Dwarf Fortress, a popular colony simulator, has been captivating players for nearly two decades with its expansive and immersive gameplay. And now, with the rebuilt steam release, the game is open to a totally new group of players.
One critical aspect of the game is maintaining the health and happiness of your Dwarves, as their well-being directly affects their performance. Soap plays a crucial role in keeping your Dwarves clean, safe, and content. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of making soap in Dwarf Fortress.
Steps to Make Soap in Dwarf Fortress
To create soap in Dwarf Fortress, you’ll need two essential components: a soap maker’s workshop and the requisite materials.
1. Build a Soap Maker’s Workshop
To construct a soap maker’s workshop, navigate to the build menu in the game, select workshops, and choose the soap maker’s workshop.
2. Gather the Necessary Materials: Lye and Fat
To produce soap, you’ll need lye and fat. The process to obtain each is outlined below:
- Lye: First, you must acquire ash by burning wood at a furnace. Then, convert the ash into lye at an ashery, which can be crafted from the same build menu used for creating workshops.
- Fat: There are two types of fat in the game: oil and tallow. Tallow is obtained by rendering the fat from a slaughtered animal in the kitchen. Oil, on the other hand, can be extracted by pressing olive seeds or rock nuts in a screw press.
More on Getting Oil from Seeds and Rock Nuts
Extracting the oil will generally be an easier and more sustainable way of collecting fat in the early game.
Gameplay Tip
- Mill seeds with a quern or a millstone and press that seed paste in a Screw Press to get oil.
- Press olives in a Screw Press to get oil.
You may be able to find a number of these on the surface by simply gathering plants. You can also grow them yourself by acquiring or purchasing the seeds from trade caravans.
More on Animal Tallow
The process of producing tallow from animal fat in Dwarf Fortress is slightly more intricate compared to obtaining oil. To create tallow, you must first butcher an animal to extract the fat.
Gameplay Tip
Follow these steps to efficiently obtain tallow for your colony:
A. Designate an Animal for Butchering
Before you can butcher an animal, you must designate a specific creature for this purpose. Access the citizen information menu by clicking the dwarf icon located at the bottom left corner of your screen, or press the “U” key.
B. Butcher the Designated Animal
Once you have designated an animal for butchering, please proceed with the slaughtering process to obtain the fat it contains.
C. Render Fat into Tallow
With the fat in hand, head to the kitchen to make it tallow. This valuable resource can then be utilized in various aspects of your colony, such as soap making, to enhance the well-being of your Dwarves.
3. Create Soap at the Soap Maker’s Workshop
Once you have both lye and fat, head to the soap maker’s workshop and craft soap, setting your colony on the path to greater cleanliness and happiness.
