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[sadron]

I've been confused about how to use burrows even with reading the wiki and how their implementation would help me with my fortress. Can anyone who uses burrows often explain this to me?

[Hurize]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Burrow#Uses_for_Burrows

Now Explain how magnets fucking work?

[smirk]

Calmen doon thar, Hurize.

sadron: Burrows are painted onto the landscape in any shape you like, and when a dwarf is restricted into that burrow they only idle/do jobs within that area. You can even make a burrow that has two disconnected parts, in which case a dwarf can cross the un-burrowed space between them but will still only idle/eat/sleep/work in the burrow area itself. Basically, that's it. Oh, also different burrows can overlap each other.

I mainly just use one big one over my entire fortress and put everybody in it to keep 'em inside; only haulers and military aren't assigned to it so they can go outside to fight/clean up after fights. If you're an efficiency nut you can do things like make a burrow that includes only food, bedroom, and hospital areas and restrict your doctors to it so they're less likely to be busy when you need 'em. Making separate areas for each profession and restricting workers to these areas via burrows is fairly common. I like to make a burrow that only covers the Trade Depot and restrict my trader to it whenever the caravan arrives so he's forced to go barter instead of party, the bastard 0_o

Also, some jobs don't properly check burrow status: sometimes a dwarf will want to do a job that has items or destinations outside the burrow they're in, and you'll get job cancellation spam until you allow 'em out to do it. For example, per the doctor burrow above, doctors like to put suturing thread back into a cloth stockpile, and if you don't have one of those inside the doctor burrow, they'll stand where they are and complain about it rather than getting on with things.

Hope that helps! If ye're confused, just play around with 'em for a bit. They're pretty intuitive once you figure out how to designate 'em and assign dwarves.

[Trickman]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Burrow#Uses_for_Burrows

Now Explain how magnets fucking work?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9p7WqQ__zU

However, how can pelicans eat cellphones is a question that will forever remain unanswered.

[...]

This. Also remember that you need burrows to establish scouting posts for your patrols/etc. This works great to permanently have a couple crossbowdwarves in your watch tower, for instance.

[itg]

Burrows work with military alerts, too. When you have a burrow keyed to a particular alert, all civilians will head directly to that burrow when you set that alert, with none of the loitering and blank stares you get when you first assign a dwarf to a burrow the normal way. In my current fortress, I have my active alert set to a burrow which encompasses the underground portion of the fort. It's a great way to get the dwarves safely indoors when the creeping ash rolls in.

[ab00]

And, in the case above, they will not leave the burrow under any circumstances. If there are two separate parts, they will stay in whichever one they get to first.

[sadron]

Yeah there's another thing. How do I make "patrols"? Mostly all I know how to do is make them station at a certain spot. Certainly not ideal.

[ivanthe8th]

Also, some jobs don't properly check burrow status: sometimes a dwarf will want to do a job that has items or destinations outside the burrow they're in, and you'll get job cancellation spam until you allow 'em out to do it. For example, per the doctor burrow above, doctors like to put suturing thread back into a cloth stockpile, and if you don't have one of those inside the doctor burrow, they'll stand where they are and complain about it rather than getting on with things.

I find this is the biggest problem with using burrows to manage civilians. I once tried to make some dedicated clay-gatherers for a pottery fortress and the job cancellation spam was brutal. If you're going to do something like this, make sure the dwarves in question aren't haulers. Item hauling (the labor used for clay collection) is one of the jobs smirk is talking about.

[ab00]

For patrols, you have to use 'N' to place points/notes, and then set up a route from that screen. Then, in the 'm'(military) 'a'(alerts) screen, tell the squad to patrol that route.

[Sutremaine]

I once tried to make some dedicated clay-gatherers for a pottery fortress and the job cancellation spam was brutal. If you're going to do something like this, make sure the dwarves in question aren't haulers. Item hauling (the labor used for clay collection) is one of the jobs smirk is talking about.

Use burrows to get them to the clay and then lock them in. If you want to make it permanent, stop growing plump helmets everywhere else in the fortress and have a small plot with a small food stockpile. The excess will rot away, and enough new seeds will be generated by the eating of the plump helmets. Drink can be handled by having a protected well (and a pool of water with no well for backup), with the occasional bit of brewing being done to keep the clay collectors sharp. If the clay collection area is close to the surface you could use other crops that are edible raw, maybe even extend the farm area a bit to allow plant-gathering for variety.

They can export the clay by pushing a minecart in a gap-hopping loop, and if the dwarves you use for this have no surviving family or friends outside their commune then they'll be untouched by unhappiness if the fort goes to hell. They should have some access to slabs, just in case they need to stave off angry ghosts.