Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

King of beasts

2026-09-18T02:00:19Z

Ziusudra: Used old template so it show up in the category

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
{{D for Dwarf}}

{{old|v=53.15|[[Dino Update]]}}

'''King of Beasts''' is a fan title traditionally given to an exceptionally dangerous and powerful creature. It was historically awarded to elephants for their size, strength and [[Boatmurdered|immense thirst for dwarven blood]]. While elephants are no longer the beasts they were, there are currently quite a few contenders for the title.

== Water ==

There are 2 contenders for the Aquatic King of Beasts.

[[Giant sponge]]: These horrifying monsters can only be killed in fair combat by mashing their bodies to a pulp, a feat that generally requires lots of patience and a gigantic hammer. They are not very aggressive, but Armok help you if you are next to them in water. Are still extremely dangerous despite being nerfed.

[[Giant sperm whale]]: Gigantic beyond all comparison, this creature is large enough to absorb an unbelievable amount of punishment and smash its way through nearly any amount of armor or natural durability with its mass alone.

== Air ==

[[Giant kea]]: The uncontested Aerial King of Beasts. These brutal, green giant parrots have the distinction of looking harmless, but not only will they seek your fort for stealing stuff (such as your sole anvil, when you have not built your forge yet), but also tend to brutally murder any dwarf they meet in the dark corridors of your fort.

== Land ==

There is currently no consensus on the Terrestrial King of Beasts. There are plenty of powerful creatures, but none stands out as the true strongest of the strongest. Here are some examples:

[[Giant cave spider]]: This large arachnid will eat most stuff in the caverns, including most dwarves you throw at them. It can shoot immobilising webs and injects a deadly toxin, making it incredibly dangerous.

[[Cave dragon]]: Cave dragons are as skilled in battle as your regular soldiers, if not more, and are ''far'' larger than them. The [[fun]] news? They come by the dozens with [[goblin]] [[sieges]]!

[[Giant dingo]]: A hell-spawned monster, the giant dingo not only is bigger, faster, and more aggressive than a bear, but it spawns in groups and is native to every savage biome. Few adventurers (or babies) will survive.

[[Giant elephant]]: A giant [[elephant]]. It is the biggest land creature and second-biggest creature, tied with [[giant orca|giant orcas]]. Since they're "War Animals", "Hunting Animals" and "Exotic Mounts", they can also be fielded during [[elf]], [[human]] and [[dwarf]] [[sieges]]!

[[Elephant man]]: Massive humanoids who can wear armor and use weapons. They are the biggest sapient land animal person - and '''the''' biggest sapient that is not a megabeast or semi-megabeast. You can play them in Adventure Mode - [[Stupid_dwarf_trick#Elephant_man_armor_factory|armor and clothes are made separately]]. And they sometimes come with [[sieges]]!

== Historic Claims ==
Many creatures that once held this title have since had their power and/or agressiveness reduced.

[[Elephant]]: The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the King of Beasts. They were infamous in the early versions for their massive strength coupled with their insane bloodlust. An elephant never forgets. An elephant never forgives...

[[Carp]]: Another infamous creature and perhaps one of the earliest holders of the title of the Aquatic King of Beasts. They were extremely agressive for a fish and had teeth that inflicted 3 times the amount of damage an unarmed dwarf did. They dragged unsuspecting fisherdwarves underwater where they would either drown, get mauled by the aforementioned teeth, or both at once.

[[Giant mosquito]]: The Giant Mosquito was the Aerial King of Beasts for the shortest amount of time. Before they were nerfed, they attacked in ''hundreds'', overwhelming dwarwes with sheer numbers and lagging the game if too much of them are on the map at the same time. Now are nowhere near as powerful.

[[Giant badger|Giant Badger]]: The Giant Badger also briefly held the title of the Terrestrial King of Beasts. They appeared very frequently in groups and attacked dwarves mercilessly. They have since been made way rarer.

[[Unicorn]]: The Unicorn is mostly a docile creature, but in older versions and specifically in Adventure Mode, Unicorns were extremely agressive. Their main definition of '[[good]]' is living in a fairyland full of [[feather tree]]s while stabbing and kicking dwarves to death, which is bad news when they're bigger than a horse and have hooves.

== Dwarf ==
There is an argument to be made that the Dwarf is the true King of Beasts. After all, only the Dwarves are capable of filling the entire map with [[Magma|rock juice]], unleashing hordes of [[Demon|hidden fun stuff]] to terrorize the wildlife, intentionally [[Site extinction|driving species extinct]] and other similarly devastating feats. Dwarven [[Philosopher|philosophers]] deny this claim, saying that the Dwarves, as the ultimate species, are above any environmental consequences

{{Category|Creatures| }}
[[Category:Community]]
[[Category:Humor and stories]]
[[ru:King of beasts]]

Adamantine

2026-09-16T00:55:36Z

Ziusudra: /* Processing */ added template for MATERIAL_SIZE token

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{Metal|name=Adamantine|color=3:3:1
|ore=
* [[File:raw_adamantine_sprite.png]] [[Raw adamantine]]
|sample=[[File:AdamantineSample.png|center]]
|graphic=adamantine_bar_sprite.png
|properties=
* [[Material value]] 300☼
* [[Material science|Impact strength]] 5 GPa
* [[Material science|Shear strength]] 5 GPa {{Tooltip|×10|MAX_EDGE of 100,000 compared to the default 10,000 for metals}}
{{firemagmasafe|yes|yes}}
* [[Melting point]] {{ct|25000}}
* [[Boiling point]] {{ct|50000}}
* [[Ignition point]] none
* [[Solid density]] 200 kg/m³
* Liquid [[density]] 2600 kg/m³
* [[Specific heat]] 7500 J/kg·K
* [[Color]] aqua
|uses=
* [[Weapon|Melee Weapons]]
* [[Crossbow]]s
* [[Bolt]]s
* [[Pick]]s
* [[Armor]]
* [[Anvil]]s
* [[Metalsmith's forge|Metal crafting]]
* [[Clothing]]
|wiki=Adamant}}
{{av}}{{Minorspoiler}}
'''Adamantine''' is a rare, high-value [[metal]] which is impossibly lightweight, strong, and sharp. Adamantine is refined from [[raw adamantine]], and can be woven into [[cloth]] or [[smelter|smelted]] into wafers, useful for making almost any item in the game. [[Armor]] and edged [[weapon]]s made from adamantine are absurdly valuable and wonderfully effective. Adamantine weapons have special graphics.

== Processing ==
Unlike what a player would expect, one does not simply make adamantine wafers directly from raw adamantine. You must first extract adamantine strands from the raw adamantine, and those are then processed into wafers or cloth. Despite the unique process of making adamantine into wafers, it will still graphically appear as a light blue bar, looking like any other metal bar.

Adamantine strands are extracted from [[raw adamantine]] at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] by a [[strand extractor]]. Strand extraction is an extremely long process for an unskilled laborer, making it potentially worthwhile to focus extraction experience on one or two individual dwarves. Extracted strands are considered a special metallic form of [[thread]], and after extraction each strand can either be woven into adamantine cloth at a [[loom]] or smelted into an adamantine [[bar|wafer]] at a [[smelter]] (removing any dye); thankfully these tasks are performed just as quickly as other weaving and smelting jobs. Adamantine cloth is used to make ultra high-value clothing, but it is no more resistant to [[wear]] than less exotic materials.

Given this extra step of extraction before the smelting phase, most players will want to build additional craftsdwarves' workshops and stockpiles near the smelters and forges. Note that the strands of adamantine are stored in cloth/thread stockpiles. When processing adamantine, it is a good idea to smelt the strands into wafers as fast as possible, as your medical dwarves may use the valuable adamantine strands for [[suturing]] wounds, since, to them, it's just another type of thread.

Adamantine wafers are functionally identical to metal bars and can be used to forge the full range of metal goods, but are far smaller in size, requiring about three times as many units of material per unit as regular metal bars:
* [[Weapon]]s, [[armor|armor/clothing]], and [[trap component]]s require the item's {{token|MATERIAL_SIZE|weapon}} in wafers/units of cloth
* Most types of furniture ([[door]], [[floodgate]], [[throne]], [[coffin]], [[table]], [[chest]], [[bin]], [[armor stand]], [[weapon rack]], [[cabinet]], [[statue]], [[anvil]], [[barrel]], [[pipe section]], [[hatch cover]], [[grate]], [[quern]], [[millstone]], and [[slab]]) require 9 wafers.
* [[Cage]]s, [[minecart]]s and [[wheelbarrow]]s require 6 wafers.
* [[Block]]s, [[chain]]s, and [[Siege engine|ballista]] arrowheads require 4 wafers.
* [[Animal trap]]s, [[bucket]]s, [[mechanism]]s, and [[crutch]]es require 3 wafers.
* [[Backpack]]s and [[quiver]]s require 2 units of cloth, and [[splint]]s require 2 wafers.
* All other items require 1 wafer.
* [[Strange mood]]s require 1 wafer, regardless of the end product.

Raw adamantine cannot be spawned in the [[object testing arena]], but adamantine-derived gear is spawnable as of v50.07. Adamantine (raw or otherwise) cannot be purchased in the [[embark]] screen, presumably for balance reasons.

== Application ==
{{Translation
| dwarven = ebsas
| elvish = lire
| goblin = kumo
| human = medi
}}
Adamantine has extreme [[material science|material properties]]: it is nigh-weightless (weighing about as much as [[wikipedia:Cork (material)|cork]]), extremely strong, and razor-sharp. These properties make it ideal for edged [[weapon]]s and [[armor]], but unfortunately, likewise, make it near-useless for blunt weapons, which will simply bounce off of foes: considering the lethality of [[hammerer]] and [[fortress guard]] beatings, this may be the point. [[Armor]] made of adamantine provides unmatched protection against slashing and piercing attacks, but blunt attacks and ranged weapons have high armor penetration capacity, so a full kit of adamantine armor is nonetheless not a recipe for combat invulnerability. Mail armor is especially lacking, as the incredible protective qualities of adamantine are overridden with the flexibility of chain.

Because the metal's material properties are irrelevant in other applications and because it's so rare and hard to produce, using adamantine for other things is generally a waste. Adamantine statues are ten times as valuable as [[gold]] ones, but are prohibitively expensive to produce, requiring nine wafers per statue. Some of the highest values per wafer for a normal adamantine product can be realised by forging adamantine [[flask]]s. However, by the time you have adamantine available, you're likely not to be in serious need of such valuable export products. By far the most [[wealth]] can be generated simply by adding adamantine to [[artifact]]s – a single stone, wafer, block or bolt of cloth can add hundreds of thousands of dwarfbucks in value, making your fortress the envy of all the [[forgotten beast|neighbors]]. Additionally, your [[Monarch]] will insist on having a "true [[throne]]" made of adamantine upon arriving at your fortress along with seven symbols of equal worth (though they will settle for one made of [[divine metal]], which is itself risky to acquire).

One significant application of adamantine is through [[Exploit#Infinite metal|metal duplication]]. However, this is generally considered an exploit, so depending on your preferences, you may not want to do this.

{{gamedata}}
{{metals}}

{{spoiler}}

<s>Un</s>fortunately, breaching any of the tubular veins leads to the [[HFS]], for lots of [[Losing|Fun]].

[[File:adamantine_mining_anim.gif|thumb|192px|right|Might be a bit too close to the underworld... ''Art by Darkie'']]

==Origins of Adamantine and Slade==
{{D for Dwarf}}
Back in the mists of time, the Gods decided to create the World. To do so they had to find a way to heat it in the cold voids of space. Demonkind had already forged their own world out of the vile substance [[Slade]], a stone anathema to all creation and only able to be worked through the vile rituals they had created, for slade was truly "dead" stone, with no life in it at all.

Deciding both to imprison their greatest enemies and to create a home for their creations, the Gods poured into the skies of the Demons' world "living" stone (known to mortals as [[semi-molten rock]] - rock burning hot with the fresh life of Creation). The Gods knew that if it were not constantly heated, this living rock would cool, and yet the Demons, fools that they were, constantly attacked the living rock, not realizing that their attacks simply heated the rock again and again, keeping it alive. Unfortunately, as the Gods began to pour more and more of the rock onto their creation, they found it quickly lost its life when removed too far from the Demons. It would only remelt once it touched the living rock, creating vast seas of magma that heated the tunnels above. Worse, the living rock itself had been disturbed by this process, creating gaping holes through which the Demons escaped, killing and maiming the first creations of the Gods, warping those they could find into the terrible Forgotten Beasts, leaving only the [[Titan]]s safe on the surface.

Knowing this state of affairs could not last if their weaker creations, the first mortals, were to survive, the Gods created a new substance, imbued with their power: Adamantine. The beautiful aqua-colored ore was poured into the holes, sealing the entrances that the living rock could no longer seal, preventing the Demons from escaping, for its power totally repelled Demonkind.

Unfortunately, as time passed and the first mortals began to carve their civilization from both the surface and the underworld, they discovered the vast shafts of this amazing substance and began to mine it, instantly realizing its divine potency. In doing so, they removed the great barriers the gods had placed in order to keep the Demons sealed. The Demons rose up, slaughtering thousands and escaping into the World, often rising to lead mortal civilizations, such as that of the Goblins. Upon these sites they raised towers carved from the vile Slade that only they could work. Brave adventurers and champions of the Gods forged special swords made from the divine Adamantine and ventured into these dark places to seal the Demons within hell once more. Leaving their swords buried in these places, those who survived swore to defend them for all eternity, binding themselves with oaths of such might that they surpassed death itself. They remain, even today, as zombies and skeletons, driven by their undying thought "none must take the sword!" and nothing more. These undead are totally obsessed with their duty to defend the ancient demonic structures from all interlopers and have been the death of many an unwary explorer.

In retrospect, all this could probably have been avoided if the Gods had bothered to make their all-powerful metal capable of withstanding the swing of a copper pick.

==The Great Adamantine Space Elevator==
{{D for Dwarf}}
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=61507.0 Source]

In a great fluke, a new world was created in the midst of Armok shaving. No one quite understands why this happened, but the whisker of the holy one landed vertically. The material can only be described as a super adamantine. It is over 2000 z-levels high. And the map continues on.

Year after year, the dwarves of [SUBJECT CIVILIZATION HERE] send an expedition out into the world in order to ascertain the fate of last year's expedition. It has long-since been forgotten exactly when this series of fruitless expeditions started, but the dwarves are a sort that demand an answer.

It happens year after year, when they head northeast to the ominous shrubland that has been known only in name: "The Hill of Spit." The hill lies beyond a ruined elven settlement, a stone's throw away from a brook that has come to be known as "Troublemysteries." By the time they arrive, it is already too late.

They embark year after year, and there they stand, awe-struck with their implements of dwarven duty left undisturbed at their feet. All about them are the decrepit wagons and bleached bones of those who heralded their grim arrival -- barrels filled with rot and worm, picks covered in rust and dust. There they stand with their eyes open wide and jaws agape, and they stare upward into the dome of the heavens. What they see is beyond the ken of mortal beard. It reaches from the ground higher than any bird has flown; higher than any cloud has drifted; higher than any man, dwarf, beast or monster has ever or will ever ascend, twisting and writhing upward in ways that can only transfix the gaze of unwary observers in their fundamentally impossible geometries -- a spiraling needle of pure adamantine, ascending beyond the vanishing-point into the sky.

They stand there, motionless and breathless, and wait only for time to wear them down into the dust of the earth from whence they came, leaving that siren spire standing amidst a graveyard of wagons and barrels to call more of their bearded kind to an emaciated doom.

Another year, another expedition unheard of, another question unanswered, another expedition prepared.

==Color Misconceptions==
{{D for Dwarf}}

Some people, upon hearing of the legendary metal known as Adamantine, imagine a blood red, crimson metal, befitting of the God of Blood Armok... They may have been playing some other Dwarvideo games, or just confused, but for some reason, those unacquainted with Adamantine always seem to think it is red.

== Trivia ==
* Adamantine's origins are tied to Greek mythology, though in the mythos, biblical stories and other works, the material is referred to as "adamant". The word's meaning is "unbreakable, unconquerable and untameable", representing the material's nature and hardness.
* Adamantine as portrayed in Dwarf Fortress is inspired by ''mithril'', a fictional metal that appears in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Much like adamantine, ''mithril'' was impossibly light, yet stronger than steel, and greed for it ultimately led to the fall of the fortress of Khazad-dum.
[[File:adamantine_king_preview.jpg|thumb|320px|center|The most expensive armor ever made. ''Art by inkundus'']]

Adamantine

2026-09-16T00:52:04Z

Ziusudra: /* Processing */ moved cloth sentence to related paragraph

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{Metal|name=Adamantine|color=3:3:1
|ore=
* [[File:raw_adamantine_sprite.png]] [[Raw adamantine]]
|sample=[[File:AdamantineSample.png|center]]
|graphic=adamantine_bar_sprite.png
|properties=
* [[Material value]] 300☼
* [[Material science|Impact strength]] 5 GPa
* [[Material science|Shear strength]] 5 GPa {{Tooltip|×10|MAX_EDGE of 100,000 compared to the default 10,000 for metals}}
{{firemagmasafe|yes|yes}}
* [[Melting point]] {{ct|25000}}
* [[Boiling point]] {{ct|50000}}
* [[Ignition point]] none
* [[Solid density]] 200 kg/m³
* Liquid [[density]] 2600 kg/m³
* [[Specific heat]] 7500 J/kg·K
* [[Color]] aqua
|uses=
* [[Weapon|Melee Weapons]]
* [[Crossbow]]s
* [[Bolt]]s
* [[Pick]]s
* [[Armor]]
* [[Anvil]]s
* [[Metalsmith's forge|Metal crafting]]
* [[Clothing]]
|wiki=Adamant}}
{{av}}{{Minorspoiler}}
'''Adamantine''' is a rare, high-value [[metal]] which is impossibly lightweight, strong, and sharp. Adamantine is refined from [[raw adamantine]], and can be woven into [[cloth]] or [[smelter|smelted]] into wafers, useful for making almost any item in the game. [[Armor]] and edged [[weapon]]s made from adamantine are absurdly valuable and wonderfully effective. Adamantine weapons have special graphics.

== Processing ==
Unlike what a player would expect, one does not simply make adamantine wafers directly from raw adamantine. You must first extract adamantine strands from the raw adamantine, and those are then processed into wafers or cloth. Despite the unique process of making adamantine into wafers, it will still graphically appear as a light blue bar, looking like any other metal bar.

Adamantine strands are extracted from [[raw adamantine]] at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] by a [[strand extractor]]. Strand extraction is an extremely long process for an unskilled laborer, making it potentially worthwhile to focus extraction experience on one or two individual dwarves. Extracted strands are considered a special metallic form of [[thread]], and after extraction each strand can either be woven into adamantine cloth at a [[loom]] or smelted into an adamantine [[bar|wafer]] at a [[smelter]] (removing any dye); thankfully these tasks are performed just as quickly as other weaving and smelting jobs. Adamantine cloth is used to make ultra high-value clothing, but it is no more resistant to [[wear]] than less exotic materials.

Given this extra step of extraction before the smelting phase, most players will want to build additional craftsdwarves' workshops and stockpiles near the smelters and forges. Note that the strands of adamantine are stored in cloth/thread stockpiles. When processing adamantine, it is a good idea to smelt the strands into wafers as fast as possible, as your medical dwarves may use the valuable adamantine strands for [[suturing]] wounds, since, to them, it's just another type of thread.

Adamantine wafers are functionally identical to metal bars and can be used to forge the full range of metal goods, but are far smaller in size, requiring about three times as many units of material per unit as regular metal bars:
* [[Weapon]]s, [[armor|armor/clothing]], and [[trap component]]s require the item's MATERIAL_SIZE in wafers/units of cloth
* Most types of furniture ([[door]], [[floodgate]], [[throne]], [[coffin]], [[table]], [[chest]], [[bin]], [[armor stand]], [[weapon rack]], [[cabinet]], [[statue]], [[anvil]], [[barrel]], [[pipe section]], [[hatch cover]], [[grate]], [[quern]], [[millstone]], and [[slab]]) require 9 wafers.
* [[Cage]]s, [[minecart]]s and [[wheelbarrow]]s require 6 wafers.
* [[Block]]s, [[chain]]s, and [[Siege engine|ballista]] arrowheads require 4 wafers.
* [[Animal trap]]s, [[bucket]]s, [[mechanism]]s, and [[crutch]]es require 3 wafers.
* [[Backpack]]s and [[quiver]]s require 2 units of cloth, and [[splint]]s require 2 wafers.
* All other items require 1 wafer.
* [[Strange mood]]s require 1 wafer, regardless of the end product.

Raw adamantine cannot be spawned in the [[object testing arena]], but adamantine-derived gear is spawnable as of v50.07. Adamantine (raw or otherwise) cannot be purchased in the [[embark]] screen, presumably for balance reasons.

== Application ==
{{Translation
| dwarven = ebsas
| elvish = lire
| goblin = kumo
| human = medi
}}
Adamantine has extreme [[material science|material properties]]: it is nigh-weightless (weighing about as much as [[wikipedia:Cork (material)|cork]]), extremely strong, and razor-sharp. These properties make it ideal for edged [[weapon]]s and [[armor]], but unfortunately, likewise, make it near-useless for blunt weapons, which will simply bounce off of foes: considering the lethality of [[hammerer]] and [[fortress guard]] beatings, this may be the point. [[Armor]] made of adamantine provides unmatched protection against slashing and piercing attacks, but blunt attacks and ranged weapons have high armor penetration capacity, so a full kit of adamantine armor is nonetheless not a recipe for combat invulnerability. Mail armor is especially lacking, as the incredible protective qualities of adamantine are overridden with the flexibility of chain.

Because the metal's material properties are irrelevant in other applications and because it's so rare and hard to produce, using adamantine for other things is generally a waste. Adamantine statues are ten times as valuable as [[gold]] ones, but are prohibitively expensive to produce, requiring nine wafers per statue. Some of the highest values per wafer for a normal adamantine product can be realised by forging adamantine [[flask]]s. However, by the time you have adamantine available, you're likely not to be in serious need of such valuable export products. By far the most [[wealth]] can be generated simply by adding adamantine to [[artifact]]s – a single stone, wafer, block or bolt of cloth can add hundreds of thousands of dwarfbucks in value, making your fortress the envy of all the [[forgotten beast|neighbors]]. Additionally, your [[Monarch]] will insist on having a "true [[throne]]" made of adamantine upon arriving at your fortress along with seven symbols of equal worth (though they will settle for one made of [[divine metal]], which is itself risky to acquire).

One significant application of adamantine is through [[Exploit#Infinite metal|metal duplication]]. However, this is generally considered an exploit, so depending on your preferences, you may not want to do this.

{{gamedata}}
{{metals}}

{{spoiler}}

<s>Un</s>fortunately, breaching any of the tubular veins leads to the [[HFS]], for lots of [[Losing|Fun]].

[[File:adamantine_mining_anim.gif|thumb|192px|right|Might be a bit too close to the underworld... ''Art by Darkie'']]

==Origins of Adamantine and Slade==
{{D for Dwarf}}
Back in the mists of time, the Gods decided to create the World. To do so they had to find a way to heat it in the cold voids of space. Demonkind had already forged their own world out of the vile substance [[Slade]], a stone anathema to all creation and only able to be worked through the vile rituals they had created, for slade was truly "dead" stone, with no life in it at all.

Deciding both to imprison their greatest enemies and to create a home for their creations, the Gods poured into the skies of the Demons' world "living" stone (known to mortals as [[semi-molten rock]] - rock burning hot with the fresh life of Creation). The Gods knew that if it were not constantly heated, this living rock would cool, and yet the Demons, fools that they were, constantly attacked the living rock, not realizing that their attacks simply heated the rock again and again, keeping it alive. Unfortunately, as the Gods began to pour more and more of the rock onto their creation, they found it quickly lost its life when removed too far from the Demons. It would only remelt once it touched the living rock, creating vast seas of magma that heated the tunnels above. Worse, the living rock itself had been disturbed by this process, creating gaping holes through which the Demons escaped, killing and maiming the first creations of the Gods, warping those they could find into the terrible Forgotten Beasts, leaving only the [[Titan]]s safe on the surface.

Knowing this state of affairs could not last if their weaker creations, the first mortals, were to survive, the Gods created a new substance, imbued with their power: Adamantine. The beautiful aqua-colored ore was poured into the holes, sealing the entrances that the living rock could no longer seal, preventing the Demons from escaping, for its power totally repelled Demonkind.

Unfortunately, as time passed and the first mortals began to carve their civilization from both the surface and the underworld, they discovered the vast shafts of this amazing substance and began to mine it, instantly realizing its divine potency. In doing so, they removed the great barriers the gods had placed in order to keep the Demons sealed. The Demons rose up, slaughtering thousands and escaping into the World, often rising to lead mortal civilizations, such as that of the Goblins. Upon these sites they raised towers carved from the vile Slade that only they could work. Brave adventurers and champions of the Gods forged special swords made from the divine Adamantine and ventured into these dark places to seal the Demons within hell once more. Leaving their swords buried in these places, those who survived swore to defend them for all eternity, binding themselves with oaths of such might that they surpassed death itself. They remain, even today, as zombies and skeletons, driven by their undying thought "none must take the sword!" and nothing more. These undead are totally obsessed with their duty to defend the ancient demonic structures from all interlopers and have been the death of many an unwary explorer.

In retrospect, all this could probably have been avoided if the Gods had bothered to make their all-powerful metal capable of withstanding the swing of a copper pick.

==The Great Adamantine Space Elevator==
{{D for Dwarf}}
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=61507.0 Source]

In a great fluke, a new world was created in the midst of Armok shaving. No one quite understands why this happened, but the whisker of the holy one landed vertically. The material can only be described as a super adamantine. It is over 2000 z-levels high. And the map continues on.

Year after year, the dwarves of [SUBJECT CIVILIZATION HERE] send an expedition out into the world in order to ascertain the fate of last year's expedition. It has long-since been forgotten exactly when this series of fruitless expeditions started, but the dwarves are a sort that demand an answer.

It happens year after year, when they head northeast to the ominous shrubland that has been known only in name: "The Hill of Spit." The hill lies beyond a ruined elven settlement, a stone's throw away from a brook that has come to be known as "Troublemysteries." By the time they arrive, it is already too late.

They embark year after year, and there they stand, awe-struck with their implements of dwarven duty left undisturbed at their feet. All about them are the decrepit wagons and bleached bones of those who heralded their grim arrival -- barrels filled with rot and worm, picks covered in rust and dust. There they stand with their eyes open wide and jaws agape, and they stare upward into the dome of the heavens. What they see is beyond the ken of mortal beard. It reaches from the ground higher than any bird has flown; higher than any cloud has drifted; higher than any man, dwarf, beast or monster has ever or will ever ascend, twisting and writhing upward in ways that can only transfix the gaze of unwary observers in their fundamentally impossible geometries -- a spiraling needle of pure adamantine, ascending beyond the vanishing-point into the sky.

They stand there, motionless and breathless, and wait only for time to wear them down into the dust of the earth from whence they came, leaving that siren spire standing amidst a graveyard of wagons and barrels to call more of their bearded kind to an emaciated doom.

Another year, another expedition unheard of, another question unanswered, another expedition prepared.

==Color Misconceptions==
{{D for Dwarf}}

Some people, upon hearing of the legendary metal known as Adamantine, imagine a blood red, crimson metal, befitting of the God of Blood Armok... They may have been playing some other Dwarvideo games, or just confused, but for some reason, those unacquainted with Adamantine always seem to think it is red.

== Trivia ==
* Adamantine's origins are tied to Greek mythology, though in the mythos, biblical stories and other works, the material is referred to as "adamant". The word's meaning is "unbreakable, unconquerable and untameable", representing the material's nature and hardness.
* Adamantine as portrayed in Dwarf Fortress is inspired by ''mithril'', a fictional metal that appears in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Much like adamantine, ''mithril'' was impossibly light, yet stronger than steel, and greed for it ultimately led to the fall of the fortress of Khazad-dum.
[[File:adamantine_king_preview.jpg|thumb|320px|center|The most expensive armor ever made. ''Art by inkundus'']]

Release information/53.12

2026-09-15T22:16:44Z

Ziusudra: Undo revision 320027 by 135.181.246.140 (talk) spam vandalism

{{release notes}}
:Here's a quality of life patch that addresses various issues. You can see your active petitions now and it's harder to disband squads accidentally. Clothing wears down more slowly. Selecting items inside bins during trade works more intuitively. You can see the products and required items for jobs in workshops. Soldiers wear boots properly. See the full list below.
:—[[Toady One]], April 14, 2026

:Hey everyone,
:We’ve got a jam-packed update today with a big quality of life patch along with a new [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTV5R7JIMQY Tarn Time video] with news about Magic (the update), Magic (the cards) and another surprise! You’ll just have to watch and find out…
:—[[Alexandra]], April 14, 2026
* [https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=183810.0 Bay 12 Forum thread]
* [https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/index.html#2026-04-14 Patch notes on Bay 12 Games]
* [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/514113986433651135 Patch notes on Steam]
* [https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress/devlog/1489557/myth-magic-news-quality-of-life-update-dwarf-fortress-patch-5312 Patch notes on itch.io]

== General updates ==
* Added display of accepted [[petition]] building projects ([[guildhall]]s and [[temple]]s).
* Added [[standing orders]] to automatically accept or reject citizen petitions and various residency petitions.
* Added standing orders allowing mining designations to globally ignore new [[Digging designation canceled|warm/damp stone warnings]].
* [[Squad]] disband icon is no longer a red X that looks like it closes the menu.
* Disbanding squads now requires confirmation.
* Items suffer less damage from age and worn items [[wear]] down more slowly.
* [[Trade]]rs bring [[clothes]] properly [[size]]d for all fortress citizens and long-term residents.
* Added tooltips showing products and required materials when adding new tasks in [[workshop]]s.
* Changed behavior of bin selection in trade menu. Clicking the [[bin]] now selects all items inside as well, and these can be unselected one at a time. Clicking a selected bin unselects all of its contents.
* You can now click anywhere on item listings in the trade/barter menus to select the item.
* Added a select all button to the move-goods-to-depot menu.
* Made squad soldiers remove shoes properly if they conflict with their [[uniform]]'s boots.
* Reordered [[work order]] buttons.
* Clicking on name of work order or shop text allows number entry.
* Made the [[difficulty]] setting "[[Difficulty#Temples|priesthood unit count]]" properly effect temple petitions.
* Closing the unit selector no longer also closes menu that opened it.
* Made stone use and children's chore scrollbars work properly.
* Changed citizens label to residents in unit list to reflect all who are listed.
* Show residency vs. citizenship status on unit summary sheet.
* Shows the [[deity]] being worshipped in [[meeting hall]] [[location]] info box.
* Shows the deity being worshipped in location assignment list.
* Shows location type in meeting hall location info box.
* Shows location type in location assignment list.
* Shows current guildhall existence/petition status when choosing a new guildhall.
* Shows current temple existence/petition status when choosing a new temple.

== Dwarf Fortress Magic the Gathering cards! ==
We’re excited to announce that Dwarf Fortress is coming to Magic: The Gathering with a Secret Lair drop on April 27th. The drop includes a set of 5 cards featuring classic ASCII art created in collaboration with Tarn and Zach Adams and the amazing artists at Wizards of the Coast! You can sign up for email alerts on the [https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/secret-lair-back-to-school-superdrop Secret Lair website].

== Organize a community gathering ==
Thank you to everyone who came out to the Dwarf Fortress gathering at PAX East, we hope to make next year’s event bigger and better! Want to host your own Dwarf Fortress meetup and want us to send you some merch? Fill out [https://forms.gle/1MPRqaiU4zv1hL229 this form] with all your details.

== Dwarf Fortress music in concert ==
The Washington Metropolitan Gamer Symphony Orchestra presents Ballads of Earth and Ore. This concert has been programmed to highlight a suite of tunes arranged from Dwarf Fortress. "Songs of Zavazsil" is a symphonic adventure into the procedurally generated musical forms found and described in one world of Dwarf Fortress. For more info: https://givebutter.com/WMGSOSP26

That's all for today. We'll have more details about Myth & Magic and the dinos in future updates.

Meat industry

2026-09-15T10:14:31Z

Ziusudra: /* Breeding wild animals */ removed unicorns as untamable

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

[[File:meats_preview.png|right]]This article is a quick guide to running a '''meat and related goods industry'''. If you're basing your economy on the meat industry, you should keep in mind that the amount of product available depends on the breeding rate (how long the offspring takes to be born and mature) of your tame animals, the spawning rates of wild animals, and/or the amount of meat and leather that traders bring.

Note that the meat industry involves many materials which can [[rot]], and therefore requires slightly more micromanagement than other [[industry|industries]].

'''Summary''': Obtain some animals; kill and [[butcher]] them to obtain [[bone]]s, (organ-)[[meat]], [[fat]], [[skull]]/[[horn]]s and [[skin|raw hide]]s; the meat can be used immediately, but the hide needs to be [[tanner|tanned]] into [[leather]], and the fat needs to be processed into [[tallow]]; finally [[cook]] the tallow into a meal (or make [[soap]] with it), and craft the bones, skull, horns and leather into an end product.

== Acquisition ==
The basic units of the meat industry are its [[Animal|animals]], of which the acquisition presents a number of methods (note that the related [[fishing industry]] is its own matter).

=== Embark ===
You can buy animals on [[embark]], and doing so even allows you to choose from male and female animals. Since you need only one male to breed, an example way to kick-start your meat industry is to embark with one bull and 3 cows. Note, though, that with the exception of cats, dogs and poultry, buying animals on embark is extremely expensive. You also get two random [[Domestic animal|draft animal]]s on embark for each wagon (usually one wagon with two draft animals). These can be butchered when needed, or be kept in the hopes that [[Trade#Liaisons|traders]] or [[Immigration|immigrants]] will supply matching specimens for breeding. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to buy one: If you happen to have a female, chances are that sooner rather than later it will meet a companion among the traders' many pack animals; see [[#Breeding|breeding]], below.

=== Trading ===
As with most industry goods, you can purchase both animals and processed [[meat]] and [[leather]] from [[caravan]]s, allowing you to vary your dwarves' diets without having to establish a meat industry proper. Note, however, that traders will never bring preprocessed [[hair]], [[horn]]s, [[skull]]s, or [[bone]]s. If you want to keep your [[leatherworker]]s constantly occupied, buying up caravans' (often vast) collections of leather is a cheap way to get your fort [[clothing|clothed]] quickly.

It might be necessary that you request every type of leather, in order to ensure the merchant comes back with a large quantity next year (they usually bring excessive amounts, even if you don't). You can only buy leather from [[human]] and [[dwarf|dwarven]] caravans. [[Elf|Elven]] caravans are interesting in that they often bring a small number of tame, caged animals with them, which may be useful as [[pet]]s (such as [[silvery gibbon]]s) or for defense purposes (such as [[grizzly bear]]s).

=== Hunting ===
In all but the most inhospitable of places, there will be some <s>running food</s> wildlife frolicking in the biome. An [[ambusher]] armed with a [[crossbow]] and a [[quiver]] full of [[bolts]] can and will attack these animals, cautiously approaching them ("ambushing", their speed and chances of not being noticed being dependent on their skill) before opening fire at their quarry with crossbow bolts. Hunting is a very outdoorsy activity, and will take your hunters well past where you can establish reasonable defenses; in addition, hunters will occasionally do stupid things that will get them maimed, such as hunting [[lion]]s, or worse still, killed in grisly ways, such as attacking herds of [[giant elephant]]s.

Upon a successful hunt, the dwarf will return the kill, carrying the [[corpse]] to the nearest [[butcher's shop]] for processing, or the nearest refuse stockpile if available. Failing that, they may leave the corpses wherever they happen to be--meeting areas, bedrooms, etc. Hunters are rather single-minded; when hunting, they will ignore other animals besides their chosen quarry, even if the others are more easily attacked or less dangerous. Although multiple kills happen, hunters generally only return their quarry, or quit when they run out of bolts. To avoid wasting perfectly edible corpses, you need to change your [[standing orders]] to Gather refuse from outside, although this will enable much more than ambusher-kill returning.
Hunting makes an erratic but, with a skilled ambusher, bountiful meat source. It avoids the bother of pasturing animals, but comes at the trade-off of defensibility. Many players on mature fortresses are simply too concerned with enemy sieges and the like to send dwarves out too far, and will thus disable hunting jobs on their dwarves.

=== Military ===
You can order your soldiers out to kill wild animals by selecting their squads or the soldiers individually (for a basic outline of such actions, see [[attack]]). This takes some management, but is particularly useful if a large herd appears and you want to get them all before they emigrate to less blood-soaked pastures; be prepared to process them all, however, as you do not want your potential foodstuffs to rot away if your butcheries are overloaded. Soldiers will not kill or butcher [[Domestic animal|domestic]] or [[tame]] animals. Take note that soldiers will attack animals regardless of the target you've given them, as they will attack the nearest non-friendly creature in sight when told to move somewhere or kill a target.

Your soldiers must generally be very [[Attribute#Agility|agile]] to catch up with a running animal before it leaves the edge of the map, and attacking with melee always carries the risk of getting your soldiers maimed or killed, so as you might expect military hunting is mainly for the crossbow dwarves.

Hunting undead or aggressive animals is much more fun. Unlike the regular animals where agility is required to catch them, these animals will happily come to you. Crossbow bolts and piercing weapons are next to useless in this case, but hunting undead can be a valuable source of meat and bones in an evil biome if you manage to mangle the corpse such that it cannot reanimate. It's also wise to do so as a preemptive measure if you plan to do anything outdoors (before actual hunters, or civilians, come in contact with them). One should take extra caution when doing so though, because even minor zombies like ravens have been known to shatter bone through adamantine and steel.

=== Trapping ===
It is also possible to catch animals through judicious use of [[cage trap]]s. Building cage traps where animals will walk will ensure that some of them will be caught; dwarves with the [[hauling#animal_hauling|Animal Hauling]] labor can then haul the occupied [[cage]]s away and [[mechanic]]s will reload the traps with fresh cages.

Cage traps should be built where animals will walk, not where they are when you decide to trap them. Any dwarves sent out to create and arm traps in the animals' midst will scare them away or (worse) trigger their aggression.

To successfully trap large animals you need to build choke points into your map. The destruction of ramps to create sheer cliffs is the easiest way to force them to go down a particular route; with the construction of walls, ponds, channels, and so forth, you can force them to walk right through your cage traps. Such obstacles and traps will also work against invading forces, as shown in the article on [[Trap_design#Trapping_efficiently|trap architecture]].

Leave a small gap one or two tiles wide (depending on how many of the critters you want to trap) and build your cage traps there. If the animals haven't moved off or been scared off by the time you're done, and they're docile enough to not attack once they see your dwarves, use military orders to send a dwarf (or several) around behind the animals and herd them toward the choke point.

Note that when using channels and ponds together to create a choke point, connecting the channel all the way up to the pond's edge will end up draining the pond. If this is undesirable for your fort's water supply plans, be sure to leave a tile between the edge of the pond and the edge of the channel, and build a cage trap or wall instead.

Note also that cage traps cannot be built within a certain number of tiles of the map edge, so when planning your funnels and choke points, be sure to leave four or five tiles as a buffer zone.

=== Breeding ===
Many animals in ''Dwarf Fortress'' are capable of [[breeding]] if a male and female are in close proximity. You can elect to bring breeding pairs at [[embark]], or purchase them from traders at a later date. Some [[immigrant]]s will bring [[pet]]s or stray animals with them, potentially forming or completing breeding pairs. Remember that you only ever need one breeding male: the only non-butchering product male animals produce, besides reproduction, is [[wool]], and only a few of them. For this reason having a large proportion of females to males is a good idea. However, a small percentage of male animals will not breed, so it's best to keep one or two spare males around.

Using [[cage trap|cage traps]] judiciously (or taking advantage of the animals [[elf|elves]] trade) can sometimes snag you a breeding pair of wild animals. These can be used to establish crazy schemes, like [[alligator]] farms and [[giant eagle]] [[egg production|hatcheries]]. Tame something unusual and start something crazy if you get lucky enough! Many creatures can be tamed, but it can take a long time for exotic animals and they will slowly revert to wild state if left unattended; a skilled [[animal trainer]] is a real blessing in this regard.

There is currently a per-species population cap, observed to be around 50, past which animals will not get pregnant; existing pregnancies will mature to term, and once some adults are slaughtered, the population can begin moving up again. There is also a population cap on the percentage of juvenile animals, which can have a significant impact on [[elephant|slow-maturing species]].

When two animals breed, their [[genetics]] combine, just like in real life. This means that you can selectively butcher less-desirable specimens to leave only more-desirable breeding stock. This can include your dwarves, although social engineering with intelligent species (i.e. that breed via marriage) is an extra challenge. Extra points for splitting your alpaca herds into one bred for meat and one bred for hair!

=== Breeding wild animals ===
Most animals that are neither intelligent nor egg-layers will eventually give birth if a male and female are able to touch. Some intelligent creatures can also do this if they don't require marriage to have children (i.e. troglodytes, blind cave ogres). Wild animals require neither food nor water (in the case of intelligent humanoids).

This can be exploited and has an advantage for several reasons. Animals that are still wild will be butchered regardless of how or why they died; stray animals will only provide meat when slaughtered. This makes penning and breeding of non-tame animals attractive for short-lived species that die often such as rats of any kind, mole dogs, and giant insects. Grazers can also be adequately bred this way if you're only using them for meat; wild draltha, elephants, and giant pandas survive perfectly fine penned underground in pits. Untameable animals can only be bred this way; this includes intelligent creatures that don't require marriage (blind cave ogres, troglodytes, possibly merpeople), and other [[fun]] beasts that cannot be tamed.

Methods for how to do this vary, but chaining is a practical approach. Trapping the offspring is then easy because the adults cannot walk onto the cage traps due to the chains, and the infants will invariably wander; hollowed out mine-shafts that you haven't bothered to fill out make excellent dungeons. Be wary of chaining different creature castes together though. Most neutral creatures are fine with each other, but some of them freak out and get scared; most reactions will provoke a fight and subsequent death of the inmates before children can be received. Chaining up building destroyers can result in potentially unwanted fun as the children proceed to destroy the restraints, freeing their parents, and causing a possible insurrection if they manage to further destroy other restraints in the dungeon and free creatures neutral to them (but hostile to dwarves). Building destroyers can't destroy anything when chained, but should ideally be pitted into pens controlled by bridges (or at least chained with extra cage traps around; and disposable chains). Remember, all creatures can destroy restraints when tantruming, which sometimes occurs with some more disagreeable inmates that happen to be intelligent. Also, cages must be placed one square away from restraints because chained wild animals still trigger cage traps for some reason.

TRAPAVOID creatures are harder to breed since they cannot easily be caged, chained, or pitted. [[Web]]bed cage traps can work (for non web-immune creatures), though it is possible to seal them in a small area without trapping them first. [[Artifact]] furniture immune to [[building destroyer]]s can be used as permanent bait, but separating the herd for a partial harvest may prove challenging. Creatures which provide a rare resource (like [[shell]]s) may be worth the difficulty to farm, particularly if your map is otherwise devoid of the resource your [[strange mood|moody]] dwarves are clamoring for.

== Management ==
=== Pastures ===
Tame animals with the [GRAZER:<value>] token (most herbivores) need to constantly munch on grass to survive, and as such require a [[pasture]] containing [[grass]], [[cave moss]], or [[floor fungus]] to graze upon, or they will starve to death. Be ware that animal fodder isn't usually available when embarking in barren and inhospitable biomes, like [[glacier]]s, at least not until you breach the [[caverns]] deep underground.

Pastures are simple enough to build (unless you've embarked someplace where it [[evil weather|rains]] [[fun]]). Designate a grassy area as a pasture [[zone]] ({{menu icon|z}} - Pen/Pasture), set the animals ([[File:Ui assign creature.png]]) to be released onto the pasture, and your dwarves will haul the designated animals to it if they have the animal hauling labor enabled. Once in the pasture, the animals will munch on all the grass they need, as long as there is enough of it.

Pastures can be easily depleted if the herd of animals on it is large enough; in addition, having too many animals on a pasture at once will lead to fights, which can seriously maim and injure your livestock. Since an above-ground pasture requires a significant plot of land, it is a major security concern - having enough grazing land for your animals while also keeping them protected from invading goblins is an important concern. A solution is to use the fact that livestock can graze on [[floor fungus]] and the like as easily as on regular old grass, and wall off a pasture inside of a [[cavern]] layer or set them loose in your underground [[tree farm]].

Animals that don't require a constant stream of plant matter, like poultry, can be put in any pasture (or cage). The basis of [[egg production]] is a pasture with [[nest box]]es in it.

=== Pens ===
A strategy to improve your framerate is to [[restraint|restrain]] most of your livestock near your [[butcher's shop]], as a large number of free-roaming animals will reduce your game speed. Additionally it reduces the amount of time it takes butchers to track down and retrieve animals they are to slaughter.

Animals on [[restraint|restraints]] still can [[path]] (1 tile in any direction from the chain/rope), and that can hurt your [[Maximizing framerate|framerate]]. When placed in "holding pens" consisting of closed 1x1 rooms, the animals have nowhere to go and so [[path|pathing]] is not a problem. Creating and managing such rooms can be difficult, however. [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|Pits]] and [[Pasture]]s can be adapted for this purpose.

To move animals in and out of pens, doors are the best choice, with floodgates and (raising) bridges as alternatives. To get the framerate benefit, doors should be "forbidden" but "pet-passable", since non-pet-passable state of doors is not taken into account during calculation of paths. Cold, hard reality stops pets at tightly closed doors, but they continue to calculate paths through them while bumping their heads into the door. Pets in cages help framerate the most, followed closely by restraints, since the search space bottoms out after only 2 moves (corner to corner). Pens with blocked access are also very effective, as pathing will stop as soon as the space of the pit is exhausted, so it's like a restraint with a slightly longer leash. Moving of animals in and out of such pens requires player intervention, via unlocking doors or issuing "pull lever" orders to open floodgates or bridges. It would be quite extreme, but such a collection of 1x1 pits could be an effective way of stopping pathfinding while retaining breeding. One could even use bars instead of floodgates, and have a really proper zoo/cage.

All that being said, the framerate impact of large numbers of tame animals is notable but not crippling - a fort can have 200 animals moving about more or less freely without being brought to its knees. While caging particularly fecund non-grazers makes sense to reduce unit clutter, extreme measures are not really called for to preserve framerate.

A common strategy is to cage all your young until matured because they do not give the same amount of bones, meat, and fat as adults. Some tamed wild species take more than 1 year to mature, unlike most domestic animals; this makes it excusable to butcher, for instance, elephant calves right away, as they take ten years to mature.

Furthermore:
* Cages can hold an unlimited number of animals, so you only need one.
* Caged animals do not path, and therefore, do not consume a lot of processor speed.
* Distinguishing between breeding animals and butcherable livestock is easier when clearly separated.
* Caged cats cannot adopt owners (thus decreasing the chances of a [[catsplosion]]).
* You can define a [[zoo]] from a cage, increasing overall fortress wealth, dwarven happiness, and so on.

=== Internal pastures ===
[[File:DFWikiInternalPasture.png|right]]
The livestock of a large meat industry requires a lot of pasture space that might not be safe on the surface. Creating an underground pasture is more secure and relatively simple after discovering the [[cavern]]s: [[Floor fungus]] and other such underground "grass" will begin to grow anywhere there is [[soil]] or [[mud]]. You can take advantage of this by digging out a large room in a soil layer and waiting for floor fungus to grow. Limit dwarven traffic in your pasture levels to prevent plant trampling, and then wait a bit for the floor fungi and cave moss to grow dense enough to support your livestock. Forbidden doors and hatches or a restricted area [[traffic]] designation can be helpful for this. Once ready, make a new pasture and move the livestock underground.

You can also create pastures in stone layers, but the area will need to be cleared of all excess stone and [[irrigation|irrigated]] to create mud, enabling plant growth. The easiest way to do this is to dig out a level of rock and then either redirect some river flow or drain some small lakes to provide the necessary water. Once every tile of stone floor has been muddied, drain the water and wait for the underground vegetation to grow.

== Processing ==
=== Slaughtering and butchering ===
Animals can be marked for slaughter in the [[Unit_list|Creatures]] {{menu icon|u}} menu under the Pets/Livestock tab. Animals marked for slaughter will queue a {{DFtext|Slaughter {name of the animal} (Tame)|3:1}} task at a [[butcher's shop]], be dragged there by a dwarf with the [[butcher]] labor and put down.

Once an animal has been killed it must then be butchered before the corpse rots. This happens instantly in the case of slaughtering. The corpses provided by hunters take some time to pry apart and in a fort with very few available workers, corpses can rot before anybody finds the time to process them. An animal corpse or body part is available if it is inside the butcher's shop or within a certain distance of the shop. Butcher's shops will only scan a limited amount of area (about 20 tiles in every direction) for butcherable corpses. If the corpse is too far away, the workshop will not task it. Putting a refuse pile accepting corpses and body parts close to the butcher's shop is therefore required to make sure "collateral" kills of hunters and the military are processed. The skill of the butcher only affects the time taken for the butcher animal task, not the amount produced, nor the quality.

Once butchered, the animal will yield one skull (though [[hydra|hydras]] produce more than one), and may also produce a raw hide, a number of (prepared)(organ-)meat pieces, and/or bones. Animal size and chance determines the exact yield. Very small animals, such as [[cavy|cavies]] or [[weasel]]s will produce only a skull when slaughtered. If a hunter kills such an animal, it will not be butchered, and you will not even get the skull. Depending on the animal type, the butchered animal may also yield [[horn|horns]], [[hoof|hoofs]], [[fat]], and/or [[cartilage]].
[[File:Butcher's shop.png|right]]
Butchering of hunted or otherwise killed (not slaughtered) animals will produce a proportionate amount of meat, bones and skin for every butchered item, as long as the body part is big enough (otherwise, the butchers will simply ignore it). An animal chopped into several pieces by the military can thus give several hides of leather, while slaughtering a tame animal will only produce one. It will not grant more meat, fat, or bones, however.

Meat and fat goes to your food stockpile. Bones, horns, hoofs, hair, cartilage and raw hides go to the refuse stockpile. Cartilage has no use and should be disposed of, but you would be well put to create custom stockpiles for hides next to your tanner's shop (see [[#Tanning|''Tanning'' below]]), for bones/horns/hoofs next to your craftsdwarves workshop (see [[#Bone carving|''Bone carving'' below]]), and changing the settings on your main refuse pile to not accept bones, horns/hoofs and hides. Hair can be spun into low-value thread at the [[farmer's workshop]].

If it takes too long for the butchered parts to be hauled into the stockpile, the food will rot and miasma will spread. To prevent this, it is advisable to build the butcher's workshop outside of the fortress, near refuse piles (you may want it inside the walls though). The fresh air prevents miasma spreading. Miasma doesn't spread through diagonal openings, so a clever architect might isolate the smell in a 3x3 room with the shop.

If the animal is butchered just before it rots, the products of the animal MAY not rot. It is unknown whether the time of rotting for butchering products is based on the time of death of the animal or the time of production of the butchering returns.{{verify}}

==== Overdrive ====
In some instances - most notably, after [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] invasions, or killing some other large herd with your soldiers - you may find yourself with more bodies and [[severed body part|severed body parts]] than you can process. In this case it is a good idea to set up some temporary extra butcher and tanners' shops (and butcher and tanner workers) to process them all before they rot. Butchers are more important because these workshops have a tendency to get [[clutter|cluttered]] quickly. Setting up a new workshop takes but a moment, so one might even construct a whole chamber of them and suspend the butchering job in all the cluttered shops.

== Animal products ==
The [[value]] of an animal product is multiplied by the species' [[multiply value]]; items from common domestic animals like [[cow]]s and [[horse]]s have a multiplier of 1x, which pales in comparison with those made from more exotic wild animals (usually between 2x and 4x, although some, like [[elephant]]s, hit 5x); the distinction for the highest value multiplier goes to the [[dragon]] and the [[roc]], whose meat is worth 15 times that of an ordinary cow's. An animal's value multiplier can be found in the creature raw files.

===Meat===
The primary output of the meat industry is the titular [[meat]]. Meat comes in two flavors: meat proper, that is the muscle tissue removed from the animal, and [[prepared organs]] like prepared brain, tripe, sweetbread, and so on. Both can be either eaten raw or [[cooking|cooked]] into a meal.

===Fat===
Butchering an animal also produces some number of units of [[fat]], which must be processed into [[tallow]] at the kitchen. Tallow is very useful for a fort as ingredient in the making of [[soap]]. Soap plays an important role in staving off [[infection]]s when performing operations and cleaning wounds in your [[Healthcare|hospital]], as well as increasing happiness from dwarves being able to clean themselves; it's recommended to stock your hospitals and baths with at least some bars of it. See [[soap]] on the exact details of processing.

Tallow can also be cooked. However, tallow is a minimum-value food item and thus will not result in particularly valuable meals. It is much more useful as a soap input. If your meat industry is small, you may be better off disabling the cooking of tallow in the [[Labor#Kitchen|Kitchen tab]] in the Labor menu {{menu icon|y}}. With a large meat industry, you'll produce large amounts of tallow, and cooking it makes sense in this case, since your need for soap (which also consumes otherwise valuable [[wood]]) is limited.

===Bones===
Butchering an animal produces a number of [[bone]]s. Craftsdwarves with [[bone carving]] enabled can turn these into bone [[craft]]s or bone [[bolt]]s, bone [[decoration]]s or a few [[armor|wearable items]] (bone helms and the like) at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]]. [[Bowyer]]s can use them to make bone [[crossbow]]s at a [[bowyer's workshop]]. These various products can be traded, used to equip your [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]], and used for practice, respectively (bone bolts are better than wooden ones, but inferior to metal bolts, and thus should not be used extensively militarily).

===Skull===
[[Skull]]s can only be used to make [[totem]]s at a craftdwarf's workshop, for [[trading]]. Virtually all animals produce a single skull when they die; the only exception is the [[hydra]], which produces seven. Totems do not fall under any category in the "Move trade goods to depot" screen, so you need to search for them. Usually, however, they will be in a [[finished goods]] [[bin]], so just transport the bins to the depot.

===Hooves and horns===
Animals with hooves and/or horns will produce generic "[[horn]]" once butchered. These can be used to create horn trade goods or decorate items at a craftsdwarf's workshop.

===Raw hides===
Butchering produces a [[skin|raw hide]], or scales or chitin (currently unusable, [[Skin#Modding_scales_to_be_usable_in_leatherworking|save via mod]]), depending on the animal. Raw hides can be [[tanner|tanned]] at a [[tanner's shop]] and made into usable [[leather]], an input into the leather industry. It's quite difficult to have a meat industry large enough to keep a leather industry fully occupied, and caravans arrive with tons of it for cheap anyway, so your meat industry will be at best a supplement in that regard. As with the butcher's shop, the tanner's shop will queue a "tan raw hide" job automatically; the tanner's skill has no effect on quantity nor quality of the leather produced, and the task is time-sensitive because of rot.

It is quite sensible to have a single dwarf as both the butcher and tanner, as you will never need to begin tanning until you finish butchering. You could also make this same dwarf your leatherworker. However, there is no outstanding reason to do this. It may be advisable (or not) to simply ensure that there are ''no'' stockpiles that will accept Fresh Raw Hides and to have the tanner's shops in the immediate area of the butcher's shop - if fresh raw hides can be stored in any refuse stockpile, they will instantly be designated for hauling and cannot be tanned until they have been stored. Ensuring that raw hides will not be stockpiled means that they will be available for tanning fresh off the former owner.

===Hair===
Some animals drop [[hair]] when butchered, which can be [[spinner|spun]] into [[thread]] at a [[farmer's workshop]]. However, animal hair thread cannot be used to make [[cloth]], which means that the only use of hair thread is for [[suturing]] in [[hospital]]s. Hair thread can be [[dye]]d.

===Cartilage and nervous tissue===
[[Cartilage]] and [[nervous tissue]] are both butchering byproducts with no current uses, and should be dumped as garbage once stripped of their former owner. Nervous tissue will rot and may generate miasma.

===Ivory/Teeth===
[[Ivory]] is used to make trade goods or decorations at a craftsdwarf's workshop. Besides the obvious elephant tusks and so forth, sufficiently large teeth, e.g. of large felines, can be used for the same purpose.

===Shells===
[[Shell]]s are a relatively rare crafting material which may be demanded by dwarves in a [[strange mood]]. Few creatures provide shells, but you may have the opportunity to buy a breeding pair of [[giant tortoise]]s from the elves or hunt a shelled [[forgotten beast|beast]] in the [[cavern]]s.

==Secondary products==
You don't necessarily have to slaughter your animals to get something useful out of them, as specific creatures can also produce some products while alive.

===Eggs===
Tame female egg-laying animals will produce [[egg]]s at intervals, which in turn can be used to feed your fortress on a more interim basis than butchering. [[Egg production]] is a viable way to keep a fortress fed, and in areas where setting up a farm will be difficult, starting out with some poultry can be essential to survival. Animals that can lay eggs are [[poultry]] (easily acquired), reptiles like [[alligator]]s (only if you're particularly [[elf]]ish), and some more exotic animals like [[dragon]]s and [[giant eagle]]s (only if you're very lucky). Female egg-laying animals will claim a nest box, and lay a clutch of [[egg]]s. These can be allowed to hatch into young animals (to replace the ones sent to the butcher), or collected into [[food]] stockpiles and [[cook]]ed into [[prepared meal|meals]] at a [[kitchen]].

=== Milk ===
You can also [[milking|milk]] tame female mammals such as horses, cows, and so forth at the [[farmers workshop]] with an empty [[bucket]] and a dwarf with the milking labor enabled. The resulting [[milk]] can be used as a cooking ingredient or turned into high-value edible [[cheese]] at the farmers workshop by a dwarf with cheesemaking enabled (it cannot, however, be eaten raw).

Many animals can be milked in ''Dwarf Fortress'' that would not normally be, for example, [[pig|pigs]].

===Wool===
[[Wool]] can be produced by [[shearing]] one of three animals: [[llama]]s, [[alpaca]]s, and [[sheep]] (also [[troll]]s, but only goblins can do so). It can be woven into wool [[thread]] and then wool [[cloth]]; for a full discussion on the uses of wool, see the [[textile industry]].

==Automation==
Manually managing your meat industry can become quite tedious, especially since the game has a tendency to not provide crucial information (age, gender, etc.).

