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[Zemouregal]

Hey, I started playing DF around 5 days ago. I had 5 fortresses so far, the first ruined by starvation, second by thirst, third by a berserk guy, fourth by goblin invasion, and now Im on my fith and want to do better.

This is my fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Soon-To-Be Walled in


Farm


Honest Workmen and 'Factory Floor'


Pesky Nobles


Storeroom

I have a militia consisting of two people, the Commander and a Captain.

Its Summer of Year 2, made the fortress completely in year 1.

What should I do?

[Astrid]

Depends on your taste really.

Place traps around your entrance and/or rely on your soldiers.
For your next fort i'd say place main living spaces within stone instead of soil layers.
Those Hoppleheads love stone around them.

You could try yourself at making an underground water cistern for emergenzy water supply.

[greycat]

What should I do?

1) Physical security.  Make sure you have a way to survive ambushes and sieges.  Make sure you can also survive wildlife, from the surface, and from the caverns (if the caverns have been opened).  This could be a large, well-equipped, well-trained militia, or it could be a wall with a raising drawbridge, or a huge trap corridor, or other defenses.

2) Food.  This is usually simple, but it can't be neglected.  Food can come from farm plots (aboveground or underground), animal butchering/slaughtering, eggs, or herb gathering.  Some things must be processed and/or cooked.  Some can be eaten directly.

3) Drink.  Preferably alcohol, or your dwarves will be unhappy and will slow down.  Alcohol comes from plants, which in turn come from farm plants or herb gathering.  You'll need large pots or barrels to hold it.  Large pots can be made from stone, or from wood.  Barrels can be made from wood, or from metal.  (Don't waste metal on this.  Use rock pots.)

4) Happiness.  Dwarves who are unhappy can be a bigger threat to your fortress than external invasions.  Security, food and drink will prevent some unhappiness.  Clothing is also critically important after the first two years.  A large, smoothed, well-furnished dining hall is a great happiness booster.  Individual bedrooms are preferred if you can afford the wood for all those beds.  A large, smoothed, well-furnished sculpture garden (which can have other things besides just statues in it) is an excellent place for your dwarves to idle.

Everything else is pretty optional.

[rjs71053]

Three things struck me right away.

1)  Get building the surface defenses right away.  Two untrained beards in non-masterwork iron gear are not going to be able to stop an ambush that walked through your one door and started stabbing dogs.  Start making wooden cages and/or giant spiked balls.  Get masons to finish that wall ASAP (use blocks, not rocks).  Get dwarfs working on the Mechanisms for the traps.  Get miners digging a 3 wide trench (moat) at least 10 tiles away from your wall (leave at least a 3 tile wide space across for the caravans).  Don't forget to get rid of the ramps.  Put traps at the entrance to your moat bridge, as well as some pastured animals.  Leave space (3 wide) for caravan snaking through the traps.  When your wall is done, pick a place for an opening, build a 3 wide raising (not retractable) bridge for access. 

As long as you have enough traps around your only entrance in the right place, they should be able to handle any low-med threat.

2)  The fort, while designed with precision and thought, seems too small in scale.  I'm sure it works great with 25 dwarfs, but unless you plan on setting your migration low, plan on room for 200+.  Plan on expanding everything, including staircases, workshop area, farms, and stockpiles.  Use your super organized brain to figure in more staircases per horizontal tile area.  For example, you want your working dwarfs to walk right down to a stock pile.  Not 25 tiles to a staircase, 25 tiles across to a stone, 25 more back to staircase, then 25 more back to the workshop.  If its a heavy piece of metal or some such, it will increase production time many-fold.

3)  As Astrid said, its best to dig the fort right out of the stone.  You can use a lot of stone blocks and (your personal) time to build stone walls and floors around your dwarfs if you want, it will help, but its easier to start there already.  The downside is, especially trying to get shallow metals, you will have to mine out around your fort a great deal to get the good stuff.  This, again, can be fixed constructing walls, but it makes the game look bad IMHO.

Some other stuff to think on, though not a priority:

1) Surface plant farms can have massive output.  Think about incorporating them.
2) You should use a barrel-less stockpile for seeds.  Much better, fixes bug.
3) It will be hard to get those noble rooms up to snuff for higher end ones.  Might want to think of something bigger and better.
4) Be sure to have doors around your stair entrance to surface.  Some bad things can fly right over walls, may be able to break down doors as well.
5) Think of other fun rooms for your dwarfs to hang out in.  Statue gardens, memorials for the fallen heroes, and Zoos for fun and profit!
6) Don't forget to have areas for your military dwarfs to do military stuff.  Archery range and multiple barracks are a must.  Think about a live training arena for captured animals and goblins.  Remember you will have to keep that clean as well.
7)  Hospital will need fresh water, you will need a cave source if you have no river etc. on map.  Get exploring.
8 )  On the exploration note, you are going to want an underground entrance just as well guarded as your surface entrance.  Will save on the fun when dangerous things happen.

