How do you build a wall?

[Captain Jack | NF - Happy]

Seriously... it aint in the crafting inventory thing :P

[ReneMiner]

what kind of wall? the are lots of different types.

Are you playing campaign or sandbox-mode?
In campaign you need to meet the technological requirements before you can craft any walls.
In sandbox mode you can simply craft whatever you have the resources for (and a required crafting-station like workbench or kitchen)

The simplest and non-durable is just to place dirt-blocks. Sand i would not recommend but simple stone does a very good job at the beginning.

With advancing technology you might be able to craft walls from plain wood or masonry from stone, water and sand, also brick walls where you'll need bricks on clay for. There are also fancy wall-pieces of different kinds that raise the comfort.

[japerson34]

Go to your Workshop window by clicking the "Craft" button in lower right corner of screen. Drag Earth, Stone, Sand, or any kind of material like that into your inventory which is the bottom row of squares. X out of the Workshop window. Now just click the material you wish to make the wall with, then the area you want that wall.

Sorry Rene, I once had the same question so I believe this is what they were after.

[Captain Jack | NF - Happy]

I didn't see the "levelbar" icon at first. Thought it would be kind of obvious to be able to make a shelter as soon as one starts the game. What you have to do is to make nails, pot and locks to level up walls. After that the wall-icon is in your craftinginventory.

[ragnakore]

If you are thinking of higher level walls (Like Stone Walls, Brick Walls) to protect you, forget it. Monsters can easily destroy them (unless you are playing on Easy Mode).

Best defense (for Nightmare) is to prevent them from reaching your "Dwarf-made-walls" altogether. Pits is the best.

Higher level walls however improves comfort level.

[Captain Jack | NF - Happy]

I don't dare going on nightmare mode :P

[mikeydsc]

Armageddon takes roughly 18 hours to get, and it was a blast to get beaten to a pulp by wave after wave of creeps. Have to do it once, just plan accordingly and you will see its not so bad. You will need to expect some deaths each wave unless you do like me and portal spell them away form the base until after the waves are over then go home and repair.

[ragnakore]

Unfortunately, if one builds his fortress/house downward into the earth, chances are, those skeletons will never disappear from inside the house.

This is why i build upwards now. They cant do anything if they cant reach me.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=357948179
The small pits are meant to catch the "builders" and "skeleton shield holders". This way, by the time they reach the bottom of the base, they dont have anyone to step heads on.

Secondly, those small pits are useful early to mid game when even a small yeti (on nightmare mode) can kill a leather armored dwarf. I would trap those yetis in, equip everyone with Bows shooting from higher elevation safely. This method becomes less effective with too many dwarfs would ruin the setup.

[Captain Jack | NF - Happy]

So they don't try to scratch the dirt when they fall in a pit? :S Cause What I tried was to create an upsidedown L, but they just scratched the stone/dirt wall and kept getting to my main door..

[ragnakore]

Monsters only attack dwarf made blocks to include snow on top of your ceiling if your fortress is fully covered with snow.

Knowing this, they will not dig/scratch/remove those "original blocks". An exception is when some of the builder skeletons would build "bridge" on a perfectly flat ground. Do you see that mushroom inside a single block? That was not a hole; a skeleton built a bridge on a solid ground.

However in my screenshot above, only the right most (shown with some yetis) and the next one (immediately after the next cliff) is ultra effective. And once they drop in, I would pick em up one by one with range attacks. This is why I equip my dwarfs exclusively with bow and wands and no armor. I go either Gold/Mithril Armor or no armor at all.

I will continue revising my mini-Pit traps.