Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Goo

2025-10-25T15:56:47Z

PLMMJ: Created as redirect.

#REDIRECT [[Blood]]

Fire man

2025-10-09T04:33:24Z

PLMMJ: More references!

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'''Fire men''' are exceptionally rare [[construct creature]]s made of [[fire]], found in the [[magma sea]]. They stand at the size of a [[human]], feel no emotion, [[No Exert|no exertion]], don't need to breathe, are [[No Pain|immune to pain]] and [[No Stun|cannot be stunned]]. When a fire man is killed, it leaves behind a [[bar]] of [[ash]] which can be made into [[lye]] or [[potash]]. Because they live in the magma sea and are [[building destroyer]]s, one should be cautious when setting up [[magma forge]]s in the event one of them actually shows up. Despite being made of fire, they can be safely captured and stored in wooden [[cage]]s and are unharmed by touching [[water]]. Fire men are immortal and only die from violence.

Fire men are only dangerous because of their natural heat and fire attacks (a fireball throw and a fire jet throw.) Their punches and kicks are harmless on their own, and their flame body is extremely fragile, so don't be surprised if a baby punches a fire man to death. However, actually killing a fire man can be quite [[fun]], as the resulting burst of flame tends to set nearby creatures on fire.

Some [[dwarves]] [[Preferences|like]] fire men for their ''licks of fire''.

[[File:Man-on-fire.jpg|thumb|center|300px|[[preference|Admired]] for their ''licks of fire''.]]

{{Translation| dwarven = ziril udos | elvish = inira onino | goblin = zedan ngorûg | human = usmok abo}}

{{D for Dwarf}}


Make sure you remove any books from your possession when facing a Fire Man in adventure mode. Sighting a book will send the Fire Man into a murderous rage!


Fire men tend to be obsessed with a distorted view of justice, mercilessly attacking those they view as evildoers.


Very rarely, unconscious humans have been known to transform into special types of fire men. These are indestructible, blindly aggressive and can only be controlled by outside sources.

== In real life ==

"Fire man", also spelled "fireman", is an archaic English term for a firefighter. In real life, they are not made of fire{{Verify}}, and in fact tend to quell it rather than spread it.

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{{Creatures}}

Blizzard man

2025-10-09T04:29:31Z

PLMMJ: MM6 Blizzard Man

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'''Blizzard men''' are a species of intelligent and very rare [[creature]] found in [[evil]]-aligned [[tundra]]s and [[glacier]]s, who spawn one at a time. Weighing more than a [[troll]], these beasts are aggressive and will attack any [[dwarf]] who approaches them with punches, kicks, scratches and bites, and should be disposed of with an equipped [[military]] squad or [[trap]]s. Despite being named in a similar fashion, they do not share many characteristics with [[construct creature]]s like the subterranean [[gabbro man]] or [[fire man]]. Killing a blizzard man in [[adventurer mode]] grants more experience than other normal creatures.

Despite what their description may imply, blizzard men are not made of ice, instead being made of normal flesh. However, a note on their raw files states [[Main:Toady One|Toady One]] plans to make them be made out of ice in a future update. Blizzard men possess the {{token|NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT}} token, meaning that their limbs do not need to be connected to a brain in order to function (they do not have brains). Due to the aforementioned intelligence, dwarves will not [[butcher]], eat or use products made from blizzard men, limiting their use to occupying space in your [[refuse]] [[stockpile]], [[live training]] or putting them somewhere of your liking if you capture one in a [[cage]] trap.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] blizzard men for their ''translucent skin'', their ''icicle teeth'', their ''glowing red eyes'' and their ''pointy ears''.

{{Translation| dwarven = zolak udos | elvish = ethela onino | goblin = xodu ngorûg | human = rismal abo}}
[[File:BlizzardMan.jpg|thumb|300px|center|A blizzard man, drawn in crayon by [[Main:Bay 12 Games|Bay 12 Games]].]]

{{D for Dwarf}}

It has been posited that the best way to keep blizzard men out of the fortress is with an exceptionally large [[wall]].


Blizzard men are often though to roll into spheres to attack, though this behavior has never been seen before. It is unknown how this idea came to be.
==Trivia==
*[[File:blizzard_men_sprites.png|right]]Initially, the premium version had a graphic for a child blizzard man sprite. It was later removed from the game, because blizzard men are adults at birth.
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{{Category|Humanoids}}

Stupid dwarf trick

2025-10-02T06:44:40Z

PLMMJ: /* Anthill */ Added colons.

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{{D for Dwarf}}

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

==Adventure mode fortress==


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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

==Altar of Armok==

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

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

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

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

==Anthill==
Build your fortresses hallways and rooms on the same Z-axis. Building rooms with depth is fine, as long as their west/east walls are on the same Z-coordinate. All the walls on the Z-coordinate should be glass. Hollow out the opposite section so that the area beside the glass is empty. Build viewing platforms in the hollowed-out space.
'''Difficulty''' High. The limited space is a huge restraint, and caverns are a huge issue.

'''Usefulness''' Very low, although intruders can be forced to climb the viewing area to enter, letting marksdwarves pick them off easily through fortifications.

*MirrorBonus: Instead of a viewing area, build a perfect replica of the fort.
*SuperDwarfGalaxyBonus: Make it horizontal instead of vertical.
**MegaBonus: Build it into the magma sea.

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' High.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Bolt splitting operation==

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

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

The yellow @ at the right is a stack of marksdwarves (all in different squads so that they'll stand on the same tile) equipped with [[adamantine]] (or [[Divine metal]] if you don't have it; or [[Steel]] if you have neither) bolts, standing on top of a stairway surrounded by [[fortification]]s. The blue ☻ at the left is a single [[Attributes#Agility|Perfectly Agile]] soldier with orders to patrol up and down the line of green doors, with little delays at the top and bottom. (The doors are free-standing; they were built attached to a wall, then the wall was removed.) The "g" at the left is a goblin standing on a pillar (pitted from the z-level above).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low

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

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Hard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 4. Unleash the horde: Attack!

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

*Bonus: Use a ballista.

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

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

Step 8. Freedom!

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low to Medium

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Elephant man armor factory==
[[Elephant man]] are incredibly strong in combat — both in [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress]] and [[Adventurer mode|Adventurer]] modes. However, they can't put on normal-sized [[Armor]] — and therefore, walk around in crappy starting armor at best, naked at worst. We'll put [[Elephant man]] to make [[Armor]] — and another [[Elephant man]] for [[Clothes]].

'''Difficulty:''' Easy. Depends on amount of [[Elephant man]] spawning in the world.

'''Usefulness:''' Your [[Elephant man]] [[Military|super-soldiers]] are now properly armored. Considering their size, strength, and possibly training, they are now borderline-invulnerable. Also, you have enough armor complects for your [[Elephant man]] [[Adventurer mode|Adventurers]].

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Easy.

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

*MegaDwarfBonus: Send prisoners straight to the [[HFS]]. If some mod makes them survive, the [[Clown]]s will have their way with them. May make retrieving items difficult, however.

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

'''Difficulty:''' Easy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Ice tower==

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

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

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

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

==Journey to the Center of the Earth==

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

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

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

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

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

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

3*3 stairwell setup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Maze==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Medium.

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

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

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

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

==Magma sea colony==

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' None.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Mist generator==

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' None.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Surprisingly easy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Medium.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Negative

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

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

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

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

==Quantum Blizzard Cannon==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Bonus: include a berserk dwarf in cage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Tower of Death-Struction==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Traveling Circus ==
Travel across the world, building megaprojects like pyramids or bridges.

'''Difficulty''': The larger the world, the higher.

'''Usefulness''': ''None at all''.
* Bonus: travel around and actually release [[HFS|the circus]] on every embark. Needless to say, this is the most [[fun]] option. You may consider making sure the clowns get their share of fun, if you want your circus to happen more than once...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Low/None. As of Premium, the lunar phase is permanently affixed to the user interface, making a werewolf clock frankly redundant.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

==Zombie shooting gallery==

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

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

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

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

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

Chameleon man

2025-08-31T06:21:54Z

PLMMJ:

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'''Chameleon men''' are [[animal people]] variants of the common [[chameleon]] who can be found in [[savage]] [[tropical]] and [[desert]] regions, spawning in groups of 1-5 individuals, and are generally content to keep to themselves. In terms of size, they are a little over half the weight of the average [[dwarf]].

Like other savage animal people, they can join [[civilization]]s, become [[historical figure]]s, appear as [[visitor]]s and be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[preference|like]] chameleon men for their ''ability to change color'' and their ''eyes''.

[[File:chamelon_man.jpg|thumb|270px|center|Can blend into any environment. ''Art by Dean Spencer'']]

{{D for Dwarf}}


In adventure mode, chameleon men will occasionally set up shops inside [[Dungeon_(zone)|dungeons]], and will go berserk if their trade goods get stolen. Despite their harmless appearance, said chameleon men will always be legendary fighters when provoked.


Reports have surfaced of chameleon men with expertise in fire spontaneously turning and remaining blue.


Instances were reported when a chameleon woman would join a fort as a monster slayer, eventually claim a nest box, and lay up to 50 eggs at a time, that dwarves would cook and eat.

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Bat man

2025-08-31T05:46:34Z

PLMMJ: /* Anatomy */ Removed an errant letter

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'''Bat men''' are humanoid versions of the common [[bat]] and are one of the many [[Creature|races]] of underground tribal [[animal people]] found living in small groups on any [[cavern]] level. They may also be found on the surface living in [[savage]] biomes, though these bat men will not live in tribes and will behave like the usual mindless animal people.

Despite being labelled as hostile in the unit list, bat men initially found in the caverns will ignore your citizens unless provoked. They will usually be observed carrying wooden [[spear]]s, [[blowgun]]s and [[shield]]s, although they are sometimes seen using metal items instead. These can range from [[copper]] to [[steel]], and are presumably caused by a bug. Depending on which other subterranean creatures they have access to, their [[blowdart]]s will be covered in different [[syndrome|poisons]], which can vary from mildly annoying [[cave spider]] venom to highly [[fun|dangerous]] [[giant cave spider]] toxins. You can preemptively check for poisons by selecting a [[blowgunner]], looking in their items tab and viewing their blowdarts.

Bat men may launch [[ambush|group attacks]] on your fort. When this happens, all tribesmen on the map will become hostile, even if they were peaceful minutes prior to the invasion. They may arrive with [[pet]]s and [[mount]]s, some of which will be able to fly or easily catch up to your fleeing civilians. These invaders, unlike their above-ground counterparts, will not leave after some time has passed, even if your fort is completely sealed off from the caverns, nor will they prevent migrants, caravans or other invaders from arriving; including more waves of bat men. Because of this, several unchallenged assaults from them can quickly cause your game's FPS to drop to single-digit levels, thus making your fort completely unplayable.

Bat men can fly, meaning that they will be able to fly over your walls, or through gaps in your floors and ceilings, so plan your defenses accordingly. It can also make them marginally harder to hit than other creatures their size.

Some [[dwarves]] [[Preferences|like]] bat men for their ''haunting cries''.

== Anatomy ==

Despite what their sprites might imply, bat men do not have separate arms and wings. A bat man's arms ''are'' their wings that they use to fly. They have a thumb and three other fingers attached to the hand of each arm/wing. Unlike bats, bat men do not have tails.

{{D for Dwarf}}

''Some things to watch out for when dealing with bat men:''
*They show a preference for working individually, paired up with a different bird man of some type or with [[nightwing]]s.
*They are most likely to target the dwarf whose "comedian" attribute is at the highest level.
*They are exceptional detectives: given enough preparation time, they can defeat any foe.
*Their default identities are a secret. If you turn this off, their chasm will flood your fortress with human [[noble]]s instead.
*They can breathe in space.
*They are '''vengeance'''. They are '''the night'''.
*Their parents are DEEAAAAAAAD!!!
*Bat men '''DO NOT''' eat nachos. They prefer hotdogs instead.
*Bat men believe in the absolute sacredness of sapient life, and as such will never kill their enemies.

{{Quote|align=left|
Urist McGordon Jr.: Why's he running, Dad?

Urist McGordon: Because we have to chase him.

Urist McGordon Jr.: He didn't do anything wrong.

Urist McGordon: Because he's the hero our Fortress deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark [[champion]].
}}

Now you will know why you fear the night.

In the legendary tournament Splatterface, it is customary for fans to emit shrieking sounds for the sponsored and popular bat woman gladiator Shrieking Sounds.

Possibly due to a bug, batmen will sometimes become stuck in a constant loop of crashing into an obstacle until [[war hammer|put]] [[steel|out]] [[short sword|of]] [[death|their]] [[fun|misery]]. The screeching cries of a batman stuck in a cycle of forever stubbing their toe has been known to drive dwarves to madness, with some [[drunk|scholars]] saying that if they were able to weaponize this power, they would be able to fend off a siege of [[demon|clowns]] a hundred times over.

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Playstyle challenge

2024-11-08T09:44:23Z

PLMMJ: /* Evil Fortress */ Rewrote for grammar and added some bonuses.

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The following is a list of [[challenge]]s relating to playstyle.

==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.

*Expansion: The game is over when you die.

*BONUS: Turn off all labors for all immigrant dwarves. The worker dwarf is the only one who does anything at all!

=== Minimalist/Survivalist build===

* 1 anvil
* 1 copper ore
* 1 [[fire-safe]] block

Nothing else. From that alone, forge your axe and pick. 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 block.
* Make 3 charcoal from the wood.
* Deconstruct the wood furnace.
* Build a smelter.
* Smelt the nugget into 4 copper bars using 1 charcoal.
* Build a metalsmith's forge with 1 anvil and 1 copper bar, or deconstruct the smelter.
* Forge a pick using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
* Forge a battle axe using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
... and proceed as normal.
''(Building with ash used to be possible, so you would build the furnace with the ore ''
''and then build with an ash bar after, but not since v50)''.|Step-by-step}}

You can set the embark points as 309 (the minimum for a steel anvil and a piece of [[Tetrahedrite]]) in the [[advanced world generation]] settings to mandate this challenge. (Ironically, bringing a copper axe and pick costs less points than bringing an anvil, but that's perhaps against the spirit of this challenge.)

As an additional challenge, don't spend any points on skills.

You can make things worse for yourself by swapping the ore for a fire-safe block. Raze other civilizations, and hope that you get metals.

===NULL===

* Spend zero 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. You don't need a trade depot if ''something'' happens to a caravan that carries a pick or axe or if you are lucky with immigrants.

Deserts and glaciers are excessively dwarfy - with no plants and no water, there's no way to survive until caravans arrive (none of the starting dwarves can drink blood)... unless you retire-scum to move your "start" time to near autumn.

If you want to make things worse for yourself, you can choose not to even make a trade depot. Get your pick or axe from raiding. You can level up your [[ambush]] skills from hunting.

For either this or the above challenge, you can choose to instead use your points on [[useless crap]]. Note that most finished goods can be traded, which might go against the spirit of this challenge. It is, however, possible to embark after removing all supplies and skills, thereby having spent no points at all.

=== 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.

=== Sea Ice Challenge ===
* Embark in the middle of an [[arctic ocean]]

A challenge for the ultimate survivalist. The map contains only a thick layer of [[ice]] and a deep body of salty oceanic water underneath it, blocking your way deeper. Your only resources will be ice, wildlife drops, (possibly) fish, the resources you embark with, and the ones you manage to buy from the dwarven caravan, as nobody else will bother to come here.

You'll need to use [[DFHack]] to bypass the embark restrictions (you can uninstall it afterwards) and have [[cave-in]]s disabled in [[d_init.txt]] all the time, to prevent the ice sheet from collapsing into the water underneath.

Note that you ''can'' play on an arctic ocean biome with cave-ins enabled, but that will just turn the site into something close to a standard glacier, which is perhaps against the spirit of this challenge.

==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. Or [[Dwarven atom smasher|bridges]].
* 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.

HippieBonus: Mod in cannabis

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

Alternatively, mod the game and actually play as elves. Swapping the species tags is the easy way. Moving the civ_controllable tag is the hard way. Enjoy not being able to make anything, unless you add training axes as well.

=== Hobbiton ===
Forget about deep-delving adventures and armorsmithing. 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 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: Don't use any dwarven physics: Eg.atom smashers, perpetual motion devices.
* 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 armor 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 [[demon]]s as possible. Use siege-engines and fortifications. Remember that collapsing caves (use supports) kills everything.

*RipandTearBonus: Mod in Doomguy and/or a BFG.

===Frozen North===
Live like the Inuit! 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 away all male dwarves, kids are allowed until they grow up.
*BONUS: military use only bows and spears.
*MRA Bonus: Do the same but with women instead

Alternative: Instead of killing the males, use them as slaves and make them work for the female dwarves. Put all the females in the military, no male nobles allowed.

=== Prolife fortress ===
*Do not geld any animals. Even [[Catsplosion|cats]].
*If any gelder arrive to your fortress, kill them.
**Bonus: legendary gelders must be killed with legendary violence!

===Dwemer City-State===
In loving memory of the famous [[Losing|extincted]] race from Tamriel.
*Optional: History should be Very Short. You are the true builders of the world!
*Every dwarf should have skill in Mechanic, Smith, Engraver or Mason.
*Hide under earth as soon as possible. "The Upland" is a dangerous place full of dumb races. Go outside only due to extreme necessity.
**Bonus: Embark in dangerous region, so your "big-cruel-outside" lifestyle would make sense.
*Smooth and engrave everywhere you dig.
*Bonus: Awesome bridges between high underground towers.
*Everything you produce should be made of rock and metal, and maybe leather and cloth. Wood is only allowed for making coal. True dwemers sleep on nicely engraved cave floor.
**Optional: Use only copper, bronze and gold.
*No stone fall traps allowed. They're archaic.
*Everything that can be automated should be automated. Your dwarves deserve some comfort.
*Slowly redress all your dwarves in robes, cloaks etc.
*Optional: Catch some [[iron man | iron men]] or [[bronze colossus]]es and unleash them on everything that is not the dwarven caravan. Or on actually everything - that's easier.
**Modding bonus: Add craftable allied automatons.
*Every migrant who is not a mechanic, stoneworker, craftsman, smith, administrator/trader or medic should be marked as "Falmer". Falmers must live separately from your dwarves, you need no care of them, the only food they deserve is plump helmets, the only drink is water. Shortly, they are your slaves now. Falmers must do all the "dirty" work, like mining, operating, farming, hauling or anything you don't want your real dwarves to do. Falmers' children are Falmers too, indeed.
**Bonus: Make them live in caverns.
***Bonus: Blind them all.
****Bonus: Torture them in specially designed rooms. Torture elves there too.
*RPGbonus: Make your fortress a single-directed "corridor" dungeon with traps and caged bronze colossuses (with pressure plates connected to cages), so the future adventurers could enjoy it. The last room should be filled up with treasures.
**SuperRPGbonus: Secret passage to your treasure room right near the main entrance. It's only possible to open it from the inside.
*Optional: Get your dwarves to produce an artifact adamantine large dagger, bronze war hammer, and brass gauntlets, then put an end to your fortress by trying to use demons as an energy source.

===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 sentients 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!

===Aliens vs Predator===
Raise a civilization just to hunt [[demon]]s.
*Nothing to specify about preparation and early game.
*Your goal is to build a fortress that can produce 3 adamantine armor sets and some adamantine weapons of your choice.
*When everything is ready, find the most military skilled dwarves, give them adamantine equipment and training on your choice. They are The Hunters now.
**HINT: [[Danger room]] can be useful.
*Dig into Hell, if you haven't done it yet. Let the hunt begin!
**Bonus: Fortress should have several small corridors, so demons can [[Fun|troop round]] the hunters.
***DoubleBonus: When the hunt starts, open the main enterance to your fortress. Also make some kind of fortress-destruction mechanism connected to a lever. The last alive Hunter should pull it, so demons wouldn't reach the surface.
****Or would they?..
*Optional: If the Hunter(s) survive for a period (season, year etc.), close Hell with [[bridge]] and give the Hunters some kind of award. Also they're now supposed to be True Men.

==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?

===Orzammar===
*settle into a large mountain range.
*have your dwarves separated into different 'castes'. Each dwarf must do no more than is required of his caste, and no less. The peasants must be called 'casteless' and must have no labors activated.
*each caste is one main labor, for example: masonry is a caste, but engraving isn't and is instead included in the masonry caste. There is a farmer caste, but no cook caste. That is included in farming. Mining is a caste in itself.
*young dwarves adopt their parent's caste. Girls adopt their mother's caste, males adopt their father's caste.
*build your fortress into different districts: diamond quarter for the nobles, the commons for all the workers, and dust town for the 'casteless' dwarves.
*ORZAMMAR BONUS: build a 'proving ground' for fighting, complete with seats for all the dwarves in the city.
*build a deep road over the caverns, then break it and face the eternal wrath of the caverns.
**MEGADWARFBONUS: build the road over hell instead, and face the eternal wrath of the underworld.
***MEGAMODDERBONUS: mod in an anvil of the void, which can turn dwarves int huge golems which don't need to eat or sleep. Use them to fight off the eternal forces of demons/crundles.
*Have all dwarves who do something amazing become 'paragons' and get turned from their old caste into a member of the noble caste.
*have huge lavafalls to light up the city.
*Become the mountainhome at some point
*build a huge hall of heroes at the front gate full of statues of paragons, kings and queens.

===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 entrance to show the regime.

===Hermit/age===
* Spend points ONLY on ONE [[pick]].

A well known and popular challenge. Kill off or expel 6 of the starting dwarves and any [[immigrant]]s 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-sufficient 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 the [[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.
* Don't forget to cry "Havoc!".

===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 [[noble|infected]], sacrifice them to [[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 an 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. 
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).
 
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, (e.g. 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: [[User:Sphr/gfx set#Christmas_Special_2007]]
* Bonus: Cycle nobles frequently, use their mandates as people's wish lists.
* Bonus: Capture a male and female reindeer and begin a breeding program. Create a pen/pasture with your eight current "chosen" ones.
* 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 as 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.
BONUS: Embark in an evil region.

===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
* GAMEOFTHRONUS: Rebuild Castle Black and have everything within the castle.

===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: Don't 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 their little huts out of rock and mushroom wood.

===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!

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

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 rising 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 lifelong prison sentences. Yes, even the children. Don't ask, you are just doing your job and who are you to criticize the glorious 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
*SUPERBONUS: Have one of your dwarves escape the prison through a tunnel hidden by an engraving
*SUPERMEGABONUS: Make the escaped dwarf a legendary Bookkeeper and Stonecrafter.

=== 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 are 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.
*BONUS '''Dwarven Aztecs''': Dwarves can only wear cat leather products (Yes, even armor) and the military can only use weapons up to steel metal.
**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 (i.e. [[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 Armok!

* 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 of Venice, down to 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 sure one of the founding dwarves survives, after possibly killing every other founder, so you must fight the berserk HoardLord to get the 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 the "all dwarves harvest" standing [[order]] enabled), 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.

===Live Artillery===
*Build a fortress
*Retire or abandon it, with plenty of pits left open/cage traps left lying around/ other traps
*Go into adventure mode, find a creature with a ranged attack, chop at its limbs without killing it.
*Before or after this, drag or lure it into the fortress pit/trap.
*Reclaim the fortress. Use the new live artillery piece to great effect.
*Repeat.
**Bonus: only megabeasts will do as artillery pieces.

===Wood-free challenge===
Simple: your dwarves cannot harvest or use [[wood]], or any wooden items. Non-artifact [[bed]]s are out, which will significantly reduce the happiness of your dwarves. Without charcoal, your furnaces will need to depend upon coal or magma--don't forget to bring a bar of coke to jumpstart your industry if you're using coal. You'll need to brew your alcohol on site using stone pots (to avoid buying wooden barrels on embark). Without [[windmill]]s and [[waterwheel]]s (and [[axle]]s), powered machinery is not possible. A fair number of [[strange mood]]s will prove impossible to complete without wood; you'll need to be ready to deal with the consequences. [[Noble]]s will be particularly problematic since their demands for a bedroom will have to be ignored.

===Evil Fortress===
Create an evil, hidden fortress where everyone will wonder what's going on inside, but won't know.
*Make everything underground, nothing can be built in plain view of the surface lest they figure out what's going on underground.
*You may only export weapons.
*At least half of the population must be in the military.
*Dwarves start off with picks, weapons, food and one type of seed.
*Dwarves must be trained in a weapon skill on embark.
*Create death chambers and have a strict prison policy.
*Make sure to sacrifice dwarves to Armok.
*Bonus: Remember, Armok loves magma.
*FunBonus: Conduct "experiments" on the denizens of the HFS.

===Fort Uriststrad===
Styled off of the many fortresses that dot the landscape of Skyrim.
*Embark on a cold or freezing biome
*The fort must be styled like a medieval castle, aboveground and near a river with roads going from one side of the map to another
*There must also be a gate and towers on the perimeter of the fort.
*Train up your dwarves, or assign military skills at embark. The dwarf with the best skills will be your "chief"
*Should a dwarf gain better military skills than the chief, he will be appointed the chief and your current chief can either do a battle to the death or step down.
*Have a trade outpost, but kill all non-dwarven factions. Same with any non-dwarven sentients that come within your fort's reach. Migrants and Caravans are to be considered as other bandit tribes wishing to join/trade with your bandit empire.
*Most dwarves should either be proficient bowmen or one-handed weapons with a shield.
*All non-combat dwarves are considered prisoners and work in a lower part of the dungeon
*BONUS: Initiate a human siege
**MEGABONUS: If the fort falls to a siege, come back in adventure mode and kill all the occupants + steal their stuff.

===Rage against the Heavens [MAJOR Spoilers]===
Those pesky gods keep bring demons into the world to lead those stupid goblins. It is time to show them who's really boss.
* In [[fortress mode]], successfully colonize [[Hell]]. Retire the fortress.
* In [[adventurer mode]], clear a [[vault]]. Bring all [[divine metal]] items and the artifact slab found in the vault back to your fortress. Retire the adventurer.
* Un-retire the fortress. Melt down all the divine metal, and construct a monument in Hell out of it.
* Place the artifact slab in the center of the monument.
* [[cave-in|Drop]] the entire monument into an eerie pit.
* Profit.

==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 are to be [[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]

===Glacier Challenge===
* Embark on glacier
* No trading allowed
* Plundering death merchants forbidden, basically just ignore them
** BONUS: Bring no wood

Play as an expedition team that landed on a glacier after a horrible accident and is completely cut off from the rest of the world. They must find water for food and underground trees for basic needs.
Suggested embark equipment: some wood, lots of food & drink, multiple mining dwarves to reach the caves fast.

===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.

===<s>Preposterous</s> 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 fortresses
* 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 armor 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.(Preferably the Elven diplomat, when he tries to set your tree limit.)
* 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). Parties following combat are acceptable.
* Building city walls is considered weak and cowardly.
* Under no circumstances is a male dwarf ever to wear a shirt. Togas are acceptable during leave.
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 are historically inaccurate. For a more "realistic dwarven Sparta", try reading the Wikipedia article on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta#Society Spartan society], and see Bret Devereaux's series [https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/ This. Isn't. Sparta].

===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 acquainted 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 fortress but none of them actually KNOWS the others 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)

-Fortress 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 UNCONSCIOUS 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 achieved by one criteria only: at the death of the fortress 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 workshops 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
** Super Bonus - include clothes
** Utterly Dwarfy bonus - Mod the game so that the dwarves can all wear obsidian clothes.

=== Insane Asylum within a Labor Camp ===

Build up a large area that contains small rooms with nothing in them. Have the area heavily guarded. When any dwarves are idle for too long or do something you don't like, place them in one room. Outside each room, place racks of high-quality weapons and armor. When the imprisoned dwarves go insane and there are enough to badly damage your fortress, let them all loose. Watch the [[Fun]].

Bonus: Rig up traps so when other dwarves rush into combat, the area becomes filled with deadly creatures and traps.

===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 "beehive" -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 against 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, or for that matter anything besides 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.
*BONUS: Create an underclass of dwarves who do not fulfil these criteria. Make them dedicated haulers who serve the überdwarves.
**MEGABONUS : Call those "Last Men"

===<s>Dwarf</s> Vampire Fortress===
Do you ever get tired of having to endure the annoying, slow, and difficult process of finding that murderous [[vampire]] that is wandering around in your fortress? We have the solution!
Think: If everybody is a vampire, then you'll never need to check for any. You can use this principle to turn every single dwarf in your fortress into a vampire, meaning that you will never have to worry about finding vampires again! On top of this, your new vamps will never need to eat, drink or sleep, and will never die of old age!
Here's how:
#Build an upright spear trap, fill the tile with water, and have an existing vampire walk over it (or otherwise dropping the vampire in the trap).
#Pull the lever <s>over 9000 times</s> a few times to make the vampire bleed <s>to death</s> in the water.
#Forbid the booze supply or otherwise make it unusable.
#Make all of your non-vampiric dwarves drink from the bloodied water, and boom! You have a fortress full of vampires!

*BONUS : Should your fortress fall, go to your fortress in Adventure Mode and drink from the bloodied water.
**MEGABONUS : Do the above and follow one of the vampires to another settlement.

(We are not responsible for any damages caused to your fortress due to the disadvantages of this challenge. Disadvantages include, but are not limited to, severe unhappiness of your dwarves due to being unable to get happy [[thoughts]] from quality food and drink, getting ''un''happy thoughts from alcohol withdrawal they can't satisfy, and/or the death of dwarves because <s>lazy slackers</s> dwarves nearly always choose to sleep before drinking and thus getting fed on by your newly cursed lieges. The same fate can befall new migrants, beware.)

===We are Anonymous===

We are Anonymous, unseen and undetected, you were expelled from the mountain home with few supplies, you must leave no evidence of your continued existence.

* Do not harvest any trees or plants
* Your entrance must be sealed off immediately after getting all your supplies inside
**BONUS : Use cave-ins to seal the entrance
***MEGABONUS : Do it without losing a dwarf
****MAGMABONUS : Flood the world with magma to hide your entrance
* All Farming and tree cutting must go on inside
* Do not use a river, only use aquifer water
* Seal off all entrances to the caverns

===Cargo Cult===

* Don't build any workshops or farms (with a possible exception for [[still]]).
** Bonus: Disable all labors and live solely on imported goods.
* Build your whole fortress around a [[trade depot]]. Train your [[building designer]] to build a really good trade depot eventually.
* "Summon" caravans at the beginning of each season by performing rituals around trade depot: order your dwarves to drag pack animals back and forth and militia to parade along them.
* Build shrines in the names of [[outpost liaison]] and foreign diplomats.

===Yirkish fort===

* Real elartians hate nature. Burn forests, kill animals and drain fish ponds.
** BONUS: Real elartians hate other species. No pets, no caravans!
*** MEGABONUS: Real elartians are squeamish about making wooden things. Drop the logs in magma. As a last resort, make some charcoal.

* Real elartians not wear clothes, but only wear pouch. Take all the clothes off your dwarves, you can only wear a quiver, flask and backpack.
** Reduced difficulty: Doorfs aren't exactly elartics, they don't have natural shells. So you can wear armor but not leather, only bone and metal.

* The children of elarthk don't live off the adults, they're fighting a war to survive for the right to grow up. Lock the kids in a miasma dumpster. Dump them in water and plump helmet. Only those who have fallen into the tantrum and killed a few, or those who have fallen into a strange mood, should be released.
** BONUS: Add traps in there for even more race cleaning.
*** MEGABONUS: Through DFhack, make the corpses of the dwarves edible. And feed the adult fortress with the corpses of unlucky children.
**** ULTRABONUS: Feed the adults ONLY the corpses of children.

* Real elartians eat corpses, so no graveyards or tombs.
* All you can farm is a plump helmet to feed your kids. Adults should only eat meat. Other underground plants are for alcohol only.

* Real elartians don't make beds, they sleep on chests and boxes. Make a dormitory right in the warehouse.
* Real elartians hate the gods and dream of killing them. Don't build temples. Intentionally dig into [[Demon|HFS]]. Run raids on angels.
* ULTRABONUS: If the fortress survives, send a mechanic with one crossbow and a quiver of bolts to raid on humans. The Dwarves need their own Yirk. Or you could start as adventurer Yirk.

===The Combine===

*During embark choose biggest embark location size you can get. Remember that you can use U, M, K, and H to resize the embark location.

*Build the fortress on surface in anyway or shape you like.

*When you have decent size fortress population (50 to 100) stop any dwarf reproduction, divide male dwarves into two groups - workers and military. All females by default in worker groups.
Workers have all jobs enabled.

*Strip and throw away anything your dwarves don't need in their line of work and survival. That means valuables, personal belongings etc.
**BONUS: After that any worker dwarf that has valuables or belongings is executed on spot. Valuables or belongings of military dwarves just thrown away. Only Expedition Leader can have limited amount of personal belongings and valuables.

*Recreation is prohibited. Expedition Leader has limited access to recreation.

*From this point forward your goal is to secure everything that is useful to your survival and throw away everything that is not. But first you have to expand your fortress on surface, build walls around your fortress, have guard posts around edges.
**BONUS: Anything you secure you have to use immediately - no stockpiling. Unless it's weapons, ammo, armor, tools, medicine and food.

*Any crime is dealt with by capital punishment.
**BONUS: Divide your workers into several burrows and have them moved from one burrow to another at regular intervals.
***MEGABONUS: Dwarf reproduction is a crime. Any result form that is destroyed along with parents and their relatives.
****ULTRABONUS: Feed your workers with simple meals while military dwarves with decent or excellent meals.
*****MEGABONUS: Dead soldier = their family execution
******MAGMABONUS: Build huge citadel in the center of your fortress where all military and expedition leader will live and be dispatched.

*Do not trade with anyone but dwarves. Caravan from any other race is to be destroyed on spot.

**GENERAL BONUS: Turn anything outside of your fortress walls into barren wasteland
***GENERAL MEGABONUS: Have 10 layers 4x4 closed off pit inside your citadel - strip corpses of anything useful and throw them there. Only specific set of dwarves can be tasked with corpse disposal.

===Vault-Tec Calling===
*The world above is dangerous. Build a better future underground for your dwarves before the bombs fall.

*Embark with lead bars to create a radiation proof [[Bridge|vault door]].

*[[Animals]] are also forbidden to embark with. Any brought by migrants are to be immediately slaughtered.

*Rename your expedition leader to “overseer”.

*You have two years to trade with the outside world and build a vault underground. After this, seal up the vault door. No migrants in and nobody out.
**BONUS: Embark on a glacier. You will have to venture into the caverns below to farm and survive.

*Survive as long as you can!
**BONUS: Last at least 200 years.
***MEGABONUS: …then delve into the [[Magma sea]]. Build a massive pumpstack up to the surface. Flood the surface with lava, destroying factionalism and paving the way for your brave vault dwellers to recolonize the surface!

Playstyle challenge

2024-11-07T10:18:21Z

PLMMJ: /* Elves - The Ultimate Hippy Challenge */ Intentionally shutting a.brisge on top of someone is murder

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The following is a list of [[challenge]]s relating to playstyle.

==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.

*Expansion: The game is over when you die.

*BONUS: Turn off all labors for all immigrant dwarves. The worker dwarf is the only one who does anything at all!

=== Minimalist/Survivalist build===

* 1 anvil
* 1 copper ore
* 1 [[fire-safe]] block

Nothing else. From that alone, forge your axe and pick. 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 block.
* Make 3 charcoal from the wood.
* Deconstruct the wood furnace.
* Build a smelter.
* Smelt the nugget into 4 copper bars using 1 charcoal.
* Build a metalsmith's forge with 1 anvil and 1 copper bar, or deconstruct the smelter.
* Forge a pick using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
* Forge a battle axe using 1 copper bar and 1 charcoal.
... and proceed as normal.
''(Building with ash used to be possible, so you would build the furnace with the ore ''
''and then build with an ash bar after, but not since v50)''.|Step-by-step}}

You can set the embark points as 309 (the minimum for a steel anvil and a piece of [[Tetrahedrite]]) in the [[advanced world generation]] settings to mandate this challenge. (Ironically, bringing a copper axe and pick costs less points than bringing an anvil, but that's perhaps against the spirit of this challenge.)

As an additional challenge, don't spend any points on skills.

You can make things worse for yourself by swapping the ore for a fire-safe block. Raze other civilizations, and hope that you get metals.

===NULL===

* Spend zero 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. You don't need a trade depot if ''something'' happens to a caravan that carries a pick or axe or if you are lucky with immigrants.

Deserts and glaciers are excessively dwarfy - with no plants and no water, there's no way to survive until caravans arrive (none of the starting dwarves can drink blood)... unless you retire-scum to move your "start" time to near autumn.

If you want to make things worse for yourself, you can choose not to even make a trade depot. Get your pick or axe from raiding. You can level up your [[ambush]] skills from hunting.

For either this or the above challenge, you can choose to instead use your points on [[useless crap]]. Note that most finished goods can be traded, which might go against the spirit of this challenge. It is, however, possible to embark after removing all supplies and skills, thereby having spent no points at all.

=== 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.

=== Sea Ice Challenge ===
* Embark in the middle of an [[arctic ocean]]

A challenge for the ultimate survivalist. The map contains only a thick layer of [[ice]] and a deep body of salty oceanic water underneath it, blocking your way deeper. Your only resources will be ice, wildlife drops, (possibly) fish, the resources you embark with, and the ones you manage to buy from the dwarven caravan, as nobody else will bother to come here.

You'll need to use [[DFHack]] to bypass the embark restrictions (you can uninstall it afterwards) and have [[cave-in]]s disabled in [[d_init.txt]] all the time, to prevent the ice sheet from collapsing into the water underneath.

Note that you ''can'' play on an arctic ocean biome with cave-ins enabled, but that will just turn the site into something close to a standard glacier, which is perhaps against the spirit of this challenge.

==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. Or [[Dwarven atom smasher|bridges]].
* 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.

HippieBonus: Mod in cannabis

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

Alternatively, mod the game and actually play as elves. Swapping the species tags is the easy way. Moving the civ_controllable tag is the hard way. Enjoy not being able to make anything, unless you add training axes as well.

=== Hobbiton ===
Forget about deep-delving adventures and armorsmithing. 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 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: Don't use any dwarven physics: Eg.atom smashers, perpetual motion devices.
* 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 armor 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 [[demon]]s as possible. Use siege-engines and fortifications. Remember that collapsing caves (use supports) kills everything.

*RipandTearBonus: Mod in Doomguy and/or a BFG.

===Frozen North===
Live like the Inuit! 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 away all male dwarves, kids are allowed until they grow up.
*BONUS: military use only bows and spears.
*MRA Bonus: Do the same but with women instead

Alternative: Instead of killing the males, use them as slaves and make them work for the female dwarves. Put all the females in the military, no male nobles allowed.

=== Prolife fortress ===
*Do not geld any animals. Even [[Catsplosion|cats]].
*If any gelder arrive to your fortress, kill them.
**Bonus: legendary gelders must be killed with legendary violence!

===Dwemer City-State===
In loving memory of the famous [[Losing|extincted]] race from Tamriel.
*Optional: History should be Very Short. You are the true builders of the world!
*Every dwarf should have skill in Mechanic, Smith, Engraver or Mason.
*Hide under earth as soon as possible. "The Upland" is a dangerous place full of dumb races. Go outside only due to extreme necessity.
**Bonus: Embark in dangerous region, so your "big-cruel-outside" lifestyle would make sense.
*Smooth and engrave everywhere you dig.
*Bonus: Awesome bridges between high underground towers.
*Everything you produce should be made of rock and metal, and maybe leather and cloth. Wood is only allowed for making coal. True dwemers sleep on nicely engraved cave floor.
**Optional: Use only copper, bronze and gold.
*No stone fall traps allowed. They're archaic.
*Everything that can be automated should be automated. Your dwarves deserve some comfort.
*Slowly redress all your dwarves in robes, cloaks etc.
*Optional: Catch some [[iron man | iron men]] or [[bronze colossus]]es and unleash them on everything that is not the dwarven caravan. Or on actually everything - that's easier.
**Modding bonus: Add craftable allied automatons.
*Every migrant who is not a mechanic, stoneworker, craftsman, smith, administrator/trader or medic should be marked as "Falmer". Falmers must live separately from your dwarves, you need no care of them, the only food they deserve is plump helmets, the only drink is water. Shortly, they are your slaves now. Falmers must do all the "dirty" work, like mining, operating, farming, hauling or anything you don't want your real dwarves to do. Falmers' children are Falmers too, indeed.
**Bonus: Make them live in caverns.
***Bonus: Blind them all.
****Bonus: Torture them in specially designed rooms. Torture elves there too.
*RPGbonus: Make your fortress a single-directed "corridor" dungeon with traps and caged bronze colossuses (with pressure plates connected to cages), so the future adventurers could enjoy it. The last room should be filled up with treasures.
**SuperRPGbonus: Secret passage to your treasure room right near the main entrance. It's only possible to open it from the inside.
*Optional: Get your dwarves to produce an artifact adamantine large dagger, bronze war hammer, and brass gauntlets, then put an end to your fortress by trying to use demons as an energy source.

===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 sentients 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!

===Aliens vs Predator===
Raise a civilization just to hunt [[demon]]s.
*Nothing to specify about preparation and early game.
*Your goal is to build a fortress that can produce 3 adamantine armor sets and some adamantine weapons of your choice.
*When everything is ready, find the most military skilled dwarves, give them adamantine equipment and training on your choice. They are The Hunters now.
**HINT: [[Danger room]] can be useful.
*Dig into Hell, if you haven't done it yet. Let the hunt begin!
**Bonus: Fortress should have several small corridors, so demons can [[Fun|troop round]] the hunters.
***DoubleBonus: When the hunt starts, open the main enterance to your fortress. Also make some kind of fortress-destruction mechanism connected to a lever. The last alive Hunter should pull it, so demons wouldn't reach the surface.
****Or would they?..
*Optional: If the Hunter(s) survive for a period (season, year etc.), close Hell with [[bridge]] and give the Hunters some kind of award. Also they're now supposed to be True Men.

==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?

===Orzammar===
*settle into a large mountain range.
*have your dwarves separated into different 'castes'. Each dwarf must do no more than is required of his caste, and no less. The peasants must be called 'casteless' and must have no labors activated.
*each caste is one main labor, for example: masonry is a caste, but engraving isn't and is instead included in the masonry caste. There is a farmer caste, but no cook caste. That is included in farming. Mining is a caste in itself.
*young dwarves adopt their parent's caste. Girls adopt their mother's caste, males adopt their father's caste.
*build your fortress into different districts: diamond quarter for the nobles, the commons for all the workers, and dust town for the 'casteless' dwarves.
*ORZAMMAR BONUS: build a 'proving ground' for fighting, complete with seats for all the dwarves in the city.
*build a deep road over the caverns, then break it and face the eternal wrath of the caverns.
**MEGADWARFBONUS: build the road over hell instead, and face the eternal wrath of the underworld.
***MEGAMODDERBONUS: mod in an anvil of the void, which can turn dwarves int huge golems which don't need to eat or sleep. Use them to fight off the eternal forces of demons/crundles.
*Have all dwarves who do something amazing become 'paragons' and get turned from their old caste into a member of the noble caste.
*have huge lavafalls to light up the city.
*Become the mountainhome at some point
*build a huge hall of heroes at the front gate full of statues of paragons, kings and queens.

===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 entrance to show the regime.

===Hermit/age===
* Spend points ONLY on ONE [[pick]].

A well known and popular challenge. Kill off or expel 6 of the starting dwarves and any [[immigrant]]s 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-sufficient 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 the [[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.
* Don't forget to cry "Havoc!".

===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 [[noble|infected]], sacrifice them to [[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 an 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. 
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).
 
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, (e.g. 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: [[User:Sphr/gfx set#Christmas_Special_2007]]
* Bonus: Cycle nobles frequently, use their mandates as people's wish lists.
* Bonus: Capture a male and female reindeer and begin a breeding program. Create a pen/pasture with your eight current "chosen" ones.
* 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 as 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.
BONUS: Embark in an evil region.

===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
* GAMEOFTHRONUS: Rebuild Castle Black and have everything within the castle.

===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: Don't 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 their little huts out of rock and mushroom wood.

===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!

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

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 rising 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 lifelong prison sentences. Yes, even the children. Don't ask, you are just doing your job and who are you to criticize the glorious 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
*SUPERBONUS: Have one of your dwarves escape the prison through a tunnel hidden by an engraving
*SUPERMEGABONUS: Make the escaped dwarf a legendary Bookkeeper and Stonecrafter.

=== 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 are 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.
*BONUS '''Dwarven Aztecs''': Dwarves can only wear cat leather products (Yes, even armor) and the military can only use weapons up to steel metal.
**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 (i.e. [[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 Armok!

* 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 of Venice, down to 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 sure one of the founding dwarves survives, after possibly killing every other founder, so you must fight the berserk HoardLord to get the 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 the "all dwarves harvest" standing [[order]] enabled), 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.

===Live Artillery===
*Build a fortress
*Retire or abandon it, with plenty of pits left open/cage traps left lying around/ other traps
*Go into adventure mode, find a creature with a ranged attack, chop at its limbs without killing it.
*Before or after this, drag or lure it into the fortress pit/trap.
*Reclaim the fortress. Use the new live artillery piece to great effect.
*Repeat.
**Bonus: only megabeasts will do as artillery pieces.

===Wood-free challenge===
Simple: your dwarves cannot harvest or use [[wood]], or any wooden items. Non-artifact [[bed]]s are out, which will significantly reduce the happiness of your dwarves. Without charcoal, your furnaces will need to depend upon coal or magma--don't forget to bring a bar of coke to jumpstart your industry if you're using coal. You'll need to brew your alcohol on site using stone pots (to avoid buying wooden barrels on embark). Without [[windmill]]s and [[waterwheel]]s (and [[axle]]s), powered machinery is not possible. A fair number of [[strange mood]]s will prove impossible to complete without wood; you'll need to be ready to deal with the consequences. [[Noble]]s will be particularly problematic since their demands for a bedroom will have to be ignored.

===Evil Fortress===
Create an evil fort that everyone will wonder what it's all about
*make everything underground, nothing can be built in plain view of the surface
*only export can be weapons
*half the populus must be trained in the military
*dwarves start off with picks, weapons, food and one type of seed
*dwarves must be trained in a weapon skill on embark
*create deathchambers and have a strict prison policy
*make sure to sacrifice dwarves to the god Armok

===Fort Uriststrad===
Styled off of the many fortresses that dot the landscape of Skyrim.
*Embark on a cold or freezing biome
*The fort must be styled like a medieval castle, aboveground and near a river with roads going from one side of the map to another
*There must also be a gate and towers on the perimeter of the fort.
*Train up your dwarves, or assign military skills at embark. The dwarf with the best skills will be your "chief"
*Should a dwarf gain better military skills than the chief, he will be appointed the chief and your current chief can either do a battle to the death or step down.
*Have a trade outpost, but kill all non-dwarven factions. Same with any non-dwarven sentients that come within your fort's reach. Migrants and Caravans are to be considered as other bandit tribes wishing to join/trade with your bandit empire.
*Most dwarves should either be proficient bowmen or one-handed weapons with a shield.
*All non-combat dwarves are considered prisoners and work in a lower part of the dungeon
*BONUS: Initiate a human siege
**MEGABONUS: If the fort falls to a siege, come back in adventure mode and kill all the occupants + steal their stuff.

===Rage against the Heavens [MAJOR Spoilers]===
Those pesky gods keep bring demons into the world to lead those stupid goblins. It is time to show them who's really boss.
* In [[fortress mode]], successfully colonize [[Hell]]. Retire the fortress.
* In [[adventurer mode]], clear a [[vault]]. Bring all [[divine metal]] items and the artifact slab found in the vault back to your fortress. Retire the adventurer.
* Un-retire the fortress. Melt down all the divine metal, and construct a monument in Hell out of it.
* Place the artifact slab in the center of the monument.
* [[cave-in|Drop]] the entire monument into an eerie pit.
* Profit.

==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 are to be [[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]

===Glacier Challenge===
* Embark on glacier
* No trading allowed
* Plundering death merchants forbidden, basically just ignore them
** BONUS: Bring no wood

Play as an expedition team that landed on a glacier after a horrible accident and is completely cut off from the rest of the world. They must find water for food and underground trees for basic needs.
Suggested embark equipment: some wood, lots of food & drink, multiple mining dwarves to reach the caves fast.

===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.

===<s>Preposterous</s> 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 fortresses
* 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 armor 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.(Preferably the Elven diplomat, when he tries to set your tree limit.)
* 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). Parties following combat are acceptable.
* Building city walls is considered weak and cowardly.
* Under no circumstances is a male dwarf ever to wear a shirt. Togas are acceptable during leave.
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 are historically inaccurate. For a more "realistic dwarven Sparta", try reading the Wikipedia article on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta#Society Spartan society], and see Bret Devereaux's series [https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/collections-this-isnt-sparta-part-i-spartan-school/ This. Isn't. Sparta].

===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 acquainted 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 fortress but none of them actually KNOWS the others 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)

-Fortress 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 UNCONSCIOUS 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 achieved by one criteria only: at the death of the fortress 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 workshops 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
** Super Bonus - include clothes
** Utterly Dwarfy bonus - Mod the game so that the dwarves can all wear obsidian clothes.

=== Insane Asylum within a Labor Camp ===

Build up a large area that contains small rooms with nothing in them. Have the area heavily guarded. When any dwarves are idle for too long or do something you don't like, place them in one room. Outside each room, place racks of high-quality weapons and armor. When the imprisoned dwarves go insane and there are enough to badly damage your fortress, let them all loose. Watch the [[Fun]].

Bonus: Rig up traps so when other dwarves rush into combat, the area becomes filled with deadly creatures and traps.

===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 "beehive" -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 against 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, or for that matter anything besides 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.
*BONUS: Create an underclass of dwarves who do not fulfil these criteria. Make them dedicated haulers who serve the überdwarves.
**MEGABONUS : Call those "Last Men"

===<s>Dwarf</s> Vampire Fortress===
Do you ever get tired of having to endure the annoying, slow, and difficult process of finding that murderous [[vampire]] that is wandering around in your fortress? We have the solution!
Think: If everybody is a vampire, then you'll never need to check for any. You can use this principle to turn every single dwarf in your fortress into a vampire, meaning that you will never have to worry about finding vampires again! On top of this, your new vamps will never need to eat, drink or sleep, and will never die of old age!
Here's how:
#Build an upright spear trap, fill the tile with water, and have an existing vampire walk over it (or otherwise dropping the vampire in the trap).
#Pull the lever <s>over 9000 times</s> a few times to make the vampire bleed <s>to death</s> in the water.
#Forbid the booze supply or otherwise make it unusable.
#Make all of your non-vampiric dwarves drink from the bloodied water, and boom! You have a fortress full of vampires!

*BONUS : Should your fortress fall, go to your fortress in Adventure Mode and drink from the bloodied water.
**MEGABONUS : Do the above and follow one of the vampires to another settlement.

(We are not responsible for any damages caused to your fortress due to the disadvantages of this challenge. Disadvantages include, but are not limited to, severe unhappiness of your dwarves due to being unable to get happy [[thoughts]] from quality food and drink, getting ''un''happy thoughts from alcohol withdrawal they can't satisfy, and/or the death of dwarves because <s>lazy slackers</s> dwarves nearly always choose to sleep before drinking and thus getting fed on by your newly cursed lieges. The same fate can befall new migrants, beware.)

===We are Anonymous===

We are Anonymous, unseen and undetected, you were expelled from the mountain home with few supplies, you must leave no evidence of your continued existence.

* Do not harvest any trees or plants
* Your entrance must be sealed off immediately after getting all your supplies inside
**BONUS : Use cave-ins to seal the entrance
***MEGABONUS : Do it without losing a dwarf
****MAGMABONUS : Flood the world with magma to hide your entrance
* All Farming and tree cutting must go on inside
* Do not use a river, only use aquifer water
* Seal off all entrances to the caverns

===Cargo Cult===

* Don't build any workshops or farms (with a possible exception for [[still]]).
** Bonus: Disable all labors and live solely on imported goods.
* Build your whole fortress around a [[trade depot]]. Train your [[building designer]] to build a really good trade depot eventually.
* "Summon" caravans at the beginning of each season by performing rituals around trade depot: order your dwarves to drag pack animals back and forth and militia to parade along them.
* Build shrines in the names of [[outpost liaison]] and foreign diplomats.

===Yirkish fort===

* Real elartians hate nature. Burn forests, kill animals and drain fish ponds.
** BONUS: Real elartians hate other species. No pets, no caravans!
*** MEGABONUS: Real elartians are squeamish about making wooden things. Drop the logs in magma. As a last resort, make some charcoal.

* Real elartians not wear clothes, but only wear pouch. Take all the clothes off your dwarves, you can only wear a quiver, flask and backpack.
** Reduced difficulty: Doorfs aren't exactly elartics, they don't have natural shells. So you can wear armor but not leather, only bone and metal.

* The children of elarthk don't live off the adults, they're fighting a war to survive for the right to grow up. Lock the kids in a miasma dumpster. Dump them in water and plump helmet. Only those who have fallen into the tantrum and killed a few, or those who have fallen into a strange mood, should be released.
** BONUS: Add traps in there for even more race cleaning.
*** MEGABONUS: Through DFhack, make the corpses of the dwarves edible. And feed the adult fortress with the corpses of unlucky children.
**** ULTRABONUS: Feed the adults ONLY the corpses of children.

* Real elartians eat corpses, so no graveyards or tombs.
* All you can farm is a plump helmet to feed your kids. Adults should only eat meat. Other underground plants are for alcohol only.

* Real elartians don't make beds, they sleep on chests and boxes. Make a dormitory right in the warehouse.
* Real elartians hate the gods and dream of killing them. Don't build temples. Intentionally dig into [[Demon|HFS]]. Run raids on angels.
* ULTRABONUS: If the fortress survives, send a mechanic with one crossbow and a quiver of bolts to raid on humans. The Dwarves need their own Yirk. Or you could start as adventurer Yirk.

===The Combine===

*During embark choose biggest embark location size you can get. Remember that you can use U, M, K, and H to resize the embark location.

*Build the fortress on surface in anyway or shape you like.

*When you have decent size fortress population (50 to 100) stop any dwarf reproduction, divide male dwarves into two groups - workers and military. All females by default in worker groups.
Workers have all jobs enabled.

*Strip and throw away anything your dwarves don't need in their line of work and survival. That means valuables, personal belongings etc.
**BONUS: After that any worker dwarf that has valuables or belongings is executed on spot. Valuables or belongings of military dwarves just thrown away. Only Expedition Leader can have limited amount of personal belongings and valuables.

*Recreation is prohibited. Expedition Leader has limited access to recreation.

*From this point forward your goal is to secure everything that is useful to your survival and throw away everything that is not. But first you have to expand your fortress on surface, build walls around your fortress, have guard posts around edges.
**BONUS: Anything you secure you have to use immediately - no stockpiling. Unless it's weapons, ammo, armor, tools, medicine and food.

*Any crime is dealt with by capital punishment.
**BONUS: Divide your workers into several burrows and have them moved from one burrow to another at regular intervals.
***MEGABONUS: Dwarf reproduction is a crime. Any result form that is destroyed along with parents and their relatives.
****ULTRABONUS: Feed your workers with simple meals while military dwarves with decent or excellent meals.
*****MEGABONUS: Dead soldier = their family execution
******MAGMABONUS: Build huge citadel in the center of your fortress where all military and expedition leader will live and be dispatched.

*Do not trade with anyone but dwarves. Caravan from any other race is to be destroyed on spot.

**GENERAL BONUS: Turn anything outside of your fortress walls into barren wasteland
***GENERAL MEGABONUS: Have 10 layers 4x4 closed off pit inside your citadel - strip corpses of anything useful and throw them there. Only specific set of dwarves can be tasked with corpse disposal.

===Vault-Tec Calling===
*The world above is dangerous. Build a better future underground for your dwarves before the bombs fall.

*Embark with lead bars to create a radiation proof [[Bridge|vault door]].

*[[Animals]] are also forbidden to embark with. Any brought by migrants are to be immediately slaughtered.

*Rename your expedition leader to “overseer”.

*You have two years to trade with the outside world and build a vault underground. After this, seal up the vault door. No migrants in and nobody out.
**BONUS: Embark on a glacier. You will have to venture into the caverns below to farm and survive.

*Survive as long as you can!
**BONUS: Last at least 200 years.
***MEGABONUS: …then delve into the [[Magma sea]]. Build a massive pumpstack up to the surface. Flood the surface with lava, destroying factionalism and paving the way for your brave vault dwellers to recolonize the surface!

Giant beaver

2024-11-06T00:30:52Z

PLMMJ: Pun.

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=giant_beaver_sprite.png
|contrib=no
|bone=18-22
|meat=14-20
|fat=13-17
|eye=0-2
|lung=2
|heart=1
|intestine=1
|liver=1
|tripe=1
|sweetbread=1
|spleen=1
|kidney=2
|brain=1
|skull=1
|nail=0-1
|tooth=4
|skin=hide}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
'''Giant beavers''' are the [[giant animal]] variant of the common [[beaver]], found in [[savage]] [[temperate]] [[lake]]s and [[river]]s where they appear in groups of 3-10 individuals. They are roughly five times the size of a [[dwarf]], but are generally benign and content to simply meander their territory. If confronted, however, they may fight back and make quick work out of inexperienced warriors.

Giant beavers can be captured in [[cage]] [[trap]]s and [[Animal trainer|trained]] into exotic [[pet]]s, possessing the standard giant creature value. They provide plenty of [[meat]] and [[bone]]s when [[butcher]]ed, making them useful as potential livestock. Like other giant animals, giant beavers are exotic [[mount]]s.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] beavers for their ''dams'' and their ''tree-felling habits''.

==In real life==
An animal often called a 'Giant Beaver' lived in Ice Age North America. [[wikipedia:Castoroides|Castoroides]] was the size of a black bear. However, the DF Giant Beaver is much bigger than Castoroides.

[[File:giant_beaver_preview.png|thumb|330px|center|Dams it all.]]
{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

Stupid dwarf trick

2024-11-03T09:51:48Z

PLMMJ: /* Tower of Death-Struction */ Removed a couple words for the sake of mobile users

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

{{D for Dwarf}}

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

==Adventure mode fortress==


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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

==Altar of Armok==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' High.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Bolt splitting operation==

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

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

The yellow @ at the right is a stack of marksdwarves (all in different squads so that they'll stand on the same tile) equipped with [[adamantine]] (or [[Divine metal]] if you don't have it; or [[Steel]] if you have neither) bolts, standing on top of a stairway surrounded by [[fortification]]s. The blue ☻ at the left is a single [[Attributes#Agility|Perfectly Agile]] soldier with orders to patrol up and down the line of green doors, with little delays at the top and bottom. (The doors are free-standing; they were built attached to a wall, then the wall was removed.) The "g" at the left is a goblin standing on a pillar (pitted from the z-level above).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low

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

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Hard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 4. Unleash the horde: Attack!

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

*Bonus: Use a ballista.

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

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

Step 8. Freedom!

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low to Medium

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Elephant man armor factory==
[[Elephant man]] are incredibly strong in combat — both in [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress]] and [[Adventurer mode|Adventurer]] modes. However, they can't put on normal-sized [[Armor]] — and therefore, walk around in crappy starting armor at best, naked at worst. We'll put [[Elephant man]] to make [[Armor]] — and another [[Elephant man]] for [[Clothes]].

'''Difficulty:''' Easy. Depends on amount of [[Elephant man]] spawning in the world.

'''Usefulness:''' Your [[Elephant man]] [[Military|super-soldiers]] are now properly armored. Considering their size, strength, and possibly training, they are now borderline-invulnerable. Also, you have enough armor complects for your [[Elephant man]] [[Adventurer mode|Adventurers]].

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Easy.

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

*MegaDwarfBonus: Send prisoners straight to the [[HFS]]. If some mod makes them survive, the [[Clown]]s will have their way with them. May make retrieving items difficult, however.

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

'''Difficulty:''' Easy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Ice tower==

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

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

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

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

==Journey to the Center of the Earth==

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

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

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

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

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

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

3*3 stairwell setup:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Maze==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Medium.

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

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

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

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

==Magma sea colony==

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' None.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Mist generator==

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' None.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Surprisingly easy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Medium.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Negative

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

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

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

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

==Quantum Blizzard Cannon==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Bonus: include a berserk dwarf in cage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Tower of Death-Struction==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Traveling Circus ==
Travel across the world, building megaprojects like pyramids or bridges.

'''Difficulty''': The larger the world, the higher.

'''Usefulness''': ''None at all''.
* Bonus: travel around and actually release [[HFS|the circus]] on every embark. Needless to say, this is the most [[fun]] option. You may consider making sure the clowns get their share of fun, if you want your circus to happen more than once...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' Low/None. As of Premium, the lunar phase is permanently affixed to the user interface, making a werewolf clock frankly redundant.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

==Zombie shooting gallery==

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

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

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

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

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

Olm man

2024-08-25T07:17:59Z

PLMMJ: "Underworld" means something very different

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'''Olm men''' are the humanoid versions of the common [[olm]] and are one of the many [[Creature|races]] of underground tribal [[animal people]] found living on any [[cavern]] level.

Despite being labelled as hostile in the unit list, olm men initially found in the caverns will ignore your citizens unless provoked. They will usually be observed carrying wooden [[spear]]s, [[blowgun]]s and [[shield]]s, although they are sometimes seen using metal items instead. These can range from [[copper]] to [[steel]], and is presumably a bug. Depending on which other subterranean creatures they have access to, their [[blowdart]]s will be covered in different [[syndrome|poisons]], which can vary from mildly annoying [[cave spider]] venom to highly [[fun|dangerous]] [[giant cave spider]] toxins. You can preemptively check for poisons by selecting a [[blowgunner]], looking in their items tab and viewing their blowdarts.

Olm men may launch [[ambush|group attacks]] on your fort. When this happens, all tribesmen on the map will become hostile, even if they were peaceful minutes prior to the invasion. They may arrive with [[pet]]s and [[mount]]s, some of which will be able to fly or easily catch up to your fleeing civilians. These invaders, unlike their above-ground counterparts, will not leave after some time has passed, even if your fort is completely sealed off from the caverns, nor will they prevent migrants, caravans or other invaders from arriving; including more waves of olm men. Because of this, several unchallenged assaults from them can quickly cause your game's FPS to drop to single-digit levels, thus making your fort completely unplayable.

Olm men are, predictably, amphibious, meaning that they can swim through your reservoirs in order to get through your defenses, or will lie in wait to ambush your [[fisherdwarf|fisherdwarves]], so plan your defenses accordingly.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] olm men for their ''gills''.

[[File:olm_man.png|thumb|260px|center|An Olm man with wizard-like abilites! ''Art by ThisIsTheFool'']]

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Megaproject

2024-08-01T16:44:20Z

PLMMJ: /* Mountain audit/core sample */ Added ArmokBonus

{{migrated article}}
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The term '''megaproject''' refers to basically any project that takes a long time to build. See also other [[challenge]]s.

Completed megaprojects should be uploaded to the [[Utility:Dwarf Fortress Map Archive|Dwarf Fortress Map Archive]] and posted on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=11.0 Bay12 Forums]. Incredible feats of construction are usually very [[Fun|fun]], so you'll see many different (and probably similar) constructions across the wiki.

Use whatever ideas you think are ingenious. More project ideas can be found where [[stupid dwarf trick|stupid dwarves try crazy tricks]] - for some smaller-scale project ideas that still embody the dwarven spirit, see the [[style project]]s page.

===Aqueducts===
For some reason, a noble was harmlessly pulling a lever when suddenly, magma flooded the river and exploded the booze! The king requires your band of seven to build a great aqueduct to bring water to the capital. Start with supports, and build up your aqueduct until it is 10 z-levels high!

*Bonus: Start over a human town, build a wall around it, pump water through the aqueduct and into it!
*Bonus: Mod the game so you can start on the dwarven capital and actually bring about the story.
*Bonus: Once you have completed your aqueduct, embark in a slightly different location and build the next section. repeat until you've built it all the way to the capital!

Variation: On a map containing a river, completely enclose it with glass walls, and floors. Use overhead pipe sections to move the water to places more <s>convenient</s> [[Fun]].

===Biodome===
All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

No pits/underground rivers/magma vents allowed.

===Casting===
Who needs to construct giant statues?! We need ours made from natural walls, however, we want it above ground level as well. For casting your goal is to create some giant structure out of natural obsidian walls through the use of an extremely elaborate scaffold of lava and water pools and screw pumps. When you are finished, just deconstruct the scaffolding and smooth/engrave the statue as you go. Just imagine the bridge over that chasm, now complete with two giant dwarf statues on either side to strike fear into all who enter and show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.
**Bonus+: Make the statues spit blood.

