- v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
- Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
v0.34:Construction
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
 | This feature has one or more outstanding bugs. Please view the Bugs section for details. |
Constructions are buildings such as floors, walls and stairs. They can be made of any solid material, including wood, stone, metal or glass, and are accessible in the build-Construction menu. One exception is the track stop, found in the construction submenu even though it is a regular building.
Unlike most objects accessed from the build menu, Constructions are treated as inert terrain features when completed, with a few limitations as described below. Additionally, constructions can only be interacted with by look-ing at them or by pressing d-n to designate their removal. Using the query or task selection will give no information after the construction is completed, but will allow removal, suspension, and an idea of the current status before the Construction is complete.
Required labors
In order to make a construction, a dwarf with the appropriate labor is required. Wood requires carpentry; stone, glass, and soap require masonry, and metal requires any form of metalsmithing. No experience is granted when building a construction.
No labor is required for removing constructions - nobles and children can and will tear down walls given the opportunity.
Constructions and Designated formations
Constructions are similar to designated formations. However, unlike the walls and floors surrounding mined or channeled spaces, constructed features cannot be smoothed, engraved, or carved into minecart tracks. In order to construct smooth stone walls and floors, blocks need to be used in place of raw stone. Wood, metal, and glass constructions are not considered either rough or smooth, but in the case of wood, building with blocks will increase room value - metal bars have the same value as metal blocks and are thus interchangeable (though blocks may be preferred to simplify resource tracking), and glass can only be used in block form.
Order of Construction
Constructions are built in a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) order. That means that whichever constructions are ordered first will be built last. Also, if there is a large group of constructions being built, and a new set of constructions is ordered, the constructions in progress will be ignored until the new constructions are finished.
Respecting the LIFO order is also necessary to efficiently and correctly construct multi-z-level walls.
See also: Mega construction
Destruction
Constructions are generally inert, resisting building destroyers, but will be destroyed if magma and water can interact in the square of the construction to form obsidian, or in a cave-in. Building and removing a construction can change the floor it is built upon to a default value, removing things like engravings and the "magma flow" floor above semi-molten rock.