salt wraiths, killable by an unarmed dwarf or war dog. 'OR' you could be fighting an army of unkillable blob-demons made out of magma and steel. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these types of sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

v0.34:Yeti

2013-01-04T03:01:31Z

GibMoniPls: small grammatical errors.

{{quality|Fine|19:35, 11 October 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|meat=31
|fat=18
|lung=2
|spleen=1
|kidney=2
|brain=1
|heart=1
|liver=1
|tripe=1
|intestine=1
|sweetbread=1
|bone=32
|skull=1
|skin=hide
|contrib=no
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

Yetis are large dangerous creatures only found in [[savage]] areas that will invade your fortress to drink your booze and [[building destroyer|destroy your buildings]]. One should always use caution when engaging them as their immense size allows them to easily incapacitate a dwarf.

[[Glacier]] areas will have a lot of trouble with them, especially early game. Due to Glacier's lack of animal life, your map will almost always spawn one right after the other, making them a hazard for an early fortress. Fortunately, since they have a relatively low population number, you will receive no more than 5-10 Yetis before they become extinct in your biome.

{{D for Dwarf}}

Though many take the Yeti to be violent, demented beasts, some have been tamed (with great difficulty) and even integrated into dwarven society. This can be attributed to their joyful and cheery nature; often they can be seen playfully tipping over workshops and 'accidentally' crushing anyone working within. Many dwarves admire this warped sense of humour and the Yeti's obvious love of beer, wine and spirits.

When faced with a mighty [[Sasquatch]], Yetis also become immense wimps, despite the Sasquatch being barely any different from them. Dwarven scientists think this is caused by the high contrast between a Sasquatch's white skin and brown fur, which makes the simple-minded Yeti panic.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}

v0.34:Siege

2013-01-04T03:00:06Z

GibMoniPls:

{{quality|Masterwork|14:21, 27 July 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}

:''For catapults and ballistae, see [[Siege engine]].''

'''Sieges''' are large scale assaults on your fortress by other [[civilization]]s, normally [[goblin]]s and [[necromancer]]s. They are usually announced with the message screen "''A vile force of darkness has arrived!''" (the message screen differs depending on the attacking race : the previous one is for goblins), and the main screen shows the "SIEGE" tag along the top for the duration.

Caravans will not arrive at a besieged fortress. It is unknown if they will arrive if a siege is quickly broken, however, but it is possible to miss out entirely on a civilization's caravan for the year this way. Even if they do have arrive before the siege, the attackers may kill them or chase them off if they can reach them. Consider this when deciding how you set up your [[trade depot]] and how heavily reliant your economy is on imported goods.

A civilization will be unable to lay siege if it can't reach your fortress site, meaning you'll never get sieges if you embark on an island or in a valley which is completely surrounded by mountains. If you want to make sure that a certain civilization will be capable of laying siege to you, then look at the "neighbors" view of the [[Embark]] site finder when selecting your fortress site.

=== Structure of a siege ===

*Siege forces usually consist of several 'squads'. Using the [[goblin]]s as an example, each squad consists of several goblins of one military class (swordsman, lasher, etc.), and often one 'squad leader' (typically an Elite or better, which need not be the same class as the squad it leads).

*Occasionally, a squad will be mounted - this means each of its members will be riding a suitable [[creature]], though the creatures typically vary between members. The squad leader can be mounted, even if his squad is not. These mounts can change the combat dynamics, since some can fly, are [[building destroyer]]s, or have substantially different combat traits than their rider. More info on mounted units, and the [[Fun]] they can unleash upon an ill-prepared defender: [[Mount]]

*After being sufficiently "successful" at defending against the siege (killing sufficient attackers, waiting them out, or some combination thereof), the attackers will retreat. All of the remaining squads and groups will head for the map edges and leave, typically favoring the edge they entered from. Once all of the remaining attackers have decided to retreat, the "SIEGE" tag will go away.

*It is possible to have multiple sieges at the same time. If the attacking civilizations are at war with each other, they will start to fight with each other as well.

*Different races will favor different styles of attack during sieges. The following attack styles were observed in .40d; it remains to be seen if these traits are still present in current releases.

*You can turn off sieges and [[Forgotten beast]]s altogether by editing the [[d_init.txt]] file to change [INVADERS:YES] to [INVADERS:NO].

=== [[Goblin]] sieges ===

Goblin sieges are announced with the message, "''A vile force of Evil has arrived.''"

Goblins will start laying siege to your fortress when you reach a certain [[population]], usually around 80. Usually the tactics used by the goblins are no more sophisticated than charging in an open march toward your fortress and attempting to kill your [[dwarves]]. Goblins sieges often include groups of [[Troll]]s, [[Ogre]]s, or [[Cave dragon]]s that can [[Building destroyer|break buildings]] and smash workshops. Unlike the squads, however, these 'groups' usually enter the map in single file, somewhat akin to arriving [[migrants]]. These war creatures usually possess random civilian classes, and show little of the organized behavior of the squads. Goblins may also bring elite human or even dwarven fighters as leaders of their squads, previously kidnapped by [[snatcher]]s. Goblin sieges usually involve [[Mount|mounted]] squads, some of which can fly over whatever defenses you might have set up to stop them.

=== [[Elf|Elven]] sieges ===

Elven sieges are announced with the message, "''The elves have brought the full forces of their lands against you.''"

It is possible to have elven attacks as well, but that usually requires some effort on part of the player, or for your starting civilization to have a pre-existing conflict with a nearby elven one. You can check this when you embark while looking at nearby civilizations, where it will read WAR next to the elf civilization, though it seems to be entirely dependent on how world gen plays out and embarking at a time when a war is happening. Another, possibly simpler (and more amusing) way to elven siege is to blatantly provoke them. If you don't want to be attacked by elves you should not offer them wooden goods or goods stored in wooden barrels or bins. You might also avoid clearing too much woodland, as elves will be offended if you do so. Elves use stealth squads, a la goblin ambushes, to hide their numbers and locations. {{verify}} It should be noted, however, that unlike goblin ambushes which cap at four squads, elves can come in vast numbers, atop mighty (and tasty) [[unicorn]]s or other [[exotic beasts|elephant]]. Fortunately, unlike goblins and humans, who wear heavy armor and wield metal weapons that can cause considerable damage, elves fight with flimsy wooden swords, and march into battle wearing wooden armor, or nothing but cloth robes and trousers. That isn't to say the attack should be taken lightly, because their melee forces aren't what you should be worrying about, as their bowmen are still deadly and can perforate your dwarves with hails of arrows in very short order.

=== [[Human]] sieges ===

Human sieges are announced with the message "''The enemy have come and are laying siege to the fortress.''".

Humans may also siege you should you let their [[diplomat]] die while visiting your fortress, if too many of their trade wagons get destroyed or if you trade with an elven nation the humans are at war with. Humans would sometimes set up a camp near the map edge they arrived on, harassing wandering dwarves and waiting for you to come to them instead of blindly charging toward your fortress. Humans often ride rather mundane animals, such as horses, camels (of both varieties), or war grizzly bears, and may bring along further war animals like trained cheetahs. Be aware that human siegers know of all traps that their diplomats have seen before, even their war animals are immune to those traps. If you had a human diplomat in your fort, best assume that your traps are useless against the invaders unless they were built after his last visit. A removed and rebuilt trap counts as "new", even if it's the same type of trap in the same tile.

=== [[Necromancer]] sieges ===

Necromancer sieges are announced with ''"The dead walk. Hide while you still can!"''

Necromancers will besiege your fortress by sending undead to your fort or even coming themselves. Either way, undead sieges are a guaranteed source of [[Fun]]. The undead units will arrive from all sides of the map in huge numbers, and begin slowly meandering towards your fortress. It is recommended that you have <s>many traps</s> every single trap you could possibly build set in advance, and when the undead legions arrive, lock everything down. Be sure to lock down all of your butcher's shops, crypts, and refuse stockpiles, as necromancers can reanimate armies of body parts to destroy your fortress from the inside. Also, be careful with fishery workshops, as reports of mussel shells rising from the dead are fairly common. Necromancers will raise any corpse or corpse part that they see, and simple proximity to undead can cause things like skin and hair to rise and attack the unfortunate butcher. Undead sieges may arrive with as few as one zombie to as many as one hundred or more. It doesn't really matter how many arrive; if you are not prepared, you will probably get slaughtered, as one zombie can easily become two zombies, then four, then eight and so on. If the zombies cannot get at your dwarves immediately, they will simply mill about on the surface until something living (wild animals included) comes too close or until they are all destroyed. Like other sieges, it is also possible to wait out necromancer sieges, though this can take a year or more.

=== The [[Hell|Circus]] ===

{{spoiler}}

Immediately after breaching Hell through an adamantine vein or demonic fortress, you will recieve the message "''Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!''", after which an invasion of demons will spawn in Hell and make straight for the unlucky dwarf who opened the hole into the underworld. Each invasion is unique, as these demons are proceduraly-generated, from a laundry list of body parts and tissue types. You may be dealing with a horde of salt wraiths, killable by an unarmed dwarf or war dog. 'OR' you could be fighting an army of unkillable blob-demons made out of magma and steel. For some info on how to <s>defeat</s> do your best against these types of sieges, see: [[Demon]]

=== Bugs ===
* Enemy squads will never abandon their caged or dead leader. {{Bug|1598}}
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Military}}

v0.34:Mount

2013-01-04T02:59:19Z

GibMoniPls: Added info about bug with amphibious mounts.

