Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

System requirements

2022-02-05T20:32:59Z

Quantum Dwarf:

{{Quality|Fine|10:33, 8 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}

:''If you're looking for information on improving the performance of Dwarf Fortress on your computer, see [[Maximizing framerate|Maximizing Framerate]]. For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''

''Dwarf Fortress'' is a very complex game, but in ways that differ from most other complex games. This leads to the game having a somewhat unusual set of requirements.

Note that while the [http://bay12games.com/dwarves/ front page] displays only three builds, there also exist other builds [http://bay12games.com/dwarves/older_versions.html under the "All Versions" link].

== OS ==

* '''Windows''' requires XP SP3 or newer and an Intel/AMD CPU.
* '''Linux''' runs natively on an Intel/AMD CPU (x86 or amd64) with the [[Installation#Linux|proper dependencies]] installed. Running the Windows build under Wine is an alternative, but introduces overhead that may be significant.
* '''MacOS''' requires 10.5 (Leopard) or later and an Intel CPU. There is not an ARM build yet, but the existing macOS build may work under Rosetta.
* Builds for other systems do not exist. Depending on your system, it ''may'' be possible to run the other builds through some messing around.

==GPU==

''Dwarf Fortress'' is not particularly graphically intensive, even when using high-res [[tilesets]] and [[graphics set]]s. ''Dwarf Fortress'' also doesn't use technologies like [[wikipedia:OpenCL|OpenCL]] to make use of graphics cards anyway, so a top-of-the-line graphics card will generally not improve performance.

==CPU==

''Dwarf Fortress'' mostly operates on a single thread, so if you want to optimize for DF, you should probably optimize for single-core performance. This is especially true if you want to do more laggy things, such as [[mist]] generators. However, laggy circumstances are generally the exception, not the rule, and in those other circumstances, you generally don't need a ''particularly'' powerful CPU.

=== Cache size ===

As ''Dwarf Fortress''' bottlenecks are mostly due to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_cache#Cache_miss cache misses], it has been [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=151121.msg6270374#msg6270374 speculated on the DF forums] that "a CPU with a positively giant L3/L4 cache (and I mean > 256 mb or GTFO)" would improve DF performance, as would using faster RAM with smaller [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS_latency transfer times]—see the next section.

== RAM ==

During [[Fortress mode|regular]] [[Adventurer mode|gameplay]], ''Dwarf Fortress'' usually doesn't consume too much memory. 512MB is probably a bit tight, but 1GB is absolutely sufficient, though if you're short on RAM, you may want to quit other running processes. What's particularly important during regular gameplay is RAM ''latency''—since the game uses the RAM ''every single frame'', it's important that your RAM be fast, lest you experience FPS death.

However, [[world generation]] is known to eat up a lot more RAM than normal gameplay, especially if you generate world that are particularly large or have long histories. Multiple gigabytes may be consumed. To be safe, you should shut down any background processes when generating a world, and if you're particularly tight on RAM, consider reducing the size or history of the worlds you generate—the game is rich enough with content that you'll still have plenty of things to do, and you can always tweak the other, less RAM-hungry [[advanced world generation]] parameters. (RAM latency is less of a problem here, since you'll only need to do this once every so often.)

== SDL vs. Legacy ==
[http://www.libsdl.org/ SDL] is a cross-platform application framework. The SDL version of DF runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It includes Baughn's new OpenGL code, which is faster and has more features (including support for PNG tilesets and using scroll wheels).

"Legacy" refers to the (Windows-only) framework Toady used before migrating to SDL. The legacy version is only necessary if the SDL version doesn't work for some reason.

== Experiential reports ==
=== Report format ===
Please read [[System_requirements/Report_Template|the report template]] page before contributing any reports.

=== Reports ===

Configuration type: Self-built PC from 2008
;Game info
:Game version: v0.34.07
:World size: Small
:Embark size: 4×4
:Age of fort: 1 year
:Number of dwarves: 15
:Average fps: 100
:Default/nondefault raws: default
:Tileset in use: Mayday
:Amount of stone dug: ~3000
:Amount of water and state: About 15 murky pools, no river or stream
:Approximate amount of z-levels: 10
:RAM usage of game: 622 Mb
:Draw mode in init.txt: 2D

;PC info
:CPU: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
:MBO: Gigabyte P35-DS3L
:RAM: 4GB DDR2 @ 800Mhz
:GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD5850
:OS: Windows 7 Professional x64

----

Configuration type: Self-built PC from 2012
;Game info
:Game version: v0.34.11
:World size: Small
:Embark size: 4×4
:Age of fort: 8 years
:Number of dwarves: 232
:Average fps: 78
:Default/nondefault raws: default
:Tileset in use: Mayday
:Amount of stone dug: ~1100
:Amount of water and state: Frozen river, frozen murky pools, two artifical-made underground rivers
:Approximate amount of z-levels: 8
:RAM usage of game: 765 Mb
:Draw mode in init.txt: 2D

;PC info
:CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.4 Ghz
:MBO: ASUS P8Z77-M PRO
:RAM: 8GB DDR3 @ 1600Mhz
:GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD5850
:OS: Windows 7 Professional x64

----

Configuration type: Self-built PC from 2012
;Game info
:Game version: v0.34.11
:World size: Small
:Embark size: 4×4
:Age of fort: 2 years
:Number of dwarves: 98
:Average fps: ~250
:Default/nondefault raws: default
:Tileset in use: Mayday
:Amount of stone dug: ~1900
:Amount of water and state: Frozen river, Frozen Pools
:Approximate amount of z-levels: 9
:RAM usage of game: 834 Mb
:Draw mode in init.txt: 2D

;PC info
:CPU: Amd Fx-8350 @ 4.8 Ghz
:MBO: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
:RAM: 16GB DDR3 @ 1866 Mhz
:GPU: Sapphire Hd 7970 Ghz Vapor X
:OS: Windows 7 Professional x64

{{Translation| dwarven = idith inem | elvish = eritha enotho | goblin = obsår eted | human = histek tikes}}

{{Category|Game}}
[[ru:System requirements]]

Human

2022-01-21T15:46:03Z

Quantum Dwarf: Rated D for Dwarf.

{{Quality|Exceptional|20:52, 20 September 2016 (UTC)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|meat=27
|bone=33
|fat=15
|skin=human skin
|nervous tissue=1
|kidney=2
|spleen=1
|sweetbread=1
|tripe=1
|liver=1
|intestines=1
|heart=1
|lung=2
|contrib=no
|wiki=yes}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Humans''' are intelligent {{Catlink|Humanoids|humanoid}} [[creatures]] that live in cities on the [[biome#Plains|plains]]. They are one of the main [[civilization]]s of the game, featured in [[fortress mode]] and playable in [[adventurer mode]]. Their buildings are made entirely of [[wood]] (or in the case of towers and castles, [[stone]] or metals like [[copper]]), and usually include several houses and [[shop]]s, and a [[tavern]]. Their metal-working technology specializes in [[bronze]], though they also make use of [[copper]], [[iron]], and [[silver]]. The typical lifespan of a human ranges between 60-120 years.

In fortress mode, they are primarily interested in [[trade]], and generally send large [[caravan]]s in [[Calendar|summer]]. Humans usually bring overworld foodstuffs, [[cloth]], [[leather]], extra-large clothing and bronze items. Trading with them is the safest way to obtain exotic items such as [[two-handed sword]]s, [[whip]]s and [[bow]]s. If their caravans are continuously destroyed or if their [[diplomat]]s are killed, regardless of cause, they will eventually send a [[siege]] force to your fortress. In adventurer mode, their nobles can be found living in castles, and after earning sufficient fame, they can give out challenging quests.

