Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Children

2026-05-21T13:54:53Z

87.143.77.75: /* Chores */

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
[[File:child_sprite_preview.png|right]]
Most [[creature]]s, including [[dwarf|dwarves]], start out as infants, then after a certain number of years become '''children''', and after that become adults - for dwarves, childhood starts after reaching one year of age, and continues until age 18.

In fortress mode, some migrant dwarves are [[marriage|married]] and may bring children. Children who immigrate to your [[fortress]] might be any age from one to 17. You can determine the age of any child by viewing their [[thoughts and preferences|thoughts]] screen, which will give you the child's exact age as well as their date of birth. This information is visible regardless of whether or not the child was born in your fortress.

"Resident" heterosexually [[marriage|married]] female dwarves may also give birth to children. Dwarves can even have [[miscarriage]]s (if they become dehydrated, starving, or are subjected to certain types of physical trauma), which causes an unhappy thought for the mother, but not for the father.

Much of [[goblin]] society is centered around [[thief|stealing the children]] of other races. The appropriate response to a baby-snatcher appearing on the map is the judicious use of [[magma|dwarven diplomacy]].

Humanoid creatures (the five main species) that are children or babies will appear as unique smaller sprites, and will appear to be wearing red if the option to show worn clothing dyes is disabled. Young animals and other creatures will have a smaller sprite than their adult counterparts, with some of them having baby sprites as well. Curiously enough, portraits can still show dwarven children with facial hair.
{{Translation
| dwarven = tilat
| elvish = imi
| goblin = tox
| human = shin
}}
==Babies==
[[File:dwarf_children.jpg|thumb|260px|right|Before they grow up to realize they're in an unwinnable game.<br><small>''Art by Devilingo''</small>]][[File:df_baby_list.png|thumb|260px|right|Many children and a baby seen in the citizen information menu.]][[File:dwarf_child_portrait.png|thumb|96px|right|Portrait of a dwarven child.]]Babies do not have to be born in [[bed]]s, but are born wherever the mother happens to be, which will interrupt most current actions of the mother. The game will play the birth sound effect and [[announcement|announce]] the arrival of the baby. The mother will cancel whatever task she was in the middle of to seek her infant, and then will ''usually'' resume whatever task she was doing before the child was born. It is possible for dwarven mothers to give birth to twins or triplets, although that is exceedingly rare (1 out of 500), due to their [MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE] token. Babies are looked after by their mother, who will continue working while carrying the babies.

[[Unconscious]] mothers will not wake up when they give birth – [[sleep]]ing and resting in a [[hospital]] will not be interrupted. Dwarves in a [[strange mood]] will also not interrupt their mood when giving birth – cancelling a mood forces instant insanity, so it is likely a coding choice to protect mothers (and children). Imprisoned mothers can grab their child if they give birth while on a chain, but cannot retrieve an infant that is out of their reach, which can cause massive problems, since a mother carrying a child is forced to drop it before being brought to prison. Most jobs performed by a mother upon giving birth will be immediately cancelled to pick up the baby, but for instance a current haul animal job, where the mother is already leading the animal, will not be cancelled, but will be finished before the infant is picked up.

If the mother is sleeping or otherwise prevented from collecting her infant, the baby will be free to roam as it pleases. An emancipated baby acts in a similar manner to a [[insanity|raving mad]] adult, wandering freely over the map without any sense of self-preservation, gravitating to [[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|meeting zone]]s. It may be fed and watered by other dwarves, and in recent versions, such care happens regularly enough to keep orphans alive. As long as a baby is not within reach of a hostile creature, no harm will be done to it. "Job cancellation spam" can be generated as the baby is seen by the game to be "insane" (example: "Urist McBabyname, Dwarven baby, cancels Clean Self: Too Insane"), but once it reaches childhood (at 12 months), that will stop, and they go about their business like any other dwarven child. While dwarven children are dressed in red, a baby's clothes will be dark yellow.

The sex of a baby is determined upon birth; this means that [[Cheating#Savescumming|reloading a save]] before a baby's birth might get a baby of the other sex. After giving birth, it is possible for the mother to become pregnant again immediately, and give birth to another child nine months later.

Babies will crawl to burrows when assigned to them.

Any baby being carried by its mother will effectively leech [[food]] and [[Thirst|drink]] from her, causing her to become hungry or thirsty at double the usual rate. This does not, however, count as alcohol consumption – when a baby is close to 1 year old, it will have severe withdrawal.

Babies can gain memories, although it seems that only thoughts with strong emotions can become the memory of a baby. Many thoughts (with strong emotions), which can become a memory, are able to change the dwarf's values/facets (upon becoming a core memory). And since babies (and small children) will, if any, only have few memories, such memories will have a tremendous effect on the dwarf's happiness (as they will continuously remember the same few memories). Most of the thoughts associated with strong emotions (in a baby) are negative thoughts, and only a few are positive. Of the negative thoughts observed to become memories, aside from the (negative) ones known to be able to change the dwarf's values/facets, is being pestered by vermin (but this thought does rarely become a memory, but being aggrevated by vermin might be another matter as vermin generating such thoughts are hated by the dwarven baby). On the positive side, aside from gaining a sibling (which will usually change the dwarf's values/facets later on), being "near to a favorite (caged) creature" can become a memory (and presumably also being near to a waterfall {{verify}}). All of this means that it is not advised to let a baby-carrying mother (and thus the baby) be caught in the rain. But it might be a good idea to let the baby-carrying mother walk by a cage containing a favorite creature of the baby, as babies getting such a positive memory might be "fine" upon becoming a child (and not merely content or even unhappy). Also, babies can gain knowledge of dance, music and poetry forms by watching performances, although they supposedly cannot gain any other skills (except when eg. taken on a raid mission by their mother).

The first order of business when a baby becomes a child is to pick up their clothing. After finishing that task, the child will start to play in the tile they picked up the last piece of clothing (although they might fetch a toy beforehand). This behaviour, by proper stockpile placement (and stockpile links) and having enough mittens/cloaks/hoods, can be exploited, so that the former dwarven baby will always play in a guildhall after becoming a child.