<noinclude>{{quality|Exceptional|03:22, 2 June 2012 (UTC)}}
{{av}}</noinclude>

Enemies in [[siege]]s will often come riding on other [[creature]]s, their '''mounts'''. These mounts can not only add to the attacks of those mounted on them, but also give their riders more battle ability: their mounts might be able to [[fly]], might be [[building destroyer]]s, they might be faster and fleeter than the creature would regularly be on foot, or they might just be plain scary in combat.

=== Types of Mounts ===

Mounts can arrive in one of three forms: as individual rides for a squad [[captain]], with whole [[squad]]s mounted on them, or as rider-less squads, that is, ordinary creatures under control of the attacking army. Some mounts, such as [[giant bat]]s or [[giant cave swallow]]s, possess the ability to fly, pathing over whatever walls and traps you have set up for them. This can lead to a great deal of [[Fun]] if you do not have sufficient marksdwarves to deal with them. However, mounted squads tend to come with mixed mounts, all of which must be capable of flight in order for the besiegers to attack from the skies. This means that if a squad of bat-riders has a single [[giant rat]] in it, the squad will behave like any other land unit. Some siegers also come on amphibious mounts, such as [[cave crocodile]]s and [[giant toad]]s. Humorously, these units will disregard their rider's inability to breathe underwater or [[swimmer|swim]], and reports of amphibious mounts pathing into [[moat]]s or [[river]]s, only to have their goblin riders drown, are fairly common.{{Bug|926}}

There are three types of mounts: ordinary [MOUNT]s, ridden by [[Human]]s; above-ground (or "good") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Elf|Elves]]; and underground (or "evil") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Goblin]]s. As of the current version, [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] cannot train or ride mounts. There are many animals that have [MOUNT] or [MOUNT_EXOTIC] in their raw files, but below are the most commonly found when an army besieges your fortress.

=== Who Rides What ===

* Goblin sieges have been known to ride [[elk bird]]s, [[giant cave swallow]]s, [[giant olm]]s, [[giant bat]]s,[[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave crocodile]]s, [[rutherer]]s, [[jabberer]]s, [[blind cave bear]]s, and [[voracious cave crawler]]s. [[Cave dragon]]s and [[troll]]s can also appear riderless alongside their sieges. These are usually the only sieges where you need to worry about enemies flying into your fortress from above.

* Elves prefer arriving on foot, but when they do ride mounts, they usually use the dreaded [[unicorn]]. It is theoretically possible for them to arrive riding any exotic land animal, such as [[elephant]]s, [[tiger]]s, [[unicorn]]s, or even [[giant mantis]]es. Because of this, be prepared for flying enemies when elves besiege your fortress.

* Human sieges will come riding [[camel]]s (of both varieties), [[horse]]s, and [[grizzly bear]]s, in addition to bringing along squads of trained war animals, like [[giant cheetah]]s.

Beyond acting like a force multiplier, dead mounts can be butchered after the battle to feed your meat industry. A squad of cave dragons that is killed and hauled back inside your fort will produce a ''lot'' of meat products, making mounted sieges convenient food resupplies, if you are prepared to handle them that is. Note that goblins only have a single animal trainer, their general; if he falls (or, because of a bug, leaves the map), you will never see mounted goblin units again.

=== Bugs ===
* Amphibian invader mounts drown their riders. {{Bug|926}}

{{Category|Fortress mode}}

v0.34 Talk:Mount

2013-01-04T02:57:08Z

GibMoniPls: Disregard that question, after 5 minutes on the bug watcher i found the answer on my own.

v0.34:Demon

2013-01-04T02:51:21Z

GibMoniPls: I can't believe the page about defeating the demonic invasion neglected to mention the dwarven checkerboard until now...

{{quality|Exceptional|16:17, 19 August 2011 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{spoiler}}
==Demons==

Demons inhabit [[Hell]]. At this time it appears that they are randomly generated at worldgen, creating unique fun for every player. Examples of possible demons include giant centipedes made of ash that hunger for blood, eyeless mosquitoes that spit toxins, and emaciated fruitbats with giant clicking mandibles. Demons begin to spawn exactly one frame after you open Hell; the amount spawned can range from 10 to over 100. As long as Hell is unsealed, demons will continue to wander in from the edges of the map indefinitely, due to having populations that are (functionally) infinite.

All demons share certain traits, however. They are represented by an ampersand (&). They are all able to swim in and breathe water and magma, destroy buildings, speak and learn. Furthermore, they are immune to traps, pain, fear, nausea, stunning, exertion, dizziness, fevers, fire, any sort of poison, and extremes of heat and cold (even if made of materials that would suggest otherwise). They are very large (size 10000000, smaller than a megabeast, but significantly larger than a giant and 167 times the size of a dwarf). They don't require sleep, food, or drink. All demons have at least Great [[skill]] level in their natural combat skills, and are significantly stronger and faster than normal creatures. Many, but not all demons, are capable of flight. Inorganic or zombie demons are especially difficult to kill; literally tearing them apart (severing their lower and upper bodies) or decapitating them will kill them, but this is far beyond the capacities of an ordinary dwarf, and if the creature is a blob (whose lower and upper bodies are inseparable), it will be truly immortal. If you have deactivated compressed saves, the raws for given world's demons (as well as forgotten beasts, titans, werebeasts, etc.) can be found in the world.dat of its save folder.

Certain types of demons, those described as "being twisted into humanoid form" and marked with [UNIQUE_DEMON] instead of [DEMON] in world.dat, will occasionally escape the underworld and earn/create statuses in goblin or human civilizations; among humans, they pose as [[deity|gods]], while they tend to take over goblin civilizations by force.

These unique demons can be taken prisoner in world-gen by civs. If taken by a human civ you can ask them to join you and you will have a next to unkillable super soldier on your side. In fortress mode, demons controlling human civilizations may pay a visit to your fort as [[diplomat]]s, and although they are not aggressive they may cause quite a bit of [[fun]] in the process if they have toxic secretions. Goblin law-giver demons may arrive on a goblin siege and are most of the time far more dangerous.

==Demon Generation==

Although the exact algorithm used to produce demons is unknown, something of the algorithm can be gathered from the string dump and analysis of demons. When generating a demon, the game begins by picking a creature from a predefined list, which is fixed and includes creatures not found in vanilla DF (such as anteater, ankylosaurid) and more general shapes (blob, quadruped, and humanoid). It is granted spheres, with a preference for "negative" spheres like misery, death, and torture. If inorganic, a material will be chosen (such as salt, fire, ice, or vomit). If organic, it will get some sort of randomly-colored covering (such as feathers or hair) and/or have some feature (such as its eyes, nose or skin) removed. It will be granted a few "extra" features, like a tail, a trunk, or a shell, and a flavorful descriptor (such as "it knows and intones the names of all it encounters"). It may get some sort of special attack (such as a poisonous sting, toxic breath, fire breath). It will finally be given a name consisting of an adjective and a noun. The adjective will be based on the creature's color, its material (such as "inferno" or "snow"), what animal it's shaped like, or a descriptor (such as "winged" or "skinless"), and the noun chosen from the following list: demon, devil, fiend, brute, monster, spirit, ghost, banshee, haunt, phantom, specter, or wraith.

==Strategy==

Of all of the challenges facing a player, defeating a demon horde is probably the most difficult, unless you are using certain [[trap]] schemes -- and even then, you will need to take special precautions.

===Containment===

Containment is the simplest strategy for dealing with demons. A simple constructed wall will block any demon. Because of their building destroyer status, demons cannot be contained via locked doors. However, indestructible artifact-quality portals can stop them, as can some bridges. As building destroyers can only destroy objects on the same z-level a floor grate or forbidden hatch cover on a staircase/channel will also block movement. It may be difficult to lure demons away from artifact furniture, should the area need to be accessed to reset a trap. If using bridges, be aware that any raising bridge that lands on a demon will deconstruct, and that demons can easily have internal temperatures greatly exceeding the melting points of steel or iron, leading to deconstruction as they pass over them. Because of their vast numbers, containment is an important part of any attempt to defeat them-- fighting two groups of 25 demons is much easier than fighting one group of 50.

One particular gentleman, AussieGuy on the Bay12 forums, has found an ingenious method for disposing of an entire demonic invasion at once: a [[Megaprojects|stupid dwarven trick]] known as "the dwarven checkerboard".([http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=94140.0 Source])
===Traps===

Because all demons avoid traps, trapping demons can be very difficult-- but not impossible. Demons become vulnerable to traps when they are webbed, so if you can find a way to get web onto your traps, the demons will be affected as any other creature (including your own dwarves!) would be.

Alternatively, advanced triggered traps may be used. Demons do not set off pressure plates, but if you can contain them, retracting upright spikes, casting them into obsidian, or caving a portion of mountain onto them are all effective. Any plan involving these kind of traps must involve both a way to bait the demons to where you want them and a way to keep the demons where you want them. Tame animals appear to work well as bait, but need to be replaced as they're killed. Bridges can be used to contain the demons, but be wary of the risks of deconstruction as described above.

