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[Dinjoralo]

Hello there Community of Dwarf Fortress. I recently decided to play DF, I'm using the quick-start guide on the wiki to help me get my bearings before I start flooding things with molten rock in increasingly dwarven ways, and I have a few questions about a couple things before I really get ahead of myself.

First, how does structural collapse work? Will I have to put up support pillars, or is my base inside a mountain fine?

Also, the guide says that I should plant my crops underground. Shouldn't the tiles for farming be labeled as outside, because plants needing sunlight is basic botany.

Third, how can I tell the time of day in Fortress mode?

Thanks in advance!

[MetalGear]

Structures will only collapse if there isn't anything supporting them. You can mine out an entire level and it'll be fine as long as there's a single block holding it up.

Dwarven farms grow mushrooms and weird underground plants. They don't need sunlight apparently. You can make surface farms for aboveground crops, but you'll have to get the seeds for those elsewhere (human/elf caravans and also harvesting using herbalism, I think...)

I don't think you can tell time of day. Time is sped up in fortress mode so much that hours would pass by too quickly to make keeping track of them any useful. Pressing 'Z' will let you see the month and year in the top corner.

[Addict]

Hello there Community of Dwarf Fortress. I recently decided to play DF, I'm using the quick-start guide on the wiki to help me get my bearings before I start flooding things with molten rock in increasingly dwarven ways, and I have a few questions about a couple things before I really get ahead of myself.
hey buddy!

First, how does structural collapse work? Will I have to put up support pillars, or is my base inside a mountain fine?
you need no structeral support besides having at least some kind of connection to the ground. If its floating midair it will fall and cause horrible injury if your lucky.

Also, the guide says that I should plant my crops underground. Shouldn't the tiles for farming be labeled as outside, because plants needing sunlight is basic botany.
Dwarven plants are like cave flora, mushrooms and such; although they do need some kind of soil to entrench their shallow roots into, even if its clay, as the tendril-like roots are merely for support, as things like plump helmets can be quite top heavy. Rather than requiring sunlight, or direct watering to its "roots" it merely begins its life spreading mycelium from the "seed" the dwarfs originally plant. Dwarven air is usually quite dank, filled with alcoholic fumes, and cat urine. This is a perfect habitat for these particular plants, the moisture and odiferous fumes are absorbed into the mycelium and the plant balloons. This can especially be observed in plump helmets. Shortly after ballooning, the spores on these fine Dwarven plants grow to about the size of a fist, and stay connected directly to the plant.
 These plants have been "domesticated" in a way by the dwarfs, as the spores will not even grow until they have been held in the palm of a sweaty dwarf, and then placed in a soil.

Third, how can I tell the time of day in Fortress mode?
not sure. Other than certain.. beasts... I haven't had reason to know if its day or night. I don't think that exists.
Thanks in advance!

[GhostDwemer]

Welcome to dwarf fortress. Be warned, if you are obsessive compulsive or, God help you, an engineer of any sort, it will eat your life. Anything connected to something solid* through a cardinal direction (NOT diagonally) will not collapse. Cave crops don't need light, I think they are all fungi of some kind. Above ground crops do need light. You can tell time through the z-screen, just press z and look in the top right corner.

*Bridges, grates, and hatch covers are not solid.

[Dinjoralo]

Thanks all. I've got to irrigate some stone for crops now. I might upload some pictures of my fort after that if anyone's interested.

[Addict]

Thanks all. I've got to irrigate some stone for crops now. I might upload some pictures of my fort after that if anyone's interested.

I am friend.

[Icefire2314]

Be warned, if you are obsessive compulsive or, God help you, an engineer of any sort, it will eat your life.

Sucks for me

[Haytrid]

So those nasty cave creatures I dig into sometimes that wipe out my entire fort, could I possibly rig an entire level to collapse on them and kill them by keeping just one supporting block next to a ramp or stairs?

Structures will only collapse if there isn't anything supporting them. You can mine out an entire level and it'll be fine as long as there's a single block holding it up.

[Bilanthri]

So those nasty cave creatures I dig into sometimes that wipe out my entire fort, could I possibly rig an entire level to collapse on them and kill them by keeping just one supporting block next to a ramp or stairs?

Structures will only collapse if there isn't anything supporting them. You can mine out an entire level and it'll be fine as long as there's a single block holding it up.

Yes...in fact, this is a well-established method of dealing with some of the more...problematic cavern dwellers.