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[Arctaeus]

Morning everyone.

I picked up this fine game via the "totally newbie tutorial" that was posted on afteractionreporter.com (linked from the Wiki). Atfer getting a few chapters in, I felt like I got a general feel for the game (farming, storage, woodcutting/plants, masons etc) I decided to jump in the deep end and create a world of my own, along with my own Dwarf Team, and examine the inevitably hilarity ensue (Dwarves set on fire, Dwarves being eaten...)

However, i've had a few problems, and was wondering if this fine community would be able to help:

1. I had three miners in one team, but only two were mining. I went to individually manage the third miner who was doing nothing, even setting him to "only mining" rather than anything else, yet he still stood there with "no job". I later found out the reason why he did nothing was that he had no pick to mine with. I'd bought 2 copper picks, recruited 3 miners... 

2. The next team was fully equipped for mining with 3 copper picks. I embarked on a glorious expedition to an area, looked around, and not a mountain in site to dig into... (i wasn't sure if you could build stairs to a lower level "outside" of a fortress to go down to start digging). How do I see from the minimap before embarking which areas are mountains, and the level of these mountains? Is it the small triangles surrounded by up and down arrows?

3. The next expedition successfully found a level mountain to dig into! Success! Or so I thought. After massive amounts of planning of a gigantic fortress of epic proportions with a levelling for crafting/storage, a top level for barracks and trade depot, and bedrooms/meeting hall/general awesomeness on the third level, I couldn't find anywhere to plant my mushrooms. The tutorial map had an area where the first level could plant mushrooms on. How do I find out from the minimap before embarking that there will be an area where I can plant mushrooms? I had some amazing plan of flooding this dirt to make it muddy in order to plant on it (says the wiki) but the great flood conisted of a single square getting water on it and then the water running out -_-

4. How often do migrants arrive at the fortress and how do you go about attracting them? Is it the value of your fortress, the location, the rooms inside it?

5. How do you slow down/speed up the game speed, if there is an option available?

Advice for this newbie is most welcome, as this appears to be an awesome game but I can't play it if i get crippled by not being able to grow food inside away from evil animals/kobolds/humans stealing it.

[Malicus]

2.  Mountains on the embark screen are indicated by grey...  well, I don't really know what that symbol is called, but it points upward.  Higher mountains are upward-pointing triangles.  These can be colored yellow if the area is good-aligned or purple if it's evil.  You should avoid the evil areas for now.

And yes, you can dig stairs out of any natural walls (this is under the designate menu).  They don't have to be indoors.  You can also construct stairs from rock or wood or such (they're under build->constructions).

Also, something to keep in mind is that you need to dig a down stair on the top level, then an up stair (or an up/down stair if you want to basically make a shaft of stairways) on the level below that.  Dwarves can't use stairs if there's not a down stair on the top and an up stair on the bottom.

3.  There should always be at least some soil in which you can plant crops, since it won't let you embark without at least one tile of that sort of biome.  You may have to dig down into it to get to this soil.

4.  They don't start until after the first dwarven trading caravan leaves in the fall, and after that, there's usually one large wave a year and a trickle of migrants in the seasons in which the huge wave doesn't arrive.

5.  You can change the [FPS_CAP:x] setting in the (df folder)\data\init\init.txt file.  This controls the maximum number of simulation frames that will be calculated in a second (the default is 100), but as your fort gets larger, this setting will tend to matter less and less, as it will get slower and slower from your computer not being able to process everything that quickly.  The more convential graphical FPS cap is controlled by [G_FPS_CAP:x], but that's less important.

[Arctaeus]

Your help is greatly appreciated, another question though.

If i dig a set of downward staircases in order to build a fortress, can the trade caravan still get to my fortress and trade stuff with me?

Thanks for all your help

[Malicus]

Well, PART of the caravan can go down stairs.  However, wagons are 3x3 in size and need to use ramps to change their elevation.  They're a fair bit harder to understand than stairs are, though.  You COULD build your trade depot on ground level until you figure them out, though.  This page on the wiki should help you if you want to work on figuring them out.

[Arctaeus]

Thanks for your help It seems sensible for me to site my trading depot outside until I work out how to properly construct a ramp into my fortress.

Thanks a lot for your help

[Albedo]

You need to surf the wiki for a while - all the above topics are addressed there, and more that are related that you haven't thought to ask about (yet).

1 - miner, pick

2 - embark (& link to "location")

3- (is there a question here?)  (You can plant on soil without muddying)

4- caravan, migrant

5- fps

Latest Q - ramp

[Arctaeus]

I'll investigate the wiki in further detail. Cheers

[forsaken1111]

I'll investigate the wiki in further detail. Cheers

Most of us really don't mind you asking questions though, really. We'll point you to the relevant section of the wiki or just answer, depending on our mood.

