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Civilization

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This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

A civilization is a nation, with settlements and a capital city. When you start a new fortress, there are typically two or more dwarven civilizations which you can choose to be the parent civilization of your fortress. You can select your civilization at the site selection screen. Different civilizations can have different items available when you embark. You will be forced to mod if you wish to play as any other race.

Types

Mountain Civilization (The dwarves)

Mountain civilizations build fortresses on the edge of mountain ranges, smaller hillock villages in the hill-lands nearby, and great mountain halls deep inside the mountain. Their settlements are represented by Ω and Ω on the world map. Mountain civilizations can be connected by either roads or tunnels during World Generation.

Plains Civilization (The humans)

Plains civilizations build wooden towns and farming hamlets in the lowlands. Their towns are represented by +, #, *, or , depending on size, on the world map. Hamlets are represented by Æ tiles. During World Generation, wooded biomes near towns are often converted into grassy biomes, presumably due to the human's logging industry. Towns can be connected by roads during World Generation. Roads will also be built between towns and conquered sites located in mountains or forests.

Forest Civilization (The elves)

Forest civilizations build forest retreats, large outdoor structures of trees planted in rows, in the middle of heavily forested areas. Their settlements are represented by î and on the world map.

Evil Civilization (The goblins)

Evil civilizations build huge overworld dark fortresses and smaller dark pits. They are represented by П and º, respectively. Dark towers are often populated by a mix of races since goblins are keen on kidnapping rescuing children from other civilizations. These evil settlements can be connected via tunnels during World Generation.

Skulking Civilization (The kobolds)

Skulking civilizations populate caves and steal items from nearby civilizations. Cave residents do not show as neighbours on the embark screen, and in default world-gen settings, the caves themselves are hidden from the map.

Underground Civilizations

Sometimes unnamed tribes appear on the civilization screen, which are peopled by various other humanoids resembling animals. Unlike the other civilizations listed, these unnamed civilizations spawn underground, forming small camps. The creatures that form these civilizations include:

In-game

Civilizations that you have been in contact with (either by WAR or trade) can be viewed by pressing c within your main fortress-mode view. Once you've selected a civilization to view, you can switch between viewing figureheads, export/import tallies, and trade agreements for that civilization with Tab. Friendly civilizations will generally report positive import/export values, while hostile civilizations generally trade in Death and Fun. You can peruse trade agreements with the arrow keys and Enter.

Note that "neighbours" on that screen are not always "neighbours". Sometimes, you can have an elven civilization as a neighbour while they are on the other side of the world.

Bugs

  • The trade agreement page in the View civilization screen prompts the user to press Tab to View Agreements. You press Enter and select agreements with arrow keys. The screen does not highlight the selected agreement, but you view whichever is at the top most likely.
Worlds
General
Map
Biomes
Chasm · Desert · Forest · Glacier · Grassland · Lake · Mountain · Murky pool · Ocean · River · Savanna · Shrubland · Tundra · Wetland
Features
Aquifer · Brook · Deep pit · Island · Magma pool · Passage · Road · Tunnel · Volcano · Waterfall
Underground
Civilization
Sites
Camp · Castle · Cave · Dark fortress · Dark pits · Forest retreat · Fort · Fortress · Hamlet · Hillocks · Labyrinth · Lair · Monastery · Mountain halls · Ruins · Shrine · Tomb · Tower · Town · Vault
Structures
Other