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[gurthang]

Hi everybody,

I am a newbye player and I am afraid I've trapped my dwarfs underground. I wanted to dig deeper in search of some rock and attempted to do so right under the existing upward stairway. Unfortunately, I channeled instead of building a down stairway and now it seems my up/down staircase doesn't exist any longer. All my dwarfs are underground and apparently unable to go up, and nobody is left above to dig a new down stairway.

Is there a way to solve this problem or is my dungeon (and its occupants) dead? Not a fun way to die or even to end a game 

[PatrikLundell]

Yes, there are ways to solve this:
- Replace the destroyed staircase with a built up/down staircase (requires building materials, but you ought to be able to get hold of a stone you've dug out, or a log you brought down earlier. You can even use a metal bar temporarily and dismantle the staircase to regain the bar and rebuild the staircase with a more suitable material you've collected using the emergency staircase).
- You can dig an Up staircase and an Up/Down staircase immediately above it (the miner basically digs an Up staircase, climbs it, and continues digging upwards, as a mental picture).
- It's possible to dig ramps upwards as well. This causes a ramp to be dug at the current level and removes the rock directly above that tile (i.e. the direct reverse of a Channel operation). However, you can't pass up that ramp unless there's a free surface on the level above to move up to in one of the cardinal directions, so this may be of limited use in this situation. It's another way to dig upwards, though.

I assume you don't have an aquifer in the way. If you do, note that digging upwards is dangerous, as the warning about hitting damp rock/soil comes only after you've already cause the damage, i.e. the water will pour down from that damp ceiling.

[gurthang]

Thanks. I have another question: is there any way to refill with earth any passageway or ramp already dug out? Help appreciated.

[anewaname]

The only way to refill it with "rock" is to combine some magma and water in the tile to create obsidian. But you can simply build a wall if you just need to block the tile.

[PatrikLundell]

As anewaname indicates, DF currently doesn't support earth filling. It probably will, in the far future.

[gurthang]

Hi guys, thanks for the support. I would like to ask one last question since it keeps spoiling my games: if I want to dig deep (several x-levels), can I build a row of up/down starcases all in the same square, or do I need to change square for each new level?

I ask this because it seems that any attempt to build a down stairway in a square automatically and irrevocably destroys any already existing stairs in the same square.

[PatrikLundell]

You can dig straight vertical stairs. It is possible to "convert" an Up stair to an Up/Down stair through digging, although I'm not completely certain the command is to dig a Down stair or an Up/Down stair. However, you can't change a built stair by digging or vice versa, but you can, magically, build a Down or Up/Down stair on a natural floor tile and get a magic hole in the floor (which disappears if you dismantle it, hence the magic).
Thus, don't mix dug and built stairs in the same tile (above and below works fine).