The language they speak is [[Main:Human language|human]]. Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[Preferences|like]] humans for their ''stature''.

[[File:humansprev.png|thumb|400px|center|''Conquest of Mexico: Hernando Cortes destroying his fleet at Vera Cruz, 1519'']]

==Ethics==

In-game, humans have a system of [[ethic]]s similar to real-life humans of past times. Through world generation, humans will almost always become friendly with dwarves, most likely become enemies with [[goblin]]s and [[elf|elves]], and may possibly become enemies with [[kobold]]s and [[animal people]].

The devouring of sapient beings and of dead enemy combatants are the two most horrific crimes to humans, who see them as unthinkable acts; this puts them at odds with both elves and goblins, who are more lenient. Humans routinely use torture to extract information and to set an example, but find torture for sport appalling and shun the torture of animals.

In stark contrast to the ethics of elves, kobolds and animal people, humans find keeping trophies of animals, sapient beings and of other humans perfectly acceptable. Like dwarves, humans find killing animals, enemies and plants acceptable. However, humans can avoid punishment for killing other humans if the killing had been done for good reason, unlike dwarves, who sentence murderers to death regardless of whether they can provide justification. Humans find the killing of neutral beings acceptable so long as there are no repercussions.

Human ethics regarding crime are the same as dwarven ethics (where assault, theft, trespassing and vandalism are seriously punished while some crimes such as breaking oaths and treason are punishable by death) with the one exception being that slavery is considered acceptable. Human [[Personality trait|values]], unlike other races', are randomized in every world generation, so as to fit with the common thought of humans being the most varied and flexible race.

==Community outlook==
[[File:Cleric-Knight-Workman.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Admired for their ''stature''.]]

Out of the five main races in the game, humans tend to be mostly ignored by players, largely due to their friendly disposition meaning you rarely have a reason to fight them unless you go out of your way to provoke them. Because of this, humans are typically treated by the community as being the best friends of the dwarves in almost every scenario, always bringing actually useful trading goods and sharing a dislike for the goblins and elves' savage and unwashed ways.

==Playing as Humans in fortress mode==
===Human Mercenaries/Performers===
If you have a [[tavern]] in your dwarven fortress and you live near a human civilization, humans may visit your fortress. You cannot assign them labours unless they become citizens. In time, some of them might petition for long-term residency, either as performers or as mercenaries. As a performer, they will remain in your inn and perform music, tell stories and poetry, and provide social interaction for your dwarves. As a mercenary, they will have a weapon skill, and can be enlisted in your army and controlled as you would any dwarf. Because humans are larger than dwarves, they can wield weapons that your dwarves cannot, such as [[two-handed sword]]s, [[pike]]s, and [[maul]]s. Unlike dwarves, humans do not suffer from [[cave adaptation]], so human mercenaries may be better suited to fighting outdoors. Turning a dwarven fortress into a human-only fort takes a very long time, because usually two years pass before they apply for citizenship.

===Starting a Human Fortress===
{{mod}}
To start a "Human Town" (or, alternately, an Elven [[forest retreat]], Goblin Pit or Kobold Cave) one need only add the tag [SITE_CONTROLLABLE] to the entity_default.txt file in the /raw/objects folder, under whichever race you wish to play. You should never do this after having already generated a world, as it will not work with an already-generated world. It's also advisable to only have one race playable at a time by removing the [SITE_CONTROLLABLE] tag from all but the race you wish to play, as having multiple playable races forces you to navigate the civilization selection UI in the embark screen (see the characters highlighted on the world map to know what creature the civilisation belongs to). The Elves can carry with them many different pets upon embarking, and the races will start with the appropriate food and plants (for example, humans have prickle berries instead of plump helmets by default). Also, one of the 7 humans you start with will be a "warlord" and will not work.
Another thing to note is that, when playing as humans in fortress mode, humans are unable to make adamantine wafers unless modded to do so. They can, however, work adamantine as cloth.

{{D for Dwarf}}

Fun fact: This article was most likely written by a ''human''.

{{gamedata}}
{{gamedata|title=Entity ([[civilization]]) Raws|{{raw|DF2014:entity_default.txt|ENTITY|PLAINS}}}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Humanoids}}
{{Category|Races}}

Altar

2022-01-21T15:22:48Z

Quantum Dwarf: Quality updated

{{quality|Fine|16:22, 21 January 2022 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
{{new in|0.47.01}}

{{furniture
|name=Altar
|tile={{char|144}}
|wood=y
|stonecraft=y
|metalcraft=y
|glass=y
}}

'''Altars''' are a [[furniture]] item used in [[temple]]s. In fortress mode, altars can be made from most materials, like wood at a [[Carpenter's workshop]], stone at a [[Mason's workshop]] (although using the [[Stonecrafter]] labor), glass at a [[Glass furnace]]/[[Magma glass furnace]] and metal at a [[Metalsmith's forge]]/[[Magma forge]]. They can be built with {{k|b}}-{{k|Alt|a}} labeled as '''Offering Places''', although they currently serve no purpose other than increasing a [[temple]]'s value and decoration, as temples don't require them to function.

In [[Adventure mode]], you can often find [[dice]] that can be rolled on altars.

[[ru:Altar]]

{{Gamedata|{{raw|DF2014:item_tool.txt|ITEM_TOOL|ITEM_TOOL_ALTAR}}}}
{{Buildings}}
{{Category|Furniture}}

Trap design

2022-01-19T15:07:08Z

Quantum Dwarf: Added a new minecart entry that I saw in Kruggsmash's video "Fun with Minecarts". Please help me improve it, as I am a beginner in the game. Original video is here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=daWZD9CcW5c

{{Quality|Masterwork|21:15, 28 April 2013 (UTC)}}
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:''This page is one of several inter-related articles on the broader topic of defending your fortress and your dwarves. '''Trap design''' focuses on the theory and design of complex traps, mechanical systems and other automation for defending your fortress, and also on unusual uses of simple mechanic's [[trap]]s. For a general overview of the threats that will challenge your fortress and things to consider when preparing a standard defense, see the '''[[defense guide]]'''. For tips on laying out your architecture to protect your military, see '''[[security design]]'''. For specific advice on how to get your soldiers prepared for any threat, see '''[[military]]'''.''

:''For suggestions on disposing of nobles and other unwanted residents, see [[unfortunate accident]].''
:''For a basic overview of how the different machine parts work and work together, see [[machine component]].''
:''For information on catching [[vermin]]-sized creatures in [[animal trap]]s, see [[trapper]].''

==Introduction==
Simple one-tile [[trap]]s* are just that – they exist only on their own tile, trigger themselves when a target walks onto that one tile, and affect only that one tile. Complex traps and automation rely on linking [[door]]s, [[hatch cover|hatch]]es, [[floodgate]]s, and [[bridge]]s to [[lever]]s or [[pressure plate]]s, along with machinery to provide the [[power]] to run some of the more diabolical designs. When the trigger is activated, it sends a [[lever|signal]] to the linked device. That signal is not always as simple as '''do it now''', but it's specifically either to '''open''' or to '''close'''. By manipulating what does what and when, and what follows from that, impressive results can be achieved.