===Castle===
Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. This is highly time
consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floors indoors, and no underground
constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build
a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

*Bonus: Make the entire castle out of iron.
*Bonus: Did I mention you get bonus points for building the middle tower on a support connected to a lever?
*Dwarf Bonus: Do all of the above, but build it all underground in the caverns layer.
*Highly Fun Bonus: Build it in the highly fun zone. Only use appropriate materials (eg, slade and candy).
**Megabonus: Add a moat made of magma
***Armok Bonus: Replace the moat with blood

===Ceremonial Sacrifices===
Build an amazingly complex or spectacular killing device. A shaft that extends across the entire Z-plane is a good start. A constantly shifting maze of atomsmasher drawbridges is another. For the minimalist, a very confined space where you will drop a dwarf wrestler along with the gobbos once in a while. Perhaps a waterslide that carries your prisoner all the way down into a chasm? Just cut their heart out? Whatever your idea, build it and dedicate your fort to the construction, maintenance and improvement of your device.

Do not kill any of your invaders. Capture them using cage traps, and them set them off in your device. Keep a record of the number of victims you drop into it.

BONUS: Create a statue garden to memorialize your victims, with one statue per victim. Structure your fortress such that sacrificial victims have to pass through the garden on the way to their demise.

===Computing===
Can your dwarves build the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at [[computing]].

*!!IMPOSSIBLEDWARFYBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress''.
*!!IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLEDWARFYDWARFYBONUSBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that new program to build a new computer to program a new game of ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that game inside of a game inside of a game to program another game of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

===Colosseum===
Build a pit, around it on steps lots of Thrones, make the whole thing a meeting area, train Gladiators, capture goblins, leave them their weapons and let them fight against your gladiators. If they win, let them go.

*Bonus: Build different traps in the floors to further entertain your toga-toting dwarves
*GLADIATORBONUS: Have animal cages in the floor to be released if the gladiators perform poorly
*AQUABATTLEBONUS: Rig up pumps to fill the floor of the arena
**Maximus Decimus Meridius bonus: Strip your best military commander of his ranks, murder his family and force him to fight in the arena, eventually facing and kicking in the teeth of the ruler of the fortress.

===Crematory Fortress===
* Requires a [[magma| magma pipe]] and [[bauxite]].

Build a temple structure above a [[magma|magma pipe]] and [[engraving|engrave]] every available surface. The temple should be as opulent as possible. In the temple, build a retracting [[bridge]] over a hole in the floor, and designate a [[coffin]] [[stockpile]] on it. Whenever a dwarf dies, build a [[bauxite]] or other [[magma safe|magma-proof]] [[coffin]] for him, place it on the [[bridge]], and retract it, committing his body to the [[magma|fiery blood of the mountain]].

::Note: Since coffins are unassigned and emptied when deconstructed and cannot be constructed on top of a bridge, this will not actually work. An alternative would be to place the coffins in individual chambers which can then be flooded with magma afterwards.

::: You could expose the magma pipe, build a one-tile wide floor span across it, and then above that build a support that holds up your temple floor on the z-level above. The temple floor would be separated from the walls of the temple and would be connected for walking access diagonally. The support holds it up. You would have to construct the coffins in the temple, then when someone gets buried you pull the lever attached to the support. You then rebuild the narrow span below, the temple floor, and the support, then link the lever to the new support.
::: You can do this without scaffolding if you build the temple floor access straight in, and then the span below and the support, then once the support is in place you destroy the straight temple access leaving only a diagonal temple access.

::: Another method would be simply to make a hole in your temple that goes straight down to the magma, of at least 3X3 squares, then build a floor of 2 squares long and 1 wide from the upper middle edge of the hole so that the second square is only connected to the temple by the first, then build your coffin on the second square and once your dwarf is inside deconstruct the first square leaving nothing holding the square with your coffin up and it will fall into the magma. On a side note it is best to start from the upper edge of the hole so the dwarf doing the deconstructing is a lot less likely to fall into the magma.

::: Retracting bridges work well to provide access to build the support and floor, and can then be retracted before dropping the coffin. Use a single lever to retract the bridge, then begin filling a chamber with water to trigger a pressure plate to destroy the support, dropping the coffin, and also draining the water to encase the coffin in obsidian.

===City===
Live like a human!

Build all of your buildings above ground. to make this easier, mod in a plentiful building material similar to bricks, however you want it. Make sure that your city is unplanned for that medieval look; build when you need to as close as you can to where it needs to be. As each migration wave comes you're going to need more and more buildings. Protip; you're going to need a caste of dedicated builders.

* Extra points; Emulate your favourite city.
* Combo bonus; Build your city around some other megaproject; a pyramid or giant colosseum.
* ULTRADWARF; Start in a mountainous area and hollow out the above ground city from the projecting mountains, including all four sides, thus leveling the mountain range to leave a series of *surprisingly natural* looking streets.
* Build each building (or section of one) out of the same materials or...
** Bonus: Create pixel art from the colors of the stones!
** Bonus: Try to build all freestanding structures
* Geek Reference Bonus: Build the city on the side of a mountain, using only marble, and make it look like Minas Tirith.
* Modern bonus: Have dwarves ride in minecarts from their home burrow to work burrow and then back once they finish their work.
** Bonus: Design traffic lights system, complete with carts stopping, waiting till green "light" turns on and then continuing. Stop dwarves from jaywalking and getting themselves killed in the process.
** Computing bonus: Don't build a track for every single cart, reuse tracks with pressure plates coupled with bridges, hatches and floodgates and clever usage of minecart mechanics like derailing or even water skipping.
* Bonus: Paved streets.
** Greed bonus: Streets of gold (or other high-value metal)

===Doomsday Clock===
Build a water or mechanical clock whose final state triggers the support which holds your fortress up or a megabeast out.
See how much wealth you can achieve before the clock runs out.
*Bonus: Create something that resets itself, as well as purging the map, so that you can reuse the same fortress over and over.
*Super-Bonus: Create something that involves pressure plates and a small kitten, when the pressure plates are hit in the right order, your map ends. Toss the kitten in and hope for the best. Alternatively, make the sequence quite unlikely, but add 2 kittens; breeding introduces a probability of doomsday that is a function of time (depending on the mechanisms involved)
*!!OhMySchrödingerBonus!!: Create the super-bonus above, but place the kitten on the lowest Z-level and never return to either look at it or see how many of the conditions for the doomsday device have been met. This way, the kitty mimicks Schrödinger's cat: we cannot observe the state of the kitty, but we can infer it from the state of the world (spin-pairs effectively).

===Dungeons of Doom===

Beneath your fortress, carve out an immense dungeon starting from the surface. Each dungeon floor must be filled with rectangular rooms connected by twisting one-tile passages, with an occasional wider hallway, and each floor must lead to the next by a single-tile staircase (no up/down stairs). A few floors into the dungeon, build a small fortress and designate a few quarries away from the dungeon itself. The dungeon should not be exposed to the caverns, but the caverns should be exposed to the surface to free the fun creatures. The dungeon must go down until it reaches HFS. Dump an artifact amulet inside HFS. Build puzzles and thematic branches of the dungeon as you see fit.

* Bonus: Fill the dungeon with gnomes, goblins, kobolds, and horrible monsters of all kinds. Maybe a minotaur too if you are going for that labyrinth feel.
* Mega Bonus: Litter the floors of the dungeon with artifact items (especially weapons).
* Epic Bonus: Feed the minotaur stated beforehand migrants every year.
* Cosmic Bonus: Lead the dungeon into an upright candy cane and build a Labyrinth inside HFS.
* Nerd Bonus: Build the last few levels above your fortress, and fill one with lava, one with water, one entirely empty, etc., to mimic the "[https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End_Game Endgame]" of NetHack. The uppermost one should have three temples, and if possible megabeasts that cannot escape but which an adventurer could reach...

===Dwarf like an Egyptian===
*Build a pyramid of epic proportions.

Build a legendary dwarven pyramid, with a corridor running to a central tomb for your favourite noble. Then construct lots of different [[trap]]s in it to avoid grave robbery. Perhaps build it entirely out of glass? Or try to make the top twist in a bit of a swirl. Alternatively, make your entire fortress inside a pyramid, which stretches below the ground.

*Build rows of Obelisks

* Build a double row of Obelisks before the Pyramid, and engrave the sides. Build ramps on the tops.

*Build the whole thing upside down.
** And then another one on the upside-down one.

* BONUS: Make a Sphinx out of solid gold. Solid! Nobody lives or goes inside of it. Entomb the builders in an [[unfortunate accident]] - preferably inside the sphinx - so that they can never build one for anybody else. Alternately, build a hollow Sphinx and house your nobles inside.

* When the time has come, or when your fortress is about to be destroyed by a siege or something, perform the ceremony to translate the mortal form of the noble to the underworld. Give him a ritual death, and make sure you kill his servants as well. Pile wealth into the tomb. If the tomb is built for your king make every dwarf die but one, who inters everyone into their resting place. His final act will be to pull a lever that seals the tomb as well as kills him. Then enjoy going back and reclaiming your fortress to observe your efforts.

*BONUS: Dwarf like a Sumerian and make the Pyramid a Ziggurat.

*JoJoBonus: Get a king in your fortress, then make him a vampire, nickname him <s>Dio Brando</s> DIO.

===Graveyard Master===
Every dwarf deserves a decent resting place:
*Build a tomb for every dwarf that dies (or, in the case of nobles, demands anything), the more dwarves you manage to bury the better.
*Tombs must be rooms with exactly 5x5 of size and 1 of height, with only one entrance tile that must be closed by a door.
*Tombs must have all its surfaces engraved.
*Tombs must contain at least 4 statues.
*Once complete, the door must be replaced with a wall and the tomb must not be ever entered again.

*Bonus: There must be only one male dwarf with burial labor enabled. Only his close male relatives can inherit the burial labor.
**Bonus: Ensure he is a [[vampire]], and that he is the last dwarf in your Fortress.
**Double Bonus: Ensure he is the last Dwarf in existence.
*Detail Bonus: Make the statues be of the deceased Dwarf and his or her accomplishments.
**Dwarf Bonus: Carve every tomb out of [[obsidian]].
**Extra Bonus: Make every coffin and every statue out of obsidian.
***Magma Bonus: Edit the raws and make them out of [[slade]].
*Knife Bonus: Make a mass tomb specially designed for [[elf|hippies]] that is suspended above the entrance to your fortress.
**Bonus: Fill it with hippies.
**Bonus: Carve the tomb out of water and magma.
**Bonus: Make the tomb be held in place by a single pillar so it can be dropped onto the hippies.
***Bonus: Have the tomb operate by pressure plates.
***Armok Bonus: Ensure the tomb automatically rebuilds itself once used.

===How high can you go?===
Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a ''pinnacle'' of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

===Land battleship===
Turn your mountain into a huge battle-station, complete with crew quarters, decks, command centre, cantina, and a large collection of deadly weapons : Batteries of marksdwarves, ballista cannons, catapults, boarding bridges and teams, but also lava projector or remote explosive devices (i.e. cave-ins in a part of the map triggered by a lever). Make sure it ends up looking like a real battleship, with nothing but plains surrounding it (you could build it on an actual plain, or destroy a mountain, choice is yours). The battleship has to be autonomous, and dwarves shouldn't wander outside it.

*Bonus: The weaponry covers every tile of the map (i.e., everything that enters the map can be shot)
*Bonus: Build several other ships, maybe dedicated to a specific product (food, ammo etc.)
**Bonus: Find a way to let them fight each other in a naval battle
*Bonus: Each crew member has a civil and military formation, and when the enemy arrives, stop every economic activity. All hands to quarters!
*Bonus: Build Noahs Ark: Completely out of wood, with every animal twice, as well as one dwarven family with three sons on board. Flood everything around it and let everything not on the ark die. MUAHAHAHA!!! FEAR THE WRATH OF ARMOK!!
*Mega Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water.
*MEGA Bonus: Still use wood to make the ark.

===Labyrinth===
Build or dig out an elaborate labyrinth. It should be filled with traps, periodically flooded with water and magma, and decorated to your liking. Remember, no self-respecting labyrinth is complete without a [[minotaur]] or two roaming inside.

*Bonus: Build a prison and/or execution chamber somewhere inside the labyrinth.
*Bigger Bonus: Build all the labyrinth walls out of statues and make the entire thing a statue garden.
*Mega Bonus: Make it three-dimensional.

(A labyrinth is a [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/algrithm.htm unicursal maze]: labyrinths offer no choices of path as they curve in and back on themselves to the endpoint. Mazes usually have choices of paths and therefore usually dead ends. Given how pathing will usually let sapient beings in DF avoid dead ends, a labyrinth is preferable to a traditional maze with dead ends.)

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus/ Daedalus] has many maze algorithms and tools, including for unicursal mazes (GPL, free).
A [http://www.billsgames.com/mazegenerator/ traditional maze generator] may be helpful if you somehow open the dead ends (such as with drawbridges) to attract traffic.

===Magma Sea Colony===

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

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.

===Moria===
Build a huge hall - at least 3 z-levels high. Leave few pillars symmetrically placed in the hall (don't build them, carve them out). Smooth and possibly engrave everything (not only the lowest z-level!). Then build thin bridge (not the bridge building, just a thin piece of rock to walk on) above magma or above a chasm- support it with bauxite supports connected to a lever (bauxite mechanisms needed in support). Destroy stone holding it at the both ends and replace it with floor hatches (so when you pull the lever it all goes down). After that build a bridge above the chasm.
When it's all done seal your dwarves deep inside in safe place and get invaded by goblins. At the same time dig out HFS. Lead the HFS across the both bridges and then collapse the second one when one of the champions clashes with it (it doesn't matter that the champion has killed the HFS with one hit).

Bonus: cast the walls of the hall out of obsidian using water and magma

MegaBonus: Trap [[goblin]]s and a [[megabeast]] in the various lower levels

UltraMultiverseDwarfyBonus: Build the real [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930023823if_/http://www.rpg-ash.me.uk/LotRO/moria_special_edition/moria_map.jpg Moria]

===Mountain audit/core sample===
Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

MegaBonus: Put the mountain back together.

Mr.CleanBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[soap]].

CandyFlossBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[Adamantine|candy floss]].

HeavyMetalBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[steel]].

ArmokBonus: Use adventure mode to raid multiple [[vault|candy storages]] and rebuild it out of [[divine metal|Armok's favorite stuff]].

===Project Mayhem===

*You do not talk about project Mayhem
*Build a series of towers, at least 10 z-levels high, of different size and shape. They must be supported by a series of supports linked to a lever.
*Store all your riches in the towers : crafts, precious metal bars, gems, artifacts, everything. You may also want to house your nobles on top of the towers.
*Pull the lever and watch the collapse of financial history.

Bonus: make the towers' walls out of glass!

Bonus: Make soap! And remember, elf fat is ideal...

Extra Bonus: Make one large tower, and make it collapse onto a smaller tower, filled with all your artifacts/engravings. (Essentially, you only get the extra bonus if you've read the book)

===Santa Claus===
Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

BONUS: Embark on a freezing biome.

BONUS: Make the toys out of lead.

BONUS: Not all Dwarf children are nice. Make and sell a similar amount of charcoal and/or coke for the naughty children.

SANTA BONUS: have a pump operator be trained legendary and nickname him "Santa Claus"

MEGABONUS: Modding Elves to be pets, embark with 100 of them and force them to make the toys for you.

MEGA PAIN BONUS: Make Santa Claus tame 100 gremlins and force those to make toys instead.

===Skull collector===
What proves the might of a civilization better than a hall full of skulls?
*Try to collect as many skulls as you can during your fortress life, and put them in a special skulls-only storage. The more skulls the better.

BONUS: Cover all the skulls in blood, and make the stockpile also a throne room. Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!

SUPERBONUS: Also fill the throne room with elves.

MAXIMUM BONUS: Mod the game so that you can butcher elves and have a butcher that does nothing but kill hippies all day to put their skulls in the skull shrine.

===Space Ship===
Create a giant space ship fit for space travel. It should be able to hold about 100 dwarves for at least 2 years.

*BONUS: Use exploding [[booze]] as ignitable fuel. (It doesn't actually explode. It just boils into a gas...)
*BONUS: Make a removable [[ramp]] for boarding.
*BONUS: Make the [[water]] for the 2 years be on the ship using removable pumps.
*BONUS: Bring an aquifer with you to get an infinite supply of water!
*BONUS+: Make it totally self-sufficient. (Make an internal system which pumps the [[water]] supply through a room every few years to muddy the floor. Plant [[seed]]s in the [[mud]] that's now on the floor. Manage your consumption to maintain self-sufficiency.)
*Modding BONUS: Mod the game so that merchants can fly their new wagonships into your docking bays. ''(If possible)''
*BONUS+: Make it all out of [[steel]] and [[aluminum]].
*[[fun|FUN]]: Let it be held by a single [[support]], ignite the [[booze]], remove the support an let it "fly".
*EVEN BETTER: <strike>Drop</strike> Fly it down a chasm.
*More [[fun|FUN]]: Set up a mining operation on the surface and dig into the HFS. Watch the alien creatures take over your ship and hunt down your dwarves. Form a squad of heroes to overload the booze reactor to prevent the aliens from reaching earth. (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space_%28video_game%29 Dead Space] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29 the Alien series])
*BONUS: Drop the fully-operational ship with 4 dwarves into eerie pit. Do not engrave slabs. Instead, pretend that their ghosts are an unknown gravitational effect. Survive ~25 years and then feel free to turn off cave-ins and build a flying colony. And remember, only plump helmets survived the Blight

===Slums===
Take multiple goblin, kobold, animal men and other humanoid prisoners, dump them into a neglected and shut-off zone from the rest of the fort, and force them to live there.

*BONUS: Drop golden crafts into the room of the Goblin with the most kills.
*BONUS: Give the "gangs" (Kobolds, Goblins, etc.) their own uniforms and bases.
*BONUS: Carve out streets and tiny, fully-furnished chambers into rough rock or soil for the Slumfolk to call home.

===Statue of greatness===
Build a giant statue, spanning 10-20 z-levels and make it in the shape of say, a dwarf you like or an animal you like.
* Bonus: make it in the shape of a teapot that has a working boiling system and a spout that water can come out of.
* Bonus+: Steam instead of water coming out of the spout.
* Bonus++: Magma mist instead of steam coming out of the spout.
* Bonus+++: Hydra teapot containing all of the bonuses, and it also spews miasma.

===Surveillance Track===
[[Image:Surveillance track.png|thumb|right|300px|A site-wide surveillance track]]
Build an elevated [[minecart]] track around the edges of the map, and send out civilians riding minecarts to spot ambushers and distract enemy archers.

* Bonus: Use minecart jumps to physically isolate the track from your fortress.
* Bonus: Give your minecart riders crossbows to harry enemies.
* Bonus: Make the track in a way that enemies pathfind their way directly in front of the minecart.

===Swiss Precision===
Build a working clock. The clock should accurately track DF days, months, and years.

Bonus Points:
*If the clock has a mechanical effect in the fortress proper to announce new days
*If the clock creates seasonally appropriate effects at the change of months and/or seasons.
*If the clock is used to aid in the operation of the fortress in addition to its role as a clock (automatically controls farmland irrigation at particular times, automatically opens the <s>pod bay doors</s> <s>blast doors</s> <s>floodgates</s> <s>Magma Channels</s> Gate in time for those <s>evil</s> friendly merchants, etc...).
*If the clock governs the schedule of a working rail station (which is always on time). (Definitions of 'working' and 'rail station' are subject to player imagination).
*If the clock takes measures to protect itself. ''"I can't let you do that, Urist."''

But don't worry about the bonus points, a precision time device should be hard enough.

===Temple===
Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and make fountains and rivers that run red with [[blood]].

*Bonus: Make the glass windows stained with blood.
*Bonus: Spill blood everywhere.
*AztecBonus: Make it so it's a stepped pyramid. Perform sacrifice with your [[Military|priests]] on top of the statue, preferably with [[obsidian]] short swords.
*WarhammerBonus: Also fill your temple with skulls. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !
*MagmaBonus: Decorate the temple with molten magma. Also good for sacrifices.
*Bonus: Made it out of cast obsidian and engrave everything. Cast obsidian only !
*Bonus: Add [[menacing spike]]s.
**BrutalBonus: Impale elf, goblin, and kobold corpses on the spikes.
*SuperBonus: Make it out of <s>soap</s> <s>iron</s> steel ! (At least partially since you can't engrave steel)
*SuperBonus: Make it needlessly complicated. Use lots of power and mechanisms. Magma waterfalls powered by dwarven water reactors. Fill it with devious traps and use mechanisms, levers, and power galore.
*SuperMagmaBonus: All of the above, but make it inside a volcano.
*TrueBelieverBonus: Same, but make it inside the [[magma sea]].
*ArmokFanaticBonus: Same, but make it inside [[HFS]]. Sacrifice it's denizens for Armok! Alternatively, make it inside an adamantine spire and enjoy your engraved, all-natural raw adamantine walls.

===The cube===
Play a fort as usual, but emphasize catching goblins in cages to support and fill this construction:
Construct a series of rooms in a symmetrical fashion, all connected to each other with appropriate doors. Of course, enough rooms to make a maze-like structure, and if you feel like it, an exit that is hard to reach. Fill a bunch of the rooms with traps and pressure plates. Then fill one room with 4-6 goblins (preferably in cages, opened by an outside lever), release them and watch them randomly walk around the rooms dying to traps and whatnots.

*Bonus: Do multiple storey maze (3D-maze)
*Bonus: Use pressure plates to open/close the exit randomly; otherwise, all the goblins will just follow the shortest route to the exit.
*Bonus: Use multiple doors connected to multiple pressure plates in order to access certain rooms, so the goblins have to go through the maze in the correct order.
*Bonus: Figure out a way to have competing teams wandering through the maze at the same time. Can you say "elimination round?"

===The great brewery===
Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing [[Fire|‼peasant‼]] visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven [[caravan]] each year.
* BONUS: Create a working sprinkler system to douse any fires that might occur.
* BONUS+: Still use alcohol

===The Great Wall of Urist===
Build a dwarven great wall of china that splits the map in half. Must be at least 10 tiles thick and reach the highest z-level.
* BONUS: Make it block the <s>Mongols</s> goblins out of your half of the map.
* BONUS: Make it out of obsidian.
**BONUS+: Embark on a map without obsidian.
* BONUS: Find a way to make it touch the boundaries.
* BONUS: Build one gate
* BONUS: Arm it with ballistas.
** MEGABONUS: Once you have split your embark in half, abandon the fortress and embark adjacent to it, and continue the wall until it splits the continent in half.
Someone should make a bonus for this but I'd like to point out that the actual wall was made from (compressed) dirt with on outer layer of stone and that the bodies of those who died from exhaustion while building it, were put into it.
** BONUS+: Encase all workers who died during building in caskets built into the wall. Possibly with traps to protect them from grave robbers
I'd like to point out that it is just a myth that the bodies were put into the wall. In reality, they were buried nearby.
** BONUS++: Encase all workers who died during construction into obsidian nearby the wall.
** BONUS+++: Fill the obsidian case with magma and place in the wall.
I'd like to point out that Armok does not discriminate.
** BONUS++++: Put all corpses that die during the construction period into the wall. Pets, invaders, wildlife. *EVERY* corpse.
** MERCILESS ARMOK BONUS:As above, but make sure it goes through a reanimating biome.

===The Monolith===
As the inevitability of a fortress-wide mental breakdown looms over every single fortress why not have something that alludes to that precipice of [[insanity]]. Like the book and feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey you must have a Monolith. This has to be made from [[obsidian]] and have a completely smooth surface (You cannot build it from blocks) You can have it be any size as long as it is outside, at least 2 tiles thick to ensure there are no pillar tiles, and has about the same ratio of width to height as it does in the movie (1:4:9) to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It would be preferable to make it large so that it seems to be dominating the landscape and your dwarves' psyche. The bigger the better.

*If the rock obsidian strata isn't deep enough in parts to make a monolith feasible consider casting a monolith with a large rectangular block in exactly the same dimensional criteria as above.

===This Was A Triumph===
Build Aperture Laboratories, with marble test chambers supported by struts and columns of granite.
Lab should have (Connected through paths)-
1) Multiple test chambers, with observation booths and connecting staircases/elevators.
2) An end goal, with an incinerator.
3) Background systems, with catwalks and large areas of waste management.
4) An AI Control Chamber.
5) A cake chamber

*BONUS*- Make an entire model of the original Portal chambers
*BONUS*- Make a sealed off area, the original testing area in Portal 2 (Include a statue of a Noble named Cave Johnson)
*BONUS*- An extended map, including the Subject Suspended-Animation life support system
*BONUS*- Make a field on top with access, a single small shed
*BONUS+*- Build a 20:1 model of the Companion Cube

===Underwater fortress===
Encase your entire fortress in [[water]]! Your fortress should be watersealed: surrounded by water against all [[wall]]s and the top of the fortress.
* Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
* Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water (warning: will almost certainly lead to [[fun]])!
* Bonus: Build it in the [[ocean]] or a non-freezing lake
**Bonus: Build it in the magma sea
**Bonus: Build it in a volcano
* Bonus: Build large glass domes that encase the fortress. A dome 20 tiles wide should be 10 z-levels tall (creating a hemi-sphere). Which may be hard to cover in water.
* Bonus: Have a mechanism for dropping your enemies into the water to drown! Or fill the water with carp.
**Superbonus: Don't use pansy walls, use pumps to keep the water out!
* Mod: Make your dwarves amphibious and include airlocks between the wet fortress and the dry.
* Remake: Make Rapture city from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock Bioshock]
** Remake Bonus: Mod in plasmids to give dwarves superpowers, but will eventually drive them mad!
*** Remake MegaBonus: Big Daddies for military, anyone?
**** Remake MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the save raws and name the mayor "Andrew Ryan".

===Flying fortress===
Turn cave-ins off in the init, then build a flying fortress. Perhaps some flying islands only connected with bridges, maybe combined with an orbital defense network.
* Bonus: Turn cave-ins back on.
* History Bonus: Try and make them look like B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from WWII.
* Remake: Make Columbia from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite Bioshock Infinite]
* Bonus+: Make Laputa: Heavily forested floating castle with a giant Adamantine gem at its center (the source of its power)
* Bonus++: Include the Thunder of Laputa: A fiery laser beam capable of great destruction to the lands below.

===Wealth===
The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

BONUS Create capitalism in your fortress!

===We Are Dorf===

Embark site biome parameters: Mountain. Fortress shape: Cubicle (assume 7 tiles high), cut from natural rock and separated from the remaining stone so it is held by a single support. Migrant dwarves must report to assimilation chamber where a collapsing dust trap will launch them into large serrated disk [[trap component|traps]] to remove unnecessary appendages, or have their offending limbs removed some other way. Dorf drones must be cataloged and arranged in squads of varying number. The naming structure is as follows: First of Ten, Second of Ten, and so on. Clothing is irrelevant.

There is no trade, or unmerited contact with lesser species, they will be assimilated. Nobles are irrelevant. Economy is irrelevant. Solitary creatures that do not pose a notable threat to the Collective are not to be bothered with when there is important work to do. Corpses are to be vaporized or atom-smashed along with all [[noble|other useless material]]. Cage traps should be common.

We are the Dorf. Lower your shields and surrender your booze. We will add your biological and technological reaction mats to our stockpiles. Resistance is canceled: Dangerous Terrain. You are caught in a pool of magma! You are melting! x18

===World Domination===
Pretend you are an evil mastermind. Now come up with some device or machine to render the world (or at least your portion of the map) totally unlivable, aside from, of course, your hidden lair.

You will receive bonus points for making a more realistic World Domination setup. Some suggestions:

* Make one dwarf the evil mastermind. The evil mastermind will have no empathy whatsoever, and they will hate all other races, and put no value on the lives of his minions. Protect him at all cost. If he should die, switch his position to his oldest child (who will avenge his father, because insanity is hereditary.) or the most insane, diabolical dwarf in your fort or make a noble the evil mastermind. (everyone knows nobles are pure evil)
* Impractical, overkill solutions to everyday problems ("Sir, the dungeon master wants a better room" "Well then turn his room into a tomb and flood it with magma, and do not bother me with such trivial matters again or I will have you shot.")
* Give the evil mastermind a pet to obsess over. Give it a name like Mr. Bigglesworth or Snuggles. Even better if it's something really dangerous like a Giant Desert Scorpion.
**BONUS: With modding, make the evil mastermind's pet a [[Demon|clown]], [[megabeast]], [[forgotten beast]], or [[titan]].
***Bonus: Use modding to create a pet creature for the mastermind with the "opposed to life" tag.
* Have a science lab. Use living creatures and people as test subjects.

Doomsday device suggestions:
* Flood the map with water/magma (may require building walls around the edge of the map)
**BONUS: the water has carp in it.
***BONUSMOD: Carp with ''frickin' laser beams'' attached to their heads.
***BONUSMOD2.0: Give the carp the ability to spawn undead dragons for every limb they tear off a dwarf.
* Build an "Earthquake Machine" (the entire map is supported by a single support, which is connected to a lever)
* Build an extensive holding cell network for "scientific purposes". Fill it with megabeasts and <s>elephants</s> <s>unicorns,</s> skeletal carp in secret. Have a lever that lets everything free to feed on the general population.
* Embark in an evil area, and capture and tame all those undead animals if possible to create your own undead army
* Bonus: Eliminate the dwarves who constructed your device before you set it off. They must not be allowed to warn the rest of the citizens.
* Build an orbital weapons platform in space (which should be 12-15 stories above the ground, use your imagination), then arm it with magma bombs (droppable tank of magma) to glass the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for a few years.
* Build a door (or hatch) in every space of your fortress. Have all the doors set to lock at the flip of a switch. Have the switch kill the person who pulls it. Give the nobility their toy.
* Build [[User:Vattic/Mechanical Volcano Explained|Mechanical Volcano]] to flood entire map with searing magma.
*do all of the above and link all the devices to one lever in the room of the king/queen


=== The Grand Treasury ===
At first, have the king come to you. Then excavate a laaarge room and fill it with i.e.: Lots of coins, shiny gems, artifacts, golden statues, silver mugs, etc. pp. But the king is still not satisfied with his possessions, so he wants more and more shiny and sparky things.
Of course sooner or later (probably sooner) those filthy kobolds and goblins will come and try to steal this enormous hoard. We must never tolerate this! Turn your treasury into a strongroom like the world has never seen before! Secret doors, traps in abundance, guards at every door, ballistae, guard dogs, the whole program. If anything gets lost, you have proven your incompetence, and the king will have your fortress abandoned and founded another to guard his treasures.

*Bonus: Build up the treasury and raid it successfully in Adventure Mode

=== Heaven ===
Build a dwarven version of heaven. Every dwarf must want to come to you! Important pieces:
# Streets paved with gold.
# The mindless hordes are held back by pearly gates -- or at least a close equivalent. Marble doors with diamond encrustations.
# No dwarves die (except for criminals). Heaven is everlasting.
# All criminals must be cast into the fires of Hell. Ideally, this would either be HFS or the bottom of a magma pipe. Or both.
# Nothing is ever stolen. St. Peter doesn't screw up.
# After the King has arrived, any male children he has must be sent out to fight sieges alone.

BONUS: No dwarves are ever unhappy -- no tantrums and no insanity. 
BONUS: When migrants arrive at the pearly gates, view their thoughts and preferences and only allow those with a similar/same Deity as your population. 
BONUS: Make Heaven 10 stories above the ground 
Mod: Make Angel dwarves and a godly being. (suggestions: Cacame, Morul, Ironblood.) 
ULTRABONUS: Make Heaven in the air, an earthly society on the ground (a wooden town perhaps?), and carve the HFS place into Hell, complete with a lake of Magma/fire. Look up the character of every dwarf and send him to the appropriate place. 
MEGABONUS-(Re)Make: The Seven Seals have been broken and the Apocalypse arrives.
# The Sky darkens (an obsidian ceiling spanning over the map).
# Meteors (opened lava tanks and cave-ins) devastate the earth.
# All bodies of water turn bloody.
# Dig into the HFS and have a battle between Heaven and Hell.
# Sorry for any spoilers 

=== City of Ember ===
Show those filthy humans that when dwarves build a secret underground refuge, they build to last! In other words, recreate Ember from the film "City of Ember" (yes, everyone is aware there is a book, that came first, and was part of a series), but do it right - none of these leaking pipes and crumbling buildings stuff, after only two and a half centuries underground!
# Mine out a massive cavern multiple z-layers high, and build a human-style city underneath it instead of carving out various chambers.
# You must seal it off. How long you wait to do this is up to you, but once it is sealed, you cannot unseal it for at least 200 years (if you decide to play that long). Ideally, use a utility to embark with a full set of dwarves (to represent the immigrating population) and seal the city off within one year of embarking.
# Build individual houses with their own dining rooms and bedrooms. Multiple dwarves can live in one house, but usually only a single family will live in one house.
# Build streets connecting all of the buildings, in the way that in the film, Ember didn't really have any space that wasn't either paved or built on until you got to the outskirts of the city.
# Have a "greenhouse" out on the outskirts for farming.
# You MUST have an underground river and use it for power.
# You MUST have magma and use it for power.
# Build City Hall, where the mayor has his office, with a nice fountain out front that actually works (probably involving water pressure, and as a testament to the fact that dwarves do it better, and their underground refuge isn't running desperately short of food, water, or power).
# No military, because there is simply no need for one, but have a fortress guard (to function as police, basically).
# After 200 or more years, unseal the city and colonize the surface.

BONUS: Instead of building your houses/other structures out of blocks or rocks, plan it all out beforehand and simply don't dig out the tiles that you want to be the walls of buildings, and smooth it all down so it looks the same, but your buildings are actually made out of solid natural rock. 
BONUS: Actually cause some kind of catastrophe on the surface (flood it with magma or something) that makes it uninhabitable, to FORCE yourself to stay underground, but when you unseal the city after 200 years, the surface should have healed and be habitable again. So, don't do something permanent.

===The quake===

# Make your entire fortress supported by one support.
# on year 5, remove the support so your entire fortress drops one level.
# Tell us the death rate.
# double the height of the support every year, see how much is too much of a drop!

===Pull A Boatmurdered===

What's this? Too many goblins? Not enough fun? You may be needing excess amounts of lava!

# Flood the entire map with water or lava
# Maybe both and have an obsidian farm in the center
# Pump all lava resources to the surface and watch it burn!

Most famously employed in [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].

===Hippie Exterminator===

Much like trees, better water those elves.

# It's a gigantic drowning chamber for [[Elf|Elves]].
# Construct a very long wall all the way around a [[forest retreat]]
# Build a floor on top, sealing them in
# Connect some screw pumps to this and the local water supply
# Really processor intensive! Not for calculators!

# At nothing else, at least build the box around your Trade Depot, and flood it when Elves are inside.
# Drainage can be done with a [[floodgate]] to release the water from the depot.

===Dwarven Arcology===

# Build your entire fortress above ground in one structure.
# A subterranean level (the basement) on the bottom floor provides plump helmets, pig tails, and so on.
# On the ground floor, grow above-ground plants and carve fortifications into all the walls.
# Every other level is packed with food stores, refuse dumps, wood stockpiles, workshops, archery ranges, and bedrooms.
# The only subterranean activity permitted is digging, although you may be able to get away with building your depot below ground.
Bonus: Cast the entire thing in Obsidian using magma and water and engrave all the sides with your greatness.

===D For Dwarvendetta===

# Create the Parliament building or some such construction
# Rig it to explode or collapse spewing lava everywhere
# Detonate the fortress while you play the 1812 Overture somewhere
Bonus: make an underground [[minecart]] track that detonates it.
Bonus: make a metal statue at the top which gets exploded.

UnfortunateBonus: Make your nobles live inside the building to be destroyed.

MegaBonus: send burning [[graphite]] or [[lignite]] flying into the (strangely always daytime) sky.

CosmicBonus: Have an important Dwarf in a coffin play a role in detonating it.

===The Two Towers===

#Build a ring of stone [may be slightly difficult] and build a tower with four blades protruding from the top
#Build a (much larger) tower with only two blades protruding from the top
#Have the two towers combat each other ''without'' siege weapons

Bonus:
#Rig the first one to flood and the second to explode! (and you only get the points if you've seen the movies and record the videos. Try to make the towers' destruction as close to the movies as you can!)

===Twin maze of doom!===

-Make a complicated maze pair where pressure plates on any floor will trigger the rapid death of everything one floor before that in the OTHER maze.

-Check what survives the ratrace longer: goblins or elves? Kittens or dogs?

-BONUS: make it self-cleaning so it can be reused over and over!

-Double bonus: make it flood the map with lava if anything ever reaches the end of their maze, meaning their victory is for all time - as well as the last thing the world will ever see before the end.

===The doomsday temple of greed===

1- Prepare a game with the poorest-skill starting dwarves and nothing on embark.

2- Edit files to add a little castle with 10 switches, some of which open up to desirable stuff, or a mild trap. Have the lineup fairly obvious, so people know which prize/trap pair they're going for.

3- After learning the principle and getting say a starting pick, 100 wood, 10 obsidian, 10 slade, freeing an angry elephant, an artifact crossbow, alcohol for 10 years, freeing a carp guarding the exit (simple enough puzzle, dig yourself another exit), getting an anvil and 7 bronze armor sets, and avoiding the one trap/prize which has a dragon... let them look up the stairs to the next bit on the next floor...

4- THIS floor has mild traps/good prizes again, but one of them frees 7 goblins AS WELL AS trigger an unannounced very distant magma-flooding system of immense power and speed (they think the goblins are all there is to the trap, mwa ha ha). Make sure the slope means the greedy player will get what's coming at him fully...

5- Share this fun map without announcing what's on it. Surprise!!!

===To the Bottom and Beyond===
''"There is one tale that tells about [[HFS|a place]] that only few have seen, and even fewer have returned from... A place beyond the grasp of our hands, beyond the reach of our picks... A place composed of stone that has been there since the beginning, and will remain there after our demise... [[slade|A stone]] unmoved by the swing of our picks, material that only [[noble|fools]] would demand... Yet we managed to [[engraving|scratch its surface]], and now we plan to cast an entire history of our kin onto it, an artwork that no magma will melt, no beasts nor men will ever be able to destroy. A true dwarf would want to go for it. And you surely do."''

* Bonus: Also engrave walls of [[eerie glowing pit|the pits]].
* LegendaryBonus: Use only legendary engravers.
* [[Masterwork|☼]]LEGENDARY BONUS[[Masterwork|☼]]: Make sure every engraving has masterwork quality.

===The Cathedral===

Make an epically tall cathedral out of obsidian. Encrust it with gems, make multiple spires. Build giant stained-glass windows and make rows of chairs for pews. In niches high in the walls, place masterpiece or better statues, also encrusted and engraved. Underneath, make noble tomb catacombs.
BONUS: Build it near a human/dwarf town. Kill heretics.
MEGABONUS:Build a chalice that you fill with the corpses of heretics, and then use water to drain the blood out, and cast obsidian out of said bloody water.

BONUS: Make several cathedrals, one to each in-game god. Once built, assign worshippers of a god to a burrow encompassing that god's cathedral. Build walls around each cathedral and let them fend for themselves.

===Railroad===

Minecarts have finally been added! Use them to transport dwarves and goods around the fortress!
BONUS: Build several mini-fortresses, each devoted to a different industry or other purpose (e.g., trade, mining, living quarters, etc.). Only minecarts can be used to travel between these mini-forts. Essentially make dwarven Panem!
* BONUS: have the smaller forts rebel causing the main fort to be overthrown!
* MEGABONUS: build arenas where two dwarves from each mini-fort go to fight to the death!

===Vampire King===

Dedicate your entire game to finding and glorifying a Vampire citizen as the 'government appointed' King of your fortress. Who cares about Nobles? Who cares about a king? (unless he's a vampire) They all die off anyway from, unfortunate accidents. Your Eternal King will need only the best for his eternal throne. Dedicate grand rooms and buildings in his/her name. Make statues out of solid obsidian, encasing the corpses of his enemies for all time. Do everything in your power to protect and serve your eternal master.

*BONUS: Assign a personal guard to your Vampire King.
**ZOMBIEBONUS: Use undead dragons.
*BONUS: Have a Hierarchy of Kings/Queens from your Vampire's family (If they are present)
**BONUS: Make separate 'forts' for your various Royal Vampire Monarchs.
*BONUS: Wait for the king to arrive at your fortress and make him/her into a Vampire!

===I've a feeling we're not in Boatmurdered anymore.===

Create a road of gold bars leading from a small village of [[mountain gnome|mountain gnomes]], to a large city of [[green glass]] (or mod the game to allow using [[emerald|emeralds]] as building materials.) Have a patrol along the road consisting of a female child (human if you can manage it somehow) wearing [[ruby]]-encrusted shoes, a [[dog|puppy]], an [[iron man]], a [[titan]] made of grass or wheat, and a [[lion]].

Capture a female [[necromancer]], install her in a dark-colored fortress, and give her the corpses of [[spider monkey man|spider monkey men]] to resurrect. If you like, mod them to be able to fly.

=== Bridge the world! ===
Bridge two or more islands, or an island to a mainland.
* Bonus: Channel magma and make it partially or completely out of obsidian.
* You will receive more bonuses the bigger and the more embarks your require to finish it (i.e. bridge a sea, bridge an ocean).
* Bonus: Enter in adventure mode, cross water without needing to swim (jump at worst). Marvel at your ingenuity.
** Thoroughness bonus: complete it yourself in adventure mode if it isn't already. Make it out of bodies and bones if you have to.
* Resistance bonus: Make (obsidian?) pillars every 40 or so tiles so that you (or some other player) can enter in any embark, with cave-ins on, and even dig through the pillar to the ocean floor, making an under-the-sea fortress there (or just exploiting the natural cave system).

=== Make family tree for characters ===

Go to a free family tree generator and add as many characters as you want/can ([http://myheritage.com/ this] website is a good choice). Not even Legends Viewer will be able to compete with the sheer awesomeness of having the list of your dwarves' relatives (and kills) right up to year one.
* Bonus: Do it for all the dwarves you had on embark, enemies you killed and such.
** SuperResilientBonus: Do it in a world that's been played for over 100 years.
* Masochism bonus: give figurative trees to those tree-huggers and make a tree for nigh-immortal (and who mate like <s>bunnies</s> [[unicorn]]s) elves.
* Memory bonus: add fun facts about the characters that can't be found in legends, like exactly ''how'' that legendary hammerdwarf lost their [BODYPART] in that famous siege where they're held as a hero, or how they were slacking in the hospital for the rest of their lives after only being mauled by a megabeast. Or 10.
* Unintentional bonuses:
** Marvel at the error messages, like "Urist McValueDissonance married a little too young", "Urist McNotEvenImmortalVampireOrWerewolf is declared still alive, assumed to be 1000+ years old" or "You just told me Urist McGranny gave birth at the ripe age of 150. Are you sure you're not high?"
** Make their profiles unprivate so they can be found on Google.
* Detail bonus: if you had your game save on seasonal, go to all the now-dead-critters and add the description for each.
* Artifact bonus: somehow get a hold of a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0 legendary <s>dwarf</s>] character's savegame, and show us who their ancestors were.
* Mission Impossible Bonus: Do it for as many characters in a "very long history" world.

===Dwarven Tower Defense===
Make a maze (the longer the better) such that any siege that should be laid to your fortress will have to go through it. Add towers that fire upon or unleash your armies as they pass.
Towers can include:
*Marksdwarf tower
*[[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Doberman_Bomb|Doberman bomb]]
**Point Multiplier: Automate it with pressure plates
*Fire Turret: Trap [[magma crab|magma crabs]] and [[fire imp|fire imps]] in magma safe cage traps from the magma sea and make a tower.
*[[Trap|Dwarven Traps]]
*[[Stupid_dwarf_trick|VERY Dwarven Traps]]
*Your most [[noble|Skilled Fighters]]
Go to war with everyone (no treaties) and leave the Dwarves open. This means no lock in, no bridge seal, no impossible death. If they get through, you lose.
Remember the scoring on this too:
*Average Wave: Elves
*Normal Wave: Goblins
*Harder Wave: Humans
**(You can kill humans because humans aren't people. Only dwarves are people.)
*Boss Wave: [[Forgotten_beast|Cellar Dwellers]] and [[Titan|Nomadic Threats]]
*Final Wave: [[HFS|The Clowns]]

*Dwarfbuck BONUS: Assign a Dwarfbuck value to each enemy, i.e. when you defeat x you get y number of dwarfbucks. Assign a DB value to towers, i.e. how much it costs to build them. Example: Fire Tower=100 DBs, Goblin=5 DBs. Keep track of all DBs earned and spent, and only build a tower if you have the required dwarfbucks.

===Multi-purpose defense tower===
Build one big tower that fulfills multiple defensive purposes.
Here are some ideas:
*Ballista on the first floor
*Marksdwarves on the second floor
*Jail on the third floors and up.

===Dwarven Waterslide===
Make a large, circular tower, with water running down paths along the inside of the tower. Make the water fall through grates or bars so the dwarf can get out. Allow the dwarf to go into the water at the top using a retracting bridge.
Also fairely useful, as it both cleans your dwarves and has all the benefits of a downwards-only [[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Watervator|Watervator]]. It is less practical in its functioning than a Watervator, however, but it can be made to generate mist.
* Plumbing Accident Bonus: Make a system to allow the slide to flood in a way that moves the dwarves to the top of the tower.
** Usefulnessbonus: Create a simple system (not using more than one waterslide) that allows you to determine at which floor the dwarves exit, making it as useful as a Watervator.

===The Night's Watch===
Become Brandon the Builder and recreate his most famous work - Construct a wall that spans the entirety of the width of a continent - made entirely of solid ice, while in an arctic climate. The wall has to reach the very topmost of the map minus a few z-levels, for catapults and siege equipment and whatnot if you're doing the bonus challenges, while being 10 blocks thick. Make sure you put a tunnel underneath with a 4 inches cold-rolled steel drawbridge.
* Fortress Bonus: Create nineteen forts along the wall and name each of them exactly like their Westeros counterpart.
* Westeros Bonus: Build it in a continent with an arctic north, building the wall between the two climates
** Wildlings Bonus: Have all the evil civilizations and the necromancer towers on the northern side of the wall, and actually protect the continent from invasions from the north.
**Others Bonus: Zombies or other undead can only be killed with obsidian short swords or fire.
* Defensive Measures Bonus: Create a full-blown patrol schedule for your rangers, and line the top of the wall with siege engines, stone traps to drop on invaders, etc.
** Ranging Bonus: Have dwarves occasionally leave the fortress on rangings - put them on the edge of the map or something, and give them a month or two to come back.
** Scythe Bonus: Build a death scythe that kill enemy climbers.
* Night's Watch Bonus: Have all the dwarves be trained in some military skill with at least novice.
** Roles Bonus: Have each dwarf assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to their counterparts in the Night's Watch - the expedition leader/mayor would be Lord Commander, Military Commander as First Ranger, and if using the squad naming system for the classes - First Steward and First Builder, and Medical Dwarf - Maester etc etc.
* Watch out for the fall Bonus: Climb the wall. (If it is possible to climb ice)
* EPIC GOT BONUS: Recreate the events of the TV show. Abandon all the forts but 3 - and have a dwarf migrant named Jon Snow arrive.

=== Urist Transcontinental ===
Use dfhack with advfort to build a worldwide railroad.
Use disposable/retired 16x1 embarks to make the game remember what you've done, and to provide raw materials.

Put stations at every friendly settlement.
A basic station consists of something that forces incoming carts to stop, and some space between the stop and the next track.
Travellers will have to walk to the next track at each stop.
A station should have a stockpile of minecarts ready for travelers.

Above-ground rails are nicer (you get to see the sights as you travel).
Below-ground rails are easier to build (you can mine instead of using blocks).
Either variant can be powered by impulse ramps or rollers.
Rollers can be powered by either windmills or water reactors, or, if you're close to a river, ordinary water wheels.
To allow bidirectional travel, you can build two rails per link.
* WILD WEST BONUS: Also build tracks to unfriendly settlements.

=== None Shall Pass ===
Build walls around the entire map, so that all arriving creatures must stay on the map edge until you decide to let them in.
* Wall off the normal caverns, including underwater, floor to ceiling.
* Wall off that [[Hell|special cavern]] below the magma sea.
* Wall off the sky, from the surface to the highest z-level.
* Wall off the magma sea itself.

=== Glorious Revolution ===
Make your dwarves live in horrific squalor to the point where it intentionally causes a tantrum spiral, while treating any nobles you may have. Attempt to lay the fortress out in a way that kills all nobles in the spiral while minimizing other casualties. When the nobles are gone, instill communism.

*EXPORTING THE REVOLUTION BONUS!!: Conquer and <s>occupy</s> liberate 10 neighboring settlements to spread the great idea of communism!

=== Metal Gear Urist ===
Mine out enough metal to construct Metal Gear Urist out of metal walls. Make it resemble Metal Gear from Armok Vision.
* BONUS: Add a cockpit with a throne to sit in.
* DETERRENT BONUS: Make it big enough to install a catapult on its shoulder.
* SOLID BONUS: Have the fortress be in an arctic biome, and infiltrate it in Adventure Mode after you finish building it.
** REVOLVER BONUS: Have an ocelot man with a crossbow somewhere inside the fortress while you infiltrate.
** LIQUID BONUS: Edit in a snake megabeast made of water to defend the Metal Gear during the infiltration.
** GRAY BONUS: Infiltrate the fortress with a fox man ally.
{{Category|Design}}

=== Dwarf University ===
Build a center for learning! Your expedition leader is the dean of your new university and is expecting prospective students to arrive in the next season. Libraries are a must as well as classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms! Have your scholars write educational works to disseminate information among your dwarves and buy those (overpriced) textbooks from trade caravans.
* BONUS: Have a scholar become a master to multiple students in your fort. Rename the master's profession as "Professor".
* FULL CURRICULUM BONUS: Have multiple "Professors" specialize in particular fields of study such as math, astronomy, history, etc.
* STUDENT PROTEST BONUS: Have your unhappy university staff and students <s>tantrum</s> protest peacefully over issues such as textbook prices, bad cafeteria food, or terrible dorm conditions. Deal with it accordingly.
* REALISM BONUS: Base the campus on a real world university.

=== Automated Kill Grid ===
No threat is so dire it should distract from your dwarven parties. Build a network of orbital defenses over your fortress capable of dropping deadly bombs on anything that enters the map, on command. For instance, hundreds of floating islands, connected to a lever, with pressure plates underneath.
* BONUS: automated water and lava pumps automatically refill your supply of orbital obsidian "ammunition"
* FRAMERATE BONUS: your skygrid uses perpetual motion pumps to drop an infinite supply of lava on anything that passes beneath it

=== Fortress of Hardened Dwarven Adventurers ===

Have a fortress made purely of YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MODE dwarf adventurers with legendary [[skill]] in all military stuff.

BONUS: Have 1000 of them.

MEGABONUS: Have over 9000 of them!

BONUS: They all started as peasants when creating new characters.

BONUS: None of them ever had any companions or teams.

It feels like conscription. How amazing that every citizen knows self-defense techniques! If only real life humans did so.

=== Dwarven Greenhouse ===

Carve out a small lake in a hot climate, build a giant clear glass structure surrounding it, and pump in water from the aquifer.

BONUS: Embark somewhere without an aquifer. Figure it out.

MEGABONUS: Pump in lava from the magma layer.

Natural weapon

2024-07-29T01:38:32Z

PLMMJ: /* Syndromes */ oops caps

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
:''For manufactured weapons, see [[Weapon]].''

[[File:Bouquetins combat.jpg|thumb|320px|right|Bouquetins combat.]]'''Natural weapons''' are innate attacks that can be used to hurt other creatures. They are distinct from [[weapon|manufactured weapons]], which are items used (along with [[armor]]) by [[:Category:DF2014:Humanoids|sentient]] [[creature]]s to improve their ability to attack and defend in combat. However, all creatures have natural weapons of some sort, some more deadly than others: arms can punch, [[horn]]s can gore, talons can rip, fangs can bite, and hooves can smash heads in. Even creatures that you wouldn't expect to be able to put up a fight have default "[[push]]" attacks, which is simultaneously amusing and deadly in the case of the [[giant sponge]]. A description of the various types of natural weapons and their damage considerations follows.

==Striking==
Every creature has basic natural weapons, most commonly biting and kicking. The damage done by these attacks depends greatly on the mass and density of the body part attacking, the strength of the attacker, and the striking/kicking/biting skill of the attacker. These are basic attacks and work as you might expect: a [[lion]] is certainly more dangerous than a [[badger]]. Attacks in this category include but are not limited to; punching with fists, biting with teeth, goring with horns, scratching with nails/claws, and kicking with feet.

Striking comes into play in unarmed combat, when creatures grapple with one another. However it also comes into play in armed combat, as punches and kicks (usually kicks) are still valid attacks when the combatants lock blades. Here, the striker and kicker [[combat skill]]s come into play.

==Ranged weapons==
Some particularly dangerous creatures also have innate ranged attacks, usually some sort of "breath weapon". This might take the form of a [[dragon]]'s fire, a [[magma crab]]'s [[basalt]]-spewing, a [[giant cave spider]]'s [[web]]-spraying, or a [[forgotten beast]]'s [[syndrome|poisonous]] spittle.

==Syndromes==
{{main|Syndrome}}
Natural attacks are far more deadly when there are [[syndrome]]s attached. This is one of the reasons that [[giant cave spider]]s are so dangerous. Similarly. much of the danger in fighting [[forgotten beast]]s comes in their syndrome-causing attacks, including breath weapons, poisonous blood, area dusting, venomous bites, and so on. With the exception of some breath weapons, these attacks do not rely on size for damage calculation. What these attacks entail is covered extensively by the [[syndrome]] page.

{{Category|Weapons}}
[[ru:Natural weapon]]

Natural weapon

2024-07-29T01:38:02Z

PLMMJ: /* Syndromes */ Giant desert scorpions no longer exist

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:''For manufactured weapons, see [[Weapon]].''

[[File:Bouquetins combat.jpg|thumb|320px|right|Bouquetins combat.]]'''Natural weapons''' are innate attacks that can be used to hurt other creatures. They are distinct from [[weapon|manufactured weapons]], which are items used (along with [[armor]]) by [[:Category:DF2014:Humanoids|sentient]] [[creature]]s to improve their ability to attack and defend in combat. However, all creatures have natural weapons of some sort, some more deadly than others: arms can punch, [[horn]]s can gore, talons can rip, fangs can bite, and hooves can smash heads in. Even creatures that you wouldn't expect to be able to put up a fight have default "[[push]]" attacks, which is simultaneously amusing and deadly in the case of the [[giant sponge]]. A description of the various types of natural weapons and their damage considerations follows.

==Striking==
Every creature has basic natural weapons, most commonly biting and kicking. The damage done by these attacks depends greatly on the mass and density of the body part attacking, the strength of the attacker, and the striking/kicking/biting skill of the attacker. These are basic attacks and work as you might expect: a [[lion]] is certainly more dangerous than a [[badger]]. Attacks in this category include but are not limited to; punching with fists, biting with teeth, goring with horns, scratching with nails/claws, and kicking with feet.

Striking comes into play in unarmed combat, when creatures grapple with one another. However it also comes into play in armed combat, as punches and kicks (usually kicks) are still valid attacks when the combatants lock blades. Here, the striker and kicker [[combat skill]]s come into play.

==Ranged weapons==
Some particularly dangerous creatures also have innate ranged attacks, usually some sort of "breath weapon". This might take the form of a [[dragon]]'s fire, a [[magma crab]]'s [[basalt]]-spewing, a [[giant cave spider]]'s [[web]]-spraying, or a [[forgotten beast]]'s [[syndrome|poisonous]] spittle.

==Syndromes==
{{main|Syndrome}}
Natural attacks are far more deadly when there are [[syndrome]]s attached. This is one of the reasons that [[Giant cave spider]]s are so dangerous. Similarly. much of the danger in fighting [[forgotten beast]]s comes in their syndrome-causing attacks, including breath weapons, poisonous blood, area dusting, venomous bites, and so on. With the exception of some breath weapons, these attacks do not rely on size for damage calculation. What these attacks entail is covered extensively by the [[syndrome]] page.

{{Category|Weapons}}
[[ru:Natural weapon]]

Megaproject

2024-07-25T09:35:43Z

PLMMJ: /* Dwarven Tower Defense */ Fixed several old namespace links

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The term '''megaproject''' refers to basically any project that takes a long time to build. See also other [[challenge]]s.

Completed megaprojects should be uploaded to the [[Utility:Dwarf Fortress Map Archive|Dwarf Fortress Map Archive]] and posted on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=11.0 Bay12 Forums]. Incredible feats of construction are usually very [[Fun|fun]], so you'll see many different (and probably similar) constructions across the wiki.

Use whatever ideas you think are ingenious. More project ideas can be found where [[stupid dwarf trick|stupid dwarves try crazy tricks]] - for some smaller-scale project ideas that still embody the dwarven spirit, see the [[style project]]s page.

===Aqueducts===
For some reason, a noble was harmlessly pulling a lever when suddenly, magma flooded the river and exploded the booze! The king requires your band of seven to build a great aqueduct to bring water to the capital. Start with supports, and build up your aqueduct until it is 10 z-levels high!

*Bonus: Start over a human town, build a wall around it, pump water through the aqueduct and into it!
*Bonus: Mod the game so you can start on the dwarven capital and actually bring about the story.
*Bonus: Once you have completed your aqueduct, embark in a slightly different location and build the next section. repeat until you've built it all the way to the capital!

Variation: On a map containing a river, completely enclose it with glass walls, and floors. Use overhead pipe sections to move the water to places more <s>convenient</s> [[Fun]].

===Biodome===
All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

No pits/underground rivers/magma vents allowed.

===Casting===
Who needs to construct giant statues?! We need ours made from natural walls, however, we want it above ground level as well. For casting your goal is to create some giant structure out of natural obsidian walls through the use of an extremely elaborate scaffold of lava and water pools and screw pumps. When you are finished, just deconstruct the scaffolding and smooth/engrave the statue as you go. Just imagine the bridge over that chasm, now complete with two giant dwarf statues on either side to strike fear into all who enter and show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.
**Bonus+: Make the statues spit blood.

===Castle===
Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. This is highly time
consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floors indoors, and no underground
constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build
a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

*Bonus: Make the entire castle out of iron.
*Bonus: Did I mention you get bonus points for building the middle tower on a support connected to a lever?
*Dwarf Bonus: Do all of the above, but build it all underground in the caverns layer.
*Highly Fun Bonus: Build it in the highly fun zone. Only use appropriate materials (eg, slade and candy).
**Megabonus: Add a moat made of magma
***Armok Bonus: Replace the moat with blood

===Ceremonial Sacrifices===
Build an amazingly complex or spectacular killing device. A shaft that extends across the entire Z-plane is a good start. A constantly shifting maze of atomsmasher drawbridges is another. For the minimalist, a very confined space where you will drop a dwarf wrestler along with the gobbos once in a while. Perhaps a waterslide that carries your prisoner all the way down into a chasm? Just cut their heart out? Whatever your idea, build it and dedicate your fort to the construction, maintenance and improvement of your device.

Do not kill any of your invaders. Capture them using cage traps, and them set them off in your device. Keep a record of the number of victims you drop into it.

BONUS: Create a statue garden to memorialize your victims, with one statue per victim. Structure your fortress such that sacrificial victims have to pass through the garden on the way to their demise.

===Computing===
Can your dwarves build the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at [[computing]].

*!!IMPOSSIBLEDWARFYBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress''.
*!!IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLEDWARFYDWARFYBONUSBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that new program to build a new computer to program a new game of ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that game inside of a game inside of a game to program another game of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

===Colosseum===
Build a pit, around it on steps lots of Thrones, make the whole thing a meeting area, train Gladiators, capture goblins, leave them their weapons and let them fight against your gladiators. If they win, let them go.

*Bonus: Build different traps in the floors to further entertain your toga-toting dwarves
*GLADIATORBONUS: Have animal cages in the floor to be released if the gladiators perform poorly
*AQUABATTLEBONUS: Rig up pumps to fill the floor of the arena
**Maximus Decimus Meridius bonus: Strip your best military commander of his ranks, murder his family and force him to fight in the arena, eventually facing and kicking in the teeth of the ruler of the fortress.

===Crematory Fortress===
* Requires a [[magma| magma pipe]] and [[bauxite]].

Build a temple structure above a [[magma|magma pipe]] and [[engraving|engrave]] every available surface. The temple should be as opulent as possible. In the temple, build a retracting [[bridge]] over a hole in the floor, and designate a [[coffin]] [[stockpile]] on it. Whenever a dwarf dies, build a [[bauxite]] or other [[magma safe|magma-proof]] [[coffin]] for him, place it on the [[bridge]], and retract it, committing his body to the [[magma|fiery blood of the mountain]].

::Note: Since coffins are unassigned and emptied when deconstructed and cannot be constructed on top of a bridge, this will not actually work. An alternative would be to place the coffins in individual chambers which can then be flooded with magma afterwards.

::: You could expose the magma pipe, build a one-tile wide floor span across it, and then above that build a support that holds up your temple floor on the z-level above. The temple floor would be separated from the walls of the temple and would be connected for walking access diagonally. The support holds it up. You would have to construct the coffins in the temple, then when someone gets buried you pull the lever attached to the support. You then rebuild the narrow span below, the temple floor, and the support, then link the lever to the new support.
::: You can do this without scaffolding if you build the temple floor access straight in, and then the span below and the support, then once the support is in place you destroy the straight temple access leaving only a diagonal temple access.

::: Another method would be simply to make a hole in your temple that goes straight down to the magma, of at least 3X3 squares, then build a floor of 2 squares long and 1 wide from the upper middle edge of the hole so that the second square is only connected to the temple by the first, then build your coffin on the second square and once your dwarf is inside deconstruct the first square leaving nothing holding the square with your coffin up and it will fall into the magma. On a side note it is best to start from the upper edge of the hole so the dwarf doing the deconstructing is a lot less likely to fall into the magma.

::: Retracting bridges work well to provide access to build the support and floor, and can then be retracted before dropping the coffin. Use a single lever to retract the bridge, then begin filling a chamber with water to trigger a pressure plate to destroy the support, dropping the coffin, and also draining the water to encase the coffin in obsidian.

===City===
Live like a human!

Build all of your buildings above ground. to make this easier, mod in a plentiful building material similar to bricks, however you want it. Make sure that your city is unplanned for that medieval look; build when you need to as close as you can to where it needs to be. As each migration wave comes you're going to need more and more buildings. Protip; you're going to need a caste of dedicated builders.

* Extra points; Emulate your favourite city.
* Combo bonus; Build your city around some other megaproject; a pyramid or giant colosseum.
* ULTRADWARF; Start in a mountainous area and hollow out the above ground city from the projecting mountains, including all four sides, thus leveling the mountain range to leave a series of *surprisingly natural* looking streets.
* Build each building (or section of one) out of the same materials or...
** Bonus: Create pixel art from the colors of the stones!
** Bonus: Try to build all freestanding structures
* Geek Reference Bonus: Build the city on the side of a mountain, using only marble, and make it look like Minas Tirith.
* Modern bonus: Have dwarves ride in minecarts from their home burrow to work burrow and then back once they finish their work.
** Bonus: Design traffic lights system, complete with carts stopping, waiting till green "light" turns on and then continuing. Stop dwarves from jaywalking and getting themselves killed in the process.
** Computing bonus: Don't build a track for every single cart, reuse tracks with pressure plates coupled with bridges, hatches and floodgates and clever usage of minecart mechanics like derailing or even water skipping.
* Bonus: Paved streets.
** Greed bonus: Streets of gold (or other high-value metal)

===Doomsday Clock===
Build a water or mechanical clock whose final state triggers the support which holds your fortress up or a megabeast out.
See how much wealth you can achieve before the clock runs out.
*Bonus: Create something that resets itself, as well as purging the map, so that you can reuse the same fortress over and over.
*Super-Bonus: Create something that involves pressure plates and a small kitten, when the pressure plates are hit in the right order, your map ends. Toss the kitten in and hope for the best. Alternatively, make the sequence quite unlikely, but add 2 kittens; breeding introduces a probability of doomsday that is a function of time (depending on the mechanisms involved)
*!!OhMySchrödingerBonus!!: Create the super-bonus above, but place the kitten on the lowest Z-level and never return to either look at it or see how many of the conditions for the doomsday device have been met. This way, the kitty mimicks Schrödinger's cat: we cannot observe the state of the kitty, but we can infer it from the state of the world (spin-pairs effectively).