'''''DFHack: the content in this section requires the use of [[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]'''''

The DFHack utility can greatly assist, in several ways:

[[File:DFHack-autobutcherUI.png|thumb|right|400px|The DFHack autobutcher interface]]

* '''Autobutcher - automatic, configurable butchering:''' DFHack provides an <tt>autobutcher</tt> command and UI screen, which can automatically (and semi-intelligently) maintain a breeding population and provide a steady stream of butchering returns.
** Autobutcher monitors the animals in a fort on a per-species basis. The user can configure the maximum number of male and female children and adults to keep of each species - the default is to keep 5 each of female children and adults, and 1 male child and adult (a total of 12 per species.)
** Whenever there are more animals than the rules specify, the excess will be automatically marked Ready for Slaughter.
** The user can edit the configuration for any individual species, for example to keep more than 5 female chickens for egg-laying purposes, or fewer cats to avoid a [[Catsplosion]]. Monitoring can also be disabled on a per-species basis.
** Pets and work animals (Hunting/War) will never be slaughtered.
** Other options include: editing the default limits that apply to new species; choose to cancel an automatically given butchering order; choosing to butcher an entire species in one go.
** With DFHack installed and its default config enabled, you can access the Autobutcher UI by opening the [[Status#Animal Status Screen|animal status screen]] and then pressing hotkey {{K|Shift-B}}.
** For more information, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#autobutcher autobutcher in the DFHack documentation]
* '''Autonestbox - automatically assigned nest boxes:''' DFHack provides a utility called <tt>autonestbox</tt>, which once started runs automatically and periodically in the background. Each time it runs, it looks for unpastured, non-grazing egg-laying females and unoccupied nestboxes. It will then assign the former to the latter.
** Once started, Autonestbox runs by default once per 6000 ticks, which is 60 seconds when playing at 100 FPS.
** The user only needs to construct and place nestboxes and then to place a Pen/Pasture zone for each nestbox. Autonestbox will then automatically assign birds to these. It will also inform the user, via a log message, if there are not enough nestbox zones available for the current number of egg-laying birds.
** DFHack users can start Autonestbox by adding <tt>autonestbox start</tt> to a DFHack init file, or by typing this command from the console (then applies to current session only.)
** Users of the [[Utility:Lazy_Newb_Pack|PyLNP-based]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076 Windows Starter Pack] can enable Autonestbox by toggling <tt>Other Automation Plugins</tt> on the DFHack tab in PyLNP.
** For more information, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#autonestbox autonestbox in the DFHack documentation]
* '''Better pasture management:''' DFHack enhances the Activity Zone->Set Pen/Pasture Information UI. [[File:DFHack-PastureFilteringUI.png|thumb|right|200px|DFHack Pasture filtering example]]
** When adding animals to a pasture, you can filter the animals:
*** By text search
*** Male/Female
*** Caged/Not Caged
*** Currently Pastured/Not Pastured
*** Grazing/Not Grazing
** This allows for quicker, easier and more sophisticated pasturing of animals - for example ensuring breeding pairs are together, ensuring grazing animals have grass (and not wasting it on non-grazing), and so on.
* '''<tt>zone</tt> - advanced pasture/cage management:''' For even more sophisticated pasturing, DFHack provides a command-line tool <tt>zone</tt>, which allows very advanced allocation of animals/species to specified pastures and cages.
** There is unfortunately no in-game UI for this as yet, but for users willing to use the console and/or add hotkeys through the DFHack init file, there are some very sophisticated features available.
** Commands can be assigned to a hotkey (either via DFHack console or by editing the DFHack init file(s)), which can give easy, immediate benefits:
*** Assign <tt>zone set</tt> to a DFHack hotkey: then when your cursor is over a Pasture Zone, press the hotkey to set this zone as your current default for future <tt>zone assign</tt> commands.
*** Assign <tt>zone assign</tt> to a DFHack hotkey: then select an animal in-game and press this hotkey to assign this animal to your defined default Pasture.
*** If you always want to have all your animals in a single pasture, assign <tt>zone assign all own</tt> to a hotkey: any time you get new animals, press this hotkey to ensure all animals are assigned to your Pasture.
** Some examples of more advanced command-line usages of <tt>zone</tt>:
*** <tt>zone assign all own ALPACA minage 3 maxage 10</tt>
**** Assign all Alpacas between the ages of 3 and 10 to the selected Pasture Zone.
*** <tt>zone assign all own caged grazer nick grazing</tt>
**** Assign all caged animals in stockpiles (eg just purchased from merchants) that are grazers to the current Pasture, and give them all the nickname ''grazing'' (for easy identification/filtering later.)
*** <tt>zone assign count 5 own female milkable</tt>
**** Assign up to 5 female, milkable animals to the selected Pasture.
** For full details, and more examples, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#zone zone in the DFHack documentation]

== Summary ==
''Worker type / Labor''

*[[Ambusher]] / [[Hunting]]
** A [[crossbow]] or other [[weapon]]
** [[Bolt|Bolts]], [[quiver]]
** Leather [[armor]]
** [[Cross-training|Stats buffing]]
** [[Archery target|Archery practice]]

*[[Soldier|Soldiers]]/[[Military]]
**[[Soldier|Soldiers]]
**Some form of [[armor]]
**Any [[weapon]]

*[[Cage trap]]ping
** [[Mechanic]]
** [[Mechanic's workshop]]
** [[Mechanisms]]
** [[Cage|Cages]]

*Breeding
** [[Animals]]
** [[Cage|Cages]]
** [[Restraint|Restraints]]

*Processing
** [[Butcher]] / Butchery
*** [[Butcher's shop]]
** [[Tanner]] / Tanning
*** [[Tanner's shop]]
** [[Leatherworker]] / Leatherworking
*** [[Leather works]]
** [[Bone carver]] / Bone carving
*** [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
** [[Cook]] / Cooking
*** [[Kitchen]]
*** [[Barrel]]s

==See also==
*[[Leather]]
*[[Industry]]

{{Workshops FAQ}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}
[[ru:DF2012:Meat industry]]

Stockpile

2026-09-15T05:16:56Z

Ziusudra: /* Finished Goods */ added armorlevel, clarified bin capacity

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and left click to start drawing a rectangle with the mouse, left click again to finish the rectangle. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has tiles that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile in the play area (without the stockpile painting menu open) or on the "Stockpiles" tab in the locations {{Menu icon|P}}. The suite of buttons right of the pre-sets can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, delete the stockpile, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does).

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to single tile paint mode or eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armors of all types, which are items that have an {{token|ARMORLEVEL|armor}} greater than 0, including shields, are stored here (those with an ARMORLEVEL of 0 in [[#Finished Goods|Finished Goods]]). Specific types are grouped by body part (and shields); to allow any of those types, it must also allow some material, quality, color, whether usable/unusable (unusable being of a size that the primary fortress race cannot wear), and whether dyed or not. There is no filter for [[wear]] level. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]] (those with an {{token|ARMORLEVEL|armor}} of 0, higher armor levels in [[#Armor|Armor]]), are stored here. This type of stockpile can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items, and how many will fit in a bin depends on the size of the items (from 2,000 [[earring]]s to 20 [[scepter]]s).

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

Stockpile

2026-09-15T05:03:08Z

Ziusudra: /* Armor */ added armorlevel

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and left click to start drawing a rectangle with the mouse, left click again to finish the rectangle. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has tiles that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile in the play area (without the stockpile painting menu open) or on the "Stockpiles" tab in the locations {{Menu icon|P}}. The suite of buttons right of the pre-sets can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, delete the stockpile, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does).

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to single tile paint mode or eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armors of all types, which are items that have an {{token|ARMORLEVEL|armor}} greater than 0, including shields, are stored here (those with an ARMORLEVEL of 0 in [[#Finished Goods|Finished Goods]]). Specific types are grouped by body part (and shields); to allow any of those types, it must also allow some material, quality, color, whether usable/unusable (unusable being of a size that the primary fortress race cannot wear), and whether dyed or not. There is no filter for [[wear]] level. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]], are placed here before being used in trade or other uses. This type of stockpile can use [[bin|bins]] to consolidate items, over a hundred objects can fit into a bin.

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

User talk:Silverwing235

2026-09-13T20:37:05Z

Ziusudra: /* 23a:Elf in adventure mode */ .

== *Wandering janitor puts down mop and bucket* ==

Yes, I know, not a very interesting placeholder.....but a beginning nonetheless. EDIT: On the other hand "If it looks wrong, it gets fixed" is my rule, which is why spot-edits will be preferred to blind-reverts around here. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 23:22, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

== [[DF2014:Centaur]] plural ==

In case you were wondering - your [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Centaur&diff=236185&oldid=229661 edit] didn't offend me at all, but in cases where there are multiple possible plurals, we try to stick with the one in the raws (click "show" next to the Raws box on [[DF2014:Centaur]], for example, or click on the "Raws" link itself). That's what DF uses in-game, and it's consistent with [[DF:Rule G]]. Just something to keep in mind. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:47, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

== On paragraphs ==

A paragraph is a group of closely-related sentences with a central theme. In several recent edits you have combined multiple paragraphs that do not share a central theme. In addition to being grammatically incorrect, this also makes it more difficult for players to skim the article for relevant information. For example, [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Losing&curid=31835&diff=238706&oldid=238703 this edit] attached the sentence about challenges for experienced players to a paragraph that begins "Most new players...". Please cease "fixing" short paragraphs by lumping them in with other, tangentially-related paragraphs.--[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 22:37, 12 December 2018 (UTC)

Looks like there's already paragraph heading? I'll place this here, then: What's the logic/why merge [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Vampire&curid=32556&diff=254740&oldid=254722 these paragraphs] while also not merging them with the text preceding them?
(not the only paragraph merge I've seen, just a recent example) --[[User:Fleeting Frames|Fleeting Frames]] ([[User talk:Fleeting Frames|talk]]) 07:23, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

...to the extent they make sense as components of a single paragraph. Thanks for the reminder, will implement shortly. As for logic, being a part of the autistic community as I am...my 'reader's aesthetic' got irked, I suppose you could say. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 13:10, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

== Disruptive Editing ==

'''Warning''': Repeatedly modifying acceptable page layouts and punctuation to suit your personal taste is [[wikipedia:Disruptive_editing|disruptive]]. Further disruptive edits may result in a ban. --[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 19:40, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

:While I agree that some of the edits in question weren't necessary, others were constructive - at least the first half of [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Wood&curid=32642&diff=238873&oldid=238869&rcid=383537 wood], for example. I don't think reverting everything is a good solution, and I would be unwilling to block someone for this. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 20:13, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

::With all due respect, this has been an ongoing problem since July. Roughly one third of my edits since then have been dealing with issues caused by this one user. I have spent a fair bit of time explaining why edits were problematic ([http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Slade&diff=prev&oldid=236259], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Coffin&diff=prev&oldid=236737], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014_Talk:Steals_food&oldid=237634], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=User_talk:Silverwing235&diff=prev&oldid=238709]) and saving "constructive" changes ([http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Miasma&diff=prev&oldid=236260], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Dragon&diff=prev&oldid=237541], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Diplomat&diff=next&oldid=238673], [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Scholar&diff=next&oldid=238647]). However, Silverwing235 has continued to make the same types of problematic edits across more and more articles. While I still review each Silverwing235-edited article individually and only revert those which are problematic, I no longer consider it worthwhile to explain yet again why sprinkling in unnecessary commas and deleting newlines isn't acceptable, nor do I salvage minor "constructive" bits that happen to be included with disruptive edits. [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Magma_glass_furnace&curid=31863&diff=238911&oldid=238863 This] is a fine example: is changing the capitalization of "item hauler" worth burying information about architectural value at the end of a paragraph about sand gathering? No.--[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 16:53, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Agreed. It's pretty much the standard I ''attempt'' to hold myself to when editing around here as a rule, Lethosor - and also explains why some edits were marked as minor, in an attempt to '''avoid''' being blind-reverted like this, w/out apparent consideration of merit. You should both expect forum PM's about this in due course. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 21:46, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Resurrecting an old topic here: while I admit I haven't been monitoring the situation here very much, I've noticed that I don't always agree with some edits you make. Some are good, and I don't have opinions on some others, but some are (in my opinion) not correct - for example, the one that was reverted [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Creature_token&diff=prev&oldid=241753 here]. I don't have a particularly good policy in mind, and I don't think ''everything'' you do should be reverted by any means (so don't feel discouraged from fixing things), but I'd like to suggest that you pay closer attention to which edits are being reverted and why. Hopefully that will cut down on some editing disagreements I've seen in the recent changes list. I really don't want to make any decisions on the matter, but I think that making specific types of edits that tend to be reverted isn't productive for anyone involved (noting that this doesn't apply to a majority of your changes that I've seen, in my opinion). —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 20:58, 2 June 2019 (UTC)

Again: I don't want to have to block you, or anything like that, but [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Murky_pool&curid=32095&diff=247303&oldid=247296 this sort of edit] is not okay. If you have a disagreement with another editor, take it up with them; don't engage in edit wars, particularly not with edit summaries like that. (Note that I have not been very active as of recently, so I don't feel that I'm familiar enough with the entire situation to do anything yet - maybe that was just one of a handful of problematic edits. [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Murky_pool&diff=next&oldid=247304 This one] is definitely okay, for instance. But please try to avoid the sorts of edits that are apparently getting reverted regularly.) —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 04:37, 4 October 2019 (UTC)

From AIV, my thoughts on your four edits that were reverted by Loci today:
* [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Meat_industry&diff=prev&oldid=247436]: I think the revert was appropriate - although the original edit wasn't malicious, the section title that you removed was useful for readability, and the section seems to be entirely about wild animals. Perhaps nesting this section under "Breeding" would have been better. The comment about mods also wasn't really necessary - you can mod pretty much anything in DF, and listing all the possibilities everywhere would just clutter things up.
* [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Equipment&diff=prev&oldid=247438]: the second "each" is technically necessary, since each marksdwarf ''and'' each hunter needs a quiver. Granted, I think it's clear what the sentence means without it, but it shouldn't have been removed. Also, "flimflammery" in the edit summary is not helpful - in general, your edit summaries could stand to be shorter and clearer about what you're actually changing, which might help avoid some annoyances when others look over them.
* [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Coffin&diff=247437&oldid=247435] - I think both the previous version and yours were confusing, so I tried to reword it myself. (Basically, you're right that dwarves can't view bodies that fell into magma, but they ''can'' view bodies that are in stockpiles, so saying that viewing bodies only applied to bodies left on the ground wasn't right.) A [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Coffin&diff=236737&oldid=236421 very similar edit] that you made had also been reverted, though. I'm suspecting that you just forgot about that, since it was so long ago, but in general, reintroducing changes that have already been reverted could be considered edit warring, which is not something I want to deal with.
* [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Armor&diff=prev&oldid=247439]: the core disagreement seems to be around singular "they" (mentioned in another section on your talk page). In my book, this is a personal preference. Since your changes have led to some disagreements, I'm going to ask you to avoid changing any existing content related to singular "they" (this applies to things that use it and things that don't). This applies to other users too. I think this is the simplest way to avoid behavior that could be considered edit warring.
—[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 02:17, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

And Silverwing235 makes answer:

1: ''"Perhaps nesting this section under "Breeding" would have been better."'' Something along those lines was what I was trying to do, and thought I had done, before 'Loci, Vandalfinder Mod' came along with their reverts (Not that I want anyone to take on that role with regards to me in particular, it's rather annoying - please do assume apologies when necessary).

2: ''"Also, "flimflammery" in the edit summary is not helpful"'' IOW, refrain from scribbling in the margins, or mental ''ngathsesh'', as the dwarves would have it, yeah, got it. One can only try, anyway.

3 & 4: Not much to say here, other than: thanks for the assist and I '''wholeheartedly agree''' with you about the personal preference thing? [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 11:54, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

== Singular they ==

Regarding [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Need&curid=35157&diff=239015&oldid=239014 this edit]:

General use of "they" as an ungendered singular pronoun is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they#Acceptability_and_prescriptive_guidance controversial]. If you feel compelled to remove the gendered pronoun, common advice is to reword the sentence to avoid the appearance of pronoun disagreement. In this case:

: The better focused a dwarf is, the swifter she finishes all her tasks.

could be rewritten as:

: The better focused your dwarves are, the swifter they finish their tasks.

: A focused dwarf finishes tasks more swiftly.

It is generally easy to alter the wording, and always better than swapping one acceptable-yet-problematic form for a different acceptable-yet-problematic form that you happen to prefer.--[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 00:51, 14 January 2019 (UTC)

== Just in case people are wondering why.... ==

...such things as talk pages with topic 'Verification page/verification' and 'ignore this' are popping up, the answer should be obvious if it wasn't already - preparation. That, and that my particular 'style' leads me to not be a fan of unnecessary redlinks - something like Occam's Razor, really. :D --[[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 10:57, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

== Grammar ==

Regarding [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=v0.31:Temple&curid=13741&diff=239647&oldid=236295 this edit]:

That's not a "sentence fragment"; it's an [[wikipedia:appositive|appositive]], a restatement of a noun for clarification.

Regarding [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Siege&diff=prev&oldid=239648 this edit]:

Adverbs are comma-offset when they apply to the sentence as a whole, not the active verb. Since "usually" is plausibly modifying "are", the added comma is incorrect.

Incidentally, these are good examples why inserting every possible comma is problematic. Commas can change the meaning of a sentence, and that possibility makes it more difficult to parse comma-saturated sentences.--[[User:Loci|Loci]] ([[User talk:Loci|talk]]) 22:40, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

== Egg production editing shenanigans ==

I have a deep feeling that guy is right, about the kobolds at least. I shouldn't have removed that much stuff from the original table anyway. Yes, I plan on reverting that, this time also adding giant animals & animal people, max age column, and sorting out the rest in a coherent way, just give me some time. The original edit took me nearly 2 hours. [[User:DarklingArcher|DarklingArcher]] ([[User talk:DarklingArcher|talk]]) 14:01, 26 March 2019 (UTC)

== Let's not stress about [[DF2014:Stress]] ==

Regarding [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Stress&curid=33889&diff=240383&oldid=240376 this edit]

* ''talking with the spouse''
:* In my opinion, "the" means here that the person in question is talking with his/her spouse (not just with any spouse), so it may be justified.

* ''caught in a freakish weather''
:* While I admit this is wrong ("weather" is uncountable), I would keep it the original way as it is consistent with [[Dwarf Fortress Wiki:Community Portal|Rule G]] and doesn't seem ''that'' jarring to me.

* ''grim satisfaction at somebody's death''
:* This appears when you kill people in adventurer mode
:* So it's not about ''seeing'' somebody's death, but causing it yourself

* And the two typos you found were actually mine, feel free to correct these if you find more. I haven't seen Toady make typos ''yet''. --[[User:DarklingArcher|DarklingArcher]] ([[User talk:DarklingArcher|talk]]) 15:00, 31 March 2019 (UTC)

== *thumbsup*==
[http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Hair&curid=31316&diff=241238&oldid=241227 This] just so happens to be kind of the direction I was going anyway. Thanks. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 19:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for removing things where people confused entities with creatures. ive been seeing people on the forum confusing the two lately and like it when teh wiki sticks to what Tarn actually calls things [[Special:Contributions/35.191.3.215|35.191.3.215]]

== public/private articles ==
So, you've enjoyed a continuity around here that I lost, hoping you could give me your spin on what is "policy" in this regard. Came across the article [[Cacame Awemedinade]], and it strikes me as pure vanity, something that belongs under a Username/<article> rather than in the public space. Yes, there is a long forum thread behind it, but that, alone, doesn't seem apt justification - or is it? Or has this one just been grandfathered in, but similar posts are discouraged? Either way. [[User:Albedo|Albedo]] ([[User talk:Albedo|talk]]) 13:59, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
:My impression is that it's notable enough (or was at the time it was written), similar to [[Boatmurdered]]. I would personally be fine with keeping it, but would discourage creating many similar pages, particularly for newer and less historically-relevant content. (This discussion might also be more suitable for the article's talk page.) —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:49, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

Well, since it was started here, we may as well finish it - or attempt to do so, at least. I concur with Lethosor's view on this. I also concur on the notion of moving any further similar matters to appropriate talk pages - this being the first time I've had to deal with something outside my pay grade like this (came on around 43.05 and quickly restricted myself to copy editing and "janitorial" work (spelling, grammar, etc)). [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 14:05, 22 June 2020 (UTC)
* Works for me, tho' BoatMurdered is, at least for me, on a whole diff level. I placed the discussion here (rather than there) b/c it was more a question re "general policy" and editorial SOP, rather than one applicable solely to that one article. [[User:Albedo|Albedo]] ([[User talk:Albedo|talk]]) 07:09, 23 June 2020 (UTC)

== Official complaints in AiV - oh dear. ==

(https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Dwarf_Fortress_Wiki:Administrative_intervention_against_vandalism&curid=19125&diff=256647&oldid=255758)...this is the first time, I must say, that my edits always being marked as minor had specifically been called out (be it known, anyone else with that issue can either be referred here, or check their own user profile settings for the relevant option - when I started here from my similar-named Bay12 account, I didn't intend to continually make public, non-hideable announcements of ''spelling and grammar corrections'' or the like.) There has, however, very recently been quite a bit of... overreach, I suppose, in that context. Continually chasing after 'ghost' run-on sentences despite somewhat overly subtly-worded orders to desist, was almost certainly particularly unwise, for which I apologise, and shall henceforth strive to not repeat (not that I'm sure that's what the complainant wants, anyway - AIUI, I'm being painted as some kind of menace to the wiki, quite needlessly IMHO 'the 'style be dammed' comment in one of my edits was actually me getting pretty annoyed with the revert-flavoured individual, as people will do with these things. Irregardless of fault, Lethosor, my sincere apologies for that... edit mini-war, I think?) [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 22:32, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

:I see you've beaten me to starting a discussion on this. In this particular case, I do think you identified a run-on that could be improved in [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Justice&diff=256644&oldid=256643], but I think your fixes might have changed the meaning of the sentence. I'm still not sure about this particular case myself, honestly. This was close enough to an "edit war" to make me concerned, so I would suggest that you either attempt to find an alternative way of rewording sentences when this happens (as opposed to redoing simple edits that have been reverted) or taking the discussion to the talk page. For example, [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Justice&diff=256648&oldid=256645] clears up the original confusion I had about where to split the sentence in this case. Also, blank edit summaries or summaries like "fix scuff-up" or "scrub nonsense" aren't necessarily clear to other editors without more context. Something like "fixed run-on" or "clarified that the plot involves theft, not the agent" would give editors a better idea of what you were trying to fix, and hopefully make it easier to identify a better compromise if they don't think your edit was correct. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 03:08, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

[emptyspace] [/emptyspace]

....(There was an overly-sharp point made here by another user (honestly enough to be more than usually emotionally distressing - *shrug* part of Silverwing235's experience of high-functioning autism circa pandemic, I suppose.) about phrasing someone as a saboteur and incivility of the context, all of which, contextual shortcoming included, has since been analysed, noted, and - hindsight always being 20/20 - been adjusted for.) (Note to self, must take more care on wiki userpages.) In regards to reasons for certain portions of my user page having been deleted - I simply did not wish to deal with whatever matter or matters was/were the topic of discussion at the time IIRC, and unfortunately lost the way back, as inevitably happens with these things. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 21:27, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

== DFW vandalism definition VS dictionary definition, if different ==
...Just to be certain, Lethosor, the context in which 'vandalism' is usually used on this wiki versus in the dictionary...do mostly agree w/each other, right? (thought I'd take a leaf from this wiki's admin book, try and contain the winding-down of my negative press, biased as it appears to be, to somewhere more appropriate than AiV.) I mean, surely edit-wars such as the one I was recently part of, ''don't'' constitute vandalism, per se? [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ([[User talk:Silverwing235|talk]]) 21:58, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

:I would consider "Vandalism" a subset of "Disruptive editing", but the page is named "AIV" because most incidents of disruptive editing on this wiki ''have'' also been vandalism (I'm not intending to refer to your edits in this case). I would prefer to keep discussion in one place as much as possible, but I could move the AIV discussion to a separate "DF:" page, I suppose. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 01:43, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

== Bourgeoisie ==

Please refrain from making edits in [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Town&diff=prev&oldid=256750 this vein] (summary: “rewrite bias-esque stuff (bourgeoisie was 200-300y ahead of (non-magical) 1400s tech level, IIRC)”). I will elaborate.

# I don't know what you mean by “bias-esque,” but if the use of the word “bourgeoisie” here might serve to express some particular bias that bears discussion, please explain. Personally, I don't see it; absent an explanation, I cannot make sense of your statement.
# As for your historical note, first: it's wrong; please see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeoisie#Origins_and_rise Bourgeoisie - Origins and rise]. Second, the correct usage of a word is generally determined by its contemporary sense; the historical origin of a term doesn't generally circumscribe its use except in special contexts where historical senses might conflict with current ones. In the case of “bourgeoisie,” since the article's context is neither the French Revolution nor Marxian sociopolitical/economic theories, there is no potential for such a conflict. (Even if there ''were'', most senses of “bourgeoisie” and “bourgeois” are so closely related that it would make little difference. Also, note that the article is about a computer game in a fantasy setting with specific fictional elements borrowed from the real world ''without'' regard for historical relationships between them.)
# A side note to the previous point: as feudal structures in Europe faced challenges in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades High] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_the_Late_Middle_Ages Late] Middle Ages, a segment of society [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_History_of_Europe_(1000_AD_%E2%80%94_Present)#Crafts_and_urban_growth variously] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_commune#Origins coalesced] which both [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization required] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_privileges impelled] the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_General_(France)#Origin transformation] of those structures. Thus, in 1789, when the Assembly [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_feudalism_in_France declared the abolition of the feudal system] in France, it expressed the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_General_of_1789#Rebellion_of_the_Parlements disposition] of an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_of_the_realm#Third_Estate extant class] toward an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancien_R%C3%A9gime established order].
# A further side note: '''etymologically''', the word “bourgeoisie” is a late-feudal way of saying “[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/borgeis#Old_French town-dweller].” In that light, the choice of ''bourgeoisie'' seems not only correct, but ''richly descriptive and illuminating''. Whoever chose to write that sentence in the first place might even have been aware of that fact. (All of this is incidental to the point, however.)

It would be helpful if this kind of edit could be avoided, in general. To that end, notice that your summary ended with "IIRC" (regarding hypothetical information as part of your justification). But clearly, a little self-checking would have revealed to you that you ''didn't'' recall correctly. After all, why guess, especially when there is nothing actually ''wrong'' with the sentence you propose to revise? A significant proportion of your edits seem to fall into this category. Please consider exercising restraint when you feel an urge to make elective edits, especially when they would ''remove'' another author's work without resulting in something ''better''. And you should categorically '''not''' make such edits without being sure they are, in fact, correct, as you did in this case.
'''—'''[[User:Sriefmadsakzro|'''οɼѕаk''']] 02:25, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

== BODY_SIZE help ==

Hi, I seen you play with some advanced features, any chance you know what this translates to?
[BODY_SIZE:0:0:1000]
[BODY_SIZE:1:168:5000]
[BODY_SIZE:12:0:20000]
--[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 14:59, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

== Biome layout ==

Personally, I like the up/down orientation I find it easier to read than the alternatives and overall saves space. But if it bothers you here is a [https://ibb.co/fpv8MVG quick mockup of the alternatives]: #1-current up/down, #2-roatation, #3-big black blobs, #4-something else?, #5-revert to previous. What do you prefer? --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 14:05, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

Pretty much # 3 - I can barely read that header text otherwise; and I strongly suspect anyone else who contacted you about it would've had much the same issue. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] ) 14:30, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

: I wonder if this has anything todo with chosen font ( I didn't pick it) maybe something more legible/familiar with higher weight would have been better. Regardless, this is good enough for me, I changed it to #3. Let me know if there are any other issues or just be bold about it ;) --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 14:47, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

== Tokens ==

Hi silver. I am not sure about [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=DF2014:Token&curid=8032&diff=261321&oldid=260463 this] recent addition. On most other articles I would love some editing condensing long list into more human form, however, [[Token]] is more of a technical documentation, listing all the different types of tokens and their usage, and despite the similar names [Item token] and [Item definition token] they seem to be different beasts with each deserving an entry. Although full disclosure I have passing familiarity with modding from what I see here on the wiki. --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 17:39, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

Yes, I admit that one in particular was something of an alternative-formatting editing experiment/gaffe on my part, anyway - its been reverted. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] 17:51, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

: Thanks. Also experiments are good, and the Token and modding pages as whole deserve some attention. Btw if you see one of my experiments miss the mark feel free to just fix/revert it. --[[User:Jan|Jan]] ([[User talk:Jan|talk]]) 18:04, 28 January 2022 (UTC)

== Rule G and rule links in general ==

I initially wasn't able to figure out what you meant by "rule G", and I didn't expect the community portal to be the rules page. It would've helped me in that case to link [[DF:CP]], and I'd bet it'd also be helpful for other people in the future. I'd been wondering where the rules page was for a while. [[User:Desistance|Desistance]] ([[User talk:Desistance|talk]]) 15:47, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
:As an aside, there are also shortcuts like [[DF:Rule G]] for this purpose. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 22:40, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

== Edit comment inquiry ==

Hi, pretty sure this is a stupid quesiton, but what does LGTM stand for? Pretty sure I should know this, but can't seem to find any old examples. The edit of [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Jump&curid=33187&action=history Jump], has left me a bit unsure, from context. —[[User:Alpacalypse|Alpacalypse]] ([[User talk:Alpacalypse|talk]]) 16:49, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

Well, yeah, you ''might'' have asked Lethosor, Zippy, Putnam, or literally anyone else, but...it '''L'''ooks '''G'''ood '''T'''o '''M'''e. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] 23:24, 16 March 2023 (UTC) :D

== Unhelpful edit summaries ==

I don't like it when someone makes questionable edits with no explanation or discernible purpose and then call my edits sloppy. Since the beginning you've had a habit of not explaining your edits and instead occasionally leave mocking or insulting remarks toward others within nonsensical comments. Your behavior of policing edits extends to everyone, so this is not an isolated issue between us. You're clearly extremely passionate about the wiki, which is great. I used to be passionate too, but it's become difficult to contribute when there's someone constantly breathing down my neck about my grammar or writing style even when I haven't had a chance to make my revisions yet, which you know I do. It is overbearing and unhelpful behavior. You have ran into trouble with admins multiple times for your behavior, so I have strong reasons to believe that I'm not the one to blame here. I'd also argue that your own corrections more than often tend to exacerbate or even create more mistakes than the original, which adds to my frustration during the times when I have to undo your (good-faith?) errors.

In other words: I think people (including myself) have a difficult time figuring out whether or not your edits are done in good faith or vandalism when you provide no context other than playful banter. It doesn't help that your grammar/misc. corrections are sometimes questionable in quality. Flatly insulting, ridiculing, or attacking other people's work is just not acceptable. My advice to you is to [[wikipedia:WP:AGF|assume good faith]]; don't let your initial presumption be, "What has this editor messed up and how can I fix it?", instead be "What has this editor done and how can I improve it?" You can refute thinking like the former way, but this is the belief that I've built about you over the years from previous interactions and observations. I will personally try to continue assuming good faith towards you, but this had to be addressed.

I'm not sure if my words will sway you, since admins had reprimanded you on similar talking points and you haven't changed. If you keep this up, I'll have to stop contributing for good because I can't keep it up. I would at least like a response that acknowledges this message. [[User:Doorkeeper|Doorkeeper]] 19:53, 20 July 2023 (UTC)

== Categories ==

What was the reason for adding several categories to themselves? e.g. [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Category:Tooth&curid=49393&diff=295369&oldid=293996], [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Category:Religion&curid=49363&diff=295374&oldid=293219], [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Category:Spring_plants&curid=49388&diff=295375&oldid=293537]. —[[User:Lethosor|Lethosor]] ([[User talk:Lethosor|talk]]) 03:52, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

One of the more straightforward methods of Rule Q-ing a bunch of entries, mostly self-created, from [[Special:UncategorizedCategories]], that I unfortunately tunnel-visioned on, which also happens in my more general editing here? At least, that was what I thought ATT. [[User:Silverwing235|Silverwing235]] 08:06, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

== Emerald ==

I'm sorry for starting an edit war, but the adventure mode claim [http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Emerald&oldid=257168 as it was originally added] was clearly under "D for Dwarf" section, which is quite explicitly meant for "jokes and references" and not actually relevant information, so it was most likely [https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Emerald about emeralds in Minecraft]. Now, it just so happens that cut valuable gems are ''also'' good for trading in DF, so that's a good point to add to the main article, but I ask you not to remove the original editor's contribution in the process, even it was just a joke. [[Special:Contributions/89.20.133.78|89.20.133.78]] 04:30, 24 December 2023 (UTC)

== Recent edits in my namespace ==
I don't mind you editing in my personal namespace. But I'm not sure if you are aware that the very article you keep coming back too is in early alpha version? It might make more sense to work over it once I moved it to main? [[User:Urist2000|Urist2000]] ([[User talk:Urist2000|talk]]) 19:49, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

== [[23a:Elf]] in adventure mode ==

Turns out there is a page on [[23a:Adventurer mode]] and it mentions elves being playable - the redlink [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=23a%3AElf&type=revision&diff=319955&oldid=319949 there] was due to a typo. Please double check everything next time before deleting content. [[User:DarklingArcher|DarklingArcher]] ([[User talk:DarklingArcher|talk]]) 15:13, 13 September 2026 (UTC)
:Yeah, there was always an adventure mode:
: "did people know about adventure mode before the release?"
: "Nah, only the playtesters knew. I thought it would be fun to keep a secret." Toady One 2006-08-14 (one week after the first release version){{cite forum|2525/41761}} [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 20:37, 13 September 2026 (UTC)

Talk:Attribute

2026-09-11T05:37:43Z

Ziusudra: /* Skills by Soul Attributes */

How attributes are actually calculated:
* Take the 7 XXX_ATT_RANGE values from the raws as A:B:C:D:E:F:G
* Pick a random number N between 0 and 11999, inclusive
** For N in 0-1999, calculate ``X = (1999 - N) * A`` and ``Y = (N - 0) * B``
** For N in 2000-3999, calculate ``X = (3999 - N) * B`` and ``Y = (N - 2000) * C``
** For N in 4000-5999, calculate ``X = (5999 - N) * C`` and ``Y = (N - 4000) * D``
** For N in 6000-7999, calculate ``X = (7999 - N) * D`` and ``Y = (N - 6000) * E``
** For N in 8000-9999, calculate ``X = (9999 - N) * E`` and ``Y = (N - 8000) * F``
** For N in 10000-11999, calculate ``X = (11999 - N) * F`` and ``Y = (N - 10000) * G``
* The attribute value itself is initialized to ``(X + Y) / 1999``
* The attribute's '''maximum''' value is set to either ``(value * XXX_ATT_CAP_PERC) / 100`` or ``value + D``, whichever is higher
Exactly how this should be translated into a readable form for the article, I'm not sure, but hopefully ''somebody'' will be able to manage. --[[User:Quietust|Quietust]] ([[User talk:Quietust|talk]]) 20:22, 30 May 2025 (UTC)

:What's the distribution of N? I've understood the attribute range system as being a bunch of linear buckets that approximate a normal distribution. This sounds like it might actually be distributed normally? [[User:DPhKraken|DPhKraken]] ([[User talk:DPhKraken|talk]]) 00:17, 31 May 2025 (UTC)
::N is calculated as ``trandom(12000)``, so every result should have (more or less) equal probability. Basically, each of the 6 buckets has equal probability (i.e. a 1/6 chance for each one), and the values you get ''within'' those buckets are also equal probability (i.e. within the F-G bucket, you have an approximately equal chance of rolling the lowest value, the highest value, or any value in between). I ran a script to calculate all of the probabilities, and the very first entry in each bucket ended up having a slightly higher change (e.g. 11/12000 instead of 10/12000) and the very last entry had a slightly lower chance (e.g. 9/12000 instead of 10/12000), but that's fairly insignificant overall. --[[User:Quietust|Quietust]] ([[User talk:Quietust|talk]]) 00:30, 31 May 2025 (UTC)

== Skills by Soul Attributes ==

Actually according to the skills associated by attributes list the skills "Musician", "Singer" and the skills associated to the different instrument types (Keyboardist etc.) do train the soul attribute "Musicality". Still the skills are not listed in the list/table "Skills by Soul Attribute" and the clicking the edit button for that section will not give the content of that list/table (only the heading and SkillsBySoulAttributes between double curly-brackets), so that I am unable to change that.[[Special:Contributions/91.49.242.21|91.49.242.21]] 03:49, 11 September 2026 (UTC)
:The double curly-brackets call a template, you can get to those by prepending them with "template:" [[Template:SkillsBySoulAttribute]], which also works in the search box. [[User:Ziusudra|Ziusudra]] ([[User talk:Ziusudra|talk]]) 05:37, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

Physical attributes

2026-09-11T02:24:39Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT[[cv:Attribute#Body_attributes]]

Mental attributes

2026-09-11T02:23:59Z

Ziusudra: added section, current version, removed double redirect

#REDIRECT[[cv:Attribute#Soul_attributes]]

Endurance

2026-09-11T02:21:29Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Endurance]]

Disease resistance

2026-09-11T02:21:02Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Disease_resistance]]

Willpower

2026-09-11T02:20:34Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Willpower]]

Empathy

2026-09-11T02:20:04Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Empathy]]

Kinesthetic sense

2026-09-11T02:19:32Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Kinesthetic_sense]]

Spatial sense

2026-09-11T02:19:01Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Spatial_sense]]

Patience

2026-09-11T02:18:35Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Patience]]

Focus

2026-09-11T02:17:58Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Focus]]

Agile

2026-09-11T02:17:22Z

Ziusudra: added section, current version

#redirect [[cv:Attribute#Agility]]

Intuition

2026-09-11T02:16:21Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Intuition]]

Toughness

2026-09-11T02:15:23Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Toughness]]

Recuperation

2026-09-11T02:14:12Z

Ziusudra: added section

#REDIRECT [[cv:Attribute#Recuperation]]

Stockpile

2026-09-07T07:28:06Z

Ziusudra: /* Armor */ updated for 53.16, explained unusable, lack of wear filter

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
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{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and left click to start drawing a rectangle with the mouse, left click again to finish the rectangle. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has tiles that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile in the play area (without the stockpile painting menu open) or on the "Stockpiles" tab in the locations {{Menu icon|P}}. The suite of buttons right of the pre-sets can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, delete the stockpile, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does).

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to single tile paint mode or eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armor of all types, including clothes, is stored here. Specific types are grouped by body part (and shields), and to allow any of those types, it must also allow some material, quality, color, whether usable/unusable (unusable being of a size that the primary fortress race cannot wear), and whether dyed or not. There is no filter for [[wear]] level. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]], are placed here before being used in trade or other uses. This type of stockpile can use [[bin|bins]] to consolidate items, over a hundred objects can fit into a bin.

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

Leopard

2026-09-06T02:58:58Z

Ziusudra: removed meander bug fixed in 52.05

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=leopard_sprites.png
|portrait=leopard_portrait.png
|contrib=no
|bone=10-11
|meat=11-13
|fat=11-13
|lung=2
|heart=1
|intestine=1
|liver=1
|tripe=1
|sweetbread=1
|spleen=1
|kidney=2
|brain=1
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|skin=hide
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{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Leopards''' are very rare [[Creature|animals]] found in [[tropical]] and [[desert]] [[biome]]s, where they spawn one at a time. Weighting a little less than a [[dwarf]], these predators can kill an unarmed civilian if provoked, but shouldn't pose a threat to a [[military]] protection by [[metal]] [[armor]]. On top of low frequency rate, no more than 3 leopards will exist in a single surrounding before they're considered locally [[extinct]]. A newborn leopard is called a ''cub''.

Leopards can be captured in [[cage]] [[trap]]s and [[Animal trainer|trained]] into exotic [[pet]]s, and they're also sometimes brought along with [[Elf|elven]] [[caravan]]s. They can receive additional war or hunting training as well, further increasing their potential. Products made from leopard parts, should you choose to [[butcher]] them, are [[item value|worth]] thrice more than those made from parts of common animals. Leopards take 3 years to reach adulthood, though they're fully grown by the age of 2.

Leopards have a 10/1001 chance of having black hair, and a 1/1001 of having white hair, otherwise being spotted. Note that [[genetics]] apply to ones born in your fort, so a breeding program with a limited set of parents might not be able to give a non-spotted leopard, no matter the number of cubs. On the other hand, two non-spotted leopards will always give non-spotted offspring.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] leopards for their ''spotted coats''.

{{Translation
| dwarven = mingkil
| elvish = icemì
| goblin = utol
| human = upur
}}
[[File:Leopard africa.jpg|thumb|400px|center|Admired for their ''spotted coats''.]]

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

Lion

2026-09-06T02:57:50Z

Ziusudra: removed meander bug fixed in 52.05

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:04, 17 February 2023 (CST)}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=lion_sprites_anim.gif
|portrait=lion_portrait_anim.gif
|bone=11-17
|meat=13-14
|fat=13
|lung=2
|heart=1
|intestine=1
|liver=1
|tripe=1
|sweetbread=1
|spleen=1
|kidney=2
|brain=1
|skull=1
|tooth=2
|skin=hide
|contrib=no
|wiki=yes
}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

'''Lions''' are strong, carnivorous and very rare [[Creature|felines]] found in [[tropical]] areas, where they appear in prides of 1 to 3 individuals. At over thrice the size of the average [[dwarf]], wild lions are quite dangerous to unarmed civilians and can rip a dwarf apart in seconds, and as such, they should be engaged with an armored [[squad]] if necessary. A newborn lion is called a ''cub''.

Lions can be captured in [[cage]] [[trap]]s and [[Animal trainer|trained]] into exotic [[pet]]s, and they're also sometimes brought along with [[Elf|elven]] [[caravan]]s. They can receive additional war or hunting training as well, with their large size and maximum [[Gait|speed]] making them attractive for the purpose of [[fortress defense]]. Products made from lion parts are [[item value|worth]] thrice more than those made from parts of common animals. They take 3 years to reach adulthood, though are fully grown by the age of 2. Additionally, lions are exotic [[mount]]s and as such may appear during [[siege]]s, being used by surface-dwelling races.

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] lions for their ''roars''.

{{Translation
| dwarven = kurel
| elvish = alatha
| goblin = dostom
| human = san
}}
[[Image:Lion waiting in Namibia.jpg|thumb|center|400px|Admired for its ''roars''.]]

{{D for Dwarf}}


A lion with the [CAN_LEARN] and [SPEAKS] tags is known to live in a magical land hidden within a [[cabinet|wardrobe]] along with a [[satyr]]. He often leads his [[military|armies]] in [[war|wars]] against an [[evil]] [[necromancer|witch]].

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}
{{Category|Animals}}

Strange mood

2026-09-04T01:46:51Z

Ziusudra: /* Bugs */ added bug 12240

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
{{buggy|bugsection=Bugs}}
{{minorspoiler}}
[[File:strange_mood_prev.png|thumb|350px|right|A dwarf losing ownership of his mind. ''Artwork by Zippy'']]
Periodically, individual [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are struck with an idea for a [[legendary artifact]] and enter a '''strange mood'''. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing, and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else – they will not stop to eat, drink, or sleep; pretty much the ''only'' thing that can pause a "moody" dwarf is giving birth, after which they will immediately get back to making the artifact. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go [[#Failure|insane]] and die (one way or another) soon afterward.

Any creature with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS}} token is able to enter strange moods in [[Legends|history]] and [[fortress mode]], though, by default, this ability is unique to dwarves.

==Overview==
[[File:mood_announce_v50_x2.png|right]]Once your fortress has at least 20 dwarves, occasionally one of them will be struck by a "strange mood". These largely random events will be seen as an [[announcement]], but will not pause the game.

A dwarf struck by a strange mood will seek an appropriate workshop, immediately claim it for the duration of the mood, attempt to collect the materials to create their [[artifact]] of choice, and, once those have been collected, proceed to do so. Depending on the exact mood (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|types of moods]], below), both the workshop and the artifact are based on the highest "moodable skill" of that dwarf (see "[[Strange mood#Skills and Workshops|Skills and Workshops]]", below).

At the end of this process, if successful, the dwarf will '''usually''' gain a large amount of [[experience]] in one skill, and then return to life as normal, but usually now with much greater skills. The "possessed" mood is the exception to this rule, as it does not grant any experience upon completion.

A dwarf cannot be struck by more than one mood in their lifetime.

=== In fortress mode ===
[[File:workshop_claimed_sample.png|thumb|300px|right|Information from a forcefully claimed workshop.]]
# The game will announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The [[#Types of moods|types of moods]] are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see [[Status icon|status icons]]).
# For the duration of the mood, the dwarf will claim a workshop related to the skill that the mood affects (not all skills are eligible), kick out any dwarf who was using it (aborting the current [[job]]), and render it otherwise unusable until the mood has ended. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop either does not exist or is inaccessible (e.g. due to being outside of the dwarf's assigned burrows, or simply being behind a locked door). (See [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.) A moody dwarf will ''not'' be able to build a needed workshop; another dwarf with the appropriate [[labor]] designation must do so for them, if one is necessary. Furnaces are also counted as a workshop.
# After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact (while respecting burrow restrictions, if assigned to an active burrow). If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the [[#Demands|demands]] section to determine what may be required. Important Note: They will only collect these materials in the order that they require them. In other words, you have to determine where they are on the list of required materials and then provide the next one before they will continue collecting other materials.
# Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion, the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain several levels in that skill (unless the mood type is [[#Possessed|possessed]]). See the [[#Skills and workshops|skills and workshops]] for information on which skills can be gained, or the [[#Artifacts created|artifacts created]] section for more details on the artifacts themselves.
# While you have some control over the skill the dwarf uses, and so some (but less) control over the type of artifact created, and (with some effort) the materials used, you have no control over which dwarf is struck by a mood, nor the type of mood that strikes them, nor the specific type of artifact created.
# The conditions necessary for a strange mood to occur have been fully understood due to a disassembly of the game; see below for the exact mechanics.

===In world generation===
Long before your seven dwarves [[embark]] on their adventure, non-player dwarves may also be struck by strange moods during world generation, albeit these are treated more abstractly. These strange moods may also fail, not producing an artifact and leaving the dwarf insane. When successful, these events are a primary source of non-player artifacts that are scattered across the outside world when the world generation ends. They have the same properties and quality as any artifact your fortress can produce, and may be stolen or pillaged just like any other non-player artifact (see [[Mission]]).

== Skills and workshops ==
If struck by a Fey, Secretive or Possessed mood, the workshop and artifact will be based on the highest "moodable skill" that a dwarf possesses. Not all skills are moodable. Fell and Macabre moods will either claim a butcher's shop and use Bonecarving, or a tanner's shop and use Tanning (see [[Strange mood#Types of moods|Types of moods]], below).

{| class="wikitable sortable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;float:right;margin:0 0 20px 30px;vertical-align:top;"
|-
! Highest skill
! Workshop required
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Armorsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bone carver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Bowyer]]
| [[Bowyer's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Carpenter]]
| [[Carpenter's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Clothier]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Engraver]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem cutter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Gem setter]]
| [[Jeweler's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Glassmaker]]
| [[Glass furnace]] (or [[Magma glass furnace]])
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Leatherworker]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Mason]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Mechanic]]
| [[Mechanic's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Metal crafter]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Blacksmith|Metalsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Miner]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stone carver]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Stone crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Stonecutter]]
| [[Stoneworker's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Tanner]]
| [[Leather works]]
|- style="background-color:palegreen"
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| [[Metalsmith's forge]] (or [[Magma forge]])
|- style="background-color:wheat"
| [[Weaver]]
| [[Clothier's shop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| [[Wood crafter]]
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|- style="background-color:lightgray"
| <none>
| [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
|}

A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable [[skill]]. If not [[Strange mood#Possessed|possessed]], completion of the artifact grants 20,000 [[experience]] in that skill. This will transform a previously unskilled dwarf to one of Legendary status. The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements – there are only 20 skills that determine the workshop and that can be affected by a mood (sometimes referred to as '''moodable''' skills.) If a dwarf does not possess at least one of the moodable skills listed to the right, they will take over a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]] and gain one of [[bone carver]], [[stone crafter]], or [[wood crafter]] skills, producing an artifact [[craft]].

When selecting the desired mood skill, only the level itself is checked, and if the highest level found is shared by multiple skills, then one will be selected randomly.

This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with the specific skill you want: since ''non''-moodable skills are ignored, whenever possible make sure that each dwarf's highest ''moodable'' skill is one of those you want. Have all your peasants, [[farmer]]s, non-professional military and other dwarves without any moodable skills do one job each in the skill(s) you most want; if a "[[experience|dabbling]]" skill is the highest moodable skill they have, that is the skill that will be used. [[Guildhall]]s related to moodable skills may both help and hinder, as demonstrations will increase skill levels without any jobs being done.

[[Scholar]]s may discuss mechanics as part of their work and gain a small amount of experience in it. This is the only skill that scholars discuss that is moodable.

=== "Best" skills ===
Some skills produce generally useful and valuable items, and others produce only trinkets or jewelry. While what is considered "best" is very subjective, the moodable skills can be broken down into tiers of relative utility, based on the potential artifacts created and the needs and goals of a fortress.

Note that, in addition to an artifact, the mood will raise the dwarf to Legendary in the chosen skill (except for "possessed" moods); often, this high skill level is (from a practical standpoint) far more valuable than the artifact produced, so you might consider trying to push poorly-trained dwarves towards moodable skills you have a need for, hoping they are struck by a mood.

* [[Weaponsmith]] – One of the two "best" skills for strange moods. While a moody dwarf might create a questionable lead spear or lightweight aluminum mace, with a little manipulation you can at least make sure the item is of a [[weapons-grade]] material, although (without a specific [[preference]]) they could still produce a non-dwarf weapon. And, typically, just one Legendary weaponsmith can produce all the masterwork weapons a fortress needs.
* [[Armorsmith]] – The other "top" skill, having a decent chance to create something with exceptional value for your military (or at least one member of it). However, while a single legendary weaponsmith can quickly outfit a squad, armor requires 5-8* items for each military dwarf, requiring multiple armorsmiths to finish the job in any reasonable time. Similar to weapons, this skill requires manipulating available material to avoid getting [[Armor#Material|soft]], useless copper, gold or lead [[armor]] pieces. Additionally, artifact boots and gauntlets are created individually, rather than as normal in pairs. Good luck.
:: ''(* At end-game, a "full" suit of armor consists of a helm (1), chain shirt ''plus'' breastplate (2,3), gauntlets (4), chain leggings ''plus'' greaves (5,6), high boots (7), and (for melee) a metal shield (for both durability and extra bashing damage) (8). And if you don't have enough steel early on, then you get to to it more than once to replace the bronze/iron suits you made earlier.)''
* [[Mechanic]] - A close top contender for both the artifact mechanism created and for the legendary skill's reliability and usefulness – a mechanism's [[quality]] directly impacts a trap's chance to hit its target, and an artifact lever or trap will make a room's value skyrocket (even if unlinked!). Note that, despite popular belief, traps made with artifact mechanisms still have a 50% chance to jam when they directly kill a creature ([https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/wj2ego/i_thought_traps_made_with_artifact_mechanisms/]).
* [[Furniture]]-making skills (i.e. [[Mason]], [[Miner]], [[Carpenter]], [[Blacksmith]], [[Glassmaker]]) – Artifact furniture is unbreakable by building destroyers and provides otherwise-impossible fortress defense options. For example, a dwarf with a [[preference]] for '''doors''', '''hatches''', or '''floodgates''' will always produce that item as their artifact, which can then be locked against [[building destroyer|many enemies]] that would otherwise break through. Similar to mechanisms, it can provide a huge boost to a room's value, and placing an artifact item where all can pass by to admire it will be good for general morale. Carpenters and Blacksmiths have a (low) chance to produce [[bucket]]s, which can be used in various work stations or a [[well]]. Glassmakers can produce [[trap component]]s, which might rate them higher on the list were it not for their chance to also produce <s>useless</s> pretty crafts - but don't forget about [[display furniture]]!
:* Note that Miners are treated the same as [[Mason]]s, both of whom will produce rock furniture (which is a remnant from when "Mason" was the professional name for a current [[Stone carver|Stone Carver]]). Also note that both [[Stonecutter]]s and [[Engraver]]s only produce (relatively useless) [[craft]]s while moody (see below).

The remaining skills are ''quite'' odds-against to produce something truly useful, although a (single?) legendary skill can still be a nice fit in most fortresses. Chances are they will produce items only useful to display or for one dwarf to wear, as there's only a small chance of creating a truly useful and valuable item.
* [[Bowyer]] – While moody Bowyers can create artifact wood/bone [[crossbow]]s of great accuracy, they also have an equal chance to produce an artifact [[blowgun]] or [[bow]], neither of which are native dwarf weapons, and neither of which have ammo that can be made by dwarves (without [[mod]]ding). Also, even artifact wooden crossbows make for poor melee weapons, should it come to your marksdwarf defending themself in that way, so the skill falls well below the metal equivalent weaponsmith.
* [[Metal crafter]], [[Gem cutter]], [[Gem setter]] – Metal Crafters can produce [[chain]]s, which can be used in the creation of a [[well]], or used to make a [[prison]] cell high value. Gem Cutters and Setters can produce furniture made solely of gems, which is otherwise impossible. However, each of these skills will most likely create a [[craft]] (Gem Cutters and Setters, notably, have a 50% chance to create a [[Gem#Large gems and crafts|perfect gem]] instead of anything else).
* Other "armormakers" (i.e. [[Leatherworker]], [[Tanner]], [[Bone carver]]) – Shields can be made by Leatherworkers or Tanners, and all listed skills can create artifact leather/bone armor pieces, which could be better-suited for Marksdwarves (who ''usually'' avoid close-combat) or, better yet, [[Hunter]]s. However, both usually create normal clothing, mentioned next. Also note that a legendary Tanner only works faster, as tanned hides have no [[quality]] attached to them.
* [[Clothier]], [[Weaver]] – While these dwarves ''might'' create an artifact [[rope]], which is useful for a [[well]] or [[prison]], they are far more likely to create clothing, which can only be worn by a single dwarf (and, without significant manipulation, a random one). [[Adamantine]] clothing, however, is extraordinarily useful (especially [[cloak]]s). Such garments provide meaningful protection and can be assigned to military, and (unlike normal Adamantine clothing) are rendered immune to [[wear]] due to their status as an artifact.
* Craft-producers (i.e. [[Engraver]], [[Stone crafter|Stone Crafter]], [[Stonecutter]], [[Wood crafter|Wood Crafter]]) – These skills lack any chance for significantly useful artifacts which the other craft-producing skills possess (specifically [[Metal crafter]], [[Glassmaker]], [[Bone carver]], [[Gem cutter]], and [[Gem setter]]), producing ''only'' [[craft]]s, surprisingly valuable trinkets in the form of amulets, totems, rings, figurines, or (at best?) crowns, which at least ''sound'' impressive. However, even these can be placed in a [[display furniture|display case]] to improve room value, so may (depending on your view) not be a complete loss.
** [[Peasant]]s, defined here as having no [[moodable]] skill, always produce from the crafts list. Therefore, it's always a good idea to have every newly-arrived "peasant" ''(looking at you, Urist McPotashMaker!)'' craft at least just one item from the moodable skill of your choice, to avoid such a tragic waste of dwarfcraft.

=== Matching moodable skills to dwarves ===
When you have a dwarf with no moodable skill (see [[moodable|above]]) who is randomly struck by a mood, they will produce only a [[craft]] item - a ring, a figurine, something of relatively low value (as far as artifacts go) and little utility (aside from possibly increasing room value). And they will become a Legendary Craftsdwarf, which itself is fairly useless (unless you have decided to [[trade]] only crafts - good luck with that). However, by ordering that peasant to complete just one task in a moodable skill, that now "[[Experience#Reported_Experience|dabbling]]" skill qualifies them as having ''that'' skill for the purposes of a mood. And, as discussed in the previous section, some skills are ''much'' better than others (and almost anything is better than "crafting").

But which skill to assign to a given dwarf? This could be a long and debatable discussion, but, basically, there are only a few considerations.

The first is time vs. enjoyment. You can skip the extra bother and micro-management, and simply assign [[peasant]]s with whatever moodable skills you feel you need, stacking the odds (and praying to the RNG gods) that one of them will be taken with a mood, and not that Legendary [[tanner]] that wandered in with the last [[migration]] wave. Nothing wrong with that, gets the job done at a basic level.

The others considerations involve taking the time to look at all your dwarves' [[preference]]s*, and matching skills with preferences that compliment them, both to boost that final product with normal production, and possibly to manipulate the artifact that a mood will produce. Sometimes the normal items produced are more important than the potential artifact, sometimes the reverse, and sometimes the legendary skill is what matters most to you - each fortress and player's game style are different, and should be!

: ''(* Fan-based utilities such as [[Dwarf therapist|Dwarf Therapist]] can be extremely helpful and time-saving for such in-depth analysis of your dwarves)''

For the latter, the artifact itself, it's largely a matter of looking for desired item preferences (e.g. a specific weapon, or piece of armor or furniture) rather than material preferences (e.g. a stone or metal). A moody dwarf will (almost?) always produce an artifact from their preference list, if appropriate to their highest moodable skill. So, choosing a Weaponsmith with a preference for [[battle axe]]s will produce a ''much'' better artifact than one with a preference for foreign [[blow gun]]s. And a Stone Carver with a preference for blow guns and [[table]]s will make the furniture and not the weapon (and one ''without'' the table preference will at least make a random piece of artifact furniture!) - and so on.

Additionally, for purposes of normal item production, it has been observed that a preference gives ''approximately'' the rough equivalent of about four (4) [[Experience#Reported_Experience|skill levels]] - more or less. So, for example, a no-skill peasant with a preference for maces will turn out any mace as if they were ''about'' a Level 4 weaponsmith. A peasant with a preference for iron will turn out ''any'' iron item similarly, as if they were a Level 4 weaponsmith, armorsmith, blacksmith, or metal crafter (as appropriate to the item produced). A peasant with a preference for both iron ''and'' maces will turn out any iron item ''or'' any mace as if they were level 4 in that skill, and will turn out iron maces as if they were about Level 8 - which means an almost guaranteed *iron mace* (or better!). ''Plus''... as they skill up, they keep producing at about +8 above their current level!

This careful matching has significance at three levels. First, for producing the one item for a "dabbling" skill level, that item has a good chance to be better than "no [[quality]]" - which is not necessarily by itself a game winner, but a nice thing nonetheless. And if it's the difference between arming a dwarf with a "battle axe" vs. a "+battle axe+", that could easily be the difference between a dwarf losing or winning their first combat - so, sure, and thank you!

Taken a step further, if you decide to have that dwarf pursue that skill and that preference, over a dozen or three items produced you will start to have your pick of the best, and those +items+ (and a few *items*!) will start to add up quickly, far faster than without that preference. Lastly, with a mood and the accompanying legendary skill, top quality ☼Masterful Items☼ will become expected rather than occasional, which is the goal, especially with armor, weapons, beds and certain other furniture, etc.

Thus, material preferences like steel, or a common stone, or even a locally grown [[textile]], can become very significant if matched to a lucky mood skill. As can an item preference such as a preferred weapon or armor piece. Artifact furniture cannot be removed by [[building destroyer]]s, giving artifact doors, hatches and floodgates special strategic value. The larger your collection of artifact items, the bigger their effect on the health and success of your fortress.

You can also change a current moodable skill to a preferable one with enough effort. Sometimes this is an easy decision - if a migrating dwarf with a preference for "steel + breastplates" arrives with Level 1 in [[Weaving]], then, ''maybe''... '''''yes!''''', powering through 19 armorsmithing tasks (possibly making steel breastplates?), to achieve the [[Experience#Reported Experience|experience for Level 2]], may be worth the effort.

It's also important to then NOT allow those dwarves to gain "too much" experience in another moodable skill. Make sure to turn OFF (and not turn ON) any such under [[labor]]s. Once [[guild]]s start to appear, be careful of ones that might teach moodable skills via [[demonstration]]s; consider using wide-spread [[burrow]]s to keep select dwarves out (or in, if those are skills you ''want'' them to learn!).

Of course, this has to be balanced against your fortress's current skills, the number of each current moodable skills among your dwarves, and so forth. It's not a tactic for everyone, but it can make a big difference in skills and artifacts if you're willing to invest the time.

== Types of moods ==
For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is [[Announcement|announced]]; the second message appears in the dwarf's [[profile]]. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent [[thought]]s they may have had.

=== Fey ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> is taken by a fey mood!|7:1}}
: ''Has the aspect of one fey!''

This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.

=== Secretive ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> withdraws from society...|7:0}}
: ''Peculiarly secretive...''

Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands if they cannot find what they need. Descriptions of all these [[#Demands|secretive requirements]] can be seen only by viewing the workshop that the moody dwarf has claimed, and then only while the dwarf is waiting inside it. More than one "picture" is likely; these will cycle through the entire list automatically if any one is not available. (Since materials are gathered ''in order'', it's quite possible that only one of a long list is needed to allow the moody dwarf to continue on their project. If the dwarf has gathered some of the materials (seen as "tasked" when looking at the workshop), then the next in the list is what they are looking for.)

=== Possessed ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> has been possessed!|5:1}}
: ''Possessed by unknown forces!''

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon the successful construction of an artifact. No controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods, it is purely luck-based. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on (which, under some circumstances, might end up being ''their own name'') once they have all the materials they need.

Possession is the only mood that does '''''not''''' result in a jump in [[experience]].

A possessed dwarf that "keeps muttering <name of the artifact>..." has already gathered everything they need.

=== Fell ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!|5:0}}
: ''Has a horrible fell look!''

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will try to take over a [[butcher's shop]] or a [[tanner's shop]]. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then approach and ''murder'' the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf [[leather]] or [[bone]]. The unfortunate target is defenseless against being killed on the spot – no ambush or fight is involved, just walking up to them, killing them, and dragging their corpse to the workshop, done deal. Once the artifact (a bone craft or leather garment/item) is completed, the fell dwarf will become a highly skilled [[bone carver]] or [[leatherworker]].

Only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves may enter a fell mood, so a universally content fortress need not worry about this grim prospect.

If no one is around to witness the murder, whichever dwarf Urist McEmo decides to slaughter will be reported as missing some time after their death. There will be no body to be found, so [[slab|steps]] must be taken to avoid a [[ghost]]. If the murder is witnessed (or if the dwarf in fell mood reports themself, somewhat idiotically), the moody dwarf will be subject to dwarven [[justice]] (as the glaring clue of the grisly artifact will apparently not be obvious enough to solve the crime).

Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.

It is fairly easy to lock a fell dwarf in their chosen workshop, [[draft]] a selected victim and [[station]] them outside that door, and then unlock the workshop again, thus avoiding a more random selection process. Of course, simply keeping the moody would-be murderer locked in there avoids the entire process, but then that dwarf will go [[insane]], which can be its own problem.

