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[Zarium]

Hi, I d/l'ed DF off the site about a week ago, and I have a ton of newbie questions I cant find in the wiki. Basically they all based on the three fortress spots i have tried so far.

The first was a volcano island.
 
 This fortress went surprisingly well, but I don't think I could get any immigrants, is it possible to get them on a island even is one edge of the map is land covered? Secondly I went looking for my volcano only to discovered it was under an obsidian cap under water, is that a bug? It showed up as a volcano on the big map.

My second try was on a road square, which happen to have a brook, and a magma vent. Only when I embarked I discovered that the 'rock' was just a flat path with a bridge, that the brook was frozen all but 3 months of the year, and between the chasms, and the magma vent I had a massive list of nasty stuff in the area.

  My first problem here is that my trade depot is never accessible, even when I built it on the so called road! Secondly as per the wiki instructions I used magma to melt the brook, but it refroze with active magma still under it. Lastly when I tried to reclaim the fortress after abandoning it for a lack of food, I found out that my manager wouldn't manage without a office. Only problem is I needed him to order up a chair to make the office! Is there anyway to reduce the size of your returning party?

My current map is a swamp! Its so flat the surface has 2 z levels and a ton of ponds. Its has layers from all four groups and a enough soil/trees to give an elf an enamma.

 On the bright side the soft soil makes for a quickly dug fortress on the down side my soil made ramps seem to keep clasping can anyone tell me why? That and I can't put fortifications in soil, also I can't seem to find the local aquifer. That mite normally not be a bad thing, but there this brook on the highest underground z-level I want to turn into a water fall without turning my dwarven fortress into a dwarven swimming pool. Lastly will obsidian grates melt and my trade depot still isn't accessible. I mean this maps ALMOST flat for crying out loud. Any advice?

p.s. This graphics really look great on my 26 inch HDTV screen 

[Leonidas]

I prefer a flat map over a hilly one.  It's much easier to track things.

[Ivefan]

<D> to check if a wagon can path to your depot, you'll need a 3 tiles wide road free from trees and rock reaching to the edge of the map.
Soil cannot be smoothed nor carved into fortifications due to being to soft, You'll need to construct fortifications uild, <C>onstruct, <F>ortification.
Obsidian will smelt in magma. Iron, steel & Bauxite will not.

And you dont need to make orders through the manager screen, simply go to the workshop and <a>dd whatever you need built

[Footkerchief]

2.1 http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Trade_depot#Wagons

2.3 You can create jobs at workshops directly, without the manager, by 'q'-ing over a building.

3.1 Dirt isn't a good construction material

3.2 The aquifer might not cover your entire map, or you might not be digging deep enough

3.3 Obsidian grates will almost certainly melt

[Magua]

This fortress went surprisingly well, but I don't think I could get any immigrants, is it possible to get them on a island even is one edge of the map is land covered? Secondly I went looking for my volcano only to discovered it was under an obsidian cap under water, is that a bug? It showed up as a volcano on the big map.

I don't play on islands, usually, but I've read that the dwarven caravan and migrants can always find you.  How much time has gone by in the fortress?  'z' to get the year and season.  I wouldn't worry about this until summer of your second year.

As for the volcano...hey, it just says there's a magma pipe, not necessarily that it'll be easy to get to.  You can still dig to it.

My second try was on a road square, which happen to have a brook, and a magma vent. Only when I embarked I discovered that the 'rock' was just a flat path with a bridge, that the brook was frozen all but 3 months of the year, and between the chasms, and the magma vent I had a massive list of nasty stuff in the area.

Access to the depot can be blocked by boulders, trees, etc.  Ivefan and Footkerchief covered this well enough.

You don't say why you want to melt the brook, but if you want to keep water from freezing, get it somewhere subterranean.  Temperature doesn't vary underground. 

The job manager is good when you want a lot of something, and don't care the particulars.  But it's bad if you tend to want one thing, *right now*, or want specifics (making sure it's made by a really skilled worker, or with a specific item type). 

Chasms tend to have nasty stuff.  That's what makes them fun.

On the bright side the soft soil makes for a quickly dug fortress on the down side my soil made ramps seem to keep clasping can anyone tell me why?

Ramps do not provide support.  The two usual reasons for ramps causing collapsing is you dug ramps all around a tree, or you dug ramps that cut off an overhang.  Both are annoying.  Except for getting a path to your trade depot, if needed, I would recommend using stairs instead of ramps, as they provide support, and so do not cause this problem.

The aquifer is not going to help you make a waterfall. =P

I would imagine your trade route is blocked by trees. 

[scribbler]

There's a command to show trade depot accessability. Just use that and see where it goes from green to red. And remember, wagons need a 3 tile wide path to reach the depot.