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[NFB]

Hey everyone. I played DF literally years ago. I liked it but eventually moved on, and the lack of graphics stopped me from going back. Now though I'm thinking of taking it up again, but I'm wondering about some of the things that have changed, so I'm hoping it's okay to ask you fine denizens of this forum to tell me a bit on how the game has evolved over the years.

1) I'm a strategy gamer at heart, so the main thing that interested me was always building up mighty fortresses and grand empires. So one of the things that made me leave DF was that there wasn't much to do after having a semi-functional fortress except abandon it and start over, which makes things feel kinda pointless. I saw you could now retire fortresses which should help a lot. But how much is there to this feature? Do you actually have an impact on the world? Can you say, make several fortresses, retire them, and by doing so create an effective Dwarven Kingdom? Or do you effectively make no difference?

2) Graphic wise, how have things developed? I remember there were some mods that made awesome isometric graphics, but back when I still played those were just visualisations outside of the game client. Have there been any improvements that integrate them so you could pay through them, or are you still stuck with the old DF game screen and can at best have a second screen visualising things?

I hope it's okay asking this. I know I could probably dig up this information if I go through all the changelogs of the past few years. But I'd rather ask the fans and get some first hand knowledge. 

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

I'm not really sure about retiring but you can get in game graphic packs that will improve graphics.

[krenshala]

Retiring the fort is something for the next release, assuming Toady has it implemented already (which I believe he does).  This next update will also have the goblin, dwarf and elven sites actually have something there instead just being empty wilderness like it is now (human sites actually exist, but nobody else, currently).

Isometric and other "3D" visualizations still require external software.  Most (all?) read from a running game, however, so it is entirely possible to have both going at once, especially if you have  dual monitor setup.  Damn, saying that and I'm tempted to steal my son's monitor to try that.

There are a number of very nice graphics packs (Phoebus that I use and contributed to, Ironhand with its very nice looking dwarf icons, and others). Quite a few of the best are included in the Lazy Newb Pack from what I understand. It also includes Dwarf Therapist (considered required software by some, and useful by just about everyone) as well as Stonesese (isometric visualizer), and I don't know what else.

With the upcoming update, not to mention the vampire/were-beast/minecart additions from the last one, I think you've picked the right time to rejoin the ranks.

[NFB]

Retiring the fort is something for the next release, assuming Toady has it implemented already (which I believe he does).  This next update will also have the goblin, dwarf and elven sites actually have something there instead just being empty wilderness like it is now (human sites actually exist, but nobody else, currently).

[...]

With the upcoming update, not to mention the vampire/were-beast/minecart additions from the last one, I think you've picked the right time to rejoin the ranks.

Thanks! I'll wait for the next update and give it a go then.