Amusingly, it seems fell dwarves can also murder [[ghost]]s. If they do, they will murder a living dwarf as well, since ghosts obviously don't yield a corpse to butcher.{{bug|4681}}

The fell mood "special ingredient" is not actually limited to dwarves, however. In truth, any intelligent creature can be subjected to the creative imagination of the terrible laughing dwarves. Legends speak of [[werebeast]] attacks being halted by timely appearances of fell dwarves. Indeed, there are even whispers of fell mood dwarves smuggling [[clowns]] from the [[circus]] into their forts to be used in their strange artifice. In cases where an unusual intelligent creature made from a material such as [[vomit]] happens to fall prey to the depredations of a fell dwarf, the resultant crafted object will be selected randomly from the list of craftable [[shell]] items, but will be made from the victim's primary material instead of shell.

=== Macabre ===
* {{Gametext|<dwarf> begins to stalk and brood...|0:1}}
: ''Brooding darkly...''

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, or vermin [[remains]]; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to make some, e.g. by butchering an animal and/or allowing a [[cat]] to go hunting, or let the moody dwarf go [[insane]]. Like fell moods, only highly [[stress]]ed dwarves can enter macabre moods.

==Caveats==
* Shells are perhaps the most difficult-to-obtain material for a strange mood, though there are several {{catlink|Shell|creatures}} that produce shells. Some of these, such as [[armadillo]]s and [[common snapping turtle]]s, are butcherable. Vermin from [[fishing]] are the easiest and most renewable source of shells. [[Pond turtle]]s are common in many embarks in [[murky pool]]s, but usually only appear in small numbers, and can go extinct easily. A stream or river almost guarantees a functionally inexhaustible supply of [[mussel]]s. [[Nautilus]]es can also serve as sources of shells when cleaned at a fishery. Nevertheless, shells are rare and hard to acquire. Currently, the only way of trading for shells is to hope that the [[elven]] caravan brings some tamed shell-producing large creature. Traded [[pond turtle]]s are ''processed'' fish (with the shells already removed). Tamed vermin with shells cannot be butchered for their shells, since the only way to get a vermin's shell is to [[Fish cleaning|clean]] it. Since all shelled non-vermin animals are [[exotic pet|exotic]], only elves will bring them. If you should be fortunate enough to acquire some breeding, shelled, butcherable animals, it's probably worth keeping a breeding pair around in case of future need. Only dwarves with a [[preference]] for shells will demand shells in a strange mood.
* All demands for cloth are for a specific generic type (plant, silk, or yarn). Clothiers and Weavers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available, otherwise the type will be the generic form of the dwarf's first cloth preference, or a randomly chosen variety if the dwarf has no preference (or if the cloth is for a decoration, not the primary material). Types of cloth your fortress has not produced are '''not''' excluded, so it's best to keep a few bolts of each type of cloth in reserve.
* Should the claimed workshop be a [[magma forge]] and lose power due to insufficient magma beneath it, the mood will fail immediately and the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]]. Should the forge be in danger of losing power, you should forbid it before it is claimed and wait until it is powered up reliably. Once magma forges are built, at least some dwarves will no longer be satisfied with a regular forge. Similarly, if a workshop claimed by a dwarf is deconstructed, destroyed or [[Creature_token#BUILDING_DESTROYER|toppled]] the mood will immediately fail and the dwarf will go insane.
* If one of a claimed workshop's building materials (marked with [[File:Icon permanent part.png]]) are selected and toggled to forbidden, this will also cause the mood to immediately fail and the dwarf to go insane.
* The mood's primary material will only be mentioned ''once'' in the dwarf's requests, even if the dwarf wants more than one unit of it. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75139.0]
* The item type of the artifact to be created is not decided until the instant the mood ''ends''. Saving (even after a dwarf has begun to gather materials) will allow you to reload and the result may be a different artifact (unless the moody dwarf's preferences force a particular item type). If you want to get an artifact platinum warhammer, make sure to have platinum nearby and/or block access to any other materials.
* You can restart the artifact creating process, even after the dwarf has gathered most of the components, by forbidding the claimed items (click to view the contents of the workshop, select the undesired material, and press [[File:Button forbid.png]] to forbid it). If other items of that type are available, the dwarf will immediately switch to them.
* Each request for bones is actually a request for any kind of bone [[stack]], not individual bones. If they request bones more than one time, then they need that many stacks. Any size stack will do and the entire stack will be used. Bones come from [[butcher]]ing, rotted animal corpses do not count, even if they are skeletons. [[Tame]] animal corpses, whether they were pets or strays, can only be butchered as a result of a [[Butcher#Slaughtering|slaughter]] task, tame animals that died by any other means cannot be butchered. Slaughter a puppy. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0]

== Demands ==
Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require 1-3 "base items" and up to 7 additional items for decorations. The dwarf may well need several items of one material!

If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. [[Forbid|Forbidden]] items must be reclaimed ({{menu icon|i|F}}) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding [[economic stone]]. Click on the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. '''Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. However, the mood's primary material will always be shown for only 2 seconds, even if more than one is required.''' Materials will always be fetched ''in order'', so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with [[File:Icon tasked.png]] next to them in the workshop menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

If you want your dwarves to construct their artifacts out of ''valuable'' materials, instead of whatever useless thing happens to be close at hand, you can selectively forbid types of material through the stocks screen so that only the material you want them to use is available; though this might interfere with the normal crafting operations of your fortress, the disruption is generally short-lived (as long as you remember to unforbid them again afterwards!). You can even forbid something a moody dwarf is carrying (which may be necessary sometimes, since while they are not waiting in the workshop, they will not tell you what they need); the dwarf will finish hauling it to the workshop, but then immediately go searching for another. This trick can mean the difference between a bauxite statue decorated with moss agates and a native platinum statue encrusted with diamonds. Be aware that this may not always work – see below for more information.

Burrows allow even better control over a moody dwarf's material usage. Simply by creating a burrow around the claimed workshop and another part over the desired material, a moody dwarf can be controlled without forbidding every single stone in the fortress. A moody dwarf will follow the burrow definitions just like a regular worker, but be mindful that they will not leave the burrow to get materials that are outside of their assigned burrow. A problem can arise when bones from an outside refuse stockpile are needed by a moody dwarf that is assigned to a burrow.

Also a moody dwarf can be assigned to an active burrow (and unassigned from all other burrows), before a workshop has been claimed, and while the moody dwarf might initially go to a workshop outside the burrow (and even enter the center tile of the workshop), the dwarf will then go back to the burrow and claim a workshop there (under the assumption that the burrow has a workshop of the needed type). So stockpiles with high quality materials in a burrow (and the possible moodable workshops) can be prepared ahead of time, to be used in case of strange moods, with about no hassle at all (when a mood strikes a dwarf). Eventhough one might want different burrows for different type of moods (ie. other types of metal bars for armorsmiths and weaponsmiths, then for other moods).

The various demands are translated here:

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;width:90%;"
|-
! Material
! Fey
! Macabre
! Secretive
! Possessed
|-
|
| <dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!"
| <dwarf> broods "Yes. I need <demand>."
| <dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>.
| <dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..."
|-
| [[Stone]]
| colspan=2 | rock
| a quarry
| stone... rock
|-
| Stone/metal [[block]]s
| colspan=2 | rock blocks
| square blocks
| blocks... bricks
|-
| [[Wood]]
| colspan=2 | wood logs
| a forest
| tree... life
|-
| Metal [[bar]]
| colspan=2 | metal bars
| shining bars of metal
| bars... metal
|-
| [[Gem]]s (cut)
| colspan=3 | cut gems
| gems... shining
|-
| [[Gem]]s (raw)
| colspan=3 | rough gems
| rough... color
|-
| Green [[glass]]
| colspan=2 | raw green glass
| glass
| raw... green
|-
| Clear glass
| colspan=2 | raw clear glass{{verify}}
| glass and burning wood
| raw... clear
|-
| Crystal glass
| colspan=2 | raw crystal glass{{verify}}
| rough gems and glass
| raw... crystal
|-
| [[Bone]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=105002.0;topicseen stack]
| colspan=2 | bones
| skeletons
| bones... yes
|-
| [[Shell]] {{cite talk/this|Re:_.22Verify.22_on_the_shell_row_of_the_demands_table}}
| colspan=3 | shells
| a shell...
|-
| [[Leather]]
| colspan=2 | tanned hides
| stacked leather
| leather... skin
|-
| [[Cloth]] (plant fiber)
| colspan=2 | plant cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (silk)
| colspan=2 | silk cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Cloth]] (yarn)
| colspan=2 | yarn cloth
| stacked cloth
| cloth... thread
|-
| [[Skull]]{{verify}}
| colspan=2 | body parts
| death
| a corpse
|}

Dwarves in macabre moods may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want special items, such as [[skull]]s or vermin [[remains]]. Moody dwarves demanding rock blocks will also accept [[ceramic]] bricks and blocks forged from metal bars.

*The first item demanded by the dwarf is based on the moodable skill being used – stoneworkers (miners, engravers, masons, stone crafters, and mechanics) will demand boulders, woodworkers (carpenters, wood crafters, and bowyers) will demand logs, leatherworkers and tanners will demand leather, weavers and clothiers will demand cloth, metalworkers will demand metal bars, gem cutters/setters will demand rough gems, glassmakers will demand raw glass, and bone carvers will demand bones.
**Metalworkers will demand adamantine wafers or divine metals if any are available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a preferred metal ''if'' you have ''ever'' smelted any bars of it – fey moods will state this outright, while for secretive moods and possessions, you will need to check the dwarf's [[preferences]] to see which metal they like. Metal bars acquired via [[trade]] or by melting down items (such as the 'Goblinite' technique) do ''not'' count as smelted. Otherwise, they will select any available metal(s).
**Weavers and clothiers will demand [[adamantine]] cloth if any is available (unforbidden). If not, they will demand a generic type of cloth (silk, plant fiber, or yarn) that matches a specific cloth preference (e.g. a dwarf that likes cave spider silk will require ''any'' type of silk cloth, and a dwarf who likes more than one type of cloth will demand whichever one appears first in their list). Dwarves without a cloth preference will demand a generic type at random.
**Glassmakers will demand their preferred type of glass ''if'' you've produced any of it (or if it's green glass); if they don't prefer any type of glass, they will randomly select one type of glass you've produced (though they will always assume you have created green glass). Note that acquiring raw glass from a caravan does ''not'' count as producing it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods will select 1-3 vermin remains, stacks of bones, or skulls.
**Bone carvers will demand shells if they like a type of shell; if not, they will demand bones.
**All preference-based material requests are decided the instant the mood begins – by the time the workshop is claimed, it is too late to change the dwarf's mind.
*The remaining "decoration" items are selected randomly from the following list: wood logs, metal bars, small gems, rock blocks, rough gems, boulders, bones, leather, plant/silk/yarn cloth, or raw glass (green/clear/crystal, based on what you've produced).
**Decoration items will never be the same type as the primary mood material.
**Certain mood professions will also explicitly avoid using certain items for decorations – most of these match up with the primary mood material, but miners, engravers, masons, and stonecrafters will additionally avoid requesting rock blocks.
**If you have not produced any raw glass in your fortress, moody dwarves will never request it.
**Dwarves in macabre moods have a 50% chance to replace each decoration item with either remains or bones.
*Gem cutters and gem setters have a 50% chance of only gathering a single rough gem and nothing else – when they do this, they produce a "perfect gem" with a single decoration.

Once all materials have been gathered, viewing the workshop will display a special message depending on the type of mood:
* Fey – "<dwarf> works furiously!"
* Secretive – "<dwarf> works secretly..."
* Possessed – "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."
* Macabre – "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."
* Fell – "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

== The mechanics of moods ==

=== Frequency===
When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented and it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or a ~52% chance of at least one strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike – might be sooner, might be (almost) never. The counter resets to 1000 once a mood begins and continues counting down as the mood progresses, resetting again if it reaches zero before the mood finishes.

=== Conditions ===
In order for a dwarf to be struck with a strange mood, three conditions must be met:
:* There is no currently active strange mood,
:* The maximum number of artifacts is not met,
:* There are at least 20 eligible creatures ''(see below)'', including those who have already created artifacts.

If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency.

==== Maximum number of artifacts ====
The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:
* The number of items created divided by 100.1 Mined-out rock ''does'' count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.
* The number of revealed [[subterranean]] tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Once you discover and explore the [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]], this limit becomes largely irrelevant, and using a [[utilities#DFHack|"reveal" utility]] will eliminate it altogether, though strip-mining an area entirely and exposing it to the surface will count ''against'' this.
:1 – technically, the sum of the game's "itemmade" counters divided by 200, where every item happens to be counted twice. Furthermore, destroying items does '''not''' decrement these counters, so casting and mining [[obsidian]] will count toward this.

==== Eligibility ====
First and foremost, only creatures with the {{token|STRANGE_MOODS|c}} token are capable of entering a strange mood. Additionally, they must be a permanent resident of your fortress - visitors are exempt.

The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual [[profession]]. ''(Note that "[[Skill#Professions|custom professions]]" have no effect on this!)'' Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts ''may'' enter strange moods and will simply become even ''more'' legendary.

On-duty dwarves with a [[Soldier#Soldier professions|military profession]] other than "Recruit" ''cannot'' enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference – eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual ''[[profession]]'' as listed at the time (with the exception of squad leaders, whose on-duty and off-duty titles are the same). Soldiers are still capable of entering moods if they are ''off duty'' and thus in Civilian mode, but you don't have to worry about your axedwarves getting a burst of inspiration mid-combat, and then wandering off to make a highest-quality craftsdwarfship gabbro scepter, decorated with cow bone menacing spikes, cow bone rings and a cow bone image of hamster men while the trolls sack your settlement.

Children may enter moods, but babies will not. Children who enter strange moods will usually attempt to create an artifact appropriate for a bone carver, wood crafter, or stonecrafter. They will also gain experience if they complete the artifact, just like an adult dwarf would--unless the mood is a possessed mood, in which case (''as extensively noted above'') they do not.
Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same ''chance'' to enter a mood.

:''('''Note''' – Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, [[Strand extractor]], [[Clerk]]/[[Administrator]]/[[Trader]], [[Doctor]] (and related), [[Soldier#Recruits|Recruit]] and [[Child]] ''are'' moodable professions.)''

There are several additional factors which will prevent a dwarf from entering a mood:
* Being unable to pick up items ("cannot grasp")
* Being dragged by/dragging another unit (off to [[jail]]/leading livestock to a [[cage]], [[chain]], [[pasture]], [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|pit/pond zone]], or to the [[butcher's shop]] or [[farmer's workshop]])

=== Chance ===
When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery, where the chance of being selected is based on the dwarf's [[profession]]. Most professions receive 6 "tickets", but some receive additional tickets to improve their odds.

{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="2" cellpadding="5"
|-
! Weighting
! Professions
|-
| 21 ||Armorer, Blacksmith, Bone Carver, Clothier, Craftsdwarf, Jeweler, Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Glassmaker, Leatherworker, Metalcrafter, Metalsmith, Stonecrafter, Weaponsmith, Weaver, Woodcrafter
|-
| 11 ||Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Stone Carver, Woodworker
|-
| 6 ||Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, and all other [[profession]]s (including Peasant).
|}

:'''''Example:''' What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance (20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total) of the mood striking them. That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24. The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.''

Note that not every profession has a moodable skill. A Soaper, Furnace Operator, or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not increase those skills, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, bar of metal, or wafer of adamantine. The workshop a moody dwarf claims, and thus the resulting artifact they create, will always be based off their highest moodable skill, not necessarily the highest skill that determines their profession.

=== Timing ===
A dwarf will go [[Insanity|insane]] after exactly 50000 ticks (which, at 1200 ticks per day, works out to 41.66 days, or almost a month and a half) waiting for an item they demand. However:
*The insanity countdown is reset after every item they bring to the workshop.
*It doesn't run while they are out getting something, working on their construction or on their way to claim a workshop. Only during time spent idling without either the required workshop or a required item do they spiral towards madness.
*Dwarves currently under strange moods do not require food, drink, or sleep.

=== Fuel ===

{{D for dwarf}}

Curiously, [[metalsmith]]s in strange moods do not seem to require any [[fuel]] to complete their [[metal]] [[artifact]]s. It is believed that they, consumed by artistic passion, fuel the forges with their own beards, vigorously fanning the flaming hairs while they feed the furnace more beard. Such a sacrifice is a dwarf's own beard that only an artifact merits its removal. Only an artifact's completion can mollify its creator's shame; dwarves unable to complete this great pursuit go insane, not because of its failure, but because they cannot endure the inevitable humiliation.

Legend has it that the world's first [[elf]] once attempted to forge the world's most powerful artifact, imbued with magic to control all dwarves. But, because he could not suffer to cut a tree for fuel, he was unable to do so. Faced with no alternative, he kidnapped each of the seven ancient dwarves by tempting them with [[booze]], an unfamiliar drink to the first dwarves. He then forcefully shaved them and created [[charcoal]] from their beards.

Enraged by their loss, the dwarves set out to find the elf's home, based in the world's first tree. They startled the engrossed elf who fled with nothing but a handful of the tree's unborn children. After reclaiming the beard-charcoal, the dwarves set fire to this tree. Alight in flames hotter than the sun, the tree burned in what is believed to have been the world's hottest fire – a fire so hot that the tree's roots melted the inside of the earth, creating a worldwide [[magma sea]]. The elf watched this fire and swore revenge on the dwarves.

After realizing their beards could not be recovered from their charred state, the dwarves agreed to sprinkle the charcoal over the earth, as a gift and reminder to future dwarves. In doing so, they created the world's [[bituminous coal]] deposits. They then spent the next years searching for a way to create the drink they had been given. Discovering new drinks along their pursuit, the dwarves eventually perfected the hidden art of brewing booze and passed this emerging knowledge to coming generations.

== Artifacts created ==
The type of artifact created depends on the type of mood, the dwarf's highest moodable skill, and the base material. Masons and miners will always create some kind of stone furniture; bone carvers, a bone or shell object (including furniture); carpenters, a piece of wooden furniture; engravers and stone crafters, a stone craft; metalworkers, metal crafts, weapons, or armor (depending on the type of metalworker); weavers and clothiers, an article of clothing; tanners and leatherworkers, a leather armor or object. If a dwarf has no moodable skills, they will randomly select stone crafting, wood crafting, or bone carving as their mood skill and produce their artifact accordingly. The precise type of craft created is usually somewhat random, but if a dwarf has a personality preference for a particular item type, such as gauntlets or floodgates or crowns, and that thing is an available choice given the dwarf's profession, they are guaranteed to create an object of that type (if multiple preferences match, one will be randomly selected).

The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the base material; all other materials will be used as [[decoration]]s. If a dwarf grabs a piece of [[chalk]] and makes a statue, for instance, it will be a "chalk statue", but an artifact can potentially include bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood decorations all at once. In some cases, a moody dwarf will produce an item which normally cannot be made from that material, leading to such odd constructions as an [[obsidian]] [[bed]], [[ruby]] [[floodgate]], or turtle [[shell]] [[cage]], but the actual item types available for each mood type are still very much restricted (e.g. only a glassmaker or jeweler can make a [[window]], and a moody clothier cannot produce an article of clothing that could not normally be made from cloth).

{| class="wikitable" cellpadding="4" style="border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;text-align:left;"
|-
! Mood / Skill
! Artifact type
|-
| [[Armorsmith]]
| Each equipment item with [METAL] (mail shirt, breastplate, leggings, greaves, gauntlet, low boot, high boot, cap, helm, mask), any shield
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (bone)
| Each equipment item with [BARRED] (leggings, greaves, gauntlet, helm), any shield, instrument, toy, door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, chain, cage, animal trap, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Bone carver]] (shell)
| Each equipment item with [SCALED] (leggings, gauntlet, helm), figurine, amulet, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, cage, animal trap, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Bowyer]]
| Each ranged weapon (crossbow, bow, blowgun)
|-
| [[Carpenter]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Clothier]]
| rowspan=2| Each equipment item with [SOFT] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausse, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf), bag, rope
|-
| [[Weaver]]
|-
| [[Engraver]]
| rowspan=4| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Stone crafter]]
|-
| [[Stonecutter]]
|-
| [[Stone carver]]
|-
| Fell Mood
| rowspan=3| Each equipment item with [LEATHER] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, armor, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, leggings, glove, mitten, sock, sandal, shoe, chausse, low boot, high boot, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, helm), any shield, bag, backpack, quiver, instrument
|-
| [[Leatherworker]]
|-
| [[Tanner]]
|-
| [[Gem cutter]]
| rowspan=3| Perfect gem‡, door, bed, chair, table, statue, box, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, window, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Gem setter]]
|-
| [[Glassmaker]]
|-
| Macabre Mood (vermin remains)
| Amulet, bracelet, earring
|-
| [[Mason]]
| rowspan=2| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, quern, millstone, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate
|-
| [[Miner]]
|-
| [[Mechanic]]
| Mechanism
|-
| [[Metal crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, instrument, toy
|-
| [[Metalsmith]]
| Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, anvil, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, pipe section†, splint, crutch
|-
| [[Weaponsmith]]
| Any weapon, any trap component†
|-
| [[Wood crafter]]
| Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
|}
:† ''chance of selection for this entry is reduced by 90%''
:‡ ''this item may only be selected at the beginning of the mood (50% chance)''

If your dwarf does not have a preference for any possible items, the game will randomly select one from the list. Entries with "any" are treated as collective entries with a single chance and will randomly choose a subtype which your civilization is capable of making, while entries with "each" are distinct (e.g. an Armorsmith has 11 item choices, and one of those can turn out to be either a Shield or a Buckler). This explains why bowyers and clothiers will regularly produce foreign artifacts, while weaponsmiths will not unless they have exotic preferences.

== Success ==
Once created, most [[artifact]]s will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact [[armor]] and [[weapon]]s gain extra bonuses in combat, while artifact clothing is immune to [[wear]]. Artifact mechanisms installed in weapon traps will improve attack rolls. Artifact furniture is useful for raising the value of a [[noble]]'s room. Artifact mechanisms, trap components, or weapons in [[weapon trap|weapon trap]]s can also boost a room's value considerably. Other artifacts that can be used in construction (such as [[barrel]]s, [[bucket]]s, and [[anvil]]s) may be used similarly. Artifact [[door]]s and [[hatch]]es are immune to [[building destroyer]]s, and artifact [[cage]]s can even hold gnawing vermin. All artifacts can be displayed in a [[display case]] or on a [[pedestal]], or [[trade]]d to a [[caravan]] for supplies.

Successfully creating an artifact grants a very strong happy [[thought]] (enough to significantly reduce their [[stress]] over the coming months) as well as granting the creator partial ''immunity to insanity'' – even if your fortress is left in a terrible state, any dwarf who has created an artifact is exempt from going [[insane]] due to prolonged stress. The dwarf may also cry, found as a coating of dwarf tears on both their eyes.

== Failure ==
If you can't provide the desired workshop and all the required component materials within a couple of months, the dwarf will go [[insanity|insane]], which cancels the mood and the artifact. As if that's not bad enough, any dwarf who goes insane will soon die, one way or another.

A dwarf who is '''stark raving mad''', '''melancholy''', or '''catatonic''' is harmless to others (until they die and start a [[tantrum]] spiral), but a '''berserk''' dwarf will attack everybody in sight. You may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms with doors you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves. In extreme cases, building a wall around an open workshop is the best precaution.

==Bugs==
There are many bugs reported related to moody dwarves. As has been the case in 40d, most turned out to be (understandable) failures of the player to grasp the mechanics of artifact creation and demands. ([http://bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view_all_bug_page.php Bug tracker])
* If a dwarf dies due to failing to complete an artifact, a memorial made to the dwarf will read that the dwarf did create it, despite the failure, and will even list the name of the artifact that never came to be. {{bug|3640}}
* When producing an item that is normally made in pairs (gloves, boots, etc.), only a single artifact will be created.
* Attacking a dwarf who fails their mood with your militia may result in a "civil war", causing your dwarves to begin fighting each other. {{bug|7107}}
* If the mood primary component is forbidden while working, but the strange mood still has other items tasked, the result is an iron artifact. {{bug|5625}}
* If the dwarf starts constructing the artifact and is scared off by a hostile creature before completion, they may become stuck. {{bug|9833}} Removing the floors around them, then dropping an item on them should cause them to dodge, fall, and return to the workshop.{{cite forum|161598}}
* Having the workshop in a location can invalidate some collected items, causing them to collect more. {{bug|12240}}

== Troubleshooting ==

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf does not claim a workshop
:'''Solution''': Check for highest moodable skill and build the corresponding workshop. If no moodable skills, build a craftsdwarf's workshop. Once [[magma forge]]s have been built, some dwarves may demand to work at a magma-powered forge or furnace while others might still insist on a coal-powered one. If a forge is needed, make sure you built a forge, not smelter. Note that [[forbid]]den workshops cannot be claimed. Verify if the dwarf is assigned to a burrow and/or if there is a civilian alert set to a burrow. If so, verify that the burrow allows access to the workshop being sought after.

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf waits in claimed workshop
:'''Solution''': Desired material is unavailable. Determine which material is requested next (materials are collected in the same order as shown in the dwarf's request list) and make some available, if possible. Be aware that some lists contain duplicates and you will need to make a seperate stack available for each one. Note that dwarves with [[preference]]s may demand a specific type of material ([[brass]] bars or [[yarn]] cloth, for example). [[Forbid]]den and inaccessible materials cannot be collected, nor can material located outside the moody dwarf's [[burrow]].

'''Problem''': No dwarf has entered a mood for a long time
:'''Solution''': Strange moods require at least 20 dwarves; if you have that many, you've probably hit one of the two caps. Exploring the caverns can increase the number of revealed tiles very quickly, while [[craft]]ing [[goblet]]s will quickly raise your item count; [[exploratory mining]] will count toward ''both'' caps, simultaneously revealing tiles and producing boulders, though more slowly than exploring or crafting. Exposing excavated terrain to the sky is counterproductive, as it will ''lower'' your artifact cap (since the cap only counts revealed ''subterranean'' tiles).

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf wants stacked cloth, but all types are available and they're not moving
:'''Solution''': Dwarves will not take items from active hospitals. If you have no cloth available outside of hospitals, try disabling or temporarily removing the hospital designation from their zones. They will then proceed to take new items, even if they don't go for the cloth right away. It is also possible that the desired cloth has been partially consumed in order to make wound dressings.

'''Problem''': Moody dwarf continuously collects large amounts of cloth
:'''Solution''': The workshop is within the boundaries of a location (such as a hospital or guild hall). The game is transferring each new collected stack of cloth to the location and not allowing it to be used for the mood. Redesignating the room on which the location is based so as not to contain the workshop (or deleting the room entirely) will allow the moody dwarf to proceed.

==Trivia==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6454rENbtc Strange Moods], by Dabu, is the fourth track in the first Premium [[soundtrack]] volume, occasionally playing during [[Fortress mode]].

{{D for Dwarf}}
It is widely said that Tarn Adams has been in the grips of a fey mood for two decades now, and we are playing his artifact. However, neither [[human]]s nor [[giant toad]]s can enter strange moods, so this must surely be a joke.

{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Dwarves}}
[[Ru:Strange mood]]

List of Dwarf Fortress developer interviews

2026-09-03T19:44:37Z

Ziusudra: /* Articles */ another PC Gamer article today

{{DISPLAYTITLE:List of ''Dwarf Fortress'' developer interviews}}
As ''Dwarf Fortress'' grows, more and more people are becoming interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of not only the game itself, but the lives and trails of the developers. Many game websites and podcasts have interviewed [[Toady One|Toady]], and provide unique insights into the design and development of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

Toady sometimes attends video game and video game development conventions, for panels related to ''Dwarf Fortress'' or procedural content generation in general.

==Interviews==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_4pd-L_7A Developing Battle Magic in Dwarf Fortress. (Tarn Adams Interview)]
**December 20, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_HIBr6YWaQ The Future of Dwarf Fortress Mod Support (Coder's Workshop)]
**August 5, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Hocmw4xDw Sieges, Crossbows and lots of Dye | Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**July 10, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bViZEpBZnBY Tarn Adams Talks About Sieges, Adventures, Magic, and Beyond | Dwarf Fortress Interview.]
**February 21, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfNcPR9AsM Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Why is Finding Ants Slow? | Coder's Workshop]
**June 24, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziFO-VSQjw Zach and Tarn Talk about Adventures and Magic | Bay12Games Interview]
**March 15, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QJsmWsZMw Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Quality of Life 50.12 | Coder's Workshop]
**February 6, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAAornV0oo Generating Worlds With Putnam | Dwarf Fortress]
**January 31, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805XQvacoSs Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Keyboard Support and UI Filters | Coder's Workshop]
**January 16, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77Oj8UQmsw Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams - The Big Adventure Tease]
**November 10, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66lU280cc7A Tarn Adams plays Dwarf Fortress at Gamescom 2023]
**September 6, 2023
**Indie Arena Booth

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4jwUuvy4E Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams & Putnam Talk - Building Adventures and Debugging Forts]
**July 21, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kanUBppoQpQ Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams Talk - Adventure Mode and Performance]
**April 28, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCehmNwSG4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Post Release and Future updates]
**January 20, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79J3X8ulER0 Dwarf Fortress - Talking with Putnam about what Lurks in the Code..]
**January 15, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9OgqWywZx4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Workshop Support and Release Date (November 2022)]
**November 10, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB93hOcsPI Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - New player Tutorialization (July 2022)]
**July 15, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgKy473SJC8 Tarn and Zach Interview - Kitfox Festival]
**April 16, 2022
**Kitfox Games

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-q1KNvSuTA Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - The Road to Release on Steam (March 2022)]
**March 4, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://youtu.be/_vVmIJoaiig Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk - Steam Embark Screen, World Map, Military and Tutorials (Nov 2021)]
**November 18, 2021
**BlindiRL

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/07/28/700000-lines-of-code-20-years-and-one-developer-how-dwarf-fortress-is-built/ 700,000 lines of code, 20 years, and one developer: How Dwarf Fortress is built]
**July 28, 2021
**Stack Overflow

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5c81GNBaA4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, Steam UI Design, Boats, Magic and team cow manure! (July 2021)]
**July 16, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKwnEJ5RD4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, How finished is the Steam Ver? Classic Update and Magic (Feb 2021)]
**February 12, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgjVRqy5IA The Design of Dwarf Fortress | Tarn Adams Interview]
**December 4, 2020
**Game Wisdom

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FRm78L3kc Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam edition and Dwarven Psychology (October 2020)]
**October 1, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsv9JQ3X5w Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam, Kobolds, Oregon trail and Design. (June 2020)]
**June 12, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhHkJQ3KgY Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins]
**June 9, 2020 (but filmed during the previous GDC, March 2019)
**Noclip
**Includes footage from [https://www.youtube.com/user/kruggsmash Kruggsmash's] videos.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/q-a-dissecting-the-development-of-i-dwarf-fortress-i-with-creator-tarn-adams Q&A: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams]
**June 3, 2019
**Gamasutra (now Game Developer)

*[http://www.indiehangover.com/interview-tarn-adams-of-bay-12-games/ Interview: Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games]
**May 3, 2019
**IndieHangover

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-gamer-show-gdc-special-dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams/ The PC Gamer Show GDC special: Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams]
**March 22, 2018
**PC Gamer

*[https://yalepaprika.com/articles/interview-with-tarn-adams/ Interview With Tarn Adams]
**February 28, 2019
**Paprika!

*[https://soundcloud.com/thisexists/the-creator-of-the-most/ This Exists: The Creator of the Most Complex Video Game Ever]
**December 19, 2016
**This Exists

*[https://youtu.be/yDPb0jqRr3o Long-term Simulation Design in Dwarf Fortress]
**November 12, 2016
**NYU Game Center, PRACTICE 2016

*[http://thestonedgamer.com/interviews/item/863-simulate-your-very-own-fantasy-universe-looking-at-a-decade-of-dwarf-fortress/ Simulate your very own fantasy universe: Looking at a decade of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 26, 2016
**The Stoned Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-on-how-hes-42-towards-simulating-existence/ Dwarf Fortress' creator on how he's 42% towards simulating existence]
**March 31, 2016
**Interview by Wes Fenlon, during GDC 2016.

*[http://www.pcinvasion.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-with-tarn-toady-adams Dwarf Fortress Interview with Tarn ‘Toady’ Adams]
**March 4, 2015
**PC Invasion

*[http://iimu.kapsi.fi/limunropellukset/archives/2914 Interview With Tarn & Zach Adams!]
**October 22, 2014
**The beginning part is Finnish, and the interview is English.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBIjyZl9AU Интервью с Тоади (Тарном Адамсом)]
**Aug 30, 2014
**English with Russian subtitles.

*[http://www.uusisuomi.fi/raha/70983-hammentavan-kulttihitin-uusi-versio-miksi-loit-dwarf-fortressin-tarn-adams Hämmentävän kulttihitin uusi versio – Miksi loit Dwarf Fortressin, Tarn Adams?]
**July 31, 2014
**In Finnish.

*[https://www.themittani.com/features/dwarf-fortress-2014-interview-tarn-adams Dwarf Fortress 2014 Interview with Tarn Adams]
**July 6, 2014
**Capntastic

*[http://newbquest.com/2014/06/newbquest-ep-3-tarn-adams-game-designer-and-developer-of-dwarf-fortress/ NewbQuest Ep.3: Tarn Adams, Game Designer and Developer of Dwarf Fortress]
**June 5, 2014
**NewbQuest

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9g1XMr2TTA UMN VGDC Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 30, 2013
**Skype interview with the University of Minnesota Video Game Development Club.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXGmjLz1lk Let's Interview: Tarn Adams- Dwarf Fortress!]
**May 9, 2013
**Interview by MrSavaGhost.

*[http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/the-minds-behind-dwarf-fortress/2300-7340/ The Minds Behind Dwarf Fortress]
**May 8, 2013
**Interview by GiantBomb during EVE Fanfest 2013.

*[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_adams_of_bay_12_games_cocreator_of_dwarf/ I'm Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games, co-creator of Dwarf Fortress. AMA!]
**March 23, 2013
**Reddit AMA.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ZwVuGB_PI Interview with Tarn Adams]
**Dec 13, 2012
**Interview by Penn State Physics Club.

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/09/dwarf-fortress-developer-interview/ Dwarf Fortress developer interview]
**August 9, 2011 - PC Gamer
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=90749.0 the forums])
**Short

*[http://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/an-interview-with-tarn-adams/ An Interview with Tarn Adams]
**December 22, 2010 by Elijah Meeks
**1 Youtube video, 1 screenshot, 1 fancomic image (Bronzemurder)

*[http://www.nullpointer.co.uk/content/interview-dwarf-fortress/ Nullpointer Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Tom Betts
**The blog seems to focus on game design. The interviewer is doing a PHD on "The Sublime in Digital Games", and is a head coder at Big Robot.
**Images
*[http://inkthirsty.com/blg/?p=145 The Adams Brothers Stop By For A Talk] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_1.mp3 '''(Part 1 Direct Link)'''] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_2.mp3 '''(Part 2 Direct Link)''']
**Recorded by Richard Hofmeier for an article in PORK Magazine - February 2011
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=100319.0 the forums])
**1 hour 45 minutes long

*[http://darkdiamond.net/features/dark-diamond-interview-tarn-adams-technical-issues-editiondraft/ DarkDiamond 60 minutes interview]
**April 15, 2009 - By Raphael 'Dasuraga' Gaschignard
**Podcast link seems broken
**Short

*[http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2008/05/interview/rppr-interview-with-tarn-adams-creator-of-dwarf-fortress/ Roleplaying Public Radio Audio Interview]
**First comment is at May 20, 2008 - by Ross Payton
**Links to synopsis of interview and a link to the podcast.
**Approximately 1 hr 30 min

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/interview-the-making-of-dwarf-fortress Game Developer: The Making of Dwarf Fortress]
**February 27, 2008 - by John Harris
**Ten pages long!

*[http://www.frontrowcrew.com/episodes/2008/01/15/dwarf-fortress/ GeekNights interview] - Talk radio interview
**January 15, 2008 - Rym and Scott
**Download link for mp3

*[http://www.bay12games.com/media/mspa_forum_call.mp3 Languidiir/A Madman interview]
**4 hours long

*[http://w2.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/comp_game_designers.article Game conference speech: "The Wonderful Power of Storytelling"]
**Cannot find date - by Bruce Sterling
**Plain text

==Articles==
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-co-creator-says-his-life-as-a-millionaire-is-basically-like-reattaining-what-my-parents-could-do-with-regular-jobs/ Dwarf Fortress co-creator says his life as a millionaire is 'basically like reattaining what my parents could do with regular jobs']
**September 2, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-the-industrys-in-shambles-over-ai-and-layoff-happy-ceos-everyone-i-know-their-bosses-are-slowly-getting-psychosis/ Dwarf Fortress creator says the industry's in shambles over AI and layoff-happy CEOs: 'Everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis']
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-can-learn-something-from-simply-walling-up-dwarf-nobles-to-maintain-an-equal-society-but-notes-you-have-to-abolish-the-dwarf-cops-too-another-lesson-to-be-had-there/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we can learn something from simply walling up dwarf nobles to maintain an equal society—but notes you have to abolish the dwarf cops, too: 'Another lesson to be had there']
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-have-a-natural-lean-towards-human-made-stories-but-but-were-all-going-to-be-very-sorely-tested-in-the-coming-years-by-ai/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we have a natural lean towards human-made stories, 'but we're all going to be very sorely tested in the coming years' by AI]
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-crap-its-happening-dwarf-fortress-gets-its-first-myth-and-magic-update-later-this-year-bringing-each-players-world-its-own-procedural-magic-system/ Holy crap, it's happening: Dwarf Fortress gets its first Myth and Magic update later this year, bringing each player's world its own procedural magic system]
**August 27, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-has-now-racked-up-600000-copies-sold-on-steam/ Dwarf Fortress has now racked up 600,000 copies sold on Steam]
**March 22, 2023
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-how-dwarf-fortress-reinvented-itself-after-20-years Slow and steady wins the race: How Dwarf Fortress reinvented itself after 20 years]
**January 26, 2023
**GamesIndustry.biz

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spending-20-years-simulating-reality-the-dwarf-fortress-devs-have-to-get-used-to-a-new-one-being-millionaires/ After spending 20 years simulating reality, the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to a new one: being millionaires]
**December 12, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tons-of-game-developers-are-praising-dwarf-fortress-today-in-celebration-of-its-steam-launch/ Tons of game developers praise Dwarf Fortress in celebration of its Steam launch]
**December 6, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/take-a-good-long-look-at-how-accessible-dwarf-fortress-steam-edition-will-be/ Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition threatens to make it playable for just about anyone]
**Septemper 5, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/meanwhile-in-dwarf-fortress-players-build-computers-powered-by-vampires/ Meanwhile, in Dwarf Fortress, players build computers powered by vampires]
**April 5, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortresss-next-big-update-will-let-you-play-its-adventure-mode-with-a-proper-rpg-party/ Dwarf Fortress's next big update will let you play its adventure mode with a proper RPG party]
**April 3, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tutorials-and-mouse-support-could-make-dwarf-fortress-on-steam-vastly-easier-to-play/ Tutorials and mouse support could make Dwarf Fortress on Steam vastly easier to play]
**April 2, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-steam-its-creators-will-give-the-money-away-as-fast-as-possible/ If Dwarf Fortress sells millions on Steam, its creators will give the money away 'as fast as possible']
**March 27, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-13-why-dwarf-fortress-started-killing-cats Why Dwarf Fortress started killing cats]
**April 13, 2017
**Eurogamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/why-the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-is-really-excited-about-boats/ Why the creator of Dwarf Fortress is really excited about boats]
**March 21, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/ The creator of Dwarf Fortress doesn't really like to play games like Dwarf Fortress]
**March 19, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams-talks-about-simulating-the-most-complex-magic-system-ever/ Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams talks about simulating the most complex magic system ever]
**March 16, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/enormous-dwarf-2610456/ How Two Brothers From Silverdale Made The World’s Most Complex Video Game]
**June 8, 2016
**Seattle Weekly

*[http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/23/5926447/dwarf-fortress-will-crush-your-cpu-because-creating-history-is-hard Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard]
**July 23, 2014
**Polygon.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/dwarf-fortress-in-2013 Dwarf Fortress in 2013]
**July 2, 2013
**Game Developer

*[http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/kitsap-creators-of-dwarf-fortress-make-losing-fun-ep-416474315-356182101.html Kitsap creators of Dwarf Fortress make losing fun]
**April 06, 2013
**Kitsap Sun

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/how-seven-drunks-opened-a-portal-to-hell/ Dwarf Fortress diary: How seven drunks opened a portal to Hell]
**August 9, 2011
**Has pictures!

*[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?_r=3&ref=technology&pagewanted=all Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?]
**July 24, 2011

*[http://gamingclasshero.blogspot.ca/2011/10/dwarf-fortress.html Gaming Class Hero: Dwarf Fortress]
**October 11, 2011
**A review / introduction to the game. Mentions the more well-known community forts and links to several DF resources.

==Podcasts==
*'''[[Dwarf Fortress Talk]], the official ''Dwarf Fortress'' podcast'''
** August 6, 2009 - February 4, 2021 by Toady One, Rainseeker and Capntastic
** 28 podcasts with [http://bay12games.com/media/df_talk_combined_transcript.html transcripts]

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-and-caves-of-qud-roundtable-the-masters-of-simulation-talk-roguelikes-ai-and-making-the-infinite-compelling Dwarf Fortress & Caves of Qud roundtable: The masters of simulation talk roguelikes, AI and making the infinite compelling]
**April 26, 2023
**PC Gamer
**Also features the developers of ''Caves of Qud''

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/09/21/podcast-377-you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/ Stack Overflow Podcast Episode 377: You don’t need a math PhD to play Dwarf Fortress, just to code it]
**September 21, 2021
**Stack Overflow Podcast
**Has a [https://the-stack-overflow-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/transcript transcript]

*[https://literate-gamer.zencast.website/episodes/172 Dwarf Fortress Looms (Villains and Steam Release)]
**March 12, 2020
**Literate Gamer

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/12/ep-21-in-which-toady-one-and-threetoe-talk-about-the-upcoming-release/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 21: In which Toady One and ThreeToe talk about the upcoming release]
**January 12, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The second part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the (future) development of ''Dwarf Fortress'', and the upcoming villains release.

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/01/ep-20in-which-the-adams-brothers-join-us-to-talk-about-some-game-they-are-making/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 20: In Which The Adams Brothers Join Us to Talk About Some Game They Are Making]
**January 1, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The first part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the history of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*[https://kakebytes.com/2019/05/02/ep-25-dwarf-fortress-toady-one-returns/ Kakebytes Episode 25 - Dwarf Fortress: Toady One Returns]
**May 2, 2019
**Kakebytes

*[https://kakebytes.com/2018/08/22/episode-16-dwarf-fortress/#more-517 Kakebytes Episode 16 - Dwarf Fortress]
**August 22, 2018
**Kakebytes

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrXFOjdzRk The most Complex RPG around? Feat. Tarn Adams Of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 14, 2018
**Crit Hit

*[http://literategamer.com/post/158150263534/dwarf-fortress-tarn-adams Literate Gamer Episode 30]
** Mar 8, 2017
** Literate Gamer

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2016/04/episode-121-simulation.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 121: Simulation]
**April 30, 2016
**This is episode 121 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson, Darren Grey, [[Tarn Adams]] and Sami Maaranen discuss Simulation in Roguelikes.

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/overpowered-webs Red Pages Podcast, Episode 70: Overpowered Webs]
**March 5, 2016
**Special Guest Tarn Adams returns to the Red Pages Podcast to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus Star Wars, House of Cards, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Disgaea, King's Field, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy III.

*[http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/22/dwarf-fortress-with-tarn-adams/ Dwarf Fortress with Tarn Adams]
**October 22, 2015
**Software Engineering Daily interview

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/chatting-with-tarn-adams Extrasode 2: Chatting with Tarn Adams]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/throw-the-vampire-down Episode 19: Throw the Vampire Down the Well So My Fortress Can Be Free]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast
**Special Guest Tarn Adams mines right into the Red Pages studio to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus True Detective, Two5Six, The Economic History of Medieval Europe, Tomb Raider, Colossal Cave Adventure and Designasaurus II.

*[https://killscreen.com/articles/road-two5six-tarn-and-zach-adams/ Road to TWO5SIX: Tarn and Zach Adams]
**April 29, 2014
**Written in preparation for Toady's (then) upcoming appearance at TWO5SIX in Brooklyn.

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-49-interview-with-tarn-adams.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 49: Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 23, 2012
**Roguelike Radio

==Panels and presentations==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo&list=PLAcQJt6sSXKAk1b7GEo4TX3xMO_oBKvL6&index=1 Let's Learn Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition - EP1]
**Alexandra of Kitfox Games playing a preview of Premium with Tarn and Zach commentating.
**November 10, 2022
**Originally live streamed on Twitch.tv

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-FCtGdwMI Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition Demo with Tarn and Zach Adams - PAX West 2022 panel]
**Septemper 14, 2022
**PAX West 2022

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbt0PxRvpk UCSC CMPM 147 Generative Design, Tarn Adams Guest Talk November 2019]
**November 19, 2019
**UCSC Generative Design

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_dHPtC2wg Dwarf Fortress Live - PAX West 2019]
**September 3, 2019
**PAX West 2019

*[https://player.twitch.tv/?video=475872864&t=02h System Design, On Fire, All the Time: Controlling Chaos - PAX West 2019]
**September 2, 2019
**PAX West 2019
**Toady and three other indie developers discuss system design.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONW-EPwEwfY&feature=youtu.be&t=16814 InterPlanetary Festival 2019 Games Panel]
**June 15, 2019
**InterPlanetary Festival 2019

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-7TtPX5uhg Tarn Adams - Villains in Dwarf Fortress]
**October 10, 2018
**Roguelike Celebration
**Toady talks about villains and their network systems

*[https://youtu.be/t2LEr7Etf9s?t=42m9s Secret Identities in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**October 6, 2017
**Experimental AI in Games 2017
**Toady talks about an upcoming update.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67Xb4tgVv8&t=8m20s Emergent Narrative in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**September 16, 2017
**Progression Mechanics 2017

*[http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024146/PCG-Shotgun-6-Techniques-for PCG Shotgun: 6 Techniques for Leveraging AI in Content Generation]
**February 28, 2017
**GDC 2017
**Procedural content generation has garnered more attention in recent years, both in indie games and AAA titles. Unfortunately, there is no "one algorithm to rule them all". PCG techniques are necessarily as wide and varied as their potential implementations. Using examples from the speakers' own work, this lecture presents 6 practical ways to implement AI-driven procedural content generation in games.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRsScwdPcE Dwarf Fortress Design Inspirations]
**September 17, 2016
**Roguelike Celebration
**Zach and Tarn Adams talk about ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*Dwarf Fortress (the first decade!)
**September 11, 2016
**Busan Indie Connect 2016
**The co-creator of Dwarf Fortress will talk about the game's development. Included will be the history of Dwarf Fortress, a discussion of the online community, keeping the game freely available for ten years, as well as map generation and other mechanics

*Procedural Generation Analysis
**September 9, 2016
**PAX Dev 2016
**Tyler Coleman, Tarn Adams, Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Tyriq Plummer, and Zach Aikman

*[https://vimeo.com/171824119 The Dwarfmoot Experience]
**June 11, 2016
**Dwarfmoot 2016
**Richard Garfield, Bioware, Tarn & Zach Adams

*[http://gdcvault.com/play/1023372/Prac Practices in Procedural Generation]
**March 14, 2016
**GDC 2016
**Procedural generation changes the design approach of every system it touches, offering infinite variation. But how is it used in a concrete way, for developers actually at work on their game? Designers from Dwarf Fortress and Moon Hunters will share their tools and methods for implementing procedurally generated experiences, by live-editing their game systems during this session.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pc8li4fuQ Designing a Procedurally Generated Game]
**August 29th, 2015
**PAX Prime 2015
**Indie game devs discuss design problems and joys of procedural generation. Hosted by Tanya X. Short (Kitfox Games - Moon Hunters). Panelists: Kepa Auwae (Rocketcat Games - Death Road to Canada), Tyler Sigman (Red Hook Studios - Darkest Dungeon), [[Tarn Adams]] ([[Bay 12 Games]] - [[Dwarf Fortress]]), Ryan Clark (Brace Yourself Games - Crypt of the NecroDancer). At PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ78m-Kq1dM Games as Art - EVE at the MoMA]
**May 10, 2013
**EVE Fanfest 2013
**EVE was added, along with 13 other games, into the New York Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and displayed in an exhibition titled "Applied Design". Paola Antonelli, senior curator at the MoMA was joined by Adam Saltsman, designer of Cananbalt and Tarn Adams, co-creator of the cult classic Dwarf Fortress, both of which have their games featured alongside EVE at the MoMA. The Presentations was followed by a panel on the topic moderated by Goddur, professor of design at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts.

== See Also ==
* [[Future of the Fortress]] Q&A with Toady
* [[Dwarf Fortress Talk]] podcast
* [[Reception of Dwarf Fortress|Reception of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]
* [[Legacy of Dwarf Fortress|Legacy of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]

[[Category: Game development]]
[[Category:Community]]

Stockpile

2026-09-03T03:04:59Z

Ziusudra: /* Creating and Removing Stockpiles */ added locations menu for existing SP

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and left click to start drawing a rectangle with the mouse, left click again to finish the rectangle. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has tiles that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile in the play area (without the stockpile painting menu open) or on the "Stockpiles" tab in the locations {{Menu icon|P}}. The suite of buttons right of the pre-sets can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, delete the stockpile, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does).

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to single tile paint mode or eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armor of all types is stored here. There is no preference for specific body parts, but usable/unusable armor may be specified. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]], are placed here before being used in trade or other uses. This type of stockpile can use [[bin|bins]] to consolidate items, over a hundred objects can fit into a bin.

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

Stockpile

2026-09-03T02:26:46Z

Ziusudra: /* Creating and Removing Stockpiles */ a few clarifications

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and left click to start drawing a rectangle with the mouse, left click again to finish the rectangle. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has tiles that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile (without the stockpile painting menu open). The suite of buttons right of the pre-sets can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, delete the stockpile, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does).

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to single tile paint mode or eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armor of all types is stored here. There is no preference for specific body parts, but usable/unusable armor may be specified. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]], are placed here before being used in trade or other uses. This type of stockpile can use [[bin|bins]] to consolidate items, over a hundred objects can fit into a bin.

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

Stockpile

2026-09-03T02:12:26Z

Ziusudra: /* Creating and Removing Stockpiles */ update for 53.16

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

{{For/see|exploits related to stockpiling|[[Quantum stockpile]]}}
[[File:v50_stockpile_gui_preview.png|right]]'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] store items of various types, usually in a safer, closer or more convenient place for the consumers. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job will seek out items that are not already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to an appropriate stockpile, if available. It's important to place your stockpiles carefully to minimize the amount of time spent carrying items back-and-forth. Items in a stockpile may be stored in [[Storage|container]]s such as [[bag|bags]], [[barrel|barrels]] or [[bin|bins]] (see [[Using bins and barrels]]). Seed bags, flour bags, and dye bags can go inside barrels. Empty bags, however, cannot be stacked.

== Creating and Removing Stockpiles ==
To create a stockpile, click the {{Menu icon|p}}Stockpile button and draw a rectangle with the mouse. Clicking "Accept" in the top left pop-up finalizes the stockpile, or you can continue drawing rectangles to make the stockpile bigger. Non-contiguous regions are possible, but could be confusing to manage later for little benefit. If the chosen area has parts that cannot be made into a stockpile, like a [[wall]], a [[workshop]], or an already existing stockpile, a stockpile will be created but they will not be part of it. After clicking "accept", a new menu pane opens up with a list of pre-set stockpile rules, of which you must select one or else select "Custom" to define your own rules.

When creating a stockpile, any movable items (e.g. loose [[stone]], unbuilt [[furniture]], etc.) currently occupying the designated tiles will automatically be considered part of the stockpile, even if the stockpile settings disallow those particular items. These items also mark the tile as "full", so no new items will be stored in that tile until all the original items in the tile are moved. To handle unwanted items, you can specify that the stockpile "gives" to a workshop or stockpile that will accept those items, or use a [[dump]] command to have them carried off to a garbage [[zone]].

To edit a stockpile, click on the stockpile (without the stockpile painting menu open). The suite of buttons (mouse over to see their tooltips to determine what each button does) can be used to edit the name, edit its boundaries, set which stockpiles or workshops give to or receive from this stockpile, delete the stockpile, or set the amount of wheelbarrows and containers that can be used.

When painting a stockpile, note that a secondary toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, which you can use to switch to eraser mode.

== Using stockpiles ==
Once a stockpile has been allocated, by default dwarves will automatically move items to the stockpile when they are available, as long as the stockpile has available space. Note that the dwarves will place the item into the empty spot that is nearest to the item, ''not counting any obstructions''{{verify}}. Dwarves will stockpile the ''newest'' item first, which may not necessarily be the nearest item to the stockpile. Tiles within a stockpile which contain only forbidden items are considered available space, and can accumulate another item without exploiting [[Quantum_stockpile#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]].

One method to ensure a workshop has raw material on hand is to place a small stockpile of its input materials next to the workshop. This will speed up production as the crafter only has to take a few steps to obtain the material, preventing them from dragging material across the entire map. Whenever a crafter picks up material from the stockpile, your hauling dwarves will automatically fetch more material to refill the stockpile. This speeds up a queue of jobs, as other dwarves perform the time-consuming distant haul whilst the crafter concentrates on actually making items.

It's not necessary to place stockpiles for all types of objects. If no storage is available for a certain item type, dwarves will seek out items wherever they might lie as mentioned earlier. This can be advantageous—if you don't have a stockpile for [[gem]]s, your [[jeweler]] will go pick up fresh gems without waiting for them to be carried to a pile first. However, this also means your jeweler has to spend a lot of time fetching the gems. If you have enough haulers available, it's generally more advantageous to designate stockpiles than not. Also remember that your workshops will get [[clutter]]ed and suffer production slowdowns if you let ridiculous numbers of items pile up in them, so it's important to occasionally clear out workshops if they get cluttered. This can be done either by having a stockpile available so that haulers will remove the items, by [[DF2012:Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpiling]] the accumulation, or by removing and rebuilding the workshop, which will empty its contents onto the ground.

== Give and/or take from a stockpile/workshop ==
Another feature of stockpiles allows you to tell dwarves to transfer items from or to one stockpile and/or workshop to another. The button that controls that feature is [[File:v50_stockpile_workshop_button.png|23px]], which is on by default once a stockpile is created. When this button is activated, the stockpile will take designated items from anywhere, but if disabled, it will only give and take items from specified workshops and stockpiles. Your chosen stockpile will now list the stockpile it will take from. This will cause items in the second stockpile to be hauled to the first stockpile. The button next to the previously mentioned one is [[File:v50_stockpile_shopadd_button.png|23px]], which allows the player to select where a stockpile's items will be given to or taken from, which are chosen with [[File:v50_stockpile_take_button.png|23px]] and [[File:v50_stockpile_give_button.png|23px]]

Each stockpile can take from any number of other stockpiles. You can't make two stockpiles feed into each other, although larger loops (e.g. three stockpiles that feed into each other in a circle) are allowed.

When having a stockpile take items from a workshop, any items produced inside the workshop become eligible to move to the stockpile. Be aware that any items produced in the workshop that ''aren't'' accepted by the linked stockpile will not be moved anywhere at all. They will sit inside the workshop until a linked stockpile accepts them.

Enough micromanagement will allow for effective and (relatively) streamlined supply chains. Here are some examples:

*Speeding up [[wood cutting|lumber harvesting]], [[carpentry]], ''and'' [[ash]] and [[charcoal]] production by putting several wood stockpiles near the various [[Chop_down_trees|tree-felling areas]], then one large "primary" stockpile near the [[carpenter's workshop]] that takes from those small ones, and then finally, a small stockpile near the [[wood furnace]] that takes from the primary one.
*A smallish [[plant]] stockpile near your farms, disallowing barrels, will allow harvesters to spend very little time stockpiling the crops they just picked. A larger stockpile near the [[still]] (this one possibly allowing barrels), taking from the smaller stockpile, lets your general-purpose haulers do most of the grunt work of getting plants in place for the brewer. The larger stockpile should be set to "take from links only", so the harvesters do not waste their time.
*A [[clothier's shop]] produces high-quality new [[clothing]]. There is currently no way to stockpile ''only'' new clothing, as opposed to [[wear|worn]] clothing, except for the fact that the new clothing is sitting in its workshop. A stockpile can be set to take from the clothier's shop (and to "take from links only"), so that it only gets new clothing produced in that workshop. If another stockpile with "take from anywhere" and no links is created, that one will accept all the worn clothing - it will never take from the linked clothier's shop. This worn-clothing stockpile may be placed near the [[trade depot]], if you plan to sell the used clothing, or near the [[magma|garbage disposal]], if you do not.

When giving to a stockpile, an equal and opposite "take from stockpile" is created in the other direction (and vice versa). Deleting one of these inter-stockpile links also deletes the other link.

Specifying that a workshop or furnace will only get its materials from a certain stockpile provides a way to make sure everything that the workshop produces is of a specific material. For example, setting a granite stockpile to give to a mason's workshop ensures that the workshop will only use granite as its material. This is also extremely important when the workshop's input materials are heavy (e.g. [[stone]]s); linking a nearby stone stockpile to the workshop prevents the mason from hauling an enormous rock from hundreds of tiles away.

This option is quite powerful, but should be used '''very''' carefully as the linked workshop will now ''only'' take from the stockpiles set to give to that workshop. Make sure that the workshop gets ''all'' of the materials needed for its jobs there if you use this feature. For example, if you link your ore stockpile to a non-magma [[smelter]], but don't also link a stockpile that includes a [[fuel]] source, then the dwarves will be unable to smelt ores at that smelter due to a lack of fuel. If you set a fuel stockpile to give that smelter, it will still be unable to [[melt]] down items marked for melting, because it only takes from the ore and fuel stockpiles. Another common mistake is setting a plant stockpile to give to a [[still]], but forgetting to also link a [[furniture]] stockpile to the still so that it has access to [[barrel]]s.

==Max bin/barrel/wheelbarrows ==
{{imagefix|[[File:v50_stockpile_barrel_button.png|left]]|5|0}}The ''max bin'', ''max barrel'' and ''max wheelbarrows'' settings control the number of barrels, bins and wheelbarrows that are used for the organisation of items inside the stockpile. It can be useful to disallow bins and barrels from some stockpiles, for example stockpiles used to store seeds or for [[Exploit#Quantum stockpiles|quantum stockpiles]], by reducing this setting to 0.

Increasing these numbers is not usually needed - they are set to the number of tiles in the stockpile when it is created, which is the maximum number of bins or barrels the stockpile can hold anyway. Which of bins or barrels is turned on is determined by the item type selected when the stockpile is designated - food stockpiles allow barrels, for example, and bar stockpiles allow bins. However, these settings are not updated if the types of items allowed in the stockpile are changed. If you change the types of items allowed in the stockpile, it may also be useful to change the number of bins and barrels that are allowed in it to allow your dwarves to store those items more efficiently.


== Stockpile categories ==
===[[Ammo]]===
This stockpile contains ammo for all forms of ammunition-requiring weaponry (except [[siege engine]]s). It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate stacks.

===[[Animal]]===
[[Creature|Animals]] stored in [[cage|cages]] that are not affixed to a location will be stored in these stockpiles. [[Animal trap|Traps]] used for capturing wild animals and empty [[cage|cages]] are also stored here.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===[[Armor]]===
Armor of all types is stored here. There is no preference for specific body parts, but usable/unusable armor may be specified. All types of armor can be stored in [[bin]]s.

===[[Bar]]/[[Block]]===
Bars of smelted [[metal]] and blocks of cut stone and [[glass]] are kept here after being processed by the [[smelter]], [[mason's workshop|mason's workshops]], and [[glass furnace|glass furnaces]], before being used for other purposes. Weirdly, [[ash|ashes]], [[potash]], [[soap]], [[charcoal]], and [[coke]] from the [[wood furnace]], [[ashery]], [[soap maker's workshop]] and [[smelter]] will also be stored here. As with all stockpiles, this can be changed to allow for specific blocks and bars to be stored with custom settings. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate up to 10 bars/blocks.

Bars of [[fuel]] ''(Coke and Charcoal)'' are stored in '''Bars: other materials-> Coal'''

===[[Cloth]]===
Woven cloth and [[thread]] are stored here (plant fiber, animal hair, and silk). [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate items.

===[[Currency|Coins]]===
Minted coins are kept here, several thousand of them fitting into a single bin.

===[[Corpse|Corpses]]===
Dead sentient beings (dwarves, goblins, trolls, etc.) and [[pet|pets]] that have no burial location will be placed here. Other corpses are considered part of the ''refuse'' category.

