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[gramks2k]

I was looking around a -little- bit and I know there are some major differences but if someone much more educated on Dorf Fortress could please spell out the differences in the major versions, or point me in the direction of a write-up.. I would appreciate it.

Major functional differences, pros and cons. I have been playing 2010 and enjoying it, due to the incredible complexity. Makes me think. But I don't really enjoy having to dig through 150 Z levels to reach the bottom of the map...

[Aquillion]

2D:  Like the name says, it is two-dimensional in Dwarf Mode.  And only in dwarf mode, which might seem weird at first.

More than that, though:  Your embark location had much much less effect on the Dwarf Mode terrain.  In the 2d version, all embarks had the same basic layout:  From the left was an open area.  Then a river, then a cliff on the right, then you dig into the cliff and find (in order) an underground river, a chasm, a magma-river, and HFS.  Always, without exception, though there were some quirks that could vary it a bit (like offshoots from the chasm.)  There were some other odd 2d specific stuff, like neat-looking waterfalls falling from some undefined and nonexistent 'above' location.  The 2d version is also oooold, and many other features you're used to having would be gone in it.

40d had much less interesting stuff underground, no doctors, a much simpler military, and many other differences.  There were fewer z-levels, sure, but who cares?  There was nothing to see down there.

[Quietust]

See here for a detailed description of what was different in the 2D version. Aquillion covered most of it, but one of the other big differences was the huge number of nobles - a decent sized fortress could easily have 30 nobles, all constantly making mandates. You didn't get the Stocks screen until the Bookkeeper noble arrived, before which it was impossible to designate specific items for chasming (also no activity zones, so no reclaimable garbage dumps) or melting, and it was entirely impossible to forbid items without abandoning (unless you use this tool I wrote). During a siege, failing to order your dwarves inside would cause them to all rush out to gather the loot (and die horribly) since death drops weren't autoforbidden (again, unless you use this tool I wrote - an as-of-yet unreleased newer version works even better).

There were also lots of bugs, several of which I've personally encountered while playing it. Building a statue or window always causes the dwarf to get stuck on top of it.  Children of metalsmiths/glassmakers get stuck on the tiles of magma furnaces that are hanging over the magma, making them spam "cancels Drink: Could not find path" until you deconstruct the building and drop them into the magma to kill them. Decorating a bag with anything means you can't use it for milling or quarry bush processing. Chaining up a war dog causes them to stop breeding entirely until you buy another one from a human caravan.

[gramks2k]

So it looks like 2010 is the version for me. Lots of complexity and interesting stuff. I guess that makes sense since this is the newest version and all.

I started playing DF because of the crazy stories (Boatmurdered, and one involving an Urist, but not the original), and have always toyed with the idea of narrating a fortress through posts/screenies. Asked about the versions so that I could properly decide on which to settle in to before I start down that road.

[loose nut]

One of the things I like more about 40d is that locations are not likely to have veins of everything you could possibly want just popping out of the hills at you, and in fact some materials you were just going to have to mine for years to find, or trade for, or just have to do without entirely. It seems more "realistic" that a given location would rely on a limited variety of trade goods.