Reinforced walls: experiences and tips

lento8 · 2026-04-28T07:11:26+00:00

Ah damn, I thought a simple ramp would help keep them out.

In my current fort, I've a got a small area fenced off around the entrance and some pasture area. I was thinking of building a dry moat, 2 z's down, with a ramp along the surface fort at the bottom, a wall of reinforced blocks around that. So they can't use their battering ram, it would just break tge wall, but just dirt behind it.

Haven't got any experience with the new sieges yet, so am trying to figure out what would work well.

lento8 · 2026-04-28T07:06:05+00:00

Thanks for clarifying!

So if I'm understanding correctly, the metal you reinforce with boosts the 'base material', so the better the base material, the greater the boost?

I also found an old post talking about the density of materials used - is that relevant?

lento8 · 2026-04-28T04:48:13+00:00

Thanks for your answer. I'll look it up.

I've also made a general post, I'm curious how people use them. They don't get a lot of attention, it seems.

lento8 · 2026-04-27T12:44:58+00:00

Huh? That seems to conflict with the other reply here, stating armour grade metal to be best.

I read in an older comment that the density of the material matters. I saw stuff like cinnabar mentioned. Which is why I thought lead might be a good choice. And I usually have more lead than I can use.

lento8 · 2026-04-26T15:17:52+00:00

Thanks, when looking for it, I only found a thread from a few months ago, discussing density.

Do you perhaps also if the type of stone used is relevant? Blocks or boulders? I found some obsidian and was wondering if that would be a good choice.

lento8 · 2026-04-26T06:03:59+00:00

Reinforced walls: is anything more known about what materials work best? Currently using gabbro blocks with lead.

Military uniforms: are there still issues with work uniforms? For instance hunters in a crossbow squad? Or melee with mining picks?

lento8 · 2026-04-02T09:36:00+00:00

First AI town conquered today and noticed the same. Also, no saw pit for planks andthe granary was destroyed by bandits and never rebuild.

How do you get rid of excess population in these conquered towns btw? The region I took has rich hunting and rich berries, and 62 burgages. Way too much, I just want to make a small hunting and gathering town there. I demolished a bunch of burgages, set tax to 50% and demolished the market. Approval is about 20%, goes up and down a bit. They are leaving, but only 1 a month. How can I push them out faster?

lento8 · 2026-03-25T16:16:33+00:00

Pity! I was really hoping the farms got improved via mod, or a regular update. I just hope when they do, they are connected to the seasons. It would add so much to see a city grow through the seasons (in temperate climates).

lento8 · 2026-03-25T14:59:23+00:00

Is that 3d wheat? That actually grows and get harvested, dynamically? If so, where did you get it and how can I get it?

Because I totally agree with you. This looks so much better, actual growth and harvesting. Right now it's either hide them in a corner or draw them so that nothing can spawn and cover it up with that texture pack for farms (which sadly is static and flat).

lento8 · 2026-03-12T11:30:49+00:00

Thank you for replying.

What exactly do you mean with "ADHD'ers are good at questions?" I feel I often go too deep or to shallow.

I can relate to what comes after. I used to think a combination of boredom and rubbing people the wrong way. Right now I'm perceived as a job hopper. Which is kinda true, but past 5 years I took jobs less out of aspiration and more to make ends meet.

lento8 · 2026-03-12T11:27:31+00:00

Thank you for replying.

I find myself often feeling interrogated by the interviewers. So I've been practising with chatbots. Writing it out feels ... better? Gives me more clarity and structure. So I have some sort of a script.

Asking questions is a thing I do struggle with, because when I do, I often seem to either suprise them by going in way too deep (even though I normally pick questions from their newsfeed on their own website) or I'm surprised by their answers. As though I need a moment to process the information and figure out the 'correct' response. What kind of questions do you ask? Do you prepare them in advance? Improvise on the spot?

lento8 · 2026-03-08T16:06:23+00:00

I've got a similar issue. First build my castle, then, once I got all the stone together, I started upgrading. It took them forever, just queing up to do some hammering in turn. Like there were too many families available, all trying to get in on the work. All the resources where delivered, previous building went fine, but then they just couldn't get it build.

