Dwarf Fortress

[rembrandtq]

minecraft got me to try this game...there is no going back

[RexDark]

Yeah, I tried it a few weeks ago too...

[Cho]

I'd heard about it, but never tried it. I also heard that it has an extremely steep learning curve? Or perhaps just some stuff is not apparent.

[junkmanuk]

I tried it but couldn't get on with it... it unfortunately felt very disconnected and didn't immerse me at all...

To be honest minecraft itself is a departure from the usual type of game I go for so it's probably no surprise

[GrimX9]

Played this game all the time for several years (since 38a), then bought minecraft and haven't played it since.

[rembrandtq]

The game is awesome but the interface sucks and the learning curve is massive but nothing that can't be overcome. The beauty of dwarf fortress is you don't feel bad about starting over, even after weeks of play.

There are two, maybe 3 utilities that really help the playability.

1. Dwarf Therapist

http://code.google.com/p/dwarftherapist/

This utility lets you keep track of dwarves and add or remove labors from them, much easier than selecting each one.

2. Mayday Graphics Set

http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

This is a graphics tile set that makes it WAY easier to tell what is going on. I play nethack and Adom so I'm not turned of by ascii graphics but the sheer amount of information you need to manage in DF makes ascii too hard.

3. (maybe) DFhack

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=58809.0

DFhack is a set of utilities that plugs into dwarf fortress and lets you do various things. Some of them are cheaty like spawning items but there are two that I don't consider cheating but greatly enhance gameplay. First is dfvdig which automatically selects all of the adjacent stone/ore of the same type for digging. In Minecraft terms if you saw one iron block you would automatically follow the iron vein to mine out all the blocks. The second utility is dfcleanmap. I haven't needed it but according to the wiki and forum excess blood stains is the cause of slowdown and loss of framerate. Dwarf fortress keeps track of each bloodstain on each object so you can imagine this adds up quickly. This utility lets you remove all the blood, it is a bit immersion breaking but better than abandoning your map because you lost all your frame rate.

The game is really intimidating to begin, I suggest generating a large world with all the default settings, using the site finder to avoid an aquifer and have a low evil/savagery location, and using the Play Now! option. Your starting location party and equipment isn't optimized but it is the quickest way to get to playing.

Then look up everything in the wiki. Once you play the game a bit you will be in a better position to know which options to set in world gen, select your dwarf skills and choose your starting equipment.

I'm happy to help people so feel free PM me or better yet post in this thread.

RQ

[Cho]

Hmm... maybe I'll check it out over my xmas vacation... Thanks for the info, Rem.

[junkmanuk]

2. Mayday Graphics Set

That immediately makes the game look more inviting to me Thanks!

[Volstag9]

oh boy dwarf fortress, i remember trying this game and failing miserably, but heck i always try again, always...

after all, losing is fun!

[Sti_Jo_Lew]

I downloaded the game about a week and a half ago, and the learning curve is pretty massive. Thanks for suggesting theMayday textures. Although I already used it, it'll help out people trying to get into the game. Also, is it normal to start of the game with no farmers? I kepp running out of food.

Anyways, I'm gonna go play DF now since the server is waiting for the plug-in updates.

[rembrandtq]

Dwarf fortress food tips.

1. drink + food are the most important thing caravans provide, buy all you can before you think about anything else.
2. start on a map with at least moderate vegetation. With that a plant gatherer can easily supplement your food/drink supply between caravans. My legendary plant gatherer could support a 150+ dwarf fortress without any other food or drink sources.
3. after beds barrels are the most important use of wood, raw food outside of barrels will rot even in a stockpile
4. make sure to have a butcher shop, corpse, and food stockpile outside, that way you don't waste any animals you happen to kill
5. prepared food does not decay so it doesnt need barrels, make a prepared food stockpile closest to your dining room and set it to 0 barrels

Food is one thing I haven't had issues with even from my first fortress, if you buy up all the seeds from the first elf caravan you can farm on the outside without any irrigation needs.

[Sti_Jo_Lew]

I already gave up on DF. Way too slow for my tastes. I'm going to work on my MC SP now. Already have a house, bar, dock, reed and tree farms, and the cliff near me now has random lava filled windows.

[Callex]

Yea I took a slight interest in it when people started comparing to minecraft... I went to youtube to see if there were any example/tutorial videos...

The tutorial was 40 videos long, each lasting 8-12 minutes... My head would probably explode if I tried to play that game.

