DF2014:Dragonfire

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v50.12 · v0.47.05 · v0.34 · v0.31 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Spoiler alert: The horses weren't fast enough.

Dragonfire. The goblin survived nearly a year before finally failing a shield block; the tin goblet, however, remained undamaged.

Dragonfire is a very powerful form of fire that is produced by dragons. Dragonfire forms a rough cone shape, with a range of approximately 20 tiles and a spread of 10 tiles^[1]. Notably, dragonfire does not spread vertically through additional z-levels (although dragons will target visible creatures on other z-levels). Despite its powerfully destructive nature, dragonfire can effectively be blocked by a simple shield better than 99% of the time.

Legends claim that dragonfire can reach temperatures up to 50000 °U . At that temperature, almost all materials should be destroyed (the dragon's own body and its butchering products are exceptions). However, research has shown that dragonfire is quite particular about which objects it affects. When in a tile with dragonfire, organic materials will ignite, even including nether-cap wood with its fixed temperature. Non-flammable common stone, glass, and ceramic items will melt and boil away. In previous versions, such as v0.43.03 and earlier, metal objects and buildings were immune to dragonfire, even non-fire-safe metals like tin.^Bug:6517 Dragonfire is similarly ineffective against water, producing no steam or evaporation. Buildings (but not constructions) are affected by dragonfire on their tile, making non-dragonfire-safe doors immune as long as they remain closed. Objects and buildings (and creatures) made out of slade are also immune to dragonfire, since the raws do not define a specific heat for slade.

Objects ignited by dragonfire drop to and continue to burn at their standard combustion temperature, however, repeated blasts of dragonfire can sustain much higher combustion temperatures, sufficient even to eventually melt nearby adamantine.

Dragonfire is powerful enough to burn and kill creatures who are immune to conventional fire, like fire imps or magma crabs. The only creatures immune to dragonfire are dragons themselves, as well as their subterranean cave dragon cousins, despite the latter not being able to breathe dragonfire. All Hidden Fun Stuff creatures are also immune to it.

Dragonfire-safe materials

There are very few materials which can withstand the immense heat of dragonfire. Here is the full list:

Type	Material	Appearance	Melting point	Solid density	Specific heat	Value multiplier	Notes
Stone	Slade	░ *	None	200000	Unknown	1	Intended to be undiggable
Metal	Divine metal	Varies	None	1000	7500	300	Found only in vaults
Leather	Fire imp leather	ß	None	500	420	3
Bone	Fire imp bone	²	None	500	1000	3
Bone	Dragon bone	²	None	500	30000	15
Soap	Dragon soap	≡	55000 °U	500	30000	15
Ash	Ash	≡	None	1200	800	1
Ash	Potash	≡	None	1200	800	3
Ash	Pearlash	≡	None	1200	800	4

"Dragonfire" in other Languages Dwarven: måmgoz-ziril Elvish: vutheni-inira Goblin: kusnath-zedan Human: tamun-usmok