Could add a lot of other things, but this is pretty much TL:DR already.

Good luck!

[Zemouregal]

Ive been trying to find an optimal performance land base, this one I tried using a whole forest instead of a mountain, because whenever I used mountains I couldn't farm, plus I think I could see whats going on better than anything else. Though, there are a few hills nearby completely consisting of dirt.

I think I have a stable farm program going, except I would like to introduce a textile industry soon.

There's a ton of hematite and tetrahedrite under the fortress, and fortunately it was built over a completely shale rock body, except for the dirt, sand and clay.

I haven't put much thought in a water system, whenever I try to use it it usually ends me.

The Militia Commander is a spear user, the captain is an archer.

Those dogs there are for Kobold thieves and Goblin thieves, and from my 4th fortress they tear through them like crazy(All their limbs were ripped off).

Traps? Those exist? How and what should I use?

Im only into my fourth migration wave (15-29 Dwarves), and I don't think I have much of a militia to build on to, though I do have the resources to build an iron-plated heavy armor division. Right now I have a leather/spear division(1st Animal-Dressers) And the archers (1st Eagle-Eyes).

Surface farming doesn't work well on my terrain, its riddled with pebbles. Plus they're too preoccupied with Plump Helmets.

How should I store my seeds?

How big should a noble room be?

Ive have built a burial ground in a mountain on the 4th fortress, it was in a grove and full of plants. Ill appoint to make one soon, but how do I make a bloody zoo? Is that even possible?

Ill stop wall construction and make Shale Blocks soon. I'm planning to expand the wall into what me and my sister thought would be fun to do, three sectors for some reason. And with knowing traps, make some drawbridge into a ditch full of spikes maybe?

Or should I just get a fresh start?

[rjs71053]

Ive been trying to find an optimal performance land base, this one I tried using a whole forest instead of a mountain, because whenever I used mountains I couldn't farm, plus I think I could see whats going on better than anything else. Though, there are a few hills nearby completely consisting of dirt.

Don't worry about computer performance right away, learn to build what you want first.  Forests, with the soil, easy access to wood, and animal life are a good place for anyone to build pretty much anything though.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Embark  Read up on "Choosing a site" for more details.

I think I have a stable farm program going, except I would like to introduce a textile industry soon.

Your farms aren't "wrong", just not as big as your going to need when you have 200 more dwarfs then you do now.  Especially if your making clothes out of plants.  The trick to good farming is having a few legendary farmers, not a lot of mediocre ones.

There's a ton of hematite and tetrahedrite under the fortress, and fortunately it was built over a completely shale rock body, except for the dirt, sand and clay.

Excellent place to expand your fortress into then.  Tetrahedrite is my favorite ore.  Not just because its fun to say, but because you can make mass produce metal traps out of the copper, and make shiny stuff for the fort out of the silver.

I haven't put much thought in a water system, whenever I try to use it it usually ends me.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Reservoir  You need water for medical purposes.  Maybe in some sort of trap or cleaning as well.  I make arenas I can flood clean.  The trick is just make sure you have a way to close off the water intake fast, and not to over fill the Cistern.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Lever

The Militia Commander is a spear user, the captain is an archer.

Not a bad start.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Military

Those dogs there are for Kobold thieves and Goblin thieves, and from my 4th fortress they tear through them like crazy(All their limbs were ripped off).

Don't get me wrong, dog herds are useful. Ive had them hold off a Roc once while the archers got into place.  But dog teeth are less useful when 20 goblins wearing full iron armor suits show up.   http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Siege

Traps? Those exist? How and what should I use?

My computer screen swam when I read that.  When used correctly, traps can be so powerful that some people consider it to be cheating.  I use lots of serrated disc weapon traps personally.   Cage traps capture a lot of things, though some things, like thieves, are immune.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Trap

Im only into my fourth migration wave (15-29 Dwarves), and I don't think I have much of a militia to build on to, though I do have the resources to build an iron-plated heavy armor division. Right now I have a leather/spear division(1st Animal-Dressers) And the archers (1st Eagle-Eyes).

