40d:Construction

Any object that is normally fashioned out of a naturally-occurring ("rough-hewn") wall can also be built on a completely empty tile as a construction. This includes stairs, ramps, fortifications, and even new walls and floors.

Although "built", constructions are not the same as buildings (such as workshops or furniture), instead functioning as inert terrain objects. Once built, you cannot interact with constructions via the q or t menus (although you can suspend or cancel their construction via these keys).

To build a construction, type b-C. A construction can be built out of any type of stone, blocks, bars, or wood, and requires a mason if made out of stone, glass or soap; a carpenter if made out of wood; or any kind of metalsmith if made out of metal.

Constructions behave the same as objects fashioned out of natural rock, although the manner in which they are removed is different. Stairs and ramps made from natural rock are removed via "Remove Up Stairs/Ramps" (d-z); non-constructed walls and fortifications must be mined out (d-d); and natural floors are removed by digging a channel (d-h). However, all constructed objects of any type are removed via "Remove Construction" (d-n). No specific labor is required to remove a construction, regardless of what labor was required to build it: even children can and will remove constructions. Makes you wonder how they can be so effective at stopping enemies.

Building a construction on a smoothed or additionally engraved floor will remove the smoothing, see removal behavior, and also the engraving. This will give the engraver the usual unhappy thought from art defacement in the case of a masterful engraving.

The most valuable material constructions can be made from is masterful tallow soap made from the tallow of a [MODVALUE:50] creature such as a dragon, which is worth 15000 a bar.

Strange removal behavior

Once a constructed wall or floor is built, then removed, the remaining floor changes to reflect the base rock of the tile, rather than any stone, ore or gem vein. For instance, if you were to build a wall on a square of a mined-out hematite seam within a basalt rock layer, then remove the wall construction, the floor underneath would become basalt, rather than the original hematite. More to it, if the floor was smoothed, it will become rough again, and engravings will not return.