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[TCM]

I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for about 3 years now. I am now a decent adventurer. I've always wanted to get into Fortress mode, it looks intriguing and satisfying. But I have literally no idea on how to do anything at all.

I've viewed multiple start-up and newbie guides online, which don't seem to work. I recall one telling me to use "D" to mine, whereupon pressing it trees became designated for chopping and still my dwarves stood around idly.

I've watched several Let's Plays, video and text format like Boatmurdered, and I try to recreate actions of skilled players, yet I can't accomplish anything.

I've tried playing it, only to not know where to start between all the actions and commands and plethora of words.

So, have a request to all of you who have been able to create  some sort of semi-functional Fortress:

Help.

[InfinityOrNone]

You press "d" (lowercase, all is case sensitive) to open the designations menu, then the option highlighted is what you designate. Above ground, it usually autoselects tree cutting. You'll need to press "d" again to select mining, which creates a horizontal mine. To go into the ground, you either need to channel with "h" or create a pair of stairs with "j" and either "i" or "u". To look down a Z-level, use "SHIFT+." or ">". To return to view your embark site, use "F1".

[Laurin]

I did encouter the digging problem also during my first attempts.

If you want to designate a digging zone with d, the default for inside the mountain is dig, while outside it is chopping trees. Just press d-d to be sure it's set to digging.
Also, you have to dig into a cliff side, if you are on  a plain you must channel (d-h) first to build a down ramp or biuild a down stairs (d-j) and dig on the level below. Ramps and stairs are a bit tricky though, at least for starting players. Read the wiki article carefully.

[TCM]

Hooray, I have mined into a mountain!

....Now what. Like I stated before, despite knowing all about how this game type works, I have no idea of how to actually do it.

EDIT: Think I got it. Thanks a lot guys!