Announcement

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List of announcements, in classic/ASCII mode.

An announcement is a message displayed at the bottom of the game screen used to indicate something important. Major announcements will pause gameplay and center the camera on the event in question, and game-changing ones will both do that and provide a framed message box presenting the event in question. The announcements list (a) lists all game announcements in dated order; some (but not all) can be zoomed to. Announcements are not to be confused with reports, which detail combat results.

When some major or important game-changing announcements occur, the following icon will appear, accompanied with a wooden ticking-like sound effect:

Controlling which announcements pause and recenter

You can control which types of announcements do and don't pause and/or recenter the game by editing the announcements.txt file, found at Dwarf Fortress/data/init/announcements.txt. An announcement type containing P will pause when that announcement type is made, and one containing R will re-center when that announcement type is made. For example,

[MIGRANT_ARRIVAL:A_D:D_D:P:R]

means that the game will pause and recenter upon the announcement of migrants arriving. You could change it to

[MIGRANT_ARRIVAL:A_D:D_D:R]

to cause the game to recenter on the arriving migrants, but to not pause the game.

Announcements

Note: Some of the icons may be incorrect. A question mark placeholder icon is in place of unknown icons. Please update them with the correct ones as soon as possible.

Icon	Importance	Description
Minor announcements are the simplest and most common announcements, and will flicker through the announcements window very quickly. This is typically used for things that happen a lot in a well-developed fortress.
	Minor	Job cancellation with a stated reason (building site submerged, item blocking site, dangerous terrain, needs rough picture jaspers, etc.), followed by a suspension notice if the job is furniture placement or building a construction. The standing orders menu (o) allows you to filter job cancellation spam, between none, some, most, and all (default is some).
	Minor	Standard changes in weather: "It has started raining," "The weather has cleared," or "A snow storm has arrived." Changes in the season.
	Minor	Creatures and dwarves (and apparently ghosts as well) growing up and progressing from baby to child to adult. Animals jump straight from babies to adults. A dwarf cancelling a job with the reason of "Seeking infant." may also occur.
	Minor	The creation of masterpieces. Can get quite annoying in mature fortresses, when the announcements will stack up the products of legendary dwarves.
	Minor	A masterpiece quality item has been lost or destroyed.
	Minor	The creation of masterpieces. Can get quite annoying in mature fortresses, when the announcements will stack up the products of legendary dwarves.
	Minor	Individuals are changing their status because they're in a squad.
	Minor	Changes in profession, for both civilian and military dwarves. The start of every month is usually marked by rotations within your militia and thus a bevy of messages of this type.
	Minor	A dwarf has begun hunting for animals.
	Minor	When an animal is slaughtered, or a tame animal or dwarf is struck down within view of other dwarves.
	Minor	Animals giving birth.
	Minor	A guest is visiting your fortress.
	Minor	Two dwarves have gotten married.
	Minor	Dwarves getting spooked by other creatures, and cancelling their jobs.
	Minor	Combat is taking place.
	Minor	Sparring is taking place.
	Minor	An agreement or mandate is active.
	Minor	An animal has been caught in a trap.
	Minor	A dwarf is in a martial trance.
	Minor	Dwarves getting promoted and/or elected to a noble status. Such as baron, count or duke/duchess.
	Minor	The raising of a ghost.
	Minor	Putting a dwarf (and an associated ghost) to rest with a memorial slab or a coffin.
	Minor	After one week, a dwarf or tame creature has been missing, or if a dwarf comes across a corpse.
	Minor	Dwarves growing attached to their weapons or armor.
	Minor	A rumor has been passed on to your dwarves.
	Minor	A creature is stung by a bee.
Major announcements are more important than minor announcements, and in addition to playing their message, the game will be paused and zoom to the location of the event. This is used for things that rarely happen, but aren't the most important. A wooden "ticking" sound effect is played for these announcement types.
	Major	A trained creature going semi-wild (feral), the last stage before becoming wild again.
	Major	The arrival of a caravan. Best to get ready for thieves and ambushes as well.
	Major	The arrival of the outpost liaison, although this always happens at the same time as the arrival of the dwarven caravan.
	Major	The arrival of migrants.
	Major	Uncovering of a thief. End them quickly!
	Major	Uncovering an ambush - very nasty if the dwarf in question is, for instance, just a poor old wood cutter out doing their job.
	Major	Discovering a gremlin.
	Major	Someone is caught sneaking around.
	Major	A section of a cavern has collapsed. This is usually caused by improper digging.
	Major	A dwarf entering a strange mood, claiming a workshop, setting to work, and either completing a legendary artifact or going insane in the attempt. (Each step gets its own announcement.)
	Major	A dwarf has gone berserk. This can happen if the dwarf undergoing a strange mood does not have the required materials to construct an artifact.
	Major	The arrival of the king or queen.
	Major	The arrival of a semi-megabeast.
	Major	The appearance of a creeping cloud in evil biomes.
Warning: Minor spoilers ahead Game-changing announcements are among the most important in the game. When these announcement occur, they pause the game, zoom to the location, and present a message box detailing the occurrence, in addition to repeating the message contained therein in the main feed after you close the box, for good measure. These are also reserved for incredibly rare, and potentially once-in-a-playthrough events. An example of a game-changing announcement, in ASCII mode.
	Important	The creation of an artifact, whether from a strange mood or from a soldier bestowing a name upon his/her equipment.
	Important	Discovering a cavern layer or the magma sea
	Important	The arrival of a siege.
	Important	The arrival of a megabeast, titan, forgotten beast, transformed werebeast, or the undead.
	Important	Discovering a cavern layer or the magma sea
	Important	Discovering a deep pit, magma pool, or downward passage in a cavern.
	Important	Discovering adamantine - Praise the miners!
	Important	Discovering the Underworld.
	Important?	A deity is disturbed, and lays a curse.
	Important	An area has been founded, and is incorporated into your fortress' holdings.