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[Tarbeard]

Hi there, completely new to Dwarf Fortress and trying to work through some of the tutorials out there. Unfortunately I keep hitting the same two problems. The first one is that internal ramps don't seem to work properly. I build them, the dwarves go down them, but then the ramp stops being accessable somehow and I have to find a way to build stairs before the miners starve to death.

Speaking of starving to death, that brings me to the other problem: no matter where I build farms, I get the same "No seeds available for this location" message. Inside, outside, multiple maps, I get the same message. There are plenty of seeds left since the expedition had plenty and I only just arrived. What am I doing wrong here?

[Caesar]

'Inside, outside'.

Do you mean inside/outside constructed buildings, or underground?

If underground: Make sure that the ground is muddy. You can do this by covering it with water. It doesn't matter for how long and how much, but make sure to find a way to drain the water afterwards.

(1/7 of water will evaporate over time)

[Tarbeard]

I meant both above ground (in desperation) and below ground. The current farms are built on sandy clay - does that need irrigation before it will stop saying there are no seeds?

[Logical2u]

If you're playing 40d, underground soil doesn't need irrigation/mud to plant seeds in farms. Stone and rock does need to be muddied, though.

In 31.##, underground soil (usually? Toady has said that there's more going on than "muddied/not muddied", but I'm not sure if that's entirely working) needs to be muddied/irrigated before farms can be worked on. (IE: Stop saying there are no seeds).

There should have been a warning about "No muddy ground" in 31.## about "no mud" though?

[Tarbeard]

Ah ha! Yes, it did complain about mud. What's the simplest way for me to muddy up the place? I have a terrible suspicion I'll flood the fortress.

[blazzano]

Ah ha! Yes, it did complain about mud. What's the simplest way for me to muddy up the place? I have a terrible suspicion I'll flood the fortress.

As a newb myself, I have to say that the "wet it with buckets" method works as a first time attempt.  You channel a hole or three in the floor above the farm, mark the holes as 1x1 "pond" zones (take note: in the zone interface, after selecting "pit/pond" you have to press capital-P or whatever to select "Pond" specifically), and let the dwarves go to work, which they'll do at a rate of one bucketdwarf per zoned hole (up to the limit of your number of buckets, of course).  It's tedious, and it might put the dwarves in a bit of danger if the nearest water source is outdoors and distant, but it works.

[Tarbeard]

Okay, I'm trying this. Channelled some holes, but P (set Pit/pond information) gives me a list of stray tame animals for some reason.

[blazzano]

Okay, I'm trying this. Channelled some holes, but P (set Pit/pond information) gives me a list of stray tame animals for some reason.

After you see that list, you press some other key (f, is it?) to toggle between Pit mode and Pond mode.  Whatever key it is, I remember that it was listed somewhere on that page...

[Tarbeard]

Thanks. heading off for lunch, then I'll try that.

[Psieye]

About the internal ramps, you'll have to give us more details. See the ramp article on the wiki in case you don't have a connecting floor tile above and below the ramp.

[bongotastic]

I never tried the bucket method. What I do is the following, which is a bit complex for a newcomer, but hey, that's DF.

Dig a tunnel on the same z-level as a river, but short of 1 square so it doesn't fill up.
connect this tunnel to a room that is 6X larger (maybe a bit less) by a single square.
Add a floodgate to the entrance of the tunnel, close to the river.
Add a floodgate to the square connecting the tunnel and the room.
Add a door to wherever you connect to the fortress so you don't end-up floodding the whole darn thing.
Connect both floodgates to one lever each (you'll need at least six mechanisms to do this).
Channel from above ground the last block such that the tunnel can be flooded.
Open the outer floodgate to fill the tunnel (7/7). Close it after this is done.
Open the floodgate to flood the larger room. Let most of it evaporate.
Designate farm plots.

You need to start doing this early because it takes a while to have it setup. You may want to wall the tunnel to remove a potential entry point for invaders.

Hope the it helps.

[Tarbeard]

Sorted out the ramp business - didn't quite grasp how they fit together. The water is going to be fun to try to get working, but as you said, that's Dwarf Fortress! Thanks for all the helpful posts.

[Ilmoran]

Regarding the aboveground farm plots:  There are underground crops, which you bought at embark, and aboveground crops, which you get from elves, or eatting/brewing/milling aboveground plants, which you can get either from elves, or by enabling a plant gatherer, and designate plants to gather (d->p).

Regarding the bucket method:  Remember that if you dump water in from the surface, the holes you channeled for dumping will be considered aboveground.  If you end up building a farm with tiles on both the above and below ground tiles, I think it can cause some funniness.

Regarding ramps, the easiest way I find to think about it is you need a wall next to the ramp on the lower level, and open area above the wall.

[ISGC]

usually, what i do, is I just go to a pond on the map, dig a large room next to it and flood that room, putting a door in the breach when is finished (this can also help so that fighting dwarves don't nose dive into the pond and drown).  You sort of have to eye it for the size of the room compared to the amount of water in the pond, but you can always make the room bigger or just farm in a small section of it.  The residue from the average sized pond is often big enough to (when entirely cultivated) feed a strong 40-50 dwarf fortress, but probably not enough to supply all their booze, so keep in mind other sources.