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Total Members Voted: 249

[Yoink]

I had such a rocky start to DF... Wow, I don't really remember, but my forts were terrible. It took me months to work out why I couldn't build chairs. Ugh.

Um, right. I should probably post how to make furniture.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

How to Make Chairs:
1. Press 'b'. Scroll down until you see workshops, and select that.
2. Select 'carpenter's workshop'.
3. Move the grid around the map to where you want the workshop, when the whole square is green, press enter to place it.
4. Select what materials to build it from.
5. Wait for your lazy-assed dwarves to get over there and build it. This could take a while, especially if you still have booze left in the wagon. :/
6. Once the workshop is complete, press 'q' to open the building menu, and move the cursor over to the workshop.
If it's completed, it should give you a bunch of options, like 'a:add task'. That's the one we want, so press 'a'.
7. Press '+' and '-' to scroll through the options, and then choose 'Construct Bed' for starters.
8. Eventually, a carpenter dwarf should make the bed from available wood, and store it somewhere.
9. Then, press 'b' again, and choose 'bed', and place it where you want your dwarves to sleep.
10. Repeat this however many times you want, with whatever workshops/furniture you need!

Hope that helped a little. I had trouble with that, but yeah, watch the tutorials.

[dmurray]

Try this: http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/

Download that and it'll get you started on the basics. Secondly, while it is an old version, it still does apply a lot to the new version.
I used that about 10 days ago and 10 days later I have a nice fortress up and running. Yes, it may suck and not be filled with riches and I don't have any soldiers and I will die soon but the point is, it helps you get the basics together.

After that I think you should try: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0

Then when you open the second link and have it up and running, make sure Aquifiers and Invaders are set to "no". While it's making the game a lot less fun, it's going to be a lot easier for you in the long run. I never let off invaders but I feel that most peoiple shoudl for the first few times. So they can get used to base management first.

Oh and for lots of fun, start up DF from the LNP and use the programme (under utility) called dfliquids to create some precious magma where your dwarves are and you'll see why we find magma to be heaps of fun. 

[Dave1004]

Whoo! I will truthfully say, this is the most helpful, kindest forums I've ever been on. Much appreciated!

And, thanks Yoink! I copy-pasted to notepad, so it'll help. 

I would use the "Ultimte newbie guide" but I don't like playing versions not up-to-date >_>. I'll try it gain although.

I downloaded the most recent version, with the Iron-guy's texture pack. Seems to be working aaight, I set my dwarves up, and just preparing for the journey. I put Savagery and Evil on the lowest, and found a place that was "Mirthful" heh. I think I should be safe!

I'll be back after playing for an hour or two, to see if I still know WTF to do. Thanks again all, truthfully. You have created a shining beacon of light in a previously deathly dark interwebs!

[Lytha]

The newbie guide is for an old version, but it covers the basic needs (how to farm, how to build workshops, how to build little rooms), and these didn't change. Only the military chapter of the guide doesn't apply at all anymore; but let's face it, it's more important that your dwarves don't die of dehydration and starvation at the end of the the first spring than that you have an army up and running.

Just read it and build along in your 31.25 fortress.


Some other changes, in addition to the military:
- your cows (or other grazing animals) need grass and a "pen/pasture" activity zone. You create these with "i", drawing the zone, then "n" for pen/pasture, then N for pushing animals into the zone. If the cow doesn't have grass, it will starve after a season. Also, the cows and dogs will fight if they're feeling that it's too crowded.


- instead of barrels for your still, you can create large pots in a craftsdorf's workshop now. Since rocks are usually plentiful and more plentiful than trees at that, I would recommend to use rock large pots instead of barrels. They look prettier in ASCII than barrels, too.

The only problem is that dwarven syrup requires barrels instead of large pots, but that's luxury goods anyway.


- injured dwarves require a hospital to be healed now. That's another activity zone (i - h), and a hospital should have some beds, some traction benches, several coffers and perhaps a table for surgeries. If you look at the zone with a H for the options, it should be pretty much self-explaining what else the zone requires to be functional.


- every map has magma now (for the godly magma forges and smelter), only that it can be 160 z-levels deep or something. And there are caverns with nasty critters in the way. The newbie guide made the magma pool to be really cool and good news.

[dmurray]

Well I believe it's because we generally take our frustrationscuriosity to the dwarves rather than one another and it's why we are so helpful.