:''(* specifically, the [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone-fall trap]], [[Trap#Weapon_Trap|weapon trap]], and [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage trap]].)''

* To fully understand how these component objects work individually (before combining them into diabolical and complex combinations), see those main articles.

==Basic traps==
These are the simple [[trap]]s that are placed by a mechanic. They require one [[mechanism]] but do not require levers or pressure plates. They can be a quick, easy and brutally effective "first defense" for a fledgling fortress, but they can also be combined into key parts of more complex set ups. For tips on using these basic traps effectively, see the Trap Strategies section.

===Stone fall trap===
:This is the easiest trap to build, so you can easily build them in large numbers. Building lots of them is an easy way to earn experience for your [[mechanic]], and add to the depth of your fort's defenses at the same time. Surrounding intersections and stairways is a good way of handling threats that make it inside the fortress, including [[insanity|berserk]] dwarves.

===Weapon trap===
:The gold standard of lethal traps. This is the only simple trap that works repeatedly without reloading. They do get jammed, however. View the trap with the '''items in room''' {{key|t}} mode, and if there's a corpse inside the trap, it's jammed. None of the weapons on a jammed trap will function. It may be wiser to have several weapon traps with fewer weapons, rather than a smaller number of ten-weapon traps.

:Using [[crossbow]]s or other projectile weapons in weapon traps avoids the problem of jamming, but they must be kept loaded with [[ammo]]. Mechanics will load them with any ammo that is not forbidden. They will load each until each type of weapon has ten rounds of ammo. Hammers seem to jam less than swords or axes, and spears seem to jam the most. Your dwarves will attempt to unjam traps unless otherwise forbidden.

===Cage trap===
:A very powerful type of trap. Maybe even too powerful – currently, even a wooden or glass [[cage]] can hold any creature indefinitely, even [[troll]]s and [[megabeast]]s. A cage trap never fails, although creatures with the [[trapavoid]] tag cannot be captured unless knocked [[unconscious]] or [[Giant cave spider|webbed]] first. Use cage traps as your outermost traps to catch the occasional wandering animal, angry wounded [[elephant]] or [[unicorn]], or even [[zombie]]s. Caged animals and enemies will be safely brought to any animal [[stockpile]]s you have, but may escape later if you are not careful. For more information, see [[captured creatures]].

==Linked traps==
These traps require a trigger such as a [[pressure plate]] or [[lever]]. They will require at least three [[mechanisms]], one for the trigger and two to create the link. The trigger can be located any distance from the trap, typically close for a pressure plate or far away for a lever.

For a system that repeatedly activates automatically and regularly regardless of enemies, see [[Repeater]].

===Menacing spikes===
Menacing [[trap component|spike]]s or upright spears appear on the basic mechanic's {{k|T}}rap menu, but must be activated remotely to pop out of the ground and impale anyone standing on that tile. Vast forests of these can make any area a killing field.

While upright spike defense systems never jam, they also do not discriminate. When activated, they will inflict piercing damage on whatever is standing on the tile, whether it be friend or foe (so it's good for nobles). You can use [[traffic|traffic designations]] to help somewhat. Designate the spike trap tiles as ''restricted'' then make a longer path going around the spikes that's designated as ''high traffic''. [[Domestic animal|Pets]] and [[Trade|merchants/diplomats]] will probably still get skewered, though.

==Trap strategies==
These are some basic tricks that can be used with most any trap design, basic or complex.

===Bait animals===
Enemies will hunt down and kill friendly tame animals wandering outside if they have nothing better to do. Put an expendable animal on a [[restraint]] or in a 1x1 [[Activity zone#Pen/Pasture|pen]] in some random spot outside, build a few [[construction|columns]] around it to reduce the chance of them shooting it, and trap that area to hell and back.

Note that this is a horrible method of getting rid of [[cat]]s, as they will often adopt a dwarf who will then attempt to free the cat. This may lead to the unfortunate situation of Urist McCatlover getting skewered by an ambush party while on his way to free Mr. Baitykins.

===Bait furniture===
[[Building destroyer]]s can be baited by furniture, which they will path to and destroy, if they can. Furniture bait allows you to selectively target building destroyers, to draw them away from other aggressors or to a different trap. This can be useful when, for instance, you'd like to draw a building destroyer like a [[giant cave spider]] into a cage trap, but don't want to bother caging all of the other wildlife around it. It can also be useful for trapping monsters with special attacks that you'd rather not see go off, as the building destroyer won't use any special attacks on furniture as it would an animal. For instance, you could use bait furniture to trap a [[forgotten beast]] with [[syndrome|deadly dust]] without causing it to spew more contagion.

Bait furniture can be especially effective when used with [[Legendary artifact|artifact]] quality furniture. Artifact furniture cannot be destroyed, but building destroyers will still attempt to path to it, at which point they will ineffectually attempt to destroy the furniture. This makes traps baited with artifact furniture easily reusable.

===Trapping efficiently===

====Crosshair trapping====
As the converse of building many traps everywhere, consider instead herding your enemies into a few traps. A cross-hair pattern of walls or impassable channels with an array of traps in the middle gap will increase the usage of each individual trap. This is particularly useful when capturing wildlife. You may also want a few traps near the edges, to catch the creatures that attempt to go around it.

<diagram>
+++++++[#F00]^^^[#FFF]+++++++ legend
++++++++▓++++++++ ▓ stone/wall
++++++++▓++++++++ [#F00]^ trap[#FFF]
++++++++▓++++++++ + floor
++++++++▓++++++++
++++++[#F00]^^[#FFF]▓[#F00]^^[#FFF]++++++
[#F00]^[#FFF]+++++[#F00]^^[#FFF]▓[#F00]^^[#FFF]+++++[#F00]^
[#F00]^[#FFF]▓▓▓▓▓▓▓[#F00]^[#FFF]▓▓▓▓▓▓▓[#F00]^
[#F00]^[#FFF]+++++[#F00]^^[#FFF]▓[#F00]^^[#FFF]+++++[#F00]^[#FFF]
++++++[#F00]^^[#FFF]▓[#F00]^^[#FFF]++++++
++++++++▓++++++++
++++++++▓++++++++
++++++++▓++++++++
++++++++▓++++++++
+++++++[#F00]^[#F00]^[#F00]^[#FFF]+++++++
</diagram>

====Inside corner trapping====
If the path where you will place your traps has bends, expect the enemy to take the most direct path – it's not guaranteed, but they will tend to hug the inside of a corner, and rarely detour to a dead-end.
<diagram>
╔═════════
║[@cc0] [@]║[@c00] [@] [@cc0] [@]
║[@cc0] [@]║[@c00] [@] [@cc0] [@]
║[@cc0] [@]║ [@090] [@cc0] [@] [@c00] [@] Unlikely path
║[@cc0] [@]║ [@090] [@]╔═════ [@cc0] [@] Unpredictable path
║ [@cc0] [@]║ [@090] [@] ║ [@090] [@] "Most likely" path
║ [@090] [@]║[#f0f][@090]g[#@] ║ [#f0f]g[#] Invader
║[@c00] [@] [@090] [@] [@c00] [@]║
║[@c00] [@] [@c00] [@]║
╚═══════╝
</diagram>
Once in a straight hall, anything is possible, but placing your best (or first) traps on the inside path near "inside" corners (and de-emphasizing outside "dead-end" corners) is the best bet. If two invaders are side-by-side, they will wander, and random actions are always possible, but if you had to guess, this is the way to do it.