Many traps need to be designed with the potential for extreme temperatures in mind. Obsidian trappers may find water used as the casting process boiling into steam before it contacts magma. Frequently, demons made of fire or steam explode on death, broiling nearby creatures and furniture. This effect can destroy upright spikes, leaving you with a trap chamber full of demons that you have no way to deal with. Demons do not destroy supports directly, but a hot enough demon may cause the destruction of nearby supports, just by virtue of the heat damage.

===Ranged Combat===

Ranged combat sounds appealing, especially in the face of demons that explode with unimaginable heat upon death, but should be considered carefully. Most demons have vastly more powerful ranged attacks than marksdwarves have. Demons made of weak materials can be easily killed or dismembered by bolts but inorganic demons composed of stronger stuff will only suffer chipped bones.

Fortifications are appealing, as they can be dug directly into adamantine without ever exposing your fortress to a path to the demons. Even demons made out of steam cannot pass through a fortification unless it is submerged in 7/7 water or magma. Demons with syndrome attacks may attack through fortifications even without a path, although they appear to do so less frequently than if they have a path.

Still, should you contain a group of demons composed of weaker materials, marksdwarves can be very effective.

===Melee Combat===

Demons can be very frightening melee opponents, as each one alone is nearly the size of a megabeast, extremely fast, and have tremendous natural combat skills. That would be bad enough, but there tends to be pages of them rather than individuals. However, demons can still be defeated in melee combat.

Despite their powerful attacks, many demons are made up of very flimsy materials, such as salt, snow, steam, or filth. A strong punch can decapitate creatures like this. Some demons, however, can be made of much harder materials, and it can be very difficult to bring down a demon composed of mineral or armor-quality metal. Blunt weapons can be reasonably effective against weaker material demons by severing limbs and body parts despite blunt status, but are not nearly as effective against demons as they are against earthly foes that suffer from pain and blood loss; without internal organs or blood loss, piercing weapons are relatively ineffective. Good slashing weapons can reliably take down demons of any material type.

The challenge of melee combat is how to deal with an enormous number of strong combatants while protecting against area of effect syndrome attacks and death explosions. Restraining visibility via a labyrinthine battle ground is a good start. The area effects suggest meeting them with successive small waves of melee dwarves, but if the dwarves are too few, they'll be butchered by hundreds of angry demons before making a dent.

In all cases, your demon-fighting melee dwarves should be very well armed and armored (steel and adamantine) and Legendary in some, if not all, of the relevant combat skills.

===Clean-up===

Unfortunately, once the wave of demons has been dealt with, it's not yet over. Syndrome-bearing dust and blood may litter the battlefield and your survivors, and can be very difficult to isolate and contain. Some dwarves may carry burning items back from their encounters with very hot demons. Survivors should all pass through a shallow pool of water to wash them and their equipment of anything dangerous and to douse any flames. Any path used for the fight is best abandoned and walled up. Demons will continue to enter hell from its map edges, as wildlife do on the surface, but path differently from the initial wave, content to wander through hell even should a simple unobstructed path exist into your fortress.

{{D for Dwarf}}
Little do demons know that though their claws and fire cannot pierce the [[adamantine]] sealing them away, a simple [[copper]] [[pick]] can dig right through it with ease. Armok forbid these unholy creatures ever get their hands on one. At least they ARE able to be killed, unlike the [[giant sponge|King of Beasts]].

{{Creatures}}
[[Category:Spoilers]]

[[ru:Demon]]

v0.34 Talk:Mount

2013-01-04T02:29:12Z

GibMoniPls: Created page with "Is the "aquatic mounts pathing underwater and killing their riders" a known bug yet, or is it too trivial to bother the coders about? - ~~~~"

Is the "aquatic mounts pathing underwater and killing their riders" a known bug yet, or is it too trivial to bother the coders about? - [[User:GibMoniPls|GibMoniPls]] 02:29, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

v0.34:Giant bark scorpion

2013-01-01T17:09:26Z

GibMoniPls: added butchering data.

{{Quality|Fine|2012-05-09}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|contrib=no
|wiki=no
|meat=23
|fat=21
|brain=1
|heart=1
|eye=2
|intestine=2
|skin=chitin
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
Giant bark scorpions, the giant variety of [[bark scorpion]]s, are found in savage deserts, like [[giant desert scorpion]]s, but in most savage tropical biomes as well.

Giant bark scorpions are slightly larger than a giant desert scorpion, but their sting is far less dangerous, inducing only pain (that still '''can''' knockout a dwarf). They also do not roam in groups of three like giant desert scorpions usually do, and are not building destroyers, as well as being generally non-aggressive, however they can and will kill a civilian, untrained, unarmed dwarf if they become aggressive.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

v0.34:Losing

2013-01-01T01:57:03Z

GibMoniPls: /* Magma and its denizens */

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{D for Dwarf}}
{{av}}

<span style="background-color: #000; color: #0f0; font-family: FixedSys, monospace">Losing is fun!</span>

Either way, it keeps you busy.

There is no internal end point, single goal, final Easter egg or "You Win!" announcement in Dwarf Fortress. Therefore, eventually, almost every fortress will fall. The only ones that don't tend to be very conservative and very boring—and what fun is that? Therefore, DF = losing /\ DF = fun => losing = fun, and that's okay! It's a game philosophy, so embrace it, own it, and have ''fun'' with it!

Most new players will lose their first few forts sooner rather than later; when you lose a [[fortress]], don't feel like you don't understand the game. Dwarf Fortress has a steep learning curve, and part of the process (and fun!) is discovering things for yourself. However, this Wiki serves as an excellent place to speed up the learning process.

If you lose, you can always [[reclaim fortress mode|reclaim fortress]] or go visit it in [[adventurer mode]].

If you're looking for more ways to test yourself, try either the [[mega construction]] or the [[Challenges]] articles.

[[File:FunComic.png|thumb|right|Fun in Dwarf Fortress]]

== Autopsy, or why your fortress died ==

Various common things can cause the death of a fortress. Let's examine some together...

===Dwarf vs. Nature===
Sometimes the wilds take you out.

====Local Wildlife====
Goblins aren't the only creatures that want you dead. [[grizzly bear|The]] [[elephant|obvious]] [[cougar|threats]] aside, some [[creature]]s with [[unicorn|benign names or descriptions]] can be surprisingly deadly. A sudden wildlife attack can quickly cripple or destroy an unprepared fortress. Before you unpause a new game for the first time, hit {{k|u}}nits, and switch to the "Others" tab to see what's sharing your map. Learn to do this regularly—new creatures will frequently migrate onto your map and then off again to be replaced by others.

Consider arming up and thinning out any predictable threats.

Outdoor [[titan]]s and other [[megabeast]]s are a later stage hazard.

====Underground Life====
Underground life can be even more dangerous than surface life. Dig down to a cavern, and expect to be fending off hordes of smaller, weaker creatures as well as larger, more solitary creatures like [[giant cave spider]]s and [[blind cave ogre]]s. Arming up helps a lot, as there is usually only a small entrance they can get in by. A row of cage traps is exceptionally powerful there.
Underground Forgotten Beasts are a later stage hazard—and one that cage traps will offer very little protection against. Even if all the other creatures in the cavern are stopped by your cage traps, don't allow yourself to get complacent.

====Magma and its denizens====
Magma by itself is dangerous enough to destroy a fortress that fails to use it properly without factoring in the fact that magma sources are the home to [[fire imp|many]] [[fire man|dangerous]] [[magma crab|creatures]] that can destroy buildings, kill even the most skilled soldiers, and spread out throughout your fortress. A way to avoid this from happening is to build [[fortification]]s before using the magma for other purposes; however, in these instances, the depth of the magma must never be permitted to reach 7/7, otherwise creatures will be able to swim through them.

====Evil Biomes====
Evil [[surroundings]] are more inhospitable than ever. If it's not the [[Undead|zombies]] that kill all your dwarves, then it's their freshly animated body parts hungry for revenge. Or vile weather that makes dwarves caught in it vomit to death. Or, worst of all, an evil cloud that drifts by your settlement and starts a zombie plague in your population.

When embarking on an evil biome, it's a fairly good idea to skimp on a meat industry of any kind. Though meat obtained from [[butcher|butchering]] doesn't rise up, their hair, skin and bones are fully capable of turning to kill you - and bringing hunters in your party is near-suicidal. Embarking with a military is a must, if you want to stand any chance against the zombies. Of course, if things are
''really'' bad outside (for example, the aforementioned thralling clouds), you're best off just sealing yourself inside forever and never turning back. As with cavern wildlife, a row of cage traps is a great boon to the safety of your fortress.

===Dwarf vs. Dwarf===
Sometimes you bring it on yourself.

====No Food====
A serious danger, generally in the more inhospitable [[climate]]s, is the loss of your [[dwarf|dwarves]] due to starvation. As dwarves begin to starve, they will become [[hungry]], then [[starving]]. This will cause them first to slow down all work, and then to become very [[unhappy]]. When they die, their friends will become upset and will become even more unhappy, potentially causing the remainder of your fortress to break out in a [[tantrum spiral|terminal hissy fit]].

Don't forget your alternative sources of [[food]]. If your [[farm]]s aren't doing the job and a [[caravan|trade caravan]] is months away, try [[butchering]] your [[domestic animal]]s, [[plant gathering|gathering plants]], or resorting to the [[hunting]] of local wildlife.

