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[martinuzz]

okay.....i have downloaded the game and created a world, the only problem now is that i am completely lost on what to do. any tips?

They tricked you into downloading the basic version.

As a new player, you'll probably want to get the LNP that includes graphics and useful tools.

I disagree. A new player should try the vanilla game. Mods and tools are for later.

[Blue_Dwarf]

okay.....i have downloaded the game and created a world, the only problem now is that i am completely lost on what to do. any tips?

They tricked you into downloading the basic version.

As a new player, you'll probably want to get the LNP that includes graphics and useful tools.

I disagree. A new player should try the vanilla game. Mods and tools are for later.

A new player shouldn't struggle to change labors without Dwarf Therapist. Or to understand what is a cat and what is a wall without graphics.

[mirrizin]

okay.....i have downloaded the game and created a world, the only problem now is that i am completely lost on what to do. any tips?

They tricked you into downloading the basic version.

As a new player, you'll probably want to get the LNP that includes graphics and useful tools.

I disagree. A new player should try the vanilla game. Mods and tools are for later.

A new player shouldn't struggle to change labors without Dwarf Therapist. Or to understand what is a cat and what is a wall without graphics.

I figured it out pretty quickly.

Mind, I had a background in roguelikes (NetHack, Dungeon Crawl) to help me along...

[Rince Wind]

The LNP for the new version isn't out yet, though.

I started with tilesets (no fancy LNP back then), but discarded them when I didn't want to wait for them to update for a new version. Never went back. I can even remember that first ascii fortress, it was in a jungle.

I only use the therapist once my forts grow big and I need to change stuff on a lot of dwarfs at the same time/find out if any survivor of whatever have specific skills.

I'd say, if you can stand the ascii, go ahead and try vanilla.

[Blue_Dwarf]

I figured it out pretty quickly.

Mind, I had a background in roguelikes (NetHack, Dungeon Crawl) to help me along...

I'm sure you did.

The new player, on the other hand, should be given the option of both. It's not a good idea to send him to a raw DF download, which will just make him quit 99% of the time.

[khearn]

The new player, on the other hand, should be given the option of both. It's not a good idea to send him to a raw DF download, which will just make him quit 99% of the time.

Yeah, but then at least they quit bugging us for help.



infinitenoah, don't take the above seriously. This is actually a pretty helpful group of people. Welcome to the insane asylum.

[PrimusRibbus]

I think now should be about the time someone posts

http://www.vayapotra.es/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/2rmqi6o.gif

like others have said, DF is one of the most complex games ever created. Play, Fail, Play More

This is one of the biggest misconceptions in video games and unjustly scares off a lot of new players. DF is not difficult and does not require a lot of skill, it just has a poor UI and bad documentation.

Using the wiki, guides, and tutorials will get you over the "what am I doing?" hump fairly quickly.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Using the LNP would have got the OP to exactly the same place he is now, only perhaps with slightly nicer graphics.

In fact he may have been put off by having being presented by a whole load of options he knew nothing about before he was allowed to even start the game. Honestly 'create world', 'object arena', 'create advanced world' is much more reassuring.

--edit: Input 'she' where appropriate if necessary...

[milo christiansen]

DF is not difficult and does not require a lot of skill, it just has a poor UI and bad documentation.

Very true! Once you learn your way around the horrid UI and lack of even the most basic tutorial (aside from the wiki, which is rather good) DF is far easier than many games. For example I find Rimworld and Timber & Stone to both be much harder.

[wierd]

It runs somewhat faster without a tileset anyway. 

The only complaint I have is the mixing and matching between using arrow key menu navigation, and +/- key menu navigation.  The latter is especially painful on the softkeyboard I use to play it on my tablet.

(speaking of, I got the intel accelerated xorg driver working! squee! I can use dfhack's TWBD mode now.)

I learned to play this game back when it was much more brutal, back in the .40d era. This guy can figure it out, I'm sure.

[Urlance Woolsbane]

Dwarf Fortress, in its latest incarnation, isn't "hard" in the normal sense (though it's not very easy, either.) It's not determined to frustrate you at every step, and it's fairly easy to avoid failure, once you're well-versed enough. Rather, it's insanely detailed. Everything is well-thought-out, and very little is gamey (for want of a better descriptor.) Learning how to play it is an adventure unto itself.

That said, the beauty of it is that, by its very nature, there's no rush. You don't have to have everything figured out on your first go (heck, I still haven't gotten round to minecarts, though that's largely down to my health preventing me from playing more often.) 

So yeah, take it easy. Let the game wash over you. Binge-reading the wiki in preparation for an unending maelstrom of disasters is only going to leave you disappointed.

[Saiko Kila]

It's a personal thing. I have never used "lazy newb packs" (I was too lazy for that), but before I created the first fortress I was reading the Usenet for 3 months, and then the wiki for 1 month, and some fora in meantime. I think these months were like equivalent of reading an operating manual. If someone doesn't want to do that (considering it a waste of time), then he can expect to experience some failures. I don't think that one should start with downloading the game. But with preparations, the first fort ever can last forever.

[wierd]

barring savegame curruption. That used to be a thing in the old days.

[infinitenoah]

Alright, i am getting the hang of it. I got a little underground base with beds, a table and chairs made, my miners are digging through a caravan deep underground, and I have my wood, gems, weapons and other stockpiles set up.

But I have a question about trading: How do I view how much cash I have? Also, when I trade, I select the items I want and then it has a "view stockpiles" option on the bottom of the screen. when I press that key, it lists a bunch of red numbers, what does that mean?

and then there's this screen that lists all the items I selected with a yellow percentage next to them, at the top of the percentage it says "price" although I don't really understand what that means.

About my weapons stockpile, how do I equip them to my dwarves?

I figured out the difference between Jobs, labors and skills and how to change the labors of my dwarves. I also learned that dwarves earn experience in skills, which is pretty cool.

[infinitenoah]

Not sure if this is a bug or not, but at the bottom of my screen it keeps repeatedly saying, "So and So cancels give food: no food available" when I have a lot of food in my food stockpiles.