Defense guide - Revision history

Bjh21: /* Levers */ Notes don't exist any more, but levers can be named instead

2026-03-16T20:55:38Z

Levers: Notes don't exist any more, but levers can be named instead

Erkana: added update: walls can now be broken during sieges

2026-03-12T16:05:00Z

added update: walls can now be broken during sieges

GeloMor: /* Different philosophies */

2025-08-13T19:53:09Z

Different philosophies

GeloMor: /* Trade depot & caravans */

2025-08-13T19:24:15Z

Trade depot & caravans

GeloMor at 19:22, 13 August 2025

2025-08-13T19:22:52Z

Quietust: /* Terrain */

2025-08-13T17:27:48Z

Terrain

GeloMor: Removed feature since 50.xx

2025-08-13T15:25:15Z

Removed feature since 50.xx

GeloMor at 13:36, 13 August 2025

2025-08-13T13:36:07Z

LethosorBot: Tagging v50 page (1092/4888)

2022-12-21T00:25:58Z

Tagging v50 page (1092/4888)

LethosorBot: LethosorBot moved page DF2014:Defense guide to Defense guide: Migrating v50 page (903/4618) (content)

2022-12-20T03:18:39Z

LethosorBot moved page DF2014:Defense guide to Defense guide: Migrating v50 page (903/4618) (content)

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 For the truly ambitious, the lever room could be spread over multiple levels, and the pumps could work together to power one or more artificial [[waterfall]]s. (Waterfalls work well in this case because their operation is not fortress-critical, and your dwarves like the mist they produce.)
-Use [[Note]]s to label each lever and attached device and trap clearly - if you come back to a game after a week and can't remember your levers, they are useless (or, worse, <s>dangerous</s> [[Fun]]!) Color code your levers with different color [[mechanism]]s if that works for you.
+Name each lever, and the attached device if necessary, to indicate what it does. If you come back to a game after a week and can't remember your levers, they are useless (or, worse, <s>dangerous</s> [[Fun]]!) Color code your levers with different color [[mechanism]]s if that works for you.
 ==General Suggestions==

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 =====Walls=====
-:Constructing walls around your entrance is the simplest start, and an essential part of fortress defense, but a wall alone is not a complete defense. Currently, no creature can knock down a wall but they can climb on 1 z high walls. Not only does it keep enemies out, your archers can stand on top of the wall and fire down. Keep in mind that this makes them vulnerable to enemy fire. To help protect against that, build [[fortification]]s.
+:Constructing walls around your entrance is the simplest start, and an essential part of fortress defense, but a wall alone is not a complete defense. Creatures can climb on 1 z high walls. Flying enemies (such as swarms of birds) can fly over a wall, so you might want to build a ceiling to seal off particularly important areas. A [[siege]] can include enemies who can knock down walls.
-:Also, keep in mind that flying enemies (such as swarms of birds) can fly over a wall, so you might want to build a ceiling to seal off particularly important areas.
+:Not only does a wall keep most enemies out, your archers can stand on top of the wall and fire down. Keep in mind that this makes them vulnerable to enemy fire. To help protect against that, build [[fortification]]s.
 =====Fortifications=====

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 ==="Fun" vs. security===
-It's not hard to create an acre of traps that, realistically, simply no threats can survive. If you want to pursue a megaproject (that is not a defensive trap) in peace and security, this may be a good plan. However, if you look forward to the military end of things, then you want to allow, or at least be able to invite combat at your choosing. Inexperienced players are recommended to use the hall-of-traps entryway, at least to start. Many experienced players challenge themselves by limiting their use of simple traps, or other voluntary handicaps. It's all about what you think is [[fun]]. To prevent ambushes and sieges altogether, <code>[INVADERS:NO]</code> can be set in [[d_init.txt]].
+It's not hard to create an acre of traps that, realistically, simply no threats can survive. If you want to pursue a megaproject (that is not a defensive trap) in peace and security, this may be a good plan. However, if you look forward to the military end of things, then you want to allow, or at least be able to invite combat at your choosing. Inexperienced players are recommended to use the hall-of-traps entryway, at least to start. Many experienced players challenge themselves by limiting their use of simple traps, or other voluntary handicaps. It's all about what you think is [[fun]]. Moreover, in the current ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can adjust the [[difficulty]] to suit your preferences.
 ===Turtling===