==Labor==
In [[fortress mode]], children can be assigned the relatively minor labors designated chores, below, but will also perform a few simple tasks on their own, such as:

* Socializing in [[location]]s, also holding [[performance]]s like singing, or reciting poetry (and they can gain skill levels in dancing, poetry and musical instruments). But children can perform music that they know anywhere and everywhere (especially if it only requires one performer), they are not bound by meeting places or locations, but instead start singing in a bedroom or stockpile instead. But performing seems to be currently gated, ie. only children, that have a musician and/or singing skill, will perform music, which means that children born in the current fortress will not display that behaviour, but "void" dwarf children (migrants) can as they can be created with such performance skills.
* Picking out, and wearing, their own [[clothing]].
* Watching (and even leading) guild demonstrations, provided the guild is open to all citizens.
* Attending meetings to complain to someone in charge, if unhappy (ie. as a 1 year old due to being caught in the rain as a baby).
* Eating, drinking, and sleeping as necessary.
* [[Farming|Harvesting]] [[crops]], if the "All dwarves harvest" [[standing orders|order]] is on. This will also increase their [[planter]] skill, which only happens very sporadically in the current version.
* When they want to, storing their items, including toys (specifically, they may perform a Store Item in Bin order for multiple toys).
* Children can play with [[toy]]s, such as puzzle boxes or toy axes, and might also play make believe. Both are basically filler jobs without tangible benefits, except for usually giving the child a happy thought and so unstressing the child (although some children might not feel anything instead).
* Fighting or running from hostiles, depending on circumstances. (Since children are small, can't use armor or weapons, and all start without combat skills, don't expect them to be effective fighters. Nor, for that matter, can they be assigned to squads.)
* Children can enter [[strange mood]]s, going about them the same as an adult dwarf. If they did not watch any guild demonstrations in a moodable skill (prior to the strange mood), they will attempt to make one artifact appropriate for a [[bone carver]], [[wood crafter]], or [[stonecrafter]], otherwise they will create an artifact according to the highest moodable skill (normal strange mood rules apply). They will also gain experience as normal if they complete it, except for possessed moods.
* Children respect [[burrow]] restrictions, including civilian alerts.
* Attempting to [[swim]] if submerged in [[water]].

Children may not be assigned to the [[noble|nobility]] and cannot join any guild (even if legendary in one of the required skills). However, they ''can'' be assigned bedrooms - even though children might still choose to sleep in their parents' bedroom instead of their own. If no tasks are available, they will gladly loiter in meeting areas, like [[dining room]]s for example, for the duration of their youth. Children born in the fort tend to follow their mother by preference, even (especially?) if their mother is a soldier and is currently going into battle.

Children are also known to be invisible to [[vampire]]s, thus making excellent crime detectors, as they speak truthfully in all cases.

The game will create an [[announcement]] when children reach adulthood, and can be assigned labors. This announcement will not pause and/or center the screen by default.

==Chores==
There is a chores tab under Labor/Standing Orders that allows players to disable/enable the chore tasks, which are:

* [[Feed patients/prisoners]]
* [[Milking]]
* [[Stone hauling]]
* [[Wood hauling]]
* [[Item hauling]]
* [[Burial]]
* [[Food hauling]]
* [[Refuse hauling]]
* [[Furniture hauling]]
* [[Animal hauling]]
* [[Trade good hauling]]
* [[Water hauling]]
* [[Cleaning]]
* [[Lever operation]]

Children don't seem to like chores, adding to their [[stress]] level and possibly causing them to become depressed and moody, which, as true with any adult, can then result in a child committing various [[Justice#Crimes|crimes]]. Turning off chores (if only for your more stressed children) will help alleviate this issue - you must decide for yourself if the increased mood is worth the loss of their labor.

Consider turning off Refuse Hauling and Burial as well; children tend to accumulate bad thoughts when hauling corpses, which can stress them out even more than it does adults. Also, children tend to start playing immediately after finishing a task, so if you leave Refuse Hauling on, they may decide that the corpse pile is an excellent playground, adding to the problem.

Furthermore, do not expect children who are younger than 12 years to be as good at hauling as their adult counterparts with similar physical attributes, as they are smaller and size does matter when it comes to hauling. It is even worse for children before they are at least one year & 168 days old (528 days total), as this is another size cut point.

Also note that children are exempt from punishment, so there should not be any repercussions (for mandate violation), if a child did haul the export prohibited items to the trade depot.

== Dwarven School (aka getting children to watch guild demonstrations) ==
Even though a real school for dwarven children does not exist yet, every guildhall (which is not only open for its members) can serve as a school for them. The only slight hurdles are having someone in the guildhall to teach lessons and getting the children to the guildhall (to study aka watch guild demonstrations). But both of these hurdles can be overcome easily.

First a big enough guildhall is needed and enough levers (preferably unlinked ones) installed in the guildhall, intended to be pulled by the dwarven children - these levers should not be assigned to anyone (of course other levers can be in the guildhall assigned to adult dwarves). If other levers are used for defenses etc. one lever for each such defensive purpose should preferably be located somewhere else, with nearby stockpiles for food and drink (and a few bedrooms for the defensive lever pullers) and a lockable door, so that some dwarves (needed to pull the defensive levers) can be locked in, when it is time to give some lessons to the children (and get them to the guildhall). Also, a work detail just for lever pulling should be created, and only the dwarves (locked in for the defensive lever duty) should be set to do these tasks (at least temporary). All other (adult) dwarves should not be allowed to pull any levers.

Temporarily set the intended teacher and some other adult dwarves (ie. substitute teachers) to not do any labors at all (not even hauling) and then also set them to do the lever-pulling work detail and set a few levers in the guildhall to be pulled (to get the teachers and substitute teachers into the guildhall). After they are in the guildhall, remove them from the lever pulling duty, and let them do some guild demonstrations.

Then disable all chores for children, except lever pulling (which needs to be enabled), and set all levers, which are unlined and not assigned to anyone, in the guildhall to be pulled. Every time a dwarven child takes up a task to pull any of the levers (can be seen in the task list) that dwarven child should be excluded from doing any chores at all (otherwise the dwarven child might decide to pull multiple levers). The child will still pull the lever (finish the current task) and then - unless the child spontaneously decides to pick-up equipment, eat, drink or sleep (in which case the chores for the child need to be enabled again)- the child will start socializing in the guild hall (at least if there is still a guild demonstration in progress or currently a new one is organized) and the child will watch the next guild demonstrations in the guildhall (usually until either the child decides to eat, drink, sleep, pickup some equipment, no new guild demonstrations are organized or some chores are again enabled for the child). This way more or less all children can be goaded into the guildhall to take some lessons (aka watch some guild demonstrations). When nearly all children are in the guildhall or have already watched some guild demonstrations, then the lever pulling of the adults can be reset to the original preference of the player and the locked (forbidden) door for the defensive lever pullers can be unlocked (unforbidden). Also after the player is satisfied with the learning progress of the children the original chores for the children can be set again - some children currently watching a guild demonstration can still be left to temporarily do not chores (if there are still some guild demonstrations in progress). Also the original labors of the teacher (and substitute teachers) can be enabled again.

''Note:'' If at any point, after some children have started watching guild demonstrations, if for one reason or another no one is present to give another guild demonstration, then all children will usually decide that the lessons are over and will immediately start to play (either in the guildhall or somewhere else)which is the main reason why there should be a teacher and substitute teachers present, and the labors for these have to be temporarily disabled (so that they will only leave the guildhall to eat, drink, sleep or pick-up equipment).

==Dwarven parenthood==

In the eighth [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/df_talk.html DFTalk], it was mentioned that, due to a programming oversight, children's parents can become so preoccupied with finding their children that they can die of thirst.

==Too many children==
If there are too many children in the fort, [[FPS]] may suffer. [[Unfortunate accident|Removing]] children is difficult, as doing so may quickly lead to [[stress]]. One possibility is to [[burrow]] children outside to aid [[thief|snatchers]]. To prevent a large population of children in the first place, it is preferred to set the child and/or strict population capacities in the [[Settings#Population_and_seed_capacities|settings]].

