Clay

2025-12-30T02:16:25Z

Boof Troupe: Updated to reflect current version

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'''Clay''' is one of the many types of [[soil]] that can be found in [[soil layer]]s. [[Aquifer]]s are never present in clay layers.

== Ceramics ==
{{main|Ceramic industry}}

Five different soil types are classified as clay: clay, [[clay loam]], [[sandy clay]], [[silty clay]], and [[fire clay]], each of which can be gathered for use in [[Ceramic industry|ceramics]]. If your [[embark]] site has at least one type of clay, it will be shown as ''Clay'' in the embark screen's biome viewer. Notably, soil of the types [[sandy clay loam]] and [[silty clay loam]] ''can not'' be used for ceramics despite their names.

The gathering and use of clay is done from a [[kiln]] or [[magma kiln]] and behaves similarly to most material production, but includes elements similar to [[glass]] production. In order to gather clay, a [[activity zone#Clay Collection|gathering zone]] must first be designated over a clay-bearing tile (note that clay can be collected from adjacent clay walls, even diagonally), much like with [[sand]]; however, gathering clay creates a clay "boulder" (the same as raw stone) and does not require a bag. As with sand, clay can be gathered indefinitely from a single tile – any dwarf with the item hauling [[labor]] enabled can collect clay.

Clay can be made into pots, [[block|bricks]], [[statue]]s, [[hive]]s and [[Finished goods|craft]]s. Small pots, called [[jug]]s, function similarly to bags and waterskins, while large pots are treated like barrels. Creating any object from clay requires a unit of fuel, or a magma kiln.

Before an [[earthenware]] pot (large or small) can hold liquids, it must be '''glazed'''. Glazing is performed at a [[kiln]] and requires either a unit of [[ash]] or a unit of [[cassiterite]] ([[tin]] ore), plus a unit of fuel. [[Stoneware]] and [[porcelain]] pots do not need to be glazed.

When an underground plant ([[tree|trees]], [[shrub|shrubs]], [[grass]] or moss) grows on a muddy stone floor tile (after discovering a [[Caverns|cavern]]) and is either trampled, gathered, cut down or removed via building a dirt road on top of it, the floor tile turns into a soil type appropriate to the [[biome]] – for biomes which lack soil layers altogether (such as mountains and glaciers), a random soil type will be selected, which might sometimes be clay.

[[Grass]], [[tree|sapling]]s and [[shrub]]s can grow on clay soil, which causes the underlying clay to be temporarily unavailable for collection, giving the message "Urist McClaydigger cancels Collect Clay: Clay vanished" if the job is in progress, or "Urist McClaydigger cancels Collect Clay: Need valid, active clay collection zone" if the job is new. You can easily remove the grass ''and'' prevent it from growing back by either building a dirt [[road]] ({{menu icon|b|n|O}}) over the grass, or put a floor [[grate]] over the clay floor to prevent growth while allowing clay to be collected, but you must first remove the grass/sapling/shrub.

Occasionally, it is possible to "cultivate" clay by channeling down into the lowest normal layer of the caverns, revealing a "[[Semi-molten rock|magma flow]]" above a floor of [[semi-molten rock]] (and a [[ramp]] on the level below, if the square had not previously been revealed). If a [[floor]] is constructed over the flow, then deconstructed, a natural floor of clay or [[sand]] may be left behind. In some cases, this may be the sole domestic source of clay for a fortress.

Gathered clay cannot be used for any purposes other than pottery or as a building material - it cannot be carved directly into finished goods, [[Jeweler's workshop|polished]] for decoration, fired from [[catapult]]s, or loaded into [[stone-fall trap]]s.

[[File:Clay-ss-2005.jpg|thumb|300px|center|Naturally occurring clay.]]

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Clay