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Author Topic: HELP I'm following the start up guide to the letter, but i can't designate...  (Read 625 times)

themadtoker

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an area to mine, wtf?

I press d,d and select a square, the little green selection cross comes up I pick a sqaure, than i pick the opposite corner of the area I want to mine and nothing happens, I get no yellow selection like the guides all say, when I press enter the selection cross simply disappears and thats it.

This must seem like a total newb question, but seriously, what is going on?
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forsaken1111

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an area to mine, wtf?

I press d,d and select a square, the little green selection cross comes up I pick a sqaure, than i pick the opposite corner of the area I want to mine and nothing happens, I get no yellow selection like the guides all say, when I press enter the selection cross simply disappears and thats it.

This must seem like a total newb question, but seriously, what is going on?
Are you doing this on the surface?
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themadtoker

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Hmm, I suppose I am, but the guide said nothing about that, just to designate an area for digging. Perhaps I need to find a better guide? I mean, that was literally the first thing the guide said to do, is to dig out an area close to the wagon. Nothing about the surface was mentioned, the guide makes it seem like I can dig any area out that I designate.
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forsaken1111

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Hmm, I suppose I am, but the guide said nothing about that, just to designate an area for digging. Perhaps I need to find a better guide? I mean, that was literally the first thing the guide said to do, is to dig out an area close to the wagon. Nothing about the surface was mentioned, the guide makes it seem like I can dig any area out that I designate.
Don't worry, its pretty common to be confused by... everything in this game. Pick a spot on the surface you want to dig down (somewhere with no tree or water or anything, just bare soil or rock) and designate a down stair. Underneath that (one level down) designate an up stair, or an up/down stair. Stairs come in two parts, and down stairs must connect to an up stair component.

Now on the lower level where you did the up or up/down stair, designate some area for digging/mining.
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themadtoker

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Great, Ill give it a go. Thanks for the speedy response, I'm sure I'll be back here again sooner than later :)
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Lalasa

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I like to think of the mine designation as digging outwards.  If there is a dirt/stone wall, using "d" for mine will dig out said wall.  However, if you're on the surface the mine designation won't dig down (to underground).  Channels and staircases dig downwards.  Mining is used for digging out rooms, not into new z-levels.

I hope this helps. ^^
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weenog

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I thought the quickstart guide specified that you need to dig into a cliff, and if there isn't one, you should make your own by channeling.
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Listen up: making a thing a ‼thing‼ doesn't make it more awesome or extreme.  It simply indicates the thing is on fire.  Get it right or look like a silly poser.

It's useful to keep a ‼torch‼ handy.

themadtoker

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I understand now, I feel like an idiot. Z axis. Duh. shift+< and i dug a stairway and am making tunnels. Pray for my poor dwarves, they are going to need it.
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weenog

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I understand now, I feel like an idiot. Z axis. Duh. shift+< and i dug a stairway and am making tunnels. Pray for my poor dwarves, they are going to need it.

They can't be as bad off as the dwarfs in my first evil biome embark.  Local conditions ate the embark group, the first two reclaim groups, and half of the third.  :o
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Listen up: making a thing a ‼thing‼ doesn't make it more awesome or extreme.  It simply indicates the thing is on fire.  Get it right or look like a silly poser.

It's useful to keep a ‼torch‼ handy.

forsaken1111

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I understand now, I feel like an idiot. Z axis. Duh. shift+< and i dug a stairway and am making tunnels. Pray for my poor dwarves, they are going to need it.

They can't be as bad off as the dwarfs in my first evil biome embark.  Local conditions ate the embark group, the first two reclaim groups, and half of the third.  :o
I remember Cliffglazes, my first evil embark after the patch. They arrived to find a field of eyestalk grass blinking at them while it rained dwarf blood and mucus from overhead and a drifting cloud rotted the flesh of anything it touched and raised it as a zombie.

Good times.
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themadtoker

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Well so far so good I suppose, relatively  speaking. I've manage to build a large multi roomed area 3 levels down, built a farm and a carpenter and so far have been stockpiling wood and food. I don't know what a Giant Kea is - I've yet to see one in the wild - but it stole a bunch of my items and killed a dog and my jeweler, so 1 dwarf down.

Question: Can I have these guys take everything off the wagon and put it down in my fort? 

EDIT: to below poster

Yeah that's what I figured, once I had enough they started lugging everything from the wagon. And no more casualties as of yet, we may yet live to see winter.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2013, 12:45:35 am by themadtoker »
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Merendel

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if you designate apropreate stockpiles for the supplies your dwarves will automaticly cart the stuff in from the wagon.  I think the quickstart guide gives directions for that so I wont repeat unless you have issues.
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Bandreus

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Pray for my poor dwarves, they are going to need it.

No worries, Armok will take good care of your dwarves (namely, killing 'hem in the most absurd ways possible). For everything else just hit the forums  ;)
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Check out Enôrbomrek: Bluewhips a community fort and story by me.
Clearly, our top dwarven scientists are hard at work creating a new breed of SUPER WAGON that can survive being scuttled by enemy wagonmancers! These new super wagon troopers will be able to carry TWICE the cargo, be 1/3 the size, and NEVER scuttle!

Juxtap0se

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these forums are a fantastic source for newbs like us. great community here. Also, if you have time watch some tutorials on youtube. I've watched a few and have adapted a bit from each to develop my own play style. Also, while I'm playing I usually have about three tabs open in the wiki. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/
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I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three.
Elayne Boosler

WhimsyWink

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My first good miner died in a trench because I didn't understand having to switch z view with ramps ... learning the game is a process ...
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Ellipsis free since August 2013.