Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[arbarbonif]

Its as if certain shortcuts only work for me half of time or not exactly the way I wish and that is only if I am not crashing

Make sure you aren't accidentally turning CapsLock on when trying to hit shift or tab.  H and h are totally different commands in Dwarf Fortress.  I've gotten into the habit of hitting CapsLock as my first "this key isn't doing what I expect" habit and it usually fixes the problem...

[JDRX]

Greycat how do I do any of that?
I am having hard time maintaining control of world map generation as it is.

I can successful do channels so far and make the downstairs openings but I can't seem to figure out how to get my mining dwarves to keep digging down anywhere.

[yggiz]

Greycat how do I do any of that?
I am having hard time maintaining control of world map generation as it is.

I can successful do channels so far and make the downstairs openings but I can't seem to figure out how to get my mining dwarves to keep digging down anywhere.

Once you have the downstairs on level, and the upstairs on the level right below it, you should be able to d->mine the squares adjacent to the upstairs on the lower level. Be careful to only designate areas that you want your miners to dig through, if you dig into a river or a lake, you will learn some stuff about !!FUN!! lol. This way you can designate your mining areas and your miners will get to it when they look for a job to do. Your miner must have mining labor enabled and have a pick, that shouldn't be a problem if you were able to connect the stairs. If you are waiting awhile for your miners to get to work, they may be asleep, or eating, or drinking, or doing another job that you can see in the "U"nit screen.

Once you mine out a large area underneath the surface, try making another set of stairs to go down another level, and dig a large area on that lower level. It is a good way to get familiar with what things look like underground, and while your miners work, practice changing z-levels with the < and the > keys, and F1 to center on wagon if you get lost. Press TAB a lot to browse the command menu, and watch the minimap.

Keep it up, and the rewards will be great. Welcome to the game!

About stairs, downstairs must be designated on top of the level that the upstairs is designated. Without the upstairs, your dwarves will not have access to the lower level. Once you get the connected stairs, you should be able to dig anyway on that lower level that you see fit.

[Aslandus]

I can't tell you how to mess with the raws and stuff, but here's a few basic tips I've used:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076
-This thread links to a starter pack for Dwarf fortress, it should be pretty stable on your system, even if the new release isn't. It has settings in the launcher for all the things you say you want to get rid of, though if you want the true DF experience, you should leave them on (well, savagery, civilization and history will have to be dealt with in world generation... also I usually turn off aquifers, but that's personal preference)

-combat can be tough to get a handle on, but you will always have to deal with it, whether it's from invading armies or from your dwarves getting angry and beating each other to death (yes, that does happen... quite often, as a matter of fact...). You can learn how to use military on your own, but don't be afraid to use "exploits" like danger rooms to train soldiers fast when you're starting out

-designating is a skill you will probably get fast, press d and you can set "mine" orders, which dig out the area of stone they are set on, but not the roof or floor of that level... you can find a guide to the keys in the middle of the screen by default, though if you press tab you can get rid of it/bring it back up... I recommend leaving it up unless you are really confident in your memory or feel an unending need to see as much of the map as possible

-I usually change the Z-level switch keys (esc, key bindings, general, go up/down one z level) so I don't have to hold shift all the time, but key bindings are personal preference

And here's a link to the wiki, in case you need it: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/

[Putnam]

Now that I'm thinking about it, one of the biggest learning curve bumps for me was figuring out how to properly move between layers (also called Z-levels).

The easiest way, and the way you should start with, is to just designate a small channel (press 'd' followed by 'h').  This digs down into the level below and leaves ramps behind that you dwarves can use to get down to that level.  Stairs are far more complicated creatures, so save those for when you have a better handle on the game.

Hell no. Ramps are really frigging complicated. Stairs are really frigging simple and don't require complex conditions, just that they're connected to the correct stair types (up connects only to above, down connects only to below, up/down connects to both, another stair is needed on the level you want to go). Ramps are complicated (ramps need to be placed in a position such that they are connected to a wall on the same Z-level and that said wall is below a floor on the tile above the wall tile; if neither of these conditions are met, the ramp cannot be used in that direction). I killed many a miner in my early days of playing due to the "use channels" advice, many a miner that would have been saved by the simplicity of stairs.