Try the ultimate newbie guide, it works wonders for getting you set up for the basics. It's like comparing two guns. Both shoot bullets but there are small differences inbetween them. Maybe one shoots out a different bullet but it's shot the same way. I believe the military part was completely overhauled (I assume a more long-term player can point out what is not useful in this version).
Oh, one thing: the farming is a bit different. We can farm on the grass. We can also farm on soil. BUT (and this is very important), you cannot farm on rock (or rather, certain types). So, what I advise you doing is building a farm in your fortress!
It's very easy. I'll explain in as easy a manner as possible.

You and your band of 7 dwarves start on grass. You dig a stairway down to the next Z level. After that, you find some clay. Now, you can build a farm on clay, in the cave, without irrigation, yay! But here's the problem, how to do it.
What I do is build my fortress about 3 or 4 Z levels down, then I make a path to were my food storage will be, then, I make a small section out of the wall (maybe mine 2x2 at most), but use "up stairs" instead of mining (press d, then u) and highlight the staris. You just need one square, I use three, though.
Now, go up to the next Z level, build "down stairs" or "down/up stairs (I'll explain in a moment why). So basically, when you do that, you have connect the levels on your main fortress to the level above. Now, if there is no farming area on the level above, you will want to build the "up/down stairs". Then, when they are built, if there is no farmable soil above, do the same with the "up/down stairs" untill you can mine out a farming area.


One thing I urge you to remember is "d, b d". It gives you a menu that untill two days ago, I did not know existed. See, when you're "dumping" items, you have to select them manually, one-by-one... Or, using that menu you can select them all at once. It's something I thought I should mention should you ever want to dumb items that are not useful (just don't dump them into lava otherwise you don't get them back).

To add to why Lytha said: in the LNP there is a utility called "DFReveal". It shows the whole map. DO NOT CLOSE IT YOURSELF!
Basically, it reveals the whole map including the magma river/sea and... the very, very !fun! stuff. BUT DO NOT CLOSE IT YOURSELF! I am serious, if you do, the very fun stuff will be enabled in your game. And trust me it is very... VERY fun.

What you want to do is: double click it to open it, then (you need to be actually playing the game in the fortress mode), let it do its thing. It'll reveal the whole map. Make sure though, before you open it, then the game is paused (press space and notice the "PAUSE" word in the upper left). Now, while it is cheating, it can greatly help your first few fortresses. See, you can use the "Designations" menu to mind/create stairs down to the lava. But... while you can bypass the carvens, most of the fun in the game is by trying to bypass them or exploring them without the revealing utility.
Anyway, if you do use it and it reveals  your map for you, go back to the utility and press "enter", then it should close after a few seconds.

If you really do want to blatantly cheat (and I don't see why not, it's your first few games and learning expirences), try using the "dfliquid" utility to make lava. Keep in mind it will destroy lots of things so be very careful unless you like fun.

Are there any specific questions you have?
Nevertheless about specific quetsions, please, please use the link I gave you for those tutorials. It teaches you the basics. Kind of like saying: you have 10 switches, each one does the following, now, go nuts and combine them! You might lose a dwarf or two, you might lose a fortress or two but soon you will be happily killing giant worms with twenty eyes, breathing gas that gives you blood diseases and having trading with eleves... after you trap them and pour magma on them (I swear, everyone likes to pour magma on the traders ).

[Sutremaine]

I believe the military part was completely overhauled (I assume a more long-term player can point out what is not useful in this version).

Short answer: all of it.
Longer answer: the weapons are roughly the same overall. Axes remove limbs, spears jab organs and are good on large organics, swords are a balance between the two. Picks are better, hammers no longer knock things flying so much, and blunt weapons other than hammers aren't too good because they lack the armour-cracking properties of the hammer while not being as good against unarmoured targets as edged weapons. Whips are tiny bone-chipping hammers and not used by dwarves, beware of these once you start getting invaders.

To add to why Lytha said: in the LNP there is a utility called "DFReveal". It shows the whole map. DO NOT CLOSE IT YOURSELF!

Don't open it yourself either. Seriously, you only get one chance to be surprised by each new underground feature. Don't blow it by peeking.

[dmurray]

Don't open it yourself either. Seriously, you only get one chance to be surprised by each new underground feature. Don't blow it by peeking.

Really? I did (though I already about the really fun things on the wiki and blew the spoilers myself) and I liked it more that way.

Each to their own, though. But I feel it adds a lot by getting to experiment with magma as a learning experience. I suppose the dfliquid utility would be just as good.

[Sutremaine]

Really? I did (though I already about the really fun things on the wiki and blew the spoilers myself) and I liked it more that way.

