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[rufio]

So, I found this game while searching for free linux games (it was a filthy lie, though, because DF doesn't seem to have a native linux version) and I've found it kind of awesome.  I know there are a million different tutorials and so forth, but I'd much rather learn how to work things by mashing random buttons to find out what they do, so I started up (and abandoned) several fortresses and just messed with stuff.  The wiki has been very helpful to reference during the process, but it doesn't seem to cover everything.

1.  Is there a happy medium between window-sized and full-screen?  At "normal size" with my resolution, DF occupies a tiny portion of the screen, and there doesn't seem to be any way to resize it.  It'd also be cool if it were somehow possible to make it show a larger area of the map.
2.  How do you keep all of the dwarves organized?  I got the hang of managing the original 7 pretty well, but then the immigrants came, and suddenly there were 28, some of which had skills I didn't even have buildings for yet, or had no skills, or had redundant skills because apparently only one dwarf can use a particular building at one time.  I wound up not knowing what people were doing, who had the seldom-used skills (like Architecture), and having 10-15 Idlers at any one time.  Help?
3.  My butcher shop was constantly creating miasma - is the meat rotting in there?  There was meat successfully being put on the stockpiles, and the only rotting things I noticed were corpses (which were all outside) but I wasn't keeping very good track of how much was being brought in either.
4.  How do you get dwarves to actually stay inside?  I tried ordering them from the orders menu, but this just created a constant stream of dwarves leaving the fortress to go stockpile something and then saying "Oops, forbidden location" and then going back.  Then I had a few dwarves who were being chased by goblins and literally ran to every part of the map except the part where the fortress was.  What the heck?
5.  On a related note, how do you defend against the goblins?  I did put up traps, and front doors (but I can never lock them because the stupid dwarves never go inside all the way), and recruited dwarves to the army, but I can't figure out how to tell them to go attack the goblins.  I'm probably just missing something really obvious.
6.  Also, my cage traps did manage to catch some goblins, but then what do I do with them?  Despite what the wiki says, I can't find any weapons and armor that look like they might belong to them on the stocks page, and in any case I don't seem to be able to zoom to any of it anyway.  Can I butcher them?  Can I tame them?  Can I mercy-kill them?  Can I sell them to the elves?  I don't want them sitting in my fortress taking up stockpile space and cages.
7.  I assigned one of my unskilled immigrants to hunt, because I wanted him out of my hair; apparently he got injured and went to rest in the barracks, with what looked like some minor wounds to one or two limbs.  Later he got up and appeared to be alright, except that I would constantly be getting messages to the effect that he was canceling actions like "Get Drink" and "Move Item to Stockpile" because of "Unconsciousness".  It seems he had his right eye greyed out (does that mean he lost it?), but I'm not sure how this causes narcolepsy.  Will this problem go away eventually, or is he maimed for life now?

There's probably more things I forgot about, but this is probably a good start, anyway.

[nutzy]

So, I found this game while searching for free linux games (it was a filthy lie, though, because DF doesn't seem to have a native linux version)

No, there is a linux version
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=28841

For your other questions, though, read the wiki and search the forum before posting

[Scarpa]

1.  Is there a happy medium between window-sized and full-screen?  At "normal size" with my resolution, DF occupies a tiny portion of the screen, and there doesn't seem to be any way to resize it.  It'd also be cool if it were somehow possible to make it show a larger area of the map.

You want to tweak the gridsize using the [WINDOWEDX],[WINDOWEDY] and [GRID] tags in the init.txt file. For instance, I run a 9x9 tileset at 1125x630 for a gridsize of 125x70. Default is 80x40 I think.

2.  How do you keep all of the dwarves organized?  I got the hang of managing the original 7 pretty well, but then the immigrants came, and suddenly there were 28, some of which had skills I didn't even have buildings for yet, or had no skills, or had redundant skills because apparently only one dwarf can use a particular building at one time.  I wound up not knowing what people were doing, who had the seldom-used skills (like Architecture), and having 10-15 Idlers at any one time.  Help?

