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[FallenAngel]

Get acquainted with Dwarf Fortress by playing DF2012, the current version.
People who have played for a long time, or at least a few months, can safely pack up their everything and dive head-first into the new version without being completely confused. We'll still be confused, but less so than a new person.
After a few months and a few bugfixes, go into DF2014. All us vets will have found at least the most annoying and prevalent glitches to make it at least somewhat playable.

[blackravenx]

LOL that's what I was thinking... I am trying a game now with the Dwarf Therapist and still even though I tell them to do chopping they like to sleep lol I put in stock piles and farming, but mineing seems to be my issue. Hey! its day 1 on this game but so far nobody died and went from 7 guys to 9 LOL

[Sutremaine]

You can't [d]ig a floor. Plain digging turns a wall tile into a floor tile, and your dwarves are already running around on those.

To get into the earth, you need to use a channel or down stair, or find a wall to tunnel into (ie. [d]ig).

You'll also need a pick, and a dwarf with the Mining labour enable.

[FallenAngel]

That's why it's a good idea to read the tutorial on the wiki - tells you what to do, approximately when to do it.
I taught myself DF through the Fort Mode and Adv. Mode tutorials.

[HmH]

Start out with DF2012. DF2014 is going to be buggy and cataloguing the effects of its overhauls will take at least a few weeks, whereas DF2012 is stable and most of the useful information about it is already stored on the wiki.
Speaking of which, the wiki is going to be your best friend for the next few weeks. It's basically a beginner's guide to Dwarf Fortress. A huge, comprehensive beginner's guide that occasionally advises you to do terrible things for fun and profit, but a guide nonetheless.

Adventure mode is a bit bare in this version; it's going to be a lot more interesting in DF2014, and combat overhauls mean that we'll all need to re-learn adventuring in the new version. Best stick with Fortress Mode until 2014 is stable.

I'd also advise you to avoid graphics sets until you're well-acquainted with ASCII. Square ASCII is best. If you learn ASCII first, you'll find that it is easier to read, as it codes the information in a more general, less cluttered way. On the other hand, if you start with graphics sets, you will find ASCII much harder to learn... basically, you'd get addicted to graphics, and not in the fun way.

And whatever you do, do NOT play with mods until you've mastered the vanilla. By "mastered" I mean "can fully develop all industries and stave off the FPS death, along with all the other kinds of death, for a few years". Most mods are hard even for experienced players, and you'll have your fair share of Fun without them.

[blackravenx]

Were do I get this Square ASCII layout then. I know someone else gave me a link to look at graphic mods but is there a setting in it?

[My Urist Eternal]

Were do I get this Square ASCII layout then. I know someone else gave me a link to look at graphic mods but is there a setting in it?

I had this same question when I was starting out with a square tileset and the forum helped me out:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128960.msg5310479#msg5310479

The square tileset I use is called Bisasam:

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Tileset_repository#Bisasam

[blackravenx]

I think after all this .. i'll stick with one that came with vanilla game ASCII .. I really don't want to get used to a map pack and then it stops working on new 2014 and then have to resort to ASCII again lol. Would be nice to increase the size of the default .. right now I am using the zoom in to make it bigger

[guitarxe]

Good choice, I endorse 
Do yourself a favour and set the game to use the better/higher resolution of the default font: *

0. Quit the game if running
1. Open your dwarf fortress directory
2. Go to data/init
3. Make a backup of init.txt and d_init.txt (we will only be making changes to init.txt, but d_init.txt contains other game settings you might want to change sooner or later anyway).
4. Find the line that says
[FONT:curses_640x300.png]
5. Change this to
[FONT:curses_800x600.png]
6. Save file and start the game. If you don't like the slightly different look, just revert the change or replace with your backedup copy of init.txt

And if you get tired or upset about the sort of rectangular/stretched out look that the default font gives, there is a square version of the default font as well. Simply change the same line to
[FONT:curses_square_16x16.png]

* This is all assuming you are playing in windowed mode. If you like to play in fullscreen, make all the same changes but to the line that reads FULLFONT instead of FONT.

[sal880612m]

I was going to say that I didn't think a square ASCII version would need updating and that there is little to no reason it shouldn't work basically right away on release. I am taking the above as a confirmation of that thought.

[blackravenx]

Thank you SO much .. .much better I was watching for help the "dwarf fortress for dummies" lol don't laugh its actually helping me but of course he uses a mod so trying it with ASCII version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_SaPQpKbU is the link for those who want to watch.

[blackravenx]

I wanted to say thanks for everyone that helped me out. I love this game but only thing is ASCII is killing me lol I am unable to tell what is what but I know a lot of that has to deal with me being new. I am going to take your advice and play the 2012 version and not the 2014 until the bugs are gone. Reading up on the forum I can see a lot of people are coming up with a lot of bugs. Right now I need the DF therapist help on managing the jobs because the in game jobs function sucks ..or hard to understand.

[Ghills]

I wanted to say thanks for everyone that helped me out. I love this game but only thing is ASCII is killing me lol I am unable to tell what is what but I know a lot of that has to deal with me being new. I am going to take your advice and play the 2012 version and not the 2014 until the bugs are gone. Reading up on the forum I can see a lot of people are coming up with a lot of bugs. Right now I need the DF therapist help on managing the jobs because the in game jobs function sucks ..or hard to understand.

That is absolutely the right decision.  Get the all-in-one fan package and have fun!

Oh, and most DF players use Dwarf Therapist and other fan tools.  The whole point of playing DF is to have freedom to play how we want - that includes mods and accessories.

[blackravenx]

Yes I want to have fun and also try to stay on the right path without putting in too much mods lol

[sal880612m]

Yes I want to have fun and also try to stay on the right path without putting in too much mods lol

It isn't very dwarf-y of you to think there is a right path. Next you'll be suggesting Toady put in a win condition.