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[whatthefbomb]

Hi, new guy here.

I've tried getting in DF a few times in the past, each time with the same result: I start out all gung-ho, create a world, find an ideal first fort spot with a little (read: a lot of) help from the wiki, prepare for the journey carefully with a little (read: a lot of) help of the wiki (Yes, I know I wrote that twice.), then when I'm finally told to "Strike the Earth!"...I get intimidated by the UI, or rather the lack thereof, I guess, and never touch it again.

With the new version out a while back and reading Dorf LPs again, I'm thinking about downloading once more and trying yet again. Unfortunately, I'm not particularly confident in my attention span, but hearing all the hilarious things that DEM DORFS do, I have at least an inspiration to try. Still, I doubt I will succeed, so I come to you, the elite among the community, to ask what I could do to help get started. Would downloading a graphical tileset help ease the transition? Should I watch some online tutorial videos? Or is this game just not right for me? (Please say it ain't so!  )

Also, as a side note, while reading the LPs, I had an epiphany, but am too untalented to act upon it, and too lazy to practice so I can make myself talented enough to do it. Anybody here really good with the Dragon Age: Origins toolset? Are you good at making cinematic trailers? Can you splice in a BS real-time strategy interface over a video and make it look like it was always there? I have a project for you.

Create a fake trailer for a nonexistant (And surely to never come, at least not in this lifetime. ) upcoming 3D version of DF. Just add in some public domain, orchestral fantasy music, (Or if you REALLY want to go all-out, take the in-game theme that Toady made and spice it up into something epic) get some fancy camera and setwork done in the toolset, give it an overall trailerish feel, and, if you want, get someone with a good narrator voice (I'll volunteer if someone does it) to speak, and post your masterwork trailer that menaces with spikes of awesome up on Youtube or something. We just might fool a few people, and impress those we don't.

If that's too much, how about Boatmurdered: the Movie?

All that aside, could I get some help easing into the game? Please?

[mross]

When I first started playing, I used the "newbie's guide to dwarf fortress" (google), it link you to a pre-packaged mayday install, and really helps to understand the UI. Most importantly, it starts you out with the most basic, important, and commonly used commands.

Here are some basic stuffs to help you out, keep in mind I play 40d19 though

When you embark, take at least one anvil, a pick, and an axe

You don't actually need starting skills, except maybe for your mayor; I usually use therapist and enable all labors except hunting and fishing on all my dwarves to minimize idlers

Spend your points on plants, seeds and beer so you don't have to worry about running out, a few war dogs if you're in a dangerous area

I usually take some turtles so I have access to shells in event of an unlucky mood, plus they provide food

These are all suggestions of course, it's up to you and your embark location to decide what you really need

B > P to select a farm. Put one outside or underground, have access to different plants depending on which one. Has to be in soil, or muddied stone (has had water on it)

Use B > W to bring up a list of workshops to build. You have to have access to a building material like stone or wood to build one.

B > W > C : Carpenter's shop. Most important: beds, bins, barrels. Dorfs get sad without beds, you need barrels to make booze, and bins will keep your small goods like crafts from overloading your stockpiles.

B > W > M : Mason's shop. Most important: tables and chairs when starting out. Make a dining room with these, so you can have a meeting area, and it will improve your dorfs' happiness. Floodgates let you control water for irrigation and other projects. You can also make blocks out of stone. WARNING: blocks of any material CANNOT be used by a workshop. They can only be used in constructions (anything you access from the B menu). So you can make workshops (and bridges and walls and stuff) out of blocks, but you can't make stuff in the workshops from blocks. Blocks are generally more valuable than the stone they're made out of.

Okay I'm quickly going to go to several pages if I list everything. I can help you out with specific questions though, I hope this helped a little.

[Karnewarrior]

If you use a tileset, you WILL become addicted, and will no longer be capable of playing ASCII. Just a heads up.

[Chrissi]

I use a tileset most of the time now but, when confronted with ASCII, I still understand it.

Maybe just because I played ASCII for a very long time.

[knowbuddyuno]

Whatthefbomb, I had the same problem getting into DF initially. I tried three or four times, and just couldn't keep my enthusiasm up long enough to get anything done. Tilesets are what did the trick for me (and the wiki, as you mentioned). If you haven't tried them, maybe they'll help you get into the feel of the game long enough for hilarity and addiction to ensue.

[Bronzebeard]

Tilesets, tilesets, tilesets... You graphics whores.

Just kidding. The game, quite honestly, was unplayable to me before I got (what I consider to be) the best of the tilesets which inspired me to learn the UI. Now I can't get enough of it. Many people complain about Mayday, but I think he's got the prettiest one there is. http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php Click the the button for the latest version, and you're good to go. :3

[Quatch]

I needed a tileset when I started, it was just too much at once. Now I am finding I want fewer and fewer graphics tiles, and prefer more ascii.