I tried to micromanage this at first, now I just build craploads of workshops for the things I really want done, then peruse the 'U'nit list for idlers when I need more people to do the work. I don't really care at all about skill level/item quality so my method leaves a lot to be desired if *you* care about that stuff. Dwarf Manager is great for handling this but requires .Net, I don't know how that works in Linux/WINE.

3.  My butcher shop was constantly creating miasma - is the meat rotting in there?  There was meat successfully being put on the stockpiles, and the only rotting things I noticed were corpses (which were all outside) but I wasn't keeping very good track of how much was being brought in either.

Butchering creates meat and chunks, both of which rot. You just might not have enough food and/or refuse haulers to clear it out in time. Are you sure you have enough stockpile space for those items?

4.  How do you get dwarves to actually stay inside?  I tried ordering them from the orders menu, but this just created a constant stream of dwarves leaving the fortress to go stockpile something and then saying "Oops, forbidden location" and then going back.  Then I had a few dwarves who were being chased by goblins and literally ran to every part of the map except the part where the fortress was.  What the heck?

Yeah this is a pain. Whats worse is once they are already outside and scared they just run around randomly. Drawbridges, doors and other physical methods to restrict them moving about in dangerous situations is way better.

5.  On a related note, how do you defend against the goblins?  I did put up traps, and front doors (but I can never lock them because the stupid dwarves never go inside all the way), and recruited dwarves to the army, but I can't figure out how to tell them to go attack the goblins.  I'm probably just missing something really obvious.

Make sure the military squads are on duty, and then you can use the 'x' squad menu to station them or put them on patrol.

6.  Also, my cage traps did manage to catch some goblins, but then what do I do with them?  Despite what the wiki says, I can't find any weapons and armor that look like they might belong to them on the stocks page, and in any case I don't seem to be able to zoom to any of it anyway.  Can I butcher them?  Can I tame them?  Can I mercy-kill them?  Can I sell them to the elves?  I don't want them sitting in my fortress taking up stockpile space and cages.

Here's what I do, YMMV:
-Create a goblin only animal stockpile, set it to take from the main animal stockpile.
-Once they're all moved designate the whole area for dumping, preferably to a very close dump zone. This will strip them of their clothes/weapons.
-Once they are stripped, unforbid the Giant Cave Spider silk goods for trade, and the iron weapons/armor for melting.
-Dig an arena and then throw the goblins in. Careful about pitting thieves/snatchers. They are slippery and will get away. How you kill them at that point is up to you. You can't butcher or tame them, not sure about selling to elves.

7.  I assigned one of my unskilled immigrants to hunt, because I wanted him out of my hair; apparently he got injured and went to rest in the barracks, with what looked like some minor wounds to one or two limbs.  Later he got up and appeared to be alright, except that I would constantly be getting messages to the effect that he was canceling actions like "Get Drink" and "Move Item to Stockpile" because of "Unconsciousness".  It seems he had his right eye greyed out (does that mean he lost it?), but I'm not sure how this causes narcolepsy.  Will this problem go away eventually, or is he maimed for life now?

His eye is missing and he's repeatedly passing out from the pain. He'll be that way for life. If he's not friends with anyone I'd have him explore a magma pipe or riverbed to get rid of all the "one eyed guy canceled something: unconscious" spam.

[Simmura McCrea]

So, I found this game while searching for free linux games (it was a filthy lie, though, because DF doesn't seem to have a native linux version) and I've found it kind of awesome.  I know there are a million different tutorials and so forth, but I'd much rather learn how to work things by mashing random buttons to find out what they do, so I started up (and abandoned) several fortresses and just messed with stuff.  The wiki has been very helpful to reference during the process, but it doesn't seem to cover everything.