Ill refer you to the military page again.  Crossbow dwarfs are very powerful when shooting from a safe place, so it makes a good start.  With lots of traps, I don't start building a big military until I have over 100 dwarfs.

Surface farming doesn't work well on my terrain, its riddled with pebbles. Plus they're too preoccupied with Plump Helmets.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Crop   http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Farming

Don't worry if your surface farms look like swiss cheese, your dwarfs will use them just fine. Try and Designate plant gathering job over the area you want to build, it will help. I like surface plants better because they all can be grown year around, instead of just certain months.  Keep in mind that surface plants can be grown underground as well, so long as the tile is exposed to sunlight first.  You can build a floor (which will then be a ceiling) over the farms after.  It just needs that one exposure.

How should I store my seeds?

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles 

There is a bug due to hauling that will slow planters down when using a stockpile with barrels allowed.  Make a custom stockpile that excepts only seeds (in the food sub-menu of the custom stockpile screen), then disallow all barrels.  "Q" over the stockpile lets you change settings like that.  I think its upper case C, maybe not, just look at the menu next to the words Barrels, above Bins

How big should a noble room be?

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Noble#Needs 

Not something you really need to be worried about right now, give it a couple years or so.  Nobles count how much there room is worth, so it's not "bigness" so much as ease of stuffing it full of high quality furniture.  Size definitely counts for worth though, don't get me wrong.  The way you have them set up, in dirt that can't be engraved, means the rooms are already worth less then they would be in just raw stone.  To make it work, you ill need a lot of masterwork Iron furniture for the higher levels (like duke).

Ive have built a burial ground in a mountain on the 4th fortress, it was in a grove and full of plants. Ill appoint to make one soon, but how do I make a bloody zoo? Is that even possible?

Of COURSE its possible, this is DWARF FORTRESS  

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Zoo   http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Sculpture_garden  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Tomb  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Memorial

Ill stop wall construction and make Shale Blocks soon. I'm planning to expand the wall into what me and my sister thought would be fun to do, three sectors for some reason. And with knowing traps, make some drawbridge into a ditch full of spikes maybe?

TOTALLY do whatever you think will be fun to do, if three sectors does it for you, go for it.  You really have to play the way you want to, or else its just a chore.  Personally, I like building things.  Not so big on the military, its a little wonky.  That means I rely heavily on traps and bridges and walls to keep the dwarfs safe.  You may find you like the military though, it is very powerful when done right.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Defense_guide

You want blocks because they are 1/4 the weight of the stone, and it will get hauled by hand faster.  Also its more efficient material wise.  A ditch full of spikes is also quite doable if you wish.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Trap#Upright_Spear.2FSpike  Will be a little hard to get a bridge to drop them onto it though.  Drawbridges tend to "fling" small things like goblins around.  But hey, they got to land somewhere.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Bridge

Or should I just get a fresh start?

I wouldn't.  Think of it as a challenge to make what is already a good start even better, with more dwarfie knowledge then you had before.  Like you did with your other tries, just keep going until the fun ends.

[Ai Shizuka]

You seem to have WAY too many workshops.
I play with a cap of 100 dwarves and never build multiple copies of the same workshop, except:
- craftdwarf shop, but it's more an organizational thing, one for the stonecrafter and one for the bonecrafter
- magma forges, same as above. If I get multiple moods, every legendary dwarf gets his forge. If not, I usually train one to be armorer/weaponsmith and a second one to be the blacksmith/metalcrafter (metalcrafter mostly for flavor, it isn't really necessary) and both get their own forge
- usually two smelters because untrained furnace operators are awfully slow, but later a single high level smelter is enough
- glass furnaces if I'm developing the glass industry: one for the actual crafting and three more to queue collect sand/R
- mason shops, usually two if I need to spam blocks for some project, but a single legendary is enough to provide furniture for everyone

I can't imagine needing more than a single copy of the following workshops, up to 200 dwarves.
- still. With 100 dwarves I usually drown in an obscene surplus of plants and drinks, with two legendary planters (with everything except planting disabled) and a single brewer, wich I usually use as broker. Usually with three 5x5 farms. For 200 I'd obviously have more farms, but still a single brewer. At high levels, I often have to suspend the job because he's producing too much.
- mechanics
- kitchen
- carpenter. Beds and bins, that's it.
- jeweler's shop

The thing is, I love to specialize my dwarves. The important jobs are assigned to dedicated dwarves, doing that job only. I usually embark with two miners and a planter, and these three get all the jobs disabled on day one. I gradually disable hauling jobs on all the important dwarves, as I get more migrants.
When I decide to start the cloth industry, I pick three dwarves and specialize them. One process plants, the second weaves the thread into cloth and the third becomes a clothier. Everyone with his workshop, linked to a stockpile. Usually the first two are legendary in less than a year, followed by the third in a few more seasons.