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 A common trade depot design involves ''two'' separately sealable paths: one from the outside to the depot, and the other from the depot to the inside of the fortress.  This "airlock" design helps keep your inner fortress safe even if the trade depot becomes compromised.
-The Depot Access command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take (''this [[Missing features|function is missing]] in the current versions''). Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.
+The [[Wagon#Depot Accessibility|Depot Access]] command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take (''this [[Missing features|function is missing]] in the current versions''). Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.
 ===Branching corridors===

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 A common trade depot design involves ''two'' separately sealable paths: one from the outside to the depot, and the other from the depot to the inside of the fortress.  This "airlock" design helps keep your inner fortress safe even if the trade depot becomes compromised.
-The Depot Access command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take. Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.
+The Depot Access command ({{k|D}}) shows three-tile-wide paths a caravan's wagons can take (''this [[Missing features|function is missing]] in the current versions''). Caravans ''still appear where those paths meet the edge of the map'', even if they have no wagons (elves don't use them). By choosing a brook bed recessed into the ground, or building floors to block travel around the edge of the map, it is possible to keep a caravan path only a few squares wide at the edge of the board, which is completely separate from all other visitors to the map. In this way you can leave the path to your Depot open all the time with virtually no risk from sieges and random creatures unless they enter one of those few squares.
 ===Branching corridors===

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 :The lay of the land can be your friend, but the way of the dwarf is to shape the land as needed. Removing [[Ramp|slopes]] can create safe, private terraces and valley walls that prevent all access. Chasms and [[river]]s (not brooks!) create hard barriers, but an open chasm or magma vent can be a source of dangerous creatures. Small hills can serve as vantage points for [[archer]]s (yours or theirs!), but if carved with stairs leading up from within, they can be quick strategic strongpoints. Narrow valleys can become chokepoints for entrances, where your [[marksdwarf]]s can overlook any who come and go. Augmented by [[construction]]s below, the terrain becomes your first option for defense.
-:Do note that as of version 0.40.24 invaders can now climb walls and, in some cases, swim rivers or moats. This limits somewhat the usefulness of natural defences, but with care they can be augmented by [[construction]]s and still provide important first-line defences.
+:Do note that invaders can climb walls and, in some cases, swim rivers or moats. This limits somewhat the usefulness of natural defences, but with care they can be augmented by [[construction]]s and still provide important first-line defences.
 :Some players take quite a while before their first unpause, using that time to look around and think about the terrain, planning their fortress entrance and envisioning basic defenses.

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 =====Doors (& Hatches)=====
 :[[Door]]s are the simplest way to keep an enemy out. (A [[floor hatch]] in this sense is just a [[Z-level|Z-axis]] door, and in most ways works the same.) Most creatures will be stopped by any door or hatch, though some others can smash them. With a little tinkering, doors can be made 3 tiles wide or more, but this remains mostly for aesthetics without much practical use, as [[caravan|wagons]] will still not be able to pass them. You can [[forbid]] doors to keep (most) hostile humanoids and creatures out, and your dwarves in.
 :Forbidding all doors and entrances breaks the pathfinding of enemies, making them lurk at the map border where they entered, which can be quite inconvenient in the case of an invisible ambush that then rushes at your fort in just the moment your civilian dwarves move out to, say, cut trees.

