Building Menu
The Building Menu is your primary tool for constructing the physical infrastructure of your dwarven fortress. Through this menu, you desate where and what your dwarves will build, from essential workshops and living quarters to defensive structures and decorative elements.
Accessing the Building Menu is typically done via a dedicated key or button on the interface. Once opened, it presents a categorized list of all available structures you can order your dwarves to construct. The menu is desed to be hierarchical, allowing you to quickly find the specific building you need.
Key categories and elements within the Building Menu:
- Workshops: These are crucial for crafting goods, processing raw materials, and producing food and drink. Examples include the Carpenter's Workshop, Mason's Workshop, and Still.
- Furniture: Essential for dwarf comfort and happiness, this category includes beds, tables, chairs, chests, and doors.
- Military Structures: Such as barracks, training grounds, and weapon/armor racks, vital for organizing and equipping your military.
- Food and Drink Production: Includes farm plots, stills, and kitchens, all necessary for sustaining your growing population.
- Utilities: Such as refuse stockpiles, garbage disposal areas, and bridges, which are important for sanitation and defense.
- Decorative Structures: Statues, monuments, and other aesthetic elements that can improve the mood of your dwarves.
When you select a building from the menu, you'll then be prompted to desate its location on the map. The game will show you a preview of the building's footprint. Dwarves with the appropriate labor enabled (e.g., Masonry for stone buildings, Carpentry for wooden ones) will then proceed to construct it, provided the necessary materials are available.
It's important to plan your fortress layout carefully before placing buildings. Consider adjacency bonuses for workshops, the flow of traffic, and the proximity of living quarters to workplaces. The Building Menu is not just about placing structures; it's about shaping the functionality and efficiency of your entire fortress.
Some buildings require specific materials (e.g., stone blocks, wood logs, metal bars), which must be gathered and processed first. Always ensure you have the necessary resources before desating a building for construction.