Difference between revisions of "40d:Fire"

Revision as of 06:15, 13 October 2008

A border of exclamation marks (!!) on an item or dwarf name indicates that it is on fire. Items on fire also release smoke and ignite adjacent items. The color of the name of burning dwarves will alternate between yellow and red (it may do so forever after the dwarf died).

This had problems in the old version, in that the burning items set other nearby items on fire. A good example:

Dwarf gets hit by fireball from fire imp at the magma forge
Dwarf runs around his business, as he takes burning damage he goes for a rest, and heads for the barracks
The dwarf dies on the way. Someone comes and picks up his !!giant cave spider silk shoe!! and puts it on. His clothing catches on fire
This dwarf also feels hurt and heads for the barracks, but this one gets on the wooden bed, lighting that up.
Nearby beds light up; dwarves sleep on that bed and the others near it and get lit up themselves, as well as the dwarves going for the !!cave spider silk robe!!
Some of these dwarves go past the alcohol stores for a drink, these light up. now a fair portion of the fortress is on fire.
Remaining dwarves will have other barracks to sleep in, and some of them have rooms. they go back and set more of their stuff on fire
Three months later: everything is burning and all your dwarves are dead because none of them fell in the river.
Wasn't that fun?

Forest fires

Origins

Creatures such as Fire imps can cause a forest fire by lighting up another creature with a fire attack. Fire may then catch on the grass around, which will in turn slowly spread to all connected grass, generating smoke in the meantime. Anything that is flammable and stands on burning grass (if you look at it you will see "A fire") also has a chance to catch fire each turn. Your entire area may burn if you are unlucky enough. Fire will turn grass into ashes, though strangely, not usable ashes.

Preventing forest fires

It is recommended to guard the surroundings of the any exterior magma pool with Marksdwarves so that creatures don't have a chance to light anything up (except the Marksdwarves themselves, but this is unlikely if they are well trained). Having walls or better yet fortifications all around the pools is likely to prevent all possible forest fires.

Protecting from forest fires

Since dwarves will not pay attention to fires , and dwarves will rush to move their dead friends to the graveyard, you may end up very quickly with heavy casualties if you do not order all dwarves to stay inside. If you have precious items and buildings outside, it is also possible to dig a channel to stop the fire from spreading any more (they are cheaper then walls, offer the same protection and, most importantly, a much faster to create).

Know however that merchants will not pay anymore attention to the fire than your own dwarves, so you may also want to protect them in the same fashion, even if it should change their path, otherwise they could all happily walk into flames when leaving the region (or worse, stand for days on "A fire").

Irregularities

Forest fires present certain irregularities that you should take in consideration ^{v0.28.181.40d}:

Trees, plants and other map tiles will not be destroyed in the fire. That makes them very easy to spot after a forest fire, and also a possible (if unlikely) natural defense. Items, however, may burn.
Grassy slopes will not catch on fire, thus preventing the fire from spreading accross z-levels.
Forest fires, no matter how big, will never cross a channel or a non-wooden road.
Fires won't cross an empty stockpile, providing an even fast way to create firebreaks.

Note that actively making use of these irregularities may be considered an exploit.

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 ===Origins===
-Creatures such as [[Fire imp]]s can cause a forest fire by lighting up another creature with a fire attack.  Fire may then catch on the grass around, which will in turn slowly spread to all connected grass, generating smoke in the meantime.  Anything that is flammable and stands on burning grass (if you loo{{k|k}} at it you will see "A fire") also has a chance to catch fire each turn.  Your entire area may burn if you are unlucky enough.  Fire will turn [[grass]] into ashes.
+Creatures such as [[Fire imp]]s can cause a forest fire by lighting up another creature with a fire attack.  Fire may then catch on the grass around, which will in turn slowly spread to all connected grass, generating smoke in the meantime.  Anything that is flammable and stands on burning grass (if you loo{{k|k}} at it you will see "A fire") also has a chance to catch fire each turn.  Your entire area may burn if you are unlucky enough.  Fire will turn [[grass]] into ashes, though strangely, not usable [[ash|ashes]].
 ===Preventing forest fires===