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[Shiv]

So I've been playing DF for about....2 days now.  And I've run into a couple of questions. 

1)  I'm using Mike Mayday's tile set to make the game look a bit better and a bit easier to understand.  Question I have is, is this the current version of the actual DF game?  Because if I understood his website correctly, it's an 'unofficial version' of the game.  So has he changed stuff around other than the graphics?

2)  I get the impression from reading the forums that the Marksman dwarves are very handy.  But is that the ONLY military dwarf that's worthwhile?  No one talks about swords, axes, spears, etc.  but it seems every other post is talking about their Marksman dwarves.  Are other units, in comparison, worthless for time to train, risk, etc vs payoff?  Or do people just not like to talk about their Axe wielding branch of the military?

[Kav]

2)  I get the impression from reading the forums that the Marksman dwarves are very handy.  But is that the ONLY military dwarf that's worthwhile?  No one talks about swords, axes, spears, etc.  but it seems every other post is talking about their Marksman dwarves.  Are other units, in comparison, worthless for time to train, risk, etc vs payoff?  Or do people just not like to talk about their Axe wielding branch of the military?

Mele weapon are great. They are easier to train since you don't need to keep making bone and wood bolts for them to train with. However there is always the possibility of training injuries. This is minimized by wearing even rudimentary leather armor.

Honestly you would be surprised how good elite unarmed wrestlers in leather armor do against goblin ambushes.

However, Marksdwarfs are great since they can fire with near impunity from behind carved fortifications minimizing casualties during sieges.

[Jim Groovester]

1)...So has he changed stuff around other than the graphics?

Yes. Yes he has. We field a lot of questions regarding changes he's made to the game. It's one of the first questions we ask when diagnosing a problem after "Does he have a nervous injury?" and "Can your dwarves access where you want them to go?"

2)  I get the impression from reading the forums that the Marksman dwarves are very handy.  But is that the ONLY military dwarf that's worthwhile?  No one talks about swords, axes, spears, etc.  but it seems every other post is talking about their Marksman dwarves.  Are other units, in comparison, worthless for time to train, risk, etc vs payoff?  Or do people just not like to talk about their Axe wielding branch of the military?

I use melee dwarves exclusively because I'm too lazy to train marksdwarves, and they can mop up any threats to the fortress with a minimum of effort, but so can everything else.

[Shiv]

Yes. Yes he has. We field a lot of questions regarding changes he's made to the game. It's one of the first questions we ask when diagnosing a problem after "Does he have a nervous injury?" and "Can your dwarves access where you want them to go?"

So what kind of changes has he made?  And are they game breaking or just different? 

Also is there a graphic mod that looks like his but remains true to the game?

[Jim Groovester]

On his website there's the list of changes he's made. I think he's changed the keybindings a little bit, and he's added the economic stone mod.

The economic stone mod, since you're curious, makes every stone economic, so that your dwarves will not use them for regular use like crafts and furniture unless you enable them from the stones menu.

[smjjames]

Yes. Yes he has. We field a lot of questions regarding changes he's made to the game. It's one of the first questions we ask when diagnosing a problem after "Does he have a nervous injury?" and "Can your dwarves access where you want them to go?"

So what kind of changes has he made?  And are they game breaking or just different? 

Also is there a graphic mod that looks like his but remains true to the game?

There are a few tweaks that mod, the economic stone thing which was mentioned, the cat mouth fix (which probably every mod has), and maybe a few other minor things, but it's still true to the game.

[Shiv]

Oooh...so things like Marble and what not, are those stones?  Because in my first fortress (which I got tired of due to inefficiency) they would use things like Marble and another stone (which I can't remember) a lot for building and crafts.

But in my new one, they only seem to use one type of material which is what the mountain is primarily made of (which, again, i don't know the name of.  Danite or something).  However, in another room I have a nice blue stone (again, name), which they WON'T use at all.  Can't select it as an option on construction menus or anything.  So is this the economic mod in action?  Or is there some other reason?  Cause it looks like a stone to me.  Same shape/graphic as the stuff they will use.