1.  Is there a happy medium between window-sized and full-screen?  At "normal size" with my resolution, DF occupies a tiny portion of the screen, and there doesn't seem to be any way to resize it.  It'd also be cool if it were somehow possible to make it show a larger area of the map.
2.  How do you keep all of the dwarves organized?  I got the hang of managing the original 7 pretty well, but then the immigrants came, and suddenly there were 28, some of which had skills I didn't even have buildings for yet, or had no skills, or had redundant skills because apparently only one dwarf can use a particular building at one time.  I wound up not knowing what people were doing, who had the seldom-used skills (like Architecture), and having 10-15 Idlers at any one time.  Help?
3.  My butcher shop was constantly creating miasma - is the meat rotting in there?  There was meat successfully being put on the stockpiles, and the only rotting things I noticed were corpses (which were all outside) but I wasn't keeping very good track of how much was being brought in either.
4.  How do you get dwarves to actually stay inside?  I tried ordering them from the orders menu, but this just created a constant stream of dwarves leaving the fortress to go stockpile something and then saying "Oops, forbidden location" and then going back.  Then I had a few dwarves who were being chased by goblins and literally ran to every part of the map except the part where the fortress was.  What the heck?
5.  On a related note, how do you defend against the goblins?  I did put up traps, and front doors (but I can never lock them because the stupid dwarves never go inside all the way), and recruited dwarves to the army, but I can't figure out how to tell them to go attack the goblins.  I'm probably just missing something really obvious.
6.  Also, my cage traps did manage to catch some goblins, but then what do I do with them?  Despite what the wiki says, I can't find any weapons and armor that look like they might belong to them on the stocks page, and in any case I don't seem to be able to zoom to any of it anyway.  Can I butcher them?  Can I tame them?  Can I mercy-kill them?  Can I sell them to the elves?  I don't want them sitting in my fortress taking up stockpile space and cages.
7.  I assigned one of my unskilled immigrants to hunt, because I wanted him out of my hair; apparently he got injured and went to rest in the barracks, with what looked like some minor wounds to one or two limbs.  Later he got up and appeared to be alright, except that I would constantly be getting messages to the effect that he was canceling actions like "Get Drink" and "Move Item to Stockpile" because of "Unconsciousness".  It seems he had his right eye greyed out (does that mean he lost it?), but I'm not sure how this causes narcolepsy.  Will this problem go away eventually, or is he maimed for life now?

There's probably more things I forgot about, but this is probably a good start, anyway.

1. Different window sizes in the init.txt

2. Create industries and leave them to it. Or just have a honking huge military.

3. Chunks, meat, skins and corpses can all rot. These idlers could be put to use for hauling.

4. Apart from the orders menu, you can't really. Annoying, I know.

5. x is the squad menu, use s to station them somewhere.

6. Theirs is anything that has 'narrow' as a descriptor. And no, no, yes and yes. Exactly how you kill them is up to you.

7. Dark grey wounds means the object in question has been severed. He keeps passing out because of phantom pain. In this version, there's no way to get rid of that.

[Lymojo]

What you're gonna want to do is watch these videos:

Captain Duck's Dwarf Fortress Tutorials
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5A3D7682BDD48FC2&search_query=dwarf+fortress+tutorial

Also, for your second question, download Dwarf Manager. The game's essentially an impossible hair-ripping mind fuck without it.

[Cogsmith]

