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[jocke the beast]

you can always execute your migrants.

How?

Also of note: If you make an init change, restart DF (not just save, but save and quit and restart).  init stands for initialization, DF will only read that file when it's initializing the program.

Thanks. That did make sense 

blaa..blaa..bla..

Dwarfs will eat plump helmets (they are the only underground crop that can be eaten raw without cooking in the kitchen).
I recommend at least 1 other type of plant for brewing, because otherwise  your dwarfs will get a bad thought from drinking the same old booze.
Eggs are a very nice way to get food (be sure to build nest boxes).

Ok. But it seems like my little suck***...I mean dwarfs...just wan't to have them plump helmets brewed. How can I make them eat them?

If they are getting thirsty you should def. set up a well--it hydrates just fine, and I (at least) can never seem to make enough booze to avoid shortages (or if I do, I relax and forget about it until there is a dire shortage).  No booze and well=happy dwarves no booze, no well= dead dwarves.

Ok, a well...Is it possible to make a well early-game? Beeing the newbie I am? Where to place it?

No reason to every have thirsty dwarfs; alcohol production should be a top priority from the beginning. Gathering wild plants will get you through until the 1st caravan, but by the first winter, you really should have a safe underground plump helmet farm, soon you will have more plump helmets and dwarven wine than you'll believe (I like to have at least 1,000 drink stockpiled before I concentrate on other less-important priorities).

One tip is to assign a Manager from the (n)obles screen, then you can order up batches of 30 make barrel/pot, 30 brew drink tasks.

1000 drinks?! I got like 80-100 for like 70 dwarfs  How many farms do you use for that production and how long does it take to make a stockpile with that huge amount?

Thanks all! Really active community you got running here 

[Mushroo]

Ok. But it seems like my little suck***...I mean dwarfs...just wan't to have them plump helmets brewed. How can I make them eat them?

You can't directly control what dwarfs eat. If they are hungry (little brown arrow) then they will eat whatever they feel like.

One trick I use is to create a dining room with a plump-helmets-and-spawn-only stock pile right next to the plump helmet farm plot. Dwarfs will grab a plump helmet from the stock pile, sit down at a table (you can watch them eat it), leaving behind 1 spawn, which your Planter will come along and plant in the field.

1000 drinks?! I got like 80-100 for like 70 dwarfs  How many farms do you use for that production and how long does it take to make a stockpile with that huge amount?

Dwarfs need 4 drinks per season (16 per year) so for 70 dwarfs you need 1,120 drinks/year (and that's assuming your population doesn't grow).

My favorite strategy is four 3x5 square farm plots (60 squares total) with fertilizer (4 potash per plot per season or 64 total for the year), which leaves me with food/drink left over to sell to the traders.

Lots of info here: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Farming

[ohgoditburns]

you can always execute your migrants.

How?

Code: [Select]

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Basically, build a spear trap next to a lever, connect the two, assign migrants as the only operators for the lever, and then have them pull it on repeat. They will merrily pull the lever until they bleed to death.

[Lordraymond]

A strategy I find works is (and this is only necessary with 100+ dwarves) to make two breweries and maybe 150 drink containers. Set both the breweries on repeat and make sure you have enough plants, and the dwarves should drink at about the rate you brew, perhaps faster with untrained brewers or slower with master dwarves.

[Mushroo]

The single most important thing to understand about farming/cooking/brewing is stack size.

If you have a dabbling/novice Planter and no fertilizer, each seed will yield an average of plump helmet [1].

If you have a legendary Planter and potash fertilizer, will yield an average of plump helmet [5] (biggest stack I've seen is plump helmet [9]).

Plants you buy from the caravans usually have a stack size of [5].

Stack size has a ripple effect all through the industries. If you brew plump helmet [1] then you will have 1 barrel with 1 serving of wine, but if you brew plump helmet [5] it will take the same amount of time/labor but you'll have 1 barrel with 5 servings of wine. If you cook a lavish meal then it will roast [20] instead of roast [4].  And so forth. Same goes for the other types of plant, too; so as your Planters gain experience, you'll get increased food/drink/dye/flour/sugar/thread/etc. without any extra work.

[jocke the beast]

Thanks guys. Seems like I've got a lot to learn. Massive game this! Me like 

Ps. The "evil-plan-kill-new-migrants-by-trap-and-lever" was quite cruel  A-must-try for me 

[Grax]

you can always execute your migrants.

How?

Flooding burrow room.