===Dungeons of Doom===

Beneath your fortress, carve out an immense dungeon starting from the surface. Each dungeon floor must be filled with rectangular rooms connected by twisting one-tile passages, with an occasional wider hallway, and each floor must lead to the next by a single-tile staircase (no up/down stairs). A few floors into the dungeon, build a small fortress and designate a few quarries away from the dungeon itself. The dungeon should not be exposed to the caverns, but the caverns should be exposed to the surface to free the fun creatures. The dungeon must go down until it reaches HFS. Dump an artifact amulet inside HFS. Build puzzles and thematic branches of the dungeon as you see fit.

* Bonus: Fill the dungeon with gnomes, goblins, kobolds, and horrible monsters of all kinds. Maybe a minotaur too if you are going for that labyrinth feel.
* Mega Bonus: Litter the floors of the dungeon with artifact items (especially weapons).
* Epic Bonus: Feed the minotaur stated beforehand migrants every year.
* Cosmic Bonus: Lead the dungeon into an upright candy cane and build a Labyrinth inside HFS.
* Nerd Bonus: Build the last few levels above your fortress, and fill one with lava, one with water, one entirely empty, etc., to mimic the "[https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End_Game Endgame]" of NetHack. The uppermost one should have three temples, and if possible megabeasts that cannot escape but which an adventurer could reach...

===Dwarf like an Egyptian===
*Build a pyramid of epic proportions.

Build a legendary dwarven pyramid, with a corridor running to a central tomb for your favourite noble. Then construct lots of different [[trap]]s in it to avoid grave robbery. Perhaps build it entirely out of glass? Or try to make the top twist in a bit of a swirl. Alternatively, make your entire fortress inside a pyramid, which stretches below the ground.

*Build rows of Obelisks

* Build a double row of Obelisks before the Pyramid, and engrave the sides. Build ramps on the tops.

*Build the whole thing upside down.
** And then another one on the upside-down one.

* BONUS: Make a Sphinx out of solid gold. Solid! Nobody lives or goes inside of it. Entomb the builders in an [[unfortunate accident]] - preferably inside the sphinx - so that they can never build one for anybody else. Alternately, build a hollow Sphinx and house your nobles inside.

* When the time has come, or when your fortress is about to be destroyed by a siege or something, perform the ceremony to translate the mortal form of the noble to the underworld. Give him a ritual death, and make sure you kill his servants as well. Pile wealth into the tomb. If the tomb is built for your king make every dwarf die but one, who inters everyone into their resting place. His final act will be to pull a lever that seals the tomb as well as kills him. Then enjoy going back and reclaiming your fortress to observe your efforts.

*BONUS: Dwarf like a Sumerian and make the Pyramid a Ziggurat.

*JoJoBonus: Get a king in your fortress, then make him a vampire, nickname him <s>Dio Brando</s> DIO.

===Graveyard Master===
Every dwarf deserves a decent resting place:
*Build a tomb for every dwarf that dies (or, in the case of nobles, demands anything), the more dwarves you manage to bury the better.
*Tombs must be rooms with exactly 5x5 of size and 1 of height, with only one entrance tile that must be closed by a door.
*Tombs must have all its surfaces engraved.
*Tombs must contain at least 4 statues.
*Once complete, the door must be replaced with a wall and the tomb must not be ever entered again.

*Bonus: There must be only one male dwarf with burial labor enabled. Only his close male relatives can inherit the burial labor.
**Bonus: Ensure he is a [[vampire]], and that he is the last dwarf in your Fortress.
**Double Bonus: Ensure he is the last Dwarf in existence.
*Detail Bonus: Make the statues be of the deceased Dwarf and his or her accomplishments.
**Dwarf Bonus: Carve every tomb out of [[obsidian]].
**Extra Bonus: Make every coffin and every statue out of obsidian.
***Magma Bonus: Edit the raws and make them out of [[slade]].
*Knife Bonus: Make a mass tomb specially designed for [[elf|hippies]] that is suspended above the entrance to your fortress.
**Bonus: Fill it with hippies.
**Bonus: Carve the tomb out of water and magma.
**Bonus: Make the tomb be held in place by a single pillar so it can be dropped onto the hippies.
***Bonus: Have the tomb operate by pressure plates.
***Armok Bonus: Ensure the tomb automatically rebuilds itself once used.

===How high can you go?===
Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a ''pinnacle'' of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

===Land battleship===
Turn your mountain into a huge battle-station, complete with crew quarters, decks, command centre, cantina, and a large collection of deadly weapons : Batteries of marksdwarves, ballista cannons, catapults, boarding bridges and teams, but also lava projector or remote explosive devices (i.e. cave-ins in a part of the map triggered by a lever). Make sure it ends up looking like a real battleship, with nothing but plains surrounding it (you could build it on an actual plain, or destroy a mountain, choice is yours). The battleship has to be autonomous, and dwarves shouldn't wander outside it.

*Bonus: The weaponry covers every tile of the map (i.e., everything that enters the map can be shot)
*Bonus: Build several other ships, maybe dedicated to a specific product (food, ammo etc.)
**Bonus: Find a way to let them fight each other in a naval battle
*Bonus: Each crew member has a civil and military formation, and when the enemy arrives, stop every economic activity. All hands to quarters!
*Bonus: Build Noahs Ark: Completely out of wood, with every animal twice, as well as one dwarven family with three sons on board. Flood everything around it and let everything not on the ark die. MUAHAHAHA!!! FEAR THE WRATH OF ARMOK!!
*Mega Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water.
*MEGA Bonus: Still use wood to make the ark.

===Labyrinth===
Build or dig out an elaborate labyrinth. It should be filled with traps, periodically flooded with water and magma, and decorated to your liking. Remember, no self-respecting labyrinth is complete without a [[minotaur]] or two roaming inside.

*Bonus: Build a prison and/or execution chamber somewhere inside the labyrinth.
*Bigger Bonus: Build all the labyrinth walls out of statues and make the entire thing a statue garden.
*Mega Bonus: Make it three-dimensional.

(A labyrinth is a [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/algrithm.htm unicursal maze]: labyrinths offer no choices of path as they curve in and back on themselves to the endpoint. Mazes usually have choices of paths and therefore usually dead ends. Given how pathing will usually let sapient beings in DF avoid dead ends, a labyrinth is preferable to a traditional maze with dead ends.)

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus/ Daedalus] has many maze algorithms and tools, including for unicursal mazes (GPL, free).
A [http://www.billsgames.com/mazegenerator/ traditional maze generator] may be helpful if you somehow open the dead ends (such as with drawbridges) to attract traffic.

===Magma Sea Colony===

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

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.

===Moria===
Build a huge hall - at least 3 z-levels high. Leave few pillars symmetrically placed in the hall (don't build them, carve them out). Smooth and possibly engrave everything (not only the lowest z-level!). Then build thin bridge (not the bridge building, just a thin piece of rock to walk on) above magma or above a chasm- support it with bauxite supports connected to a lever (bauxite mechanisms needed in support). Destroy stone holding it at the both ends and replace it with floor hatches (so when you pull the lever it all goes down). After that build a bridge above the chasm.
When it's all done seal your dwarves deep inside in safe place and get invaded by goblins. At the same time dig out HFS. Lead the HFS across the both bridges and then collapse the second one when one of the champions clashes with it (it doesn't matter that the champion has killed the HFS with one hit).

Bonus: cast the walls of the hall out of obsidian using water and magma

MegaBonus: Trap [[goblin]]s and a [[megabeast]] in the various lower levels

UltraMultiverseDwarfyBonus: Build the real [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930023823if_/http://www.rpg-ash.me.uk/LotRO/moria_special_edition/moria_map.jpg Moria]

===Mountain audit/core sample===
Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

MegaBonus: Put the mountain back together.

Mr.CleanBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[soap]].

CandyFlossBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[Adamantine|candy floss]].

HeavyMetalBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[steel]].

===Project Mayhem===

*You do not talk about project Mayhem
*Build a series of towers, at least 10 z-levels high, of different size and shape. They must be supported by a series of supports linked to a lever.
*Store all your riches in the towers : crafts, precious metal bars, gems, artifacts, everything. You may also want to house your nobles on top of the towers.
*Pull the lever and watch the collapse of financial history.

Bonus: make the towers' walls out of glass!

Bonus: Make soap! And remember, elf fat is ideal...

Extra Bonus: Make one large tower, and make it collapse onto a smaller tower, filled with all your artifacts/engravings. (Essentially, you only get the extra bonus if you've read the book)

===Santa Claus===
Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

BONUS: Embark on a freezing biome.

BONUS: Make the toys out of lead.

BONUS: Not all Dwarf children are nice. Make and sell a similar amount of charcoal and/or coke for the naughty children.

SANTA BONUS: have a pump operator be trained legendary and nickname him "Santa Claus"

MEGABONUS: Modding Elves to be pets, embark with 100 of them and force them to make the toys for you.

MEGA PAIN BONUS: Make Santa Claus tame 100 gremlins and force those to make toys instead.

===Skull collector===
What proves the might of a civilization better than a hall full of skulls?
*Try to collect as many skulls as you can during your fortress life, and put them in a special skulls-only storage. The more skulls the better.

BONUS: Cover all the skulls in blood, and make the stockpile also a throne room. Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!

SUPERBONUS: Also fill the throne room with elves.

MAXIMUM BONUS: Mod the game so that you can butcher elves and have a butcher that does nothing but kill hippies all day to put their skulls in the skull shrine.

===Space Ship===
Create a giant space ship fit for space travel. It should be able to hold about 100 dwarves for at least 2 years.

*BONUS: Use exploding [[booze]] as ignitable fuel. (It doesn't actually explode. It just boils into a gas...)
*BONUS: Make a removable [[ramp]] for boarding.
*BONUS: Make the [[water]] for the 2 years be on the ship using removable pumps.
*BONUS: Bring an aquifer with you to get an infinite supply of water!
*BONUS+: Make it totally self-sufficient. (Make an internal system which pumps the [[water]] supply through a room every few years to muddy the floor. Plant [[seed]]s in the [[mud]] that's now on the floor. Manage your consumption to maintain self-sufficiency.)
*Modding BONUS: Mod the game so that merchants can fly their new wagonships into your docking bays. ''(If possible)''
*BONUS+: Make it all out of [[steel]] and [[aluminum]].
*[[fun|FUN]]: Let it be held by a single [[support]], ignite the [[booze]], remove the support an let it "fly".
*EVEN BETTER: <strike>Drop</strike> Fly it down a chasm.
*More [[fun|FUN]]: Set up a mining operation on the surface and dig into the HFS. Watch the alien creatures take over your ship and hunt down your dwarves. Form a squad of heroes to overload the booze reactor to prevent the aliens from reaching earth. (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space_%28video_game%29 Dead Space] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29 the Alien series])
*BONUS: Drop the fully-operational ship with 4 dwarves into eerie pit. Do not engrave slabs. Instead, pretend that their ghosts are an unknown gravitational effect. Survive ~25 years and then feel free to turn off cave-ins and build a flying colony. And remember, only plump helmets survived the Blight

===Slums===
Take multiple goblin, kobold, animal men and other humanoid prisoners, dump them into a neglected and shut-off zone from the rest of the fort, and force them to live there.

*BONUS: Drop golden crafts into the room of the Goblin with the most kills.
*BONUS: Give the "gangs" (Kobolds, Goblins, etc.) their own uniforms and bases.
*BONUS: Carve out streets and tiny, fully-furnished chambers into rough rock or soil for the Slumfolk to call home.

===Statue of greatness===
Build a giant statue, spanning 10-20 z-levels and make it in the shape of say, a dwarf you like or an animal you like.
* Bonus: make it in the shape of a teapot that has a working boiling system and a spout that water can come out of.
* Bonus+: Steam instead of water coming out of the spout.
* Bonus++: Magma mist instead of steam coming out of the spout.
* Bonus+++: Hydra teapot containing all of the bonuses, and it also spews miasma.

===Surveillance Track===
[[Image:Surveillance track.png|thumb|right|300px|A site-wide surveillance track]]
Build an elevated [[minecart]] track around the edges of the map, and send out civilians riding minecarts to spot ambushers and distract enemy archers.

* Bonus: Use minecart jumps to physically isolate the track from your fortress.
* Bonus: Give your minecart riders crossbows to harry enemies.
* Bonus: Make the track in a way that enemies pathfind their way directly in front of the minecart.

===Swiss Precision===
Build a working clock. The clock should accurately track DF days, months, and years.

Bonus Points:
*If the clock has a mechanical effect in the fortress proper to announce new days
*If the clock creates seasonally appropriate effects at the change of months and/or seasons.
*If the clock is used to aid in the operation of the fortress in addition to its role as a clock (automatically controls farmland irrigation at particular times, automatically opens the <s>pod bay doors</s> <s>blast doors</s> <s>floodgates</s> <s>Magma Channels</s> Gate in time for those <s>evil</s> friendly merchants, etc...).
*If the clock governs the schedule of a working rail station (which is always on time). (Definitions of 'working' and 'rail station' are subject to player imagination).
*If the clock takes measures to protect itself. ''"I can't let you do that, Urist."''

But don't worry about the bonus points, a precision time device should be hard enough.

===Temple===
Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and make fountains and rivers that run red with [[blood]].

*Bonus: Make the glass windows stained with blood.
*Bonus: Spill blood everywhere.
*AztecBonus: Make it so it's a stepped pyramid. Perform sacrifice with your [[Military|priests]] on top of the statue, preferably with [[obsidian]] short swords.
*WarhammerBonus: Also fill your temple with skulls. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !
*MagmaBonus: Decorate the temple with molten magma. Also good for sacrifices.
*Bonus: Made it out of cast obsidian and engrave everything. Cast obsidian only !
*Bonus: Add [[menacing spike]]s.
**BrutalBonus: Impale elf, goblin, and kobold corpses on the spikes.
*SuperBonus: Make it out of <s>soap</s> <s>iron</s> steel ! (At least partially since you can't engrave steel)
*SuperBonus: Make it needlessly complicated. Use lots of power and mechanisms. Magma waterfalls powered by dwarven water reactors. Fill it with devious traps and use mechanisms, levers, and power galore.
*SuperMagmaBonus: All of the above, but make it inside a volcano.
*TrueBelieverBonus: Same, but make it inside the [[magma sea]].
*ArmokFanaticBonus: Same, but make it inside [[HFS]]. Sacrifice it's denizens for Armok! Alternatively, make it inside an adamantine spire and enjoy your engraved, all-natural raw adamantine walls.

===The cube===
Play a fort as usual, but emphasize catching goblins in cages to support and fill this construction:
Construct a series of rooms in a symmetrical fashion, all connected to each other with appropriate doors. Of course, enough rooms to make a maze-like structure, and if you feel like it, an exit that is hard to reach. Fill a bunch of the rooms with traps and pressure plates. Then fill one room with 4-6 goblins (preferably in cages, opened by an outside lever), release them and watch them randomly walk around the rooms dying to traps and whatnots.

*Bonus: Do multiple storey maze (3D-maze)
*Bonus: Use pressure plates to open/close the exit randomly; otherwise, all the goblins will just follow the shortest route to the exit.
*Bonus: Use multiple doors connected to multiple pressure plates in order to access certain rooms, so the goblins have to go through the maze in the correct order.
*Bonus: Figure out a way to have competing teams wandering through the maze at the same time. Can you say "elimination round?"

===The great brewery===
Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing [[Fire|‼peasant‼]] visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven [[caravan]] each year.
* BONUS: Create a working sprinkler system to douse any fires that might occur.
* BONUS+: Still use alcohol

===The Great Wall of Urist===
Build a dwarven great wall of china that splits the map in half. Must be at least 10 tiles thick and reach the highest z-level.
* BONUS: Make it block the <s>Mongols</s> goblins out of your half of the map.
* BONUS: Make it out of obsidian.
**BONUS+: Embark on a map without obsidian.
* BONUS: Find a way to make it touch the boundaries.
* BONUS: Build one gate
* BONUS: Arm it with ballistas.
** MEGABONUS: Once you have split your embark in half, abandon the fortress and embark adjacent to it, and continue the wall until it splits the continent in half.
Someone should make a bonus for this but I'd like to point out that the actual wall was made from (compressed) dirt with on outer layer of stone and that the bodies of those who died from exhaustion while building it, were put into it.
** BONUS+: Encase all workers who died during building in caskets built into the wall. Possibly with traps to protect them from grave robbers
I'd like to point out that it is just a myth that the bodies were put into the wall. In reality, they were buried nearby.
** BONUS++: Encase all workers who died during construction into obsidian nearby the wall.
** BONUS+++: Fill the obsidian case with magma and place in the wall.
I'd like to point out that Armok does not discriminate.
** BONUS++++: Put all corpses that die during the construction period into the wall. Pets, invaders, wildlife. *EVERY* corpse.
** MERCILESS ARMOK BONUS:As above, but make sure it goes through a reanimating biome.

===The Monolith===
As the inevitability of a fortress-wide mental breakdown looms over every single fortress why not have something that alludes to that precipice of [[insanity]]. Like the book and feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey you must have a Monolith. This has to be made from [[obsidian]] and have a completely smooth surface (You cannot build it from blocks) You can have it be any size as long as it is outside, at least 2 tiles thick to ensure there are no pillar tiles, and has about the same ratio of width to height as it does in the movie (1:4:9) to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It would be preferable to make it large so that it seems to be dominating the landscape and your dwarves' psyche. The bigger the better.

*If the rock obsidian strata isn't deep enough in parts to make a monolith feasible consider casting a monolith with a large rectangular block in exactly the same dimensional criteria as above.

===This Was A Triumph===
Build Aperture Laboratories, with marble test chambers supported by struts and columns of granite.
Lab should have (Connected through paths)-
1) Multiple test chambers, with observation booths and connecting staircases/elevators.
2) An end goal, with an incinerator.
3) Background systems, with catwalks and large areas of waste management.
4) An AI Control Chamber.
5) A cake chamber

*BONUS*- Make an entire model of the original Portal chambers
*BONUS*- Make a sealed off area, the original testing area in Portal 2 (Include a statue of a Noble named Cave Johnson)
*BONUS*- An extended map, including the Subject Suspended-Animation life support system
*BONUS*- Make a field on top with access, a single small shed
*BONUS+*- Build a 20:1 model of the Companion Cube

===Underwater fortress===
Encase your entire fortress in [[water]]! Your fortress should be watersealed: surrounded by water against all [[wall]]s and the top of the fortress.
* Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
* Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water (warning: will almost certainly lead to [[fun]])!
* Bonus: Build it in the [[ocean]] or a non-freezing lake
**Bonus: Build it in the magma sea
**Bonus: Build it in a volcano
* Bonus: Build large glass domes that encase the fortress. A dome 20 tiles wide should be 10 z-levels tall (creating a hemi-sphere). Which may be hard to cover in water.
* Bonus: Have a mechanism for dropping your enemies into the water to drown! Or fill the water with carp.
**Superbonus: Don't use pansy walls, use pumps to keep the water out!
* Mod: Make your dwarves amphibious and include airlocks between the wet fortress and the dry.
* Remake: Make Rapture city from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock Bioshock]
** Remake Bonus: Mod in plasmids to give dwarves superpowers, but will eventually drive them mad!
*** Remake MegaBonus: Big Daddies for military, anyone?
**** Remake MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the save raws and name the mayor "Andrew Ryan".

===Flying fortress===
Turn cave-ins off in the init, then build a flying fortress. Perhaps some flying islands only connected with bridges, maybe combined with an orbital defense network.
* Bonus: Turn cave-ins back on.
* History Bonus: Try and make them look like B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from WWII.
* Remake: Make Columbia from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite Bioshock Infinite]
* Bonus+: Make Laputa: Heavily forested floating castle with a giant Adamantine gem at its center (the source of its power)
* Bonus++: Include the Thunder of Laputa: A fiery laser beam capable of great destruction to the lands below.

===Wealth===
The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

BONUS Create capitalism in your fortress!

===We Are Dorf===

Embark site biome parameters: Mountain. Fortress shape: Cubicle (assume 7 tiles high), cut from natural rock and separated from the remaining stone so it is held by a single support. Migrant dwarves must report to assimilation chamber where a collapsing dust trap will launch them into large serrated disk [[trap component|traps]] to remove unnecessary appendages, or have their offending limbs removed some other way. Dorf drones must be cataloged and arranged in squads of varying number. The naming structure is as follows: First of Ten, Second of Ten, and so on. Clothing is irrelevant.

There is no trade, or unmerited contact with lesser species, they will be assimilated. Nobles are irrelevant. Economy is irrelevant. Solitary creatures that do not pose a notable threat to the Collective are not to be bothered with when there is important work to do. Corpses are to be vaporized or atom-smashed along with all [[noble|other useless material]]. Cage traps should be common.

We are the Dorf. Lower your shields and surrender your booze. We will add your biological and technological reaction mats to our stockpiles. Resistance is canceled: Dangerous Terrain. You are caught in a pool of magma! You are melting! x18

===World Domination===
Pretend you are an evil mastermind. Now come up with some device or machine to render the world (or at least your portion of the map) totally unlivable, aside from, of course, your hidden lair.

You will receive bonus points for making a more realistic World Domination setup. Some suggestions:

* Make one dwarf the evil mastermind. The evil mastermind will have no empathy whatsoever, and they will hate all other races, and put no value on the lives of his minions. Protect him at all cost. If he should die, switch his position to his oldest child (who will avenge his father, because insanity is hereditary.) or the most insane, diabolical dwarf in your fort or make a noble the evil mastermind. (everyone knows nobles are pure evil)
* Impractical, overkill solutions to everyday problems ("Sir, the dungeon master wants a better room" "Well then turn his room into a tomb and flood it with magma, and do not bother me with such trivial matters again or I will have you shot.")
* Give the evil mastermind a pet to obsess over. Give it a name like Mr. Bigglesworth or Snuggles. Even better if it's something really dangerous like a Giant Desert Scorpion.
**BONUS: With modding, make the evil mastermind's pet a [[Demon|clown]], [[megabeast]], [[forgotten beast]], or [[titan]].
***Bonus: Use modding to create a pet creature for the mastermind with the "opposed to life" tag.
* Have a science lab. Use living creatures and people as test subjects.

Doomsday device suggestions:
* Flood the map with water/magma (may require building walls around the edge of the map)
**BONUS: the water has carp in it.
***BONUSMOD: Carp with ''frickin' laser beams'' attached to their heads.
***BONUSMOD2.0: Give the carp the ability to spawn undead dragons for every limb they tear off a dwarf.
* Build an "Earthquake Machine" (the entire map is supported by a single support, which is connected to a lever)
* Build an extensive holding cell network for "scientific purposes". Fill it with megabeasts and <s>elephants</s> <s>unicorns,</s> skeletal carp in secret. Have a lever that lets everything free to feed on the general population.
* Embark in an evil area, and capture and tame all those undead animals if possible to create your own undead army
* Bonus: Eliminate the dwarves who constructed your device before you set it off. They must not be allowed to warn the rest of the citizens.
* Build an orbital weapons platform in space (which should be 12-15 stories above the ground, use your imagination), then arm it with magma bombs (droppable tank of magma) to glass the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for a few years.
* Build a door (or hatch) in every space of your fortress. Have all the doors set to lock at the flip of a switch. Have the switch kill the person who pulls it. Give the nobility their toy.
* Build [[User:Vattic/Mechanical Volcano Explained|Mechanical Volcano]] to flood entire map with searing magma.
*do all of the above and link all the devices to one lever in the room of the king/queen


=== The Grand Treasury ===
At first, have the king come to you. Then excavate a laaarge room and fill it with i.e.: Lots of coins, shiny gems, artifacts, golden statues, silver mugs, etc. pp. But the king is still not satisfied with his possessions, so he wants more and more shiny and sparky things.
Of course sooner or later (probably sooner) those filthy kobolds and goblins will come and try to steal this enormous hoard. We must never tolerate this! Turn your treasury into a strongroom like the world has never seen before! Secret doors, traps in abundance, guards at every door, ballistae, guard dogs, the whole program. If anything gets lost, you have proven your incompetence, and the king will have your fortress abandoned and founded another to guard his treasures.

*Bonus: Build up the treasury and raid it successfully in Adventure Mode

=== Heaven ===
Build a dwarven version of heaven. Every dwarf must want to come to you! Important pieces:
# Streets paved with gold.
# The mindless hordes are held back by pearly gates -- or at least a close equivalent. Marble doors with diamond encrustations.
# No dwarves die (except for criminals). Heaven is everlasting.
# All criminals must be cast into the fires of Hell. Ideally, this would either be HFS or the bottom of a magma pipe. Or both.
# Nothing is ever stolen. St. Peter doesn't screw up.
# After the King has arrived, any male children he has must be sent out to fight sieges alone.

BONUS: No dwarves are ever unhappy -- no tantrums and no insanity. 
BONUS: When migrants arrive at the pearly gates, view their thoughts and preferences and only allow those with a similar/same Deity as your population. 
BONUS: Make Heaven 10 stories above the ground 
Mod: Make Angel dwarves and a godly being. (suggestions: Cacame, Morul, Ironblood.) 
ULTRABONUS: Make Heaven in the air, an earthly society on the ground (a wooden town perhaps?), and carve the HFS place into Hell, complete with a lake of Magma/fire. Look up the character of every dwarf and send him to the appropriate place. 
MEGABONUS-(Re)Make: The Seven Seals have been broken and the Apocalypse arrives.
# The Sky darkens (an obsidian ceiling spanning over the map).
# Meteors (opened lava tanks and cave-ins) devastate the earth.
# All bodies of water turn bloody.
# Dig into the HFS and have a battle between Heaven and Hell.
# Sorry for any spoilers 

=== City of Ember ===
Show those filthy humans that when dwarves build a secret underground refuge, they build to last! In other words, recreate Ember from the film "City of Ember" (yes, everyone is aware there is a book, that came first, and was part of a series), but do it right - none of these leaking pipes and crumbling buildings stuff, after only two and a half centuries underground!
# Mine out a massive cavern multiple z-layers high, and build a human-style city underneath it instead of carving out various chambers.
# You must seal it off. How long you wait to do this is up to you, but once it is sealed, you cannot unseal it for at least 200 years (if you decide to play that long). Ideally, use a utility to embark with a full set of dwarves (to represent the immigrating population) and seal the city off within one year of embarking.
# Build individual houses with their own dining rooms and bedrooms. Multiple dwarves can live in one house, but usually only a single family will live in one house.
# Build streets connecting all of the buildings, in the way that in the film, Ember didn't really have any space that wasn't either paved or built on until you got to the outskirts of the city.
# Have a "greenhouse" out on the outskirts for farming.
# You MUST have an underground river and use it for power.
# You MUST have magma and use it for power.
# Build City Hall, where the mayor has his office, with a nice fountain out front that actually works (probably involving water pressure, and as a testament to the fact that dwarves do it better, and their underground refuge isn't running desperately short of food, water, or power).
# No military, because there is simply no need for one, but have a fortress guard (to function as police, basically).
# After 200 or more years, unseal the city and colonize the surface.

BONUS: Instead of building your houses/other structures out of blocks or rocks, plan it all out beforehand and simply don't dig out the tiles that you want to be the walls of buildings, and smooth it all down so it looks the same, but your buildings are actually made out of solid natural rock. 
BONUS: Actually cause some kind of catastrophe on the surface (flood it with magma or something) that makes it uninhabitable, to FORCE yourself to stay underground, but when you unseal the city after 200 years, the surface should have healed and be habitable again. So, don't do something permanent.

===The quake===

# Make your entire fortress supported by one support.
# on year 5, remove the support so your entire fortress drops one level.
# Tell us the death rate.
# double the height of the support every year, see how much is too much of a drop!

===Pull A Boatmurdered===

What's this? Too many goblins? Not enough fun? You may be needing excess amounts of lava!

# Flood the entire map with water or lava
# Maybe both and have an obsidian farm in the center
# Pump all lava resources to the surface and watch it burn!

Most famously employed in [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].

===Hippie Exterminator===

Much like trees, better water those elves.

# It's a gigantic drowning chamber for [[Elf|Elves]].
# Construct a very long wall all the way around a [[forest retreat]]
# Build a floor on top, sealing them in
# Connect some screw pumps to this and the local water supply
# Really processor intensive! Not for calculators!

# At nothing else, at least build the box around your Trade Depot, and flood it when Elves are inside.
# Drainage can be done with a [[floodgate]] to release the water from the depot.

===Dwarven Arcology===

# Build your entire fortress above ground in one structure.
# A subterranean level (the basement) on the bottom floor provides plump helmets, pig tails, and so on.
# On the ground floor, grow above-ground plants and carve fortifications into all the walls.
# Every other level is packed with food stores, refuse dumps, wood stockpiles, workshops, archery ranges, and bedrooms.
# The only subterranean activity permitted is digging, although you may be able to get away with building your depot below ground.
Bonus: Cast the entire thing in Obsidian using magma and water and engrave all the sides with your greatness.

===D For Dwarvendetta===

# Create the Parliament building or some such construction
# Rig it to explode or collapse spewing lava everywhere
# Detonate the fortress while you play the 1812 Overture somewhere
Bonus: make an underground [[minecart]] track that detonates it.
Bonus: make a metal statue at the top which gets exploded.

UnfortunateBonus: Make your nobles live inside the building to be destroyed.

MegaBonus: send burning [[graphite]] or [[lignite]] flying into the (strangely always daytime) sky.

CosmicBonus: Have an important Dwarf in a coffin play a role in detonating it.

===The Two Towers===

#Build a ring of stone [may be slightly difficult] and build a tower with four blades protruding from the top
#Build a (much larger) tower with only two blades protruding from the top
#Have the two towers combat each other ''without'' siege weapons

Bonus:
#Rig the first one to flood and the second to explode! (and you only get the points if you've seen the movies and record the videos. Try to make the towers' destruction as close to the movies as you can!)

===Twin maze of doom!===

-Make a complicated maze pair where pressure plates on any floor will trigger the rapid death of everything one floor before that in the OTHER maze.

-Check what survives the ratrace longer: goblins or elves? Kittens or dogs?

-BONUS: make it self-cleaning so it can be reused over and over!

-Double bonus: make it flood the map with lava if anything ever reaches the end of their maze, meaning their victory is for all time - as well as the last thing the world will ever see before the end.

===The doomsday temple of greed===

1- Prepare a game with the poorest-skill starting dwarves and nothing on embark.

2- Edit files to add a little castle with 10 switches, some of which open up to desirable stuff, or a mild trap. Have the lineup fairly obvious, so people know which prize/trap pair they're going for.

3- After learning the principle and getting say a starting pick, 100 wood, 10 obsidian, 10 slade, freeing an angry elephant, an artifact crossbow, alcohol for 10 years, freeing a carp guarding the exit (simple enough puzzle, dig yourself another exit), getting an anvil and 7 bronze armor sets, and avoiding the one trap/prize which has a dragon... let them look up the stairs to the next bit on the next floor...

4- THIS floor has mild traps/good prizes again, but one of them frees 7 goblins AS WELL AS trigger an unannounced very distant magma-flooding system of immense power and speed (they think the goblins are all there is to the trap, mwa ha ha). Make sure the slope means the greedy player will get what's coming at him fully...

5- Share this fun map without announcing what's on it. Surprise!!!

===To the Bottom and Beyond===
''"There is one tale that tells about [[HFS|a place]] that only few have seen, and even fewer have returned from... A place beyond the grasp of our hands, beyond the reach of our picks... A place composed of stone that has been there since the beginning, and will remain there after our demise... [[slade|A stone]] unmoved by the swing of our picks, material that only [[noble|fools]] would demand... Yet we managed to [[engraving|scratch its surface]], and now we plan to cast an entire history of our kin onto it, an artwork that no magma will melt, no beasts nor men will ever be able to destroy. A true dwarf would want to go for it. And you surely do."''

* Bonus: Also engrave walls of [[eerie glowing pit|the pits]].
* LegendaryBonus: Use only legendary engravers.
* [[Masterwork|☼]]LEGENDARY BONUS[[Masterwork|☼]]: Make sure every engraving has masterwork quality.

===The Cathedral===

Make an epically tall cathedral out of obsidian. Encrust it with gems, make multiple spires. Build giant stained-glass windows and make rows of chairs for pews. In niches high in the walls, place masterpiece or better statues, also encrusted and engraved. Underneath, make noble tomb catacombs.
BONUS: Build it near a human/dwarf town. Kill heretics.
MEGABONUS:Build a chalice that you fill with the corpses of heretics, and then use water to drain the blood out, and cast obsidian out of said bloody water.

BONUS: Make several cathedrals, one to each in-game god. Once built, assign worshippers of a god to a burrow encompassing that god's cathedral. Build walls around each cathedral and let them fend for themselves.

===Railroad===

Minecarts have finally been added! Use them to transport dwarves and goods around the fortress!
BONUS: Build several mini-fortresses, each devoted to a different industry or other purpose (e.g., trade, mining, living quarters, etc.). Only minecarts can be used to travel between these mini-forts. Essentially make dwarven Panem!
* BONUS: have the smaller forts rebel causing the main fort to be overthrown!
* MEGABONUS: build arenas where two dwarves from each mini-fort go to fight to the death!

===Vampire King===

Dedicate your entire game to finding and glorifying a Vampire citizen as the 'government appointed' King of your fortress. Who cares about Nobles? Who cares about a king? (unless he's a vampire) They all die off anyway from, unfortunate accidents. Your Eternal King will need only the best for his eternal throne. Dedicate grand rooms and buildings in his/her name. Make statues out of solid obsidian, encasing the corpses of his enemies for all time. Do everything in your power to protect and serve your eternal master.

*BONUS: Assign a personal guard to your Vampire King.
**ZOMBIEBONUS: Use undead dragons.
*BONUS: Have a Hierarchy of Kings/Queens from your Vampire's family (If they are present)
**BONUS: Make separate 'forts' for your various Royal Vampire Monarchs.
*BONUS: Wait for the king to arrive at your fortress and make him/her into a Vampire!

===I've a feeling we're not in Boatmurdered anymore.===

Create a road of gold bars leading from a small village of [[mountain gnome|mountain gnomes]], to a large city of [[green glass]] (or mod the game to allow using [[emerald|emeralds]] as building materials.) Have a patrol along the road consisting of a female child (human if you can manage it somehow) wearing [[ruby]]-encrusted shoes, a [[dog|puppy]], an [[iron man]], a [[titan]] made of grass or wheat, and a [[lion]].

Capture a female [[necromancer]], install her in a dark-colored fortress, and give her the corpses of [[spider monkey man|spider monkey men]] to resurrect. If you like, mod them to be able to fly.

=== Bridge the world! ===
Bridge two or more islands, or an island to a mainland.
* Bonus: Channel magma and make it partially or completely out of obsidian.
* You will receive more bonuses the bigger and the more embarks your require to finish it (i.e. bridge a sea, bridge an ocean).
* Bonus: Enter in adventure mode, cross water without needing to swim (jump at worst). Marvel at your ingenuity.
** Thoroughness bonus: complete it yourself in adventure mode if it isn't already. Make it out of bodies and bones if you have to.
* Resistance bonus: Make (obsidian?) pillars every 40 or so tiles so that you (or some other player) can enter in any embark, with cave-ins on, and even dig through the pillar to the ocean floor, making an under-the-sea fortress there (or just exploiting the natural cave system).

=== Make family tree for characters ===

Go to a free family tree generator and add as many characters as you want/can ([http://myheritage.com/ this] website is a good choice). Not even Legends Viewer will be able to compete with the sheer awesomeness of having the list of your dwarves' relatives (and kills) right up to year one.
* Bonus: Do it for all the dwarves you had on embark, enemies you killed and such.
** SuperResilientBonus: Do it in a world that's been played for over 100 years.
* Masochism bonus: give figurative trees to those tree-huggers and make a tree for nigh-immortal (and who mate like <s>bunnies</s> [[unicorn]]s) elves.
* Memory bonus: add fun facts about the characters that can't be found in legends, like exactly ''how'' that legendary hammerdwarf lost their [BODYPART] in that famous siege where they're held as a hero, or how they were slacking in the hospital for the rest of their lives after only being mauled by a megabeast. Or 10.
* Unintentional bonuses:
** Marvel at the error messages, like "Urist McValueDissonance married a little too young", "Urist McNotEvenImmortalVampireOrWerewolf is declared still alive, assumed to be 1000+ years old" or "You just told me Urist McGranny gave birth at the ripe age of 150. Are you sure you're not high?"
** Make their profiles unprivate so they can be found on Google.
* Detail bonus: if you had your game save on seasonal, go to all the now-dead-critters and add the description for each.
* Artifact bonus: somehow get a hold of a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0 legendary <s>dwarf</s>] character's savegame, and show us who their ancestors were.
* Mission Impossible Bonus: Do it for as many characters in a "very long history" world.

===Dwarven Tower Defense===
Make a maze (the longer the better) such that any siege that should be laid to your fortress will have to go through it. Add towers that fire upon or unleash your armies as they pass.
Towers can include:
*Marksdwarf tower
*[[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Doberman_Bomb|Doberman bomb]]
**Point Multiplier: Automate it with pressure plates
*Fire Turret: Trap [[magma crab|magma crabs]] and [[fire imp|fire imps]] in magma safe cage traps from the magma sea and make a tower.
*[[Trap|Dwarven Traps]]
*[[Stupid_dwarf_trick|VERY Dwarven Traps]]
*Your most [[noble|Skilled Fighters]]
Go to war with everyone (no treaties) and leave the Dwarves open. This means no lock in, no bridge seal, no impossible death. If they get through, you lose.
Remember the scoring on this too:
*Average Wave: Elves
*Normal Wave: Goblins
*Harder Wave: Humans
**(You can kill humans because humans aren't people. Only dwarves are people.)
*Boss Wave: [[Forgotten_beast|Cellar Dwellers]] and [[Titan|Nomadic Threats]]
*Final Wave: [[HFS|The Clowns]]

*Dwarfbuck BONUS: Assign a Dwarfbuck value to each enemy, i.e. when you defeat x you get y number of dwarfbucks. Assign a DB value to towers, i.e. how much it costs to build them. Example: Fire Tower=100 DBs, Goblin=5 DBs. Keep track of all DBs earned and spent, and only build a tower if you have the required dwarfbucks.

===Multi-purpose defense tower===
Build one big tower that fulfills multiple defensive purposes.
Here are some ideas:
*Ballista on the first floor
*Marksdwarves on the second floor
*Jail on the third floors and up.

===Dwarven Waterslide===
Make a large, circular tower, with water running down paths along the inside of the tower. Make the water fall through grates or bars so the dwarf can get out. Allow the dwarf to go into the water at the top using a retracting bridge.
Also fairely useful, as it both cleans your dwarves and has all the benefits of a downwards-only [[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Watervator|Watervator]]. It is less practical in its functioning than a Watervator, however, but it can be made to generate mist.
* Plumbing Accident Bonus: Make a system to allow the slide to flood in a way that moves the dwarves to the top of the tower.
** Usefulnessbonus: Create a simple system (not using more than one waterslide) that allows you to determine at which floor the dwarves exit, making it as useful as a Watervator.

===The Night's Watch===
Become Brandon the Builder and recreate his most famous work - Construct a wall that spans the entirety of the width of a continent - made entirely of solid ice, while in an arctic climate. The wall has to reach the very topmost of the map minus a few z-levels, for catapults and siege equipment and whatnot if you're doing the bonus challenges, while being 10 blocks thick. Make sure you put a tunnel underneath with a 4 inches cold-rolled steel drawbridge.
* Fortress Bonus: Create nineteen forts along the wall and name each of them exactly like their Westeros counterpart.
* Westeros Bonus: Build it in a continent with an arctic north, building the wall between the two climates
** Wildlings Bonus: Have all the evil civilizations and the necromancer towers on the northern side of the wall, and actually protect the continent from invasions from the north.
**Others Bonus: Zombies or other undead can only be killed with obsidian short swords or fire.
* Defensive Measures Bonus: Create a full-blown patrol schedule for your rangers, and line the top of the wall with siege engines, stone traps to drop on invaders, etc.
** Ranging Bonus: Have dwarves occasionally leave the fortress on rangings - put them on the edge of the map or something, and give them a month or two to come back.
** Scythe Bonus: Build a death scythe that kill enemy climbers.
* Night's Watch Bonus: Have all the dwarves be trained in some military skill with at least novice.
** Roles Bonus: Have each dwarf assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to their counterparts in the Night's Watch - the expedition leader/mayor would be Lord Commander, Military Commander as First Ranger, and if using the squad naming system for the classes - First Steward and First Builder, and Medical Dwarf - Maester etc etc.
* Watch out for the fall Bonus: Climb the wall. (If it is possible to climb ice)
* EPIC GOT BONUS: Recreate the events of the TV show. Abandon all the forts but 3 - and have a dwarf migrant named Jon Snow arrive.

=== Urist Transcontinental ===
Use dfhack with advfort to build a worldwide railroad.
Use disposable/retired 16x1 embarks to make the game remember what you've done, and to provide raw materials.

Put stations at every friendly settlement.
A basic station consists of something that forces incoming carts to stop, and some space between the stop and the next track.
Travellers will have to walk to the next track at each stop.
A station should have a stockpile of minecarts ready for travelers.

Above-ground rails are nicer (you get to see the sights as you travel).
Below-ground rails are easier to build (you can mine instead of using blocks).
Either variant can be powered by impulse ramps or rollers.
Rollers can be powered by either windmills or water reactors, or, if you're close to a river, ordinary water wheels.
To allow bidirectional travel, you can build two rails per link.
* WILD WEST BONUS: Also build tracks to unfriendly settlements.

=== None Shall Pass ===
Build walls around the entire map, so that all arriving creatures must stay on the map edge until you decide to let them in.
* Wall off the normal caverns, including underwater, floor to ceiling.
* Wall off that [[Hell|special cavern]] below the magma sea.
* Wall off the sky, from the surface to the highest z-level.
* Wall off the magma sea itself.

=== Glorious Revolution ===
Make your dwarves live in horrific squalor to the point where it intentionally causes a tantrum spiral, while treating any nobles you may have. Attempt to lay the fortress out in a way that kills all nobles in the spiral while minimizing other casualties. When the nobles are gone, instill communism.

*EXPORTING THE REVOLUTION BONUS!!: Conquer and <s>occupy</s> liberate 10 neighboring settlements to spread the great idea of communism!

=== Metal Gear Urist ===
Mine out enough metal to construct Metal Gear Urist out of metal walls. Make it resemble Metal Gear from Armok Vision.
* BONUS: Add a cockpit with a throne to sit in.
* DETERRENT BONUS: Make it big enough to install a catapult on its shoulder.
* SOLID BONUS: Have the fortress be in an arctic biome, and infiltrate it in Adventure Mode after you finish building it.
** REVOLVER BONUS: Have an ocelot man with a crossbow somewhere inside the fortress while you infiltrate.
** LIQUID BONUS: Edit in a snake megabeast made of water to defend the Metal Gear during the infiltration.
** GRAY BONUS: Infiltrate the fortress with a fox man ally.
{{Category|Design}}

=== Dwarf University ===
Build a center for learning! Your expedition leader is the dean of your new university and is expecting prospective students to arrive in the next season. Libraries are a must as well as classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms! Have your scholars write educational works to disseminate information among your dwarves and buy those (overpriced) textbooks from trade caravans.
* BONUS: Have a scholar become a master to multiple students in your fort. Rename the master's profession as "Professor".
* FULL CURRICULUM BONUS: Have multiple "Professors" specialize in particular fields of study such as math, astronomy, history, etc.
* STUDENT PROTEST BONUS: Have your unhappy university staff and students <s>tantrum</s> protest peacefully over issues such as textbook prices, bad cafeteria food, or terrible dorm conditions. Deal with it accordingly.
* REALISM BONUS: Base the campus on a real world university.

=== Automated Kill Grid ===
No threat is so dire it should distract from your dwarven parties. Build a network of orbital defenses over your fortress capable of dropping deadly bombs on anything that enters the map, on command. For instance, hundreds of floating islands, connected to a lever, with pressure plates underneath.
* BONUS: automated water and lava pumps automatically refill your supply of orbital obsidian "ammunition"
* FRAMERATE BONUS: your skygrid uses perpetual motion pumps to drop an infinite supply of lava on anything that passes beneath it

=== Fortress of Hardened Dwarven Adventurers ===

Have a fortress made purely of YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MODE dwarf adventurers with legendary [[skill]] in all military stuff.

BONUS: Have 1000 of them.

MEGABONUS: Have over 9000 of them!

BONUS: They all started as peasants when creating new characters.

BONUS: None of them ever had any companions or teams.

It feels like conscription. How amazing that every citizen knows self-defense techniques! If only real life humans did so.

=== Dwarven Greenhouse ===

Carve out a small lake in a hot climate, build a giant clear glass structure surrounding it, and pump in water from the aquifer.

BONUS: Embark somewhere without an aquifer. Figure it out.

MEGABONUS: Pump in lava from the magma layer.

Megaproject

2024-07-25T09:31:38Z

PLMMJ: /* Traveling Circus */ Transcluded content to stupid dwarf trick as the entry seems to be written for that page.

{{migrated article}}
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The term '''megaproject''' refers to basically any project that takes a long time to build. See also other [[challenge]]s.

Completed megaprojects should be uploaded to the [[Utility:Dwarf Fortress Map Archive|Dwarf Fortress Map Archive]] and posted on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=11.0 Bay12 Forums]. Incredible feats of construction are usually very [[Fun|fun]], so you'll see many different (and probably similar) constructions across the wiki.

Use whatever ideas you think are ingenious. More project ideas can be found where [[stupid dwarf trick|stupid dwarves try crazy tricks]] - for some smaller-scale project ideas that still embody the dwarven spirit, see the [[style project]]s page.

===Aqueducts===
For some reason, a noble was harmlessly pulling a lever when suddenly, magma flooded the river and exploded the booze! The king requires your band of seven to build a great aqueduct to bring water to the capital. Start with supports, and build up your aqueduct until it is 10 z-levels high!

*Bonus: Start over a human town, build a wall around it, pump water through the aqueduct and into it!
*Bonus: Mod the game so you can start on the dwarven capital and actually bring about the story.
*Bonus: Once you have completed your aqueduct, embark in a slightly different location and build the next section. repeat until you've built it all the way to the capital!

Variation: On a map containing a river, completely enclose it with glass walls, and floors. Use overhead pipe sections to move the water to places more <s>convenient</s> [[Fun]].

===Biodome===
All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

No pits/underground rivers/magma vents allowed.

===Casting===
Who needs to construct giant statues?! We need ours made from natural walls, however, we want it above ground level as well. For casting your goal is to create some giant structure out of natural obsidian walls through the use of an extremely elaborate scaffold of lava and water pools and screw pumps. When you are finished, just deconstruct the scaffolding and smooth/engrave the statue as you go. Just imagine the bridge over that chasm, now complete with two giant dwarf statues on either side to strike fear into all who enter and show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.
**Bonus+: Make the statues spit blood.

===Castle===
Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. This is highly time
consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floors indoors, and no underground
constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build
a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

*Bonus: Make the entire castle out of iron.
*Bonus: Did I mention you get bonus points for building the middle tower on a support connected to a lever?
*Dwarf Bonus: Do all of the above, but build it all underground in the caverns layer.
*Highly Fun Bonus: Build it in the highly fun zone. Only use appropriate materials (eg, slade and candy).
**Megabonus: Add a moat made of magma
***Armok Bonus: Replace the moat with blood

===Ceremonial Sacrifices===
Build an amazingly complex or spectacular killing device. A shaft that extends across the entire Z-plane is a good start. A constantly shifting maze of atomsmasher drawbridges is another. For the minimalist, a very confined space where you will drop a dwarf wrestler along with the gobbos once in a while. Perhaps a waterslide that carries your prisoner all the way down into a chasm? Just cut their heart out? Whatever your idea, build it and dedicate your fort to the construction, maintenance and improvement of your device.

Do not kill any of your invaders. Capture them using cage traps, and them set them off in your device. Keep a record of the number of victims you drop into it.

BONUS: Create a statue garden to memorialize your victims, with one statue per victim. Structure your fortress such that sacrificial victims have to pass through the garden on the way to their demise.

===Computing===
Can your dwarves build the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at [[computing]].

*!!IMPOSSIBLEDWARFYBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress''.
*!!IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLEDWARFYDWARFYBONUSBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that new program to build a new computer to program a new game of ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that game inside of a game inside of a game to program another game of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

===Colosseum===
Build a pit, around it on steps lots of Thrones, make the whole thing a meeting area, train Gladiators, capture goblins, leave them their weapons and let them fight against your gladiators. If they win, let them go.

*Bonus: Build different traps in the floors to further entertain your toga-toting dwarves
*GLADIATORBONUS: Have animal cages in the floor to be released if the gladiators perform poorly
*AQUABATTLEBONUS: Rig up pumps to fill the floor of the arena
**Maximus Decimus Meridius bonus: Strip your best military commander of his ranks, murder his family and force him to fight in the arena, eventually facing and kicking in the teeth of the ruler of the fortress.

===Crematory Fortress===
* Requires a [[magma| magma pipe]] and [[bauxite]].

Build a temple structure above a [[magma|magma pipe]] and [[engraving|engrave]] every available surface. The temple should be as opulent as possible. In the temple, build a retracting [[bridge]] over a hole in the floor, and designate a [[coffin]] [[stockpile]] on it. Whenever a dwarf dies, build a [[bauxite]] or other [[magma safe|magma-proof]] [[coffin]] for him, place it on the [[bridge]], and retract it, committing his body to the [[magma|fiery blood of the mountain]].

::Note: Since coffins are unassigned and emptied when deconstructed and cannot be constructed on top of a bridge, this will not actually work. An alternative would be to place the coffins in individual chambers which can then be flooded with magma afterwards.

::: You could expose the magma pipe, build a one-tile wide floor span across it, and then above that build a support that holds up your temple floor on the z-level above. The temple floor would be separated from the walls of the temple and would be connected for walking access diagonally. The support holds it up. You would have to construct the coffins in the temple, then when someone gets buried you pull the lever attached to the support. You then rebuild the narrow span below, the temple floor, and the support, then link the lever to the new support.
::: You can do this without scaffolding if you build the temple floor access straight in, and then the span below and the support, then once the support is in place you destroy the straight temple access leaving only a diagonal temple access.

::: Another method would be simply to make a hole in your temple that goes straight down to the magma, of at least 3X3 squares, then build a floor of 2 squares long and 1 wide from the upper middle edge of the hole so that the second square is only connected to the temple by the first, then build your coffin on the second square and once your dwarf is inside deconstruct the first square leaving nothing holding the square with your coffin up and it will fall into the magma. On a side note it is best to start from the upper edge of the hole so the dwarf doing the deconstructing is a lot less likely to fall into the magma.

::: Retracting bridges work well to provide access to build the support and floor, and can then be retracted before dropping the coffin. Use a single lever to retract the bridge, then begin filling a chamber with water to trigger a pressure plate to destroy the support, dropping the coffin, and also draining the water to encase the coffin in obsidian.

===City===
Live like a human!

Build all of your buildings above ground. to make this easier, mod in a plentiful building material similar to bricks, however you want it. Make sure that your city is unplanned for that medieval look; build when you need to as close as you can to where it needs to be. As each migration wave comes you're going to need more and more buildings. Protip; you're going to need a caste of dedicated builders.

* Extra points; Emulate your favourite city.
* Combo bonus; Build your city around some other megaproject; a pyramid or giant colosseum.
* ULTRADWARF; Start in a mountainous area and hollow out the above ground city from the projecting mountains, including all four sides, thus leveling the mountain range to leave a series of *surprisingly natural* looking streets.
* Build each building (or section of one) out of the same materials or...
** Bonus: Create pixel art from the colors of the stones!
** Bonus: Try to build all freestanding structures
* Geek Reference Bonus: Build the city on the side of a mountain, using only marble, and make it look like Minas Tirith.
* Modern bonus: Have dwarves ride in minecarts from their home burrow to work burrow and then back once they finish their work.
** Bonus: Design traffic lights system, complete with carts stopping, waiting till green "light" turns on and then continuing. Stop dwarves from jaywalking and getting themselves killed in the process.
** Computing bonus: Don't build a track for every single cart, reuse tracks with pressure plates coupled with bridges, hatches and floodgates and clever usage of minecart mechanics like derailing or even water skipping.
* Bonus: Paved streets.
** Greed bonus: Streets of gold (or other high-value metal)

===Doomsday Clock===
Build a water or mechanical clock whose final state triggers the support which holds your fortress up or a megabeast out.
See how much wealth you can achieve before the clock runs out.
*Bonus: Create something that resets itself, as well as purging the map, so that you can reuse the same fortress over and over.
*Super-Bonus: Create something that involves pressure plates and a small kitten, when the pressure plates are hit in the right order, your map ends. Toss the kitten in and hope for the best. Alternatively, make the sequence quite unlikely, but add 2 kittens; breeding introduces a probability of doomsday that is a function of time (depending on the mechanisms involved)
*!!OhMySchrödingerBonus!!: Create the super-bonus above, but place the kitten on the lowest Z-level and never return to either look at it or see how many of the conditions for the doomsday device have been met. This way, the kitty mimicks Schrödinger's cat: we cannot observe the state of the kitty, but we can infer it from the state of the world (spin-pairs effectively).

===Dungeons of Doom===

Beneath your fortress, carve out an immense dungeon starting from the surface. Each dungeon floor must be filled with rectangular rooms connected by twisting one-tile passages, with an occasional wider hallway, and each floor must lead to the next by a single-tile staircase (no up/down stairs). A few floors into the dungeon, build a small fortress and designate a few quarries away from the dungeon itself. The dungeon should not be exposed to the caverns, but the caverns should be exposed to the surface to free the fun creatures. The dungeon must go down until it reaches HFS. Dump an artifact amulet inside HFS. Build puzzles and thematic branches of the dungeon as you see fit.

* Bonus: Fill the dungeon with gnomes, goblins, kobolds, and horrible monsters of all kinds. Maybe a minotaur too if you are going for that labyrinth feel.
* Mega Bonus: Litter the floors of the dungeon with artifact items (especially weapons).
* Epic Bonus: Feed the minotaur stated beforehand migrants every year.
* Cosmic Bonus: Lead the dungeon into an upright candy cane and build a Labyrinth inside HFS.
* Nerd Bonus: Build the last few levels above your fortress, and fill one with lava, one with water, one entirely empty, etc., to mimic the "[https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End_Game Endgame]" of NetHack. The uppermost one should have three temples, and if possible megabeasts that cannot escape but which an adventurer could reach...

===Dwarf like an Egyptian===
*Build a pyramid of epic proportions.

Build a legendary dwarven pyramid, with a corridor running to a central tomb for your favourite noble. Then construct lots of different [[trap]]s in it to avoid grave robbery. Perhaps build it entirely out of glass? Or try to make the top twist in a bit of a swirl. Alternatively, make your entire fortress inside a pyramid, which stretches below the ground.

*Build rows of Obelisks

* Build a double row of Obelisks before the Pyramid, and engrave the sides. Build ramps on the tops.

*Build the whole thing upside down.
** And then another one on the upside-down one.

* BONUS: Make a Sphinx out of solid gold. Solid! Nobody lives or goes inside of it. Entomb the builders in an [[unfortunate accident]] - preferably inside the sphinx - so that they can never build one for anybody else. Alternately, build a hollow Sphinx and house your nobles inside.

* When the time has come, or when your fortress is about to be destroyed by a siege or something, perform the ceremony to translate the mortal form of the noble to the underworld. Give him a ritual death, and make sure you kill his servants as well. Pile wealth into the tomb. If the tomb is built for your king make every dwarf die but one, who inters everyone into their resting place. His final act will be to pull a lever that seals the tomb as well as kills him. Then enjoy going back and reclaiming your fortress to observe your efforts.

*BONUS: Dwarf like a Sumerian and make the Pyramid a Ziggurat.

*JoJoBonus: Get a king in your fortress, then make him a vampire, nickname him <s>Dio Brando</s> DIO.

===Graveyard Master===
Every dwarf deserves a decent resting place:
*Build a tomb for every dwarf that dies (or, in the case of nobles, demands anything), the more dwarves you manage to bury the better.
*Tombs must be rooms with exactly 5x5 of size and 1 of height, with only one entrance tile that must be closed by a door.
*Tombs must have all its surfaces engraved.
*Tombs must contain at least 4 statues.
*Once complete, the door must be replaced with a wall and the tomb must not be ever entered again.

*Bonus: There must be only one male dwarf with burial labor enabled. Only his close male relatives can inherit the burial labor.
**Bonus: Ensure he is a [[vampire]], and that he is the last dwarf in your Fortress.
**Double Bonus: Ensure he is the last Dwarf in existence.
*Detail Bonus: Make the statues be of the deceased Dwarf and his or her accomplishments.
**Dwarf Bonus: Carve every tomb out of [[obsidian]].
**Extra Bonus: Make every coffin and every statue out of obsidian.
***Magma Bonus: Edit the raws and make them out of [[slade]].
*Knife Bonus: Make a mass tomb specially designed for [[elf|hippies]] that is suspended above the entrance to your fortress.
**Bonus: Fill it with hippies.
**Bonus: Carve the tomb out of water and magma.
**Bonus: Make the tomb be held in place by a single pillar so it can be dropped onto the hippies.
***Bonus: Have the tomb operate by pressure plates.
***Armok Bonus: Ensure the tomb automatically rebuilds itself once used.

===How high can you go?===
Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a ''pinnacle'' of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

===Land battleship===
Turn your mountain into a huge battle-station, complete with crew quarters, decks, command centre, cantina, and a large collection of deadly weapons : Batteries of marksdwarves, ballista cannons, catapults, boarding bridges and teams, but also lava projector or remote explosive devices (i.e. cave-ins in a part of the map triggered by a lever). Make sure it ends up looking like a real battleship, with nothing but plains surrounding it (you could build it on an actual plain, or destroy a mountain, choice is yours). The battleship has to be autonomous, and dwarves shouldn't wander outside it.

*Bonus: The weaponry covers every tile of the map (i.e., everything that enters the map can be shot)
*Bonus: Build several other ships, maybe dedicated to a specific product (food, ammo etc.)
**Bonus: Find a way to let them fight each other in a naval battle
*Bonus: Each crew member has a civil and military formation, and when the enemy arrives, stop every economic activity. All hands to quarters!
*Bonus: Build Noahs Ark: Completely out of wood, with every animal twice, as well as one dwarven family with three sons on board. Flood everything around it and let everything not on the ark die. MUAHAHAHA!!! FEAR THE WRATH OF ARMOK!!
*Mega Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water.
*MEGA Bonus: Still use wood to make the ark.

===Labyrinth===
Build or dig out an elaborate labyrinth. It should be filled with traps, periodically flooded with water and magma, and decorated to your liking. Remember, no self-respecting labyrinth is complete without a [[minotaur]] or two roaming inside.

*Bonus: Build a prison and/or execution chamber somewhere inside the labyrinth.
*Bigger Bonus: Build all the labyrinth walls out of statues and make the entire thing a statue garden.
*Mega Bonus: Make it three-dimensional.

(A labyrinth is a [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/algrithm.htm unicursal maze]: labyrinths offer no choices of path as they curve in and back on themselves to the endpoint. Mazes usually have choices of paths and therefore usually dead ends. Given how pathing will usually let sapient beings in DF avoid dead ends, a labyrinth is preferable to a traditional maze with dead ends.)

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus/ Daedalus] has many maze algorithms and tools, including for unicursal mazes (GPL, free).
A [http://www.billsgames.com/mazegenerator/ traditional maze generator] may be helpful if you somehow open the dead ends (such as with drawbridges) to attract traffic.

===Magma Sea Colony===

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

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.

===Moria===
Build a huge hall - at least 3 z-levels high. Leave few pillars symmetrically placed in the hall (don't build them, carve them out). Smooth and possibly engrave everything (not only the lowest z-level!). Then build thin bridge (not the bridge building, just a thin piece of rock to walk on) above magma or above a chasm- support it with bauxite supports connected to a lever (bauxite mechanisms needed in support). Destroy stone holding it at the both ends and replace it with floor hatches (so when you pull the lever it all goes down). After that build a bridge above the chasm.
When it's all done seal your dwarves deep inside in safe place and get invaded by goblins. At the same time dig out HFS. Lead the HFS across the both bridges and then collapse the second one when one of the champions clashes with it (it doesn't matter that the champion has killed the HFS with one hit).

Bonus: cast the walls of the hall out of obsidian using water and magma

MegaBonus: Trap [[goblin]]s and a [[megabeast]] in the various lower levels

UltraMultiverseDwarfyBonus: Build the real [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930023823if_/http://www.rpg-ash.me.uk/LotRO/moria_special_edition/moria_map.jpg Moria]

===Mountain audit/core sample===
Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

MegaBonus: Put the mountain back together.

Mr.CleanBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[soap]].

CandyFlossBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[Adamantine|candy floss]].

HeavyMetalBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[steel]].

===Project Mayhem===

*You do not talk about project Mayhem
*Build a series of towers, at least 10 z-levels high, of different size and shape. They must be supported by a series of supports linked to a lever.
*Store all your riches in the towers : crafts, precious metal bars, gems, artifacts, everything. You may also want to house your nobles on top of the towers.
*Pull the lever and watch the collapse of financial history.

Bonus: make the towers' walls out of glass!

Bonus: Make soap! And remember, elf fat is ideal...

Extra Bonus: Make one large tower, and make it collapse onto a smaller tower, filled with all your artifacts/engravings. (Essentially, you only get the extra bonus if you've read the book)

===Santa Claus===
Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

BONUS: Embark on a freezing biome.

BONUS: Make the toys out of lead.

BONUS: Not all Dwarf children are nice. Make and sell a similar amount of charcoal and/or coke for the naughty children.

SANTA BONUS: have a pump operator be trained legendary and nickname him "Santa Claus"

MEGABONUS: Modding Elves to be pets, embark with 100 of them and force them to make the toys for you.

MEGA PAIN BONUS: Make Santa Claus tame 100 gremlins and force those to make toys instead.

===Skull collector===
What proves the might of a civilization better than a hall full of skulls?
*Try to collect as many skulls as you can during your fortress life, and put them in a special skulls-only storage. The more skulls the better.

BONUS: Cover all the skulls in blood, and make the stockpile also a throne room. Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!

SUPERBONUS: Also fill the throne room with elves.

MAXIMUM BONUS: Mod the game so that you can butcher elves and have a butcher that does nothing but kill hippies all day to put their skulls in the skull shrine.

===Space Ship===
Create a giant space ship fit for space travel. It should be able to hold about 100 dwarves for at least 2 years.

*BONUS: Use exploding [[booze]] as ignitable fuel. (It doesn't actually explode. It just boils into a gas...)
*BONUS: Make a removable [[ramp]] for boarding.
*BONUS: Make the [[water]] for the 2 years be on the ship using removable pumps.
*BONUS: Bring an aquifer with you to get an infinite supply of water!
*BONUS+: Make it totally self-sufficient. (Make an internal system which pumps the [[water]] supply through a room every few years to muddy the floor. Plant [[seed]]s in the [[mud]] that's now on the floor. Manage your consumption to maintain self-sufficiency.)
*Modding BONUS: Mod the game so that merchants can fly their new wagonships into your docking bays. ''(If possible)''
*BONUS+: Make it all out of [[steel]] and [[aluminum]].
*[[fun|FUN]]: Let it be held by a single [[support]], ignite the [[booze]], remove the support an let it "fly".
*EVEN BETTER: <strike>Drop</strike> Fly it down a chasm.
*More [[fun|FUN]]: Set up a mining operation on the surface and dig into the HFS. Watch the alien creatures take over your ship and hunt down your dwarves. Form a squad of heroes to overload the booze reactor to prevent the aliens from reaching earth. (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space_%28video_game%29 Dead Space] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29 the Alien series])
*BONUS: Drop the fully-operational ship with 4 dwarves into eerie pit. Do not engrave slabs. Instead, pretend that their ghosts are an unknown gravitational effect. Survive ~25 years and then feel free to turn off cave-ins and build a flying colony. And remember, only plump helmets survived the Blight

===Slums===
Take multiple goblin, kobold, animal men and other humanoid prisoners, dump them into a neglected and shut-off zone from the rest of the fort, and force them to live there.

*BONUS: Drop golden crafts into the room of the Goblin with the most kills.
*BONUS: Give the "gangs" (Kobolds, Goblins, etc.) their own uniforms and bases.
*BONUS: Carve out streets and tiny, fully-furnished chambers into rough rock or soil for the Slumfolk to call home.

===Statue of greatness===
Build a giant statue, spanning 10-20 z-levels and make it in the shape of say, a dwarf you like or an animal you like.
* Bonus: make it in the shape of a teapot that has a working boiling system and a spout that water can come out of.
* Bonus+: Steam instead of water coming out of the spout.
* Bonus++: Magma mist instead of steam coming out of the spout.
* Bonus+++: Hydra teapot containing all of the bonuses, and it also spews miasma.

