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[Fist_Of_Armok]

I find myself craving cold iron, hot magma, and screaming Goblins. I haven't played since carp were death and magma was only found in volcanoes, however, so I could use a refresher.

Can I get some help, or should I move this to the Questions thread?

[Sunday]

Man, I don't remember 40d very well. That was pre body update, right? And pre military update?

I think many of the basics (food and shelter) are the same, so you'll mostly do OK. The new military system is really complicated to learn at first, so I'd hold off on that until you have 1/2 an hour or an hour to fiddle around with it.

There's a healthcare system and it (mostly) works. More advanced though --- unnecessary for a new fort.

The caverns are fun to explore (the underground is way better than in 40d).

Burrows are somewhat useful, but also unnecessary until the fort is a bit bigger.

The brand new taverns are pretty neat.

I'd just go for it and ask as things come up.

You could also jump into adventure mode which has changed even more than fort mode.

[Fist_Of_Armok]

Man, I don't remember 40d very well. That was pre body update, right? And pre military update?

Dwarves still had body damage, but they didn't take viscera damage, no. I played a LITTLE 31.13, but not much.

I think many of the basics (food and shelter) are the same, so you'll mostly do OK. The new military system is really complicated to learn at first, so I'd hold off on that until you have 1/2 an hour or an hour to fiddle around with it.

I remember it being bastard hard and requiring that you have outfits for all your soldiers-you also need to set up training stuff, iirc?

There's a healthcare system and it (mostly) works. More advanced though --- unnecessary for a new fort.

Make sure you have a Surgeon and enough gypsum to make casts plus a clean hospital and you're good, iirc?

The caverns are fun to explore (the underground is way better than in 40d).

And not full of instadeath anymore?

Burrows are somewhat useful, but also unnecessary until the fort is a bit bigger.

Was looking forward to these.

The brand new taverns are pretty neat.

Do tell.

[Dozebôm Lolumzalěs]

Didn't 40d have the economy? 

[martinuzz]

You'll love the new trees.

[kiwiphoenix]

Joined in 2012, so can't talk about 40d per se. That said, a stupefying amount changed between 2012-2015 alone.

One absolutely critical 'fortress' element is climbing. Outdoor - and even some subterranean - defences need to be built with verticality in mind. Most invaders can skip over rough or 1-z-level walls like they're not there at all, but block constructions are hard to climb and smoothed living rock is impossible.

The sliding scale of happiness is out, replaced by stress, which in DF2015 is partly dependent on personality. Sociopaths are valuable as corpse-haulers. There are also 'needs' now, non-essential but personally important things that impact peoples' state of mind - for example, a socialite will lose interest in things if shut away in a quarry for ages. Not sure what exactly unmet needs actually do, but they can be assumed Not Good.

On that note, fear is a thing now, and no longer exists in binary. Inexperienced conscripts will have little 'Discipline' skill, meaning that they will panic and flee easily - train your recruits. Also, (sentient-)corpse-hauling duty is traumatic for most people now, so relegate that to veterans or/and sociopaths, as above. Vaguely important for surgeons, since zero-Discipline medics who lose a patient may freak out, delaying treatment for other patients.

You can geld animals, so the dreaded thermonuclear catsplosion of ages past is easily controllable now.

Trees span z-levels now. If you have a lot of fruit trees on your map, you will never need to farm again. Trees yield multiple logs, so deserts in 2014/15 produce timber like forests in 2012. Clear-cut around your walls, since trees are easy to climb.

DF2015 has made arts and entertainment into viable full-time jobs, which keep people happy but eat into productivity. Not that a mature fortress ever really needed 5 legendaries in every skill.

Oh! One other thing, which is overwhelmingly important yet so seamless that it feels like it's always been there: World Activation. WorldGen now continues after play begins. This means the inheritance of noble titles, the rise and fall of heroes and villains outside your fortress, the possible loss of trade partners to distant wars. In particular, this means that sieges are less common - being made up of actual civ members who must actually march to your fortress, rather than faceless hordes who spawn at the border - and that retired forts can be conquered while your back is turned.
That said, you can now create and retire demigod adventurers from your civ, at your fort, essentially allowing you to spawn custom-tailored migrants. This is an exploit, but kind of a glorious one. It also allows you to actually settle an adventurer down into civilian life, or to get proper medical treatment.


Long story short, the world is alive with people who actually think and feel. There are too many changes to go over everything, but the above should at least get you started.

[Sunday]

Man, I don't remember 40d very well. That was pre body update, right? And pre military update?

Dwarves still had body damage, but they didn't take viscera damage, no. I played a LITTLE 31.13, but not much.