If placed indoors, decaying bodies will generate [[miasma]], but [[bone]]s will not be removed at the end of the season. Rotting [[pet]]s or [[friend]]s give dwarves unhappy [[thought]]s unless they are given a proper burial in a [[Coffin|burial receptacle]].

Corpse stockpiles are meant to be used as ''morgues'', though the inclusion of invader corpses makes this slightly difficult.

===[[Finished goods|Finished Goods]]===
Finished goods created by the [[craftsdwarf's workshop]], as well as the [[clothier's shop]] and the [[leather works]], are placed here before being used in trade or other uses. This type of stockpile can use [[bin|bins]] to consolidate items, over a hundred objects can fit into a bin.

Since this stockpile can also contain supplies that the player might not want to trade away ([[splint]]s, [[crutch]]es, [[rope]]s, [[waterskin]]s...), it is wise to make separate custom stockpiles for these goods.

While not explicitly mentioned, the [[tools|Tool]] subcategory includes the following items:
* Scroll rollers
* [[Book binding]]
* [[Hive]]
* [[Honeycomb]]
* [[Quire]]
* [[Die]]
* [[Jug|Jugs]]
* [[Nestbox]]

=== [[Food]] ===
As one would assume based on the name, food is stored here, in addition to a wide variety of inedible plant and animal products -- [[seed]]s, [[lye]], [[giant desert scorpion]] venom, bags of [[dye]], and [[liquid fire]], to name a few. Raw [[Creature#Aquatic|fish]] is brought here, before being processed by a [[fishery]] and turned into edible [[meat]]. Drinks are always stored in [[barrel]]s or [[large pot]]s. Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s (which may in turn be stored in barrels/pots); other food items can be stored in barrels or pots.

Barrels and pots can hold, at most, 60 [[prepared meal]]s. Stacks larger than that (☼Dwarven Beer Roast [200]☼ is possible) will not fit in a barrel, but will still only take up one tile of stockpile space. To free up barrels, you may decide to have separate prepared food stockpiles that do not accept barrels - if you cook larger meals, this shouldn't be a problem.

Food will never [[wear|spoil]] while in a stockpile, although it may attract and be eaten by [[vermin]]. Food stockpiles should, in most cases, be restricted to desired types (e.g. [[seed]] stockpiles or meat stockpiles or unprepared fish stockpiles); there are simply too many things that go in them.

Fat and tallow go in the same list and are listed by animal. To separate out just the tallow, search for "tallow" and click all/none for the column. This button only applies to displayed items. Resetting the search will show that tallow has been allowed/forbidden, but fat settings are unaffected.

Fish that have been caught but not [[Fishing_industry#Fish_cleaning|cleaned]] are stored in '''Unprepared fish'''. Fish that have been cleaned ''(via Prepare a raw fish at a'' [[fishery]]) are stored in '''Fish'''.

Read more about the following food stockpile categories here:
* [[Plant]]s
** For edible plants, see [[Crop]]s
* [[Seed]]s
* [[Crop#Garden_plants|Fruit]] / [[Plant#Bulb.2FFlower.2FLeaf|Leaves]]
* [[Miller#Millable_Plants|Milled plant]]

===[[Furniture]] Storage===
Completed items from the [[carpenter's workshop]], [[mason's workshop]], and [[mechanic's workshop]] will be stored here, along with furniture created from other shops, until placed or used in another building. Bags filled with [[sand]] can also be stored in furniture stockpiles, and in fact will appear in any furniture stockpile unless expressly forbidden, regardless of materials permitted.

Since this is a very broad category, it may be useful to create stockpiles for a specific type of item (like barrels, bags, bins, mechanisms) via the stockpile settings.

Furniture cannot be stored in barrels or bins.

If you choose to apply advanced stockpiling of furniture e.g. "make a stockpile for only [[Furniture]]>[[Bed]]s." Merely selecting "beds" under the "Type" category will not suffice. In this case one also needs to ensure the required qualities are selected! Should you want to store all quality beds, just make sure you select "all" on the categories: [[#Core Quality|Core Quality]] as well as [[#Total Quality|Total Quality]].

[[Anvil]]s, [[millstone]]s, and [[quern]]s are stored as furniture, even though they are a core component of a [[workshop]].

[[Siege engine]] items are also stored in this stockpile:
* Ballista parts
* Bolt thrower parts
* Catapult parts
* [[Ballista arrow]]
* Ballista arrowhead

====Other Large Tools====
While not explicitly mentioned, the following items are stored in the "Other large tools" subcategory:
* [[Bookcase]]
* [[Pedestal]]
* [[Altar]]
* [[Stepladder]]
* [[Display case]]

===[[Gem]]===
This stockpile stores gems and raw [[glass]], both cut and uncut, along with [[gizzard stone]]s. It can use [[bin]]s to consolidate gems.

===[[Leather]]===
Leather, which is produced at a [[tanner's shop]], will be kept here. Like most stockpiles, it can use [[bin]]s to consolidate items.

===[[Refuse]]===
Since dwarves hate rot, because of the [[miasma]] it spreads when in an enclosed place like a [[cave]], any garbage item that can rot will be stored in a refuse stockpile. Also, any [[wear|XXdamaged itemsXX]] will be moved to the refuse stockpile. Many players prefer to place this stockpile outside their cavern, usually a small distance from the entrance, as rottable items on tiles that are {{DFtext|Outside |3:1}}{{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} do not generate miasma.

If placed on a {{DFtext|Subterranean|0:1}} tile, decaying items will generate miasma, which will spread through your fortress and generate a small unhappy thought in any dwarf passing through it. For this reason, it is sensible to build [[door|doors]] (preferably several, separated by a few tiles to create an airlock) to all of your indoor refuse stockpiles. Miasma won't spread through a closed door, so only dwarves with business in the room will be bothered by the rot.

An alternative to this is to dig [[channel|channels]] down from the surface, creating an area of tiles considered to be {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}}, yet still located within your fortress. You can place your refuse stockpile here, and although it will be in your fort, rotten items on those tiles will not generate miasma. If you choose to cover them with walls or floors for security and/or aesthetic reasons, it will convert them to {{DFtext|Inside|6:0}}, but they will remain {{DFtext|Light |6:1}}{{DFtext|Above Ground|2:1}} tiles, which again do not generate miasma in rotten items. (For even more creative methods to restrict the spread of foul rotting stench, see the [[miasma]] page.)

[[Bone]]s, [[skull]]s, and [[shell]]s are also stored here, whether from defeated enemies or raw food processing - if left in an area with high [[vermin]] levels, these will randomly disappear. Refuse stockpiles can be restricted to store only [[bone]]s, [[skull]]s, [[shell]]s, teeth, and horns/hooves.

Note that a refuse stockpile is not the same as a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]] - a garbage dump is only for things manually marked to be dumped. Additionally, refuse types specifically marked as '''Dwarves Dump''' ''refuse type'' will be hauled to the garbage dump instead of the refuse stockpile.

Be careful on evil biomes, since some can reanimate dead creatures and body parts. If your fort is located on a map where part is evil and part is not, it is best to put your refuse stockpile on the part that is not evil.

The corpses of sentient beings (goblins, trolls, etc.) are no longer stored in refuse stockpiles, [[Stockpile#Corpses|but in a corpse stockpile instead]]. If your dwarves are not cleaning up bodies, this is probably why.

===[[Sheets]]===
This stockpile stores sheets, including paper and parchment. Like most stockpiles, it can use bins to consolidate items.

===[[Stone]]===
Rough stone will be stored here, as well as [[ore]]. These stockpiles cannot use bins or barrels, but the use of [[wheelbarrow]]s is strongly advised. The default number of assigned wheelbarrows is 1, also if the number of assigned wheelbarrows is set to zero and the custom stockpile setting is entered, upon exiting the custom stockpile settings, the number of assigned wheelbarrows is reset to 1 (from zero), that happens even if no changes in the custom stockpile settings has been made.

[[Stone management]] is a complex topic; in the simplest terms, most stones are extremely heavy, so you want to minimize the distance they are [[hauling|hauled]] by hand (e.g. from the stone [[stockpile]] to the [[mason's workshop]] or [[smelter]]) by putting such stockpiles very close to the workshops that they feed.

===[[Weapon|Weapons]]===
Weapons of all types are stored here by default, including picks, trap components, and weapons too large for dwarves to use. [[Bin]]s can be used to consolidate weapons of any type.

===[[Wood]]===
Chopped trees are brought to the wood stockpile before being used by carpenter's workshop, a wood furnace or siege workshop. Because wood takes a long time to haul and tends to travel a long way, the stockpile should be rather close to a fortress entrance (which does not necessarily mean on the upper z-levels - moving down one z-level is only one tile), unless you have an [[Tower-cap|underground tree farm]]. It is a good idea to position this stockpile close to your carpenter's workshop (or the other way round) since he is likely to be the main "customer". Wood stockpiles will also accept "grown" wood logs that elves bring.

This type of stockpile cannot use bins or barrels.

===None===
This type of stockpile does not allow any items in the stockpile, so no items will ever be hauled to that stockpile, but all items, which are on stockpile tiles, when the stockpile is created, are automatically considered part of the stockpile. Such stockpiles can be used to ie. clear an area of non-economic stones, after the stockpile has been set to give to a stoneworker, mechanic's or craftdwarf's workshop, by turning the non-economic stones into other useful goods (like stone furniture, rock mechanisms or stone crafts and mugs), leaving the economic stones (and not allowed non-economic stones under the stone uses standing orders) behind, at which point the stockpile category should be changed (and the stockpile link should be updated) to give the rest of the stones to some other stone stockpiles. If a (none) stockpile is used for such a purpose, the workshop to process stones should be designated to build first, afterwards (before the workshop is constructed), the none stockpile can be created (around the workshop) and the link to (give to) the (yet to be completed) workshop can already be set up.

===Additional Options===
The options are "Allow Plant/Animal" (organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowplants_off.png|20px]] and "Allow Non-Plant/Animal (non-organic goods) which appear as [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals.png|20px]] or [[File:v50_stockpile_allowmetals_off.png|20px]]. Unlike all the other categories, the Additional Options settings apply to all other active categories. A stockpile that allows neither organic nor non-organic goods will never receive any items. Disabling "Additional Options" is a common cause of stockpile problems, and these options generally aren't useful anyway unless you want to consolidate trade goods which are safe to [[trade]] to [[Elf|Elven]] caravans.

=== Custom stockpiles ===
With custom stockpiles, you can change which types of materials, goods, etc., can be stored in that stockpile. Any type of things can be mixed, so you could have a stockpile that will hold raw [[turtle]], [[mechanism|mechanisms]] and all stone types apart from [[onyx]] if you wanted, or only high-quality steel crossbow bolts (Ammo), all quivers (a Finished Good), and metal crossbows (a Weapon) - the combinations are endless, and can be finely tuned. Note that many sub-menus consist of several pages ( the 'other' menu of stone e.g. consists of several pages while 'metal [[ore|ores]]' and 'economic' consist of only one ).

== Stockpile Settings ==
In the '''Stockpile Settings''', the first column are the major categories. In the second column there may or may not be subcategories. In the third you will see the individual items. The second and third columns are only visible when a category is enabled and selected. Any option can be selected in any category by simply clicking on it. Each column has an "All" or "None" button, which will enable or disable entire categories so that the player does not have to individually click each option to enable or disable an entire list.

Be careful when selecting 'block all' on the subcategories, as it can make your stockpiles useless. For example, if you block all the furniture subcategories and then re-enable beds under types, the stockpile won't actually accept anything because it still registers all materials and all quality levels as forbidden. The correct way would be to 'forbid types' and then re-enable beds.

Also note that clicking the "all" or "none" button for a sub-category will only enable or disable all currently listed entries in that sub-category, but not any entries, which do belong to the same sub-category, but are not displayed (listed), ie. because they are never displayed (like all divine cloth types) or are currently "filtered" out. Also if a stockpile is set to a specific category (eg. before entering the stockpile settings), then all possible item types and materials are considered to be selected, including item types and materials that do never appear in the stockpile settings for that categories sub-categories (allthough the behaviour of ie. blocks or boulders allowed in a finished goods stockpile is currently unknown). So if this stockpile is then further customized by entering the custom stockpile settings the possible item types and materials, which do not appear in the subcategory lists (for that stockpile type), will always be considered to be selected (until the corresponding main stockpile category is deselected). If on the other hand the custom stockpile setting is entered (before selecting a stockpile category) and then for one (or more) different stockpile categories in the sub-categories the "all" or "none" buttons are clicked, then only the currently displayed (listed) entries are selected or deselected (and thus the never displayed item types and material types are always considered to be deselected).

=== Core Quality ===
Core quality means the quality of the ''craftsdwarfship of the item''. A masterfully crafted armor (made from qualityless metal bars) has masterful core quality. A finely-crafted dress (made from an exceptional pig tail fiber cloth) has fine core quality (because the craftsdwarfship ''of the item'' is fine).

=== Total Quality ===
Total quality means the highest between the craftsdwarfship of the item and the craftsdwarfship of its components (or decorations). The finely-crafted dress from our previous example has a fine core quality, but its total quality is exceptional because its component — a pig tail fiber cloth — is of exceptional quality. Likewise, a superior quality steel gauntlet, masterfully studded with copper is of masterful total quality (and superior core quality).

A more complex example: A rope reed fiber sock is superiorly decorated with pond turtle shell. Is masterfully crafted from a rope reed fiber cloth which was finely dyed with redroot dye. Core quality: masterful, Total quality: masterful. (Remember, for total quality, the best of either the item's quality, the quality of its components, or the quality of its decorations is chosen.)

See also [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96501.msg2765710 Crafting Skills, Quality and Statistics research].

=== Notes ===
Some categories will have a special extra type of item(s) that can be toggled.

{| border="1" cellpadding="4"
|+
! Categories
! Item type
|-
| Animals
| Empty [[cage]]s and empty [[animal trap]]s
|-
| Food
| [[Prepared meal|Prepared food]]
|-
| Weapons
| Usable and unusable [[weapon]]s
|-
| Armor
| Usable and unusable [[armor]]
|}

If you disable an item or items that are already sitting in a stockpile, then they become loose items (and the give-to and take-from stockpile settings are ignored for these loose items). Your haulers will move them to a more suitable stockpile, should one exist. All existing stockpiles (and [[zone]]s) can be seen with {{Menu icon|P}} and viewing the "Zones" and "Stockpiles" tab.

== Custom Stockpile Uses ==
A custom stockpile is most useful for food, furniture, and bar/block stockpiles, to prevent your lye and venom sitting next to the [[kitchen|kitchens]], your [[floodgate|floodgates]] and mechanisms near the [[zone|rooms]] that need [[statue|statues]] and doors, your stone blocks next to the forges, and your metal bars by the farms.

When setting up a custom stockpile to hold more than one type of raw material, it is often best to set up multiple custom stockpiles, one for each type. Otherwise your stockpile will invariably fill up with lesser-used items, rendering your custom stockpile nearly useless.

One use for this is to have an outdoor stockpile next to your gate that will accept all refuse except bones, shells, skins and skulls, and then one or more indoor pile(s) near your craftsdwarf's workshop that will '''only''' accept these things. If you have set the option for dwarves to gather refuse from outside, the bones will be brought in once all the meat has rotted off of any carcasses outside. This means added risk to your dwarves if they try to gather refuse that is far from your gate, and additional hauling.

Another effective use of custom stockpiles is Elven trading. Make a stockpile just for elf-safe trade goods: most categories where it is relevant have a 'materials' option. Note, however, that items with [[wood]]en [[decoration]]s will '''not''' be excluded. Similarly, [[noble]]s who frequently [[mandate]] restricted trading can have their preferred goods stored separately, far away from the [[trade depot]].

A highly efficient method is to have wood burning furnaces feeding into a '[[charcoal]] only' bar/blocks stockpile, which in turn is near the smelting furnaces and forges. Bonus points if you also place a small wood stockpile near the wood furnaces.

Other good uses:
* Planter's stock: [[seed|seeds]] and [[potash]]. If your [[ashery]] is nearby, include ashes and lye.
* Smelter stock: [[ore|ores]], [[flux]] and, unless you're using [[Magma smelter]], [[coal]].
* Sandpile: [[sand]] bags.
* Dyer's stock: a food stockpile that only includes [[dye|dyes]].
* Food Plus: a food stockpile that includes barrels. This spares your dwarves from carrying empty barrels to and from the furniture stores.
* Skins: a refuse stockpile limited to [[skin|skins]], a bit like the bone & shell stockpile above. Place near the tannery.
* Brewer's stock: [[List of crops|brewable plants]].
* Miller's stock: [[List of crops|millable plants]]. (An empty [[bag]] stockpile will also speed up milling.)
* Refreshment stand: Since dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, having several small food stockpiles that only accept [[Alcohol|drinks]] scattered strategically through your fort can minimize [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoko smoko breaks]. The usefulness of this kind of stockpile is often disputed as dwarves go to the fullest barrel first, so if you can't keep your stockpile constantly filled with new full barrels of alcohol your masons might decide to run all the way over to the alcohol stockpile you have set up for your brewers or your metalsmiths. If you can keep each stockpile constantly filled with fresh supplies of full barrels of alcohol then this can increase productivity greatly. A simple way of doing this is by keeping a brewery near each separate alcohol stockpile, or [[burrow]]ing dwarves so that local stockpile is the only one they can [[path]] to.
* Artifact materials: The massive value and effectiveness of [[artifact|artifacts]] mean the materials used in them can have drastic effects, sometimes even into the ''[[Value|millions]]''. Having special stockpiles for high-value metals, stones, gems, and other such materials will make it that much easier to ensure that you will get the most out of each [[strange mood]]. (However, even with materials-specific stockpiles, it can take a fair amount of micromanagement to get a moody dwarf to use a specific material.)
* Artifact storage: Artifacts add a great deal to the created wealth of the fortress. Keep valuable artifacts safe in a special "treasure" stockpile.
* Ingredients: Store things that are cookable but not edible, like milk and quarry bush leaves, near [[kitchen]]s. Also, more [[rot|volatile]] foods (such as [[meat]]) can be stored closer to your kitchen to encourage your cooks to use them quickly.
* [[Stone carver]]'s stone: Linking a single- or limited-type stone stockpile to a [[stoneworker's workshop]] allows you to specify exactly which [[stone]] your stone carvers will use, providing consistent output (and increased [[value]] if using [[economic stone]]). Additionally, if your stone carver has a [[preference]] for a particular stone, you can increase output [[quality]] by having him work with that stone.
* Finished goods stockpiles near a Trade Depot that includes crafts that you want to sell, but excludes ordinary clothing, backpacks, waterskins, splints and crutches that you want your dwarves to use.

==Bugs==
* Gem stockpiles' material option for clay is hidden in the UI {{Bug|9749}}.
* [[Hauling]] blocks access to items stored in [[Storage|container]]s; consider creating container-less "feeder" stockpiles linked to your storage stockpiles.
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=92241.msg3276117#msg3276117 Research] has suggested that stockpiles are a significant cause of [[Maximizing framerate|lag]]; see [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|Quantum Stockpiles]] for designs that minimize stockpile tiles.
* Disabling "Additional Options" in the stockpile menu is a common source of stockpile problems.

==Troubleshooting==
Getting dwarves to haul items to a stockpile is a frequent source of frustration. Here are some things to check:

* Do you have idle dwarves?
** Do the idle dwarves have the appropriate hauling labors enabled?
** Are the idle dwarves constantly taking and cancelling other jobs?
* Do you have a stockpile that wants this item?
** Is there an empty spot in the stockpile?
*** Note that hidden items and wheelbarrows tie up stockpile tiles.
** Can the idle dwarves path to the stockpile and the item?
** Is the stockpile set to accept from anywhere, not just links?
** Check both the item's type and its material, in stockpiles that can filter materials.
** Check that the armor/weapon stockpile setting is "usable" and/or "unusable" as appropriate.
** Check that "Additional Options" are set correctly to allow the desired items.
* Is the item unforbidden?
* Is the item accessible (no civilian alert, burrows, etc.)?
* Is the item not owned by any dwarf?
* Is the item not tasked for a job?
* Is the item not assigned for use in any buildings/constructions?
* Check your standing orders (o), and make sure this kind of item can be gathered.
** For refuse, make sure dwarves are allowed to gather refuse that is "outside" (o r).
* Does the stockpile have wheelbarrows assigned? If so, are they all in use?
* If the item normally goes in a container, do you have suitable unused containers?
* Is the item claimed by a location (hospital, tavern, library, temple)?

{{V50 menus}}
{{Category|Stockpiles|*}}
{{Category|Items}}
[[ru:Stockpile]]

Quickstart guide

2026-09-03T02:04:50Z

Ziusudra: /* Stockpiles */ that step was removed in 53.16, though you do need to click the icon not the word

{{Quality|Masterwork}}
{{av}}
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.''
:* ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:* ''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:* ''For starting the game using the default [[Embark]] preperation, see [[Embark#Play_Now.21|Play Now!]]
:* ''For a basic "How to" for military, see [[Military quickstart]].''
:* ''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''

{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like — it's a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that doing this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] — This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Basic game-related tasks (saving, quitting, settings, etc.) are available on the options menu, which can be reached with {{Menu icon|Esc}} from the main screen. {{K|Esc}} again or {{K|right click}} will close the menu. This menu also shows the current or previous music track.

For more information see [[Saved_game_folder#Saving|Saving]], [[Reclaim fortress mode]], and [[Settings]].

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|create a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated — there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} at {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} at {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} at {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Real world extinct creatures}} at {{DFtext|Untamed wilds|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} at {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}
When it's finished choose {{DFtext|Play now}}, the game will save the world and then ask for a game type, choose {{DFtext|Fortress}}. The game will then quickly simulate two weeks of world activity and then offer a tutorial.

=Tutorial=
The in game tutorial is quite good and it is strongly suggested that new players play through it at least once. It will automatically choose a site for the fortress as well as dwarves and supplies. It will then show you how to use the [[interface]] to strike the earth and get started on your fortress. If a tutorial window is covering a part of the interface you are trying to use, you can roll up the window with the {{K|^}} button. You can replay any part of the tutorial at any time by pressing the {{K|?}} button next the minimap; this also provides a list of non-interactive guides on many parts of the game.

= Embark =
{{main|Embark}}
Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way. If you choose to {{DFtext|Start tutorial|7:2:1}} the game will do it all for you, flashing the location of the site it chose, then skipping straight to your arrival there. It is the quickest way to start.

If you choose {{DFtext|Skip tutorial|7:4:1}}, you'll get some good advice not to ignore any warnings about the site. You can then look around by pointing at locations to see details, zoom in with {{k|left click}}, and zoom out with {{k|right click}} (if any menu is open right click closes it instead.) However, the quickest way to find your own site is by clicking {{DFtext|Find embark location}} (available when the map is zoomed out).

== Choosing a Good Site ==
Choosing a decent embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in a potential site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''[[River]]''', '''Stream''' or '''Brook'''
* The metal list must include at least '''[[Iron]]''', but in general, the more metals, the better.
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay''', Sand''', '''Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out, also can enable pottery or glass
*'''Flux stone layer''' For a steel industry
*'''Neighbors''': Avoid sites containing '''[[towers]]''', '''[[goblins]]''', or other groups at war with you. However, you can disable enemies entirely for your first game, as described in the [[#Skills_and_Equipment|section below]]. (Important: towers are not displayed in the list, so it's important to check [[map legend|icons]] on the map near your location.)
*The site should be on the same land mass as an active dwarven civilization.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder-v50.png|thumb|upright|right|Initial suggested finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help. (Different buttons are shown with the map zoomed out or in; left-click will zoom in on the map, right-click will close an open menu or zoom out.)

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region with a match will be indicated by a green rectangle or {{DFtext|X|2:1}}s on the map, or close partial matches by a yellow rectangle or red {{DFtext|X|5:1}}s. Clicking on one of those will zoom in to show the actual sites in much the same way (partial matches are instead yellow {{DFtext|X|7:1}}s in ASCII mode). On the zoomed in map, existing sites will be shown as red rectangles or {{DFtext|░|5:1}}s; or white rectangles or magenta {{DFtext|░|6:0}}s for sites of the currently selected dwarven civilization if that list is open.

The {{DFtext|Choose origin civilization}} button on the zoomed out map shows a list of the dwarven civilizations on this world. Selecting one will center the map on their capital with a blue outline on each of their sites (no outline in ASCII mode), and show population and site counts. You can choose any, preferably not far from the location you have chosen.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it clicking the arrow buttons on the top-left. A 4×4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

Possible causes of partial matches include:
* "Calm" surroundings can be rare, you can try "Wilderness" instead.
* "≤ Deep" doesn't include "very deep" soil{{bug|12171}}, you can try "N/A" but make sure at least part of the site has some (it should since clay and sand count).
* "No" Aquifer (either type) means in the entire embark area; but even if some tiles have one, others might not. If you do embark at such a site, remember which tiles don't so you can dig down there.

You don't need a perfect site, but if you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}+{{k|scroll wheel}}. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button {{menu icon|u}} to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then they will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once they are done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of their allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as which [[crafts]] type to make) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed to do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| {{DFtext|Farming/Related|6:0}} || {{DFtext|Wood Burning|6:0}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Metalsmithing|0:1}} || {{DFtext|Furnace Operating|0:1}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Metalsmithing|0:1}} || {{DFtext|Armoring|0:1}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Metalsmithing|0:1}} || {{DFtext|Weaponsmithing|0:1}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Metalsmithing|0:1}} || {{DFtext|Blacksmithing|0:1}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Metalsmithing|0:1}} || {{DFtext|Metalcrafting|0:1}}
|-
| {{DFtext|Jewelry|2:1}} || {{DFtext|Gem Cutting|2:1}}
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{menu icon|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{menu icon|m|u|num=1}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular square that you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelDifference.png|225px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1×1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing — the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3×3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive — a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5×5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage — this allows merchants to access your depot room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5×5), and other workshops (3×3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3×3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11×11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them. You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click the plus sign next to [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5×5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{menu icon|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above — this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5×5 and 7×7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zone|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5×5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival — to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink — the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5×5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5×5 room with a 3×3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3×3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters|6:0}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[Farming#Introduction to farming|this guide]]''.
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers|6:0}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5×5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5×3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{Menu icon|y|}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3×3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3×3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10×10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors need a place where they are done — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3×3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up 2 [[table]]s and 2 [[throne]]s/chairs. You will find out why you need these later, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (logs and stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{Menu icon|P|sep=-}} (Places) and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1×1 zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1×1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players — it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5×5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3×3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3×3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and — depending on what resources you are missing — additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3×3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3×3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work orders]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Broker ===
In the default {{DFtext|Play Now!}} party, your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and broker when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; the manager job doesn't take very long, and this dwarf will be available to talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

===Bookkeeper===
In the default {{DFtext|Play Now!}} party, your planter is a good choice for bookkeeper when starting out.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned{{verify|Is this only true after population exceeds 20? Or do they always need the office?}}.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out 2 rooms near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1×3, no more than 5×5).
# Place furniture in both with a chair {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} and table {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} in each.
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark both rooms as offices, and then assign one to the manager and the other to the bookkeeper.
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5×5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5×5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3×3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

==Situational Awareness==
At this point you might already have lost one or two games. Understanding why that happened is the most important part to get better and avoid frustration. To do so, you should be aware of what situation your fortress is in at all times: Are there enemies on the map? Do your dwarves have enough food? How many dwarves do you have? What season is it?

Along with just looking around periodically, there are 4 screens that can help you with these questions:

* The {{menu icon|u}} [[Unit list|Unit screen]] with its various tabs. Keep an eye out for invaders, dangerous animals and so on.
* The [[status]] panel and Stoc{{k|k}}s screen ''(Remember to appoint a [[bookkeeper]] and set him to the highest accuracy)''. Pay attention to the current date and your supplies.
* [[Announcements]] and combat [[reports]] on the left side of the screen or pressing {{menu icon|N}}.

Check them periodically and you will be able to recognize problems earlier and avoid disasters better.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps — if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps — citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1×1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across. For example, if you want the bridge to block access '''from the north''' when raised, you need the arrow to point to the '''south''' [[File:Bridge-to-south button.png]]. A helpful idea is to remember the arrow points towards the ''hinge'' of the bridge.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

If you used the second design above for your [[#Traps|trap hallway]] then you may want to try adding a second drawbridge in the cutouts for wagon access that can close it off and force invaders through the traps. Be sure to keep the bridge's orientation in mind.

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5×5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' — You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' — Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' — You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for them? '''No!''' Put their legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though they have no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of their unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Development arc

2026-09-02T20:58:50Z

Ziusudra: /* Future */ added latest Tarn video

In earlier days of ''Dwarf Fortress'', development was split up into outlined specific '''Arcs'''. That system has been replaced by a short list of future releases given names after their main focus by [[Toady One]].

== Named Releases ==
=== Future ===
==== Next ====
* A second siege release focused "[[Release_information/53.07#What.27s_Next_for_Sieges.3F|on magic, armies, and diplomacy]]", lately being called (the first) Myth and Magic Update, releasing later in 2026.

==== Later ====
:''In no particular order.''
* The adventure mode site building: the return of [[Camp#Adventurer_camps|camp founding and building]], plus more "cross-mode play and Adventure mode crafting".
* The map rewrites: A rework of the generated spaces and regions, allowing for more dynamic and reactive worlds, with changes focused on the underground, but also some changes above. It has been previously known as the "Big Wait" before myth and magic, but is planned to be released incrementally alongside smaller magical features.
* More villains releases: the continuation of the villains release, finishing what was left when focus shifted to the premium release, divided into multiple smaller releases.
* More myth and magic, world changes, "probably through covens and religion", starting scenarios, and civilization improvements.
==== Sources ====
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P-FTy6hhp0 Dwarf Fortress Myth and Magic Update Preview - Official Trailer] (August 26, 2026)''
* ''[https://www.bay12forums.com/smf//index.php?topic=183664.0 The Bay 12 Games Report, January 1st 2026]''
* ''[https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/520859243419533943 Dwarf Fortress Patch 53.07 🏹 What’s next for Sieges? + New animal portraits]'' Steam news.
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbzttKQofFg What's Next for Sieges? - Tarn Time (Winter 2025)]'' YouTube video.
* ''[https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev.html Dwarf Fortress Development]'' Bay 12 Games website page (last updated: December 18, 2025).
* ''[https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/530964346754301996 Next Steps for Dwarf Fortress + Patch 51.05 ⛏ Dwarf Fortress Dev News]'' Steam news.
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw_-jdN8zcA Tarn Time - Dwarf Fortress Seasonal Update (Spring 2025)]'' YouTube video.

=== Possible Future ===
These are things that have been discussed as future releases, but have not been officially announced.
* More [[Lua]] functionality, including UI exposure to allow for more mouse versus keyboard control flexibility.
* The boats release: will feature, well, boats, with all that entails (ports, maritime trade routes, pirates, and so on). Probably multi-tile creatures as well, as mechanics on how to make boats (floating superstructures) work will be borrowed to make multi-tile creatures as well.
* The economy release: will piggyback on the new trade and property stuff to establish a new framework that will completely overhaul the old (and deactivated) [[economy]] system.

=== Past ===
* The [[night creature]] release ([[v0.34:Release_information|0.34.01]]): added [[necromancer]]s, [[mummy|mummies]], [[vampire]]s, [[werebeast]]s as well as a complete [[undead]] overhaul. Other notable additions include evil [[weather]], improved human [[site]]s featuring [[catacombs]], [[sewer]]s and [[dungeon]]s, and a number of animals added to the game.
* The [[World activities|world activation]] release ([[DF2014:Release_information/0.40.01|0.40.01]]): allowed many [[world generation]] activities to carry on during normal gameplay, as opposed to a static world. Other notable additions include non-human [[site]]s, multi-tile trees, retireable fortresses, claimable non-player fortresses and a great variety of plants and additional animal people.
* The [[tavern]] release ([[DF2014:Release_information/0.42.01|0.42.01]]): added taverns and [[visitor]]s to the game. Other notable additions include fortress [[temple]]s, [[library|libraries]] (with [[scholar]]s complete with a [[knowledge]] system), a [[paper]] industry, art forms (music, dance and writing) and non-dwarven citizens.
* The [[artifact]] release ([[DF2014:Release_information/0.44.01|0.44.01]]): added non-player artifacts to the game. Other notable additions include the ability to send [[squad]]s of dwarves off the map (on [[mission]]s to raid sites, rescue citizens, retrive artifacts, explore ruins and so on), secret [[agent]]s, non-player [[quester]]s and improved [[kobold]] sites.
* The [[villain]]s release (first part) ([[DF2014:Release_information/0.47.01|0.47.01]]): added villains to the game, giving them goals and the ability to subvert other people into various corruption activities such as embezzlement, sabotage, kidnapping or assassination. Other notable additions included improved relationships (divorce and remarriage, children outside marriage, different kinds of friendships), improved religions (featuring prophets and monastic orders), trade companies, craft guilds, new sites (monasteries, bandit forts and the return of castles) as well as several new [[night creature]]s. This release was cut short, leaving out most of the [[cv:fortress mode|fortress mode]] and [[cv:adventure mode|adventure mode]] villainy, to hasten the Premium release.
* The Premium release (or the Steam release) ([[Release_information/50.01|50.01]]): the first commercial release of ''Dwarf Fortress''. also known as ''Dwarf Fortress Premium''. As the primary commercial platform is [https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/ Steam], it is also known as the Steam release, though it is also available on [https://kitfoxgames.itch.io/dwarf-fortress itch.io]. It included a complete overhaul of UI and graphics, bug fixes, as well as an official pixel-art [[graphics set]]. A concurrent free version is still available as ''Dwarf Fortress Classic'' (Available on 12/22/22 since version 50.04 at [https://bay12games.com/dwarves/ Bay 12 Games]), which has feature parity but not the official graphics set.
* The adventure release ([[Release_information/51.01|51.01]]): Re-enables [[Adventurer mode]] with a new interface and additional graphics. Added [[:Category:Myth|mythical]] features such as [[chosen]] adventurers and [[mysterious dungeon]]s.
* The initial Lua scripting release ([[Release_information/52.01|52.01]]): Exposed previously hard-coded "procedural object generation, like the forgotten beasts, divine curses (vampires and werebeasts), divine items, necromancers and their lieutenants and experiments, evil weather, and so forth."
* The first siege release ([[Release_information/53.01|53.01]]): An improvement of [[siege]]s, with a focus on more intelligent invader tactics, balanced [[trap]]s, and updated [[siege engine]]s. [https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/530964346754301996][https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/528732929177683220][https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/536616130148565319][https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/975370/view/530987265859522075]

== Old arcs ==
''Dwarf Fortress'' development has moved away from the old large arc based strategy. The old [[Consolidated Development]] page lists 21 "short-term arcs" and 15 "long-term arcs". Not all arcs would have taken take the same length of time to complete. Each arc also encompassed certain cores, requirements, bloats, and power goals.

Here are a few notable ones:
*[[Army arc]]: possibly the biggest endeavor out of all the current arcs, it was never fully completed. Version 0.31.01 introduced many army arc features.
*[[Caravan arc]]: another famous arc, focusing on fleshing out the caravans (Status unknown as of v0.47.05, may have been completed.)
*[[County arc]]
*[[Life cycle arc]]
*[[Presentation arc]]

[[Category:Arcs| ]]
[[Category:Game development]]
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[[ru:Development arc]]

List of Dwarf Fortress developer interviews

2026-09-02T20:40:52Z

Ziusudra: /* Articles */ combined PC Gamer articles from same day

{{DISPLAYTITLE:List of ''Dwarf Fortress'' developer interviews}}
As ''Dwarf Fortress'' grows, more and more people are becoming interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of not only the game itself, but the lives and trails of the developers. Many game websites and podcasts have interviewed [[Toady One|Toady]], and provide unique insights into the design and development of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

Toady sometimes attends video game and video game development conventions, for panels related to ''Dwarf Fortress'' or procedural content generation in general.

==Interviews==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_4pd-L_7A Developing Battle Magic in Dwarf Fortress. (Tarn Adams Interview)]
**December 20, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_HIBr6YWaQ The Future of Dwarf Fortress Mod Support (Coder's Workshop)]
**August 5, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Hocmw4xDw Sieges, Crossbows and lots of Dye | Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**July 10, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bViZEpBZnBY Tarn Adams Talks About Sieges, Adventures, Magic, and Beyond | Dwarf Fortress Interview.]
**February 21, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfNcPR9AsM Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Why is Finding Ants Slow? | Coder's Workshop]
**June 24, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziFO-VSQjw Zach and Tarn Talk about Adventures and Magic | Bay12Games Interview]
**March 15, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QJsmWsZMw Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Quality of Life 50.12 | Coder's Workshop]
**February 6, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAAornV0oo Generating Worlds With Putnam | Dwarf Fortress]
**January 31, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805XQvacoSs Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Keyboard Support and UI Filters | Coder's Workshop]
**January 16, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77Oj8UQmsw Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams - The Big Adventure Tease]
**November 10, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66lU280cc7A Tarn Adams plays Dwarf Fortress at Gamescom 2023]
**September 6, 2023
**Indie Arena Booth

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4jwUuvy4E Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams & Putnam Talk - Building Adventures and Debugging Forts]
**July 21, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kanUBppoQpQ Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams Talk - Adventure Mode and Performance]
**April 28, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCehmNwSG4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Post Release and Future updates]
**January 20, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79J3X8ulER0 Dwarf Fortress - Talking with Putnam about what Lurks in the Code..]
**January 15, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9OgqWywZx4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Workshop Support and Release Date (November 2022)]
**November 10, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB93hOcsPI Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - New player Tutorialization (July 2022)]
**July 15, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgKy473SJC8 Tarn and Zach Interview - Kitfox Festival]
**April 16, 2022
**Kitfox Games

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-q1KNvSuTA Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - The Road to Release on Steam (March 2022)]
**March 4, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://youtu.be/_vVmIJoaiig Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk - Steam Embark Screen, World Map, Military and Tutorials (Nov 2021)]
**November 18, 2021
**BlindiRL

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/07/28/700000-lines-of-code-20-years-and-one-developer-how-dwarf-fortress-is-built/ 700,000 lines of code, 20 years, and one developer: How Dwarf Fortress is built]
**July 28, 2021
**Stack Overflow

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5c81GNBaA4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, Steam UI Design, Boats, Magic and team cow manure! (July 2021)]
**July 16, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKwnEJ5RD4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, How finished is the Steam Ver? Classic Update and Magic (Feb 2021)]
**February 12, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgjVRqy5IA The Design of Dwarf Fortress | Tarn Adams Interview]
**December 4, 2020
**Game Wisdom

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FRm78L3kc Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam edition and Dwarven Psychology (October 2020)]
**October 1, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsv9JQ3X5w Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam, Kobolds, Oregon trail and Design. (June 2020)]
**June 12, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhHkJQ3KgY Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins]
**June 9, 2020 (but filmed during the previous GDC, March 2019)
**Noclip
**Includes footage from [https://www.youtube.com/user/kruggsmash Kruggsmash's] videos.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/q-a-dissecting-the-development-of-i-dwarf-fortress-i-with-creator-tarn-adams Q&A: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams]
**June 3, 2019
**Gamasutra (now Game Developer)

*[http://www.indiehangover.com/interview-tarn-adams-of-bay-12-games/ Interview: Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games]
**May 3, 2019
**IndieHangover

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-gamer-show-gdc-special-dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams/ The PC Gamer Show GDC special: Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams]
**March 22, 2018
**PC Gamer

*[https://yalepaprika.com/articles/interview-with-tarn-adams/ Interview With Tarn Adams]
**February 28, 2019
**Paprika!

*[https://soundcloud.com/thisexists/the-creator-of-the-most/ This Exists: The Creator of the Most Complex Video Game Ever]
**December 19, 2016
**This Exists

*[https://youtu.be/yDPb0jqRr3o Long-term Simulation Design in Dwarf Fortress]
**November 12, 2016
**NYU Game Center, PRACTICE 2016

*[http://thestonedgamer.com/interviews/item/863-simulate-your-very-own-fantasy-universe-looking-at-a-decade-of-dwarf-fortress/ Simulate your very own fantasy universe: Looking at a decade of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 26, 2016
**The Stoned Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-on-how-hes-42-towards-simulating-existence/ Dwarf Fortress' creator on how he's 42% towards simulating existence]
**March 31, 2016
**Interview by Wes Fenlon, during GDC 2016.

*[http://www.pcinvasion.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-with-tarn-toady-adams Dwarf Fortress Interview with Tarn ‘Toady’ Adams]
**March 4, 2015
**PC Invasion

*[http://iimu.kapsi.fi/limunropellukset/archives/2914 Interview With Tarn & Zach Adams!]
**October 22, 2014
**The beginning part is Finnish, and the interview is English.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBIjyZl9AU Интервью с Тоади (Тарном Адамсом)]
**Aug 30, 2014
**English with Russian subtitles.

*[http://www.uusisuomi.fi/raha/70983-hammentavan-kulttihitin-uusi-versio-miksi-loit-dwarf-fortressin-tarn-adams Hämmentävän kulttihitin uusi versio – Miksi loit Dwarf Fortressin, Tarn Adams?]
**July 31, 2014
**In Finnish.

*[https://www.themittani.com/features/dwarf-fortress-2014-interview-tarn-adams Dwarf Fortress 2014 Interview with Tarn Adams]
**July 6, 2014
**Capntastic

*[http://newbquest.com/2014/06/newbquest-ep-3-tarn-adams-game-designer-and-developer-of-dwarf-fortress/ NewbQuest Ep.3: Tarn Adams, Game Designer and Developer of Dwarf Fortress]
**June 5, 2014
**NewbQuest

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9g1XMr2TTA UMN VGDC Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 30, 2013
**Skype interview with the University of Minnesota Video Game Development Club.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXGmjLz1lk Let's Interview: Tarn Adams- Dwarf Fortress!]
**May 9, 2013
**Interview by MrSavaGhost.

*[http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/the-minds-behind-dwarf-fortress/2300-7340/ The Minds Behind Dwarf Fortress]
**May 8, 2013
**Interview by GiantBomb during EVE Fanfest 2013.

*[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_adams_of_bay_12_games_cocreator_of_dwarf/ I'm Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games, co-creator of Dwarf Fortress. AMA!]
**March 23, 2013
**Reddit AMA.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ZwVuGB_PI Interview with Tarn Adams]
**Dec 13, 2012
**Interview by Penn State Physics Club.

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/09/dwarf-fortress-developer-interview/ Dwarf Fortress developer interview]
**August 9, 2011 - PC Gamer
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=90749.0 the forums])
**Short

*[http://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/an-interview-with-tarn-adams/ An Interview with Tarn Adams]
**December 22, 2010 by Elijah Meeks
**1 Youtube video, 1 screenshot, 1 fancomic image (Bronzemurder)

*[http://www.nullpointer.co.uk/content/interview-dwarf-fortress/ Nullpointer Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Tom Betts
**The blog seems to focus on game design. The interviewer is doing a PHD on "The Sublime in Digital Games", and is a head coder at Big Robot.
**Images
*[http://inkthirsty.com/blg/?p=145 The Adams Brothers Stop By For A Talk] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_1.mp3 '''(Part 1 Direct Link)'''] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_2.mp3 '''(Part 2 Direct Link)''']
**Recorded by Richard Hofmeier for an article in PORK Magazine - February 2011
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=100319.0 the forums])
**1 hour 45 minutes long

*[http://darkdiamond.net/features/dark-diamond-interview-tarn-adams-technical-issues-editiondraft/ DarkDiamond 60 minutes interview]
**April 15, 2009 - By Raphael 'Dasuraga' Gaschignard
**Podcast link seems broken
**Short

*[http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2008/05/interview/rppr-interview-with-tarn-adams-creator-of-dwarf-fortress/ Roleplaying Public Radio Audio Interview]
**First comment is at May 20, 2008 - by Ross Payton
**Links to synopsis of interview and a link to the podcast.
**Approximately 1 hr 30 min

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/interview-the-making-of-dwarf-fortress Game Developer: The Making of Dwarf Fortress]
**February 27, 2008 - by John Harris
**Ten pages long!

*[http://www.frontrowcrew.com/episodes/2008/01/15/dwarf-fortress/ GeekNights interview] - Talk radio interview
**January 15, 2008 - Rym and Scott
**Download link for mp3

*[http://www.bay12games.com/media/mspa_forum_call.mp3 Languidiir/A Madman interview]
**4 hours long

*[http://w2.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/comp_game_designers.article Game conference speech: "The Wonderful Power of Storytelling"]
**Cannot find date - by Bruce Sterling
**Plain text

==Articles==
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-the-industrys-in-shambles-over-ai-and-layoff-happy-ceos-everyone-i-know-their-bosses-are-slowly-getting-psychosis/ Dwarf Fortress creator says the industry's in shambles over AI and layoff-happy CEOs: 'Everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis']
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-can-learn-something-from-simply-walling-up-dwarf-nobles-to-maintain-an-equal-society-but-notes-you-have-to-abolish-the-dwarf-cops-too-another-lesson-to-be-had-there/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we can learn something from simply walling up dwarf nobles to maintain an equal society—but notes you have to abolish the dwarf cops, too: 'Another lesson to be had there']
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-have-a-natural-lean-towards-human-made-stories-but-but-were-all-going-to-be-very-sorely-tested-in-the-coming-years-by-ai/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we have a natural lean towards human-made stories, 'but we're all going to be very sorely tested in the coming years' by AI]
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-crap-its-happening-dwarf-fortress-gets-its-first-myth-and-magic-update-later-this-year-bringing-each-players-world-its-own-procedural-magic-system/ Holy crap, it's happening: Dwarf Fortress gets its first Myth and Magic update later this year, bringing each player's world its own procedural magic system]
**August 27, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-has-now-racked-up-600000-copies-sold-on-steam/ Dwarf Fortress has now racked up 600,000 copies sold on Steam]
**March 22, 2023
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-how-dwarf-fortress-reinvented-itself-after-20-years Slow and steady wins the race: How Dwarf Fortress reinvented itself after 20 years]
**January 26, 2023
**GamesIndustry.biz

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spending-20-years-simulating-reality-the-dwarf-fortress-devs-have-to-get-used-to-a-new-one-being-millionaires/ After spending 20 years simulating reality, the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to a new one: being millionaires]
**December 12, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tons-of-game-developers-are-praising-dwarf-fortress-today-in-celebration-of-its-steam-launch/ Tons of game developers praise Dwarf Fortress in celebration of its Steam launch]
**December 6, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/take-a-good-long-look-at-how-accessible-dwarf-fortress-steam-edition-will-be/ Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition threatens to make it playable for just about anyone]
**Septemper 5, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/meanwhile-in-dwarf-fortress-players-build-computers-powered-by-vampires/ Meanwhile, in Dwarf Fortress, players build computers powered by vampires]
**April 5, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortresss-next-big-update-will-let-you-play-its-adventure-mode-with-a-proper-rpg-party/ Dwarf Fortress's next big update will let you play its adventure mode with a proper RPG party]
**April 3, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tutorials-and-mouse-support-could-make-dwarf-fortress-on-steam-vastly-easier-to-play/ Tutorials and mouse support could make Dwarf Fortress on Steam vastly easier to play]
**April 2, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-steam-its-creators-will-give-the-money-away-as-fast-as-possible/ If Dwarf Fortress sells millions on Steam, its creators will give the money away 'as fast as possible']
**March 27, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-13-why-dwarf-fortress-started-killing-cats Why Dwarf Fortress started killing cats]
**April 13, 2017
**Eurogamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/why-the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-is-really-excited-about-boats/ Why the creator of Dwarf Fortress is really excited about boats]
**March 21, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/ The creator of Dwarf Fortress doesn't really like to play games like Dwarf Fortress]
**March 19, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams-talks-about-simulating-the-most-complex-magic-system-ever/ Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams talks about simulating the most complex magic system ever]
**March 16, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/enormous-dwarf-2610456/ How Two Brothers From Silverdale Made The World’s Most Complex Video Game]
**June 8, 2016
**Seattle Weekly

*[http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/23/5926447/dwarf-fortress-will-crush-your-cpu-because-creating-history-is-hard Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard]
**July 23, 2014
**Polygon.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/dwarf-fortress-in-2013 Dwarf Fortress in 2013]
**July 2, 2013
**Game Developer

*[http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/kitsap-creators-of-dwarf-fortress-make-losing-fun-ep-416474315-356182101.html Kitsap creators of Dwarf Fortress make losing fun]
**April 06, 2013
**Kitsap Sun

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/how-seven-drunks-opened-a-portal-to-hell/ Dwarf Fortress diary: How seven drunks opened a portal to Hell]
**August 9, 2011
**Has pictures!

*[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?_r=3&ref=technology&pagewanted=all Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?]
**July 24, 2011

*[http://gamingclasshero.blogspot.ca/2011/10/dwarf-fortress.html Gaming Class Hero: Dwarf Fortress]
**October 11, 2011
**A review / introduction to the game. Mentions the more well-known community forts and links to several DF resources.

==Podcasts==
*'''[[Dwarf Fortress Talk]], the official ''Dwarf Fortress'' podcast'''
** August 6, 2009 - February 4, 2021 by Toady One, Rainseeker and Capntastic
** 28 podcasts with [http://bay12games.com/media/df_talk_combined_transcript.html transcripts]

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-and-caves-of-qud-roundtable-the-masters-of-simulation-talk-roguelikes-ai-and-making-the-infinite-compelling Dwarf Fortress & Caves of Qud roundtable: The masters of simulation talk roguelikes, AI and making the infinite compelling]
**April 26, 2023
**PC Gamer
**Also features the developers of ''Caves of Qud''

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/09/21/podcast-377-you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/ Stack Overflow Podcast Episode 377: You don’t need a math PhD to play Dwarf Fortress, just to code it]
**September 21, 2021
**Stack Overflow Podcast
**Has a [https://the-stack-overflow-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/transcript transcript]

*[https://literate-gamer.zencast.website/episodes/172 Dwarf Fortress Looms (Villains and Steam Release)]
**March 12, 2020
**Literate Gamer

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/12/ep-21-in-which-toady-one-and-threetoe-talk-about-the-upcoming-release/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 21: In which Toady One and ThreeToe talk about the upcoming release]
**January 12, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The second part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the (future) development of ''Dwarf Fortress'', and the upcoming villains release.

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/01/ep-20in-which-the-adams-brothers-join-us-to-talk-about-some-game-they-are-making/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 20: In Which The Adams Brothers Join Us to Talk About Some Game They Are Making]
**January 1, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The first part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the history of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*[https://kakebytes.com/2019/05/02/ep-25-dwarf-fortress-toady-one-returns/ Kakebytes Episode 25 - Dwarf Fortress: Toady One Returns]
**May 2, 2019
**Kakebytes

*[https://kakebytes.com/2018/08/22/episode-16-dwarf-fortress/#more-517 Kakebytes Episode 16 - Dwarf Fortress]
**August 22, 2018
**Kakebytes

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrXFOjdzRk The most Complex RPG around? Feat. Tarn Adams Of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 14, 2018
**Crit Hit

*[http://literategamer.com/post/158150263534/dwarf-fortress-tarn-adams Literate Gamer Episode 30]
** Mar 8, 2017
** Literate Gamer

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2016/04/episode-121-simulation.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 121: Simulation]
**April 30, 2016
**This is episode 121 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson, Darren Grey, [[Tarn Adams]] and Sami Maaranen discuss Simulation in Roguelikes.

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/overpowered-webs Red Pages Podcast, Episode 70: Overpowered Webs]
**March 5, 2016
**Special Guest Tarn Adams returns to the Red Pages Podcast to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus Star Wars, House of Cards, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Disgaea, King's Field, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy III.

*[http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/22/dwarf-fortress-with-tarn-adams/ Dwarf Fortress with Tarn Adams]
**October 22, 2015
**Software Engineering Daily interview

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/chatting-with-tarn-adams Extrasode 2: Chatting with Tarn Adams]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/throw-the-vampire-down Episode 19: Throw the Vampire Down the Well So My Fortress Can Be Free]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast
**Special Guest Tarn Adams mines right into the Red Pages studio to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus True Detective, Two5Six, The Economic History of Medieval Europe, Tomb Raider, Colossal Cave Adventure and Designasaurus II.

*[https://killscreen.com/articles/road-two5six-tarn-and-zach-adams/ Road to TWO5SIX: Tarn and Zach Adams]
**April 29, 2014
**Written in preparation for Toady's (then) upcoming appearance at TWO5SIX in Brooklyn.

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-49-interview-with-tarn-adams.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 49: Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 23, 2012
**Roguelike Radio

==Panels and presentations==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo&list=PLAcQJt6sSXKAk1b7GEo4TX3xMO_oBKvL6&index=1 Let's Learn Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition - EP1]
**Alexandra of Kitfox Games playing a preview of Premium with Tarn and Zach commentating.
**November 10, 2022
**Originally live streamed on Twitch.tv

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-FCtGdwMI Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition Demo with Tarn and Zach Adams - PAX West 2022 panel]
**Septemper 14, 2022
**PAX West 2022

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbt0PxRvpk UCSC CMPM 147 Generative Design, Tarn Adams Guest Talk November 2019]
**November 19, 2019
**UCSC Generative Design

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_dHPtC2wg Dwarf Fortress Live - PAX West 2019]
**September 3, 2019
**PAX West 2019

*[https://player.twitch.tv/?video=475872864&t=02h System Design, On Fire, All the Time: Controlling Chaos - PAX West 2019]
**September 2, 2019
**PAX West 2019
**Toady and three other indie developers discuss system design.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONW-EPwEwfY&feature=youtu.be&t=16814 InterPlanetary Festival 2019 Games Panel]
**June 15, 2019
**InterPlanetary Festival 2019

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-7TtPX5uhg Tarn Adams - Villains in Dwarf Fortress]
**October 10, 2018
**Roguelike Celebration
**Toady talks about villains and their network systems

*[https://youtu.be/t2LEr7Etf9s?t=42m9s Secret Identities in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**October 6, 2017
**Experimental AI in Games 2017
**Toady talks about an upcoming update.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67Xb4tgVv8&t=8m20s Emergent Narrative in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**September 16, 2017
**Progression Mechanics 2017

*[http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024146/PCG-Shotgun-6-Techniques-for PCG Shotgun: 6 Techniques for Leveraging AI in Content Generation]
**February 28, 2017
**GDC 2017
**Procedural content generation has garnered more attention in recent years, both in indie games and AAA titles. Unfortunately, there is no "one algorithm to rule them all". PCG techniques are necessarily as wide and varied as their potential implementations. Using examples from the speakers' own work, this lecture presents 6 practical ways to implement AI-driven procedural content generation in games.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRsScwdPcE Dwarf Fortress Design Inspirations]
**September 17, 2016
**Roguelike Celebration
**Zach and Tarn Adams talk about ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*Dwarf Fortress (the first decade!)
**September 11, 2016
**Busan Indie Connect 2016
**The co-creator of Dwarf Fortress will talk about the game's development. Included will be the history of Dwarf Fortress, a discussion of the online community, keeping the game freely available for ten years, as well as map generation and other mechanics

*Procedural Generation Analysis
**September 9, 2016
**PAX Dev 2016
**Tyler Coleman, Tarn Adams, Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Tyriq Plummer, and Zach Aikman

*[https://vimeo.com/171824119 The Dwarfmoot Experience]
**June 11, 2016
**Dwarfmoot 2016
**Richard Garfield, Bioware, Tarn & Zach Adams

*[http://gdcvault.com/play/1023372/Prac Practices in Procedural Generation]
**March 14, 2016
**GDC 2016
**Procedural generation changes the design approach of every system it touches, offering infinite variation. But how is it used in a concrete way, for developers actually at work on their game? Designers from Dwarf Fortress and Moon Hunters will share their tools and methods for implementing procedurally generated experiences, by live-editing their game systems during this session.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pc8li4fuQ Designing a Procedurally Generated Game]
**August 29th, 2015
**PAX Prime 2015
**Indie game devs discuss design problems and joys of procedural generation. Hosted by Tanya X. Short (Kitfox Games - Moon Hunters). Panelists: Kepa Auwae (Rocketcat Games - Death Road to Canada), Tyler Sigman (Red Hook Studios - Darkest Dungeon), [[Tarn Adams]] ([[Bay 12 Games]] - [[Dwarf Fortress]]), Ryan Clark (Brace Yourself Games - Crypt of the NecroDancer). At PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ78m-Kq1dM Games as Art - EVE at the MoMA]
**May 10, 2013
**EVE Fanfest 2013
**EVE was added, along with 13 other games, into the New York Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and displayed in an exhibition titled "Applied Design". Paola Antonelli, senior curator at the MoMA was joined by Adam Saltsman, designer of Cananbalt and Tarn Adams, co-creator of the cult classic Dwarf Fortress, both of which have their games featured alongside EVE at the MoMA. The Presentations was followed by a panel on the topic moderated by Goddur, professor of design at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts.

== See Also ==
* [[Future of the Fortress]] Q&A with Toady
* [[Dwarf Fortress Talk]] podcast
* [[Reception of Dwarf Fortress|Reception of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]
* [[Legacy of Dwarf Fortress|Legacy of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]

[[Category: Game development]]
[[Category:Community]]

List of Dwarf Fortress developer interviews

2026-09-02T20:17:09Z

Ziusudra: /* Interviews */ added Gamescom 2023

{{DISPLAYTITLE:List of ''Dwarf Fortress'' developer interviews}}
As ''Dwarf Fortress'' grows, more and more people are becoming interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of not only the game itself, but the lives and trails of the developers. Many game websites and podcasts have interviewed [[Toady One|Toady]], and provide unique insights into the design and development of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

Toady sometimes attends video game and video game development conventions, for panels related to ''Dwarf Fortress'' or procedural content generation in general.

==Interviews==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_4pd-L_7A Developing Battle Magic in Dwarf Fortress. (Tarn Adams Interview)]
**December 20, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_HIBr6YWaQ The Future of Dwarf Fortress Mod Support (Coder's Workshop)]
**August 5, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Hocmw4xDw Sieges, Crossbows and lots of Dye | Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**July 10, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bViZEpBZnBY Tarn Adams Talks About Sieges, Adventures, Magic, and Beyond | Dwarf Fortress Interview.]
**February 21, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfNcPR9AsM Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Why is Finding Ants Slow? | Coder's Workshop]
**June 24, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziFO-VSQjw Zach and Tarn Talk about Adventures and Magic | Bay12Games Interview]
**March 15, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QJsmWsZMw Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Quality of Life 50.12 | Coder's Workshop]
**February 6, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAAornV0oo Generating Worlds With Putnam | Dwarf Fortress]
**January 31, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805XQvacoSs Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Keyboard Support and UI Filters | Coder's Workshop]
**January 16, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77Oj8UQmsw Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams - The Big Adventure Tease]
**November 10, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66lU280cc7A Tarn Adams plays Dwarf Fortress at Gamescom 2023]
**September 6, 2023
**Indie Arena Booth

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4jwUuvy4E Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams & Putnam Talk - Building Adventures and Debugging Forts]
**July 21, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kanUBppoQpQ Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams Talk - Adventure Mode and Performance]
**April 28, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCehmNwSG4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Post Release and Future updates]
**January 20, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79J3X8ulER0 Dwarf Fortress - Talking with Putnam about what Lurks in the Code..]
**January 15, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9OgqWywZx4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Workshop Support and Release Date (November 2022)]
**November 10, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB93hOcsPI Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - New player Tutorialization (July 2022)]
**July 15, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgKy473SJC8 Tarn and Zach Interview - Kitfox Festival]
**April 16, 2022
**Kitfox Games

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-q1KNvSuTA Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - The Road to Release on Steam (March 2022)]
**March 4, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://youtu.be/_vVmIJoaiig Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk - Steam Embark Screen, World Map, Military and Tutorials (Nov 2021)]
**November 18, 2021
**BlindiRL

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/07/28/700000-lines-of-code-20-years-and-one-developer-how-dwarf-fortress-is-built/ 700,000 lines of code, 20 years, and one developer: How Dwarf Fortress is built]
**July 28, 2021
**Stack Overflow

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5c81GNBaA4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, Steam UI Design, Boats, Magic and team cow manure! (July 2021)]
**July 16, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKwnEJ5RD4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, How finished is the Steam Ver? Classic Update and Magic (Feb 2021)]
**February 12, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgjVRqy5IA The Design of Dwarf Fortress | Tarn Adams Interview]
**December 4, 2020
**Game Wisdom

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FRm78L3kc Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam edition and Dwarven Psychology (October 2020)]
**October 1, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsv9JQ3X5w Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam, Kobolds, Oregon trail and Design. (June 2020)]
**June 12, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhHkJQ3KgY Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins]
**June 9, 2020 (but filmed during the previous GDC, March 2019)
**Noclip
**Includes footage from [https://www.youtube.com/user/kruggsmash Kruggsmash's] videos.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/q-a-dissecting-the-development-of-i-dwarf-fortress-i-with-creator-tarn-adams Q&A: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams]
**June 3, 2019
**Gamasutra (now Game Developer)

*[http://www.indiehangover.com/interview-tarn-adams-of-bay-12-games/ Interview: Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games]
**May 3, 2019
**IndieHangover

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-gamer-show-gdc-special-dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams/ The PC Gamer Show GDC special: Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams]
**March 22, 2018
**PC Gamer

*[https://yalepaprika.com/articles/interview-with-tarn-adams/ Interview With Tarn Adams]
**February 28, 2019
**Paprika!

