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[craniak716]

I know, I know. How could I possibly have played Minecraft and never knew of Dwarf Fortress? Chalk it up to pure, dumb un-luck. It wasn't until I was watching a Minecraft LP and the Youtuber mentioned Dwarf Fortress that I became aware of its existence. That was two weeks ago. In the past fourteen days I have scoured the internet for any and all information I can find on this amazing game. I have watched LP's on Youtube and I have read a couple of the community games. I've listened to the most recent DF Talk and I've read numerous interviews with Tarn. The problem is not my interest in the game, but rather I am terrified to give it a go. I have downloaded the Lazynoob pack, as I feel it will aid me greatly in my first foray. Are there any other suggestions on how to ease my anxiety about playing such a complex, yet seemingly rewarding game? Thanks in advance.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Start up a thread for questions you have. Keep an open window including at least one page from the wiki and any relevant forum posts at all times until you get the hang of DF. Don't worry when you die, reclaim.

[miauw62]

Basically what wyrm said.
Also, dont be afraid. Keep a tutorial by the hand, and open up the wiki so you can search things you dont understand.
DF is a game you learn to play mainly by losing and learning from your mistakes.

Oh, and welcome to the forums, we hope you have a !!fun!! time!

[Rtyh-C]

Many people (including myself) have learned to play from this tutorial (although I suspect you know about it already since you said that you read everything about DF). Everything else comes down to remembering Dwarf Fortress' motto: Losing is Fun!

Oh, and check the wiki whenever you have a question.

[FDru]

I am stricken by anxiety between every restart. It's hard for me to keep interested in a game when one little mistake can cost me countless hours of work. Getting over that is required to play DF, IMO, because that will happen all the time.

Today I lost my Mechanic within about 5 minutes experimenting with carving fortifications in a frozen river. The fortifications didn't even remain when the river unfroze

Then I had a strange mood hit one of my other dwarves, and he wanted the only workshop I hadn't built, a glass furnace. So after about 20 minutes of wondering why he was sitting around doing nothing, I built the glass furnace and off he went. Then I realize I have no glass. And no sand on my embark. Luckily, there was a caravan parked at the time, so I traded them a pile of dolomite rocks (I had no crafted goods) for the only affordable pieces of glass that they had. He took one piece of it, and left the other pieces, for reasons I don't understand. He kept asking for glass, but didn't want the clear glass that I bought, only the one piece of green glass. So with nothing else I could do, he eventually went berserk and started killing all of my pets and livestock.

Meanwhile, the rest of my fort is dropping dead from thirst because I neglected to get a farm going.

SCREW IT, ABANDON FORTRESS 

I love this game.

[Isdar]

You could join the DFC group on steam and ask questions in the group chat. They might offer you advice to make your fortress a prosperous and efficient fort, or the most likely one, get EVERYONE killed.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Reclaim.

[Umune]

Just keep on going. Whatever happens, losing is fun.
Sure that first elven ambush on your first mildly successful fort is frustrating, but the game rewards patience and endurance.

[thiosk]

That fear about losing work is your only weakness.  It's a learning experience.   After you finally nail the basics, everything else will eventually go tits up.  Then you will start to realize just how inefficient it is.  Then you will learn how to effectively initiate multiple industries, a military, and elegant layout simultaneously while besieged by goblins.

[GreatWyrmGold]

And then your method for safely killing goblins will kill more of your dwarves that the goblins ever would and submerges most of your fortress in magma. And then you rebuild, post the story, and are asked to upload your fort to the DFFD.

[Man of Paper]

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

[Loud Whispers]

Thus are the perils and rewards of the budding overseer.

[hanni79]

If you just want to play around first and work out how to basically manage things, I would advise you to do the following (although it's extremely undwarvy and Armok will hold a personal and eternal grudge against you), search your LazyNewb Folder for the Data->Saves folder. You can backup the safe from there into another directory, that way you can produce more than one safe.

I hope that helped ( and Armoks grugde does not strike me down for suggesting this ^^ )

[Mlamlah]

The Wiki was essential to me just figuring out how to *start* playing the game, so i definitely suggest you peruse it while you play, even if you've taken a look at the core articles before. Try not to take your first couple forts too seriously and the game shouldn't break your heart too terribly XD

[GuardianTempest]

In case anyone is burdened with having to rush to accommodate dwarves or simply being new to the game and afraid of causing a tantrum spiral, I'm working on a newbie-friendly civ that allows the player to lay back as long as he wants without dealing with 'happiness' or 'food', though they die easily and it's slightly imbalanced.