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Wagon

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!!UNKNOWN!!  · xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
Wagon
W
Portrait

No portrait

Biome

Attributes

· Genderless

Cannot be tamed 
Size
Max: 12,000 cm3

Age
Adult at: Birth
Max age: Immortal
Becomes after death

Wagon wood

Wikipedia article

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

(For information on the wagon carrying your goods during embark, see Wagon (embark).)

A rolling platform for carrying passengers or cargo.

Wagons are special "creatures" used by Human and Dwarven caravans. Wagons have a much greater hauling capacity than pack animals, increasing the imported goods available to your fortress and the capacity for exported goods. Unfortunately, wagons require specific accommodations to reach your fortress: wagon-accessible paths must be three tiles wide, extend from natural-land tiles at the screen border to your trade depot, and cannot contain traps or pressure plates. If wagons are unable to find a path to your trade depot (or if you have not built a depot at all), they will bypass your site and you will only be able to trade for what is available on the merchants' pack animals.

Wagons which are destroyed, abandoned, or scuttled will leave behind a unique type of wood: wagon wood. Since they count as creatures, dead wagons can be memorialized (though a ghostly wagon has not yet been observed).[1]

Depot Accessibility

In order to appear alongside caravans, wagons must have an appropriate place on the map edge to spawn and an unobstructed path to a trade depot.

After a trade depot is built, you can use D to check wagon accessibility. The decisive element is that you see the 'depot accessible' message on the right. Accessibility is calculated from your depot towards the map edges; even though you see a green area around your depot, it may not be accessible from outside. You need to make sure the path extends all the way to some edge of the map. The display is somewhat misleading in that a one tile wide green path is sufficient for the 3 tile wide wagons; the green Ws represent only the center of a wagon although the whole 3x3 can fit around it - so a three-tile wide path, which can fit a wagon, will only show up as one-tile wide line of Ws. When the route they would take goes over hills (ramps), it's hard to eye whether it is continuous all the way to the edge of the map, so be sure you see the words "depot accessible" on the depot access screen.

As long as you have a three-tile wide path to the depot that reaches any natural-land tiles at the edge of the map, wagons will be able to reach the depot. If there is only one path they can take, they will take that path. You can force them to enter and exit the map in an exact spot -- preferably very near your depot -- by erecting walls or digging channels so that all paths but the one you want them to take are blocked. Note that all caravans will prefer to enter the map at a wagon-accessible point, so this can also be used for Elven caravans as well.

Wagons will not appear on non-natural surface tiles at a map edge (such as a "bridge to nowhere"), though they can sometimes be encouraged to leave the map edge in such a manner. Wagons will also delay appearing at the map edge if their intended location is currently blocked by any other creature, similar to migrants.

Movement

Wagons can move horizontally across/through:

Wagons cannot move horizontally across/through:

Wagons can move up or down z-levels via ramps, so long as they do not have hatch covers on top. Wagons use different rules for movement on ramps - namely, they are able to ascend a ramp to a raised floor over empty space, but cannot cross the line of ramps while remaining at the same level. With some careful design it is possible to make bridges that control depot accessibility without actually allowing anything to cross them, or paths that can be traversed only by wagons but not dwarves or vice versa.

Wagon-only entrances

Wagons are able to navigate through certain entrances which other (walking) creatures cannot. Specificially, wagons can climb ramps that walking creatures consider to be "unusuable". By building a set of ramps which are exclusively unusable, you can send wagons on a direct route, while filtering all other traffic through your trap-covered route.

An example: [1]:

Z = 0 Z = 1
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓
▓ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▓ ▓ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▓
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▓ ▓ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▓
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓

Another example, which uses slightly less space.

Z = - 1 Z = 0
▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▓ ▓ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▓
▓ + + + ▓ ▓ + + + ▓
▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ ▓ + + + ▓

Bugs

  • Wagons can become "stuck" in obstacles.Bug:5418
  • Wagon pathing problems can result in caravan collisions.Bug:5687
  • It's possible for a dwarf to have a preference for "wagon wood".Bug:3676
  • Wagons are listed as "deceased" after being scuttled.
  • Wagon despawns, becoming listed as "Missing" and causing the caravan to flee.
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