====Pass trapping====
If there are a lot of hills outside, remove most of the ramps, then trap those last few routes. The only way for creatures to get around will be to go through your traps.

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲ Before
++++++++++++++++++

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
+++++++^▲^++++++++ After
+++++++^^^++++++++

====Ford trapping====
Have a river or any kind of chasm? Construct a floor over it (not a bridge), then build traps over it. Brooks won't work for this, because everything can already walk over the top of a brook. It also won't work as well in winter on a map that freezes.

^^^^
░^^░
░^^░ Nobody ever said that it had
░^^░ to end at the river banks.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~░^^░~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ Building walls along the side
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~░^^░~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ allows you to make it longer
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~░^^░~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ and give you room for more traps.
░^^░ Extra traps cover all possible
░^^░ entry/exit tiles.
░^^░
^^^^

====Maze/Labyrinth====
Mazes not only look cool, they are very effective traps. Essentially, you want 2 entrances to your fort. One for your dwarves and trade caravans, and another for invaders – the maze. Whenever you are under siege, close the entrance for your dwarves. This leaves a long maze that invaders must go through to path into your fort. This allows the entire invading force to be in the maze when you close off the entrance, sealing them in. With the clever use of bridges, you may divert invaders out of the maze and into your traps/military's arms at a rate you can deal with. If your map doesn't have iron, this will greatly decrease the amount of iron you'd normally lose when the invading force starts losing and flees. NOTE: Unlike real-life mazes, it's best to create yours with a single winding path from the entrance to the exit. Invaders have clairvoyance and will path directly into your fort. A roof is also necessary, as walls mean nothing if they can be climbed over. If you do put traps in the maze itself, put them near the end as invaders will flee if they start getting torn up by traps. ([[:media:mazeexample.png#Example|Example]](note: bridges are down for access), [[:media:mazedesign.png#MS Paint illustration|MS Paint Illustration]])
*I prefer putting my entrance to my maze right below the entrance to my trade depot, then put a bridge over the opening. If the bridge is down then the access to me depot, bridge raises and the entrance is now the maze. Simplifies the multistep process given in the picture. Be sure to have your maze either safe for your own dwarves to walk through or some other method to help out dwarves that are outside at the start of a siege.

==Trap Designs==
===Bridge and drop traps===

====Drawbridge trap====
Lowering drawbridges on invaders will [[dwarven atom smasher|crush]] them into nothingness. Known as the 'Dwarven Atom Smasher', bridges will destroy most things with some notable exceptions including [[jabberer]]s and [[elephant]]s, who will not only survive unscathed but also destroy the bridge.

Try replacing the side wall of a part of your main entrance with a drawbridge, big enough so it spans the whole hallway. Link the drawbridge to a [[lever|trigger]], and whenever you feel like it activate the trap. This can be done with minimal effort and used to smash invaders, unwanted [[immigration|immigrants]], bothersome [[nobles]], or simply to destroy your garbage.

====[[Pit trap]]====
A long retracting bridge in your entrance tunnel, with the pressure plate right in front of the fortress doors. The expression on the face of the point-goblin who reaches them only to watch his comrades plunge to whatever gruesome fate you have prepared for them will be a mental picture to cherish. Remember when designing this trap that bridges do not open until 100 ticks after they've been triggered.

You may also consider linking these bridges to levers for more control, just in case a goblin thief triggers the pressure plate while a caravan is on the bridge. Or, you might consider linking the bridges to a [[repeater]].

====Cave-in trap====
[[Support]]s can be linked to [[lever|triggers]]. Building a section of floor that is deliberately held up only by a trapped support allows for an intentional [[cave-in]].
* [[Invader]]s dropped into a pit can be wounded or killed.
* Dropping a floor or wall directly onto any creature will ''instantly'' kill it, regardless of its [[size]].
* The cave-in will also knock nearby invaders unconscious. This will stun them, and also make them susceptible to simple traps (even if they possess the TRAPAVOID token).
* Cave-ins will ''not'' reveal invisible invaders, such as [[ambush]]ers unless it kills them outright, in which case their bodies become visible.

The biggest drawback of this sort of trap is the "reload" process, which can be relatively time consuming. Have a drawbridge that can seal off the work area so your mechanics and [[mason]]s can reconstruct the setup in peace.

=====Land mines=====
In any suitable open area which hasn't been dug out underneath, build a support and an adjacent multi-use pressure plate set to trigger on creatures (but not citizens), link them together, then build floor tiles above the support and pressure plate. When an enemy steps on the pressure plate, the game will pause and recenter the view with the announcement "''A section of the cavern has collapsed!''", at which point the enemy will be crushed and its companions will be stunned or knocked unconscious by the cloud of dust (though not necessarily revealed, in the case of an [[ambush]]).

More "traditional" landmines also exist, taking advantage of a bug. This involves setting a bridge to be deconstructed, then having this order be cancelled, all done while the bridge is in the down position. The bridge will then let fluids through, which with pressurized magma makes it a potent weapon.

=====Chasm trap=====
The easiest chasm trap is just a platform connected only by a retractable bridge or grate, and supported by a [[support]], very high up or over a very deep hole. The support is connected to a pressure plate on the platform, which is triggered by invaders.

A uselessly complicated collapsing spiral trap can take out ten goblins at a time. When finished, it looks like this:
<diagram>
+++
..........+++
.++++++++[#0ff]#[#]+++
.+╔══════. [#0ff]#[#] = retractable bridge
.+║++++++. (or grate)
.+║+╔══╗+. + = floor
.+║+║[#0f0]A[#]+║+.
.+║+╚═[#f00]^[#]║+. . = open space
.+║++++║+.
.+╚════╝+. [#f00]^[#] = pressure plate
.++++++++.
.......... [#0f0]A[#] = bait animal
</diagram>
The goblins are lured in by a restrained bait animal, and can't shoot it due to the surrounding walls. Just before they reach the bait, they trigger a pressure plate that retracts the bridge and collapses the support holding up the whole spiral. Goblins, bait animal, walls and all plummet into the chasm.

Note that to prevent climbers from bypassing the pressure plate, the path between the pressure plate and the animal (at a minimum) should be covered by a floor on the z-level above. You should also avoid placing the pressure plate in a corner that can be bypassed by creatures moving diagonally.

When building, you will need to construct a span of floor underneath to place a support, as bridges do not support constructions (''which is also why you want a bridge or grate as the access, so it will not hold up the trap*''). You will also need to have a floor tile between your floor and solid ground or wall while constructing, as the bridge alone will not work as a base, but you can remove it once the support is in place.

====Falling debris trap====
[[gravity|Falling objects]] tend to cause ridiculous injury to creatures below, and what better use for [[wear|worn]] socks than mangling intruders. Mix in some loose [[stone]], poor-quality [[furniture]], and any [[goblinite]] lying around, then bury your enemies under a pile of junk.

A retracting [[bridge]] makes a good trigger mechanism (connected to either a [[lever]] or [[pressure plate]]), while garbage dump [[zone]]s above the bridge provide an easy means to load the trap. To reset the trap, use {{k|d}} {{k|b}} {{k|c}} to reclaim the garbage and {{k|d}} {{k|b}} {{k|d}} to have your dwarves haul the junk back to the garbage dumps above. The trap can also be fully automated via [[minecart]].