In longer-running forts, when a parent has more than 10 children of one gender, the 11th onward will merely be referred to as "son" or "daughter". The exception to this is that the youngest will always be referred to as "youngest son" or "youngest daughter".

==Non-dwarven children==
[[Human]]s, goblins, [[Elf|elves]], [[kobold]]s and subterranean [[animal people]] follow the same aging progress of dwarves (born as babies, becoming children at a year old then become adults at eighteen). The same is true for some races of wild humanoid creatures and [[semi-megabeast]]s, though some possess shorter or longer child states than dwarves do, e.g. [[troll]]s become adults at the age of 10. Regardless of how long their child states are, intelligent non-dwarf children are functionally identical to their dwarven counterparts for gameplay purposes.

Young animals possess limited capabilities compared to their adult stages. Infant [[milk]]-bearing livestock can't be milked, young [[wool]]-bearing animals can't be [[shear]]ed, and bird and reptile hatchlings are unable to lay [[egg]]s. However, unlike intelligent creatures, almost all animals follow a different aging progress; they skip the baby stage entirely and are born as children, who become adults at only 1 year of age (though they usually don't stop growing in size until the age of 2). Certain exceptions exist, however, such as [[elephant]]s, who take 10 years to reach adulthood. Savage [[animal people]] versions of these animals follow this same aging progress.

Certain creatures possess no child state to speak of, and are technically adults at birth, having all the capabilities of an 'adult' immediately after starting existing (though most of them are still subject to growing in size as they get older). These creatures include stuff like all species of snakes, [[crundle]]s, [[giant cave spider]]s, [[creeping eye]]s, [[magma crab]]s and most [[megabeast]]s. Inorganic creatures such as [[Gabbro man|gabbro men]], [[Fire man|fire men]] and [[Amethyst man|amethyst men]] also exist only as adults and never as children. If the creature born as an adult is an intelligent creature, they'll be born with generally mild levels in some skills.

Creatures capable of being [[invader]]s can do so regardless of age - as such, you may be attacked by a [[werebeast]] child, or a young [[roc]], [[giant]], [[cyclops]], [[ettin]] or [[minotaur]]. They will behave exactly like their adult counterparts, but will generally be easier to kill than adults due to their smaller size. Such cases are rare, as they require either children being infected by a werebeast and not dying in the process, or for megabeasts to breed, both being particularly uncommon occurrences.

If the mother of a child is not a historical figure (on birth of the child) the game will not keep track of the family relationship between parent and offspring. The game will also not keep track of offspring of male historical figures, unless the mother is already a historical figure at the time of the fertilization of the not yet laid eggs (in case of egg-layers) resp. at the time the pregnancy starts (non egg-layers).


{{Category|Dwarves}}
{{Category|Relationships}}
[[ru:Children]]

Trade depot

2026-05-20T02:13:26Z

87.143.77.75: /* Move goods to/from depot */ Small correction

{{Quality|Superior}}

{{Building|name=Trade depot|key=T
|job=
* [[Broker]] noble (optional)
|construction=
* 3 [[Building material]]s (non-[[economic]])
|construction_job=
Depending on material:
* [[Metalsmithing]]
* [[Masonry]]
* [[Carpentry]]
|purpose=
Trade goods with [[caravan|merchants]].
}}{{av}}{{buggy}}

A '''trade depot''' is a [[building]] that allows you to engage in [[trading]] with the [[caravan]]s that arrive at your fortress. Trade depots can be created from almost any building material. Three materials must be used to build the trade depot, with the oldest* material chosen serving as the main material to determine color and "material" as labeled; the color is visible immediately upon confirming the construction order.

(* i.e. the first material created or imported on your map, by chronological order.{{cite forum|134816/4867108}})

There must be at least 10 spaces between the depot and the edge of the map. They can be built on top of [[construction|constructed]] floors and walls, allowing you to make a trade depot which is elevated above the surrounding land. Should they be deconstructed, the depot itself generates an implied walkable floor.

The visiting merchant(s) always stands at the upper side of the center table of the depot, while the player's [[broker]] stands at the opposide lower side. Graphically, the left side of the depot will show the visitor merchants' trade goods, while the right side shows items the player is setting up to trade.

== Depot accessibility ==
{{main|Wagon#Depot_Accessibility|l1=Depot Accessibility|Wagon#Movement|l2=Wagon Movement}}
There is no visual indicator of wagon accessibility. For a tile to be “Wagon accessible” it must be navigable between both the tile and the depot ''and'' the tile and the map edge. If you are trying to constrain wagons to a certain path, ''only'' the desired path should be accessible. ''Warning:'' If the map has an extremely large amount of [[tree]]s (Heavily Forested) there may not be any way for the caravan to get to your depot, unless you chop down a path for the wagons.

Also note that [[trap]]s, [[boulder]]s (the natural kind), and [[minecart|track]]s, will block [[wagon]] access (although not merchants with pack animals), so you cannot easily use them to defend your depot. (Boulders can be removed by [[engraving|smooth]]ing ({{menu icon|v}}-{{k|m}}) or constructing and removing a [[wall]], [[bridge]]s can serve as an alternative for tracks.)

Wagons park next to the trade depot, and need a 'parking space' of 3×4 adjacent to the depot.

Forbidding the trade depot (by forbidding any material used to construct it) will make it inaccessible to traders. If inaccessible during the arrival of the caravan, it will cause the wagons to bypass your location.

== Depot building UI options ==

Press {{Menu icon|b|T}} to build a depot, which occupies a 5x5 area. Click on the depot to gain access to the following options:

=== Move goods to/from depot ===
This command becomes active when a caravan arrives on your map. This screen menu is similar to the [[stocks]] menu ({{k|k}} - Stocks). This is where you select what items you want to trade with the caravan: ticking an item will generate a task for your dwarves to pick it from whatever stockpile it is stored in and move it over to the Trade Depot, and once there it will be available for trading; unticking items will make them no longer available for trade, and generate a task for your dwarves to move them back to the proper stockpile. If you have particular items you want to sell to the caravan, you can search for them. This is convenient if you want to export all your prepared meals or finished goods. Also shown is the culling on mandate option. The move to depot screen will not show things that violate an export [[mandate]]. By pressing [[File:Interface trade mandates.png]], it will change to Ignoring mandates, and you can select banned items for export. For example, if your [[mayor]] has a mandate banning the export of iron, this screen will hide bins that contain iron items. By changing this option, all iron items will be shown.

Items stored in [[bin]]s, [[bag]]s or [[barrel]]s will be shown under the category of their respective containers, not under the category of the items themselves. For instance, if all of your [[gem]]s are stored in a wooden bin, no "gem" category will appear in the move goods menu; the gems will be found under "bins." It is not possible to move these items individually. To bring them to the trading depot, you must select the entire container.

Also for some stock categories, ie. seeds and "leaves and fruit", there is no category in the interface to move these goods to the trade depot. Meaning the only way to bring such items to the depot is if they are within a container (ie. bag or barrel), allthough traders might bring these items without any containers (only non-tree seeds will be brought by traders within a bag).