[Arctaeus]

And any advice, even if its pointing to the wiki to help out, is appreciated

I've got my team of 7 dwarves nearly sorted now. All I need to do now is find a suitable location where there's food I can grow easily, and reasonable amounts of metals nearby.

Pre-generated worlds ahoy! 

[Starver]

[Immigrants]

4.  They don't start until after the first dwarven trading caravan leaves in the fall, and after that, there's usually one large wave a year and a trickle of migrants in the seasons in which the huge wave doesn't arrive.

I''ve gotten them sooner.  Not sure how/why.  The Wiki has suggested, probably still does, that it's the Hamlet Liaison's assessment of the value of the fortress that prompts new arrivals to appear, so that temporarily suppressing the value can prevent new guys coming in (apart from init-file cap methods),   IIRC.  And yet I've had them in prior to the first autumn, and I think more or less simultaneous with the first elven caravan.  Maybe prompted by huge amount of value tied up in rock crafts from a mood-struck stonecrafter and/or proficiency of my broker/treasurer/whatever noble.

I'll check some of my spreadsheets at home, though.  These days I tend to record the arrival date of all immigrants, so I should have some records of this handy.

[Christes]

3. The next expedition successfully found a level mountain to dig into! Success! Or so I thought. After massive amounts of planning of a gigantic fortress of epic proportions with a levelling for crafting/storage, a top level for barracks and trade depot, and bedrooms/meeting hall/general awesomeness on the third level, I couldn't find anywhere to plant my mushrooms. The tutorial map had an area where the first level could plant mushrooms on. How do I find out from the minimap before embarking that there will be an area where I can plant mushrooms? I had some amazing plan of flooding this dirt to make it muddy in order to plant on it (says the wiki) but the great flood conisted of a single square getting water on it and then the water running out -_-

As has been said, you don't need to muddy dirt.  Basically, you have two choices - plant on plain soil, or plant on muddied rock.  As for finding plain soil, look around the durface for grass.  There's usually soil under grass areas.

[Albedo]

Most of us really don't mind you asking questions though, really. We'll point you to the relevant section of the wiki or just answer, depending on our mood.

This is true - but the wiki has the basics plus more.  Sometimes it's not perfectly clear, and sometimes it's hard to understand to apply to your particular situation - that's when the forums are at their best, for custom tailored responses.  But to know that a miner needs a pick, the wiki is more than adequate. 

[Mechanical Yeti]

How do I see from the minimap before embarking which areas are mountains, and the level of these mountains? Is it the small triangles surrounded by up and down arrows?

After choosing a location, you can press tab to cycle between different views of the region. Of of the views shows you the elevation of the tiles, and another shows the steepness.

[forsaken1111]

3. The next expedition successfully found a level mountain to dig into! Success! Or so I thought. After massive amounts of planning of a gigantic fortress of epic proportions with a levelling for crafting/storage, a top level for barracks and trade depot, and bedrooms/meeting hall/general awesomeness on the third level, I couldn't find anywhere to plant my mushrooms. The tutorial map had an area where the first level could plant mushrooms on. How do I find out from the minimap before embarking that there will be an area where I can plant mushrooms? I had some amazing plan of flooding this dirt to make it muddy in order to plant on it (says the wiki) but the great flood conisted of a single square getting water on it and then the water running out -_-

As has been said, you don't need to muddy dirt.  Basically, you have two choices - plant on plain soil, or plant on muddied rock.  As for finding plain soil, look around the durface for grass.  There's usually soil under grass areas.

A point of clarification, you can only grow plump helmets and other dwarven crops underground. I know a friend of mine was very confused by that, so I figured I would point it out.

[zooeyglass]

[Immigrants]

4.  They don't start until after the first dwarven trading caravan leaves in the fall, and after that, there's usually one large wave a year and a trickle of migrants in the seasons in which the huge wave doesn't arrive.

I''ve gotten them sooner.  Not sure how/why.  The Wiki has suggested, probably still does, that it's the Hamlet Liaison's assessment of the value of the fortress that prompts new arrivals to appear, so that temporarily suppressing the value can prevent new guys coming in (apart from init-file cap methods),   IIRC.  And yet I've had them in prior to the first autumn, and I think more or less simultaneous with the first elven caravan.  Maybe prompted by huge amount of value tied up in rock crafts from a mood-struck stonecrafter and/or proficiency of my broker/treasurer/whatever noble.

can you clarify, when you get a chance to view your spreadsheets, if you are getting an elven caravan before the first dwarven one? i've never got a caravan before that first autumn dwarven one, and then usually elven in the next spring, human in the next summer. i'm not sure if caravans have to arrive in set seasons (elven - spring, human - summer, dwarven - autumn) but your response seemed to imply getting an elven caravan before the first dwarven one, and also immigrants....is this the case?