#Dwarf fortress fps tips how to

Doors can also stop flooding, and act as bulkheads that isolate breaches if you accidentally flood your fort. Having a way to segregate your dwarves so that they don't run into a dwarf on a rampage can save whole forts, much less individual lives. Tantruming dwarves are the bane of every established fort. Don't rely on doors alone for security, though, as you'll eventually encounter enemies that can break down doors and pick locks.ĭoors are important even within your fortress. Doors can be locked instantly in an emergency.

This can buy you some time while your dwarves prepare their defenses.įor small forts, this could be as simple as placing doors at all the entrances to your fort. In the event of an attack by hostiles you can't handle, you need a way to lock them out. If defenses in one tunnel don't work, lock it down, and leave a different one open, so that they have to run back through your killzone to try approaching a different one. At first, you might simply dig into a wall and put up a door, but consider making a large, extended underground tunnel, or preferably several tunnels, all of which can be locked down, and then walling over your initial entrance so that you can force enemies to approach your fort on your terms, and at a time and place of your choosing. Enclosed caves are also proof against flying monsters. Either carve or build unclimbable fortifications, or else dig another z-level down, and then dig two tiles under the rim of your platform to create an overhang that is impossible to climb.Įxcavating fortresses by digging them out naturally creates walls, and makes for easy defenses, since it is far easier to designate for digging than to build a wall. Climbing, however, makes this not enough for all circumstances. Easier still is just using the 'natural walls' of a hill, and removing all the ramps on one side or the other of the hill while building walls between the gaps. Place fortifications at the tops to stop climbers.ĭigging ditches/ moats, then removing the ramps can also be useful as a faster method of creating impassable terrain for non-fliers, which have the added advantage of allowing marksdwarves to shoot over them. However, since the advent of climbing, keep in mind that just having 1-z-level walls are not enough. The longer invaders take to reach you, the more time you have to get your militia in place. Putting a wall between your vulnerable and valuable civilians (and the others, too, why not?) and the things trying to kill them is the highest priority you have.īuilding walls can take time and micromanagement, but building a maze (and stuffing it with traps) is a good way to slow invaders down, especially if you get forewarning from scouts. Walls are currently invincible against any known force but the mighty dwarven pick. Walls are, by far and away, the single most powerful tool you have to combat enemies. Prepare for every type of threat (both military and engineering, in the form of floods or other Fun) before it finds you, or it will be too late. The single most important thing to remember is that in an emergency, your dwarves will be too panicked to react to orders.

Regardless of specifics, it's important to have a plan for dealing with the several different types of inevitable attacks.

#Dwarf fortress fps tips how to

As a beginner try to focus on modular and compact designs as they're the most easily adapted to new situations.Īlso, there are several design idioms of common usage like pump stacks.Įveryone will have their own preferences regarding fortress defense and how to deal with undead, wildlife, hostiles and goblin invaders. Don't plan too far ahead, as you might need to adapt to unforeseen obstacles.

In addition to the considerations above, it's also important to remember that long-term design strategies can easily be disrupted by the discovery of underground terrain features. Aesthetics: Hey, everybody wants a fortress that looks good.A good fortress layout - especially the proper placement of workshops and stockpiles - can significantly reduce the time your dwarves spend walking. Efficiency: Whether hauling rocks, making a booze run, or just checking the contents of a cabinet, dwarves do a lot of walking.These include basic things like digging and using construction to direct invaders, setting up traps to injure or capture them, as well as setting up burrows to keep vulnerable dwarves in safer areas or to keep troublemakers away from civilized folk. Without them you won't survive the first serious kobold attack, much less a full-blown goblin siege. Security: Every fort needs some basic security measures.There are at least three basic factors to consider when designing your fort.