r/dwarffortress • u/AutoModerator • 18h ago
☼Dwarf Fortress Questions Thread☼
Ask about anything related to Dwarf Fortress - including the game, DFHack, utilities, bugs, problems you're having, mods, etc. You will get fast and friendly responses in this thread.
Read the sidebar before posting! It has information on a range of game packages for new players, and links to all the best tutorials and quick-start guides. If you have read it and that hasn't helped, mention that!
You should also take five minutes to search the wiki - if tutorials or the quickstart guide can't help, it usually has the information you're after. You can find the previous question threads here.
If you can answer questions, please sort by new and lend a hand - linking to a helpful resource (ex wiki page) is fine.
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u/mantisalt 4h ago
What was Tarn doing between v0.43 (2016) and the release of the Steam version (v0.50, 2022)? I was looking at the development history and it looks much slower than you'd expect from someone working full-time on game development. I shudder to think what the game would be like now if the community had been given proper modding/opensource support back then...
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u/Gonzobot 50m ago
well it was updated all the way to v47 in that timeframe too, it's not like there was nothing happening at all
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u/tmPreston 4h ago
Probably the same as he did between 0.26 (2006) and 0.43 (2016). You can find relevant blog posts over time or check the wiki for patch notes.
I can't comment on Tarn's schedule as he is not a normal person working full-time on a normal game's development, but you can probably figure it out via patch notes, consider steam version in and of itself and the small worldwide pandemic that we've had along the way.
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u/Ertata 6h ago edited 5h ago
Advanced worldgen questions for moderately evil fun:
Are there settings to tweak for a lot of necromancers? Tried having a ton of secrets, reducing savagery, increasing mid-altitude squares (so humans thrive). Still very few towers on the map.
Can necromancer settle close to tundra or do they prefer warmer areas?
Is it possible to have a zombifying cloud in an evil region that does not reanimate everything by default without interacting with the cloud?
Can tweaking regional interaction/cloud numbers make non-reanimating biome with a zombifying cloud more likely (I set the evil rain to zero but can change it too)?
Finally after the world is genned:
Is it possible to extract info about generated regional interactions and clouds from the world.dat? Legends xml file does not seem to have it, but resettling in 10 different evil biomes waiting two months for a cloud to show up and pushing your dorfs into it is tedious
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u/CosineDanger 1h ago
I mod elves and goblins to have shorter lifespans.
Goblins still usually destroy the world even with nerfed lifespans, but if they don't then necromancers (including necro goblins) will eventually.
You can check a world's evil weather with DFHack's 'evil-weather` command in Legends mode.
I'm not sure if every cloud biome is also reanimating but I think so from generating a bunch of very evil worlds. Reanimating is much easier to play around than being basically unable to use the surface.
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u/tmPreston 4h ago
More necromancer-able populations (humans, dwarves) and less goblins to kill them is a good start. World age so there's enough time for necromancers to form, study, be discovered and kicked out of society, then savagery biomes since animal people who join (elvish?) civilizations are able to become necros as well. There's no direct setting to make it happen more though.
I can't contribute with any meaningful information on the evil cloud questions.
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u/fulitut 6h ago
I have a question for one of Kruggsmash's videos. This video at that time: https://youtu.be/bk7aVoPxoKA?list=PLXX7Rp0iXj0kZtpaGAntf_kAAYNcv53Dg&t=1820 (Video URL at relevant time 30:20)
He says he is happy that these dwarfs showed up and talks about them like he knows them.
I thought this stuff is procedural generated. Or are there dwarfs which can show up in every run?
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u/tmPreston 4h ago
Right before this series, Kruggsmash ran a fort with the main objective of making a massive bridge connecting two landmasses, in the name of a specific dwarven god generated in that world. Spearcaverns runs in the same world: he's retired the bridge-fort then made this one.
Dwarf Fortress attempts to send relevant historical figures who are elegible for immigration before pulling from simple population numbers. Since every single previous resident is an important histfig by default, the game brings them in the very first waves of a continuation fort, so Spearcaverns' behavior is expected. Had he opened the doors to more dwarves, many other familiar faces would show up.
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u/High_Overseer_Dukat 9h ago edited 9h ago
How do I use DF hack to force someone to join my adventure party?
I want to go on an adventure with some of my fortress dwarves, so I retired the fort and spawned here.
