Dwarf Fortress: How To Parley [Explained]

Learning how to parley in Dwarf Fortress will allow players to avoid conflict and combat. The game is known for hostile encounters with other creatures that can be very threatening to your Fort. However, in order to avoid bloodshed, players can use a system called Parley in Dwarf Fortress. 

Key Highlights

• Parley in Dwarf Fortress is like a peace treaty. 
• Most of the time, enemies like Goblins again come to your Fort and ask for a Legendary Artifact. 
• If you refuse to give the Legendary Artifact, the hostile force will attack and damage your Fort. Therefore, it is important to accept Parleys whenever you can. 
• Parleys are just a temporary solution, and there is no guarantee that the hostile force will not attack in the future. Therefore, it is important to focus on permanent options like the military in the game.

What Are Parleys 

In Dwarf Fortress, players will be able to avoid war by using a system called Parley. By approving a Parley with the opposing party, they will be able to avoid conflict and bloodshed. This is a great system for fans who are just starting out in the game and have a fairly weak military force. But it is important to know how a Parley actually works before you approve one.

In simple words, Parley is like a form of a treaty that will allow you to avoid conflict. By using a Parley, players will be presented with an opportunity to avail peace with the opposing party and a hostile force.

Furthermore, the legendary artifacts are at a high price to pay for a Parley, which is temporary. So giving the legendary artifact to the hostile force and approving a parley will stop the immediate attack from the opposite end but you might expect future attacks from them too. So even if you form a peace treaty, they can return in the future to harm your Fort again. 

Legendary Artifact 

When in certain moods, you can expect the dwarves to make a certain item called Legendary Artifacts. They all have unique names, and their value and quality are very high. Most of the time the legendary artifacts that they create are an expression of their hopes, memories, and even fears in a solid form.

The dwarves will make only one legendary artifact in their lifetime. Sometimes they even die trying to make the artifact. 

You will be able to access the legendary artifacts in the workshop, where the dwarves will drop them as soon as they are created. You can then trade them in for other items. But be careful, as they can be stolen as well. Legendary artifacts are rare and can be sold for high prices as well and can also be used in Parleys. 

Approving A Parley 

After approving the Parley, the leader of your Fort will take the legendary artifact to the opposing hostile force. As a part of the conditions of a Parley, the hostile force will dissipate immediately. But some Reddit users have also claimed that sometimes the mayors and expedition leaders of the city might not carry out this specific action.

After that, you need to find the Leader among your citizens. In order to specialize them, you need to click on the hammer icon with the lock in the row of your leader. Doing so will solve the issue, and the leader will only focus on delivering the legendary artifact to the opposing force. 

Are Parleys Worth It? 

Keep in mind that these are only temporary solutions to the hostile forces trying to attack your Fort. Players should shift their focus to more permanent solutions to problems like these. This is because, even after a parley or a peace treaty is formed, there is no guarantee that the same hostile force won’t attack your Fort again in the future.

The best solution to this problem is probably forming a military squad and training them. You can do so by accessing the squad sidebar and clicking on the flag icon in the lower corner of your screen. As soon as you form a squad, you will soon establish a Barracks Zone, which is an important part of Dwarf Fortress.

You can also try to use traps around your Fort to prevent enemies from attacking it. There are a lot of options of traps to choose from, with each serving are a different function. You will be able to access these traps by heading to the place structures menu. Some of the traps will need a mechanism from the Mechanics Workshop, so make sure to visit that too.

While military squads are a great way to protect your Fort, traps are easier to set up and require less attention and maintenance. So if you are just starting out in Dwarf Fortress, we recommend that you buy some traps from the workshop when you build your fort and set it up around your Fort. However, keep in mind that the military is still the best option to protect your Fort. 

Focus On Your Military 

Keeping in mind how parleys are just temporary solutions to stop a war, it is important to focus on more permanent solutions to stop the hostile forces.

You need all the power you can get to defend your base and be able to create a military squad that is capable of both defensive and offensive attacks. 

Assigning A Commander To Your Squad 

If you want to establish your military squad in order to prepare yourself when the hostile forces come back to attack you after a parley, then the first step is to assign a militia commander. This can be done by clicking on the Crown Icon on the left part of your screen.

Doing so will open up the Noble And Administrators Menu. You will see an option of Militia Commander with a small + next to it. All you need to do is click on the + and select the Dwarf that you think is most suited for a militia commander.

Make A New Squad 

As soon as you assign the militia commander to your squad, the next step is to put together your military squad. In order to do that, you need to click the Blue Flag icon in the lower right corner of your screen. As soon as you do it, you will be able to access the squad menu.

After that, you need to click on an option called Create New Squad. You will also get a chance to select the type of armor that your new military squad members will equip.

You would be able to change the armor of your military squad later on in the game as well. Therefore, your main focus should be to finish creating the military squad and then to assign proper armor. 

Assigning Members And Leader

If you take a look at the sidebar on your screen featuring your newly created military squad, you will see A Dwarf head icon there as well. Upon clicking on it, you will be able to assign a leader to your new military squad.

Make sure that you choose the one with the best skills in Dwarf Fortress. After that, the rest of the Dwarves can be assigned to different positions in your military squad. You need to consider the skills before assigning a role to someone.

Also, make sure that you don’t utilize administrators like bookkeepers and brokers in your squad. Doing so will make them shift their focus from their primary role to focusing on the military squad. Therefore, you will not have anyone to perform the duties of the key administrators in the game. 

Start Training 

There is no set time period as to when the hostile force is likely to attack after you accept a Parley. And if you are one of the players who did not accept a Parley, you can expect an attack soon. 

Therefore, as soon as you make your squad come on, the next step is to put them into training. For that, you will need a Barracks zone. You will need to set up the zone first by clicking on the Place Zone Icon in the lower part of your screen.

In order to check the information about the zone, click on the Zone Placement Menu. In order to place the military squad in the zone for training, you need to click on the Blue Flag with + first. After that, just click on the Axe Icon next to your newly created military squad, and it will put them into training. 

After doing that, you need to open the sidebar with your squad again, there, you will see an empty square above your squad, and by clicking on it, you will be able to select the schedule for training. For beginners, it is important to choose the Constant Training Regiment. They can choose the other training schedules when they become more familiar with the gameplay mechanics and have more than one squad by then. 

Equipping The Squad 

After you have successfully trained the military squad, you will be able to use them in combat. If you feel like there is a threat of a hostile force attacking even after a parley, then you can equip your military squad and put them in a war. You will be able to craft military equipment in Metalsmiths Forge Workshop.

After obtaining the perfect equipment for your military squad, then you need to click on the empty square in the sidebar and click on the Equip option. Doing so will allow you to see the gear that your squad members can equip. 

After that, click on the Assign Uniform option to allot your military squad their unique uniforms. Next, you need to select the type of armor they will be wearing.

It is to be noted that players will be able to create custom uniforms for their military squad by clicking on the Add Uniform button. They will also be able to change the equipment and gear of their military squad from time to time. 

Summing It Up

With this, we conclude our detailed guide on Parley in Dwarf Fortress to counter hostile enemies and other great options to use in case a parley fails. While you are at it, don’t forget to check out our detailed guide on the best adamantine weapons.

We have also created a detailed guide on the best starting locations that you should definitely check out. In case you are wondering about the best world generation settings in Dwarf Fortress then don’t forget to check out our detailed guide on it.

In case you are new to the game, then we have created a detailed guide on the best tips and tricks for beginners where we have listed 33 tips to get you started.