Somehow I ended up on the wiki before really playing the game, and I kind of wish I'd found things out myself instead of reading the wiki.

Each to their own, though. But I feel it adds a lot by getting to experiment with magma as a learning experience. I suppose the dfliquid utility would be just as good.

Magma's easy to find though. Go down, and if you hit semi-molten rock you need to go back up a little. Then you have a regenerating source and something for the magma workshops.

[dmurray]

Somehow I ended up on the wiki before really playing the game, and I kind of wish I'd found things out myself instead of reading the wiki.

Ew! I liked knowing what's on the wiki. It made me feel more prepared and one day, I assume being "prepared" still means I'll have lots and lots of fun with invasions and what not.

Magma's easy to find though. Go down, and if you hit semi-molten rock you need to go back up a little. Then you have a regenerating source and something for the magma workshops.

True but the problem is hitting carvens. That can be very freakin' annoying at times.

[Starver]

Sorry, the conversation appears to have moved on even while I was writing the following.  It may no longer be necessary.  And it is a bit of wall of text.  Still, some parts may still be useful, so I'm still posting it...



When it comes to the 'randomness' of the pseudo-ASCII/ANSI default graphics, I think the bit that might be most confusing you is the 'random ground'.  A selection of "spotty" characters like ' (apostrophe) , (comma) . (full-stop/period/decimal[1]) and the ` (back-apostrophe) are randomly arrayed to give the impression of grass (or other floor-types) in a rough and unordered state.

Look in the "...\data\init\d_init.txt" file for the tag saying "[VARIED_GROUND_TILES:YES]" and make it say ":NO" instead at the appropriate point.

Other than that (and I personally like the varied ground tiles, only briefly tried it set otherwise, and went straight back to what I knew and loved, but this change may still help you to get 'into' the game) all you have to do is appreciate that you're looking at a horizontal slice of the world (except for a few limited clues about the nature of lower and higher slices) and most of what you start with is pure landscape, except for the characters that are moving about that landscape (the dwarfs, their animals, possibly some 'wildlife' and if you're unlucky some nastier stuff) and the wagon they bring which is perhaps a bit busy in its attempt to cycle through all the goods laden upon it, but stays in the same place.

Then you start modifying the environment by digging into hills, or downwards into the rock, building up, etc, and everything you see comes straight from what you designate or assign to be built.  Workshops are generally 3x3 blocks of characters with solid-ish tiles of a certain colour (sometimes depends on the material you make the workshop of, some are fixed), but often have at least one character within them designed to 'look like' some presumed element of that workshop.  Much as you'll understand that you've managed to build a row of floor tiles, a road, a bridge, a wall or a line of fortifications because you specifically built these and (eventually) get to see them sitting in place, building a workshop will give you a recognisable pattern of characters that end up meaning something to you.  (Noting that workshops just assigned to be built look different from what they do when complete, with a possible intermediate change in appearance as well as what one looks like with stones in the way before they're shifted.)

Did anyone say anything about moving around the map?  Cursors for lateral movement and "<"/">" for up/downwards through the slices are my favourite methods, although there's also the option of number-pad arrows and corner numbers for diagonals (and holding "shift" down for moving in larger steps, which doesn't work with the NumLock in the wrong state, IME, but YMMV).  When you first embark (assuming Fortress Mode), press the space-bar to pause (or toggle it back on again if it was already paused and you just turned it off), use these movement keys to wander around the place.  You should end up, after a few goes, building up a mental 3D map in your head, or at least the gist of it... e.g. "Ah, we've got a river winding through there, small hills either side, a waterfall generating a lot of mist as it digs deep into the ground, with multi-Z deep gorge downstream, in the bottom of which there appear to be some sort of fish...".  You can also look out for bits of interesting geology, e.g. ores and gems that are visible.  (Remembering that tiles representing cube-volumes of the map on that slice which you haven't yet dug the neighbours out are going to be mostly black, with the odd subdued "%" symbol, amongst others, which is just there to indicate that it's not a void, just undiscovered.  And there's no correlation between those symbols in the undiscovered rock and what you'll find when you dig into them.  Only what is exposed (cliff edges, assuming you're not starting on a completely flat plain) gives you a true picture of what stones, ores and gems you will find.

