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[UnexpectedSalad]

I just noticed my world has four volcanos on it. I'd like to try my hand at making a fortress on one of them soon.

No trees or plants near them, and very hot and they don't have much difference between each other in regards to trees, plants, and metals.  At a quick glance it seems very difficult to build a fortress on one.

So, what are the pros and cons of embarking on one?

Obviously there is a extreme amount of magma available, so smelting ores and forging items out of metal would be a big thing.

With practically no trees or plants, how does one even start a fortress on a volcano? embark with enough wood to make some beds and other essential items requiring wood?

Would caravans be the main source of wood for this kind of fortress?

How does the high temperature affect the dwarfs and the fortress in general?

How difficult is it to establish the basic needs for a fortress on a volcano on a scale of 1-10?

[Sting_Auer]

I usually have some good days when palying on volcano's. It's much easier IMO than, say, a flat area or a cliff face.


If you can, make part of the embark area over the volcano and part of it over a biome next to it that has trees.

[HeWhoCannotBeNamed]

Burrow down, look for cavern water. Been a while since I played, i think you need to irrigate stone, if there's no soil for farming. I like having a river and volcano for playing with. Flood the volcano, and you can even build your forges right inside the caldera.

[UnexpectedSalad]

I usually have some good days when palying on volcano's. It's much easier IMO than, say, a flat area or a cliff face.


If you can, make part of the embark area over the volcano and part of it over a biome next to it that has trees.

Thanks, unfortunately I don't think there is any trees near the volcanos on my map. I think one has a tiny area with a small amount though.

I'll make sure to remember that though.

[i2amroy]

So, what are the pros and cons of embarking on one?

Obviously there is a extreme amount of magma available, so smelting ores and forging items out of metal would be a big thing.

With practically no trees or plants, how does one even start a fortress on a volcano? embark with enough wood to make some beds and other essential items requiring wood?

Would caravans be the main source of wood for this kind of fortress?

How does the high temperature affect the dwarfs and the fortress in general?

How difficult is it to establish the basic needs for a fortress on a volcano on a scale of 1-10?

The best volcano sites are ones that are located with sand in them as well. Setting up a few magma glassmaking workshops allows you to make anything you could want except for beds out of glass, making it much easier to survive then a normal fortress. You can even just crank out large numbers of green glass giant corkscrews for weapon traps as well for an early yet nearly impenetrable trap defense system. As for wood, since both bins and pots can be made out of glass as well as wood, the only real thing you need it for is beds, a need that can be easily remedied by caravans. Also the lack of surface plants doesn't make that much of a difference if you tend to embark with a bag of seeds for your main food crop anyways. As for the temperature, volcanoes don't have any effect on the temperature around them save for what is directly next to the lava, and even that doesn't effect the dwarves until they are touching the lava itself.

So to put it short, sand+lava=lots of green glass, no need for wood except for beds, and a rather powerful easy trap set-up, as well as early access to magma. Difficulty of a volcano+sand embark, 3 of 10 (with 1 being a benign plain with a brook, 10 being savage evil ocean salt aquifer, and 5 being the average embark).

[UnexpectedSalad]

So, what are the pros and cons of embarking on one?

Obviously there is a extreme amount of magma available, so smelting ores and forging items out of metal would be a big thing.

With practically no trees or plants, how does one even start a fortress on a volcano? embark with enough wood to make some beds and other essential items requiring wood?

Would caravans be the main source of wood for this kind of fortress?

How does the high temperature affect the dwarfs and the fortress in general?

How difficult is it to establish the basic needs for a fortress on a volcano on a scale of 1-10?

The best volcano sites are ones that are located with sand in them as well. Setting up a few magma glassmaking workshops allows you to make anything you could want except for beds out of glass, making it much easier to survive then a normal fortress. You can even just crank out large numbers of green glass giant corkscrews for weapon traps as well for an early yet nearly impenetrable trap defense system. As for wood, since both bins and pots can be made out of glass as well as wood, the only real thing you need it for is beds, a need that can be easily remedied by caravans. Also the lack of surface plants doesn't make that much of a difference if you tend to embark with a bag of seeds for your main food crop anyways. As for the temperature, volcanoes don't have any effect on the temperature around them save for what is directly next to the lava, and even that doesn't effect the dwarves until they are touching the lava itself.