====No Booze====
Equally as bad is no [[alcohol]], which dwarves ''require'' to be happy and productive. Some alcohol can be acquired from [[caravan]]s, but not enough for an entire fort until the next caravan arrives. You must gather or [[farm]] certain plants to then [[brew]] those in a [[still]] with an empty [[barrel]]—it's just part of being a dwarf. Be sure to make lots of barrels. Often a shortage of barrels is just as bad as a shortage of beer. A dwarf would rather die than lower themselves to drinking from a [[mug]] (though it doesn't stop them being produced by the tonne in your [[workshop]]s).

====Water====
Sometimes you just can't help but take a drink, and when you think it's safe, WHAM. Watch out for [[giant sponge]]s...

=====No water=====
Healthy dwarves will not die of thirst as long as they have alcohol, which in the current version can be [[Brewing|brewed]] without the use of water. However, injured dwarves must be given water, not alcohol, or they will die of dehydration.

[[Rain]] will refill stagnant [[pool]]s of water slowly. In a hot [[climate]], this may evaporate almost immediately. What's more, if the map is in a dry [[climate]], such as a desert (hot or cold), then there can be long periods of time with no water anywhere - in extreme cases, none ever. Snow will not refill pools, so you can also have a lack of water in very cold [[climate]]s. Also, if weather has been turned off in the [[init.txt]] file then there will be no rain and no water will accumulate, though it may be there at the beginning of the game.

If all else fails, the [[caverns]] may contain water somewhere, so you can put down a [[well]]. Watch out for [[Giant toad|other]] {{catlink|Humanoids|sources}} [[Cave crocodile|of fun.]]

=====Too Much Water (aka "Flooding accidents")=====
The opposite side of the dehydration spectrum is having too ''much'' water. Remember that water can [[flow]] in 10 directions (the 8 horizontal ones as well as up and down, to the level of its source.)

If your fortress is beginning to flood from [[Water#Sourced Water|sourced water]], abandon all of the levels the water can reach immediately—create a civilian alert and order your dwarves to a burrow upstairs. You will never be able to recover those areas unless you can manage to [[pump]] out the water faster than it floods in, which can take over a year or two of game time to establish a functioning automated pump system. Generally, a flooding accident spells doom for your fortress.

If the accident is causing your mine shafts to flood (those fishy diagonal flows into downstairs on the level below), you can sometimes save the dwarves that are working inside it: designate the highest level they can reach before the water reaches it with your civilian burrow. Try to dig your way up from there, since the water will take some time to fill the lower floors, and keep updating your burrow definition to the higher floors. Saving your valuable Legendary +5 Miners (and their picks) could be vital to your fortress.

Sometimes, a fortress is flooded with [[magma]]. This is even more [[fun]], and even harder to recover from. Any shut door will stop magma, it doesn't rise as aggressively (via [[pressure]]) as water, and magma can be [[pump]]ed out with the right equipment. Read up on it. Good luck.

==== Inability to mine ("Diggor Mortis") ====
i.e., no [[pick]]s.

Diggor Mortis: ''when a Dwarf with a pickaxe decides that digging where they shouldn't is a bloody good idea.''

Simply put, you need [[pick]]s to mine [[ore]], which is then [[smelting|smelted]] to make [[metal]] for items like more picks. If you are careless (or ignorant) of how to dig safely, and your [[miner]]s create a [[cave-in|collapse]] or flood and their equipment gets lost/destroyed/unrecoverable, ''and'' you have no materials to make more picks, you will be at a severe handicap until the problem is solved. Any dwarf can be given the [[mining]] [[labor]], but without a pick they can do nothing. There is no way to get new metals or stone (clay excluded) for any purpose (except from foreign traders and smelting other items) nor any way to dig new rooms/tunnels unless you have picks.

If you have [[ore]] or [[bar]]s to create a [[Arms industry|weapons-grade metal]] (other than silver), and a [[forge]] (and [[smelter]] if you need one), you can create new picks and continue. In a pinch, you can even [[melt]] other metal objects for metal. You might get lucky with a [[caravan]] - elves never carry picks, but humans sometimes have bronze ones, and dwarves generally bring some along. If the first dwarven caravan doesn't bring any, you can try to keep your fortress running long enough to request additional [[pick]]s from your Outpost [[Liaison]], who will arrive with the next dwarven trade [[caravan]] in a year. Or you can [[abandon]] and try again.

If you have [[axe]]s and [[tree]]s available, then you can build [[construction|structure]]s, [[building]]s and [[furniture]] of [[wood]], which is something.

Averting this fate is simple: stockpile at least one additional pick at the first possible opportunity, or some of the [[weapons-grade|raw material]] to make more, and away from current digging operations.

See also: [[Arms industry]]

===Dwarf vs Society===
Sometimes your traditions and morals conspire. Hell Is Other Dwarves?

====General Unhappiness====
Think it's no big deal to leave your dwarves with a mediocre [[dining room]], no-[[quality]] bed and a generally inadequate fortress?

If there is little in a fortress to give your dwarves happy [[thoughts]] and enough to give them unhappy [[thoughts]], then your dwarves will start to throw [[tantrum]]s, grow melancholy, and/or cause general chaos. In extreme (but sadly not ''rare'') examples, this can lead to a [[tantrum spiral]] and the loss of the entire fortress. Immigrants are typically [[marriage|married]], often with [[children]] in tow, and are primed and ready to start pumping out even more babies. This means that the loss of one dwarf is likely to lead to a whole family of very unhappy dwarves, and potentially a tantrum spiral. Unhappiness is more likely to occur if your fortress is suffering other kinds of downfall as well, so try to keep all the bases covered.

Another problem is if you don't have a [[justice]] system in place at the time of a spiral and manage to recover. If you later implement the justice system, the hammerer may kill the former tantrum throwers, starting another tantrum because of their deaths.

====Mandates====
While it doesn't happen often, those [[Noble]]s' mandates can occasionally cause your fortress to come to a halt, especially if they decide to imprison a dwarf that's fairly essential to your fortress, or if they for some reason decide that a dwarf deserves a hammering. This can lead to your dwarf's death, which, as noted above, can cause a tantrum spiral.

Then, there's also points at which, when trying to fulfill a mandate, you run into some rather nasty problems. This could lead to any of the other problems, such as a cave in killing your miner (If you're not paying attention!) running into HFS, or accidentally mining out a new tunnel to the surface that you don't close, and lets in a horde of goblins.

====Supernatural Rogues====
With DF2012 have come the additions of several [[night creature]]s that can potentially undo a fortress from within. A werebeast raid can not only bring trouble if you're lacking of a military, but its cursed bite can make more of its kind from your population. If you see a civilian survive a werebeast attack, you might be in for a surprise when he suddenly turns into a ravenous monster at the full moon and starts killing everything around him.

Vampires are a much more insidiously dangerous threat, as they hide themselves among the peasantry and may kill dozens of dwarves without being caught—and if they do, they might succeed at framing an essential member of your fortress into getting the hammer. As can be seen, this can easily lead into a tantrum spiral.

===Dwarf vs Goblins, Humans, Elves...===
Seizing goods from a friendly caravan will often lead to large shipment of fun next time the traders visit. Remember, it's not paranoia if they ''are'' out to get you.

====Ambush====
Goblin and elven ambushes alike will charge into your fortress after they are discovered. They still retreat after suffering enough casualties. Goblins still arrive with caravans, and elves can attack at any time. Even if your dwarves do not venture onto the surface, caravans will eventually trigger the ambushes.

See Also:
:* [[Defense guide]]
:* [[Defense design]]
:* [[Trap design]]
:* [[Military design]]

====War====
War. War never changes.

See [[#Ambush|Ambush]].

====Siege====
[[Siege]]s can be quite devastating to a fortress, but unlike most of the other ways of losing, they are unlikely to occur early on, even if you do something stupid to piss off another civilization.

Should hosts of goblins besiege your gates and drive your peasantry inside, trolls beat down your doors and force you to seal off from the outside world, you may have already lost the game. Even if you have built an utterly impenetrable fortress with drawbridges and moats, a sieging army may stick around for a long time. Although a dwarven fortress can be made self-contained, with [[list of crops|crops]], [[metal]] and [[fuel]] readily available, underground [[tree farm|wood source]] and your own [[livestock]], a fortress may not be able to sustain such a state indefinitely.

For example, [[trade]] with the outside world has now been shut off, leaving you only what [[ore]]s are on your map for the production of mandated goods. In the (very) long run even those will run out. This can result in a breakdown of social order if you do not prevent your [[Hammerer]] from killing or maiming your dwarves. [[Shell]], [[bone]] and [[leather]] commonly acquired by [[hunting]] and [[fishing]] need to be supplied by previously established livestock and access to suitable water. If these resources are no longer available to your workers, moody [[craftsdwarf|craftsdwarves]] will be driven into suicide or worse. Rotten [[vermin]] [[corpse]]s begin to heap in your food supply, forcing you to dump these into inside [[refuse|refuse pile]]s, generating [[miasma]]. Better build indoor refuse piles away from trafficked areas. Unless an [[well|interior water supply]] was established (or you find water in caverns) your wounded will die of dehydration.

With all these critical industries unproductive, dwarves dying, and friends mourning over the rotting heaps of slain loved ones, it's important to remember your dwarves have nothing to do but throw funeral receptions, hold grief counseling sessions and host the occasional keg stand. This means they've all become one big happy family of friends, manically depressed from the loss of any dwarf.