1)Install a diffrent tile set and set it to whatever dimensions said tileset recommends. Many of them are larger.
2)Change what skills they are allowed. A 3rd party program called Dwarf Manager is very useful for managing their skills. Furthermore you can assign jobs to be done with the Manager noble, which saves you from having to detail each job in each building.
3)Butchering produces Meat, bones, skulls, fat and chunks. Meat, fat and chunks all rot. Meat can be cooked in meals, and fat can be rendered in a kitchen, and either will be preserved at least temporarily in a stockpile but chunks are useless and must be dumped.
4)There's no way to get them to ignore jobs outdoors so long as they can path outdoors. This results in the entry-way dance. I recommend using your order menu to ignore animals, ignore all items dropped on death(enemy and ally), ignore corpses..etc. I ALSO recommend installing doors/floodgates in your entryway so you can lock the doors(which will cut-off pathing and make them ignore stuff outside). No way to control where dwarves run when fleeing. They only think about "away" not any destination.
5)Can't tell them to actually "attack" but "s" for squads and "s" to station them nearby the gobbies and they should auto attack.
6)that's sounds like insufficient accuracy in the stocks. Appoint a bookkeeper and tell him to keep all records accurate. To take their stuff d,b,d designate the cages, then use k and d to un-designate the cages. Sounds stupid but what it ACTUALLY does is to designate the cages and everything the goblins have for dumping, then un-designates just the cages.
7)If it's dark grey it means his eye has been ripped out. Now Dwarven medicine basically equates to "pour grain alcohol over it, sleep for a few weeks and walk it off you pansy". Since this doesn't actually HELP having a hole where your eye should be it leaves dwarves with missing body parts in constant pain. Which is causing him to pass out. There are a few solutions.

• Put him in the Fortress Guard or Royal Guard. This won't actually help him, but you need some dwarves in there sooner or later and it's better to use cripples instead of useful dwarves.
• Make him a pump operator and nothing else. Have him dry pump with a screw pump. that should increase his "Tough" stat which should help him resist pain.
  

[cancel.man]

I know there are a million different tutorials and so forth, but I'd much rather learn how to work things by mashing random buttons to find out what they do

I highly recommend the Newbie Play Along tutorial because it will teach you most of the basic you're asking about and you still get to mash buttons (sometimes randomly) while you learn. Plus you still get to do whatever you want- the tutorial is just a rough guide that teaches you some basics of getting your fort going in the appropriate sequence to keep everyone alive and happy.

[rufio]

Thanks guys - I'll check out the Dwarf Manager program, and maybe the other tilesets (though I kind of like the ASCII, to be honest).

No, there is a linux version
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=28841

Oh, OK.  The actual site for the game said there was no native version.

You want to tweak the gridsize using the [WINDOWEDX],[WINDOWEDY] and [GRID] tags in the init.txt file. For instance, I run a 9x9 tileset at 1125x630 for a gridsize of 125x70. Default is 80x40 I think.

Well, I played around with that, and got one setting that resulted in a large grid but itty bitty tiny characters that could not actually be discerned.  Further experimentation causes the actual game to appear squished into one corner of the actual window, including when I duplicated your numbers.  What else do I have to do?

Yeah this is a pain. Whats worse is once they are already outside and scared they just run around randomly. Drawbridges, doors and other physical methods to restrict them moving about in dangerous situations is way better.

Yes, but if half my dwarves are wandering outside the fortress anyway, locking the doors isn't going to protect them.  I wish I could just issue an "everyone go to the dining room, stat!" command, or something.  That's what they always seem to be doing anyway when I actually need them to work. 

Make sure the military squads are on duty, and then you can use the 'x' squad menu to station them or put them on patrol.

Ahh, thanks, I didn't see that menu.

Here's what I do, YMMV:
-Create a goblin only animal stockpile, set it to take from the main animal stockpile.
-Once they're all moved designate the whole area for dumping, preferably to a very close dump zone. This will strip them of their clothes/weapons.
-Once they are stripped, unforbid the Giant Cave Spider silk goods for trade, and the iron weapons/armor for melting.
-Dig an arena and then throw the goblins in. Careful about pitting thieves/snatchers. They are slippery and will get away. How you kill them at that point is up to you. You can't butcher or tame them, not sure about selling to elves.

Thanks.  Some more dumb questions, though:  1) How do you forbid an entire area?  There doesn't seem to be anything under designations.  2)  How do you "dig an arena"?  I'm guessing you dig an open area on the level below, dump the goblins in, remove the stairs, and range them from the level above, right?  But how do you keep them from escaping during all that?

3)Butchering produces Meat, bones, skulls, fat and chunks. Meat, fat and chunks all rot. Meat can be cooked in meals, and fat can be rendered in a kitchen, and either will be preserved at least temporarily in a stockpile but chunks are useless and must be dumped.

