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[GotIt_00]

I read the forums, and I see fantastic projects, encounters with goblins, FB's, and on and on. Generally, I'm not a perfectionist, but this game really brings out the type-a in me. I run a fort for a year, realize I could do something different, and then I abandon it.

Does anyone else have this compulsion? I wanna get to the Fun stuff, but I can't help myself from always starting over to try and do things just a little bit differently.

[JonnyFunFun]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that does it.  I think the longest I've ever had a fort rocking is just shy of two years.  That one got lost when my hard drive died 

But usually I'll start one, realize that it would have been more efficient or prettier to do it a different way, abandon it, delete everything out of my data/save folder, create an entirely new world, wash hands, repeat process...

My wife is always making fun of me for it.  Every time I open up the game she always asks me if I'm going to start a new fortress.

[Scarpa]

I run about a 5:1 ratio of 'abandoned early' to 'mature' forts.

Part of it is I love taking forever to pick out juuusssst the right embark. Another thing is I am compulsive about getting all the contents of the wagon underground ASAP and so my first few rooms are super fast big digs. Then later I think "man I should have made a better layout there" and so on.

[GotIt_00]

Glad to see I'm not the only one.

It's almost always the initial rooms I dig that I end up disliking later, and lead to me starting fresh. I always manage to dig the wrong sizes for stuff. Farms end up too large, workshop spaces too small, etc.

I think I need to get used to the idea that every floor of the fortress can't be laid out with the same design. I just really like running through the hot keys and seeing identical floors all stacked up together. 

[taodih]

I'm also like that + the fact that i always overlook something..
forgot a certain stockpile , not enough space for workshops , some room for defensive layout.

All that but I do make backups of my world before embark and when just embarked.
It's more easy to start fresh and you know what you will get of resources.

also handy is being that it is a nanofort.. not really because of fps related stuff but more because of limited space.
you tend to mess up less. and using alot of quickfort scripts.. yea alot of automatization.

[Inglonias]

Are you kidding? I thought I was the only one!

After about three years, the game just gets boring. On one hand, I could start on the mainland where invasions can occur, I can interact with the world, and make the game more interesting.

On the other, I can find an island somewhere and mine in peace. It doesn't help me that I haven't lived through a single siege.

[Xvareon]

One has to wonder why seven Dwarves and a wagon laden down with goods pulled by an Ox can get to an island in the middle of the ocean, yet no one else, not even your own civilization can.

Anyways I sometimes get that feeling... that i could have done something better, or built my fort a different way. But there's almost always a way to rebuild it or even make it better later on, once you get more people to do work.

[dennislp3]

I vote we start a support group for our issue lol

[Hairywoodenleg]

AA - The anonymous abandoners.

[Wellincolin]

I have always been this way in every single game I played. Except for Dwarf Fortress.

On DF, I learn from my mistakes and stick with the fortress until the very last of it. Even if I lose a MUCH cherished artifact/dorf I still stick to it and try to not make the same mistake again. Layouts can always be corrected, I use my rooms or even caves with bad layouts like dumping areas or experimental areas, and just dig another one. It's always easier when your dorfs are already skilled at digging and etc, I don't see the point on abandoning and restarting, except when the damages are overwhelming (like when an experiment goes REALLY wrong).

[RandomNumberGenerator]

I generally don't abandon early, but usually after 4-6 years I just get bored with that fort and start a new one. Not because I want to do something differently, but just because I enjoy the early stages of fortress life(creating farms, securing caverns, building defenses) better than later stages(building wealth, starting economy, megaprojects).

Also, FPS.

[Assassinfox]

I abandon early, or one dwarf too many decides to throw a party and next thing you know the support holding up the entire fort mysteriously collapses.  Or, I'll get started on a megaproject and something will floor or I'll carve out one natural tile too many and give up and abandon.

[freeformschooler]

I've never lost a fort except for once where my fort was made out of Miasma and that was essentially a losing condition for me. I ALWAYS abandon within the first or second year. Honestly I just like digging out rooms and crafting things, if I want to do something fancy I usually use Quickfort. The only times I've had dorfs die, I abandon because it was generally one of my first seven and I usually need those.

[rarborman]

I normally take ages to find the right spot abandoning maybe 40-50 sites just to find one with the right stuff, then dont care about layout or how big a room is or if I could have done something simpler because A. my site has magma and water so I obsidian whatever I dont like and redo it till I do if I still need it, around 50% of the obsidianing I do is to fill in the initial fortress junk after I get done using it.

I dont restart after I get the spot but I do savescum if I screw up majorly or a dwarf makes a damned bone artifact or such, mostly because I have developed a way to use anything on the map when I need it, after around 12 game years I end up with a 8x8 site with all the wet/hot walls smoothed gems found but not dug out and all the veins of metal and stone I dug out made into linked bridges in a tower till I need them (because it prevents random spreading if I reclaim and its just fun to watch your FPS drop to 1 from 50-60 with a lever pull).

[RiotHouse]

Have compulsive abandonment tendencies?  Try starting a Let's Play series on Youtube.  The fan-base you attract will keep your spirits up and give you some focus.  A lot of the Fun can only be seen with a fully thriving dwarf fortress.