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Author Topic: How do I tell what site I'm in?  (Read 2118 times)

Neutrino S

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How do I tell what site I'm in?
« on: July 12, 2014, 05:36:20 pm »

Read about Dwarf Fortress on Rock Paper Shotgun and it sounds like my kind of thing. So I installed the 0.40.2 Starter Pack and seeing what I can do in Adventurer mode to start with. I'm using the Phoebus tileset.

After playing with it for a day or two there's lots I still haven't worked out but here are my biggest issues atm.

1. I'm in some kind of a site, I know that because if I press 'T' to go to travel mode it tells me I can't because I'm in a site. But I can't work out how to tell what kind of site I'm in or what it's called.

2. On a related topic, is there not some kind of large scale 'in game' map where I can pan around the world. I've seen the higher scale view in the 'T' Travel mode, but I don't seem to be able to pan around. I've also got no idea what any of the symbols mean so I can't identify sites or towns or anything.

3. Also on the main 'walking around' view, there are sometimes two little maps in the top right corner labelled '1' and '2', what are these showing me?

4. There is a compass in the top left corner, but how do I wokr out what any of the symbols are supposed to mean?

Thanks.


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cephalo

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2014, 05:43:31 pm »

I'm a little rusty with adventure mode, but the two little maps in the top right tell you what you can see on different z levels.

I am also pretty confused on the site maps. to leave a site, try to walk back the way you entered, because the sites can sometimes be quite large.

The compass directions will turn red if you can't walk in that direction, like if there's a river or something.

If you are brand new, you really ought to use the older versions of DF, because there is a lot of confusing new stuff in 40.02 that the community hasn't figured out yet, not to mention it is extremely crashy.
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PerfectWorldDF World creator utility for Dwarf Fortress.

My latest forts:
Praisegems - Snarlingtool - Walledwar

Neutrino S

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2014, 05:54:48 pm »

I did try the older version first, but after spending about 2 hours trying to work out how to eat the wild strawberries before reading on the web that you couldn't harvest fruit like that until the latest version, it turned me right off the old version.
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dree12

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2014, 05:56:39 pm »

You can press Q to bring up a map of the world.
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cephalo

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #4 on: July 12, 2014, 06:00:10 pm »

I did try the older version first, but after spending about 2 hours trying to work out how to eat the wild strawberries before reading on the web that you couldn't harvest fruit like that until the latest version, it turned me right off the old version.

I don't think you can do that in adventure mode still. Yeah, DF isn't the kind of thing you can just pick up and try. It takes dedication just to accomplish basic survival. Try fort mode in 34.11, it's a bit more straightforward than adventure mode... kinda.
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PerfectWorldDF World creator utility for Dwarf Fortress.

My latest forts:
Praisegems - Snarlingtool - Walledwar

sal880612m

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2014, 06:13:52 pm »

I did try the older version first, but after spending about 2 hours trying to work out how to eat the wild strawberries before reading on the web that you couldn't harvest fruit like that until the latest version, it turned me right off the old version.

I don't think you can do that in adventure mode still. Yeah, DF isn't the kind of thing you can just pick up and try. It takes dedication just to accomplish basic survival. Try fort mode in 34.11, it's a bit more straightforward than adventure mode... kinda.

I am pretty sure there are plants you can do that with seeing as when I started an adventure I could do it with red spinach leaves.  It was a welcome surprise.
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Neutrino S

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2014, 06:30:16 pm »

I found the 'Q' map which answers all my original questions. The wiki calls it the 'Adventure Log' but actually it's a really decent map, plus loads of other info too.
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Neutrino S

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2014, 06:32:46 pm »

What are Dark Pits? I see loads of them.
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Vgray

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2014, 06:34:24 pm »

One of the two sites goblins build, along with dark fortresses.
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dree12

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2014, 06:35:02 pm »

I forgot to answer the other part of your question. The 1 and 2 minimaps show the situation one or two z-levels above you, if you can see it. For instance, tree tops.
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Valtam

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #10 on: July 12, 2014, 06:42:03 pm »

I found the 'Q' map which answers all my original questions. The wiki calls it the 'Adventure Log' but actually it's a really decent map, plus loads of other info too.

Welcome! The wiki is your friend, and it might answer all your questions. But, for the sake of clarity:

1. Q might already tell you where are you standing, but it isn't that clear with some sites, usually little grottos and lairs.

2. Make yourself acquainted with the other two gameplay modes (Fortress and Legends) to learn more about icons and conventions used inside the game. The Wiki already has a list of these, at least in ASCII form.

4. Those small icons are the nearest landmarks and sites. If they're greyed out it means that their position is relatively far away, and as soon as you approach them, they get colored from brown (a walking hour or so) to white (which means "you're already there")

Quote from: Neutrino S
What are Dark Pits? I see loads of them.

Those are the standard goblin sites, think of them as their hamlets. Politics-wise, goblins are pretty aggresive in this version and they tend to spread quickly. If you want to have a succesful fortress, you might also want to invade or cleanse a couple of these Pits with an adventurer first, and that will slow down nearby goblin invasions.
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my first quest was to seige a nemacrcors tower i killed 3 nemacrcors the got killed by a zombie fly.
How on earth did you manage to do that twice?

cephalo

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #11 on: July 12, 2014, 07:22:20 pm »


I am pretty sure there are plants you can do that with seeing as when I started an adventure I could do it with red spinach leaves.  It was a welcome surprise.

Ok, when I tried that with artichoke leaves, I could only lick them.
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PerfectWorldDF World creator utility for Dwarf Fortress.

My latest forts:
Praisegems - Snarlingtool - Walledwar

dree12

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #12 on: July 12, 2014, 07:37:07 pm »


I am pretty sure there are plants you can do that with seeing as when I started an adventure I could do it with red spinach leaves.  It was a welcome surprise.

Ok, when I tried that with artichoke leaves, I could only lick them.

Artichoke leaves do not have the [EDIBLE_RAW] tag. I'm not sure if this is the case in real life or not, but the game is correct in only allowing you to lick them if the raws are to be believed.
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glopso

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Re: How do I tell what site I'm in?
« Reply #13 on: July 12, 2014, 08:01:41 pm »


I am pretty sure there are plants you can do that with seeing as when I started an adventure I could do it with red spinach leaves.  It was a welcome surprise.

Ok, when I tried that with artichoke leaves, I could only lick them.
You can eat the artichoke hearts, though.
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