[assimilateur]

His only change I can think of off-hand is the addition of a mod that sets most of your stones - not counting the types visible from the surface after you embark - to economic use. That means that they will not be used save for a bunch of specific tasks; ergo, you will not have furniture made out of an iron ore unless you specifically "greenlight" said iron ore for this usage.

The "economic stones" feature is already implemented in the game, it just works a little different at the start. Specifically, in the unmodded game each stone is greenlit from the start, while in the modded game most are redlit.

Other than this, I don't know what if he changed anything. I think you should be able to use only his tileset if you put it in a "vanilla" install of this game on your own. You should be able to figure this out by looking at the file structure.


Regarding being up to date: Mayday's version is 40d11, while the newest one is 40d13. There's a news post about the changes and it's up to you to figure out if it's even worth the trouble of getting it, while probably sacrificing compatibility with any mods you might potentially want to use.

[assimilateur]

Oooh...so things like Marble and what not, are those stones?  Because in my first fortress (which I got tired of due to inefficiency) they would use things like Marble and another stone (which I can't remember) a lot for building and crafts.

But in my new one, they only seem to use one type of material which is what the mountain is primarily made of (which, again, i don't know the name of.  Danite or something).  However, in another room I have a nice blue stone (again, name), which they WON'T use at all.  Can't select it as an option on construction menus or anything.  So is this the economic mod in action?  Or is there some other reason?  Cause it looks like a stone to me.  Same shape/graphic as the stuff they will use.

Press 'z' to open the stocks menu. There's a tab that's called stones, select it and you'll see a list of all the stones with most of them redlit, meaning that they're economic. Greenlight them if you want them to be used for furniture or crafts.


There should also be a list of uses for some of those stones to the right. That'll explain why it might not be best to use some of the most valuable ones for tables or idols.

[Jim Groovester]

Press 'z' to open the stocks menu.

Prepare to be nitpicked. 'z' opens up the status screen, not the stocks menu.

[Shiv]

Meh, it still got me where I needed to go.  Thanks for the help ya'll.

And it's called Microcline (the blue stone).  Is that useful for anything?  Didn't say so in the menu but I've been playing for 2 days so.....probably something I don't know about.

[assimilateur]

Meh, it still got me where I needed to go.  Thanks for the help ya'll.

And it's called Microcline (the blue stone).  Is that useful for anything?  Didn't say so in the menu but I've been playing for 2 days so.....probably something I don't know about.

No, microcline is pretty generic save for its blue color and you can use it at your leisure. I think that each and every mineral with a "special" use will have that use or uses explained on the right-hand side of that list. You can also go here: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Economic_stone for a list of economic stones in the classical sense. Other than that, I'd recommend searching for ores on the wiki.

Prepare to be nitpicked. 'z' opens up the status screen, not the stocks menu.

I get a bit nitpicky myself, so I don't mind that in the least.

[Lord Dakoth]

Meh, it still got me where I needed to go.  Thanks for the help ya'll.

And it's called Microcline (the blue stone).  Is that useful for anything?  Didn't say so in the menu but I've been playing for 2 days so.....probably something I don't know about.

90% of the stone that you mine is all the same, just a different color.

What you want to watch out for is Hematite, Magnetite, and Limonite (make iron) Platinum, Native Aluminum, Adamantium (of course) and Silver. Oh yes, and Bituminous Coal and Lignite, for refined coal fuel.

Obsidian is also good. It's 3 times more valuable then your everyday stone. If you have a large amount of it, you can just crank out obsidian mugs and buy anything you want from traders. Mwahaha.

[AtomicPaperclip]

So for your first question

I think that means that you're running 40d11,

40d was the last full release and 40d# are just tiny releases at a time until the next full release from my understanding.

[Albedo]

Go to the wiki. Go to the main page.  High on the list is "the non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock" (or something like that) - skim through that. Invaluable at your stage.

Re the question of military - Yes, they're all handy, but it's purely personal preference.  You could read over the wiki "defense guide" & related articles - it covers far, far more than you're asking, but your answer may be in there, if it's anywhere.

Read over any other links you find that catch your eye. (I had the wiki open regularly during my first weeks of play - way too handy, even with it's non-zero % inaccuracy rate.)