Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[AdeleneDawner]

Where are you getting confused?

[immibis]

DF does indeed have a very steep learning curve. More of a cliff, really.

You don't need to follow AdeleneDawner's suggestion about making spiral staircases if you don't want to - it doesn't really serve any purpose other than looking nice in your imagination (and various visualiser programs)

[dirty foot]

Where are you getting confused?

In order to read the game better, I went and immediately installed a graphics mod when I started playing. I'm noticing that while helpful in-game, reading what people use to signify items/locations is amazingly difficult for me.

[Dorf3000]

Thanks for the help guys. I think I figured out the issue, but I'm concerned that the game doesn't let me know when I destroy the function of a ramp. What I was doing was alternating back and forth (north one tile, move next layer down, then one tile south). MY spatial understanding of the game is still iffy, but I assume what I did was create a channel that was more than two layers in depth.

I was burying my miners alive.

You almost got it right.  You can dig like that if you move north one tile, down, then east, down, south, down, west, down, and continue like that.  Then you have each ramp against a wall, with the top of the wall open to walk on (it will be the next ramp up, but it is still walkable).  The wall can be on any of the 8 surrounding tiles to work but it needs a space above.  You also need the space above the ramp to be open, but the dwarves dig it out automatically when they make the ramp.

What's really going to get you mad later on is trying to figure out how a creature got somewhere they shouldn't via a ramp that you think is completely blocked off...

[Nameless Archon]

Where are you getting confused?

In order to read the game better, I went and immediately installed a graphics mod when I started playing. I'm noticing that while helpful in-game, reading what people use to signify items/locations is amazingly difficult for me.

So did I (the ASCII gives me headaches). The basic premise is that with ramps, you need to butt them against a solid wall piece, with open space above it.

Side view of functional ramp:
(This will work, with W representing a solid, un-dug piece of ground or a constructed wall.)

Code: [Select]

  /W
/WWW
Side view of NON-FUNCTIONAL ramps:
(This will not work, with _ representing a floor (natural or constructed) and / representing a ramp.)

Code: [Select]

_/_
/___
How you arrange these is up to you, but always keep in mind that a ramp onto a floor-only piece will NOT work. I often use a spiral ramp for my main fortress entrance, and a 3x3 up-down staircase for the interior areas that only my dwarves should enter.

Staircases, similarly, require that you have both an up and a down connecting. An upstairs with no downstairs above it cannot be ascended by dwarves. A downstairs with no upstairs below it cannot be descended (unless you can fly or burrow through the rock below). An up-down staircase works identically to this, but represents both an upstairs AND a downstairs on the same floor tile, allowing both an upstair below it and a downstair above it to both function correctly.

So, for stairs, these are not-functional stairs in side-view:
(downstairs with no upstairs below - dwarves can't descend, flying critters can enter from below)

Code: [Select]

V_____
Upstairs with no downstairs above, dwarves can't ascend. Flying critters can enter if there's no floor above the stairs.)

Code: [Select]

____
^
These are functional, in side view:
Single matching up-down pair on different floors.

Code: [Select]

V_
^_Alternating up-down pairs, note that they're matched above-below.

Code: [Select]

V_
^V
_^
Finally, a three-floor staircase:

Code: [Select]

V___
X___
^___Where V is a downstair, ^ is an upstair, X is an up-down stair, and _ represents a floor (natural or constructed).

Hopefully, that's clearer. (...and welcome to Dwarf Fortress, where the answer is always Magma.)

[Raufgar]

I'm going to need to look up a video of what you just said, because I am entirely confused now.

Maybe I'm diving in too quickly, lol.

That's the best way to learn Dwarf Fortress, actually

Still, if you like some pointers, a fella called 51ppycup helped me a lot Hint: Start from the first one, don't skip. You'll find there are tricks and tips that help a lot.

Also, I highly recommend this pack for new players.

Of course, if you prefer to avoid hand-holding, this location is the DF Bible.