Items stored in bins can be traded individually once they have been brought to the trading depot. Items stored in bags/barrels can only be traded as a whole. This is also true of the merchant's wares.

After selecting items and exiting the screen, [[job]]s will be queued to move the items to the depot. All dwarves, regardless of [[labor]] settings, can move goods to the depot. Items that have not been moved will show [[File:Icon pending to trade.png]], while those that have been brought to the depot and are ready for trade will be marked as [[File:Icon traded.png]].

Items selected for trading will remain at the depot until the caravan leaves. Alternatively you can select the item again. Once no longer required at the depot, items will be available for use or hauling to stockpiles as normal. If you don't want all the items to be returned to their stockpiles, you can optionally forbid [[File:Button forbid.png]] them at the very bottom of the depot menu.

''Note:'' The time it takes to open the move screen is directly correlated to the amount of items in different tiles (as for each such tile a path from the tile with the item to the trade depot is computed upon opening the screen). Meaning the duration until the screen opens can be considerably speed-up by forbidding (via the stocks menu) the thousands upon thousands of loose boulders strewn about in the fortress prior to clicking the move goods to/from depot button (just don't accidently also forbid the building material of the trade depot).

=== Trade ===
This option becomes available once the caravan unloads their goods at the depot and your trader is at the depot; it begins [[trading]]. If more than one set of merchants is using the trade depot, you will be given the option of who you want to trade with.

=== Requested trader ===
This setting determines who will perform the trade and requests a dwarf to come to the depot. To conduct trades with caravans, a trader must be present at the Trade Depot. Once requested, a job will be created for a dwarf to make their way to the depot and remain there until released with this setting, or the job is interrupted, such as by the dwarf deciding to drink, sleep, or eat. The Trade at Depot job has a fairly high priority, ie. a dwarf currently working in a workshop (without that workshop job having been set to the highest priority) will go to the trade depot at the next possible opportunity (allthough the dwarf will still finish the current sub-task of the workshop job before doing so) - still eating, drinking, sleeping and purple-colored worshipping take precedence over the trade at depot job. Also it might be a good idea to temporarily disable the animal hauling for the broker as a dwarf currently leading an animal will not abort that job to go to the depot.

If '''Broker requested at depot''' is active, then only the broker [[noble]] will respond to the trader request. This can become a problem when the broker is sleeping or otherwise occupied, but dwarves with low [[appraisal]] skill will receive poorer deals when trading. If '''Anyone requested at depot''' is selected, and someone other than the broker becomes a better appraiser than the broker, the broker's appraisal skill is still used.

== Adventure mode ==
In [[adventure mode]], a trade depot can be found in the surface structure of procedurally generated [[fortress]]es. It is usually filled with trade goods and people like [[noble]]s, [[farmer]]s, [[Craftsdwarf|craftsdwarves]], and a [[broker]], though in ruined fortresses there might not be any people. The player can talk to the people in the depot and then select the "Trade and settle debt" option to trade with them. Usually [[food]], copper/iron [[armor]], cut [[gem]]s, and [[clothing]] can be [[Trade|purchased]] in large quantities in these trade depots.

== Bugs ==
* Purchased items stay at the Trade Depot indefinitely after the merchants have left, unless a stockpile is present AT THE SAME LEVEL as the Trade Depot itself. The simplest and quickest way to force stuck items into stockpiles on other levels is by deconstructing the Trade Depot altogether and rebuilding it after all of those items have been hauled away.{{Bug|12920}}
* Setting a [[Activity zone#Meeting area|meeting area]] over a depot, then removing it, will cause dwarves to act as though it were still a meeting area. This is irreversible.
* Merchants in a trade depot who are accosted by hostile creatures may then refuse to trade. If any merchant is unable to make it to the depot, all the other merchants will similarly refuse to trade.
* Dumping items belonging to the merchants will result in the depot thinking the merchants are gone, when they are actually hanging around.
* [[Forbid]]ding a depot, or slating it for removal immediately after causing the caravan trader to be unwilling to do business with your dwarves (e.g. trading wood to the elves) will cause the caravan to leave all their items and embark on their journey, leaving you to claim the items for yourself. This is treated by the game as seizing the items and will incur diplomatic penalties on the player, unless done to a dwarven caravan (as you cannot have bad relations with your own civilization).
* The game behaves poorly when multiple trade depots are available. Merchants with wagons may path to one depot, while those with pack animals path to the other; then both groups will insist on waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. One of the wagons will scuttle upon arriving at a trade depot if there are multiple depots, causing the caravan to leave immediately. For this reason, it is recommended to build only one trade depot.
* If you slate a depot for removal while merchants are in the process of leaving, the wagons will never leave and eventually the animals and remaining traders will go mad.

{{Buildings}}
{{Workshops}}

Trade depot

2026-05-19T18:20:22Z

87.143.77.75: /* Requested trader */

{{Quality|Superior}}

{{Building|name=Trade depot|key=T
|job=
* [[Broker]] noble (optional)
|construction=
* 3 [[Building material]]s (non-[[economic]])
|construction_job=
Depending on material:
* [[Metalsmithing]]
* [[Masonry]]
* [[Carpentry]]
|purpose=
Trade goods with [[caravan|merchants]].
}}{{av}}{{buggy}}

A '''trade depot''' is a [[building]] that allows you to engage in [[trading]] with the [[caravan]]s that arrive at your fortress. Trade depots can be created from almost any building material. Three materials must be used to build the trade depot, with the oldest* material chosen serving as the main material to determine color and "material" as labeled; the color is visible immediately upon confirming the construction order.

(* i.e. the first material created or imported on your map, by chronological order.{{cite forum|134816/4867108}})

There must be at least 10 spaces between the depot and the edge of the map. They can be built on top of [[construction|constructed]] floors and walls, allowing you to make a trade depot which is elevated above the surrounding land. Should they be deconstructed, the depot itself generates an implied walkable floor.

The visiting merchant(s) always stands at the upper side of the center table of the depot, while the player's [[broker]] stands at the opposide lower side. Graphically, the left side of the depot will show the visitor merchants' trade goods, while the right side shows items the player is setting up to trade.

== Depot accessibility ==
{{main|Wagon#Depot_Accessibility|l1=Depot Accessibility|Wagon#Movement|l2=Wagon Movement}}
There is no visual indicator of wagon accessibility. For a tile to be “Wagon accessible” it must be navigable between both the tile and the depot ''and'' the tile and the map edge. If you are trying to constrain wagons to a certain path, ''only'' the desired path should be accessible. ''Warning:'' If the map has an extremely large amount of [[tree]]s (Heavily Forested) there may not be any way for the caravan to get to your depot, unless you chop down a path for the wagons.

Also note that [[trap]]s, [[boulder]]s (the natural kind), and [[minecart|track]]s, will block [[wagon]] access (although not merchants with pack animals), so you cannot easily use them to defend your depot. (Boulders can be removed by [[engraving|smooth]]ing ({{menu icon|v}}-{{k|m}}) or constructing and removing a [[wall]], [[bridge]]s can serve as an alternative for tracks.)

