40d Talk:Wall

Is there a way to build walls on areas (like when designating a stockpile) instead of tile per tile? Very boring work when constructing long walls... --Mizipzor 13:40, 4 November 2007 (EST)

Not as of 0.27.169.33a. --Ikkonoishi 14:11, 4 November 2007 (EST)

The text of the article seems to suggest that engravings and smoothing can be done on constructed walls. In my experience, a constructed wall is described as a "Granite Block Wall" and does not accept either smoothing or engraving commands. It also highlights with a flashing green "C" in designation mode, indicating it is constructed. If I'm wrong, I'd love to know how to accomplish this! Also, the article text indicates that a wall must be built above certain types of solid object. In my experience, this is not true; you can build a wall over empty space provided you build beside an existing solid structure. This is key when building spiral ramps within towers, etc. I'm very new to wiki editing, so I'm not going to touch the article itself at this point. If someone would like to verify...?--Doctorlucky 04:10, 12 November 2007 (EST)

All right, some experimentation has determined how walls are named and how the operate. I'll use "felsite" as my material in the examples: A wall which is comprised of naturally-occurring rock or other material is called a "Rough-hewn Felsite Wall". Smoothed, it becomes a "Smoothed Felsite Wall". A wall constructed of mined stone using the building menu is described as a "Rough Felsite Block Wall" while one made out of stone block (prepared by a mason) is a "Felsite Block Wall". Neither type of constructed wall is engravable or smoothable, and both type look identical to a smoothed natural wall. Doctorlucky 18:40, 14 November 2007 (EST)

Any idea why constructed walls cannot be engraved? It seems somewhat counterintuitive. --Trithemius 09:15, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

I had a dwarf build an engraved wall. I think all I used was the normal build wall command and nothing more, but I wasn't really paying attention, i just needed to fill in an extra wall section. When I went back one section of the wall looked weird, and when I looked at it and pressed enter a description of the engraving came up. However it is still called a rough basalt block wall not an engraved wall. Afu 05:08, 3 October 2008 (EDT)

Do glass walls block LoS? Rkyeun 20:18, 5 December 2007 (EST)

Has anyone come across a bug where built walls do not produce a floor on the z level above? I was building two small towers and for some reason some constructed walls are being built without anything above them, it doesn't even show up (using looK) as Open Space but it is displaying the - symbol normally used for open space. Most frustrating is it I rip it down and built the wall again it does it again. Both towers were the same other than material used and one has this problem along one face while the other is fine. Yvain 05:42, 26 February 2008 (EST)

yes, but it was fixed several versions ago, in 176.38a and ive not had it happen again since. from the Devlog:

* fixed problem leading to floors not being placed above some constructed walls

-Chariot 14:40, 26 February 2008 (EST)

Now I feel stupid, I downloaded 176.38a but didn't actually unzip/install it. Thanks. Yvain 15:25, 26 February 2008 (EST)

I've noticed it's not always necessary to have a z+0 wall supporting a z+1 wall (on top of) as long as there is an access via a floor. Thus one can achieve a "protuberant" type construction which is physically eerie. Is it a known bug or on purpose?--Annales

It's just how support and cavein code works for now. You can call it "on purpose", but i's going to change someday (and don't forget signing)--Dorten 04:52, 9 April 2008 (EDT)

wall strength

does the strength of the wall change depending on the material? doors gain strength when made of iron. --Corhen

AFAIK, walls are basically invulnerable still (33g), if not permanently so. So at this time, no relevant tests can be done to determine if one wall is more or less resilient than another. --Edward 21:55, 3 May 2008 (EDT)

Wooden walls will block magma... Ashen (from ash - burned wood, not ash - kind of tree) walls block stones fired from catapult. I think that's enough to say that strength of the wall doesn't depend on anything. --Someone-else 21:13, 4 May 2008 (EDT)

ok, tohught trolls could break through walls, if not, KOOL --Corhen

One way to make your masons behave

So I've dug a tunnel that'll carry a flow of magma, and I just need to plug the access corridor I used during its excavation before unleashing the torrent. And of course, my idiot mason insists on walling himself up inside the magma tunnel. I could provide escape stairs, but really, why should I compromise my fortress' aesthetics for the sake of that suicidal dunce? So here's what I did:

#####
..S.. <- lava channel
##W##
##.## <- access corridor

The "W" is where I want to build a wall, and "S" is where the mason insisted on standing while building it. So I crafted a cheapo stone statue, placed it at S, and it forced the mason to stand on the other side of W to build it. Then when the magma came through it melted the statue away.