====Canceled construction deadfall====
Canceling an incomplete construction immediately frees the building material. The simplest way to weaponize this knowledge is to create a one tile wide hallway that is several z-levels high, and carve down stairs into the roof from the level above. Assign your masons to create stairs in the top level of the hallway, but suspend construction on each tile after they begin. When danger threatens below, simply cancel constructions to send building material raining down on enemies below.

A more advanced design uses incomplete 8x1 bridges--each bridge will release three stones when canceled. These stones will normally be deposited on the tile where the architect was standing when the bridge was designed. A (completed) retracting bridge at the top of the hallway can provide a place for your architects to stand while loading the trap, but still allow the rocks to rain down when retracted.

This trap has the distinction of being the only overseer-triggered trap--it doesn't require dwarves to pull levers, enemies to cross pressure plates, or any sort of timing delay. With some practice, it can be used selectively to take out priority targets (elite archers, squad leaders, dangerous creatures, etc.).

===Water traps===
These traps drown, freeze, boil, or wash targets away. Errors in execution can be quite <s>[[flood|harmful]] to your fortress</s> [[fun]], so use with caution.

====Drown and burn====
A flooding room trap combined with an unextinguishable [[fire|burning]] [[lignite]] bin. The water will evaporate on the bin's tile, causing the water from the surrounding tiles to move to it, which then get evaporated as well. The water will also push the invaders onto the fire, causing them to burn to death... in a flooding chamber.

NOTE: Traps involving large quantities of water turning into [[steam]] are as effective at killing your framerate as they are [[goblin|goblins]]. Use with caution, and have the cut-off lever at the ready.

====Drowning hall====
'''Level 0'''

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ <tt>░</tt> – Wall
->++▼··················▼++-> <tt>-></tt> – Direction of traffic
->++▼··················▼++-> <tt>▼</tt> – Down-Ramps (as visible from one level above = see [[ramp]])
->++▼··················▼++-> <tt>+</tt> – Floor
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ <tt>·</tt> – Open space

'''Level -1'''
░░░░░░XX░░░░░░░░XX░░░░░░ <tt>X </tt> – Inflow
░░▲++▼··▼++++++▼··▼++▲░░
░░▲++▼··▼++++++▼··▼++▲░░ <tt>▲</tt> – Up-Ramps
░░▲++▼··▼++++++▼··▼++▲░░
░░░░░░XX░░░░░░░░XX░░░░░░ <tt>▼</tt> – Down-Ramps

'''Level -2'''
░░░░░░xx░░░░░░░░xx░░░░░░ <tt>x</tt> – Outflow
░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░
░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░
░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░░▲++▲░░░░░
░░░░░░xx░░░░░░░░xx░░░░░░

If enemies are in the middle of Level -1, open the inflow, then the water will first trap, and then drown them. If the pit is full, close the inflow and open the outflow. You can automate this by using [[pressure plate]]s, or if you want to have more fun, replace the water with [[magma]] (which would require pressure plates and floodgates to be [[magma-safe]]).

====Drowning tower====
This is a trap that can be built in discrete units. Each unit requires a lot of labor and protects only a small area, though in a dramatic manner. A wall of these around the map sharing a single massive water reservoir makes a very effective [[siege]] defense, as each tower component can be linked to a [[lever]] and used to wipe out a single invading squad at a time. Note: This may count as a [[stupid dwarf trick#Pressure Washer|stupid dwarf trick]].

While a [[pressure plate]] in the center of this trap can trigger it and drown hidden ambushers, such an arrangement is subject to double-activation and failure. A pressure plate that only triggers once will break and the system will be incapable of self-reloading. A lever or [[pressure plate#Latching Pressure Plates|latch]] is highly recommended.

Using a cross-hair pattern of walls, invaders are herded through the trap. Inside the fortress, Urist McLeverpuller does his job. Floodgates on the ground close, hatches on the ceiling open, and drowning ensues. When all enemies are dead, the lever is pulled again. The hatches close and the floodgates open, allowing a rush of water and bodies to spill out.

Schematics shown are for a stand-alone tower, though the upper level can be linked with many similar towers for a grid-like defensive system.

'''Level 0'''

░░X░░X░X░░X░░ <tt>░</tt> – Wall
░+++++░+++++░ <tt>+</tt> – Floor
X+++++░+++++X <tt>X</tt> – Floodgate
░+++++░+++++░ <tt>H</tt> – Hatch
░+++++░+++++░ <tt>-</tt> – Water reservoir
X+++++░+++++X
░░░░░░+░░░░░░
X+++++░+++++X
░+++++░+++++░
░+++++░+++++░
X+++++░+++++X
░+++++░+++++░
░░X░░X░X░░X░░

'''Level 1'''
░░░░░░░░░░░░░
░-----------░
░-H--H-H--H-░
░-----------░
░-----------░
░-H-------H-░
░-----------░
░-H-------H-░
░-----------░
░-----------░
░-H--H-H--H-░
░-----------░
░░░░░░░░░░░░░

====Ice trap====
Water open to the sky in freezing [[biome]]s will freeze instantly, completely destroying anything caught in it. By digging a channel entrance to your fort and selectively allowing it to flood as invaders pass through, you can commit genocide with appalling efficiency. The only disadvantage to this trap is its size: because water freezes so quickly, each entry channel must have a source of non-freezing water right next to it.

Observe in action [http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-231-degrinchinator here], or a wider version [http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1675-semi-automaticorcsiclemaker here]. For more information, see [[User:Vattic/Orcsicle_maker_Explained|these detailed instructions]].

=====Fully Automatic Ice Trap=====
The hallway is exposed to the elements, and water there freezes instantly. The rest of the trap is underground. When an enemy steps on the pressure plate, the hallway is flooded with water immediately. Some of the water that doesn't freeze also triggers a second pressure plate. The second pressure plate pumps magma into the room directly beneath the main hallway, which melts the ice. The water is pumped out and retracting bridges then return the water and magma to their original positions. This trap was also inspired by the Degrinchinator.

Observe: http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-2239-automaticresettingicetrap

For more info, see [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63346.0 this] thread.

====Flusher====
Have a water reservoir to one side of the path the intruders should take, and a deep chasm at the other side. When invaders are on the path, just pull a lever to flush them out- or into the trap-filled corridor leading to the alligator pit.

A compact version of this can be set up with a reservoir tower and a path circling it:

'''Level 0'''

····························· <tt>░</tt> – Wall
->++++++++++++++++++++++++++· <tt>-></tt> – Direction of traffic
->++++++++++++++++++++++++++· <tt>▼</tt> – Down-Ramps (as visible from one level above = see [[ramp]])
->++++++++++++++++++++++++++· <tt>+</tt> – Floor
░XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX░+++· <tt>·</tt> – Open space
░<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>X+++· <tt>X</tt> – Floodgate OR retracting bridge
░<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>X+++· <tt>~</tt> – Water
░<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>X+++·
░<nowiki>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</nowiki>X+++·
░XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX░+++·
<-++++++++++++++++++++++++++·
<-++++++++++++++++++++++++++·
<-++++++++++++++++++++++++++·
·····························

Be sure that the reservoir can hold enough water to flush everything out (3 levels should be enough), that it can be automatically or easily refilled quickly, and be advised that flushing your own dwarves can be much fun. Adjust the height of the chasm depending on how much damage you want to cause to intruders or to [[Unfortunate accident|innocent bystanders]] (7 levels start to do some serious damage).