*[https://soundcloud.com/thisexists/the-creator-of-the-most/ This Exists: The Creator of the Most Complex Video Game Ever]
**December 19, 2016
**This Exists

*[https://youtu.be/yDPb0jqRr3o Long-term Simulation Design in Dwarf Fortress]
**November 12, 2016
**NYU Game Center, PRACTICE 2016

*[http://thestonedgamer.com/interviews/item/863-simulate-your-very-own-fantasy-universe-looking-at-a-decade-of-dwarf-fortress/ Simulate your very own fantasy universe: Looking at a decade of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 26, 2016
**The Stoned Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-on-how-hes-42-towards-simulating-existence/ Dwarf Fortress' creator on how he's 42% towards simulating existence]
**March 31, 2016
**Interview by Wes Fenlon, during GDC 2016.

*[http://www.pcinvasion.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-with-tarn-toady-adams Dwarf Fortress Interview with Tarn ‘Toady’ Adams]
**March 4, 2015
**PC Invasion

*[http://iimu.kapsi.fi/limunropellukset/archives/2914 Interview With Tarn & Zach Adams!]
**October 22, 2014
**The beginning part is Finnish, and the interview is English.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBIjyZl9AU Интервью с Тоади (Тарном Адамсом)]
**Aug 30, 2014
**English with Russian subtitles.

*[http://www.uusisuomi.fi/raha/70983-hammentavan-kulttihitin-uusi-versio-miksi-loit-dwarf-fortressin-tarn-adams Hämmentävän kulttihitin uusi versio – Miksi loit Dwarf Fortressin, Tarn Adams?]
**July 31, 2014
**In Finnish.

*[https://www.themittani.com/features/dwarf-fortress-2014-interview-tarn-adams Dwarf Fortress 2014 Interview with Tarn Adams]
**July 6, 2014
**Capntastic

*[http://newbquest.com/2014/06/newbquest-ep-3-tarn-adams-game-designer-and-developer-of-dwarf-fortress/ NewbQuest Ep.3: Tarn Adams, Game Designer and Developer of Dwarf Fortress]
**June 5, 2014
**NewbQuest

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9g1XMr2TTA UMN VGDC Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 30, 2013
**Skype interview with the University of Minnesota Video Game Development Club.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXGmjLz1lk Let's Interview: Tarn Adams- Dwarf Fortress!]
**May 9, 2013
**Interview by MrSavaGhost.

*[http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/the-minds-behind-dwarf-fortress/2300-7340/ The Minds Behind Dwarf Fortress]
**May 8, 2013
**Interview by GiantBomb during EVE Fanfest 2013.

*[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_adams_of_bay_12_games_cocreator_of_dwarf/ I'm Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games, co-creator of Dwarf Fortress. AMA!]
**March 23, 2013
**Reddit AMA.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ZwVuGB_PI Interview with Tarn Adams]
**Dec 13, 2012
**Interview by Penn State Physics Club.

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/09/dwarf-fortress-developer-interview/ Dwarf Fortress developer interview]
**August 9, 2011 - PC Gamer
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=90749.0 the forums])
**Short

*[http://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/an-interview-with-tarn-adams/ An Interview with Tarn Adams]
**December 22, 2010 by Elijah Meeks
**1 Youtube video, 1 screenshot, 1 fancomic image (Bronzemurder)

*[http://www.nullpointer.co.uk/content/interview-dwarf-fortress/ Nullpointer Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Tom Betts
**The blog seems to focus on game design. The interviewer is doing a PHD on "The Sublime in Digital Games", and is a head coder at Big Robot.
**Images
*[http://inkthirsty.com/blg/?p=145 The Adams Brothers Stop By For A Talk] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_1.mp3 '''(Part 1 Direct Link)'''] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_2.mp3 '''(Part 2 Direct Link)''']
**Recorded by Richard Hofmeier for an article in PORK Magazine - February 2011
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=100319.0 the forums])
**1 hour 45 minutes long

*[http://darkdiamond.net/features/dark-diamond-interview-tarn-adams-technical-issues-editiondraft/ DarkDiamond 60 minutes interview]
**April 15, 2009 - By Raphael 'Dasuraga' Gaschignard
**Podcast link seems broken
**Short

*[http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2008/05/interview/rppr-interview-with-tarn-adams-creator-of-dwarf-fortress/ Roleplaying Public Radio Audio Interview]
**First comment is at May 20, 2008 - by Ross Payton
**Links to synopsis of interview and a link to the podcast.
**Approximately 1 hr 30 min

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/interview-the-making-of-dwarf-fortress Game Developer: The Making of Dwarf Fortress]
**February 27, 2008 - by John Harris
**Ten pages long!

*[http://www.frontrowcrew.com/episodes/2008/01/15/dwarf-fortress/ GeekNights interview] - Talk radio interview
**January 15, 2008 - Rym and Scott
**Download link for mp3

*[http://www.bay12games.com/media/mspa_forum_call.mp3 Languidiir/A Madman interview]
**4 hours long

*[http://w2.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/comp_game_designers.article Game conference speech: "The Wonderful Power of Storytelling"]
**Cannot find date - by Bruce Sterling
**Plain text

==Articles==
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-the-industrys-in-shambles-over-ai-and-layoff-happy-ceos-everyone-i-know-their-bosses-are-slowly-getting-psychosis/ Dwarf Fortress creator says the industry's in shambles over AI and layoff-happy CEOs: 'Everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis']
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-have-a-natural-lean-towards-human-made-stories-but-but-were-all-going-to-be-very-sorely-tested-in-the-coming-years-by-ai/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we have a natural lean towards human-made stories, 'but we're all going to be very sorely tested in the coming years' by AI]
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-can-learn-something-from-simply-walling-up-dwarf-nobles-to-maintain-an-equal-society-but-notes-you-have-to-abolish-the-dwarf-cops-too-another-lesson-to-be-had-there/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we can learn something from simply walling up dwarf nobles to maintain an equal society—but notes you have to abolish the dwarf cops, too: 'Another lesson to be had there']
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-crap-its-happening-dwarf-fortress-gets-its-first-myth-and-magic-update-later-this-year-bringing-each-players-world-its-own-procedural-magic-system/ Holy crap, it's happening: Dwarf Fortress gets its first Myth and Magic update later this year, bringing each player's world its own procedural magic system]
**August 27, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-has-now-racked-up-600000-copies-sold-on-steam/ Dwarf Fortress has now racked up 600,000 copies sold on Steam]
**March 22, 2023
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-how-dwarf-fortress-reinvented-itself-after-20-years Slow and steady wins the race: How Dwarf Fortress reinvented itself after 20 years]
**January 26, 2023
**GamesIndustry.biz

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spending-20-years-simulating-reality-the-dwarf-fortress-devs-have-to-get-used-to-a-new-one-being-millionaires/ After spending 20 years simulating reality, the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to a new one: being millionaires]
**December 12, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tons-of-game-developers-are-praising-dwarf-fortress-today-in-celebration-of-its-steam-launch/ Tons of game developers praise Dwarf Fortress in celebration of its Steam launch]
**December 6, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/take-a-good-long-look-at-how-accessible-dwarf-fortress-steam-edition-will-be/ Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition threatens to make it playable for just about anyone]
**Septemper 5, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/meanwhile-in-dwarf-fortress-players-build-computers-powered-by-vampires/ Meanwhile, in Dwarf Fortress, players build computers powered by vampires]
**April 5, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortresss-next-big-update-will-let-you-play-its-adventure-mode-with-a-proper-rpg-party/ Dwarf Fortress's next big update will let you play its adventure mode with a proper RPG party]
**April 3, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tutorials-and-mouse-support-could-make-dwarf-fortress-on-steam-vastly-easier-to-play/ Tutorials and mouse support could make Dwarf Fortress on Steam vastly easier to play]
**April 2, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-steam-its-creators-will-give-the-money-away-as-fast-as-possible/ If Dwarf Fortress sells millions on Steam, its creators will give the money away 'as fast as possible']
**March 27, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-13-why-dwarf-fortress-started-killing-cats Why Dwarf Fortress started killing cats]
**April 13, 2017
**Eurogamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/why-the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-is-really-excited-about-boats/ Why the creator of Dwarf Fortress is really excited about boats]
**March 21, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/ The creator of Dwarf Fortress doesn't really like to play games like Dwarf Fortress]
**March 19, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams-talks-about-simulating-the-most-complex-magic-system-ever/ Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams talks about simulating the most complex magic system ever]
**March 16, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/enormous-dwarf-2610456/ How Two Brothers From Silverdale Made The World’s Most Complex Video Game]
**June 8, 2016
**Seattle Weekly

*[http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/23/5926447/dwarf-fortress-will-crush-your-cpu-because-creating-history-is-hard Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard]
**July 23, 2014
**Polygon.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/dwarf-fortress-in-2013 Dwarf Fortress in 2013]
**July 2, 2013
**Game Developer

*[http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/kitsap-creators-of-dwarf-fortress-make-losing-fun-ep-416474315-356182101.html Kitsap creators of Dwarf Fortress make losing fun]
**April 06, 2013
**Kitsap Sun

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/how-seven-drunks-opened-a-portal-to-hell/ Dwarf Fortress diary: How seven drunks opened a portal to Hell]
**August 9, 2011
**Has pictures!

*[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?_r=3&ref=technology&pagewanted=all Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?]
**July 24, 2011

*[http://gamingclasshero.blogspot.ca/2011/10/dwarf-fortress.html Gaming Class Hero: Dwarf Fortress]
**October 11, 2011
**A review / introduction to the game. Mentions the more well-known community forts and links to several DF resources.

==Podcasts==
*'''[[Dwarf Fortress Talk]], the official ''Dwarf Fortress'' podcast'''
** August 6, 2009 - February 4, 2021 by Toady One, Rainseeker and Capntastic
** 28 podcasts with [http://bay12games.com/media/df_talk_combined_transcript.html transcripts]

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-and-caves-of-qud-roundtable-the-masters-of-simulation-talk-roguelikes-ai-and-making-the-infinite-compelling Dwarf Fortress & Caves of Qud roundtable: The masters of simulation talk roguelikes, AI and making the infinite compelling]
**April 26, 2023
**PC Gamer
**Also features the developers of ''Caves of Qud''

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/09/21/podcast-377-you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/ Stack Overflow Podcast Episode 377: You don’t need a math PhD to play Dwarf Fortress, just to code it]
**September 21, 2021
**Stack Overflow Podcast
**Has a [https://the-stack-overflow-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/transcript transcript]

*[https://literate-gamer.zencast.website/episodes/172 Dwarf Fortress Looms (Villains and Steam Release)]
**March 12, 2020
**Literate Gamer

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/12/ep-21-in-which-toady-one-and-threetoe-talk-about-the-upcoming-release/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 21: In which Toady One and ThreeToe talk about the upcoming release]
**January 12, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The second part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the (future) development of ''Dwarf Fortress'', and the upcoming villains release.

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/01/ep-20in-which-the-adams-brothers-join-us-to-talk-about-some-game-they-are-making/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 20: In Which The Adams Brothers Join Us to Talk About Some Game They Are Making]
**January 1, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The first part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the history of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*[https://kakebytes.com/2019/05/02/ep-25-dwarf-fortress-toady-one-returns/ Kakebytes Episode 25 - Dwarf Fortress: Toady One Returns]
**May 2, 2019
**Kakebytes

*[https://kakebytes.com/2018/08/22/episode-16-dwarf-fortress/#more-517 Kakebytes Episode 16 - Dwarf Fortress]
**August 22, 2018
**Kakebytes

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrXFOjdzRk The most Complex RPG around? Feat. Tarn Adams Of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 14, 2018
**Crit Hit

*[http://literategamer.com/post/158150263534/dwarf-fortress-tarn-adams Literate Gamer Episode 30]
** Mar 8, 2017
** Literate Gamer

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2016/04/episode-121-simulation.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 121: Simulation]
**April 30, 2016
**This is episode 121 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson, Darren Grey, [[Tarn Adams]] and Sami Maaranen discuss Simulation in Roguelikes.

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/overpowered-webs Red Pages Podcast, Episode 70: Overpowered Webs]
**March 5, 2016
**Special Guest Tarn Adams returns to the Red Pages Podcast to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus Star Wars, House of Cards, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Disgaea, King's Field, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy III.

*[http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/22/dwarf-fortress-with-tarn-adams/ Dwarf Fortress with Tarn Adams]
**October 22, 2015
**Software Engineering Daily interview

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/chatting-with-tarn-adams Extrasode 2: Chatting with Tarn Adams]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/throw-the-vampire-down Episode 19: Throw the Vampire Down the Well So My Fortress Can Be Free]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast
**Special Guest Tarn Adams mines right into the Red Pages studio to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus True Detective, Two5Six, The Economic History of Medieval Europe, Tomb Raider, Colossal Cave Adventure and Designasaurus II.

*[https://killscreen.com/articles/road-two5six-tarn-and-zach-adams/ Road to TWO5SIX: Tarn and Zach Adams]
**April 29, 2014
**Written in preparation for Toady's (then) upcoming appearance at TWO5SIX in Brooklyn.

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-49-interview-with-tarn-adams.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 49: Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 23, 2012
**Roguelike Radio

==Panels and presentations==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo&list=PLAcQJt6sSXKAk1b7GEo4TX3xMO_oBKvL6&index=1 Let's Learn Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition - EP1]
**Alexandra of Kitfox Games playing a preview of Premium with Tarn and Zach commentating.
**November 10, 2022
**Originally live streamed on Twitch.tv

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-FCtGdwMI Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition Demo with Tarn and Zach Adams - PAX West 2022 panel]
**Septemper 14, 2022
**PAX West 2022

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbt0PxRvpk UCSC CMPM 147 Generative Design, Tarn Adams Guest Talk November 2019]
**November 19, 2019
**UCSC Generative Design

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_dHPtC2wg Dwarf Fortress Live - PAX West 2019]
**September 3, 2019
**PAX West 2019

*[https://player.twitch.tv/?video=475872864&t=02h System Design, On Fire, All the Time: Controlling Chaos - PAX West 2019]
**September 2, 2019
**PAX West 2019
**Toady and three other indie developers discuss system design.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONW-EPwEwfY&feature=youtu.be&t=16814 InterPlanetary Festival 2019 Games Panel]
**June 15, 2019
**InterPlanetary Festival 2019

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-7TtPX5uhg Tarn Adams - Villains in Dwarf Fortress]
**October 10, 2018
**Roguelike Celebration
**Toady talks about villains and their network systems

*[https://youtu.be/t2LEr7Etf9s?t=42m9s Secret Identities in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**October 6, 2017
**Experimental AI in Games 2017
**Toady talks about an upcoming update.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67Xb4tgVv8&t=8m20s Emergent Narrative in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**September 16, 2017
**Progression Mechanics 2017

*[http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024146/PCG-Shotgun-6-Techniques-for PCG Shotgun: 6 Techniques for Leveraging AI in Content Generation]
**February 28, 2017
**GDC 2017
**Procedural content generation has garnered more attention in recent years, both in indie games and AAA titles. Unfortunately, there is no "one algorithm to rule them all". PCG techniques are necessarily as wide and varied as their potential implementations. Using examples from the speakers' own work, this lecture presents 6 practical ways to implement AI-driven procedural content generation in games.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRsScwdPcE Dwarf Fortress Design Inspirations]
**September 17, 2016
**Roguelike Celebration
**Zach and Tarn Adams talk about ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*Dwarf Fortress (the first decade!)
**September 11, 2016
**Busan Indie Connect 2016
**The co-creator of Dwarf Fortress will talk about the game's development. Included will be the history of Dwarf Fortress, a discussion of the online community, keeping the game freely available for ten years, as well as map generation and other mechanics

*Procedural Generation Analysis
**September 9, 2016
**PAX Dev 2016
**Tyler Coleman, Tarn Adams, Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Tyriq Plummer, and Zach Aikman

*[https://vimeo.com/171824119 The Dwarfmoot Experience]
**June 11, 2016
**Dwarfmoot 2016
**Richard Garfield, Bioware, Tarn & Zach Adams

*[http://gdcvault.com/play/1023372/Prac Practices in Procedural Generation]
**March 14, 2016
**GDC 2016
**Procedural generation changes the design approach of every system it touches, offering infinite variation. But how is it used in a concrete way, for developers actually at work on their game? Designers from Dwarf Fortress and Moon Hunters will share their tools and methods for implementing procedurally generated experiences, by live-editing their game systems during this session.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pc8li4fuQ Designing a Procedurally Generated Game]
**August 29th, 2015
**PAX Prime 2015
**Indie game devs discuss design problems and joys of procedural generation. Hosted by Tanya X. Short (Kitfox Games - Moon Hunters). Panelists: Kepa Auwae (Rocketcat Games - Death Road to Canada), Tyler Sigman (Red Hook Studios - Darkest Dungeon), [[Tarn Adams]] ([[Bay 12 Games]] - [[Dwarf Fortress]]), Ryan Clark (Brace Yourself Games - Crypt of the NecroDancer). At PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ78m-Kq1dM Games as Art - EVE at the MoMA]
**May 10, 2013
**EVE Fanfest 2013
**EVE was added, along with 13 other games, into the New York Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and displayed in an exhibition titled "Applied Design". Paola Antonelli, senior curator at the MoMA was joined by Adam Saltsman, designer of Cananbalt and Tarn Adams, co-creator of the cult classic Dwarf Fortress, both of which have their games featured alongside EVE at the MoMA. The Presentations was followed by a panel on the topic moderated by Goddur, professor of design at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts.

== See Also ==
* [[Future of the Fortress]] Q&A with Toady
* [[Dwarf Fortress Talk]] podcast
* [[Reception of Dwarf Fortress|Reception of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]
* [[Legacy of Dwarf Fortress|Legacy of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]

[[Category: Game development]]
[[Category:Community]]

List of Dwarf Fortress developer interviews

2026-09-02T19:59:34Z

Ziusudra: /* Articles */ added from PC Gamer in last week

{{DISPLAYTITLE:List of ''Dwarf Fortress'' developer interviews}}
As ''Dwarf Fortress'' grows, more and more people are becoming interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of not only the game itself, but the lives and trails of the developers. Many game websites and podcasts have interviewed [[Toady One|Toady]], and provide unique insights into the design and development of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

Toady sometimes attends video game and video game development conventions, for panels related to ''Dwarf Fortress'' or procedural content generation in general.

==Interviews==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_4pd-L_7A Developing Battle Magic in Dwarf Fortress. (Tarn Adams Interview)]
**December 20, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_HIBr6YWaQ The Future of Dwarf Fortress Mod Support (Coder's Workshop)]
**August 5, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Hocmw4xDw Sieges, Crossbows and lots of Dye | Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**July 10, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bViZEpBZnBY Tarn Adams Talks About Sieges, Adventures, Magic, and Beyond | Dwarf Fortress Interview.]
**February 21, 2025
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfNcPR9AsM Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Why is Finding Ants Slow? | Coder's Workshop]
**June 24, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YziFO-VSQjw Zach and Tarn Talk about Adventures and Magic | Bay12Games Interview]
**March 15, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-QJsmWsZMw Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Quality of Life 50.12 | Coder's Workshop]
**February 6, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAAornV0oo Generating Worlds With Putnam | Dwarf Fortress]
**January 31, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=805XQvacoSs Dwarf Fortress - Putnam talks, Keyboard Support and UI Filters | Coder's Workshop]
**January 16, 2024
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a77Oj8UQmsw Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams - The Big Adventure Tease]
**November 10, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4jwUuvy4E Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams & Putnam Talk - Building Adventures and Debugging Forts]
**July 21, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kanUBppoQpQ Dwarf Fortress - Tarn & Zach Adams Talk - Adventure Mode and Performance]
**April 28, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCehmNwSG4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Post Release and Future updates]
**January 20, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79J3X8ulER0 Dwarf Fortress - Talking with Putnam about what Lurks in the Code..]
**January 15, 2023
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9OgqWywZx4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - Workshop Support and Release Date (November 2022)]
**November 10, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAB93hOcsPI Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - New player Tutorialization (July 2022)]
**July 15, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgKy473SJC8 Tarn and Zach Interview - Kitfox Festival]
**April 16, 2022
**Kitfox Games

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-q1KNvSuTA Dwarf Fortress - Tarn and Zach Adams Talk - The Road to Release on Steam (March 2022)]
**March 4, 2022
**BlindiRL

*[https://youtu.be/_vVmIJoaiig Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk - Steam Embark Screen, World Map, Military and Tutorials (Nov 2021)]
**November 18, 2021
**BlindiRL

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/07/28/700000-lines-of-code-20-years-and-one-developer-how-dwarf-fortress-is-built/ 700,000 lines of code, 20 years, and one developer: How Dwarf Fortress is built]
**July 28, 2021
**Stack Overflow

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5c81GNBaA4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, Steam UI Design, Boats, Magic and team cow manure! (July 2021)]
**July 16, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKwnEJ5RD4 Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Talk, How finished is the Steam Ver? Classic Update and Magic (Feb 2021)]
**February 12, 2021
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgjVRqy5IA The Design of Dwarf Fortress | Tarn Adams Interview]
**December 4, 2020
**Game Wisdom

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FRm78L3kc Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam edition and Dwarven Psychology (October 2020)]
**October 1, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsv9JQ3X5w Dwarf Fortress - Tarn Adams Interview, Steam, Kobolds, Oregon trail and Design. (June 2020)]
**June 12, 2020
**BLindiRL

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhHkJQ3KgY Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins]
**June 9, 2020 (but filmed during the previous GDC, March 2019)
**Noclip
**Includes footage from [https://www.youtube.com/user/kruggsmash Kruggsmash's] videos.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/q-a-dissecting-the-development-of-i-dwarf-fortress-i-with-creator-tarn-adams Q&A: Dissecting the development of Dwarf Fortress with creator Tarn Adams]
**June 3, 2019
**Gamasutra (now Game Developer)

*[http://www.indiehangover.com/interview-tarn-adams-of-bay-12-games/ Interview: Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games]
**May 3, 2019
**IndieHangover

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-gamer-show-gdc-special-dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams/ The PC Gamer Show GDC special: Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams]
**March 22, 2018
**PC Gamer

*[https://yalepaprika.com/articles/interview-with-tarn-adams/ Interview With Tarn Adams]
**February 28, 2019
**Paprika!

*[https://soundcloud.com/thisexists/the-creator-of-the-most/ This Exists: The Creator of the Most Complex Video Game Ever]
**December 19, 2016
**This Exists

*[https://youtu.be/yDPb0jqRr3o Long-term Simulation Design in Dwarf Fortress]
**November 12, 2016
**NYU Game Center, PRACTICE 2016

*[http://thestonedgamer.com/interviews/item/863-simulate-your-very-own-fantasy-universe-looking-at-a-decade-of-dwarf-fortress/ Simulate your very own fantasy universe: Looking at a decade of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 26, 2016
**The Stoned Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-on-how-hes-42-towards-simulating-existence/ Dwarf Fortress' creator on how he's 42% towards simulating existence]
**March 31, 2016
**Interview by Wes Fenlon, during GDC 2016.

*[http://www.pcinvasion.com/dwarf-fortress-interview-with-tarn-toady-adams Dwarf Fortress Interview with Tarn ‘Toady’ Adams]
**March 4, 2015
**PC Invasion

*[http://iimu.kapsi.fi/limunropellukset/archives/2914 Interview With Tarn & Zach Adams!]
**October 22, 2014
**The beginning part is Finnish, and the interview is English.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlBIjyZl9AU Интервью с Тоади (Тарном Адамсом)]
**Aug 30, 2014
**English with Russian subtitles.

*[http://www.uusisuomi.fi/raha/70983-hammentavan-kulttihitin-uusi-versio-miksi-loit-dwarf-fortressin-tarn-adams Hämmentävän kulttihitin uusi versio – Miksi loit Dwarf Fortressin, Tarn Adams?]
**July 31, 2014
**In Finnish.

*[https://www.themittani.com/features/dwarf-fortress-2014-interview-tarn-adams Dwarf Fortress 2014 Interview with Tarn Adams]
**July 6, 2014
**Capntastic

*[http://newbquest.com/2014/06/newbquest-ep-3-tarn-adams-game-designer-and-developer-of-dwarf-fortress/ NewbQuest Ep.3: Tarn Adams, Game Designer and Developer of Dwarf Fortress]
**June 5, 2014
**NewbQuest

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9g1XMr2TTA UMN VGDC Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 30, 2013
**Skype interview with the University of Minnesota Video Game Development Club.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trXGmjLz1lk Let's Interview: Tarn Adams- Dwarf Fortress!]
**May 9, 2013
**Interview by MrSavaGhost.

*[http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/the-minds-behind-dwarf-fortress/2300-7340/ The Minds Behind Dwarf Fortress]
**May 8, 2013
**Interview by GiantBomb during EVE Fanfest 2013.

*[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1avszc/im_tarn_adams_of_bay_12_games_cocreator_of_dwarf/ I'm Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games, co-creator of Dwarf Fortress. AMA!]
**March 23, 2013
**Reddit AMA.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ZwVuGB_PI Interview with Tarn Adams]
**Dec 13, 2012
**Interview by Penn State Physics Club.

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/09/dwarf-fortress-developer-interview/ Dwarf Fortress developer interview]
**August 9, 2011 - PC Gamer
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=90749.0 the forums])
**Short

*[http://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/an-interview-with-tarn-adams/ An Interview with Tarn Adams]
**December 22, 2010 by Elijah Meeks
**1 Youtube video, 1 screenshot, 1 fancomic image (Bronzemurder)

*[http://www.nullpointer.co.uk/content/interview-dwarf-fortress/ Nullpointer Dwarf Fortress Interview]
**Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Tom Betts
**The blog seems to focus on game design. The interviewer is doing a PHD on "The Sublime in Digital Games", and is a head coder at Big Robot.
**Images
*[http://inkthirsty.com/blg/?p=145 The Adams Brothers Stop By For A Talk] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_1.mp3 '''(Part 1 Direct Link)'''] [http://richardhofmeier.com/adams_v_hofmeier_2.mp3 '''(Part 2 Direct Link)''']
**Recorded by Richard Hofmeier for an article in PORK Magazine - February 2011
**(Taken from [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=100319.0 the forums])
**1 hour 45 minutes long

*[http://darkdiamond.net/features/dark-diamond-interview-tarn-adams-technical-issues-editiondraft/ DarkDiamond 60 minutes interview]
**April 15, 2009 - By Raphael 'Dasuraga' Gaschignard
**Podcast link seems broken
**Short

*[http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2008/05/interview/rppr-interview-with-tarn-adams-creator-of-dwarf-fortress/ Roleplaying Public Radio Audio Interview]
**First comment is at May 20, 2008 - by Ross Payton
**Links to synopsis of interview and a link to the podcast.
**Approximately 1 hr 30 min

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/interview-the-making-of-dwarf-fortress Game Developer: The Making of Dwarf Fortress]
**February 27, 2008 - by John Harris
**Ten pages long!

*[http://www.frontrowcrew.com/episodes/2008/01/15/dwarf-fortress/ GeekNights interview] - Talk radio interview
**January 15, 2008 - Rym and Scott
**Download link for mp3

*[http://www.bay12games.com/media/mspa_forum_call.mp3 Languidiir/A Madman interview]
**4 hours long

*[http://w2.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/comp_game_designers.article Game conference speech: "The Wonderful Power of Storytelling"]
**Cannot find date - by Bruce Sterling
**Plain text

==Articles==
*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-the-industrys-in-shambles-over-ai-and-layoff-happy-ceos-everyone-i-know-their-bosses-are-slowly-getting-psychosis/ Dwarf Fortress creator says the industry's in shambles over AI and layoff-happy CEOs: 'Everyone I know, their bosses are slowly getting psychosis']
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-have-a-natural-lean-towards-human-made-stories-but-but-were-all-going-to-be-very-sorely-tested-in-the-coming-years-by-ai/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we have a natural lean towards human-made stories, 'but we're all going to be very sorely tested in the coming years' by AI]
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/dwarf-fortress-creator-says-we-can-learn-something-from-simply-walling-up-dwarf-nobles-to-maintain-an-equal-society-but-notes-you-have-to-abolish-the-dwarf-cops-too-another-lesson-to-be-had-there/ Dwarf Fortress creator says we can learn something from simply walling up dwarf nobles to maintain an equal society—but notes you have to abolish the dwarf cops, too: 'Another lesson to be had there']
**September 1, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-crap-its-happening-dwarf-fortress-gets-its-first-myth-and-magic-update-later-this-year-bringing-each-players-world-its-own-procedural-magic-system/ Holy crap, it's happening: Dwarf Fortress gets its first Myth and Magic update later this year, bringing each player's world its own procedural magic system]
**August 27, 2026
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-has-now-racked-up-600000-copies-sold-on-steam/ Dwarf Fortress has now racked up 600,000 copies sold on Steam]
**March 22, 2023
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.gamesindustry.biz/slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-how-dwarf-fortress-reinvented-itself-after-20-years Slow and steady wins the race: How Dwarf Fortress reinvented itself after 20 years]
**January 26, 2023
**GamesIndustry.biz

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/after-spending-20-years-simulating-reality-the-dwarf-fortress-devs-have-to-get-used-to-a-new-one-being-millionaires/ After spending 20 years simulating reality, the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to a new one: being millionaires]
**December 12, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tons-of-game-developers-are-praising-dwarf-fortress-today-in-celebration-of-its-steam-launch/ Tons of game developers praise Dwarf Fortress in celebration of its Steam launch]
**December 6, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/take-a-good-long-look-at-how-accessible-dwarf-fortress-steam-edition-will-be/ Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition threatens to make it playable for just about anyone]
**Septemper 5, 2022
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/meanwhile-in-dwarf-fortress-players-build-computers-powered-by-vampires/ Meanwhile, in Dwarf Fortress, players build computers powered by vampires]
**April 5, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortresss-next-big-update-will-let-you-play-its-adventure-mode-with-a-proper-rpg-party/ Dwarf Fortress's next big update will let you play its adventure mode with a proper RPG party]
**April 3, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/tutorials-and-mouse-support-could-make-dwarf-fortress-on-steam-vastly-easier-to-play/ Tutorials and mouse support could make Dwarf Fortress on Steam vastly easier to play]
**April 2, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/if-dwarf-fortress-sells-millions-on-steam-its-creators-will-give-the-money-away-as-fast-as-possible/ If Dwarf Fortress sells millions on Steam, its creators will give the money away 'as fast as possible']
**March 27, 2019
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-04-13-why-dwarf-fortress-started-killing-cats Why Dwarf Fortress started killing cats]
**April 13, 2017
**Eurogamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/why-the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-is-really-excited-about-boats/ Why the creator of Dwarf Fortress is really excited about boats]
**March 21, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-dwarf-fortress-doesnt-really-like-to-play-games-like-dwarf-fortress/ The creator of Dwarf Fortress doesn't really like to play games like Dwarf Fortress]
**March 19, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-creator-tarn-adams-talks-about-simulating-the-most-complex-magic-system-ever/ Dwarf Fortress creator Tarn Adams talks about simulating the most complex magic system ever]
**March 16, 2017
**PC Gamer

*[http://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/enormous-dwarf-2610456/ How Two Brothers From Silverdale Made The World’s Most Complex Video Game]
**June 8, 2016
**Seattle Weekly

*[http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/23/5926447/dwarf-fortress-will-crush-your-cpu-because-creating-history-is-hard Dwarf Fortress will crush your CPU because creating history is hard]
**July 23, 2014
**Polygon.

*[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/dwarf-fortress-in-2013 Dwarf Fortress in 2013]
**July 2, 2013
**Game Developer

*[http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/local/kitsap-creators-of-dwarf-fortress-make-losing-fun-ep-416474315-356182101.html Kitsap creators of Dwarf Fortress make losing fun]
**April 06, 2013
**Kitsap Sun

*[http://www.pcgamer.com/how-seven-drunks-opened-a-portal-to-hell/ Dwarf Fortress diary: How seven drunks opened a portal to Hell]
**August 9, 2011
**Has pictures!

*[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/the-brilliance-of-dwarf-fortress.html?_r=3&ref=technology&pagewanted=all Where Do Dwarf-Eating Carp Come From?]
**July 24, 2011

*[http://gamingclasshero.blogspot.ca/2011/10/dwarf-fortress.html Gaming Class Hero: Dwarf Fortress]
**October 11, 2011
**A review / introduction to the game. Mentions the more well-known community forts and links to several DF resources.

==Podcasts==
*'''[[Dwarf Fortress Talk]], the official ''Dwarf Fortress'' podcast'''
** August 6, 2009 - February 4, 2021 by Toady One, Rainseeker and Capntastic
** 28 podcasts with [http://bay12games.com/media/df_talk_combined_transcript.html transcripts]

*[https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortress-and-caves-of-qud-roundtable-the-masters-of-simulation-talk-roguelikes-ai-and-making-the-infinite-compelling Dwarf Fortress & Caves of Qud roundtable: The masters of simulation talk roguelikes, AI and making the infinite compelling]
**April 26, 2023
**PC Gamer
**Also features the developers of ''Caves of Qud''

*[https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/09/21/podcast-377-you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/ Stack Overflow Podcast Episode 377: You don’t need a math PhD to play Dwarf Fortress, just to code it]
**September 21, 2021
**Stack Overflow Podcast
**Has a [https://the-stack-overflow-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/you-dont-need-a-math-phd-to-play-dwarf-fortress-just-to-code-it/transcript transcript]

*[https://literate-gamer.zencast.website/episodes/172 Dwarf Fortress Looms (Villains and Steam Release)]
**March 12, 2020
**Literate Gamer

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/12/ep-21-in-which-toady-one-and-threetoe-talk-about-the-upcoming-release/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 21: In which Toady One and ThreeToe talk about the upcoming release]
**January 12, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The second part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the (future) development of ''Dwarf Fortress'', and the upcoming villains release.

*[https://dfroundtable.com/index.php/2020/01/01/ep-20in-which-the-adams-brothers-join-us-to-talk-about-some-game-they-are-making/ Dwarf Fortress Roundtable Episode 20: In Which The Adams Brothers Join Us to Talk About Some Game They Are Making]
**January 1, 2020
**Dwarf Fortress Roundtable
**The first part of a two-part interview. The Adams Brothers discuss the history of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*[https://kakebytes.com/2019/05/02/ep-25-dwarf-fortress-toady-one-returns/ Kakebytes Episode 25 - Dwarf Fortress: Toady One Returns]
**May 2, 2019
**Kakebytes

*[https://kakebytes.com/2018/08/22/episode-16-dwarf-fortress/#more-517 Kakebytes Episode 16 - Dwarf Fortress]
**August 22, 2018
**Kakebytes

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrXFOjdzRk The most Complex RPG around? Feat. Tarn Adams Of Dwarf Fortress]
**July 14, 2018
**Crit Hit

*[http://literategamer.com/post/158150263534/dwarf-fortress-tarn-adams Literate Gamer Episode 30]
** Mar 8, 2017
** Literate Gamer

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2016/04/episode-121-simulation.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 121: Simulation]
**April 30, 2016
**This is episode 121 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson, Darren Grey, [[Tarn Adams]] and Sami Maaranen discuss Simulation in Roguelikes.

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/overpowered-webs Red Pages Podcast, Episode 70: Overpowered Webs]
**March 5, 2016
**Special Guest Tarn Adams returns to the Red Pages Podcast to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus Star Wars, House of Cards, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Disgaea, King's Field, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy III.

*[http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2015/10/22/dwarf-fortress-with-tarn-adams/ Dwarf Fortress with Tarn Adams]
**October 22, 2015
**Software Engineering Daily interview

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/chatting-with-tarn-adams Extrasode 2: Chatting with Tarn Adams]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast

*[http://redpagespodcast.com/listen/throw-the-vampire-down Episode 19: Throw the Vampire Down the Well So My Fortress Can Be Free]
**June 14, 2014
**Red Pages Podcast
**Special Guest Tarn Adams mines right into the Red Pages studio to discuss Dwarf Fortress, plus True Detective, Two5Six, The Economic History of Medieval Europe, Tomb Raider, Colossal Cave Adventure and Designasaurus II.

*[https://killscreen.com/articles/road-two5six-tarn-and-zach-adams/ Road to TWO5SIX: Tarn and Zach Adams]
**April 29, 2014
**Written in preparation for Toady's (then) upcoming appearance at TWO5SIX in Brooklyn.

*[http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-49-interview-with-tarn-adams.html Roguelike Radio, Episode 49: Interview with Tarn Adams]
**October 23, 2012
**Roguelike Radio

==Panels and presentations==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLN8cOcTjdo&list=PLAcQJt6sSXKAk1b7GEo4TX3xMO_oBKvL6&index=1 Let's Learn Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition - EP1]
**Alexandra of Kitfox Games playing a preview of Premium with Tarn and Zach commentating.
**November 10, 2022
**Originally live streamed on Twitch.tv

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-FCtGdwMI Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition Demo with Tarn and Zach Adams - PAX West 2022 panel]
**Septemper 14, 2022
**PAX West 2022

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snbt0PxRvpk UCSC CMPM 147 Generative Design, Tarn Adams Guest Talk November 2019]
**November 19, 2019
**UCSC Generative Design

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_dHPtC2wg Dwarf Fortress Live - PAX West 2019]
**September 3, 2019
**PAX West 2019

*[https://player.twitch.tv/?video=475872864&t=02h System Design, On Fire, All the Time: Controlling Chaos - PAX West 2019]
**September 2, 2019
**PAX West 2019
**Toady and three other indie developers discuss system design.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONW-EPwEwfY&feature=youtu.be&t=16814 InterPlanetary Festival 2019 Games Panel]
**June 15, 2019
**InterPlanetary Festival 2019

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-7TtPX5uhg Tarn Adams - Villains in Dwarf Fortress]
**October 10, 2018
**Roguelike Celebration
**Toady talks about villains and their network systems

*[https://youtu.be/t2LEr7Etf9s?t=42m9s Secret Identities in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**October 6, 2017
**Experimental AI in Games 2017
**Toady talks about an upcoming update.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67Xb4tgVv8&t=8m20s Emergent Narrative in ''Dwarf Fortress'']
**September 16, 2017
**Progression Mechanics 2017

*[http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024146/PCG-Shotgun-6-Techniques-for PCG Shotgun: 6 Techniques for Leveraging AI in Content Generation]
**February 28, 2017
**GDC 2017
**Procedural content generation has garnered more attention in recent years, both in indie games and AAA titles. Unfortunately, there is no "one algorithm to rule them all". PCG techniques are necessarily as wide and varied as their potential implementations. Using examples from the speakers' own work, this lecture presents 6 practical ways to implement AI-driven procedural content generation in games.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRsScwdPcE Dwarf Fortress Design Inspirations]
**September 17, 2016
**Roguelike Celebration
**Zach and Tarn Adams talk about ''Dwarf Fortress''.

*Dwarf Fortress (the first decade!)
**September 11, 2016
**Busan Indie Connect 2016
**The co-creator of Dwarf Fortress will talk about the game's development. Included will be the history of Dwarf Fortress, a discussion of the online community, keeping the game freely available for ten years, as well as map generation and other mechanics

*Procedural Generation Analysis
**September 9, 2016
**PAX Dev 2016
**Tyler Coleman, Tarn Adams, Mitu Khandaker-Kokoris, Tyriq Plummer, and Zach Aikman

*[https://vimeo.com/171824119 The Dwarfmoot Experience]
**June 11, 2016
**Dwarfmoot 2016
**Richard Garfield, Bioware, Tarn & Zach Adams

*[http://gdcvault.com/play/1023372/Prac Practices in Procedural Generation]
**March 14, 2016
**GDC 2016
**Procedural generation changes the design approach of every system it touches, offering infinite variation. But how is it used in a concrete way, for developers actually at work on their game? Designers from Dwarf Fortress and Moon Hunters will share their tools and methods for implementing procedurally generated experiences, by live-editing their game systems during this session.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9pc8li4fuQ Designing a Procedurally Generated Game]
**August 29th, 2015
**PAX Prime 2015
**Indie game devs discuss design problems and joys of procedural generation. Hosted by Tanya X. Short (Kitfox Games - Moon Hunters). Panelists: Kepa Auwae (Rocketcat Games - Death Road to Canada), Tyler Sigman (Red Hook Studios - Darkest Dungeon), [[Tarn Adams]] ([[Bay 12 Games]] - [[Dwarf Fortress]]), Ryan Clark (Brace Yourself Games - Crypt of the NecroDancer). At PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington.

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ78m-Kq1dM Games as Art - EVE at the MoMA]
**May 10, 2013
**EVE Fanfest 2013
**EVE was added, along with 13 other games, into the New York Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and displayed in an exhibition titled "Applied Design". Paola Antonelli, senior curator at the MoMA was joined by Adam Saltsman, designer of Cananbalt and Tarn Adams, co-creator of the cult classic Dwarf Fortress, both of which have their games featured alongside EVE at the MoMA. The Presentations was followed by a panel on the topic moderated by Goddur, professor of design at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts.

== See Also ==
* [[Future of the Fortress]] Q&A with Toady
* [[Dwarf Fortress Talk]] podcast
* [[Reception of Dwarf Fortress|Reception of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]
* [[Legacy of Dwarf Fortress|Legacy of ''Dwarf Fortress'']]

[[Category: Game development]]
[[Category:Community]]

Egg production

2026-09-02T19:41:22Z

Ziusudra: /* Egg-laying animals */ rule t on 0.44.07 change to beak dog taming

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}
[[File:poultry_sprites_preview.png|right]]'''Egg production''', like the [[meat industry]], [[beekeeping industry]], [[fishing industry]], and [[farming]], creates [[food]]. In egg production, collection and cooking of [[egg]]s is the primary activity, as, over time, domestic poultry, such as [[chicken]]s, can produce much more food as eggs than the same animal produces as meat when butchered (1 egg = 1 meat = 1 meal). When starting out a new fortress, raising poultry can be an excellent way to quickly fill up your food [[barrel]]s as it requires very little set-up for your dwarves. As a by-product of egg production, older or excess animals can be butchered as part of the [[meat industry]].

== Acquiring egg-laying animals ==
There are several sources for obtaining egg-laying [[animal]]s, outlined below.

===Embark===
You can buy [[Domestic_animal#Comparison_of_domestic_poultry|domestic poultry]] at [[embark]] and even decide how many males and females of each animal you embark with. Since you don't need males to produce eggs, and need only one male to breed, you could embark with three or four hens, and a single rooster. Poultry animals are very economical to purchase at embark, costing only 6[[currency|☼]] each.

Of the domestic poultry, [[turkey]]s produce the most eggs per clutch on average, followed by [[duck]]s, then [[chicken]]s and [[guineafowl]]. Turkeys are also the largest poultry animals, and produce the most meat and other products if butchered as part of the meat industry, with [[goose|geese]] and [[blue peafowl]] only slightly smaller. All domestic poultry become adults one year after hatching, but geese, blue peafowl, and guineafowl grow to full size at one year; other poultry only reach full size after two years.

===Migration===
Domestic poultry may arrive at your fortress with a wave of [[migrant]]s. These animals may be strays or [[pet]]s.

===Trading===
''Requires: A [[trade depot]], a [[Broker|trader]], a [[merchant]], and some tradeable goods''

You can purchase egg-laying animals from a [[caravan]]. While [[human]] and dwarven merchants will generally bring standard poultry, [[elf|elven]] merchants may bring tamed exotic egg-laying animals, which may prove useful for [[alligator|value]] or [[giant eagle|defense]] purposes.

===Cage traps===
''Requires: [[Cage]]s, [[mechanism]]s, a [[mechanic]], animal training [[zone]] and an [[animal trainer]]''

It is also possible to catch egg-laying animals through judicious use of [[cage trap]]s. This, of course, involves building cage traps where these animals will walk or fly. Once they are trapped the caged animal (or [[invader]]) will be delivered to an animal stockpile and the trap will be reset with a fresh cage.

Cage traps should be built where animals ''will'' walk, not where they are when you decide to trap them. Any dwarves sent out to create and arm traps in the animals' midst will scare them away, or trigger their aggression. To successfully trap large animals, form a choke point some distance away from them: build walls, perhaps several z-levels high, to create a continuous barrier to movement.

Leave a small gap one or two tiles wide (depending on how many of the critters you want to trap) and build your cage traps there. If the animals haven't moved off or been scared off by the time you're done, and they're docile enough to not attack once they see your dwarves, use military orders to send a dwarf (or several) around behind the animals and herd them toward the choke point.

Note also that cage traps cannot be built within a certain number of tiles of the map edge, so when planning your funnels and choke points, be sure to leave four or five tiles as a buffer zone.

What wild egg-layers are available depends highly on the [[biome]]. In general, most maps have flying birds of one kind or another, but they tend to stay up in the air, where cage traps can't get them. Several underground creatures are egg-layers, and as such are available on every map, such as the [[crundle]], [[elk bird]] or the rare and dangerous [[jabberer]].

Egg-laying animals that are caught in a cage trap need to be tamed by an [[animal trainer]] at an animal training [[zone]] before they can be safely used to produce eggs. Note that you are not limited to standard domestic poultry; some of the most [[cave crocodile|lucrative and prolific]] egg-layers are reptiles.

===Breeding===
''Requires: One or more adult females and one adult male of each species, one or more [[nest box]]es, and time''

If a [[breeding|compatible]] male and a female of the same species are adjacent to each other and there is an open constructed [[nest box]] for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, then sooner or later (and probably sooner) the male will "impregnate" the female which will allow it to lay fertilized eggs. A female can lay a clutch of eggs again immediately after the last clutch hatches. A female that cannot claim a nest box ''will not'' lay a clutch of eggs.

A fertilized clutch will only hatch if they are left in the nest box undisturbed. Collecting the eggs or deconstructing the nest box will prevent the eggs from hatching. A clutch of eggs to be used for breeding should be [[forbidden]] while still in the nest boxes to prevent their collection. Alternatively, you can put the nest boxes in a room behind a [[door]] and lock the door to keep your dwarves away from the eggs. For insurance, you can set no [[stockpile]]s to accept that type of egg, and forbid [[cooking]] that type of egg in the kitchen tab of the [[labor]] menu. Even if the eggs are left undisturbed, it is possible that clutch was not fertilized. Eggs that don't hatch after two seasons will likely never hatch, and the eggs will need to be collected in order to allow the female to lay another clutch of (hopefully fertilized) eggs, otherwise the female will continue incubating the unfertilized clutch in perpetuity.

As a large number of free-roaming animals will reduce your game speed, a common strategy is to cage all your young poultry until they mature. Keep in mind, though, that some tamed wild species take more than a year to mature, unlike most domestic animals. For example, it may be excusable to butcher a [[saltwater crocodile]] hatchling right away, rather than wait 3 years for it to mature and produce more meat and bones.

Using [[cage trap]]s judiciously (or taking advantage of the animals [[elf|elves]] trade) can sometimes snag you a breeding pair of a wild animal. Tame something unusual and start something crazy, like a [[cave crocodile]] farm!

===Capture===
Through the use of expeditions, a player can capture animals not otherwise available. For example, [[raid]]ing a [[goblin]] settlement may yield [[beak dog]]s which, curiously, lay eggs.

==Egg collection==
''Requires: A tame adult female egg-laying animal, a [[nest box]], and [[food hauling]]''

Once you have at least one tame adult female egg-laying animal, you need to build a [[nest box]] to begin production of delicious and filling [[egg]]s. Every so often, the adult females will claim a nest box and lay a clutch of eggs. Then, a [[food hauling|food hauler]] will collect the eggs and move them to a food [[stockpile]]. Food hauling is an unskilled labor, so any dwarf in the fortress can do it. Egg collection is a great way to use those [[peasant]]s that otherwise just move boulders around the fortress.
This is a small guide aimed towards egg farming, I hope this helps and makes it easy to understand the egg industry... likewise an egg industry can be implemented towards a meat/leather/bone industry at any time with patience.
Here's the guide : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2975716340

Eggs must be [[cook]]ed into [[prepared meal]]s at a [[kitchen]] before they can be eaten by dwarves.

==Egg-laying animals==
{{catbox|Egglaying}}
{| border="1px #AAA solid;" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#EEE;"| '''Outdoor Animals'''
|-
!sortable style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Animal
!sortable style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Graphic
!data-sort-type = "number" style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Body Size (max)
!data-sort-type = "number" style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Maturation Time (years)
!data-sort-type = "number" style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Max Age (years)
!data-sort-type = "number" style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Number of Eggs
!data-sort-type = "number" style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Egg Size**
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Notes
|-
|[[Adder]]
|[[File:adder_sprite.png]]
|150
|0*
|15-20
|3-10
|16
|
|-
|[[Albatross]]
|[[File:albatross_sprite.png]]
|8,000
|1
|40-50
|1
|305
|
|-
|[[Alligator]]
|[[File:alligator_sprite.png]]
|400,000
|1
|60-100
|10-30
|80
|
|-
|[[Alligator snapping turtle]]
|[[File:alligator_snapping_turtle_sprite.png]]
|80,000
|0*
|30-70
|5-10
|70
|
|-
|[[Barn owl]]
|[[File:barn_owl_sprite.png]]
|500
|1
|10-20
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[Beak dog]]
|[[File:beak_dog_sprite.png]]
|150,000
|1
|10-20
|5-10
|1600
|Domestic in [[goblin]] civilizations.
|-
|[[Black mamba]]
|[[File:black_mamba_sprite.png]]
|5,000
|0*
|10-15
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Blue peafowl]]
|[[File:peafowls_sprite_anim.gif]]
|4,000
|1
|15-30
|6-8
|102
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Bushmaster]]
|[[File:bushmaster_sprite.png]]
|8,500
|0*
|12-24
|10-20
|22
|
|-
|[[Buzzard]]
|[[File:buzzard_sprite.png]]
|1,400
|1
|10-20
|2-3
|60
|
|-
|[[Cassowary]]
|[[File:cassowary_sprite.png]]
|50,000
|1
|40-50
|3-6
|550
|
|-
|[[Chicken]]
|[[File:chickens_sprite_anim.gif]]
|3,000
|1
|7-15
|4-15
|62
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Common snapping turtle]]
|[[File:snapping_turtle_sprite.png]]
|30,000
|0*
|30-50
|5-10
|50
|
|-
|[[Desert tortoise]]
|[[File:desert_tortoise_sprite.png]]
|5,500
|1
|80-100
|3-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Duck]]
|[[File:ducks_sprite_anim.gif]]
|1,000
|1
|7-9
|8-13
|52
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Eagle]]
|[[File:eagle_sprite.png]]
|4,000
|1
|20-30
|1-3
|142
|
|-
|[[Echidna]]
|[[File:echidna_sprite.png]]
|10,000
|1
|10-20
|1
|1
|
|-
|[[Emperor penguin]]
|[[File:emperor_penguin_sprite.png]]
|30,000
|1
|20-50
|1
|465
|Not tameable
|-
|[[Emu]]
|[[File:emu_sprite.png]]
|35,000
|1
|15-25
|5-15
|805
|
|-
|[[Giant adder]]
|[[File:giant_adder_sprite.png]]
|201,049
|0*
|15-20
|3-10
|16
|
|-
|[[Giant albatross]]
|[[File:giant_albatross_sprite.png]]
|256,320
|1
|40-50
|1
|305
|
|-
|[[Giant alligator]]
|[[File:giant_alligator_sprite.png]]
|3,268,000
|1
|60-100
|10-30
|80
|
|-
|[[Giant anole]]
|[[File:giant_anole_sprite.png]]
|200,629
|0*
|5-7
|1-2
|10
|
|-
|[[Giant barn owl]]
|[[File:giant_barn_owl_sprite.png]]
|203,500
|1
|10-20
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[Giant black mamba]]
|[[File:giant_black_mamba_sprite.png]]
|235,100
|0*
|10-15
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Giant bluejay]]
|[[File:giant_bluejay_sprite.png]]
|200,700
|1
|10-20
|2-7
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant bushmaster]]
|[[File:giant_bushmaster_sprite.png]]
|259,845
|0*
|12-24
|10-20
|22
|
|-
|[[Giant bushtit]]
|[[File:giant_bushtit_sprite.png]]
|200,035
|1
|1-2
|5-13
|1
|
|-
|[[Giant buzzard]]
|[[File:giant_buzzard_sprite.png]]
|209,804
|1
|10-20
|2-3
|60
|
|-
|[[Giant cardinal]]
|[[File:giant_cardinal_sprite.png]]
|200,350
|1
|10-20
|2-5
|9
|
|-
|[[Giant cassowary]]
|[[File:giant_cassowary_sprite.png]]
|560,000
|1
|40-50
|3-6
|550
|
|-
|[[Giant chameleon]]
|[[File:giant_chameleon_sprite.png]]
|201,049
|0*
|5-10
|40-50
|10
|
|-
|[[Giant cockatiel]]
|[[File:giant_cockatiel_sprite.png]]
|200,629
|1
|15-30
|2-8
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant crow]]
|[[File:giant_crow_sprite.png]]
|203,500
|1
|10-15
|4-6
|21
|
|-
|[[Giant desert tortoise]]
|[[File:giant_desert_tortoise_sprite.png]]
|238,645
|1
|80-100
|3-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Giant eagle]]
|[[File:giant_eagle_sprite.png]]
|228,040
|1
|20-30
|1-3
|142
|
|-
|[[Giant echidna]]
|[[File:giant_echidna_sprite.png]]
|270,500
|1
|10-20
|1
|1
|
|-
|[[Giant emu]]
|[[File:giant_emu_sprite.png]]
|450,100
|1
|15-25
|5-15
|805
|
|-
|[[Giant gila monster]]
|[[File:giant_gila_monster_sprite.png]]
|214,020
|1
|20-30
|2-12
|32
|
|-
|[[Giant grackle]]
|[[File:giant_grackle_sprite.png]]
|200,840
|1
|10-20
|1-7
|12
|
|-
|[[Giant great horned owl]]
|[[File:giant_great_horned_owl_sprite.png]]
|214,020
|1
|15-20
|1-5
|51
|
|-
|[[Giant grey parrot]]
|[[File:giant_grey_parrot_sprite.png]]
|202,800
|1
|40-60
|1-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Giant hornbill]]
|[[File:giant_hornbill_sprite.png]]
|217,525
|1
|35-40
|1-4
|50
|
|-
|[[Giant iguana]]
|[[File:giant_iguana_sprite.png]]
|228,040
|1
|10-20
|40-50
|15
|
|-
|[[Giant kakapo]]
|[[File:giant_kakapo_sprite.png]]
|221,040
|7
|60-120
|1-4
|52
|
|-
|[[Giant kea]]
|[[File:giant_kea_sprite.png]]
|207,010
|1
|30-50
|2-5
|62
|
|-
|[[Giant kestrel]]
|[[File:giant_kestrel_sprite.png]]
|201,750
|1
|10-20
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[Giant king cobra]]
|[[File:giant_king_cobra_sprite.png]]
|242,160
|0*
|15-25
|10-30
|5
|
|-
|[[Giant kingsnake]]
|[[File:giant_kingsnake_sprite.png]]
|210,510
|0*
|20-30
|5-12
|20
|
|-
|[[Giant kiwi]]
|[[File:giant_kiwi_sprite.png]]
|217,525
|1
|20-50
|1-2
|450
|
|-
|[[Giant loon]]
|[[File:giant_loon_sprite.png]]
|242,160
|1
|25-30
|2-4
|152
|
|-
|[[Giant lorikeet]]
|[[File:giant_lorikeet_sprite.png]]
|201,400
|1
|15-30
|2
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant magpie]]
|[[File:giant_magpie_sprite.png]]
|201,400
|1
|10-20
|2-5
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant masked lovebird]]
|[[File:giant_masked_lovebird_sprite.png]]
|200,629
|1
|10-15
|4-5
|7
|
|-
|[[Giant monitor lizard]]
|[[File:giant_monitor_lizard_sprite.png]]
|933,000
|1
|20-30
|15-25
|70
|
|-
|[[Giant oriole]]
|[[File:giant_oriole_sprite.png]]
|200,280
|1
|10-20
|3-7
|8
|
|-
|[[Giant osprey]]
|[[File:giant_osprey_sprite.png]]
|214,020
|1
|20-30
|2-4
|60
|
|-
|[[Giant ostrich]]
|[[File:giant_ostrich_sprite.png]]
|857,700
|1
|35-45
|10-15
|2000
|
|-
|[[Giant parakeet]]
|[[File:giant_parakeet_sprite.png]]
|200,840
|1
|15-25
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant peach-faced lovebird]]
|[[File:giant_peach_faced_lovebird_sprite.png]]
|200,419
|1
|10-15
|4-6
|9
|
|-
|[[Giant peregrine falcon]]
|[[File:giant_peregrine_falcon_sprite.png]]
|113,292
|1
|12-15
|3-4
|46
|
|-
|[[Giant platypus]]
|[[File:giant_platypus_sprite.png]]
|214,020
|1
|10-20
|1-3
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant pond turtle]]
|[[File:giant_pond_turtle_sprite.png]]
|203,500
|0*
|40-100
|1-15
|6
|
|-
|[[Giant puffin]]
|[[File:giant_puffin_sprite.png]]
|205,252
|1
|15-20
|1
|30
|
|-
|[[Giant python]]
|[[File:giant_python_sprite.png]]
|1,700,000
|0*
|10-20
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Giant raven]]
|[[File:giant_raven_sprite.png]]
|208,404
|1
|20-40
|3-7
|52
|
|-
|[[Giant red-winged blackbird]]
|[[File:giant_red-winged_blackbird_sprite.png]]
|200,350
|1
|10-20
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Giant saltwater crocodile]]
|[[File:giant_saltwater_crocodile_sprite.png]]
|6,440,000
|3
|60-100
|20-70
|100
|
|-
|[[Giant skink]]
|[[File:giant_skink_sprite.png]]
|203,500
|0*
|15-20
|10-30
|10
|
|-
|[[Giant snapping turtle]]
|[[File:giant_snapping_turtle_sprite.png]]
|414,000
|0*
|30-50
|5-10
|50
|
|-
|[[Giant snowy owl]]
|[[File:giant_snowy_owl_sprite.png]]
|214,020
|1
|10-30
|5-10
|62
|
|-
|[[Giant sparrow]]
|[[File:giant_sparrow_sprite.png]]
|200,210
|1
|5-10
|2-7
|3
|
|-
|[[Giant swan]]
|[[File:giant_swan_sprite.png]]
|270,500
|1
|10-25
|5-7
|340
|
|-
|[[Giant tortoise]]
|[[File:giant_tortoise_sprite.png]]
|300,000
|1
|100-200
|5-10
|82
|
|-
|[[Giant vulture]]
|[[File:giant_vulture_sprite.png]]
|263,430
|1
|10-20
|1-3
|60
|
|-
|[[Giant white stork]]
|[[File:giant_white_stork_sprite.png]]
|221,040
|1
|20-40
|1-7
|110
|
|-
|[[Giant wren]]
|[[File:giant_wren_sprite.png]]
|200,280
|1
|5-7
|3-10
|5
|
|-
|[[Gigantic tortoise]]
|[[File:gigantic_tortoise_sprite.png]]
|2,478,000
|1
|100-200
|5-10
|82
|
|-
|[[Gila monster]]
|[[File:gila_monster_sprite.png]]
|2,000
|1
|20-30
|2-12
|32
|
|-
|[[Goose]]
|[[File:goose_sprite.png]]
|4,500
|1
|10-24
|3-8
|152
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Great horned owl]]
|[[File:great_horned_owl_sprite.png]]
|2,000
|1
|15-20
|1-5
|51
|
|-
|[[Grey parrot]]
|[[File:grey_parrot_sprite.png]]
|400
|1
|40-60
|1-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Guineafowl]]
|[[File:guineafowl_sprite.png]]
|1,500
|1
|10-15
|4-15
|42
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Hornbill]]
|[[File:hornbill_sprite.png]]
|2,500
|1
|35-40
|1-4
|50
|
|-
|[[Iguana]]
|[[File:iguana_sprite.png]]
|4,000
|1
|10-20
|40-50
|15
|
|-
|[[Kakapo]]
|[[File:kakapo_sprite.png]]
|3,000
|7
|60-120
|1-4
|52
|
|-
|[[Kea]]
|[[File:kea_sprite.png]]
|1,000
|1
|30-50
|2-5
|62
|
|-
|[[Kestrel]]
|[[File:kestrel_sprite.png]]
|250
|1
|10-20
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[King cobra]]
|[[File:king_cobra_sprite.png]]
|6,000
|0*
|15-25
|10-30
|5
|
|-
|[[Kingsnake]]
|[[File:kingsnake_sprite.png]]
|1,500
|0*
|20-30
|5-12
|20
|
|-
|[[Kiwi]]
|[[File:kiwi_sprite.png]]
|2,500
|1
|20-50
|1-2
|450
|
|-
|[[Kobold]]
|[[File:kobold_sprite.png]]
|20,000
|12
|150-170
|1-2
|1100
|Forms crude civilizations, not tameable
|-
|[[Little penguin]]
|[[File:little_penguin_sprite.png]]
|1,500
|1
|20-30
|2
|53
|Not tameable
|-
|[[Loon]]
|[[File:loon_sprite.png]]
|6,000
|1
|25-30
|2-4
|152
|
|-
|[[Monitor lizard]]
|[[File:monitor_lizard_sprite.png]]
|100,000
|1
|20-30
|15-25
|70
|
|-
|[[Osprey]]
|[[File:osprey_sprite.png]]
|2,000
|1
|20-30
|2-4
|60
|
|-
|[[Ostrich]]
|[[File:ostrich_sprite_anim.gif]]
|90,000
|1
|35-45
|10-15
|2,000
|
|-
|[[Penguin]]
|[[File:penguin_sprite.png]]
|4,000
|1
|20-30
|2
|125
|Not tameable
|-
|[[Peregrine falcon]]
|[[File:peregrine_falcon_sprite.png]]
|600
|1
|12-15
|3-4
|46
|
|-
|[[Platypus]]
|[[File:platypus_sprite.png]]
|2,000
|1
|10-20
|1-3
|11
|
|-
|[[Puffin]]
|[[File:puffin_sprite.png]]
|750
|1
|15-20
|1
|30
|
|-
|[[Python]]
|[[File:python_sprite.png]]
|200,000
|0*
|10-20
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Raven]]
|[[File:raven_sprite.png]]
|1,200
|1
|20-40
|3-7
|52
|
|-
|[[Saltwater crocodile]]
|[[File:saltwater_crocodile_sprite.png]]
|800,000
|3
|60-100
|20-70
|100
|
|-
|[[Sea serpent]]
|[[File:sea_serpent_sprite.png]]
|9,000,000
|6
|150-175
|1
|6100
|[[Aquatic]], cannot lay eggs due to a bug.{{bug|4105}}
|-
|[[Snowy owl]]
|[[File:snowy_owl_sprite.png]]
|2,000
|1
|10-30
|5-10
|62
|
|-
|[[Swan]]
|[[File:swan_sprite.png]]
|10,000
|1
|10-25
|5-7
|340
|
|-
|[[Turkey]]
|[[File:turkey_sprite.png]]
|5,000
|1
|7-10
|10-14
|87
|[[Domestic animal|Domestic]]
|-
|[[Vulture]]
|[[File:vulture_sprite.png]]
|9,000
|1
|10-20
|1-3
|60
|
|-
|[[White stork]]
|[[File:white_stork_sprite.png]]
|3,000
|1
|20-40
|1-7
|110
|
|}

:* ''This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.''
:** ''Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.''

