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Difference between revisions of "Burrow"

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'''Burrows''' are user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. You can assign these areas like zones and assign one or more dwarves to them. You may assign the same dwarf to multiple burrows, if desired. Dwarves will only perform jobs (use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc.) in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow may still perform jobs located in a burrow assigned to other dwarves.
+
'''Burrows''' are user-defined areas in your fort for restricting jobs or/and dwarves. They are a way to limit the jobs your dwarf takes, what items they use or where they go, thus being an important tool for [[Defense_guide|Fortress Defense]]. A burrow can be used for one, multiple, or all of the above at once.
  
−
Military dwarves that are on duty will ignore burrows.  Off-duty military dwarves will respect their burrows in the same ways as civilian dwarves.  If a military dwarf's training area is outside of his burrow, that dwarf will not train when off duty.
+
== Burrows Menu ==
  
−
[[Image:Burrow.png|right|thumb|240px|An illustration demonstrating that a burrow does *not* restrict a dwarf's movement--the metalcrafter marched right out of his burrow to pull the right lever.]]
+
Open the burrows menu with {{Menu icon|U}}.
−
'''Burrows do not restrict a dwarf's movements'''; they only restrict the locations where dwarves may perform jobs (including picking up items, eating, sleeping, etc.). An idle dwarf can still go anywhere, regardless of burrows. (Note: a [[#Civilian Alerts|Civilian Alert]] overrides this behavior.)
+
This will open the burrows menu:
 +
 
 +
[[File:Burrows Menu.png]]
 +
 
 +
Clicking the "Add new burrow" button prompts you to paint what the burrow encompasses,
 +
then provides a menu for specifying the burrow's symbol and colors.
 +
 
 +
In the burrows menu each burrow provides the following information on 2 rows
 +
* First Row
 +
** Icon of Burrow (click on the icon to change)
 +
** Name of Burrow
 +
** [[File:recenter_button.png]]: recenter the map on the burrow
 +
** [[File:UI_Paint_Button.png]]: repaint the burrow
 +
** [[File:UI_Delete_Area.png]]: delete the burrow
 +
* Second Row
 +
** Number of assigned citizens
 +
** [[File:UI_add_worker.png]]: manage who is assigned to this burrow
 +
** [[File:Burrow_workshop_accept_outside_resources.png]]/[[File:Burrow_workshop_refuse_outside_resources.png]]: whether workshops in the burrow will/won't source materials from outside the burrow
 +
** [[File:Burrow_active.png]]/[[File:Burrow_suspended.png]]: whether the burrow is active/suspended
  
−
Additionally, burrows can be toggled ({{k|w}} in the burrow menu) to restrict workshops inside the burrow to only use items from inside the burrow. Note that all items for the job must be located inside the burrow (including [[fuel]] for furnaces and [[barrel]]s for brewing). This feature is new and should be used with caution since it can result in less-than-obvious workshop job cancellations.
+
A burrow does not need to be contiguous and can extend into unrevealed space and other burrows - in the latter case, it can help use different colors and symbols for the burrow's icon to help tell them apart.
  
−
== Defining a new burrow ==
+
===Assigning Citizens===
 +
Citizens can be assigned to 0, 1, or multiple burrows.
 +
The burrow assignment menu appears as follows:
  
−
To enter the "define burrow" mode, press {{k|w}}.
+
[[File:Burrow_assignment_menu.png]]
  
−
You'll be presented with a list of all of your existing burrows. Change which burrow is selected with your secondary selection keys.
+
On the top you can quickly assign all civilians (those not in a military squad) to the burrow, remove all civilians from the burrow (by selecting none), and similarly for soldiers.
  
−
To add a new burrow to the list, press {{k|a}}. The new burrow created this way starts with no tiles and a default name.
+
Citizens assigned to 1 or more active (i.e. non-suspended) burrows will only accept jobs from within their assigned burrows.
 +
Furthermore, they will _not_ venture outside of their assigned burrows to collect resources for a job, no matter what the setting is for workshops sourcing materials outside the burrow.
 +
Note that active military orders (kill/train/etc) override burrow assignments (for example, soldiers will perform training in their barracks if ordered/scheduled to do so, regardless of whether they are assigned to burrows that encompass the barracks).
 +
See [[#Limiting civilian citizen jobs]] for caveats and problems that this can cause.
  