===Surveillance Track===
[[Image:Surveillance track.png|thumb|right|300px|A site-wide surveillance track]]
Build an elevated [[minecart]] track around the edges of the map, and send out civilians riding minecarts to spot ambushers and distract enemy archers.

* Bonus: Use minecart jumps to physically isolate the track from your fortress.
* Bonus: Give your minecart riders crossbows to harry enemies.
* Bonus: Make the track in a way that enemies pathfind their way directly in front of the minecart.

===Swiss Precision===
Build a working clock. The clock should accurately track DF days, months, and years.

Bonus Points:
*If the clock has a mechanical effect in the fortress proper to announce new days
*If the clock creates seasonally appropriate effects at the change of months and/or seasons.
*If the clock is used to aid in the operation of the fortress in addition to its role as a clock (automatically controls farmland irrigation at particular times, automatically opens the <s>pod bay doors</s> <s>blast doors</s> <s>floodgates</s> <s>Magma Channels</s> Gate in time for those <s>evil</s> friendly merchants, etc...).
*If the clock governs the schedule of a working rail station (which is always on time). (Definitions of 'working' and 'rail station' are subject to player imagination).
*If the clock takes measures to protect itself. ''"I can't let you do that, Urist."''

But don't worry about the bonus points, a precision time device should be hard enough.

===Temple===
Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and make fountains and rivers that run red with [[blood]].

*Bonus: Make the glass windows stained with blood.
*Bonus: Spill blood everywhere.
*AztecBonus: Make it so it's a stepped pyramid. Perform sacrifice with your [[Military|priests]] on top of the statue, preferably with [[obsidian]] short swords.
*WarhammerBonus: Also fill your temple with skulls. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !
*MagmaBonus: Decorate the temple with molten magma. Also good for sacrifices.
*Bonus: Made it out of cast obsidian and engrave everything. Cast obsidian only !
*Bonus: Add [[menacing spike]]s.
**BrutalBonus: Impale elf, goblin, and kobold corpses on the spikes.
*SuperBonus: Make it out of <s>soap</s> <s>iron</s> steel ! (At least partially since you can't engrave steel)
*SuperBonus: Make it needlessly complicated. Use lots of power and mechanisms. Magma waterfalls powered by dwarven water reactors. Fill it with devious traps and use mechanisms, levers, and power galore.
*SuperMagmaBonus: All of the above, but make it inside a volcano.
*TrueBelieverBonus: Same, but make it inside the [[magma sea]].
*ArmokFanaticBonus: Same, but make it inside [[HFS]]. Sacrifice it's denizens for Armok! Alternatively, make it inside an adamantine spire and enjoy your engraved, all-natural raw adamantine walls.

===The cube===
Play a fort as usual, but emphasize catching goblins in cages to support and fill this construction:
Construct a series of rooms in a symmetrical fashion, all connected to each other with appropriate doors. Of course, enough rooms to make a maze-like structure, and if you feel like it, an exit that is hard to reach. Fill a bunch of the rooms with traps and pressure plates. Then fill one room with 4-6 goblins (preferably in cages, opened by an outside lever), release them and watch them randomly walk around the rooms dying to traps and whatnots.

*Bonus: Do multiple storey maze (3D-maze)
*Bonus: Use pressure plates to open/close the exit randomly; otherwise, all the goblins will just follow the shortest route to the exit.
*Bonus: Use multiple doors connected to multiple pressure plates in order to access certain rooms, so the goblins have to go through the maze in the correct order.
*Bonus: Figure out a way to have competing teams wandering through the maze at the same time. Can you say "elimination round?"

===The great brewery===
Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing [[Fire|‼peasant‼]] visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven [[caravan]] each year.
* BONUS: Create a working sprinkler system to douse any fires that might occur.
* BONUS+: Still use alcohol

===The Great Wall of Urist===
Build a dwarven great wall of china that splits the map in half. Must be at least 10 tiles thick and reach the highest z-level.
* BONUS: Make it block the <s>Mongols</s> goblins out of your half of the map.
* BONUS: Make it out of obsidian.
**BONUS+: Embark on a map without obsidian.
* BONUS: Find a way to make it touch the boundaries.
* BONUS: Build one gate
* BONUS: Arm it with ballistas.
** MEGABONUS: Once you have split your embark in half, abandon the fortress and embark adjacent to it, and continue the wall until it splits the continent in half.
Someone should make a bonus for this but I'd like to point out that the actual wall was made from (compressed) dirt with on outer layer of stone and that the bodies of those who died from exhaustion while building it, were put into it.
** BONUS+: Encase all workers who died during building in caskets built into the wall. Possibly with traps to protect them from grave robbers
I'd like to point out that it is just a myth that the bodies were put into the wall. In reality, they were buried nearby.
** BONUS++: Encase all workers who died during construction into obsidian nearby the wall.
** BONUS+++: Fill the obsidian case with magma and place in the wall.
I'd like to point out that Armok does not discriminate.
** BONUS++++: Put all corpses that die during the construction period into the wall. Pets, invaders, wildlife. *EVERY* corpse.
** MERCILESS ARMOK BONUS:As above, but make sure it goes through a reanimating biome.

===The Monolith===
As the inevitability of a fortress-wide mental breakdown looms over every single fortress why not have something that alludes to that precipice of [[insanity]]. Like the book and feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey you must have a Monolith. This has to be made from [[obsidian]] and have a completely smooth surface (You cannot build it from blocks) You can have it be any size as long as it is outside, at least 2 tiles thick to ensure there are no pillar tiles, and has about the same ratio of width to height as it does in the movie (1:4:9) to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It would be preferable to make it large so that it seems to be dominating the landscape and your dwarves' psyche. The bigger the better.

*If the rock obsidian strata isn't deep enough in parts to make a monolith feasible consider casting a monolith with a large rectangular block in exactly the same dimensional criteria as above.

===This Was A Triumph===
Build Aperture Laboratories, with marble test chambers supported by struts and columns of granite.
Lab should have (Connected through paths)-
1) Multiple test chambers, with observation booths and connecting staircases/elevators.
2) An end goal, with an incinerator.
3) Background systems, with catwalks and large areas of waste management.
4) An AI Control Chamber.
5) A cake chamber

*BONUS*- Make an entire model of the original Portal chambers
*BONUS*- Make a sealed off area, the original testing area in Portal 2 (Include a statue of a Noble named Cave Johnson)
*BONUS*- An extended map, including the Subject Suspended-Animation life support system
*BONUS*- Make a field on top with access, a single small shed
*BONUS+*- Build a 20:1 model of the Companion Cube

===Underwater fortress===
Encase your entire fortress in [[water]]! Your fortress should be watersealed: surrounded by water against all [[wall]]s and the top of the fortress.
* Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
* Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water (warning: will almost certainly lead to [[fun]])!
* Bonus: Build it in the [[ocean]] or a non-freezing lake
**Bonus: Build it in the magma sea
**Bonus: Build it in a volcano
* Bonus: Build large glass domes that encase the fortress. A dome 20 tiles wide should be 10 z-levels tall (creating a hemi-sphere). Which may be hard to cover in water.
* Bonus: Have a mechanism for dropping your enemies into the water to drown! Or fill the water with carp.
**Superbonus: Don't use pansy walls, use pumps to keep the water out!
* Mod: Make your dwarves amphibious and include airlocks between the wet fortress and the dry.
* Remake: Make Rapture city from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock Bioshock]
** Remake Bonus: Mod in plasmids to give dwarves superpowers, but will eventually drive them mad!
*** Remake MegaBonus: Big Daddies for military, anyone?
**** Remake MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the save raws and name the mayor "Andrew Ryan".

===Flying fortress===
Turn cave-ins off in the init, then build a flying fortress. Perhaps some flying islands only connected with bridges, maybe combined with an orbital defense network.
* Bonus: Turn cave-ins back on.
* History Bonus: Try and make them look like B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from WWII.
* Remake: Make Columbia from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite Bioshock Infinite]
* Bonus+: Make Laputa: Heavily forested floating castle with a giant Adamantine gem at its center (the source of its power)
* Bonus++: Include the Thunder of Laputa: A fiery laser beam capable of great destruction to the lands below.

===Wealth===
The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

BONUS Create capitalism in your fortress!

===We Are Dorf===

Embark site biome parameters: Mountain. Fortress shape: Cubicle (assume 7 tiles high), cut from natural rock and separated from the remaining stone so it is held by a single support. Migrant dwarves must report to assimilation chamber where a collapsing dust trap will launch them into large serrated disk [[trap component|traps]] to remove unnecessary appendages, or have their offending limbs removed some other way. Dorf drones must be cataloged and arranged in squads of varying number. The naming structure is as follows: First of Ten, Second of Ten, and so on. Clothing is irrelevant.

There is no trade, or unmerited contact with lesser species, they will be assimilated. Nobles are irrelevant. Economy is irrelevant. Solitary creatures that do not pose a notable threat to the Collective are not to be bothered with when there is important work to do. Corpses are to be vaporized or atom-smashed along with all [[noble|other useless material]]. Cage traps should be common.

We are the Dorf. Lower your shields and surrender your booze. We will add your biological and technological reaction mats to our stockpiles. Resistance is canceled: Dangerous Terrain. You are caught in a pool of magma! You are melting! x18

===World Domination===
Pretend you are an evil mastermind. Now come up with some device or machine to render the world (or at least your portion of the map) totally unlivable, aside from, of course, your hidden lair.

You will receive bonus points for making a more realistic World Domination setup. Some suggestions:

* Make one dwarf the evil mastermind. The evil mastermind will have no empathy whatsoever, and they will hate all other races, and put no value on the lives of his minions. Protect him at all cost. If he should die, switch his position to his oldest child (who will avenge his father, because insanity is hereditary.) or the most insane, diabolical dwarf in your fort or make a noble the evil mastermind. (everyone knows nobles are pure evil)
* Impractical, overkill solutions to everyday problems ("Sir, the dungeon master wants a better room" "Well then turn his room into a tomb and flood it with magma, and do not bother me with such trivial matters again or I will have you shot.")
* Give the evil mastermind a pet to obsess over. Give it a name like Mr. Bigglesworth or Snuggles. Even better if it's something really dangerous like a Giant Desert Scorpion.
**BONUS: With modding, make the evil mastermind's pet a [[Demon|clown]], [[megabeast]], [[forgotten beast]], or [[titan]].
***Bonus: Use modding to create a pet creature for the mastermind with the "opposed to life" tag.
* Have a science lab. Use living creatures and people as test subjects.

Doomsday device suggestions:
* Flood the map with water/magma (may require building walls around the edge of the map)
**BONUS: the water has carp in it.
***BONUSMOD: Carp with ''frickin' laser beams'' attached to their heads.
***BONUSMOD2.0: Give the carp the ability to spawn undead dragons for every limb they tear off a dwarf.
* Build an "Earthquake Machine" (the entire map is supported by a single support, which is connected to a lever)
* Build an extensive holding cell network for "scientific purposes". Fill it with megabeasts and <s>elephants</s> <s>unicorns,</s> skeletal carp in secret. Have a lever that lets everything free to feed on the general population.
* Embark in an evil area, and capture and tame all those undead animals if possible to create your own undead army
* Bonus: Eliminate the dwarves who constructed your device before you set it off. They must not be allowed to warn the rest of the citizens.
* Build an orbital weapons platform in space (which should be 12-15 stories above the ground, use your imagination), then arm it with magma bombs (droppable tank of magma) to glass the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for a few years.
* Build a door (or hatch) in every space of your fortress. Have all the doors set to lock at the flip of a switch. Have the switch kill the person who pulls it. Give the nobility their toy.
* Build [[User:Vattic/Mechanical Volcano Explained|Mechanical Volcano]] to flood entire map with searing magma.
*do all of the above and link all the devices to one lever in the room of the king/queen


=== The Grand Treasury ===
At first, have the king come to you. Then excavate a laaarge room and fill it with i.e.: Lots of coins, shiny gems, artifacts, golden statues, silver mugs, etc. pp. But the king is still not satisfied with his possessions, so he wants more and more shiny and sparky things.
Of course sooner or later (probably sooner) those filthy kobolds and goblins will come and try to steal this enormous hoard. We must never tolerate this! Turn your treasury into a strongroom like the world has never seen before! Secret doors, traps in abundance, guards at every door, ballistae, guard dogs, the whole program. If anything gets lost, you have proven your incompetence, and the king will have your fortress abandoned and founded another to guard his treasures.

*Bonus: Build up the treasury and raid it successfully in Adventure Mode

=== Heaven ===
Build a dwarven version of heaven. Every dwarf must want to come to you! Important pieces:
# Streets paved with gold.
# The mindless hordes are held back by pearly gates -- or at least a close equivalent. Marble doors with diamond encrustations.
# No dwarves die (except for criminals). Heaven is everlasting.
# All criminals must be cast into the fires of Hell. Ideally, this would either be HFS or the bottom of a magma pipe. Or both.
# Nothing is ever stolen. St. Peter doesn't screw up.
# After the King has arrived, any male children he has must be sent out to fight sieges alone.

BONUS: No dwarves are ever unhappy -- no tantrums and no insanity. 
BONUS: When migrants arrive at the pearly gates, view their thoughts and preferences and only allow those with a similar/same Deity as your population. 
BONUS: Make Heaven 10 stories above the ground 
Mod: Make Angel dwarves and a godly being. (suggestions: Cacame, Morul, Ironblood.) 
ULTRABONUS: Make Heaven in the air, an earthly society on the ground (a wooden town perhaps?), and carve the HFS place into Hell, complete with a lake of Magma/fire. Look up the character of every dwarf and send him to the appropriate place. 
MEGABONUS-(Re)Make: The Seven Seals have been broken and the Apocalypse arrives.
# The Sky darkens (an obsidian ceiling spanning over the map).
# Meteors (opened lava tanks and cave-ins) devastate the earth.
# All bodies of water turn bloody.
# Dig into the HFS and have a battle between Heaven and Hell.
# Sorry for any spoilers 

=== City of Ember ===
Show those filthy humans that when dwarves build a secret underground refuge, they build to last! In other words, recreate Ember from the film "City of Ember" (yes, everyone is aware there is a book, that came first, and was part of a series), but do it right - none of these leaking pipes and crumbling buildings stuff, after only two and a half centuries underground!
# Mine out a massive cavern multiple z-layers high, and build a human-style city underneath it instead of carving out various chambers.
# You must seal it off. How long you wait to do this is up to you, but once it is sealed, you cannot unseal it for at least 200 years (if you decide to play that long). Ideally, use a utility to embark with a full set of dwarves (to represent the immigrating population) and seal the city off within one year of embarking.
# Build individual houses with their own dining rooms and bedrooms. Multiple dwarves can live in one house, but usually only a single family will live in one house.
# Build streets connecting all of the buildings, in the way that in the film, Ember didn't really have any space that wasn't either paved or built on until you got to the outskirts of the city.
# Have a "greenhouse" out on the outskirts for farming.
# You MUST have an underground river and use it for power.
# You MUST have magma and use it for power.
# Build City Hall, where the mayor has his office, with a nice fountain out front that actually works (probably involving water pressure, and as a testament to the fact that dwarves do it better, and their underground refuge isn't running desperately short of food, water, or power).
# No military, because there is simply no need for one, but have a fortress guard (to function as police, basically).
# After 200 or more years, unseal the city and colonize the surface.

BONUS: Instead of building your houses/other structures out of blocks or rocks, plan it all out beforehand and simply don't dig out the tiles that you want to be the walls of buildings, and smooth it all down so it looks the same, but your buildings are actually made out of solid natural rock. 
BONUS: Actually cause some kind of catastrophe on the surface (flood it with magma or something) that makes it uninhabitable, to FORCE yourself to stay underground, but when you unseal the city after 200 years, the surface should have healed and be habitable again. So, don't do something permanent.

===The quake===

# Make your entire fortress supported by one support.
# on year 5, remove the support so your entire fortress drops one level.
# Tell us the death rate.
# double the height of the support every year, see how much is too much of a drop!

===Pull A Boatmurdered===

What's this? Too many goblins? Not enough fun? You may be needing excess amounts of lava!

# Flood the entire map with water or lava
# Maybe both and have an obsidian farm in the center
# Pump all lava resources to the surface and watch it burn!

Most famously employed in [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].

===Hippie Exterminator===

Much like trees, better water those elves.

# It's a gigantic drowning chamber for [[Elf|Elves]].
# Construct a very long wall all the way around a [[forest retreat]]
# Build a floor on top, sealing them in
# Connect some screw pumps to this and the local water supply
# Really processor intensive! Not for calculators!

# At nothing else, at least build the box around your Trade Depot, and flood it when Elves are inside.
# Drainage can be done with a [[floodgate]] to release the water from the depot.

===Dwarven Arcology===

# Build your entire fortress above ground in one structure.
# A subterranean level (the basement) on the bottom floor provides plump helmets, pig tails, and so on.
# On the ground floor, grow above-ground plants and carve fortifications into all the walls.
# Every other level is packed with food stores, refuse dumps, wood stockpiles, workshops, archery ranges, and bedrooms.
# The only subterranean activity permitted is digging, although you may be able to get away with building your depot below ground.
Bonus: Cast the entire thing in Obsidian using magma and water and engrave all the sides with your greatness.

===D For Dwarvendetta===

# Create the Parliament building or some such construction
# Rig it to explode or collapse spewing lava everywhere
# Detonate the fortress while you play the 1812 Overture somewhere
Bonus: make an underground [[minecart]] track that detonates it.
Bonus: make a metal statue at the top which gets exploded.

UnfortunateBonus: Make your nobles live inside the building to be destroyed.

MegaBonus: send burning [[graphite]] or [[lignite]] flying into the (strangely always daytime) sky.

CosmicBonus: Have an important Dwarf in a coffin play a role in detonating it.

===The Two Towers===

#Build a ring of stone [may be slightly difficult] and build a tower with four blades protruding from the top
#Build a (much larger) tower with only two blades protruding from the top
#Have the two towers combat each other ''without'' siege weapons

Bonus:
#Rig the first one to flood and the second to explode! (and you only get the points if you've seen the movies and record the videos. Try to make the towers' destruction as close to the movies as you can!)

===Twin maze of doom!===

-Make a complicated maze pair where pressure plates on any floor will trigger the rapid death of everything one floor before that in the OTHER maze.

-Check what survives the ratrace longer: goblins or elves? Kittens or dogs?

-BONUS: make it self-cleaning so it can be reused over and over!

-Double bonus: make it flood the map with lava if anything ever reaches the end of their maze, meaning their victory is for all time - as well as the last thing the world will ever see before the end.

===The doomsday temple of greed===

1- Prepare a game with the poorest-skill starting dwarves and nothing on embark.

2- Edit files to add a little castle with 10 switches, some of which open up to desirable stuff, or a mild trap. Have the lineup fairly obvious, so people know which prize/trap pair they're going for.

3- After learning the principle and getting say a starting pick, 100 wood, 10 obsidian, 10 slade, freeing an angry elephant, an artifact crossbow, alcohol for 10 years, freeing a carp guarding the exit (simple enough puzzle, dig yourself another exit), getting an anvil and 7 bronze armor sets, and avoiding the one trap/prize which has a dragon... let them look up the stairs to the next bit on the next floor...

4- THIS floor has mild traps/good prizes again, but one of them frees 7 goblins AS WELL AS trigger an unannounced very distant magma-flooding system of immense power and speed (they think the goblins are all there is to the trap, mwa ha ha). Make sure the slope means the greedy player will get what's coming at him fully...

5- Share this fun map without announcing what's on it. Surprise!!!

===To the Bottom and Beyond===
''"There is one tale that tells about [[HFS|a place]] that only few have seen, and even fewer have returned from... A place beyond the grasp of our hands, beyond the reach of our picks... A place composed of stone that has been there since the beginning, and will remain there after our demise... [[slade|A stone]] unmoved by the swing of our picks, material that only [[noble|fools]] would demand... Yet we managed to [[engraving|scratch its surface]], and now we plan to cast an entire history of our kin onto it, an artwork that no magma will melt, no beasts nor men will ever be able to destroy. A true dwarf would want to go for it. And you surely do."''

* Bonus: Also engrave walls of [[eerie glowing pit|the pits]].
* LegendaryBonus: Use only legendary engravers.
* [[Masterwork|☼]]LEGENDARY BONUS[[Masterwork|☼]]: Make sure every engraving has masterwork quality.

===The Cathedral===

Make an epically tall cathedral out of obsidian. Encrust it with gems, make multiple spires. Build giant stained-glass windows and make rows of chairs for pews. In niches high in the walls, place masterpiece or better statues, also encrusted and engraved. Underneath, make noble tomb catacombs.
BONUS: Build it near a human/dwarf town. Kill heretics.
MEGABONUS:Build a chalice that you fill with the corpses of heretics, and then use water to drain the blood out, and cast obsidian out of said bloody water.

BONUS: Make several cathedrals, one to each in-game god. Once built, assign worshippers of a god to a burrow encompassing that god's cathedral. Build walls around each cathedral and let them fend for themselves.

===Railroad===

Minecarts have finally been added! Use them to transport dwarves and goods around the fortress!
BONUS: Build several mini-fortresses, each devoted to a different industry or other purpose (e.g., trade, mining, living quarters, etc.). Only minecarts can be used to travel between these mini-forts. Essentially make dwarven Panem!
* BONUS: have the smaller forts rebel causing the main fort to be overthrown!
* MEGABONUS: build arenas where two dwarves from each mini-fort go to fight to the death!

===Vampire King===

Dedicate your entire game to finding and glorifying a Vampire citizen as the 'government appointed' King of your fortress. Who cares about Nobles? Who cares about a king? (unless he's a vampire) They all die off anyway from, unfortunate accidents. Your Eternal King will need only the best for his eternal throne. Dedicate grand rooms and buildings in his/her name. Make statues out of solid obsidian, encasing the corpses of his enemies for all time. Do everything in your power to protect and serve your eternal master.

*BONUS: Assign a personal guard to your Vampire King.
**ZOMBIEBONUS: Use undead dragons.
*BONUS: Have a Hierarchy of Kings/Queens from your Vampire's family (If they are present)
**BONUS: Make separate 'forts' for your various Royal Vampire Monarchs.
*BONUS: Wait for the king to arrive at your fortress and make him/her into a Vampire!

===I've a feeling we're not in Boatmurdered anymore.===

Create a road of gold bars leading from a small village of [[mountain gnome|mountain gnomes]], to a large city of [[green glass]] (or mod the game to allow using [[emerald|emeralds]] as building materials.) Have a patrol along the road consisting of a female child (human if you can manage it somehow) wearing [[ruby]]-encrusted shoes, a [[dog|puppy]], an [[iron man]], a [[titan]] made of grass or wheat, and a [[lion]].

Capture a female [[necromancer]], install her in a dark-colored fortress, and give her the corpses of [[spider monkey man|spider monkey men]] to resurrect. If you like, mod them to be able to fly.

=== Bridge the world! ===
Bridge two or more islands, or an island to a mainland.
* Bonus: Channel magma and make it partially or completely out of obsidian.
* You will receive more bonuses the bigger and the more embarks your require to finish it (i.e. bridge a sea, bridge an ocean).
* Bonus: Enter in adventure mode, cross water without needing to swim (jump at worst). Marvel at your ingenuity.
** Thoroughness bonus: complete it yourself in adventure mode if it isn't already. Make it out of bodies and bones if you have to.
* Resistance bonus: Make (obsidian?) pillars every 40 or so tiles so that you (or some other player) can enter in any embark, with cave-ins on, and even dig through the pillar to the ocean floor, making an under-the-sea fortress there (or just exploiting the natural cave system).

=== Make family tree for characters ===

Go to a free family tree generator and add as many characters as you want/can ([http://myheritage.com/ this] website is a good choice). Not even Legends Viewer will be able to compete with the sheer awesomeness of having the list of your dwarves' relatives (and kills) right up to year one.
* Bonus: Do it for all the dwarves you had on embark, enemies you killed and such.
** SuperResilientBonus: Do it in a world that's been played for over 100 years.
* Masochism bonus: give figurative trees to those tree-huggers and make a tree for nigh-immortal (and who mate like <s>bunnies</s> [[unicorn]]s) elves.
* Memory bonus: add fun facts about the characters that can't be found in legends, like exactly ''how'' that legendary hammerdwarf lost their [BODYPART] in that famous siege where they're held as a hero, or how they were slacking in the hospital for the rest of their lives after only being mauled by a megabeast. Or 10.
* Unintentional bonuses:
** Marvel at the error messages, like "Urist McValueDissonance married a little too young", "Urist McNotEvenImmortalVampireOrWerewolf is declared still alive, assumed to be 1000+ years old" or "You just told me Urist McGranny gave birth at the ripe age of 150. Are you sure you're not high?"
** Make their profiles unprivate so they can be found on Google.
* Detail bonus: if you had your game save on seasonal, go to all the now-dead-critters and add the description for each.
* Artifact bonus: somehow get a hold of a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0 legendary <s>dwarf</s>] character's savegame, and show us who their ancestors were.
* Mission Impossible Bonus: Do it for as many characters in a "very long history" world.

===Dwarven Tower Defense===
Make a maze (the longer the better) such that any siege that should be laid to your fortress will have to go through it. Add towers that fire upon or unleash your armies as they pass.
Towers can include:
*Marksdwarf tower
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Doberman_Bomb|Doberman bomb]]
**Point Multiplier: Automate it with pressure plates
*Fire Turret: Trap [[magma crab|magma crabs]] and [[fire imp|fire imps]] in magma safe cage traps from the magma sea and make a tower.
*[[Trap|Dwarven Traps]]
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick|VERY Dwarven Traps]]
*Your most [[noble|Skilled Fighters]]
Go to war with everyone (no treaties) and leave the Dwarves open. This means no lock in, no bridge seal, no impossible death. If they get through, you lose.
Remember the scoring on this too:
*Average Wave: Elves
*Normal Wave: Goblins
*Harder Wave: Humans
**(You can kill humans because humans aren't people. Only dwarves are people.)
*Boss Wave: [[Forgotten_beast|Cellar Dwellers]] and [[Titan|Nomadic Threats]]
*Final Wave: [[HFS|The Clowns]]

*Dwarfbuck BONUS: Assign a Dwarfbuck value to each enemy, i.e. when you defeat x you get y number of dwarfbucks. Assign a DB value to towers, i.e. how much it costs to build them. Example: Fire Tower=100 DBs, Goblin=5 DBs. Keep track of all DBs earned and spent, and only build a tower if you have the required dwarfbucks.

===Multi-purpose defense tower===
Build one big tower that fulfills multiple defensive purposes.
Here are some ideas:
*Ballista on the first floor
*Marksdwarves on the second floor
*Jail on the third floors and up.

===Dwarven Waterslide===
Make a large, circular tower, with water running down paths along the inside of the tower. Make the water fall through grates or bars so the dwarf can get out. Allow the dwarf to go into the water at the top using a retracting bridge.
Also fairely useful, as it both cleans your dwarves and has all the benefits of a downwards-only [[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Watervator|Watervator]]. It is less practical in its functioning than a Watervator, however, but it can be made to generate mist.
* Plumbing Accident Bonus: Make a system to allow the slide to flood in a way that moves the dwarves to the top of the tower.
** Usefulnessbonus: Create a simple system (not using more than one waterslide) that allows you to determine at which floor the dwarves exit, making it as useful as a Watervator.

===The Night's Watch===
Become Brandon the Builder and recreate his most famous work - Construct a wall that spans the entirety of the width of a continent - made entirely of solid ice, while in an arctic climate. The wall has to reach the very topmost of the map minus a few z-levels, for catapults and siege equipment and whatnot if you're doing the bonus challenges, while being 10 blocks thick. Make sure you put a tunnel underneath with a 4 inches cold-rolled steel drawbridge.
* Fortress Bonus: Create nineteen forts along the wall and name each of them exactly like their Westeros counterpart.
* Westeros Bonus: Build it in a continent with an arctic north, building the wall between the two climates
** Wildlings Bonus: Have all the evil civilizations and the necromancer towers on the northern side of the wall, and actually protect the continent from invasions from the north.
**Others Bonus: Zombies or other undead can only be killed with obsidian short swords or fire.
* Defensive Measures Bonus: Create a full-blown patrol schedule for your rangers, and line the top of the wall with siege engines, stone traps to drop on invaders, etc.
** Ranging Bonus: Have dwarves occasionally leave the fortress on rangings - put them on the edge of the map or something, and give them a month or two to come back.
** Scythe Bonus: Build a death scythe that kill enemy climbers.
* Night's Watch Bonus: Have all the dwarves be trained in some military skill with at least novice.
** Roles Bonus: Have each dwarf assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to their counterparts in the Night's Watch - the expedition leader/mayor would be Lord Commander, Military Commander as First Ranger, and if using the squad naming system for the classes - First Steward and First Builder, and Medical Dwarf - Maester etc etc.
* Watch out for the fall Bonus: Climb the wall. (If it is possible to climb ice)
* EPIC GOT BONUS: Recreate the events of the TV show. Abandon all the forts but 3 - and have a dwarf migrant named Jon Snow arrive.

=== Urist Transcontinental ===
Use dfhack with advfort to build a worldwide railroad.
Use disposable/retired 16x1 embarks to make the game remember what you've done, and to provide raw materials.

Put stations at every friendly settlement.
A basic station consists of something that forces incoming carts to stop, and some space between the stop and the next track.
Travellers will have to walk to the next track at each stop.
A station should have a stockpile of minecarts ready for travelers.

Above-ground rails are nicer (you get to see the sights as you travel).
Below-ground rails are easier to build (you can mine instead of using blocks).
Either variant can be powered by impulse ramps or rollers.
Rollers can be powered by either windmills or water reactors, or, if you're close to a river, ordinary water wheels.
To allow bidirectional travel, you can build two rails per link.
* WILD WEST BONUS: Also build tracks to unfriendly settlements.

=== None Shall Pass ===
Build walls around the entire map, so that all arriving creatures must stay on the map edge until you decide to let them in.
* Wall off the normal caverns, including underwater, floor to ceiling.
* Wall off that [[Hell|special cavern]] below the magma sea.
* Wall off the sky, from the surface to the highest z-level.
* Wall off the magma sea itself.

=== Glorious Revolution ===
Make your dwarves live in horrific squalor to the point where it intentionally causes a tantrum spiral, while treating any nobles you may have. Attempt to lay the fortress out in a way that kills all nobles in the spiral while minimizing other casualties. When the nobles are gone, instill communism.

*EXPORTING THE REVOLUTION BONUS!!: Conquer and <s>occupy</s> liberate 10 neighboring settlements to spread the great idea of communism!

=== Metal Gear Urist ===
Mine out enough metal to construct Metal Gear Urist out of metal walls. Make it resemble Metal Gear from Armok Vision.
* BONUS: Add a cockpit with a throne to sit in.
* DETERRENT BONUS: Make it big enough to install a catapult on its shoulder.
* SOLID BONUS: Have the fortress be in an arctic biome, and infiltrate it in Adventure Mode after you finish building it.
** REVOLVER BONUS: Have an ocelot man with a crossbow somewhere inside the fortress while you infiltrate.
** LIQUID BONUS: Edit in a snake megabeast made of water to defend the Metal Gear during the infiltration.
** GRAY BONUS: Infiltrate the fortress with a fox man ally.
{{Category|Design}}

=== Dwarf University ===
Build a center for learning! Your expedition leader is the dean of your new university and is expecting prospective students to arrive in the next season. Libraries are a must as well as classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms! Have your scholars write educational works to disseminate information among your dwarves and buy those (overpriced) textbooks from trade caravans.
* BONUS: Have a scholar become a master to multiple students in your fort. Rename the master's profession as "Professor".
* FULL CURRICULUM BONUS: Have multiple "Professors" specialize in particular fields of study such as math, astronomy, history, etc.
* STUDENT PROTEST BONUS: Have your unhappy university staff and students <s>tantrum</s> protest peacefully over issues such as textbook prices, bad cafeteria food, or terrible dorm conditions. Deal with it accordingly.
* REALISM BONUS: Base the campus on a real world university.

=== Automated Kill Grid ===
No threat is so dire it should distract from your dwarven parties. Build a network of orbital defenses over your fortress capable of dropping deadly bombs on anything that enters the map, on command. For instance, hundreds of floating islands, connected to a lever, with pressure plates underneath.
* BONUS: automated water and lava pumps automatically refill your supply of orbital obsidian "ammunition"
* FRAMERATE BONUS: your skygrid uses perpetual motion pumps to drop an infinite supply of lava on anything that passes beneath it

=== Fortress of Hardened Dwarven Adventurers ===

Have a fortress made purely of YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MODE dwarf adventurers with legendary [[skill]] in all military stuff.

BONUS: Have 1000 of them.

MEGABONUS: Have over 9000 of them!

BONUS: They all started as peasants when creating new characters.

BONUS: None of them ever had any companions or teams.

It feels like conscription. How amazing that every citizen knows self-defense techniques! If only real life humans did so.

=== Dwarven Greenhouse ===

Carve out a small lake in a hot climate, build a giant clear glass structure surrounding it, and pump in water from the aquifer.

BONUS: Embark somewhere without an aquifer. Figure it out.

MEGABONUS: Pump in lava from the magma layer.

Stupid dwarf trick

2024-07-25T09:31:19Z

PLMMJ: Transcluding content from megaprojects page that fit better here.

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

{{D for Dwarf}}

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

==Adventure mode fortress==


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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

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

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

==Altar of Armok==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Usefulness:''' High.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Bolt splitting operation==

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

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

The yellow @ at the right is a stack of marksdwarves (all in different squads so that they'll stand on the same tile) equipped with [[adamantine]] (or [[Divine metal]] if you don't have it; or [[Steel]] if you have neither) bolts, standing on top of a stairway surrounded by [[fortification]]s. The blue ☻ at the left is a single [[Attributes#Agility|Perfectly Agile]] soldier with orders to patrol up and down the line of green doors, with little delays at the top and bottom. (The doors are free-standing; they were built attached to a wall, then the wall was removed.) The "g" at the left is a goblin standing on a pillar (pitted from the z-level above).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Low

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

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'''Difficulty:''' Hard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*MegaDwarfBonus: Menacing spikes greatly increase the danger, and may help train your medical team (and/or your coffin construction crew).
*UltraDwarfBonus: Use [[adamantine]] spikes! On the plus side, you have a thriving coffin industry going now.

==Day care==
A room where you put all your dwarf children so they cannot be kidnapped by snatchers, or get into accidents. Make a room with beds and tables and stuff, then turn it into a burrow, then add all your children to it. Remember to include a food chute to [[quantum stockpile]] a huge amount of food and alcohol on a 1x1 stockpile (so it doesn't rot) in the room. High quality food, furniture, toys, clothing, and socializing should keep them happy. Note that the children will no longer be able to perform certain useful tasks like hauling, crop harvesting and deconstruction, and will not level up their skill in miscellaneous professions like an otherwise vulnerable child, but this is a small trade-off if they usually get kidnapped before maturing anyway. This is probably obvious, but make sure this room is guarded, otherwise it will turn into a Dwarf Orphanage (Dorfanage) (with Goblins and Minotaurs welcome!)

'''Difficulty:''' Low. With the invention of burrows, you can designate the Day Care to contain all children, so it is unnecessary to use suicide-booth-micromanagement to contain the children.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies, depending on the bonuses built. With v50, children are a lot easier to mentally scar for life, making them prone to fell moods and tantrums, so having a safe form of daycare allows them to grow up into adults whose stress levels are usually easier to manage

*SchoolBonus: Make the daycare a guild hall, and add a highly skilled dwarf and another adult to the burrow. The two will give demonstrations that the kids will occasionally watch, gaining experience in a profession of your choice
*OlympicBonus: Build a swimming pool of 4/7 between critical parts of the daycare, so the kids have to go through the water for their everyday tasks, gaining swimming skill and associated stats.
*ChildSoldierBonus: Make the daycare a barracks, and have your crack squad of dwarves spar and demonstrate there to train up the military skills of your dwarven children

==Doberman bomb==
Whenever a dog or cat gives birth, stuff all the kittens and puppies in one cage in your entryway. Link this cage to a pressure plate beside it. Should your last lines of defense be breached, goblins will step on it and in the next instant be torn apart by dozens of goblin-seeking hostiles and distracted by dozens of surplus targets. The trap actually going off will probably be very bad for your frame rate.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to high, depending on the animal you use

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to very high, potentially fortress-saving

*Bonus: Train the dogs inside as war dogs
**DwarfBonus: Use [[giant badger]]s, [[tiger]]s, [[alligator]]s, bears, or anything big and aggressive when tamed
***MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave dragon]]s, [[blind cave ogre]]s, [[jabberer]]s or something really dangerous and rare.
****UltraMagmaArmokBonus: Use one (or more!) of the following list: [[dragon]]s, [[bronze colossus]]es, [[forgotten beast]]s (bonus points for flesh-melting secretions), an [[undead]] [[giant sponge]], or [[Hidden Fun Stuff|Clowns of Hidden Funland]].

==Drophole==
Imagine an execution tower, for rocks and pants. It's nothing but a very deep 1x1 up-down staircase for express service to the depths. Designate a garbage dump beside the top and dwarves will pitch anything marked for [[Dumping]] into it.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds, there's always snags along the way. Surprise caverns can cost you miners and tools. Hitting water can be vexing. Dumping and reclaiming things can be a chore. It may serve as an unintended highway for Fun of any liquid or airborne variety

'''Usefulness:''' It's '''far''' easier to drop ore 100 z-levels to the magma sea than carry it. You can use this to transfer items between burrows.

*Bonus: Minecarts can make this semi-automatic, fed from a stockpile.

==Drowning chamber==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
'''Difficulty:''' Moderate.

'''Usefulness:''' You can kill prisoners, useless peasants, irate nobles, hammerers, untamable animals, or anything else. Just be ready for something that knows how to swim. Also useful for catching fishies.

*Bonus: Utilize lava.
*Bonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the raws and do both.

==Dwarfputer complex==
{{main|Computing}}
A big mess of [[fluid logic|fluid]], [[machine logic|machine]], and/or [[creature logic|creature]] logic full of hatches, floodgates, gears, pumps, etc. and powered by waterwheels, windmills, or useless idle dwarves. Hook it up to doors, bridges, and traps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on what you want to build. You'll want to build for very high water flow if you have more than a few fluid gates.

'''Usefulness:''' Your mechanics will level up very fast. Manual pumps give something for your haulers to do. Try and make a clock to trigger different mechanisms in different seasons. See if enemies actually blunder into your intricate traps. Watch all hell break loose as water freezes and building destroyers (''bugs, perhaps?'') enter your computer.
*Bonus: Use lava.
**Doombonus: Use lava ''and'' build it so that building destroyers that enter the complex get killed by the mechanisms they destroy.
***SelfRepairingbonus: Use both lava and water and implement the building destroyer killing system, but modify it so it's self-repairing, filling up broken spaces with obsidian.

==Dwarven apartment complex==
Essentially, one of the many possible [[megaprojects]] dedicated to providing dwarves with rooms so high above the ground they get vertigo. Every floor must have plenty of rooms of at least 2x3 squares, with walls and a door surrounding this. Oh, and it has to go up as many Z-levels as possible. For extra credit, decide on what the top story will be (i.e. as many levels up as you deem possible, minus one so you can build a roof) and turn this into a Royal bedroom for a [[noble]], complete with gem windows, artifact/masterwork components, and untold numbers of armour stands and weapon racks. And then build some shorter but wider apartment buildings nearby to turn your fortress into essentially a giant fist with extended middle finger. Extra points for adding extra useless things for luxury, such as a magma-based heating system, fireplaces in rooms, and a lock-down lever in case of goblin attack. (or a self-destruct lever connected to the main supports, in case your dwarfish tenants are unsatisfied with your ☼5-star service☼).

'''Difficulty:''' Low, although the walls around the rooms can be a bit fiddly due to the impossibility of building walls on constructed floors (yes, an extra credit challenge is to do this without using Remove Construction).

'''Usefulness:''' Limited, because you could just dig the things underground and save yourself the hassle. However it is much harder to flood a tower than a cave, in case you're prone to [[Losing|fun]] by water. Additionally, if you have the time and resources to train a sizable force of marksdwarves, placing a few "security rooms" (with barracks, ammunition store, ration cache, armory, etc.) at appropriate floors, complete with fortified balconies, will allow you to take advantage of the higher vantage point.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Extend the tower to have levels below ground as well as above.
*MegaOrwellBonus: Make the whole construction out of clear glass. (privacy? Whatever for?)

==Dwarven courtyards==
Dig large shafts [first dig the staircase to the desired depth, digging out the size you want the shaft to be on all layers. Channel the outer later, then install supports on the base floor. Link the support to a trigger, clear everyone out, destroy the remaining staircase and pull the trigger] then cover them in glass, creating an indoor but light area that will keep dwarves from being irritated and nauseated by the sun, also improving general happiness and allowing close proximity to caverns and magma.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, make sure not to mess up or you will lose your miners

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. creates vertical circulation and brings light to lower levels.

*Bonus: Punch a large shaft through a multi-level aquifer (hint: punch through the aquifer from below).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Create a network of self-sufficient communities per shaft, allowing them to be sectioned off in case of disaster. (I plan on colonizing HFS eventually on this paradigm, creating a mining team of soldiers to extract, manufacture and ultimately use adamantine products without being connected to the main colony in order to take on the [[Demon|clowns]] while keeping the rest of the burrow safe.)

==Dwarven disco ball==
Why waste all those cut gems on things that only some selfish noble will enjoy? Create as large a wall-less sphere as you can, then cover it in Gem Windows of 3 different-colored gems to make it shine! The bigger, and more valuable gems involved (e.g., [[ruby|rubies]], [[sapphire]]s, and [[emerald]]s, or colored diamonds if you're really masochistic), the dwarfier.

'''Difficulty:''' Constructing a sphere is very hard, especially the larger you make one. Gathering enough differently colored gems can also be very hard, depending on stone layers. Trading helps a lot.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative. More value can be created by encrusting furniture, and Gem Windows lack quality.

*Bonus: Alternating [[alunite]] and [[obsidian]] tiles to make a 'dance floor'.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use lava contained in glass for illumination.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Caged "[[Elf|dancers]]".

==Dwarven labor camp (aka Dwalag)==
Create an aboveground walled fortress in a freezing climate with guard towers, barracks, housing, and armories. Dig a long ramp downward and add a large mining network below the surface. Make some small military squads to guard the camp. Designate the lower levels as workshops, and when migrants arrive, assign them to the mines. Give the workers minimal food and only water (no booze, booze is for the hypocritical decadence of Dwarkuta's leaders). Have them haul the stone and metal they mine back to the surface and ship the raw materials off to the Motherland. Import only food, booze, weapons, fuel, and other necessities.

*Bonus: Build the giant digging machines. They don't actually have to dig anything.
*Bonus: Go into the raws and rename the beverage of your choice to "Dwarven Vodka", and drink to the glory of the Motherland!
*MegaBonus: Escape. Wait for a goblin siege, then get everyone underground and block the entrance. Let the goblins in. Wait a few months. The goblins are now the guards you must kill.

Step 1. Secure the keys: Make improvised weapons. If you have obsidian at your disposal, make rock short swords.

Step 2. Ascend from darkness: Get your dwarves out of the mines and into the camp.

Step 3. Rain fire: Use your imagination. Try using magma, if possible.

Step 4. Unleash the horde: Attack!

Step 5. Skewer the winged beast: If the goblins brought a giant bat or other flying creature, kill it.

*Bonus: Use a ballista.

Step 6. Wield a fist of iron: Break open the armory and equip your rebels with armor and weapons.

Step 7. Raise hell: Exactly what it says on the tin.

Step 8. Freedom!

*MegaDwarfBonus: In Adventure mode, try (and probably fail) to lead the prisoners to freedom.

==Dwarven refrigerator==
Dig down to the 3rd cavern layer and harvest as many [[nether-cap]]s as you can. Make them all into barrels! Nether caps have the unique property of being 10000° Urist, which is 32°F or 0°C. Now your dwarves can enjoy their favorite alcohol, cheese, and plump helmets chilled to perfection! If you've set your population cap very low in the INIT files, caverns aren't extremely dangerous, but you should still be on the lookout for nasties down there. Remember to wall off your entrance to the cavern once you're finished.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to Medium

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Booze stored inside will not perish due to heat if say, [[magma]] is dumped on it.

Bonus: Also use nether-cap wood to build the walls, floor, ceiling, and door.

Bonus: While we are at it make all your coffins out of it. 'Cryogenically' freeze those corpses!

==Dwarven machine gun==
Build a high fire rate, minecart firing machine gun. Must be fully automatic, capable of reloading itself, and should not jam due to minecarts being disrupted by collisions or derailments.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on fire rate, reload downtime, and whether or not minecarts are filled with [[magma]].

'''Usefulness:''' High. A sophisticated minecart trap can keep out even the most persistent invaders.

*Bonus: Automatically reload minecarts with [[magma]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Integrate the trap with a dwarfputer so that it can automatically send minecarts to where they are needed most.

==Elephant man armor factory==
[[Elephant man]] are incredibly strong in combat — both in [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress]] and [[Adventurer mode|Adventurer]] modes. However, they can't put on normal-sized [[Armor]] — and therefore, walk around in crappy starting armor at best, naked at worst. We'll put [[Elephant man]] to make [[Armor]] — and another [[Elephant man]] for [[Clothes]].

'''Difficulty:''' Easy. Depends on amount of [[Elephant man]] spawning in the world.

'''Usefulness:''' Your [[Elephant man]] [[Military|super-soldiers]] are now properly armored. Considering their size, strength, and possibly training, they are now borderline-invulnerable. Also, you have enough armor complects for your [[Elephant man]] [[Adventurer mode|Adventurers]].

==Emergency destruct stairs==
A tall column of stairs plunging all the way down into the underdark, with a one-tile wide area of thin destructible floor all around it. In case of subterranean invasion, a thrown switch drops a stone O straight down, ringing the staircase and neatly severing all inter-level connections at a blow. Does with one lever and one support what would take dozens of bridges or hundreds of retracting grates.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds.

'''Usefulness:''' Sometimes... sometimes they fly.

==Execution tower==
Just a tall tower to chuck your captives to their deaths.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy.

'''Usefulness:''' Lets you dispose of prisoners, and claim expensive silk, meltable iron, and (eventually) useful bones. Also highly amusing.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Send prisoners straight to the [[HFS]]. If some mod makes them survive, the [[Clown]]s will have their way with them. May make retrieving items difficult, however.

==Flak==
If flying enemies circumventing your walls and causing mayhem inside your fortress is a problem, don't use marksdwarves, just make some flak! Simply cover a series of drawbridges in rocks, and when fliers come by pull the lever.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Contrary to the description, marksdwarves are more accurate, versatile, and just better. However, if you manage to hit something with this, there's a large chance of it getting stunned and crashing to the ground. Remember, what goes up must come down, wear your helmet Urist!

*Bonus: Use minecarts and pressure plates to make it fully automatic.
*SuperBonus: Make it closer to real world flak by using burning lignite bins.
*EfficiencyBonus: Use goblins as ammo
*AlternateBonus: Instead of drawbridges and stone, use jets of water to stun flyers, and then release the dogs. Alternatively, burn them in midair with lava.
*FunBonus: Use the above method with lava, except use the lava as a propellent to throw the circus at the local crow population.
*ArmokBonus: Use all of the above to emulate what happens when you drift into American airspace.

==Flamethrower bunker==
If your fortress happens to be visited by a [[dragon]], capture it in a [[cage trap]], then release it into a sealed bunker with [[fortification]]s around the edge. When invaders arrive, watch them get roasted.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but requires a fair bit of luck - a dragon (or fire-breathing forgotten beast) needs to survive worldgen, then it needs to attack your fortress (instead of a giant/minotaur/ettin/cyclops or other megabeast), and finally it needs to make it to your cage trap without being killed by something else.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. [[Dragonfire]] can kill almost anything, but will be blocked by a [[shield]] greater than 99% of the time. Adding a combustible floor (such as a paved [[lignite]] [[road]]) will significantly increase lethality for shield-toting targets. Also, any protective bridges in front of the fortifications may melt under sustained fire, leaving you with a bunker that ''nobody'' can safely approach; ensuring the bridge center tile isn't near the fire, or building the bridges (and mechanisms) from [[ash]], dragon [[soap]], [[divine metal|divine]]{{version|0.43.03}} [[metal]] (or [[slade]]) will make them immune to the fire. Additionally, a skilled enemy archer can easily kill your dragon with a lucky shot, if line-of-sight access is available.

*Bonus: Capture a fire-breathing [[titan]] or [[forgotten beast]] and use it.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Release the denizens of the hidden fun stuff and use them.

==Flood the world==
'''Difficulty:''' High danger. Will kill your frame rate unless you sink the world below water level (river or ocean).

'''Usefulness:''' Will prevent any sieges, at least. Or anything else, save for the occasional invasion of sociopathic [[giant sponge]].

*Bonus: Use magma, just like [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use trained fish to kill off all creatures not of your colony.
*MegaArmokBonus: Mod the game and do both.

==Gladiator arena==
{{main|Live training}}
Station some soldiers at the bottom of a shallow [[Activity_zone#Pit/Pond|pit]] and dump your captives in. You can also use dangerous animals instead of soldiers. For extra points, put the prisoners in cages connected to ramps underneath the arena floor. One lever will open both the cage and a hatch above the ramp. Variant: build prisoner cages inside the arena, link to a lever outside the arena, lock the soldiers in, and then open the cages. Keep in mind that you can't actually make your dwarves "watch" the battles like an actual gladiator arena, as civilians will flee in fear at the sight of non-restrained hostile creatures, even if they're in a pit and not actively attacking them.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but time consuming. Some danger depending on the relative skill of your soldiers and the danger of the captive. (If the prisoners have weapons, you can remove them by using {{k|d}}-{{k|b}}-{{k|d}} to dump the cage and its contents, then looking at and undumping the cages themselves with {{k|k}}-{{k|d}}).

'''Usefulness:''' Low to High, depending on how long your soldiers can draw out the execution. Equipping your soldiers with wooden training weapons can greatly increase the fun (and/or [[Fun]] if their armor isn't as good as you thought).

*Bonus: Losers get incinerated by Magma.
*DwarfBonus: Winners also get incinerated by Magma.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use your arena as a "trial by fire" for migrants.

==Grazer reanimation facility==
Just as stables, but without grass, and on a reanimating biome. Pasture every grazer in a separate box, and build [[cage trap]]s to recapture the animal after it joins [[undead|the Dark Side]]. Make sure to forbid the area after you finish setting things up, because you don't want your dwarves getting <s>killed</s> caught instead.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You always get some grazing animals to start with.

'''Usefulness:''' You get a decent supply of zombies to use in your [[trap design|cunning traps]]. Depending on your style of play, this may prove to be worth the effort.

* DwarfBonus: Use war [[elephant]]s, or any other giant [[:Category:DF2014:Grazer|grazing animal]] you <s>bought</s> seized from elves.
** MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant elephant]]s.
*** BoatMurderedBonus: Release them all simultaneously to challenge your militia/play out a [[fun|!fun!]] scenario for your fort.
* MenagerieBonus: Create a zoo using only undead grazers.
** DwarvenMenagerieBonus: Combine this with the [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Zombie_thunderdome|Zombie Thunderdome]] and have a rotation of undead cows fighting in the arena only to be re-caged when they try to leave.
*** ChampionBonus: Give each grazer rooming in the zoo according to their kills, with the champion having the most luxurious room.
**** AltarBonus: Turn the champion's room into an [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Altar_of_Armok|Altar of Armok]].
**** FreedomBonus: Let the champion and higher-ranking zombies roam freely in their rooms, having to be re-captured for each battle.
***** !FreedomBonus!: Release the champion into your fort.
* HolyGrailBonus: Use white [[bunny|bunnies]].

==Greenhouse==
A [[farming|greenhouse]] is just a farm with the ceiling channeled out from above. This lets you grow outdoor plants without venturing above ground. For maximum style, build the greenhouse above ground and cover it with a glass roof to keep your farmers safe.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Surface plants can be grown at any time of the year, and some are more useful than those available underground - for example, [[sun berry|sun berries]] can be brewed into valuable [[Sunshine]], and [[whip vine]]s can be milled into superior quality flour. Having greater food and booze diversity can also keep your dwarves happier.

*Bonus: Give it a glass floor to allow surface plants even lower down.
**DwarfBonus: Utilize [[obsidian|volcanic glass]].

==Hammer of [[main:armok|Armok]]==
A gigantic hammer made out of pure steel and/or valuables looming over your fortress entrance ready to smite those foolish enough to lay a siege on you. Also gives you a psychological advantage over the traders who unload their goods under it. Attach to a lever-linked support for quick-smiting.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. Depends on size and materials, though. Make it a gold hammer menacing with adamantine spikes, if you're going for high quality.

'''Usefulness:''' Low-medium. 10x10 size is minimum for practical effectiveness. 30x30 attached to a handle extending from your entrance actually works against sieges.

* Bonus: Cover it with blood.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Make it hollow and fill it with Magma
* ArmoksMachineHammerBonus: Set up an automated system that allows you to reset it quickly. Obsidianizers and the magma sea will be your friends here.

==Human Fortress==
Instead of digging a fortress, build above-ground houses. Create walls to keep the nasties out. The only thing you may have underground are mines and stockpiles. Create a huge stone fort for your nobles.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Building stuff will cost you resources instead of gaining them and flyers can be a real pain. Keep several Marksdwarfs handy!

'''Usefulness:''' N/A. (No cave adaptation)

*Bonus: Pave the roads between houses.
*HumanBonus: Dig a moat around your castle.
*MegaHumanBonus: Fill the moat with lava.
*MegaHumanBonusPlus: Designate multiple dumping spots into the lava moat.
*SurfaceDwellerBonus: Get the stone for your constructions entirely from open-pit quarries, i.e. by c[h]annelling instead of [d]igging.
*MegaSurfaceDwellerBonus: Never use picks at all, all stone and metal must come from caravans or embark.
*WhereTheBeardedLadiesAtBonus: Enforce as many <s>pointless</s> quaint human quirks as feasible, for instance: nominating officials per wealth/popularity/relationships instead of merit and suitedness, coddling Nobles, burrowing farmers, miners, brewers, craftsdwarves and other backbones of society into the most tattered ridings, enforcing a specific religion upon the populace, and so forth.

==Ice tower==

Building a huge tower is easy. To make things more [[fun]], make one out of some exotic material, like [[glass]], [[ice]], [[gold]], or [[soap]].

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You need to be on a freezing map to pull off an ice tower.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends entirely on you.

* BabelBonus: Use [[DFHack]]'s <code>infiniteSky</code> and build to the heavens themselves.

==Journey to the Center of the Earth==

Construct a sturdy vessel hanging over the top of a magma pipe or volcano, outfitted with everything your intrepid crew might need for their journey of exploration - food, booze, sleeping quarters and a bridge are a must, but depending on the amount of effort it can include other items such as a recreation deck, water reservoir and trade depot for dealing with the natives. When all is ready, lock the explorers inside and send them on their way. Bonus points if you can detach it from inside so you can use it in Adventure mode later.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to High, depending on the size of the ship. For bonus points, carve the entire thing out of existing rock overhanging a magma pipe and engrave it with messages. Burrows help to get the whole crew inside at the same time.

'''Usefulness:''' [[Cave-in|Negative]]. For some reason, no explorers have returned. Of course, if you select only the [[Nobles|Best and Brightest]] for the ship's crew...

*Bonus: Drop the vessel into a deep cavern
*SuperBonus: Make the outer walls, roof and ground floor completely out of glass, so that the explorers can watch everything around them.
*VampireBonus: Send a vampire with the crew!
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a halfway-empty adamantine vein
*YouHorribleEvilDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into the [[Hidden Fun Stuff]]!
*YouHorribleInsaneDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a glowing chasm.
*OhMyArmokBonus: When you arrive to the bottom of the magma sea, excavate and then create a new community under it!
**OhMyF****ingArmokBonus: Send supplies every year!
**IsThatEvenPossibleBonus: Send a piece of an aquifer down there to provide water! (Mine around a water-producing tile, build the ship around it, then send it!)
**≡MegaDwarfBonus≡: create a high enough tower and drop it into the magma sea to connect the surface and the undersea community!
***☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: create ''two'' towers and use one to send water down there!

==Single-lever emergency lockdown (LEL)==

The only real requirement is that you need a fort based around a central stairwell. All you need to do is leave space for and eventually build the same number of bridges (that raise!) as your stairway is tall on each side of your stairwell on every level, and then link them all to the same lever. Friends get through all your best traps and champions? Simply pull the lever, and they're trapped in the central stairwell forever! Remember to roof off the entrance if your fort is situated on flat land otherwise the bonuses become much less useful. Also important is to ensure that you either wall off access or include sealable bridges or doors (linked to the same lever of course) for any inter-level paths that bypass the main stairwell, like vertical axles running out of centralised power generators.

3*3 stairwell setup:

{{diagram|1=
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
[#6ff]╥XXX[#6ff]╥
[#6ff]║XXX[#6ff]║
[#6ff]╨XXX[#6ff]╨
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
}}

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to High, depending on whether you use the MegaDwarfBonus below or not and how much you spread your fortress over the layers - although more spread means more usefulness. Extremely time-consuming, and requires architects, masons, and mechanics, as well as a lot of mechanisms (2 per bridge, ~4 bridges per level)

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to High, also depending on whether you use the Bonuses. With all bonuses applied it becomes a guaranteed last resort way of destroying the toughest enemies with minimal dwarven casualties; without the bonuses it's still a damn sight better than letting temporarily victorious enemies run freely about your fortress.

*DwarfBonus: Connect your cistern to the stairwell (remember to put a floodgate in too). Once the impossible-to-defeat enemies are safely trapped inside, Pull lever number 2 and watch them slowly, slowly, drown (VERY IMPORTANT: have the level of the cistern input at at least the same height as the level of the stairwell, else there won't be enough pressure to properly flood the stairwell, meaning nasties WILL survive).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Connect your MAGMA cistern to the stairwell. Laugh maniacally. (Remember to build your bridges and floodgates out of magma-safe material or a lot of !!FUN!! will be had)
*MegaArmokEntombmentBonus: Do both and cast your enemies in obsidian and boil the survivors in steam as a semi-permanent testament to their foolhardiness. This also means that you will have stairs cut out of lovely obsidian once your miners are finished making your stairwell usable again.
*MegaArmokEntombmentEXTREME+Bonus: "Forget" to pull the lockdown lever before you pull lever number 2.
*MegaArmokEntombment<s>'''Bait&Switch'''</s>Diplomatic+Bonus: Set the highest level up on another switch, with a particularly <s>'''demanding and annoying noble'''</s> skilled diplomatic representative is waiting at the very bottom to <s>'''lure'''</s> invite them all down for a nice meal on <s>'''his flesh'''</s> the stockpile of food and booze that's keep him ever so happy. Then you can wait for the entire army to flow into the stairwell before flipping the switches. Don't forget to carve a statue out of the block of the noble! What noble doesn't want their grand <s>'''sacrificial defense'''</s> diplomatic skills to be immortalized in volcanic glass?
**UltraArmokBonus: Defeat all your invasions this way, and build a temple to Armok full of the once noble, now obsidian statues, as well as only the highest of quality (and value) memorial slabs.

==Magma Lock System==
This system is a little more complicated than the LEL system described above, and requires that you space out all of your floors so that there's a 'plumbing floor' between each level. From there you set up tons and tons of magma proof floodgates and hatches. Each 'area' you wish to be self-contained from one another needs at least a 3x2 hallway separating it from the other areas. 4 of these will contain flood gates, and the other two must remain bare. Above one of the two bare points you need to have a hollowed out space, and connecting into it from one side you need to have a hatch leading to your water plumbing system, to the other, a hatch to your lava plumbing system. You need two levers for controlling this, one lever is connected to all of the lower floodgates, the other to the upper floodgates. Pull the first hatch to lock in the flood gates just in case, the second to the upper flood gates to begin pouring in water and magma and have them make obsidian filling the entire hallway, sterilizing it of literally anything that could have contaminated it. You do this instead of hatches so they'll drop in properly and mix with no risk of only one side or the other of the hallway turning to obsidian and resulting in a dangerous leak. Throw the first switch again to open up the floodgates and begin mining to access the old chambers again. Whatever was invading your fortress, whether plague, necromancer, clowns, or forgotten beast, will be safely locked away, and unable to break back out whether or not it possesses building destroyer or not. Then you just have to wait for your miners to dig their way out. You can simply avoid the chambers that still have FUN inside, and any the purity of magma and obsidian will have utterly obliterated any traces of contaminants between containment zones.

'''Difficulty''': Medium to High. While not dealing with anything overtly hostile, this process more or less demands that you plan your fortress from the start for this specific system and deal with lots and lots of moving parts, mechanisms, and similar, plus the power necessary to pump magma and water into this network in a timely manner.. If you screw up part of it then it's very easy to end up with your entire fortress flooded with water or magma. Build it on small and give it a test run then expand it once you've gotten the process working for a single chamber, such as the chamber leading to your cavern layer.

'''Usefulness''': High. Depending on how you prepare things (See the bonuses below) the necessary set up for all of this will result in a network of magma and water pipes in every single level of your fortress, powering forges, wells, baths, showers, and defenses of all sorts. Then when things are at their worst, throw a switch and barring one or two (or many depending on how many dwarves are transitioning between containment areas) horribly swift deaths, your entire fortress is safe from any possible threats. You can also prepare chambers ahead of time for other activities and use this to trap enemies in them for later usage.

*DwarfBonus: Put a stockpile of food, drink, and pickaxes in each containment area.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Put a lever in every zone connected just to their own, so your dwarves can heroically seal off an entire section by themselves if necessary.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Extend the hallways, and make the water half of them use grates and constant water falls to give good thoughts while traversing between zones. Change up your levers to shut off the water for when digging begins again.

==Maze==

A maze of twisty little passages, all alike. [[Trap]]s and dangerous animals are essential. You can have a retracting bridge drop invaders in, or just have a labyrinth as a back door.

'''Difficulty:''' It's a lot of mining. Having a bridge drop invaders inside is more difficult, but more useful. You can also use the free maze-generating program Daedalus, available [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/daedalus.htm here] if you're too lazy to come up with your own.

'''Usefulness:''' It makes a nice element of fortress defense, and you can dump your prisoners inside it. Also makes a great place to explore in [[adventure mode]].

*Bonus: Generate a world with large mountain [[cave]]s. Instead of using the labyrinth as your backdoor, use it as your fortress.
*Filodorima: Release a live caged [[minotaur]] into the maze.
*MegaBonus: Make it three-dimensional and [http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/design/index.htm#uni unicursal].
*MemorialBonus: Capture the Goblin King and make him fight the Minotaur.

==Magma chamber==
'''Difficulty:''' Dangerous as any magma project.

'''Usefulness:''' It's like a drowning chamber, but any non-iron items carried by the victim will be destroyed. Depending on your style of play, this may be a good thing.

==Magma cannon==
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=33837 It can be done!] It uses a row of pumps to pressurize the magma in a chamber with only one exit. When the floodgate opens, the magma flies out a short distance.

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. You need [[metal]] (or [[glass]]) [[screw pump]]s to make it work, [[magma-safe]] floodgates and mechanisms, plus a big above-ground construction.

'''Usefulness:''' Marginal. But very cool.

==Magma access early==
ASAP from embark, dig down to the magma. 
Make 2 magma proof pumps, 
make a small (5x5?) room that you can pump magma into and out of and 
make a stockpile for only iron & steel minecarts in the room. 
Be sure to make enough minecarts to fill the room. 
Once the room is full of minecarts, seal room and pump it full of magma. 
Then pump the magma out. 
Delete the stockpile. 
Make a new stockpile near your forge/smelt/glass/kiln area. 
Haul minecarts by hand (or magma proof wheelbarrow). 
Use tracks and stops to dump 4 deep magma into shallow pits. 
2 minecart loads per pit. 

'''Difficulty:''' Low. 
'''Usefulness:''' Very High. 
*Bonus: !!Magma Economy By Autumn!!
*ObsidianBonus: Instead of pumping the magma out, drain water from a nearby lake or aquifer cistern onto it to turn it into obsidian. Carve out the minecarts, magma safely still inside, and enjoy the extra obsidian you have. Watch out not to flood the fortress!

==Magma highway==
Magma moves across the map annoyingly slowly, due to its thickness and lack of pressure. But a tunnel several Z-levels high, with magma entering at the top, will flow much faster because the magma's '''falling''' in, not flowing in, and can expand on either Z-level before falling down.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Not hard to make, but cutting open a multi-Z magmafall is [[fun]].