I think many of the basics (food and shelter) are the same, so you'll mostly do OK. The new military system is really complicated to learn at first, so I'd hold off on that until you have 1/2 an hour or an hour to fiddle around with it.

I remember it being bastard hard and requiring that you have outfits for all your soldiers-you also need to set up training stuff, iirc?

Yeah, there are 2 screens - the [m]ilitary screen and the (s)quad screen. The wiki is pretty good. Basics are: you have to create and outfit the squads on the [m]ilitary screen. For them to train, you have to set a schedule through the [m]ilitary screen. You also have to assign the squad (after creating a schedule) to a barracks (weapon or armor stand) as in 40d.

The (s)quad screen is to order military squads around once they're set up.

Also worth noting you can read the combat reports in dwarf mode now; not sure if that was in 40d or not (press [r]).

There's a healthcare system and it (mostly) works. More advanced though --- unnecessary for a new fort.

Make sure you have a Surgeon and enough gypsum to make casts plus a clean hospital and you're good, iirc?

Hospitals should have cloth (bandages) and thread (sutures) too. Eventually soap (to prevent infection). Soap is mid to late game though. There are 5 different medicine skills: essential to have a diagnoser, and probably at least one of the rest (suturer, wound dresser, surgeon, bone doctor).

The caverns are fun to explore (the underground is way better than in 40d).

And not full of instadeath anymore?

They can be, but are not inevitably. Some forgotten beasts (randomized underground megabeasts) can kill an advanced fort, most will often kill at least a few dwarves.

Burrows are somewhat useful, but also unnecessary until the fort is a bit bigger.

Was looking forward to these.

The brand new taverns are pretty neat.

Do tell.

That's from the "big" newest version (along with temples and libraries, both also neat). Taverns (set up through designation of a meeting hall or dining room through [l], should have booze stockpile, chests, and a tavern keeper assigned) let non-fort, non-merchant visitors come. Human bards, swordsgoblins, etc. They might ask to stay, and join your military, or hunt in the caverns.

Also, that's where a lot of the new randomized dances, songs, and poetry happens.

The taverns (and temples and libraries) make a "peaceful" fort fun to play with, I think, at least.

Anyway, welcome back! Personally, I'm really digging the new version. I liked 40d, but it's come a long way since then.

[greycat]

Every embark spot has magma now, if you dig straight down far enough.

[Fist_Of_Armok]

Holy shit, what's going on with the the...months, thing? Setting up the immediate past?

Few interesting new icons on the world map, I assume those are the Necromancer's Towers...did they ever figure out undead being nigh unkillable?

Spending a couple hours perfectly outfitting my dwarves for their careers-the lady dwarf who's bad with people and doesn't care about relationships gets to be the doctor, naturally.

So many animal men to de-designate from corpse stockpiles...

[Niddhoger]

One -very- important thing about dwarven healthcare... don't ask us why, but sick/injured dworfs don't get to drink booze.  A dorf will watch his wife die of dehydration from a stubbed toe if you don't have access to drinking water (but otherwise are drowning in booze).  Combine this with the need for clean water to wash out wounds with, and a clean-water well is an indispensible part of any hospital.

Trees and fruits and figs oh my! There are a ton of surface plants that were added, however anything that forms a "pod" is still bugged iirc.  Which is another point, plants have "growths" now that change via seasons.  Leaves give way to flowers which give way to fruits and veggies.  Some plants have edible leaves and edible fruits, but otherwise you have to wait until summer to harvest from them (like most berries).  This is also the time that fruit/nut trees ripen.  We are seriously not kidding, a single tree can give 100+ edible food.  A grove can give you thousands.  I went crazy and dedicated all starting 7 as herbalists, and then drafted the rest of my migrants from the first two waves as haulers.  I wound up with 10k food before the first year was up without ever putting down a single farm plot.  Another tweak that made herbalist OP as @#!& was multi-hauling.  Dorfs can carry ~30 small stacks at once, so an herbalist will pick up to 30 odd shrubs before returning home... instead of the infuriating "pick a shrub, run and grab a barrel, drag barrel to shrub, drag barrel back to stockpile, then repeat the whole mess with the shrub directly adjacent to the last one" madness.  I've seen herbalist return with over 150 units of plant matter from just a couple of weeks harvesting in dense vegetation.  There are new plant fibers to collect, they don't do anything special.  However, its much easier to find plant-cloth aboveground for year-round growing with cotton, hemp, flax, etc.  Hemp is a little hilarious in that its the only plant that can be both woven into cloth and ground into four.  Thus, you can store hemp flour in hemp-cloth bags.  You can also press hemp for oil, along with the cotton, flax, and olives (from trees).

