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[jwhite.df]

In the middle of the week, I came across and older Slashdot story mentioning DF2014's status and I thought I'd check it out. It's been a couple decades since I binge-played Moria and other games in the rogue-like genre, and I really enjoy resource management games. On the other hand, I can't afford to lose too much time to gaming, so my main exposure recently has been in the form of watching the "let's play" genre on YouTube, specifically Quill18's streaming play and VanguardOfValor's series.

I found myself feeling the itch to play myself. As I watched a video, is critique actions, or think, "You're forgetting about ..." and the like.

At the same time, l recognized the rabbit hole of detail in the game. So I went looking for my own experience. First up, the lazy newb pack. Except the wiki says it's superceded by other packages for DF2014. So, I read up on PeridexisErrant's DF Starter Pack, and downloaded it. I read through the starting tutorial on dfwiki. I stumbled across Quick Fort and read about surface-based builds, which I hadn't realized was a possibility. I played through a few surface-based builds based on the bundled-up QuickFort and learned a few things.

The first play-through, I neglected to create an in-fortress meeting place, so my dwarves kept clustering in the initial embark. I should tweak the Quick Fort surface build to have that.

The bundled Quick Fort bedroom level is nice, but requires a ton of inventory of beds, doors, and other containers in order to build out. The lack of dfhack's workflow and pre-build placement really starts to sink in. I probably need to modify it to open things up quadrant by quadrant.

I've never done a dining room. That's a problem. I need to integrate it with the food stores and kitchen. This leads to some thinking about chains of resource management. The same issue exists with starting up a metal industry, from wood stocks to charcoal (bars! Remember charcoal is controlled as a bar!), to ore and metal bars. I think about laying out a series of workshops with associated stockpiles, then come across the stockpile design article, which blows my mind. I need to implement some of that via Quick Fort, I think.

I finally figure out I need a manager and bookkeeper. And an office.

Do babies need water when they're born? I seem to be embarking in a place where water freezes during the winter, and despite lots of booze, I need water during the winter. I read the Well article, but sourcing the water at shallow depths is my issue. I could certainly use some guidance on this. I thought about constructing a stone-level space, then channeling a river into one end and building a well on another. Is that a standard way of doing things at the early stages of a game with winter freezing outside water? Am I missing something, like the requirement to tunnel down 20 levels right away to find water?

[Orange Wizard]

Water is only needed for cleaning and watering injured dwarves. If you have plenty of booze, and don't care about hospitals, you shouldn't need it for anything.

If the river thaws in the summer, try filling a cistern with it underground, where the water won't freeze. You can then have wells dropping into it from above.

[jwhite.df]

Water is only needed for cleaning and watering injured dwarves. If you have plenty of booze, and don't care about hospitals, you shouldn't need it for anything.

Interesting. During the winter, I get a steady stream of cancelling of water gathering due to a lack of water source. This seems to coincide with birthing, but that might be a coincidence. This is with well over 10:1 booze:population at the time...

If the river thaws in the summer, try filling a cistern with it underground, where the water won't freeze. You can then have wells dropping into it from above.

Just looked up Cistern/Reservoir, which is exactly what I conceptualized above. I started a game and tested it out. Wish I read the article first. Closing it up with a wall should have been an obvious move.

Interesting, a Floodgate? Is that to keep the water from coming out where the dwarves are exiting the Reservoir, or the river entrance to the channel? I'm not quite clear about how that might be built. Oh, I see, it' blocks flow in the x-y axis. I was thinking it would be built directly over a downward ramp, for some reason. And it looks like the retractable bridge works even better at the same idea.

[Man In Zero G]

If a dwarf is thirsty and falls unconscious (or is asleep) it generates a job for another dwarf to bring water as if the sleeping thirsty dwarf was injured, imprisoned, or otherwise unable to get a drink for themselves.
Also, orphan babies generate this job. Not sure that it happens if the mother is still alive though.

[jwhite.df]

If a dwarf is thirsty and falls unconscious (or is asleep) it generates a job for another dwarf to bring water as if the sleeping thirsty dwarf was injured, imprisoned, or otherwise unable to get a drink for themselves.
Also, orphan babies generate this job. Not sure that it happens if the mother is still alive though.

