Dark fortress

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v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

This article or section contains minor spoilers. You may want to avoid reading it.

You may be looking for Dwarf fortress mode.

Dark fortresses are sites created by goblin civilizations. They, along with dark pits, take the form of simple towers surrounded by sprawling networks of trenches.

Most of the population of a dark fortress is found at the top of the towers. The towers also have downward stairs, which lead to the underground part of the fortress.

The underground part of the fortress consists of so-called "pits"(not to be confused with dark pits). These pits come in two variants: "living pits" consisting of corridors and small rooms, and "work pits" consisting of large halls which may contain trolls, goods and goblin skeletons. Supposedly, the living pits are used as dwellings, while the work pits are used as industrial areas and burial grounds.

The main differences between dark fortresses and dark pits are in the number of towers, and in how many of them are interconnected by stairways. Dark fortresses tend to have more towers, and more of them lead to the underground housing and grave pits. Dark fortresses are usually also built around a certain structure of foreign origin.

Visiting dark fortresses and pits in adventure mode can result in extreme lag because of the masses of denizens that can rank in the thousands. This is presumably a bug. The lag and impact on fps can be drastically reduced by sleeping in the fortress (or outside) until it's nighttime and most of the creatures are asleep. Changing to a faster gait will also help because it reduces the amount of calculations other creatures make before it's your turn again.

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