Welcome, welcome! This game just might change your life
First, completely obligatory introduction:
With that out of the way, I would suggest ASCII. Why? I find it really ignites the imagination, and gets me deeper into the game.
At the same time, it's a pain to learn when just starting out
Wiki is your friend. Look everything up, as it's all there. Just avoid anything to do with Hidden Fun Stuff. Spoilers aren't fun
A few starting pointers:
- You can resize the screen
- Once within the game (already embarked, see below), you can use [TAB] to adjust the context menus
- When you are just starting a game, you get to choose your embark spot. This is very important. If possible, you want to have shallow metals, flux, deep metals and no aquifer. Press [TAB] for additional information. One list will have nearby factions, such as goblins/dwarves/humans/elves. If you see a Tower, avoid at all costs. That's a Necromancer tower, and it could really ruin your day.
--- Also, land has values for good/neutral/evil and calm/neutral/savage wildlife. This covers things like Calm, Wilderness, Haunted etc. Anything coloured in green and blue are good options.
- To be happy, a dwarf needs: a bedroom, alcohol, food and a dining room. Everything else can come after.
- There are only a handful of ways to interact with the world.
--- (d)esignate menu, for (d)igging, cutting down (t)rees and harvesting (p)lants
--- Stock(p)iles, where you select the type and then drag out the dimensions
--- (b)uild menu, which contains almost everything
----- Of note are (c)onstructions, (w)orkshops and furnac(e)s
- Doors are nigh-indestructable (as demonstrated in Lord of the Rings
)
- Dwarves will only do labours that are enabled on them. Press (v)iew to interact with dwarves, and follow the hotkeys highlighted in the context menu. Dwarves also have personality traits that influence how they go about their tasks.
- Farming is the best source of food. Farms can exist above and below ground. Underground farms take more work, so I would suggest harvesting local plantlife, and then planting it. A lot more info here:
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:FarmingTo get a basic idea, embark in any spot near a mountain. You will see a flat terrain, interrupted by it going up. Press (d) and it will go to designations, which defaults to digging. Use your keyboard (enter, arrow keys to select area, enter) or your mouse (click, click, click...) to designate a small area inside that interruption
A dwarf will head to the location, and start digging. Hopefully, that is rock and you can use it. Press (k) to use the look-at-tile option, and examine the newly emptied ground. If you see things like Granite or Gneiss there, that's rock.
Then, use (b) -> (w) -> (m) to select Mason workshop. This will give you a square to position. Place that anywhere, ideally within the newly dug out area. This will take you to a screen to select material, and you should have some rock or wood to use. Select anything, press Enter. A dwarf will walk there, and build it.
Next, use (q)uery to have a room interaction tool and move the cursor to the new workshop. If it's not build, it will say so. Otherwise, you will see an empty queue with a few options. Use the context menus to build a door.
This should give you a feel for how things work.
Above all else, welcome (again) and have fun! Dwarf Fortress is great due to emerging gameplay. As in, as you get past the learning curve, the game captures your imagination and becomes something completely new. It also gives you immense freedom of action, so you CAN do almost anything. You just don't know what you want to do yet.
Finally, there WILL be a new version coming soon, which will change how the world works. The gameplay mechanics, however, will remain the same.