[itbarany]

1. Dwarf, the Rapist

[Stratavarius]

Yeah, I haven't really played since hospitals were introduced, but I ran a few good fortresses.

For anyone starting out, mayday and dwarf therapist really do help. And really, read the wiki or look for captainduck's tutorial videos on youtube. There is a lot you'll need to learn on your own, but that will cut down on the "Oh god what am I even doing?" time.

A few tips:

Plant plump helmets all year round in a farm. You can cook them and brew with them, making them a staple crop for your dwarves. A sober dwarf is an unhappy dwarf, and most of the other indoor farm crops are just for clothes.

The controls are difficult and esoteric, so try and get used to them. Being able to plot out farms, rooms, etc. or check jobs is most of what you really need to do.

Get used to dwarfs faffing about and not doing anything useful or what you told them. Especially during times when the fortress is under attack. Hell, prepare and compensate for it.

If you mine near an aquifer (You'll get the message that you've found a damp wall), for the love of god don't mine any further. Flooding your fortress with water is probably the second worst thing you can do.

Control entry into your fortress. Only keep a few entryways and exits to your fortress, and keep them well guarded with attack dogs or traps or soldiers. Simple, but putting it off always leads to something or other storming in when you weren't really expecting it to.

[vallorn]

im think im getting the hang of it now. my fortresses still have massive amounts of Fun but it tends to go spectacularly wrong (E.G. p***ing of the humans/Breaking adamantuin veins/ thermonuclear Catslplosion. and my all time favorite. accidentally opening the lava floodgates which filled my moats and cool lava features and thereby flooding the world with molten rock... that was "Fun")

oh and if you play it and like "The Escapist" there's a DF lets play of a fortress called Reverendtour in the forums at the moment (will post a link when i have the laptop back... the thread is bookmarked on there)

its almost as good as the Boatsmurdered LP (which inspired V88's Project: F*** This World!)

EDIT:
i found the Reverendtour LP

its here

enjoy it, my miasma crazed brethren!

[comet1]

I could never figure out the game it was to confusing its just smily faces walking around to me

[Volstag9]

Success i figured the game out! I have dwarfs mining now i have a multileveled fortress. I even made it a year without starving to death. Huzah!

Now i got an outpost liaison who wont leave! Thats... bad... i think.

[superglitch]

I think i'll use that pack because I can't tell what is happening to my dwarfs.... I think five of them are just sitting around...

[superglitch]

This is so addicting! I have spent forever trying to figure out how to keep "fun" from coming into my fortress.

[Stratavarius]

This is so addicting! I have spent forever trying to figure out how to keep "fun" from coming into my fortress.

If you're having trouble, I'd highly suggest cage traps. You'll have to reload them and think of something to do with whatever you catch (arena pits are popular) but they're fairly easy to make and can work until you get a well trained army. Well, they can work well after that too, but where is the fun in that?

[superglitch]

This is so addicting! I have spent forever trying to figure out how to keep "fun" from coming into my fortress.

If you're having trouble, I'd highly suggest cage traps. You'll have to reload them and think of something to do with whatever you catch (arena pits are popular) but they're fairly easy to make and can work until you get a well trained army. Well, they can work well after that too, but where is the fun in that?

Thanks! now I just need to get water into my base so my dwarfs stop getting picked off by wolves... and I just learned how to place buildings.

Well, my fortress fell due to two mass murders. One killed a dwarf that was sleeping. YAY!

[Stratavarius]

I forget the exact commands (been awhile) but you designate a pond/pool/pit and then have the dwarves use a designated "water source" to draw water from with buckets. They'll haul it over and dump it in. Also useful if you're making mud for farms, but automated systems are generally better for larger areas (Look into screw pumps and pipes in this case). If you need a water source to drink from, make a well. Same principle, but you make a channel on the floor above and install a well (I think you need at least a 4/7 water level for a well, can't remember),

And I'd install ramps and hatches into and out of these places. Dwarves have a tendency to fall in or get stuck in these places.

As for wild animals, well, I'd restrict the areas your dwarves can go walking around outside until you have preventative measures set up in some fashion. Walls, traps, armed patrols, and hunters can do well to curb all of that, with walls generally being the best idea since wolves won't knock them down and you can wall off a place to farm or pick herbs. Plus it's a way to use up all that stone you have lying around, aside from catapults or something.

And did somebody start a tantrum spiral?

[superglitch]

And did somebody start a tantrum spiral?

Yes they did, and thanks for the well information, though it is a bit too late(I always learn a bit too late) because my second fortress died of thirst. I am having lots of fun!

