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Wood

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v50.14 · v0.47.05
This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.
xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
"Timber" redirects here. For the month, see Calendar.

Wood is produced by designating trees to be chopped down. Any dwarf with the wood cutting labor enabled and access to a battle axe will cut down the trees, which will turn one tree into variable amount of logs, the raw form of wood. Bigger trees yield more logs than smaller ones.

For the most part different kinds of wood are identical except for minor differences in weight or color. Only nether-cap wood is magma-safe, thanks to its fixed temperature.

"Timber" is the name of the ninth month of the dwarven calendar, covering late Autumn.

Growing

Trees start their lives as saplings. Saplings cannot be cut down until they mature into full-grown trees, which can take several years. Frequent unit movement over a square with a sapling will likely kill the sapling, leaving you with a dead sapling occupying the square for a time.

Saplings will randomly appear in above-ground soil, only if the tiles underneath it are unmined AND it has at least another z-level of open space above it. If there is soil, but it doesn't have an immediate support for the roots, no saplings will appear. If there is no open space above, the saplings won't grow. Saplings will begin to appear in below-ground soil and muddy underground rock only once you have hit the caverns. Unlike their sunny counterparts, they don't require the below level to be unmined. However, they also require open space on the levels directly above them, otherwise the saplings will never grow.

Full grown trees will impede units' movement and can block the path of wagons, making your trade depot inaccessible. Be sure to clear trees out of active corridors. Building roads is a good way to keep trees from growing where you don't want them to be.

Sources

Besides cutting down trees, wood (and some wooden goods, such as barrels) is often available from the elven, dwarven and human caravans. Wood can also be purchased before embarking. Wood is quite inexpensive, costing only 3☼ per log, and you may wish to bring a large number of logs when embarking in order to jump-start your wood industry. The wagon you start the game with can also be dismantled for three logs.

Considerations

Reasons you need wood

  • To build beds. Without beds your dwarves will get unhappy thoughts from sleeping on the ground.
  • To build water wheels, windmills, and axles--without wood, you cannot generate or transfer power.
  • To build siege engines and ballista bolts. These can be very effective defenses when traps fail.
  • To build practical cages in most cases as wooden cages are much lighter than metal or glass. They would be the only cages you can mass produce if you have no access to sand.
  • To be burnt for ash, which is used in glass making, soap making, glazing, and for fertilizing crops.
  • If you want obsidian short swords, they require one log of wood in production, presumably for the handle. Note that these are primarily a novelty; all metal weapons are superior.
  • Wooden training weapons can be used for military training started shortly after embark should you feel the need. They are also useful for live training and danger rooms.

Reasons you want wood

  • It only takes one log to produce a bin, cage, wheelbarrow or minecart; but if you forge them instead then they'll take two or three metal bars. Wooden tools are also much lighter than the metal alternatives (apart from adamantine), which is a large benefit when the items are moved by hand.
  • All metalworks (smelters, forges), glassworks, and ceramic kilns need either magma or fuel. Magma is inaccessible to most early forts. "Fuel" means either coke or charcoal. Coke is produced from bituminous coal or lignite, neither of which is guaranteed to be present on your map. Thus charcoal is the only reliable option for an early fort, and it's made by a wood burner from wood.
  • Production of steel, the best mundane metal for armor and cutting or piercing weapons, requires coke or charcoal as a carbon source, even if you have access to magma.
  • Crossbows can be made from wood (or bone) and may be preferred if you have a skilled bowyer but not a skilled weaponsmith. They will suffer reduced damage if used to bash enemies in melee combat. However, since even metal crossbows are spectacularly bad melee weapons, this is a fairly unimportant consideration.
  • A stack of 25 Crossbow bolts can be made from a single log. Wooden ammunition is sufficient for training and use by hunters, though significantly less effective against armored opponents.
  • Shields can be made from wood, and currently material does not affect a shield's ability to block, so shields can be made without consuming precious fuel and metal. The low weight can improve the movement speed of soldiers, but the occasional shield bashes in combat will also be weaker than those delivered by metal shields.
  • Wooden floors can be useful to reduce falling damage, the lighter the better.
  • A handful of building destroyers prioritize destroying wooden doors and floor hatches, so they can be used as bait in areas with a lot of cage traps.