Wagons park next to the trade depot, and need a 'parking space' of 3×4 adjacent to the depot.

Forbidding the trade depot (by forbidding any material used to construct it) will make it inaccessible to traders. If inaccessible during the arrival of the caravan, it will cause the wagons to bypass your location.

== Depot building UI options ==

Press {{Menu icon|b|T}} to build a depot, which occupies a 5x5 area. Click on the depot to gain access to the following options:

=== Move goods to/from depot ===
This command becomes active when a caravan arrives on your map. This screen menu is similar to the [[stocks]] menu ({{k|k}} - Stocks). This is where you select what items you want to trade with the caravan: ticking an item will generate a task for your dwarves to pick it from whatever stockpile it is stored in and move it over to the Trade Depot, and once there it will be available for trading; unticking items will make them no longer available for trade, and generate a task for your dwarves to move them back to the proper stockpile. If you have particular items you want to sell to the caravan, you can search for them. This is convenient if you want to export all your prepared meals or finished goods. Also shown is the culling on mandate option. The move to depot screen will not show things that violate an export [[mandate]]. By pressing [[File:Interface trade mandates.png]], it will change to Ignoring mandates, and you can select banned items for export. For example, if your [[mayor]] has a mandate banning the export of iron, this screen will hide bins that contain iron items. By changing this option, all iron items will be shown.

Items stored in [[bin]]s, [[bag]]s or [[barrel]]s will be shown under the category of their respective containers, not under the category of the items themselves. For instance, if all of your [[gem]]s are stored in a wooden bin, no "gem" category will appear in the move goods menu; the gems will be found under "bins." It is not possible to move these items individually. To bring them to the trading depot, you must select the entire container.

Also for some stock categories, ie. seeds, plants and "leaves and fruit", there is no category in the interface to move these goods to the trade depot. Meaning the only way to bring such items to the depot is if they are within a container (ie. bag or barrel), allthough traders might bring these items without any containers (only non-tree seeds will be brought by traders within a bag).

Items stored in bins can be traded individually once they have been brought to the trading depot. Items stored in bags/barrels can only be traded as a whole. This is also true of the merchant's wares.

After selecting items and exiting the screen, [[job]]s will be queued to move the items to the depot. All dwarves, regardless of [[labor]] settings, can move goods to the depot. Items that have not been moved will show [[File:Icon pending to trade.png]], while those that have been brought to the depot and are ready for trade will be marked as [[File:Icon traded.png]].

Items selected for trading will remain at the depot until the caravan leaves. Alternatively you can select the item again. Once no longer required at the depot, items will be available for use or hauling to stockpiles as normal. If you don't want all the items to be returned to their stockpiles, you can optionally forbid [[File:Button forbid.png]] them at the very bottom of the depot menu.

''Note:'' The time it takes to open the move screen is directly correlated to the amount of items in different tiles (as for each such tile a path from the tile with the item to the trade depot is computed upon opening the screen). Meaning the duration until the screen opens can be considerably speed-up by forbidding (via the stocks menu) the thousands upon thousands of loose boulders strewn about in the fortress prior to clicking the move goods to/from depot button (just don't accidently also forbid the building material of the trade depot).

=== Trade ===
This option becomes available once the caravan unloads their goods at the depot and your trader is at the depot; it begins [[trading]]. If more than one set of merchants is using the trade depot, you will be given the option of who you want to trade with.

=== Requested trader ===
This setting determines who will perform the trade and requests a dwarf to come to the depot. To conduct trades with caravans, a trader must be present at the Trade Depot. Once requested, a job will be created for a dwarf to make their way to the depot and remain there until released with this setting, or the job is interrupted, such as by the dwarf deciding to drink, sleep, or eat. The Trade at Depot job has a fairly high priority, ie. a dwarf currently working in a workshop (without that workshop job having been set to the highest priority) will go to the trade depot at the next possible opportunity (allthough the dwarf will still finish the current sub-task of the workshop job before doing so) - still eating, drinking, sleeping and purple-colored worshipping take precedence over the trade at depot job. Also it might be a good idea to temporarily disable the animal hauling for the broker as a dwarf currently leading an animal will not abort that job to go to the depot.

If '''Broker requested at depot''' is active, then only the broker [[noble]] will respond to the trader request. This can become a problem when the broker is sleeping or otherwise occupied, but dwarves with low [[appraisal]] skill will receive poorer deals when trading. If '''Anyone requested at depot''' is selected, and someone other than the broker becomes a better appraiser than the broker, the broker's appraisal skill is still used.

== Adventure mode ==
In [[adventure mode]], a trade depot can be found in the surface structure of procedurally generated [[fortress]]es. It is usually filled with trade goods and people like [[noble]]s, [[farmer]]s, [[Craftsdwarf|craftsdwarves]], and a [[broker]], though in ruined fortresses there might not be any people. The player can talk to the people in the depot and then select the "Trade and settle debt" option to trade with them. Usually [[food]], copper/iron [[armor]], cut [[gem]]s, and [[clothing]] can be [[Trade|purchased]] in large quantities in these trade depots.

== Bugs ==
* Purchased items stay at the Trade Depot indefinitely after the merchants have left, unless a stockpile is present AT THE SAME LEVEL as the Trade Depot itself. The simplest and quickest way to force stuck items into stockpiles on other levels is by deconstructing the Trade Depot altogether and rebuilding it after all of those items have been hauled away.{{Bug|12920}}
* Setting a [[Activity zone#Meeting area|meeting area]] over a depot, then removing it, will cause dwarves to act as though it were still a meeting area. This is irreversible.
* Merchants in a trade depot who are accosted by hostile creatures may then refuse to trade. If any merchant is unable to make it to the depot, all the other merchants will similarly refuse to trade.
* Dumping items belonging to the merchants will result in the depot thinking the merchants are gone, when they are actually hanging around.
* [[Forbid]]ding a depot, or slating it for removal immediately after causing the caravan trader to be unwilling to do business with your dwarves (e.g. trading wood to the elves) will cause the caravan to leave all their items and embark on their journey, leaving you to claim the items for yourself. This is treated by the game as seizing the items and will incur diplomatic penalties on the player, unless done to a dwarven caravan (as you cannot have bad relations with your own civilization).
* The game behaves poorly when multiple trade depots are available. Merchants with wagons may path to one depot, while those with pack animals path to the other; then both groups will insist on waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. One of the wagons will scuttle upon arriving at a trade depot if there are multiple depots, causing the caravan to leave immediately. For this reason, it is recommended to build only one trade depot.
* If you slate a depot for removal while merchants are in the process of leaving, the wagons will never leave and eventually the animals and remaining traders will go mad.

