How to find a corpse

dwarf-fortress

One of my Dwarves just died of bleeding. He isn't anywhere near any enemies that I can see. How can I find his corpse to help figure what happened?

Note this is version 40d.

Best Answer

The important advice page on the wiki mentions the following trick that can be used to locate corpses:

  • To find a dead dwarf, go under status (z), then select stock>>corpses. Hit tab, and use z to zoom to the particular dwarf to find a hint on where and how he died.

This is listed on both the 40d and DF2010 wiki pages, so should be relevant for most players.

If that doesn't help, there are a few other options available to you:

Have you tried looking at the combat reports (using r from the main menu)? If you find the report related to this dwarf and open it by pressing the return key, you can centre on the location of the last report using z (which sometimes lists things that happened to your dwarf after the combat finished, for example if your dwarf lost consciousness, or vomited). This can lead you close to the location of where the death actually occurred.

Otherwise, if you got an announcement for the dwarf dying, you should be able to centre on it from the announcement screen.

If you still can't find the body, it may be that your dwarves have already laid it to rest in an available coffin...or if no coffins were available, a refuse pile.

Note: Although all deceased creatures are listed in the units screen, it is not possible to centre on them like you can with living creatures.

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