{| border="1px #AAA solid;" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#EEE;"| '''Subterranean Animals'''
|-
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Animal
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Graphic
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Body Size (max)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Maturation Time (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Max Age (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Number of Eggs
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Egg Size**
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Notes
|-
|[[Cave crocodile]]
|[[File:cave_crocodile_sprite.png]]
|600,000
|3
|60-100
|20-60
|80
|
|-
|[[Cave dragon]]
|[[File:cave_dragon_sprite_anim.gif]]
|15,000,000
|0*
|Immortal
|1-3
|6100
|
|-
|[[Crundle]]
|[[File:crundle_sprite.png]]
|10,000
|0*
|10-20
|5-20
|60
|
|-
|[[Elk bird]]
|[[File:elk_bird_sprite.png]]
|100,000
|1
|10-20
|2-10
|60
|[[Grazer]], may starve itself to death while incubating eggs.{{Bug|4637}}
|-
|[[Giant cave swallow]]
|[[File:giant_cave_swallow_sprite.png]]
|200,000
|1
|10-20
|2-3
|2100
|
|-
|[[Helmet snake]]
|[[File:helmet_snake_sprite.png]]
|50,000
|0*
|40-60
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Jabberer]]
|[[File:jabberer_sprite_anim.gif]]
|4,500,000
|1
|10-20
|1-2
|5100
|
|}

:* ''This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.''
:** ''Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.''

{| border="1px #AAA solid;" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#EEE;"| '''[[:Megabeast|Megabeasts]]'''
|-
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Animal
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Graphic
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Body Size (max)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Maturation Time (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Max Age (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Number of Eggs
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Egg Size**
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Notes
|-
|[[Dragon]]
|[[File:dragon_sprite.png]]
|25,000,000
|10
|Immortal
|1-3
|6100
|
|-
|[[Roc]]
|[[File:roc_sprite.png]]
|20,000,000
|1
|Immortal
|1-2
|201000
|
|}

:* ''This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.''
:** ''Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.''

== Animal people ==

{| border="1px #AAA solid;" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#EEE;"| '''[[Animal people|Animal People]]*'''
|-
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Animal
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Graphic
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Body Size (max)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Maturation Time (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Max Age (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Number of Eggs
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Egg Size**
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Notes
|-
|[[Adder man]]
|[[File:adder_man_sprite.png]]
|35,075
|0
|60-80
|3-10
|16
|
|-
|[[Albatross man]]
|[[File:albatross_man_sprite.png]]
|39,000
|1
|60-80
|1
|305
|
|-
|[[Alligator man]]
|[[File:alligator_man_sprite.png]]
|235,000
|1
|60-80
|10-30
|80
|
|-
|[[Anole man]]
|[[File:anole_man_sprite.png]]
|35,045
|0
|60-80
|1-2
|10
|
|-
|[[Barn owl man]]
|[[File:barn_owl_man_sprite.png]]
|35,250
|1
|60-80
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[Black mamba man]]
|[[File:black_mamba_man_sprite.png]]
|37,500
|0
|60-80
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Bluejay man]]
|[[File:bluejay_man_sprite.png]]
|35,050
|1
|60-80
|2-7
|11
|
|-
|[[Bushmaster man]]
|[[File:bushmaster_man_sprite.png]]
|39,250
|0
|60-80
|10-20
|22
|
|-
|[[Bushtit man]]
|[[File:bushtit_man_sprite.png]]
|35,002
|1
|60-80
|5-13
|1
|
|-
|[[Buzzard man]]
|[[File:buzzard_man_sprite.png]]
|35,700
|1
|60-80
|2-3
|60
|
|-
|[[Cardinal man]]
|[[File:cardinal_man_sprite.png]]
|35,025
|1
|60-80
|2-5
|9
|
|-
|[[Cassowary man]]
|[[File:cassowary_man_sprite.png]]
|60,000
|1
|60-80
|3-6
|550
|
|-
|[[Cave swallow man]]
|[[File:cave_swallow_man_sprite.png]]
|35,050
|1
|20-30
|4-5
|11
|
|-
|[[Chameleon man]]
|[[File:chameleon_man_sprite.png]]
|35,075
|0
|60-80
|40-50
|10
|
|-
|[[Cockatiel man]]
|[[File:cockatiel_man_sprite.png]]
|35,045
|1
|60-80
|2-8
|11
|
|-
|[[Crow man]]
|[[File:crow_man_sprite.png]]
|35,250
|1
|60-80
|4-6
|21
|
|-
|[[Desert tortoise man]]
|[[File:desert_tortoise_man_sprite.png]]
|37,750
|1
|60-89
|3-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Eagle man]]
|[[File:eagle_man_sprite.png]]
|37,000
|1
|60-80
|1-3
|142
|
|-
|[[Echidna man]]
|[[File:echidna_man_sprite.png]]
|40,000
|1
|60-80
|1
|1
|
|-
|[[Emu man]]
|[[File:emu_man_sprite.png]]
|52,500
|1
|60-80
|5-15
|805
|
|-
|[[Giant tortoise man]]
|[[File:giant_tortoise_man_sprite.png]]
|185,000
|1
|60-80
|5-10
|82
|
|-
|[[Gila monster man]]
|[[File:gila_monster_man_sprite.png]]
|36,000
|1
|60-80
|2-12
|32
|
|-
|[[Grackle man]]
|[[File:grackle_man_sprite.png]]
|35,060
|1
|60-80
|1-7
|12
|
|-
|[[Great horned owl man]]
|[[File:great_horned_owl_man_sprite.png]]
|36,000
|1
|60-80
|1-5
|51
|
|-
|[[Grey parrot man]]
|[[File:grey_parrot_man_sprite.png]]
|35,200
|1
|60-80
|1-5
|40
|
|-
|[[Hornbill man]]
|[[File:hornbill_man_sprite.png]]
|36,250
|1
|60-80
|1-4
|50
|
|-
|[[Iguana man]]
|[[File:iguana_man_sprite.png]]
|37,000
|1
|60-80
|40-50
|15
|
|-
|[[Kakapo man]]
|[[File:kakapo_man_sprite.png]]
|36,500
|7
|60-80
|1-4
|52
|
|-
|[[Kea man]]
|[[File:kea_man_sprite.png]]
|35,500
|1
|60-80
|2-5
|62
|
|-
|[[Kestrel man]]
|[[File:kestrel_man_sprite.png]]
|35,125
|1
|60-80
|3-6
|32
|
|-
|[[King cobra man]]
|[[File:king_cobra_man_sprite.png]]
|38,000
|0
|60-80
|10-30
|5
|
|-
|[[Kingsnake man]]
|[[File:kingsnake_man_sprite.png]]
|35,750
|0
|60-80
|5-12
|20
|
|-
|[[Kiwi man]]
|[[File:kiwi_man_sprite.png]]
|36,250
|1
|60-80
|1-2
|450
|
|-
|[[Loon man]]
|[[File:loon_man_sprite.png]]
|38,000
|1
|60-80
|2-4
|152
|
|-
|[[Lorikeet man]]
|[[File:lorikeet_man_sprite.png]]
|35,100
|1
|60-80
|2
|11
|
|-
|[[Magpie man]]
|[[File:magpie_man_sprite.png]]
|35,100
|1
|60-80
|2-5
|11
|
|-
|[[Masked lovebird man]]
|[[File:masked_lovebird_man_sprite.png]]
|35,045
|1
|60-80
|4-5
|7
|
|-
|[[Monitor lizard man]]
|[[File:monitor_lizard_man_sprite.png]]
|85,000
|1
|60-80
|15-25
|70
|
|-
|[[Oriole man]]
|[[File:oriole_man_sprite.png]]
|35,020
|1
|60-80
|3-7
|8
|
|-
|[[Osprey man]]
|[[File:osprey_man_sprite.png]]
|36,000
|1
|60-80
|2-4
|60
|
|-
|[[Ostrich man]]
|[[File:ostrich_man_sprite_anim.gif]]
|80,000
|1
|60-80
|10-15
|2000
|
|-
|[[Parakeet man]]
|[[File:parakeet_man_sprite.png]]
|35,060
|1
|60-80
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Peach-faced lovebird man]]
|[[File:peach_faced_lovebird_man_sprite.png]]
|35,030
|1
|60-80
|4-6
|9
|
|-
|[[Peregrine falcon man]]
|[[File:peregrine_falcon_man_sprite.png]]
|35,300
|1
|60-80
|3-4
|46
|
|-
|[[Platypus man]]
|[[File:platypus_man_sprite.png]]
|36,000
|1
|60-80
|1-3
|11
|
|-
|[[Pond turtle man]]
|[[File:pond_turtle_man_sprite.png]]
|35,250
|0
|60-80
|1-15
|6
|
|-
|[[Puffin man]]
|[[File:puffin_man_sprite.png]]
|35,375
|1
|60-80
|1
|30
|
|-
|[[Python man]]
|[[File:python_man_sprite.png]]
|135,000
|0
|60-80
|10-30
|50
|
|-
|[[Raven man]]
|[[File:raven_man_sprite.png]]
|35,600
|1
|60-80
|3-7
|52
|
|-
|[[Red-winged blackbird man]]
|[[File:red_winged_blackbird_man_sprite.png]]
|35,025
|1
|60-80
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Reptile man]]
|[[File:reptile_man_sprite.png]]
|50,000
|12
|60-80
|1-3
|1600
|
|-
|[[Saltwater crocodile man]]
|[[File:saltwater_crocodile_man_sprite.png]]
|435,000
|3
|60-80
|20-70
|100
|
|-
|[[Serpent man]]
|[[File:serpent_man_sprite.png]]
|50,000
|12
|60-80
|1-3
|1600
|
|-
|[[Skink man]]
|[[File:skink_man_sprite.png]]
|35,250
|0
|60-80
|10-30
|10
|
|-
|[[Snapping turtle man]]
|[[File:snapping_turtle_man_sprite.png]]
|50,000
|0
|60-80
|5-10
|50
|
|-
|[[Snowy owl man]]
|[[File:snowy_owl_man_sprite.png]]
|36,000
|1
|60-80
|5-10
|62
|
|-
|[[Sparrow man]]
|[[File:sparrow_man_sprite.png]]
|35,015
|1
|60-80
|2-7
|3
|
|-
|[[Swan man]]
|[[File:swan_man_sprite.png]]
|40,000
|1
|60-80
|5-7
|340
|
|-
|[[Vulture man]]
|[[File:vulture_man_sprite.png]]
|39,500
|1
|60-80
|1-3
|60
|
|-
|[[White stork man]]
|[[File:white_stork_man_sprite.png]]
|36,500
|1
|60-80
|1-7
|110
|
|-
|[[Wren man]]
|[[File:wren_man_sprite.png]]
|35,020
|1
|60-80
|3-10
|5
|
|}

:* ''Animal people cannot be tamed, but they can join civilizations during worldgen and later arrive as visitors.''
:** ''Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.'

{| border="1px #AAA solid;" style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable sortable"
|+style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#EEE;"| '''[[Vermin]]*'''
|-
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Animal
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Graphic
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Body Size (max)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Maturation Time (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Max Age (years)
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Number of Eggs
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Egg Size**
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;background:#DDD;"| Notes
|-
|[[Anole]]
|[[File:anole_sprite.png]]
|90
|0
|5-7
|1-2
|10
|
|-
|[[Blue jay]]
|[[File:blue_jay_sprite.png]]
|100
|1
|10-20
|2-7
|11
|
|-
|[[Bushtit]]
|[[File:bushtit_sprite.png]]
|5
|1
|1-2
|5-13
|1
|
|-
|[[Cardinal]]
|[[File:cardinal_sprite.png]]
|50
|1
|10-20
|2-5
|9
|
|-
|[[Cave swallow]]
|[[File:cave_swallow_sprite.png]]
|100
|1
|10-20
|4-5
|11
|
|-
|[[Chameleon]]
|[[File:chameleon_sprite.png]]
|150
|0
|5-10
|40-50
|10
|
|-
|[[Cockatiel]]
|[[File:cockatiel_sprite.png]]
|90
|1
|15-30
|2-8
|11
|
|-
|[[Crow]]
|[[File:crow_sprite.png]]
|500
|1
|10-15
|4-6
|21
|
|-
|[[Grackle]]
|[[File:grackle_sprite.png]]
|120
|1
|10-20
|1-7
|12
|
|-
|[[Lorikeet]]
|[[File:lorikeet_sprite.png]]
|200
|1
|15-30
|2
|11
|
|-
|[[Magpie]]
|[[File:magpie_sprite.png]]
|200
|1
|10-20
|2-5
|11
|
|-
|[[Masked lovebird]]
|[[File:masked_lovebird_sprite.png]]
|90
|1
|10-15
|4-5
|7
|
|-
|[[Oriole]]
|[[File:oriole_sprite.png]]
|40
|1
|10-20
|3-7
|8
|
|-
|[[Parakeet]]
|[[File:parakeet_sprite.png]]
|120
|1
|15-25
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Peach-faced lovebird]]
|[[File:peach_faced_lovebird_sprite.png]]
|60
|1
|10-15
|4-6
|9
|
|-
|[[Pond turtle]]
|[[File:pond_turtle_sprite.png]]
|500
|0
|40-100
|1-15
|6
|
|-
|[[Red-winged blackbird]]
|[[File:red-winged_blackbird_sprite.png]]
|50
|1
|10-20
|2-4
|11
|
|-
|[[Skink]]
|[[File:skink_sprite.png]]
|500
|0
|15-20
|10-30
|10
|
|-
|[[Sparrow]]
|[[File:sparrow_sprite.png]]
|30
|1
|5-10
|2-7
|3
|
|-
|[[Two-legged rhino lizard]]
|[[File:two_legged_rhino_lizard_sprite.png]]
|1,000
|1
|2-3
|10-30
|40
|
|-
|[[Wren]]
|[[File:wren_sprite.png]]
|40
|1
|5-7
|3-10
|5
|
|-
|}

:* ''Vermin cannot currently be used for egg production in fortress mode.''
:** ''Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.'

==Bugs==
Aquatic egg-laying animals will not claim a nest box. It doesn't matter if the box is built underwater or on land. {{Bug|4105}}

{{Category|Food}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}
[[ru:Egg production]]

Tavern

2026-09-01T21:13:36Z

Ziusudra: /* Tavern Setup */ added location screen

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{av}}
[[File:tavern_icon_preview.png|right]]A '''tavern''' or '''inn''' is a place where people [[drink]], lodge, socialize, and entertain with each other. They exist in both [[Fortress mode|fortress]] and [[adventure mode]].

==Fortress mode==
[[File:Tavern v0.43.png|thumb|300px|A tavern in adventure mode. ASCII mode.]]
[[File:tavern_v50_preview.png|thumb|300px|A tavern in fortress mode, v50.]]Taverns are establishments where patrons gather to socialize and can partake in alcoholic beverages and meals, while [[tavern keeper]]s and [[performer]]s serve drink and provide entertainment, with the occasional risks of a bar brawl. Taverns can be an integral part of social life for idling citizens, and may cater to long-term residents and [[visitor]]s, becoming a window to the outside world where [[rumor]]s from nearby [[civilization]]s can be shared. [[Long-term resident]]s will seek to rent rooms here.

=== Tavern Setup ===
[[File:Tavern-ui.png|thumb|300px|The tavern location screen, where staff and items are assigned.]]Taverns are designated [[location]]s in fortress mode. You may designate them from any [[meeting area]] or [[dining room]] by clicking [[File:Ui location add.png|24px]] and then "New inn/tavern". Upon creation, the new tavern will be given a random name and added to {{menu icon|P}} [[Places]] -> Location list. Once the location is assigned, a button [[File:Ui location details.png|24px]] appears in the zone interface, which allows to open location details and where you can [[File:Quill.png|24px]] rename location.

In the location menu, you can assign dwarves to the [[occupation]]s associated with taverns: [[File:Tavern performer icon.png|24px]] [[performer]]s and [[File:Tavern keeper icon.png|24px]] [[tavern keeper]]s. However, assigned performers do not appear to actually perform more often than unassigned dwarves, and both performers and tavern keepers will serve drinks in mugs to tavern-goers if your tavern has mugs in a [[chest]]* and a drink stockpile. Serving dwarves tend to provide more alcohol than a creature would normally drink, which can lead to issues with [[drunk]]enness and even [[#Bugs|death]], particularly for your non-dwarven long-term residents!

: (* Note that a [[bin]], which can be set in a 1-tile stockpile to hold only mugs, is ''not'' a substitute for a chest in a tavern. Instead, those mugs would be used by your citizens and long-term residents when thirsty. Mugs stored in the tavern's chests are solely for the use of the tavern keeper and performers to serve drinks.)

Although taverns attract foreign visitors by default, you can change the Tavern patron restrictions in the location menu: [[File:Interface pasture.jpg|24px]] allow everyone in your tavern, [[File:Interface tent.jpg|24px]] restrict short-term [[visitor]]s and [[File:Interface dwarf face.jpg|24px]] restrict both visitors and [[long-term resident]]s, allowing only your citizens. Also, the total number of allowed visitors in [[Settings#Population_and_seed_capacities|settings]]. If you feel that your dwarves would be better off without fraternization with other peoples, you can simply change the tavern's policy on guests to serve locals only on creation, or have visitor cap of 0†. You can also adjust the number of [[goblet]]s (mugs) and [[instrument]]s the tavern will keep on hand from this menu.

: († If visitors already arrived, no new visitors will arrive past this point, but the old ones will leave on their own time.)

Dwarves will eat and drink in taverns if tables and chairs are available. If the tavern was designated from a [[dining room]], then these dwarves may receive a [[thought]] about "dining in a [quality] dining room". If the tavern does not contain a zone designated as a dining room, dwarves will not receive this thought.

=== Tavern Activities ===
[[File:Daily barter by ncorva.jpg|thumb|''Art by ncorva'']]Once a character is in the tavern, they can do the following:

* '''Socialize''': A dwarf (or character) idling in a tavern will start socializing. If there are at least two characters in the tavern, the socialize activity might evolve into another activity, like telling each other stories, reciting poetry, sharing music (performing/listen to music) or dances (perform/watch dance). The only requirement for the last two is that you include a moderate amount of empty space (5×5 as a minimum, though some dances apparently require up to a 10×10 empty space) in the tavern's floor plan, which the game recognizes as a "dance floor." Stocking the tavern with a variety of [[instrument]]s will improve the quality of the music, as performers will simply improvise the sound of any missing instruments. Navigating to a socializing creature in the {{menu icon|u}} unit list and clicking with the mouse on the [[File:Mag glass icon.png]] symbol directly right of the displayed current performed activity (like "perform dance") will allow you to see the details of the story, song, poem or dance being performed (or watched).

Also normal social interaction can happen in a tavern, but two characters will only talk to each other, if they are adjacent to each other (including diagonally adjacent), but not all socializing interactions between two adjacent characters will result in both characters interacting with each other (there is some randomness involved), ie. it can happen that two characters, that are adjacent to each other in a tavern zone (with no other character present) for a whole day, will not get a thought that they did interact with the other character.

* '''Rent Rooms''': If you build a [[bedroom]] zone and assign it to the tavern, it will now be known as a "rented room" and become available for rent by visitors who were granted [[long-term resident|long-term residency]]. These vistors don't actually pay you anything for use of the room, but will offer their services in exchange for room and board, essentially joining your fort but refusing to accept labors until they petition for citizenship (with military ones never doing so while alive). You can assign multiple bedrooms to a single Tavern.

:'''''Note''''': Because of {{bug|12061}}, [[Long-term resident]]s do not sleep in rented bedrooms.

* '''Share information:''' Citizens and visitors alike can share information with each other, especially when plied with alcohol. This can include [[rumor]]s about the wider world, the location of your artifacts, learning songs and dances of other civilizations, or even a [[report]] on what happened to the squad you sent on a [[mission]] that never returned.

Because [[location]]s help your fort mood and focus and let jobs finish in them, there's little gameplay reason to not ensure your dwarves often visit them by combining them with dining halls, drinking mounds, or even dormitories and barracks. Lavishly decorating your tavern and filling it with [[Stress|mood]]-enhancing items such as [[mist]] generators will greatly boost your fort's happiness, as every dwarf will eventually need to visit the place to eat or drink. However, should your fortress dwarves be [[Intelligent undead]] and/or just plain incredibly distracted from a tavern need, doing so will bring them to a halt, as they start to {{gametext|Socialize!|5:1}} to try to fill their needs⁎. In such a state, they'll stop doing regular jobs you assign them until satisfied, finding this way more important. This can be stopped by deleting the zone with [[File:UI Delete Area.png|24px]]; or by unassigning the location with [[File:Ui location add.png|24px]] and clicking on the "Remove current location assignment" option, but they'll have to start over next time.

Also instead of the "no job" activity a dwarf is usually displayed with the "Socialize" activity, if idling in a tavern, even if no one else is currently in the tavern. In fact dwarves idling (and not moving) with the "No job" activity directly adjacent to a zone, which is assigned to a tavern, will be displayed with any of the tavern activities, if the tile the dwarf is idling on is added to the tavern zone.

===Tavern risks===

==== Alcohol problems ====
Although it may be fun to see your dwarves singing, dancing, and socializing their spare time away, be aware that having a Tavern Keeper or Performer assigned to a tavern in your fort puts tavern-goers there at risk of both [[alcohol#Alcohol poisoning|alcohol poisoning]] and drunken brawls. Drunk creatures are more prone to violence, especially those with [[human|weak]], [[elf|tiny]] [[goblin|livers]]. Although these outbursts usually begin as a simple fist fight between peasants or children, they can escalate quickly; friends and family of combatants will often join in, leading to huge, undesirable melees which may include highly-trained military dwarves. Even if soldiers don't get involved, lucky punches and scratches can deal permanent wounds or even kill. Worst of all, unless you have a massive hospital with multiple doctors, you can find yourself suddenly buried under dozens of lightly injured dwarves, watching their wounds grow fatally infected as they wait for preliminary diagnosis.

For the overdrinking itself, dwarves will consider alcohol harmless and not a cause to move people to hospitals on its own. For this, including some [[Beekeeping|bee hives]] or [[Trap#Cage_trap|cage traps]] in your tavern can help ensure unconsicious patrons are removed from the dance floor.

However, there is not much you can do to control for fights besides getting your medical industry up and running before opening the tavern doors, or outright not assigning any alcohol, mugs, tavern keepers or performers to your tavern. But hey, if you want, you can simply think of it as an exciting source of hands-on experience for your med team!

==== [[Agent]]s ====
Taverns are your window to the external world, with all the good and bad it has to offer. If you happen to be in possession of a much coveted [[artifact]], foreign [[agent]]s ''will'' eventually venture to your tavern to gather information, assuming your dwarves can't hold their tongues. They will pose as any other [[visitor]], chat with your dwarves and other tavern patrons, potentially trying to [[Villain#Plotting|corrupt them]], before reporting back home. If your fortress is confirmed to hold artifacts that other entities have laid a [[claim]] on, you may attract a lot of [[siege|unwanted attention]]. Should you happen to notice a group of visitors who are asking about one of your artifacts, you can force them to either leave or act on their plan immediately by setting your tavern to allow only Citizens and Long-Term Residents. Doing this after surrounding the group with military dwarves greatly improves your odds of ending the conflict with minimal loss to your fortress, after which you can resume allowing visitors to your fortress.

==== [[Werebeasts]] ====
You know the problem with opening a public tavern? Anyone can come right in and have a good time. And anyone who comes in could very well be a secret werebeast. One moment, everyone is having a fine drink and a good dance. Next thing you know, a Wereskink appears and turns the Tavern's dance party into a bloody rave. Be careful if you make your tavern public, or don't and sit back and watch the [[fun]] play out.

==Adventure mode==
Taverns ([[File:Slab tavern.png]]/ {{Raw Tile|¶|6:6:1}}) can be found in [[fortress]]es, [[forest retreat]]s, [[town]]s, and [[dark fortress]]es. They are listed in the [[structure]]s tab in the [[legends]]. In the fast travel screen, their names will be in yellow with a brown background ({{DFtext|example|6:6:1}}). In towns and forest retreats, taverns are represented with a [[Finished goods#Goblet|mug]] symbol on the map and with a physical [[slab|sign]]. "Tavern trees" are constructed in forest retreats but are considered taverns nonetheless. As their name implies, they are completely made of tree trunks and branches.

You can order drinks and rent rooms at most taverns in exchange for [[coin]]s. To do this, {{Adv menu icon|k}} [[Talking|speak]] to the [[tavern keeper]] and choose to {{DFtext|Ask about available services, drinks, rooms, etc.}} then choose the drink you want to order or the room you want to rent. Drink options are different for each tavern and change every week. Because elven and goblin civs cannot brew drinks, their taverns lack alcohol. Tavern trees additionally do not provide lodging.

You can hold off on paying your debts until you leave the tavern. To pay off your debts, talk to the tavern keeper and choose to {{DFtext|Trade or settle debts}}. You can pay in currency or trade items of equal or greater value than what you owe them in order to pay off your debts. You can ignore your payment and run off if you aren't planning to return any time soon, but you will be labeled as a [[thief]].

===Drinking mound===
In [[hillocks]], a drinking mound can be found, but instead of alcohol, [[drunk|drunken dwarves]] fill up the hollow structure. You can easily recruit them as your companions. Drinking mounds are not considered taverns.

=== Custom taverns ===
The [[Adventurer_mode_gameplay#Woodcutting.2C_building_and_site_management|build menu]] gives you the zoning option to allocate a tavern area. Companions left here will behave as if they are in a tavern - even without a tavern keeper, drinking vessels, furniture or instruments, they will mill about, gossip and [[Performance|perform]].
[[File:tavern_preview.jpg|thumb|400px|center|A Dutch tavern from the olden times.]]

==Bugs==
* Tavern keepers, particularly in retired forts, sometimes claim "I don't work here" and refuse to serve drinks.{{bug|9327}}
* Long-term residents do not sleep in rented bedrooms {{bug|12061}}
* Long-term residents only claim bedrooms assigned to tavern. {{bug|9665}}
* Fights with visitors can result in loyalty cascades. {{bug|11046}}
* Bringing store-bought furniture to rooms you're renting at NPC taverns can result in a crash. {{bug|9582}}
* Tavern restrictions don't prevent visitors from showing up. {{bug|10749}}
* Visitors keep arriving to reach the visitor cap during sieges, resulting in a quickly mounting death toll. {{bug|9184}}

{{D for Dwarf}}
A little-known idiom about taverns and cats is the ancient dwarven expression, "Oh Urist, curiosity didn't kill the cat, the booze did." This became popularized early on due to cats liking booze just as much, if not more, than dwarves did, which led to a century-long friendship between cat and dwarf kind – and many cats dying of alcohol poisoning in taverns. Many, many cats. Sadly, cats have recently become less inclined to drink booze. Scholars claim this is probably due to the process of [[Bugs|natural selection]].

{{world}}
{{Category|Locations}}
{{Category|Adventurer mode}}

File:Tavern-ui.png

2026-09-01T21:09:55Z

Ziusudra: Tavern location screen, the tavern is 5×5, but the chests (placed in the right side corners) restrict that to a 4×5 dance floor.

== Summary ==
Tavern location screen, the tavern is 5×5, but the chests (placed in the right side corners) restrict that to a 4×5 dance floor.
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free Dwarf Fortress Screenshot}}

Palm

2026-08-29T18:34:37Z

Ziusudra: converted from redirect to disambig

{{disambig|page=yes}}
* [[Coconut palm]]
* [[Date palm]]

Peasant

2026-08-29T03:56:03Z

Ziusudra: /* Generating Peasants */ moved ways kids learn skills to list and added guild demos

{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

<div style="float:right; margin-left:10px">
{{Skill Box|Peasant|3:0|3:0|}}
</div>
[[File:peasant_sprite_preview.png|right]]In [[fortress mode]], a '''peasant''' is basically an unskilled laborer, a [[dwarf]] who is at most of dabbling [[skill]] when it comes to labor. Peasants are automatically assigned only to [[hauling]] tasks, and may be important in this regard - a large body of haulers will keep your skilled dwarves from dealing with the tedium themselves, allowing them to go about their work more efficiently, though this problem is also solved by having numerous [[Children#Chores| children]] as well. They appear [[color|teal]] on the [[unit list]].

Some peasants have military skills and are therefore more valuable than other peasants. Graphically, peasants will always appear as wearing cyan clothes, unless the option to [[Settings#Dye_display|display clothing dye]] is enabled.

==Generating Peasants==

*Peasants appear in [[immigration|migrant waves]]. Note that military and social skills are not considered when labeling a dwarf - a peasant may well be a skilled military fighter, but still only haul around stones at the workplace. More often than not, peasants in migrant waves have some military skills and relatively few in-fortress relationships, and therefore make good recruits for your [[military]].

*A peasant is often produced when [[children]] reach their eighteenth birthday. Children that come to full term will likely have lots of strong relationships around your fortress, and drafting them into your <s>suicide squads</s> army can result in unhappy [[thought]]s. Fortresses that manage to survive until their 25th year should expect to see ''plenty'' of peasants who were children that did not obtain skills, which can happen in a few ways:
** "Harvest Plants" can be done by any dwarf, children included, if you kept the "Dwarves All Harvest" option in [[standing orders]], granting [[planter]] skill.
** Watching demonstrations in [[guildhall]]s.
** Completing a non-possessed [[strange mood]] will grant legendary skill, either in a moodable skill learned in a guildhall, or one of those that use the [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]].

==Usage==

In many fortresses, peasants are forced to remain unskilled laborers by only assigning them hauling tasks. They can also be used to exploit the [[strange mood]] system: by temporarily assigning a peasant a skill which requires significant cost to the fort to train (i.e. any of the smithing skills, or glassmaking if sand or fuel are scarce) until they reach a level of novice, the next strange mood has an increased chance of yielding a legendary laborer in a critical field. Due to skill rust, peasants assigned in this way to the "mood lottery" can be reassigned easily later on, or you can simply use them to explore the [[caverns]], draft them into the military, or... [[Stupid dwarf trick|other things]].

{{V50 misc professions}}
{{Skills}}

Miohippus

2026-08-28T12:04:50Z

Ziusudra: correct name in preference

{{Quality|Tattered}}
{{Creaturelookup/0
|image=miohippus_sprites.png
|portrait=miohippus_portrait_anim.gif
|wiki=yes}}
{{av}}
{{creaturedesc}}

Some dwarves [[Preferences|like]] miohippuses for their ''small size'' and ''three toes''.

{{gamedata}}
{{Creatures}}

Quickstart guide

2026-08-28T07:57:25Z

Ziusudra: /* Choosing a Good Site */ US and game spelling

{{Quality|Masterwork}}
{{av}}
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.''
:* ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:* ''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:* ''For starting the game using the default [[Embark]] preperation, see [[Embark#Play_Now.21|Play Now!]]
:* ''For a basic "How to" for military, see [[Military quickstart]].''
:* ''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''

{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like — it's a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that doing this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] — This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Basic game-related tasks (saving, quitting, settings, etc.) are available on the options menu, which can be reached with {{Menu icon|Esc}} from the main screen. {{K|Esc}} again or {{K|right click}} will close the menu. This menu also shows the current or previous music track.

For more information see [[Saved_game_folder#Saving|Saving]], [[Reclaim fortress mode]], and [[Settings]].

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|create a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated — there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} at {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} at {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} at {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} at {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Real world extinct creatures}} at {{DFtext|Untamed wilds|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} at {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}
When it's finished choose {{DFtext|Play now}}, the game will save the world and then ask for a game type, choose {{DFtext|Fortress}}. The game will then quickly simulate two weeks of world activity and then offer a tutorial.

=Tutorial=
The in game tutorial is quite good and it is strongly suggested that new players play through it at least once. It will automatically choose a site for the fortress as well as dwarves and supplies. It will then show you how to use the [[interface]] to strike the earth and get started on your fortress. If a tutorial window is covering a part of the interface you are trying to use, you can roll up the window with the {{K|^}} button. You can replay any part of the tutorial at any time by pressing the {{K|?}} button next the minimap; this also provides a list of non-interactive guides on many parts of the game.

= Embark =
{{main|Embark}}
Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way. If you choose to {{DFtext|Start tutorial|7:2:1}} the game will do it all for you, flashing the location of the site it chose, then skipping straight to your arrival there. It is the quickest way to start.

If you choose {{DFtext|Skip tutorial|7:4:1}}, you'll get some good advice not to ignore any warnings about the site. You can then look around by pointing at locations to see details, zoom in with {{k|left click}}, and zoom out with {{k|right click}} (if any menu is open right click closes it instead.) However, the quickest way to find your own site is by clicking {{DFtext|Find embark location}} (available when the map is zoomed out).

== Choosing a Good Site ==
Choosing a decent embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in a potential site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''[[River]]''', '''Stream''' or '''Brook'''
* The metal list must include at least '''[[Iron]]''', but in general, the more metals, the better.
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay''', Sand''', '''Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out, also can enable pottery or glass
*'''Flux stone layer''' For a steel industry
*'''Neighbors''': Avoid sites containing '''[[towers]]''', '''[[goblins]]''', or other groups at war with you. However, you can disable enemies entirely for your first game, as described in the [[#Skills_and_Equipment|section below]]. (Important: towers are not displayed in the list, so it's important to check [[map legend|icons]] on the map near your location.)
*The site should be on the same land mass as an active dwarven civilization.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder-v50.png|thumb|upright|right|Initial suggested finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help. (Different buttons are shown with the map zoomed out or in; left-click will zoom in on the map, right-click will close an open menu or zoom out.)

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region with a match will be indicated by a green rectangle or {{DFtext|X|2:1}}s on the map, or close partial matches by a yellow rectangle or red {{DFtext|X|5:1}}s. Clicking on one of those will zoom in to show the actual sites in much the same way (partial matches are instead yellow {{DFtext|X|7:1}}s in ASCII mode). On the zoomed in map, existing sites will be shown as red rectangles or {{DFtext|░|5:1}}s; or white rectangles or magenta {{DFtext|░|6:0}}s for sites of the currently selected dwarven civilization if that list is open.

The {{DFtext|Choose origin civilization}} button on the zoomed out map shows a list of the dwarven civilizations on this world. Selecting one will center the map on their capital with a blue outline on each of their sites (no outline in ASCII mode), and show population and site counts. You can choose any, preferably not far from the location you have chosen.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it clicking the arrow buttons on the top-left. A 4×4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

Possible causes of partial matches include:
* "Calm" surroundings can be rare, you can try "Wilderness" instead.
* "≤ Deep" doesn't include "very deep" soil{{bug|12171}}, you can try "N/A" but make sure at least part of the site has some (it should since clay and sand count).
* "No" Aquifer (either type) means in the entire embark area; but even if some tiles have one, others might not. If you do embark at such a site, remember which tiles don't so you can dig down there.

You don't need a perfect site, but if you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then they will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once they are done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of their allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed to do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular square that you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelDifference.png|225px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1×1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing — the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3×3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive — a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5×5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage — this allows merchants to access your depot room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5×5), and other workshops (3×3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3×3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11×11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5×5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above — this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5×5 and 7×7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zone|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5×5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival — to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink — the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5×5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5×5 room with a 3×3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3×3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[Farming#Introduction to farming|this guide]]''.
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5×5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5×3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{Menu icon|y|}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3×3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3×3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10×10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors need a place where they are done — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3×3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up 2 [[table]]s and 2 [[throne]]s/chairs. You will find out why you need these later, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (logs and stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{Menu icon|P|sep=-}} (Places) and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1×1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1×1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players — it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5×5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3×3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3×3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and — depending on what resources you are missing — additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3×3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3×3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work orders]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Broker ===
In the default {{DFtext|Play Now!}} party, your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and broker when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; the manager job doesn't take very long, and this dwarf will be available to talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

===Bookkeeper===
In the default {{DFtext|Play Now!}} party, your planter is a good choice for bookkeeper when starting out.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned{{verify|Is this only true after population exceeds 20? Or do they always need the office?}}.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out 2 rooms near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1×3, no more than 5×5).
# Place furniture in both with a chair {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} and table {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} in each.
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark both rooms as offices, and then assign one to the manager and the other to the bookkeeper.
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5×5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5×5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Creatures menu#Pets/Livestock tab|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3×3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

==Situational Awareness==
At this point you might already have lost one or two games. Understanding why that happened is the most important part to get better and avoid frustration. To do so, you should be aware of what situation your fortress is in at all times: Are there enemies on the map? Do your dwarves have enough food? How many dwarves do you have? What season is it?

Along with just looking around periodically, there are 4 screens that can help you with these questions:

* The {{menu icon|u}} [[Unit list|Unit screen]] with its various tabs. Keep an eye out for invaders, dangerous animals and so on.
* The [[status]] panel and Stoc{{k|k}}s screen ''(Remember to appoint a [[bookkeeper]] and set him to the highest accuracy)''. Pay attention to the current date and your supplies.
* [[Announcements]] and combat [[reports]] on the left side of the screen or pressing {{menu icon|N}}.

Check them periodically and you will be able to recognize problems earlier and avoid disasters better.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps — if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps — citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1×1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across. For example, if you want the bridge to block access '''from the north''' when raised, you need the arrow to point to the '''south''' [[File:Bridge-to-south button.png]]. A helpful idea is to remember the arrow points towards the ''hinge'' of the bridge.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

If you used the second design above for your [[#Traps|trap hallway]] then you may want to try adding a second drawbridge in the cutouts for wagon access that can close it off and force invaders through the traps. Be sure to keep the bridge's orientation in mind.

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5×5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' — You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' — Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' — You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for them? '''No!''' Put their legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though they have no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of their unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Advanced world generation

2026-08-18T22:18:39Z

Ziusudra: removed migration template

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
:''This article contains information on advanced world generation. For information on basic world generation, see [[World generation]].'' ''See [[World token]] to more easily find information by the names used in the world_gen.txt file, [[World rejection]] for information on solving problems related to worlds always being rejected, and [[Worldgen examples]] for example worlds.''

[[File:adv_worldgen_v50.png|thumb|400px|right|The advanced world generation screen. ''(Click to enlarge)'']]'''Advanced world generation''', also labeled as '''detailed mode''', allows substantially more detail-oriented options of customization than standard, basic world generation. This gives the player much more control over how their world is generated. To better understand this article, it is advised that one should read about [[World generation|'''basic world generation''']] first.

The advanced world generation screen is reached by clicking "Create new world" at the main menu, then clicking "Detailed mode". Once at that screen, clicking "Basic options" will return the user to the standard world generation screen.

== Parameter sets ==
There are multiple default sets of all the advanced world generation parameters hard-coded in ''Dwarf Fortress'', which will be overridden by the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file in the main ''Dwarf Fortress'' directory, if it exists. It does not exist by default, you must create it, either by saving the default sets, or saving a copy from the [[world_gen.txt]] wiki page or elsewhere. This file can then be edited with a text editor, and you can copy and paste other players' sets of parameters into it. For sources of such parameter sets see [[Advanced_world_generation#Parameter_set_examples|Parameter set examples]] below.

To get back the default sets, move the existing <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> to somewhere else (like Documents), or delete it if you do not want to keep the changes, then load the sets in the game, it will then use the hardcoded defaults.

== User interface ==
First, there is a line of text inputs and buttons along the top of the screen, from left to right:
* The drop down menu of currently defined parameter sets, click the down arrow to select a set that you want to work with. The currently selected set can be renamed by clicking the current name or the [[File:Quill.png]] button. The first set in the file is selected by default, usually "LARGE ISLAND". See [[#Parameter set title|Parameter set title]].
* The dimensions of the world for the selected set, see [[#World dimensions|World dimensions]].
* A text entry box to set all of the seed options to the same seed, will show "Random seed", "Various seeds", or, if all four seeds are set to use the same value, that value. See [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_values|Seed values]] and [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_values|Seed notes]].
* The Copy Button to make a copy of the currently selected set and appends it to the bottom of the list.
* The red Delete button to delete the currently selected set, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion.
* The New parameter set to create a new parameter set and appends it to the bottom of the list. This seems to just copy the default "LARGE REGION" set.
* The Save button to save all of the current sets to the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file.
* The Load button to load from the same file, there is no confirmation, '''any unsaved changes will be lost'''. If that file does not exist, this resets all of the sets to the defaults.

Most of the middle is the parameters themselves, with a scroll bar to the right. Each row of the list can include:
* The name of the option
* The range of accepted values; not every option has this, and does not always match the displayed value, for example "0 to 1" might show as "No" and "Yes".
:* Sometimes the range might not initially show on rows that it should, reloading the sets with the Load button sometimes fixes that.{{bug|13176}}
* A plus button to increase the value or cycle through options, when applicable (this button will be missing if the range is missing.)
* The current value; can be clicked to edit, to actually set a value you must press {{k|enter}}, without doing that, clicking another entry box or right clicking will instead reset to the currently set value.
* An edit button to show that the previous box is editable, same as clicking on the text box.
* A minus button to decrease the value or cycle through options, when applicable (this button will be missing if the range is missing).
* A red button to disable this parameter, when applicable, usually setting the value to 0, or -1.

{{notice bar|bgcolor=#faa|bordercolor=#f00|All of the buttons below leave this screen and do not prompt to save the sets, so unsaved changes may be lost.}}
At the bottom right are 3 or 4 more buttons:
* The Create world button to do just that using the currently selected set, '''unsaved changes are lost'''.
* The Basic options button to go back to the normal world generation screen, unsaved changes are not lost if you come directly back to Detailed mode.
* The [[Mods]] button to go to the mod selection screen, unsaved changes are not lost if you come directly back to Detailed mode. Only shown if mods are available.
* Back to main menu button to do just that, '''unsaved changes are lost'''.

=== World painter ===
:''Main article: [[World painter]]
The '''world painter''' tool is not in the current version of ''Dwarf Fortress''; it allowed you to paint features onto a map. '''However''', those maps can still be used when generating a world by pasting world painter parameter set maps created in old versions into the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file. [[Utilities#Perfect_World_DF|Perfect World DF]] is a utility that uses the same parameter functionality as the world painter to paint a map, and it also can work with the current version of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

== Generating a world ==
You can either use an already-defined parameter set, or you can edit them, though it is highly suggested to edit a copy of one of the defaults. Once you are happy with the parameters you should save the values you just edited before you click the Create world button. Information about each parameter is documented below.

The phases of the world generation process are (this order is not completely correct):
* Preparing elevation...
* Setting temperature...
* Running rivers...
* Forming lakes and minerals...
* Growing vegetation...
* Verifying terrain...
* Importing wildlife...
* Recounting legends...
* Placing civilizations...
* Making cave civilizations...
* Making cave pops...
* Placing other beasts...
* Placing megabeasts...
* Placing good/evil...
* Placing caves...
* Prehistory generation
* Finalizing civ mats...
* Finalizing art...
* Finalizing uniforms...
* Finalizing sites...

== Seed notes ==
The world generation process uses a PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator) algorithm. A PRNG will produce a sequence of numbers that "looks" random, even though the actual sequence of numbers will always be the same if the PRNG is started with the same seed value. Basically this means that if you run world generation with a certain seed value on your computer, and someone else runs world generation with the same seed value on their computer, the same sequence of random numbers will be generated on both computers. The practical impact of this is that someone else can generate exactly the same world that you generated by entering the same seed value that you used.

In the current version, the seed values for the world itself and the names seem to produce the same result, but you will get changes in events which will result in a very different world history.{{bug|6934}} Keep this in mind if you want to regenerate a particular world.

The way that a world is generated can also be affected by certain world tokens. Changing them causes that code to use more or fewer PRNG values, causing later uses to get different parts of the sequence. So, you cannot for example, change the minimum and maximum rainfall and get 'the same world but drier or wetter', instead, a different world is generated. That said, it would also seem that certain small changes to these world tokens can occasionally generate a very similar world, however, other tokens are more sensitive. For more information see the forum thread [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112132.msg3404199#msg3404199 here].

The following are tokens which use the PRNG values in ways that changing them will likely cause broader changes:

* [DIM:X:X]
* [ELEVATION:X:X:X:X]
* [RAINFALL:X:X:X:X]
* [TEMPERATURE:X:X:X:X]
* [DRAINAGE:X:X:X:X]
* [VOLCANISM:X:X:X:X]
* [SAVAGERY:X:X:X:X]
* [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [RAIN_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:X]
* [COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:X]
* [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:X]
* [MINERAL_SCARCITY:X] {{cite talk/this|Mineral scarcity}}

Many other world parameters, such as end year and embark points, can, however, be changed without it having any effect on the geography of the world generated from the seed values.

Normally, you don't enter these seed values, the game comes up with values based on some other sort of pseudo-random information from things like the current date and time.

When generating a world, ''Dwarf Fortress'' records the seeds it used in [[gamelog.txt]]; they can also be found with <code>gui/gm-editor world.worldgen.worldgen_parms</code> in [[DFHack]].

== Advanced parameters ==
There are essentially 4 types of controls for the generation of the surface map;

'''Terrain parameters''': as described below, these 5 variables define the basic background world, how hot or cold it is, how much rainfall, how high the mountains are. The world automatically goes through the temperature range along the Y axis, although sometimes it will be hotter in the north, other times in the south, or cold at both. Minimum, maximum and X,Y variance can drastically alter the world.

'''Weighted meshes''': these are a way to fine-tune the amount of the 5 basic variables on the map. They can be used to set the specific distribution of different elevations or rainfall areas for example.

'''Feature parameters''': such as rivers, mountain peaks, volcanoes, and oceans, which can cause rejections if the terrain parameters don't allow enough suitable locations for the features to be placed.

'''Rejection parameters''': ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses a 'belt-and-braces' approach to world generation. The above controls allow you to shape the world, then the rejection parameters throw it out if it does not meet certain criteria. There are a number of rejection parameters for the number and degree of the 5 basic variables, for biome types, etc. If the world does not meet the requirements of any one rejection parameter the world is rejected and re-randomised. Also see [[World rejection]].

Leaving tokens out of a set in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt> will cause the game to use default values which are not adjusted for smaller world sizes, this may cause smaller worlds to always be rejected.

If you are experimenting with world design, there is also a [[Settings#Feature_toggles|game setting]] that will log the rejection reasons to ``[[map_rejection_log.txt]]``. With that information you can then either adjust the rejection parameters to allow those worlds, or the other parameters to prevent them from trying to generate. ''Dwarf Fortress'' will keep adding to the file, so you may want to trim or delete it occasionally.

The parameters are described below in the order that they appear in the list in the game, which is not necessarily the order they appear in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt>. See [[world token]] for an index that will help you look things up by token name. The tokens used in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt> are at the bottom of each of the following parameter descriptions.

=== Parameter set title ===
This sets the name of the parameter set itself, as used in the list of sets (this has nothing to do with the name of the generated world).
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITLE:<name>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITLE:MEDIUM ISLAND]</nowiki></tt>
| Required
|}

=== World dimensions ===
The size of the map for the current set can be changed by changing the Width and Height values at the top next to the set title. You will need to confirm this, since changing the dimensions of the world will change other parameters, because many of them have different defaults depending on the surface area available.

Larger maps usually take longer to generate and may reduce [[Frames per second|FPS]] in-game, though this is really a matter of larger worlds usually having more civilizations, sites, historical figures, and events; restricting the number of those can speed up the process. Non-square maps may result in crashes{{bug|2928}}.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DIM:<width>:<height>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DIM:257:257]</nowiki></tt>
| Valid values are 17, 33, 65, 129, and 257, other values will use one of those. Changing the size in the file without adjusting other parameters can cause many rejections.
|}

=== Seed values ===
Enables the use of, and specifies seed values for, different parts of the world generation process. Just entering a specific seed does not enable it, that must be done separately, although using the box at the top to set all the seeds to the same value does enable them all. Enabling a seed puts the token in using what ever is in the text box below. If you enable a seed, but do not enter a seed, the string "Seed text" will be used (<tt><nowiki>[SEED:Seed text]</nowiki></tt>). Trying to use a <tt><nowiki>]</nowiki></tt> in the string in the file will end the seed there, since it closes the token, any text after that will be ignored. Normally, just leave these set to Random, unless trying to reproduce the results of a previous world generation. See also the [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_notes|seed notes section]] above.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="4" |
For each of these not in the config file, a random seed will be used, and the first seed is not used to generate the others. The seeds used are output to [[gamelog.txt]] when world generation starts.
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HISTORY_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HISTORY_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NAME_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NAME_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CREATURE_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CREATURE_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== World name ===
As previously mentioned, the title of the parameter set doesn't affect the name of the world. You can specify a particular name for your world, or leave the value blank for a random one. (The [[DFHack]] utility adds an option to rename the world using the in-game languages.)
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CUSTOM_NAME:<name>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CUSTOM_NAME:Realm of Cheese Engravings]</nowiki></tt>
| For a random name, simply don't use this token.
|}

=== Embark Points ===
The number of points for equipment and animals when embarking in fortress mode (there is no equivalent setting for adventure mode). Normally, the default of 1504 is fine, but can be increased for various purposes like experimentation or to help dwarves survive in a particularly evil world, or reduced for certain [[challenges]].
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EMBARK_POINTS:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EMBARK_POINTS:1504]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 10,000
|}

=== End year ===
The maximum number of years generated for the world, although generation can be paused and the world used as is any time after the second year; the same as the [[World_generation#History|History]] parameter in basic world gen, except that you can enter an exact value. A too-short history can limit the materials available to civilizations, and [[Chosen|certain adventure mode features]] are only available after certain site events, while too long a history often leads to civilizations dying.

For more information on the history aspect of the game, see [[Legends]] and [[Calendar#Ages|Ages]].
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[END_YEAR:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[END_YEAR:250]</nowiki></tt>
| 2 to 10,000
|}

=== Population cap after civ creation ===
A soft limit to the total number of [[historical figure]]s alive at the same time during generation across all civilizations, only preventing the birth of new historical figures.{{cite forum|140544/5701667}} Each civilization is allotted a percentage of the total by the percentage of sites they control.{{cite forum|159164/7553641}} Civilizations also have non-historical populations, and there is no setting to limit those (in early versions, all civilization members were historical figures, this is also why the name of this setting is misleading). Each [[entity]] also has limits from their raws, see the [[Entity_token#Population|population]] entity tokens, and setting this to unlimited will not remove those.

Huge historical figure populations can slow generation and the game in general.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:15000]</nowiki></tt>
| -1 to 100,000, -1 is no limit
|}

=== Site cap after civ creation ===
Total number of [[site]]s that can be directly created by all civilizations combined like [[hillocks]], [[hamlet]]s, [[dark pits]], [[forest retreat]]s, etc. Does not prevent the placement of initial civilization sites, though they will then be counted for the limit. Does not affect creature sites like [[cave]]s or [[lair]]s, group sites like [[castle]]s, [[monastery|monasteries]], [[tower_(necromancy)|tower]]s, [[fort]]s, or [[camp]]s, or unpopulated sites like [[tomb]]s. After this limit is reached, no civilization will be able to place new sites. See the [[Entity_token#Placement|placement]] entity tokens for other ways that civilization site placement can be limited.

Increasing this will slow generation down and reduce the available places for player sites. Since the {{token|MAX_SITE_POP_NUMBER|entity}} entity token limits the historical figure population per site, this site cap can also limit the total historical figure population of all civilizations combined, and some expand faster than others getting more sites before the limit is reached.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SITE_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SITE_CAP:1500]</nowiki></tt>
| -1 to 100,000, -1 is no limit
|}

=== Beast control ===

These parameters don't usually matter too much, but may matter for small numbers of beasts.

==== Percentage of Megabeasts and Titans Dead for Stoppage ====

The world starts out with a certain number of powerful megabeast and titan entities in existence. If a percentage of the megabeast and titan population dies out during history generation, then history generation will stop early. For example, if the elimination value is 80%, and the generated history starts with 200 entities and 160 of those 200 entities are eliminated by historical events before the End Year is reached, history generation will stop immediately.

If you want to end the creation of your world at the beginning of a certain age, choose the following values:
* Age of Legends: ~34%
* Age of Heroes: ~67%
If there are three or fewer titans or megabeasts in your world, the age will be given a special name reflecting the remaining megabeasts/titans, instead.

==== Year to Begin Checking Megabeast Percentage ====

The percentage of dead [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s for stoppage will not be checked until this year is reached in history generation. This can be used to ensure that a world reaches a certain year even if all of the megabeasts in the world are slain earlier.

If the number of living [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s starts at or drops to less than four, then world generation will always stop if the current year is equal to or greater than the Year to Begin Checking Megabeast Percentage ''regardless'' of how many [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s are dead — Percentage of Megabeasts and Titans Dead for Stoppage is ignored. The number of megabeasts and titans at the start of the world is set by the sum of the [[Advanced_world_generation#Max_Megabeasts_Caves|Max Megabeasts Caves]] and [[Advanced_world_generation#Titan_Parameters|Titan Number]] parameters.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[BEAST_END_YEAR:<year>:<percentage or -1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[BEAST_END_YEAR:200:80]</nowiki></tt>
| Use -1 as percentage to disable. Year must still be at least 2.
|}

=== Cull Unimportant Historical Figures ===
{{main|Historical figure}}
Whether to remove unimportant dead historical figures after history generation; a short CPU-intensive step, but saves space which can speed up loading, saving, and running games with large histories. Legends mode will refer to culled creatures as "an unknown creature", and they will not appear in engravings, but likely would not have anyway.

Exactly what is considered important is not clear. A member of an abstract group killing a named creature is not important, nor is creating an artifact, even if that artifact had important history. Unculled historical figures can have parentage described as "The identity of" that parent "has been lost to time", so just having children is not, though having living direct relations seems to prevent culling.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:<0 or 1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes
|}

=== Reveal All Historical Events ===

Setting this to Yes will allow access to most information about the history of the world in [[Legends mode]]. All events will be revealed, but some [[historical figure]]s, [[site]]s, [[region]]s, and [[civilization]]s and other entities may not be, possibly because they are not known to any civilization. If set to No, then you will have to discover historical information in [[adventure mode]] or by instructing dwarves to make engravings.{{Verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:<0 or 1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY::1]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes
|}

=== Terrain Parameters ===

These set limits and variance for terrain elevation, rainfall, temperature, drainage, volcanism, and savagery which determines how those values are generated. What biomes exist are then determined by how these factors overlap with each other.

==== Minima and Maxima ====
These are the absolute minimum and maximum values that can ever be generated for a particular map square characteristic. By ''subtly'' tweaking the min and max values, vastly different maps can be made. Changing these can cause the occurrence of certain [[Biome|biomes]] to become impossible, so you may want to use [[#Terrain Mesh Sizes and Weights|Weighted Ranges]] instead.

==== X and Y Variance ====
These control how wildly things like elevation and rainfall can vary between adjacent map squares. For example, if these values are set to the maximum of 3,200 for elevation then you will end up with more very low areas right next to very high areas. The number for X determines the east-west variance and the number for Y determines the north-south variance. By setting only one of these to a high value you can, for example, create horizontal or vertical bands of areas which are more similar to each other.

Generally speaking, raising both of these values will create a more random "patchwork" of many small biomes while setting both x and y values to 0 will cause every square on the map to use a single random value for the given characteristic.

For "patchwork" worlds to avoid being rejected, [[#Maximum Number of Subregions|Maximum Number of Subregions]] will probably need to be increased from the default.

==== Elevation ====
This controls the range of terrain elevations that can occur in the world. Usually, you just want to leave the min/max values alone. Raising the minimum elevation can, for example, make it impossible for oceans to exist. This does '''not''' directly control the number of available Z-levels at a particular site, though high maximum values may contribute to peaks, which can raise the number of above ground Z-levels - in other words, a maximum elevation of 400 and minimum of 1 does not mean you get 400 Z-levels, but it might increase the number of Z-levels somewhat in some regions compared to others. Raising the variance will result in a more bumpy, uneven landscape.

Some biomes/features that are impacted by elevation:
* A high minimum (above 99) means no oceans, as they need elevations below 100.
* A low maximum (below 300) means no mountains, as mountains need elevations above 300.
* Rivers will be placed when the elevation maximum is 104 or higher. Therefore, keeping both values above 100 and below 104 will prevent all water tiles from appearing.
* Mountain peaks can only form at elevations of 400.

==== Rainfall ====
Controls the amount of rainfall in each map square/area. Setting the minimum or maximum too high or low can make the formation of certain biomes impossible. Rainfall causes it to [[rain]] more in a given area, which can have various effects. Also makes more rivers appear on the world map.

Note that if [[#Do Orographic Precipitation and Rain Shadows|orographic precipitation and rain shadows]] is on, then mountains will cause additional variance in rainfall, so (for example) rainfall below the specified minimum can occur in the shadow of a mountain. If you want the minimum and maximum for this parameter to be absolutely respected, you must turn off the orographic precipitation option.

Additionally, with 'Orthographic Precipitation' turned on, orthographic precipitation and rain shadows will only occur in regions with greater than or equal to 50 drainage. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139916.0 [Report, reproduced 2022]]

==== Temperature ====
{{main|Climate|Temperature}}
These parameters control how hot or cold various areas will be. If you lower the minimum and maximum values, the world will be colder overall, for example. As with the others, changing these values too much could make it impossible for certain biomes to exist. The temperature scale used in this setting is related to regular degrees Urist by the equation "local temp = world temp * 0.75 + 10000".{{cite forum|169696/8395484}} This scale doesn't seem to be used anywhere else in the game. See [[Climate]] for more info.