A legendary X doing only his job will always be more efficient than three proficient X with all jobs enabled. And it has the advantage of allowing more compact and organized working areas.
I hate watching youtubers spamming breweries or kitchens, thinking it will help with food supplies. It's not necessary, it adds clutters, it's inefficient and usually the result of poor planning.



Also, I don't like digging my dining room and bedrooms in dirt layers.
Actually lately I've been digging everything in stone, except a 11x11 room for farms and the biggest possible tree farm.
But that's up to your personal taste.


Another thing I see rarely mentioned about defense.
My entrance is usually 3 tiles wide and I always set up a very simple but 100% reliable ambush detector:
- build or dig a 3x1 room somewhere 1 z-level above the beginning of your entrance
- channel the floor in the 3x1 room
- put floor grates in it
- set three single-tile pastures (one on each floor grate) with a single non-grazing animal in it
- close the room with a door

The three animals will detect every single thief, snatcher and ambush from above, while being completely safe and locked in their little room.  If you place it in the right place, you'll never be caught with your pants down.

[Zemouregal]

This all really seems complex, but Ill try it. Im probably going to modify my current fort to do that.

But it all seems to far out of reach now, where should I make a new fortress anyway?

[Zemouregal]

Oh crap, the captain got stabbed by a Kobold.

[rjs71053]

The forests you have been embarking on are just fine.  Try and make sure there is a river, stream or brook to get unlimited water right off the bat.  Read through the embark page on the wiki for any advanced help, such as how to actually understand the information the screens can give you. 

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Embark

As for complexity, yes, Dwarf Fortress is more complicated then an easy game like Crusader Kings 2 or Dark Souls.  The thing is, most of it is tied up in the menu based command system.  Once you get a handle on what the different menus mean and do, you will realize most anything that needs to be done is just a couple of button pushes away.

Keep asking for help on the forums when needed, and keep the Wiki bookmarked, and I'm sure you will be fine with a little patients and perseverance. 

[Zemouregal]

Then again I play Touhou, Garry's Mod and some other sandboxes and a few FPS games. This is new and I have never played a manager game either. But I think its fun off the bat!

[Ai Shizuka]

It seems complicated at first. It's the beauty of dwarf fortress.
Just don't try to do everything at once.
Implement stuff as you need it, in modular steps. Learn how an industry works, then move on.

A good example is food. At the beginning you don't need to process plants or cook anything. You can just slaughter the two starting animals and be set for a few seasons. And if everything fails, you can always rely on plump helmets. Later you can gradually add eggs, a breeding program, processed quarry bushes, all the fancy stuff.
When you have estabilished a stable supply of food and drinks, decide what's next. Of course you'll always have to do some masonry and carpentry at the beginning, but when the basics are down you can branch.
The 'big' things, in my opinion, are:
- clothing industry
- metal industry
- military.

Clothing industry may seem complicated, but you'll realize it's pretty straightforward. You can literally dress an entire fort with three dwarves.
Metal depends on our choice: wood vs magma. But it simply boils down to a big stockpile for metal ores (don't forget wheelbarrows) with a couple smelters and forges around it.
And you seem to already have the basics for a working military.

Most other industries aren't really necessary for a stable fort.
I mean stuff like jewelry, animal training, fishing, leather and boneworking, glassmaking. You don't need this stuff in a young fort. Just add it later when you have the basics down. You'll soon realize how most 'industries' just require one or two dwarves in a well-organized area.



And don't restart, imo. Play your current fort for a few years to see what's working and what's not.

[greycat]

- mason shops, usually two if I need to spam blocks for some project, but a single legendary is enough to provide furniture for everyone

I prefer to make one mason's shop per type of stone that I intend to use.  My stone stockpiles are hollow 5x5 rings surrounding their respective mason's shops, with 2 wheelbarrows apiece, accepting only one type of stone.  That was I can churn out consistently-colored doors, or tables, or blocks, or whatever.  It may not be optimal, but it works for me.

[Ai Shizuka]

Yes I usually do something similar.
A big stockpile with a single stone type (usually some shade of gray) for the mason(s) and another stockpile with all the multicolored crap stone for the stonecrafter and mechanics.

When I want different colors I set it up in a very similar way as yours.