Building Fortifications

[CrankyQuack]

Hey everyone!

Just a quick question - I want to build a Fort on the surface as a defence with a moat around it. How do I build walls? Do I use stone blocks or? I cannot seem to find a proper tutorial to do so!

Thanks!

[Other]

Above ground, pretty much everything will be constructions, from the b > n menu. Mostly walls & floors, with constructed walls and constructed stairs letting you move between z-levels, and maybe some of the tile the came calls fortifications (think "arrow slit") thrown in.

Those can be built out of rock blocks, wooden logs, boulders, and some other things, so you will want to make sure you have plenty of those. Rock blocks are likely the best choice, since you get 4 blocks per boulder, and dwarves hauling a block move at their normal walking pace, where heavier building materials like boulders slow down a lot.

There are some quirks to construction - your dwarves need a path to an orthogonal tile to build at a spot (although they will often stand on the diagonal when they get there), so you need to build corners in two waves, otherwise the tile on the corner can get you a "no path to build site" error if the two walls next to it both get finished first. You also must have access to a z-level before you can build anything there, so when you go to add a storey, you will need to start with a staircase or a wall + ramp combination, and build out from there.

In terms of planning what you want to build, there are flying things in the game that you need to worry about ranging from thieving Kea to the Megabeast Roc, so you definitely want to put a roof over most or all of the areas your dwarves will spend time. Enemies can also climb to some extent (having a harder time with smoother walls), so you may want to plan overhangs on your outer walls to deal with that.

The default way to build a moat (channel out a section of ground) leaves ramps on the edges, which makes it easy to climb in or out, so you probably want to plan to remove most of those ramps, regardless of whether or not you plan to flood the moat later. The one time it doesn't matter much is if you plan to flood your moat with magma (likely from a volcano), since the number of enemies that can survive a swim in lava is very low (not zero, though! Titans made of inorganic materials can survive that, and a dragon could survive the heat, but might possibly drown if it can't swim very well)

[CrankyQuack]

Amazing! Thank you!

[dimm_ddr]

Just want to add a possible trick for possible protection from flying enemies: you can build a retracting bridge as a roof. Retract it when safe so your farm lands still will be considered outside area for plants that needs that, and put it back when in siege.

[C-C-COMBO BREAKER!]

3 questions:
- How do you prevent enemies from climbing over your 1 tile high wall? Also dwarves seem to be able to somehow charge over 1 tile high wall, but not get back.
- How do you build a 2-nd tile high wall, do I have to make a ladder or ramp next to each tile?
- Is there a way to designate building priority? So my dwarves will first build corners and then the rest of walls

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by C-C-COMBO BREAKER!:

3 questions:
- How do you prevent enemies from climbing over your 1 tile high wall? Also dwarves seem to be able to somehow charge over 1 tile high wall, but not get back.
- How do you build a 2-nd tile high wall, do I have to make a ladder or ramp next to each tile?
- Is there a way to designate building priority? So my dwarves will first build corners and then the rest of walls

1)Put an outcrop above it, so, picture it 2d... Like this:
__|_|
|_|
They can't climb over jutting out ledges.

2)Use stair stacks as scaffolding ladders.
3) No building priority. This stupid corner trick has been in the game since the dawn of time. You just have to build the corners first manually.

[C-C-COMBO BREAKER!]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

1)Put an outcrop above it, so, picture it 2d... Like this:
__|_|
|_|
They can't climb over jutting out ledges.

2)Use stair stacks as scaffolding ladders.
3) No building priority. This stupid corner trick has been in the game since the dawn of time. You just have to build the corners first manually.

That's a damn shame. Given that we can assign priority to digging or channels, priority for building structures should also be a thing!
One last question, is there a way to prevent dwarves from attacking enemies? I'm trying to block out tunnels with undead with a high wall, but builders kept charging jumping from walls into enemies while building.

Edit: Now that I think about it, maybe traffick priority could be used to force dwarves to build corners first? I'm struggling to come up with an exact solution though

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by C-C-COMBO BREAKER!:

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

1)Put an outcrop above it, so, picture it 2d... Like this:
__|_|
|_|
They can't climb over jutting out ledges.

2)Use stair stacks as scaffolding ladders.
3) No building priority. This stupid corner trick has been in the game since the dawn of time. You just have to build the corners first manually.

That's a damn shame. Given that we can assign priority to digging or channels, priority for building structures should also be a thing!
One last question, is there a way to prevent dwarves from attacking enemies? I'm trying to block out tunnels with undead with a high wall, but builders kept charging jumping from walls into enemies while building.

