Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[xl 4ndre lx]

I used the guide on www.afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials I found it really helped me. I just read through it all before playing.  Then i booted up DF and tried to do what he did, if i ever needed more info i went back to that site and the wiki.

  Just so you know most people that know how to play DF really well, still use the wiki. So don't feel like your not getting it, you'll figure it out.

Be prepared to get into one of the most deep and engaging games i have ever played.

[Hans Lemurson]

Once you manage to get your first fully operational fortress, you'll look back on it and realize: "Shit, I've been doing it all wrong!!!"

[Nameless Archon]

I haven't even started dwarf fortress yet, it seems very complex, and daunting. First of all, should I?

Does the idea of playing god with the lives of bearded, stunted alcoholics and their pets sound fun? Does dousing invaders in magma sound fun? Does the concept of drowning elves appeal? Do you need reasons to obsess compulsively? Do you enjoy toying with those whose intelligence is never in doubt?

Did the illustrated report of Bronzemurder make you snicker?

If so, Dwarf Fortress is almost certainly for you, you poor damned soul. Welcome aboard.

Secondly, if I should, could somebody please point me to a tileset and tell me how to put it in game, im big on gameplay over graphics in most cases, however, I honestly can't easily tell what is going on in a lot of videos i've watched.

I'll do better than that. Go get a copy of the LAZY NEWB PACK. (Don't let the name fool you. It is studded with awesome, menaces with spikes of convenience, is adorned with hanging rings of simple, and is encrusted with ease of use.)

Also, you will want a copy of Dwarf Therapist, which is included in the pack above along with the three "most common" tilesets I've heard people discussing - Mayday, Phoebus and Ironhand. If you can adjust to the raw ASCII, great, but it gives me headaches. I use Phoebus's set, as I like telling stone functions apart at a glance. (That's coal, that's flux, that's ore, that's iron, etc.)

Last, just a small question, but the person in those videos made all of there military marksdwarves, is there a reason for this? Are they the best? I was thinking of having about 2/3 spears and 1/3 crossbow, is this a better idea?

You've got a long way to go before a military will be a concern. Learn to farm, brew and build, first.

[Bererez]

You've got a long way to go before a military will be a concern. Learn to farm, brew and build, first.

Exactly, this game is ALOT easier if you learn it in parts. I started with farming and food (booze, prepared meals), then moved into crafting (stone, jewelry), and then moved into metal and glass crafting. By the time I got into metal and glass crafting I had learned enough to understand the rest of the game. I'm still getting a hang of the military though; I usually just set them to train and then forget about them until I need them.

[IceMage88]

Ok, so I've started playing and am slowly learning, though I kinda wish farming hadnt changed since it seemed easier to learn before 

How exactly do you get the packs to work, like the lazy newb pack, assuming that is the best one to start out with. How exactly do you install a tileset?

[Schmlok]

Lazy noob comes with several of the main tilesets

I believe it has some kind of launcher program that is graphical now.  Should be straightforward.

If you pick surface plants, you can use those seeds too which is easier than figuring out water right off the bad.
Butchering your starting pack animal can feed you for quite a while usually.

[Jachim]

I've been playing for a solid year now and would call my skill as 'adequate', compared to some of the 'Legendary' folks who do giant, extravagant constructions for fun. It takes time and effort and patience, but some of the stuff that can happen is just so amusing it's hard to pass up.

[rephikul]

I've been playing for a solid year now and would call my skill as 'adequate', compared to some of the 'Legendary' folks who do giant, extravagant constructions for fun. It takes time and effort and patience, but some of the stuff that can happen is just so amusing it's hard to pass up.

Most of the people who do extravagant constructions are actually sissies who cant defend whatever constructions they made so they play with hypersped dwarves and siege disabled

[Nameless Archon]

Ok, so I've started playing and am slowly learning, though I kinda wish farming hadnt changed since it seemed easier to learn before 

Water + Seeds + Farm Plot = Farm.

That's underground farming in a nutshell. Sure, you have to concern yourself with location (aboveground crops, or not?) and you have to find a way to irrigate to start, but starting an initial underground farm is as simple as breaching the side of a murky pool and letting it evaporate, then building a farm plot in the mud left behind and walling the hole up.

How exactly do you get the packs to work, like the lazy newb pack, assuming that is the best one to start out with. How exactly do you install a tileset?

the newest version of the LNP has a graphical user interface. You tell it which tileset, it does the heavy lifting. Is LNP the best pack that contains Dwarf Fortress? Perhaps not. Is it the easiest pack with which to get a new player up and running?

Urist McKoolaid: "OH YEAH!"

Don't like a tileset and need to switch? Click a button.
Don't like aquifers? Click a button.
Don't like buggy Dungeon Master woes? Click a button.

It's just that easy.

Downside: LNP takes some time to be updated for new versions, so you may have to wait a week or so to get the full goodness after a release.  (...but typically you'll already have a fort in the old version anyway, so no one will care but you.)