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40d:Exploit
An exploit is a quirk of a game that allows players to gain what other players may consider an unfair advantage, usually by making use of a feature that is not working properly or which defies logic. Exploits are distinct from cheating because they occur within the game as written and do not need any external utilities or modding. Whether a player chooses to make use of an exploit or not depends on their personal taste; given that Dwarf Fortress is a single-player game, no one is actually harmed when you use an exploit.
Some exploits are listed below.
Self-powered pumps
It is possible to produce a perpetual motion water pump where the act of pumping actually powers itself! See screw pump and water wheel for details.
Atom Smasher
A drawbridge, when rapidly triggered on and off, can be used to obliterate any creature or item beneath it. Nothing short of a demon or megabeast is capable of withstanding a drawbridge crush.
Trap fields
Laying a field of traps with a significant-enough depth can protect your fortress from all invaders with no need to maintain a military. Traps are somehow intelligent enough to distinguish between pets and allies while being dangerous to enemies and wild animals.
Many players do not consider this an exploit.
Get back to work!
When a dwarf is "On Break", it is possible to draft this civilian into the military and then undraft the civilian in order to get him to cancel the break. This does give an unhappy thought (but only if the dwarf has no military and/or civilian skills), so it is not a significant exploit and some may consider it a perfectly acceptable gameplay method.
Quantum stockpiles
By designating a garbage pit zone instead of a stockpile, you may store an infinite number of objects in a single tile by dumping them, then reclaiming them when you want to use them.
A similar effect may be achieved by building a wall two tiles in front of a catapult and digging a channel between the wall and catapult. By firing the catapult at the wall, the stone falls into the trench. The stone will pile up in the channel, putting it out of sight and out of mind. Not only does this train siege operators, but it clears the stone that your legendary miners leave.
Cooking alcohol
Alcohol can be cooked without requiring many other ingredients, producing solid food that is eaten and not imbibed. Doing so is a highly efficient means of producing food, as each plant produces five units of alcohol.
Though undeniably an exploit, many people make use of this feature. It will eventually be plugged with Req129:
Req129, IMPROVE COOKING, (Future): More food. Food should require a substrate, rather than just being seeds etc. Seeds, syrups, drinks and other such objects can contribute to the likes/dislike checks as they do now, but they shouldn't add to the number created. A good roll could lead to the recipe being given a name and saved to the entity definition, where it can then be encountered in other cities in subsequent games.
Bling Bolts
Adding a decoration to a stack of bolts causes a huge value increase. The value of the decoration is multiplied by the number of bolts in the stack. This is considered a bug.
Bookkeeper Exercise Program
Changing your bookkeeper's settings to maximum accuracy causes him to work furiously in his office, training quickly up to legendary.
Nudist Fortress
Dwarves get a bad thought from having clothing wear out, but nothing happens if they can't find replacement clothes. As long as you don't make new clothes, they will happily go naked. This also avoids the problem of messy dwarves leaving clothing strewn around the fortress.
Recycling Archery Range
In an archery range, bolts that hit the target are are always destroyed, but bolts that miss can be saved. Build a channel between the archery target and the back wall of the range, and stairs to get into it. Amazingly, the bolts will no longer shatter on impact with the wall, but fall intact into the channel. Reclaim the bolts, and your dwarves will re-use them for target practice. This exploit has the unfortunate side effect of splitting up stacks of bolts, so your dwarves will make a separate trip for each individual bolt.
This trick will work for a ballista as well. Be careful for friendly fire.
Merchant Swindles
There are a variety of ways to cheat merchants out of their cargo without seizing it. Tearing down the trade depot while the merchants are there is the easiest way.
Also, marking items for dumping, using view creature mode (v), the stocks menu (z), or items in room mode (t), lets you relieve merchants of their goods. Just reclaim the items from your garbage dump zone later. You can even take clothing and equipment off merchant and guards this way.