'''Usefulness:''' Medium.

==Magma mausoleum==
This trick involves dripping water on to the middle of a magma pool until you have a column of obsidian, then channeling down into the obsidian ''more than'' one Z level, and putting a burial receptacle there. This probably won't work in magma tubes or Volcanos since the created obsidian would fall into the bottomless pit. The trick is getting the water to fall onto the magma in a controlled manner.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Requires certain resources from the start, plus lots of setup. And your dwarves tend to erupt into dwarf steam occasionally.

'''Usefulness:''' None, since an obsidian lined room with exactly the same furniture somewhere else will please your nobles just as much.

*Bonus: Put the coffin at least 20 floors down.
*MegaBonus: Build it in a volcano if possible, and put the coffin at the very bottom of the map

==Magma sea colony==

If you cast obsidian around the edges of the magma sea, it is possible to pump out the magma and build a colony in the empty space. Once the colony is built, you can destroy the obsidian walls and refill the magma sea. Note: you cannot cast obsidian on the bottom layer of the magma sea, so building a colony on this layer is nearly, but not quite, impossible (see below).

'''Difficulty:''' High. You need to get water down to each edge of the magma sea, and you need a pump stack to get rid of the magma.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.
* Bonus: Obsidianize the entire magma sea, leaving a single spot to use as a source for pumps. Then proceed to carve your new fortress subsection out of this bounty.

'''Difficulty:''' Insane. The project will take at least ten years of dwarf time and claim many lives.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. You can finally get the last bit of adamantine when you drain the magma sea, and the magma sea floor has a cool twinkly effect.

==<s>Magma</s> Lava sprinkler==
Build a twisting <s>magma</s> lava aqueduct above the entrance to your fortress. Leave a few thin (diagonal) holes in it, so that lava can seep out of it. When invaders arrive, pump magma into the sprinkler. Diagonal holes will limit the rate at which the fluid flows out of them, ensuring a nice steady lava rain rather than a big wave.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Similar to magma canon, except with a bit more engineering, but less pumps and smaller reservoir needed (due to less magma being required for the same effect).

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Like magma cannon it can obliterate a siege, but this time you can have a bit more control over how it happens. Lava rain doesn't depend on ground structure (your entrance doesn't need to be in a valley for it to work well) and leaves less magma to evaporate.

*Bonus: Cover the holes with floodgates or hatches and keep the lavaduct filled with lava rather than filling it only when using it.
*Bonus+1: Build the lavaduct in such a way that it starts raining on the outermost part of the area first, then goes inwards, to ensure that invaders who start burning can't escape.

==Mass cage recycling system==
{{main|Mass pitting}}
Build a [[mass pitting]] system to recycle your cage trap cages quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Very easy. Requires basic digging and very little time.

'''Usefulness:''' Very. Keeps you from having to build cages before releasing monsters from them. With six hatches you can safely empty out 48 cages very quickly. You can build lots of cage traps without having to worry about emptying each cage individually.

*Bonus: Cover the floor of your pit with cage traps, creating a neverending cycle and giving your dwarves something to do during the long harsh summer when going outside is overly taxing on their stomachs.
*ConcentrationCampBonus: Combine with Pit of Doom below.

==Mega/Water drowning trap-thing==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
This is basically a channel above some pressurized water with a short tunnel leading to a door. The door needs to be connected to a lever somewhere in a safe part of the fortress. Position the door facing the main stairs into your fortress (for multiple stairs use multiple traps). When enemies come down the stairs, pull the lever and make them drown. (It helps to seal off the rooms).

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Needs flowing water under pressure and levers.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Depends on the size of your fortress/defences/amount of attackers. Works well with fire creatures to create a sauna.

==Minecart spiral==
Build a giant spiral [[Minecart#Impulse ramps|minecart impulse ramp]] all the way from the [[magma sea]] to the surface. You can use it to transport ores to the [[magma smelter|magma smelters]] at the bottom from [[sedimentary layer|sedimentary layers]] near the surface. You can build [[statues]] in it to prevent dwarves from walking in and [[fun|dying]].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium-High. You will most likely have to use [[macros]]. Additionally, when crossing caverns you will have to [[construct]] minecart ramps which can be tedious.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. It depends on how tall your map is and how much ores you consume.

*TrapBonus: Use [[bridge|drawbridge]] to guide invaders to the spiral, then [[screw pump|pump]] water into it and drown them.
**BetterTrapBonus: Make it [[magma]] instead.
*SuperBonus: Make the tower go all the way to the highest [[Z-axis|Z level]].
**ArmokBonus: Make it go through the magma sea, and [[HFS|further below]].
*Bonus: At the top, set up a system where dwarves can guide minecarts to different vertical shafts where the will fall to different Z levels, for loading. Then, the minecarts fall further down to the smelters, where the empty minecarts are sent back up for loading.
**MegaBonus: Divide your dwarves into two separate [[burrows]] connected only by the minecart spiral and the shaft. The higher burrow is in charge of mining, growing food, and operating the minecart system, and the lower burrow is in charge of smelting ores and making crafts.
***HyperMegaBonus: Close off all stairs and add a minecart loading and unloading station at every inhabited z level. All vertical transport of goods should be done via minecarts only. Also, dwarves are not allowed in minecarts.
****UltraSuperBonus: Build a minecart loading and unloading station at every Z level, even the uninhabited ones you never use.

==Mist generator==

Using whatever screw-pump-statue contraption your dwarves can muster up, create an endless mist-generating machine which will hopefully not obliterate your [[Frames_per_second|FPS]].

'''Difficulty:''' Extremely easy. You will only need a basic understanding of screwpumps and gear assemblies. However, you can scale it to any size or level of complexity. The [[Mist|mist page]] has a handy guide.

'''Usefulness:''' Borderline cheating. Keeps your dwarves in a state of constant euphoria. Mist does funny things to a dwarf's mind. Also a one-up from artificial waterfalls as they only need to travel a single Z level, (hopefully) reducing the FPS strain.
*Bonus: Build an absolutely horrible fortress with as much [[miasma]] and [[hateable]] vermin that you can fit in one bunker. Keep your dwarves sane with the power of Mist™ alone.
**FUNbonus: Build it in a semi-freezing climate instead. Watch as winter rolls by and your dwarves are deprived of their only source of joy. [[Fun]] will surely ensue.

==Monumental statue==
'''Difficulty:''' Depends on how big you want the statue to be. If you are feeling really masochistic, cast it out of obsidian using magma and water.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*Bonus: Make the statue hollow and have dwarves live inside it.
*BestWayToGetRidOfStoneBonus: Make one for every dead dwarf.
**UberTombBonus: Use the statue as a tomb and put their coffins in it.
*Dwarfbonus: Give the statue magma eyes.
**HellNo,DwarfsYesBonus: Combine the magma eyes idea with the magma cannon idea above and place the statue just behind (and above) the entrance to your fortress.

==Moses effect==
With enough pumps, you can pull water out of a square faster than it flows in. This can create a reverse waterfall, or a dry spot in the middle of a flowing river. The effect is like Moses parting the Red Sea.

'''Difficulty:''' Surprisingly easy.

'''Usefulness:''' You can use this trick to create a waterfall or drowning chamber. It is also important if you want to pass through an [[Aquifer]], although that is far more difficult. The same trick can be used in lieu of a drawbridge, although its practicality as compared to the drawbridge is highly questionable.

*Bonus: Use the Moses effect to make doors from water, which are opened/closed using a lever.
*TechBonus: Automatize the doors so that they open (only!) when a dwarf is near.

==Never-ending shower==
{{main|Waterfall}}
Don't you get angry when your dwarves carry enough grime on them to dirty the entire fortress? And how they get infected because of that griminess? Suffer no more! With the Never Ending Shower (NES for short), dwarves will be able to stay (relatively) clean without having to take the time to run for a bath or dirtying your drinking water!

It is easy to understand: use the same instructions as in the Artificial Waterfall, but make it so that the waterfall is somewhere where the dwarves will be going through almost daily--a central stairway works well. It cleans them and gives them happy [[thought]]s for the same price!

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to high. You do have to make sure that dwarves don't try anything funny, and create a drain to draw the dirty water out.

'''Usefulness:''' Incredibly high. Reduces risk of infection and keeps your dwarves happy.

*Bonus: Use an aquifer to get clean water AND drain dirty water.
*Bonus: Use levers to control the NES.
*SuperBonus: Make it work as a trap!
*SuperDuperBonus: Make it work as a trap AND as a recovery system!
*ArmokBonus: Make it so that magma can be poured down, too!

==Nuclear Fallout Bunker==
Build a mini fortress with everything your dwarves could need deep underground. Stock it with enough food, drinks, and materials to last your small band of survivors for years or alternatively make it self-sufficient with its own food production. Lastly, add a bridge that allows you to seal off the bunker from the rest of the world.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy-Medium depending on the relative luxury of the bunker and how many dwarves you intend to shelter from the apocalypse.

'''Usefulness:''' High. If your fort is threatened by some particularly nasty disaster (be it zombie goblin horde or Bronze Colossus) simply rush your best and brightest dwarves down to the Nuclear Fallout Bunker and raise the bridge, sealing it off from the rest of the world.
*MutallyAssuredDestructionBonus: Have a self-destruct lever in the bunker that is pulled once everyone is safely inside.

==Obsidian factory==
{{main|Obsidian farming}}
You need one reservoir of water, and one of magma. Mix, cool, mine, and repeat as necessary.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium.

'''Usefulness:''' Obsidian is 50% more valuable than [[flux]] and 3 times as valuable as ordinary stone, making it ideal for your [[mason]]s and [[stone crafter]]s. Done properly, it can also serve as a magma chamber, a drowning chamber and even an obsidianizing chamber that can kill any creature that gets in (except [[ghost]]s and possibly [[vermin]]).

* MegaDwarfBonus: Make the system fully automated using [[computing]] principles.

==Pit o' doom==
Combine with an Execution Tower for maximum z-level executions! Traps which menace with spikes are a must.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You want it nice and deep though.

'''Usefulness:''' Dispose of prisoners, execute nobles, gruesome fatal injuries, laugh maniacally. If high enough, you may be able to recover [[bone]]s from creatures your dwarves refuse to [[butcher]].

* Bonus: Link the spikes to a lever so you can proceed to make swiss cheese of whatever didn't die from the fall.

==Pixel art stockpiles==
Arrange several stockpiles of similar items of different colors (gems work well for this) so the different colors make some sort of picture. Don't forget to set "max bins" to 0 on all the stockpiles so you can actually see the items!

It's probably also a good idea to forbid the items once they're in place, to prevent them from being moved later (and allow you to remove the stockpiles if you want.)

'''Difficulty:''' Medium; only tricky parts are (potentially) finding enough items of different colors, and keeping track of which colors are where before the hauling is done.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative

==Pressure washer==
A huge tower with floodgates at the bottom on one side. When opened, the pressurized water fires out and instantly submerges anything in the way of the flow. Depending on size, can be surprisingly powerful. You can see an example tower [http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-7485-griffonwind here].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, construction technique takes some consideration.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium-High. Tested in version 0.28.181.40d with 50 recruits standing in front of it when the floodgates opened, killed 46 of them, including ones not pushed into the pit.

* Bonus: Fill it with Magma instead (though it won't flow out nearly as quickly).

==Quantum Blizzard Cannon==

Do you need to kill something? Is atom-smashing no longer a viable option? Do you wish to bring glory to Armok? Do not fear, the QBC is here! By creating individual stops to fill minecarts with projectiles of your choosing, then loading up to 12 filled minecarts into a final “Launcher” minecart (using a stop designated to fill the "launcher" with minecarts), you can effectively fire as many items as you would like at your foe using a standard minecart shotgun. It is also possible to fill this with fluids, to great effect (and risk of crashing the game). This can often have interesting effects because hitting a goblin with 996 bars of lead at extreme speeds is not good for the squishy bits. The cannon gains its name from its creator.

''' Difficulty:''' excessive, lots of time in menus and loading per shot, but really ((Fun))

''' Usefulness:''' medium to low. The same trick can be used to move large amounts of items via minecart, but ultimately the QBC is excessive for even the HFS.

==Redesign the fortress==
And when we say "redesign", we mean completely replanning and rebuilding the entire fortress, from scratch. Ever thought about a cool thing that you could add to your fortress, but can't because a critical area(such as the dining room, general-purpose stockpile, central workshop area etc.) are in the way? Did you start the fortress by building the most critical areas in the first available spot? Well, now is a good time to get rid of that! For added effects, put the sleeping areas especially close to the booze stockpile so that dwarves are always happy!

'''Difficulty:''' Varies depending on the size of the fortress.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies depending on how you carry it out, a.k.a. the efficiency of the new organization.

* Bonus: use [[obsidian]] casting to carve the new fortress entirely out of obsidian.
** DwarfBonus: but keep valuable walls such as [[native gold]].
*** PurpleDwarfBonus: using controlled [[cave-in]]s, arrange for your king's new room to be entirely bordered by native gold/platinum/aluminium walls.

==Rehabilitation centre==
Had any problems with dwarves charging brainlessly towards the enemy, getting slaughtered, and then starting a tantrum spiral that will destroy your fortress? Turn your prison into a luxurious room full of things that make dwarves happy. Add artifact furniture, beds, a booze stockpile, chains made of gold (or anything valuable,) a waterfall, creatures in cages, etc. Hopefully they will return to society as a happy, productive dwarf.

'''Difficulty:''' Low-Medium. Acquiring valuable items and setting up the waterfall can be annoying sometimes. Also you need guards to actually put them in jail. And it can be a real pain when those ungrateful sobs destroy the nice furniture you give them.

'''Usefulness:''' High. A tantrum spiral can quickly turn a productive fort of 200+ dwarves into a rioting fortress inhabited by a bunch of insane, miserable dwarves who spend their time punching people and breaking furniture. Don't let it happen to you.

* MegaDwarfBonus: Points for making every other dwarf drink water and sleep on cheap beds.

==Road of the damned==
Create a giant channel filled with spike traps, 10 tiles wide and going all the way from your fort to the map edge. Pave it over with crystal glass so traders can get that foreboding feeling that'll make them seal the deal without bargaining too hard!

'''Difficulty:''' Low-mid, depending on the rarity of crystal glass.

'''Usefulness:'''Low. The same as a normal road.

* Bonus: Spike a goblin on every trap!
* Megabonus: Spike traders who annoy you on the traps!

==Roof of the world==
Sick of having your dwarves vomit all the time when they go out to retrieve loot or lumber? Despair no more! Build an almost-infinitely tall tower, and then put a floor on the highest level, spanning the entire map. For extra kicks, make a mechanism that will crash the entire thing upon the heads of the one goblin horde that manages to get through all your other deathtraps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Very grueling.

'''Usefulness:''' Low, but potentially fortress-saving. (see above)

==Sectorized world==
Divide the world edges into multiple sectors and then gate access to each one separately. This allows you to protect your fortress from sieges whilst keeping access to most of the outside world and allowing most traders into and out of the fortress (those unfortunate enough to enter the world from the same direction as the siegers may be screwed, of course). For bonus points, build separate gateable access routes for each sector. For further bonus points, design your fortress so that you can simultaneously allow access to traders ''at the same time'' as siegers are exposed to your defensive mechanisms.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, unless you allow separate access routes for each sector in which case high.

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate, increasing with each bonus you fill. Mostly for those who want to build the best possible defenses. Can also double as a means of easily trapping wild animals.

==Self-contained vampire-based factory==
Take advantage of the independence of vampires by building a self-contained factory. The best industries are those that require no special raw materials-- a factory containing both a magma glass furnace and a sand tile, for instance, would work well, as would a clay industry, but if you're feeling ambitious, consider building a vampire into your [[giant cave spider|GCS]] [[silk farm]]-- if you happen to have scored an [[undead]] GCS, your vampire won't even spook! You can treat your factory as a piggy bank to be broken into as needed, or for perfect fire-and-forget action, build a dropping [[User:Vasiln/Undump|undump]] into the factory, and the vampire will deliver the output to your front door.

'''Difficulty:''' The only hard part is getting yourself a [[vampire]].

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on how many green glass blocks you plan on using.

==Sapient zoo==
Start by creating a [[zoo]] containing at least one of every [INTELLIGENT] and [CAN_SPEAK] creature
including [[humans]], [[elves]], [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s.

*Bonus: include a berserk dwarf in cage

'''Difficulty:''' Easy for some, Hard for others

'''Usefulness:''' None, really, a place for dwarves to throw a [[party]].

==Self-destruct lever==
A mechanism that, for example, could flood your fort with magma, or release a trapped megabeast. For bonus points, build the whole fort on a single [[support]].

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. Extremely fun.

'''Usefulness:''' Could serve as kind of a last revenge on a goblin siege, but also highly amusing. If done properly it can make reclaim easier.

* DorfBonus: Make it have a timer before your fortress self-destructs. You can do this with a water channel, or if you're particularly technical, make a [[Computing|seven segment display]].
** For bonus Dwarfy-ness, make the timer be the depth number of the magma or water that will actually trigger your fortress' destruction.
* Bonus: Build your fortress high above ground, connect the fortress to a roof through just one support and have the system, when activated, drop the whole construction into the magma sea, destroying the whole thing permanently.
* FunBonus: use the lever to drop the fortress off a pillar while simultaneously opening the [[hidden fun stuff]], preferably in a whole lot of places.
*ExtraFunBonus: do as many of these bonuses as you please (as long as they still function together) AND unleash a whole lot of dwarves throwing tantrums near the lever when you wish to set the fun things off.

==Shark catcher==
Capture of [[Bull shark|sharks]] or [[Carp|other]], [[Sturgeon|dangerous fish]] achieved by making an artificial bay, filling it with [[Cage trap|cage traps]], opening the floodgate to the sea or river and some sort of drainage system, likely pumps and/or floodgates.

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium as drowning while setting up is very possible with bad planning.

'''Usefulness''': Low, purely aesthetic, but very cool to have a shark infested moat (Potentially kills invaders).

==Silk farming==
{{main|Silk farming}}
Capture a web-slinger (generally a [[giant cave spider]]) and build a farm to efficiently harvest its [[silk]].

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium; the hardest part is generally catching the web-spinner.

'''Usefulness''': Medium to High. Provides an endless supply of potentially-valuable [[silk]] cloth and rapidly [[cross-training|cross-trains]] [[weaver]]s.

==Steamed vegetables==
Make a pot and drop <s>elves</s> vegetables in from about three levels up. This makes it so the vegetables do not <s>run</s> get overcooked. Proceed to bask the vegetables in [[steam]].

'''Difficulty''': Medium. Can be annoying to boil some water.

'''Usefulness''': Great way to make friends with the merchants.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Add <s>goblins</s> seasoning.
*ArmokDoubleBonus: Use [[magma mist]].
*DwarfBonus: feed any vegetables you did not steam to your dear friends, the [[Demon|clowns]].

==Swimming pool==
{{main|Swimming#Learning/Teaching swimming|l1=Swimming § Learning/Teaching swimming}}
It's a reservoir that fills to 4/7 exactly. Station soldiers inside, lock them in, and fill. This way they gain [[swimming]] skill.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. It's just a pair of reservoirs.

'''Usefulness:''' The swimming skill is only slightly useful. This is most useful if the entrance to your fort has narrow walkways/moats surrounded by water, and you station your soldiers there. It does help gain attributes though. Though if you utilize a '''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform, this is a priceless necessity.

==Swimming track==
{{main|Swimming#Minecart_training|l1=Swimming § Minecart_training}}

[[Image:Swim track 0.png|thumb|right|250px|A large swimming track]]

A [[minecart]] ride that trains [[swimming]] safely and automatically.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Minecart tracks can be fiddly, and adding a non-traversable depth of water makes any mistakes more difficult to fix.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. The swimming skill is only slightly useful, but it does provide [[cross-training]] for attribute gains.

==Tower of Death-Struction==

Have you ever wondered, "What would it take to make my [[Siege|friends]] all [[Gravity|fall]] at once into a pit of [[Trap|fun times]] while also not risking failure?" Elementary, my aspiring architect -- [[Fun|THE TOWER OF DEATH-STRUCTION]]!

Step 1: Build a tower with a [[bridge]], to allow for non-lethal access to the fortress. Build the tower roughly 25-30 blocks high, though higher towers tend to result in roughly equivalent amounts of [[Fun]]. The access bridge should be linked to a lever, to close it like a standard gate.

Step 2: Build a thinner tower 20 blocks away, for maximum bridge length. Any number of middle towers can be constructed, though one is recommended.

Step 3: Build another tower, one that can be ascended by [[Goblin|curious friends]]. Fill it with cage traps, to thin out the number of [[Troll|friends]] to take up space on the bridge.

Step 4: Build two bridges on either side of the skybridge, to trap attackers on the skybridge.

Step 5: Hook up the skybridges to one lever, and the trap bridge to another.

Once this is done, just wait for a [[Siege|surprise party]] to be thrown for you. Close the access bridge, forcing the [[Goblin|visitors]] to path onto it. Trap them, and when the time looks right...

'''Pull the lever, Kronk!'''

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to hard. If all of your dwarves have cave adaptation, the construction might take a lot longer to complete. As well, the cost of floors and traps alone will mean that just acquiring the materials will need its own stupid dwarf trick.

'''Usefulness:''' Low to high, depending on how well you use it. If you forget to open the access gate, you might find your dwarves trapped inside the tower, or even worse, they may run up to the bridge to fight and meet a [[Gravity|bad time]]. Also, the goblin corpses piling up in the spike pit might cause extra [[Miasma|fun]] depending on how regularly you take care of it. If done correctly, this tower might become the most efficient and effective defence against all problems that one could possibly ask for.

*Bonus: Build enough middle towers to build a bridge path long enough to trap an entire siege and drop them onto spikes below.
*SuperBonus: Build the towers above a river.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a lava pit.
*SuperMegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a ticket straight to [[HFS|the circus]].
*ArmokBonus: Build the towers out of [[Slade]] (Note: This should be impossible, so if you do it...))
*SuperMegaUltraHardcoreDwarvenMasterpieceArtifactBonus: Build the fortress at the top of the tower that the goblins have to try to get to.

== Traveling Circus ==
Travel across the world, building megaprojects like pyramids or bridges.

'''Difficulty''': The larger the world, the higher.

'''Usefulness''': ''None at all''.
* Bonus: travel around and actually release [[HFS|the circus]] on every embark. Needless to say, this is the most [[fun]] option. You may consider making sure the clowns get their share of fun, if you want your circus to happen more than once...

==Underground forest==
{{main|Tree farming}}
Break into an underground cavern, make some muddy floors over a big area and wait.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium - need to dig out a suitably large area, then find a way of introducing water to the area and subsequently draining or evaporating it.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size (bigger is better) as well as proximity to wood stockpiles. A tree farm outside the caverns can grow trees from all 3 layers, and you'll never have to worry about hostile creatures threatening your wood cutters.

==Underground perpetual motion power plant==
Combine with a use for the power and you either have an awesome setup, or a ticking time bomb.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Maintaining the correct water level is annoying difficult at times. Note: Incredibly easy with an aquifer.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size of plant and what it's connected to. Also useful as a puzzle for adventurers.

==Underwater statue room==
A simple room filled with statues that just also happens to be flooded. Simply dig a room near to a water source smooth and engrave the walls and floors then fill with statues. Dig a tunnel to the water source and a separate escape route. seal both off with floodgates pull the levers in the right order and bam! underwater statue room. For added effect make the meeting room a room directly above with a glass floor.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Absolutely positively none.

*Bonus: Build it on area with trees and shrubs; make walls from ice or use windows; fill it with fish and merfolk; now you'll get a big aquarium
*Note: It doesn't count if you accidentally flood your fortress and wind up with one of these. It does count if one of your nobles has an unfortunate accident in their sculpture garden.

==U.R.I.S.T. artificial intelligence==
Basically, a dwarf in a bunker that controls your fortress. Being that there are no supercomputers in DF at the moment, we'll have to use the closest substitute, a dwarf. Seal your dwarf in a room full of levers that activate various floodgates, bridges, doors, hatch covers, traps, etc. Make sure this room has no exits or entrances, but it needs a luxurious bedroom and dining area, and you must include a chute for dropping in <s>food</s> biomass and <s>alcohol</s> coolant fluid. Profile the levers so that they can only be used by the A.I. dwarf.

It would be a good idea to make the system into two rooms. The food/drink/bed room and the lever room. Should you need to add more levers, you can lock the A.I. dwarf outside the lever room and have your mechanics set up more levers without interacting with or releasing the A.I.

You can make the lodging room suited for the particular dwarf by adding furniture made from their favorite materials, and smoothing and engraving everything. Use quantum stockpiling to give them 10+ years of food and drink. Make sure the A.I. is unable to communicate with other dwarves. His/her mood must not be affected by the deaths of the walking meat-bags who tried to befriend him/her.

In order to ensure that your A.I. doesn't find sleep interfering with crucial lever pulling, you might consider incorporating an alarm clock. If a goblin siege turns up on your doorstep, a single external lever to dump 7/7 of water on the sleeping A.I. might well save your fortress (and is so much cooler than having backup levers in your meeting hall).

You must also make a snazzy/lame acronym name for your AI, here are some examples:
*A.R.M.O.K. - '''A'''ll-'''R'''eaching '''M'''achine '''O'''f '''K'''illing
*A.S.S. - '''A'''lmost-autonomous '''S'''ystems '''S'''elector
*C.A.T. - '''C'''reepy '''A'''utonomous '''T'''echnology
*D.E.E.P.E.R. - '''D'''warf of '''E'''ngineering the '''E'''ldritch and '''P'''ractical '''E'''xploitation of '''R'''esources''
*D.I.E.D. - '''D'''edicated '''I'''rrigation and '''E'''verything else '''D'''warf(s)
*D.O.M.E.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perated '''M'''echanics and '''E'''ngineering '''S'''ystem
*D.O.R.F. - '''D'''oes '''O'''rders '''R'''ather '''F'''ast
*D.O.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*D.W.A.R.F. - '''D'''rains '''W'''ater '''A'''nd '''R'''ecruits '''F'''armers
*G.L.A.D.O.S. - '''G'''enetic '''L'''ifeform '''A'''nd '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*H.A.L. - '''H'''airy '''A'''lternate '''L'''ifeform
*M.A.G.M.A. - '''M'''assively '''A'''lcoholic '''G'''ear-'''M'''achine '''A'''ssembly
*N.O.B.L.E. - '''N'''arcissistic '''O'''bnoxious '''B'''oastful '''L'''aughable '''E'''xcrement
*P.O.T.A.T.O. - '''P'''ossibly '''O'''rganic '''T'''echnically '''A'''live '''T'''rash '''O'''mitted
*U.R.I.S.T. - '''U'''nderground '''R'''easonably '''I'''ntelligent '''S'''ettlement '''T'''echnologist
*V.A.C.A.T.E.D. - '''V'''ampire '''A'''ssisted '''C'''omputerized '''A'''ssembly '''T'''errorizes '''E'''xtra-'''D'''warves
*V.O.D.A.P.H.O.N.E. - '''V'''ampire '''O'''perated '''D'''efence '''A'''pparatus, '''P'''erpetrating '''H'''arm '''O'''f '''N'''efarious '''E'''ntities (See Bonus for more information)


'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Setting up all the levers and lodgings can be a micromanagement hassle. Further research is required as to how well the A.I. will fit into a dwarven economy.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Having a dwarf dedicated to pulling levers will ensure that they are pulled on time. Additionally, you will have a constantly-ecstatic dwarf who is virtually invulnerable to all threats. Should your fortress be slaughtered by invaders or drowned by flooding or tantrum spiraled, your fortress will be preserved until more migrants arrive, or the AI runs out of food.

Bonus: Make the A.I. dwarf a vampire. Vampires don't need food, alcohol, or sleep and cannot age, which makes them perfect for the job. As an added bonus, keeping a vampire in this way will make your fortress completely indestructible, as sealing him in will prevent the possibility of the vampire of being killed in combat or from a syndrome, while keeping the vampire from making friends he will inevitably outlive will prevent him from going insane. (It also ensures that the bloodsucker won't use any of your dwarves as a midnight snack.) NOTE: Vampires may still go insane without any blood. Might be worth considering adding on a 3rd "feeding chamber" where you assign an unfortunate victim to sleep whenever the vampire gets hungry.

===D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P.===

Dwarven Organic Switch Toggle, Neutered Gastrectomied Overpersistent Sober Prisoner. Goblins have several advantages over dwarves in the lever pulling department: they live forever, do not breed or tantrum, and need not eat, drink, or sleep. Seal one or more goblins in your supercomputer complex, and use their predictable pathing in combination with instantly lockable doors and pressure plates to make dwarven lever pulling a thing of an older, less advanced era.

Also known by several product names:
*G.O.B.L.I.N.A.T.O.R. - '''G'''oblin '''O'''perated '''B'''astion of '''L'''ogic to '''I'''nfalliably '''N'''eutralize '''A'''ntiquated '''T'''ypes of '''O'''perational '''R'''egimes
*N.G.O.K.A.N.G. - '''N'''efarious '''G'''oblin '''O'''f '''K'''illing '''A'''nd '''N'''eedless '''G'''riping
*S.T.O.Z.U. - '''S'''ecret '''T'''echnological '''O'''perative who '''Z'''aps '''U'''nruly Nobles

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. While goblin pressure plate runners require more space than dwarven lever pullers, once their room is set up, it's done, and easily copied for the next one. With only one goblin, you'll need a pressure plate for every possible combination of lever states, but it's easy to add more goblins instead.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Instant response time (<50 ticks is possible) can make lever worries a thing of the past. The D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P. requires absolutely no maintenance once set up. Unlike with the U.R.I.S.Ts of the previous generation, modern POW-based computing is never held hostage to eating, drinking, or breaks. Stay tuned for the next-generation C.A.C.A.M.E.!

==Vomitorium==
[[Image:Vomit_Trail.png‎|thumb|right|Vomitoria: preventing cave adaptation since [[23a:Vomit|23a]].]]

Prevents [[cave adaptation]]. It's like the greenhouse, only instead of a farm, it's a [[meeting hall]] or [[barracks]]. Since you can't build [[table]]s or [[bed]]s outside, build the room and [[channel]] down to it. Variant: above-ground statue garden or zoo.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Make sure to wall the pit in, or it will become very [[fun]] once [[goblin]] archers become involved.

Bonus: Make an ACTUAL Vomitorium for this - Build a [[meeting hall]] with a [[grate]]d floor. Let [[cave adaptation]] set in, then open the place up for the most extravagant and lavish of parties every 3~4 years! Those will be some Armok grade hangovers though....

==Water tower==
This functions much like real life: Lifting water above ground level creates pressure, allowing buried pipes to deliver water to any elevation below the top of the tower. This is smarter, faster, and cheaper than a map-spanning raised aqueduct. A pump stack at the river, raising water into a sealed, pressurized U-bend, can deliver large volumes of water to whatever level you want, very quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. No harder than any other pump stack to design, but high pressure can amplify minor errors into abandon-worthy disasters. You could conceivably divert the river into your fort. Be sure to make an off-switch.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Once the pump stack is operating, you no longer need to be anywhere near your water source.

==Watervator==
By creating a vertical "'''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform" chamber, or HELP (so named for the cries of the passenger dwarf) with lever controlled water levels, you can move a dwarf up several z-levels without any stairs. All it takes is the dwarf's ability to swim up to the surface of the water to breathe.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Moderate possibility of Fun by way of flooding your fortress. Any dwarves that can't swim will instead experience Fun when using the Watervator. The actual construction time and resource usage is very low. Using the Watervator often leads to unhappy thoughts about drowning

'''Usefulness:''' Low to Medium. The Watervator requires manual micromanaging, while stairs do not. On the other hand, it can be used to create a pathway that most <s>Dwarves</s> enemies will simply be unable to use. Those that can would still be doing so at great risk of drowning or falling to their death. It is recommend that with the exception of the entrance you use stairs.

*Bonus: Utilize vampires (who can't drown).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Engineer it so that it performs a full cycle on one activation of a pressure plate and include that pressure plate as a part of the patrol route, then create a reverse Watervator and also include it as a part of same patrol route, so that your militia automatically uses it to get in and out the fortress.

==Werewolf clock==
The changing of the werewolf is the most reliable indicator of the passing of seasons. For precisely one day per full moon, he will go berserk and trigger standard pressure plates.

'''Difficulty:''' You will get a were sooner or later. Getting him pitted in the right spot without havoc is the hard part.

'''Usefulness:''' Low/None. As of Premium, the lunar phase is permanently affixed to the user interface, making a werewolf clock frankly redundant.

*Bonus: Make the werewolf do most of the work himself.

==Zombie thunderdome==
Embark in a [[surroundings#Evil|reanimating]] biome in the current version (preferably savage as well), find or dig a deep pit, and dump any unused (non-dorf) corpses and butchery products into it. They will animate and begin to walk around, providing you with the endless entertainment afforded by watching horse hair walk. Make sure the pit is deep enough not to scare your dwarves!

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Keeping your fort safe from the threat of animated beak dog beaks is worth any price. However, [[DF2012:Defense guide|there may be better things]] [[DF2012:Mega construction|to do with your time]].

*Bonus: Set up a series of [[bridge|defenses]] that drop invaders into the pit.
*DwarfBonus: Set up a series of bridges and walls that flings invaders into the pit.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop a Megabeast into the pit and watch it do battle with multiple layers of undead.
*CavernFunBonus: Channel the bottom into a cavern and let your zombies hunt [[forgotten beast|the wonderful creatures there]].
**BonusFunBonus: Let them hunt [[Demon|Clowns]] as well.
*ZombieDwarfBonus: Ignore the suggestion above and dump dwarven corpses in anyway.

==Zombie shooting gallery==

In a reanimating biome, build a holding room for your undead, wall it off with fortifications. In the adjacent (accessible) area, build an archery range and order your archery squads to train there. Your marksdwarves will go to their scheduled archery training and whenever a zombie is raised, they'll switch focus from the boring old archery target and instead shoot down the undead. Once the zombies are dead, they'll return to regular shooting practice until the corpses rise again. The raised corpses cannot attack through fortifications and thus cause no unhappy thoughts from seeing them, but will spook haulers trying to collect errant socks from the shooting range.

A viable (if finicky) alternative to a reanimating biome could be a [[necromancer]]. This has the benefit of being more controllable, but comes with the threat of [[intelligent undead]] and their abilities. Most would be relatively harmless or a minor inconvenience, but some are potentially lethal to your dwarves. Whether or not this is a downside depends on how many corpses you have available to restock the gallery.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. The difficulty lies in finding a source of permanent undead, the actual construction is trivial.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. This setup significantly increases the skill gain from bolts used by training dwarves, since every bolt shot at a zombie counts as combat action, giving much more experience. The scheme works without any supervision once set up.

{{Category|Design}}
[[ru:Stupid dwarf trick]]

Megaproject

2024-07-25T09:20:50Z

PLMMJ: /* D For Dwarvendetta */ Added a new bonus

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}{{old}}
The term '''megaproject''' refers to basically any project that takes a long time to build. See also other [[challenge]]s.

Completed megaprojects should be uploaded to the [[Utility:Dwarf Fortress Map Archive|Dwarf Fortress Map Archive]] and posted on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=11.0 Bay12 Forums]. Incredible feats of construction are usually very [[Fun|fun]], so you'll see many different (and probably similar) constructions across the wiki.

Use whatever ideas you think are ingenious. More project ideas can be found where [[stupid dwarf trick|stupid dwarves try crazy tricks]] - for some smaller-scale project ideas that still embody the dwarven spirit, see the [[style project]]s page.

===Aqueducts===
For some reason, a noble was harmlessly pulling a lever when suddenly, magma flooded the river and exploded the booze! The king requires your band of seven to build a great aqueduct to bring water to the capital. Start with supports, and build up your aqueduct until it is 10 z-levels high!

*Bonus: Start over a human town, build a wall around it, pump water through the aqueduct and into it!
*Bonus: Mod the game so you can start on the dwarven capital and actually bring about the story.
*Bonus: Once you have completed your aqueduct, embark in a slightly different location and build the next section. repeat until you've built it all the way to the capital!

Variation: On a map containing a river, completely enclose it with glass walls, and floors. Use overhead pipe sections to move the water to places more <s>convenient</s> [[Fun]].

===Biodome===
All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

No pits/underground rivers/magma vents allowed.

===Casting===
Who needs to construct giant statues?! We need ours made from natural walls, however, we want it above ground level as well. For casting your goal is to create some giant structure out of natural obsidian walls through the use of an extremely elaborate scaffold of lava and water pools and screw pumps. When you are finished, just deconstruct the scaffolding and smooth/engrave the statue as you go. Just imagine the bridge over that chasm, now complete with two giant dwarf statues on either side to strike fear into all who enter and show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.
**Bonus+: Make the statues spit blood.

===Castle===
Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. This is highly time
consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floors indoors, and no underground
constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build
a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

*Bonus: Make the entire castle out of iron.
*Bonus: Did I mention you get bonus points for building the middle tower on a support connected to a lever?
*Dwarf Bonus: Do all of the above, but build it all underground in the caverns layer.
*Highly Fun Bonus: Build it in the highly fun zone. Only use appropriate materials (eg, slade and candy).
**Megabonus: Add a moat made of magma
***Armok Bonus: Replace the moat with blood

===Ceremonial Sacrifices===
Build an amazingly complex or spectacular killing device. A shaft that extends across the entire Z-plane is a good start. A constantly shifting maze of atomsmasher drawbridges is another. For the minimalist, a very confined space where you will drop a dwarf wrestler along with the gobbos once in a while. Perhaps a waterslide that carries your prisoner all the way down into a chasm? Just cut their heart out? Whatever your idea, build it and dedicate your fort to the construction, maintenance and improvement of your device.

Do not kill any of your invaders. Capture them using cage traps, and them set them off in your device. Keep a record of the number of victims you drop into it.

BONUS: Create a statue garden to memorialize your victims, with one statue per victim. Structure your fortress such that sacrificial victims have to pass through the garden on the way to their demise.

===Computing===
Can your dwarves build the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at [[computing]].

*!!IMPOSSIBLEDWARFYBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress''.
*!!IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLEDWARFYDWARFYBONUSBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that new program to build a new computer to program a new game of ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that game inside of a game inside of a game to program another game of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

===Colosseum===
Build a pit, around it on steps lots of Thrones, make the whole thing a meeting area, train Gladiators, capture goblins, leave them their weapons and let them fight against your gladiators. If they win, let them go.

*Bonus: Build different traps in the floors to further entertain your toga-toting dwarves
*GLADIATORBONUS: Have animal cages in the floor to be released if the gladiators perform poorly
*AQUABATTLEBONUS: Rig up pumps to fill the floor of the arena
**Maximus Decimus Meridius bonus: Strip your best military commander of his ranks, murder his family and force him to fight in the arena, eventually facing and kicking in the teeth of the ruler of the fortress.

===Crematory Fortress===
* Requires a [[magma| magma pipe]] and [[bauxite]].

Build a temple structure above a [[magma|magma pipe]] and [[engraving|engrave]] every available surface. The temple should be as opulent as possible. In the temple, build a retracting [[bridge]] over a hole in the floor, and designate a [[coffin]] [[stockpile]] on it. Whenever a dwarf dies, build a [[bauxite]] or other [[magma safe|magma-proof]] [[coffin]] for him, place it on the [[bridge]], and retract it, committing his body to the [[magma|fiery blood of the mountain]].

::Note: Since coffins are unassigned and emptied when deconstructed and cannot be constructed on top of a bridge, this will not actually work. An alternative would be to place the coffins in individual chambers which can then be flooded with magma afterwards.

::: You could expose the magma pipe, build a one-tile wide floor span across it, and then above that build a support that holds up your temple floor on the z-level above. The temple floor would be separated from the walls of the temple and would be connected for walking access diagonally. The support holds it up. You would have to construct the coffins in the temple, then when someone gets buried you pull the lever attached to the support. You then rebuild the narrow span below, the temple floor, and the support, then link the lever to the new support.
::: You can do this without scaffolding if you build the temple floor access straight in, and then the span below and the support, then once the support is in place you destroy the straight temple access leaving only a diagonal temple access.

::: Another method would be simply to make a hole in your temple that goes straight down to the magma, of at least 3X3 squares, then build a floor of 2 squares long and 1 wide from the upper middle edge of the hole so that the second square is only connected to the temple by the first, then build your coffin on the second square and once your dwarf is inside deconstruct the first square leaving nothing holding the square with your coffin up and it will fall into the magma. On a side note it is best to start from the upper edge of the hole so the dwarf doing the deconstructing is a lot less likely to fall into the magma.

::: Retracting bridges work well to provide access to build the support and floor, and can then be retracted before dropping the coffin. Use a single lever to retract the bridge, then begin filling a chamber with water to trigger a pressure plate to destroy the support, dropping the coffin, and also draining the water to encase the coffin in obsidian.

===City===
Live like a human!

Build all of your buildings above ground. to make this easier, mod in a plentiful building material similar to bricks, however you want it. Make sure that your city is unplanned for that medieval look; build when you need to as close as you can to where it needs to be. As each migration wave comes you're going to need more and more buildings. Protip; you're going to need a caste of dedicated builders.

* Extra points; Emulate your favourite city.
* Combo bonus; Build your city around some other megaproject; a pyramid or giant colosseum.
* ULTRADWARF; Start in a mountainous area and hollow out the above ground city from the projecting mountains, including all four sides, thus leveling the mountain range to leave a series of *surprisingly natural* looking streets.
* Build each building (or section of one) out of the same materials or...
** Bonus: Create pixel art from the colors of the stones!
** Bonus: Try to build all freestanding structures
* Geek Reference Bonus: Build the city on the side of a mountain, using only marble, and make it look like Minas Tirith.
* Modern bonus: Have dwarves ride in minecarts from their home burrow to work burrow and then back once they finish their work.
** Bonus: Design traffic lights system, complete with carts stopping, waiting till green "light" turns on and then continuing. Stop dwarves from jaywalking and getting themselves killed in the process.
** Computing bonus: Don't build a track for every single cart, reuse tracks with pressure plates coupled with bridges, hatches and floodgates and clever usage of minecart mechanics like derailing or even water skipping.
* Bonus: Paved streets.
** Greed bonus: Streets of gold (or other high-value metal)

===Doomsday Clock===
Build a water or mechanical clock whose final state triggers the support which holds your fortress up or a megabeast out.
See how much wealth you can achieve before the clock runs out.
*Bonus: Create something that resets itself, as well as purging the map, so that you can reuse the same fortress over and over.
*Super-Bonus: Create something that involves pressure plates and a small kitten, when the pressure plates are hit in the right order, your map ends. Toss the kitten in and hope for the best. Alternatively, make the sequence quite unlikely, but add 2 kittens; breeding introduces a probability of doomsday that is a function of time (depending on the mechanisms involved)
*!!OhMySchrödingerBonus!!: Create the super-bonus above, but place the kitten on the lowest Z-level and never return to either look at it or see how many of the conditions for the doomsday device have been met. This way, the kitty mimicks Schrödinger's cat: we cannot observe the state of the kitty, but we can infer it from the state of the world (spin-pairs effectively).

===Dungeons of Doom===

Beneath your fortress, carve out an immense dungeon starting from the surface. Each dungeon floor must be filled with rectangular rooms connected by twisting one-tile passages, with an occasional wider hallway, and each floor must lead to the next by a single-tile staircase (no up/down stairs). A few floors into the dungeon, build a small fortress and designate a few quarries away from the dungeon itself. The dungeon should not be exposed to the caverns, but the caverns should be exposed to the surface to free the fun creatures. The dungeon must go down until it reaches HFS. Dump an artifact amulet inside HFS. Build puzzles and thematic branches of the dungeon as you see fit.

* Bonus: Fill the dungeon with gnomes, goblins, kobolds, and horrible monsters of all kinds. Maybe a minotaur too if you are going for that labyrinth feel.
* Mega Bonus: Litter the floors of the dungeon with artifact items (especially weapons).
* Epic Bonus: Feed the minotaur stated beforehand migrants every year.
* Cosmic Bonus: Lead the dungeon into an upright candy cane and build a Labyrinth inside HFS.
* Nerd Bonus: Build the last few levels above your fortress, and fill one with lava, one with water, one entirely empty, etc., to mimic the "[https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End_Game Endgame]" of NetHack. The uppermost one should have three temples, and if possible megabeasts that cannot escape but which an adventurer could reach...

===Dwarf like an Egyptian===
*Build a pyramid of epic proportions.

Build a legendary dwarven pyramid, with a corridor running to a central tomb for your favourite noble. Then construct lots of different [[trap]]s in it to avoid grave robbery. Perhaps build it entirely out of glass? Or try to make the top twist in a bit of a swirl. Alternatively, make your entire fortress inside a pyramid, which stretches below the ground.

*Build rows of Obelisks

* Build a double row of Obelisks before the Pyramid, and engrave the sides. Build ramps on the tops.

*Build the whole thing upside down.
** And then another one on the upside-down one.

* BONUS: Make a Sphinx out of solid gold. Solid! Nobody lives or goes inside of it. Entomb the builders in an [[unfortunate accident]] - preferably inside the sphinx - so that they can never build one for anybody else. Alternately, build a hollow Sphinx and house your nobles inside.

* When the time has come, or when your fortress is about to be destroyed by a siege or something, perform the ceremony to translate the mortal form of the noble to the underworld. Give him a ritual death, and make sure you kill his servants as well. Pile wealth into the tomb. If the tomb is built for your king make every dwarf die but one, who inters everyone into their resting place. His final act will be to pull a lever that seals the tomb as well as kills him. Then enjoy going back and reclaiming your fortress to observe your efforts.

*BONUS: Dwarf like a Sumerian and make the Pyramid a Ziggurat.

*JoJoBonus: Get a king in your fortress, then make him a vampire, nickname him <s>Dio Brando</s> DIO.

===Graveyard Master===
Every dwarf deserves a decent resting place:
*Build a tomb for every dwarf that dies (or, in the case of nobles, demands anything), the more dwarves you manage to bury the better.
*Tombs must be rooms with exactly 5x5 of size and 1 of height, with only one entrance tile that must be closed by a door.
*Tombs must have all its surfaces engraved.
*Tombs must contain at least 4 statues.
*Once complete, the door must be replaced with a wall and the tomb must not be ever entered again.

*Bonus: There must be only one male dwarf with burial labor enabled. Only his close male relatives can inherit the burial labor.
**Bonus: Ensure he is a [[vampire]], and that he is the last dwarf in your Fortress.
**Double Bonus: Ensure he is the last Dwarf in existence.
*Detail Bonus: Make the statues be of the deceased Dwarf and his or her accomplishments.
**Dwarf Bonus: Carve every tomb out of [[obsidian]].
**Extra Bonus: Make every coffin and every statue out of obsidian.
***Magma Bonus: Edit the raws and make them out of [[slade]].
*Knife Bonus: Make a mass tomb specially designed for [[elf|hippies]] that is suspended above the entrance to your fortress.
**Bonus: Fill it with hippies.
**Bonus: Carve the tomb out of water and magma.
**Bonus: Make the tomb be held in place by a single pillar so it can be dropped onto the hippies.
***Bonus: Have the tomb operate by pressure plates.
***Armok Bonus: Ensure the tomb automatically rebuilds itself once used.

===How high can you go?===
Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a ''pinnacle'' of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

===Land battleship===
Turn your mountain into a huge battle-station, complete with crew quarters, decks, command centre, cantina, and a large collection of deadly weapons : Batteries of marksdwarves, ballista cannons, catapults, boarding bridges and teams, but also lava projector or remote explosive devices (i.e. cave-ins in a part of the map triggered by a lever). Make sure it ends up looking like a real battleship, with nothing but plains surrounding it (you could build it on an actual plain, or destroy a mountain, choice is yours). The battleship has to be autonomous, and dwarves shouldn't wander outside it.

*Bonus: The weaponry covers every tile of the map (i.e., everything that enters the map can be shot)
*Bonus: Build several other ships, maybe dedicated to a specific product (food, ammo etc.)
**Bonus: Find a way to let them fight each other in a naval battle
*Bonus: Each crew member has a civil and military formation, and when the enemy arrives, stop every economic activity. All hands to quarters!
*Bonus: Build Noahs Ark: Completely out of wood, with every animal twice, as well as one dwarven family with three sons on board. Flood everything around it and let everything not on the ark die. MUAHAHAHA!!! FEAR THE WRATH OF ARMOK!!
*Mega Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water.
*MEGA Bonus: Still use wood to make the ark.

===Labyrinth===
Build or dig out an elaborate labyrinth. It should be filled with traps, periodically flooded with water and magma, and decorated to your liking. Remember, no self-respecting labyrinth is complete without a [[minotaur]] or two roaming inside.

*Bonus: Build a prison and/or execution chamber somewhere inside the labyrinth.
*Bigger Bonus: Build all the labyrinth walls out of statues and make the entire thing a statue garden.
*Mega Bonus: Make it three-dimensional.

(A labyrinth is a [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/algrithm.htm unicursal maze]: labyrinths offer no choices of path as they curve in and back on themselves to the endpoint. Mazes usually have choices of paths and therefore usually dead ends. Given how pathing will usually let sapient beings in DF avoid dead ends, a labyrinth is preferable to a traditional maze with dead ends.)

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus/ Daedalus] has many maze algorithms and tools, including for unicursal mazes (GPL, free).
A [http://www.billsgames.com/mazegenerator/ traditional maze generator] may be helpful if you somehow open the dead ends (such as with drawbridges) to attract traffic.

===Magma Sea Colony===

If you cast obsidian around the edges of the magma sea, it is possible to pump out the magma and build a colony in the empty space. Once the colony is built, you can destroy the obsidian walls and refill the magma sea. Note: you cannot cast obsidian on the bottom layer of the magma sea, so building a colony on this layer is nearly, but not quite, impossible (see below).

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.

===Moria===
Build a huge hall - at least 3 z-levels high. Leave few pillars symmetrically placed in the hall (don't build them, carve them out). Smooth and possibly engrave everything (not only the lowest z-level!). Then build thin bridge (not the bridge building, just a thin piece of rock to walk on) above magma or above a chasm- support it with bauxite supports connected to a lever (bauxite mechanisms needed in support). Destroy stone holding it at the both ends and replace it with floor hatches (so when you pull the lever it all goes down). After that build a bridge above the chasm.
When it's all done seal your dwarves deep inside in safe place and get invaded by goblins. At the same time dig out HFS. Lead the HFS across the both bridges and then collapse the second one when one of the champions clashes with it (it doesn't matter that the champion has killed the HFS with one hit).

Bonus: cast the walls of the hall out of obsidian using water and magma

MegaBonus: Trap [[goblin]]s and a [[megabeast]] in the various lower levels

UltraMultiverseDwarfyBonus: Build the real [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930023823if_/http://www.rpg-ash.me.uk/LotRO/moria_special_edition/moria_map.jpg Moria]

===Mountain audit/core sample===
Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

MegaBonus: Put the mountain back together.

Mr.CleanBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[soap]].

CandyFlossBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[Adamantine|candy floss]].

HeavyMetalBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[steel]].

===Project Mayhem===

*You do not talk about project Mayhem
*Build a series of towers, at least 10 z-levels high, of different size and shape. They must be supported by a series of supports linked to a lever.
*Store all your riches in the towers : crafts, precious metal bars, gems, artifacts, everything. You may also want to house your nobles on top of the towers.
*Pull the lever and watch the collapse of financial history.

Bonus: make the towers' walls out of glass!

Bonus: Make soap! And remember, elf fat is ideal...

Extra Bonus: Make one large tower, and make it collapse onto a smaller tower, filled with all your artifacts/engravings. (Essentially, you only get the extra bonus if you've read the book)

===Santa Claus===
Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

BONUS: Embark on a freezing biome.

BONUS: Make the toys out of lead.

BONUS: Not all Dwarf children are nice. Make and sell a similar amount of charcoal and/or coke for the naughty children.

SANTA BONUS: have a pump operator be trained legendary and nickname him "Santa Claus"

MEGABONUS: Modding Elves to be pets, embark with 100 of them and force them to make the toys for you.

MEGA PAIN BONUS: Make Santa Claus tame 100 gremlins and force those to make toys instead.

===Skull collector===
What proves the might of a civilization better than a hall full of skulls?
*Try to collect as many skulls as you can during your fortress life, and put them in a special skulls-only storage. The more skulls the better.

BONUS: Cover all the skulls in blood, and make the stockpile also a throne room. Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!

SUPERBONUS: Also fill the throne room with elves.

MAXIMUM BONUS: Mod the game so that you can butcher elves and have a butcher that does nothing but kill hippies all day to put their skulls in the skull shrine.

===Space Ship===
Create a giant space ship fit for space travel. It should be able to hold about 100 dwarves for at least 2 years.

*BONUS: Use exploding [[booze]] as ignitable fuel. (It doesn't actually explode. It just boils into a gas...)
*BONUS: Make a removable [[ramp]] for boarding.
*BONUS: Make the [[water]] for the 2 years be on the ship using removable pumps.
*BONUS: Bring an aquifer with you to get an infinite supply of water!
*BONUS+: Make it totally self-sufficient. (Make an internal system which pumps the [[water]] supply through a room every few years to muddy the floor. Plant [[seed]]s in the [[mud]] that's now on the floor. Manage your consumption to maintain self-sufficiency.)
*Modding BONUS: Mod the game so that merchants can fly their new wagonships into your docking bays. ''(If possible)''
*BONUS+: Make it all out of [[steel]] and [[aluminum]].
*[[fun|FUN]]: Let it be held by a single [[support]], ignite the [[booze]], remove the support an let it "fly".
*EVEN BETTER: <strike>Drop</strike> Fly it down a chasm.
*More [[fun|FUN]]: Set up a mining operation on the surface and dig into the HFS. Watch the alien creatures take over your ship and hunt down your dwarves. Form a squad of heroes to overload the booze reactor to prevent the aliens from reaching earth. (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space_%28video_game%29 Dead Space] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29 the Alien series])
*BONUS: Drop the fully-operational ship with 4 dwarves into eerie pit. Do not engrave slabs. Instead, pretend that their ghosts are an unknown gravitational effect. Survive ~25 years and then feel free to turn off cave-ins and build a flying colony. And remember, only plump helmets survived the Blight

===Slums===
Take multiple goblin, kobold, animal men and other humanoid prisoners, dump them into a neglected and shut-off zone from the rest of the fort, and force them to live there.

*BONUS: Drop golden crafts into the room of the Goblin with the most kills.
*BONUS: Give the "gangs" (Kobolds, Goblins, etc.) their own uniforms and bases.
*BONUS: Carve out streets and tiny, fully-furnished chambers into rough rock or soil for the Slumfolk to call home.

===Statue of greatness===
Build a giant statue, spanning 10-20 z-levels and make it in the shape of say, a dwarf you like or an animal you like.
* Bonus: make it in the shape of a teapot that has a working boiling system and a spout that water can come out of.
* Bonus+: Steam instead of water coming out of the spout.
* Bonus++: Magma mist instead of steam coming out of the spout.
* Bonus+++: Hydra teapot containing all of the bonuses, and it also spews miasma.

===Surveillance Track===
[[Image:Surveillance track.png|thumb|right|300px|A site-wide surveillance track]]
Build an elevated [[minecart]] track around the edges of the map, and send out civilians riding minecarts to spot ambushers and distract enemy archers.

* Bonus: Use minecart jumps to physically isolate the track from your fortress.
* Bonus: Give your minecart riders crossbows to harry enemies.
* Bonus: Make the track in a way that enemies pathfind their way directly in front of the minecart.

===Swiss Precision===
Build a working clock. The clock should accurately track DF days, months, and years.

Bonus Points:
*If the clock has a mechanical effect in the fortress proper to announce new days
*If the clock creates seasonally appropriate effects at the change of months and/or seasons.
*If the clock is used to aid in the operation of the fortress in addition to its role as a clock (automatically controls farmland irrigation at particular times, automatically opens the <s>pod bay doors</s> <s>blast doors</s> <s>floodgates</s> <s>Magma Channels</s> Gate in time for those <s>evil</s> friendly merchants, etc...).
*If the clock governs the schedule of a working rail station (which is always on time). (Definitions of 'working' and 'rail station' are subject to player imagination).
*If the clock takes measures to protect itself. ''"I can't let you do that, Urist."''

But don't worry about the bonus points, a precision time device should be hard enough.

===Temple===
Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and make fountains and rivers that run red with [[blood]].

*Bonus: Make the glass windows stained with blood.
*Bonus: Spill blood everywhere.
*AztecBonus: Make it so it's a stepped pyramid. Perform sacrifice with your [[Military|priests]] on top of the statue, preferably with [[obsidian]] short swords.
*WarhammerBonus: Also fill your temple with skulls. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !
*MagmaBonus: Decorate the temple with molten magma. Also good for sacrifices.
*Bonus: Made it out of cast obsidian and engrave everything. Cast obsidian only !
*Bonus: Add [[menacing spike]]s.
**BrutalBonus: Impale elf, goblin, and kobold corpses on the spikes.
*SuperBonus: Make it out of <s>soap</s> <s>iron</s> steel ! (At least partially since you can't engrave steel)
*SuperBonus: Make it needlessly complicated. Use lots of power and mechanisms. Magma waterfalls powered by dwarven water reactors. Fill it with devious traps and use mechanisms, levers, and power galore.
*SuperMagmaBonus: All of the above, but make it inside a volcano.
*TrueBelieverBonus: Same, but make it inside the [[magma sea]].
*ArmokFanaticBonus: Same, but make it inside [[HFS]]. Sacrifice it's denizens for Armok! Alternatively, make it inside an adamantine spire and enjoy your engraved, all-natural raw adamantine walls.

===The cube===
Play a fort as usual, but emphasize catching goblins in cages to support and fill this construction:
Construct a series of rooms in a symmetrical fashion, all connected to each other with appropriate doors. Of course, enough rooms to make a maze-like structure, and if you feel like it, an exit that is hard to reach. Fill a bunch of the rooms with traps and pressure plates. Then fill one room with 4-6 goblins (preferably in cages, opened by an outside lever), release them and watch them randomly walk around the rooms dying to traps and whatnots.

*Bonus: Do multiple storey maze (3D-maze)
*Bonus: Use pressure plates to open/close the exit randomly; otherwise, all the goblins will just follow the shortest route to the exit.
*Bonus: Use multiple doors connected to multiple pressure plates in order to access certain rooms, so the goblins have to go through the maze in the correct order.
*Bonus: Figure out a way to have competing teams wandering through the maze at the same time. Can you say "elimination round?"

===The great brewery===
Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing [[Fire|‼peasant‼]] visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven [[caravan]] each year.
* BONUS: Create a working sprinkler system to douse any fires that might occur.
* BONUS+: Still use alcohol

===The Great Wall of Urist===
Build a dwarven great wall of china that splits the map in half. Must be at least 10 tiles thick and reach the highest z-level.
* BONUS: Make it block the <s>Mongols</s> goblins out of your half of the map.
* BONUS: Make it out of obsidian.
**BONUS+: Embark on a map without obsidian.
* BONUS: Find a way to make it touch the boundaries.
* BONUS: Build one gate
* BONUS: Arm it with ballistas.
** MEGABONUS: Once you have split your embark in half, abandon the fortress and embark adjacent to it, and continue the wall until it splits the continent in half.
Someone should make a bonus for this but I'd like to point out that the actual wall was made from (compressed) dirt with on outer layer of stone and that the bodies of those who died from exhaustion while building it, were put into it.
** BONUS+: Encase all workers who died during building in caskets built into the wall. Possibly with traps to protect them from grave robbers
I'd like to point out that it is just a myth that the bodies were put into the wall. In reality, they were buried nearby.
** BONUS++: Encase all workers who died during construction into obsidian nearby the wall.
** BONUS+++: Fill the obsidian case with magma and place in the wall.
I'd like to point out that Armok does not discriminate.
** BONUS++++: Put all corpses that die during the construction period into the wall. Pets, invaders, wildlife. *EVERY* corpse.
** MERCILESS ARMOK BONUS:As above, but make sure it goes through a reanimating biome.

===The Monolith===
As the inevitability of a fortress-wide mental breakdown looms over every single fortress why not have something that alludes to that precipice of [[insanity]]. Like the book and feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey you must have a Monolith. This has to be made from [[obsidian]] and have a completely smooth surface (You cannot build it from blocks) You can have it be any size as long as it is outside, at least 2 tiles thick to ensure there are no pillar tiles, and has about the same ratio of width to height as it does in the movie (1:4:9) to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It would be preferable to make it large so that it seems to be dominating the landscape and your dwarves' psyche. The bigger the better.

*If the rock obsidian strata isn't deep enough in parts to make a monolith feasible consider casting a monolith with a large rectangular block in exactly the same dimensional criteria as above.

===This Was A Triumph===
Build Aperture Laboratories, with marble test chambers supported by struts and columns of granite.
Lab should have (Connected through paths)-
1) Multiple test chambers, with observation booths and connecting staircases/elevators.
2) An end goal, with an incinerator.
3) Background systems, with catwalks and large areas of waste management.
4) An AI Control Chamber.
5) A cake chamber

*BONUS*- Make an entire model of the original Portal chambers
*BONUS*- Make a sealed off area, the original testing area in Portal 2 (Include a statue of a Noble named Cave Johnson)
*BONUS*- An extended map, including the Subject Suspended-Animation life support system
*BONUS*- Make a field on top with access, a single small shed
*BONUS+*- Build a 20:1 model of the Companion Cube

===Underwater fortress===
Encase your entire fortress in [[water]]! Your fortress should be watersealed: surrounded by water against all [[wall]]s and the top of the fortress.
* Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
* Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water (warning: will almost certainly lead to [[fun]])!
* Bonus: Build it in the [[ocean]] or a non-freezing lake
**Bonus: Build it in the magma sea
**Bonus: Build it in a volcano
* Bonus: Build large glass domes that encase the fortress. A dome 20 tiles wide should be 10 z-levels tall (creating a hemi-sphere). Which may be hard to cover in water.
* Bonus: Have a mechanism for dropping your enemies into the water to drown! Or fill the water with carp.
**Superbonus: Don't use pansy walls, use pumps to keep the water out!
* Mod: Make your dwarves amphibious and include airlocks between the wet fortress and the dry.
* Remake: Make Rapture city from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock Bioshock]
** Remake Bonus: Mod in plasmids to give dwarves superpowers, but will eventually drive them mad!
*** Remake MegaBonus: Big Daddies for military, anyone?
**** Remake MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the save raws and name the mayor "Andrew Ryan".

===Flying fortress===
Turn cave-ins off in the init, then build a flying fortress. Perhaps some flying islands only connected with bridges, maybe combined with an orbital defense network.
* Bonus: Turn cave-ins back on.
* History Bonus: Try and make them look like B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from WWII.
* Remake: Make Columbia from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite Bioshock Infinite]
* Bonus+: Make Laputa: Heavily forested floating castle with a giant Adamantine gem at its center (the source of its power)
* Bonus++: Include the Thunder of Laputa: A fiery laser beam capable of great destruction to the lands below.

===Wealth===
The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

BONUS Create capitalism in your fortress!

===We Are Dorf===

Embark site biome parameters: Mountain. Fortress shape: Cubicle (assume 7 tiles high), cut from natural rock and separated from the remaining stone so it is held by a single support. Migrant dwarves must report to assimilation chamber where a collapsing dust trap will launch them into large serrated disk [[trap component|traps]] to remove unnecessary appendages, or have their offending limbs removed some other way. Dorf drones must be cataloged and arranged in squads of varying number. The naming structure is as follows: First of Ten, Second of Ten, and so on. Clothing is irrelevant.

There is no trade, or unmerited contact with lesser species, they will be assimilated. Nobles are irrelevant. Economy is irrelevant. Solitary creatures that do not pose a notable threat to the Collective are not to be bothered with when there is important work to do. Corpses are to be vaporized or atom-smashed along with all [[noble|other useless material]]. Cage traps should be common.

We are the Dorf. Lower your shields and surrender your booze. We will add your biological and technological reaction mats to our stockpiles. Resistance is canceled: Dangerous Terrain. You are caught in a pool of magma! You are melting! x18

===World Domination===
Pretend you are an evil mastermind. Now come up with some device or machine to render the world (or at least your portion of the map) totally unlivable, aside from, of course, your hidden lair.