In short, the attacking army can simply wait until your dwarves emo themselves to death.

====Hidden Fun Stuff====

This section contains no useful information.

===Crashes, failed modding ===
Mod too much and the human caravan that comes in could spontaneously combust. Or just crash your game.

{{Category|Guides}}

v0.34:Losing

2013-01-01T01:53:27Z

GibMoniPls: /* Local Wildlife */

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{D for Dwarf}}
{{av}}

<span style="background-color: #000; color: #0f0; font-family: FixedSys, monospace">Losing is fun!</span>

Either way, it keeps you busy.

There is no internal end point, single goal, final Easter egg or "You Win!" announcement in Dwarf Fortress. Therefore, eventually, almost every fortress will fall. The only ones that don't tend to be very conservative and very boring—and what fun is that? Therefore, DF = losing /\ DF = fun => losing = fun, and that's okay! It's a game philosophy, so embrace it, own it, and have ''fun'' with it!

Most new players will lose their first few forts sooner rather than later; when you lose a [[fortress]], don't feel like you don't understand the game. Dwarf Fortress has a steep learning curve, and part of the process (and fun!) is discovering things for yourself. However, this Wiki serves as an excellent place to speed up the learning process.

If you lose, you can always [[reclaim fortress mode|reclaim fortress]] or go visit it in [[adventurer mode]].

If you're looking for more ways to test yourself, try either the [[mega construction]] or the [[Challenges]] articles.

[[File:FunComic.png|thumb|right|Fun in Dwarf Fortress]]

== Autopsy, or why your fortress died ==

Various common things can cause the death of a fortress. Let's examine some together...

===Dwarf vs. Nature===
Sometimes the wilds take you out.

====Local Wildlife====
Goblins aren't the only creatures that want you dead. [[grizzly bear|The]] [[elephant|obvious]] [[cougar|threats]] aside, some [[creature]]s with [[unicorn|benign names or descriptions]] can be surprisingly deadly. A sudden wildlife attack can quickly cripple or destroy an unprepared fortress. Before you unpause a new game for the first time, hit {{k|u}}nits, and switch to the "Others" tab to see what's sharing your map. Learn to do this regularly—new creatures will frequently migrate onto your map and then off again to be replaced by others.

Consider arming up and thinning out any predictable threats.

Outdoor [[titan]]s and other [[megabeast]]s are a later stage hazard.

====Underground Life====
Underground life can be even more dangerous than surface life. Dig down to a cavern, and expect to be fending off hordes of smaller, weaker creatures as well as larger, more solitary creatures like [[giant cave spider]]s and [[blind cave ogre]]s. Arming up helps a lot, as there is usually only a small entrance they can get in by. A row of cage traps is exceptionally powerful there.
Underground Forgotten Beasts are a later stage hazard—and one that cage traps will offer very little protection against. Even if all the other creatures in the cavern are stopped by your cage traps, don't allow yourself to get complacent.

====Magma and its denizens====
Magma by itself is dangerous enough to destroy a fortress that fails to use it properly without factoring in the fact that magma sources are the home to many dangerous creatures that can destroy buildings and spread out through your fortress. A way to avoid this from happening is to build [[fortification]]s before using the magma for other purposes; however, in these instances, the depth of the magma must never be permitted to reach 7/7, otherwise creatures will be able to swim through them.

====Evil Biomes====
Evil [[surroundings]] are more inhospitable than ever. If it's not the [[Undead|zombies]] that kill all your dwarves, then it's their freshly animated body parts hungry for revenge. Or vile weather that makes dwarves caught in it vomit to death. Or, worst of all, an evil cloud that drifts by your settlement and starts a zombie plague in your population.

When embarking on an evil biome, it's a fairly good idea to skimp on a meat industry of any kind. Though meat obtained from [[butcher|butchering]] doesn't rise up, their hair, skin and bones are fully capable of turning to kill you - and bringing hunters in your party is near-suicidal. Embarking with a military is a must, if you want to stand any chance against the zombies. Of course, if things are
''really'' bad outside (for example, the aforementioned thralling clouds), you're best off just sealing yourself inside forever and never turning back. As with cavern wildlife, a row of cage traps is a great boon to the safety of your fortress.

===Dwarf vs. Dwarf===
Sometimes you bring it on yourself.

====No Food====
A serious danger, generally in the more inhospitable [[climate]]s, is the loss of your [[dwarf|dwarves]] due to starvation. As dwarves begin to starve, they will become [[hungry]], then [[starving]]. This will cause them first to slow down all work, and then to become very [[unhappy]]. When they die, their friends will become upset and will become even more unhappy, potentially causing the remainder of your fortress to break out in a [[tantrum spiral|terminal hissy fit]].

Don't forget your alternative sources of [[food]]. If your [[farm]]s aren't doing the job and a [[caravan|trade caravan]] is months away, try [[butchering]] your [[domestic animal]]s, [[plant gathering|gathering plants]], or resorting to the [[hunting]] of local wildlife.

====No Booze====
Equally as bad is no [[alcohol]], which dwarves ''require'' to be happy and productive. Some alcohol can be acquired from [[caravan]]s, but not enough for an entire fort until the next caravan arrives. You must gather or [[farm]] certain plants to then [[brew]] those in a [[still]] with an empty [[barrel]]—it's just part of being a dwarf. Be sure to make lots of barrels. Often a shortage of barrels is just as bad as a shortage of beer. A dwarf would rather die than lower themselves to drinking from a [[mug]] (though it doesn't stop them being produced by the tonne in your [[workshop]]s).

====Water====
Sometimes you just can't help but take a drink, and when you think it's safe, WHAM. Watch out for [[giant sponge]]s...

=====No water=====
Healthy dwarves will not die of thirst as long as they have alcohol, which in the current version can be [[Brewing|brewed]] without the use of water. However, injured dwarves must be given water, not alcohol, or they will die of dehydration.

[[Rain]] will refill stagnant [[pool]]s of water slowly. In a hot [[climate]], this may evaporate almost immediately. What's more, if the map is in a dry [[climate]], such as a desert (hot or cold), then there can be long periods of time with no water anywhere - in extreme cases, none ever. Snow will not refill pools, so you can also have a lack of water in very cold [[climate]]s. Also, if weather has been turned off in the [[init.txt]] file then there will be no rain and no water will accumulate, though it may be there at the beginning of the game.

If all else fails, the [[caverns]] may contain water somewhere, so you can put down a [[well]]. Watch out for [[Giant toad|other]] {{catlink|Humanoids|sources}} [[Cave crocodile|of fun.]]

=====Too Much Water (aka "Flooding accidents")=====
The opposite side of the dehydration spectrum is having too ''much'' water. Remember that water can [[flow]] in 10 directions (the 8 horizontal ones as well as up and down, to the level of its source.)

If your fortress is beginning to flood from [[Water#Sourced Water|sourced water]], abandon all of the levels the water can reach immediately—create a civilian alert and order your dwarves to a burrow upstairs. You will never be able to recover those areas unless you can manage to [[pump]] out the water faster than it floods in, which can take over a year or two of game time to establish a functioning automated pump system. Generally, a flooding accident spells doom for your fortress.

If the accident is causing your mine shafts to flood (those fishy diagonal flows into downstairs on the level below), you can sometimes save the dwarves that are working inside it: designate the highest level they can reach before the water reaches it with your civilian burrow. Try to dig your way up from there, since the water will take some time to fill the lower floors, and keep updating your burrow definition to the higher floors. Saving your valuable Legendary +5 Miners (and their picks) could be vital to your fortress.

Sometimes, a fortress is flooded with [[magma]]. This is even more [[fun]], and even harder to recover from. Any shut door will stop magma, it doesn't rise as aggressively (via [[pressure]]) as water, and magma can be [[pump]]ed out with the right equipment. Read up on it. Good luck.

==== Inability to mine ("Diggor Mortis") ====
i.e., no [[pick]]s.

Diggor Mortis: ''when a Dwarf with a pickaxe decides that digging where they shouldn't is a bloody good idea.''

Simply put, you need [[pick]]s to mine [[ore]], which is then [[smelting|smelted]] to make [[metal]] for items like more picks. If you are careless (or ignorant) of how to dig safely, and your [[miner]]s create a [[cave-in|collapse]] or flood and their equipment gets lost/destroyed/unrecoverable, ''and'' you have no materials to make more picks, you will be at a severe handicap until the problem is solved. Any dwarf can be given the [[mining]] [[labor]], but without a pick they can do nothing. There is no way to get new metals or stone (clay excluded) for any purpose (except from foreign traders and smelting other items) nor any way to dig new rooms/tunnels unless you have picks.

If you have [[ore]] or [[bar]]s to create a [[Arms industry|weapons-grade metal]] (other than silver), and a [[forge]] (and [[smelter]] if you need one), you can create new picks and continue. In a pinch, you can even [[melt]] other metal objects for metal. You might get lucky with a [[caravan]] - elves never carry picks, but humans sometimes have bronze ones, and dwarves generally bring some along. If the first dwarven caravan doesn't bring any, you can try to keep your fortress running long enough to request additional [[pick]]s from your Outpost [[Liaison]], who will arrive with the next dwarven trade [[caravan]] in a year. Or you can [[abandon]] and try again.