−
To configure an existing burrow, select it with {{k|+}},{{k|-}},{{k|*}}, & {{k|/}}.
+
This can lead to some non-intuitive behavior, and a lot of job cancellation spam. An example of such odd behavior is that when a citizen is assigned to 2 burrows (with material sourcing from anywhere), they will bring materials from 1 burrow to the other burrow to perform a job, but will not haul items from one burrow to stockpiles in the other.
  
−
Press {{k|enter}} to set the burrow's name ({{k|n}}), {{k|c}}hange the symbol used, and define what tiles it encompasses. Defining the burrow's tiles can be done using rectangles much like other mass-selection or mass-designation situations elsewhere in the game, or you can paint with the mouse. Unlike other zone selections (but like designations,) burrow selections can take place over multiple z-levels, meaning that you can select cubes, rather than rectangles, or create multiple non-contiguous spaces. This may become important if you burrow citizens for an extended period of time, as you can include the dining hall, food & alcohol stockpiles, and bedrooms to keep your dwarves away from hungry/thirsty/tired states. Workshop stockpiles will need to be included within the burrow for craft-type dwarves (e.g. mason, bone carver, etc.) to do these jobs. '''Press {{k|r}} to set whether you're adding or subtracting tiles from the burrow.''' Also like zone selections, they may overlap. You can also set the colors and symbols used for different burrows to help tell them apart.
+
Citizens not assigned to any active burrows will completely ignore burrow designations.
 +
i.e. They may perform jobs within a burrow, haul items into/out of a burrow, etc.
  
−
Unlike [[activity zone]]s, burrows can also be extended through not-yet revealed tiles. You can only see the parts of the burrow that have been revealed, but the burrow actually extends exactly as far as you defined it.
+
===Suspending Burrows===
  
−
After defining the area of the burrow, you can add citizens with {{k|c}} on the selection screen, however they will stand wherever they happen to be until assigned a task inside the burrow, which they can path to. Note, however, that citizens may walk from one point of the burrow to another point even if the path they walk on is not part of the burrow. If you define a burrow which is split into two areas, the citizens may walk between those two areas, outside of the burrow you defined. The order of the dwarves in the list is based on an internal ID number, which doesn't correspond with any in game characteristic of the dwarf.
+
"Assigned citizens will not respect burrow restrictions". i.e. when suspended the game behaves as if you have deleted the burrow.
 +
It can be useful to define a "safe" burrow with food and drinks, locked away from the outside world. Assign all of your civilians, and only activate it when a goblin siege or other threatening force shows up.
  
−
== Deleting Burrows ==
+
===Workshops Material Sourcing===
  
−
Deleting a burrow is easy, just enter "define burrow" mode by pressing {{k|w}}, select the burrow to delete, then press {{k|d}}, and confirm with {{k|y}}.
+
When a burrow does not allow sourcing materials from outside the burrow ([[File:Burrow_workshop_refuse_outside_resources.png]]), jobs for workshops inside the burrow will not allow for the material to be brought in from outside of the burrow.
 +
Otherwise, materials _can_ be retrieved from outside the burrow.
 +
This can be used as an alternative to (or in combination with) linked stockpiles. See [[#Limit workshops to burrow]].
  
 
== Uses for Burrows ==
 
== Uses for Burrows ==
−
=== Defending an Area ===
+
{{migrated section}}
−
''Full article: [[Scheduling]]
+
=== Limiting civilian citizen jobs ===
 +
 
 +
Activation: Select the burrow with secondary selection keys, then press {{k|c}} to view citizens & resident list⁎, scrolling through it with those same keys and using {{k|Enter}} to add or remove one or more to/from the burrow.
 +
 
 +
A citizen limited thus will only accept jobs and items inside the burrow. When a citizen is in multiple burrows, they can accept jobs and items from all of them. Note that "job" here covers nearly anything a dwarf may do outside of walking, fighting and socializing, including tasks such as idle individual combat drills†, picking up babies or equipment, or even sleeping. Nor will they try to eat or drink anything outside the burrow until starving or dehydrating.
 +
 
 +
[[Image:Burrow.png|right|thumb|240px|An illustration demonstrating that a burrow does *not* restrict a dwarf's movement--the metalcrafter marched right out of his burrow to pull the right lever.]]
 +
 
 +
'''Burrow assignments do not restrict citizen movements'''; An idle dwarf can take a stroll outside the burrow they're assigned to and they'll stand wherever they happen to be until assigned a task inside the burrow which they can path to. Additionally, citizens may walk from one point of the burrow to another point even if the path they walk on is not part of the burrow. If you define a burrow which is split into two areas, the citizens may walk between those two areas, outside of the burrow you defined.
 +
 
 +
Furthermore, this setting doesn't restrict jobs itself either. Should a job request an item not in the burrow, the dwarf will cancel the job. Then they'll look for a job again - often the one they just cancelled, thus entering a loop.
  
