Print

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

[Rev Error]

Hello! I'm having some trouble understanding the role of other civilisations on the embark screen. I've searched google, these forums and the wiki but I couldn't find any info.

There are often large areas on the local map that are blocked (embark becomes greyed out when you move the local area over them, they also display a name in red type). These seem to be areas that belong to other civilisations and appear as square grey areas on the map. I'm 99% sure these areas are the settlements of other civilisations but I couldn't find any info confirming this. What effect do they have on gameplay (if any)? Is it ok to start building near them?

It's a bit of a pain as these areas seem to be taking up a lot of the best spots for a newbie to get started (even when the world is generated with a short history). I've found a few good spots until I noticed Tower as one of my neighbours (it would be useful if it was a bit more obvious that this is a source of fun). I've played DF before some time ago so I roughly know what to expect but I think a zombie attack is more fun than I can handle at the start and I don't fancy starting on a island.

p.s. this really belongs in the wiki section but the entry on http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Tower doesn't mention necromancers being a a source of fun in fortress mode. You have to read the entry on necromancers to see that they are.

p.p.s. Thanks to the community for DwarfBuilder for the mac 

[Jellycat12]

I... don't think I understand the question.

[TKGP]

Those big blocked off areas are indeed other civ sites. As long as they show up as a neighbor civilization it's not really important how close or far away you are. I like to embark right up next to dark fortresses for humor value, but it doesn't make them siege sooner or anything like that. If a civ shows up on the neighbor screen, you can interact with them. If they don't, you can't, simple as that.
You're right about the towers, though. Zombies are an enormous hassle to deal with until you can kill their necromancer (if he comes; sometimes a group of zombies will arrive by themselves and in that case they're not much worse than normal enemies). The biggest danger with embarking next to towers is that they won't bother waiting to siege you. You can get an enormous zombie siege before the first year is even out; in my experience embarking closer to the tower does influence this, but it may just be a coincidence. I wouldn't recommend it to start off with.

[Rev Error]

Great! thanks for the reply  Time to dig for some fun!