I just used t to see what was in the building when the miasma appeared, and it was indeed rotten chunks.  I guess I just need a bigger (or closer) refuse stockpile then?  The wiki said something about using zones to make an infinite refuse stockpile, but I can't figure out how to the zones work.

6)that's sounds like insufficient accuracy in the stocks....

No, I did that - I built the bookkeeper an office and set the accuracy to the third level, and now I get an exact number and a list of the individual items on the right, but the zoom option is greyed out even when I select individual items.  Also, none of them are "narrow".

Make him a pump operator and nothing else. Have him dry pump with a screw pump. that should increase his "Tough" stat which should help him resist pain.

Will he actually be able to do that for a long enough period of time to have an effect?  I mean, if he can't even get himself a drink without passing out...

[cyks]

Whenever you have a dwarf that is running in stupid directions when he should be running to the fort do this: 

Open your military menu with 'm'
Activate the dwarf with 'a'
(If he is surrounded by attackers at this point, it might be hopeless)
Before leaving the military menu, view the dwarf with 'v'
Change the settings to tell the dwarf to stay close to station and to ignore wild animals
Zoom on the squad and close menus. 
Now open military commands menu with x and ensure that the dwarf is selected before locking on him with 'L'
'S'tation him (step by step if necesary) into a path that is safe and leads toward the fort (Or traps)

[Scarpa]

You want to tweak the gridsize using the [WINDOWEDX],[WINDOWEDY] and [GRID] tags in the init.txt file. For instance, I run a 9x9 tileset at 1125x630 for a gridsize of 125x70. Default is 80x40 I think.

Well, I played around with that, and got one setting that resulted in a large grid but itty bitty tiny characters that could not actually be discerned.  Further experimentation causes the actual game to appear squished into one corner of the actual window, including when I duplicated your numbers.  What else do I have to do?

It's a little tricky, and I actually missed another tag that should have been set. Why don't you try replicating what I have exactly and that might give you some insight into the process.

- First go download the 'dorten' character set here: http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/List_of_user_character_sets#Square_tilesets
(people say 'tilesets' to mean graphics and character sets inclusively it seems. Graphic sets are sprites for various creatures, character sets swap out the fonts and sometimes replace actual ascii characters with stylized ones for barrels, dwarves, etc. I like to use a character set but not a graphic set)
- Place the PNG you downloaded into the data\art directory.
- Set these tags (this is only for windowed mode, btw):

Code: [Select]

[WINDOWEDX:1125]
[WINDOWEDY:630]
[FONT:720x225_SmoothWalls.png]
[GRID:125:70]


Yeah this is a pain. Whats worse is once they are already outside and scared they just run around randomly. Drawbridges, doors and other physical methods to restrict them moving about in dangerous situations is way better.

Yes, but if half my dwarves are wandering outside the fortress anyway, locking the doors isn't going to protect them.  I wish I could just issue an "everyone go to the dining room, stat!" command, or something.  That's what they always seem to be doing anyway when I actually need them to work. 

If it's an ambush, it's a little tougher as you don't get notified until they are on a dwarf already. In a siege you get advance warning so you can prepare better.

A good strategy is to have the ability to seal off your fort with walls/bridges, with the bridges being well outside the true entrance to your underground fort. Then you can say dwarves stay inside and they should all at least come within the walls, at which point you can raise the bridges and then rescind the order.

You should also peruse the 'o' menu, specifically the 'F' submenu to make sure they don't go running out to collect the clothes off of the first dead dwarf or goblin in the conflict.

Thanks.  Some more dumb questions, though:  1) How do you forbid an entire area?  There doesn't seem to be anything under designations.  2)  How do you "dig an arena"?  I'm guessing you dig an open area on the level below, dump the goblins in, remove the stairs, and range them from the level above, right?  But how do you keep them from escaping during all that?