−
Burrows are one of the ways you can give passive orders to [[squads]] and civilians during [[Scheduling#Alert levels|alerts]]. Under the squad schedule menu (Press {{k|m}} {{k|s}}) you can add an order to any particular month for the chosen alert with {{k|o}} or edit their existing orders with {{k|e}}. On the Give Orders menu, use {{k|o}} to cycle through the orders given to squads. The order "Defend Burrows" '''cannot''' be given without first creating burrows to assign defenders to. Under a "Defend Burrows" order, dwarves in the squad are stationed in the specific area and will defend it proactively.
+
As such, a dwarf's burrow should include:
  
−
=== Civilian Alerts ===
+
* All places they work at, sleep, eat, drink.
 +
* All tools, raw materials, fuel and items they need for above.
 +
* All stockpiles they store items in.
 +
* All stockpiles they take items from.
 +
* For wheelbarrowed haulers, all the tiles they push the wheelbarrow on.
  
−
Normally, you need to add citizens to a burrow manually when defining it to have them respect the boundaries. However, a [[civilian alert]] will automatically confine all non military dwarves to the burrows defined in the alert for as long as the alert is active.  When you set the civilian alert level to an alert including a defined burrow, your civilian dwarves will ignore their normal burrow based job restrictions even if their burrow is one of those in the civilian alert.
+
Take care to avoid dwarves having labors that result in them taking jobs that demand items outside the burrow:
  
−
See [[User:Khearn/CivilianAlertBurrow|these beginner-friendly instructions]] on how to create and use a civilian alert burrow.
+
* Food hauling and food stockpile that takes from anywhere.
 +
* Feed Patients/Prisoners and a patient with buckets/water sources out of range.
 +
* Seek Infant and a baby dropped outside the burrow.
  
−
=== Broker to the Depot, STAT ===
+
Should one still need to use hauling labors, they should limit their stockpiles to links only and use [[Minecart]] hauling systems to move the requisite goods from outside the burrow to in. Otherwise, dwarves not assigned to the burrow can still do jobs in its area, including moving food inside.
  
−
You can define your trade depot as a burrow, then when the traders appear, add your broker to that burrow. He will then only accept jobs at the trade depot, though he may be delayed if he is [[on break]] or asleep. This is particularly useful if your broker insists on performing other jobs instead of manning the depot.
+
⁎ The order of the citizens in the list is based on an internal ID number, which only loosely correlates with arrival time.
  
−
===Help! Goblins are chasing me in circles!===
+
† However, active military dwarves are unaffected and can even perform those same drills.
−
One problem with outdoor work is the lack of safe areas, the presence of ambushers, and civilian dwarves who will, by default, run in the dumbest direction possible. You can create small bolt-holes in the wilderness outside your fort and give them a floor hatch as a door. When ambushers appear, add your outdoor workers to the nearest bolt-hole burrow. After they run inside, lock the door. You don't even need to (and probably shouldn't) hook these bolt holes up to your main fort; they are for short term emergencies. You could stock them with a little food and booze, just in case.
 
  
−
===Alternative to Hot Keys===
+
=== Limit workshops to burrow ===
−
You can define small burrows to areas you would like to zoom to.  Then by pressing "w", select the burrow, "z" to 'center on burrow' your view will be moved to that spot like a hot key.  This is useful when you run out of hotkey slots.
+
Activation: Select the burrow with secondary selection keys, then press {{k|w}} to toggle the limit.  
  
−
== Bugs ==
+
This setting behaves as if workshop or furnace or trap is [[Stockpile#Give_to_a_stockpile.2Fworkshop|linked to take from stockpile]]. A building is considered affected by this setting when their center tile is in the burrow. A building limited by multiple burrows will be able to use materials from all of them.
  
