Here, I wrote this one.
Greetings! Welcome to the wonderful world of beating people to death with their own children, otherwise known as Dwarf Fortress: Adventure mode. Seeing as Dwarf fortress is quite the complex game, even in the relatively more simple adventure mode, this tutorial will attempt to guide you through the process of creating your character and offer advice on how to play. Most things found within this guide are simply suggestions and are by no means set in stone; feel free to explore and experiment as you wish.
1. What is Dwarf Fortress: Adventure mode?
Adventure mode is the sister mode to Fortress mode and is considered more in line with traditional rouge-likes, such as ADOM or Dungeon Crawl. Simply put, it's a game where you create a character and guide them through any sort of adventures you wish to have in the procedurally generated world of DF.
2. Whats the difference between Fortress mode and Adventure mode?
Very little from fortress mode caries over to adventure mode. You control a single person directly, rather then an entire group indirectly, and the focus is much more on exploration and combat then creation. Where as Fortress mode allows players to make their mark on the world through architecture and commerce, Adventure mode allows players to make their mark on the world by way of a sturdy ax and the eviscerated bodies of dragons, ogres, minotaurs and unsuspecting villagers.
3. How do I get started?
To play adventure mode all you need is a currently unused world, meaning you can't play adventure mode on a world you're currently playing a fortress on. All you have to do is gen a new world (or choose a currently unused one) and then select “Start playing” and “Adventurer.”
CHARACTER GENERATION
Race, Civilization, and StatusAfter you select Adventurer you will be brought to a screen which asks you to select a race, civilization and status. This screen also displays a small map which highlights the area civilization you select controls. Up and down arrows control the race and civ select while + and – controls status selection. If you're on a laptop you'll probably need to use the Function (Fn) key in conjunction with / (for plus) and ; (for minus) to control the status selection.
Race: In the vanilla game you'll be given the choice between Elf, Dwarf, and Human. Which race you chose will effect the skills and equipment you can use, as well as other stats. The races basically break down as follows
Dwarf: Uses small sized armor and clothing, meaning they can't wear any armor that is sold in shops, though they can loot it off of dead goblins or other similar sized enemies. They have slightly higher natural defense then the other races and can go into martial trances which increase their fighting abilities for a short time. They're also the only race that can start with steel equipment. They tend to be slower then the other races though, and their small size makes them prone to greater injury. They can only wield certain weapons, such as axes and short swords, and must hold normal human weapons such as long swords in both hands.
Elf: Uses small armor like dwarves, but starts with vastly inferior wooden equipment, meaning that finding new gear is top priority. Elves are naturally quite agile, allowing them to dodge more effectively then the other races and attack and move more quickly. This speed combined with higher level armor and weapons can make an elf adventurer quite formidable, but the early days before acquiring these items can be difficult.
Human: Starts with bronze and iron equipment and uses normal sized armor and clothing, the type which is sold in towns. Relatively balanced in terms of natural attributes and has the largest variety of weapon skills, allowing them to wield practically anything. The ability to actually buy usable equipment from stores will help a more “non-genocidal” adventurer obtain armor and weapons, while being part of a human civ means starting in human civ areas, which in turn means being near shelter for when the night comes.
Civilization: Right now, civilization isn't really used for much beyond two things: Starting location and other civ's opinion of you. You can see the area a civ controls highlighted on the map to the right, and choosing that civ means spawning anywhere in that highlighted area. As such, it's probably not best to chose a civ that is a million miles from any other civ or located entirely on an island far from the mainland, as it will restrict your choices somewhat. As per the second thing, other civ's opinions of you, this rarely comes into play. On rare occasions it may happen that your civ is at war with another civ when you begin playing and that the other civ will identify you as an enemy as such. This usually means walking into a town and immediately being beset by the entire enraged population. This can be either positive or negative, depending on how you look at it.
Status: The last thing you must choose is what you want your “Birth status” to be. This comes in three flavors, peasant, hero and demigod, and basically just decides how many points you're given to spend on various attributes and skills. It breaks down like this:
Peasant: 15 attribute, 35 skill
Hero: 35 attribute, 95 skill
Demigod: 105 attribute, 161 skill
The default choice is “hero”, though you may wish to choose “demigod” simply because it will make survival easier as a new player. When you've selected your desired race, civ and status, press enter to move on to the next screen
Skills and AttributesOn this screen you'll select the various skills and physical attributes you'd like to have. Which skills you can select and how many points you can put into them vary depending on race and status. Attributes are listed on the left side of the screen while skills are on the right; you highlight a skill or attribute using the arrow keys (up and down to scroll down the list, left and right to switch lists) and then use +and – to select how many points to add or subtract. The following is a break down of the attributes and skills, taken mostly from the DF Wiki.
