I'm still pretty new to DF and I tend to learn a few new important things in a playthrough and restart a new fort to apply what I've learned. I took this strategy with Rimworld and it worked pretty well to get me where I felt like I was good at the game.
I'm feeling pretty good about my recent DF play as well, but one thing that still has me feeling shaky are progression strategies. I've tried forts where i just dig and expand as needed to grow, which makes things pretty messy as far as layout goes. I've tried building a basic temporary fort and have my miners dig out my dream fort elsewhere. longterm that could be nice, but it takes forever.
No matter how I build, I tend to find I never feel comfortable enough to really start my industries until after the first year (that could be normal, most of my exposure to other players comes from kruggsmash).
I know in the end how I progress is up to what I want and somewhat the random nature of the game, but what strategies do you all have? How does a typical early-mid fort progress for you?
This is a complicated game that is hard to master. You don't win anything for going fast. The worst thing you can do is get too many dorfs too early and die an FPS death when learning. This is a game that can lead you to analysis paralysis very quickly because you have so many options. I suggest making yourself a list of goals early on. Those goals should focus on learning the game mechanics. How to handle aquifers (heavy and light), how to breed various types of animal, how to use pumps and water systems across z-levels and control them, how to build secure entrances, how to use various types of traps, how to create and use burrows, how to train and equip squads, how the food and alcohol system works, each of the various types of industries (wood, stone, metal, glass, pottery, etc, etc, etc). Just pick a couple and focus on those the first 2 years or so.
While doing all of this, you need to learn how to identify and solve bottlenecks in your flow. What takes a long time to do, what is fast, etc. What causes your game to slow down and how can you help fix it? (quantum stockpiles, various DFHack scripts, smaller embark sizes, lower dorf caps, etc, etc, etc).
You will also learn what you enjoy doing and managing and what you dislike and that can help drive your playstyle. If you take an interest in legends mode, you can involve yourself more in the roleplaying aspect of the game. Look for an interesting civilization or area or set of dorfs and plan your fort around that. Maybe you are an advance outpost that is working on piercing some caverns. Maybe you are in an out-of-the-way, safer place tasked with fulfilling trading requests and building out your farming and cloth industries. Maybe you are in the marches of your civ and on the border with a necro tower and some goblins and need to build a strong military. Just have a theme and a goal and that can help you with what you should focus on.
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Topic: Progressions strategies (Read 4210 times)