−
Burrows can be powerful tools, but that also means they have the potential to cause many problems. {{bugl|434}}, a longstanding burrow bug, was converted to an optional workshop restriction feature in v0.40.07. Unfortunately, this feature can be enabled accidentally (pressing {{k|w}} twice enters the burrow menu and toggles workshop restrictions for the first burrow).
+
* Like with stockpile links, take care to include ''all'' items a job needs in the burrow area.
  
−
* Haulers in burrows stand around contemplating hauling jobs they can't perform.{{bug|600}}
+
There are some notable differences from using links, however:
  
−
* [[Dwarf cancels Store Item: Item inaccessible]]" message spam results from idle dwarves being in a burrow that contains a stockpile but not the item the stockpile wants to have.{{bug|5062}}
+
* Burrows will not generate jobs, nor will they keep any items inside them from being hauled away to a stockpile elsewhere.
 +
* Burrows are not considered buildings, and as such have greater freedom of placement; allowing one to limit their looms to all webs in safe areas, masons to nearby freshly dug stone, or smelter to take both nearby ore and bars in another smelter.
 +
* Items dropped in center tile of workshop must necessarily be available to it, which can result in unwanted behaviour such as decorations on old clothes.
 +
* It is easier to verify whether a given workshop is limited by burrows, as you only need to scroll through your burrow list while looking at it.
  
−
* Civilians assigned to a burrow while hauling constantly spam "drop-off inaccessible".{{bug|597}}
+
Keep in mind that this affects only workshops and furnaces, and not any other buildings that accept items for their jobs such as traps, stockpiles, farms, etc...
  
−
* Dwarves cancel repeating workshop jobs which they personally cannot complete due to their burrow lacking materials.{{bug|2262}}
+
: Unfortunately, this feature can be enabled accidentally - (pressing {{k|w}} twice enters the burrow menu and toggles workshop restrictions for the first burrow). Due that it can be desirable to reassign one of these keys.
  
−
* Burrow-assigned dwarves abandon [[wheelbarrow]]s when passing through non-burrow tiles.{{bug|6484}}
+
=== Civilian Alerts ===
 +
In previous versions, civilian alerts could be used to force all civilians and animals to remain inside a burrow, ignoring their individual assignments for the time being.
 +
In the current version {{version|50.07}}, this feature is [[Missing features|missing]] due to {{F|169696/8442542|UI and time constraints}}. The ability to assign all civilians to a burrow replicates some of its functionality. [[DFHack]] adds the full feature back to the UI if you have it installed.
  
−
* Mothers spam cancellations when attempting to recover a baby outside of their burrow.{{bug|765}}
+
=== Defending an Area ===
 +
''Full article: [[Scheduling]]
  
−
* Harvest plants job unaffected by burrows.{{bug|5454}}
+
Burrows are one of the ways you can give passive orders to [[squads]] and civilians during [[Scheduling#Alert levels|alerts]]. Under the squad schedule menu (Press {{k|m}} {{k|s}}) you can add an order to any particular month for the chosen alert with {{k|o}} or edit their existing orders with {{k|e}}. On the Give Orders menu, use {{k|o}} to cycle through the orders given to squads. The order "Defend Burrows" '''cannot''' be given without first creating burrows to assign defenders to. Under a "Defend Burrows" order, dwarves in the squad will go to exactly in the specified tile(s) and will defend it proactively - however, schedules don't switch until next day arrives.
  
−
* Build construction job unaffected by burrows.{{bug|8414}}
+
=== Broker to the Depot, STAT ===
  
−
* Dwarves get stuck trying to perform jobs at edge of burrow.{{bug|2416}}
+
You can define your trade depot as a burrow, then when the traders appear, add your broker to that burrow. He will then only accept jobs at the trade depot, though he may be delayed if he is asleep or fulfilling an urgent [[need]]. This is particularly useful if your broker insists on performing other jobs instead of manning the depot.
  
−
* Dwarves may remain restricted to a deleted burrow.{{bug|1735}}
+
===Alternative to Hot Keys===
 +
You can define small burrows to areas you would like to zoom to. Then by pressing "w", select the burrow, "z" to 'center on burrow' your view will be moved to earliest map block where burrow still has placed tiles. This is useful when you run out of hotkey slots.
  
−
* Spouse room assignments behave oddly when spouses are in different burrows.{{bug|2442}}
+
===Causing and Managing Insanity===
 +
If a dwarf is assigned to a burrow with no beds, then that dwarf can't sleep. If he stays Very Drowsy long enough, then he'll go insane. Whether this is a goal or danger to be avoided depends on your play style. It's easy to accidentally do this to [[children]], since they'll keep on playing without giving much of a sign that they're about to have a mental breakdown.
  
