How to collect rocks in Dwarf Fortress

dwarf-fortress

How do I collect rocks etc that are laying about in tunnels I've dug in Dwarf Fortress?

Best Answer

Turn them into rock blocks (since a lot of blocks will go into a single bin in a storage room and that's much neater). Clearing every stone takes a long time, but you can clear certain areas using burrows:

  1. Designating a burrow over the area you want to clear.
  2. Select a lowly mason who will be your exclusive stone block maker and assign him to the burrow.
  3. Build a mason's workshop inside the burrow.
  4. Use the profiles screen on the workshop to restrict the dwarves that can work there to your chosen mason. (You'll need to have a manager for this.)
  5. Set make rock blocks to repeat!

Your lowly mason will dutifully go about their business selecting only stone from the burrow and will automatically take breaks to sleep and eat, so this is a pretty low-maintenance method.