Once flushed, the victims will try to find a way out (to re-invade the fortress, or to flee). Make sure there are some maintenance-free traps in their way. If you plan to collect [[goblinite]] afterwards, have a way to drain the bottom of the trap dry.

===Magma and fire traps===
These traps incinerate targets, or possibly encase them in [[obsidian]]. Magma does not play favorites – read up (again) on magma, and use with ''extreme'' caution. Fire traps are included in this category because magma is often the best method of starting a fire.

====Magma chamber====
Create an airlock using two bridges, two doors or whatever you like best. Make it a medium sized chamber, perhaps 10x10 or so. Channel out the floors around the rim, and rig up a system to pump magma into the room, or drop it from the roof. Enemies will quickly be destroyed, and with the magma in the channels, you can pump it out for future use or just leave it. The idea here is a re-usable magma trap; you can use this with a pressure plate, too. It also leaves behind any magma-proof items the invaders might have been carrying.

Variation: By placing magma-safe hatches on the ceiling and quickly activating and deactivating the trap, you can limit the use of magma. It doesn't take a lot of magma to set a goblin on fire: only 1/7 deep will do it, and using less magma means it will dry on its own. It does take a while for an enemy to burn to death, but what's better than spending the whole summer watching a room full of smoke and dying goblins?

====Incinerator hall====
Certain minerals such as [[lignite]] and [[graphite]] have an ignition point but no melting point, meaning that once they are set on [[fire]] they will burn for a very long time (about 9-10 months) unless exposed to water or [[weather|rain]]. Any item made out of these materials has this property, which can be used to design horrifying fiery death traps.

Consider a hallway filled with lignite [[floor grate]]s, which can be built directly on the floor and do not impede the passage of enemies. Pouring magma on any one of these grates will set it alight, and the fire will spread to all connected grates. The end result is a lot of constant smoke and a hallway that kills anything that passes through it. Consider [[traffic|restricting access]] to your dwarves or building this in a pit with a retractable bridge over top: the mere fact that a location is on fire will not stop them from walking through it. On the plus side, goblins are just as stupid.

====Flamethrower bunker====

Catch a creature that has a fire breath attack, such as a [[dragon]], [[fire imp]], [[fire man]], or anything else. Tame it if you can, and drop it into a 3x3 square of fortifications surrounded by bridges. Drop the bridge when necessary, and watch the creature lay waste on your opponents. Note that this may cause you to rage if the beast is not hostile to invaders. Beware of enemy archer squads as well.

You may want to build the bridge and mechanisms out of [[dragonfire]]-safe materials if you are using a dragon.

You may do this with [[magma crab]]s (but first you must catch one) for a machinegun bunker, or [[giant cave spider]]s (or anything that has a [[web]] attack) for a paralyzing bunker.

===Weapon traps===
Traditional trap components can be used in sometimes interesting ways.

====Casual impalement====
One method of creating a zone of constant slaughter is to link a pressure plate in your main dining hall or main hallway to a patch of menacing spikes or spears. As your dwarves/pets mill around conversing/mating, they will constantly trigger the spike system without regard to the consequences.

Variation: Drop goblins into a holding pit with various spike traps linked to your pressure plate artfully placed around the chamber. Watch as every dining hall [[party]] begins to be measured in goblin blood.

====Caravan-Safe Traps====
Since traps block caravans, how can one have a depot but not have a trap-free entrance to the fortress? Simple! Caravans need 3-wide corridors, but that corridor does not need to be straight. Invaders will path straight (or as straight as they can). By knowing this, you can make trap layouts that have 3-wide corridors that intersect straight paths.

Like so:

Zig-Zag Alternating U
T+P+T+++ T = Trap ++++P+++++++++++++P++++
+T+P+T++ + = Ground/floor ++T+P+TTTTTTTTTTT+P+T++
++T+P+T+ E = Ramps going down ++T+P+T+++++++++T+P+T++
+++T+P+T to tunnel to depot ++T+P+T+++++++++T+P+T++
++++T+P+ P = Caravan path ++T+P+T+++++++++T+P+T++
++++T+P+ ++T+P+T+++EEE+++T+P+T++
+++T+P+T ++T+P+++++++++++++P+T++
++T+P+T+ ++T+PPPPPPPPPPPPPPP+T++
+T+P+T++ ++T+++++++++++++++++T++
T+P+T+++ ++TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT++
+P+T++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++

Both designs can be repeated for maximum effect or used together (make the entrance on the U wider and put Zig-Zag traps on the corridor to the depot).

====Dodge Me Trap====
Passing over a catwalk of traps, invaders will find themselves dodging into your pit. Since you can seal the pit with bridges, it doesn't complicate access to your fortress while inactive. Beware of dwarves fighting on top of it when active, as they will dodge too. Using weapon traps with a lot of possible hits can make an invader dodge multiple times at once, allowing him to dodge across an open space tile, skipping the pit. This can be dealt with in some variants by the strategic placement of walls and/or by having an incredibly broad pit. Using a low quality mechanism will also force invaders to dodge, as opposed to using a high quality mechanism in the weapon trap, which will cause the weapon trap to actually land hits on the invader.

Note: since version 0.42.05, zombies ''no longer dodge''.

Simple version:
+............+ ^ weapon trap
+............+ + floor, your fort on one side; the savage wilds on the other
+^^^^^^^^^^^^+ . Pit
+............+
+............+

Compact version:
+#########+ # retractable bridge with pit underneath
+#^^^^^^^^+
+#^#######+ + floor
+#^^^^^^^#+
+#######^#+ ^ traps
+#^^^^^^^#+
══+++═══════
[http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=11538 Here's an example/demo Dodge Me Trap save (ver 0.42.03)] built atop Magma that demonstrates how effective they can be. The save shows a 280 enemy siege reduced by 140 Trolls, Goblins, and Beak Dogs, via the following design:
╔═════════╗
╝·········╚
+^·^·^·^·^+
╗·^·^·^·^·╔
║·········║
╚═════════╝
This design places 3 wooden training spears into each weapon trap, along with a no-quality mechanism. The traps rarely, if ever, jam or require cleaning. Even after causing 140 enemies to dodge, in the demo for example, the traps never jam nor do any dwarves attempt to clean them.

Note: as of version 0.43.04, weapons wear as a result of combat – wooden training spears in traps included, and very quickly too.

===Building destroyer and trapavoid traps===

====Door number one====
If you're having trouble dealing with building destroyers that don't set off traps, consider the following design, as seen from the side:
{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
════╝╬╬
[#F00]~X[#F0F]^ ▲╔═
══════╝
}}

Put the magma {{Raw Tile|~|#F00|#000}} behind a floodgate {{Raw Tile|X|#FFF|#000}}. In front of the floodgate, place a pressure plate {{Raw Tile|^|#F0F|#000}} set to go off on magma of 0 to 0. Link the pressure plate to a retracting bridge {{Raw Tile|╬|#FFF|#000}}{{Raw Tile|╬|#FFF|#000}} that covers the exit ramp {{Raw Tile|▲|#FFF|#000}} to the area. Although you can't get the creature to set off traps, when it breaks the door, magma will spill over the pressure plate, locking the creature in the hallway that is rapidly filling with magma. You could combine this with a simple levered hatch for drainage, but there's only one way to be certain: obsidianify it from orbit.