{{Buildings}}
{{Workshops}}

Trade depot

2026-05-19T18:13:21Z

87.143.77.75: /* Move goods to/from depot */

{{Quality|Superior}}

{{Building|name=Trade depot|key=T
|job=
* [[Broker]] noble (optional)
|construction=
* 3 [[Building material]]s (non-[[economic]])
|construction_job=
Depending on material:
* [[Metalsmithing]]
* [[Masonry]]
* [[Carpentry]]
|purpose=
Trade goods with [[caravan|merchants]].
}}{{av}}{{buggy}}

A '''trade depot''' is a [[building]] that allows you to engage in [[trading]] with the [[caravan]]s that arrive at your fortress. Trade depots can be created from almost any building material. Three materials must be used to build the trade depot, with the oldest* material chosen serving as the main material to determine color and "material" as labeled; the color is visible immediately upon confirming the construction order.

(* i.e. the first material created or imported on your map, by chronological order.{{cite forum|134816/4867108}})

There must be at least 10 spaces between the depot and the edge of the map. They can be built on top of [[construction|constructed]] floors and walls, allowing you to make a trade depot which is elevated above the surrounding land. Should they be deconstructed, the depot itself generates an implied walkable floor.

The visiting merchant(s) always stands at the upper side of the center table of the depot, while the player's [[broker]] stands at the opposide lower side. Graphically, the left side of the depot will show the visitor merchants' trade goods, while the right side shows items the player is setting up to trade.

== Depot accessibility ==
{{main|Wagon#Depot_Accessibility|l1=Depot Accessibility|Wagon#Movement|l2=Wagon Movement}}
There is no visual indicator of wagon accessibility. For a tile to be “Wagon accessible” it must be navigable between both the tile and the depot ''and'' the tile and the map edge. If you are trying to constrain wagons to a certain path, ''only'' the desired path should be accessible. ''Warning:'' If the map has an extremely large amount of [[tree]]s (Heavily Forested) there may not be any way for the caravan to get to your depot, unless you chop down a path for the wagons.

Also note that [[trap]]s, [[boulder]]s (the natural kind), and [[minecart|track]]s, will block [[wagon]] access (although not merchants with pack animals), so you cannot easily use them to defend your depot. (Boulders can be removed by [[engraving|smooth]]ing ({{menu icon|v}}-{{k|m}}) or constructing and removing a [[wall]], [[bridge]]s can serve as an alternative for tracks.)

Wagons park next to the trade depot, and need a 'parking space' of 3×4 adjacent to the depot.

Forbidding the trade depot (by forbidding any material used to construct it) will make it inaccessible to traders. If inaccessible during the arrival of the caravan, it will cause the wagons to bypass your location.

== Depot building UI options ==

Press {{Menu icon|b|T}} to build a depot, which occupies a 5x5 area. Click on the depot to gain access to the following options:

=== Move goods to/from depot ===
This command becomes active when a caravan arrives on your map. This screen menu is similar to the [[stocks]] menu ({{k|k}} - Stocks). This is where you select what items you want to trade with the caravan: ticking an item will generate a task for your dwarves to pick it from whatever stockpile it is stored in and move it over to the Trade Depot, and once there it will be available for trading; unticking items will make them no longer available for trade, and generate a task for your dwarves to move them back to the proper stockpile. If you have particular items you want to sell to the caravan, you can search for them. This is convenient if you want to export all your prepared meals or finished goods. Also shown is the culling on mandate option. The move to depot screen will not show things that violate an export [[mandate]]. By pressing [[File:Interface trade mandates.png]], it will change to Ignoring mandates, and you can select banned items for export. For example, if your [[mayor]] has a mandate banning the export of iron, this screen will hide bins that contain iron items. By changing this option, all iron items will be shown.

Items stored in [[bin]]s, [[bag]]s or [[barrel]]s will be shown under the category of their respective containers, not under the category of the items themselves. For instance, if all of your [[gem]]s are stored in a wooden bin, no "gem" category will appear in the move goods menu; the gems will be found under "bins." It is not possible to move these items individually. To bring them to the trading depot, you must select the entire container.

Also for some stock categories, ie. seeds, plants and "leaves and fruit", there is no category in the interface to move these goods to the trade depot. Meaning the only way to bring such items to the depot is if they are within a container (ie. bag or barrel), allthough traders might bring these items without any containers (only non-tree seeds will be brought by traders within a bag).

Items stored in bins can be traded individually once they have been brought to the trading depot. Items stored in bags/barrels can only be traded as a whole. This is also true of the merchant's wares.

After selecting items and exiting the screen, [[job]]s will be queued to move the items to the depot. All dwarves, regardless of [[labor]] settings, can move goods to the depot. Items that have not been moved will show [[File:Icon pending to trade.png]], while those that have been brought to the depot and are ready for trade will be marked as [[File:Icon traded.png]].

Items selected for trading will remain at the depot until the caravan leaves. Alternatively you can select the item again. Once no longer required at the depot, items will be available for use or hauling to stockpiles as normal. If you don't want all the items to be returned to their stockpiles, you can optionally forbid [[File:Button forbid.png]] them at the very bottom of the depot menu.

''Note:'' The time it takes to open the move screen is directly correlated to the amount of items in different tiles (as for each such tile a path from the tile with the item to the trade depot is computed upon opening the screen). Meaning the duration until the screen opens can be considerably speed-up by forbidding (via the stocks menu) the thousands upon thousands of loose boulders strewn about in the fortress prior to clicking the move goods to/from depot button (just don't accidently also forbid the building material of the trade depot).

=== Trade ===
This option becomes available once the caravan unloads their goods at the depot and your trader is at the depot; it begins [[trading]]. If more than one set of merchants is using the trade depot, you will be given the option of who you want to trade with.

=== Requested trader ===
This setting determines who will perform the trade and requests a dwarf to come to the depot. To conduct trades with caravans, a trader must be present at the Trade Depot. Once requested, a job will be created for a dwarf to make their way to the depot and remain there until released with this setting, or the job is interrupted, such as by the dwarf deciding to drink, sleep, or eat. The Trade at Depot job is fairly low-priority{{verify}}, so [[labor]]s may have to be disabled in order to get the broker to begin the job, or the broker can be temporarily added to a burrow which covers only the depot.

If '''Broker requested at depot''' is active, then only the broker [[noble]] will respond to the trader request. This can become a problem when the broker is sleeping or otherwise occupied, but dwarves with low [[appraisal]] skill will receive poorer deals when trading. If '''Anyone requested at depot''' is selected, and someone other than the broker becomes a better appraiser than the broker, the broker's appraisal skill is still used.

== Adventure mode ==
In [[adventure mode]], a trade depot can be found in the surface structure of procedurally generated [[fortress]]es. It is usually filled with trade goods and people like [[noble]]s, [[farmer]]s, [[Craftsdwarf|craftsdwarves]], and a [[broker]], though in ruined fortresses there might not be any people. The player can talk to the people in the depot and then select the "Trade and settle debt" option to trade with them. Usually [[food]], copper/iron [[armor]], cut [[gem]]s, and [[clothing]] can be [[Trade|purchased]] in large quantities in these trade depots.

