Shelter

A shelter is a completely enclosed area, which can be a house, tunnels or a combination of both, which has a totem somewhere inside it dwarfs will only sleep on beds, if they're within a suitable shelter.

Game description
"Your Shelter is not complete until it has backwalls and side walls, plus a door or a hatch."

- The old man

"Complete the shelter by putting up a totem in its center. This will scare off monsters and evil spirits. The shelter must be protected by walls on all sides, while the entrances should be covered with doors or hatches."

- Task Complete the Shelter

What classifies as a shelter
A shelter has several conditions that must be met before dwarfs will prioritize sleep there:


 * You must place a totem to mark the area which is intended to become a shelter.
 * A totem has a range of 10 to 20 squares, depending linearly upon the shelter's comfort level. It should ideally be placed near the stockpile in order to protect it from ghosts.
 * The range of the totem can be restricted/reduced by enclosing it with foreground tiles (wall, floor, roof, doors or hatches)


 * Every background tile within the totem's radius must be a wall or a window, or part of the underground backdrop.

Tips

 * A trail of small orange-yellow stars traces the perimeter of the shelter.
 * Hatches must be placed one square above the hole in the floor or ceiling, not in the hole. If the hatch is placed in the hole, then the shelter will only be secure when the hatch is shut, and opening the hatch will break the shelter.
 * If there is a hole in the perimeter around the totem then the nearest hole will be pointed out with a large orange star (unless the hole is caused by an open improperly placed hatch).
 * To use a second totem to expand the size of the shelter, place the second totem at an edge of the first totem's maximum range.

Comfort level
The comfort level of a shelter influences the dwarfs recovery time while they sleep. A higher degree of comfort will reduce the time dwarfs need to sleep to regain health.

How to increase comfort

 * Each bed in the house, beyond the first, drastically lowers comfort; as overall comfort is divided by how many beds are in the shelter.
 * If dwarves don't fight very often, keep only one bed and reassign it after use until comfort is maxed out. Then add a bed and repeat once more comfortable items become available.
 * Replace all beds as soon as a better version becomes available as they have an effect on overall comfort.


 * The material used for the external walls makes a big difference. The following list sorts them from the best to the worst:
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Wall Type !! Durability
 * Steel Wall || 17
 * Brick Wall || 12
 * Stone Wall || 9
 * Stone || 8
 * Wooden Wall || 5
 * Earth || 4
 * }
 * Stone || 8
 * Wooden Wall || 5
 * Earth || 4
 * }
 * Earth || 4
 * }


 * Simple background material like earth and stone makes no difference, but crafted wall sets do :


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Wall set !! Comfort
 * Ice Wall || 1
 * Wooden Wall || 2
 * Venetian Stucco || 2
 * Venetian Stucco (chinese) || 3
 * Stone Wall || 1
 * Steel Wall || 2
 * Stone Wall Set || 2
 * Wooden Wall Set || 2
 * Brick Wall || 2
 * Luxurious Wall Set || 4
 * }
 * Steel Wall || 2
 * Stone Wall Set || 2
 * Wooden Wall Set || 2
 * Brick Wall || 2
 * Luxurious Wall Set || 4
 * }
 * Brick Wall || 2
 * Luxurious Wall Set || 4
 * }
 * }


 * Doors and hatches type have an impact on the comfort level, the stronger the door, the better is the comfort provided. The following list sorts them from the best to the worst:


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Entryway Type !! Durability
 * Steel Door || 40
 * Iron Door/Iron Hatch || 20
 * Wooden Door/Wooden Hatch || 5
 * }
 * Wooden Door/Wooden Hatch || 5
 * }
 * }


 * Roofs provide less comfort than walls, so is better to use roof tiles only for deco on top of a line of wall tiles.
 * Shelter size per dwarf now increases comfort.
 * Overall lighting affects the comfort level. The bigger the shelter, the more lighting needed until the effect is capped. The type of lighting doesn't appear to have an effect.
 * The comfort provided by furniture/deco items do affect the overall comfort level.

Tips

 * Ladders count as floor for the purpose of placing furnishings.
 * The best way to max comfort is to place black and white pennant on top of stained-glass window, since the windows function as backgrounds.

Defense
A useful design of wall for dealing with large swarms of enemies is the sand wall.