If you have [[axe]]s and [[tree]]s available, then you can build [[construction|structure]]s, [[building]]s and [[furniture]] of [[wood]], which is something.

Averting this fate is simple: stockpile at least one additional pick at the first possible opportunity, or some of the [[weapons-grade|raw material]] to make more, and away from current digging operations.

See also: [[Arms industry]]

===Dwarf vs Society===
Sometimes your traditions and morals conspire. Hell Is Other Dwarves?

====General Unhappiness====
Think it's no big deal to leave your dwarves with a mediocre [[dining room]], no-[[quality]] bed and a generally inadequate fortress?

If there is little in a fortress to give your dwarves happy [[thoughts]] and enough to give them unhappy [[thoughts]], then your dwarves will start to throw [[tantrum]]s, grow melancholy, and/or cause general chaos. In extreme (but sadly not ''rare'') examples, this can lead to a [[tantrum spiral]] and the loss of the entire fortress. Immigrants are typically [[marriage|married]], often with [[children]] in tow, and are primed and ready to start pumping out even more babies. This means that the loss of one dwarf is likely to lead to a whole family of very unhappy dwarves, and potentially a tantrum spiral. Unhappiness is more likely to occur if your fortress is suffering other kinds of downfall as well, so try to keep all the bases covered.

Another problem is if you don't have a [[justice]] system in place at the time of a spiral and manage to recover. If you later implement the justice system, the hammerer may kill the former tantrum throwers, starting another tantrum because of their deaths.

====Mandates====
While it doesn't happen often, those [[Noble]]s' mandates can occasionally cause your fortress to come to a halt, especially if they decide to imprison a dwarf that's fairly essential to your fortress, or if they for some reason decide that a dwarf deserves a hammering. This can lead to your dwarf's death, which, as noted above, can cause a tantrum spiral.

Then, there's also points at which, when trying to fulfill a mandate, you run into some rather nasty problems. This could lead to any of the other problems, such as a cave in killing your miner (If you're not paying attention!) running into HFS, or accidentally mining out a new tunnel to the surface that you don't close, and lets in a horde of goblins.

====Supernatural Rogues====
With DF2012 have come the additions of several [[night creature]]s that can potentially undo a fortress from within. A werebeast raid can not only bring trouble if you're lacking of a military, but its cursed bite can make more of its kind from your population. If you see a civilian survive a werebeast attack, you might be in for a surprise when he suddenly turns into a ravenous monster at the full moon and starts killing everything around him.

Vampires are a much more insidiously dangerous threat, as they hide themselves among the peasantry and may kill dozens of dwarves without being caught—and if they do, they might succeed at framing an essential member of your fortress into getting the hammer. As can be seen, this can easily lead into a tantrum spiral.

===Dwarf vs Goblins, Humans, Elves...===
Seizing goods from a friendly caravan will often lead to large shipment of fun next time the traders visit. Remember, it's not paranoia if they ''are'' out to get you.

====Ambush====
Goblin and elven ambushes alike will charge into your fortress after they are discovered. They still retreat after suffering enough casualties. Goblins still arrive with caravans, and elves can attack at any time. Even if your dwarves do not venture onto the surface, caravans will eventually trigger the ambushes.

See Also:
:* [[Defense guide]]
:* [[Defense design]]
:* [[Trap design]]
:* [[Military design]]

====War====
War. War never changes.

See [[#Ambush|Ambush]].

====Siege====
[[Siege]]s can be quite devastating to a fortress, but unlike most of the other ways of losing, they are unlikely to occur early on, even if you do something stupid to piss off another civilization.

Should hosts of goblins besiege your gates and drive your peasantry inside, trolls beat down your doors and force you to seal off from the outside world, you may have already lost the game. Even if you have built an utterly impenetrable fortress with drawbridges and moats, a sieging army may stick around for a long time. Although a dwarven fortress can be made self-contained, with [[list of crops|crops]], [[metal]] and [[fuel]] readily available, underground [[tree farm|wood source]] and your own [[livestock]], a fortress may not be able to sustain such a state indefinitely.

For example, [[trade]] with the outside world has now been shut off, leaving you only what [[ore]]s are on your map for the production of mandated goods. In the (very) long run even those will run out. This can result in a breakdown of social order if you do not prevent your [[Hammerer]] from killing or maiming your dwarves. [[Shell]], [[bone]] and [[leather]] commonly acquired by [[hunting]] and [[fishing]] need to be supplied by previously established livestock and access to suitable water. If these resources are no longer available to your workers, moody [[craftsdwarf|craftsdwarves]] will be driven into suicide or worse. Rotten [[vermin]] [[corpse]]s begin to heap in your food supply, forcing you to dump these into inside [[refuse|refuse pile]]s, generating [[miasma]]. Better build indoor refuse piles away from trafficked areas. Unless an [[well|interior water supply]] was established (or you find water in caverns) your wounded will die of dehydration.

With all these critical industries unproductive, dwarves dying, and friends mourning over the rotting heaps of slain loved ones, it's important to remember your dwarves have nothing to do but throw funeral receptions, hold grief counseling sessions and host the occasional keg stand. This means they've all become one big happy family of friends, manically depressed from the loss of any dwarf.

In short, the attacking army can simply wait until your dwarves emo themselves to death.

====Hidden Fun Stuff====

This section contains no useful information.

===Crashes, failed modding ===
Mod too much and the human caravan that comes in could spontaneously combust. Or just crash your game.

{{Category|Guides}}

Armok

2013-01-01T00:01:46Z

GibMoniPls: I found this monstrocity on the Bay12 forums, in a thread about causing the Age of Emptiness by creating an adventurer and killing everything. I thought it would be helpful to share it with the community.

'''Armok''', God of [[Blood]], is the name of the mythical godhead in Dwarf Fortress, around whom the game is loosely based. Some have speculated that the player is Armok, since the dwarves are slaves to the player.

According to the lore of Dwarf Fortress' prequel, [http://www.bay12games.com/armok/ Slaves to Armok: God of Blood], Armok is the creator of the world and the in-game explanation for the random world generation:

''"Armok, the God of Blood, is just about the only constant in these chaotic random universes. A general sense of conflict keeps Armok appeased - when the universe becomes too boring it is set on the anvil of creation to be reforged."''

''"The destruction of the world by Armok will arise inevitably in most game worlds. As civilizations spread and the frontier closes, the world will start to look homogeneous. Armok, looking upon this decadence in disgust, will reform the world. Basically, when the universe has become too boring, it will be changed."''

Armok does not appear as a deity available for worshipping in Dwarf Fortress worlds... yet.

==Name Origin==

The name of the Dwarven God comes from the variable "arm_ok", which is from [[Toady One|Tarn Adams]]'s fantasy game, Dragslay (an early precursor of [[Dwarf Fortress]]). The variable was used to count the number of arms left, for inventory purposes. ([http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3549/interview_the_making_of_dwarf_.php?page=2 Source])

==...Yet.==
{{D for Dwarf}}
Copy this into any creature file in the raws, and play with your very own avatar of the God of Blood! Shoots fireballs, smites heretics with dragonfire, and slays mortal creatures with a single touch!

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
[DESCRIPTION:The blood god is risen.]
[NAME:avatar of armok:avatars of armok:avatar of armok]
[TILE:'A'][COLOR:4:0:1]
[BODY:HUMANOID_SIMPLE]
[EXTRAVISION]
[NOBREATHE][NOBLEED][NOSTUN][NONAUSEA][NOPAIN]
[NOEMOTION][NOSTUCKINS][NOTHOUGHT][NOEXERT][NOFEAR][NO_DRINK][NO_EAT][NO_SLEEP]
[NO_GENDER]
[PARALYZEIMMUNE][WEBIMMUNE]
[NOT_LIVING][NO_AGING]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:2][NOT_BUTCHERABLE]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:2000]
[SPEED:500]
[CANOPENDOORS][CAN_LEARN]
[NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[NO_CONNECTIONS_FOR_MOVEMENT]
[EQUIPS]
[PREFSTRING:omnipotence]
[FIREIMMUNE]
[FLIER]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MELEE_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:RANGED_COMBAT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WRESTLING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BITE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:STANCE_STRIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DODGING:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MISC_WEAPON:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:AXE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SWORD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:DAGGER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:MACE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:HAMMER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SPEAR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:CROSSBOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SHIELD:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:ARMOR:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGECRAFT:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:SIEGEOPERATE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOWYER:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:PIKE:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:WHIP:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BOW:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:BLOWGUN:16]
[NATURAL_SKILL:THROW:16]
[FIXED_TEMP:12000]
[TISSUE:MAGMA]
[TISSUE_NAME:magma:NP]
[TISSUE_MATERIAL:INORGANIC:BASALT]
[TISSUE_MAT_STATE:LIQUID]
[MUSCULAR]
[FUNCTIONAL]
[STRUCTURAL]
[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:10]
[CONNECTS]
[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ALL:MAGMA]
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:POISON:CREATURE_EXTRACT_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:touch of death]
[STATE_NAME:GAS:touch of death]
[STATE_ADJ:GAS:touch of death]
[PREFIX:NONE]
[ENTERS_BLOOD]
[SYNDROME]
[SYN_NAME:curse of the blood god]
[SYN_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON]
[SYN_IMMUNE_CREATURE:ARMOK:ALL]
[SYN_INJECTED]
[CE_NECROSIS:SEV:1000:PROB:100:BP:ALL:START:30:PEAK:60:END:1200]
[BODY_SIZE:0:0:250000]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:HEIGHT:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[BODY_APPEARANCE_MODIFIER:BROADNESS:90:95:98:100:102:105:110]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Hurl fireball]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:FIREBALL]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[CAN_DO_INTERACTION:MATERIAL_EMISSION]
[CDI:ADV_NAME:Smite]
[CDI:USAGE_HINT:ATTACK]
[CDI:BP_REQUIRED:BY_CATEGORY:HAND]
[CDI:FLOW:DRAGONFIRE]
[CDI:TARGET:C:LINE_OF_SIGHT]
[CDI:TARGET_RANGE:C:15]
[CDI:MAX_TARGET_NUMBER:C:1]
[CDI:WAIT_PERIOD:1]
[ATTACK:PUNCH:BODYPART:BY_TYPE:GRASP]
[ATTACK_SKILL:GRASP_STRIKE]
[ATTACK_VERB:touch:touches]
[ATTACK_CONTACT_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_PENETRATION_PERC:100]
[ATTACK_FLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK_PRIORITY:MAIN]
[SPECIALATTACK_INJECT_EXTRACT:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:POISON:LIQUID:100:100]
</pre></div>