Edit: Now that I think about it, maybe traffick priority could be used to force dwarves to build corners first? I'm struggling to come up with an exact solution though

Nope. Dwarves gonna dwarf. Only way is to assign only cowardly dwarves as builders, haha.

[dimm_ddr]

You can try to push undead a bit further away. With water for example. Sufficient pressure should do the trick as long as they have a space to move to and you can avoid drowning whole fortress with them. Or you can "build" walls with cave-in from somewhere up where your builders would not see enemies

[C-C-COMBO BREAKER!]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Nope. Dwarves gonna dwarf. Only way is to assign only cowardly dwarves as builders, haha.

Thanks for the answers.

Originally posted by dimm_ddr:

..Or you can "build" walls with cave-in from somewhere up where your builders would not see enemies

Sounds metal dude.
How do I make a cave-in from above? I get that I need to dig around an area, but what exactly do I need to drop down to create walls? I'm assuming at least 1 level of tiles, floors alone would not be enough

[dimm_ddr]

Originally posted by C-C-COMBO BREAKER!:

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Nope. Dwarves gonna dwarf. Only way is to assign only cowardly dwarves as builders, haha.

Thanks for the answers.

Originally posted by dimm_ddr:

..Or you can "build" walls with cave-in from somewhere up where your builders would not see enemies

Sounds metal dude.
How do I make a cave-in from above? I get that I need to dig around an area, but what exactly do I need to drop down to create walls? I'm assuming at least 1 level of tiles, floors alone would not be enough

I don't completely understand it myself, so I guess you have to experiment with it a bit. Natural soil and rock should work. I have experience with wooden walls gets destroyed when I drop them down even one z level, so it might also depends on how many z layers you are trying to drop through. My best guess is that the harder the material the more likely that it will stay as a wall instead of getting destroyed to its materials. You can also decide to do cave-in on undead heads (or whatever they have left in head place) instead of dropping walls to block them out.
To do a cave-in you basically need to remove all tiles that support whatever you are trying to drop. As usual wiki helps a lot with explaining.

[dimm_ddr]

Oh, one last thing: before you attempt the cave-in - check that you did not disable it in the game settings. It should be on by default, but it can be turned off.

[POWER WITHIN USER]

Originally posted by C-C-COMBO BREAKER!:

3 questions:
- How do you build a 2-nd tile high wall, do I have to make a ladder or ramp next to each tile?
- Is there a way to designate building priority? So my dwarves will first build corners and then the rest of walls

1. Build them like pyramids, add neighboring walls and ramps; afterwards deconstruct layer by layer from the top
2. Suspend the construction of tiles near corners as even if there was a priority system, someone else may decide to build the non-corner wall segment before someone else finishes work on the corner.
Alternatively, use bridges.

[CrankyQuack]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Originally posted by C-C-COMBO BREAKER!:

3 questions:
- How do you prevent enemies from climbing over your 1 tile high wall? Also dwarves seem to be able to somehow charge over 1 tile high wall, but not get back.
- How do you build a 2-nd tile high wall, do I have to make a ladder or ramp next to each tile?
- Is there a way to designate building priority? So my dwarves will first build corners and then the rest of walls

1)Put an outcrop above it, so, picture it 2d... Like this:
__|_|
|_|
They can't climb over jutting out ledges.

2)Use stair stacks as scaffolding ladders.
3) No building priority. This stupid corner trick has been in the game since the dawn of time. You just have to build the corners first manually.

How do I do an outcrop??

[dimm_ddr]

1. build a normal wall first
2. Build a ramp or stairs near to it, so dwarves can go on top of that wall. Wall itself is walkable, so no need for floor on top of it on the second layer
3. build a floor on the second layer above the air, from the potential enemy side. It will be possible because it will be connected to already built wall
4. build a wall on top of that floor.
5 (bonus). Instead of wall on the second layer you can build fortifications so you can put marksdvarwes there to shoot enemies

[CrankyQuack]

Originally posted by dimm_ddr:

1. build a normal wall first
2. Build a ramp or stairs near to it, so dwarves can go on top of that wall. Wall itself is walkable, so no need for floor on top of it on the second layer
3. build a floor on the second layer above the air, from the potential enemy side. It will be possible because it will be connected to already built wall
4. build a wall on top of that floor.
5 (bonus). Instead of wall on the second layer you can build fortifications so you can put marksdvarwes there to shoot enemies

You absolute legend. Thank you!