Note that the trap as pictured is too short-- in order to catch a creature, your bridge has to close before the creature can escape from the tunnel.

====Artifact awe trap====
{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
═════
+¢╬ ╬
═════
}}

This simple containment trap is designed to trap any number of building destroyers, even trapavoid building destroyers, on a single tile, after which you can do whatever you'd like with them-- bolt 'em, ice 'em, drop 'em, spike 'em, it's all good. Building destroyers are drawn by a piece of [[legendary artifact|artifact-quality]] furniture, in this case, a hatch cover {{Raw Tile|¢|#FFF|#000}}. A door {{Raw Tile|+|#FFF|#000}} prevents them from seeing further into your fort and being distracted from the enchanting beauty of your furniture. When you've captured as many creatures as you'd like on that tile, simple raise both bridges {{Raw Tile|╬|#FFF|#000}}-- first, the far one, then, the one near the artifact-- and you may even remove the artifact, to create a new trap elsewhere.

===Other traps===
Anything that can be weaponized can be turned into a trap. And anything can be weaponized.

====Bioweapon trap====
Some of the underground's nastier creatures are capable of breathing [[syndrome]]-bearing deadly dust. While such dust can easily spread and lead to a huge amount of [[fun]], more masochistic players may seek ways to weaponize it. Syndrome-bearing blood may be used similarly, but placement of the trap is a great deal more difficult.

At its simplest, a bioweapon trap is a single tile of syndrome-bearing extract. It can be placed by moving an item covered in dust to the desired location via stockpiling or dumping, and then pouring a [[bucket]] of water over the item, transferring the dust from the item to the tile it sits on. A simple way to get your dwarves to pour a bucket of water over the item is via designation of a [[activity zone#Pit/Pond|pond]] zone. Alternatively, one can take advantage of the natural tendency of [[User:Uristocrat/Dwarven__Bathtub|dwarven bathtub]]s and simply drag contaminated items through a trench full of shallow water to create a contamination trench.

Any affected creature is likely to carry the contamination with it past the location of the bioweapon. This can be useful, if you've discovered a particularly interesting extract that you no longer have a way to generate, but it can also be dangerous to the well-being of your fortress. A pile of extract sitting in 2/7 water will not block pathing, and will simultaneously infect and wash creatures passing through it. Placement of extract in a damp trench can be difficult, as the water will tend to carry the extract on to the walls, but with persistence, it can be done. Extract/water combos like this are best placed underground to prevent freezing or evaporation. You may have difficulty preventing your dwarves from [[cleaning]] tiles affected by the extract.

The deadliness of a bioweapon depends entirely on the extract used to create it, and can range from debilitating nausea (perfect to incapacitate invaders while your military mops them up, yet unlikely to lead to serious damage to your own fort), to death by bleeding within 600 ticks (a half day). Given the proper extract, you could even create a beneficial bioweapon trap that prevents those affected from suffering pain. Footwear appears to protect, leaving any bioweapon trap much more deadly to your own dwarves than to any invader.

Bioweapon traps have the potential to be very powerful but should be considered extremely [[fun]], as extracts are capable of multiplication and don't distinguish between friend or foe. A single bioweapon trap could easily kill all of your dwarves in a season. Bioweapons never require cleaning or resetting, but won't work on many foes.

Alternative biotraps are possible. Using a 'deadly dust' creature rather than its extract is possible, but such interactions have rather short range (2 tiles at least) and may ignore invaders passing by a bit further away. By forcing invaders to walk right next to fortification that separates the beast and invader you can ensure a syndromey greeting to your unwanted guests, but the creature will be vulnerable to enemy archers. Should you discover a creature with noxious secretions that boil at a low temperature, such a creature can be used even while caged: its secretions will affect anything nearby, but the creature that bears the syndrome remains invulnerable to attack. Good luck getting the cage where you want it!

=== Animal/Gladiator Traps ===
War animals can be a messy way of dispatching your invaders. Since most war animals aren't grazers, you can put a pasture in a room and assign a bunch of war animals without any need for maintenance. Keep in mind size, a war dog is not going to do nearly as well against a troll as a lion would. However, 5 dogs should be able to overcome it. If you don't want your animals to die, simply use cage traps to catch invaders, disarm them, then drop them into the animal arena unarmed with a pit above the room. Although this isn't a guarantee; unarmed goblins are incredibly weak. This trap has a lot more randomness involved than others, so it's more of a novelty than an effective and practical trap. Exotic animals can be much more brutal, so bonus points for catching tigers, bears,(or buying them from elves) or dragons. If you do manage to catch a dragon and tame it, you'll probably want to clear out any other animals, unless they don't mind dragon fire.

If one of your dwarves has been plagued by [[Vampire|Vampirism]], all the better. Build him/her a nice pit outfitted as barracks, throw in good weapons and armor, and watch as they train themselves nonstop up to Legendary skill in most combat abilities.

When you want to make them practice, just throw a caged prisoner in, order them to open it, and watch as they tear them to shreds.

=== Minecarts ===
A [[minecart]], while you think about it, is just a large hunk of metal traveling at a very fast speed in a straight line. Its nature can be used for your advantage.
==== Minecart grinder ====
All you need is a straight, narrow corridor, some tracks, and a way to make a minecart gain momentum (rolling down 3 z-levels worth of ramps should be more than enough).

Using the hauling designation, assign a minecart to the top of the ramp, without giving it any departure conditions. As soon as the enemies are approaching the other side of the corridor, change the departure condition to "push" and "always". Once a dwarf comes by and pushes it, the minecart will jolt down the hallway flattening everything on its path, and may even put a dent in an attacking [[Megabeast]]. Alternatively, you may instead invest a little more time and create an automated trigger; by placing a minecart on a hatch linked to a [[pressure plate]] or lever, you can avoid the tedium and drop your minecart above your track.
By dumping minecarts on either rollers or downward ramps, multiple carts can be used on the same track without any hauling routes, allowing for multishot weapons, increasing the efficiency of the trap.
Rollers or impulse ramps can be used to make a cart return system, allowing for fully automatic systems.

==== Shotgun ====
Minecarts have the interesting properties of spilling their contents when they hit a solid object like another minecart at high speed. This can be used by filling minecarts with either heavy objects like stones, sharp objects like surplus weapons or simply a lot of them, then sending them down some ramps onto a target. On impact, the contents will continue their way at high speed, dealing damage to anything in the way. You know you want to fill a minecart with !!lignite blocks!! now. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109460.msg3341586#msg3341586 Here] is an example.

==== Water/Magma gun ====
Minecarts submerged in [[Water]] fill themselves with liquid, which then counts as a quite heavy object. Using the shotgun effect, this allows for a weapon without need to manually load minecarts, resulting in higher rate of fire and fewer dwarves running on potentially lethal tracks. First proposed [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=114654.0 here], with an updated version [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=119831.0 here].

Numerous refinements have been proposed for loading and accelerating the minecarts. One sophisticated example that is both compact and demonstrates speedups is [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=153432.msg6545902#msg6545902 here].

Using [[Magma]] makes the design potentially more [[fun]] and certainly more dwarven.

==== Minecart thumper ====
When falling minecarts land on a floor, they injure creatures in the tile below.{{bug|6068}} Add some rollers and a very short track loop to maximize the damage potential. Since the minecart remains physically separated from its targets, it shouldn't jam or jump off track.