== Bugs ==
* Purchased items stay at the Trade Depot indefinitely after the merchants have left, unless a stockpile is present AT THE SAME LEVEL as the Trade Depot itself. The simplest and quickest way to force stuck items into stockpiles on other levels is by deconstructing the Trade Depot altogether and rebuilding it after all of those items have been hauled away.{{Bug|12920}}
* Setting a [[Activity zone#Meeting area|meeting area]] over a depot, then removing it, will cause dwarves to act as though it were still a meeting area. This is irreversible.
* Merchants in a trade depot who are accosted by hostile creatures may then refuse to trade. If any merchant is unable to make it to the depot, all the other merchants will similarly refuse to trade.
* Dumping items belonging to the merchants will result in the depot thinking the merchants are gone, when they are actually hanging around.
* [[Forbid]]ding a depot, or slating it for removal immediately after causing the caravan trader to be unwilling to do business with your dwarves (e.g. trading wood to the elves) will cause the caravan to leave all their items and embark on their journey, leaving you to claim the items for yourself. This is treated by the game as seizing the items and will incur diplomatic penalties on the player, unless done to a dwarven caravan (as you cannot have bad relations with your own civilization).
* The game behaves poorly when multiple trade depots are available. Merchants with wagons may path to one depot, while those with pack animals path to the other; then both groups will insist on waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. One of the wagons will scuttle upon arriving at a trade depot if there are multiple depots, causing the caravan to leave immediately. For this reason, it is recommended to build only one trade depot.
* If you slate a depot for removal while merchants are in the process of leaving, the wagons will never leave and eventually the animals and remaining traders will go mad.

{{Buildings}}
{{Workshops}}

Wealth

2026-05-19T18:04:15Z

87.143.77.75:

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
[[File:wealth_preview.png|right]]Your '''created wealth''' is the sum product of all the labors of your fortress. It is visible on the [[Status#Fortress name and status|wealth tooltip]]* once you have a [[broker]] with the [[appraisal]] [[skill]] and a [[bookkeeper]] maintaining your records, and will update with the continual maintenance of your [[stocks]] by the bookkeeper.

: ''(* On the left of the bar at the top of your screen is your basic fortress info, its name and size. Mouse-hovering over this area reveals the wealth tooltip, a basic breakdown of the fortress' [[wealth]].)

Wealth is the sum of all objects of [[item value|value]] in your fortress, including raw materials like [[stone]]s and [[metal bar]]s, [[building]]s, engravings, and every kind of created good, all of which contribute to your total wealth to various degrees. [[Corpse]]s (''other than certain [[bone]]s, as seen below'') and [[remains]] of creatures have no wealth value.

[[Artifact]] items are usually one of the largest influences on fortress wealth, especially artifacts made out of or [[decorate]]d using valuable materials.

The display of your wealth on the main status screen is broken up into several categories: [[weapon]]s, [[armor]] and [[Clothing|garb]], [[furniture]], other objects (like [[finished goods]]), architecture ([[building]]s, [[constructions]], [[engravings]] and such), [[Display furniture|displayed]], and held/worn (items created internally that have been claimed by dwarves, like clothing). Also the displayed total created wealth is always the sum of the aforementioned categories, but if for any category the shown (wealth) number has either a tilde as a prefix (which means that the value is only an estimate) or a question mark as a suffix (which means that the value is actually only a guess and can be way off mark), then the calculated value for that category is off (and the brokers appraisal skill level is to low to give a better or precise estimate), and thus the total created wealth value will also be wrong (allthough that number will never have a tilde as a prefix or question mark as a suffix).

See [[account]]s for the more abstract wealth count, used in [[world generation]] to determine building ownership and help ground various acts of corruption and [[villain]]y.

== Imports and exports ==
[[File:Wealth-tooltip.png|thumb|right|327px|[[Status#Fortress name and status|Wealth tooltip]] in Premium. Accuracy is based on your current [[Bookkeeper|Bookkeeping]].]]
Items made off-site are not counted in your total fortress wealth, and are instead listed as imports. This only applies so long as the object is unchanged; a decorated imported object will be made your own, and its value will be moved from imports to wealth. This is important when trading with caravans, as they will not accept goods stolen or lost by a previous caravan of that civilization. It is listed under "Imported Wealth".

Similarly, items made in the fortress that leave the map after being traded to a [[caravan]] are counted as exports, listed under "Exported Wealth."

== Influences ==
Wealth influences various game features. Having more fortress wealth increases the amount of [[migrant]]s you get per wave. Assuming that you are equipped to handle the new dwarves, this is usually a good thing. However, having an ''extreme'' surplus of wealth can cause your fortress to grow so quickly that the migrant arrivals outpace your ability to house and feed them or give them useful things to do. Drowning in migrants is a very real danger; make sure you are always equipped with surplus food, drink, beds and work stations.

A certain level of exports and overall wealth is required to acquire economically-linked [[holding]]s. However, for smaller sites, fortress wealth is the more important factor in determining economic linkage. Also, having a certain amount of fortress wealth and exported wealth is required to ascend the [[noble]] ladder: a [[baron]] requires 100,000 units of wealth overall and 10,000 wealth worth of exports. These values increase to 200,000 in overall wealth and 20,000 in exports for a [[count]], and 300,000 units of wealth with 30,000 in exports for a [[duke]]. The [[monarch]] has some fairly complicated requirements based on a few different categories.

On the negative side, having more wealth attracts more frequent and larger attacks from enemies. At first, this will be an above-average amount of [[thief|thieves]], but as the game progresses and your wealth continues to grow, this will develop into [[ambush]]es or [[siege]]s from opposing factions and visits from [[megabeast]]s. This keeps the game from being boring, but too much [[fun]] is also a bad thing; if you have a hard time dealing with the numerous waves of immigrants, you're probably not equipped to deal with a full-on siege.

== Building and limiting wealth==
Building wealth is simple -- just commit more people to useful industries and continue growing. You will want to establish a major [[industry]] and commit a number of skilled dwarves to it, allowing you to spend grand sums on caravans and get everything you absolutely need quickly and painlessly. If you intend to go this route, be sure to create plenty of extra [[bin]]s to ease the transfer of items to the trade depot and prevent stockpiles from becoming too full.

When first starting out, it's typically best to not focus on building fortress wealth too much until you have an effective military that can deal with the [[Megabeast|fun]] [[Werebeasts|things]] that such wealth can cause. However, in your first year, you probably want to create goods to be able to [[trade]] with the autumn dwarven [[caravan]], in order to obtain goods that are not available at your location, or that your fortress cannot produce on its own yet. A simple way to create a decent amount of wealth without much effort is to [[cook]] a surplus of [[lavish meal]]s. Be cautious about selling prepared meals to the [[Elf|elves]] though, as food with meat-based ingredients, and the wooden barrels in which the meals are likely stored, are [[Trading#Unacceptable_items|unacceptable]] to them.

[[Metal]]s are great materials for creating wealth. In particular, many locations have an [[ore]] of [[iron]] or [[silver]] - both are of moderate value and can be made into [[weapon]]s, [[furniture]] or crafts, while [[statue]]s make for high-value furniture. Certain butchered [[animal]]s have high-value bones or skulls. [[Ceramic]]s, especially [[stoneware]] made from [[fire clay]] can provide a continuous source of decent valued goods. Rough [[gem]]s can be hard to find, but a highly skilled [[gem setter]] can decorate objects to add considerable value to furniture or crafts.