I dig out the arena first, then setup a bridge and or floodgates to allow you to seal it off using a lever. Then channel a hole into it on the z-level above and make it a pit zone. Then you can pit the goblins and they will be stuck in the arena. There's a lot of different ways to do it though, experiment. Don't be afraid of the occasional loose goblin, it's Fun and just one or two isn't likely to cause too much havoc even if they still have their weapons.

[Exponent]

Thanks.  Some more dumb questions, though:  1) How do you forbid an entire area?  There doesn't seem to be anything under designations.

Try (d)-(b)-(d) for dumping an area, and (d)-(b)-(f) for forbidding an entire area.  To dump stuff, you'll need to first create a dump zone (use (i) to designate the zone, and then (g) to set it to be a garbage zone).  This zone only needs to be 1x1, and acts as an infinite stockpile.  The only caveat is that you must manually specify objects to be dumped, and must manually reclaim (unforbid) them to use them, because they are automatically forbidden when dumped in the garbage zone.

6)that's sounds like insufficient accuracy in the stocks....

No, I did that - I built the bookkeeper an office and set the accuracy to the third level, and now I get an exact number and a list of the individual items on the right, but the zoom option is greyed out even when I select individual items.  Also, none of them are "narrow".

Try pressing (tab) while viewing a particular category.  It should expand everything on the far right to show each individual item on a separate line, rather than compressing them into groups.  Only then should you be able to zoom to items.

Make him a pump operator and nothing else. Have him dry pump with a screw pump. that should increase his "Tough" stat which should help him resist pain.

Will he actually be able to do that for a long enough period of time to have an effect?  I mean, if he can't even get himself a drink without passing out...

It can be hard, depending on the dwarf and the wound, but has been done.  Just recently, someone went through the effort to save a dwarf with no eyes who was almost dead from dehydration.  You can read that story here.

[Albedo]

There's probably more things I forgot about, but this is probably a good start, anyway.

Welcome. You probably should surf the wiki - it's the "manual" for the game, as much as we have one.  DF has a lot of details, but it's a fast learn.

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Main_Page

[rufio]

- First go download the 'dorten' character set here: http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/List_of_user_character_sets#Square_tilesets
(people say 'tilesets' to mean graphics and character sets inclusively it seems. Graphic sets are sprites for various creatures, character sets swap out the fonts and sometimes replace actual ascii characters with stylized ones for barrels, dwarves, etc. I like to use a character set but not a graphic set)
- Place the PNG you downloaded into the data\art directory.
- Set these tags (this is only for windowed mode, btw):

Code: [Select]

[WINDOWEDX:1125]
[WINDOWEDY:630]
[FONT:720x225_SmoothWalls.png]
[GRID:125:70]


That results in no graphics at all.  I did double-check, and the filename is exactly the same.

Thanks for the other advice - the goblin attack was actually an ambush, and the dwarves that were attacked were on the other side of the map getting at some exposed silver, so I guess it was just bad luck that time.

[Albedo]

Ambushes work that way - it's less about timing because they seem to have paitence.

It's almost worth it to dig a single, long tunnel across the map and come up from below. Complete security, and some exploratory mining while your at it. And once you're done, the hauling is safe too, and probably shorter than otherwise since you don't have to negotiate your own entrance. 

For 100% recovery, add an inner door before you crack the outer tiles of ore, then wall it off to prevent thieves from entering.

[rufio]

It's almost worth it to dig a single, long tunnel across the map and come up from below. Complete security, and some exploratory mining while your at it. And once you're done, the hauling is safe too, and probably shorter than otherwise since you don't have to negotiate your own entrance. 

For 100% recovery, add an inner door before you crack the outer tiles of ore, then wall it off to prevent thieves from entering.

Yes, I probably should have done it that way, but I saw the silver poking out and said, "ooh, shiny!" and couldn't resist.  I've learned that lesson, anyway.

ETA:  I reinstalled the game from the link given by nutzy, and following your instructions worked.  Maybe I just messed something up, or the version on the main site is different somehow.