AttributesStrength - Alters the damage done in melee, increases muscle mass (thicker muscle layer also resists damage more), and increases how much a creature can carry. Increasing strength, at least in adventurers, increases movement speed (albeit not as much as agility) due to better carrying capacity.
Agility - This attribute is directly related to a character's Speed and is also used in combat skills.
Toughness - Reduces physical damage. Also relates to defensive combat skills.
Endurance - Reduces the rate at which the adventurer becomes exhausted. Used in Wrestling.
Recuperation - Increases the rate of wound healing. Not as important as Toughness. Recuperation isn't that useful in adventurer mode since you usually have as much time to rest as you need assuming you can escape a situation alive.
Disease Resistance - Reduces the risk of disease. It isn't clear how useful this currently is in adventurer mode.
Analytical Ability - Useful for certain crafting skills, the only one currently being Knapping.
Focus - Affects Archer, Ambusher, Observer.
Willpower - Fighter, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, and helps resist pain effects such as those caused by
chipped bones.
Creativity - Currently completely useless in adventure mode. Normally it impacts crafting skills.
Intuition - Only helps with Observer.
Patience - Currently useless.
Memory - Appears to be useless.
Linguistic Ability - Currently useless because adventurers don't have social skills. (much like the players *ba dum tish*)
Spatial Sense - Important. Affects combat skills, Ambusher, Crutch Walker, Swimmer, Observer, Knapping.
Musicality - Completely useless as of yet.
Kinesthetic Sense - Important. Combat skills, Crutch Walker, Swimming, Knapping,
Empathy - Might increase chance of persuading people to Join you.
Social Awareness - Increases the number of followers you can have at a given "fame" level. Normally you start with a limit of two. Increasing this stat by one level raises that to three.
As a starting character you are probably best of sinking your points into a few important attributes, specifically those that control combat. Even if you don't plan to do a lot of fighting, having the ability to defend yourself is pretty much vital if you intend to live very long. Strength, agility and toughness are probably the most important, with Kinesthetic sense, Willpower,and Endurance being secondary. Keep in mind that Attributes are more difficult to raise then skills, so choose them wisely.
Skills: Not all races/civilizations can start with all of these skills. (For example, Dwarves can't start with Bowman or Lasher).
Axeman - allows characters to use axes, great axes, and halberds more effectively.
Bowman - skill allows characters to use bows more effectively.
Crossbowman - allows characters to use crossbows more effectively. The dwarven version is called Marksdwarf.
Hammerman - allows characters to use crossbows in melee, mauls, and war hammers more effectively.
Knife User - allows characters to use large daggers and knives more effectively.
Lasher - allows characters to use whips and scourges more effectively.
Maceman - allows characters to use flails, maces, and morningstars more effectively.
Pikeman - allows characters to use pikes more effectively.
Spearman - allows characters to use spears more effectively.
Swordsman - allows characters to use blowguns and bows in melee, long swords, scimitars, short swords, and two-handed swords more effectively.
Fighter - This increases with, and contributes to, melee combat whether armed or unarmed. It appears that the purpose of it is to allow melee experience to contribute to melee combat in general regardless of weapon. Repeatedly wrestling (grabbing and releasing) even a small creature will raise this skill.
Archer - This increases with, and contributes to, ranged combat including throwing. It works similarly to Fighter except for ranged attacks. It can be easily raised by repeatedly throwing rocks, making it advisable for archers to practice their marksmanship with rock throwing before using up the more finite and expensive forms of ammunition. Shooting at a wall with adjacent upward ramp one level below and picking back projectiles is also a good idea (such places often happen to be in castles).
Shield User - Ability to block attacks with shields. Starting with skill in this means that the adventurer will start with a shield.
Armor User - Related to how well an adventurer moves in armor, and increases whenever an adventurer wearing armor is attacked. A higher level of this skill reduces the encumbrance penalties of armor, allowing up to normal speed movement when wearing full steel plate. Unfortunately, starting with this skill does not provide any starting armor.
Dodger - Ability to dodge out of the way of attacks.
Wrestler - Ability to grapple, restrain, take-down, throw opponents, etc. Can be raised very easily in game.
Striker - Punching ability.
Kicker - Kicking ability.