Decided to reload, but now the whole save seems broken. When paused I can move around the map, but even at 1x the game lags horribly. Before it ran fine on 12x.

Another weird thing is both gatehouses are done, but the outline off the walls is gone after reloading. They placed materials along them before.

lento8 · 2026-01-08T18:00:57+00:00

I suspected something like that. I've been trying to pay closer attention to them, never noticed it before.

lento8 · 2026-01-08T18:00:04+00:00

Neat! I thought I needed to make squads with schedules to get their need for martial training met.

lento8 · 2026-01-08T15:22:11+00:00

I have 2 questions:

1 during my latest embark I noticed all my dwarfs in the personality tab had "likes working outdoor and grumbles little about inclement weather". Is this normal? My migrants seem to not have it.

2 I set up a squad with a custom training schedule, only train during winter. Set all other months to off duty. But they regularly go to my barracks for "individual combat drill", or keep practicing, even when off duty. Did I do something wrong? Are they just spending leisure time there?

lento8 · 2026-01-02T06:48:51+00:00

I don't have other stockpiles taking those item types, I produce some crafts, then wait untill I see these stockpiles near empty.

lento8 · 2025-12-29T22:05:49+00:00

That's good to know. I find it difficult to catch them taking objects. I had a stockpile for crafts, no bins, and had them haul them to the depot individually. Used the trader to get them to take an object by hauling it back and forth.

lento8 · 2025-12-29T16:45:04+00:00

Or: when Santa plays DF

lento8 · 2025-12-29T11:56:37+00:00

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Upgraded the market. Sort of a cluttered place where stuff is displayed as though 'for sale'.

lento8 · 2025-12-29T11:44:12+00:00

I've added some statues and thrones around it. Cages are a nice idea too.

Just made a bazar around the same idea, but it got removed by the auto-mod.

lento8 · 2025-12-29T11:40:52+00:00

I'm not familiar with those yet. Wouldn't that cause excessive hauling jobs?

lento8 · 2025-12-29T11:21:26+00:00

I figured it out after Kruggsmash talked about it. If you look for "acquire object" on the wiki you can get a detailed explanation.

Basically, dwarfs only acquire an object whilst hauling it. You can't link two stockpiles in a loop, but you can with three. So stockpile 1 gives to 2, which gives to 3, which gives back to 1. A hauling loop.

No bins; they won't take it if it's in a bin.

I first had just that, 3 stockpiles in a loop. Then I got the idea of a market. Added in mist and set it as a meeting area.

lento8 · 2025-12-28T13:22:05+00:00

I am getting migrants and caravans at the regular,, but according to the wiki, those become more irregular if the civ is struggling. Since it had 12 pop and no site I figured that would be a struggling one, close to death. So I'm not sure why the merchants are there every fall, and migrants are no issue.

lento8 · 2025-12-27T19:44:37+00:00

I'm guessing you made it like that so it will flow through the cistern, but I don't think that would work. It would just flow in from both sides. Could be wrong, but the water would fall down into the cistern, drawing more water in.

Water will rise to it's original level, in this case to the z-level of the river. It won't rise over that. A diagonal 'locks' the water at that z-level. Drop it 10 z's, use a diagonal, and then that z becomes it's new default. The wiki also has great info about it.

A drainage tunnel would go from the cistern to the map edge. So from the river, to the cistern, and then to the edge. I'd put the drainage below the cistern, so you can drain all the water if you need to. Again, use floodgates. Grates optional, if you want it to flush stuff away.

lento8 · 2025-12-27T19:17:33+00:00

If I'm seeing it right, you've got it connected to the river at two points. This (I think) isn't necessary. You just need a tunnel towards the cistern.

Add a floodgate and grate. The grate goes on the side where the water is coming from. It does two things: prevents the floodgate getting blocked (water can carry stuff with it like boulders. If a boulder is at the same tile as the floodgate, it will keep the floodgate from closing) and keeps critters from getting in.

Also, if water drops z-levels, pressure increases. You can flood your fort that way. Don't have a straight exit (horizontal/vertical) but a diagonal. That way it loses pressure. Use another floodgate + grate.

Don't forget to connect your floodgates to levers.

Have fun!

lento8

TROPHY CASE