How do I get my dwarfs inside?

Question

How do I order everyone inside when I'm being attacked?

House · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-02 22:31:45Z

You need to define a burrow for the safe zone, and a civilian alert that restricts movement to it.

To create the burrow
1. Press w to go to the burrows screen
2. Press a to add a new burrow
3. Size the burrow (remember, a burrow is 3d)
4. Choose a name, color, etc
To create a new alert
1. Press m to go to the military screen
2. Press a to go to the alerts screen
3. Press c to create a new alert
4. Name it with N
5. Now move the cursor to the far right column, which should have the burrow you just created, and hit enter to associate that burrow with your new alert. You'll see a green A next to the burrow when you have that alert selected.
To activate the alert (as the civilian alert)
1. Press m to go to the military screen
2. Press a to go to the alerts screen
3. Press enter while the alert is highlighted.
To deactivate the alert
1. Press m to go to the military screen
2. Press a to go to the alerts screen
3. Select the 'Inactive' alert state, and press enter

@C.Ross Thank you so much. I didn't notice this in Captnduck's tutorials, or 51ppycup's 2012 tutorials. How early in the game do you personally do this? Do you end up having to change the size of your burrow as your fortress grows, or do you just plan ahead for your whole fortress? — john_science, Oct 30, 2012 at 15:39
@theJollySin Happy to help. I usually do it after the first wave of migrants, but you can set it all up on pause if you have to. I usually do have to expand it, adding internal and external burrows and the like. — C. Ross, Oct 30, 2012 at 17:06

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