Biter - Biting ability.
Thrower - Throwing any miscellaneous object including rocks, knives, axes, swords, heads, etc.
Misc. Object User - Ability to beat things to death with their own severed body parts, basically. Also somewhat more commonly used for shield bashing.
Observer - Helps one to notice things like ambushes and enemies who are "sneaking" (stealth movement). Detection range increases with skill. Hard to train. Adding some points here is advisable.
Swimmer - Allows movement through water without drowning. A Novice swimmer can swim but will revert to being unable to swim if stunned, which happens when falling even 1 z-level into the water. An Adequate swimmer can swim normally (not drown) while stunned. For this reason, starting out as an Adequate swimmer is advisable. If you don't, at least start as Novice and go get some swimming practice right away.
Ambusher - The skill of Sneaking around unobserved. This can be raised fairly easily by sneaking around while traveling from place to place when speed is not important. At lower skill levels, speed is greatly reduced, but the penalty gradually reduces until negated at Legendary skill and it's possible to sneak at full movement rate. Chance of detection is also reduced at higher skill levels; a more skilled ambusher can remain in close combat for longer without being detected.
Knapper - The fine art of sharpening rocks by banging them together in a clever manner. The resulting rocks become sharp rocks which do more damage when thrown and can be used for things requiring a sharp edge like butchering. Easy to raise in game and doing so helps with Kinesthetic and Spatial Sense.
It's advisable to specialize in a single weapon skill rather then trying to take multiple at first, since higher skill means better starting equipment (your starting equipment is based on certain skills. Your highest combat skill decides which weapon you start with) and more competence overall. When it comes to defensive skills, shield user and dodger are more important then armor-user, at least at first. Adding points to shield user will mean you start with a shield, and dodging is almost always a better idea then allowing yourself to get hit and relying on armor. What other skills you pick will depend on how you intend to play, but the skills of Fighter and Wrestler should not be ignored. They are relatively easy to level in game, but starting with a few points in each will help out greatly, especially in the case of fighter, since it effects all aspects of combat. If you intend to go “unarmed monk” style, I recommend you put more points in kicking then striking, as it tends to be more powerful. When you're done selecting your skills and attributes, hit enter.
Create your Character:On this last screen, you'll have the opportunity to chose your name and gender, plus review your skill choices. After making sure everything is in order, press enter to create your character. Be warned though, there is no going back.
Making Your Way In The World
You've successfully made a character! You've been dumped in a village somewhere in your world with whatever starting equipment your skills and the gods deemed you worthy of. What now? Thats entirely up to you. You can choose to do whatever you want in this world, be it exploring the ruins of old cities, killing dragons or just hunting deer and making hats with their skin. And while this freedom is great, it may be a bit overwhelming at first. So, in order to help you out in your career as a homicidal maniac, We'll look at a few of the more common activities that you can engage in.
MovementMovement is pretty easy, just using the arrow keys. Pressing “s” will let you stand up or lie down, while Shift+s lets you start sneaking. Laying down is dangerous in combat as it slows you down, so if you're knocked down, it's probably a good idea to get back up again. Further, laying and crawling lets you get by npc's which are blocking areas by standing in the way. Alt+ one of the movement keys lets you move over dangerous terrain, such as jumping off a ledge or into water. By pressing Shift + t you can enter fast travel mode (assuming you're not in a cave or fortress, bleeding or surrounded by enemies) and move around more quickly. Press shift+. to zoom back in.
TravelingFast travel allows you to run around the world much more quickly then normal, but getting around still takes time. The bar on the top of the fast travel screen shows the position of the sun, and how much time is left till night. It is highly recommended that you don't travel alone at night, otherwise you will be attacked by bogymen, a race of small but dangerous night creatures which swarm from the shadows to attack the unprepared. Do not take them lightly or they will beat you with your own lungs. It's recommended that you find a companion or shelter before nightfall. Keep in mind that you can't fast travel through mountains or over bodies of water. While traveling make sure to keep an eye on how sleepy you are. The word “Drowsy” will appear as you start to get tired, and ignoring it will mean increasingly negative stat effects. Sleep in a town or with companions by pressing shift+z. Make sure not to sleep in the wilderness alone, or you may get eaten by a
Grue Bogyman.