====Death spinner====
This trap is made by creating a looping track, and gaining enough speed in a minecart. Once it spins fast enough, minecart mutilates creatures in its way, grinding them into fine paste, or heavily injuring them. This trap was originally invented by Kruggsmash.{{verify}}
[[ru:Trap design]]
{{Category|Traps}}
{{category|Fortress defense}}
{{category|Design}}

Tundra

2022-01-19T13:54:39Z

Quantum Dwarf:

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:29, 8 November 2019 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[File:Tundra.png‎|thumb|300px|Some [[elk]] wandering through a desolate tundra.]]

'''Tundras''' are [[Climate#Freezing|very cold]], mostly flat biomes, essentially freezing [[grassland]]s with nearly no [[plant|vegetation]] - unlike [[glacier]]s, though, they do not have a layer of ground ice. [[River]]s do not flow into tundras, and will in fact stop immediately on the tundra border - however, the elevation change will continue as if the river was still there. Any [[lake]]s and [[ocean]]s in the same climatic region are covered in ice, staying frozen year-round or melting only at the peak of summer.

No [[tree]]s grow in tundras - only three surface [[crop]]s can tolerate the environment: [[bilberry|bilberries]], [[blueberry|blueberries]], and [[cranberry|cranberries]]. Other surface crops will generally ''not'' be growable, even in an underground "greenhouse". If you have non-dwarven neighbors, they can still bring surface plant products, but you will be unable to do anything with the resulting seeds, other than cooking or trading them.

Embarking in a site with overlapping [[biome]]s may result in a river that only exists outside of the tundra. Such rivers will begin to flow normally when the [[temperature]] rises high enough, possibly causing the downstream end (if there is one) to drain off the map completely. [[Mining|Channeling]] should fix this temporarily (although the river will freeze again eventually).

== Fortress construction ==
If you plan to start a fortress on a tundra, find a [[cavern]] as soon as possible. Caverns are vital, as they are the only source of wood other than trading. They also give easy access to water, which you would otherwise need to melt [[ice]] for.

Players are advised to empty their wagons, and move all their goods and population underground as soon as possible, because some tundras are cold enough for your dwarves to quickly freeze to death. Likewise, trade depots should also be built underground, and a tunnel to the edge of the map should be made with a road leading to the absolute edge (must be above-ground) and continuing underground to the depot, to encourage merchants to use it and to protect them from said cold.

== Wildlife ==
=== Creatures ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|c|7:0}} [[Coyote]]
|-
| {{Tile|e|6:0}} [[Eagle]]
|-
| {{Tile|E|6:0}} [[Elk]]
|-
| {{Tile|o|7:0}} [[Great horned owl]]
|-
| {{Tile|M|6:0}} [[Muskox]]
|-
| {{Tile|p|6:0}} [[Peregrine falcon]]
|-
| {{Tile|B|7:1}} [[Polar bear]]
|-
| {{Tile|p|6:0}} [[Porcupine]]
|-
| {{Tile|R|6:0}} [[Reindeer]]
|-
| {{Tile|r|0:1}} [[Raven]]
|-
| {{Tile|o|7:1}} [[Snowy owl]]
|-
| {{Tile|s|6:0}} [[Stoat]]
|-
| {{Tile|w|6:0}} [[Weasel]]
|-
| {{Tile|w|7:0}} [[Wolf]]
|}

'''In savage tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|c|7:0}} [[Coyote man]]
|-
| {{Tile|e|6:0}} [[Eagle man]]
|-
| {{Tile|E|6:0}} [[Elk man]]
|-
| {{Tile|C|7:0}} [[Giant coyote]]
|-
| {{Tile|E|6:0}} [[Giant eagle]]
|-
| {{Tile|E|6:0}} [[Giant elk]]
|-
| {{Tile|O|7:0}} [[Giant great horned owl]]
|-
| {{Tile|M|6:0}} [[Giant muskox]]
|-
| {{Tile|P|6:0}} [[Giant peregrine falcon]]
|-
| {{Tile|B|7:1}} [[Giant polar bear]]
|-
| {{Tile|P|6:0}} [[Giant porcupine]]
|-
| {{Tile|R|0:1}} [[Giant raven]]
|-
| {{Tile|O|7:1}} [[Giant snowy owl]]
|-
| {{Tile|S|6:0}} [[Giant stoat]]
|-
| {{Tile|W|6:0}} [[Giant weasel]]
|-
| {{Tile|W|7:0}} [[Giant wolf]]
|-
| {{Tile|o|7:0}} [[Great horned owl man]]
|-
| {{Tile|M|6:0}} [[Muskox man]]
|-
| {{Tile|p|6:0}} [[Peregrine falcon man]]
|-
| {{Tile|B|7:1}} [[Polar bear man]]
|-
| {{Tile|p|6:0}} [[Porcupine man]]
|-
| {{Tile|r|0:1}} [[Raven man]]
|-
| {{Tile|o|7:1}} [[Snowy owl man]]
|-
| {{Tile|s|6:0}} [[Stoat man]]
|-
| {{Tile|w|6:0}} [[Weasel man]]
|-
| {{Tile|w|7:0}} [[Wolf man]]
|-
| {{Tile|Y|7:1}} [[Yeti]]
|}

'''In evil tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|M|3:1}} [[Blizzard man]]
|-
| {{Tile|w|7:1}} [[Ice wolf]]
|}

=== Vermin ===
'''In savage tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|∙|7:0}} [[Two-legged rhino lizard]]
|}

'''In good tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|∙|6:1}} [[Fairy]]
|-
| {{Tile|∙|7:1}} [[Fluffy wambler]]
|-
| {{Tile|·|3:1}} [[Pixie]]
|}

== Vegetation ==
=== Shrubs ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|"|2:1}} [[Bilberry]]
|-
| {{Tile|"|2:1}} [[Blueberry]]
|-
| {{Tile|"|2:1}} [[Cranberry]]
|}

=== Grasses ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Bentgrass]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Cloudberry]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Cottongrass]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Fescue grass]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Hair grass]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Meadow-grass]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[Mountain avens]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|2:1}} [[White mountain heather]]
|}

'''In good tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|O|3:1}} [[Bubble bulb]]
|-
| {{Tile|.|7:1}} [[Downy grass]]
|}

'''In evil tundras:'''
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
|-
| {{Tile|O|7:1}} [[Staring eyeball]]
|-
| {{Tile|≥|5:1}} [[Wormy tendril]]
|}

{{Translation
| dwarven = kekath
| elvish = zepave
| goblin = strasnu
| human = tor
}}

{{World|Biomes}}
{{Category|Biomes}}

Megaproject

2022-01-18T20:10:35Z

Quantum Dwarf: JoJo reference upgrade

{{Quality|Exceptional|20:25, 30 April 2013 (UTC)}}
{{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 to show them the power of your fortress.

*Bonus: Make the statues spit lava.

===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''.

===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 last few levels 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

'''<<☼Ultimate Super Khazad-Dúm Durin’s Folk Dwarven Ultra-bonus☼>>''': Build the real [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.

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.

===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.

===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 story 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 a those who died from exhasution 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.

===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 dwarves assigned to a class - Steward, Builder, Ranger either using the profession nickname or the squad menu.
* Command Bonus: Change the noble positions to the counterparts of 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.
* BONUS: Dwarfald Trump: Make the goblins pay for it

=== 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.

=== 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. There must be 1000 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.