v0.31:Reclaim fortress mode

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v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Reclaiming

Sometimes, a favorite fort in a remarkably wonderful location is extinguished for one reason or another. Sometimes, you just have to go back and try again. Thankfully, this mechanic has been built into the game in the form of Reclaim Fortress Mode.

How to reclaim a fortress

In order to reclaim a fortress, you must first have lost a fortress site somehow, whether by starvation, abandonment or violence. At the embark screen, press R in order to bring up a list of potential reclaim locations. From there, reclaiming a fortress is little different than a normal embark. The prepare for journey screen is identical to a normal embark, with the same number of points for item selection.

What you will find

On arrival at your old fortress location, the player's initial impression will be one of untidiness. Template:L items will be strewn everywhere. Dwarves that died during the fall of the last fortress will be scattered across the map along with the rotten carcasses of whatever livestock was left behind. Food items in barrels rot away for the reclaim. Prepared meals will be scattered everywhere but are still dwarf-edible.

Enemies that existed during abandonment will still be there if you reclaim the fortress immediately afterwards. Enemy invasion forces like goblin ambush parties will be peaceful for some reason. If your fortress fell to a tantrum spiral, there may be berserk dwarves lurking in ambush for your embark party. Be prepared to deal with whatever destroyed your fortress before.

Constructed buildings will have remained standing, including small buildings like Template:Ls and Template:Ls. Buildings, like items, must be reclaimed before they can be used.

Stockpiles will no longer exist, and anything held within them will have been scattered along with everything else.

Reclaiming buildings

In order to reclaim a building for your dwarves to use, say a Template:L, you will need to reclaim all of the items that make up that Template:L. You can do this two ways. First, you can hit t and move the cursor over the building, which will show all of the items within the building. This includes the materials used to build it. Hit f on each one to reclaim those items.

It is also possible to designate multiple items and workshops by using d-b-c.

Bugs

• The mud normally found in cave systems is gone on reclaim. This may interfere with your farming and/or wood cutting plans (depending if you rely on the underground forests for wood).
• If for whatever reason you walled off a section of your fort (to wall a very unhappy dwarf in their bedroom, for example) the walled off section will be invisible on reclaim. On removal of the wall, the section will still be blacked out, and can be designated for mining. Miners will attempt to dig, fail, and walk away only to try again a few seconds later. To get around this, mine a tile adjacent to the invisible room and it will be revealed, allowing you to continue as normal.(verified still in 31.25)
• When a dwarf changes jobs and tried to store an item it will constantly say: "Item is missplaced and can't be stored" forever.
• Scattered items seem to only be placed on walkable paths from the edge of the map. Walls and raising drawbridges (in the up position) block the scattering of objects. This can be exploited to concentrate reclaimed items in a small area (verified in versions 31.18 - 31.21).