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World activities
v50.12 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
As time passes in Dwarf Fortress, certain activities happen in the world, outside of the player's influence and without their direct input. In older versions, any activity stopped after world generation finished. Changing this is what is usually referred to as "world activation".
Types of activities
Succession
Historical figures can get married, have children, do their various jobs, and die. And all of their children do the same as they are also historical figures.
The various positions of Nobles will either be inherited by another historical figure or assigned to a new historical figure by the parent civilization when the position is vacated or they have an unfortunate accident. Conflicts over succession and illegitimate site ownership can emerge, and armed usurpations and insurrections can take place.
Site changes
NPC sites are conquered, liberated, defended, destroyed and reclaimed while playing. Bandits will loot villages, armies will conquer cities, and forgotten beasts will ransack fortresses. Abandoned Dwarf Fortresses can be reclaimed by the player later.
Movement
Consequently, all kinds of creatures and groups travel around on the world map: Caravans[Verify], bandits, all kinds of beasts, refugees and migrants, and armies.
Armies move around the map while playing, for various reasons, including site invasion (not just to the player site), harassment, searching for work, reclamation of sites and more. As invaders need to actually travel the world map to get to your site, embarking close to a site of potential invaders increases the chances of an invasion. Other factors that influence the probability of an invasion are the "effective" population of said site[Verify]. In other words, how many soldiers the site can spare to attack you. While a site may have a high population, it may be occupied with other, more important campaigns than the player's site.[Verify]