I still prefer graphics for creatures and dwaves. Dwaves because the faces arn't clear enough in colour/detail, and creatures because there are just too many things with the same symbol.

[Retro]

I was an overly-cautious beginning player as well, with a few attempts before I got in. I'd suggest planning a big project to work towards that you might not even yet understand how to do, counterintuitive as that may sound. You learn how to survive by necessity and inner workings due to need to accomplish a pre-set goal. By the time your project is underway you'll probably be addicted.

I needed a tileset when I started, it was just too much at once. Now I am finding I want fewer and fewer graphics tiles, and prefer more ascii.

I still prefer graphics for creatures and dwaves. Dwaves because the faces arn't clear enough in colour/detail, and creatures because there are just too many things with the same symbol.

I'm the same way. Even if the creature sprite doesn't look like what it should be representing, I just need to see something in greater detail than the environment to easily tell that it's not scenery.

[Aklyon]

Well, since no one has said it yet:

Losing Is Fun!

[silantrath]

I never liked the mega projects. Call me uncreative, but I just don't see the point in spending that much time on creating a beautiful work of art in a medium that is barely recognized yet. I dunno, I can see its easy to argue against that but that's how I feel, whether or not I want to spend time actually thinking about it. (note the difference between "feeling" and "thinking")

What got me going was reading enough of the wiki to get started, building what seemed at the time to be an impenetrable fort, and then finding that Toady had devised something ingenious (HFS) to counteract my preparations. It all ties back to the stuff about "losing is fun." I imagine you've already read enough of the wiki to spoil a large portion of the fun I had, but there's probably still plenty left out there for you. I'm still having fun, after all.

As far as graphics go, I never "needed" them to get going; hours of NetHack and ADOM prepared me for plenty of ASCII adventures; you start to pick up on subtle differences like, "oh, here we have a *blue* "d", while over there is a *red* "D"!" then again, sometimes letters do blend into the background ASCII, leading you to miss that lone red "D" wandering around killing your little smiles, and a graphics pack certainly helps there, but it's by no means necessary to get started having fun. All you really need to do is think to yourself, "what would a typical dwarven pioneer expedition actually DO, and how would they go about doing it?" it's as simple as that; strike the earth, my friend! if something goes wrong, you can easily strike the earth again!

[Duane]

Yeah, go for the Mayday set, but dear god, those dwarves are ugly, so find something else.

[runiq]

Trying to get into the game and failing.

What isss thisss failing you ssspeak of?

Seriously, just dive into it. When you encounter something new, frequent the wiki. Your dwarfs are pretty self-sufficient, moreso than you'd think when reading all those LPs, so the fort will pretty much roll on by itself over the first year. It starts getting difficult when the first 20-something migrants arrive and you don't use Dwarf Therapist, but if it's no fun for you that way, just disable migrants or limit your population size in your init.txt.

Above all, never forget the fun. Tinker until everything crumbles down in a spiral of blood, vomit, and dwarven bones. Lead them down that slippery, bloody slope with a big ol' smile on your face. Hilarious things happen because people/dwarves are failing. Look forward to failing, for failing leads to hilarity.

[JoshBrickstien]

I too, tried many time to get started. Mayday's graphics are what helped me. Now, I've switched back to ASCII, and I'm doing fine!

[ronnyfire]

Someone had posted for you to look at the play along tutorial, and i agree, its a very well made tutorial!

So here is a link! its fairly easy to follow, has mayday tile set built in and all that jazz :]

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=31928.0

I would say that would be your best bet, and if not those, captain_duck has a wonderful 21 part video tutorial, that is what i personally used when i started, all tho the other tutorial wasn't complete by then i think.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=28477.0

So its up to you, i think the play along one may be better for complete newbies, while captain_duck's tutorial is good to watch for more in depth knowledge

[Shiv]

I use Mayday's set as well.  Couldn't get into ASCII but Mayday's helps illustrate what's going on better than a buncha dots and characters that aren't exactly readily understood. 


Basically the first time I started playing I got so frustrated that I quit after digging out my first room.  Couldn't find something or other.  Then I thought about it and went "Oh I bet it's under this category" and sure enough, there were all my workshops laid out for me.  It does take a bit to get used to (as in building a bed requires a bed.  "What?  How can it require a bed when I haven't built it yet!") but basically everything flows from raw material -> Workshop -> build menu.   Then you start combining stuff and soon enough, you're dropping nobles into magma while laughing at the futile attempts of the goblins to navigate your ever changing labyrinth like the best of them.