[Ancalagon_TB]

Hello

It *is* hard.  I had different issues - I made an error by flooring over a staircase, trapping my miners for months (miracle they survived).   I cooked all my plump helmets, leaving me with no seeds (hint:  at first, just brew and let your dwarves eat those plump  helmets raw.  worry about cooking later).  The version of DF I had had a bug with not POPCAP set so no migrants ever showed up.   And then zombies showed up.

My second fort is running better.  You'll get the hang of it

[Garath]

plot size above ground tends to look weird - not every spot is suitablke for farming. Other shrubs may be growing there, rocks may be in the way or the ground is just wrong

[Aseaheru]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Quickstart_guide
The above is the updated version of what got me learning and thru my first few forts (which died due to lag or not enough food)

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Bentgirder
The actual thing that I learned from, its a little outdated at this point.

http://dftutorial.wordpress.com/
I also learned a little form this.

Other than these, just experiment. I would advise not going in an area with salt water or an aquifer at first, and makeingshure theres no tower around will let you learn without fear of zombies.

[Aslandus]

Hello

It *is* hard.  I had different issues - I made an error by flooring over a staircase, trapping my miners for months (miracle they survived).   I cooked all my plump helmets, leaving me with no seeds (hint:  at first, just brew and let your dwarves eat those plump  helmets raw.  worry about cooking later).  The version of DF I had had a bug with not POPCAP set so no migrants ever showed up.   And then zombies showed up.

My second fort is running better.  You'll get the hang of it

Yeah, be careful when dealing with liquids (water and lava) in general, they tend to get out of hand quickly and can be very difficult to clean up, and I generally don't cook plants at all until I have over 100 of type of plant available (also, while plump helmets might be easy because they are instantly useful, other crops like cave wheat, quarry bushes, and sweet pods are much more profitable, 5 food units per plant vs 1 for plump helmets)

[Mechanixm]

For your zooming issue...if you're playing the newest version of the DF Starter Pack, then the new TWBT settings override your mouse zoom in/zoom out settings.  You need to press ctl-p and ctrl-o to zoom in and out.

Also...try disabling the Mouse Query Plugin from the dfhack console.  just type this in at the dfhack console:  "disable mousequery" and then press enter.  that might help you with some of the weird designation issues you're having.

[JDRX]

I had major issues with the newer versions but I have had much better luck with the 2012 version of Lazy New Player game think that is what its called.
I am making some progress but still running into issues. I can't figure out trade and got to Autumn and supplies are very low.
Brewer/farmer says I can't plant or make more drinks because of seeds and empty barrels and each time I make them I find that seeds have been stashed or the barrels are being used for fish or something like that but there is no "fishermen" ugh.
I went back to summer part of the game to see if I could do better. I still can't figure out how to dig in stairs
I found a great spot that I really like since  its got these really interesting underground rivers and waterfalls with these different levels with forested cliffs that my miners can walk down too so I can work around the issue I can't dig downward and stairs.
 Yet truthfully I wish I knew how to go back to that spot in spring and start over. Anyone know how to do this?

[Foxite]

Many tutorials may be for older versions. Much things have changed since the last major version, and between that one and the one before it, and so on. A tutorial for, let's say, 0.34.11 is likely highly unuseful if you're playing the latest version which is currently 0.40.14. Note that this is only about major versions, so when you're watching a video tutorial on DF for 0.40.01 then it is useful when you're playing 0.40.14.

Also, everybody here is frustrated, although not necessarily new

[JDRX]

I had check on the newer versions but I couldn't seem to get them to work for more than few minutes without crashing.
I am downloading now the last years version of LNP,
I only downloaded the first version of LNP  because all videos I was seeing featured it and I was running into problems trying to follow along.
Guide I did find to empty the barrel of seeds didn't seem to apply to the version I was playing even though it said it was for version 0.34
I really like this game but there are aspects I don't get, like I turned off certain things to get the basic like children until I had over certain population like 5-100
And my second wave came 8 people showed up and 5 of them was children and I got beserk possessed kid now:(
And I noticed I have creature called a Bubblebee man but no way to know if he is friendly

[Putnam]

If they're friendly, it says "friendly" in the unit screen. There are tabs you can press left and right on to check.

Rule of thumb: if it isn't a citizen, pet or caravan, it's hostile.

[Aslandus]

If they're friendly, it says "friendly" in the unit screen. There are tabs you can press left and right on to check.

Rule of thumb: if it isn't a citizen, pet or caravan, it's hostile.

It might not be "hostile" as in attacks dwarves on sight, but you may just want to kill it anyway because it's useless and will just jam up your cage traps if you don't