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[Shroomie]

Hey.

I just found and downloaded Dwarf Fortress. Haven't actually started it yet, but it looks pretty ducking complicated. More complicated then I've ever seen a game be.

So, I realize that there are two modes and opened up both adventure and fortress mode Quick Start guides, because I think it's a little pointless and masochistic to start the most complicated game I've ever seen without one. Anyway, I bet the people who are on these forums have pushed trough the scary first impression to get to the awesomeness I've heard about Dwarf Fortress, so I'd like to ask - should I start with Fortress or Adventure mode? I have to say, Adventure mode does sound much more alluring.

Oh, and any other kind of tips are welcome!

Cheers.

-New guy

[dexxy]

fortress

[slink]

 Only you can answer that question.  Which sort of game do you prefer, a city builder game (fortress mode) or an RPG (adventure mode)?

[Garath]

how about a compromise. Your first game will be A, when it fails (not if, when), switch to the other mode etc etc. Keep it in one world and you'll actually get people talking about old forts/adventurers, statues showing your epic axedwarf adventurer taking out a minotaur in your fort etc.

Most scary bit is the interface, don't worry, you'll get used to it.

Lastly, the wiki is your friend, you need the wiki, read the wiki, feel the wiki, obey the wiki, worship the wiki

If you don't understand the wiki or it isn't working or what you need simply isn't there, feel free to ask here. For small questions, please use the "DF2012 0.34 questions and answers thread" thread. If you have a lot of questions or it's more complicated, new threads are better

Now have fun and remember, losing IS fun. If you start 4 forts only to fail for a different reason every time, you're doing fine, it's called learning curve. If 5 adventurers die within minutes, it's normal.

One small hint for adventure mode: practice up a bit on small animals first, but avoid "stray" animals. They belong to a village and they'll all become hostile if you attack them. And with all I mean all the villages, towns, castles and cities.

When choosing an animal to attack consider several things: how big is it? A dwarf is half the size of a human, human size, well, you probably know. If the animal is a lot bigger, you might get knocked down a lot. Could be a problem if you get knocked off a cliff or in a river. Next, Horns and hooves? They can be deadly. Yaks are some of the deadliest 'normal' animals you'll see being big (well, bigger than the adventurer), having horns and having hooves. I've lost more than one master axe fighter to them.

[Azated]

Adventure mode is alot easier to get started with, but it's very different to fortress mode. You're only controlling one character instead of several hundred dwarves that demand you pay special attention to each and every one of them or they'll go on a murderous rampage and kill everything in sight with complete disregard for their own wellbeing.

It's like an RTS of little Tyrion Lannisters on bath salts.

[HiEv]

For what it's worth, the game is still in beta, so there's a lot more work on it to be done.  At this point though, more work has been done towards fortress mode than adventurer mode (though adventurer mode has been catching up a lot lately).  I'd recommend fortress mode, but it really depends on which style of gameplay you prefer.

Have fun!

[atazs]

Adventure mode is alot easier to get started with

How is it easier? I have found no adventure mode tutorials on the internet while theres hundreds of tutorials for fortress mode... I can play fortress mode without problems but i dont know anything about adventure mode

[quarague]

adventure mode is easier because all you have to know is the key bindings (which are available in in game help) then you can start to walk around, kill things and talk to people. That are all the basics to learn, all the other things are content that you might want to experience and figure out for yourself or look up specific things on the wiki or ask questions here.
Starting a functioning dwarf fortress is much harder, just digging a whole in the ground is not enough, so there are lots of guides to what else you should do in the beginning.

[caddybear]

Adventure mode is nice and all but I'd wait a few more versions to really get to it. Without the world being alive ( which is being worked on right now in fact ) it's just a roguelike. It will get much better by this time next year though.

Fortress mode is where the meat is at right now ( Dwarf FORTRESS, duh ) but it's also much more complicated and harder to learn. ,

So yeah, whatever you feel like doing is the best. I like having an adventurer in a world before I start a fort to prepare a bit of background and maybe having her migrate to my fort later on if I'm lucky.