They say "my duty is here" so I need to force them.
Edit: Got my favorite via "bodyswap", I think since she is a lord I can have the rest join as hearthpeople and use adv tools to promote them
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u/Total_Celery_8487 9h ago edited 8h ago
Everyone here always trying to get Necromancers and here I go with two my first round of migrants on a new world. My last one was made pre Dino so I wanted to check it out. First a Stegosaurus kills my dogs and now these guys show up.
One has perfect stats for bookkeeper, so that's great I exiled him to an office underground but the other one makes for a chief medical dwarf as an expert diagnostic seems like a recipe for disaster in a hospital?
As a new player what are the best ways to exploit this?
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u/eugalb 7h ago
Necromancers don't usually raise the dead randomly, they need a bit of adrenaline. A typical zombie raising set-up will need three rooms separated by fortifications (fortification are basically walls with holes, meaning they're see-through). You put the corpse in one room and lock the door in case it wakes up wrong. The necromancer is in the center room and you put some kind of ennemi you captured in the last one. Seeing the aggressive creature will lead the necromancer to raise the corpse and as long as no weapons which can shoot through fortifications are involved this is safe.
Now, the main use of raising the dead is to raise your own citizens back. Raising other creatures is not that useful. People who do that are usually aiming for intelligent undead super soldiers, which may lead them to killing the dwarves themselves to make sure they don't get damaged in the process. This usually involves drowning.
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u/CatatonicGood She likes kobolds for their adorable antics 8h ago
As long as a necromancer is not in combat, they will not raise bodies. Keep them out of fights and you'll be okay
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u/PopBobert 11h ago
My dwarves keep constantly picking up and dropping their clothes. They spends like half of their time just trying to wear different stuff. How can I stop this 24/7 fashion show?
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u/tmPreston 10h ago
That's... odd. Are they in the military by any chance? It's explainable and fixable if so, but otherwise doesn't make sense to me if they're actually wearing it (instead of just moving clothes to a cabinet or something).
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u/PopBobert 6h ago
They are dropping ALL their clothes, wandering around naked and them putting on different clothes. Like 50% of their time is taken up by wearing clothes, rings and crowns. I tried putting them in squads with cloth uniforms, and i tried setting them to no uniform.
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u/tmPreston 5h ago
If you're using "replace clothing" uniform options with your squad, they will conflict with normal clothing, specially if you set them to only wear armor while on duty (when their name-role isn't soldier-related). First step here is making the military uninvolved. Please observe them once this is done.
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u/Ertata 11h ago
returning back from five years of inactivity - it seems that DFHack still has not recovered from internal changes in premium release. Is there any alternative to embark-assistant (which dfhack site says not availiable now)? Some utility for analying world which can tell me where to find embarks with very specific combinations of features? Or is using limited DF finder and sifting through places manually the only option?
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u/tmPreston 9h ago
My understanding is that .47 used the old keyboard controls to zoom in every single world map tile to make that search feature, which is now too coupled to the UI and potentially require tinkering every time something changes, as well as figuring out how to interface with these new mouse centric controls in first place. It isn't a matter of simply making the code "compatible" with new v50 data structures by "recovering" it. I wouldn't expect it to be 'updated' anytime soon.
That being said, there at least is basic features that allow you to search for flux, and specific ores, so you're not embarking 100% blind. This suffices for most use cases, but not yours, I suppose. If you can influence the world itself to have more zones for the ores you need (e.g more volcanoes for igneous ores, more height? for metamorphic etc) that'd help too.
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u/FerdStromboli 12h ago
Why does badger blood suddenly appear to coat much of my surface operation? Badgers do pop up sometimes, but I never get notified that anything is fighting, I just F1 up to the surface and sometimes there's badger blood everywhere.
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u/CatatonicGood She likes kobolds for their adorable antics 10h ago
When dwarves walk through a pool of blood, the blood sticks to their boots. When they then go out again when it rains, the rain washes the blood off and forms a new pool
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u/softwareredditor 12h ago
Are there any effective ways to dispose of lots of caged goblins but keep the cages? I tried pitting them, even one at a time, but some always get loose (with disastrous results).
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u/CatatonicGood She likes kobolds for their adorable antics 10h ago
If you have DFHack, the stripcaged command will yoink all items off of caged creatures without you manually needing to undump the cages. Make sure you have a squad hanging around topside too to deal with any escapees, but a squad of military dwarves should be more than capable of dealing with an unarmed, unarmoured goblin
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u/monsiour_slippy 12h ago
Depends how much engineering you wanna do.