These parameters form the "base" temperature for an area, and describe peak summer temperature in a scale that isn't used elsewhere in the game. This number also does not correspond 1:1 with the final climate. [[Temperature]] is always influenced by a number of variables, including elevation, time of year, thick forestation, and if [[Advanced_world_generation#Poles|poles]] are enabled, latitude. These other variables are factored in after the temperature mesh is applied, and frequently bring temperatures above and below their set minimum and maximum values. ''The inclusion of Poles is particularly strong in this regard, as it allows latitude to raise and/or lower temperatures by more than 75 degrees Celsius! That said, the temperatures aren't raised or lowered by more than about 65 degrees past the set minimum and maximum. Furthermore, for typical ranges, the temperature will never be raised more than about 25 degrees past the maximum (but will still drop up to about 65 degrees Celsius below the minimum).'' (unsure about exact values, research needed)

Elves can spawn where the temperature is 10 degrees or warmer, and humans can spawn where the temperature is 0 degrees or warmer.

==== Drainage ====
Changing drainage parameters will change the way water-affected biomes are formed. Low drainage will contribute to the formation of [[Lake|lakes]], [[River|rivers]], and [[Swamp|swamps]]. High drainage will cause water to sink into the ground rather than sit on the surface, which is important for forming hills.

Lower drainage values have been reported to contribute to the formation of thicker soil layers, though it is currently unknown exactly how other factors (such as elevation or perhaps rain) impact soil formation.

==== Volcanism ====
Volcanism controls the occurrence of igneous [[layer]]s, and the formation of volcanoes. For a volcano to form, a square must have a volcanism value of 100, so reducing the maximum from 100 will make volcanoes impossible. Raising the minimum will increase the rarity of non-igneous layers.

Setting the minimum to a high value is not a good way to produce multiple volcanoes, as you are likely to get a "Volcanism not evenly distributed" rejection. Instead, use the Minimum Number of Volcanoes parameter, and possibly adjust the weighted ranges for volcanism as described below.

==== Savagery ====
These parameters control the level of [[Surroundings#Savage|savagery]] on the map. Raising the minimum savagery too high may make it impossible for certain races to exist, and similarly lowering the maximum too far can make it impossible for certain creatures to exist. The largest chance of having unusable maps comes from a too-high savagery value.

==== Configuration Tokens ====
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION:1:400:401:401]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 400 Maximum of 400 required for mountain peaks. Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAINFALL:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAINFALL:0:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE:25:75:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: -1000 to 1000 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE:0:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM:1:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Maximum of 100 required for volcanoes. Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY:1:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|}

=== Terrain Mesh Sizes and Range Weights ===
[[File:World_map-large-32x32-elevation-mesh.png|thumb|300px|A large world generated with an Elevation Mesh Size of 32×32 and range weights set to 1:0:0:0:1 (i.e., only extreme high and low elevations). Note how the grid intersections are either set very high (mountains) or very low (oceans) and the space between them is smoothed out.]]
These parameters influence the relative proportions of terrain feature ranges, without making other ranges impossible. For example, to have many more low-elevation squares exist, without making it impossible for high elevations; this makes changing these parameters often preferable to simply changing the above min/max values. See the image on the right for an example.

The basic steps of applying weighted ranges are as follows:
# Divide the world into a grid of quantity <code>2''MeshSize'' - 1</code> areas in both X and Y direction.
# At each grid intersection, set the value according to the weighted ranges.
# Smooth out the areas between the intersection points.
# Add noise according to the variance parameters.
Where ''MeshSize'' is the raw parameter value found in the <code>[[world_gen.txt]]</code>.

==== Interaction between Mesh Size and Weighted Ranges ====
Mesh size determines how many intersection points the world will have. As an example, setting it to 2×2 means the world will be divided into 4 areas, 2 across and 2 tall, and there will be a total of 9 intersection points (3×3), including the outer-most corners. The grid intersection points are in the middle of world tiles, and the minimum size for a grid area is a span of 9 world tiles in either direction, with adjacent areas sharing an overlapping world tile. On a pocket world, this means one grid tile will span 9×9 world tiles, whereas on a large world, one grid tile will span 129×129 world tiles. A pocket world will always use a 2×2 grid of 9×9 world tiles, since it has only 17×17 tiles total (even if the game UI allows setting those worlds to a 4×4 grid, which can happen when changing the world size; changing the world size doesn't adjust mesh size limits, but saving then reloading the parameters does). A world that is 17 tiles wide, but 257 tall, and set to a 32×32 mesh size, will have 3×33 intersection points.

Setting mesh size to something other than Ignore, will apply random values at those intersections, with those random values being more likely to be in the ranges with higher weights. Setting to Ignore will cause the weighted range settings to be ignored for that terrain characteristic; instead setting the 4 corners of the world to completely random values and smoothing between those, or in other words, using a 1×1 grid for square worlds; while for rectangular worlds, using the same ratio as the world dimensions with 1 in the narrow dimension (for example, a 1×16 grid for a 17×257 world).

For example, if the Elevation Weighted Range parameters are set to <code>60:10:10:10:10</code> (starting with the 0-20 range, and these values do not need to add up to any particular number), and elevation min and max are left at the defaults of 1 and 400 respectively, then about 60% (on average) of the grid line intersection points will be set to an elevation in the range of 1-80 (0% to 20%), and the other ranges will be represented by around 10% of the intersection points each. The exact distribution is still left up to chance, though ''on average'' it will be close to this specification. This allows random number generation to be non-linear for the given terrain characteristic.

Setting the weight for a range to None only prevents intersection points from being set to a value in that range; terrain between intersection points can still be smoothed to values in ranges set to None that are between the intersection point values. Setting all the weights to None just puts them all at the same weight, the same as the default of all at 1.

Weighted ranges do not make rejection checks, although they can be responsible for many rejections if you neglect to adjust or disable some of the [[#Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares|Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares]], for example.

==== Interaction between these and Variances ====
The end result can vary greatly depending on how the corresponding [[#X_and_Y_Variance|X and Y Variance]] parameters are set. First of all, if the variance is too high, the noise it adds can completely negate the effect of the weighted ranges. For instance, with a 2×2 mesh, the default variance parameters are high enough that usually the mesh grid can hardly be recognized. How strong the variance's effect is, is also dependent on the mesh size. Having a larger mesh size (i.e. smaller grid tiles) means the variance also has to be higher for a visible effect. For instance, with a variance of 400, the effects are clearly visible with a 2×2 mesh and barely visible at all with a 8×8 mesh. Note that this effect is directly dependent on the mesh size and not, as one might expect, on the actual size of the grid tiles. This means, that a large world with a 32×32 mesh will look essentially the same as a pocket world with a 2×2 mesh, only stretched to 256 times the size.

Also see this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139916.0 forum post] for more details.

==== Configuration Tokens ====
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:2:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="6" | Valid mesh values:

1 = Ignore

2 = 2x2

3 = 4x4

4 = 8x8

5 = 16x16

6 = 32x32

(limited by world size)
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_FREQUENCY:3:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:4:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:5:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Poles ===

With this, you can influence how polar regions are added. The poles can be on the north or south edge, and the equator will be on the opposite edge, or in the middle if there are two poles. If poles are set to NONE, then there will be no seasonal changes in the weather (e.g. no winter snow in temperate biomes).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[POLE:<placement>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[POLE:NORTH]</nowiki></tt>
| Viable options: NONE, NORTH_OR_SOUTH, NORTH_AND_OR_SOUTH, NORTH, SOUTH, NORTH_AND_SOUTH
|}

=== Minimum Mountain Peak Number ===

This will cause the world to be rejected if fewer than this many peaks (based on elevation) are present on the map. EG: elevations of 400 must be possible for mountain peaks to occur. If set to zero, then worlds will not be rejected based on number of peaks.

You may need to adjust elevation parameters, such as the highest weighted range, in order to get the desired number of elevation-400 squares needed for larger numbers of peaks. Like volcanoes, mountain peaks can make embark zones more interesting (reportedly, they do increase the highest Z-level above ground in all embark zones in the same region, even if the selected embark zone does not include the peak) but other than that, they don't appear to "do" anything special.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:20]</nowiki></tt>
| Elevations of 400 must occur for peaks to form.
|}

=== Minimum Partial Edge Oceans ===

This will cause a world to be rejected unless there are at least this many oceans touching an edge of the map. If set to zero then worlds will not be rejected based on this criterion. Setting both this parameter and Minimum Complete Edge Oceans to values that total more than 4 when added together may cause all worlds to be rejected, as you can't have both a partial and complete edge ocean on a given edge.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:2]</nowiki></tt>
| Maximum of 4
|}

=== Minimum Complete Edge Oceans ===

This will cause a world to be rejected unless there are at least this many oceans which completely cover an edge of the map. Since a square map only has 4 edges, the maximum value possible is 4. If set to zero then worlds will not be rejected based on this criterion but still might end up with complete edge oceans by chance.

Note that the ability for this many edge oceans to exist will be limited by elevation. Therefore, to actually create large oceans you will probably need to change things like the Elevation Mesh Size and Weighted Ranges to increase the number and distribution of very low elevation squares on the map. In addition, if Complete Edge Oceans is set to any value ''other'' than 0 or 4, you may need to lower elevation variance for at least one of the axes: if set too high, such as a variation of 1600 for both X and Y axes (the default for Large Island and Medium Island parameter sets), the game may generate worlds very slowly or even hang.{{bug|565}}

Given appropriate weight, range, and variance values for things like elevation, a setting of: 1 results in a world that seems like a chunk of coastline. One edge of the map will be completely underwater and there will be ocean taking up much of the map on that side (think the east or west coast of the United States, the north coast of Canada, or southern Europe). If your edge ocean happens to pick your world's frozen side, most of it will be glacier.

*2 results in another coastline along with the first one -- the map could end up looking something like Panama if the oceans pick opposite sides of the map.
*3 results in a peninsula, like Florida in the US. There will be oceans surrounding 3 sides of the map, and land touching only one side of the map.
*4 results in one or more island(s) depending on things like elevation variance and weights. Regardless of whether you get one island or multiple islands, the entire map will be surrounded by water.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to control which oceans end up on which edges, except perhaps setting X/Y variance to different values.

Edge oceans will take up part of the other edges too. For example, a full edge ocean on the east side will have part of the north and south sides underwater, but that does ''not'' add to the ''partial'' edge oceans count.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| Maximum of 4
|}

=== Minimum Volcano Number ===

The game will attempt to place this many volcanoes, but there must be at least this many squares with a volcanism of 100, if there are not, the world will be rejected. Therefore, [[Advanced_world_generation#Volcanism|maximum volcanism]] above must be set to 100, and adjusting the [[Advanced_world_generation#Configuration_Tokens_2|volcanism weighted range]] above for 80-100 to a higher value can increase the number of those squares.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANO_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANO_MIN:15]</nowiki></tt>
| Volcanoes require a volcanism of 100 to occur.
|}

=== Mineral Scarcity ===
Controls the frequency at which minerals occur; setting this value higher will decrease both the number of different types and amounts of ore and gems present on a map. The default value will result in a variety of metal ores, while the old default of ''sparse'' would be only a few ores, which may be limiting until other metals can be requested and traded for. Note that abundances are limited by removing large cluster and/or vein spawn types from certain z-levels entirely, which can counterintuitively increase the abundance of one specific ore or mineral. The abundance of small cluster deposits (including gemstones) is not significantly affected, only the variety of types.

The options "Very Rare", "Rare", "Sparse", "Frequent", and "Everywhere" in the [[World_generation#Basic_world_generation_menu|basic world generation menu]] use the values 50000, 10000, 2500, 500 and 100 respectively.

According to [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79018.msg2063804#msg2063804 research] by Shandra in v0.31.25, this is the relationship between the value of this setting and the approximate number of gems and ore:

[[File:MineralSetting_v25_limit10k.png]]

This is for the same 8x8 embark region in a world which is otherwise the same, except for the mineral scarcity parameter (although most of the detailed information comes from experiments with previous versions). (The chart legend has an error, the first "Pot.(Types)" should read "Pot.(Amount)".)
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MINERAL_SCARCITY:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MINERAL_SCARCITY:100]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 100 to 100,000
|}

=== Real-world extinct creatures ===
Controls if and where extinct animals and animal people can exist; either not at all, in [[savage]] or [[Surroundings#Neutral|wilderness]] areas, or as [[domestic animal]]s in civilizations.{{v|53.15}}
This world gen setting also affects the following:
All non-extinct settings give - in vanilla - elven and human civilizations who do settle in an area (during world gen), where the surroundings include dinosaurs the possibility to pick such dinos, which are land-based, above ground, non-vermin creatures, as (exotic) pets (and thus gain that dino as domesticated), with elves being notoriously better at this then humans (and more often then not even consider animals with the "exotic pet" token as normal "pets"). Dwarves, when settling in an area (in world gen), will usually - if at all - only pick any pack animals from the above ground surroundings as new domesticated animals (if any), thus they may only possibly gain dinos, which are also pack animals, by settling additional sites in world gen. Goblins do not gain any new domesticated above-ground animals by settling new sites. In addition, the domesticated option gives - in vanilla - dwarven, elven and human civilisation the possibility to pick dinos as domesticated animals (at the start of world generation), but these animals are currently - at least for dwarven civs - not added to resources.animals.pet_races (or resources.animals.exotic_pet_races) only to resources.animals.mount_races, resources.animals.pack_animal_races, resources.animals.minion_races, resources.animals.wagon_puller_races (in all cases if the dino has the appropriate creature token, which is trainable, hunting trainable or war trainable) of the corresponding civ entity.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REAL_WORLD_EXTINCT:<option>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REAL_WORLD_EXTINCT:UNTAMED_WILDS]</nowiki></tt>
| EXTINCT, ISOLATED, UNTAMED_WILDS, WILDERNESS, or DOMESTICATED
|}

=== Max Megabeast Caves ===

This is the number of [[megabeast]]s placed at the beginning of history. Megabeasts are [[hydra]]s, [[bronze colossus]]es, [[roc]]s, and [[dragon]]s, which are all placed in equal proportions [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415177#msg3415177 data].

Increasing this value can lead to early extinction of civilizations.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MEGABEAST_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MEGABEAST_CAP:75]</nowiki></tt>
| Megabeasts count towards BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

=== Max Semi-Megabeast Caves ===

This is the number of [[semi-megabeast]]s placed at the beginning of history. Semimegabeasts are [[giant]]s, [[ettin]]s, [[minotaur]]s, and [[cyclops]], which are placed in equal proportions [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415188#msg3415188 data].

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SEMIMEGABEAST_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SEMIMEGABEAST_CAP:150]</nowiki></tt>
| Semimegabeasts do not count towards the BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

=== Titan Parameters ===

==== Number ====

This controls the number of [[titan]]s that exist at the beginning of history[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415203#msg3415203 data]. The number of forgotten beasts is unaffected by this parameter [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415155#msg3415155 data].

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_NUMBER:33]</nowiki></tt>
| Titans count towards BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

==== Attack Population Requirement ====

[[Titan]]s will begin to attack your fort once at least this many dwarves inhabit it, regardless of whether any other attack criteria have been met.

This number defaults to 80, which isn't usually too difficult to deal with.

==== Exported Wealth Requirement ====

Titans will begin to attack your fort once you have exported at least this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]]-worth of goods, regardless of whether or not any other criteria have been met. This parameter defaults to None (disabled).

==== Created Wealth Requirement ====

Titans will begin to attack your fort once the fort's total wealth has reached this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]] in value. This happens regardless of whether any of the other criteria, such as population, have been met; therefore, even with 1 dwarf, a fort could be attacked if the fort were worth at least this value.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:<population>:<exp wealth>:<created wealth>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:80:0:100000]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = None (disabled). Only one requirement must be met for an attack.
|}

=== Number of Demon Types ===

[[Demon]]s are similar to [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s, in that they are procedurally generated, but most are not unique. Thus, many different types of demons can exist in the world, but there will also be many individuals of most types. Thanks to [[Underworld spire|certain fun things]], fewer demon types also means fewer goblin civilizations.{{cite forum|112465/7392706}} You need at least 2 demon types, or else goblin civilizations won't exist initially, though if dwarves breach the underworld during world generation, at least one will be generated then.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DEMON_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DEMON_NUMBER:52]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Night Troll Types ===

The number of different [[night troll]]s, also procedurally generated, that will exist in the world. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no night trolls, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHT_TROLL_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHT_TROLL_NUMBER:77]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Bogeyman Types ===
The number of different [[bogeyman]] forms that will exist in the world. Bogeymen are procedurally generated, though their forms do not vary by much. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no bogeymen, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:27]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Nightmare Types ===
The number of different [[nightmare]] forms that will exist in the world. Nightmares are procedurally generated. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no nightmares, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHTMARE_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHTMARE_NUMBER:27]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Vampire Curse Types ===

The number of different types of [[Vampire|vampires]] that will exist in the world. Although they are generated at the start of a new world, they aren't different from each other. Setting this to zero means no vampires will exist.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VAMPIRE_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VAMPIRE_NUMBER:72]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Werebeast Parameters ===

==== Number of Werebeast Curse Types====

The number of different types of [[werebeast]]s that can exist in the world. It is common for werebeasts, unlike vampires, to assume many different forms and variations, the most well-known of these amount to different species of animals, from lizards, to wolves, to even bears. Setting this to zero means no werebeasts will exist, and will also remove a large amount of [[fun]] from the game.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_NUMBER:58]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

==== Attack Population Requirement ====

Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once at least this many dwarves inhabit it, regardless of whether any other attack criteria have been met. This number defaults to 50 which will often be reached in the second year of the fort.

==== Exported Wealth Requirement ====
Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once you have exported at least this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]]-worth of goods, regardless of whether or not any other criteria have been met. This parameter defaults to 5000.

==== Created Wealth Requirement ====

Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once the fort's total wealth has reached this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]] in value. This happens regardless of whether any of the other criteria, such as population, have been met; therefore, even with 1 dwarf, a fort could be attacked if the fort were worth at least this value.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_ATTACK_TRIGGER:<population>:<exp wealth>:<created wealth>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_ATTACK_TRIGGER:50:5000:50000]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = None (disabled). Only one requirement must be met for an attack.
|}

=== Number of Secret Types ===

The number of secrets that exist in the world. Currently, all secrets are secrets of life and death, and the ones holding these secrets are [[necromancer]]s, thus, setting this to zero means that no necromancers will appear.
Non-necromancer towers can still appear (extremely rarely) with zero secrets, constructed by independent undead groups.
The primary difference between having 1 or 1000 secrets is the chance of your world having any necromancer towers at all. With 1, this chance is low. With the default number, it's seemingly guaranteed.
Even with 1 secret, if you have any necromancer towers at all, it is likely a great number will quickly appear in world generation (though this isn't guaranteed).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SECRET_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SECRET_NUMBER:52]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Regional Interaction Types ===

The number of interactions that can be caused in regions, which may incorporate evil rain and cloud types. Currently, only evil region interactions are generated this way.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGIONAL_INTERACTION_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGIONAL_INTERACTION_NUMBER:20]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Disturbance Interaction Types ===
The number of different [[Mummy|disturbed dead]] that can exist in the world. Setting this to zero should prevent any mummy from appearing{{verify}}, but it will not prevent the creation of [[tomb]]s.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DISTURBANCE_INTERACTION_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DISTURBANCE_INTERACTION_NUMBER:10]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Evil Cloud / Evil Rain Types ===

This number specifies how many [[Weather#Evil weather|various face-melting, eye-boiling, and zombifyingly-fun]] clouds of pure evil may appear in your world. Setting this to zero means you no longer will ever have to deal with encroaching dust walls of doom in that world. It is generally advised to keep this value low...

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_CLOUD_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_CLOUD_NUMBER:45]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

The latter number states how many different types of green-ooze drenchers, disconcerting blood-showers, and sickly yellow slime-baths can occur in your world. Compared to evil clouds though, this one hardly is worth stressing out about, usually.... Setting this to zero means the only semi-solid to fully-liquid fluids to fall from the sky will be pure H2O.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_RAIN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_RAIN_NUMBER:352]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Generate Divine Materials ===
This turns the generation of [[Divine_metal|divine metals]] on or off. It does not influence the creation of [[vault]]s. Probably determines whenever or not using divination dice spawns weapons.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_DIVINE_MATERIALS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_DIVINE_MATERIALS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Generate Mythical Materials ===

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_MYTHICAL_MATERIALS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_MYTHICAL_MATERIALS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Mythical Healing ===

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_MYTHICAL_HEALING:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_MYTHICAL_HEALING:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Divination, Experiments, and Necromancy types ===
These allow or disallow [[die|divination]], demon or necromancer [[experiment]]s, and the more advanced [[necromancer]] abilities.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DIVINATION:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DIVINATION:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DEMONIC_EXPERIMENTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DEMONIC_EXPERIMENTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_EXPERIMENTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_EXPERIMENTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_LIEUTENANTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_LIEUTENANTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_GHOULS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_GHOULS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_SUMMONS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_SUMMONS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Desired Good/Evil Square Counts ===

These values change the amount of [[Surroundings#Good|good or evil]] tiles on the map, depending on the size of the region they are being considered for. The counts are for all tiles in all subregions of a given size considered together, ''not'' counts for each subregion considered separately (all tiles in the same subregion share the same [[surroundings]] values).

As used here, a "subregion" is a named world area. Subregion names and locations for a generated world are viewable in legends mode under "Regions". Subregions are classified by size the same way for all map sizes: 1-24 tiles is Small, 25-99 tiles is Medium, and 100+ tiles is Large.

The counts used here will always be restricted to regions of the given size, no matter how large the count. Also, the count is more of a goal than a minimum or maximum. As a result, you can end up with many more or many fewer than the requested number of squares in some situations. In particular, if you have something like a case where only 3 large regions exist in a world, and you request "1 evil square" in large regions, you will end up with one of the large regions being ''entirely evil''. So any non-zero value in one of these settings essentially means "force at least one region of this size to be all good/evil."

Note that the "evilness" of evil biomes is also impacted by savagery. Certain civilizations cannot exist in good and/or evil squares, so too many of one or the other may limit the size of certain types of civilizations - dwarves, for example, need non-aligned biomes. Creating too many evil biomes seems to lead to the danger of many civilizations' early extinction.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS::<med region>:<lg region>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Set count to zero to disable for that region size.
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS::<med region>:<lg region>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Minimum Biome Square Counts ===

These numbers control whether or not a world will be rejected based on a lack of different [[biome|biomes]]. Raising these numbers will '''not''' automatically generate the given number of squares of the given biome! For a biome to exist, certain conditions like elevation and rainfall must exist.

These parameters simply filter out worlds that (for example) randomly fail to have enough high elevation squares to support a given number of mountains, etc. Some settings may cause worlds to always be rejected. For example, if for some reason the maximum elevation parameter is set to a value below what will support mountain biomes, it will be impossible to satisfy a non-zero requirement for mountain squares. The same principle goes for other conditions and biomes such as low elevations and oceans, etc.

Certain civilizations require different biomes to exist (such as dwarves and mountains), so eliminating certain biomes will make it impossible for certain civilizations to form.

These parameters often result in infinite world rejection problems. See [[World rejection]] for information on solving problems related to worlds always being rejected due to one or more of these parameters.

0 means no minimum for rejection - setting it to 0 does not guarantee 0 squares of that biome.

==== Biome Type Requirement Table ====

Terrain requirements for various biomes are described below.{{Verify}} Note that some of the exact ranges are unknown.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! rowspan="2" | Biome
! colspan="4" | Terrain Requirement
|-
! Elevation
! Rainfall
! Temperature
! Drainage
|-
| Swamp/Marsh
| 100-299
| 33-100
| Non-Freezing
| 0-32
|-
| Desert/Badland
| 100-299
| 0-9
| non-freezing
| note1
|-
| Forest
| 100-299
| 66-100
| non-freezing
| 66-100
|-
| Mountains
| 300-400
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
|-
| Ocean
| 0-99
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
|-
| Glacier
| 100-299
| N/A
| Freezing
| 80(?)-100
|-
| Tundra
| 100-299
| N/A
| Freezing
| 0-66
|-
| Grassland
| 100-299
| 0-66
| Non-Freezing
| 0-66
|-
| Hills
| 100-299
| 0-66
| Non-Freezing
| 66-100
|}
note1 drainage: 00-32 sand desert, 33-49 rocky wasteland, 50-65 rocky wasteland but different characters/appearance, 66-100 badlands

==== Minimum Initial Square Count ====

'''Note: The exclusive purpose of these parameters is to cause world rejection.'''

This is the minimum number of squares of the given biome that must exist before things like erosion take place. One thing to keep in mind is the maximum number of squares on a map of a given size - if the total number of squares on a map is lower than the sum of all square count parameters, then you will get infinite world rejection.

To determine the number of squares on a map, just multiply the dimensions. In practice these parameters will need to sum to lower than the maximum because some space is needed for "slack".

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Map Size
! Number of Squares
|-
| 17×17
| 289
|-
| 33×33
| 1089
|-
| 65×65
| 4225
|-
| 129×129
| 16614
|-
| 257×257
| 66049
|}

==== Minimum Initial Region Count ====

This is the minimum number of regions of contiguous biome squares that must exist before other processes such as erosion take place.

==== Minimum Final Region Count ====

This many regions of the given biome must exist after erosion and similar phases of generation have been completed.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:1032:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:1032:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:4128:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:8256:9:9]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:8256:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:8256:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:8256:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Erosion Cycle Count ===

Tells the world generator how long the world has to erode its tall peaks down to mountainsides during the 'running rivers...' stage of world creation. The higher this number, the less jagged the world will be, and the more wide the major rivers will be. If you use the maximum number, your mountains will dissolve before your eyes into plains which can lead to rejections if there aren't enough mountains to use for river start points and dwarven civilization origin points.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 1000
|}

=== Minimum/Desired River Start Locations ===

This is the minimum number of riverheads that must exist before and after erosion takes place. Worlds will be rejected if they fail to meet these numbers. As with minimum biome counts, raising this number doesn't automatically create this many riverheads. Other conditions like terrain and rainfall must exist for rivers to form.

Extremely high pre-erosion values speed erosion greatly, while low post erosion values are useful for limiting rejects due to lack of river origin points. One can try the 800 value to get more lakes.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RIVER_MINS:<min pre-erosion>:<des post-erosion>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RIVER_MINS:200:400]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 800
|}

=== Periodically Erode Extreme Cliffs ===

If enabled, makes every impassable rock wall into a series of ramps. Some prefer to pump up erosion to about 250, and turn the "Desired pre-erosion river count" to 0 for good erosion and no extra canyons.

Normally this is set to Yes (1).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Do Orographic Precipitation and Rain Shadows ===

Toggle that allows terrain height to affect rainfall. For example, moist air coming from the ocean blows over the land. As the terrain gets higher, it forces the moist air up, causing it to rain on the seaward side of a mountain. Eventually, all the rain has fallen if the mountain is tall enough. So, when the breeze goes over the top, there's no moisture left to fall on the other side, creating a rain-shadow. In the current version, regions where drainage is above 50 will also create rain shadows, regardless of the underlying biome and elevation.{{cite forum|140685/5484064}}

Turning this on should create a tendency for more extreme rainfall in regions, creating more forests, deserts, marshlands, and grasslands. Also note that it can create rainfall outside of min-max rainfall settings, so even in a world with a 0 max rainfall you may get rainfall biomes. Turning it off should result in more controllable, less complex rainfall conditions based on rainfall parameters as it adds a random element which can distort or otherwise mess up the climates on a pregenerated map.

This should be disabled if you're importing a map or using a preset map file that has weather.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Maximum Number of Subregions ===

This is the number of separate biomes (the flashing regions you see on embark when you hit F1, F2, etc. when there's more than one biome on the embark location) that are allowed to exist on the entire map.

Setting this to very low values will result in numerous rejections depending on [[#X and Y Variance|variance parameters]]. If variance values are set to high numbers, many small biomes will be created causing rejection if this parameter value is not increased beyond the default.

Increasing the value of this tag is often a must when generating "patchwork" worlds with lots of biome variance, but simply increasing it without increasing variance parameters will not guarantee more biomes.

It is also interesting to note that the maximum subregions is 5000 which is more than the total number of squares for a pocket or small map. However, for a medium or large map (16641 or 66049 squares) it quickly becomes a mere fraction of the total number of possible subregions. In fact it would be quite easy on a large map to end up with far too many subregions and get endless rejections of this type.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SUBREGION_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SUBREGION_MAX:2750]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 1 to 5000
|}

=== Cavern Parameters ===
[[Caverns]] are the hollow areas underground, which dwarves tend to encounter when they're digging around. The '''Cavern Layer Number''' parameter determines how many cavern systems will be generated, not including the magma layer or the Bottom layer. Defaults to three - setting it to lower values could help FPS. Setting it to 2 will merge cavern 3 species into the 2nd cavern, and setting it to 1 will merge all into one cavern. However, disabling them entirely by setting it to 0 will make it impossible to grow any underground plants, as none will exist for your civilization to cultivate, nor will they be available on embark.

*Setting caverns to a sub-3 number (Spoiler, highlight to view) erases about one-third of HFS spires{{Bug|10267}} and prevents dig deep disasters. Additionally, random plant or animal species can be more frequently absent.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:3]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 3
|}

==== Cavern Layout Parameters ====

Open caverns and dense passageways are not mutually exclusive. When both are raised, bizarre results can occur, such as layers showing a combination of open caverns, a cluster of network passages, and natural walls sprinkling the inside of an otherwise open cavern. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=76355.msg1936859#msg1936859 Reference]

If you want the largest open spaces possible, then decrease the density and increase the openness. If you want a labyrinth of passageways, lower the openness and raise the passage density.

Another interesting note about the cavern layers is that the seed and number of demon types affect the layout of the caverns.

<gallery widths=200 heights=200 perrow=2>
File:Open00Density100.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 0 and Density of 100
File:Open100Density00.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 100 and Density of 0
File:Open100Density100.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 100 and Density of 100
File:Open50Density50.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 50 and Density of 50
</gallery>

===== Layer Openness min/max =====

Dictates the size of cavern passages. When Passage Density (see below) is set to minimum (0), caverns will be open expanses. Raising the maximum will increase the size of the caverns.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

===== Layer Passage Density min/max =====

Determines how many passages form the cavern. If openness (see above) is set to minimum and density increased, then you will get a maze-like network of small criss-crossing passages. Raising the values further increases the number of the maze-like passages.

Caverns will be large, open spaces at 0, and comprised of many small vertical shafts of rock at 100. Setting both values to be the same results in a uniform look for the caverns.{{Verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

===== Layer Water min/max =====

Determines the minimum and maximum percentage of water each cavern can contain.

Caverns with a water level of 10 or higher can support creatures and plants from the "Subterranean Water" biome, and caverns with a water level of 90 or lower can support the "Subterranean Chasm" biome; levels of 10-90 support ''both'' biomes, while levels below 10 or above 90 support only one.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==== Magma Layer ====

This parameter controls whether the [[magma sea]] exists.

Setting 1/Yes causes the magma layer to exist, value 0/No prevents it. Appears not to have any impact on volcanoes nor volcanism, so even if 0/No, there will still be embark locations with magma. If a [[volcano]] exists, it appears to always tap the magma sea, but the magma sea will not be revealed by revealing the volcano.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==== Bottom Layer ====

Determines if the space below the magma sea exists. If Yes the "HFS" layer is always present. Normally you want to leave this set to Yes for maximum fun.

If enabled, this will force the magma layer above it.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Z Levels (Depth) Settings ===

These parameters control the "thickness" of various "layers" on the map. Note that a "layer" in this case does not refer to one Z-level, but refers to a number of related Z-levels such as "levels above ground".

The following table assumes that you have 3 cavern layers. (out of a minimum of 0-3) The Levels Above Layer settings control how many Z-Levels are above each layer. A layer may itself consist of multiple Z-Levels (and almost always does).

{|style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;border-collapse:collapse;" class="wikitable"
|-style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="120"|Setting Name
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="200"|Token
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Description
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Ground
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| The number of Z-levels of air above the highest surface level. Has no impact on how many Z-levels deep the surface layer is.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above layer 1
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of stone above the first cavern layer. Making this higher will guarantee ''at least'' that many levels to build your fortress, but will have no impact on how many z-levels thick the surface layer is. Also, the top of a cavern may be higher than the rest of a cavern, so in practice there will be more "solid" levels than this above the cavern.
As of version 0.31.25 this setting is inaccurate. The actual number of z-levels may vary in a range of approx. ±5, which may result in non-existence of any solid z-levels between a surface layer and first cavern layer.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 2
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very top of the second cavern and the very bottom of the first cavern.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 3
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very top of the third cavern and the very bottom of the second cavern.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 4
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very highest magma and the very bottom of the third cavern. Spoiler Hidden (select invisible text to read): Making this high will give a large area for HFS veins, so that it never touches caverns, giving more to mine '''if''' it was impacting the cavern previously.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 5
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Uncertain. May control the number of levels of "Semi Molten Rock" between HFS and Magma, may control number of levels of magma, may impact both. In experimentation, the overall depth of all magma sea and semi-molten rock levels appears to increase, but not consistent enough to say for certain. Only valid if Magma Layer present. Spoiler Hidden:Often the HFS vein will only extend as high as the highest magma, making this the only guaranteed way to increase amount of HFS to mine, but unfortunately also creating enormous useless semi-molten z-levels
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| At Bottom
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Appears to be number of levels of HFS chamber. Only valid if Bottom Layer present, often having no impact. Values larger than default result in strange things.
|}

Some implications:
* The number of surface layers (e.g. soil), at this time, cannot be controlled. For example, on a map with 1 layer of peat, then a layer of silt, then a layer of obsidian, there is no control to let you increase either one to be, say, 20 z-levels. (though you may get lucky with the obsidian).
* There can be multiple stone layers between the cavern and the surface, so, increasing Levels Above Layer 1 may give you more conglomerate or more granite, and you have no control over which stone layer spans those Z-levels.
* The layers shown on embark span across the cavern layers in an unknown and inconsistent way. Sometimes those 10 different layers of stone are evenly distributed over your 400 z-level deep map, sometimes the first 9 get 1 z-level each and the last gets the other 391 levels. No way to control found yet.
* The HFS chamber, if present, will always extend into the rock layers, and appears to always make contact with the bottom cave. Large values for levels above layer 5 and layer 4 can result in enormous chambers, but the number of levels at the top (the part with undead) appears to be unaffected.
* Unconfirmed whether number of levels between caverns has any impact on cavern height. There will be connecting ramps and/or shafts between cavern layers no matter how many levels are between them.
* '''Very Important''': These values appear to apply across a whole 16x16 region, not just embark areas. That means that if a 16x16 region is completely flat, but has one tall mountain in one far corner, even if you set Levels Above Ground low (e.g. 2 z-levels) you still have all the empty air of the highest mountain in every embark tile (e.g. 200 z-levels). Also can happen to the semi-molten layer, and can lead to unexpected behavior.
* Very large or small values can cause strange things to happen.

=== Minimum/Maximum Natural Cave Size ===
It's not clear what effect these currently have, other than changing them can change the location of caves somewhat.{{verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 1 to 500
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Number of Caves ===
The number of caves generated in mountainous and non-mountainous regions, mountain caves will always be generated on the edge of mountain ranges next to non-mountainous regions. Lurking [[kobold]]s set up shop in caves, and store their stolen items there - a setting of 0 in both will stop kobold civilizations from appearing. Special note: a cave is not initially a [[lair]], although beasts can later use them as their lair.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:100]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 800
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:200]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Number of Mythical Sites ===
The number of [[mysterious dungeon|mysterious sites]] generated around the world. The extended effects of setting this to 0 has not been determined{{verify|is chosen still available? is quest still given? etc.}}.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MYTHICAL_SITE_NUM:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MYTHICAL_SITE_NUM:200]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 800
|}

=== Make Caves Visible ===
If set to no (default) then the location of caves will not be marked on the map. If set to yes, caves will appear on the map so that they may be sought out or avoided as desired.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Init Options to Show Tunnels ===

If enabled, you will be able to see the underground tunnels often built by dwarves on the world map, and they will appear as black lines, similar to roads.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:<0-2>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No 1 = Only in Finder 2 = Always
|}

=== Number of Civilizations ===

This number of [[civilization]]s will be placed on the map before history generation begins. These civilizations may later die out due to historical events. It is noteworthy that the chance for any given civilization to be destroyed through megabeasts decreases with a higher total number of civilizations present[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=7348f68f41a9659443c05b2acf534e6c&topic=112465.15 data]. The five races are dwarf, elf, human, goblin, and kobold; they will generally be placed in equal numbers until the quota has been reached. If there are not enough biomes or other worldgen prerequisites for an even distribution, certain civs will be much more or less frequent than others[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=7348f68f41a9659443c05b2acf534e6c&topic=112465.15 data]. If there is an odd number of civs (not divisible by 5), then the remainder is distributed randomly. Kobold civs require caves to be placed; if no caves exist, then kobolds are skipped and will not appear. This does not cause rejections [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415125#msg3415125 data]. Goblin civilizations require multiple demons, see the [[#Number_of_Demon_Types|number of demon types]] section above.

Note that a high value here can cause lots of map rejections, particularly on smaller maps as there simply isn't enough room or regions to put them all in.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:40]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 300
|}

=== Playable Civilization Required ===

If this is set to yes (default) then worlds will be rejected if no civilization with [[Entity token|CIV_CONTROLLABLE]] can be placed. In an unmodded game, only the dwarves have this token.

If set to no, the result may be a world that cannot be played in Fortress Mode.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares ===

Sets the minimum possible number of squares of certain ranges of each of the region qualities, such as elevation, rain, drainage, volcanism, savagery, and temperature. These need to be changed to reflect your regional meshes and weights, and are responsible for a HUGE number of map rejections. These values can all be set to 0 for much fewer map rejections, particularly in the case of more wacky, non-standard maps.

These values will cause worlds to be rejected unless at least the given number of squares of the given type are randomly generated. Setting these values too high could result in worlds always being rejected if other parameters such as the maximum/minimums for elevation, etc., don't allow enough of those squares to get generated.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="5" | Minimum number of squares that must have low, medium, and high amounts of the given attribute. 
0 = No minimum
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==World rejection==

:''Main article: [[World rejection]]''

If you are having the common problem of generated worlds always being rejected by the world generator, see [[v0.31:World rejection|Solving World Rejection Problems (v0.31 page)]] as it contains many detailed suggestions on how to troubleshoot and solve these issues.

== Parameter set examples ==

If you're trying to do something specific, then the [[Worldgen examples]] - complete parameter sets that can be copied directly into your ''world_gen.txt'' file and customized as desired - might be helpful.
If none of the examples suit your needs, [[Worldgen tricks]] has strategies and tips on making a world just right for you.

For many, many more examples see:
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=101280 DF2012 (v0.34) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=140180 DF2014 (v0.40) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=168543.0 DF2014 (v0.44.02+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175538 DF2014 (v0.47.01+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=180805.0 DF2022 (v0.50.01+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]

{{World}}

Advanced world generation

2026-08-18T21:59:12Z

Ziusudra: /* Number of Werebeast Curse Types */ removed bug noted as fixed in 53.11

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Superior}}
{{av}}
:''This article contains information on advanced world generation. For information on basic world generation, see [[World generation]].'' ''See [[World token]] to more easily find information by the names used in the world_gen.txt file, [[World rejection]] for information on solving problems related to worlds always being rejected, and [[Worldgen examples]] for example worlds.''

[[File:adv_worldgen_v50.png|thumb|400px|right|The advanced world generation screen. ''(Click to enlarge)'']]'''Advanced world generation''', also labeled as '''detailed mode''', allows substantially more detail-oriented options of customization than standard, basic world generation. This gives the player much more control over how their world is generated. To better understand this article, it is advised that one should read about [[World generation|'''basic world generation''']] first.

The advanced world generation screen is reached by clicking "Create new world" at the main menu, then clicking "Detailed mode". Once at that screen, clicking "Basic options" will return the user to the standard world generation screen.

== Parameter sets ==
There are multiple default sets of all the advanced world generation parameters hard-coded in ''Dwarf Fortress'', which will be overridden by the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file in the main ''Dwarf Fortress'' directory, if it exists. It does not exist by default, you must create it, either by saving the default sets, or saving a copy from the [[world_gen.txt]] wiki page or elsewhere. This file can then be edited with a text editor, and you can copy and paste other players' sets of parameters into it. For sources of such parameter sets see [[Advanced_world_generation#Parameter_set_examples|Parameter set examples]] below.

To get back the default sets, move the existing <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> to somewhere else (like Documents), or delete it if you do not want to keep the changes, then load the sets in the game, it will then use the hardcoded defaults.

== User interface ==
First, there is a line of text inputs and buttons along the top of the screen, from left to right:
* The drop down menu of currently defined parameter sets, click the down arrow to select a set that you want to work with. The currently selected set can be renamed by clicking the current name or the [[File:Quill.png]] button. The first set in the file is selected by default, usually "LARGE ISLAND". See [[#Parameter set title|Parameter set title]].
* The dimensions of the world for the selected set, see [[#World dimensions|World dimensions]].
* A text entry box to set all of the seed options to the same seed, will show "Random seed", "Various seeds", or, if all four seeds are set to use the same value, that value. See [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_values|Seed values]] and [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_values|Seed notes]].
* The Copy Button to make a copy of the currently selected set and appends it to the bottom of the list.
* The red Delete button to delete the currently selected set, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion.
* The New parameter set to create a new parameter set and appends it to the bottom of the list. This seems to just copy the default "LARGE REGION" set.
* The Save button to save all of the current sets to the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file.
* The Load button to load from the same file, there is no confirmation, '''any unsaved changes will be lost'''. If that file does not exist, this resets all of the sets to the defaults.

Most of the middle is the parameters themselves, with a scroll bar to the right. Each row of the list can include:
* The name of the option
* The range of accepted values; not every option has this, and does not always match the displayed value, for example "0 to 1" might show as "No" and "Yes".
:* Sometimes the range might not initially show on rows that it should, reloading the sets with the Load button sometimes fixes that.{{bug|13176}}
* A plus button to increase the value or cycle through options, when applicable (this button will be missing if the range is missing.)
* The current value; can be clicked to edit, to actually set a value you must press {{k|enter}}, without doing that, clicking another entry box or right clicking will instead reset to the currently set value.
* An edit button to show that the previous box is editable, same as clicking on the text box.
* A minus button to decrease the value or cycle through options, when applicable (this button will be missing if the range is missing).
* A red button to disable this parameter, when applicable, usually setting the value to 0, or -1.

{{notice bar|bgcolor=#faa|bordercolor=#f00|All of the buttons below leave this screen and do not prompt to save the sets, so unsaved changes may be lost.}}
At the bottom right are 3 or 4 more buttons:
* The Create world button to do just that using the currently selected set, '''unsaved changes are lost'''.
* The Basic options button to go back to the normal world generation screen, unsaved changes are not lost if you come directly back to Detailed mode.
* The [[Mods]] button to go to the mod selection screen, unsaved changes are not lost if you come directly back to Detailed mode. Only shown if mods are available.
* Back to main menu button to do just that, '''unsaved changes are lost'''.

=== World painter ===
:''Main article: [[World painter]]
The '''world painter''' tool is not in the current version of ''Dwarf Fortress''; it allowed you to paint features onto a map. '''However''', those maps can still be used when generating a world by pasting world painter parameter set maps created in old versions into the <tt>prefs/world_gen.txt</tt> file. [[Utilities#Perfect_World_DF|Perfect World DF]] is a utility that uses the same parameter functionality as the world painter to paint a map, and it also can work with the current version of ''Dwarf Fortress''.

== Generating a world ==
You can either use an already-defined parameter set, or you can edit them, though it is highly suggested to edit a copy of one of the defaults. Once you are happy with the parameters you should save the values you just edited before you click the Create world button. Information about each parameter is documented below.

The phases of the world generation process are (this order is not completely correct):
* Preparing elevation...
* Setting temperature...
* Running rivers...
* Forming lakes and minerals...
* Growing vegetation...
* Verifying terrain...
* Importing wildlife...
* Recounting legends...
* Placing civilizations...
* Making cave civilizations...
* Making cave pops...
* Placing other beasts...
* Placing megabeasts...
* Placing good/evil...
* Placing caves...
* Prehistory generation
* Finalizing civ mats...
* Finalizing art...
* Finalizing uniforms...
* Finalizing sites...

== Seed notes ==
The world generation process uses a PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator) algorithm. A PRNG will produce a sequence of numbers that "looks" random, even though the actual sequence of numbers will always be the same if the PRNG is started with the same seed value. Basically this means that if you run world generation with a certain seed value on your computer, and someone else runs world generation with the same seed value on their computer, the same sequence of random numbers will be generated on both computers. The practical impact of this is that someone else can generate exactly the same world that you generated by entering the same seed value that you used.

In the current version, the seed values for the world itself and the names seem to produce the same result, but you will get changes in events which will result in a very different world history.{{bug|6934}} Keep this in mind if you want to regenerate a particular world.

The way that a world is generated can also be affected by certain world tokens. Changing them causes that code to use more or fewer PRNG values, causing later uses to get different parts of the sequence. So, you cannot for example, change the minimum and maximum rainfall and get 'the same world but drier or wetter', instead, a different world is generated. That said, it would also seem that certain small changes to these world tokens can occasionally generate a very similar world, however, other tokens are more sensitive. For more information see the forum thread [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112132.msg3404199#msg3404199 here].

The following are tokens which use the PRNG values in ways that changing them will likely cause broader changes:

* [DIM:X:X]
* [ELEVATION:X:X:X:X]
* [RAINFALL:X:X:X:X]
* [TEMPERATURE:X:X:X:X]
* [DRAINAGE:X:X:X:X]
* [VOLCANISM:X:X:X:X]
* [SAVAGERY:X:X:X:X]
* [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [RAIN_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:X:X:X:X:X:X]
* [PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:X]
* [COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:X]
* [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:X]
* [MINERAL_SCARCITY:X] {{cite talk/this|Mineral scarcity}}

Many other world parameters, such as end year and embark points, can, however, be changed without it having any effect on the geography of the world generated from the seed values.

Normally, you don't enter these seed values, the game comes up with values based on some other sort of pseudo-random information from things like the current date and time.

When generating a world, ''Dwarf Fortress'' records the seeds it used in [[gamelog.txt]]; they can also be found with <code>gui/gm-editor world.worldgen.worldgen_parms</code> in [[DFHack]].

== Advanced parameters ==
There are essentially 4 types of controls for the generation of the surface map;

'''Terrain parameters''': as described below, these 5 variables define the basic background world, how hot or cold it is, how much rainfall, how high the mountains are. The world automatically goes through the temperature range along the Y axis, although sometimes it will be hotter in the north, other times in the south, or cold at both. Minimum, maximum and X,Y variance can drastically alter the world.

'''Weighted meshes''': these are a way to fine-tune the amount of the 5 basic variables on the map. They can be used to set the specific distribution of different elevations or rainfall areas for example.

'''Feature parameters''': such as rivers, mountain peaks, volcanoes, and oceans, which can cause rejections if the terrain parameters don't allow enough suitable locations for the features to be placed.

'''Rejection parameters''': ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses a 'belt-and-braces' approach to world generation. The above controls allow you to shape the world, then the rejection parameters throw it out if it does not meet certain criteria. There are a number of rejection parameters for the number and degree of the 5 basic variables, for biome types, etc. If the world does not meet the requirements of any one rejection parameter the world is rejected and re-randomised. Also see [[World rejection]].

Leaving tokens out of a set in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt> will cause the game to use default values which are not adjusted for smaller world sizes, this may cause smaller worlds to always be rejected.

If you are experimenting with world design, there is also a [[Settings#Feature_toggles|game setting]] that will log the rejection reasons to ``[[map_rejection_log.txt]]``. With that information you can then either adjust the rejection parameters to allow those worlds, or the other parameters to prevent them from trying to generate. ''Dwarf Fortress'' will keep adding to the file, so you may want to trim or delete it occasionally.

The parameters are described below in the order that they appear in the list in the game, which is not necessarily the order they appear in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt>. See [[world token]] for an index that will help you look things up by token name. The tokens used in <tt>world_gen.txt</tt> are at the bottom of each of the following parameter descriptions.

=== Parameter set title ===
This sets the name of the parameter set itself, as used in the list of sets (this has nothing to do with the name of the generated world).
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITLE:<name>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITLE:MEDIUM ISLAND]</nowiki></tt>
| Required
|}

=== World dimensions ===
The size of the map for the current set can be changed by changing the Width and Height values at the top next to the set title. You will need to confirm this, since changing the dimensions of the world will change other parameters, because many of them have different defaults depending on the surface area available.

Larger maps usually take longer to generate and may reduce [[Frames per second|FPS]] in-game, though this is really a matter of larger worlds usually having more civilizations, sites, historical figures, and events; restricting the number of those can speed up the process. Non-square maps may result in crashes{{bug|2928}}.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DIM:<width>:<height>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DIM:257:257]</nowiki></tt>
| Valid values are 17, 33, 65, 129, and 257, other values will use one of those. Changing the size in the file without adjusting other parameters can cause many rejections.
|}

=== Seed values ===
Enables the use of, and specifies seed values for, different parts of the world generation process. Just entering a specific seed does not enable it, that must be done separately, although using the box at the top to set all the seeds to the same value does enable them all. Enabling a seed puts the token in using what ever is in the text box below. If you enable a seed, but do not enter a seed, the string "Seed text" will be used (<tt><nowiki>[SEED:Seed text]</nowiki></tt>). Trying to use a <tt><nowiki>]</nowiki></tt> in the string in the file will end the seed there, since it closes the token, any text after that will be ignored. Normally, just leave these set to Random, unless trying to reproduce the results of a previous world generation. See also the [[Advanced_world_generation#Seed_notes|seed notes section]] above.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="4" |
For each of these not in the config file, a random seed will be used, and the first seed is not used to generate the others. The seeds used are output to [[gamelog.txt]] when world generation starts.
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HISTORY_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HISTORY_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NAME_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NAME_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CREATURE_SEED:<text>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CREATURE_SEED:31337]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== World name ===
As previously mentioned, the title of the parameter set doesn't affect the name of the world. You can specify a particular name for your world, or leave the value blank for a random one. (The [[DFHack]] utility adds an option to rename the world using the in-game languages.)
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CUSTOM_NAME:<name>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CUSTOM_NAME:Realm of Cheese Engravings]</nowiki></tt>
| For a random name, simply don't use this token.
|}

=== Embark Points ===
The number of points for equipment and animals when embarking in fortress mode (there is no equivalent setting for adventure mode). Normally, the default of 1504 is fine, but can be increased for various purposes like experimentation or to help dwarves survive in a particularly evil world, or reduced for certain [[challenges]].
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EMBARK_POINTS:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EMBARK_POINTS:1504]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 10,000
|}

=== End year ===
The maximum number of years generated for the world, although generation can be paused and the world used as is any time after the second year; the same as the [[World_generation#History|History]] parameter in basic world gen, except that you can enter an exact value. A too-short history can limit the materials available to civilizations, and [[Chosen|certain adventure mode features]] are only available after certain site events, while too long a history often leads to civilizations dying.

For more information on the history aspect of the game, see [[Legends]] and [[Calendar#Ages|Ages]].
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[END_YEAR:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[END_YEAR:250]</nowiki></tt>
| 2 to 10,000
|}

=== Population cap after civ creation ===
A soft limit to the total number of [[historical figure]]s alive at the same time during generation across all civilizations, only preventing the birth of new historical figures.{{cite forum|140544/5701667}} Each civilization is allotted a percentage of the total by the percentage of sites they control.{{cite forum|159164/7553641}} Civilizations also have non-historical populations, and there is no setting to limit those (in early versions, all civilization members were historical figures, this is also why the name of this setting is misleading). Each [[entity]] also has limits from their raws, see the [[Entity_token#Population|population]] entity tokens, and setting this to unlimited will not remove those.

Huge historical figure populations can slow generation and the game in general.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:15000]</nowiki></tt>
| -1 to 100,000, -1 is no limit
|}

=== Site cap after civ creation ===
Total number of [[site]]s that can be directly created by all civilizations combined like [[hillocks]], [[hamlet]]s, [[dark pits]], [[forest retreat]]s, etc. Does not prevent the placement of initial civilization sites, though they will then be counted for the limit. Does not affect creature sites like [[cave]]s or [[lair]]s, group sites like [[castle]]s, [[monastery|monasteries]], [[tower_(necromancy)|tower]]s, [[fort]]s, or [[camp]]s, or unpopulated sites like [[tomb]]s. After this limit is reached, no civilization will be able to place new sites. See the [[Entity_token#Placement|placement]] entity tokens for other ways that civilization site placement can be limited.

Increasing this will slow generation down and reduce the available places for player sites. Since the {{token|MAX_SITE_POP_NUMBER|entity}} entity token limits the historical figure population per site, this site cap can also limit the total historical figure population of all civilizations combined, and some expand faster than others getting more sites before the limit is reached.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SITE_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SITE_CAP:1500]</nowiki></tt>
| -1 to 100,000, -1 is no limit
|}

=== Beast control ===

These parameters don't usually matter too much, but may matter for small numbers of beasts.

==== Percentage of Megabeasts and Titans Dead for Stoppage ====

The world starts out with a certain number of powerful megabeast and titan entities in existence. If a percentage of the megabeast and titan population dies out during history generation, then history generation will stop early. For example, if the elimination value is 80%, and the generated history starts with 200 entities and 160 of those 200 entities are eliminated by historical events before the End Year is reached, history generation will stop immediately.

If you want to end the creation of your world at the beginning of a certain age, choose the following values:
* Age of Legends: ~34%
* Age of Heroes: ~67%
If there are three or fewer titans or megabeasts in your world, the age will be given a special name reflecting the remaining megabeasts/titans, instead.

==== Year to Begin Checking Megabeast Percentage ====

The percentage of dead [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s for stoppage will not be checked until this year is reached in history generation. This can be used to ensure that a world reaches a certain year even if all of the megabeasts in the world are slain earlier.

If the number of living [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s starts at or drops to less than four, then world generation will always stop if the current year is equal to or greater than the Year to Begin Checking Megabeast Percentage ''regardless'' of how many [[megabeast]]s and [[titan]]s are dead — Percentage of Megabeasts and Titans Dead for Stoppage is ignored. The number of megabeasts and titans at the start of the world is set by the sum of the [[Advanced_world_generation#Max_Megabeasts_Caves|Max Megabeasts Caves]] and [[Advanced_world_generation#Titan_Parameters|Titan Number]] parameters.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[BEAST_END_YEAR:<year>:<percentage or -1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[BEAST_END_YEAR:200:80]</nowiki></tt>
| Use -1 as percentage to disable. Year must still be at least 2.
|}

=== Cull Unimportant Historical Figures ===
{{main|Historical figure}}
Whether to remove unimportant dead historical figures after history generation; a short CPU-intensive step, but saves space which can speed up loading, saving, and running games with large histories. Legends mode will refer to culled creatures as "an unknown creature", and they will not appear in engravings, but likely would not have anyway.

Exactly what is considered important is not clear. A member of an abstract group killing a named creature is not important, nor is creating an artifact, even if that artifact had important history. Unculled historical figures can have parentage described as "The identity of" that parent "has been lost to time", so just having children is not, though having living direct relations seems to prevent culling.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:<0 or 1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes
|}

=== Reveal All Historical Events ===

Setting this to Yes will allow access to most information about the history of the world in [[Legends mode]]. All events will be revealed, but some [[historical figure]]s, [[site]]s, [[region]]s, and [[civilization]]s and other entities may not be, possibly because they are not known to any civilization. If set to No, then you will have to discover historical information in [[adventure mode]] or by instructing dwarves to make engravings.{{Verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:<0 or 1>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY::1]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No, 1 = Yes
|}

=== Terrain Parameters ===

These set limits and variance for terrain elevation, rainfall, temperature, drainage, volcanism, and savagery which determines how those values are generated. What biomes exist are then determined by how these factors overlap with each other.

==== Minima and Maxima ====
These are the absolute minimum and maximum values that can ever be generated for a particular map square characteristic. By ''subtly'' tweaking the min and max values, vastly different maps can be made. Changing these can cause the occurrence of certain [[Biome|biomes]] to become impossible, so you may want to use [[#Terrain Mesh Sizes and Weights|Weighted Ranges]] instead.

==== X and Y Variance ====
These control how wildly things like elevation and rainfall can vary between adjacent map squares. For example, if these values are set to the maximum of 3,200 for elevation then you will end up with more very low areas right next to very high areas. The number for X determines the east-west variance and the number for Y determines the north-south variance. By setting only one of these to a high value you can, for example, create horizontal or vertical bands of areas which are more similar to each other.

Generally speaking, raising both of these values will create a more random "patchwork" of many small biomes while setting both x and y values to 0 will cause every square on the map to use a single random value for the given characteristic.

For "patchwork" worlds to avoid being rejected, [[#Maximum Number of Subregions|Maximum Number of Subregions]] will probably need to be increased from the default.

==== Elevation ====
This controls the range of terrain elevations that can occur in the world. Usually, you just want to leave the min/max values alone. Raising the minimum elevation can, for example, make it impossible for oceans to exist. This does '''not''' directly control the number of available Z-levels at a particular site, though high maximum values may contribute to peaks, which can raise the number of above ground Z-levels - in other words, a maximum elevation of 400 and minimum of 1 does not mean you get 400 Z-levels, but it might increase the number of Z-levels somewhat in some regions compared to others. Raising the variance will result in a more bumpy, uneven landscape.

Some biomes/features that are impacted by elevation:
* A high minimum (above 99) means no oceans, as they need elevations below 100.
* A low maximum (below 300) means no mountains, as mountains need elevations above 300.
* Rivers will be placed when the elevation maximum is 104 or higher. Therefore, keeping both values above 100 and below 104 will prevent all water tiles from appearing.
* Mountain peaks can only form at elevations of 400.

==== Rainfall ====
Controls the amount of rainfall in each map square/area. Setting the minimum or maximum too high or low can make the formation of certain biomes impossible. Rainfall causes it to [[rain]] more in a given area, which can have various effects. Also makes more rivers appear on the world map.

Note that if [[#Do Orographic Precipitation and Rain Shadows|orographic precipitation and rain shadows]] is on, then mountains will cause additional variance in rainfall, so (for example) rainfall below the specified minimum can occur in the shadow of a mountain. If you want the minimum and maximum for this parameter to be absolutely respected, you must turn off the orographic precipitation option.

Additionally, with 'Orthographic Precipitation' turned on, orthographic precipitation and rain shadows will only occur in regions with greater than or equal to 50 drainage. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139916.0 [Report, reproduced 2022]]

==== Temperature ====
{{main|Climate|Temperature}}
These parameters control how hot or cold various areas will be. If you lower the minimum and maximum values, the world will be colder overall, for example. As with the others, changing these values too much could make it impossible for certain biomes to exist. The temperature scale used in this setting is related to regular degrees Urist by the equation "local temp = world temp * 0.75 + 10000".{{cite forum|169696/8395484}} This scale doesn't seem to be used anywhere else in the game. See [[Climate]] for more info.

These parameters form the "base" temperature for an area, and describe peak summer temperature in a scale that isn't used elsewhere in the game. This number also does not correspond 1:1 with the final climate. [[Temperature]] is always influenced by a number of variables, including elevation, time of year, thick forestation, and if [[Advanced_world_generation#Poles|poles]] are enabled, latitude. These other variables are factored in after the temperature mesh is applied, and frequently bring temperatures above and below their set minimum and maximum values. ''The inclusion of Poles is particularly strong in this regard, as it allows latitude to raise and/or lower temperatures by more than 75 degrees Celsius! That said, the temperatures aren't raised or lowered by more than about 65 degrees past the set minimum and maximum. Furthermore, for typical ranges, the temperature will never be raised more than about 25 degrees past the maximum (but will still drop up to about 65 degrees Celsius below the minimum).'' (unsure about exact values, research needed)

Elves can spawn where the temperature is 10 degrees or warmer, and humans can spawn where the temperature is 0 degrees or warmer.

==== Drainage ====
Changing drainage parameters will change the way water-affected biomes are formed. Low drainage will contribute to the formation of [[Lake|lakes]], [[River|rivers]], and [[Swamp|swamps]]. High drainage will cause water to sink into the ground rather than sit on the surface, which is important for forming hills.

Lower drainage values have been reported to contribute to the formation of thicker soil layers, though it is currently unknown exactly how other factors (such as elevation or perhaps rain) impact soil formation.

==== Volcanism ====
Volcanism controls the occurrence of igneous [[layer]]s, and the formation of volcanoes. For a volcano to form, a square must have a volcanism value of 100, so reducing the maximum from 100 will make volcanoes impossible. Raising the minimum will increase the rarity of non-igneous layers.

