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[Elvenshae]

Okay, this is going to come off like a really stupid newbie question, but ...

I played a previous version of DF, and had a moderately successful fortress before it got eaten.  (The second one burned over, fell into the swamp, etc.)

I've updated to the newest version, generated my new world, created a new party (based on the previous mostly-successful party), and moved up into the mountains.

My party arrives (and a muskox, dog, and one of my miners immediately die from cold in a temperate climate ... odd ...).  I designate a piece of the mountainside (sphalerite, if it's important) with a 2-square-wide path for my miners to excavate and ...

... Nothing.

The remaining miner sits on the wagon with no task.  I designate a couple other places, and still he sits there.  I check to make sure he's got mining designated as a job, and still nothing.

So, what blatantly obvious thing am I overlooking?

Thanks!  

[Thendash]

Does the miner have a pick? I'm also curious to know if we have to bring our own anvil now? Because by default it was selected as equipment. I brought it just in case, I hope I don't end up wasting those 1000 points on an extra anvil.

[Jousou]

The first thing I thought of was to make sure you have a pickaxe. If by chance you only had one, and the miner that had it died in the cold...

I guess you could also try turning on mining for another dwarf just to be sure that one isn't super lazy... *shrug*

[Elvenshae]

Yep - I started with two copper pickaxes, and both miners had one (before the other died, at least).

I checked to make sure he was properly outfitted, and yes, the lazy miner had a pickaxe.

I also saw the anvil on the equipment page, and left it there (just in case the metalsmith who used to show up later doesn't bring one anymore ...).  

[Elvenshae]

In additional news, I just restarted.

Upon restarting, 4 of my dwarves (including both miners) immediately froze to death in, once again, a temperate climate.

Is there something I'm really, really missing in this newest version?

[GrimmSweeper]

There's some overlap of biomes in the site you've selected. At the fortress site selection screen, you can see an overlay of all biome types in the local region by hitting the appropriate F# keys.

In your case, there is the possibility that you have a temperate spot combined with one that is Freezing. And your dwarves, expecting warm climes, thought only to pack shorts and hawaiian shirts...

[Jousou]

Very strange...I'm going to make a new fortress here and see if I can get it to happen too. You might try turning off temperature to see if that helps.

Maybe the initial party is cutting through dangerous/frozen terrain and dying on the way..?

[Joker]

There REALLY needs to be some documentation on how all the opening screens work, what every option means, etc. I've been playing the old version a good while now, and I feel completely lost on how to get started, especially in terms of making decisions on all these unexplained options.

[Elvenshae]

quote:Originally posted by GrimmSweeper:
<STRONG>There's some overlap of biomes in the site you've selected. At the fortress site selection screen, you can see an overlay of all biome types in the local region by hitting the appropriate F# keys.</STRONG>

Yeah, I saw that.  They were all temperate areas.  It's odd.

In related news for my non-mining miners, I've dropped their copper picks and equipped them with bronze or bismuth bronze (IIRC) picks, and they seem to start working when I do that.  Is there code in this version which requires you to have a certain level of "awesome" in your tools to work particular levels of rock?

 

quote:Originally posted by Joker:
<STRONG>There REALLY needs to be some documentation on how all the opening screens work, what every option means, etc. I've been playing the old version a good while now, and I feel completely lost on how to get started, especially in terms of making decisions on all these unexplained options.</STRONG>

Amen!

In my latest attempt, I picked an area which had a biome with dense woods and excessive other plants.  Except, when I got to the mine site, there was nary a tree to be found.

[ October 29, 2007: Message edited by: Elvenshae ]

[Joker]

quote:Originally posted by Elvenshae:
<STRONG>

Amen!

In my latest attempt, I picked an area which had a biome with dense woods and excessive other plants.  Except, when I got to the mine site, there was nary a tree to be found.

[ October 29, 2007: Message edited by: Elvenshae ]</STRONG>

Yeah, I picked a site that looked to be on the edge of a mountain, but upon arrival I couldn't find a single mountain tile! LOL...

The time has come to have a proper manual to go along with the game. The wiki is great, but it takes time to compile. When I began playing the last version, I had months of information on the forums and a wiki full of tutorials and charts to use and it still took me a good two weeks just to learn my way around the menus.

I don't think it would be possible for a new DF player to get going at all with the level of the default "manual." I've read the new, updated manual and other than being updated for menu changes and gameplay changes, it's not expanded in scope at all. In other words, the manual is still skimpy to the point of being not much more than a quick-reference card with some cursory paragraphs here and there about basic gameplay concepts.

[ October 29, 2007: Message edited by: Joker ]

[Elvenshae]

Rather than starting a new topic, I'll just continue this one ...

So, as it turns out it appears that there's some kind of code in the new version which mandates a pick be a particular quality before it can be used to mine particular stone.  I started out a new group on an abandoned site, but this time replaced my copper picks with iron picks, and had no trouble hacking my way through ... spirolite? ... walls.

However, I'm still running into two problems:

1) When starting out, anywhere from one to half of my party immediately dies from cold.  In the last game I started, one dwarf (a miner, of course) was instead injured, passed out, and eventually died of thirst (no one could bring him water because you can't start with buckets).  Two cats unfortunately met their fate at the same time.  So, I restarted in another area (with three biomes, all Temperate) where three dwarves - Miner, Farmer, and Mason - kicked the bucket immediately.  Honestly, this really starting to annoy me.

2) Despite the fact, given the advice in the Wiki, that my starting areas are all universally Heavily Wooded or Woodlands with lots of "other vegetation," I have yet to encounter a tree in the newest version.  Am I doing something wrong?

3) Furthermore, in a previous run through (which lasted about an hour), I designated an outdoors pond as a drinking area (making sure to include the space around the water in addition to the water itself).  Three dwarves died from thirst before I restarted.

[EDIT: 4) Apparently, I can't count very well, either.]

Really, what am I doing wrong in the newest version of this to have such a *freakin'* hard time of things?

[ November 01, 2007: Message edited by: Elvenshae ]

[Jaqie Fox]

I have no idea, to be honest... ive all seven of my starting dwarves on my second fortress and none died on my first, I just left it because I misunderstood what a channel designation did.

How about you bring some dwarven ale, dwarven beer, dwarven rum, and dwarven wine with you next time, maybe they want to drink alcohol at first? I always bring a generous supply...

And I *think* pick type also has something to do with how fast you can get through material as well.

[Olix]

quote:Originally posted by Elvenshae:
<STRONG>
1) When starting out, anywhere from one to half of my party immediately dies from cold.  In the last game I started, one dwarf (a miner, of course) was instead injured, passed out, and eventually died of thirst (no one could bring him water because you can't start with buckets).  Two cats unfortunately met their fate at the same time.  So, I restarted in another area (with three biomes, all Temperate) where three dwarves - Miner, Farmer, and Mason - kicked the bucket immediately.  Honestly, this really starting to annoy me.

[ November 01, 2007: Message edited by: Elvenshae ]</STRONG>

Did you extract the new game over a previous install? That tends to bugger things up. Try installing the game fresh to a different directory and see if it still happens.

[MindSnap]

I would suggest reinstalling too.

[Elvenshae]

Well, I've reinstalled, and things seem to be working out much better!

No immediately freezing dwarves; I'll add a response when the first wave of immigrants arrive (and we see if they survive the trip intact).