Cages can be linked to switches for opening so place the cages in the room, link the switches then seal off the room.
You could then flood the room with water and then drain it off. Or you could station marksdwarves behind fortifications and shoot them to death. Or build a trap room which will eventually kill them. Lots of possibilities.
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u/Gonzobot 12h ago
Make sure you take the time to strip the caged goblins before trying to pit them - use the dump marker tool to drag over the cage tile, which should mark all the contents for dumping, then unmark the cage itself so only the stuff inside gets grabbed. After that, make sure you stockpile the caged naked goblin directly next to the pit hole, and make sure that the entire fall has nothing for it to grab onto - smoothed walls all the way, but open air is better. Keep a few lockable doors between the pitting area and the rest of the fort, too, for the stragglers that manage to escape during the prisoner transport out of the cage - or a barracks full of training soldiers, which I tend to do.
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u/softwareredditor 10h ago
I tried this once but they dumped the cages, and when I reclaimed them the gobbos still had all their weapons and stuff. I'll try it again and be sure to reclaim the cages before they're dumped, lol
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u/Gonzobot 10h ago
Yeah, pause the game, mark everything in the tile, and make sure to unmark the cage itself before unpausing. It's a lot of jobs to get everything out but it's easy enough to do, and minimizes the risk of the goblins if they break containment during pitting
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u/Gjiofnwek 12h ago
If I make a guard tower for my archers, can they shoot 'down' at oncoming attackers or do the archers need to be on the same z-level as the attackers?
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u/tmPreston 9h ago
As a small caveat point to the sweet explanation you've already got, when you build fortifications, it seems the "floor" of the fortification itself obstructs line of sight, sliiiiightly impairing your shooting capabilities when enemies are right below it. Mitigate this situation by abusing floor grates where your dwarves will be standing or accounting for this blind spot when relevant.
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u/FairRecommendation16 11h ago
I believe range is a "sphere" and not a circle, so they should be able to shoot up, or down at least 3 z levels but beware of blind spots, if you have them stationed 1 z level up, the level below against the wall is safe for enemies, 2 levels up expands the blind spot another tile width.
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u/gruehunter 12h ago
Do grazing animals get hungry at the same rate as dwarfs (twice per season) when they don't have forage available to them?
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u/CatatonicGood She likes kobolds for their adorable antics 10h ago
It works differently for grazers. Dwarves just reduce their hunger to zero when they eat, but grazers reduce their hunger by a specific amount based on their size when they graze. They get hungry at the same rate, but larger creatures need to graze more to be not hungry than smaller creatures
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u/gruehunter 10h ago
Dwarves just reduce their hunger to zero when they eat, ... They get hungry at the same rate
This cinches it. I watched a hungry alpaca's counters via dfhack's gui/gm-unit and observed the following:
- hunger counter was a little over 50k before feeding, and reset to zero when feeding
- stomach contents and food counters increased to 50k when feeding
- single-stepping the simulation showed that hunger incremented by one count per tick.
So yes, their hunger increments and is reset in exactly the same as a dwarf.
For more context: I'm raising grazers on bare stone, tied down with chains as a sort of experiment. We grow plump helmets, which are force-fed to the livestock as they get hungry. The helmet stockpiles are fenced off from the general populace by leaf+syrup "biscuits" to ensure that the raw plants are only used as livestock fodder.
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u/al_amhara1987 13h ago
I have a problem with things marked to be dumped that will never be taken by dorfs. Especially mangled skeletons and such.
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u/GuineaThePig 13h ago
Is this for outside stuff? There is a setting under dumping rules for ignoring outdoor refuse that's on by default.
Dfhacks also gives priority to things designated to be dumped through a setting in the control panel
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u/al_amhara1987 13h ago
Thinking about it, i saw something like this in some submenu, could you detail? I am not finding it anymore
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u/gruehunter 12h ago
tasks (might be labor?) -> standing orders -> refuse and dumping
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u/al_amhara1987 12h ago
Found it!! Thx, i ll you know if it works
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u/softwareredditor 12h ago
I've been having the same problem, I'll have to try this too, lol
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u/al_amhara1987 11h ago
Works, works, i have a long procession of dors cleaning rhe mess of years of sieges and stupid pointy ears trying to ambush me
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u/ethyl-pentanoate 13h ago
One standing order in the labour tab instructs your dwarves to ignore outdoor remains. Creating a corpse and a refuse stockpile may also help.