You will receive bonus points for making a more realistic World Domination setup. Some suggestions:

* Make one dwarf the evil mastermind. The evil mastermind will have no empathy whatsoever, and they will hate all other races, and put no value on the lives of his minions. Protect him at all cost. If he should die, switch his position to his oldest child (who will avenge his father, because insanity is hereditary.) or the most insane, diabolical dwarf in your fort or make a noble the evil mastermind. (everyone knows nobles are pure evil)
* Impractical, overkill solutions to everyday problems ("Sir, the dungeon master wants a better room" "Well then turn his room into a tomb and flood it with magma, and do not bother me with such trivial matters again or I will have you shot.")
* Give the evil mastermind a pet to obsess over. Give it a name like Mr. Bigglesworth or Snuggles. Even better if it's something really dangerous like a Giant Desert Scorpion.
**BONUS: With modding, make the evil mastermind's pet a [[Demon|clown]], [[megabeast]], [[forgotten beast]], or [[titan]].
***Bonus: Use modding to create a pet creature for the mastermind with the "opposed to life" tag.
* Have a science lab. Use living creatures and people as test subjects.

Doomsday device suggestions:
* Flood the map with water/magma (may require building walls around the edge of the map)
**BONUS: the water has carp in it.
***BONUSMOD: Carp with ''frickin' laser beams'' attached to their heads.
***BONUSMOD2.0: Give the carp the ability to spawn undead dragons for every limb they tear off a dwarf.
* Build an "Earthquake Machine" (the entire map is supported by a single support, which is connected to a lever)
* Build an extensive holding cell network for "scientific purposes". Fill it with megabeasts and <s>elephants</s> <s>unicorns,</s> skeletal carp in secret. Have a lever that lets everything free to feed on the general population.
* Embark in an evil area, and capture and tame all those undead animals if possible to create your own undead army
* Bonus: Eliminate the dwarves who constructed your device before you set it off. They must not be allowed to warn the rest of the citizens.
* Build an orbital weapons platform in space (which should be 12-15 stories above the ground, use your imagination), then arm it with magma bombs (droppable tank of magma) to glass the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for a few years.
* Build a door (or hatch) in every space of your fortress. Have all the doors set to lock at the flip of a switch. Have the switch kill the person who pulls it. Give the nobility their toy.
* Build [[User:Vattic/Mechanical Volcano Explained|Mechanical Volcano]] to flood entire map with searing magma.
*do all of the above and link all the devices to one lever in the room of the king/queen


=== The Grand Treasury ===
At first, have the king come to you. Then excavate a laaarge room and fill it with i.e.: Lots of coins, shiny gems, artifacts, golden statues, silver mugs, etc. pp. But the king is still not satisfied with his possessions, so he wants more and more shiny and sparky things.
Of course sooner or later (probably sooner) those filthy kobolds and goblins will come and try to steal this enormous hoard. We must never tolerate this! Turn your treasury into a strongroom like the world has never seen before! Secret doors, traps in abundance, guards at every door, ballistae, guard dogs, the whole program. If anything gets lost, you have proven your incompetence, and the king will have your fortress abandoned and founded another to guard his treasures.

*Bonus: Build up the treasury and raid it successfully in Adventure Mode

=== Heaven ===
Build a dwarven version of heaven. Every dwarf must want to come to you! Important pieces:
# Streets paved with gold.
# The mindless hordes are held back by pearly gates -- or at least a close equivalent. Marble doors with diamond encrustations.
# No dwarves die (except for criminals). Heaven is everlasting.
# All criminals must be cast into the fires of Hell. Ideally, this would either be HFS or the bottom of a magma pipe. Or both.
# Nothing is ever stolen. St. Peter doesn't screw up.
# After the King has arrived, any male children he has must be sent out to fight sieges alone.

BONUS: No dwarves are ever unhappy -- no tantrums and no insanity. 
BONUS: When migrants arrive at the pearly gates, view their thoughts and preferences and only allow those with a similar/same Deity as your population. 
BONUS: Make Heaven 10 stories above the ground 
Mod: Make Angel dwarves and a godly being. (suggestions: Cacame, Morul, Ironblood.) 
ULTRABONUS: Make Heaven in the air, an earthly society on the ground (a wooden town perhaps?), and carve the HFS place into Hell, complete with a lake of Magma/fire. Look up the character of every dwarf and send him to the appropriate place. 
MEGABONUS-(Re)Make: The Seven Seals have been broken and the Apocalypse arrives.
# The Sky darkens (an obsidian ceiling spanning over the map).
# Meteors (opened lava tanks and cave-ins) devastate the earth.
# All bodies of water turn bloody.
# Dig into the HFS and have a battle between Heaven and Hell.
# Sorry for any spoilers 

=== City of Ember ===
Show those filthy humans that when dwarves build a secret underground refuge, they build to last! In other words, recreate Ember from the film "City of Ember" (yes, everyone is aware there is a book, that came first, and was part of a series), but do it right - none of these leaking pipes and crumbling buildings stuff, after only two and a half centuries underground!
# Mine out a massive cavern multiple z-layers high, and build a human-style city underneath it instead of carving out various chambers.
# You must seal it off. How long you wait to do this is up to you, but once it is sealed, you cannot unseal it for at least 200 years (if you decide to play that long). Ideally, use a utility to embark with a full set of dwarves (to represent the immigrating population) and seal the city off within one year of embarking.
# Build individual houses with their own dining rooms and bedrooms. Multiple dwarves can live in one house, but usually only a single family will live in one house.
# Build streets connecting all of the buildings, in the way that in the film, Ember didn't really have any space that wasn't either paved or built on until you got to the outskirts of the city.
# Have a "greenhouse" out on the outskirts for farming.
# You MUST have an underground river and use it for power.
# You MUST have magma and use it for power.
# Build City Hall, where the mayor has his office, with a nice fountain out front that actually works (probably involving water pressure, and as a testament to the fact that dwarves do it better, and their underground refuge isn't running desperately short of food, water, or power).
# No military, because there is simply no need for one, but have a fortress guard (to function as police, basically).
# After 200 or more years, unseal the city and colonize the surface.

BONUS: Instead of building your houses/other structures out of blocks or rocks, plan it all out beforehand and simply don't dig out the tiles that you want to be the walls of buildings, and smooth it all down so it looks the same, but your buildings are actually made out of solid natural rock. 
BONUS: Actually cause some kind of catastrophe on the surface (flood it with magma or something) that makes it uninhabitable, to FORCE yourself to stay underground, but when you unseal the city after 200 years, the surface should have healed and be habitable again. So, don't do something permanent.

===The quake===

# Make your entire fortress supported by one support.
# on year 5, remove the support so your entire fortress drops one level.
# Tell us the death rate.
# double the height of the support every year, see how much is too much of a drop!

===Pull A Boatmurdered===

What's this? Too many goblins? Not enough fun? You may be needing excess amounts of lava!

# Flood the entire map with water or lava
# Maybe both and have an obsidian farm in the center
# Pump all lava resources to the surface and watch it burn!

Most famously employed in [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].

===Hippie Exterminator===

Much like trees, better water those elves.

# It's a gigantic drowning chamber for [[Elf|Elves]].
# Construct a very long wall all the way around a [[forest retreat]]
# Build a floor on top, sealing them in
# Connect some screw pumps to this and the local water supply
# Really processor intensive! Not for calculators!

# At nothing else, at least build the box around your Trade Depot, and flood it when Elves are inside.
# Drainage can be done with a [[floodgate]] to release the water from the depot.

===Dwarven Arcology===

# Build your entire fortress above ground in one structure.
# A subterranean level (the basement) on the bottom floor provides plump helmets, pig tails, and so on.
# On the ground floor, grow above-ground plants and carve fortifications into all the walls.
# Every other level is packed with food stores, refuse dumps, wood stockpiles, workshops, archery ranges, and bedrooms.
# The only subterranean activity permitted is digging, although you may be able to get away with building your depot below ground.
Bonus: Cast the entire thing in Obsidian using magma and water and engrave all the sides with your greatness.

===D For Dwarvendetta===

# Create the Parliament building or some such construction
# Rig it to explode or collapse spewing lava everywhere
# Detonate the fortress while you play the 1812 Overture somewhere
Bonus: make an underground [[minecart]] track that detonates it.
Bonus: make a metal statue at the top which gets exploded.

UnfortunateBonus: Make your nobles live inside the building to be destroyed.

MegaBonus: send burning [[graphite]] or [[lignite]] flying into the (strangely always daytime) sky.

CosmicBonus: Have an important Dwarf in a coffin play a role in detonating it.

===The Two Towers===

#Build a ring of stone [may be slightly difficult] and build a tower with four blades protruding from the top
#Build a (much larger) tower with only two blades protruding from the top
#Have the two towers combat each other ''without'' siege weapons

Bonus:
#Rig the first one to flood and the second to explode! (and you only get the points if you've seen the movies and record the videos. Try to make the towers' destruction as close to the movies as you can!)

===Twin maze of doom!===

-Make a complicated maze pair where pressure plates on any floor will trigger the rapid death of everything one floor before that in the OTHER maze.

-Check what survives the ratrace longer: goblins or elves? Kittens or dogs?

-BONUS: make it self-cleaning so it can be reused over and over!

-Double bonus: make it flood the map with lava if anything ever reaches the end of their maze, meaning their victory is for all time - as well as the last thing the world will ever see before the end.

===The doomsday temple of greed===

1- Prepare a game with the poorest-skill starting dwarves and nothing on embark.

2- Edit files to add a little castle with 10 switches, some of which open up to desirable stuff, or a mild trap. Have the lineup fairly obvious, so people know which prize/trap pair they're going for.

3- After learning the principle and getting say a starting pick, 100 wood, 10 obsidian, 10 slade, freeing an angry elephant, an artifact crossbow, alcohol for 10 years, freeing a carp guarding the exit (simple enough puzzle, dig yourself another exit), getting an anvil and 7 bronze armor sets, and avoiding the one trap/prize which has a dragon... let them look up the stairs to the next bit on the next floor...

4- THIS floor has mild traps/good prizes again, but one of them frees 7 goblins AS WELL AS trigger an unannounced very distant magma-flooding system of immense power and speed (they think the goblins are all there is to the trap, mwa ha ha). Make sure the slope means the greedy player will get what's coming at him fully...

5- Share this fun map without announcing what's on it. Surprise!!!

===To the Bottom and Beyond===
''"There is one tale that tells about [[HFS|a place]] that only few have seen, and even fewer have returned from... A place beyond the grasp of our hands, beyond the reach of our picks... A place composed of stone that has been there since the beginning, and will remain there after our demise... [[slade|A stone]] unmoved by the swing of our picks, material that only [[noble|fools]] would demand... Yet we managed to [[engraving|scratch its surface]], and now we plan to cast an entire history of our kin onto it, an artwork that no magma will melt, no beasts nor men will ever be able to destroy. A true dwarf would want to go for it. And you surely do."''

* Bonus: Also engrave walls of [[eerie glowing pit|the pits]].
* LegendaryBonus: Use only legendary engravers.
* [[Masterwork|☼]]LEGENDARY BONUS[[Masterwork|☼]]: Make sure every engraving has masterwork quality.

===The Cathedral===

Make an epically tall cathedral out of obsidian. Encrust it with gems, make multiple spires. Build giant stained-glass windows and make rows of chairs for pews. In niches high in the walls, place masterpiece or better statues, also encrusted and engraved. Underneath, make noble tomb catacombs.
BONUS: Build it near a human/dwarf town. Kill heretics.
MEGABONUS:Build a chalice that you fill with the corpses of heretics, and then use water to drain the blood out, and cast obsidian out of said bloody water.

BONUS: Make several cathedrals, one to each in-game god. Once built, assign worshippers of a god to a burrow encompassing that god's cathedral. Build walls around each cathedral and let them fend for themselves.

===Railroad===

Minecarts have finally been added! Use them to transport dwarves and goods around the fortress!
BONUS: Build several mini-fortresses, each devoted to a different industry or other purpose (e.g., trade, mining, living quarters, etc.). Only minecarts can be used to travel between these mini-forts. Essentially make dwarven Panem!
* BONUS: have the smaller forts rebel causing the main fort to be overthrown!
* MEGABONUS: build arenas where two dwarves from each mini-fort go to fight to the death!

===Vampire King===

Dedicate your entire game to finding and glorifying a Vampire citizen as the 'government appointed' King of your fortress. Who cares about Nobles? Who cares about a king? (unless he's a vampire) They all die off anyway from, unfortunate accidents. Your Eternal King will need only the best for his eternal throne. Dedicate grand rooms and buildings in his/her name. Make statues out of solid obsidian, encasing the corpses of his enemies for all time. Do everything in your power to protect and serve your eternal master.

*BONUS: Assign a personal guard to your Vampire King.
**ZOMBIEBONUS: Use undead dragons.
*BONUS: Have a Hierarchy of Kings/Queens from your Vampire's family (If they are present)
**BONUS: Make separate 'forts' for your various Royal Vampire Monarchs.
*BONUS: Wait for the king to arrive at your fortress and make him/her into a Vampire!

===I've a feeling we're not in Boatmurdered anymore.===

Create a road of gold bars leading from a small village of [[mountain gnome|mountain gnomes]], to a large city of [[green glass]] (or mod the game to allow using [[emerald|emeralds]] as building materials.) Have a patrol along the road consisting of a female child (human if you can manage it somehow) wearing [[ruby]]-encrusted shoes, a [[dog|puppy]], an [[iron man]], a [[titan]] made of grass or wheat, and a [[lion]].

Capture a female [[necromancer]], install her in a dark-colored fortress, and give her the corpses of [[spider monkey man|spider monkey men]] to resurrect. If you like, mod them to be able to fly.

=== Bridge the world! ===
Bridge two or more islands, or an island to a mainland.
* Bonus: Channel magma and make it partially or completely out of obsidian.
* You will receive more bonuses the bigger and the more embarks your require to finish it (i.e. bridge a sea, bridge an ocean).
* Bonus: Enter in adventure mode, cross water without needing to swim (jump at worst). Marvel at your ingenuity.
** Thoroughness bonus: complete it yourself in adventure mode if it isn't already. Make it out of bodies and bones if you have to.
* Resistance bonus: Make (obsidian?) pillars every 40 or so tiles so that you (or some other player) can enter in any embark, with cave-ins on, and even dig through the pillar to the ocean floor, making an under-the-sea fortress there (or just exploiting the natural cave system).

=== Traveling Circus ===
Travel across the world, building megaprojects like pyramids or bridges.

'''Difficulty''': The larger the world, the higher.

'''Usefulness''': ''None at all''.
* Bonus: travel around and actually release [[HFS|the circus]] on every embark. Needless to say, this is the most [[fun]] option. You may consider making sure the clowns get their share of fun, if you want your circus to happen more than once...

=== Make family tree for characters ===

Go to a free family tree generator and add as many characters as you want/can ([http://myheritage.com/ this] website is a good choice). Not even Legends Viewer will be able to compete with the sheer awesomeness of having the list of your dwarves' relatives (and kills) right up to year one.
* Bonus: Do it for all the dwarves you had on embark, enemies you killed and such.
** SuperResilientBonus: Do it in a world that's been played for over 100 years.
* Masochism bonus: give figurative trees to those tree-huggers and make a tree for nigh-immortal (and who mate like <s>bunnies</s> [[unicorn]]s) elves.
* Memory bonus: add fun facts about the characters that can't be found in legends, like exactly ''how'' that legendary hammerdwarf lost their [BODYPART] in that famous siege where they're held as a hero, or how they were slacking in the hospital for the rest of their lives after only being mauled by a megabeast. Or 10.
* Unintentional bonuses:
** Marvel at the error messages, like "Urist McValueDissonance married a little too young", "Urist McNotEvenImmortalVampireOrWerewolf is declared still alive, assumed to be 1000+ years old" or "You just told me Urist McGranny gave birth at the ripe age of 150. Are you sure you're not high?"
** Make their profiles unprivate so they can be found on Google.
* Detail bonus: if you had your game save on seasonal, go to all the now-dead-critters and add the description for each.
* Artifact bonus: somehow get a hold of a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0 legendary <s>dwarf</s>] character's savegame, and show us who their ancestors were.
* Mission Impossible Bonus: Do it for as many characters in a "very long history" world.

===Dwarven Tower Defense===
Make a maze (the longer the better) such that any siege that should be laid to your fortress will have to go through it. Add towers that fire upon or unleash your armies as they pass.
Towers can include:
*Marksdwarf tower
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Doberman_Bomb|Doberman bomb]]
**Point Multiplier: Automate it with pressure plates
*Fire Turret: Trap [[magma crab|magma crabs]] and [[fire imp|fire imps]] in magma safe cage traps from the magma sea and make a tower.
*[[Trap|Dwarven Traps]]
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick|VERY Dwarven Traps]]
*Your most [[noble|Skilled Fighters]]
Go to war with everyone (no treaties) and leave the Dwarves open. This means no lock in, no bridge seal, no impossible death. If they get through, you lose.
Remember the scoring on this too:
*Average Wave: Elves
*Normal Wave: Goblins
*Harder Wave: Humans
**(You can kill humans because humans aren't people. Only dwarves are people.)
*Boss Wave: [[Forgotten_beast|Cellar Dwellers]] and [[Titan|Nomadic Threats]]
*Final Wave: [[HFS|The Clowns]]

*Dwarfbuck BONUS: Assign a Dwarfbuck value to each enemy, i.e. when you defeat x you get y number of dwarfbucks. Assign a DB value to towers, i.e. how much it costs to build them. Example: Fire Tower=100 DBs, Goblin=5 DBs. Keep track of all DBs earned and spent, and only build a tower if you have the required dwarfbucks.

===Multi-purpose defense tower===
Build one big tower that fulfills multiple defensive purposes.
Here are some ideas:
*Ballista on the first floor
*Marksdwarves on the second floor
*Jail on the third floors and up.

===Dwarven Waterslide===
Make a large, circular tower, with water running down paths along the inside of the tower. Make the water fall through grates or bars so the dwarf can get out. Allow the dwarf to go into the water at the top using a retracting bridge.
Also fairely useful, as it both cleans your dwarves and has all the benefits of a downwards-only [[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Watervator|Watervator]]. It is less practical in its functioning than a Watervator, however, but it can be made to generate mist.
* Plumbing Accident Bonus: Make a system to allow the slide to flood in a way that moves the dwarves to the top of the tower.
** Usefulnessbonus: Create a simple system (not using more than one waterslide) that allows you to determine at which floor the dwarves exit, making it as useful as a Watervator.

===The Night's Watch===
Become Brandon the Builder and recreate his most famous work - Construct a wall that spans the entirety of the width of a continent - made entirely of solid ice, while in an arctic climate. The wall has to reach the very topmost of the map minus a few z-levels, for catapults and siege equipment and whatnot if you're doing the bonus challenges, while being 10 blocks thick. Make sure you put a tunnel underneath with a 4 inches cold-rolled steel drawbridge.
* Fortress Bonus: Create nineteen forts along the wall and name each of them exactly like their Westeros counterpart.
* Westeros Bonus: Build it in a continent with an arctic north, building the wall between the two climates
** Wildlings Bonus: Have all the evil civilizations and the necromancer towers on the northern side of the wall, and actually protect the continent from invasions from the north.
**Others Bonus: Zombies or other undead can only be killed with obsidian short swords or fire.
* Defensive Measures Bonus: Create a full-blown patrol schedule for your rangers, and line the top of the wall with siege engines, stone traps to drop on invaders, etc.
** Ranging Bonus: Have dwarves occasionally leave the fortress on rangings - put them on the edge of the map or something, and give them a month or two to come back.
** Scythe Bonus: Build a death scythe that kill enemy climbers.
* Night's Watch Bonus: Have all the dwarves be trained in some military skill with at least novice.
** Roles Bonus: Have each dwarf assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to their counterparts in the Night's Watch - the expedition leader/mayor would be Lord Commander, Military Commander as First Ranger, and if using the squad naming system for the classes - First Steward and First Builder, and Medical Dwarf - Maester etc etc.
* Watch out for the fall Bonus: Climb the wall. (If it is possible to climb ice)
* EPIC GOT BONUS: Recreate the events of the TV show. Abandon all the forts but 3 - and have a dwarf migrant named Jon Snow arrive.

=== Urist Transcontinental ===
Use dfhack with advfort to build a worldwide railroad.
Use disposable/retired 16x1 embarks to make the game remember what you've done, and to provide raw materials.

Put stations at every friendly settlement.
A basic station consists of something that forces incoming carts to stop, and some space between the stop and the next track.
Travellers will have to walk to the next track at each stop.
A station should have a stockpile of minecarts ready for travelers.

Above-ground rails are nicer (you get to see the sights as you travel).
Below-ground rails are easier to build (you can mine instead of using blocks).
Either variant can be powered by impulse ramps or rollers.
Rollers can be powered by either windmills or water reactors, or, if you're close to a river, ordinary water wheels.
To allow bidirectional travel, you can build two rails per link.
* WILD WEST BONUS: Also build tracks to unfriendly settlements.

=== None Shall Pass ===
Build walls around the entire map, so that all arriving creatures must stay on the map edge until you decide to let them in.
* Wall off the normal caverns, including underwater, floor to ceiling.
* Wall off that [[Hell|special cavern]] below the magma sea.
* Wall off the sky, from the surface to the highest z-level.
* Wall off the magma sea itself.

=== Glorious Revolution ===
Make your dwarves live in horrific squalor to the point where it intentionally causes a tantrum spiral, while treating any nobles you may have. Attempt to lay the fortress out in a way that kills all nobles in the spiral while minimizing other casualties. When the nobles are gone, instill communism.

*EXPORTING THE REVOLUTION BONUS!!: Conquer and <s>occupy</s> liberate 10 neighboring settlements to spread the great idea of communism!

=== Metal Gear Urist ===
Mine out enough metal to construct Metal Gear Urist out of metal walls. Make it resemble Metal Gear from Armok Vision.
* BONUS: Add a cockpit with a throne to sit in.
* DETERRENT BONUS: Make it big enough to install a catapult on its shoulder.
* SOLID BONUS: Have the fortress be in an arctic biome, and infiltrate it in Adventure Mode after you finish building it.
** REVOLVER BONUS: Have an ocelot man with a crossbow somewhere inside the fortress while you infiltrate.
** LIQUID BONUS: Edit in a snake megabeast made of water to defend the Metal Gear during the infiltration.
** GRAY BONUS: Infiltrate the fortress with a fox man ally.
{{Category|Design}}

=== Dwarf University ===
Build a center for learning! Your expedition leader is the dean of your new university and is expecting prospective students to arrive in the next season. Libraries are a must as well as classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms! Have your scholars write educational works to disseminate information among your dwarves and buy those (overpriced) textbooks from trade caravans.
* BONUS: Have a scholar become a master to multiple students in your fort. Rename the master's profession as "Professor".
* FULL CURRICULUM BONUS: Have multiple "Professors" specialize in particular fields of study such as math, astronomy, history, etc.
* STUDENT PROTEST BONUS: Have your unhappy university staff and students <s>tantrum</s> protest peacefully over issues such as textbook prices, bad cafeteria food, or terrible dorm conditions. Deal with it accordingly.
* REALISM BONUS: Base the campus on a real world university.

=== Automated Kill Grid ===
No threat is so dire it should distract from your dwarven parties. Build a network of orbital defenses over your fortress capable of dropping deadly bombs on anything that enters the map, on command. For instance, hundreds of floating islands, connected to a lever, with pressure plates underneath.
* BONUS: automated water and lava pumps automatically refill your supply of orbital obsidian "ammunition"
* FRAMERATE BONUS: your skygrid uses perpetual motion pumps to drop an infinite supply of lava on anything that passes beneath it

=== Fortress of Hardened Dwarven Adventurers ===

Have a fortress made purely of YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MODE dwarf adventurers with legendary [[skill]] in all military stuff.

BONUS: Have 1000 of them.

MEGABONUS: Have over 9000 of them!

BONUS: They all started as peasants when creating new characters.

BONUS: None of them ever had any companions or teams.

It feels like conscription. How amazing that every citizen knows self-defense techniques! If only real life humans did so.

=== Dwarven Greenhouse ===

Carve out a small lake in a hot climate, build a giant clear glass structure surrounding it, and pump in water from the aquifer.

BONUS: Embark somewhere without an aquifer. Figure it out.

MEGABONUS: Pump in lava from the magma layer.

Megaproject

2024-07-25T08:23:28Z

PLMMJ: /* Moria */ Renamed some bonuses

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
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The term '''megaproject''' refers to basically any project that takes a long time to build. See also other [[challenge]]s.

Completed megaprojects should be uploaded to the [[Utility:Dwarf Fortress Map Archive|Dwarf Fortress Map Archive]] and posted on the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?board=11.0 Bay12 Forums]. Incredible feats of construction are usually very [[Fun|fun]], so you'll see many different (and probably similar) constructions across the wiki.

Use whatever ideas you think are ingenious. More project ideas can be found where [[stupid dwarf trick|stupid dwarves try crazy tricks]] - for some smaller-scale project ideas that still embody the dwarven spirit, see the [[style project]]s page.

===Aqueducts===
For some reason, a noble was harmlessly pulling a lever when suddenly, magma flooded the river and exploded the booze! The king requires your band of seven to build a great aqueduct to bring water to the capital. Start with supports, and build up your aqueduct until it is 10 z-levels high!

*Bonus: Start over a human town, build a wall around it, pump water through the aqueduct and into it!
*Bonus: Mod the game so you can start on the dwarven capital and actually bring about the story.
*Bonus: Once you have completed your aqueduct, embark in a slightly different location and build the next section. repeat until you've built it all the way to the capital!

Variation: On a map containing a river, completely enclose it with glass walls, and floors. Use overhead pipe sections to move the water to places more <s>convenient</s> [[Fun]].

===Biodome===
All material, seeds, food, tools, and dwarves must be in the fortress within one year. Then, seal up the entrance. Any new immigrants... well, they might be in trouble. Survive for as long as possible!

No pits/underground rivers/magma vents allowed.

===Casting===
Who needs to construct giant statues?! We need ours made from natural walls, however, we want it above ground level as well. For casting your goal is to create some giant structure out of natural obsidian walls through the use of an extremely elaborate scaffold of lava and water pools and screw pumps. When you are finished, just deconstruct the scaffolding and smooth/engrave the statue as you go. Just imagine the bridge over that chasm, now complete with two giant dwarf statues on either side to strike fear into all who enter and show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.
**Bonus+: Make the statues spit blood.

===Castle===
Build a castle, greater than anything built by human, elf or dwarf. This is highly time
consuming if you want it to be a good castle. There must be floors indoors, and no underground
constructions except for mining operations and cellars. For an even greater challenge, build
a gigantic tower in the middle, where the nobles stay.

*Bonus: Make the entire castle out of iron.
*Bonus: Did I mention you get bonus points for building the middle tower on a support connected to a lever?
*Dwarf Bonus: Do all of the above, but build it all underground in the caverns layer.
*Highly Fun Bonus: Build it in the highly fun zone. Only use appropriate materials (eg, slade and candy).
**Megabonus: Add a moat made of magma
***Armok Bonus: Replace the moat with blood

===Ceremonial Sacrifices===
Build an amazingly complex or spectacular killing device. A shaft that extends across the entire Z-plane is a good start. A constantly shifting maze of atomsmasher drawbridges is another. For the minimalist, a very confined space where you will drop a dwarf wrestler along with the gobbos once in a while. Perhaps a waterslide that carries your prisoner all the way down into a chasm? Just cut their heart out? Whatever your idea, build it and dedicate your fort to the construction, maintenance and improvement of your device.

Do not kill any of your invaders. Capture them using cage traps, and them set them off in your device. Keep a record of the number of victims you drop into it.

BONUS: Create a statue garden to memorialize your victims, with one statue per victim. Structure your fortress such that sacrificial victims have to pass through the garden on the way to their demise.

===Computing===
Can your dwarves build the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism Antikythera mechanism]? Can you program the fortress to play tic-tac-toe? More details at [[computing]].

*!!IMPOSSIBLEDWARFYBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress''.
*!!IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLEDWARFYDWARFYBONUSBONUS!!: Program your fortress to run ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that new program to build a new computer to program a new game of ''Dwarf Fortress'' and use that game inside of a game inside of a game to program another game of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

===Colosseum===
Build a pit, around it on steps lots of Thrones, make the whole thing a meeting area, train Gladiators, capture goblins, leave them their weapons and let them fight against your gladiators. If they win, let them go.

*Bonus: Build different traps in the floors to further entertain your toga-toting dwarves
*GLADIATORBONUS: Have animal cages in the floor to be released if the gladiators perform poorly
*AQUABATTLEBONUS: Rig up pumps to fill the floor of the arena
**Maximus Decimus Meridius bonus: Strip your best military commander of his ranks, murder his family and force him to fight in the arena, eventually facing and kicking in the teeth of the ruler of the fortress.

===Crematory Fortress===
* Requires a [[magma| magma pipe]] and [[bauxite]].

Build a temple structure above a [[magma|magma pipe]] and [[engraving|engrave]] every available surface. The temple should be as opulent as possible. In the temple, build a retracting [[bridge]] over a hole in the floor, and designate a [[coffin]] [[stockpile]] on it. Whenever a dwarf dies, build a [[bauxite]] or other [[magma safe|magma-proof]] [[coffin]] for him, place it on the [[bridge]], and retract it, committing his body to the [[magma|fiery blood of the mountain]].

::Note: Since coffins are unassigned and emptied when deconstructed and cannot be constructed on top of a bridge, this will not actually work. An alternative would be to place the coffins in individual chambers which can then be flooded with magma afterwards.

::: You could expose the magma pipe, build a one-tile wide floor span across it, and then above that build a support that holds up your temple floor on the z-level above. The temple floor would be separated from the walls of the temple and would be connected for walking access diagonally. The support holds it up. You would have to construct the coffins in the temple, then when someone gets buried you pull the lever attached to the support. You then rebuild the narrow span below, the temple floor, and the support, then link the lever to the new support.
::: You can do this without scaffolding if you build the temple floor access straight in, and then the span below and the support, then once the support is in place you destroy the straight temple access leaving only a diagonal temple access.

::: Another method would be simply to make a hole in your temple that goes straight down to the magma, of at least 3X3 squares, then build a floor of 2 squares long and 1 wide from the upper middle edge of the hole so that the second square is only connected to the temple by the first, then build your coffin on the second square and once your dwarf is inside deconstruct the first square leaving nothing holding the square with your coffin up and it will fall into the magma. On a side note it is best to start from the upper edge of the hole so the dwarf doing the deconstructing is a lot less likely to fall into the magma.

::: Retracting bridges work well to provide access to build the support and floor, and can then be retracted before dropping the coffin. Use a single lever to retract the bridge, then begin filling a chamber with water to trigger a pressure plate to destroy the support, dropping the coffin, and also draining the water to encase the coffin in obsidian.

===City===
Live like a human!

Build all of your buildings above ground. to make this easier, mod in a plentiful building material similar to bricks, however you want it. Make sure that your city is unplanned for that medieval look; build when you need to as close as you can to where it needs to be. As each migration wave comes you're going to need more and more buildings. Protip; you're going to need a caste of dedicated builders.

* Extra points; Emulate your favourite city.
* Combo bonus; Build your city around some other megaproject; a pyramid or giant colosseum.
* ULTRADWARF; Start in a mountainous area and hollow out the above ground city from the projecting mountains, including all four sides, thus leveling the mountain range to leave a series of *surprisingly natural* looking streets.
* Build each building (or section of one) out of the same materials or...
** Bonus: Create pixel art from the colors of the stones!
** Bonus: Try to build all freestanding structures
* Geek Reference Bonus: Build the city on the side of a mountain, using only marble, and make it look like Minas Tirith.
* Modern bonus: Have dwarves ride in minecarts from their home burrow to work burrow and then back once they finish their work.
** Bonus: Design traffic lights system, complete with carts stopping, waiting till green "light" turns on and then continuing. Stop dwarves from jaywalking and getting themselves killed in the process.
** Computing bonus: Don't build a track for every single cart, reuse tracks with pressure plates coupled with bridges, hatches and floodgates and clever usage of minecart mechanics like derailing or even water skipping.
* Bonus: Paved streets.
** Greed bonus: Streets of gold (or other high-value metal)

===Doomsday Clock===
Build a water or mechanical clock whose final state triggers the support which holds your fortress up or a megabeast out.
See how much wealth you can achieve before the clock runs out.
*Bonus: Create something that resets itself, as well as purging the map, so that you can reuse the same fortress over and over.
*Super-Bonus: Create something that involves pressure plates and a small kitten, when the pressure plates are hit in the right order, your map ends. Toss the kitten in and hope for the best. Alternatively, make the sequence quite unlikely, but add 2 kittens; breeding introduces a probability of doomsday that is a function of time (depending on the mechanisms involved)
*!!OhMySchrödingerBonus!!: Create the super-bonus above, but place the kitten on the lowest Z-level and never return to either look at it or see how many of the conditions for the doomsday device have been met. This way, the kitty mimicks Schrödinger's cat: we cannot observe the state of the kitty, but we can infer it from the state of the world (spin-pairs effectively).

===Dungeons of Doom===

Beneath your fortress, carve out an immense dungeon starting from the surface. Each dungeon floor must be filled with rectangular rooms connected by twisting one-tile passages, with an occasional wider hallway, and each floor must lead to the next by a single-tile staircase (no up/down stairs). A few floors into the dungeon, build a small fortress and designate a few quarries away from the dungeon itself. The dungeon should not be exposed to the caverns, but the caverns should be exposed to the surface to free the fun creatures. The dungeon must go down until it reaches HFS. Dump an artifact amulet inside HFS. Build puzzles and thematic branches of the dungeon as you see fit.

* Bonus: Fill the dungeon with gnomes, goblins, kobolds, and horrible monsters of all kinds. Maybe a minotaur too if you are going for that labyrinth feel.
* Mega Bonus: Litter the floors of the dungeon with artifact items (especially weapons).
* Epic Bonus: Feed the minotaur stated beforehand migrants every year.
* Cosmic Bonus: Lead the dungeon into an upright candy cane and build a Labyrinth inside HFS.
* Nerd Bonus: Build the last few levels above your fortress, and fill one with lava, one with water, one entirely empty, etc., to mimic the "[https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/End_Game Endgame]" of NetHack. The uppermost one should have three temples, and if possible megabeasts that cannot escape but which an adventurer could reach...

===Dwarf like an Egyptian===
*Build a pyramid of epic proportions.

Build a legendary dwarven pyramid, with a corridor running to a central tomb for your favourite noble. Then construct lots of different [[trap]]s in it to avoid grave robbery. Perhaps build it entirely out of glass? Or try to make the top twist in a bit of a swirl. Alternatively, make your entire fortress inside a pyramid, which stretches below the ground.

*Build rows of Obelisks

* Build a double row of Obelisks before the Pyramid, and engrave the sides. Build ramps on the tops.

*Build the whole thing upside down.
** And then another one on the upside-down one.

* BONUS: Make a Sphinx out of solid gold. Solid! Nobody lives or goes inside of it. Entomb the builders in an [[unfortunate accident]] - preferably inside the sphinx - so that they can never build one for anybody else. Alternately, build a hollow Sphinx and house your nobles inside.

* When the time has come, or when your fortress is about to be destroyed by a siege or something, perform the ceremony to translate the mortal form of the noble to the underworld. Give him a ritual death, and make sure you kill his servants as well. Pile wealth into the tomb. If the tomb is built for your king make every dwarf die but one, who inters everyone into their resting place. His final act will be to pull a lever that seals the tomb as well as kills him. Then enjoy going back and reclaiming your fortress to observe your efforts.

*BONUS: Dwarf like a Sumerian and make the Pyramid a Ziggurat.

*JoJoBonus: Get a king in your fortress, then make him a vampire, nickname him <s>Dio Brando</s> DIO.

===Graveyard Master===
Every dwarf deserves a decent resting place:
*Build a tomb for every dwarf that dies (or, in the case of nobles, demands anything), the more dwarves you manage to bury the better.
*Tombs must be rooms with exactly 5x5 of size and 1 of height, with only one entrance tile that must be closed by a door.
*Tombs must have all its surfaces engraved.
*Tombs must contain at least 4 statues.
*Once complete, the door must be replaced with a wall and the tomb must not be ever entered again.

*Bonus: There must be only one male dwarf with burial labor enabled. Only his close male relatives can inherit the burial labor.
**Bonus: Ensure he is a [[vampire]], and that he is the last dwarf in your Fortress.
**Double Bonus: Ensure he is the last Dwarf in existence.
*Detail Bonus: Make the statues be of the deceased Dwarf and his or her accomplishments.
**Dwarf Bonus: Carve every tomb out of [[obsidian]].
**Extra Bonus: Make every coffin and every statue out of obsidian.
***Magma Bonus: Edit the raws and make them out of [[slade]].
*Knife Bonus: Make a mass tomb specially designed for [[elf|hippies]] that is suspended above the entrance to your fortress.
**Bonus: Fill it with hippies.
**Bonus: Carve the tomb out of water and magma.
**Bonus: Make the tomb be held in place by a single pillar so it can be dropped onto the hippies.
***Bonus: Have the tomb operate by pressure plates.
***Armok Bonus: Ensure the tomb automatically rebuilds itself once used.

===How high can you go?===
Construction, construction, construction! Just how big a tower can you build? Out of glass maybe, clear glass? Steel? Pump water to the top? Make your tower a ''pinnacle'' of achievement and stun humans, elves and goblins alike - for they know nothing of construction and engineering like dwarves do!

===Land battleship===
Turn your mountain into a huge battle-station, complete with crew quarters, decks, command centre, cantina, and a large collection of deadly weapons : Batteries of marksdwarves, ballista cannons, catapults, boarding bridges and teams, but also lava projector or remote explosive devices (i.e. cave-ins in a part of the map triggered by a lever). Make sure it ends up looking like a real battleship, with nothing but plains surrounding it (you could build it on an actual plain, or destroy a mountain, choice is yours). The battleship has to be autonomous, and dwarves shouldn't wander outside it.

*Bonus: The weaponry covers every tile of the map (i.e., everything that enters the map can be shot)
*Bonus: Build several other ships, maybe dedicated to a specific product (food, ammo etc.)
**Bonus: Find a way to let them fight each other in a naval battle
*Bonus: Each crew member has a civil and military formation, and when the enemy arrives, stop every economic activity. All hands to quarters!
*Bonus: Build Noahs Ark: Completely out of wood, with every animal twice, as well as one dwarven family with three sons on board. Flood everything around it and let everything not on the ark die. MUAHAHAHA!!! FEAR THE WRATH OF ARMOK!!
*Mega Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water.
*MEGA Bonus: Still use wood to make the ark.

===Labyrinth===
Build or dig out an elaborate labyrinth. It should be filled with traps, periodically flooded with water and magma, and decorated to your liking. Remember, no self-respecting labyrinth is complete without a [[minotaur]] or two roaming inside.

*Bonus: Build a prison and/or execution chamber somewhere inside the labyrinth.
*Bigger Bonus: Build all the labyrinth walls out of statues and make the entire thing a statue garden.
*Mega Bonus: Make it three-dimensional.

(A labyrinth is a [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/algrithm.htm unicursal maze]: labyrinths offer no choices of path as they curve in and back on themselves to the endpoint. Mazes usually have choices of paths and therefore usually dead ends. Given how pathing will usually let sapient beings in DF avoid dead ends, a labyrinth is preferable to a traditional maze with dead ends.)

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/daedalus/ Daedalus] has many maze algorithms and tools, including for unicursal mazes (GPL, free).
A [http://www.billsgames.com/mazegenerator/ traditional maze generator] may be helpful if you somehow open the dead ends (such as with drawbridges) to attract traffic.

===Magma Sea Colony===

If you cast obsidian around the edges of the magma sea, it is possible to pump out the magma and build a colony in the empty space. Once the colony is built, you can destroy the obsidian walls and refill the magma sea. Note: you cannot cast obsidian on the bottom layer of the magma sea, so building a colony on this layer is nearly, but not quite, impossible (see below).

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.

===Moria===
Build a huge hall - at least 3 z-levels high. Leave few pillars symmetrically placed in the hall (don't build them, carve them out). Smooth and possibly engrave everything (not only the lowest z-level!). Then build thin bridge (not the bridge building, just a thin piece of rock to walk on) above magma or above a chasm- support it with bauxite supports connected to a lever (bauxite mechanisms needed in support). Destroy stone holding it at the both ends and replace it with floor hatches (so when you pull the lever it all goes down). After that build a bridge above the chasm.
When it's all done seal your dwarves deep inside in safe place and get invaded by goblins. At the same time dig out HFS. Lead the HFS across the both bridges and then collapse the second one when one of the champions clashes with it (it doesn't matter that the champion has killed the HFS with one hit).

Bonus: cast the walls of the hall out of obsidian using water and magma

MegaBonus: Trap [[goblin]]s and a [[megabeast]] in the various lower levels

UltraMultiverseDwarfyBonus: Build the real [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930023823if_/http://www.rpg-ash.me.uk/LotRO/moria_special_edition/moria_map.jpg Moria]

===Mountain audit/core sample===
Start in a mountainous area and strip mine everything down, down, down to ground level. Stockpile everything, and calculate the mountain's composition. For kicks, try not excavating one tile on each z-level. You'll be left with one enormous core sample.

MegaBonus: Put the mountain back together.

Mr.CleanBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[soap]].

CandyFlossBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[Adamantine|candy floss]].

HeavyMetalBonus: Rebuild the mountain out of [[steel]].

===Project Mayhem===

*You do not talk about project Mayhem
*Build a series of towers, at least 10 z-levels high, of different size and shape. They must be supported by a series of supports linked to a lever.
*Store all your riches in the towers : crafts, precious metal bars, gems, artifacts, everything. You may also want to house your nobles on top of the towers.
*Pull the lever and watch the collapse of financial history.

Bonus: make the towers' walls out of glass!

Bonus: Make soap! And remember, elf fat is ideal...

Extra Bonus: Make one large tower, and make it collapse onto a smaller tower, filled with all your artifacts/engravings. (Essentially, you only get the extra bonus if you've read the book)

===Santa Claus===
Get ten thousand toys built and offered to caravans yearly. Optionally, build ten thousand toys, fetch them in adventure mode and deliver them to every single city of the world.

BONUS: Embark on a freezing biome.

BONUS: Make the toys out of lead.

BONUS: Not all Dwarf children are nice. Make and sell a similar amount of charcoal and/or coke for the naughty children.

SANTA BONUS: have a pump operator be trained legendary and nickname him "Santa Claus"

MEGABONUS: Modding Elves to be pets, embark with 100 of them and force them to make the toys for you.

MEGA PAIN BONUS: Make Santa Claus tame 100 gremlins and force those to make toys instead.

===Skull collector===
What proves the might of a civilization better than a hall full of skulls?
*Try to collect as many skulls as you can during your fortress life, and put them in a special skulls-only storage. The more skulls the better.

BONUS: Cover all the skulls in blood, and make the stockpile also a throne room. Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!

SUPERBONUS: Also fill the throne room with elves.

MAXIMUM BONUS: Mod the game so that you can butcher elves and have a butcher that does nothing but kill hippies all day to put their skulls in the skull shrine.

===Space Ship===
Create a giant space ship fit for space travel. It should be able to hold about 100 dwarves for at least 2 years.

*BONUS: Use exploding [[booze]] as ignitable fuel. (It doesn't actually explode. It just boils into a gas...)
*BONUS: Make a removable [[ramp]] for boarding.
*BONUS: Make the [[water]] for the 2 years be on the ship using removable pumps.
*BONUS: Bring an aquifer with you to get an infinite supply of water!
*BONUS+: Make it totally self-sufficient. (Make an internal system which pumps the [[water]] supply through a room every few years to muddy the floor. Plant [[seed]]s in the [[mud]] that's now on the floor. Manage your consumption to maintain self-sufficiency.)
*Modding BONUS: Mod the game so that merchants can fly their new wagonships into your docking bays. ''(If possible)''
*BONUS+: Make it all out of [[steel]] and [[aluminum]].
*[[fun|FUN]]: Let it be held by a single [[support]], ignite the [[booze]], remove the support an let it "fly".
*EVEN BETTER: <strike>Drop</strike> Fly it down a chasm.
*More [[fun|FUN]]: Set up a mining operation on the surface and dig into the HFS. Watch the alien creatures take over your ship and hunt down your dwarves. Form a squad of heroes to overload the booze reactor to prevent the aliens from reaching earth. (See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Space_%28video_game%29 Dead Space] and/or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29 the Alien series])
*BONUS: Drop the fully-operational ship with 4 dwarves into eerie pit. Do not engrave slabs. Instead, pretend that their ghosts are an unknown gravitational effect. Survive ~25 years and then feel free to turn off cave-ins and build a flying colony. And remember, only plump helmets survived the Blight

===Slums===
Take multiple goblin, kobold, animal men and other humanoid prisoners, dump them into a neglected and shut-off zone from the rest of the fort, and force them to live there.

*BONUS: Drop golden crafts into the room of the Goblin with the most kills.
*BONUS: Give the "gangs" (Kobolds, Goblins, etc.) their own uniforms and bases.
*BONUS: Carve out streets and tiny, fully-furnished chambers into rough rock or soil for the Slumfolk to call home.

===Statue of greatness===
Build a giant statue, spanning 10-20 z-levels and make it in the shape of say, a dwarf you like or an animal you like.
* Bonus: make it in the shape of a teapot that has a working boiling system and a spout that water can come out of.
* Bonus+: Steam instead of water coming out of the spout.
* Bonus++: Magma mist instead of steam coming out of the spout.
* Bonus+++: Hydra teapot containing all of the bonuses, and it also spews miasma.

===Surveillance Track===
[[Image:Surveillance track.png|thumb|right|300px|A site-wide surveillance track]]
Build an elevated [[minecart]] track around the edges of the map, and send out civilians riding minecarts to spot ambushers and distract enemy archers.

* Bonus: Use minecart jumps to physically isolate the track from your fortress.
* Bonus: Give your minecart riders crossbows to harry enemies.
* Bonus: Make the track in a way that enemies pathfind their way directly in front of the minecart.

===Swiss Precision===
Build a working clock. The clock should accurately track DF days, months, and years.

Bonus Points:
*If the clock has a mechanical effect in the fortress proper to announce new days
*If the clock creates seasonally appropriate effects at the change of months and/or seasons.
*If the clock is used to aid in the operation of the fortress in addition to its role as a clock (automatically controls farmland irrigation at particular times, automatically opens the <s>pod bay doors</s> <s>blast doors</s> <s>floodgates</s> <s>Magma Channels</s> Gate in time for those <s>evil</s> friendly merchants, etc...).
*If the clock governs the schedule of a working rail station (which is always on time). (Definitions of 'working' and 'rail station' are subject to player imagination).
*If the clock takes measures to protect itself. ''"I can't let you do that, Urist."''

But don't worry about the bonus points, a precision time device should be hard enough.

===Temple===
Designing a temple to Armok. Aesthetics count - the god will be very angry if there are no stained-glass windows and domed ceilings carved with frescoes. To gain more favor, make regular sacrifices and make fountains and rivers that run red with [[blood]].

*Bonus: Make the glass windows stained with blood.
*Bonus: Spill blood everywhere.
*AztecBonus: Make it so it's a stepped pyramid. Perform sacrifice with your [[Military|priests]] on top of the statue, preferably with [[obsidian]] short swords.
*WarhammerBonus: Also fill your temple with skulls. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD ! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !
*MagmaBonus: Decorate the temple with molten magma. Also good for sacrifices.
*Bonus: Made it out of cast obsidian and engrave everything. Cast obsidian only !
*Bonus: Add [[menacing spike]]s.
**BrutalBonus: Impale elf, goblin, and kobold corpses on the spikes.
*SuperBonus: Make it out of <s>soap</s> <s>iron</s> steel ! (At least partially since you can't engrave steel)
*SuperBonus: Make it needlessly complicated. Use lots of power and mechanisms. Magma waterfalls powered by dwarven water reactors. Fill it with devious traps and use mechanisms, levers, and power galore.
*SuperMagmaBonus: All of the above, but make it inside a volcano.
*TrueBelieverBonus: Same, but make it inside the [[magma sea]].
*ArmokFanaticBonus: Same, but make it inside [[HFS]]. Sacrifice it's denizens for Armok! Alternatively, make it inside an adamantine spire and enjoy your engraved, all-natural raw adamantine walls.

===The cube===
Play a fort as usual, but emphasize catching goblins in cages to support and fill this construction:
Construct a series of rooms in a symmetrical fashion, all connected to each other with appropriate doors. Of course, enough rooms to make a maze-like structure, and if you feel like it, an exit that is hard to reach. Fill a bunch of the rooms with traps and pressure plates. Then fill one room with 4-6 goblins (preferably in cages, opened by an outside lever), release them and watch them randomly walk around the rooms dying to traps and whatnots.

*Bonus: Do multiple storey maze (3D-maze)
*Bonus: Use pressure plates to open/close the exit randomly; otherwise, all the goblins will just follow the shortest route to the exit.
*Bonus: Use multiple doors connected to multiple pressure plates in order to access certain rooms, so the goblins have to go through the maze in the correct order.
*Bonus: Figure out a way to have competing teams wandering through the maze at the same time. Can you say "elimination round?"

===The great brewery===
Disaster has struck the kingdom. A strangely glowing [[Fire|‼peasant‼]] visited the greatest brewery of the empire, and as a result the whole thing exploded. No time for weeping — create its successor, a fort dedicated to alcohol production, and get the alcohol supplies flowing! Try to make the widest variety possible, and give or trade it to the dwarven [[caravan]] each year.
* BONUS: Create a working sprinkler system to douse any fires that might occur.
* BONUS+: Still use alcohol

===The Great Wall of Urist===
Build a dwarven great wall of china that splits the map in half. Must be at least 10 tiles thick and reach the highest z-level.
* BONUS: Make it block the <s>Mongols</s> goblins out of your half of the map.
* BONUS: Make it out of obsidian.
**BONUS+: Embark on a map without obsidian.
* BONUS: Find a way to make it touch the boundaries.
* BONUS: Build one gate
* BONUS: Arm it with ballistas.
** MEGABONUS: Once you have split your embark in half, abandon the fortress and embark adjacent to it, and continue the wall until it splits the continent in half.
Someone should make a bonus for this but I'd like to point out that the actual wall was made from (compressed) dirt with on outer layer of stone and that the bodies of those who died from exhaustion while building it, were put into it.
** BONUS+: Encase all workers who died during building in caskets built into the wall. Possibly with traps to protect them from grave robbers
I'd like to point out that it is just a myth that the bodies were put into the wall. In reality, they were buried nearby.
** BONUS++: Encase all workers who died during construction into obsidian nearby the wall.
** BONUS+++: Fill the obsidian case with magma and place in the wall.
I'd like to point out that Armok does not discriminate.
** BONUS++++: Put all corpses that die during the construction period into the wall. Pets, invaders, wildlife. *EVERY* corpse.
** MERCILESS ARMOK BONUS:As above, but make sure it goes through a reanimating biome.

===The Monolith===
As the inevitability of a fortress-wide mental breakdown looms over every single fortress why not have something that alludes to that precipice of [[insanity]]. Like the book and feature film, 2001: A Space Odyssey you must have a Monolith. This has to be made from [[obsidian]] and have a completely smooth surface (You cannot build it from blocks) You can have it be any size as long as it is outside, at least 2 tiles thick to ensure there are no pillar tiles, and has about the same ratio of width to height as it does in the movie (1:4:9) to make it as close to the real thing as possible. It would be preferable to make it large so that it seems to be dominating the landscape and your dwarves' psyche. The bigger the better.

*If the rock obsidian strata isn't deep enough in parts to make a monolith feasible consider casting a monolith with a large rectangular block in exactly the same dimensional criteria as above.

===This Was A Triumph===
Build Aperture Laboratories, with marble test chambers supported by struts and columns of granite.
Lab should have (Connected through paths)-
1) Multiple test chambers, with observation booths and connecting staircases/elevators.
2) An end goal, with an incinerator.
3) Background systems, with catwalks and large areas of waste management.
4) An AI Control Chamber.
5) A cake chamber

*BONUS*- Make an entire model of the original Portal chambers
*BONUS*- Make a sealed off area, the original testing area in Portal 2 (Include a statue of a Noble named Cave Johnson)
*BONUS*- An extended map, including the Subject Suspended-Animation life support system
*BONUS*- Make a field on top with access, a single small shed
*BONUS+*- Build a 20:1 model of the Companion Cube

===Underwater fortress===
Encase your entire fortress in [[water]]! Your fortress should be watersealed: surrounded by water against all [[wall]]s and the top of the fortress.
* Bonus: Build all water-touching walls/roof in clear glass!
* Bonus: Use [[magma]] instead of water (warning: will almost certainly lead to [[fun]])!
* Bonus: Build it in the [[ocean]] or a non-freezing lake
**Bonus: Build it in the magma sea
**Bonus: Build it in a volcano
* Bonus: Build large glass domes that encase the fortress. A dome 20 tiles wide should be 10 z-levels tall (creating a hemi-sphere). Which may be hard to cover in water.
* Bonus: Have a mechanism for dropping your enemies into the water to drown! Or fill the water with carp.
**Superbonus: Don't use pansy walls, use pumps to keep the water out!
* Mod: Make your dwarves amphibious and include airlocks between the wet fortress and the dry.
* Remake: Make Rapture city from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioshock Bioshock]
** Remake Bonus: Mod in plasmids to give dwarves superpowers, but will eventually drive them mad!
*** Remake MegaBonus: Big Daddies for military, anyone?
**** Remake MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the save raws and name the mayor "Andrew Ryan".

===Flying fortress===
Turn cave-ins off in the init, then build a flying fortress. Perhaps some flying islands only connected with bridges, maybe combined with an orbital defense network.
* Bonus: Turn cave-ins back on.
* History Bonus: Try and make them look like B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from WWII.
* Remake: Make Columbia from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock_Infinite Bioshock Infinite]
* Bonus+: Make Laputa: Heavily forested floating castle with a giant Adamantine gem at its center (the source of its power)
* Bonus++: Include the Thunder of Laputa: A fiery laser beam capable of great destruction to the lands below.

===Wealth===
The kingdom's coffers need lining, so hop to! Found a fort and start accumulating wealth as fast as possible. Attain as high a fortress value as possible, and make most of your wealth into coins for the vault. Try to beat your record for one year, two years, or five years.

BONUS Create capitalism in your fortress!

===We Are Dorf===

Embark site biome parameters: Mountain. Fortress shape: Cubicle (assume 7 tiles high), cut from natural rock and separated from the remaining stone so it is held by a single support. Migrant dwarves must report to assimilation chamber where a collapsing dust trap will launch them into large serrated disk [[trap component|traps]] to remove unnecessary appendages, or have their offending limbs removed some other way. Dorf drones must be cataloged and arranged in squads of varying number. The naming structure is as follows: First of Ten, Second of Ten, and so on. Clothing is irrelevant.

There is no trade, or unmerited contact with lesser species, they will be assimilated. Nobles are irrelevant. Economy is irrelevant. Solitary creatures that do not pose a notable threat to the Collective are not to be bothered with when there is important work to do. Corpses are to be vaporized or atom-smashed along with all [[noble|other useless material]]. Cage traps should be common.

We are the Dorf. Lower your shields and surrender your booze. We will add your biological and technological reaction mats to our stockpiles. Resistance is canceled: Dangerous Terrain. You are caught in a pool of magma! You are melting! x18

===World Domination===
Pretend you are an evil mastermind. Now come up with some device or machine to render the world (or at least your portion of the map) totally unlivable, aside from, of course, your hidden lair.

You will receive bonus points for making a more realistic World Domination setup. Some suggestions:

* Make one dwarf the evil mastermind. The evil mastermind will have no empathy whatsoever, and they will hate all other races, and put no value on the lives of his minions. Protect him at all cost. If he should die, switch his position to his oldest child (who will avenge his father, because insanity is hereditary.) or the most insane, diabolical dwarf in your fort or make a noble the evil mastermind. (everyone knows nobles are pure evil)
* Impractical, overkill solutions to everyday problems ("Sir, the dungeon master wants a better room" "Well then turn his room into a tomb and flood it with magma, and do not bother me with such trivial matters again or I will have you shot.")
* Give the evil mastermind a pet to obsess over. Give it a name like Mr. Bigglesworth or Snuggles. Even better if it's something really dangerous like a Giant Desert Scorpion.
**BONUS: With modding, make the evil mastermind's pet a [[Demon|clown]], [[megabeast]], [[forgotten beast]], or [[titan]].
***Bonus: Use modding to create a pet creature for the mastermind with the "opposed to life" tag.
* Have a science lab. Use living creatures and people as test subjects.

Doomsday device suggestions:
* Flood the map with water/magma (may require building walls around the edge of the map)
**BONUS: the water has carp in it.
***BONUSMOD: Carp with ''frickin' laser beams'' attached to their heads.
***BONUSMOD2.0: Give the carp the ability to spawn undead dragons for every limb they tear off a dwarf.
* Build an "Earthquake Machine" (the entire map is supported by a single support, which is connected to a lever)
* Build an extensive holding cell network for "scientific purposes". Fill it with megabeasts and <s>elephants</s> <s>unicorns,</s> skeletal carp in secret. Have a lever that lets everything free to feed on the general population.
* Embark in an evil area, and capture and tame all those undead animals if possible to create your own undead army
* Bonus: Eliminate the dwarves who constructed your device before you set it off. They must not be allowed to warn the rest of the citizens.
* Build an orbital weapons platform in space (which should be 12-15 stories above the ground, use your imagination), then arm it with magma bombs (droppable tank of magma) to glass the planet, rendering it uninhabitable for a few years.
* Build a door (or hatch) in every space of your fortress. Have all the doors set to lock at the flip of a switch. Have the switch kill the person who pulls it. Give the nobility their toy.
* Build [[User:Vattic/Mechanical Volcano Explained|Mechanical Volcano]] to flood entire map with searing magma.
*do all of the above and link all the devices to one lever in the room of the king/queen


=== The Grand Treasury ===
At first, have the king come to you. Then excavate a laaarge room and fill it with i.e.: Lots of coins, shiny gems, artifacts, golden statues, silver mugs, etc. pp. But the king is still not satisfied with his possessions, so he wants more and more shiny and sparky things.
Of course sooner or later (probably sooner) those filthy kobolds and goblins will come and try to steal this enormous hoard. We must never tolerate this! Turn your treasury into a strongroom like the world has never seen before! Secret doors, traps in abundance, guards at every door, ballistae, guard dogs, the whole program. If anything gets lost, you have proven your incompetence, and the king will have your fortress abandoned and founded another to guard his treasures.

*Bonus: Build up the treasury and raid it successfully in Adventure Mode

=== Heaven ===
Build a dwarven version of heaven. Every dwarf must want to come to you! Important pieces:
# Streets paved with gold.
# The mindless hordes are held back by pearly gates -- or at least a close equivalent. Marble doors with diamond encrustations.
# No dwarves die (except for criminals). Heaven is everlasting.
# All criminals must be cast into the fires of Hell. Ideally, this would either be HFS or the bottom of a magma pipe. Or both.
# Nothing is ever stolen. St. Peter doesn't screw up.
# After the King has arrived, any male children he has must be sent out to fight sieges alone.

BONUS: No dwarves are ever unhappy -- no tantrums and no insanity. 
BONUS: When migrants arrive at the pearly gates, view their thoughts and preferences and only allow those with a similar/same Deity as your population. 
BONUS: Make Heaven 10 stories above the ground 
Mod: Make Angel dwarves and a godly being. (suggestions: Cacame, Morul, Ironblood.) 
ULTRABONUS: Make Heaven in the air, an earthly society on the ground (a wooden town perhaps?), and carve the HFS place into Hell, complete with a lake of Magma/fire. Look up the character of every dwarf and send him to the appropriate place. 
MEGABONUS-(Re)Make: The Seven Seals have been broken and the Apocalypse arrives.
# The Sky darkens (an obsidian ceiling spanning over the map).
# Meteors (opened lava tanks and cave-ins) devastate the earth.
# All bodies of water turn bloody.
# Dig into the HFS and have a battle between Heaven and Hell.
# Sorry for any spoilers 

=== City of Ember ===
Show those filthy humans that when dwarves build a secret underground refuge, they build to last! In other words, recreate Ember from the film "City of Ember" (yes, everyone is aware there is a book, that came first, and was part of a series), but do it right - none of these leaking pipes and crumbling buildings stuff, after only two and a half centuries underground!
# Mine out a massive cavern multiple z-layers high, and build a human-style city underneath it instead of carving out various chambers.
# You must seal it off. How long you wait to do this is up to you, but once it is sealed, you cannot unseal it for at least 200 years (if you decide to play that long). Ideally, use a utility to embark with a full set of dwarves (to represent the immigrating population) and seal the city off within one year of embarking.
# Build individual houses with their own dining rooms and bedrooms. Multiple dwarves can live in one house, but usually only a single family will live in one house.
# Build streets connecting all of the buildings, in the way that in the film, Ember didn't really have any space that wasn't either paved or built on until you got to the outskirts of the city.
# Have a "greenhouse" out on the outskirts for farming.
# You MUST have an underground river and use it for power.
# You MUST have magma and use it for power.
# Build City Hall, where the mayor has his office, with a nice fountain out front that actually works (probably involving water pressure, and as a testament to the fact that dwarves do it better, and their underground refuge isn't running desperately short of food, water, or power).
# No military, because there is simply no need for one, but have a fortress guard (to function as police, basically).
# After 200 or more years, unseal the city and colonize the surface.

BONUS: Instead of building your houses/other structures out of blocks or rocks, plan it all out beforehand and simply don't dig out the tiles that you want to be the walls of buildings, and smooth it all down so it looks the same, but your buildings are actually made out of solid natural rock. 
BONUS: Actually cause some kind of catastrophe on the surface (flood it with magma or something) that makes it uninhabitable, to FORCE yourself to stay underground, but when you unseal the city after 200 years, the surface should have healed and be habitable again. So, don't do something permanent.

===The quake===

# Make your entire fortress supported by one support.
# on year 5, remove the support so your entire fortress drops one level.
# Tell us the death rate.
# double the height of the support every year, see how much is too much of a drop!

===Pull A Boatmurdered===

What's this? Too many goblins? Not enough fun? You may be needing excess amounts of lava!

# Flood the entire map with water or lava
# Maybe both and have an obsidian farm in the center
# Pump all lava resources to the surface and watch it burn!

Most famously employed in [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].

===Hippie Exterminator===

Much like trees, better water those elves.

# It's a gigantic drowning chamber for [[Elf|Elves]].
# Construct a very long wall all the way around a [[forest retreat]]
# Build a floor on top, sealing them in
# Connect some screw pumps to this and the local water supply
# Really processor intensive! Not for calculators!

# At nothing else, at least build the box around your Trade Depot, and flood it when Elves are inside.
# Drainage can be done with a [[floodgate]] to release the water from the depot.

===Dwarven Arcology===

# Build your entire fortress above ground in one structure.
# A subterranean level (the basement) on the bottom floor provides plump helmets, pig tails, and so on.
# On the ground floor, grow above-ground plants and carve fortifications into all the walls.
# Every other level is packed with food stores, refuse dumps, wood stockpiles, workshops, archery ranges, and bedrooms.
# The only subterranean activity permitted is digging, although you may be able to get away with building your depot below ground.
Bonus: Cast the entire thing in Obsidian using magma and water and engrave all the sides with your greatness.

===D For Dwarvendetta===

# Create the Parliament building or some such construction
# Rig it to explode or collapse spewing lava everywhere
# Detonate the fortress while you play the 1812 Overture somewhere
Bonus: make an underground [[minecart]] track that detonates it.
Bonus: make a metal statue at the top which gets exploded.

MegaBonus: send burning [[graphite]] or [[lignite]] flying into the (strangely always daytime) sky.

CosmicBonus: Have an important Dwarf in a coffin play a role in detonating it.

===The Two Towers===

#Build a ring of stone [may be slightly difficult] and build a tower with four blades protruding from the top
#Build a (much larger) tower with only two blades protruding from the top
#Have the two towers combat each other ''without'' siege weapons

Bonus:
#Rig the first one to flood and the second to explode! (and you only get the points if you've seen the movies and record the videos. Try to make the towers' destruction as close to the movies as you can!)

===Twin maze of doom!===

-Make a complicated maze pair where pressure plates on any floor will trigger the rapid death of everything one floor before that in the OTHER maze.

-Check what survives the ratrace longer: goblins or elves? Kittens or dogs?

-BONUS: make it self-cleaning so it can be reused over and over!

-Double bonus: make it flood the map with lava if anything ever reaches the end of their maze, meaning their victory is for all time - as well as the last thing the world will ever see before the end.

===The doomsday temple of greed===

1- Prepare a game with the poorest-skill starting dwarves and nothing on embark.

2- Edit files to add a little castle with 10 switches, some of which open up to desirable stuff, or a mild trap. Have the lineup fairly obvious, so people know which prize/trap pair they're going for.