−
* Dwarves try to party outside of burrow, "cancel attend party: no floor space".{{bug|3390}}
+
Ironically, some dwarves going insane can be easily managed with a burrow. Despite their wild and irreversible mental state, dwarves can comply with the limited area of the burrow. This can be extremely useful for keeping insane and potentially harmful dwarves away from the general population, as well as keeping others from seeing the corpse of the insane person when they inevitably die.
  
 +
== Bugs ==
 +
{{migrated section}}
 +
Burrows can be powerful tools, but that also means they have the potential to cause many problems.
 +
* Dwarves try to store equipment they're no longer using outside their burrows, spamming cancellations when unable. {{bug|340}}
 +
* Haulers in burrows stand around contemplating hauling jobs they can't perform.{{bug|600}}
 +
* [[Dwarf cancels Store Item: Item inaccessible]]" message spam results from idle dwarves being in a burrow that contains a stockpile but not the item the stockpile wants to have.{{bug|5062}} If you want to move items from outside the burrow to the inside without generating cancellations, you can put a stockpile on the boundary (to be accessed by non-burrowed dwarves) and use a minecart with a track stop set to dump onto a link-only stockpile inside the burrow. This way, the stockpile outside the burrow will not generate (impossible) jobs for the burrowed dwarves and the items will be moved to the inside by the non-burrowed dwarves, then happily to be picked up by the burrowed ones.
 +
* Civilians assigned to a burrow while hauling constantly spam "drop-off inaccessible".{{bug|597}}
 +
* Dwarves cancel repeating workshop jobs which they personally cannot complete due to their burrow lacking materials.{{bug|2262}}
 +
* Burrow-assigned dwarves abandon [[wheelbarrow]]s when passing through non-burrow tiles.{{bug|6484}}
 +
* Mothers spam cancellations when attempting to recover a baby outside of their burrow.{{bug|765}}
 +
* Dwarves get stuck trying to perform jobs at edge of burrow.{{bug|2416}}
 +
* Dwarves may remain restricted to a deleted burrow.{{bug|1735}}
 +
* Spouse room assignments behave oddly when spouses are in different burrows.{{bug|2442}}
 
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
 
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
 +
[[ru:Burrow]]

Latest revision as of 17:02, 15 September 2024

!!UNKNOWN!!  · xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
v50.14 · v0.47.05
This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

Burrows are user-defined areas in your fort for restricting jobs or/and dwarves. They are a way to limit the jobs your dwarf takes, what items they use or where they go, thus being an important tool for Fortress Defense. A burrow can be used for one, multiple, or all of the above at once.

Burrows Menu[edit]

Open the burrows menu with Ui U.pngU. This will open the burrows menu:

Burrows Menu.png

Clicking the "Add new burrow" button prompts you to paint what the burrow encompasses, then provides a menu for specifying the burrow's symbol and colors.

In the burrows menu each burrow provides the following information on 2 rows

  • First Row
    • Icon of Burrow (click on the icon to change)
    • Name of Burrow
    • Recenter button.png: recenter the map on the burrow
    • UI Paint Button.png: repaint the burrow
    • UI Delete Area.png: delete the burrow
  • Second Row
    • Number of assigned citizens
    • UI add worker.png: manage who is assigned to this burrow
    • Burrow workshop accept outside resources.png/Burrow workshop refuse outside resources.png: whether workshops in the burrow will/won't source materials from outside the burrow
    • Burrow active.png/Burrow suspended.png: whether the burrow is active/suspended

A burrow does not need to be contiguous and can extend into unrevealed space and other burrows - in the latter case, it can help use different colors and symbols for the burrow's icon to help tell them apart.

Assigning Citizens[edit]

Citizens can be assigned to 0, 1, or multiple burrows. The burrow assignment menu appears as follows:

Burrow assignment menu.png

On the top you can quickly assign all civilians (those not in a military squad) to the burrow, remove all civilians from the burrow (by selecting none), and similarly for soldiers.

