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[Mostali]

Just seeking general advice.  I've taken a long break - like 9-10 months - and I want to try the new build.  I'm somewhat paralyzed though.  I've gone to the world creation screen several times and I sit and look at it for several minutes, then wander off to do something else.  My inner voice keeps saying, 'just make a world, save it, embark, save it again, then just play - you'll get ideas'.  But it hasn't worked so far.  I guess it's very similar to writer's block.

Anyone else had this?  What did you do to get past it?

[Xyon]

I guess I haven't really had this problem before. Can you describe why you feel like this? Are you worried you won't like the world you create?

[Pancakes]

I get that feeling quite often, actually. I find a good way to get past it is to

• Read the legends for a bit, and get a bit invested in the world
• Make time to play. Planning to play for a while in one sitting, for whatever reason, gets me into the game.
• Have a goal, like a booming cut clear glass gem industry
• Try new things. I recently have gotten into the habit of only importing steel ingots and not melting any steel items down, which gives my industries something to work for. Plus, it feels good :p
• Use a mechanic in the game you haven't tried before. After setting up my manager to run multiple industries automatically, I literally sat for several in-game years just watching my fortress operate without any input (except for trading)
• Try a new fort design. I get into the bad habit of making the same fortress over and over, and that is a major contributor to why I get burned out sometimes.
• Mod the game a little bit. I usually allow war/hunting training on all animals, and being able to use a new war creature is something that keeps me on my toes while I play.

I hope that helps a bit. I run into that problem and know how frustrating it can be. DF is amazing fun, but sometimes you need to approach it in a new way to appreciate it, or come in with a different mindset.

[Salmeuk]

You're at the point that the game itself is not as important to your entertainment as the narrative structures you build around it. Take up writing and use DF as a vessel for your stories, or search through wikipedia's history and find some random event / time / castle / town that you want to recreate.

I am like you, where I need something more to drawn me in these days, something beyond what is simulated in the game.

Or just do your best to forget about DF for a year or three until Myth & Magic.

[Civillain]

If you want to try out the new things, I would say that just coming up with one thing you want to do or mechanic you want to play with could be a good place to start. The wiki is great for coming up with inspiration for things like that! It doesn't need to be a big commitment, just something small can work. Once you're playing then hopefully you'll be pulled back into the game. If you're really not feeling it though, then play something else until inspiration hits! I find that Dwarf Fortress is a game that you need a bit of inspiration and direction to play. If you really feel like you're needing to force yourself, then go play something else! Gaming shouldn't feel like a chore, and Dwarf Fortress will always be here waiting for when you do feel like playing it.

[fehtuh]

I find it helps to take time to immerse yourself in the world.  Whenever I gen a world I'll take a look in legends viewer and  take a few notes on each civ:
- native pop
-other race pop and majority race
-isolation from other civs
-rival civs and repeated beast attacks
-wars and their outcomes
- interesting rulers (e.g. necromancers, elf king of dwarves etc)

I then know the isolated civs to ignore and the ones that are interesting enough to try and have a role in their history. Obviously this is time consuming so I'm far more likely to have multiple forts and adventurers in one world rather than multiple worlds.