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 :*'''Thieves & child snatchers'''
-::Many creatures are "thieves" in the general sense, and offer their own potential headaches - a [[raccoon]] or small tribe of [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] monkeys can enter an unsecured area unannounced, grabbing items of value and running, and it doesn't matter how many you kill if one or three make off with some prized possessions. But a creature with a listed ( {{k|u}} ) [[profession]] of [[Thief]] has a few additional nasty surprises, namely being invisible until spotted by your dwarves or [[domestic animal]]s, being able to bypass locked or forbidden doors, being armed with a real weapon, and some imperfect ability to avoid triggering traps (though some seem better at it than others). [[Kobold]]s and [[goblin]]s are individually more dangerous than animals, but when spotted there's a special message, either "'''Protect the hoard!'''" or "'''Protect the children!'''", as appropriate.
+::Many creatures are "thieves" in the general sense, and offer their own potential headaches - a [[raccoon]] or small tribe of [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] monkeys can enter an unsecured area unannounced, grabbing items of value and running, and it doesn't matter how many you kill if one or three make off with some prized possessions. But a creature with a listed ( {{menu icon|u}} ) [[profession]] of [[Thief]] has a few additional nasty surprises, namely being invisible until spotted by your dwarves or [[domestic animal]]s, being able to bypass locked or forbidden doors, being armed with a real weapon, and some imperfect ability to avoid triggering traps (though some seem better at it than others). [[Kobold]]s and [[goblin]]s are individually more dangerous than animals, but when spotted there's a special message, either "'''Protect the hoard!'''" or "'''Protect the children!'''", as appropriate.
 :*'''Ambushes'''
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 :*'''Building destroyers'''
-::Some creatures have the [[Creature token|BUILDINGDESTROYER tag]] in their [[Raw file]]. This gives them the fearful capacity of tearing apart your doors and workshops. Constructions built with the {{k|b}} + {{k|C}} keys are safe, and so are [[bridge]]s.
+::Some creatures have the [[Creature token|BUILDINGDESTROYER tag]] in their [[Raw file]]. This gives them the fearful capacity of tearing apart your doors and workshops. Constructions built with the {{menu icon|b|n}} keys are safe, and so are [[bridge]]s.
 :*'''Flying animals'''
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 * '''Lock the front doors.''' It takes a truly airtight fortress to keep the entrance open while there are still enemies outside. If there's even one exit, your dwarves will use it. Try testing this while it's safe: Raise the bridges, just like you would in a siege, and designate some trees for cutting. If there's a way out, your woodcutters will find it.
-* '''Forbid dropped equipment and corpses.''' Mark every item on the battlefield as [[forbidden]]. This includes any items dropped by dead merchants or scuttled wagons. You can have this done automatically for dwarf and enemy corpses and inventories in the '''orders''' {{key|o}} menu at the '''forbid options''' {{key|F}}.
+* '''Forbid dropped equipment and corpses.''' Mark every item on the battlefield as [[forbidden]]. This includes any items dropped by dead merchants or scuttled wagons. You can have this done automatically for dwarf and enemy corpses and inventories in the '''Labor''' {{menu icon|y}} -> ''Standing orders'' -> ''Sieges and forbidding''.
 * '''Delete stockpiles and turn off tombs.''' As a preemptive measure, you can easily delete your Graveyard [[stockpile]]s. Dwarves don't haul things if there's no stockpile to place them in. Turning off or removing [[coffin]]s stops burials as well.
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 ====Striking the earth====
-First, look around. At the terrain, at the animals present. Scan the {{k|u}} menu before un-pausing the game at the start, and regularly. More animals will enter the map, constantly and without warning, so keep an eye on visitors.
+First, look around. At the terrain, at the animals present. Scan the {{menu icon|u}} menu before un-pausing the game at the start, and regularly. More animals will enter the map, constantly and without warning, so keep an eye on visitors.
 One of your first priorities is to get things underground or otherwise secure, to prevent rot but also to prevent theft. Carving out a channel/moat, or removing the slopes to a hill, or building a wall, or a combination of those will work fine, but better if you don't have an unwanted entrance to wall up later. Soil is very fast to dig out, and just as strong against enemies, but may not be desirable for a later, mature fortress. Balance convenience against your long-range plans and visible threats.

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