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[Antmf]

Hey all, I want to give this unbelievable high learning curve game another try  and want to know what I need to start. I tried it a while ago and dont remember what mod I downloaded with it but I do know it comes with quite a few mods so its easier for noobs like me to just fire it up. Also since a year ago has anything changed at all?

P.S. I didn't quit for any other reason other then the fact real life got in the way, but now I am ready to dive in again. So please let me know. Thanks...

[misko27]

Wiki has a quick-start guide to a basic fortress, here. Pretty good, took me from the basic buttons that do stuff to getting the metal industry under way.

[iamthelol]

pretty good video tutorial if you don't want to read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_SaPQpKbU

[☼!!Troll Fur Sock!!☼]

A REAL MAN(YEEEAAAAAAAH) learns it by trial and error! In case of Dwarf Fortress, mostly error, but hey. Look, for example, at me. All I used was wiki from time to time to check why all options in smelter are red and stuff.
While DF's learning qurve is quite legendary, I would dare say that it IS little more than a legend. If you don't really care about your dwarves dying horrifcally you can learn all the basics in 3-5 fortresses.

[Flarp]

Some things they don't teach you in all the tutorials:

• Don't stress embark prep too much, especially early on. Bring stuff you know you'll need (picks, axes, food, drink) and resources you know you won't have access to (wood in a desert, stones on an aquifer etc.) before looking into finished goods.
• Relatedly, skilled dwarves are only ever FASTER or BETTER at their jobs than unskilled dwarves - with a few exceptions any dwarf can do any job, if they have the right labors turned on.
• A breeding pair of egg laying animals is a super easy way to start a food supply basically anywhere, since they lay large stacks of eggs and ALL undisturbed eggs hatch into the parent animal. (So you can turn 2 turkeys into 15 in about a year.)
• Thinking something might be a bad idea is the best possible reason to do it.

[Fenrisson]

Some things they don't teach you in all the tutorials:

• Don't stress embark prep too much, especially early on. Bring stuff you know you'll need (picks, axes, food, drink) and resources you know you won't have access to (wood in a desert, stones on an aquifer etc.) before looking into finished goods.
• Relatedly, skilled dwarves are only ever FASTER or BETTER at their jobs than unskilled dwarves - with a few exceptions any dwarf can do any job, if they have the right labors turned on.
• A breeding pair of egg laying animals is a super easy way to start a food supply basically anywhere, since they lay large stacks of eggs and ALL undisturbed eggs hatch into the parent animal. (So you can turn 2 turkeys into 15 in about a year.)
• Thinking something might be a bad idea is the best possible reason to do it.

All corrcet, but you forgot to mention that one needs nestboxes for eggs to be laid - also undisturbed means dwarves will try to collect the eggs (if you have a food stockpile). Once they are touched they will never hatch, therefore it is nessesary to forbid the eggs before the dwarves come to collect, or have the nestboxes behind a locked door.
In general all the posts above are correct. I learned by trial and error and with the help of the wiki...

[Merari]

I had trouble keeping my fortress fed through winter until I learned about poultry.
What I do is create a small two by three room with two nestboxes in, inside my larger poultry pen.
In there I put a chicken, a turkey hen, two nest boxes and then I forbid the door.

The other eggs in the larger pen all get used for food and the little room is for breeding.

[misko27]

Another thing: Before messing with the military, basically just invest in a lot of traps. Stone traps, cage traps, anything you can. It delays the inevitable goblin onslaught

[kardwill]

I tried it a while ago and dont remember what mod I downloaded with it but I do know it comes with quite a few mods so its easier for noobs like me to just fire it up.

You're talking about the Lazy Newb Pack. Good way to get a few utilities that will ease your day (graphical sets, .ini editor, personnel manager, sound system)
You should find the latest edition on these forums

[Bihlbo]

Yeah it sounds like you want the LNP. There are different versions because it's open source, but here's the one I like best: Lazy Newb Pack.

[Deboche]

I agree about being a real man and just winging it but some things like the menus, shortcuts and specific keys can be hard to figure out.

also get dwarf therapist and learn macros otherwise you might give up on the game on frustration alone

[Ranold]

Some trial and error is necessary, especially in your base/defense/industries planing and exploration/combat. However, I would recommend some bare bones tutorials, to avoid wasting time on rough UI, that is unless you real men pfft  don't have real life/job.

[☼!!Troll Fur Sock!!☼]

I don't agree with that. Okay, it's rare to see someone who learned to play vanilla DF all by himself, but mostly because they give up after first battle with the UI...
Example: me. I never used anything that wasn't included in DF download. Yes, there are people that can play without the 9001 bugfixes. For me, they are unplanned features : D
DF UI took me 3 days to learn, 2 weeks to master. After a month I could build a fortress that wouldn't die if not sieged by necros. All without tutorials, just some wiki from time to time.

And I tell you what. Learning Dwarf Fortress this way doesn't mean you're a real man, but is many, many times more fun.

[Oddible]

And I tell you what. Learning Dwarf Fortress this way doesn't mean you're a real man, but is many, many times more fun.

To each their own.  I would never have played if this was how I had to introduce myself to it. Good that there are many paths available and a rich community of all types so folks can initiate themselves as they see fit. 

If the OP is finding it difficult to get into the game and HAS watched some tutorials, suggesting bare bones trial and error as an answer to their question, "how do I get into this game" is probably not likely to be the correct answer for this player.  This player likely needs a bit more of an introduction than they've already had. 

Even using Lazy Newb Pack (which I'd recommend to the OP), you will find countless frustrations (like the mostly lack of documentation).  The recommendation to read the wiki's quick start guide is most definitely the way to go.

However, to reply to your recommendation, and what I think was the sentiment behind it, the OP should fail and do it with flair!  Embark and forget stuff and have to embark again!  Die because you forgot this or that.  Getting the perfect fortress is the fantasy of other games, this is Dwarf Fortress where we survive by our grit, or don't survive at all!  I will say this, my first game I went the most easy route and completely followed a couple video guides.  I did well but I never felt a sense of ownership over what I'd produced.  Good for starters, but lacked the fun.  Do it to get into it, then scrap it and pitch out on your own!

[☼!!Troll Fur Sock!!☼]

The memories, oh the memories.
I lost my first fortress to whellbarrows.

But back to thread: I have teached few of my friends how to play DF by skype, if you have lots of random quick questions that don't really require posting in question thread...
codename._.47 - mah skypah