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[Zombie0hour]

First let me say this is an amazing game! Never have I played a game that has such a hold on me. I want to play it every second of my life! All I can think about is Dwarf Fortress! I just have a few basic questions, I do not really think the Wiki can help me out on these ones.

1. Do above ground forts of wood work? Has anyone been able to play a long time with one of these?

2. What is the ideal starting setup as far as point allocation and what you are taking with you? I know there is no ideal setup its all your preferences, but I want to get some ideas.

3. I really do not understand how farming works. Can someone please explain it to me in detail?

4. Is there any guides to building underground forts? Like architechtually?

Thanks guys!

[Malicus]

1. Do above ground forts of wood work? Has anyone been able to play a long time with one of these?

Sure, if you want to be like the HUMANS.  Still, you should probably wait on this idea until you're better acquainted with the game, since constructions aren't entirely intuitive.

2. What is the ideal starting setup as far as point allocation and what you are taking with you? I know there is no ideal setup its all your preferences, but I want to get some ideas.

The answer you'll get here varies widely from person to person.  One large factor is whether you want to bring an anvil or you want to buy one later.  Try looking at the starting builds on the wiki for some ideas first.

3. I really do not understand how farming works. Can someone please explain it to me in detail?

4. Is there any guides to building underground forts? Like architechtually?

Thanks guys!

Actually, now that I think of it, many of your questions could probably be answered by this page of the wiki, and it's good to search the wiki first when you have a question about something, anyway.

[Albedo]

1. Do above ground forts of wood work? Has anyone been able to play a long time with one of these?

With the sole exception of extremely high temps (like being next to magma), any material is currently as strong as any other.  Make them of soap or charcoal - just as strong.

What is the ideal starting setup as far as point allocation and what you are taking with you? I know there is no ideal setup its all your preferences, but I want to get some ideas.

You'll get as many different responses as players.  A LOT depends on your playstyle - and since this is your first game, you don't really know what that is re this game.

Here's a wiki link with some solid advice:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Starting_build

3. I really do not understand how farming works.

It works just fine, thanks for asking.

Can someone please explain it to me in detail?

Oh, that's diff.

You want a Proficient (+5 pts) Grower.  Then you < b>uild "farm <p>lots" in soil, or you can pour water over stone and "muddy" it.  Your Grower plants them with seeds, and they grow automatically - no more watering necessary. Once grown, they are harvested, and then eaten or processed further.

For detail, again, why re-invent (or re-type) the wheel:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Farming

4. Is there any guides to building underground forts? Like architechtually?

http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Design_strategies

You're asking for very personal and complex answers - I did the same.  But the best is to dive in and make your own mistakes, and learn by doing - DF seems simple, but it's got many subtleties that only "you" can interpret for yourself.

By the time you're done with your first effort, you'll have the experience to make the second one count - it's how we all did it.

[Jurph]

3. I really do not understand how farming works. Can someone please explain it to me in detail?

A few quick hints:
1) Not every crop is edible; in fact, of the below-ground crops only Plump Helmets can be eaten raw.  Everything else requires some form of plant processing (milling, process to bag, process to barrel, or brew) to become edible.  Some plants (dye crops like dimple cups) can never be used in a meal.

2) Stack size is how farmers keep forts alive.  Dwarves with high Planter skill (the Farming labor) will plant their seed successfully and your fields will generate stack sizes of four, five, or six crops per tile.  Stacks are processed -- see point #1 -- together and the resulting stack size is usually a multiple of the original stack size.  Starting with a stack of 5 quarry bush leaves and 5 sweet pods could yield a meal stack of over 40 servings; starting with stacks of 2 and 2 would more likely yield a final meal stack of just under 20.

3) Plan your seasons carefully.  Until you set up millstones and dyers' workshops in your fort, you don't really need to grow dimple cups.  Every winter go ahead and grow plump helmet.  Use the other seasons to experiment with the different crops you can use.  Save quarry bushes for last.

[Untelligent]

1. Do above ground forts of wood work? Has anyone been able to play a long time with one of these?

With the sole exception of extremely high temps (like being next to magma), any material is currently as strong as any other.

Actually, anything built from the Constructions (b - c) menu is nigh-invulnerable, so you could make a wooden fortress in the heart of a volcano and it wouldn't burn.

[yggiz]

1. Do above ground forts of wood work? Has anyone been able to play a long time with one of these?

Above ground constructions are fun, and also consume a lot of materials and labor. Instead of building walls straight from logs and raw stone, I suggest that you make blocks of wood at the carpenter's workshop, and blocks of stone at the mason's workshop. It takes a little time, but will skill up masons and carpenters beautifully.

This way, when you view logs and stones in your Z->Stocks screen, you will not be confused with all of your logs in your walls showing up. You will have a better understanding of the excess logs in your fort, instead of seeing 100 logs, then realizing most of them are in the bridge and the town hall.

[AtomicPaperclip]

I personally recommend not reading the farming page of the wiki, as it is likely to confuse you beyond practicality.

Everything you need to know about farming:

You need seeds, you need to set the plant that is to be planted there for each season with [q]

You can build a plot on excavated soil, or stone floor that has been wet

Once it is wet, it never has to be wet again. If you need help with that, check out the water wiki.

If the plant name is in red it's too late in the season to plant, it's not a problem.

--

A wooden fort? Oh god....

[LegacyCWAL]

You should go about learning to farm in two stages:

Stage one: learning the mechanics
1) Find soil
2) Build farm on soil
3) Plant plump helmets year-round
4) Brew enough plump helmets to keep your dwarves drunk, but not so many that you run out

Stage two: learning the whole system
1) Look at the wiki page on farming, especially the flow chart

[Grendus]

Stickied at the top of this forum is a Tutorial. It covers this much better than I can. All your questions can and will be answered there, I promise. It's really that good.

[loopoo]

Most of the questions you are asking only come from experience. I kid you not when I say that I have had about 30 Forts, from start to finish, and only 3-4 of those have been ones that have lasted more than 2-3 years...

DF is all about losing, and you don't learn as much until you go and try yourself. If you mess up, don't worry, revert to an old save and try again. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later...More sooner than later actually.