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v0.34:Block
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
A block is a type of building material. Stone and wood can be shaped into blocks at a mason's workshop or carpenter's workshop. Glass can be formed as blocks at a glass furnace, ceramic blocks (labeled as "bricks") can be made at a kiln, and metal blocks can be made at a forge from a single metal bar (or, in the case of adamantine, from four wafers). Blocks are mostly equal to bars, but are used differently and counts as a different type of items. Blocks do not have quality levels.
A single block is required in order to build a well, screw pump, or ashery. Blocks can also be used in place of raw stone or wood in roads, bridges, workshops and constructions (but not in items like crafts or furniture). Bridges, pillars, roads, and constructions built from rocks are called "rough" while the same built from blocks are not given that adjective.
Stone blocks are sometimes used as materials during strange moods.
Blocks vs. rocks
The clearest distinction between building a building using a boulder and building a building using a stone block is that more buildings can be built of blocks, as each stone produces four blocks. Note that the one stone to four blocks rule does not apply to wood, glass, or ceramic blocks/bricks; metal blocks are made in sets of 1, but since you get 4 bars at a time from smelting ore, the end result is equivalent to stone.
Blocks but have less volume and thus weights much less than raw forms of construction materials - only 0.06 (≈1/16.7) of stones or 0.12 (≈1/8.3) of logs. This probably can reduce hauling time. Blocks are equal in weight to bars made of the same metal.
Building a bridge out of blocks instead of rocks cuts the building time by two thirds, independent of clearing and hauling time. This difference in building time presumably extends to other buildings and constructions where you can choose between blocks and rocks.
Blocks, unlike raw stone or wood, can stack in bins in bar/block stockpiles. This also can improve hauling time between stockpiles.
Blocks are more valuable than rocks. Blocks have a base value of 5, compared to the raw material value of 3 for stone, wood or glass. Metal bars already have a base value of 5.
Metal ores and economic stone will still produce multiple stone blocks if cut in a mason's workshop. However, this breaks use for any purpose other than building: blocks of flux cannot be used for making pig iron or steel, nor can blocks of ore be smelted into metal.