3- After learning the principle and getting say a starting pick, 100 wood, 10 obsidian, 10 slade, freeing an angry elephant, an artifact crossbow, alcohol for 10 years, freeing a carp guarding the exit (simple enough puzzle, dig yourself another exit), getting an anvil and 7 bronze armor sets, and avoiding the one trap/prize which has a dragon... let them look up the stairs to the next bit on the next floor...

4- THIS floor has mild traps/good prizes again, but one of them frees 7 goblins AS WELL AS trigger an unannounced very distant magma-flooding system of immense power and speed (they think the goblins are all there is to the trap, mwa ha ha). Make sure the slope means the greedy player will get what's coming at him fully...

5- Share this fun map without announcing what's on it. Surprise!!!

===To the Bottom and Beyond===
''"There is one tale that tells about [[HFS|a place]] that only few have seen, and even fewer have returned from... A place beyond the grasp of our hands, beyond the reach of our picks... A place composed of stone that has been there since the beginning, and will remain there after our demise... [[slade|A stone]] unmoved by the swing of our picks, material that only [[noble|fools]] would demand... Yet we managed to [[engraving|scratch its surface]], and now we plan to cast an entire history of our kin onto it, an artwork that no magma will melt, no beasts nor men will ever be able to destroy. A true dwarf would want to go for it. And you surely do."''

* Bonus: Also engrave walls of [[eerie glowing pit|the pits]].
* LegendaryBonus: Use only legendary engravers.
* [[Masterwork|☼]]LEGENDARY BONUS[[Masterwork|☼]]: Make sure every engraving has masterwork quality.

===The Cathedral===

Make an epically tall cathedral out of obsidian. Encrust it with gems, make multiple spires. Build giant stained-glass windows and make rows of chairs for pews. In niches high in the walls, place masterpiece or better statues, also encrusted and engraved. Underneath, make noble tomb catacombs.
BONUS: Build it near a human/dwarf town. Kill heretics.
MEGABONUS:Build a chalice that you fill with the corpses of heretics, and then use water to drain the blood out, and cast obsidian out of said bloody water.

BONUS: Make several cathedrals, one to each in-game god. Once built, assign worshippers of a god to a burrow encompassing that god's cathedral. Build walls around each cathedral and let them fend for themselves.

===Railroad===

Minecarts have finally been added! Use them to transport dwarves and goods around the fortress!
BONUS: Build several mini-fortresses, each devoted to a different industry or other purpose (e.g., trade, mining, living quarters, etc.). Only minecarts can be used to travel between these mini-forts. Essentially make dwarven Panem!
* BONUS: have the smaller forts rebel causing the main fort to be overthrown!
* MEGABONUS: build arenas where two dwarves from each mini-fort go to fight to the death!

===Vampire King===

Dedicate your entire game to finding and glorifying a Vampire citizen as the 'government appointed' King of your fortress. Who cares about Nobles? Who cares about a king? (unless he's a vampire) They all die off anyway from, unfortunate accidents. Your Eternal King will need only the best for his eternal throne. Dedicate grand rooms and buildings in his/her name. Make statues out of solid obsidian, encasing the corpses of his enemies for all time. Do everything in your power to protect and serve your eternal master.

*BONUS: Assign a personal guard to your Vampire King.
**ZOMBIEBONUS: Use undead dragons.
*BONUS: Have a Hierarchy of Kings/Queens from your Vampire's family (If they are present)
**BONUS: Make separate 'forts' for your various Royal Vampire Monarchs.
*BONUS: Wait for the king to arrive at your fortress and make him/her into a Vampire!

===I've a feeling we're not in Boatmurdered anymore.===

Create a road of gold bars leading from a small village of [[mountain gnome|mountain gnomes]], to a large city of [[green glass]] (or mod the game to allow using [[emerald|emeralds]] as building materials.) Have a patrol along the road consisting of a female child (human if you can manage it somehow) wearing [[ruby]]-encrusted shoes, a [[dog|puppy]], an [[iron man]], a [[titan]] made of grass or wheat, and a [[lion]].

Capture a female [[necromancer]], install her in a dark-colored fortress, and give her the corpses of [[spider monkey man|spider monkey men]] to resurrect. If you like, mod them to be able to fly.

=== Bridge the world! ===
Bridge two or more islands, or an island to a mainland.
* Bonus: Channel magma and make it partially or completely out of obsidian.
* You will receive more bonuses the bigger and the more embarks your require to finish it (i.e. bridge a sea, bridge an ocean).
* Bonus: Enter in adventure mode, cross water without needing to swim (jump at worst). Marvel at your ingenuity.
** Thoroughness bonus: complete it yourself in adventure mode if it isn't already. Make it out of bodies and bones if you have to.
* Resistance bonus: Make (obsidian?) pillars every 40 or so tiles so that you (or some other player) can enter in any embark, with cave-ins on, and even dig through the pillar to the ocean floor, making an under-the-sea fortress there (or just exploiting the natural cave system).

=== Traveling Circus ===
Travel across the world, building megaprojects like pyramids or bridges.

'''Difficulty''': The larger the world, the higher.

'''Usefulness''': ''None at all''.
* Bonus: travel around and actually release [[HFS|the circus]] on every embark. Needless to say, this is the most [[fun]] option. You may consider making sure the clowns get their share of fun, if you want your circus to happen more than once...

=== Make family tree for characters ===

Go to a free family tree generator and add as many characters as you want/can ([http://myheritage.com/ this] website is a good choice). Not even Legends Viewer will be able to compete with the sheer awesomeness of having the list of your dwarves' relatives (and kills) right up to year one.
* Bonus: Do it for all the dwarves you had on embark, enemies you killed and such.
** SuperResilientBonus: Do it in a world that's been played for over 100 years.
* Masochism bonus: give figurative trees to those tree-huggers and make a tree for nigh-immortal (and who mate like <s>bunnies</s> [[unicorn]]s) elves.
* Memory bonus: add fun facts about the characters that can't be found in legends, like exactly ''how'' that legendary hammerdwarf lost their [BODYPART] in that famous siege where they're held as a hero, or how they were slacking in the hospital for the rest of their lives after only being mauled by a megabeast. Or 10.
* Unintentional bonuses:
** Marvel at the error messages, like "Urist McValueDissonance married a little too young", "Urist McNotEvenImmortalVampireOrWerewolf is declared still alive, assumed to be 1000+ years old" or "You just told me Urist McGranny gave birth at the ripe age of 150. Are you sure you're not high?"
** Make their profiles unprivate so they can be found on Google.
* Detail bonus: if you had your game save on seasonal, go to all the now-dead-critters and add the description for each.
* Artifact bonus: somehow get a hold of a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=89305.0 legendary <s>dwarf</s>] character's savegame, and show us who their ancestors were.
* Mission Impossible Bonus: Do it for as many characters in a "very long history" world.

===Dwarven Tower Defense===
Make a maze (the longer the better) such that any siege that should be laid to your fortress will have to go through it. Add towers that fire upon or unleash your armies as they pass.
Towers can include:
*Marksdwarf tower
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Doberman_Bomb|Doberman bomb]]
**Point Multiplier: Automate it with pressure plates
*Fire Turret: Trap [[magma crab|magma crabs]] and [[fire imp|fire imps]] in magma safe cage traps from the magma sea and make a tower.
*[[Trap|Dwarven Traps]]
*[[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick|VERY Dwarven Traps]]
*Your most [[noble|Skilled Fighters]]
Go to war with everyone (no treaties) and leave the Dwarves open. This means no lock in, no bridge seal, no impossible death. If they get through, you lose.
Remember the scoring on this too:
*Average Wave: Elves
*Normal Wave: Goblins
*Harder Wave: Humans
**(You can kill humans because humans aren't people. Only dwarves are people.)
*Boss Wave: [[Forgotten_beast|Cellar Dwellers]] and [[Titan|Nomadic Threats]]
*Final Wave: [[HFS|The Clowns]]

*Dwarfbuck BONUS: Assign a Dwarfbuck value to each enemy, i.e. when you defeat x you get y number of dwarfbucks. Assign a DB value to towers, i.e. how much it costs to build them. Example: Fire Tower=100 DBs, Goblin=5 DBs. Keep track of all DBs earned and spent, and only build a tower if you have the required dwarfbucks.

===Multi-purpose defense tower===
Build one big tower that fulfills multiple defensive purposes.
Here are some ideas:
*Ballista on the first floor
*Marksdwarves on the second floor
*Jail on the third floors and up.

===Dwarven Waterslide===
Make a large, circular tower, with water running down paths along the inside of the tower. Make the water fall through grates or bars so the dwarf can get out. Allow the dwarf to go into the water at the top using a retracting bridge.
Also fairely useful, as it both cleans your dwarves and has all the benefits of a downwards-only [[DF2012:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Watervator|Watervator]]. It is less practical in its functioning than a Watervator, however, but it can be made to generate mist.
* Plumbing Accident Bonus: Make a system to allow the slide to flood in a way that moves the dwarves to the top of the tower.
** Usefulnessbonus: Create a simple system (not using more than one waterslide) that allows you to determine at which floor the dwarves exit, making it as useful as a Watervator.

===The Night's Watch===
Become Brandon the Builder and recreate his most famous work - Construct a wall that spans the entirety of the width of a continent - made entirely of solid ice, while in an arctic climate. The wall has to reach the very topmost of the map minus a few z-levels, for catapults and siege equipment and whatnot if you're doing the bonus challenges, while being 10 blocks thick. Make sure you put a tunnel underneath with a 4 inches cold-rolled steel drawbridge.
* Fortress Bonus: Create nineteen forts along the wall and name each of them exactly like their Westeros counterpart.
* Westeros Bonus: Build it in a continent with an arctic north, building the wall between the two climates
** Wildlings Bonus: Have all the evil civilizations and the necromancer towers on the northern side of the wall, and actually protect the continent from invasions from the north.
**Others Bonus: Zombies or other undead can only be killed with obsidian short swords or fire.
* Defensive Measures Bonus: Create a full-blown patrol schedule for your rangers, and line the top of the wall with siege engines, stone traps to drop on invaders, etc.
** Ranging Bonus: Have dwarves occasionally leave the fortress on rangings - put them on the edge of the map or something, and give them a month or two to come back.
** Scythe Bonus: Build a death scythe that kill enemy climbers.
* Night's Watch Bonus: Have all the dwarves be trained in some military skill with at least novice.
** Roles Bonus: Have each dwarf assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to their counterparts in the Night's Watch - the expedition leader/mayor would be Lord Commander, Military Commander as First Ranger, and if using the squad naming system for the classes - First Steward and First Builder, and Medical Dwarf - Maester etc etc.
* Watch out for the fall Bonus: Climb the wall. (If it is possible to climb ice)
* EPIC GOT BONUS: Recreate the events of the TV show. Abandon all the forts but 3 - and have a dwarf migrant named Jon Snow arrive.

=== Urist Transcontinental ===
Use dfhack with advfort to build a worldwide railroad.
Use disposable/retired 16x1 embarks to make the game remember what you've done, and to provide raw materials.

Put stations at every friendly settlement.
A basic station consists of something that forces incoming carts to stop, and some space between the stop and the next track.
Travellers will have to walk to the next track at each stop.
A station should have a stockpile of minecarts ready for travelers.

Above-ground rails are nicer (you get to see the sights as you travel).
Below-ground rails are easier to build (you can mine instead of using blocks).
Either variant can be powered by impulse ramps or rollers.
Rollers can be powered by either windmills or water reactors, or, if you're close to a river, ordinary water wheels.
To allow bidirectional travel, you can build two rails per link.
* WILD WEST BONUS: Also build tracks to unfriendly settlements.

=== None Shall Pass ===
Build walls around the entire map, so that all arriving creatures must stay on the map edge until you decide to let them in.
* Wall off the normal caverns, including underwater, floor to ceiling.
* Wall off that [[Hell|special cavern]] below the magma sea.
* Wall off the sky, from the surface to the highest z-level.
* Wall off the magma sea itself.

=== Glorious Revolution ===
Make your dwarves live in horrific squalor to the point where it intentionally causes a tantrum spiral, while treating any nobles you may have. Attempt to lay the fortress out in a way that kills all nobles in the spiral while minimizing other casualties. When the nobles are gone, instill communism.

*EXPORTING THE REVOLUTION BONUS!!: Conquer and <s>occupy</s> liberate 10 neighboring settlements to spread the great idea of communism!

=== Metal Gear Urist ===
Mine out enough metal to construct Metal Gear Urist out of metal walls. Make it resemble Metal Gear from Armok Vision.
* BONUS: Add a cockpit with a throne to sit in.
* DETERRENT BONUS: Make it big enough to install a catapult on its shoulder.
* SOLID BONUS: Have the fortress be in an arctic biome, and infiltrate it in Adventure Mode after you finish building it.
** REVOLVER BONUS: Have an ocelot man with a crossbow somewhere inside the fortress while you infiltrate.
** LIQUID BONUS: Edit in a snake megabeast made of water to defend the Metal Gear during the infiltration.
** GRAY BONUS: Infiltrate the fortress with a fox man ally.
{{Category|Design}}

=== Dwarf University ===
Build a center for learning! Your expedition leader is the dean of your new university and is expecting prospective students to arrive in the next season. Libraries are a must as well as classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms! Have your scholars write educational works to disseminate information among your dwarves and buy those (overpriced) textbooks from trade caravans.
* BONUS: Have a scholar become a master to multiple students in your fort. Rename the master's profession as "Professor".
* FULL CURRICULUM BONUS: Have multiple "Professors" specialize in particular fields of study such as math, astronomy, history, etc.
* STUDENT PROTEST BONUS: Have your unhappy university staff and students <s>tantrum</s> protest peacefully over issues such as textbook prices, bad cafeteria food, or terrible dorm conditions. Deal with it accordingly.
* REALISM BONUS: Base the campus on a real world university.

=== Automated Kill Grid ===
No threat is so dire it should distract from your dwarven parties. Build a network of orbital defenses over your fortress capable of dropping deadly bombs on anything that enters the map, on command. For instance, hundreds of floating islands, connected to a lever, with pressure plates underneath.
* BONUS: automated water and lava pumps automatically refill your supply of orbital obsidian "ammunition"
* FRAMERATE BONUS: your skygrid uses perpetual motion pumps to drop an infinite supply of lava on anything that passes beneath it

=== Fortress of Hardened Dwarven Adventurers ===

Have a fortress made purely of YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MODE dwarf adventurers with legendary [[skill]] in all military stuff.

BONUS: Have 1000 of them.

MEGABONUS: Have over 9000 of them!

BONUS: They all started as peasants when creating new characters.

BONUS: None of them ever had any companions or teams.

It feels like conscription. How amazing that every citizen knows self-defense techniques! If only real life humans did so.

=== Dwarven Greenhouse ===

Carve out a small lake in a hot climate, build a giant clear glass structure surrounding it, and pump in water from the aquifer.

BONUS: Embark somewhere without an aquifer. Figure it out.

MEGABONUS: Pump in lava from the magma layer.

Stupid dwarf trick

2024-07-24T10:14:30Z

PLMMJ: /* Execution tower */ Reworded some stuff to avoid referring to hell.

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}

{{D for Dwarf}}

A '''stupid dwarf trick''' is any project that requires a large amount of time and/or effort. They may provide a practical benefit, but are frequently done for the sake of doing them; they exist primarily as a [[challenge]] for experienced players.

==Adventure mode fortress==


Build a fortress specifically for exploring in [[adventure mode]]. You can either make a nasty monster-filled challenge, or a smörgåsbord of masterpiece adamantine weapons and armor. Possibly both. Breaching the [[caverns]] or [[hidden fun stuff]] should ensure the fortress is occupied. Building a fortress is now possible ''inside'' of adventure mode as of DF v0.43.

'''Difficulty:''' The sky's the limit.

'''Usefulness:''' None for fortress mode, but filling it with high-quality equipment can certainly be useful for adventure mode.

==Alarm clock==
Are your soldiers all sound asleep while blood soaks the walls? No need to deconstruct their beds one by one, ''if'' you bought the Dwarf Wakey 3000! Simply a solitary floor tile balanced on a support, one or more can be toppled with the pull of a lever to produce an earth-shaking racket that'll have them leaping for their axes!

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Limited. They'll sleep through <s>'''anything'''</s> the noise. Although they have been known to awaken when drenched in water, possibly due to thinking it's alcohol. This means an alarm clock is not impossible if carefully prepared.

==Alphabet cages==
[[Image:Cage.gif|right]]
Use captured monsters in cages to spell messages.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Vowels are hard to come by.

'''Usefulness:''' Absolutely none whatsoever. Even less if using sprites. (Easy reminders in case you're too lazy to use notes?)

==Altar of Armok==

Build a large altar made out of adamantine, clear glass, magma, and obsidian. The main altar should be hollow adamantine with clear glass "windows." It should have magma inside. The altar should be adorned with large obsidian spikes, as it pleases Armok.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, raising with the amount (and respective difficulty) of bonuses you add.

'''Usefulness:''' Low to medium. If the chamber containing the altar is consecrated as a [[temple]], dwarves will go there to pray, and may gain additional happy thoughts for admiring the altar's materials and craftsdwarfship.

*Bonus: Guard the altar with a megabeast.
*Bonus: Cover the altar with blood of a Titan.
**MegaBonus: Cover the altar with blood of a denizen of the HFS.
***ArmokBonus: Build the altar in the HFS.
*MegaBonus: Cover the altar in a temporarily lasting strength inducing extract.
*BerserkBonus: Cover the altar in a nausea-inducing extract.
*BloodBonus: Also cover the altar in an extract inducing slow death.
**SychronizationBonus: Make it so that a dwarf that goes into contact with the altar dies the moment the strength runs out.
*SacrificialBonus: Sacrifice a dwarf to the altar every day.
**MegaSacrificialBonus: Sacrifice an elf to the altar every day.
**HistorySacrificialBonus: Sacrifice a human to the altar every day
***MegaArmokBonus: Sacrifice all three species to the altar every day!
*MonarchBonus: Build the altar in the monarch's throne room! Yes, this stacks with the ArmokBonus up above.

==Aqueduct power==
If your river's a long way away from your fortress, building a trans-map axle may be less efficient than building an aqueduct and pump stack driven by waterwheels in the river. The pump stack raises it to the height of your fort, where it flows through the long, long aqueduct and drives waterwheels on the other end. Getting the water pressure just right so it powers your waterwheel without flooding the fort can be [[Fun]]. Diagonal channels make good pressure reducers.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Lots of stone, lots of engineering, lots of dangerous outdoor work, lots of trial-and-error for the receiving waterwheels. Aquifers will absorb any amount of water at any rate. Using an aquifer as drain for the reservoir will nullify the risk of flooding the fortress due to the drain not keeping up with the supply.

'''Usefulness:''' High. As much water and power as you want, wherever you want, whenever you want.

==Aquifer power==
Aquifers can be a resource of immense power. If you have two levels of aquifer, you can generate a continuous flow by draining one level of aquifer into another and plant waterwheels above it. One stream can power a lot of wheels.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Anything to do with draining aquifers is very [[Fun]]. It is now very rare to find a powerful enough aquifer.

'''Usefulness:''' High.

==Archaeological excavation==
A Fortress in the Caverns, built by the first dwarf tribes. Build the Fortress however you see fit for those prehistoric Dwarves (e.g. only primitive metals, elaborate tombs for the chieftains with burial objects, cave art, etc.) and abandon it. Then, embark with modern Dwarves, and excavate the ancient Fortress. Sort of like the Adventure Fortress above, only for Reclaim Mode

'''Difficulty:''' As High as you want.

'''Usefulness:''' Variable. Carving a premade fort or building controlled access to caverns can potentially be useful for a Reclaim effort, effectively making the first wave dispoable setup so your would-be archologists to dig up and exploit their new home. The more Fun you leave behind, the harder it will be for your second wave to repurpose the place.

*Bonus: A museum detailing the lives of those early dwarves.
*Bonus: Create a save with your First Tribe fort collapsed/flooded/etc, for other users to explore. Leave them some Fun what-does-this-lever-do problems to solve.
*EncinoDwarfBonus: Some of those early dwarves frozen in a block of ice.
*FunBonus: Breach the HFS.
**MegaBonus: Do a cave in to the HFS after fighting it leaving multiple signs of battle in the fortress, to be dug by your modern dwarves.

==Artificial waterfall==
{{main|Waterfall}}
To keep the waterfall going, you need a [[pump]] stack, preferably powered by a [[windmill]] or [[water wheel]]. Alternatively, an [[aquifer]], or other limitless water source, makes for a waterfall entirely underground.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate (Low if there is an aquifer above pouring down).

'''Usefulness:''' Dwarves love [[waterfall]]s. Putting a waterfall in your [[meeting hall]] will give your dwarves good [[thought]]s, although it can significantly lower frame rate.

*Bonus: Build it in a "Warm" or hotter [[climate]] so it does not freeze.
*DwarfBonus: Build it in a freezing/cold/temperate climate and keep it going entire year!
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[magma]]. It does not freeze, even in a freezing climate!
*MegaDwarfBonusEXTREME+: Use magma and water in the same waterfall. The results will enshrine you in dwarf history! Possibly permanently.

==Ballista battery==
{{main|Ballista}}
Overlap a few ballistas to completely cover a narrow corridor. There is an unavoidable risk of your operators wandering into the line of fire.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. If you insist on highly trained operators with high-quality ballistas, it gets harder.

'''Usefulness:''' A complicated and dangerous way to defend a single corridor. Ultimately extremely effective. Sometimes.

==Bastion==
Construct an isolated burrow containing a farmer and some labourers, containing at least an uncontaminated well (an [[aquifer]] is great for this) and some farms. Use whatever elaborate mechanism you wish to seal it off from the rest of the fortress. Congratulations; your bastioned dwarves and their descendants will keep your fortress alive forever until one of them goes nuts.

* Bonus: Build your bastion at least in part in a clay or sand layer, add a little magma, and continue manufacturing useless crap even as the world crumbles around you!
** StonksBonus: Rig a way for your bastion to transfer supplies to the outside world without exposing themselves to danger, so they can be somewhat useful to the rest of your fort before their inevitable downfall. Doubles as a way to restock the bastion with fresh supplies and/or bodies, or a way to let the apocalypse in a little at a time if your survivors get too comfortable.
* Bonus: Build it on top of a tower outside, and then deconstruct the stairs up.
* Bonus: Fill it exclusively with vampires, to avoid having to worry about food, children, and aging.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Hollow out a shell around your bastion, connecting it to the rest of the cavern by a single 1x1 adamantine support, and flood the shell with magma.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' High. If your bastioned dwarves have high enough quality living space and few enough nonbastioned friends, it makes the fortress functionally immortal.

==Bathtub==
Stop dwarves from hauling in tons of exotic, poisonous sludge into your fortress by creating a tub filled with 3/7 water that everyone has to get through to enter the fortress. Include a system to change the water, so that they don't bathe in grime.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate

'''Usefulness:''' Low in most cases. High in some evil areas.

* DwarfBonus: Make it drain and refill itself with clean water automatically once in a year.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Clean it with magma.
* *MegaDwarfBonus*: Have an alternative bathtub-buffered entrance next to the main one, which opens automatically when sanitizing the main one and closes and sanitizes itself when it is no longer needed, so that no jobs are canceled during cleansing cycle.
* ≡MegaDwarfBonus≡ : Make it clean itself with magma automatically once in a year, but make it wait for the moment when it's unused, so that no dwarves or pets are incinerated.
* ☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: All of the above, plus make it detect when there should be no dwarves or pets around, but invaders are in it, so that the cleansing cycle can be started prematurely.

==Boat==
In intermittently freezing biomes, [[ice]] may be used to create actual floating boats, submarines, or other floating objects/forts; as constructions built on top of ice do not collapse when the ice thaws.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Needs an intermittently freezing biome, construction is limited to frozen periods, and there's a substantial risk of flooding, drowning and being encased in ice.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Forts within boats are protected from invaders while the water is unfrozen, but they're also trapped within the confines of the boat.

Note: You'll probably want to limit your saves to the colder months.

* DwarfBonus: Have the dwarves live on the boat.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Make miscreants/nobles walk the plank.
* *MegaDwarfBonus*: Bury your treasure on shore.
* ≡MegaDwarfBonus≡ : Have a pet [[kea]] for each of your dwarves.
* ☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build it on top of an ice tower.

==Bolt splitting operation==

## Note: no longer works due to climbing mechanics ##

One curious property of Dwarven physics is that a bar of metal makes 25 bolts, but if each of those 25 bolts is melted separately, they will become 2.5 bars, generating metal from nothing. Prior to the update that allowed splitting stacks at the [[trade depot]], the difficult part was separating the stacks of bolts into individual bolts without destroying them. EliDupree originally discovered this trick:
{{diagram|spaces=yes|color=#888|\
∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙
∙++++[#05F]☻∙+++++++++
∙+∙∙∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#BBB]╬
∙+∙[#F00]g∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#FF0]@
∙+∙∙∙[#0A0]┼∙+++++++++++++[#BBB]╬[#BBB]╬
∙+++++∙+++++++++
∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙
}}

The yellow @ at the right is a stack of marksdwarves (all in different squads so that they'll stand on the same tile) equipped with [[adamantine]] (or [[Divine metal]] if you don't have it; or [[Steel]] if you have neither) bolts, standing on top of a stairway surrounded by [[fortification]]s. The blue ☻ at the left is a single [[Attributes#Agility|Perfectly Agile]] soldier with orders to patrol up and down the line of green doors, with little delays at the top and bottom. (The doors are free-standing; they were built attached to a wall, then the wall was removed.) The "g" at the left is a goblin standing on a pillar (pitted from the z-level above).

When the dwarf at the left runs up or down the line of doors, it opens all of them, and some of the marksdwarves loose their bolts. By the time the bolts get there, the doors have closed, so they hit the doors and fall into the channel, where they can be collected and melted separately. (That distance is exact, by the way. Any less and they sometimes get shots through the doors, which kills your goblin. Also, with less-skilled marksdwarves, some of the bolts will stray and land on the floors, but that isn't enough to worry about even with mere dabblers.) Naturally, this is also an excellent way to train marksdwarves.

Another design resembles a tower where marksdwarves shoot from the top, with the following setup: (click then press '<' and '>' to go through different z-levels)
<diagram>
<frame type="level" level=0>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%203][%205][%187]
[%186]<[%204][%185][#5:1]g[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%202][%202][%205][%188]

< 01
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=1>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%203][%205][%187]
[%186]X[%204][%185][#7:1]O[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%202][%202][%205][%188]

< 02 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=2>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%205][%205][%205][%187]
[%186]X+[#3:1]/[#7:0].[%186]
[%200][%205][%205][%205][%205][%188]

< 03 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=3>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%205][%187]+
[%186]X[%186].[%186]+
[%200][%205][%202][%205][%188]+

< 04 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=4>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%203][%205][%187].
[%186]X[%186].[%186].
[%200][%205][%202][%205][%188].

< 05 >
</frame>
<frame type="level" level=5>
[#7:0]
[%201][%205][%205][%205][%187]
[%186]>+[#6:1]@[#7:0][%186]
[%200][%205][%205][%205][%188]

06 >
</frame>
</diagram>
The '@' is any number of marksdwarves standing on a down stair. You may want to use a defend burrow order to restrict them to that tile. The 'g' is a goblin or any other creature your marksdwarves will normally fire at upon encounter (pitted from 2 z-levels above). The 'O' is a well, which is suspected to be preventing dwarves from plunging in and starting brawling with the creature. Marksdwarves will be able to see the goblin or whatever creature below and will loose all bolts in their quivers on them. Curiously, nearly all the bolts will fail to cross the bend in the middle and will fall onto the tile '/' where they can be collected. This disregards crossbow and archery skills and the only difference they make is the speed at which the bolts are split. This design has the advantage of taking less space and being easier to set up, however it is reported that sometimes the dwarves will not miss some of the bolts. If you are only stationing one marksdwarf in the tower, stationing another one may help the first one miss all of his bolts, even after the newly added one is then removed. Sometimes dwarves will spam job cancellation on the bolt collection level, and it is also reported that sometimes some dwarves will start firing when they are on the bolt collection level. In such cases you may want to seal the collection level off and open it once in a while to retrieve the bolts.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate. The hardest part is keeping the system running reliably.

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate. While there are certainly [[Exploit#Infinite metal|easier ways to generate adamantine]], this is perhaps the most dwarfy.

*Bonus: Build a [[repeater]] to open and close the doors automatically.

==Break the dam (release the river!)==
Dam a river (or brook) using something non-permanent (floodgates, drawbridges) and build your fortress entrance in the now dry river bed, make sure you can seal it off nicely (floodgates anyone?) then wait till the first Goblin siege, let them get to your entrance floodgates, seal them, open the dam and laugh maniacally.

'''Difficulty:''' Low

'''Usefulness:''' Instantaneous death to all sieges

*DwarfBonus: Use magma.

==Bridge-a-pult==
A bridge that raises under its victims' feet, flinging enemies away.

Bridges don't fling creatures in any specific direction, apart from "up". So it's more of a spring-board than a catapult. If there's a lot of open space above the bridge, creatures can get flung very high - ten z-levels and more - and take appropriate falling damage. Most of them will land atop the bridge, and bringing the same bridge down will simply crush them.

'''Difficulty:''' Fairly easy. Getting the timing right promises to be the biggest challenge.

'''Usefulness:''' There are far more effective ways to defend a fortress, but few are as entertaining.

===Cat-a-pult===
Essentially a Bridge-a-pult with specific ammo.

'''Difficulty''': Very easy, given that you have live cats in your fortress.

'''Usefulness''': Can be used as a way to stop a [[catsplosion]] if used with male cats. [[Unfortunate accident|Cats can also be replaced with elite citizens of your fortress.]] 

==Corpse processing facility==
WARNING: The system can freely jam on any body parts, besides hands and heads, without killing undead.
With the help of a necromancer, corpses your dwarves refuse to butcher can be brought back to life and re-killed to yield bones and skulls for your bonecarvers if they are mushed up enough.

1. The simplest way to do this is with the help of height. A 1x1 pit with a minecart stop that dumps corpses down the chute, and several alternating [[floor hatch]]es that close and open (linked to a repeater) with necromancers behind windows overlooking each layer of hatches to revive the bits of corpses. 2 windows with a mechanism controlled door in between, in front of each necromancer group can be used to control vision; but the system can only be stopped by unlinking the minecart dump to the refuse pile in your routes. Note: when I built this I had 3 hatches with 6 necromancers overlooking each (I had plenty of them since I embarked close to 4 towers). Revived corpses drop to their death and explode onto a tile with unright spikes linked (note that some of them will survive, so you need the spikes with a repeater or lever). The corpses that explode from the impact of height (or from other body parts/undead crashing into them) will hopefully yield bones. You make choose to re-haul up the body parts for another round, but only body parts still attached to a grasping part or the head will be revived, and this system isn't very efficient in the first place, so it may not be worth the trouble. Note that whole corpses usually yield 5-8 bones upon death (avg 6), arms only yield 1-4 (avg 2). You may also use this system with or without necromancers and pit live [[goblin]]s into it, they usually yield 6 bones and some body parts.

2. The second way is much more efficient than the first, but requires 1 or more [[artifact]] [[mechanisms]] to make it work. Instead of using height to kill the corpses, a weapon trap with an artifact mechanism and 10 serrated blades of any material can be used instead (since artifact mechanisms never jam). Only 1 necromancer is needed for this method, and is positioned 3 tiles away from the weapon trap, overlooking it behind 2 glass windows with a mechanism [[door]] in between to control its vision. Your 1x1 pit should still be 5 tiles deep at least though, to prevent dwarves being spooked by the revived corpses. When you're ready, link up the route to the minecart and watch body parts revive and slowly get mowed down. It's recommended you have more than 1 of these small pits set up so you can grind more corpses and clear out 1 pit at a time while the others keep grinding.

Note: To clear out pits, turn off all refuse stockpiles that accept anything other than bones and skulls by turning on "accept from links only" so your dwarves only haul out the bones and not the trash.

Note: Try to use raising bridges as the door for each pit, kobold body parts tend to get mixed into the grinders which can lock-pick its way out of doors and result in doors with "door taken by intruder" and a couple hundred zombie body parts overrunning your fortress from the inside (a.k.a fun).

Note: I didn't try this with many building destroyers, but I'm pretty sure the glass windows are safe. Fortifications are not usable since corpses and body parts tend to get tangled up in them and are hard to get out, and spook dwarves trying to clean out the pits.

*Bonus: Use water to clean out the contents of the pits and wash them onto a 1x1 refuse stockpile.

'''Difficulty:''' Hard

'''Usefulness:''' High, and becomes higher the more corpses you have; especially useful for getting something more out of necromancer sieges than just useless corpses. Can also be used to recycle dead stray animals and your own dwarves that your dwarves refuse to butcher (don't forget slabs).

NOTE: necromancer siege's corpses now drop clothes and gear.

==Crocodile farm==
They're a thing in real life, and you can make them a thing in-game too! Use cage traps to capture multiple breeding pairs of [[alligator]]s, [[cave crocodile]]s or [[saltwater crocodile]]s, [[Animal trainer|train]] them, then create an area to store them with [[nest box]]es. Breed them so you have more crocodilians to keep laying eggs, rinse and repeat.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, somewhat dependent on RNG - you need to find someplace with available crocs, you want said crocs to actually spawn and you want said crocs to actually get caught in the traps. <s>May</s> Will also lead to an explosive and FPS-shattering [[Catsplosion#Crocsplosion|crocsplosion]] sooner or later.

'''Usefulness:''' Very high, you'll never have to worry about food again simply from cooking the eggs, and that's not counting butchering the crocs when they're adults.

*Bonus: Have alligators, cave crocs and saltwater crocs '''all''' present in the farm.
*SwampBonus: Have your croc farm submerged in anywhere between 1/7 to 3/7 [[water]]. You gotta keep your crocs healthy and wet! But make sure not to submerge the nest boxes!
*SavageBonus: Have [[giant alligator]]s or/and [[giant saltwater crocodile]]s as part of your farm.
*TrainerBonus: Have your dwarves become Expert alligator/cave croc/saltwater croc trainers.
**SteveIrwinBonus: Have your dwarves become Expert trainers of all croc species.
*HungryHungryCrocBonus: Build your farm in such a way that [[siege]]s have to go through it to reach your fortress.
*UltraCrocBonus: Have [[Alligator man|alligator men]] or/and [[Saltwater crocodile man|saltwater crocodile men]] inhabiting your fortress and helping train the croc farm.
**UltraArmokCrocBonus: Have an entire fortress of croc men handling a croc farm. You're dwarves in spirit.

==Dam==
{{main|Dam}}
Build a wall across a riverbed to stop the flow of water. Floodgates optional.

'''Difficulty:''' On a map that freezes in the winter, or an aquifer located below the river, this is easy. Otherwise, very difficult. (See [[dam]], or Moses effect, below. But with the bonuses it gets a bit harder.)

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on how many bonuses you fulfill. The power station is obvious, and with the control room you could build up a nice defense system.

*Bonus: Excavate a reservoir and a lower river valley. 
*Bonus: Build a control center to control the water flow. 
*Bonus: Draw your entire energy from a power station within. 
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use screw pumps and another dam to replace the water with magma.

==Danger room==
{{main|Danger room}}
A room full of upright spear traps linked to a lever or pressure plate. Teach your dwarves to dodge the pointy sticks!

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium, depending on how you activate the traps.

'''Usefulness''': Low. While this used to be a very effecting training method in past versions, the combat changes in 0.43.04 has made them much more deadly, even for militia dwarves. They also wear down your dwarves' armor and shields quickly, making them harmful for your long term survival even if your militia dwarves manage to survive the room itself.

'''Downside''': Civilians and pets that wander into the danger room will inevitably get killed, even if you use low quality training spears.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Menacing spikes greatly increase the danger, and may help train your medical team (and/or your coffin construction crew).
*UltraDwarfBonus: Use [[adamantine]] spikes! On the plus side, you have a thriving coffin industry going now.

==Day care==
A room where you put all your dwarf children so they cannot be kidnapped by snatchers, or get into accidents. Make a room with beds and tables and stuff, then turn it into a burrow, then add all your children to it. Remember to include a food chute to [[quantum stockpile]] a huge amount of food and alcohol on a 1x1 stockpile (so it doesn't rot) in the room. High quality food, furniture, toys, clothing, and socializing should keep them happy. Note that the children will no longer be able to perform certain useful tasks like hauling, crop harvesting and deconstruction, and will not level up their skill in miscellaneous professions like an otherwise vulnerable child, but this is a small trade-off if they usually get kidnapped before maturing anyway. This is probably obvious, but make sure this room is guarded, otherwise it will turn into a Dwarf Orphanage (Dorfanage) (with Goblins and Minotaurs welcome!)

'''Difficulty:''' Low. With the invention of burrows, you can designate the Day Care to contain all children, so it is unnecessary to use suicide-booth-micromanagement to contain the children.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies, depending on the bonuses built. With v50, children are a lot easier to mentally scar for life, making them prone to fell moods and tantrums, so having a safe form of daycare allows them to grow up into adults whose stress levels are usually easier to manage

*SchoolBonus: Make the daycare a guild hall, and add a highly skilled dwarf and another adult to the burrow. The two will give demonstrations that the kids will occasionally watch, gaining experience in a profession of your choice
*OlympicBonus: Build a swimming pool of 4/7 between critical parts of the daycare, so the kids have to go through the water for their everyday tasks, gaining swimming skill and associated stats.
*ChildSoldierBonus: Make the daycare a barracks, and have your crack squad of dwarves spar and demonstrate there to train up the military skills of your dwarven children

==Doberman bomb==
Whenever a dog or cat gives birth, stuff all the kittens and puppies in one cage in your entryway. Link this cage to a pressure plate beside it. Should your last lines of defense be breached, goblins will step on it and in the next instant be torn apart by dozens of goblin-seeking hostiles and distracted by dozens of surplus targets. The trap actually going off will probably be very bad for your frame rate.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to high, depending on the animal you use

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to very high, potentially fortress-saving

*Bonus: Train the dogs inside as war dogs
**DwarfBonus: Use [[giant badger]]s, [[tiger]]s, [[alligator]]s, bears, or anything big and aggressive when tamed
***MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant cave spider]]s, [[cave dragon]]s, [[blind cave ogre]]s, [[jabberer]]s or something really dangerous and rare.
****UltraMagmaArmokBonus: Use one (or more!) of the following list: [[dragon]]s, [[bronze colossus]]es, [[forgotten beast]]s (bonus points for flesh-melting secretions), an [[undead]] [[giant sponge]], or [[Hidden Fun Stuff|Clowns of Hidden Funland]].

==Drophole==
Imagine an execution tower, for rocks and pants. It's nothing but a very deep 1x1 up-down staircase for express service to the depths. Designate a garbage dump beside the top and dwarves will pitch anything marked for [[Dumping]] into it.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds, there's always snags along the way. Surprise caverns can cost you miners and tools. Hitting water can be vexing. Dumping and reclaiming things can be a chore. It may serve as an unintended highway for Fun of any liquid or airborne variety

'''Usefulness:''' It's '''far''' easier to drop ore 100 z-levels to the magma sea than carry it. You can use this to transfer items between burrows.

*Bonus: Minecarts can make this semi-automatic, fed from a stockpile.

==Drowning chamber==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
'''Difficulty:''' Moderate.

'''Usefulness:''' You can kill prisoners, useless peasants, irate nobles, hammerers, untamable animals, or anything else. Just be ready for something that knows how to swim. Also useful for catching fishies.

*Bonus: Utilize lava.
*Bonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Edit the raws and do both.

==Dwarfputer complex==
{{main|Computing}}
A big mess of [[fluid logic|fluid]], [[machine logic|machine]], and/or [[creature logic|creature]] logic full of hatches, floodgates, gears, pumps, etc. and powered by waterwheels, windmills, or useless idle dwarves. Hook it up to doors, bridges, and traps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on what you want to build. You'll want to build for very high water flow if you have more than a few fluid gates.

'''Usefulness:''' Your mechanics will level up very fast. Manual pumps give something for your haulers to do. Try and make a clock to trigger different mechanisms in different seasons. See if enemies actually blunder into your intricate traps. Watch all hell break loose as water freezes and building destroyers (''bugs, perhaps?'') enter your computer.
*Bonus: Use lava.
**Doombonus: Use lava ''and'' build it so that building destroyers that enter the complex get killed by the mechanisms they destroy.
***SelfRepairingbonus: Use both lava and water and implement the building destroyer killing system, but modify it so it's self-repairing, filling up broken spaces with obsidian.

==Dwarven apartment complex==
Essentially, one of the many possible [[megaprojects]] dedicated to providing dwarves with rooms so high above the ground they get vertigo. Every floor must have plenty of rooms of at least 2x3 squares, with walls and a door surrounding this. Oh, and it has to go up as many Z-levels as possible. For extra credit, decide on what the top story will be (i.e. as many levels up as you deem possible, minus one so you can build a roof) and turn this into a Royal bedroom for a [[noble]], complete with gem windows, artifact/masterwork components, and untold numbers of armour stands and weapon racks. And then build some shorter but wider apartment buildings nearby to turn your fortress into essentially a giant fist with extended middle finger. Extra points for adding extra useless things for luxury, such as a magma-based heating system, fireplaces in rooms, and a lock-down lever in case of goblin attack. (or a self-destruct lever connected to the main supports, in case your dwarfish tenants are unsatisfied with your ☼5-star service☼).

'''Difficulty:''' Low, although the walls around the rooms can be a bit fiddly due to the impossibility of building walls on constructed floors (yes, an extra credit challenge is to do this without using Remove Construction).

'''Usefulness:''' Limited, because you could just dig the things underground and save yourself the hassle. However it is much harder to flood a tower than a cave, in case you're prone to [[Losing|fun]] by water. Additionally, if you have the time and resources to train a sizable force of marksdwarves, placing a few "security rooms" (with barracks, ammunition store, ration cache, armory, etc.) at appropriate floors, complete with fortified balconies, will allow you to take advantage of the higher vantage point.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Extend the tower to have levels below ground as well as above.
*MegaOrwellBonus: Make the whole construction out of clear glass. (privacy? Whatever for?)

==Dwarven courtyards==
Dig large shafts [first dig the staircase to the desired depth, digging out the size you want the shaft to be on all layers. Channel the outer later, then install supports on the base floor. Link the support to a trigger, clear everyone out, destroy the remaining staircase and pull the trigger] then cover them in glass, creating an indoor but light area that will keep dwarves from being irritated and nauseated by the sun, also improving general happiness and allowing close proximity to caverns and magma.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, make sure not to mess up or you will lose your miners

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. creates vertical circulation and brings light to lower levels.

*Bonus: Punch a large shaft through a multi-level aquifer (hint: punch through the aquifer from below).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Create a network of self-sufficient communities per shaft, allowing them to be sectioned off in case of disaster. (I plan on colonizing HFS eventually on this paradigm, creating a mining team of soldiers to extract, manufacture and ultimately use adamantine products without being connected to the main colony in order to take on the [[Demon|clowns]] while keeping the rest of the burrow safe.)

==Dwarven disco ball==
Why waste all those cut gems on things that only some selfish noble will enjoy? Create as large a wall-less sphere as you can, then cover it in Gem Windows of 3 different-colored gems to make it shine! The bigger, and more valuable gems involved (e.g., [[ruby|rubies]], [[sapphire]]s, and [[emerald]]s, or colored diamonds if you're really masochistic), the dwarfier.

'''Difficulty:''' Constructing a sphere is very hard, especially the larger you make one. Gathering enough differently colored gems can also be very hard, depending on stone layers. Trading helps a lot.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative. More value can be created by encrusting furniture, and Gem Windows lack quality.

*Bonus: Alternating [[alunite]] and [[obsidian]] tiles to make a 'dance floor'.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use lava contained in glass for illumination.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Caged "[[Elf|dancers]]".

==Dwarven labor camp (aka Dwalag)==
Create an aboveground walled fortress in a freezing climate with guard towers, barracks, housing, and armories. Dig a long ramp downward and add a large mining network below the surface. Make some small military squads to guard the camp. Designate the lower levels as workshops, and when migrants arrive, assign them to the mines. Give the workers minimal food and only water (no booze, booze is for the hypocritical decadence of Dwarkuta's leaders). Have them haul the stone and metal they mine back to the surface and ship the raw materials off to the Motherland. Import only food, booze, weapons, fuel, and other necessities.

*Bonus: Build the giant digging machines. They don't actually have to dig anything.
*Bonus: Go into the raws and rename the beverage of your choice to "Dwarven Vodka", and drink to the glory of the Motherland!
*MegaBonus: Escape. Wait for a goblin siege, then get everyone underground and block the entrance. Let the goblins in. Wait a few months. The goblins are now the guards you must kill.

Step 1. Secure the keys: Make improvised weapons. If you have obsidian at your disposal, make rock short swords.

Step 2. Ascend from darkness: Get your dwarves out of the mines and into the camp.

Step 3. Rain fire: Use your imagination. Try using magma, if possible.

Step 4. Unleash the horde: Attack!

Step 5. Skewer the winged beast: If the goblins brought a giant bat or other flying creature, kill it.

*Bonus: Use a ballista.

Step 6. Wield a fist of iron: Break open the armory and equip your rebels with armor and weapons.

Step 7. Raise hell: Exactly what it says on the tin.

Step 8. Freedom!

*MegaDwarfBonus: In Adventure mode, try (and probably fail) to lead the prisoners to freedom.

==Dwarven refrigerator==
Dig down to the 3rd cavern layer and harvest as many [[nether-cap]]s as you can. Make them all into barrels! Nether caps have the unique property of being 10000° Urist, which is 32°F or 0°C. Now your dwarves can enjoy their favorite alcohol, cheese, and plump helmets chilled to perfection! If you've set your population cap very low in the INIT files, caverns aren't extremely dangerous, but you should still be on the lookout for nasties down there. Remember to wall off your entrance to the cavern once you're finished.

'''Difficulty:''' Low to Medium

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Booze stored inside will not perish due to heat if say, [[magma]] is dumped on it.

Bonus: Also use nether-cap wood to build the walls, floor, ceiling, and door.

Bonus: While we are at it make all your coffins out of it. 'Cryogenically' freeze those corpses!

==Dwarven machine gun==
Build a high fire rate, minecart firing machine gun. Must be fully automatic, capable of reloading itself, and should not jam due to minecarts being disrupted by collisions or derailments.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to high, depending on fire rate, reload downtime, and whether or not minecarts are filled with [[magma]].

'''Usefulness:''' High. A sophisticated minecart trap can keep out even the most persistent invaders.

*Bonus: Automatically reload minecarts with [[magma]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Integrate the trap with a dwarfputer so that it can automatically send minecarts to where they are needed most.

==Elephant man armor factory==
[[Elephant man]] are incredibly strong in combat — both in [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress]] and [[Adventurer mode|Adventurer]] modes. However, they can't put on normal-sized [[Armor]] — and therefore, walk around in crappy starting armor at best, naked at worst. We'll put [[Elephant man]] to make [[Armor]] — and another [[Elephant man]] for [[Clothes]].

'''Difficulty:''' Easy. Depends on amount of [[Elephant man]] spawning in the world.

'''Usefulness:''' Your [[Elephant man]] [[Military|super-soldiers]] are now properly armored. Considering their size, strength, and possibly training, they are now borderline-invulnerable. Also, you have enough armor complects for your [[Elephant man]] [[Adventurer mode|Adventurers]].

==Emergency destruct stairs==
A tall column of stairs plunging all the way down into the underdark, with a one-tile wide area of thin destructible floor all around it. In case of subterranean invasion, a thrown switch drops a stone O straight down, ringing the staircase and neatly severing all inter-level connections at a blow. Does with one lever and one support what would take dozens of bridges or hundreds of retracting grates.

'''Difficulty:''' Harder than it sounds.

'''Usefulness:''' Sometimes... sometimes they fly.

==Execution tower==
Just a tall tower to chuck your captives to their deaths.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy.

'''Usefulness:''' Lets you dispose of prisoners, and claim expensive silk, meltable iron, and (eventually) useful bones. Also highly amusing.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Send prisoners straight to the [[HFS]]. If some mod makes them survive, the [[Clown]]s will have their way with them. May make retrieving items difficult, however.

==Flak==
If flying enemies circumventing your walls and causing mayhem inside your fortress is a problem, don't use marksdwarves, just make some flak! Simply cover a series of drawbridges in rocks, and when fliers come by pull the lever.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Contrary to the description, marksdwarves are more accurate, versatile, and just better. However, if you manage to hit something with this, there's a large chance of it getting stunned and crashing to the ground. Remember, what goes up must come down, wear your helmet Urist!

*Bonus: Use minecarts and pressure plates to make it fully automatic.
*SuperBonus: Make it closer to real world flak by using burning lignite bins.
*EfficiencyBonus: Use goblins as ammo
*AlternateBonus: Instead of drawbridges and stone, use jets of water to stun flyers, and then release the dogs. Alternatively, burn them in midair with lava.
*FunBonus: Use the above method with lava, except use the lava as a propellent to throw the circus at the local crow population.
*ArmokBonus: Use all of the above to emulate what happens when you drift into American airspace.

==Flamethrower bunker==
If your fortress happens to be visited by a [[dragon]], capture it in a [[cage trap]], then release it into a sealed bunker with [[fortification]]s around the edge. When invaders arrive, watch them get roasted.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but requires a fair bit of luck - a dragon (or fire-breathing forgotten beast) needs to survive worldgen, then it needs to attack your fortress (instead of a giant/minotaur/ettin/cyclops or other megabeast), and finally it needs to make it to your cage trap without being killed by something else.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. [[Dragonfire]] can kill almost anything, but will be blocked by a [[shield]] greater than 99% of the time. Adding a combustible floor (such as a paved [[lignite]] [[road]]) will significantly increase lethality for shield-toting targets. Also, any protective bridges in front of the fortifications may melt under sustained fire, leaving you with a bunker that ''nobody'' can safely approach; ensuring the bridge center tile isn't near the fire, or building the bridges (and mechanisms) from [[ash]], dragon [[soap]], [[divine metal|divine]]{{version|0.43.03}} [[metal]] (or [[slade]]) will make them immune to the fire. Additionally, a skilled enemy archer can easily kill your dragon with a lucky shot, if line-of-sight access is available.

*Bonus: Capture a fire-breathing [[titan]] or [[forgotten beast]] and use it.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Release the denizens of the hidden fun stuff and use them.

==Flood the world==
'''Difficulty:''' High danger. Will kill your frame rate unless you sink the world below water level (river or ocean).

'''Usefulness:''' Will prevent any sieges, at least. Or anything else, save for the occasional invasion of sociopathic [[giant sponge]].

*Bonus: Use magma, just like [[Main:Boatmurdered|Boatmurdered]].
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use trained fish to kill off all creatures not of your colony.
*MegaArmokBonus: Mod the game and do both.

==Gladiator arena==
{{main|Live training}}
Station some soldiers at the bottom of a shallow [[Activity_zone#Pit/Pond|pit]] and dump your captives in. You can also use dangerous animals instead of soldiers. For extra points, put the prisoners in cages connected to ramps underneath the arena floor. One lever will open both the cage and a hatch above the ramp. Variant: build prisoner cages inside the arena, link to a lever outside the arena, lock the soldiers in, and then open the cages. Keep in mind that you can't actually make your dwarves "watch" the battles like an actual gladiator arena, as civilians will flee in fear at the sight of non-restrained hostile creatures, even if they're in a pit and not actively attacking them.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, but time consuming. Some danger depending on the relative skill of your soldiers and the danger of the captive. (If the prisoners have weapons, you can remove them by using {{k|d}}-{{k|b}}-{{k|d}} to dump the cage and its contents, then looking at and undumping the cages themselves with {{k|k}}-{{k|d}}).

'''Usefulness:''' Low to High, depending on how long your soldiers can draw out the execution. Equipping your soldiers with wooden training weapons can greatly increase the fun (and/or [[Fun]] if their armor isn't as good as you thought).

*Bonus: Losers get incinerated by Magma.
*DwarfBonus: Winners also get incinerated by Magma.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Use your arena as a "trial by fire" for migrants.

==Grazer reanimation facility==
Just as stables, but without grass, and on a reanimating biome. Pasture every grazer in a separate box, and build [[cage trap]]s to recapture the animal after it joins [[undead|the Dark Side]]. Make sure to forbid the area after you finish setting things up, because you don't want your dwarves getting <s>killed</s> caught instead.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You always get some grazing animals to start with.

'''Usefulness:''' You get a decent supply of zombies to use in your [[trap design|cunning traps]]. Depending on your style of play, this may prove to be worth the effort.

* DwarfBonus: Use war [[elephant]]s, or any other giant [[:Category:DF2014:Grazer|grazing animal]] you <s>bought</s> seized from elves.
** MegaDwarfBonus: Use [[giant elephant]]s.
*** BoatMurderedBonus: Release them all simultaneously to challenge your militia/play out a [[fun|!fun!]] scenario for your fort.
* MenagerieBonus: Create a zoo using only undead grazers.
** DwarvenMenagerieBonus: Combine this with the [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Zombie_thunderdome|Zombie Thunderdome]] and have a rotation of undead cows fighting in the arena only to be re-caged when they try to leave.
*** ChampionBonus: Give each grazer rooming in the zoo according to their kills, with the champion having the most luxurious room.
**** AltarBonus: Turn the champion's room into an [[DF2014:Stupid_dwarf_trick#Altar_of_Armok|Altar of Armok]].
**** FreedomBonus: Let the champion and higher-ranking zombies roam freely in their rooms, having to be re-captured for each battle.
***** !FreedomBonus!: Release the champion into your fort.
* HolyGrailBonus: Use white [[bunny|bunnies]].

==Greenhouse==
A [[farming|greenhouse]] is just a farm with the ceiling channeled out from above. This lets you grow outdoor plants without venturing above ground. For maximum style, build the greenhouse above ground and cover it with a glass roof to keep your farmers safe.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Surface plants can be grown at any time of the year, and some are more useful than those available underground - for example, [[sun berry|sun berries]] can be brewed into valuable [[Sunshine]], and [[whip vine]]s can be milled into superior quality flour. Having greater food and booze diversity can also keep your dwarves happier.

*Bonus: Give it a glass floor to allow surface plants even lower down.
**DwarfBonus: Utilize [[obsidian|volcanic glass]].

==Hammer of [[main:armok|Armok]]==
A gigantic hammer made out of pure steel and/or valuables looming over your fortress entrance ready to smite those foolish enough to lay a siege on you. Also gives you a psychological advantage over the traders who unload their goods under it. Attach to a lever-linked support for quick-smiting.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. Depends on size and materials, though. Make it a gold hammer menacing with adamantine spikes, if you're going for high quality.

'''Usefulness:''' Low-medium. 10x10 size is minimum for practical effectiveness. 30x30 attached to a handle extending from your entrance actually works against sieges.

* Bonus: Cover it with blood.
* MegaDwarfBonus: Make it hollow and fill it with Magma
* ArmoksMachineHammerBonus: Set up an automated system that allows you to reset it quickly. Obsidianizers and the magma sea will be your friends here.

==Human Fortress==
Instead of digging a fortress, build above-ground houses. Create walls to keep the nasties out. The only thing you may have underground are mines and stockpiles. Create a huge stone fort for your nobles.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Building stuff will cost you resources instead of gaining them and flyers can be a real pain. Keep several Marksdwarfs handy!

'''Usefulness:''' N/A. (No cave adaptation)

*Bonus: Pave the roads between houses.
*HumanBonus: Dig a moat around your castle.
*MegaHumanBonus: Fill the moat with lava.
*MegaHumanBonusPlus: Designate multiple dumping spots into the lava moat.
*SurfaceDwellerBonus: Get the stone for your constructions entirely from open-pit quarries, i.e. by c[h]annelling instead of [d]igging.
*MegaSurfaceDwellerBonus: Never use picks at all, all stone and metal must come from caravans or embark.
*WhereTheBeardedLadiesAtBonus: Enforce as many <s>pointless</s> quaint human quirks as feasible, for instance: nominating officials per wealth/popularity/relationships instead of merit and suitedness, coddling Nobles, burrowing farmers, miners, brewers, craftsdwarves and other backbones of society into the most tattered ridings, enforcing a specific religion upon the populace, and so forth.

==Ice tower==

Building a huge tower is easy. To make things more [[fun]], make one out of some exotic material, like [[glass]], [[ice]], [[gold]], or [[soap]].

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You need to be on a freezing map to pull off an ice tower.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends entirely on you.

* BabelBonus: Use [[DFHack]]'s <code>infiniteSky</code> and build to the heavens themselves.

==Journey to the Center of the Earth==

Construct a sturdy vessel hanging over the top of a magma pipe or volcano, outfitted with everything your intrepid crew might need for their journey of exploration - food, booze, sleeping quarters and a bridge are a must, but depending on the amount of effort it can include other items such as a recreation deck, water reservoir and trade depot for dealing with the natives. When all is ready, lock the explorers inside and send them on their way. Bonus points if you can detach it from inside so you can use it in Adventure mode later.

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to High, depending on the size of the ship. For bonus points, carve the entire thing out of existing rock overhanging a magma pipe and engrave it with messages. Burrows help to get the whole crew inside at the same time.

'''Usefulness:''' [[Cave-in|Negative]]. For some reason, no explorers have returned. Of course, if you select only the [[Nobles|Best and Brightest]] for the ship's crew...

*Bonus: Drop the vessel into a deep cavern
*SuperBonus: Make the outer walls, roof and ground floor completely out of glass, so that the explorers can watch everything around them.
*VampireBonus: Send a vampire with the crew!
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a halfway-empty adamantine vein
*YouHorribleEvilDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into the [[Hidden Fun Stuff]]!
*YouHorribleInsaneDwarfBonus: Drop the vessel into a glowing chasm.
*OhMyArmokBonus: When you arrive to the bottom of the magma sea, excavate and then create a new community under it!
**OhMyF****ingArmokBonus: Send supplies every year!
**IsThatEvenPossibleBonus: Send a piece of an aquifer down there to provide water! (Mine around a water-producing tile, build the ship around it, then send it!)
**≡MegaDwarfBonus≡: create a high enough tower and drop it into the magma sea to connect the surface and the undersea community!
***☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: create ''two'' towers and use one to send water down there!

==Single-lever emergency lockdown (LEL)==

The only real requirement is that you need a fort based around a central stairwell. All you need to do is leave space for and eventually build the same number of bridges (that raise!) as your stairway is tall on each side of your stairwell on every level, and then link them all to the same lever. Friends get through all your best traps and champions? Simply pull the lever, and they're trapped in the central stairwell forever! Remember to roof off the entrance if your fort is situated on flat land otherwise the bonuses become much less useful. Also important is to ensure that you either wall off access or include sealable bridges or doors (linked to the same lever of course) for any inter-level paths that bypass the main stairwell, like vertical axles running out of centralised power generators.

3*3 stairwell setup:

{{diagram|1=
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
[#6ff]╥XXX[#6ff]╥
[#6ff]║XXX[#6ff]║
[#6ff]╨XXX[#6ff]╨
O[#6ff]╞[#6ff]═[#6ff]╡O
}}

'''Difficulty:''' Medium to High, depending on whether you use the MegaDwarfBonus below or not and how much you spread your fortress over the layers - although more spread means more usefulness. Extremely time-consuming, and requires architects, masons, and mechanics, as well as a lot of mechanisms (2 per bridge, ~4 bridges per level)

'''Usefulness:''' Medium to High, also depending on whether you use the Bonuses. With all bonuses applied it becomes a guaranteed last resort way of destroying the toughest enemies with minimal dwarven casualties; without the bonuses it's still a damn sight better than letting temporarily victorious enemies run freely about your fortress.

*DwarfBonus: Connect your cistern to the stairwell (remember to put a floodgate in too). Once the impossible-to-defeat enemies are safely trapped inside, Pull lever number 2 and watch them slowly, slowly, drown (VERY IMPORTANT: have the level of the cistern input at at least the same height as the level of the stairwell, else there won't be enough pressure to properly flood the stairwell, meaning nasties WILL survive).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Connect your MAGMA cistern to the stairwell. Laugh maniacally. (Remember to build your bridges and floodgates out of magma-safe material or a lot of !!FUN!! will be had)
*MegaArmokEntombmentBonus: Do both and cast your enemies in obsidian and boil the survivors in steam as a semi-permanent testament to their foolhardiness. This also means that you will have stairs cut out of lovely obsidian once your miners are finished making your stairwell usable again.
*MegaArmokEntombmentEXTREME+Bonus: "Forget" to pull the lockdown lever before you pull lever number 2.
*MegaArmokEntombment<s>'''Bait&Switch'''</s>Diplomatic+Bonus: Set the highest level up on another switch, with a particularly <s>'''demanding and annoying noble'''</s> skilled diplomatic representative is waiting at the very bottom to <s>'''lure'''</s> invite them all down for a nice meal on <s>'''his flesh'''</s> the stockpile of food and booze that's keep him ever so happy. Then you can wait for the entire army to flow into the stairwell before flipping the switches. Don't forget to carve a statue out of the block of the noble! What noble doesn't want their grand <s>'''sacrificial defense'''</s> diplomatic skills to be immortalized in volcanic glass?
**UltraArmokBonus: Defeat all your invasions this way, and build a temple to Armok full of the once noble, now obsidian statues, as well as only the highest of quality (and value) memorial slabs.

==Magma Lock System==
This system is a little more complicated than the LEL system described above, and requires that you space out all of your floors so that there's a 'plumbing floor' between each level. From there you set up tons and tons of magma proof floodgates and hatches. Each 'area' you wish to be self-contained from one another needs at least a 3x2 hallway separating it from the other areas. 4 of these will contain flood gates, and the other two must remain bare. Above one of the two bare points you need to have a hollowed out space, and connecting into it from one side you need to have a hatch leading to your water plumbing system, to the other, a hatch to your lava plumbing system. You need two levers for controlling this, one lever is connected to all of the lower floodgates, the other to the upper floodgates. Pull the first hatch to lock in the flood gates just in case, the second to the upper flood gates to begin pouring in water and magma and have them make obsidian filling the entire hallway, sterilizing it of literally anything that could have contaminated it. You do this instead of hatches so they'll drop in properly and mix with no risk of only one side or the other of the hallway turning to obsidian and resulting in a dangerous leak. Throw the first switch again to open up the floodgates and begin mining to access the old chambers again. Whatever was invading your fortress, whether plague, necromancer, clowns, or forgotten beast, will be safely locked away, and unable to break back out whether or not it possesses building destroyer or not. Then you just have to wait for your miners to dig their way out. You can simply avoid the chambers that still have FUN inside, and any the purity of magma and obsidian will have utterly obliterated any traces of contaminants between containment zones.

'''Difficulty''': Medium to High. While not dealing with anything overtly hostile, this process more or less demands that you plan your fortress from the start for this specific system and deal with lots and lots of moving parts, mechanisms, and similar, plus the power necessary to pump magma and water into this network in a timely manner.. If you screw up part of it then it's very easy to end up with your entire fortress flooded with water or magma. Build it on small and give it a test run then expand it once you've gotten the process working for a single chamber, such as the chamber leading to your cavern layer.

'''Usefulness''': High. Depending on how you prepare things (See the bonuses below) the necessary set up for all of this will result in a network of magma and water pipes in every single level of your fortress, powering forges, wells, baths, showers, and defenses of all sorts. Then when things are at their worst, throw a switch and barring one or two (or many depending on how many dwarves are transitioning between containment areas) horribly swift deaths, your entire fortress is safe from any possible threats. You can also prepare chambers ahead of time for other activities and use this to trap enemies in them for later usage.

*DwarfBonus: Put a stockpile of food, drink, and pickaxes in each containment area.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Put a lever in every zone connected just to their own, so your dwarves can heroically seal off an entire section by themselves if necessary.
*UltraDwarfBonus: Extend the hallways, and make the water half of them use grates and constant water falls to give good thoughts while traversing between zones. Change up your levers to shut off the water for when digging begins again.

==Maze==

A maze of twisty little passages, all alike. [[Trap]]s and dangerous animals are essential. You can have a retracting bridge drop invaders in, or just have a labyrinth as a back door.

'''Difficulty:''' It's a lot of mining. Having a bridge drop invaders inside is more difficult, but more useful. You can also use the free maze-generating program Daedalus, available [http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth/daedalus.htm here] if you're too lazy to come up with your own.

'''Usefulness:''' It makes a nice element of fortress defense, and you can dump your prisoners inside it. Also makes a great place to explore in [[adventure mode]].

