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[Marcan]

Hi everyone,

sorry, I know this is a dumb question but I'm still confused with the whole up, down, up/down stairs thingy.

No, actually, the only one I don't understand is the up/down staircase. Currently, I have a freshly dug level. I arrive on this new level, and a little further I want to build an up/down staircase. Unfortunately, my dorfs won't dig below it. They'll go dig upstairs after I designate the tiles above, but not below. They didn't until I actually removed the constructed up/down stairs, and designated downstairs only instead. Now they were able to reach.

Why?

Thanks for clearing it up !

[HammerDave]

If you dig a tunnel and put an up/down stair at the end of it, it's like they're starting with the face of a wall and digging up and down from the middle.  But if you're trying to go down through a floor, you have to dig down stairs to get to the next level.  They can't dig a tile that has a construction sitting on top of it, they act like the construction fills the entire tile.  You have to dig the down stairs first, and then construct an up/down stair on the same tile.  This acts like it really only constructs the up stair, and it kinda paves over the previously dug down stair -- end result connections in both directions.

Digging a tile that has not been dug before -- you can dig any kind.
Digging a tile that has been dug before -- can only dig down stairs.  Must then build up/down stairs (and have either down or up/down stairs on the level above) to be able to go both ways
If you only need to connect upwards, current tile is empty, and the above tile has either down or up/down stairs then construct up stairs.

I'm not even 100% sure on digging down and then building up/down -- have not verified in-game that dwarves can travel both ways across this.

My, that was confusing...

[Lord Darkstar]

Digging down stairs, then constructing up/down stairs on top, permits full movement. I've done it twice already in 31.04.

[UnLimiTeD]

I think it's preferable to just designate a tile that hasn't been dug so far for up/down, then an upstairs directly below that.
Or not, I only use Up/down.

[cyks]

No stair tile works alone.  Designating an up/down stair tile on layer 0 needs a down on +1 and an up on -1.

I like to imagine that downward staircases are just holes in the ground.  The real staircase is the upward stairs build directly below it.

[hjd_uk]

Its best to think of Down-Stairs as "Through-Floor-To-Top-Of-Next-Z-Level", so it goes down and shows you the 'top' of the next Z-Level but otherwise isn't anything. The Up-Stairs are and actual flight of stairs that go form the floor to the roof.

Up-Down stairs are both I guess.

[Andir]

__\___ - Up Stair
__ ___ - Down Stair
__\___ - Up/Down Stair

[Psieye]

Currently, I have a freshly dug level. I arrive on this new level, and a little further I want to build an up/down staircase. Unfortunately, my dorfs won't dig below it. They'll go dig upstairs after I designate the tiles above, but not below. They didn't until I actually removed the constructed up/down stairs, and designated downstairs only instead. Now they were able to reach.

You needed to dig out a hole in the floor (either with a down stair or completely empty open space) before constructing that Up/Down staircase.

[Marcan]

You have to dig the down stairs first, and then construct an up/down stair on the same tile.  This acts like it really only constructs the up stair, and it kinda paves over the previously dug down stair -- end result connections in both directions.

This actually worked in the 31.03 version! But not in 40d (the version I was using), for some reason...

Thanks for all your replies !

[Shangurath]

A question about stairs.. If I build a downstairs not underground, I cannot build an upstairs on the level below this downstairs. How can I make stairs that lead from underground to not-underground level?

[Andir]

A question about stairs.. If I build a downstairs not underground, I cannot build an upstairs on the level below this downstairs. How can I make stairs that lead from underground to not-underground level?

You lost me... I had you up to the point where you said "build a downstairs not underground" then I figured, you must mean a down stair to a cave for instance, but that's underground.  So I continued that though and then you lost me here: "from underground to not-underground" ... the only way that's possible is if the sky was below you.

[o_O[WTFace]]

If you can get a stair with the word down in it above a stair with the word up in it, they connect.  If you can't dig one, you can construct one.  If you cant construct one, just channel out the tiles, remove any constructions there and then construct up/downs because you can build in empty space now.