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[davidc]

Awesome game, super creative, and the versatility is amazing.

I can't figure out how to do the small stockpile trick where you say that something is garbage, then recover it, etc. Could someone tell me the keystrokes to do this? I think I'm using the newest version. Also, I have a log in a refuse pile and I want to pick it up and take it to the lumber stockpile. How can I do this?

[Gzalzi]

You use the [i ] menu to designate a [g]arbage zone. Then use [k] (or the [z] stocks menu) to designate items for [d]umping. Once they are dumped in that spot, press [d], [b ], and then [c] (the pile should turn green) then select the pile (should be regular colour). Now the items are free to use again.

For your second issue: Best way to fix this is to not designate side other than the side you want to start from for mining. Just select your minding area, but leave one space of wall at the end so they come at it from the proper direction. Once you are done with that, just designate the last bit.

[Uristocrat]

I just channel a bunch of pits, so that there's a long chute going several z-levels down, then put a wall around it (and one or more doors) so that nobody falls down there by mistake.  Then you use i to designated a garbage dump next to the hole.

At the bottom, you use d - b -c to reclaim the items dropped.  To dump things, you use either k to do items one at a time (good when you don't want to dump everything) or d - b - d to mass dump everything in a square (be careful not to drag that over your dwarves).  It's good to dump the stone out of your buildings when they're empty, but note that dwarves then refuse to move it out of the way.

I also build mason/craftdwarf/mechanics workshops near the bottom of the garbage chute in order to make use of all that stone.

[davidc]

Thanks guys!

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Starting_build

"Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. You may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarfs with the crucial skills of masonry, architecture, carpentry, and mechanics. You want these dwarfs working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning. Enable mining for the other dwarves."

I can't find this spot in the menus. I've tried job lists and set orders. I don't have a manager set up yet, but that doesn't seem to affect anything anyways. When I [v]iew units > [p]references > [l]abour, it doesn't seem to let me scroll through the list to toggle it, rather when I attempt to scroll through the list it moves the cursor on the ground and selects different units, etc.

If you guys have advice about how to get into this game better, please let me know.
Edit: What I mean by that is, what guide I should read to best get started playing the game.

[davidc]

For your second issue: Best way to fix this is to not designate side other than the side you want to start from for mining. Just select your minding area, but leave one space of wall at the end so they come at it from the proper direction. Once you are done with that, just designate the last bit.

Sorry, I edited that out, but yes, totally the best solution.

[mrbaggins]

There's a large number of video tutorials around. Some better than others.

I like captnduck (search on YouTube)

There's also written ones such as "the complete and total utter newb guide to dwarf fortress" which is for an older version (only farming is really different). You'll need to search google for that one.

As for your log in refuse pile, use "k" to look at it, press + and - as necessary to highlight it, then if it has curly brackets around it (they're the ones that look like { & } ) you can press "f" to reclaim it.

As for moving up and down in menus, instead of movin the cursor, it's + & - keys.

Good luck!

[Scarpa]

I can't find this spot in the menus. I've tried job lists and set orders. I don't have a manager set up yet, but that doesn't seem to affect anything anyways. When I [v]iew units > [p]references > [l]abour, it doesn't seem to let me scroll through the list to toggle it, rather when I attempt to scroll through the list it moves the cursor on the ground and selects different units, etc.

If you guys have advice about how to get into this game better, please let me know.
Edit: What I mean by that is, what guide I should read to best get started playing the game.

You want to use the secondary scroll keys to navigate the jobs. By default it's the numpad + and -.

As for tutorials, I used TinyPirate's but that was back in 40d days. Seems like Bentgirder might be a decent one these days.

[Larry421]

If you're using a full-size keyboard, the numpad is your friend.
+ and - scroll up and down in menus, while / and * act as 'page-up' and 'page-down'
For the full-screen menus (stocks, trade requests) numpad 8, 2, 4, 6 are up/down/left/right, with 9 & 3 page-up & page-down.

For setting labours, you will probably definitely want Dwarf Therapist. It's a utility that vastly improves the default interface for dwarf job preferences.

[davidc]

Dwarf Therapist is insanely awesome, thanks for letting me know!

Last night I played for a while and the ui and I don't completely get along, but a few cool things happened:

0) An afterthought but still cool, One of the forts I built was built into the side of a large hill and I was able to picture it using slices of the map in z-levels.

1) There were some foxes that suddenly showed up near my fort and the carpenter started making animal traps (I think someone got bit to trigger this, I don't know if it was his/her friend).

2) I found gold when I was digging out sleeping quarters and had to decide to move the quarters elsewhere (and stop digging to avoid encouraging raiders). I also accidentally dug into an underground cavern once and then cancelled the stairs and built floor tiles to try to stop them from coming into my fort. Then I tried to build stairs upwards on top of the tiles, and either you can't do it or I ran out of materials after demolishing the previous structures. Anyways, the guy that was trapped down there started starving and hunting for a small creature to eat, and I couldn't convince him to contribute to building stairs on adjacent tiles to get him back up to the main column. There was a rescue operation to save him but he wasn't very happy by the time we got to him.

The main thing here is to not beat yourself up over making a mistake and try to fix it rather than just restarting. I'll work on this new gaming philosophy. 

I don't know exactly how much I'll be able to play this game (very time intensive) but it's awesome!

The lemmings just got really smart...

-----------

edit: are you allowed to build on a floor tile (you dig, then build a floor tile, then try to build on top of it)?

[mrbaggins]

Yep. Constructed floors are functionally identical to natural ones that have been smoothed, except that you can't engrave constructed ones (sad face)

[Lord Darkstar]

You can use a fort visualizer to better help you see your fortress. Check out stonesense in the mod forum for a good example.

animal traps only work on vermin (ie, roaches). Foxes are considered wildlife, not vermin. So to trap them, you need regular cage traps, not animal traps. regular cage traps can catch all sorts of monsters and wildlife.

For a dwarf to construct a stairs up, he'd need something to build the stairs out of. A stone or log. Once you have a stairs up built, you will need to build a down stairs or up/down stairs on the z-level above it to rescue your dwarf. Of course, this allows anything trapped with the dwarf to exit up the stairs just as well as it allows the trapped dwarf up. So be advised.

[Larry421]

A single tile can only handle ONE construction. That is, if you {b}uild -> {Construction} -> {floor} somewhere, you CANNOT build a wall/stairs/fortification on top of it. (A constructed wall on the level below will provide a functionally identical floor on top, which can be built on. So you can stack walls on top of each other.)

Rescuing miners who dig into the caverns can get a little problematic. As dwarves have a habit of walling themselves into corners or otherwise getting stuck. Glad you figured it out!