then copy this into entity_default.txt to play as the Blood God Incarnate in adventure mode. Don't worry, they won't appear in fortress mode or worldgen... yet.

<div style="height:200px; overflow:scroll;"><pre>
[ENTITY:CHEATER]
[ADVENTURE_TIER:4]
[INDIV_CONTROLLABLE]
[CREATURE:ARMOK]
</pre></div>

Original creature design taken from GenericOverusedName on the Bay12 Forums. ([http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=45820.45 Source])

[[Category:Lore]]
[[Category:World]]

v0.34:Mount

2012-12-30T00:44:31Z

GibMoniPls: Fixed some small grammatical errors.

{{quality|Exceptional|03:22, 2 June 2012 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

Enemies in [[siege]]s will often come mounted on other [[creature]]s, their '''mounts'''. These mounts can not only add to the attacks of those mounted on them, but also give their riders more battle ability: their mounts might be able to [[fly]], might be [[building destroyer]]s, they might be faster and fleeter than the creature would regularly be on foot, or they might just be plain scary in combat.

Mounts can arrive in one of three forms: as individual rides for a squad [[captain]], with whole [[squad]]s mounted on them, or as rider-less squads, that is, ordinary creatures under control of the attacking army. Some mounts, such as [[giant bat]]s or [[giant cave swallow]]s, possess the ability to fly, pathing over whatever walls and traps you have set up for them. This can lead to a great deal of [[Fun]] if you do not have sufficient marksdwarves to deal with them. However, mounted squads tend to come with mixed mounts, all of which must be capable of flight in order for the besiegers to attack from the skies. This means that if a squad of bat-riders has a single [[giant rat]] in it, the squad will behave like any other land unit. Some siegers also come on amphibious mounts, such as [[cave crocodile]]s and [[giant toad]]s. Humorously, these units will disregard their rider's inability to breathe underwater or [[swimmer|swim]], and reports of amphibious mounts pathing into [[moat]]s or [[river]]s, only to have their goblin riders drown, are fairly common.

There are three types of mounts: ordinary [MOUNT]s, ridden by [[Human]]s; above-ground (or "good") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Elf|Elves]]; and underground (or "evil") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Goblin]]s. As of the current version, [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] cannot train or ride mounts. There are many animals that have [MOUNT] or [MOUNT_EXOTIC] in their raw files, but below are the most commonly found when an army besieges your fortress.

* Goblin sieges have been known to ride [[elk bird]]s, [[giant cave swallow]]s, [[giant olm]]s, [[giant bat]]s,[[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave crocodile]]s, [[rutherer]]s, [[jabberer]]s, [[blind cave bear]]s, and [[voracious cave crawler]]s. [[Cave dragon]]s and [[troll]]s can also appear riderless alongside their sieges. These are usually the only sieges where you need to worry about enemies flying into your fortress from above.

* Elves prefer arriving on foot, but when they do ride mounts, they usually use the dreaded [[unicorn]]. It is theoretically possible for them to arrive riding any exotic land animal, such as [[elephant]]s, [[tiger]]s, [[unicorn]]s, or even [[giant mantis]]es. Because of this, be prepared for flying enemies when elves besiege your fortress.

* Human sieges will come riding [[camel]]s (of both varieties), [[horse]]s, and [[grizzly bear]]s, in addition to bringing along squads of trained war animals, like [[giant cheetah]]s.

Beyond acting like a force multiplier, dead mounts can be butchered after the battle to feed your meat industry. A squad of cave dragons that is killed and hauled back inside your fort will produce a ''lot'' of meat products, making mounted sieges convenient food resupplies, if you are prepared to handle them that is. Note that goblins only have a single animal trainer, their general; if he falls (or, because of a bug, leaves the map), you will never see mounted goblin units again.

{{Category|Fortress mode}}

v0.34:Green devourer

2012-12-29T22:46:04Z

GibMoniPls: fixing grammar mistakes.

{{quality|Fine|19:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|meat=13
|fat=9
|heart=1
|intestine=1
|brain=1
|skull=1
|skin=hide
|wiki=no
|contrib=no
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

Green Devourers are underground creatures. They appear in the second and third layers. They are the size of a human, but are not especially aggressive and will generally leave your dwarves alone. However, if you do fight them, be aware that they lack many vital organs, and have no bones for you to break. Items made from the parts they DO have will have three times the normal value of most creatures', so they are a good choice for your cooks. This is a poor source of income, however, as they are missing the majority of the cook-able organs, and do not have any bones.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

v0.34:Green devourer

2012-12-29T22:39:59Z

GibMoniPls: added butchering data.

{{quality|Fine|19:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|meat=13
|fat=9
|heart=1
|intestine=1
|brain=1
|skull=1
|skin=hide
|wiki=no
|contrib=no
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

Green Devourers are underground creatures. They appear in the second and third layers. They are the size of a human, but are not especially aggressive and will generally leave your dwarves alone. However, if you do fight them, be aware that they lack many vital organs, and have no bones for you to break. Items made from the parts they DO have will have three times the normal value of most creatures', so they are a good choice for your cooks. This are a poor source of income, however, as they are missing the majority of the cook-able organs, and do not have any bones.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

v0.34:Manera

2012-12-29T22:29:13Z

GibMoniPls: added butchering data.

{{Quality|Fine|06:13, 8 July 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|bone=18
|meat=12
|fat=10
|brain=1
|lung=2
|tripe=1
|heart=1
|liver=1
|kidney=2
|spleen=1
|sweetbread=1
|intestine=1
|skin=hide
|skull=1
|contrib=no
|wiki=no
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

They can prove to be dangerous to any civilian dwarf. However even a moderately armed one should be able to dispatch it easily. Currently it does not cling to ceilings and like all non-flying creatures walks on the map normally.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

v0.34:Squid man

2012-12-29T22:03:17Z

GibMoniPls:

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{Creaturelookup/0}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

===Creature Behavior===
{{D for Dwarf}}The Squid man is considered the most sophisticated of the aquatic animalmen, as it has been known to use tools and play instruments, the clarinet being most commonly used. It has also been observed to have a strange aversion to [[sponge man|sponge men]]. More research is necessary to determine the cause of this.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

v0.34:Stupid dwarf trick

2012-12-29T21:43:48Z

GibMoniPls: /* Dwarven Labor Camp (aka Dwarkuta) */

{{quality|Fine|13:08, 22 June 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

{{D for Dwarf}}

A '''stupid dwarf trick''' is any project that requires a large amount of time and effort - often for little or no practical benefit. They exist only 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.

'''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 will sleep through <s>'''anything'''</s> Noise. Although have been known to awaken when drenched in water, only waking up due to thinking it's alcohol, making an Alarm clock 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. (Easy reminders in case you're too lazy to use notes?)

==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 <em>just right</em> 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.<br /> 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 wheel.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Anything to do with draining aquifers is very [[Fun]].

'''Usefulness:''' High. The lowly windmill pales in utility compared to a waterwheel.

==Archaeological Excavation==
A Fortress in the Caverns, built by the first dwarf tribes. Build the Fortress however you see fit for those prehistoric Dwarves (i.e. 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:''' Not applicable.

*Bonus: A Museum detailing the lives of those early dwarves

==Artificial 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==
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, connect to magma (using a fortification in the channel to stop those annoying fireproof creatures from sneaking in), and continue manufacturing useless crap even as the world crumbles around you!
* 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 sludges 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 cauterizing the main one and closes and cauterizes 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.

==Bolt Splitting Operation==
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 modification 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.

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

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate. While there are certainly [[Exploit#Infinite_Adamantine_.2F_Metals|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 manically

'''Difficulty:''' Low

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

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

==Bridge-a-pult==
A bridge that opens outwards, to fling enemies away. Ideally, they land in a very nasty place.

'''Difficulty:''' The hard part is the nasty place they get flung to.

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

==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. <br />
*Bonus: Build a control center to control the water flow. <br />
*Bonus: Draw your entire energy from a power station within. <br />
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use screw pumps and another dam to replace the water with magma.

==[[Danger room|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''': High. Trains combat skills very quickly, assuming you don't kill anyone.