Reasons you don't need much wood

  • While beds, axles, windmills, water wheels, siege engine parts, and ballista bolts absolutely require wood, and soap, clear and crystal glass and fertiliser are based on wood ash, almost every other wood product has non-wood alternatives.
    • In particular, barrels can be replaced by stone pots without having to use either fuel or magma. Stone pots can also be traded to the elves, should you wish to export liquids or barrelled foods.
  • Once you have magma then you don't need wood for fuel. If you have coal, you can get by with much lower wood usage until the deposits run out. If you have both, you shouldn't need wood to produce metal or steel products.

Weight

The 'unit' of raw wood, the log, has a "material size" of 50 litres; the weight can be derived by dividing the density of the material by 20. An oak log will thus weigh 35Γ, a featherwood one 5Γ and a bloodthorn log 62.5Γ. The density for each individual type of wood is listed under the appropriate tree. Wood has a default [SOLID_DENSITY] of 500, making it about five times lighter than most stone and fifteen times lighter than iron. Feather tree wood is the lightest, with a density of 100, and blood thorn wood is the heaviest, with a density of 1250. Candlenut (140), and glumprong (1200) are also notable. However, since average wood is relatively light to begin with, with the possible exception of wood hauling, this makes (almost?) no practical difference in the daily routine of a fortress or your dwarves.

The density of a material is not always important, but can be, depending on the use of that material - see Density article for a full discussion.

Wood Type Density Color Climate Biome Water Evil Savagery
Acacia 600 Peach tropical dry
Alder 410 Tan temperate dry
Ash 600 Pale Brown temperate dry
Birch 650 Burnt Umber temperate dry
Black-cap 650 Black caverns 2-3
Blood thorn 1250 Crimson cavern 3
Cacao 430 Chocolate tropical dry
Candlenut 140 Ochre tropical dry
Cedar 570 Olive dry
Chestnut 430 Dark Chestnut temperate dry
Feather tree 100 Cream dry good
Fungiwood 600 Lemon caverns 1-2
Glumprong 1200 Purple dry evil
Goblin-cap 600 Red caverns 2-3
Highwood 500 Brown dry savage
Kapok 260 Tan tropical dry
Larch 590 Light Brown non-tropical dry
Mahogany 600 Mahogany tropical dry
Mango 520 Burnt Sienna tropical dry
Mangrove 830 Dark Taupe mangrove swamp wet
Maple 540 Rust temperate dry
Nether-cap 550 Dark Indigo cavern 3
Oak 700 Auburn temperate dry
Palm 680 Dark Taupe tropical dry
Pine 510 Beige dry
Rubber 490 Flax tropical dry
Saguaro 430 Ecru desert dry
Spore 600 Teal caverns 2-3
Tower-cap 600 White caverns 1-2
Tunnel tube 500 Violet caverns 2-3
Willow 390 Tan wet
Carambola 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Cashew 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Coffee 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Durian 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Guava 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Papaya 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Paradise nut 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Rambutan 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Tea 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Avocado 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Lime 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Pomelo 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Citron 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Orange 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Bitter orange 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Finger lime 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Round lime 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Desert lime 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical grassland, savanna & shrubland dry
Kumquat 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Custard-apple 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Date palm 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical
Lychee 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Macadamia 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Olive 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Pomegranate 600* Burnt Sienna* tropical dry
Almond 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Apple 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Apricot 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Bayberry 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Cherry 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Ginkgo 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Hazel 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Peach 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Pear 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Pecan 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Persimmon 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Plum 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Sand pear 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry
Walnut 600* Burnt Sienna* temperate dry

(*) Densities and Colour are marked in the raws as not researched yet in v40.02, due to change in future versions.

Biomes


See also

"Wood" in other Languages Books-aj.svg aj ashton 01.svg
Dwarven: lolum
Elven: ave
Goblin: dôr
Human: pado


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