40d:Glacier

A glacier biome is a biome with a freezing climate that is mostly composed of ice. They are normally only found on the larger world maps.

There are few resources on an ice tile; no trees, plants, water, animals, stone, or ores are typically included. In addition the Ice can be several z-layers thick, which can make getting to any stone underneath even more challenging. Also, the extra layers of ice make it difficult to find Magma Pipes if you embarked with one. Digging through the last layer of ice you can generally find the Magma Pipe's cap (actually, It will be a layer below this). But this will not reveal the Path through the Z-levels the Magma takes.

These factors make a glacier a very difficult biome to build a successful fortress in, although many players try it as a challenge.

Also, because of a glacier's isolation (generally), it is entirely possible that you won't see a Mountainhome Caravan for anywhere up to 3 years. Migrants may be even more rare. On the plus side, though, no hostile nations should bother you for a while.

Starting on a Glacier

Take a lot of wood, food and drink. Consider bringing extra domestic animals (dogs are recommended) as an emergency food source, and/or to jumpstart a long-term breeding program.

Dump your wood cutter and Axe in favour of another Miner and Pick. Alternatively, find a Glacier near a forested Taiga and enjoy the best of both worlds.

Ice is everywhere. So read up on it before you make any major plans. One difference between regular ice and glacier ice that you may want to know before you head out is that, unlike ice from other biomes, glacier ice constructions and workshops do not melt when above ground in the "summer". The disadvantage, however, is that it is more difficult to use the ice as a potential water source.

Some Hints and Ideas

Flowing sources of water, such as rivers or brooks, don't ever seem to be present in glacier biomes. So getting water for wounded dwarves may prove a challenge.

Ice that is underground melts, but creates only useless puddles of water (marked as a cyan double tilde) identical to water dumped from a bucket. These puddles can only be cleaned. They cannot form usable water (blue tilde with depth attribute). Dumping block after block of mined ice blocks indoors will simply result in a huge stack of useless "water".

Aquifers are sometimes present, and magma can be used to melt ice - if that's present. Seaside glaciers can allow you to bring some water in underground, but desalinating the water will be necessary before it is drinkable by dwarfs (or even before it can be designated as a water zone for filling ponds).

Some glacier biomes have such low temperatures that your dwarves may die during winter when above ground. Once you've got an inside area, don't go out into the cold...

It is widely held that embarking on a glacier with no items gives dwarves a 0% chance of survivability, due to the absence of water or booze.

Oddities

• When digging down through the ice, up/down and down stairs exposed to the surface of the rock (as is the case when digging straight down) have a tendency to disappear, possibly due to the heat from the stone below. This is regardless of outside exposure (will happen even if is labeled as dark, underground or light, above ground) and can be avoided by digging ramps or up stairs. ^{v0.28.181.40d}
• Excavating the bottom layer of ice will leave stone floors rather than ice floors. Building and removing a construction on this layer (but not on any layer with a natural ice floor) will change the floor into a random type of soil, possibly sand. The type of soil is constant for a given biome. ^{v0.28.181.40d}
• Smoothing natural ice walls is also worth double what a smooth rock (non-economic or economic) wall is worth, though engravings add exactly the same amount of value. It can also be noted that currently when ice walls are smoothed they are labeled "straight ice wall"s instead of the normal smooth description ice floors become "level" ^{v0.28.181.40d}

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