I hope the statue was a self-portrait. Bryan Derksen 20:58, 4 May 2008 (EDT)

You know, a simple door would've done the trick. You place a door instead of an actual wall, make it forbidden (and tightly closed) once the idiot has returned to his other things. It holds magma for now (and is cheaper and faster than building both a wall and a statue). MagicGuigz 11:14, 3 October 2008 (EDT)

You don't even have to actually build anything there. Set up a construction job for another section of wall, suspend it while he builds the part you actually want, and then cancel it as soon as he's finished. 24.210.147.18 23:46, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Waterproof?

Do walls hold back liquids similar to a closed door? I assume water, yes. And magma only if its a steel wall? -- Qwip 13:05, 10 October 2008 (EDT)

Yes in every possible case. A wall made of soap blocks will hold back water, and one constructed from ice will hold back lava. --GreyMaria 17:14, 10 October 2008 (EDT)

Construction on the Edges

Does anyone know of a mod or what file I should change to allow construction of walls along the edges of the map? I'm going for the "Border Crossing" challenge build and the map calls for a wall from edge to edge, yet I am prohibited from building anything within five spaces from the map's edges as well as digging one space from the edge. -- Dakira 17:40 10 November 2008 (PST)

It's hard-coded into the engine. No can do. --GreyMaria 21:28, 10 November 2008 (EST)

Use bridges

Walls as battlements

If I have outdoor walls, are marksdwarves able to shoot enemies on lower levels from on top of the walls? I have ramps going up my walls so that my dwarves can get on them and I'm wondering if its useful to put an archery target up there or anything. -- --DimensionWarped 18:09, 21 November 2008 (EST)

Yes! I believe that their accuracy is increased with height, too. I put the target nearby, build extra flooring to put an ammo stockpile on, and "station" the squad (from the military screen) on the battlements so they'll go/stay up there when I send them on-duty. Do note that dwarves tend to fall off things when they find themselves dodging melee combat, so station some fighters at the bottom of your ramp to keep baddies from trying to engage your marksdwarves, widen the tops of the walls by [b]uilding floors to either side, and/or build walls up there you can then carve into fortifications they can shoot through (via the [d]esignations menu). --Sev 18:26, 21 November 2008 (EST)

Afaik, you can't carve fortifications into built walls. Instead you just construct fortifications. --Juckto 20:30, 21 November 2008 (EST)

In the current version (40d) you can, at the very least, carve fortifications into walls constructed out of stone blocks. I know this, because my current game has giant battlements with constructed-wall-fortifications and remembering to go back and carve them after they were built was a pain in the butt. This would have been much more straightforward if I'd noticed that there was a [F]ortifications option on the construction menu. Thank you for pointing that out! :) --Sev 22:44, 21 November 2008 (EST)

on a similar note - can marksdwarves in a tower fire down into a corridor? i have two towers, 3 Z-levels up in the air, and i plan on building a maze of walls (so, some going east-west, others north-south) on ground level for siegers/kobolds to have to walk through to get into my fort as arrows rain down on them. will it work? i'm thinking the path will only be 1 square wide --DJ Devil

Building from bridges

Something I noticed in a game. I could place a long wall along one side of the bridge and the dwarves would build it quite happily, starting from the secure end and working outwards. However if I placed a second long wall from the midpoint of the bridge onwards a dwarf would start it early (I think he was working on a wall square from the second long segment), causing a collapse. So it seems that it is safe to place long walls alongside bridges, as long as you do it one segment at a time. Can someone check this is true, and if so think of a better way of wording for placement in the article? --Juckto 22:53, 21 November 2008 (EST)

It's not always true, it depends on a number of factors. If you have multiple builders and one is slacking off, others can jump ahead. Likewise, if your materials aren't all in one stockpile, that could also cause problems, especially if one piece gets lost or stuck and the job for a section is suspended. Overall it's safest to supervise carefully. Better yet, if you're building walls next to bridges anyway, just build a floor instead of the bridge. Then it'll be indestructible. --Navian 23:07, 21 November 2008 (EST)

Trolls

Will trolls and other creatures that can knock open doors also break down walls? Lastofthelight

Read the article on constructions - walls and other terrain-based constructions are indestructible by everything. Except when you want it to be destroyed specifically by a dwarf who is a member of your fortress. --GreyMaria 20:46, 9 January 2009 (EST)

Support?

Do underground, constructed walls double as support 'columns'? I would assume so but I'd rather not get an unplesant cave in (sorry, but this site is like the instruction manual for this game >.<)Kenji 03 21:44, 14 July 2009 (UTC)