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[timtek]

Ok I'm known among my friends as the guy who plays annoying games. I like em hard and complicated. Show most of my friends something rogue-like and they just yawn and head back to mw2. I've tried playing this game on at least 2 other occasions overs the years and couldn't even sit through world generation. Finally I'm starting to get the hang of things, but I've grown more gray hairs trying to figure this out than I care to admit. Is it normal to wanna throw the pc out the window? I don't know, but I do know that I'm gonna figure this damn game out even if it kills me! Currently I'm just trying to wrap my head around the whole z-axis thing. My eyes just don't see this game world in 3d. I found a tutorial at cesspit(pool?) and for some reason the way the guy explained it helped a lot. Ok I'm done ranting, I just had no choice but to do it here, because when I try to explain it to the wife, I get the deer in the headlights look.

[darkrider2]

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress. May I suggest the wiki page? Helped me a lot.

[timtek]

Thanks for the welcome. I've been reading through them as well, it seems like if i read em and then go muck about and then come back and reread them I get a better understanding each time. I think by tomorrow I won't be screaming.

[Creamcorn]

If you are going to play this game, it helps to have familiarity with other Rougelike or Ascii games. ADOM, Rouge, IVAN (it has actual graphics, hard as hell), Dungeon Crawl; that's about all I can think of. After you've died a couple of times in those games and had gotten to know the interface (they all only use keyboard), DF should be a little easier to understand.

Although if you have played all of those and even beaten them (if you beat IVAN tell me how, in detail) but DF is still difficult to understand, than; I don't know what to say. You should probably try adventure mode for awhile.

As for the 3D style, simply put, the world is in layers. And each layer has about a hundred little hairy dwarfs running around on one.

[Shogger]

DF is my first roguelike, and I figured it out just by studying the wiki religiously. Some of it is outdated though, so you might want to cross-check some things on the forums.

[UmbrageOfSnow]

Or just ask!

The 2010 little questions thread over in the Gameplay Questions forum is good for quick little howthehelldoIdoX's.

In regards to hardcore gaming, see this.

In regards to graphics sets, Humbug!  You don't need no stinkin' graphics.

[Aravin]

When you get used, it's actually very simple.
Try getting graphical version, for example mayday's one. It will make your life with DF much easier.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53649.0

[Jordrake]

It was a week before I figured out how digging worked.
Stick with it, pal.

[Dreaming]

Youtube tutorials are what helped me.

They're marginally out of date but watch them anyway (about 2 1/2 hours worth i think) as it gives a very good basic introduction to everything. There are about 4/5 follow ups for DF2010 in relation to muddy farming (OH HOW I RAGED WHEN I COULDNT EVEN FARM EVEN THOUGH I WAS ON SOIL LIKE IT SAID IN THE WIKI), armies (still just generally avoid this :s, i prefer traps and moats), etc.

[dragon0421]

I learned DF with these tutorials and watching Captduck's youtube movies. They're based on 40d, but most of the basic features are still the same in 31x. Also, I can't play DF in asci; I use Mayday's graphic set.

[Indricotherium]

Welcome to DF!

And I have nothing to add to the above advice. I use the ASCII but you should try a graphics pack to see if it helps or not. Whatever floats the boat!

[Lasander]

You will get it.  However the compy throwy impulse you have may not be normal.  At least it isnt for me.  I love my compy.  Took me a while to read the matrix with the help of the 'k' command but after that the world just seemed so beautiful.  Z axis is a bit wonky to me as well but you will get used to it.

I hugged the wiki when I first played and spent alot of the time with the main menu in the middle of the screen until I figured out you can hit tab and make it go away but I still referenced it alot just so I know what my options are. My first fort I didnt understand production so all my dwarves starved to death but I did manage to channel the brook and made a well in my fort a feat which I havent reproduced until a few months ago for some reason.

My second fort I still didnt really understand production and was playing with mechanisms.  Wasnt until my dwarves all died of thirst that I realized that when you place a mechanism on a floor hatch covering the only access to your fort as an emergency lock that, by default, it is shut and wont open until you pull the lever. My only surviving dwarf was a lone hunter trapped outside unable to help her comrades.  She starved to death instead.
3rd fort was abandoned after most of my dwarves were killed by troglodytes.
4th fort I figured out how to use the military and was killed by troglodytes.
5th fort I figured out the reclaim feature and killed lots and lots of troglodytes.
Learned a fiery lesson when I first tapped a magma pipe.

You may die a few times trying to get the hang of things but it shouldnt be a frustrating experience.  All of this was fun and pretty funny and anything bad that happened didnt feel like some arbitrary punishment but more like basic consequences to a natural world.


Read the wiki.  Lots and lots of good info there. 
And stick with 40d as the new version still has lots of bugs that make learning the game more difficult than it has to be.


Also, read the wiki it is immensely helpful.

[mnjiman]

On my first fort, i was able to get 200 dwarfs, have a almost automative fortress, and be able to build a trap using lava. I had to stop playing it because it lagged my computer too much due to catplosion (2 fps).

How was i able to do this?


I watched all 40 tutorial's by captain_duck on YouTube, I read all chapters by TinyPirate (look at the Gameplay question forums) and I used Wiki when ever I had an issue.
Ontop of this, I asked the people in #bay12games when ever I was confused about something I couldnt find an answer too.

Very last resort was asking a question on the forums.

Yes the game does have a steep learning carve, but learning how to play it was as fun as knowing how. In a job interview that should be a question

"Do you know how to play Dwarf Fortress"

you reply

"Yes, I do"


the employer, upon hearing this goes to his knees and chants "im not worthy, im not worthy".
 

[Kulantan]

Protip: use Dwarf Therapist.

[Passive Fist]

There's an IRC channel? What network?