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[ApocalypseSmeep]

Really stupid question... How do I get my dwarves to clean up corpses that are inside the fortress? Things have been going rather badly. A lot of suicides, fist fights ending in murder, berserk citizens, etc. The bodies lying around and rotting really aren't helping, but nothing I do will make them clean them up.

I did get migrants to come to the fortress twice, but they wouldn't clean them up either.

[Jim Groovester]

They need coffins. Go to the masonry shop, queue several coffins. When they're completed and hauled to a stockpile, build the coffin by 'b' -> 'n'. Once it's built, 'q' over it and mark it for burial use. I forget the hotkey on that one.

Once you have coffins, your dwarves will solemnly give them a funeral by unceremoniously chucking their bones into the coffin.

[Smew]

You need either coffins that have been placed, or a graveyard stockpile.

[Samus1111111]

coffins are best for making your dwarves happy

[Stargrasper]

You need either coffins that have been placed, or a graveyard stockpile.

Note that they prefer caskets.  The dead don't much care, but the living get a large happy thought if they have an assigned casket and after death, the late dwarf's friends will receive a smaller unhappy thought if their friend's remains were placed in a casket rather than tossed in a pile outside in a designated graveyard.

[ApocalypseSmeep]

Odd, they are willing to put the people that die outside inside the graveyard stockpile without a coffin. Now that I know that though, I'll just put coffin on repeat and build away. There are a lot of bones waiting...

[Stargrasper]

Odd, they are willing to put the people that die outside inside the graveyard stockpile without a coffin. Now that I know that though, I'll just put coffin on repeat and build away. There are a lot of bones waiting...

I don't think the graveyard stockpile will use coffins.  As to coffins, just make sure to set them up.

[ApocalypseSmeep]

Hmm, I dug out a spot by the graveyard stockpile to set up the coffins, built them (and yes, I did build them so they were physically placed inside the new area,) but no one is moving the corpses. They are still just rotting away creating nasty miasmas.

[Jim Groovester]

'q' over the coffins. Look at the options, and set them for burial. I think it's 'b'.

[ApocalypseSmeep]

You know... I think it's working now. There are so very few of them left it is hard to tell, but I saw one of them put bones in one of the coffins and they are queued to do it again. Thank you so much!

[Malicus]

Coffins do not have to be within a graveyard stockpile.  The graveyard stockpile is only for things that WOULD be buried in a coffin but for which there is no coffin available.

[ApocalypseSmeep]

Oh, the coffins wouldn't go in the graveyard stockpile, to be clear. I dug out an area around that. Actually, no one would put the bodies and bones in the stockpile, and only started depositing them properly when I set up the coffins.

That said, I had to surrender to a siege from goblins while recovering afterwards. I had just gotten everyone to stop going insane/becoming melancholy/going berserk/being generally upset and had half my people injured in bed when they showed up. The goblin axelord took out most of my soldiers on his own. 

[Albedo]

Really stupid question... How do I get my dwarves to clean up corpses that are inside the fortress? Things have been going rather badly.

Hey, if you still have dwarves willing and able to clean them up, it could be going a LOT worse! 

[ApocalypseSmeep]

Well actually...

I decided to try and reclaim the area to see what that is like.

So I get back there with military and there is the goblin axelord. Only he isn't aggro, and my troops won't attack him.

Whatever, I try to go about cleaning the fortress of rotting animal and dwarf corpses. Surprise! They won't touch any of them. Coffins are empty and set up. A garbage dump zone (one inside and one outside) is set up, and a refuse area, (inside, that axelord makes me nervous,) is setup, and all the animal corpses are designated for dumping.

What am I doing wrong?

[Elvin]

When you reclaim a fortress EVERYTHING is set to forbid. You need to reclaim it ( use d-b-c for fast reclaim of large areas)

Be warned, if you surrendered during the invasion, there will be hostiles hiding in your fortress. Send your dwarves back through it once or twice to check for them.

Also, that axelord of yours will attack anything that is hostile to you. I had a goblin pikemaster do the same thing, and he wiped out two or three sieges on his own before eventually bleeding to death. He even ( probably accidentally) saved two of my dwarves who were running rings around him at the time.