Running out of water in Dwarf Fortress is every player’s nightmare. Without water, your dwarves won’t survive injuries, farming becomes tricky, and your colony’s happiness goes down the drain (pun intended).
At the same time, finding water within your base is difficult and most times you won’t have a water supply close by. Therefore, you’ll be forced to look for alternative and more convenient ways to get water.
In this guide, I’ll explain exactly how you can get water from caverns and rivers in Dwarf Fortress to help you build the most successful colony. But… first things first!
How to Dig Down and Find Caverns in Dwarf Fortress
Your best bet for a consistent water supply is often beneath your feet. Caverns deep underground almost always contain water, but you’ll need to do some careful digging.
From the bottom hotbar, select the pickaxe icon and start by digging one floor down.
There, build a small room with a door to make sure trolls, frogs, and other monsters can’t spawn in the caves and reach your base. Then, select the staircase from the bottom hotbar and go straight down.
Start by digging down to elevation 5. After digging down for a while, you will get a pop-up saying “you have discovered an expansive cavern deep underground”.
Digging down can seem complicated. For more details on how to dig down in Dwarf Fortress, consider checking out our relevant guide.
Within the cavern, you will be able to find materials like wood, mud, spider webs, and, of course, water.
Keep in mind that monsters can roam these caverns, so it’s a good idea to bring some defensive units with you.
And if you need more help with the game, I recommend checking out my guide on How to Make a Tavern in the game.
Build a Well for a Constant Supply of Water
Now that you’ve found a source of water underground, select one tile of water within the newly-found cavern and go all the way up, until you reach your base without moving your cursor.
Mark that exact tile and get ready to start mining.
From your base, dig a straight path to the tile you just marked. On the marked tile, use the “Dig a channel” option, which will create a hole down to the water level. Then, right next to that, build a staircase.
To build a well in the game, you will need a bucket and a chain or rope. Thankfully, these are easy to make. Specifically, buckets can be made from wood, while ropes are crafted at clothing shops.
With the staircase and channel completed, you can now place a well on top of the newly-built hole.
Also read: Dwarf Fortress: How to Build a Temple
How to Get Water From a River
If you’re lucky enough to have a river near your fortress, there is an easier way of getting water.
Start by digging below your base and creating a small area where the water will be. After digging a small area (even a 3×3 will do), make it one level deeper to hold the water.
Then, from the area you just dug, make an underground path leading next to the river (about 2 tiles away from it).
When you’re two tiles away from the river, build a staircase going up, until you reach the same level as the river.
Do not connect the river with your staircase yet, since this will flood your fortress!
Instead, at the underground path you built, make sure to place a bridge. Go to the building tab, then construction, then select Bridge.
Make sure to place it the right way so that it blocks water from coming from the river.
Now that you’ve built the bridge, place a lever inside your base, select ‘Link Lever’ and then choose the bridge.
This way, you’ll be able to control the bridge. Pull the lever to ensure the bridge is up and the path is blocked.
Lastly, dig a channel from the river to your staircase and the water will start flowing through.
The hold you dug will start filling with water slowly. When one tile reaches water level 7, turn the lever off to avoid flooding your base.
Dig a hole next to the upper staircase and place a well in your base.
And that’s it! Now your dwarves have access to fresh water that won’t freeze during the winter. And since you’ve got this covered, read on to learn How to Attract Migrants in Dwarf Fortress.
How far down did you have to dig to find water? Did you encounter any enemies in the caverns? Let us know in the comments below.
He has a Master’s Degree in Philosophy, which allows him to always come up with a fresh approach to solving in-game puzzles and challenges, but also to create content that’s to the point, clean and easy to follow.
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