[Garath]

or atom smash


I use a 4x3 area for plump helmets. When that is the only thing I plant it does it's job, but as soon as I add another brewable plant like pig tails, production of both food and booze explodes.

For a 170 strong fort I had about 3000 units of booze and a lot of prepared food. Dwarven sugar, whip vine flour and cave croc egg roasts are worth their weight in dorfbucks.

[Rince Wind]

The single most important thing to understand about farming/cooking/brewing is stack size.

If you have a dabbling/novice Planter and no fertilizer, each seed will yield an average of plump helmet [1].

If you have a legendary Planter and potash fertilizer, will yield an average of plump helmet [5] (biggest stack I've seen is plump helmet [9]).

Plants you buy from the caravans usually have a stack size of [5].

Stack size has a ripple effect all through the industries. If you brew plump helmet [1] then you will have 1 barrel with 1 serving of wine, but if you brew plump helmet [5] it will take the same amount of time/labor but you'll have 1 barrel with 5 servings of wine. If you cook a lavish meal then it will roast [20] instead of roast [4].  And so forth. Same goes for the other types of plant, too; so as your Planters gain experience, you'll get increased food/drink/dye/flour/sugar/thread/etc. without any extra work.

1 Plump helmet gives you 5 drinks, 5 give you 25.

[Lemunde]

I've worked out a checklist of labors and found that about 40 dwarves is enough to fill every labor that I setup in a usual fort with some labors having extra workers. This leaves no room for military or metal working.

Really? I find that 40 dwarves is plenty enough to include metal working and military. You don't have to have dwarves restricted to a single job you know. It's also best not to target every industry as you don't really need them. I find it's more fun to have a fortress specialize in a certain industry with a few support industries.

[Garath]

I don't usually bother much with clothesmaking or pottery. And I keep myself away from beekeping, shearing or milking. That really decreases the number of dwarfs you need and frees them up for metal works.

[miauw62]

Cool. Thanks for the information.

Well, my little newbie-fortress has like 50 dwarfs now...2 died of thirst  wierd... Anyways, seems like I need to look up some basic stuff like how to keep my dwarfs happy when it comes to drink & food. Now I got plump helmets to brew drinks but there's like nothing to eat... Well, perhaps I should've prepared my journey better. Perhaps some chickens who could give me eggs or something...
Well, dying is fun 

To keep them happy, just make sure your fort is deep in the ground (so everything is stone), then have one stone carver smooth EVERYTHING. that makes him legendary, then you order it engraved and he makes shittons of masterwork engraving, getting you legendary dining room and royal 3x3 bedrooms.

[melomel]

Dwarf Fortress does not have a learning curve.  It has The Learning Cliffs of Insanity and you must fight them for every inch of knowledge you gain, tearing your nails out as you ascend, clinging to and clawing your way up the jagged, brutal rocks until your fingertips are worn down to bloody splintered shards of bone.

And when you finally get to the top, you realize that the trap/mechanism/machinery aspect is so thoroughly planned and realized that someone can make a working calculator.  In-game.  Without modding.

Your best bet for making a bonsai/training-wheels fort would be turning off invasions, capping population at 15-20 until you've at least got the interface down, and doing what you can to avoid kids.  (You can cap children at either a maximum total number, or a maximum percentage, or both.)

There are some good Let's Play/Tutorial sites out there, and I personally recommend not bothering with grazing livestock until you get the basics down.

[Mushroo]

1 Plump helmet gives you 5 drinks, 5 give you 25.

Even better, my mistake!

[jocke the beast]

To keep them happy, just make sure your fort is deep in the ground (so everything is stone), then have one stone carver smooth EVERYTHING. that makes him legendary, then you order it engraved and he makes shittons of masterwork engraving, getting you legendary dining room and royal 3x3 bedrooms.

Quite usefull information, thanks. My current fortress has the living quarters for my now 122 dwarfs in clay...well, perhaps move them down. Conserning moving living-quarters: is it possible to remove a placed bed for example (or coffer/cabinet) without destroying it (as in moving it instead of destroying it)?

melomel: Insane  Endless-gameplay is another word for it I guess...

Btw, tried to make a evil-trap-leve-thingy but since I can't forge yet I'll have to stick with other ideas... My fortress only have masons and carpentry for making things... Seems like a huge-project to actually begin with forging...weapons etc. For example my hammerer was about to punish a little naughty dwarf but had to cancel since he had no weapon