*Bonus: Generate a world with large mountain [[cave]]s. Instead of using the labyrinth as your backdoor, use it as your fortress.
*Filodorima: Release a live caged [[minotaur]] into the maze.
*MegaBonus: Make it three-dimensional and [http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/design/index.htm#uni unicursal].
*MemorialBonus: Capture the Goblin King and make him fight the Minotaur.

==Magma chamber==
'''Difficulty:''' Dangerous as any magma project.

'''Usefulness:''' It's like a drowning chamber, but any non-iron items carried by the victim will be destroyed. Depending on your style of play, this may be a good thing.

==Magma cannon==
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=33837 It can be done!] It uses a row of pumps to pressurize the magma in a chamber with only one exit. When the floodgate opens, the magma flies out a short distance.

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. You need [[metal]] (or [[glass]]) [[screw pump]]s to make it work, [[magma-safe]] floodgates and mechanisms, plus a big above-ground construction.

'''Usefulness:''' Marginal. But very cool.

==Magma access early==
ASAP from embark, dig down to the magma. 
Make 2 magma proof pumps, 
make a small (5x5?) room that you can pump magma into and out of and 
make a stockpile for only iron & steel minecarts in the room. 
Be sure to make enough minecarts to fill the room. 
Once the room is full of minecarts, seal room and pump it full of magma. 
Then pump the magma out. 
Delete the stockpile. 
Make a new stockpile near your forge/smelt/glass/kiln area. 
Haul minecarts by hand (or magma proof wheelbarrow). 
Use tracks and stops to dump 4 deep magma into shallow pits. 
2 minecart loads per pit. 

'''Difficulty:''' Low. 
'''Usefulness:''' Very High. 
*Bonus: !!Magma Economy By Autumn!!
*ObsidianBonus: Instead of pumping the magma out, drain water from a nearby lake or aquifer cistern onto it to turn it into obsidian. Carve out the minecarts, magma safely still inside, and enjoy the extra obsidian you have. Watch out not to flood the fortress!

==Magma highway==
Magma moves across the map annoyingly slowly, due to its thickness and lack of pressure. But a tunnel several Z-levels high, with magma entering at the top, will flow much faster because the magma's '''falling''' in, not flowing in, and can expand on either Z-level before falling down.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Not hard to make, but cutting open a multi-Z magmafall is [[fun]].

'''Usefulness:''' Medium.

==Magma mausoleum==
This trick involves dripping water on to the middle of a magma pool until you have a column of obsidian, then channeling down into the obsidian ''more than'' one Z level, and putting a burial receptacle there. This probably won't work in magma tubes or Volcanos since the created obsidian would fall into the bottomless pit. The trick is getting the water to fall onto the magma in a controlled manner.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Requires certain resources from the start, plus lots of setup. And your dwarves tend to erupt into dwarf steam occasionally.

'''Usefulness:''' None, since an obsidian lined room with exactly the same furniture somewhere else will please your nobles just as much.

*Bonus: Put the coffin at least 20 floors down.
*MegaBonus: Build it in a volcano if possible, and put the coffin at the very bottom of the map

==Magma sea colony==

If you cast obsidian around the edges of the magma sea, it is possible to pump out the magma and build a colony in the empty space. Once the colony is built, you can destroy the obsidian walls and refill the magma sea. Note: you cannot cast obsidian on the bottom layer of the magma sea, so building a colony on this layer is nearly, but not quite, impossible (see below).

'''Difficulty:''' High. You need to get water down to each edge of the magma sea, and you need a pump stack to get rid of the magma.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*☼MegaDwarfBonus☼: Build your colony on the floor of the magma sea. This will require draining the sea to the next-to-bottom layer as described above, then dumping enormous amounts of water into the bottom layer to crowd out the magma while simultaneously draining the magma from holes poked in the magma sea floor. Constructions can be built at the border between the water and the magma. See [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128226.0 This forum post] for full, detailed instructions.
* Bonus: Obsidianize the entire magma sea, leaving a single spot to use as a source for pumps. Then proceed to carve your new fortress subsection out of this bounty.

'''Difficulty:''' Insane. The project will take at least ten years of dwarf time and claim many lives.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. You can finally get the last bit of adamantine when you drain the magma sea, and the magma sea floor has a cool twinkly effect.

==<s>Magma</s> Lava sprinkler==
Build a twisting <s>magma</s> lava aqueduct above the entrance to your fortress. Leave a few thin (diagonal) holes in it, so that lava can seep out of it. When invaders arrive, pump magma into the sprinkler. Diagonal holes will limit the rate at which the fluid flows out of them, ensuring a nice steady lava rain rather than a big wave.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Similar to magma canon, except with a bit more engineering, but less pumps and smaller reservoir needed (due to less magma being required for the same effect).

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Like magma cannon it can obliterate a siege, but this time you can have a bit more control over how it happens. Lava rain doesn't depend on ground structure (your entrance doesn't need to be in a valley for it to work well) and leaves less magma to evaporate.

*Bonus: Cover the holes with floodgates or hatches and keep the lavaduct filled with lava rather than filling it only when using it.
*Bonus+1: Build the lavaduct in such a way that it starts raining on the outermost part of the area first, then goes inwards, to ensure that invaders who start burning can't escape.

==Mass cage recycling system==
{{main|Mass pitting}}
Build a [[mass pitting]] system to recycle your cage trap cages quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Very easy. Requires basic digging and very little time.

'''Usefulness:''' Very. Keeps you from having to build cages before releasing monsters from them. With six hatches you can safely empty out 48 cages very quickly. You can build lots of cage traps without having to worry about emptying each cage individually.

*Bonus: Cover the floor of your pit with cage traps, creating a neverending cycle and giving your dwarves something to do during the long harsh summer when going outside is overly taxing on their stomachs.
*ConcentrationCampBonus: Combine with Pit of Doom below.

==Mega/Water drowning trap-thing==
{{main|Drowning chamber}}
This is basically a channel above some pressurized water with a short tunnel leading to a door. The door needs to be connected to a lever somewhere in a safe part of the fortress. Position the door facing the main stairs into your fortress (for multiple stairs use multiple traps). When enemies come down the stairs, pull the lever and make them drown. (It helps to seal off the rooms).

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Needs flowing water under pressure and levers.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Depends on the size of your fortress/defences/amount of attackers. Works well with fire creatures to create a sauna.

==Minecart spiral==
Build a giant spiral [[Minecart#Impulse ramps|minecart impulse ramp]] all the way from the [[magma sea]] to the surface. You can use it to transport ores to the [[magma smelter|magma smelters]] at the bottom from [[sedimentary layer|sedimentary layers]] near the surface. You can build [[statues]] in it to prevent dwarves from walking in and [[fun|dying]].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium-High. You will most likely have to use [[macros]]. Additionally, when crossing caverns you will have to [[construct]] minecart ramps which can be tedious.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. It depends on how tall your map is and how much ores you consume.

*TrapBonus: Use [[bridge|drawbridge]] to guide invaders to the spiral, then [[screw pump|pump]] water into it and drown them.
**BetterTrapBonus: Make it [[magma]] instead.
*SuperBonus: Make the tower go all the way to the highest [[Z-axis|Z level]].
**ArmokBonus: Make it go through the magma sea, and [[HFS|further below]].
*Bonus: At the top, set up a system where dwarves can guide minecarts to different vertical shafts where the will fall to different Z levels, for loading. Then, the minecarts fall further down to the smelters, where the empty minecarts are sent back up for loading.
**MegaBonus: Divide your dwarves into two separate [[burrows]] connected only by the minecart spiral and the shaft. The higher burrow is in charge of mining, growing food, and operating the minecart system, and the lower burrow is in charge of smelting ores and making crafts.
***HyperMegaBonus: Close off all stairs and add a minecart loading and unloading station at every inhabited z level. All vertical transport of goods should be done via minecarts only. Also, dwarves are not allowed in minecarts.
****UltraSuperBonus: Build a minecart loading and unloading station at every Z level, even the uninhabited ones you never use.

==Mist generator==

Using whatever screw-pump-statue contraption your dwarves can muster up, create an endless mist-generating machine which will hopefully not obliterate your [[Frames_per_second|FPS]].

'''Difficulty:''' Extremely easy. You will only need a basic understanding of screwpumps and gear assemblies. However, you can scale it to any size or level of complexity. The [[Mist|mist page]] has a handy guide.

'''Usefulness:''' Borderline cheating. Keeps your dwarves in a state of constant euphoria. Mist does funny things to a dwarf's mind. Also a one-up from artificial waterfalls as they only need to travel a single Z level, (hopefully) reducing the FPS strain.
*Bonus: Build an absolutely horrible fortress with as much [[miasma]] and [[hateable]] vermin that you can fit in one bunker. Keep your dwarves sane with the power of Mist™ alone.
**FUNbonus: Build it in a semi-freezing climate instead. Watch as winter rolls by and your dwarves are deprived of their only source of joy. [[Fun]] will surely ensue.

==Monumental statue==
'''Difficulty:''' Depends on how big you want the statue to be. If you are feeling really masochistic, cast it out of obsidian using magma and water.

'''Usefulness:''' None.

*Bonus: Make the statue hollow and have dwarves live inside it.
*BestWayToGetRidOfStoneBonus: Make one for every dead dwarf.
**UberTombBonus: Use the statue as a tomb and put their coffins in it.
*Dwarfbonus: Give the statue magma eyes.
**HellNo,DwarfsYesBonus: Combine the magma eyes idea with the magma cannon idea above and place the statue just behind (and above) the entrance to your fortress.

==Moses effect==
With enough pumps, you can pull water out of a square faster than it flows in. This can create a reverse waterfall, or a dry spot in the middle of a flowing river. The effect is like Moses parting the Red Sea.

'''Difficulty:''' Surprisingly easy.

'''Usefulness:''' You can use this trick to create a waterfall or drowning chamber. It is also important if you want to pass through an [[Aquifer]], although that is far more difficult. The same trick can be used in lieu of a drawbridge, although its practicality as compared to the drawbridge is highly questionable.

*Bonus: Use the Moses effect to make doors from water, which are opened/closed using a lever.
*TechBonus: Automatize the doors so that they open (only!) when a dwarf is near.

==Never-ending shower==
{{main|Waterfall}}
Don't you get angry when your dwarves carry enough grime on them to dirty the entire fortress? And how they get infected because of that griminess? Suffer no more! With the Never Ending Shower (NES for short), dwarves will be able to stay (relatively) clean without having to take the time to run for a bath or dirtying your drinking water!

It is easy to understand: use the same instructions as in the Artificial Waterfall, but make it so that the waterfall is somewhere where the dwarves will be going through almost daily--a central stairway works well. It cleans them and gives them happy [[thought]]s for the same price!

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to high. You do have to make sure that dwarves don't try anything funny, and create a drain to draw the dirty water out.

'''Usefulness:''' Incredibly high. Reduces risk of infection and keeps your dwarves happy.

*Bonus: Use an aquifer to get clean water AND drain dirty water.
*Bonus: Use levers to control the NES.
*SuperBonus: Make it work as a trap!
*SuperDuperBonus: Make it work as a trap AND as a recovery system!
*ArmokBonus: Make it so that magma can be poured down, too!

==Nuclear Fallout Bunker==
Build a mini fortress with everything your dwarves could need deep underground. Stock it with enough food, drinks, and materials to last your small band of survivors for years or alternatively make it self-sufficient with its own food production. Lastly, add a bridge that allows you to seal off the bunker from the rest of the world.

'''Difficulty:''' Easy-Medium depending on the relative luxury of the bunker and how many dwarves you intend to shelter from the apocalypse.

'''Usefulness:''' High. If your fort is threatened by some particularly nasty disaster (be it zombie goblin horde or Bronze Colossus) simply rush your best and brightest dwarves down to the Nuclear Fallout Bunker and raise the bridge, sealing it off from the rest of the world.
*MutallyAssuredDestructionBonus: Have a self-destruct lever in the bunker that is pulled once everyone is safely inside.

==Obsidian factory==
{{main|Obsidian farming}}
You need one reservoir of water, and one of magma. Mix, cool, mine, and repeat as necessary.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium.

'''Usefulness:''' Obsidian is 50% more valuable than [[flux]] and 3 times as valuable as ordinary stone, making it ideal for your [[mason]]s and [[stone crafter]]s. Done properly, it can also serve as a magma chamber, a drowning chamber and even an obsidianizing chamber that can kill any creature that gets in (except [[ghost]]s and possibly [[vermin]]).

* MegaDwarfBonus: Make the system fully automated using [[computing]] principles.

==Pit o' doom==
Combine with an Execution Tower for maximum z-level executions! Traps which menace with spikes are a must.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. You want it nice and deep though.

'''Usefulness:''' Dispose of prisoners, execute nobles, gruesome fatal injuries, laugh maniacally. If high enough, you may be able to recover [[bone]]s from creatures your dwarves refuse to [[butcher]].

* Bonus: Link the spikes to a lever so you can proceed to make swiss cheese of whatever didn't die from the fall.

==Pixel art stockpiles==
Arrange several stockpiles of similar items of different colors (gems work well for this) so the different colors make some sort of picture. Don't forget to set "max bins" to 0 on all the stockpiles so you can actually see the items!

It's probably also a good idea to forbid the items once they're in place, to prevent them from being moved later (and allow you to remove the stockpiles if you want.)

'''Difficulty:''' Medium; only tricky parts are (potentially) finding enough items of different colors, and keeping track of which colors are where before the hauling is done.

'''Usefulness:''' Negative

==Pressure washer==
A huge tower with floodgates at the bottom on one side. When opened, the pressurized water fires out and instantly submerges anything in the way of the flow. Depending on size, can be surprisingly powerful. You can see an example tower [http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-7485-griffonwind here].

'''Difficulty:''' Medium, construction technique takes some consideration.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium-High. Tested in version 0.28.181.40d with 50 recruits standing in front of it when the floodgates opened, killed 46 of them, including ones not pushed into the pit.

* Bonus: Fill it with Magma instead (though it won't flow out nearly as quickly).

==Quantum Blizzard Cannon==

Do you need to kill something? Is atom-smashing no longer a viable option? Do you wish to bring glory to Armok? Do not fear, the QBC is here! By creating individual stops to fill minecarts with projectiles of your choosing, then loading up to 12 filled minecarts into a final “Launcher” minecart (using a stop designated to fill the "launcher" with minecarts), you can effectively fire as many items as you would like at your foe using a standard minecart shotgun. It is also possible to fill this with fluids, to great effect (and risk of crashing the game). This can often have interesting effects because hitting a goblin with 996 bars of lead at extreme speeds is not good for the squishy bits. The cannon gains its name from its creator.

''' Difficulty:''' excessive, lots of time in menus and loading per shot, but really ((Fun))

''' Usefulness:''' medium to low. The same trick can be used to move large amounts of items via minecart, but ultimately the QBC is excessive for even the HFS.

==Redesign the fortress==
And when we say "redesign", we mean completely replanning and rebuilding the entire fortress, from scratch. Ever thought about a cool thing that you could add to your fortress, but can't because a critical area(such as the dining room, general-purpose stockpile, central workshop area etc.) are in the way? Did you start the fortress by building the most critical areas in the first available spot? Well, now is a good time to get rid of that! For added effects, put the sleeping areas especially close to the booze stockpile so that dwarves are always happy!

'''Difficulty:''' Varies depending on the size of the fortress.

'''Usefulness:''' Varies depending on how you carry it out, a.k.a. the efficiency of the new organization.

* Bonus: use [[obsidian]] casting to carve the new fortress entirely out of obsidian.
** DwarfBonus: but keep valuable walls such as [[native gold]].
*** PurpleDwarfBonus: using controlled [[cave-in]]s, arrange for your king's new room to be entirely bordered by native gold/platinum/aluminium walls.

==Rehabilitation centre==
Had any problems with dwarves charging brainlessly towards the enemy, getting slaughtered, and then starting a tantrum spiral that will destroy your fortress? Turn your prison into a luxurious room full of things that make dwarves happy. Add artifact furniture, beds, a booze stockpile, chains made of gold (or anything valuable,) a waterfall, creatures in cages, etc. Hopefully they will return to society as a happy, productive dwarf.

'''Difficulty:''' Low-Medium. Acquiring valuable items and setting up the waterfall can be annoying sometimes. Also you need guards to actually put them in jail. And it can be a real pain when those ungrateful sobs destroy the nice furniture you give them.

'''Usefulness:''' High. A tantrum spiral can quickly turn a productive fort of 200+ dwarves into a rioting fortress inhabited by a bunch of insane, miserable dwarves who spend their time punching people and breaking furniture. Don't let it happen to you.

* MegaDwarfBonus: Points for making every other dwarf drink water and sleep on cheap beds.

==Road of the damned==
Create a giant channel filled with spike traps, 10 tiles wide and going all the way from your fort to the map edge. Pave it over with crystal glass so traders can get that foreboding feeling that'll make them seal the deal without bargaining too hard!

'''Difficulty:''' Low-mid, depending on the rarity of crystal glass.

'''Usefulness:'''Low. The same as a normal road.

* Bonus: Spike a goblin on every trap!
* Megabonus: Spike traders who annoy you on the traps!

==Roof of the world==
Sick of having your dwarves vomit all the time when they go out to retrieve loot or lumber? Despair no more! Build an almost-infinitely tall tower, and then put a floor on the highest level, spanning the entire map. For extra kicks, make a mechanism that will crash the entire thing upon the heads of the one goblin horde that manages to get through all your other deathtraps.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Very grueling.

'''Usefulness:''' Low, but potentially fortress-saving. (see above)

==Sectorized world==
Divide the world edges into multiple sectors and then gate access to each one separately. This allows you to protect your fortress from sieges whilst keeping access to most of the outside world and allowing most traders into and out of the fortress (those unfortunate enough to enter the world from the same direction as the siegers may be screwed, of course). For bonus points, build separate gateable access routes for each sector. For further bonus points, design your fortress so that you can simultaneously allow access to traders ''at the same time'' as siegers are exposed to your defensive mechanisms.

'''Difficulty:''' Low, unless you allow separate access routes for each sector in which case high.

'''Usefulness:''' Moderate, increasing with each bonus you fill. Mostly for those who want to build the best possible defenses. Can also double as a means of easily trapping wild animals.

==Self-contained vampire-based factory==
Take advantage of the independence of vampires by building a self-contained factory. The best industries are those that require no special raw materials-- a factory containing both a magma glass furnace and a sand tile, for instance, would work well, as would a clay industry, but if you're feeling ambitious, consider building a vampire into your [[giant cave spider|GCS]] [[silk farm]]-- if you happen to have scored an [[undead]] GCS, your vampire won't even spook! You can treat your factory as a piggy bank to be broken into as needed, or for perfect fire-and-forget action, build a dropping [[User:Vasiln/Undump|undump]] into the factory, and the vampire will deliver the output to your front door.

'''Difficulty:''' The only hard part is getting yourself a [[vampire]].

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on how many green glass blocks you plan on using.

==Sapient zoo==
Start by creating a [[zoo]] containing at least one of every [INTELLIGENT] and [CAN_SPEAK] creature
including [[humans]], [[elves]], [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s.

*Bonus: include a berserk dwarf in cage

'''Difficulty:''' Easy for some, Hard for others

'''Usefulness:''' None, really, a place for dwarves to throw a [[party]].

==Self-destruct lever==
A mechanism that, for example, could flood your fort with magma, or release a trapped megabeast. For bonus points, build the whole fort on a single [[support]].

'''Difficulty:''' Very high. Extremely fun.

'''Usefulness:''' Could serve as kind of a last revenge on a goblin siege, but also highly amusing. If done properly it can make reclaim easier.

* DorfBonus: Make it have a timer before your fortress self-destructs. You can do this with a water channel, or if you're particularly technical, make a [[Computing|seven segment display]].
** For bonus Dwarfy-ness, make the timer be the depth number of the magma or water that will actually trigger your fortress' destruction.
* Bonus: Build your fortress high above ground, connect the fortress to a roof through just one support and have the system, when activated, drop the whole construction into the magma sea, destroying the whole thing permanently.
* FunBonus: use the lever to drop the fortress off a pillar while simultaneously opening the [[hidden fun stuff]], preferably in a whole lot of places.
*ExtraFunBonus: do as many of these bonuses as you please (as long as they still function together) AND unleash a whole lot of dwarves throwing tantrums near the lever when you wish to set the fun things off.

==Shark catcher==
Capture of [[Bull shark|sharks]] or [[Carp|other]], [[Sturgeon|dangerous fish]] achieved by making an artificial bay, filling it with [[Cage trap|cage traps]], opening the floodgate to the sea or river and some sort of drainage system, likely pumps and/or floodgates.

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium as drowning while setting up is very possible with bad planning.

'''Usefulness''': Low, purely aesthetic, but very cool to have a shark infested moat (Potentially kills invaders).

==Silk farming==
{{main|Silk farming}}
Capture a web-slinger (generally a [[giant cave spider]]) and build a farm to efficiently harvest its [[silk]].

'''Difficulty''': Low to Medium; the hardest part is generally catching the web-spinner.

'''Usefulness''': Medium to High. Provides an endless supply of potentially-valuable [[silk]] cloth and rapidly [[cross-training|cross-trains]] [[weaver]]s.

==Steamed vegetables==
Make a pot and drop <s>elves</s> vegetables in from about three levels up. This makes it so the vegetables do not <s>run</s> get overcooked. Proceed to bask the vegetables in [[steam]].

'''Difficulty''': Medium. Can be annoying to boil some water.

'''Usefulness''': Great way to make friends with the merchants.

*MegaDwarfBonus: Add <s>goblins</s> seasoning.
*ArmokDoubleBonus: Use [[magma mist]].
*DwarfBonus: feed any vegetables you did not steam to your dear friends, the [[Demon|clowns]].

==Swimming pool==
{{main|Swimming#Learning/Teaching swimming|l1=Swimming § Learning/Teaching swimming}}
It's a reservoir that fills to 4/7 exactly. Station soldiers inside, lock them in, and fill. This way they gain [[swimming]] skill.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. It's just a pair of reservoirs.

'''Usefulness:''' The swimming skill is only slightly useful. This is most useful if the entrance to your fort has narrow walkways/moats surrounded by water, and you station your soldiers there. It does help gain attributes though. Though if you utilize a '''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform, this is a priceless necessity.

==Swimming track==
{{main|Swimming#Minecart_training|l1=Swimming § Minecart_training}}

[[Image:Swim track 0.png|thumb|right|250px|A large swimming track]]

A [[minecart]] ride that trains [[swimming]] safely and automatically.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Minecart tracks can be fiddly, and adding a non-traversable depth of water makes any mistakes more difficult to fix.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. The swimming skill is only slightly useful, but it does provide [[cross-training]] for attribute gains.

==Tower of Death-Struction==

Have you ever wondered, "What would it take to make my [[Siege|friends]] all [[Gravity|fall]] at once into a pit of [[Trap|fun times]] while also not risking failure?" Elementary, my aspiring architect -- [[Fun|THE TOWER OF DEATH-STRUCTION]]!

Step 1: Build a tower with a [[bridge]], to allow for non-lethal access to the fortress. Build the tower roughly 25-30 blocks high, though higher towers tend to result in roughly equivalent amounts of [[Fun]]. The access bridge should be linked to a lever, to close it like a standard gate.

Step 2: Build a thinner tower 20 blocks away, for maximum bridge length. Any number of middle towers can be constructed, though one is recommended.

Step 3: Build another tower, one that can be ascended by [[Goblin|curious friends]]. Fill it with cage traps, to thin out the number of [[Troll|friends]] to take up space on the bridge.

Step 4: Build two bridges on either side of the skybridge, to trap attackers on the skybridge.

Step 5: Hook up the skybridges to one lever, and the trap bridge to another.

Once this is done, just wait for a [[Siege|surprise party]] to be thrown for you. Close the access bridge, forcing the [[Goblin|visitors]] to path onto it. Trap them, and when the time looks right...

'''Pull the lever, Kronk!'''

'''Difficulty:''' Moderate to hard. If all of your dwarves have cave adaptation, the construction might take a lot longer to complete. As well, the cost of floors and traps alone will mean that just acquiring the materials will need its own stupid dwarf trick.

'''Usefulness:''' Low to high, depending on how well you use it. If you forget to open the access gate, you might find your dwarves trapped inside the tower, or even worse, they may run up to the bridge to fight and meet a [[Gravity|bad time]]. Also, the goblin corpses piling up in the spike pit might cause extra [[Miasma|fun]] depending on how regularly you take care of it. If done correctly, this tower might become the most efficient and effective defence against all problems that one could possibly ask for.

*Bonus: Build enough middle towers to build a bridge path long enough to trap an entire siege and drop them onto spikes below.
*SuperBonus: Build the towers above a river.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a lava pit.
*SuperMegaDwarfBonus: Build the towers above a ticket straight to [[HFS|the circus]].
*ArmokBonus: Build the towers out of [[Slade]] (Note: This should be impossible, so if you do it...))
*SuperMegaUltraHardcoreDwarvenMasterpieceArtifactBonus: Build the fortress at the top of the tower that the goblins have to try to get to.

==Underground forest==
{{main|Tree farming}}
Break into an underground cavern, make some muddy floors over a big area and wait.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium - need to dig out a suitably large area, then find a way of introducing water to the area and subsequently draining or evaporating it.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size (bigger is better) as well as proximity to wood stockpiles. A tree farm outside the caverns can grow trees from all 3 layers, and you'll never have to worry about hostile creatures threatening your wood cutters.

==Underground perpetual motion power plant==
Combine with a use for the power and you either have an awesome setup, or a ticking time bomb.

'''Difficulty:''' High. Maintaining the correct water level is annoying difficult at times. Note: Incredibly easy with an aquifer.

'''Usefulness:''' Depends on size of plant and what it's connected to. Also useful as a puzzle for adventurers.

==Underwater statue room==
A simple room filled with statues that just also happens to be flooded. Simply dig a room near to a water source smooth and engrave the walls and floors then fill with statues. Dig a tunnel to the water source and a separate escape route. seal both off with floodgates pull the levers in the right order and bam! underwater statue room. For added effect make the meeting room a room directly above with a glass floor.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Absolutely positively none.

*Bonus: Build it on area with trees and shrubs; make walls from ice or use windows; fill it with fish and merfolk; now you'll get a big aquarium
*Note: It doesn't count if you accidentally flood your fortress and wind up with one of these. It does count if one of your nobles has an unfortunate accident in their sculpture garden.

==U.R.I.S.T. artificial intelligence==
Basically, a dwarf in a bunker that controls your fortress. Being that there are no supercomputers in DF at the moment, we'll have to use the closest substitute, a dwarf. Seal your dwarf in a room full of levers that activate various floodgates, bridges, doors, hatch covers, traps, etc. Make sure this room has no exits or entrances, but it needs a luxurious bedroom and dining area, and you must include a chute for dropping in <s>food</s> biomass and <s>alcohol</s> coolant fluid. Profile the levers so that they can only be used by the A.I. dwarf.

It would be a good idea to make the system into two rooms. The food/drink/bed room and the lever room. Should you need to add more levers, you can lock the A.I. dwarf outside the lever room and have your mechanics set up more levers without interacting with or releasing the A.I.

You can make the lodging room suited for the particular dwarf by adding furniture made from their favorite materials, and smoothing and engraving everything. Use quantum stockpiling to give them 10+ years of food and drink. Make sure the A.I. is unable to communicate with other dwarves. His/her mood must not be affected by the deaths of the walking meat-bags who tried to befriend him/her.

In order to ensure that your A.I. doesn't find sleep interfering with crucial lever pulling, you might consider incorporating an alarm clock. If a goblin siege turns up on your doorstep, a single external lever to dump 7/7 of water on the sleeping A.I. might well save your fortress (and is so much cooler than having backup levers in your meeting hall).

You must also make a snazzy/lame acronym name for your AI, here are some examples:
*A.R.M.O.K. - '''A'''ll-'''R'''eaching '''M'''achine '''O'''f '''K'''illing
*A.S.S. - '''A'''lmost-autonomous '''S'''ystems '''S'''elector
*C.A.T. - '''C'''reepy '''A'''utonomous '''T'''echnology
*D.E.E.P.E.R. - '''D'''warf of '''E'''ngineering the '''E'''ldritch and '''P'''ractical '''E'''xploitation of '''R'''esources''
*D.I.E.D. - '''D'''edicated '''I'''rrigation and '''E'''verything else '''D'''warf(s)
*D.O.M.E.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perated '''M'''echanics and '''E'''ngineering '''S'''ystem
*D.O.R.F. - '''D'''oes '''O'''rders '''R'''ather '''F'''ast
*D.O.S. - '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*D.W.A.R.F. - '''D'''rains '''W'''ater '''A'''nd '''R'''ecruits '''F'''armers
*G.L.A.D.O.S. - '''G'''enetic '''L'''ifeform '''A'''nd '''D'''warf '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem
*H.A.L. - '''H'''airy '''A'''lternate '''L'''ifeform
*M.A.G.M.A. - '''M'''assively '''A'''lcoholic '''G'''ear-'''M'''achine '''A'''ssembly
*N.O.B.L.E. - '''N'''arcissistic '''O'''bnoxious '''B'''oastful '''L'''aughable '''E'''xcrement
*P.O.T.A.T.O. - '''P'''ossibly '''O'''rganic '''T'''echnically '''A'''live '''T'''rash '''O'''mitted
*U.R.I.S.T. - '''U'''nderground '''R'''easonably '''I'''ntelligent '''S'''ettlement '''T'''echnologist
*V.A.C.A.T.E.D. - '''V'''ampire '''A'''ssisted '''C'''omputerized '''A'''ssembly '''T'''errorizes '''E'''xtra-'''D'''warves
*V.O.D.A.P.H.O.N.E. - '''V'''ampire '''O'''perated '''D'''efence '''A'''pparatus, '''P'''erpetrating '''H'''arm '''O'''f '''N'''efarious '''E'''ntities (See Bonus for more information)


'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Setting up all the levers and lodgings can be a micromanagement hassle. Further research is required as to how well the A.I. will fit into a dwarven economy.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Having a dwarf dedicated to pulling levers will ensure that they are pulled on time. Additionally, you will have a constantly-ecstatic dwarf who is virtually invulnerable to all threats. Should your fortress be slaughtered by invaders or drowned by flooding or tantrum spiraled, your fortress will be preserved until more migrants arrive, or the AI runs out of food.

Bonus: Make the A.I. dwarf a vampire. Vampires don't need food, alcohol, or sleep and cannot age, which makes them perfect for the job. As an added bonus, keeping a vampire in this way will make your fortress completely indestructible, as sealing him in will prevent the possibility of the vampire of being killed in combat or from a syndrome, while keeping the vampire from making friends he will inevitably outlive will prevent him from going insane. (It also ensures that the bloodsucker won't use any of your dwarves as a midnight snack.) NOTE: Vampires may still go insane without any blood. Might be worth considering adding on a 3rd "feeding chamber" where you assign an unfortunate victim to sleep whenever the vampire gets hungry.

===D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P.===

Dwarven Organic Switch Toggle, Neutered Gastrectomied Overpersistent Sober Prisoner. Goblins have several advantages over dwarves in the lever pulling department: they live forever, do not breed or tantrum, and need not eat, drink, or sleep. Seal one or more goblins in your supercomputer complex, and use their predictable pathing in combination with instantly lockable doors and pressure plates to make dwarven lever pulling a thing of an older, less advanced era.

Also known by several product names:
*G.O.B.L.I.N.A.T.O.R. - '''G'''oblin '''O'''perated '''B'''astion of '''L'''ogic to '''I'''nfalliably '''N'''eutralize '''A'''ntiquated '''T'''ypes of '''O'''perational '''R'''egimes
*N.G.O.K.A.N.G. - '''N'''efarious '''G'''oblin '''O'''f '''K'''illing '''A'''nd '''N'''eedless '''G'''riping
*S.T.O.Z.U. - '''S'''ecret '''T'''echnological '''O'''perative who '''Z'''aps '''U'''nruly Nobles

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. While goblin pressure plate runners require more space than dwarven lever pullers, once their room is set up, it's done, and easily copied for the next one. With only one goblin, you'll need a pressure plate for every possible combination of lever states, but it's easy to add more goblins instead.

'''Usefulness:''' High. Instant response time (<50 ticks is possible) can make lever worries a thing of the past. The D.O.S.T.N.G.O.S.P. requires absolutely no maintenance once set up. Unlike with the U.R.I.S.Ts of the previous generation, modern POW-based computing is never held hostage to eating, drinking, or breaks. Stay tuned for the next-generation C.A.C.A.M.E.!

==Vomitorium==
[[Image:Vomit_Trail.png‎|thumb|right|Vomitoria: preventing cave adaptation since [[23a:Vomit|23a]].]]

Prevents [[cave adaptation]]. It's like the greenhouse, only instead of a farm, it's a [[meeting hall]] or [[barracks]]. Since you can't build [[table]]s or [[bed]]s outside, build the room and [[channel]] down to it. Variant: above-ground statue garden or zoo.

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Low. Make sure to wall the pit in, or it will become very [[fun]] once [[goblin]] archers become involved.

Bonus: Make an ACTUAL Vomitorium for this - Build a [[meeting hall]] with a [[grate]]d floor. Let [[cave adaptation]] set in, then open the place up for the most extravagant and lavish of parties every 3~4 years! Those will be some Armok grade hangovers though....

==Water tower==
This functions much like real life: Lifting water above ground level creates pressure, allowing buried pipes to deliver water to any elevation below the top of the tower. This is smarter, faster, and cheaper than a map-spanning raised aqueduct. A pump stack at the river, raising water into a sealed, pressurized U-bend, can deliver large volumes of water to whatever level you want, very quickly.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. No harder than any other pump stack to design, but high pressure can amplify minor errors into abandon-worthy disasters. You could conceivably divert the river into your fort. Be sure to make an off-switch.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Once the pump stack is operating, you no longer need to be anywhere near your water source.

==Watervator==
By creating a vertical "'''H'''ydraulic '''E'''levation and '''L'''owering '''P'''latform" chamber, or HELP (so named for the cries of the passenger dwarf) with lever controlled water levels, you can move a dwarf up several z-levels without any stairs. All it takes is the dwarf's ability to swim up to the surface of the water to breathe.

'''Difficulty:''' Medium. Moderate possibility of Fun by way of flooding your fortress. Any dwarves that can't swim will instead experience Fun when using the Watervator. The actual construction time and resource usage is very low. Using the Watervator often leads to unhappy thoughts about drowning

'''Usefulness:''' Low to Medium. The Watervator requires manual micromanaging, while stairs do not. On the other hand, it can be used to create a pathway that most <s>Dwarves</s> enemies will simply be unable to use. Those that can would still be doing so at great risk of drowning or falling to their death. It is recommend that with the exception of the entrance you use stairs.

*Bonus: Utilize vampires (who can't drown).
*MegaDwarfBonus: Utilize trained fish.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Engineer it so that it performs a full cycle on one activation of a pressure plate and include that pressure plate as a part of the patrol route, then create a reverse Watervator and also include it as a part of same patrol route, so that your militia automatically uses it to get in and out the fortress.

==Werewolf clock==
The changing of the werewolf is the most reliable indicator of the passing of seasons. For precisely one day per full moon, he will go berserk and trigger standard pressure plates.

'''Difficulty:''' You will get a were sooner or later. Getting him pitted in the right spot without havoc is the hard part.

'''Usefulness:''' Low/None. As of Premium, the lunar phase is permanently affixed to the user interface, making a werewolf clock frankly redundant.

*Bonus: Make the werewolf do most of the work himself.

==Zombie thunderdome==
Embark in a [[surroundings#Evil|reanimating]] biome in the current version (preferably savage as well), find or dig a deep pit, and dump any unused (non-dorf) corpses and butchery products into it. They will animate and begin to walk around, providing you with the endless entertainment afforded by watching horse hair walk. Make sure the pit is deep enough not to scare your dwarves!

'''Difficulty:''' Low.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. Keeping your fort safe from the threat of animated beak dog beaks is worth any price. However, [[DF2012:Defense guide|there may be better things]] [[DF2012:Mega construction|to do with your time]].

*Bonus: Set up a series of [[bridge|defenses]] that drop invaders into the pit.
*DwarfBonus: Set up a series of bridges and walls that flings invaders into the pit.
*MegaDwarfBonus: Drop a Megabeast into the pit and watch it do battle with multiple layers of undead.
*CavernFunBonus: Channel the bottom into a cavern and let your zombies hunt [[forgotten beast|the wonderful creatures there]].
**BonusFunBonus: Let them hunt [[Demon|Clowns]] as well.
*ZombieDwarfBonus: Ignore the suggestion above and dump dwarven corpses in anyway.

==Zombie shooting gallery==

In a reanimating biome, build a holding room for your undead, wall it off with fortifications. In the adjacent (accessible) area, build an archery range and order your archery squads to train there. Your marksdwarves will go to their scheduled archery training and whenever a zombie is raised, they'll switch focus from the boring old archery target and instead shoot down the undead. Once the zombies are dead, they'll return to regular shooting practice until the corpses rise again. The raised corpses cannot attack through fortifications and thus cause no unhappy thoughts from seeing them, but will spook haulers trying to collect errant socks from the shooting range.

A viable (if finicky) alternative to a reanimating biome could be a [[necromancer]]. This has the benefit of being more controllable, but comes with the threat of [[intelligent undead]] and their abilities. Most would be relatively harmless or a minor inconvenience, but some are potentially lethal to your dwarves. Whether or not this is a downside depends on how many corpses you have available to restock the gallery.

'''Difficulty:''' Low. The difficulty lies in finding a source of permanent undead, the actual construction is trivial.

'''Usefulness:''' Medium. This setup significantly increases the skill gain from bolts used by training dwarves, since every bolt shot at a zombie counts as combat action, giving much more experience. The scheme works without any supervision once set up.

{{Category|Design}}
[[ru:Stupid dwarf trick]]

Object testing arena

2024-07-22T08:53:16Z

PLMMJ: Rewrote something to avoid spoiling the HFS.

{{av}}
{{Quality|Exceptional|10:34, 2 February 2023 (UTC)}}
{{Distinguish|Megaproject#Colosseum|l1=arena created in fortress mode}}
[[File:testing_arena_v50_preview.png|thumb|270px|right|Layout of the classic arena, similar to arena in previous verisons.]]The '''object testing arena''' is a special game mode accessible through the main menu where the player can alternate between spawning [[creature]]s, manipulating objects and features such as the [[weather]] and [[temperature]]. It is a tremendously useful place, usable for testing [[modding|modded]] [[raws]], or determining which skills to train against which enemies... or you can just have some fun carnage by spawning 50 [[steel]]-clad [[Dwarf|dwarves]] and setting them on some unarmed [[Elf|elves]] for that combat log goodness. It's possible to save games in it, in order to continue testing from a previous session.

In this version of the game, there are three choices of arenas: small arena, forest and classic arena, with the last choice being the same arena from older versions of ''Dwarf Fortress''. Unlike the older versions of the game, the player can no longer butcher corpses, nor control them as if playing [[adventure mode]], though this is most likely due to the game not yet having adventure mode.

== Spawning creatures ==
[[File:many_creatures_v50_preview.png|thumb|172px|right|Many creatures packed into one area.]]The list of creatures can be seen with the {{key|k}} key - press {{key|c}} to create a creature, select the creature type, skills and equipment, and then press {{key|enter}}. Press {{key|Esc}} (or whatever you bound "leave screen" to) to cancel without creating the creature. You cannot delete creatures, but you can, however, press {{key|w}} then {{key|l}} (in the {{k|k}} menu) to create a stone wall, instantly killing anything on that tile. Creatures with the {{token|ARENA_RESTRICTED}} or {{token|DOES_NOT_EXIST}} tokens can't be spawned in the object testing arena, unless the aforementioned tags are removed from their raw files. Note that some creatures with no combat capabilities (such as [[vermin]]) cannot be spawned, regardless of having the aforementioned tokens or not. Additionally, many procedurally-generated creatures such as [[forgotten beast]]s or [[titan]]s are unavailable to be spawned.

=== Inventory and skills ===
While in the creature placement menu, it is possible to add skills to your creatures, such as the fighter skill, or weapons, ammo, and armor. Creatures unable to use the weapons given to them will drop them upon unpausing, but creatures such as dwarves will happily do so, as long as they at least have dabbling-rank in its associated skill. You can also set exactly how much of a certain item you want when you select it, by using the {{key|+}} or {{key|-}} keys, which is the only way to get a creature to hold more than one piece of ammo, as the arena lacks an option for spawning quivers or backpacks.

=== Conditions ===
A creature can be created with a unique condition from an [[interaction token|interaction]] by pressing {{key|u}} in the creation menu. In vanilla games, the available effects are the interactions of [[necromancer]]s, [[undead|animated corpse]]s, [[mummy|disturbed dead]], [[Mummy|accursed]], [[werebeast]]s and [[vampire]]s, including any modded interaction with a defined arena name.

=== Teams ===
It is possible to 'Team' creatures up by pressing {{k|s}} and {{k|d}} in the creation menu which is shown on the top left-hand side. There are 9999 teams (instead of 99 as in the previous versions), as well as "Independent", which is the default and acts as every creature for itself.

In this way, you can create simulated battles against beasts or enemies - for example, twenty sword-users versus twenty macemen - and analyze the battle from [[gamelog.txt]]. ([[Necromancer]]s and [[mummy|disturbed dead]] that are marked as Independent will '''not''' be at peace with the [[undead|zombies]] that they raise. This is not a bug, because arena independence overrides anything else.)

===Nature of conflict===
The [[level of conflict]] between creatures or alliances can be controlled in the main screen with the keys {{key|shift+C}} and {{key|c}}. The available settings are, from most lethal to least:

*{{DFtext|No Quarter|5:1}}
*{{DFtext|Lethal|4:1}}
*{{DFtext|Non-lethal|6:1}}
*{{DFtext|Brawl|3:1}}
*{{DFtext|Training|7:1}}
*{{DFtext|Horseplay|2:1}}
*{{DFtext|Encounter|7:0}}

[[Morale]] may also be switched on or off, by clicking the option at the right side of the screen.

== Spawning liquids and trees ==
From the loo{{key|k}}/create menu, press {{key|l}} to spawn a 7/7 unit of lava, or {{key|w}} to spawn 7/7 water on the currently selected tile. If you place water and then lava in the same tile, they will immediately form a 'Rough-hewn Rock Wall' (i.e. before you unpause), resulting in no spillage. However, placing lava and then water fills the tile with lava-hot water, which then instantly turns to steam upon unpausing. It is also possible to spawn rock walls in mid-air, usually causing a [[cave-in]]. You can place fluids in a tile that also has a wall in it; the result is a tile with both a wall ''and'' 7/7 units of the fluid you placed (water or lava). This combination behaves exactly the same as normal water without the wall would, except the area is still considered inaccessible for water to move through.

Multi-tile [[tree]]s are also available from the loo{{key|k}}/create menu, under {{key|t}}ree. Using the submenu on the right, you can select the species of tree and set its {{key|a}}ge. Pressing {{key|enter}} will spawn a tree at the cursor using the current settings. Trees can be placed anywhere, even a rock block floor or in ''mid-air'' (the latter will also cause a cave-in, amusingly replacing intermediate rock block floors with sand). Arena-created trees do not spawn with roots, nor is it possible to chop down a tree, though they can be burned by spawning lava, killing the tree.

== Fighting in the Arena yourself ==
Loo{{key|k}} at any creature, and press {{key|a}} to play as them, or {{key|ctrl+a}} to exit back to the main mode.
*The controls here are exactly the same as in [[adventurer mode]], except that attempting to {{key|a}} a [[corpse]] results in the corpse being [[butcher]]ed.

==Controlling the environment==
The arena's environment can be modified in-game by pressing {{k|w}}. From this screen, you can adjust Weather, Temperature, and Time. You can also press {{k|s}} to cover every map tile in snow, {{k|m}} to make everything muddy, and {{k|x}} to remove all mud and snow.

===Weather===
This section has 4 options, each of which can be set to various settings:
* Cumulus
** No cumulus clouds
** Scattered cumulus
** Many cumulus (rain)
** Cumulonimbus (rain)
* Cirrus (toggle)
* Stratus
** No stratus
** Altostratus
** Stratus (rain)
** Nimbostratus (rain)
* Fog
** No fog
** Thin mist
** Fog
** Thick fog

As expected, the options marked with "(rain)" will cause it to start raining.

===Temperature & Time===
The arena's temperature and time can be set to one of 13 settings, each:

* Dragonfire - {{ct|50000}}
* Magma - {{ct|12000}}
* Fire - {{ct|11000}}
* Scorching - {{ct|10080}}
* Hot - {{ct|10070}}
* Warm - {{ct|10050}}
* Cool - {{ct|10035}}
* Cold - {{ct|10020}}
* Subterranean - {{ct|10015}}
* Freezing - {{ct|9999}}
* Below freezing - {{ct|9968}}
* Deathly cold - {{ct|9850}}
* Absolute zero - {{ct|9508}}

------------

* Dawn (5:30am)
* Morning (8:00am)
* Late morning (10:30am)
* Noon (1:00pm)
* Early afternoon (2:00pm)
* Late afternoon (3:30pm)
* Early evening (5:00pm)
* Evening (6:30pm)
* Dusk (8:30pm)
* Night (10:00pm)
* Midnight (12:00am)
* Late night (2:00am)
* Early morning (4:00am)

==Modifying the Arena layout==
{{file|DF/data/init/arena.txt|section=yes}}
The layout of the arena zone is stored in the (DF)/data/init folder. Modifications to this file will not change the dimensions of the arena; they can only change the initial tiles and fluids present.

The arena is composed of 9 [[z-level]]s (including Z=0, from Z=-4 to Z=4) of 144 x 144 tiles; the contents of each tile are specified by a single character:

{| class="wikitable pre-table"
|- bgcolor="#ddd"
! Character
! Description

|-
| <pre>#</pre>
| [[Open space|Empty tile]] [1]
|-
| <pre>C</pre>
| [[Chasm]]

|-
| <pre>.</pre>
| [[Block]] [[floor]]

|-
| <pre>P</pre>
| [[Block]] [[wall|pillar/wall]]

|-
| <pre>R</pre>
| [[Block]] [[ramp]]

|-
| <pre>F</pre>
| [[Block]] [[fortification]]

|-
| <pre>+</pre>
| [[Water]] source [1] [2]
|-
| <pre>W</pre>
| 7/7 [[water]] [1]
|-
| <pre>w</pre>
| 7/7 [[water]] + upward [[ramp]]

|-
| <pre>L</pre>
| 7/7 [[magma|magma/lava]] [1]
|-
| <pre>l</pre>
| 7/7 [[magma|magma/lava]] + upward [[ramp]]

|-
| <pre>g</pre>
| [[Grass]] [3]
|-
| <pre>T</pre>
| [[Tree]] [3]
|-
| <pre>~</pre>
| [[Sand]] [3]
|-
| <pre>,</pre>
| [[Soil]] [3]

|}

# Tile will have no floor unless a pillar/wall is constructed on the z-level below.
# Only seems to work when placed on map edge; behaves identically to capital <code>W</code> otherwise.
# Only one type will be present, but it will be randomly selected each time you enter the Arena.


==Trivia==
*Due to how "teams" are handled in the testing arena, strange behaviors can occur when necromancers and mummies are resurrecting nearby deceased and detached body parts. For example, a necromancer revives the body parts of a dead, dismembered dwarf in an effort to aid itself in fighting, but because the dwarf was on the "independent" team (or just a different one from the necromancer), the body parts just end up attacking the necromancer that raised them. So said necromancer may end up killing what it resurrected, only to keep resurrecting what it just killed to fight it again, which can happen over and over in an endless loop - all due to the clashing of how the arena handles teams/sides and the necromancer's natural AI in raising the dead to help itself.

{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Object testing arena]]

Moth man

2024-07-22T02:59:14Z

PLMMJ: Shrunk a link.

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=moth_man_sprite.png
|portrait=moth_man_portrait.png}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Moth men''' are [[animal people]] variants of the common [[moth]], who can inhabit most [[savage]] [[biome]]s. They spawn in groups of 1-5 individuals and are generally content to keep to themselves, but may pick fights if provoked. In terms of size, they are a little over half the weight of the average [[dwarf]]. All moth men are born with Legendary [[skill]] in [[Climber|climbing]].

Like other savage animal people, moth men can join [[civilization]]s, become [[historical figure]]s, appear as [[visitor]]s and be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] moth men for their ''coloration''.

{{D for Dwarf}}
Moth men are not, in fact, any sort of secretive paranormal monster, as dwarves find and kill them on a semiregular basis. The humans are just overreacting.

Additionally, and contrary to popular belief, moth men do not appear as a warning before cave-ins, structural failures or other unfortunate accidents. Warnings of such incidents should only be managed by burrow assignment rather than superstition. Get back to work.

Some [[human]] peasant has a strange preference to moth women.

{{Translation| dwarven = alen udos | elvish = ìnevi onino | goblin = atan ngorûg | human = dunem abo}}

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

Brown recluse spider man

2024-07-22T01:18:23Z

PLMMJ: Added a joke

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=brown_recluse_spider_man_sprite.png
|portrait=brown_recluse_spider_man_portrait.png}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}
'''Brown recluse spider men''' are humanoid versions of the common [[brown recluse spider]] and a species of [[animal people]], found in [[savage]] [[temperate]] broadleaf [[forest]]s. They are a little over half the size of an adult [[dwarf]] and appear in groups of 1-3 individuals. Their existence is marked by [[web]]s scattered across the surface, but the creatures themselves are uncommon to encounter.

They do not feel [[No Pain|pain]] or fear, and have three pairs of arms and a moderately [[Syndrome|venomous]] bite that is usually deflected by [[clothes]], but is quite effective at incapacitating animals with pain. Additionally, they cannot disturb or be caught in webs.

Like other savage animal people, brown recluse spider men may occasionally appear in your fortress as visitors, or even join [[civilization]]s, becoming full-fledged [[citizenship|citizens]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] brown recluse spider men for their ''venomous bite''.

=== Adventure Mode ===
As adventurers, besides the advantages listed above, they have the advantages of no need for sleep, and their 6 arms allow them to equip up to five [[shield]]s and a [[weapon]] if shield-user skill is selected at chargen. They can actually harvest webs and turn them into [[thread]]; an empty hand must be available to hold the web in order to convert it into thread.

The downsides include a non-standard and rather small body size, meaning most found [[armor]] will not be useful, and strength will be at a penalty. Additionally, brown recluse spider men are completely unable to swim or consume plant food (e.g. berries) due to being carnivorous.

Due to the way ''Dwarf Fortress'' names things, upon achieving superior base stats, these creatures become ''superbrown'' (e.g. having "superbrown recluse spider man strength").

[[File:recluse_spider_man.jpg|thumb|220px|center|Much smaller than pictured.]]

{{D for Dwarf}}
The nature of the animal person creature variation template means that they cannot, in fact, do whatever a spider can.


It is commonly assumed by uninformed dwarves that brown recluse spider men have the lower half of a spider. This is incorrect and illogical for animal people.

{{Translation| dwarven = neb orstist sethal udos | elvish = bideÿe éniri thepani onino | goblin = urso ästspub utes ngorûg | human = tasar zinga azoc abo}}

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

Anvil

2024-07-21T09:52:51Z

PLMMJ: /* Origins */ Added my theory.

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
{{v50_item | name=Anvil
|graphic=[[File:Anvil premium.png]]
|tile=σ
|metal=y
|bars=3
|used for=
* [[Metalsmith's forge]]
* [[Magma forge]]
|value=10
|size=10,000
}}

'''Anvils''' are required to build [[forge]]s, whether conventional or [[magma forge|magma powered]]. Since at least one is absolutely required if your fortress intends to do ''any'' metalworking whatsoever, and the only way to ''make'' an anvil is with a metalsmith's forge (whether from a [[strange mood]] or by normal means), your first anvil ''must'' be sourced from outside of your colony, either at [[embark]] or through later [[trading]]. Anvils require three [[metal]] [[bar]]s to be [[smith]]ed at a forge - once you have one to begin with. As this is recursive, the origins of the first anvil are hard to discern.[[#Origins|*]]

Anvils may normally be made of [[iron]], [[steel]] or [[adamantine]], and smithing an anvil uses the [[blacksmithing]] [[skill]]. Magma forge anvils in particular must be [[magma-safe]], which is not a problem for conventionally crafted anvils, but may be for legendary strange mood anvils, which are often made out of other, non magma-safe metals (or even non-''fire''-safe metals such as [[zinc]], which would yield an anvil which cannot be used for any purposes). Otherwise, however, neither the material used nor the anvil's quality affects the performance of the forge: only the [[skill]] of the metalworker does.

== Acquisition ==
[[File:anvil_preview.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Not just for cartoons.]]If your [[civilization]] has access to [[iron]] [[ore]], a standard (no quality) iron anvil will be included by default in your [[starting build|starting equipment]], for a cost of 100 embark points. If not, then your starting equipment will include a [[steel]] anvil, for a cost of 300 embark points. Not taking an iron anvil is usually only a component of [[challenges]], but not taking a steel one may be viable, given its high cost.

If you choose not to bring an anvil, you are refunded the 100 or 300 point cost, to be used for other purchases of items or skills. You will then have to [[trade]] for your first anvil with the dwarven or [[human]] [[caravan]]s that usually, ''but not always'', carry one or more iron or steel anvils with them (at the same cost as at embark). If this fails the first time around, you may also request one from the [[Outpost liaison|dwarven liaison]], if you are willing to pay an increased price to guarantee that at least one anvil arrives with next year's caravan.

Tearing down a forge retrieves the anvil used to build it, which can then be stored, traded, [[melt]]ed, or re-used to build another forge. Anvils are considered [[furniture]] and will be stored in a furniture [[stockpile]] if not utilized in a [[forge]].

The anvil's high value means that it is a tempting target for the first wave of thieving animals, so it is a good idea to create a forge as soon as possible solely for the purpose of keeping the anvil nailed down.

== Origins ==
{{d for dwarf}}
Since an anvil is required for an anvil to be made, the origin of the ''first'' anvil is a complete mystery. The theories of how this occurred are split into two categories:

Correlation does not imply causation: There's another way to make an anvil, and the theoretical time before that occurred is referred to as the era before anvil (BA)

* One theory of the anvil's origin is that a dwarf struck by a [[strange mood]] made one of [[stone]] or [[bone]] (though this isn't actually possible in-game). Another more radical theory put forward by dwarven philosopher [[Main:Urist|Urist]] McTaggart is that the first one was made of [[wood]] in a similar manner. This was deemed a heresy and he was later sentenced to be hammered for being an [[elf]] sympathizer by an angry [[mayor]] who had a strange fondness for [[glass]].
* Recently unearthed documents seem to indicate that the anvil was the first major tool produced by the earliest dwarven societies. It is generally accepted that humans first created the plow, and oral histories record that the first accomplishment of the [[elves]] was the domestication of forest animals. There are questions regarding the implications of this revelation, however. Skeptics question how the anvil was created without a hammer, how the metal was shaped, and what social, cultural, or environmental pressures could have required the invention of what is, when reduced to its most basic nature, a flat surface used to position objects scheduled to be struck repeatedly. Dwarven scholars suggest that the first anvils were made of [[stone]], not metal, and were little more than flattened stone [[block]]s, chipped with flint or [[obsidian]]. Others suggest they may have been thrones{{bug|6537}}. This possibility has sparked an interest among dwarven scholars in attempting to recreate stone anvil replicas, but such enterprises are generally regarded with indifference by dwarven society at large.
* Regardless of dwarven theories some humans believe that there must have been early technologies to produce an anvil without the usage of a hammer or an anvil. While improving the production of anvils through the dissemination and use of anvils over the centuries, the original method was forgotten. Dwarven philosophers argue that dwarven technology has always been driven by perfection from the beginning and nothing was developed over time. Besides, dwarven history never forgets.

Correlation implies causation: An anvil is required to make an anvil

* One researcher posits that all anvils originate from the FirstAnvil. Where does it come from? The FirstAnvil, of course. It's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down anvils all the way down.]
* Other theories include the "Great Anvil" hypothesis, claiming that there exists the "Great Anvil" who rises out of the furnace that he thinks is the most sincere. He rises from said furnace and flies through the air with his bag of anvils for all the dwarves.
* The dwarven philosopher Urist McStotle has recently suggested that the existence of Anvils is evidence that dwarven civilization will eventually develop a method of visiting (or at the very least, sending anvils to) the past.
* A related conjecture proposes that if time is cyclical, the last anvil could be the first anvil. This could also explain the first hammer, the first dwarf, etc. however no evidence has yet been provided in support of this hypothesis.
* The first anvil was given as a gift from the god of smithing. Engraved with the secrets of mineralogy and metalworking, it taught dwarves everything they know of finding, smelting and shaping metals. There is considerable theological debate going on over WHICH god of smithing was responsible. Some believe that such an outpouring of information could only have been a collaborative effort by all gods of smithing.
* The first anvil or anvils are the only remnants of the previous kalpa. Every time Armok the World Eater unmakes the universe, He leaves at least one anvil behind. The dwarves inevitably find one and use it to make more anvils, at least one of which is carried over to the next world, completing the cycle.
* It is unknown at this time how [[Armok]]'s Anvil of Creation was forged. When questioned by a particularly suicidal dwarf on the subject, he grew very grumpy and quickly unmade that universe.
* Dwarves did not create the anvil. Rather, the anvil created the dwarves. A naked, starving primitive protodwarf discovers a naturally-occurring anvil. Its mind roars with vision of prosperity. This is the beginning of civilisation. This leads to the conclusion that the existence of dwarf civilization is a method of anvil reproduction. Urist McDawkins penned the book, "The Selfish Anvil," on this topic.
* Another, more realist hypothesis holds that Dwarves pre-existed anvils. In this proposal, a naturally-occurring anvil formed in the caldera of the active volcano, Mt. Mood, which was experiencing a fey mood. When a medium-sized glob and a small glob of non-magma-safe metal were coughed up by a small eruption, landing close enough to the magma pool to form a natural anvil and natural hammer, which they called ''Utharzuntîr'' ("The First Anvil"), and ''Utharekastnil Stodir'' ("The First Safe Hammer of Volcanos"). However, after Urist McBlacksmith incurred an unfortunate smelting accident due to a stray pyroclastic projectile, her daughter, Urist McBlacksmith 2.0, entered a fey mood and forged the first portable anvil, ''Uthareshimzuntîr'' ("The First Free Anvil") from the fires of Mt. Mood. The proceeding autumn, a trade expedition was launched, during which the McBlacksmiths transported ''Utharekastnil Stodir'' and ''Uthareshimzuntîr'' to every dwarven settlement on their continent, loaning the hammer and anvil out to each during the lengthy process of trade goods loading. Because this tour allowed each fort to create their own anvil and hammer, it became known as ''Nilzuntîr Gomaththatthilnilgashcoz Zuntîr'' ("Hammeranvil the Legendary Autumnal Hammer-Proliferation of Anvils"). An alternate, more dwarf-centric version of the story holds that nature played no role: ''Utharzuntîr'' and ''Uthareshimzuntîr'' were the same anvil -- Urist McBlacksmith carved out the shape of an anvil and hammer into the obsidian of the caldera, then repeatedly checked the spot after eruptions until finally, one day, the right liquid metal had settled into the mold. If this is true, then somewhere there must exist a unique anvil made from a unique alloy, and a hammer made of matching stuff. However, these artifacts remains to be discovered...
*The first (dorf sized) anvil was created when, during the process of making a world, Armok Himself entered a fey mood and grew a conscience, which expressed itself for just long enough for Him to create an anvil for dwarves to advance with. All other anvils were made with it at first.

{{Translation
| dwarven = zuntîr
| elvish = othala
| goblin = umas
| human = utdar
}}

[[ru:Anvil]]
{{Buildings}}
{{Category|Furniture}}
{{Category|Items}}

Adder man

2024-07-20T17:29:12Z

PLMMJ: Fixed a typo

{{Quality|Fine}}
{{av}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=adder_man_sprite.png
|portrait=adder_man_portrait.png}}
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'''Adder men''' are [[animal people]] variants of the common [[adder]] who can inhabit a number of [[savage]] [[temperate]] regions. They spawn in groups of 1-5 individuals and retain their base venomous snakes' poisonous bites, [[syndrome|syndromic]] effects being: strong pain in the short-term and swelling, blisters, and nausea in the long. For this reason, it's not recommended that you use these seemingly weak creatures as military practice targets without multiple ranged weapons and/or a complete set of [[armor]]; if your [[dwarf]] can't fight because they're doubled over in pain, they're very likely to be ripped apart by their aggressor. Needless to say, avoid provoking them unless prepared. In terms of size, they are a little over half the weight of the average dwarf.

Like other savage animal people, adder men can join [[civilization]]s, become [[historical figure]]s, appear as [[visitor]]s and be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] adder men for their ''warning hisses''.

[[File:adder_man.jpg|thumb|200px|center|''Art by frankwest16'']]

{{D for Dwarf}}
Adder men have nothing to do with [[Adder (Computing)|dwarven computing]], despite what they may say.

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Slug man

2024-07-20T07:15:40Z

PLMMJ: Fixed game title in comment.

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'''Slug men''' are [[animal people]] variants of the common [[slug]], who can inhabit most [[savage]] [[biome]]s. They spawn in groups of 1-3 individuals and are generally content to keep to themselves. In terms of size, they are a little over half the weight of the average [[dwarf]].

Like other savage animal people, slug men can join [[civilization]]s, become [[historical figure]]s, appear as [[visitor]]s and be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] slug men for their ''slime trails''.

[[File:slug_man.jpg|thumb|430px|center|Slippery to the touch.]]

{{Translation| dwarven = tozör udos | elvish = ralu onino | goblin = omu ngorûg | human = dush abo}}

{{D for Dwarf}}

Slug men have been shown to have a preference for spears over other weapons and are highly fascinated by large dwarven computers.

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Ocelot man

2024-07-20T06:59:25Z

PLMMJ: Fixed the reference.

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'''Ocelot men''' are [[animal people]] variants of the common [[ocelot]] who can be found in most [[savage]] [[tropical]] regions. They spawn in groups of 1-5 individuals and are generally content to keep to themselves. In terms of size, they are a little over half the weight of the average [[dwarf]].

Like other savage animal people, they can join [[civilization]]s, become [[historical figure]]s, appear as [[visitor]]s and be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] ocelot men for their ''coat patterns''.

{{D for Dwarf}}

'''Ocelot men''' are best known for their tendency to spin around while dual-wielding [[crossbow]]s. They may spawn alongside [[Snake man|Snake men]], but whether they are hostile to each other depends on the version of the game.

[[File:ocelot_woman.jpg|thumb|192px|center|Might be tamable with fish. ''Art by Palelady'']]
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‼SCIENCE‼

2024-07-20T06:50:04Z

PLMMJ: link

{{D for Dwarf}}

== a.k.a. Science On Fire ==
A specific form of [[wikipedia:Bartle Test#Explorers|spading]] in which one or more dwarven test subjects are observed in laboratory habitat. Dwarves may also conduct such test; indeed the same dwarf performing ‼Science‼ may also ''be'' the ‼Science‼ Dwarven adventurers may also perform ‼Science‼, but if it's not a dwarf, it just isn't ‼Science‼

Not to be confused with science. ‼Science‼, in comparison to science, generally involves more magma, more [[‼]][[Dwarf|DWARVES]][[‼]] and more [[Fun]].

[[Category:Lore]]
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[[ru:!!SCIENCE!!]]

Toad man

2024-07-20T06:43:57Z

PLMMJ: added mega man 4 reference

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'''Toad men''' are humanoid versions of the common [[toad]] and a [[Creature|species]] of unremarkable [[animal people]]. They currently cannot be encountered in-game due to a bug which prevents variations on pond-spawning vermin from being placed in the world.

If they were encounterable, however, they would be a bit over half the size of [[dwarf|dwarves]] when adults and spawn in groups of 1-5 individuals, posing no threat to [[Dwarf|dwarves]] unless provoked.
Like other savage animal people, toad men would occasionally join [[civilization]]s, becoming full-fledged citizens who could appear in your fortress as [[visitor]]s, or [[historical figure]]s, or be playable in [[adventurer mode]].

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] toad men for their ''beauty''.

[[File:toad_man.png|thumb|280px|center|Ready to hop into action. ''Art by Rhys Harvey'']]

{{D for Dwarf}}

The absence of toad men has formed much speculation amongst civilizations. The most notable one involves a group of three intergalactic toad men who leap from planet to planet to defeat a "dark queen", whom had kidnapped all of the other toad men of the world.


Toad men have also been reported to occupy dams, and these specific toad men seem to be followed around by rain. However, this does not make them harder to slay.

{{Translation| dwarven = nod udos | elvish = imadu onino | goblin = ngusnog ngorûg | human = budok abo}}

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