How to Set Up a Burrow in Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is a game all about being prepared. You must make sure you have enough food and water, that your squads are ready for any threat, that you have enough booze on the go, and that your dwarves are happy. With so much to keep an eye on, in times of crisis it may become unbearable. Well, thankfully the use of burrows keeps your dwarves sectioned and organized, and allows you to have an easier evacuation in times of invasion. Here is how to set up burrows in Dwarf Fortress.

How to Set up Burrows in Dwarf Fortress

What Burrows Do in Dwarf Fortress

Burrows are a confusing subject to be sure, but they can prove very useful and they are not actually necessary to your fortress.

You can think of burrows as though large zones that you can assign dwarves to. Assigned dwarves will try their best to remain in their burrow, limiting their confines. You can use burrows to section off dwarves to their areas of work and sleep. Burrows can be suspended at any time, meaning it will be ignored until you activate it again.

Again, burrows aren’t necessary yet they may be useful for larger fortresses where efficiency is key.

However, therea use of burrows that all fortresses would benefit from. An emergency evacuation bunker.

In a very fortified position in your fortress, assign a burrow but suspend it. Stockpile the bunker with essential goods and assign all of your workers and civilians to the bunker. When intruders strike, activate the burrow and everyone assigned will travel down to the bunker where they can lock it behind themselves. This will ensure their safety.

Related: How to get drinkable water in Dwarf Fortress

Making your burrow in Dwarf Fortress

Creating a burrow is easy. Along the bottom menus is one for the burrows, or you can press shift + ‘u’. Click ‘add new burrow’ and then drag the square (or use the brush tool) to select your burrow. it can be redrawn at any time.

Once the confines of the burrow have been set, you can choose the symbol, symbol colour, and background colour for your burrow, for easy identification.

After that, assign all of the dwarves you want to the burrow and they’ll report there right away.

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