When I read "Losing is fun", thought they were exaggerating.
...I have some questions about how to properly plan a fortress.
There is no single "properly". Everything depends on your priorities and playstyle - but if maximizing productivity and minimizing wasted time are your concern, then proximity and flow-thru are key. But almost anything that involves the word "should" comes with qualifiers regarding what you like in a game. So "should" quickly gets tweaked to your own style (possibly based on the early traumatic scars you suffer in your first game!
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But there are some solid suggestions for starting.
First, read the Wiki. It's the newbie's bible, it's your friend. While you're waiting for something, hit "random page", and then realize you missed what you were waiting for while reading.
The first thing, is think in 3-D. If two related rooms (two workshops in an industry chain, or workshop/storage, or workshop/end-consumer, like a kitchen dining room) are 8 tiles from door to door, then it's closer to put one of them 7 z-levels up or down.
First, in terms of proximity to the entrance where should my first farm plot be?
Outdoor crops? Close.
I dive into sand/soil, so I can often put it right above my entrance. "Above", because if I can I will build a small wall around it and put in roof-access before year's end with a sculpture garden and include that - unless I have giant eagles, it's all secure.
Yo don't need a huge area, and there's no reason to group them all together. 4 2x3 plots will create a huge surplus for a crew of 20 if you have something the same size for underground and a Proficient Grower (recommended!).
But my outdoor crops go in after my indoor, and to my embarrassment that sometimes that means season two, sadly, since seeds need to be processed out of gathered plants. You shouldn't starve, don't worry - farm plots are disappointingly small.
Second, how far in advance should i plan the layout of the fortress?
I map out the topography and think about my entrance/defense before pick strikes earth. But for rooms, I find thinking modularly helps.
I'll start with a long-ish "welcoming" corridor (8-12) to fill with traps, taking an L-turn at my first barracks and a dog-guard chained there. I know that inside that will be a scramble area for my very first indoor shops (things I want to protect from thieves), and a ramp under my early dining room down to my trade depot - high traffic for anti-theft security. I like to put foot access to 90% of my fort
through that first dining room - small, with lots of doors - so I know any thief will have a hella gauntlet to get past there - they pick locks, so I'm talking hard walls.
I know my first mason will be central to everything. My kitchen/dining room/still and indoor farms will be "together", with a food processor area near that. I know my butcher and tanner will be adjacent to each other, and my leatherworks near that, and hopefully the butcher near the kitchen. I know I'll want to have a craftshop near those for bones, and another near whatever high-value stone I have. I know my loom/dye/cloth will be together, but those are low-priority. A fish processor near a pond ~if~ I go that way. Select storage
beneath everything, 1-4 levels or more, no prob.
Other industry groups, like glass or obsidian making, or wood-burner/smelter/forges are another cluster. You'll develop your own style.
And don't forget - it's easy to tear down a workshop and build it elsewhere, and put something new where that was. An early layout is not carved in stone, as it were.
Within a few seasons I have done enough exploration to know where I'll set up my stone-home, quite possibly wall up the old entrance, and conceivably abandon the sand/soil digs entirely.
Third, how many miners should I bring along to do this-I typically have 3 proficient miners to do the job.
Depends. On your starting location, what you expect, and what you're bringing with in the way of equipment, supplies, and other skills. They're all tied together with your playstyle, or the style you're trying for that fortress.
I start with only 1 and maximize craft/art skills, but I dive into loam/soil/sand for the first year, and then carve out stone once I have a feel for the place. I can get 2-3 legendary miners before end of 1st winter without a problem that way.
Fourth...and to me this is very important...I hear lava isn't pressurised, but is it safe to tap into it from several levels below the opening of a volcano?
http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/MagmaFifth, what rooms should I build first?
Again, depends.
You expect immediate combat?
I like to save money by NOT bringing an axe, which means my priorities are a wood-burner/smelter/forge. I build the first two right outside my chosen entrance, and then stuff a temporary forge inside somewhere. The wood burner will replace that in the open scramble/entry area when it finds a permanent home, because the wood-burner has nothing I can't lose to a thief. The forge also gives me a copper chain (I bring about 10 Tetrahedrite, for the copper & silver for practice weapons) for my guard dog (I bring 4 dogs for breeding, train them later - it's fast, and the savings worth the minor effort, at least in sand where a 5x5 workshop is a snap. Actually, after the very first entry/storage rush, I cut up-staircases in the soil and then level for twice the experience.)
If you have any trees, a carpenter likewise has little of value and can go outside/just inside, for a first table to define a new meeting area, especially if you're digging far from your wagon. (But a mason can do this as well, and letting your dorfs sleep in the dirt on the first night or three isn't going to drive anyone insane, so long as you get your act together after that.) And bins - start them, and don't stop. They can cover a quick front door as well, and a carpenter can do shields if you land in something thick. But carpenter/mason are also key.
And that's another thing I like to get done asap - enough room to stuff everything inside, away from rot, away from thieves, away from the wildlife.
Then a meeting room, which will be a meeting room, to keep my dorfs where I want them.
Then a mechanic for traps, once I have some stone around to use (I'm in sand, so sometimes have to wait for the first storage cellars to hit stone).
An early farm industry helps since crops are time-dependent, and a kitchen - cook up those 1-meat barrels and free them up for your still. I don't have above-ground until I do some Herbalism, which is untrained via a ranger-type - I feed myself from farms, not off the land, and once you have the seeds you don't need more.
I hold off on food-processing until after crafts - if you have high-value stone, a couple months of mugs (combined with throw-aways from the mason and forge) will cover the dwarf and elf caravans nicely.
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Topic: Newbie learning the ropes of fortress building, and looking for suggestions (Read 1703 times)