v0.31:Mining

Mining is an essential part of building a fort in Dwarf Fortress. There are several reasons you might want to mine, such as Template:L for various Template:L, or simply to create the basic tunnels and Template:L in your fort.

There are several types of jobs associated with this skill:

• Mining removes the section of the wall while preserving both the ceiling and the floor.
• Channeling removes the section of the wall, the floor and if possible places a ramp one level below.
• Ramps replaces the section with a upward ramp, also removing the tile and floor one level above.
• Stairs builds upward (or downward) stairs.

Mining can only be done in pre-existing stone or soil; built Template:L, Template:L or Template:L cannot be mined. These must be removed using the 'remove construction' option (q, n)

Making a dwarf a miner

1. Specify your dwarf to be a miner via view, pref, labor.
2. Select "Mining" using + or -, then press enter.

A Template:L also requires an available Template:L. A dwarf's agility affects the speed at which material is mined alongside how tired they are.

Designating the area to be mined

1. Press designate to bring up the Template:L menu.
2. Highlight the requested action by pressing:
   • d for mining
   • h for channeling
   • r for an upward ramp
   • u for stairs towards the upper level
   • j for stairs towards the lower level
   • i for stairs in both directions
3. Move the cursor to the starting point, then press enter. You should see a green flashing cross symbol indicating that it's in Selection Mode.
4. Move the cursor to another point to define the opposite corners of a rectangle, press enter again. A yellow area should now be highlighted, indicating the area to be mined. Tiles can also be designated by using the mouse and left-clicking. This is particularly handy when you want to designate the same tile on several z-levels, typically to create up/down stairs. Leftclick and hold while moving through the z-levels.

Training Mining

Mining skill is important for two reasons: First, it allows miners to dig faster. Second, a higher skill increases the chance that mining will produce a stone, lump of ore, or gem. A legendary miner will always produce a resource unless they are drowsy, hungry, or thirsty. Dwarves will continue acquiring jobs while tired, thirsty, and hungry, and they can easily ruin good resources if they are not stopped from mining important tiles while inhibited.

Dwarves learn by doing. Dwarves gain mining experience for each tile mined, be it stone, ore, gem, or soil. Soil is mined extremely quickly and is the fastest way to train miners. Since the skill of mining also is used in combat, a dwarf with mining enabled that is carrying a pick will increase their mining skill through combat drills. This process is much faster than learning by digging through stone, but not nearly as fast as learning by digging through soil.

Notes

To create a channel with no downward ramps, you have to mine out the area underneath the channel first, or manually designate the ramps created for removal afterwards. If you wish for these channels to be completely inaccessible from the outside, channel out the access-point (downward staircase). Rampless channels are an effective substitute for walls against melee enemies that cannot fly, and they can be dug out far faster than a wall can be built. However, channels offer no defense against archers or dragonbreath.

See also

• Template:Ls – Different types of walled, floor and open spaces.
• Template:L – Large underground tunnel systems.
• Template:L – Mining focused on finding valuable Template:L.
• Template:L – A list of different types of stones and ores left behind from mining.
  
• Template:L – A list of soil types.