TalkingYou can start talking to most people by pressing “k” and selecting them with the cursor. Not everything or everyone will talk to you though, for various reasons. Random enemies like bandits won't, animals won't (not even if you name yourself Eliza), and villagers you've angered by breaking the law (usually by stealing) won't. Those that will speak with you can be asked about various things, including “Service” which is how you'll be given quests. The other important topics include asking to stay the night (and avoid the horrors of bogyman gang bang) and asking the npc to join you. Whether they join you or not depends on your social skills and your standing with the civ (which is raised by killing things for them).
QuestsIf you are given a quest by an npc you can view it by pressing shift+q, which will bring up a map and a list of the quests that can be scrolled through with + and -. Highlighting one of the quests and pressing “z” will show you where the target is in relation to your current position and a path to get there. Once you kill whatever it is they wanted deadified, simply speak to any member of that civilization and chose to “report news/success” to finish the quest. As of now all this does is allow you to take harder quests against more monstrous creatures.
TradeIf you look around on the map you may see a town with yellow buildings. These denote shops where you can buy, sell or trade items. Simply walk into a shop (you can tell they're shops because of the counters of items and (usually) a sign out front) and talk to one of the people inside it (they'll all sell to you for some reason). Ask to trade and it will bring up a menu where you can mark what you want to sell and buy from the list of the store and your own inventories. When you've selected what you want and what to trade, confirm it and if the clerk accepts then it's yours. Here's where the hard part begins. You see, you don't hand them your goods, and they don't give you anything. You simply hurl your items onto the ground and then are expected to go pick up what you bought from the stacks of stuff sitting around the shop. This is dangerous because picking up the items you dropped as trade or picking up the wrong objects from the piles can be seen as stealing, which may end badly for you. Make sure to keep a good eye on what you bought and make sure you get it right.
InventoryYou open your inventory with “i” and select items to view in it using the indicated letter keys. Pressing “d” will give you the option to drop something, while “g” lets you pick things up from the ground. “p” puts things in a container (your backpack for instance) and “r” lets you take it back out of the container and remove clothing. “w” allows you to wear an item in your inventory (if any are legible/ you have an open place to wear it) and Shift + “i” lets you interact with things in advanced ways, if possible.
CombatCombat in Adventure mode, just as in fortress mode is handled with a degree of realism. There are no life points or healing potions and death comes from exsanguination (blood loss) or the destruction of the brain. As such, blows to the head and upper body tend to be the most effective, though any sort of damage which causes bleeding can be fatal. Injuries such as broken bones, cut tendons and nerves or severed limbs will effect the combat effectiveness of both enemies and yourself in rather self explanatory ways (broken leg slows and may not allow the victim to stand, severed nerves can cause hands to become unusable, etc). How combat is handled and what weapons are used can vary between enemies and situations, but the following tips may be useful.
BasicsShift+a gives you the combat menu. This lets you chose which enemy to attack, which attack to use and where to aim the attack. This does not have to be used, since simply “Walking into” an enemy will cause you to attack, with the computer picking what it thinks is the best shot. Useful against more dangerous opponents, since you can fight tactically.
Shift + a then Enter gives you the wrestle menu. You can chose which enemy to grab, what to grab with and where to grab on the enemy. Grabbing limbs allows you to lock and break joints by successfully grabbing, then reentering the wrestle menu and choosing to wrestle with the limb that grabbed the opponent earlier.
Pressing f allows you to fire weapons like bows and crossbows (assuming you have the ammo) and t allows you to throw anything you have on you. These actions usually take longer then a plain combat turn so don't be surprised if you fire an arrow and the enemy suddenly leaps ahead a half dozen tiles.
Shift + C allows you to chose your combat preferences. The following explanation is from the DF wiki
Attack
According to Opponent - The default setting. When set to this, charging happens more or less frequently, depending on the difference in size between you and the opponent. Bigger opponents get charged less, smaller more often. Can be very risky, since a random charge against a huge opponent is likely to get you knocked down and stunned. In the same vein, charging when close to obstacles or other environmental hazards is very dangerous, potentially fatal, if the enemy dodges you.
Strike - This setting ensures that you never charge an opponent, but rather just swing your weapon at them. This carries less risk than the above, but you're never going to knock anyone down without hitting their legs or spine. Very preferable against large opponents.
Charge - When set to this, you ALWAYS charge. When faced with numerous small enemies (Bogeymen in particular), this can be extremely useful, but remember to switch back when facing something bigger. Charging a large dragon is almost a certain death sentence.
Close Combat - With this setting, all your auto-attacks are grapples. Generally not very useful, since the random nature of it tends to prevent you from actually doing any damage with it.
