v0.31 Talk:Fortification

Exploration Tip

Carving a fortifaction is a good was to savely explore underground caverns. If you know where the caverns are, maybe accidental digging into it and then sealing it again, then you can mine to a wall of the cavern (don't remove it) and then smoothing and carving a fortifaction. Voilá, savely exploring caverns. --Niggy 10:55, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Projectiles

Can fortifications only be shot through one-way? I have built a wall of them, but neither my dwarves nor the goblins shot through them. version 31.18

Does anyone have an idea about how far up or down projectiles can be fired from behind fortifications? I like to build them one level about the front of my fortress, and wanted to know if that is useful at all. --Krillin6 21:45, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

it is useful; in the old version(40d), i was told to build my fortifications 2-3 Z-levels up from ground level to stop goblin archers firing back through the fortifications from on the ground. as none of my archers died, it must have worked? IIRC, the goblin archers didnt even attempt to fire at my marksdwarves, which says they couldnt have hit them to me. but due to the bugs in v0.31, i've not quite managed to get crossbowmen into my military, so should have more information soon (starting a new fort with 0.31.08). also, i think i heard that the range of a crossbow bolt is about 20 spaces? and i think going down through a Z-level does count as 1 (although dont quote me on that..). so, if your fortifications are 2 Z-levels up, your marksdwarves will have a range of 17/18. hope that helped ^-^--DJ Devil 16:36, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Does anyone know if things like fire breath count as projectiles that can pass through fortifications?

Security

I carved a fortification into one of the walls of the magma sea, and the magma flowed through fine, but CREATURES could also move through it. The fortification is obviously made of fire-safe materials, and if I (k) it, it shows that it is still there.

I've also had a creature (a forgotten beast) get through a fortification ((b)-(C)-(F)). "Fun" ensued when I tried to get it out of my water system. --81.226.38.190 14:18, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Goblins can "swim" through fortification if water level on it nonzero (or, may be, maximal). I have fun then try to drown many goblins in room where was door in fortress behind fortification. 62.76.7.25 04:05, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

I understand from the forums that fire snakes are vermin, and ignore walls. FleshForge 21:29, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

I've had the same problem. I built a fortification to filter what travels out of my magma pool. After digging his way into the magma pool, he ran away from the magma, through my fortification. I hope this doesn't mean I have to worry about fire imps and the such. Could Toady have changed the rules for fortifications in newer versions? --Peglegpenguin 03:26, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

As I understand it, creatures cannot purposefully move through fortifications, however flows can push them through with no difficulty.

This turns out to have been a fallacy - a completely submerged fortification does not block the path of any creature. Interestingly, this was also true back in 40d. --Quietust 20:29, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Quietust, you say completely submerged. Did you mean that a partially submerged fortification does not let creatures through? I'd love to know what is enough to let creatures through for a secret project I'm working on. More so, I'd like to know if creatures can be carried through fortifications by flowing water. I could just test this myself, but I am lazy and hoping someone already did it. One more thing - does anyone know if fortifications work vertically - that is, do they accept water from above them or if suspended let water flow down them? Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me. --Peglegpenguin 02:40, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I only tested with a depth of 7/7, since that was the easiest to set up - I'd be curious to see what happens with lower water levels. As for vertical fortifications, a constructed fortification does not have a floor above it, so you can pour water into it from above, but all fortifications have floors beneath them. --Quietust 02:53, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I made a video of me testing this. The dwarf got through at water level 3. I'll need to redo this (I tried it again with elephants, and it didn't work) but for now this is what I have: [1]. Sorry my movie-making skills suck - I kept moving the cursor near the end.--Peglegpenguin 23:37, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

I just did a test in Arena mode, and I was unable to pass through a fortification at depth 6/7 - once I filled it to 7/7, I was able to swim right through it. As I also commented on that video, it's possible that flowing water is what pushed your dwarf through - next time, don't add water to the tile in which the dwarf is actually standing. --Quietust 19:41, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Visibility

It seems that fortifications block visibility of some things outside them - while archers may be able to target and shoot through them, if there is a waterfall on the other side of a fortification e.g., dwarves won't see it any more. FleshForge 21:29, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Dwarves have never been able to see waterfalls - they have to touch the mist in order to get a happy thought from it. --Quietust 23:25, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

submerged fortification

Seems to block creatures as of -.16. Marksdwarves fired on a flying/swimming hostile beast just two tiles away from an underwater fortification leading into the well area, it never made any attempt to go through it.Uzu Bash 17:12, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Just tested in the arena:

Level 0

 ░░░░░░░░░░░  R - Ramp
 ░░░R≈X≈R░░░  X - Fortification
 ░░░░░░░░░░░  Level 0 is filled with water at level 7/7

Level 1

 ░░░░░░░░░░░  C - Cave crocodile
 ░C+∙∙∙∙∙+☺░  ☺ - Dwarf
 ░░░░░░░░░░░

Cave crocodile spots dwarf and traverses the obstacle like there is no fortification.--HYBRID BEING 13:15, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Of course the fortification won't block the croc. He can climb out of the water onto the top of it, and back into the water. GhostDwemer 16:05, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Change level 1 to:

░░░░░░░░░░░  C - Cave crocodile
░C+∙∙░∙∙+☺░  ☺ - Dwarf
░░░░░░░░░░░

Then you will know for sure... 173.14.75.181 16:52, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Would the croc really be able to climb onto the fortification? There is no floor over it. I checked that, too, though. Placed another fortification above the underwater one - croc swimmed through the submerged one. And i watched it step by step.

BTW, i saw someone on forum suggesting placing fortification like this to stop monsters from being pushed through:

     ░░░
 ░░░░░X░░░░░
 ░░░R≈░≈R░░░ There is a wall above the submerged fortification, and another fortification above the pillar
 ░░░░░░░░░░░

Fat chance, the croc still slaughtered the poor dwarf.--HYBRID BEING 17:50, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Magma

Changed article. Previously, only mentioned water submerged fortifications. This could have suggested that they would still block lava creatures. But I fixed it HugoLuman 05:31, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

Open at the top

"Fortifications.. are open at the top, allowing liquids to be poured in from above" - is this true? 'cause i've just messed up my drowning chamber with fortifications under the screw pump intake - water cannot be taken out of them, and it appears the space over the top of my 'damp rough limestone block fortification' is now a 'rough limestone block floor' - something which i have not created.so where did it come from?--DJ Devil 16:57, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

See the last line of the Building Fortifications section. "Note that constructed fortifications do not have walkable floors above them, while carved fortifications do." I can't decipher from the description you have available to you how your fortification came into existence, but I know I've been tripped up by the differences between the two different types of fortifications before. From the way you describe it, I suspect that you built a wall and carved a fortification into it. That will leave a floor on the top. --Jwest23 18:19, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

ah. yes, my mistake - i thought, by 'constructed fortifications', it meant a fortification that originated from a constructed wall. and i thought a 'carved fortification' meant a mined out wall that had been smoothed, and carved.--DJ Devil 19:15, 27 October 2011 (UTC)