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[rex mortis]

I jumped head first into the deep end. In my first fortress, I was looking around confused at first. I did figure that the faces were my dwarves however. I went to the manual, found out I could view different z-levels. Then I spent some time finding out which key actually did it, because the game did not understand my keyboard layout. Once I stepped a level down from the hilltop, it all started to make sense. I even managed to make my dwarves mine something. Then the wolves came.

I started a few more fortresses, getting farming going, getting my first caravan, having a depot up in time for the caravan. I went to the wiki to see if there were any suggestions for starting skills. And as wikis go, spoiled myself pretty heavily. I learned about stuff in wiki and then implemented it in my own fortresses.

[XXSockXX]

These got me started:
http://afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials/

These got me started too. I had heard of DF before, but I was reluctant to try it because of the ASCII graphics. After a few very unsuccesful attempts I started having the wiki open in the background and double checking everything. Also savescummed a lot because while losing is fun, losing instantly is not. After getting a fort older than 20 years and reading the wiki and this forum a lot I'm beginning to feel like I can play this game. There is still a lot left to learn.

[RabblerouserGT]

I actually tried it before, but the graphics (or rather lack of them) put me off.
It was later I found out about tilesets.

What got me to try it was actually my friends in the (now nonexistant) Omnigamers faction of GameTrailers (GameTrailers has killed factions now D:). He was telling me of all the crazy junk he went through.


As for how I LEARNED to play...
Mix of this guy's blog, a couple of series of YouTube vids which helped me find out the finer points like water pumps and the military screen which blogs have issues explaining (I'm a visual learner when it comes to DF).

The rest is the wiki for small stuff like fire/lava-safe materials and learning about new stuff like weres when I come across them.

[WaffleEggnog]

I learned myself, believe it or not. When i started 2 year ago (ish) i think it was, i watched a video about it (that didint show gameplay) and thought the concept was badass. And i jumped right in. At first, i didint know who my Dwarfs were, what was happening, so i gave up on it for a while. Then i tried again while i was bored and, while spamming buttons, i hit > which caused me to go down a z-level. I played around a bit, learned how to go up and down z-levels and went to designation. I learned all the hot keys with experimentation aswell as the UI. I played it on and off after that, and a few months ago i really got hard core into it. Thats when i made a forum account and got into the mega-projects.

Its true i watched videos, but nothing past designation and building. Anything past that i found out myself, Giftedness FTW!

[The Merchant Of Menace]

I mostly learned to play from my girlfriend, usually via her setting up the fort and letting me play it, doing a bit less herself each time until I was doing the whole thing. Still not exactly great at it, but I can make a moderately stable fort with food and booze production and one or two industries for trade.

[StreetPizza]

girlfriend

Marry her. Marry her and make lots of Dwarf Fortressing babbys!

As for me, I learned from staring blankly at the screen for a few hours and constantly checking the Wiki until I finally figured out how digging and farming worked. Oh, and savescumming. A lot of savescumming if tits went inevitably (this being Dwarf Fortress and all) up.

[Dutchling]

Wiki, forum. Mostly the forum though. Now I think about it, it all started with the 'guide for complete and utter noobs' or something like that.

girlfriend

Marry her. Marry her and make lots of Dwarf Fortressing babbys!

I don't think you know how making babies works. That, or you don't know MoM's gender .

[Aptus]

I still consider myself to be learning but how I learned how to play without tearing my hair in frustration was by watching some youtube tutorial on the basics, and then playing, a ton. All the while looking stuff up on the wiki or asking about specifics on these fora. I tried to set a goal of learning something new every embark, like: This embark I will learn how to farm, this embark I will learn how the military works, this embark I will learn how levers and stuff work etc.

[Joost66]

I learned about dwarf fortress from my older brother a long time ago, he also taught me and helped me get a small fort going. That fort was completely destroyed at the first goblin attack, and I tried a few more times, then gave up. Only fairly recently have I started again, and I'm using a mix of what I know and the wiki to try and work through it.

[StreetPizza]

I don't think you know how making babies works. That, or you don't know MoM's gender .

Waitaminnit. Lesbians? Playing Dwarf Fortress?

I'm so amazed at this fact that I can't convey surprise properly. I think I've gone into amazement shock.

That said, I still want them to make babbys. Somehow.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

I don't think you know how making babies works. That, or you don't know MoM's gender .

Waitaminnit. Lesbians? Playing Dwarf Fortress?

There are, in fact, several

[misko27]

That said, I still want them to make babbys. Somehow.

The "How many people play dwarf fortress" thread has a few ideas

[kaenneth]

Learned the basics while waiting outside the store for the midnight release of Fallout 3.

[charchar159]

Alot of wiki reading and !Fun!

[tolkafox]

5ippycup's tutorial. There's just something about a grown man introducing himself as 'sippycup' that makes me giggle. I built my firstish fortress following him, it was an inefficient piece of crap and was my first and only fortress to be abandoned out of pure shame.

After I got the basics I learned from the wiki and a lot of trial and error. Many dwarves were harmed in the making of those fortresses.