Citizens assigned to 1 or more active (i.e. non-suspended) burrows will only accept jobs from within their assigned burrows. Furthermore, they will _not_ venture outside of their assigned burrows to collect resources for a job, no matter what the setting is for workshops sourcing materials outside the burrow. Note that active military orders (kill/train/etc) override burrow assignments (for example, soldiers will perform training in their barracks if ordered/scheduled to do so, regardless of whether they are assigned to burrows that encompass the barracks). See #Limiting civilian citizen jobs for caveats and problems that this can cause.

This can lead to some non-intuitive behavior, and a lot of job cancellation spam. An example of such odd behavior is that when a citizen is assigned to 2 burrows (with material sourcing from anywhere), they will bring materials from 1 burrow to the other burrow to perform a job, but will not haul items from one burrow to stockpiles in the other.

Citizens not assigned to any active burrows will completely ignore burrow designations. i.e. They may perform jobs within a burrow, haul items into/out of a burrow, etc.

Suspending Burrows[edit]

"Assigned citizens will not respect burrow restrictions". i.e. when suspended the game behaves as if you have deleted the burrow. It can be useful to define a "safe" burrow with food and drinks, locked away from the outside world. Assign all of your civilians, and only activate it when a goblin siege or other threatening force shows up.

Workshops Material Sourcing[edit]

When a burrow does not allow sourcing materials from outside the burrow (Burrow workshop refuse outside resources.png), jobs for workshops inside the burrow will not allow for the material to be brought in from outside of the burrow. Otherwise, materials _can_ be retrieved from outside the burrow. This can be used as an alternative to (or in combination with) linked stockpiles. See #Limit workshops to burrow.

Uses for Burrows[edit]

Limiting civilian citizen jobs[edit]

Activation: Select the burrow with secondary selection keys, then press c to view citizens & resident list⁎, scrolling through it with those same keys and using Enter to add or remove one or more to/from the burrow.

A citizen limited thus will only accept jobs and items inside the burrow. When a citizen is in multiple burrows, they can accept jobs and items from all of them. Note that "job" here covers nearly anything a dwarf may do outside of walking, fighting and socializing, including tasks such as idle individual combat drills†, picking up babies or equipment, or even sleeping. Nor will they try to eat or drink anything outside the burrow until starving or dehydrating.

An illustration demonstrating that a burrow does *not* restrict a dwarf's movement--the metalcrafter marched right out of his burrow to pull the right lever.

Burrow assignments do not restrict citizen movements; An idle dwarf can take a stroll outside the burrow they're assigned to and they'll stand wherever they happen to be until assigned a task inside the burrow which they can path to. Additionally, citizens may walk from one point of the burrow to another point even if the path they walk on is not part of the burrow. If you define a burrow which is split into two areas, the citizens may walk between those two areas, outside of the burrow you defined.

Furthermore, this setting doesn't restrict jobs itself either. Should a job request an item not in the burrow, the dwarf will cancel the job. Then they'll look for a job again - often the one they just cancelled, thus entering a loop.

As such, a dwarf's burrow should include:

  • All places they work at, sleep, eat, drink.
  • All tools, raw materials, fuel and items they need for above.
  • All stockpiles they store items in.
  • All stockpiles they take items from.
  • For wheelbarrowed haulers, all the tiles they push the wheelbarrow on.

Take care to avoid dwarves having labors that result in them taking jobs that demand items outside the burrow:

  • Food hauling and food stockpile that takes from anywhere.
  • Feed Patients/Prisoners and a patient with buckets/water sources out of range.
  • Seek Infant and a baby dropped outside the burrow.

Should one still need to use hauling labors, they should limit their stockpiles to links only and use Minecart hauling systems to move the requisite goods from outside the burrow to in. Otherwise, dwarves not assigned to the burrow can still do jobs in its area, including moving food inside.

⁎ The order of the citizens in the list is based on an internal ID number, which only loosely correlates with arrival time.

† However, active military dwarves are unaffected and can even perform those same drills.

Limit workshops to burrow[edit]

Activation: Select the burrow with secondary selection keys, then press w to toggle the limit.

This setting behaves as if workshop or furnace or trap is linked to take from stockpile. A building is considered affected by this setting when their center tile is in the burrow. A building limited by multiple burrows will be able to use materials from all of them.

  • Like with stockpile links, take care to include all items a job needs in the burrow area.