Taverns and temples and spoony bards! Breaks are now a relic of hte past, as dorfs instead go looking to fulfill a "need."  Tied in with the personalities system, religious dorfs will go "on break" to pray in a temple.  Social dorfs just want to gossip.  Cantankerous dorfs will get drunk and start arguments and fist fights in the tavern.  The taverns and temples are locations you designate from a new command ("l" iirc).  The temples are from a table, but the taverns get designated from a meeting area.  They need booze and mugs (mugs/goblets have a use now!) Also, the game will look for a clear flat rectangle of space to use as a dance floor.  Dorfs will sing, play (procedurally generated) instruments, and dance.  You can designate performers (who have related skills and attributes) and attach them to sites, and other dorfs will boo/cheer them depending on their skill.  Taverns also attract visitors from other settlements, mostly performers mercenaries and scholars.  The mercenaries can be hired into your military and adventures might want access to your caverns.  Scholars are tied to the libraries (another location), and will research topics and write books.  You can also copy existing books (either on scrolls or bind in books.  Can use a few different materials like leather, papyrus, and plant cloths).  Scholars can form mentor-apprentice relationships and pass on skills! You can also get in an argument with people and change their beliefs.  One guy on reddit became a hearthperson as an adventurer, and then began "tutoring" the lord's son.  He made the little tyke into a tyranical psycopath. Another wants to make a demi-god scholar to send into his fortress and convince all of his dorfs about hte values of hard labor and a good work ethic.  Another just made a brown recluse spider man dancer to create flash mobs with his mad dance skeelz :p 

You can play as animal-people now (you can fly as a bird person!), and even get them as permanent recruits in your fortress.  A serpent-man mercenary might petition for long-term residence, and then you can add him to your military.  He can then bite people in combat to inflict syndromes.  Wren women bards can become residents and be assigned as a permanent performer to your temple.  Tigerman scholars can write books on how math is GGRRREEEEAAAATTTT!!! Along with world-activation, these visitors are real historical figures.  If there are no giant louse-men in the nearby settlements, you won't get any visitors.  If you are at war with the hippies, don't expect them to wander into your tavern (unless they are from another civ).  You can even hit a key "n?" at a forge to select what race you are forging for.  Since humans are considered "large," they can't wear the small armor that dorfs, goblins, and elves can swap around.  Thus, if you get several human soliders (or some exotic animalmen), you can forge armor just for them! This also makes hte armor you get from human caravans slightly less useless.

With the personalities... they can get pretty sick actually.  One guy posted a screenshot of a soldier that was getting a string of warm fuzzy thoughts about having a good fight, enjoyed their sparring match, reveled in the slaughter of another, and then was "sad at losing a loved one."  She had killed her husband in a sparring match gone wrong, but was such a psycho the loss of her spouse was drowned out by her love of fighting.  You can also appoint a broker who hates commerce and gets grouchy when you send him to work.  Then there is Bob.  Bob is a neurotic mess.  He sneezes and gets a panic attack.  Before the 2nd year is out, Bob is running around the dining room naked and gibbering like a loon.  Bob then dies the next month of dehydration, as he refused to eat because of the crazies.  Bob is an extreme case, but dorfs do handle stress differently.  One even found a dorven woodcutter who had talked to long with the hippies. This dorf was "horrified at the destruction of plant life."  She had picked up hippie ethics, and was getting appropriately stressed about it.

So yeah, a whole ton of junk has been added :p

[Foxite]

Your question has already been thoroughly answered, but just to add my two cents: going through the quickstart guide at the wiki again like you know nothing about this game won't hurt.

[Quietust]

One -very- important thing about dwarven healthcare... don't ask us why, but sick/injured dworfs don't get to drink booze.  A dorf will watch his wife die of dehydration from a stubbed toe if you don't have access to drinking water (but otherwise are drowning in booze).

That's actually nothing new - back in the olden days (when "health care" meant "let them sit in bed until they heal"), injured dwarves were only given water to drink.

[Fist_Of_Armok]

Jesus fuckin' christ, they're not kidding when they call 'em Tower Caps.

[FrankMcFuzz]

My tip for new/returning players? Always remember to embark near the purple I.

[Fist_Of_Armok]

So now, particularly romantic dwarves will hang around their wounded spouse until they heal. I discovered this by having my legendary bonecrafter give birth, then drop the kid immediately when a wild boar attacked her lover, leaving it to crawl around and vomit while she fretted over him. Funny thing is, she had a desire to fall in love and have a kid-but clearly in that order for a reason. She hung around him, not leaving to get food and water, until I ordered the (unconscious) boar killed manually, at which point her lover was hauled off and she followed him, leaving the baby crawling in circles vomiting because Dwarf Fortress.