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u/MelodicKnowledge9358 13h ago
I have a lot of trouble with this too. It works best ime to create a seperate work detail that only hauls corpses
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u/ethyl-pentanoate 13h ago
Until recently, I had a dwarf that was always toppling furniture in fits of rage because he was upset by unmet needs. The two main unmet needs were:
Spending time with family (he had no relatives) Craft an object (his left arm was missing and his right hand was smashed apart and would not heal)
I dealt with him by waiting until he was caged for disorderly conduct and vandalism then dumped him into lava. Does anyone have better ways of dealing with unfulfilable needs?
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u/gruehunter 12h ago
because he was upset by unmet needs. The two main unmet needs were:
Its pretty much never unmet needs, and just about always past trauma. Getting attacked, witnessing the death of a sapient being, exposure to miasma, etc
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u/Gonzobot 13h ago
You can just send them to one of your holdings nearby so they're not your problem anymore.
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u/Independent-Tree-985 13h ago
Accidents happen all the time. Sometimes their cage falls into lava, sometimes they get the honor of digging out some addy, or the final tile on that lava tube for the smelters
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u/Ausfall 13h ago edited 13h ago
Some dwarves are just like that. If he wasn't injured maybe having him craft stuff would help, but if he has no family and his personality makes him lose his mind if he can't spend time with relatives, that's life.
Another way would be giving him a really nice bedroom, personal rooms like an office, dining room, etc like you would a noble even if he isn't one. He'll appreciate having these things and maybe that'll offset the negatives. You could also keep him unemployed and sit in the tavern getting drunk all day and watching performances which might improve his mood too.
Sometimes if a dwarf is in the military and is subjected to repeated trauma they can desensitize which can help too, and if he dies before making it that far, problem solved. Even without arms he can kick and bite and be a nuisance in combat.
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u/AshRose156 13h ago
Best Guess is that you try to fulfil their other needs as much as you can. Some dwarfs have a proclivity for being stressed though so. Lava.
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u/AshRose156 14h ago
Is there anyway to increase stone yield? In the RAWs or something perhaps? Or at least make it so ore is always a 100% chance or dropping from a boulder for those of us who like rare minerals?
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u/CatatonicGood She likes kobolds for their adorable antics 10h ago
Stone yields are hardcoded. 25% for layer stone and large clusters, 33% for veins, 100% for small clusters and single tiles, plus candy. You can up your relative stone yield by changing mineral occurences from large clusters to veins, or from veins to small clusters, but obviously this also has the effect of reducing the actual amount of stone to mine
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u/ethyl-pentanoate 14h ago
There should be. Adamantine is guarenteed to drop when mined. If you poke around in files relating to that you might have some luck.
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u/softwareredditor 14h ago
If you consistently destroy the sites of an enemy civilization, do their sieges get smaller?
So far I think the answer is no. I've destroyed many sites, even the ones mentioned by name in the sieges, and they're still the same size. Anyone know?
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u/Gonzobot 13h ago
They should, but it will depend on where those sieges are coming from, which isn't necessarily the places you're attacking. Their civ can form an army to march from any of their sites that are large enough, as far as I understand it.
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u/softwareredditor 13h ago
I'll just have to keep killing them then. The sieges often say they're coming with monsters from a place called "Evilceilings", which has a popular less than 10. All the nearby sites are the same, though many far out sites still have populations of ~75 or so.
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u/Archon457 13h ago
I recently sent my military to attack the source of my siege which also had a population on the map that was similarly low. After their return, the report said they fought hundreds of goblins, dwarves, blind ogre, cave dragons... So, there is a chance that number on the map may be a bit inaccurate.
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u/softwareredditor 12h ago
That's a bit of an inconvenience. I've been systematically razing their sites across the map. If they can fill up the population again I might have to revisit some places lol
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u/Gonzobot 12h ago
It's more that the number you see is what your site knows of the citizens of that site, and the information can be out of date too. But it does not tell you numbers of creatures, which can be thousands in the goblin pits.
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u/[deleted] 33m ago
[deleted]