There are some notable differences from using links, however:

  • Burrows will not generate jobs, nor will they keep any items inside them from being hauled away to a stockpile elsewhere.
  • Burrows are not considered buildings, and as such have greater freedom of placement; allowing one to limit their looms to all webs in safe areas, masons to nearby freshly dug stone, or smelter to take both nearby ore and bars in another smelter.
  • Items dropped in center tile of workshop must necessarily be available to it, which can result in unwanted behaviour such as decorations on old clothes.
  • It is easier to verify whether a given workshop is limited by burrows, as you only need to scroll through your burrow list while looking at it.

Keep in mind that this affects only workshops and furnaces, and not any other buildings that accept items for their jobs such as traps, stockpiles, farms, etc...

Unfortunately, this feature can be enabled accidentally - (pressing w twice enters the burrow menu and toggles workshop restrictions for the first burrow). Due that it can be desirable to reassign one of these keys.

Civilian Alerts[edit]

In previous versions, civilian alerts could be used to force all civilians and animals to remain inside a burrow, ignoring their individual assignments for the time being. In the current version v50.07, this feature is missing due to UI and time constraints. The ability to assign all civilians to a burrow replicates some of its functionality. DFHack adds the full feature back to the UI if you have it installed.

Defending an Area[edit]

Full article: Scheduling

Burrows are one of the ways you can give passive orders to squads and civilians during alerts. Under the squad schedule menu (Press m s) you can add an order to any particular month for the chosen alert with o or edit their existing orders with e. On the Give Orders menu, use o to cycle through the orders given to squads. The order "Defend Burrows" cannot be given without first creating burrows to assign defenders to. Under a "Defend Burrows" order, dwarves in the squad will go to exactly in the specified tile(s) and will defend it proactively - however, schedules don't switch until next day arrives.

Broker to the Depot, STAT[edit]

You can define your trade depot as a burrow, then when the traders appear, add your broker to that burrow. He will then only accept jobs at the trade depot, though he may be delayed if he is asleep or fulfilling an urgent need. This is particularly useful if your broker insists on performing other jobs instead of manning the depot.

Alternative to Hot Keys[edit]

You can define small burrows to areas you would like to zoom to. Then by pressing "w", select the burrow, "z" to 'center on burrow' your view will be moved to earliest map block where burrow still has placed tiles. This is useful when you run out of hotkey slots.

Causing and Managing Insanity[edit]

If a dwarf is assigned to a burrow with no beds, then that dwarf can't sleep. If he stays Very Drowsy long enough, then he'll go insane. Whether this is a goal or danger to be avoided depends on your play style. It's easy to accidentally do this to children, since they'll keep on playing without giving much of a sign that they're about to have a mental breakdown.

Ironically, some dwarves going insane can be easily managed with a burrow. Despite their wild and irreversible mental state, dwarves can comply with the limited area of the burrow. This can be extremely useful for keeping insane and potentially harmful dwarves away from the general population, as well as keeping others from seeing the corpse of the insane person when they inevitably die.

Bugs[edit]

Burrows can be powerful tools, but that also means they have the potential to cause many problems.

  • Dwarves try to store equipment they're no longer using outside their burrows, spamming cancellations when unable. Bug:340
  • Haulers in burrows stand around contemplating hauling jobs they can't perform.Bug:600
  • Dwarf cancels Store Item: Item inaccessible" message spam results from idle dwarves being in a burrow that contains a stockpile but not the item the stockpile wants to have.Bug:5062 If you want to move items from outside the burrow to the inside without generating cancellations, you can put a stockpile on the boundary (to be accessed by non-burrowed dwarves) and use a minecart with a track stop set to dump onto a link-only stockpile inside the burrow. This way, the stockpile outside the burrow will not generate (impossible) jobs for the burrowed dwarves and the items will be moved to the inside by the non-burrowed dwarves, then happily to be picked up by the burrowed ones.
  • Civilians assigned to a burrow while hauling constantly spam "drop-off inaccessible".Bug:597
  • Dwarves cancel repeating workshop jobs which they personally cannot complete due to their burrow lacking materials.Bug:2262
  • Burrow-assigned dwarves abandon wheelbarrows when passing through non-burrow tiles.Bug:6484
  • Mothers spam cancellations when attempting to recover a baby outside of their burrow.Bug:765
  • Dwarves get stuck trying to perform jobs at edge of burrow.Bug:2416
  • Dwarves may remain restricted to a deleted burrow.Bug:1735
  • Spouse room assignments behave oddly when spouses are in different burrows.Bug:2442
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