Setting the minimum to a high value is not a good way to produce multiple volcanoes, as you are likely to get a "Volcanism not evenly distributed" rejection. Instead, use the Minimum Number of Volcanoes parameter, and possibly adjust the weighted ranges for volcanism as described below.

==== Savagery ====
These parameters control the level of [[Surroundings#Savage|savagery]] on the map. Raising the minimum savagery too high may make it impossible for certain races to exist, and similarly lowering the maximum too far can make it impossible for certain creatures to exist. The largest chance of having unusable maps comes from a too-high savagery value.

==== Configuration Tokens ====
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION:1:400:401:401]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 400 Maximum of 400 required for mountain peaks. Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAINFALL:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAINFALL:0:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE:25:75:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: -1000 to 1000 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE:0:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM:1:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Maximum of 100 required for volcanoes. Variance range: 0-3200
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY:<min>:<max>:<x variance>:<y variance>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY:1:100:200:200]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 100 Variance range: 0-3200
|}

=== Terrain Mesh Sizes and Range Weights ===
[[File:World_map-large-32x32-elevation-mesh.png|thumb|300px|A large world generated with an Elevation Mesh Size of 32×32 and range weights set to 1:0:0:0:1 (i.e., only extreme high and low elevations). Note how the grid intersections are either set very high (mountains) or very low (oceans) and the space between them is smoothed out.]]
These parameters influence the relative proportions of terrain feature ranges, without making other ranges impossible. For example, to have many more low-elevation squares exist, without making it impossible for high elevations; this makes changing these parameters often preferable to simply changing the above min/max values. See the image on the right for an example.

The basic steps of applying weighted ranges are as follows:
# Divide the world into a grid of quantity <code>2''MeshSize'' - 1</code> areas in both X and Y direction.
# At each grid intersection, set the value according to the weighted ranges.
# Smooth out the areas between the intersection points.
# Add noise according to the variance parameters.
Where ''MeshSize'' is the raw parameter value found in the <code>[[world_gen.txt]]</code>.

==== Interaction between Mesh Size and Weighted Ranges ====
Mesh size determines how many intersection points the world will have. As an example, setting it to 2×2 means the world will be divided into 4 areas, 2 across and 2 tall, and there will be a total of 9 intersection points (3×3), including the outer-most corners. The grid intersection points are in the middle of world tiles, and the minimum size for a grid area is a span of 9 world tiles in either direction, with adjacent areas sharing an overlapping world tile. On a pocket world, this means one grid tile will span 9×9 world tiles, whereas on a large world, one grid tile will span 129×129 world tiles. A pocket world will always use a 2×2 grid of 9×9 world tiles, since it has only 17×17 tiles total (even if the game UI allows setting those worlds to a 4×4 grid, which can happen when changing the world size; changing the world size doesn't adjust mesh size limits, but saving then reloading the parameters does). A world that is 17 tiles wide, but 257 tall, and set to a 32×32 mesh size, will have 3×33 intersection points.

Setting mesh size to something other than Ignore, will apply random values at those intersections, with those random values being more likely to be in the ranges with higher weights. Setting to Ignore will cause the weighted range settings to be ignored for that terrain characteristic; instead setting the 4 corners of the world to completely random values and smoothing between those, or in other words, using a 1×1 grid for square worlds; while for rectangular worlds, using the same ratio as the world dimensions with 1 in the narrow dimension (for example, a 1×16 grid for a 17×257 world).

For example, if the Elevation Weighted Range parameters are set to <code>60:10:10:10:10</code> (starting with the 0-20 range, and these values do not need to add up to any particular number), and elevation min and max are left at the defaults of 1 and 400 respectively, then about 60% (on average) of the grid line intersection points will be set to an elevation in the range of 1-80 (0% to 20%), and the other ranges will be represented by around 10% of the intersection points each. The exact distribution is still left up to chance, though ''on average'' it will be close to this specification. This allows random number generation to be non-linear for the given terrain characteristic.

Setting the weight for a range to None only prevents intersection points from being set to a value in that range; terrain between intersection points can still be smoothed to values in ranges set to None that are between the intersection point values. Setting all the weights to None just puts them all at the same weight, the same as the default of all at 1.

Weighted ranges do not make rejection checks, although they can be responsible for many rejections if you neglect to adjust or disable some of the [[#Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares|Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares]], for example.

==== Interaction between these and Variances ====
The end result can vary greatly depending on how the corresponding [[#X_and_Y_Variance|X and Y Variance]] parameters are set. First of all, if the variance is too high, the noise it adds can completely negate the effect of the weighted ranges. For instance, with a 2×2 mesh, the default variance parameters are high enough that usually the mesh grid can hardly be recognized. How strong the variance's effect is, is also dependent on the mesh size. Having a larger mesh size (i.e. smaller grid tiles) means the variance also has to be higher for a visible effect. For instance, with a variance of 400, the effects are clearly visible with a 2×2 mesh and barely visible at all with a 8×8 mesh. Note that this effect is directly dependent on the mesh size and not, as one might expect, on the actual size of the grid tiles. This means, that a large world with a 32×32 mesh will look essentially the same as a pocket world with a 2×2 mesh, only stretched to 256 times the size.

Also see this [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139916.0 forum post] for more details.

==== Configuration Tokens ====
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:2:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="6" | Valid mesh values:

1 = Ignore

2 = 2x2

3 = 4x4

4 = 8x8

5 = 16x16

6 = 32x32

(limited by world size)
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_FREQUENCY:3:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:4:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:5:1:2:3:4:5]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:<mesh>:<0-20 weight>:<20-40 weight>:<40-60 weight>:<60-80 weight>:<80-100 weight>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Poles ===

With this, you can influence how polar regions are added. The poles can be on the north or south edge, and the equator will be on the opposite edge, or in the middle if there are two poles. If poles are set to NONE, then there will be no seasonal changes in the weather (e.g. no winter snow in temperate biomes).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[POLE:<placement>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[POLE:NORTH]</nowiki></tt>
| Viable options: NONE, NORTH_OR_SOUTH, NORTH_AND_OR_SOUTH, NORTH, SOUTH, NORTH_AND_SOUTH
|}

=== Minimum Mountain Peak Number ===

This will cause the world to be rejected if fewer than this many peaks (based on elevation) are present on the map. EG: elevations of 400 must be possible for mountain peaks to occur. If set to zero, then worlds will not be rejected based on number of peaks.

You may need to adjust elevation parameters, such as the highest weighted range, in order to get the desired number of elevation-400 squares needed for larger numbers of peaks. Like volcanoes, mountain peaks can make embark zones more interesting (reportedly, they do increase the highest Z-level above ground in all embark zones in the same region, even if the selected embark zone does not include the peak) but other than that, they don't appear to "do" anything special.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:20]</nowiki></tt>
| Elevations of 400 must occur for peaks to form.
|}

=== Minimum Partial Edge Oceans ===

This will cause a world to be rejected unless there are at least this many oceans touching an edge of the map. If set to zero then worlds will not be rejected based on this criterion. Setting both this parameter and Minimum Complete Edge Oceans to values that total more than 4 when added together may cause all worlds to be rejected, as you can't have both a partial and complete edge ocean on a given edge.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:2]</nowiki></tt>
| Maximum of 4
|}

=== Minimum Complete Edge Oceans ===

This will cause a world to be rejected unless there are at least this many oceans which completely cover an edge of the map. Since a square map only has 4 edges, the maximum value possible is 4. If set to zero then worlds will not be rejected based on this criterion but still might end up with complete edge oceans by chance.

Note that the ability for this many edge oceans to exist will be limited by elevation. Therefore, to actually create large oceans you will probably need to change things like the Elevation Mesh Size and Weighted Ranges to increase the number and distribution of very low elevation squares on the map. In addition, if Complete Edge Oceans is set to any value ''other'' than 0 or 4, you may need to lower elevation variance for at least one of the axes: if set too high, such as a variation of 1600 for both X and Y axes (the default for Large Island and Medium Island parameter sets), the game may generate worlds very slowly or even hang.{{bug|565}}

Given appropriate weight, range, and variance values for things like elevation, a setting of: 1 results in a world that seems like a chunk of coastline. One edge of the map will be completely underwater and there will be ocean taking up much of the map on that side (think the east or west coast of the United States, the north coast of Canada, or southern Europe). If your edge ocean happens to pick your world's frozen side, most of it will be glacier.

*2 results in another coastline along with the first one -- the map could end up looking something like Panama if the oceans pick opposite sides of the map.
*3 results in a peninsula, like Florida in the US. There will be oceans surrounding 3 sides of the map, and land touching only one side of the map.
*4 results in one or more island(s) depending on things like elevation variance and weights. Regardless of whether you get one island or multiple islands, the entire map will be surrounded by water.

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to control which oceans end up on which edges, except perhaps setting X/Y variance to different values.

Edge oceans will take up part of the other edges too. For example, a full edge ocean on the east side will have part of the north and south sides underwater, but that does ''not'' add to the ''partial'' edge oceans count.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| Maximum of 4
|}

=== Minimum Volcano Number ===

The game will attempt to place this many volcanoes, but there must be at least this many squares with a volcanism of 100, if there are not, the world will be rejected. Therefore, [[Advanced_world_generation#Volcanism|maximum volcanism]] above must be set to 100, and adjusting the [[Advanced_world_generation#Configuration_Tokens_2|volcanism weighted range]] above for 80-100 to a higher value can increase the number of those squares.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANO_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANO_MIN:15]</nowiki></tt>
| Volcanoes require a volcanism of 100 to occur.
|}

=== Mineral Scarcity ===
Controls the frequency at which minerals occur; setting this value higher will decrease both the number of different types and amounts of ore and gems present on a map. The default value will result in a variety of metal ores, while the old default of ''sparse'' would be only a few ores, which may be limiting until other metals can be requested and traded for. Note that abundances are limited by removing large cluster and/or vein spawn types from certain z-levels entirely, which can counterintuitively increase the abundance of one specific ore or mineral. The abundance of small cluster deposits (including gemstones) is not significantly affected, only the variety of types.

The options "Very Rare", "Rare", "Sparse", "Frequent", and "Everywhere" in the [[World_generation#Basic_world_generation_menu|basic world generation menu]] use the values 50000, 10000, 2500, 500 and 100 respectively.

According to [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79018.msg2063804#msg2063804 research] by Shandra in v0.31.25, this is the relationship between the value of this setting and the approximate number of gems and ore:

[[File:MineralSetting_v25_limit10k.png]]

This is for the same 8x8 embark region in a world which is otherwise the same, except for the mineral scarcity parameter (although most of the detailed information comes from experiments with previous versions). (The chart legend has an error, the first "Pot.(Types)" should read "Pot.(Amount)".)
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MINERAL_SCARCITY:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MINERAL_SCARCITY:100]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 100 to 100,000
|}

=== Real-world extinct creatures ===
Controls if and where extinct animals and animal people can exist; either not at all, in [[savage]] or [[Surroundings#Neutral|wilderness]] areas, or as [[domestic animal]]s in civilizations.{{v|53.15}}
This world gen setting also affects the following:
All non-extinct settings give - in vanilla - elven and human civilizations who do settle in an area (during world gen), where the surroundings include dinosaurs the possibility to pick such dinos, which are land-based, above ground, non-vermin creatures, as (exotic) pets (and thus gain that dino as domesticated), with elves being notoriously better at this then humans (and more often then not even consider animals with the "exotic pet" token as normal "pets"). Dwarves, when settling in an area (in world gen), will usually - if at all - only pick any pack animals from the above ground surroundings as new domesticated animals (if any), thus they may only possibly gain dinos, which are also pack animals, by settling additional sites in world gen. Goblins do not gain any new domesticated above-ground animals by settling new sites. In addition, the domesticated option gives - in vanilla - dwarven, elven and human civilisation the possibility to pick dinos as domesticated animals (at the start of world generation), but these animals are currently - at least for dwarven civs - not added to resources.animals.pet_races (or resources.animals.exotic_pet_races) only to resources.animals.mount_races, resources.animals.pack_animal_races, resources.animals.minion_races, resources.animals.wagon_puller_races (in all cases if the dino has the appropriate creature token, which is trainable, hunting trainable or war trainable) of the corresponding civ entity.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REAL_WORLD_EXTINCT:<option>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REAL_WORLD_EXTINCT:UNTAMED_WILDS]</nowiki></tt>
| EXTINCT, ISOLATED, UNTAMED_WILDS, WILDERNESS, or DOMESTICATED
|}

=== Max Megabeast Caves ===

This is the number of [[megabeast]]s placed at the beginning of history. Megabeasts are [[hydra]]s, [[bronze colossus]]es, [[roc]]s, and [[dragon]]s, which are all placed in equal proportions [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415177#msg3415177 data].

Increasing this value can lead to early extinction of civilizations.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MEGABEAST_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MEGABEAST_CAP:75]</nowiki></tt>
| Megabeasts count towards BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

=== Max Semi-Megabeast Caves ===

This is the number of [[semi-megabeast]]s placed at the beginning of history. Semimegabeasts are [[giant]]s, [[ettin]]s, [[minotaur]]s, and [[cyclops]], which are placed in equal proportions [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415188#msg3415188 data].

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SEMIMEGABEAST_CAP:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SEMIMEGABEAST_CAP:150]</nowiki></tt>
| Semimegabeasts do not count towards the BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

=== Titan Parameters ===

==== Number ====

This controls the number of [[titan]]s that exist at the beginning of history[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415203#msg3415203 data]. The number of forgotten beasts is unaffected by this parameter [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415155#msg3415155 data].

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_NUMBER:33]</nowiki></tt>
| Titans count towards BEAST_END_YEAR calculation.
|}

==== Attack Population Requirement ====

[[Titan]]s will begin to attack your fort once at least this many dwarves inhabit it, regardless of whether any other attack criteria have been met.

This number defaults to 80, which isn't usually too difficult to deal with.

==== Exported Wealth Requirement ====

Titans will begin to attack your fort once you have exported at least this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]]-worth of goods, regardless of whether or not any other criteria have been met. This parameter defaults to None (disabled).

==== Created Wealth Requirement ====

Titans will begin to attack your fort once the fort's total wealth has reached this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]] in value. This happens regardless of whether any of the other criteria, such as population, have been met; therefore, even with 1 dwarf, a fort could be attacked if the fort were worth at least this value.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:<population>:<exp wealth>:<created wealth>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:80:0:100000]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = None (disabled). Only one requirement must be met for an attack.
|}

=== Number of Demon Types ===

[[Demon]]s are similar to [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s, in that they are procedurally generated, but most are not unique. Thus, many different types of demons can exist in the world, but there will also be many individuals of most types. Thanks to [[Underworld spire|certain fun things]], fewer demon types also means fewer goblin civilizations.{{cite forum|112465/7392706}} You need at least 2 demon types, or else goblin civilizations won't exist initially, though if dwarves breach the underworld during world generation, at least one will be generated then.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DEMON_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DEMON_NUMBER:52]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Night Troll Types ===

The number of different [[night troll]]s, also procedurally generated, that will exist in the world. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no night trolls, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHT_TROLL_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHT_TROLL_NUMBER:77]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Bogeyman Types ===
The number of different [[bogeyman]] forms that will exist in the world. Bogeymen are procedurally generated, though their forms do not vary by much. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no bogeymen, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:27]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Nightmare Types ===
The number of different [[nightmare]] forms that will exist in the world. Nightmares are procedurally generated. Setting this to zero means that the world will have no nightmares, custom or otherwise.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHTMARE_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NIGHTMARE_NUMBER:27]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Vampire Curse Types ===

The number of different types of [[Vampire|vampires]] that will exist in the world. Although they are generated at the start of a new world, they aren't different from each other. Setting this to zero means no vampires will exist.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VAMPIRE_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VAMPIRE_NUMBER:72]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Werebeast Parameters ===

==== Number of Werebeast Curse Types====

The number of different types of [[werebeast]]s that can exist in the world. It is common for werebeasts, unlike vampires, to assume many different forms and variations, the most well-known of these amount to different species of animals, from lizards, to wolves, to even bears. Setting this to zero means no werebeasts will exist, and will also remove a large amount of [[fun]] from the game.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_NUMBER:58]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

==== Attack Population Requirement ====

Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once at least this many dwarves inhabit it, regardless of whether any other attack criteria have been met. This number defaults to 50 which will often be reached in the second year of the fort.

==== Exported Wealth Requirement ====
Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once you have exported at least this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]]-worth of goods, regardless of whether or not any other criteria have been met. This parameter defaults to 5000.

==== Created Wealth Requirement ====

Werebeasts will begin to attack your fort once the fort's total wealth has reached this many [[Currency|dwarfbucks]] in value. This happens regardless of whether any of the other criteria, such as population, have been met; therefore, even with 1 dwarf, a fort could be attacked if the fort were worth at least this value.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_ATTACK_TRIGGER:<population>:<exp wealth>:<created wealth>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[WEREBEAST_ATTACK_TRIGGER:50:5000:50000]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = None (disabled). Only one requirement must be met for an attack.
|}

=== Number of Secret Types ===

The number of secrets that exist in the world. Currently, all secrets are secrets of life and death, and the ones holding these secrets are [[necromancer]]s, thus, setting this to zero means that no necromancers will appear.
Non-necromancer towers can still appear (extremely rarely) with zero secrets, constructed by independent undead groups.
The primary difference between having 1 or 1000 secrets is the chance of your world having any necromancer towers at all. With 1, this chance is low. With the default number, it's seemingly guaranteed.
Even with 1 secret, if you have any necromancer towers at all, it is likely a great number will quickly appear in world generation (though this isn't guaranteed).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SECRET_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SECRET_NUMBER:52]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Regional Interaction Types ===

The number of interactions that can be caused in regions, which may incorporate evil rain and cloud types. Currently, only evil region interactions are generated this way.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGIONAL_INTERACTION_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGIONAL_INTERACTION_NUMBER:20]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Disturbance Interaction Types ===
The number of different [[Mummy|disturbed dead]] that can exist in the world. Setting this to zero should prevent any mummy from appearing{{verify}}, but it will not prevent the creation of [[tomb]]s.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DISTURBANCE_INTERACTION_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DISTURBANCE_INTERACTION_NUMBER:10]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Number of Evil Cloud / Evil Rain Types ===

This number specifies how many [[Weather#Evil weather|various face-melting, eye-boiling, and zombifyingly-fun]] clouds of pure evil may appear in your world. Setting this to zero means you no longer will ever have to deal with encroaching dust walls of doom in that world. It is generally advised to keep this value low...

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_CLOUD_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_CLOUD_NUMBER:45]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

The latter number states how many different types of green-ooze drenchers, disconcerting blood-showers, and sickly yellow slime-baths can occur in your world. Compared to evil clouds though, this one hardly is worth stressing out about, usually.... Setting this to zero means the only semi-solid to fully-liquid fluids to fall from the sky will be pure H2O.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_RAIN_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_RAIN_NUMBER:352]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 to 1000
|}

=== Generate Divine Materials ===
This turns the generation of [[Divine_metal|divine metals]] on or off. It does not influence the creation of [[vault]]s. Probably determines whenever or not using divination dice spawns weapons.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_DIVINE_MATERIALS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_DIVINE_MATERIALS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Generate Mythical Materials ===

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_MYTHICAL_MATERIALS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GENERATE_MYTHICAL_MATERIALS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Mythical Healing ===

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_MYTHICAL_HEALING:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_MYTHICAL_HEALING:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Divination, Experiments, and Necromancy types ===
These allow or disallow [[die|divination]], demon or necromancer [[experiment]]s, and the more advanced [[necromancer]] abilities.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DIVINATION:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DIVINATION:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DEMONIC_EXPERIMENTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_DEMONIC_EXPERIMENTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_EXPERIMENTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_EXPERIMENTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_LIEUTENANTS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_LIEUTENANTS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_GHOULS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_GHOULS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_SUMMONS:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALLOW_NECROMANCER_SUMMONS:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Desired Good/Evil Square Counts ===

These values change the amount of [[Surroundings#Good|good or evil]] tiles on the map, depending on the size of the region they are being considered for. The counts are for all tiles in all subregions of a given size considered together, ''not'' counts for each subregion considered separately (all tiles in the same subregion share the same [[surroundings]] values).

As used here, a "subregion" is a named world area. Subregion names and locations for a generated world are viewable in legends mode under "Regions". Subregions are classified by size the same way for all map sizes: 1-24 tiles is Small, 25-99 tiles is Medium, and 100+ tiles is Large.

The counts used here will always be restricted to regions of the given size, no matter how large the count. Also, the count is more of a goal than a minimum or maximum. As a result, you can end up with many more or many fewer than the requested number of squares in some situations. In particular, if you have something like a case where only 3 large regions exist in a world, and you request "1 evil square" in large regions, you will end up with one of the large regions being ''entirely evil''. So any non-zero value in one of these settings essentially means "force at least one region of this size to be all good/evil."

Note that the "evilness" of evil biomes is also impacted by savagery. Certain civilizations cannot exist in good and/or evil squares, so too many of one or the other may limit the size of certain types of civilizations - dwarves, for example, need non-aligned biomes. Creating too many evil biomes seems to lead to the danger of many civilizations' early extinction.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS::<med region>:<lg region>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Set count to zero to disable for that region size.
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS::<med region>:<lg region>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Minimum Biome Square Counts ===

These numbers control whether or not a world will be rejected based on a lack of different [[biome|biomes]]. Raising these numbers will '''not''' automatically generate the given number of squares of the given biome! For a biome to exist, certain conditions like elevation and rainfall must exist.

These parameters simply filter out worlds that (for example) randomly fail to have enough high elevation squares to support a given number of mountains, etc. Some settings may cause worlds to always be rejected. For example, if for some reason the maximum elevation parameter is set to a value below what will support mountain biomes, it will be impossible to satisfy a non-zero requirement for mountain squares. The same principle goes for other conditions and biomes such as low elevations and oceans, etc.

Certain civilizations require different biomes to exist (such as dwarves and mountains), so eliminating certain biomes will make it impossible for certain civilizations to form.

These parameters often result in infinite world rejection problems. See [[World rejection]] for information on solving problems related to worlds always being rejected due to one or more of these parameters.

0 means no minimum for rejection - setting it to 0 does not guarantee 0 squares of that biome.

==== Biome Type Requirement Table ====

Terrain requirements for various biomes are described below.{{Verify}} Note that some of the exact ranges are unknown.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! rowspan="2" | Biome
! colspan="4" | Terrain Requirement
|-
! Elevation
! Rainfall
! Temperature
! Drainage
|-
| Swamp/Marsh
| 100-299
| 33-100
| Non-Freezing
| 0-32
|-
| Desert/Badland
| 100-299
| 0-9
| non-freezing
| note1
|-
| Forest
| 100-299
| 66-100
| non-freezing
| 66-100
|-
| Mountains
| 300-400
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
|-
| Ocean
| 0-99
| N/A
| N/A
| N/A
|-
| Glacier
| 100-299
| N/A
| Freezing
| 80(?)-100
|-
| Tundra
| 100-299
| N/A
| Freezing
| 0-66
|-
| Grassland
| 100-299
| 0-66
| Non-Freezing
| 0-66
|-
| Hills
| 100-299
| 0-66
| Non-Freezing
| 66-100
|}
note1 drainage: 00-32 sand desert, 33-49 rocky wasteland, 50-65 rocky wasteland but different characters/appearance, 66-100 badlands

==== Minimum Initial Square Count ====

'''Note: The exclusive purpose of these parameters is to cause world rejection.'''

This is the minimum number of squares of the given biome that must exist before things like erosion take place. One thing to keep in mind is the maximum number of squares on a map of a given size - if the total number of squares on a map is lower than the sum of all square count parameters, then you will get infinite world rejection.

To determine the number of squares on a map, just multiply the dimensions. In practice these parameters will need to sum to lower than the maximum because some space is needed for "slack".

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Map Size
! Number of Squares
|-
| 17×17
| 289
|-
| 33×33
| 1089
|-
| 65×65
| 4225
|-
| 129×129
| 16614
|-
| 257×257
| 66049
|}

==== Minimum Initial Region Count ====

This is the minimum number of regions of contiguous biome squares that must exist before other processes such as erosion take place.

==== Minimum Final Region Count ====

This many regions of the given biome must exist after erosion and similar phases of generation have been completed.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:1032:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:1032:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:4128:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:8256:9:9]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:8256:7:6]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:8256:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:<init sq>:<init rg>:<final rg>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:8256:13:12]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Erosion Cycle Count ===

Tells the world generator how long the world has to erode its tall peaks down to mountainsides during the 'running rivers...' stage of world creation. The higher this number, the less jagged the world will be, and the more wide the major rivers will be. If you use the maximum number, your mountains will dissolve before your eyes into plains which can lead to rejections if there aren't enough mountains to use for river start points and dwarven civilization origin points.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 1000
|}

=== Minimum/Desired River Start Locations ===

This is the minimum number of riverheads that must exist before and after erosion takes place. Worlds will be rejected if they fail to meet these numbers. As with minimum biome counts, raising this number doesn't automatically create this many riverheads. Other conditions like terrain and rainfall must exist for rivers to form.

Extremely high pre-erosion values speed erosion greatly, while low post erosion values are useful for limiting rejects due to lack of river origin points. One can try the 800 value to get more lakes.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RIVER_MINS:<min pre-erosion>:<des post-erosion>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RIVER_MINS:200:400]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 800
|}

=== Periodically Erode Extreme Cliffs ===

If enabled, makes every impassable rock wall into a series of ramps. Some prefer to pump up erosion to about 250, and turn the "Desired pre-erosion river count" to 0 for good erosion and no extra canyons.

Normally this is set to Yes (1).

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Do Orographic Precipitation and Rain Shadows ===

Toggle that allows terrain height to affect rainfall. For example, moist air coming from the ocean blows over the land. As the terrain gets higher, it forces the moist air up, causing it to rain on the seaward side of a mountain. Eventually, all the rain has fallen if the mountain is tall enough. So, when the breeze goes over the top, there's no moisture left to fall on the other side, creating a rain-shadow. In the current version, regions where drainage is above 50 will also create rain shadows, regardless of the underlying biome and elevation.{{cite forum|140685/5484064}}

Turning this on should create a tendency for more extreme rainfall in regions, creating more forests, deserts, marshlands, and grasslands. Also note that it can create rainfall outside of min-max rainfall settings, so even in a world with a 0 max rainfall you may get rainfall biomes. Turning it off should result in more controllable, less complex rainfall conditions based on rainfall parameters as it adds a random element which can distort or otherwise mess up the climates on a pregenerated map.

This should be disabled if you're importing a map or using a preset map file that has weather.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Maximum Number of Subregions ===

This is the number of separate biomes (the flashing regions you see on embark when you hit F1, F2, etc. when there's more than one biome on the embark location) that are allowed to exist on the entire map.

Setting this to very low values will result in numerous rejections depending on [[#X and Y Variance|variance parameters]]. If variance values are set to high numbers, many small biomes will be created causing rejection if this parameter value is not increased beyond the default.

Increasing the value of this tag is often a must when generating "patchwork" worlds with lots of biome variance, but simply increasing it without increasing variance parameters will not guarantee more biomes.

It is also interesting to note that the maximum subregions is 5000 which is more than the total number of squares for a pocket or small map. However, for a medium or large map (16641 or 66049 squares) it quickly becomes a mere fraction of the total number of possible subregions. In fact it would be quite easy on a large map to end up with far too many subregions and get endless rejections of this type.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SUBREGION_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SUBREGION_MAX:2750]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 1 to 5000
|}

=== Cavern Parameters ===
[[Caverns]] are the hollow areas underground, which dwarves tend to encounter when they're digging around. The '''Cavern Layer Number''' parameter determines how many cavern systems will be generated, not including the magma layer or the Bottom layer. Defaults to three - setting it to lower values could help FPS. Setting it to 2 will merge cavern 3 species into the 2nd cavern, and setting it to 1 will merge all into one cavern. However, disabling them entirely by setting it to 0 will make it impossible to grow any underground plants, as none will exist for your civilization to cultivate, nor will they be available on embark.

*Setting caverns to a sub-3 number (Spoiler, highlight to view) erases about one-third of HFS spires{{Bug|10267}} and prevents dig deep disasters. Additionally, random plant or animal species can be more frequently absent.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:3]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 3
|}

==== Cavern Layout Parameters ====

Open caverns and dense passageways are not mutually exclusive. When both are raised, bizarre results can occur, such as layers showing a combination of open caverns, a cluster of network passages, and natural walls sprinkling the inside of an otherwise open cavern. [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=76355.msg1936859#msg1936859 Reference]

If you want the largest open spaces possible, then decrease the density and increase the openness. If you want a labyrinth of passageways, lower the openness and raise the passage density.

Another interesting note about the cavern layers is that the seed and number of demon types affect the layout of the caverns.

<gallery widths=200 heights=200 perrow=2>
File:Open00Density100.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 0 and Density of 100
File:Open100Density00.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 100 and Density of 0
File:Open100Density100.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 100 and Density of 100
File:Open50Density50.jpg|Cavern slice with Openness of 50 and Density of 50
</gallery>

===== Layer Openness min/max =====

Dictates the size of cavern passages. When Passage Density (see below) is set to minimum (0), caverns will be open expanses. Raising the maximum will increase the size of the caverns.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

===== Layer Passage Density min/max =====

Determines how many passages form the cavern. If openness (see above) is set to minimum and density increased, then you will get a maze-like network of small criss-crossing passages. Raising the values further increases the number of the maze-like passages.

Caverns will be large, open spaces at 0, and comprised of many small vertical shafts of rock at 100. Setting both values to be the same results in a uniform look for the caverns.{{Verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

===== Layer Water min/max =====

Determines the minimum and maximum percentage of water each cavern can contain.

Caverns with a water level of 10 or higher can support creatures and plants from the "Subterranean Water" biome, and caverns with a water level of 90 or lower can support the "Subterranean Chasm" biome; levels of 10-90 support ''both'' biomes, while levels below 10 or above 90 support only one.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:0]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 100
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:100]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==== Magma Layer ====

This parameter controls whether the [[magma sea]] exists.

Setting 1/Yes causes the magma layer to exist, value 0/No prevents it. Appears not to have any impact on volcanoes nor volcanism, so even if 0/No, there will still be embark locations with magma. If a [[volcano]] exists, it appears to always tap the magma sea, but the magma sea will not be revealed by revealing the volcano.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==== Bottom Layer ====

Determines if the space below the magma sea exists. If Yes the "HFS" layer is always present. Normally you want to leave this set to Yes for maximum fun.

If enabled, this will force the magma layer above it.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:1]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Z Levels (Depth) Settings ===

These parameters control the "thickness" of various "layers" on the map. Note that a "layer" in this case does not refer to one Z-level, but refers to a number of related Z-levels such as "levels above ground".

The following table assumes that you have 3 cavern layers. (out of a minimum of 0-3) The Levels Above Layer settings control how many Z-Levels are above each layer. A layer may itself consist of multiple Z-Levels (and almost always does).

{|style="margin:1em 1em 1em 0;background:#F9F9F9;border:1px #AAA solid;border-collapse:collapse;" class="wikitable"
|-style="background:#F2F2F2;text-align:center;"
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="120"|Setting Name
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;" width="200"|Token
!style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Description
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Ground
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| The number of Z-levels of air above the highest surface level. Has no impact on how many Z-levels deep the surface layer is.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above layer 1
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of stone above the first cavern layer. Making this higher will guarantee ''at least'' that many levels to build your fortress, but will have no impact on how many z-levels thick the surface layer is. Also, the top of a cavern may be higher than the rest of a cavern, so in practice there will be more "solid" levels than this above the cavern.
As of version 0.31.25 this setting is inaccurate. The actual number of z-levels may vary in a range of approx. ±5, which may result in non-existence of any solid z-levels between a surface layer and first cavern layer.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 2
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very top of the second cavern and the very bottom of the first cavern.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 3
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very top of the third cavern and the very bottom of the second cavern.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 4
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Z-levels of earth between the very highest magma and the very bottom of the third cavern. Spoiler Hidden (select invisible text to read): Making this high will give a large area for HFS veins, so that it never touches caverns, giving more to mine '''if''' it was impacting the cavern previously.
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Above Layer 5
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Uncertain. May control the number of levels of "Semi Molten Rock" between HFS and Magma, may control number of levels of magma, may impact both. In experimentation, the overall depth of all magma sea and semi-molten rock levels appears to increase, but not consistent enough to say for certain. Only valid if Magma Layer present. Spoiler Hidden:Often the HFS vein will only extend as high as the highest magma, making this the only guaranteed way to increase amount of HFS to mine, but unfortunately also creating enormous useless semi-molten z-levels
|-
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| At Bottom
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| <nowiki>[LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:<number>]</nowiki>
|style="border:1px #AAA solid;padding:0.2em;"| Appears to be number of levels of HFS chamber. Only valid if Bottom Layer present, often having no impact. Values larger than default result in strange things.
|}

Some implications:
* The number of surface layers (e.g. soil), at this time, cannot be controlled. For example, on a map with 1 layer of peat, then a layer of silt, then a layer of obsidian, there is no control to let you increase either one to be, say, 20 z-levels. (though you may get lucky with the obsidian).
* There can be multiple stone layers between the cavern and the surface, so, increasing Levels Above Layer 1 may give you more conglomerate or more granite, and you have no control over which stone layer spans those Z-levels.
* The layers shown on embark span across the cavern layers in an unknown and inconsistent way. Sometimes those 10 different layers of stone are evenly distributed over your 400 z-level deep map, sometimes the first 9 get 1 z-level each and the last gets the other 391 levels. No way to control found yet.
* The HFS chamber, if present, will always extend into the rock layers, and appears to always make contact with the bottom cave. Large values for levels above layer 5 and layer 4 can result in enormous chambers, but the number of levels at the top (the part with undead) appears to be unaffected.
* Unconfirmed whether number of levels between caverns has any impact on cavern height. There will be connecting ramps and/or shafts between cavern layers no matter how many levels are between them.
* '''Very Important''': These values appear to apply across a whole 16x16 region, not just embark areas. That means that if a 16x16 region is completely flat, but has one tall mountain in one far corner, even if you set Levels Above Ground low (e.g. 2 z-levels) you still have all the empty air of the highest mountain in every embark tile (e.g. 200 z-levels). Also can happen to the semi-molten layer, and can lead to unexpected behavior.
* Very large or small values can cause strange things to happen.

=== Minimum/Maximum Natural Cave Size ===
It's not clear what effect these currently have, other than changing them can change the location of caves somewhat.{{verify}}

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 1 to 500
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Number of Caves ===
The number of caves generated in mountainous and non-mountainous regions, mountain caves will always be generated on the edge of mountain ranges next to non-mountainous regions. Lurking [[kobold]]s set up shop in caves, and store their stolen items there - a setting of 0 in both will stop kobold civilizations from appearing. Special note: a cave is not initially a [[lair]], although beasts can later use them as their lair.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:100]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 800
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:200]</nowiki></tt>
|}

=== Number of Mythical Sites ===
The number of [[mysterious dungeon|mysterious sites]] generated around the world. The extended effects of setting this to 0 has not been determined{{verify|is chosen still available? is quest still given? etc.}}.
{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[MYTHICAL_SITE_NUM:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[MYTHICAL_SITE_NUM:200]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="2" | Range: 0 to 800
|}

=== Make Caves Visible ===
If set to no (default) then the location of caves will not be marked on the map. If set to yes, caves will appear on the map so that they may be sought out or avoided as desired.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Allow Init Options to Show Tunnels ===

If enabled, you will be able to see the underground tunnels often built by dwarves on the world map, and they will appear as black lines, similar to roads.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:<0-2>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]</nowiki></tt>
| 0 = No 1 = Only in Finder 2 = Always
|}

=== Number of Civilizations ===

This number of [[civilization]]s will be placed on the map before history generation begins. These civilizations may later die out due to historical events. It is noteworthy that the chance for any given civilization to be destroyed through megabeasts decreases with a higher total number of civilizations present[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=7348f68f41a9659443c05b2acf534e6c&topic=112465.15 data]. The five races are dwarf, elf, human, goblin, and kobold; they will generally be placed in equal numbers until the quota has been reached. If there are not enough biomes or other worldgen prerequisites for an even distribution, certain civs will be much more or less frequent than others[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=7348f68f41a9659443c05b2acf534e6c&topic=112465.15 data]. If there is an odd number of civs (not divisible by 5), then the remainder is distributed randomly. Kobold civs require caves to be placed; if no caves exist, then kobolds are skipped and will not appear. This does not cause rejections [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112465.msg3415125#msg3415125 data]. Goblin civilizations require multiple demons, see the [[#Number_of_Demon_Types|number of demon types]] section above.

Note that a high value here can cause lots of map rejections, particularly on smaller maps as there simply isn't enough room or regions to put them all in.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:<number>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:40]</nowiki></tt>
| Range: 0 to 300
|}

=== Playable Civilization Required ===

If this is set to yes (default) then worlds will be rejected if no civilization with [[Entity token|CIV_CONTROLLABLE]] can be placed. In an unmodded game, only the dwarves have this token.

If set to no, the result may be a world that cannot be played in Fortress Mode.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:<1 or 0>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]</nowiki></tt>
| 1/0 = Yes/No
|}

=== Minimum Number of Mid/Low/High Characteristic Squares ===

Sets the minimum possible number of squares of certain ranges of each of the region qualities, such as elevation, rain, drainage, volcanism, savagery, and temperature. These need to be changed to reflect your regional meshes and weights, and are responsible for a HUGE number of map rejections. These values can all be set to 0 for much fewer map rejections, particularly in the case of more wacky, non-standard maps.

These values will cause worlds to be rejected unless at least the given number of squares of the given type are randomly generated. Setting these values too high could result in worlds always being rejected if other parameters such as the maximum/minimums for elevation, etc., don't allow enough of those squares to get generated.

{| {{prettytable}}
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
! Token
! Example
! Notes
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[ELEVATION_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
| rowspan="5" | Minimum number of squares that must have low, medium, and high amounts of the given attribute. 
0 = No minimum
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[RAIN_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[DRAINAGE_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[SAVAGERY_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|-
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_RANGES:<low sq>:<mid sq>:<high sq>]</nowiki></tt>
| <tt><nowiki>[VOLCANISM_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]</nowiki></tt>
|}

==World rejection==

:''Main article: [[World rejection]]''

If you are having the common problem of generated worlds always being rejected by the world generator, see [[v0.31:World rejection|Solving World Rejection Problems (v0.31 page)]] as it contains many detailed suggestions on how to troubleshoot and solve these issues.

== Parameter set examples ==

If you're trying to do something specific, then the [[Worldgen examples]] - complete parameter sets that can be copied directly into your ''world_gen.txt'' file and customized as desired - might be helpful.
If none of the examples suit your needs, [[Worldgen tricks]] has strategies and tips on making a world just right for you.

For many, many more examples see:
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=101280 DF2012 (v0.34) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=140180 DF2014 (v0.40) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=168543.0 DF2014 (v0.44.02+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175538 DF2014 (v0.47.01+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]
* [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=180805.0 DF2022 (v0.50.01+) WorldGen "Cookbook" Thread]

{{World}}

Wealth

2026-08-18T21:45:34Z

Ziusudra: removed bug section with old bug (missing bug template) originally reported on this page as happening in masterwork, there was 9223 but that's marked as resolved, removed extra whitespace

{{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]].

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

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

Settings

2026-08-17T22:42:22Z

Ziusudra: /* Dye display */ updated default

{{av}}
{{Quality|Fine}}
Settings for ''Dwarf Fortress'' can be accessed with a button on the main menu, which can be accessed in-game with {{Menu icon|Esc}}. They are divided into six groups; Video, Audio, Game, Keybindings, Announcements, and Difficulty. They are stored in several different files, including [[init.txt]], [[d_init.txt]], and [[interface.txt]], with current values in the <code>prefs\</code> folder and default values in the <code>data\init\</code> folder. The default files in <code>data\init\</code> include explanations of each setting, including possible values. The files in both <code>data\init\</code> and <code>prefs\</code> are read when ''Dwarf Fortress'' starts, in that order, with the last value read for each option being used. The location of the <code>prefs\</code> folder depends on various factors, see [[Game folders and files]]. Not all of the settings can be changed in game, including [[colors.txt]], [[arena.txt]], and some keybindings.

== Video ==
These settings change how the game looks and are all stored in <code>prefs\init.txt</code> and defaults in <code>data\init\init_default.txt</code>.
* '''Windowed or Fullscreen''' - the highlighted button is the active one and they correspond with [WINDOWED:YES] or [WINDOWED:NO] in the files. [WINDOWED:PROMPT] can be set in the files to make the game ask when starting up, in which case neither button will be highlighted.
* '''Resolution''' - the screen mode the game uses when in fullscreen mode, 'Detect' corresponds with [FULLSCREENX:0] and [FULLSCREENY:0] in the files.
* '''Scale interface''' - whether to scale the font used to draw interface elements such as the menus and minimap to a specific number of character cells, [INTERFACE_SCALING_TO_DESIRED_GRID:YES] in the files.
* '''Desired grid width and height''' - how much to scale the interface, in how many character cells wide and tall the interface should be. [INTERFACE_SCALING_DESIRED_GRID_WIDTH:170] and [INTERFACE_SCALING_DESIRED_GRID_HEIGHT:64] in the files. No effect if [INTERFACE_SCALING_TO_DESIRED_GRID:NO] is used.
* '''Interface scale percentage''' - percentage to scale the interface character cell size up when not scaling to specified grid counts, not every value makes a difference since the interface won't display a partial character at the edges. [INTERFACE_SCALING_PERCENTAGE:100] in the files, no effect if [INTERFACE_SCALING_TO_DESIRED_GRID:YES] is used.
* '''Initial window size''' - when not fullscreen, [WINDOWEDX:1200] and [WINDOWEDY:800] in the files.
* '''Window resizable''' - when not fullscreen, [RESIZABLE:YES] in the files.
* '''Maximum interface width''' - what percentage of the display the overlay interface elements can occupy, useful for extra wide displays to make notifications more visible. [MAXIMUM_INTERFACE_PERCENTAGE:100] in the files. The game will still use the entire window/screen and the minimap and elevation bar will stay at the edge.
* '''Graphical FPS cap''' - how many frames to cap the graphical display rate at. [G_FPS_CAP:50] in the files.
* '''Classic ASCII''' - [USE_CLASSIC_ASCII:NO] in the files.
* '''Scaling mode''' - NEAREST, nearest-neighbor, distorts shapes at some zoom levels; LANCZOS, less distortion but fuzzier at some zoom levels; AUTO, the default, will try to select whichever one is more appropriate depending on the zoom level. [TEXTURE_PARAM:AUTO] in the files.

As the interface gets narrower, some elements will be removed from the [[status]] bar when there's not enough room for all of them; some menus may also display elements under other elements or outside their window.

There are a few other file settings that can affect the display, see [[Technical_tricks#Settings_-_init.txt|technical tricks]].

== Audio ==
These settings change how the game plays sounds and are all stored in <code>prefs\init.txt</code> with defaults in <code>data\init\init_default.txt</code>. All volumes can be from 0 to 255 in the game files, with 255 being 100%.
* '''Master Volume''' - [MASTER_VOLUME:255] in the files.
* '''Music Volume (Fortress)''' - [MUSIC_VOLUME:255] in the files.
* '''Ambience Volume (Fortress)''' - [AMBIENCE_VOLUME:230] in the files.
* '''Sound Effects Volume (Fortress)''' - [SFX_VOLUME:204] in the files.
* '''Average Seconds Between Tracks/Interludes (Fortress)''' - [AVERAGE_TIME_BETWEEN_SONGS:240] in the files. The default of 240 gives a range of 180 to 300 seconds, which is 3 to 5 minutes. Can be anywhere from 10 to 600.
* '''Music Volume (Adventure)'''{{v|51.01}} - [MUSIC_VOLUME_ADV:217] in the files.
* '''Ambience Volume (Adventure)'''{{v|51.01}} - [AMBIENCE_VOLUME_ADV:240] in the files.
* '''Sound Effects Volume (Adventure)'''{{v|51.01}} - [SFX_VOLUME_ADV:230] in the files.

The classic version of the game available on the website only includes the original songs, so most of these will have no effect without the [[premium version]] or mods.

All sound can be disabled completely with [SOUND:NO] in the files. If so, the rest of these settings will be replaced by text explaining that sound is disabled and how to enable it.

== Game ==
These settings change how the game plays and most are stored in <code>prefs\d_init.txt</code> with defaults in <code>data\init\d_init_default.txt</code>, but some are in <code>prefs\init.txt</code> with defaults in <code>data\init\init_default.txt</code>.

=== Display all errors ===
* '''Display all errorlogs on screen'''{{v|53.15}} - when set to yes, all errors will be shown on screen. [DISPLAY_ALL_ERRORLOGS:NO] in init.txt, YES or NO.

=== Portable mode ===
* '''Portable mode'''{{v|52.01}} - when set to NO, the game stores mods, preferences, and saves in a folder specific to the user, (see [[game folders and files]] for details) when set to YES, it stores them in the game folder. Changing this only changes where the files will be written the next time, it does not immediately move them, or change anything else about them. Changing this to YES creates the empty file <code>prefs\portable.txt</code>, changing back to NO removes it; manually creating or removing the file changes the setting.

=== Autosaves ===
{{for/see|more information about autosaves|[[Saved_game_folder#Save_folder_format|Saved game folder]]}}
* '''Autosave frequency''' - when to autosave, [AUTOSAVE:SEMIANNUAL] in d_init.txt, NONE, SEASONAL, SEMIANNUALLY, or YEARLY.
* '''Autosave at embark''' - [INITIAL_SAVE:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO. Additionally to initial saving the game: If set to YES (and the game is paused in the beginning) then the game is paused (and saved) before a dwarf gets assigned to fishing duty (if water to fish in is available), otherwise (meaning this option is set to NO), if there is water, a dwarf is assigned to fishing duty (even if the game is paused in the beginning).

=== Pausing ===
* '''Pause after autosave''' - [AUTOSAVE_PAUSE:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Pause after loading''' - [PAUSE_ON_LOAD:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.

=== Embark ===
* '''Always confirm embark''' - asks for confirmation of the embark location even if there are no warnings such as for [[aquifer]]s, dangerous [[surroundings]], etc, [EMBARK_WARNING_ALWAYS:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Confirm preparations''' - [POST_PREPARE_EMBARK_CONFIRMATION:IF_POINTS_REMAIN] in d_init.txt, ALWAYS, IF_POINTS_REMAIN, or NO.
* '''Show tunnels when embarking''' - for dwarven [[tunnel]]s, shown as a black dashed line or grey double line with classic ASCII, [SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:FINDER] in d_init.txt, FINDER, ALWAYS, or NO.{{verify|is there a difference between ALWAYS and FINDER now?}} More restrictive world generation settings will override these.
* '''Default embark width and height''' - also determines what is considered a normal embark size and will only warn when the actual embark is larger than this many (width × height) tiles, [EMBARK_RECTANGLE:4:4] in d_init.txt, 2 to 16. See Maximum embark dimension below. (This option is actually listed after the feature toggles on the tab in game.)
* '''Maximum embark dimension''' - maximum width or height for an embark, larger sizes may be buggy and need much more memory, [MAXIMUM_EMBARK_DIM:6] in d_init.txt, 6 to 16. (This option is actually listed in game near the bottom of the tab, before the dye and scroll options.)

=== Feature toggles ===
* '''Enable temperature''' - If temperature calculations are off, only a few direct temperature changes will take place; for example, magma will set tiles to high temperatures, but those tiles will never cool, making them unpathable until this setting is enabled. Effects that rely on temperature calculations, such as water freezing, melting, or evaporating, or creatures and items taking temperature-related damage, will not occur. May somewhat affect FPS, but be aware of the likely pathing issues, [TEMPERATURE:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Enable weather''' - toggles rain and snow, rarely affects FPS, [WEATHER:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.{{verify|does this affect wind or evil weather?}}
* '''Enable caveins''' - toggles [[cave-ins]], [CAVEINS:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Enable artifact moods''' - toggles [[strange mood]]s and the resulting [[artifact]]s, [ARTIFACTS:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.{{verify|does this affect world gen artifacts?}}
* '''Enable testing arena''' - [TESTING_ARENA:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Walking spreads spatter (fort mode)''' - toggle the spread of blood spatter and other [[contaminant]]s by creatures on ground tiles in fortress mode. As spatter can infinitely spread, it is recommended to leave this as "NO". [WALKING_SPREADS_SPATTER_DWF:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Walking spreads spatter (adv mode)'''{{v|51.01}} - toggle the spread of blood spatter and other [[contaminant]]s by creatures on ground tiles in adventure mode. As spatter can help with tracking creatures, it is recommended to leave this as "YES". [WALKING_SPREADS_SPATTER_ADV:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Enable keyboard cursor''' - allows for using the keyboard controls for some designations, [KEYBOARD_CURSOR:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO. Arrow keys {{k|↑←↓→}} move one tile, {{k|WASD}} 10 tiles, and {{k|Shift|WASD|sep=+}} 20 tiles; also see [[Settings#Keyboard_scroll_amounts|Keyboard scroll amounts]] section below.
* '''Log world rejects''' - logs the reasons worlds were rejected in ``[[map_rejection_log.txt]]``, useful in [[advanced world generation]] and [[modding]], [LOG_MAP_REJECTS:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO. ''Dwarf Fortress'' will keep adding to the file, so you may want to trim or delete it occasionally.
* '''Multithreading''' - limited multithreading, mainly for line of sight calculations, [MULTITHREADING:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Classic varied ground tiles'''{{v|51.05}} - if changed to NO, ground tiles will be displayed only with periods in ASCII mode, has no effect in graphics mode. [CLASSIC_VARIED_GROUND_TILES:YES] in d_init.txt. (This option is actually listed in game near the bottom of the tab, before the scroll options.)
* '''Show rectangle dimensions'''{{v|51.06}} - if changed to NO, hides the size display when drawing selection rectangles, [SHOW_RECTANGLE_DIMENSIONS:YES] in d_init.txt. (This option is actually listed in game near the bottom of the tab, before the scroll options.)

=== Pathing costs ===
* '''Path costs''' - extreme changes to these may cause more lag, [PATH_COST:1:2:5:25] in d_init.txt, 1 to 1000.
* '''Storage path cost decreases''' - controls how aggressively dwarves place objects in a container with like items (rather than an empty container). The default combine options are very aggressive. All in d_init.txt, 2 to 1000.
** [STORE_DIST_ITEM_DECREASE:20] - for each object found in a container, one tile is removed from its apparent distance to the dwarf, up to this cap
** [STORE_DIST_SEED_COMBINE:1000] - a bag with seeds already in it will appear this many tiles closer
** [STORE_DIST_BUCKET_COMBINE:1000] - a bucket with the same liquid already in it will appear this many tiles closer
** [STORE_DIST_BARREL_COMBINE:1000] - a barrel with the same item type already in it will appear this many tiles closer
** [STORE_DIST_BIN_COMBINE:1000] - a bin with the same item type already in it will appear this many tiles closer

=== Population and seed capacities ===
* '''Population caps''' - can be changed at will to limit migration, strict also prevents births, [POPULATION_CAP:200] and [STRICT_POPULATION_CAP:220] in d_init.txt, 0 to 5000. Certain game features are triggered by population number, see [[difficulty]]. Some of those features may also cause the actual population to slightly go over these.
* '''Children limits''' - how many and what percentage of total there can be at a time, [BABY_CHILD_CAP:100:1000] in d_init.txt, 0 to 1000. Only prevents further pregnancies, so migrant children, multiple births and existing pregnancies from old saves can still push you over the cap. Setting either number to zero will disallow new pregnancies in the fortress.
* '''Visitor cap''' - This does not include merchants, diplomats, animals or invaders, but only those dropping by for a temporary visit to a tavern, library or temple, or those seeking permanent employment. Once you accept a petition from a visitor to stay at your fort, they no longer count against the cap, even if they never become a full citizen. [VISITOR_CAP:100] in d_init.txt, 0 to 5000.
* '''Dead units cull''' - During a season changeover, the game checks if there's a certain number of units in play. If it is above this amount, it removes all the unimportant dead units who died at least two years ago. [CULL_DEAD_UNITS_AT:1000] in d_init.txt, 100 to 5000.
* '''Seed caps''' - per type and total, when over the total cap, seeds will be periodically removed, starting with the oldest and most worthless. [SPECIFIC_SEED_CAP:200] 0 to 10000 and [FORTRESS_SEED_CAP:3000] 0 to 30000 in d_init.txt.

=== Information display ===
* '''Engraving display''' - [ENGRAVINGS_START_OBSCURED:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Improvement quality display''' - [SHOW_IMP_QUALITY:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Numeric liquid levels''' - can be toggled in game either with a button next to the minimap or a keybind {{menu icon|f}}, [SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Ramp arrows''' - can be toggled in game either with a button next to the minimap or a keybind {{menu icon|r}}, [SHOW_RAMP_ARROWS:NO] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Elevation layers display''' - [NUMBER_OF_LOWER_ELEVATIONS_SHOWN:8] in d_init.txt, 0 to 8.
* '''Engraving historical events''' - [SHOW_ALL_HISTORY_IN_DWARF_MODE:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Nickname display''' - [NICKNAME_DWARF:REPLACE_FIRST], [NICKNAME_ADVENTURE:REPLACE_FIRST], [NICKNAME_LEGENDS:REPLACE_FIRST] in d_init.txt, REPLACE_FIRST, CENTRALIZE (between first and last), or REPLACE_ALL.

=== Grazing coefficient ===
* '''Grazing coefficient''' - how much grazers get from grazing, larger numbers mean less food is needed. [GRAZE_COEFFICIENT:100] in d_init.txt, 1 to 1000000.

=== FPS ===
* '''Show FPS''' - the first number is simulation rate, the number in parentheses is graphical FPS, [FPS:NO] in init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Game FPS cap''' - limits how quickly the game runs the simulation, [FPS_CAP:100] in init.txt, 5 to 1000. This cap can also be temporarily changed on the fly by ~10% with {{k|Alt|Equals|sep=+}} and {{k|Alt|Minus|sep=+}}; if '''Show FPS''' is set to yes, then pressing either of those will briefly show what the cap has been changed to.

=== Input timings ===
* '''Key hold time''' - [KEY_HOLD_MS:250] in init.txt, 100 to 20000.
* '''Key repeat time''' - [KEY_REPEAT_MS:150] in init.txt, 100 to 20000.
* '''Key repeat acceleration''' - [KEY_REPEAT_ACCEL_START:10] 1 to 1000 and [KEY_REPEAT_ACCEL_LIMIT:8] 2 to 100 in init.txt.
* '''Interface shutdown time''' - how long after a view recenter to ignore input, [RECENTER_INTERFACE_SHUTDOWN_MS:0] in init.txt, 0 to 2000.
* '''Macro timing''' - [MACRO_MS:15] in init.txt, 1 to 2000.

=== Compressed saves ===
* '''Compressed saves''' - saves drive space (since running out of space while saving '''will''' corrupt the save) at the expense of slowing down save operations, [COMPRESSED_SAVES:YES] in init.txt, YES or NO.

=== Dye display ===
* '''Display worn clothing dyes (fort mode)'''{{v|50.15}} - if changed to NO, color will be determined by [[profession]], mostly only useful in ASCII mode, [DISPLAY_CLOTHING_WITH_DYES_IN_FORT_MODE:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.
* '''Display worn clothing dyes (adv mode)'''{{v|51.01}} - if changed to NO, color will be determined by profession, [DISPLAY_CLOTHING_WITH_DYES_IN_ADV_MODE:YES] in d_init.txt, YES or NO.

=== Keyboard scroll amounts ===
* '''Keyboard scroll tiles'''{{v|51.11}} - how many tiles to scroll with the "Move view/cursor" keys (default {{k|WASD}}, the FAST settings are used for {{k|Shift|WASD|sep=+}}) in the normal and world views, as well as the [[Settings#Feature_toggles|keyboard cursor]], though for that, the cursor keys {{k|↑←↓→}} also always move 1 tile, in addition to these values for the "Move view/cursor" keys. 1 to 100, and the following tokens in d_init.txt
**[HORIZONTAL_SCROLL_SPEED:10]
**[HORIZONTAL_SCROLL_SPEED_FAST:20]
**[VERTICAL_SCROLL_SPEED:10]
**[VERTICAL_SCROLL_SPEED_FAST:20]
**[HORIZONTAL_SCROLL_SPEED_WORLD:10]
**[HORIZONTAL_SCROLL_SPEED_WORLD_FAST:20]
**[VERTICAL_SCROLL_SPEED_WORLD:10]
**[VERTICAL_SCROLL_SPEED_WORLD_FAST:20]

== Keybindings ==
{{main|Controls}}{{main|interface.txt}}
These settings change the controls and are all stored in interface.txt.

== Announcements ==
{{main|Announcement}}{{main|announcements.txt}}
Used to control how different announcements are displayed in Dwarf Fortress. This can be useful to add alerts for critical combat events, stopping the recentering on birth events, or reducing the constant chatter of announcements like 'quota filled' or 'someone is visiting'.

== Difficulty ==
{{main|Difficulty}}
This tab is only available when in a fortress game, and these settings are initially set when starting a fortress game. Since they are specific to each save they are stored as part of the save and are not editable outside the game. They are divided into two groups: enemies and economy; enemies can be disabled, both groups have normal and hard presets, and all of the individual settings can be adjusted in '''Custom settings'''. The values used in each preset can be seen by selecting the preset and then viewing them in '''Custom settings'''.

[[ru:Settings]]

Potato

2026-08-13T16:18:56Z

Ziusudra: completed reference comment

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{plantlookup
|graphic=potato_shrub_sprite.png
|seedimage=potato_seeds_sprite.png
|uses=
*[[Alcohol]]
*[[Food]]
}}
{{av}}
{{distinguish|sweet potato}}

'''Potatoes''' are an [[aboveground]] [[crop|garden vegetable]]. Potato seeds can be planted in all seasons, while the plants are edible raw or [[cooking|cooked]], and can also be [[brewing|brewed]] into [[alcohol|potato wine]] or processed in a [[dyer's shop]] into beige [[dye]].

Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[preferences|like]] potato plants for their ''edible tubers''.

[[File:Patates.jpg|thumb|center|300px|Admired for its ''edible tubers''.]]

{{D for Dwarf}}


One can succeed in making an entire dwarven civilization [[fat|obese]] by starting a chain of [[kitchen]]s that serve +potato biscuits+ made with minced potatoes and finely minced cow tallow, and call it McDwarf's.


If you like to waltz with potatoes...

{{gamedata}}
{{Plants}}

[[Category:Dye sources]]

Squash

2026-08-13T16:18:15Z

Ziusudra: completed reference comment

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{plantlookup
|graphic=squash_shrub_sprite.png
|seedimage=squash_seeds_sprite.png
|uses=
* [[Food]]|wiki=Cucurbita
}}
{{av}}

'''Squash''' is an [[aboveground]] [[crop|garden vegetable]] (though botanically a fruit). They can be planted in all seasons and its fruit is edible raw or [[cooking|cooked]].

Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[preferences|like]] squash vines for their ''fruit''.

[[File:Squashes at Kew Gardens IncrEdibles 2013.jpg|thumb|center|300px|Admired for its ''fruit''.]]

{{D for Dwarf}}

Squash are worth 50☼ and are invaluable at [[Attack type#Blunt weapons|crushing]] [[undead]].


If a squash can make you smile...

{{gamedata}}
{{Plants}}

Tomato

2026-08-13T16:17:38Z

Ziusudra: completed reference comment

{{Quality|Superior}}
{{plantlookup
|graphic=tomato_shrub_sprite.png
|seedimage=tomato_seeds_sprite.png
|uses=
* [[Food]]
* [[Alcohol]]
}}
{{av}}

'''Tomatoes''' are an [[aboveground]] [[crop|garden vegetable]]. They can be planted in all seasons, the fruit is edible raw or [[cooking|cooked]], (seeds when cooked), and can also be [[brewing|brewed]] into [[alcohol|tomato wine]] or processed in a [[dyer's shop]] into amber [[dye]].

Some [[Dwarf|dwarves]] [[preferences|like]] tomato plants for their ''fruit''.

Note that this plant, along with buckwheat, is only found in worlds with poles and a Medium or Large size, since it's unique to the Tropical Dry Broadleaf forest biome which only generates under those conditions due to a bug.

[[File:Tomato scanned.jpg|thumb|center|300px|Admired for its ''fruit''.]]

{{D for Dwarf}}


[[Miasma#Rotten items|Withered]] tomatoes are often employed by [[thrower|throwing]] them at [[performer]]s with low [[comedian]] skill who attempt to tell jokes.


If you like to talk to tomatoes...

{{gamedata}}
{{Plants}}

[[Category:Dye sources]]