[Stratavarius]

Yeah, there are plenty of ways to manage happiness to try and prevent tantrums, but that is usually the end of a fortress unless if you have a proper jail/cage and some guards to toss them in.

The advice I would give is pretty obvious, just try to make sure that they have decent living space, lots of liquor, enough food, and try to have a small amount of every crafting material and one of every workshop that they can use during a fey mood. Also, if you can't find turtles on your own, importing turtle shells is always a good idea. I don't know why, but it comes up more often than you would think.

And fortresses won't normally succumb to thirst as long as you have liquor, which is why farming and brewing plump helmets is usually such a big deal. You can cook them, and brew them, and I think they give off plump helmet spawn when used that way so you should always be able to replant. Just make sure you embark with plenty. Water is mostly for injured dwarves.

[superglitch]

Yeah, there are plenty of ways to manage happiness to try and prevent tantrums, but that is usually the end of a fortress unless if you have a proper jail/cage and some guards to toss them in.

The advice I would give is pretty obvious, just try to make sure that they have decent living space, lots of liquor, enough food, and try to have a small amount of every crafting material and one of every workshop that they can use during a fey mood. Also, if you can't find turtles on your own, importing turtle shells is always a good idea. I don't know why, but it comes up more often than you would think.

And fortresses won't normally succumb to thirst as long as you have liquor, which is why farming and brewing plump helmets is usually such a big deal. You can cook them, and brew them, and I think they give off plump helmet spawn when used that way so you should always be able to replant. Just make sure you embark with plenty. Water is mostly for injured dwarves.

Yeah, the only problem that I get is that I can't get set up fast enough.... Plus that last map sucked, the trade carvan couldn't get the wagon to the trade depot, and I had a small pool of water that dried up in 3 weeks while I was trying to build a farm. Thanks for the advice though!

[Stratavarius]

Yeah, the only problem that I get is that I can't get set up fast enough.... Plus that last map sucked, the trade carvan couldn't get the wagon to the trade depot, and I had a small pool of water that dried up in 3 weeks while I was trying to build a farm. Thanks for the advice though!

Embarking with the right tools and skills is really essential. I wouldn't embark with less than 2 proficient miners and 1/2 proficient farmers/brewers. Getting farms and mines going are really the things you need done first, along with someone to log the forests (if there are any). If you embark on a plateau or something, just dig a channel around the area for a little protection since you can build walls or whatever later, and goblins usually take awhile before they start showing up. Having someone who is good with picking herbs or fishing may be okay, but they usually build those skills well enough on their own. Having someone who is good with negotiation skills is a good thing to start off with though, since it makes early trading (outside of stealing the goods) more manageable.

I'd also reorganize what you embark with. If you're going to a place with little to no trees, then wood is something you need. You only need as many picks as miners to start off with, and a good axe. Some plump helmet spawn, and maybe a little extra food and booze. 2 cats and 2 dogs and a cage is usually good, since when they breed you can butcher them for meat along with having cats take care of vermin and dogs can be trained later to be guard dogs. You usually don't need other animals, or anvils since you can trade for one later once you get your fortress going and have actually mined enough ore to make it useful. Things like that.

I forget the command, but you can check to see if the wagons can actually make it to your depot (Green D means a wagon can pass through there, command might be Shift + D or something). If not, you'll need to get some miners to carve a road for it (Though you don't necessarily need to actually build a road unless if you want to).

And yeah, water under a certain level might dry up in the summer months, I think less than 3/7 dries up. In the worst case, you may have to try to mine to find an underground river or lake. I say in the worst case since those usually breed monsters or really big fish, so be careful. It's something to keep in mind, especially if you try to get water out of there.

[Tehbeard]

http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ is an excellent (if lengthy) article on how to play Dwarf fortress the correct way.

[vallorn]

http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ is an excellent (if lengthy) article on how to play Dwarf fortress the correct way.

heres a cartooned LP: http://www.timdenee.com/oilfurnace/
and again. here's the Reverendtour Lets Play done by Internet Kraken: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/ ... Out?page=1
the second one is ongoing and has recently defeated: 2 simultainious Forgotten Beasts, one ettin and a Goblin siege in quick succession. now another FB has arrived but its not a Bee made from magma or a steel marmot so he should be okay... i hope.

[Blackadder51]

http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/ is an excellent (if lengthy) article on how to play Dwarf fortress the correct way.

I just read that, oh my