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[Sysice]

Only 120 hours? You don't play it in the background, do you...

Anyway, I was confused as heck when I first started. Eventually, though, I got used to it. My tip is just to take it slow and try to learn one thing at a time. E.G. first, dig out some dirt. Then, designate a stockpile. Also, check the key bindings. I didn't and so I was stuck using - and wrapping around instead of + for... at least a week, if not more.

[SmokedRWA]

I found these video tutorials to be incredibly helpful.

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=28477.0

[Huggz]

Thanks for your help everyone, the oddest thing happened when I was playing.. I just suddenly 'got it' and now I completely understand the Z-Level system and stuff :O I even managed to make a simple flood chamber to kill invaders with a nearby brook, which I am immensely proud of .
Doesnt mean I dont have questions though, and I am just about to write a whole list of them in the Questions forum because this isnt really the place to ask them.
Thanks again everyone!

[The_Fool76]

Yay! Congrats on drowning those Elf Human Noble Goblin invaders!

Eh, having grown up like The_Fool, with MUDs and NetHack and whatnot, this interface seems rather intuitive to me... But eh, I've always been a gameplay-over-graphics person. Tis a shame that most recent games are more concentrated on making their water look all realistic, than having ridiculously engaging, well-thought out gameplay ideas...

Don't get me started.  One of the worst things to happen to computer games was the advent of the graphics card and high-density media to store all the shiny fluff on.  Way too many developers (and consumers) bought into selling their product with graphics rather than content.  If I wanted mindless entertainment with special effects, I can rent a movie.

[Chromie]

I've even forgotten some of the real names for the things on the menus, just now muttering a name related to the letter.

This, this. The 'designations' menu is the 'dig' to me, since digging is (d)ig -> (d)ig damnit!

things you might not know of yet...
(d) -> (o) sets traffic areas, to keep dwarves away from dangerous features (the river, the magma pipe, the bit you're flooding)

(d) -> (b) mass-designates stuff in an area for forbidding, dumping, or hiding -- useful for the post-battlefield cleanup, or stone management. I use it on top of my early forts right after they are all set up, so when I move into more high quality chambers I can deconstruct the furniture (a built piece of furniture can be marked for dumping, but won't get dumped until it's de-constructed) gets dumped instead of confused with the good stuff, or decorated.

I remember the first thing I heard about DF -- my boyfriend's roommate was playing and he showed me a screen that I swear looked like nothing but Matrix code, saying "over here my military fought off some goblins, there's vomit on the ground when they puked after taking punches". And all I could think is... what part of that is 'ground'?

[Derakon]

Note that traffic designations do not forbid regions; they just tell the dwarves which tiles to prefer when traveling to a location. If their destination is in a "Restricted" zone, though, they'll still enter that zone, since that's the only way to get to where they need to be.

You can get minor gains in FPS by setting high-traffic zones along your major thoroughfares, since the dwarves will waste less time in their pathfinding in examining unlikely routes.

[Grax]

I have been playing DF for around a week now, and what I have played is great. However, my question is, why does it seem to actually be designed as complex as possible? I mean, the mouse can be used on some menus but not others, the plus and

All is ok now, you just didn't play enough.

[bluephoenix]

Only 120 hours? You don't play it in the background, do you...

Some people play in the background?
I never play in the background I am allways with my fortress and watching what my dwarfs do.

[kiffer.geo]

Only 120 hours? You don't play it in the background, do you...

Some people play in the background?
I never play in the background I am allways with my fortress and watching what my dwarfs do.

And that's why I have a second monitor... dwarfs work away on the left monitor while I "work" away on the right one...