That explains it, thanks!

[jwhite.df]

Stumbled across a reference to PerfectWorldDF, and used that to build a more idealized starting point. No more freezing winter.

A much easier starting point has let me dig in and understand a lot more about the workflows of the game.

Speaking of workflows, not having this DFHack feature which I saw used to great effect in the various "lets play" videos is painful.

Along with auto-designating an ore vein that's been discovered. The manual designation is a real pain.

[Urist McWangchuck]

I like to make my Manager and Bookkeeper the same dwarf, so you only need one office for both roles.  I actually give him an office too and not just a designated chair in the dining room.

There's other ways of making water supply other than directly tapping into the river.  You could dig out a well chamber and just i-p-P-f zone a ton of Ponds on it, wait until it's almost full and then cap the hole with the well.  You could even put a Levered floor hatch next to it for refilling.  You do still need a water source for that to work, like a stream or brook (i-w zone it as a water source).  This has the advantage of greatly reduced flood risk, but it does take longer for the dwarfs to fill the chamber - one bucket at a time. You'll need multiple dwarfs and zones as well to overcome the rate of evaporation of 1/7 tiles.  A Screw Pump can also work and will purify Stagnant Water from Murky Pools but you need to create a path for the water to get to where you are going to use it.  I haven't had a fort run very long in 40, but my experience is that the dorfs don't use much water at all.  Anyways, IMHO, bucket brigade is an easy and safe method for watering a near-surface well.

Anyways, the key is "Subterranean" water doesn't freeze.  An underground cistern/reservoir is your solution to winter water access.

[Ghills]

Lack of DFHack is extremely painful.  I don't try the new versions until it and DwarfTherapist are ready.   

[martinuzz]

Lack of DFHack is extremely painful.  I don't try the new versions until it and DwarfTherapist are ready.

You kids needing your tool fix are soo spoiled. Back in my days ... <shakes walking cane clenched in a bony fist>

[jwhite.df]

Been using the in-game production orders handled by the Manager a lot more, getting to know the limits and capabilities. If I break requisitions down into 2 or 3 quantity chunks, I can move things around. But it's still a PITA.

[Getix Kain]

Lack of DFHack is extremely painful.  I don't try the new versions until it and DwarfTherapist are ready.

Therapist works fine.

I am still waiting too for DFHACK..

[jwhite.df]

I am still waiting too for DFHACK..

For what,  digv?

[Repseki]

I think the only DFHack features that I've really felt not having are the material reselect and being able to search on various menus.

Workflow wouldn't hurt, but not having it doesn't hinder anything all that much.

I don't even find myself wanting to clean the map in .40.xx, as it seems Dwarves clean things up a little more consistently. Which is nice, since I haven't built a proper "cleaning ditch" that can be flushed out in quite some time. 

[Getix Kain]

I am still waiting too for DFHACK..

For what,  digv?

No, for search in trade screens, cleanowned, clean contaminants and a few other FPS-enhancing tricks I use to keep my game up for longer before FPS Death.

[jwhite.df]

I finally mustered the patience to get through the first few hours of Matt Thornberry's Tutorial Night. Some really great ideas, there.

• Maximizing embark points by bringing raw materials (cheap) instead of finished goods (expensive).
  

The only problem with cut/pasting the embark profile he provides is that not all the food was available at the embark I chose.

• About 1:07:00 in the second episode, he does his farm and plant/seed stockpile layout. Super-efficient.

At about 1:11:00:

Code: [Select]

.....fffff.....
.....fffff.....
..333fffff333..
..322fffff223..
..322fffff223..
fffff11111fffff
fffff1sss1fffff
fffff1sss1fffff
fffff1sss1fffff
fffff11111fffff
..322fffff223..
..322fffff223..
..333fffff333..
.....fffff.....
f=5x5 farm plots
s=3x3 up/down staircase
1=5x5 stockpile layed out over the staircase
2=7x7 stockpile over the 5x5 stockpile and farms
3=8x8 stockpile over the 7x7 stockpile and farms
When you lay out the farms, then the inner 5x5, then the 7x7, then the 8x8, you get concentric ring stockpiles. Nice.

Maybe this is industry standard, but I'd never seen it before. I'm assuming there's more gold to be mined in these videos.