So to put it short, sand+lava=lots of green glass, no need for wood except for beds, and a rather powerful easy trap set-up, as well as early access to magma. Difficulty of a volcano+sand embark, 3 of 10 (with 1 being a benign plain with a brook, 10 being savage evil ocean salt aquifer, and 5 being the average embark).

Thank you very much, I read about glass and sand on the wiki but completely forgot about the range of uses it has. I just checked and one of the volcanos has some sand near it. So that's great.

[Loud Whispers]

Con? It's usually insanely easy to develop booming industry and adequate defences. Pro? It's usually insanely easy to develop booming industry and adequate defences.

[UnexpectedSalad]

Con? It's usually insanely easy to develop booming industry and adequate defences. Pro? It's usually insanely easy to develop booming industry and adequate defences.

Huh. And here I was thinking it would be a challenge lol. Either way I think I'll give it a try.

[UnexpectedSalad]

I'ved just embarked on one of the volcanos, plenty of sand and a slightly alright amount of trees.

Do dwarfs that live in hot regions drink more? I'm just noticing my dwarfs in the food stockpile room drinking constantly, maybe I'm just imagining it.

Also, the volcano seems to be .... uhh.... even? I mean, it has the same shape all the way up and down and I'm not sure how to get the magma into my tunnels.

I learned how to channel magma into my tunnels on a tutorial that had a flat area near the magma where I could safely channel the magma down into the tunnels. But the only way I can see to let the magma into my tunnels is to breach one of the walls and hope my dwarf runs away in time.

Or, let him die and quickly make some magma resistant walls or floodgates near the stairs of the tunnels entrance.

[i2amroy]

Because magma doesn't have pressure unless you run it through a pump, it is perfectly safe to simply breach one of the walls. Personally I've found that I can cut death rates from breaching the walls to basically zero if you make sure that your tunnel is prepared before hand and there is a escape upwards stairway for the dwarf nearby. Also if instead of actually digging into the wall you smooth the wall and then carve a fortification in it it gives the dwarf an additional tile of free space between them and the magma. Do both of these and it should be perfectly safe to break into a magma source from the side with no dwarven life lost.

[UnexpectedSalad]

Because magma doesn't have pressure unless you run it through a pump, it is perfectly safe to simply breach one of the walls. Personally I've found that I can cut death rates from breaching the walls to basically zero if you make sure that your tunnel is prepared before hand and there is a escape upwards stairway for the dwarf nearby. Also if instead of actually digging into the wall you smooth the wall and then carve a fortification in it it gives the dwarf an additional tile of free space between them and the magma. Do both of these and it should be perfectly safe to break into a magma source from the side with no dwarven life lost.

Thanks, that worked like a charm for me. Delicious glass is now flowing into my bins.

Glass can be made into bins right? are boxes used as bins? there isn't an option to make glass bins in the list.

[San-A]

I am currently playing with a fortress in a volcano in the middle of a forest. I never had so much fun!

Shame it never rains 

[Triaxx2]

I find it easier by far to pump magma up over the top of the volcano. Then I don't have to worry about an inability to shut off the flow.

[Nameless Archon]

Because magma doesn't have pressure unless you run it through a pump, it is perfectly safe to simply breach one of the walls. Personally I've found that I can cut death rates from breaching the walls to basically zero if you make sure that your tunnel is prepared before hand and there is a escape upwards stairway for the dwarf nearby. Also if instead of actually digging into the wall you smooth the wall and then carve a fortification in it it gives the dwarf an additional tile of free space between them and the magma. Do both of these and it should be perfectly safe to break into a magma source from the side with no dwarven life lost.

I drop the magma down a staircase, and use the smooth-and-carve breaching method. I will occasionally lose a migrant to magma flow if they don't GTFO when the red starts advancing, but it's acceptably rare. If you're playing one of the "dead dwarf = restart" sorts of games, I recommend choosing a pump-based method or flooding the caldera to floor it over, as those can be done without any risk, instead of "almost no risk".

YMMV, of course.

[Quietust]

Glass can be made into bins right?

Nope - bins can only be made out of wood and metal, contrary to i2amroy's claim:

As for wood, since both bins and pots can be made out of glass as well as wood, the only real thing you need it for is beds, a need that can be easily remedied by caravans.