Dodge
Move Around - This means you can jump away from attacks, physically moving in a random direction. While this lets you dodge attacks more often, it can also result in you jumping into a wall or down a lake. If you're fighting at really tight spaces, you might want to switch it off.
Stand Ground - As can be expected, you stand your ground. No jumping around, which is useful in the above situation, but risky in the open. If you have room for jumping around, go with Move Around, but otherwise this could be a good idea.
Charge Defense
According to Opponent - Again, the default setting. You're more likely to stand still against small enemies charging, but will probably prefer moving away from larger ones. Somewhat risky, in that even a somewhat small enemy can stun you by charging.
Dodge Away - With this, you'll dodge away from charging enemies, if you can. It's not a sure bet, but it's very much worth it against enemies who like to charge. This is probably the most preferable mode, since you're not losing a whole lot by dodging a small foe charging, but dodging an angry night beast can save you from a world of pain.
Stand Ground - If you're certain of your physical superiority to the opponent, you can choose this. Standing your ground like a real man/woman might feel hardcore, but getting knocked down in a fight can be extremely dangerous. It probably has some use against bogeymen though, since they're quite small. If you really are much bigger than the enemy, you'll end up knocking THEM down. Most of the time though, charges heavily favor the attacker, so dodging away is probably preferable.
Pressing f allows you to fire weapons like bows and crossbows (assuming you have the ammo) and t allows you to throw anything you have on you. These actions usually take longer then a plain combat turn so don't be surprised if you fire an arrow and the enemy suddenly leaps ahead a half dozen tiles.
Use the right weapon for the right situation. Slashing and cutting weapons like axes and swords are useful on roughly human sized targets but less so on large or armored opponents because they will only cause shallow wounds, if any. Spears and pikes have great penetrative power and can easily pierce organs on large creatures like dragons or titans, but their habit of sticking in and not immediately disabling targets makes them less capable against groups. Clubs lack the easy killing power of blades, requiring the user to strike at the more difficult to hit head in order to kill, but can bash through armor. Whips lack offensive power but cause great amounts of pain and can disable an opponent through causing them to pass out from pain, and so on. Ranged weapons are a lot like long distance spears and pikes, but much much slower, with limited shots and more prone to missing. You cannot aim ranged shots either. With a high enough fighter skill you can use most weapons effectively enough, and if not you can always recruit a few soldiers using the weapons you can't handle.
Disable and disarmOne of the most effective ways to combat other weapon wielding humanoids is to disarm them. This can be done in a few ways, the simplest of which is simply yanking the weapon from their hands. When next to an enemy, open the combat menu (Shift+a) then switch to wrestling by hitting enter and selecting the enemy. In the wrestling screen chose to grab with a free hand (this will only work with your hands) and then scroll down the target list till you get to the enemy's weapon and chose to grab it. Then, assuming that was successful, enter your advanced inventory screen (Shift + I) and chose the grabbed weapon (it should be in red). Then, you should be given the option to attempt to gain control of it. Pick this option and if everything goes well you'll yank the weapon away from your enemy. The other option, if you're not so good at wrestling, is to try and strike your enemy in the hand. Even minor damage can cause the enemy to drop whatever he's wielding and make your life all the easier.
Disabling an enemy refers to causing them damage which makes it difficult or impossible for them to continue to fight you effectively. This usually takes the form of injuring their hands or arms to stop them from wielding weapons effectively or hurting their legs to slow them. It is also possible, through wrestling with a free hand, to grab an enemy's head and gouge out their eyes, effectively blinding them. In this state they can only “see” the squares directly adjacent to them and will not pursue you beyond this, allowing for hit and run tactics. Grabbing, locking and breaking joints using the wrestling menu is also effective. Probably the most effective method is strangulation, done by targeting the throat using wrestling (what you wrestle with doesn't matter) and grabbing, placing a chokehold and finally strangling it. This will cause any creature that needs to breathe to become winded and pass out immediately.
Fight tactically When you're fighting, let enemies come to you, since it will usually allow you to make the first attack. Try and fight one on one if you can, never just wade into battle if you can avoid it or you'll soon be taking blows from all sides. Even if you're good enough to block, it will quickly tire you.
These are the basics of what you'll be doing in the world, but the over all goal is up to you. Use these tips and explore on your own. When in doubt about how something works, check here
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Adventurer_mode and keep at it. Chances are that your first character won't last long, but you'll get better at it as you go. And remember, losing is Fun.
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Topic: Tutoria (Read 1676 times)