On the opposite side, there are the fortresses that would much rather establish a baseline of sorts before embarking on an expansionist binge - getting a full defensive militia or defensive structures up, for instance, or penetrating an [[aquifer]] without having to waste precious reserves on more dwarves and more enemies. These players concentrate on low-value activities like carpentry, masonry, and mining, and only produce enough trade goods to get what is necessary from the caravans. Although they are slower to grow, they also afford their players more time to plan and to lay the groundwork for the future of the fortress.

Note that, no matter what, you ''will'' have to deal with ''some'' growth -- besides the natural expansion of your fortress, there's also the issue of [[artifact]]s. Do what you will, but every once in a while a dwarf will [[Strange mood|claim a workshop]] and produce a valuable trinket, and all you can hope for is that it's not worth too much. It's worth noting that artifact furniture is counted three separate times toward created wealth: as furniture, as architecture, and as displayed. You may wish to hold off on installing that legendary [[coffer]] that's worth three times as much as your fortress when just sitting in a stockpile.

Most players choose to walk the middle line, getting together the necessary industries, but concentrating on the [[metal industry]] early on, to get together their arms and armor. Although [[steel]] is worth its weight in [[gold]], it is much more useful deflecting goblin arrows from your fortress defenders than as a [[statue]] decorating your [[Meeting area|lobby]].

==Bugs==

*Some buggy items can have a negative wealth. This can cause events that are tied to fortress wealth to not occur when they should. To troubleshoot this, you can create a copy of the saved game with the bug, move all your items to the trade depot, and look through the value of the items. Once you find the offending items, you can either [[Dwarven Atom Smasher|atom-smash]] them or use DFHack's "autodump destroy" command.

{{Translation
| dwarven = limâr
| elvish = rano
| goblin = sloron
| human = ostri
}}

{{Category|Economy}}
[[ru:Wealth]]
[[zh:Wealth]]

Talk:Army

2026-05-19T17:26:56Z

87.143.77.75:

Could we get a screenshot of different types of army on the Adventure travel map?

[[User:DPhKraken|DPhKraken]] ([[User talk:DPhKraken|talk]]) 22:16, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

I have tried to force a lieutenant to be appointed, but to no avail. I removed all other commanders and limit stricktly that this was the only position that had even a squad. I made the civ much more aggresive, nothing worked.
[[User:Joostheger|Joostheger]] ([[User talk:Joostheger|talk]]) 09:08, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

A few things concerning armies (and combat between armies). Not yet ready for the actual article (and the info is upto 53.11 only as I am still on 53.11):
1. History figures as army leaders (controllers) will be created "on the fly", if a site creating an attacking army has otherwise no suitable history figure as army leader. (But it is possible to create an army without history figures as "commander"/leader via dfhack, if the purpose of the army is only the creation of a new site - the "master_id" needs to be set to the id of the army_controller or another valid army_controller otherwise the game will eventually crash, eg. when trying to found a site).

2. For defending sites also army leaders (for defense) might be created on the fly (but at least in one case there was not, allthough the attacked site was a forest retreat of an elven civ, that did just receive their new first settlement and did lack any history figure as they had all died when that elf civ did lose their last site some years earlier).

3. If an army splits up to attack not only the original target (ie. dark fortress), but also the connected "hamlets" (ie. dark pits), then no hist figs as army leaders for the "sub-armies" (attacking the hamlets) will be created at that stage (hist figs seem to be only created, when the original army is formed).

4. In case of 3 for the defenders army leaders (to repel the sub-armies) might get created on the fly - further details are yet unclear.

5. Combat in world-activities (during fortress mode) and world gen usually seems to be between either
a) two hist figures or
b) a hist figure and a non-hist figure (population, ie. elves, goblins or "minion" like cave dragons, lions etc.),
but never between non-hist figures, meaning that if either side lacks a history figure as part of an army, then only opposing hist figures in the enemy army can be eliminated, but not the non-hist figure parts (like normal soldiers or "minion" animals).

6. It seems that history figures, even if the history figure is only a plain old "pack animal" of a trader (like a yak), will perform much better than it would perform, if it were not a history figure. Ie. it is unlikely that a yak will consistently do well against multiple rhinos, giant elephants etc (and killing some of them, without getting killed). Allthough it might just be that such history figures (even if the creature is an animal) gets the benefit from the usual equipment of that civilization and thus have an advantage in combat.

7. Armies founding a site: if the site is of type forest retreat, dark pits (dark fortress), hamlet/town, hillock/fortress/mountain hall then the army will belong to the corresponding civ (in all so far observed cases).

8. A civ (in world activities of the fortress mode) will usually only have an army, when the army is currently supposed to do a mission, like found a site or attack an enemy. Armies directly belonging to a civ (and not a site government or other entity type) will only linger around longer, if for some reason (eg. after an attack), the army is not set to return home (and usually the army was "defeated" in that case). In such cases such army remnant can be around for an indefinite amount of time (ie. still be around 10 or 20 years later).

9. Most site governments, even if the entity does not have any positions, will have armies with a patrol mission. (I have not tested yet, whether, if I create an elven ranger position for the civ, the elven ranger might become the leader of such a patrol army)...

10. An army which is moving will - during fortress mode - set up a camp each (calendar) day for some time (that day). Usually the army will then also create another smaller army (with a separate army controller) to patrol during that time.

11. It seems that if an army is formed by the civ (for attacking another site), then the army will only be composed from inhabitants from that site, both historical figures and non-hist figs.

12. Technical site-note: When a civ has an attack target then the civ entity will have a site link (of type none) to the attack target site.

13. Currently it is not in any way considered, when forming an army (to attack a non-player site), if the army would have any chance at all to win (ie. because bigger armies were sent there in the past seasons, always with totally underwhelming results, ie. no losses on the defending side) or if such actions would only totally depopulate the site. Ie. a civ will happily form each season a new army from its site as long as there are either any inhabitants or hist figures which can be put into the army and if for some reason the site does not have any inhabitants (and hist figures) left but gets a pack animal (from a trading caravan) in one of the following seasons it will happily afterwards form a one-yak army (or one-pack-animal army) to attack the site again (rinse and repeat ad neauseum).

14. The same civ can start multiple attacks per season from their capital to attack a site (up-to once every month?), but more than raised army per season by the civ (allthough the army might split up later to attack different adjacent sites) is seldom/rare.

15. There are reports by some players that sometimes sites cannot be razed, this might be connected with a totally depopulated sites (ie. due to 13), where the site no longer has any inhabitants left, especially if the site is reported to have about or less than 10 inhabitants and the combat log is basically empty (if there are no inhabitants, then non can be fought) - in that case the code portion, where a site is razed might not get executed - allthough in such cases a conquest of the site is always possible.[[Special:Contributions/87.143.77.75|87.143.77.75]] 17:26, 19 May 2026 (UTC)