'''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).
*MegaDwarfBonus: 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. 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, and socializing should keep them happy. Note that the children will no longer be able to perform certain useful tasks like crop harvesting and deconstruction, and will not level up their skill in various 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 (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:''' Low. Think of the children, they will grow up and enter adult Dwarf life completely unprepared for the [[Fun|things]] [[Dragon|that]] [[Hell|await]] them, having spent their entire lives coddled in a safe room. They might make good nobles however.

==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.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium, potentially fortress-saving

*Bonus: Train all dogs inside as war dogs when they mature.
*DwarfBonus: Make it a bear trap.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Combine with a drowning chamber and carp trap.
*SadisticDwarfBonus: Make it a [[giant badger]] trap.
*YouHorribleEvilDwarfBonus: Make it a drowning trap with a [[giant sponge]].
*SomeDwarvesJustWantToWatchThe‼World‼Bonus: Make it a magma chamber with an undead giant sponge.
*SuperMegaArmokBonus: Edit the raws and give the Undead Giant Sponge arms and an adamantine sword!
*HyperUltraDragonArmokBonus:Edit the raws and make the giant sponge 20x bigger than it is now ''and'' arms and an adamantine sword!

==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. See [[drowning chamber]].

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

==[[Computing|Dwarfputer]] Complex==
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 and architects will level up very fast. Manual pumps give something for your haulers to do<s> and makes them stronger</s> (in 31.25 only military work increases stats, i was really disappointed after 4 years of nonstop pumping only to see weak in urist description). 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 enter your computer.

==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 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.
*MegaDwarfBonus: 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

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

*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 demons 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 Dwarkuta)==
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:''' None except pretty colored barrels

==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.

==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 lot of luck - a dragon 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:''' The dragon Will quickly deal with any sieges and megabeasts (aside from [[titan]]s), though it will also set the hillside on fire. Also, any protective bridges in front of the fortifications will melt under sustained fire, leaving you with a bunker that ''nobody'' can safely approach; building the bridges (and mechanisms) from [[adamantine]] (or [[raw adamantine]]) will make them last longer, but '''not''' forever. Additionally, a skilled enemy archer could easily kill your dragon with a lucky shot.

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

==Flood the World==
'''Difficulty:''' High danger. Will kill your frame rate.

'''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==
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.

'''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).

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

==Glass Ceiling==
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 glass 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)

*PoliticallyIncorrectDwarfBonus: Make it a metaphorical [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling glass ceiling] and give migrants and women less pay and poorer rooms.

==Greenhouse==
A [[farming|greenhouse]] is just a farm with the 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.

==Hammer of [[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

==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.

==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 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:''' 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]]!
*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!

==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.
*Bonus: 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].

==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.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=33837.0 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 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 the exact 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

==Mass Cage Recycling System==

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==
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.

==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.

==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.

==Never Ending Shower==
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. It cleans them and gives them pretty thoughts 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!

==[[Obsidian]] factory==
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 ''and'' a drowning chamber.

* 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.

==Pressure Washer==
A huge tower with floodgates at the bottom on one side. When opened, the pressurized water fires out and pushes anything in the way of the flow away. 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 Magma doesn't pressurize).

==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!

==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 seiges 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 seigers 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 seigers 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.

==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]].

==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]].

==Shark Catcher==
Capture of sharks or other dangerous fish achieved by making an artificial bay, filling it with 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.

==[[Swimming]] pool==
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.

==Underground Forest==
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 than 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:
*U.R.I.S.T. - '''U'''nderground '''R'''easonably '''I'''ntelligent '''S'''ettlement '''T'''echnologist
*H.A.L. - '''H'''airy '''A'''lternate '''L'''ifeform
*D.O.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*N.O.B.L.E. - '''N'''arcissistic '''O'''bnoxious '''B'''oastful '''L'''aughable '''E'''xcrement
*M.A.G.M.A. - '''M'''assively '''A'''lcoholic '''G'''ear-'''M'''achine '''A'''ssembly
*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
*D.I.E.D. - '''D'''edicated '''I'''rrigation and '''E'''verything else '''D'''warf(s)
*D.O.R.F. - '''D'''oes '''O'''rders '''R'''ather '''F'''ast
*G.L.A.D.O.S. - '''G'''enetic '''L'''ifeform and '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*P.O.T.A.T.O. - '''P'''ossibly '''O'''rganic '''T'''echnically '''A'''live '''T'''rash '''O'''mitted
*D.O.M.E.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perated '''M'''echanics and '''E'''ngineering '''S'''ystem
*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)
*C.A.T. - '''C'''reepy '''A'''utonomous '''T'''echnology
*D.W.A.R.F. - '''D'''rains '''W'''ater '''A'''nd '''R'''ecruits '''F'''armers
*D.E.E.P.E.R. - '''D'''warf of '''E'''ngineering the '''E'''ldritch and '''P'''ractical '''E'''xploitation of '''R'''esources''


'''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.)

===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==
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.

==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.

==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 Marksmen handy!

'''Usefullness:''' N/A.

*Bonus: Pave the roads between houses.
*HumanBonus: Dig a moat around your castle.
*MegaHumanBonus: Fill the moat with lava.
{{Category|Design}}

v0.34:Mount

2012-12-23T03:45:33Z

GibMoniPls: Organized rider information into one section, added new info but mainly moved around the existing stuff.

{{quality|Exceptional|03:22, 2 June 2012 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

Enemies in [[siege]]s will often come mounted on other [[creature]]s, their '''mounts'''. These mounts can not only add to the attacks of those mounted on them, but also give their riders more battle ability: their mounts might be able to [[fly]], might be [[building destroyer]]s, they might be faster and fleeter than the creature would regularly be on foot, or they might just be plain scary in combat.

Mounts can arrive in one of three forms: as individual rides for a squad [[captain]], with whole [[squad]]s mounted on them, or as rider-less squads, that is, ordinary creatures under control of the attacking army. Some mounts, such as [[giant bat]]s or [[giant cave swallow]]s, possess the ability to fly, pathing over whatever walls and traps you have set up for them. This can lead to a great deal of [[Fun]] if you do not have sufficient marksdwarves to deal with them. However, mounted squads tend to come with mixed mounts, all of which must be capable of flight in order for the besiegers to attack from the skies. This means that if a squad of bat-riders has a single [[elk bird]] in it, the squad will behave like any other land unit. Some siegers also come on amphibious mounts, such as [[cave crocodile]]s and [[giant toad]]s. Humorously, these units will disregard their rider's inability to breathe underwater or [[swimmer|swim]], and reports of amphibious mounts pathing into [[moat]]s or [[river]]s, only to have their goblin riders drown, are fairly common.

There are three types of mounts: ordinary [MOUNT]s, ridden by [[Human]]s; above-ground (or "good") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Elf|Elves]]; and underground (or "evil") [MOUNT_EXOTIC]s, ridden by [[Goblin]]s. As of the current version, [[Dwarf|Dwarves]] cannot train or ride mounts. There are many animals that have [MOUNT] or [MOUNT_EXOTIC] in their raw files, but below are the most commonly found when an army besieges your fortress.

* Goblin sieges have been known to ride [[elk bird]]s, [[giant cave swallow]]s, [[giant olm]]s, [[giant bat]]s, and [[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave crocodile]]s, [[rutherer]]s, [[jabberer]]s, [[blind cave bear]]s, and [[voracious cave crawler]]s. [[Cave dragon]]s and [[troll]]s can also appear riderless alongside their sieges. These are usually the only sieges where you need to worry about enemies flying into your fortress from above.

* Elves prefer arriving on foot, but when they do ride mounts, they usually use the dreaded [[unicorn]], although it is theoretically possible for them to arrive riding any exotic land animal, such as [[elephant]]s, [[giant hamster]]s, or [[giant mantis]]es. Because of this, be prepared for flying enemies when elves besiege your fortress.

* Human seiges will come riding [[camel]]s (of both varieties), [[horse]]s, and [[grizzly bear]]s, in addition to bringing along squads of trained war animals, like [[giant cheetah]]s.

Beyond acting like a force multiplier, dead mounts can be butchered after the battle to feed your meat industry. A squad of cave dragons that is killed and hauled back inside your fort will produce a ''lot'' of meat products, making mounted sieges convenient food resupplies, if you are prepared to handle them that is. Note that goblins only have a single animal trainer, their general; if he falls (or, because of a bug, leaves the map), you will never see mounted goblin units again.

{{Category|Fortress mode}}

v0.34:Foul blendec

2012-12-23T02:51:53Z

GibMoniPls:

{{quality|Fine|19:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|contrib=no
|bone=24
|meat=18
|fat=14
|lung=2
|heart=1
|horn=2
|hoof=2
|intestine=1
|liver=1
|tripe=1
|sweetbread=1
|spleen=1
|kidney=2
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|skin=hide
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{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Foul Blendecs''' are the [[Surroundings#Evil|evil]] counterparts of [[Satyr]]s. Blendecs can be dangerous if encountered by the unprepared - they travel in packs, actively attack nearby targets, and are the same [[size]] as a dwarf. Blendecs have a slight advantage over many other creatures by virtue of their eyelessness - they can see just fine, and it's impossible to take that away from them. Fortunately, they're relatively rare, and only show up in certain evil [[forest]]s.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}