The following is a bit compressed, and I don't expect you to understand it straight off (though it's possible you will!), but you can the colours of the symbols will come to mean something.  White rock faces are likely to be limestone or marble, bits with coloured "£" (GBP) signs on some other base-colour are going to be certain metal ores, "*"-like symbols similarly embedded colour-on-colour are gems.  Brown-themed visible blocks are going to be soil instead, green-themed ones grassy (although there are brown and green tiles that aren't) or you may be embarking upon a desert of one (or more) particular colour of sand, e.g. red, yellow or white, with "~"/tilde and double-tilde ("approximately equal to") symbols that are static, where the surface of a river, stream or brook has these symbols (unless you also went in and changed the entry to [SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS:YES] in d_init.txt) in blues and whites and changing, to indicate flowing water.

There are a couple of notable stones with a blue-theme.  One is Microcline, and (except for very rare maps) what you'll most often find if it shows at the surface.  Historically, people have hated microcline, for one reason or another.  One reason is because there always used to be such a lot of it (changed in the current version), plus the game used to pause and annoyingly shift focus to announce its discovery (as with all materials).  These days it just announces it and if you view the "a"nnouncements, shift to the item you want and "z"oom it'll then go there when you want it to.  The other reason people hate it might be because although it's easy to tell on sight (from the character embedded within the blueness) which one it is, some people desire the other blue mineral and momentarily get their hopes up.  (Others think that the non-microcline blue mineral is more trouble than it's worth, and they've got a point as well... )

However, much as you've just been told by FrostDust[2], you can use "k" activate a "look around" cursor (I think this is also the key for Adventure Mode, BICBW) and it will tell you the nature of the tile you've got the "X"-cursor over.  Including information not often easily seen visually (e.g. multiple items and/or creatures sitting on the same tile).



[1] With apologies to ignoring those who have "1.234,56"-style numeric system where I'd write "1,234.56".

[2] Who I think also conflated "v" for creatures/unit detail (v)iewing with "q" for (q)uerying and interacting with buildings.  Well, sort of.  That's what I think the letters stand for, anyway, and there's times to use one, times to use another and yet different times o use "t" for yet another viewing of a slightly different building/structure/furniture information screen.

[Sutremaine]

Magma's easy to find though. Go down, and if you hit semi-molten rock you need to go back up a little. Then you have a regenerating source and something for the magma workshops.

True but the problem is hitting carvens. That can be very freakin' annoying at times.

I map out embarks by wandering off to the very corners (I have small embarks) and sinking long staircases. If I hit a cavern I divert as much as necessary and then return to the corner. On a very few occasions I've either gone down to SMR, hit the cavern at a point it can't be gotten around easily, or hit the cavern at floor level. Another option I rarely use is to power through the cavern space, sealing it up with walls. This one is a little riskier because you need to be in the cavern space while it's being sealed and you have to make allowances for the lack of diagonal building, but if you do this right at the beginning of the game there aren't any FBs down there at least.

Doing this gives me magma access within two seasons.

[Dave1004]

Guh...gah...buh...bah...

Well, I've put all the informative posts on notepad (Said; all), so I'll be digesting this over time! I can't believe how much you guys have helped. After reading all the help here, I quickly skimmed over the Ultimate guide, and set out. I'm doing great on my save, (No monsters, I put evil and stuff on low :/), and I've learned how to do mostly everything. I'm almost onto Winter of my first year!

Aiight! Onto the help I've been given! Firstly, Lytha.

Firstly, thanks for telling me about pastures. I'll try and set onto that, I was wondering why my Water Buffalo died! I have just chosen "Play Now" instead of customizing my Embarking, so it was a tad bit confusing. I'll make sure to work on those on my next game. So, what should be the limit for pastures? I don't want my cows killing each other >_>. Also, why the heck are my cats wandering so far? I have two, and 24/7 they wander reaaaally far to the left of the map, leave my vision, then return. And repeat! It's weird...

About the hospitals, I'll set to building one. Will take a while although, I've got my dwarvsies doing a million tasks so far...

So, what's the use for magma? And, what do Z-levels mean? Zone...? (Wild guess :/). I probably want to avoid magma, I don't need no toasted dwarves.

Also, another question. Is it possible to dig into the floor? I've got a bunch of "Indigo Tourmaline" flooring in my caves, but I can't seem to mine it!

Now! Dmurray.

The Ultimate Newbie Guide looked confusing, so I only skimmed it and went on my way >_>. So, stairways? I'll look for that in the menu, is that how you descend floors?

Oh! Dumping! Yeah, my place is littered in remains (Fireflies, rats, ugh...) I made a "Corpse" and "Refuse" designation zones, and I manually selected EVER single corpse (Thanks for the hotkey tip!)

Also, that "DFReveal" kinda sounds like cheating, and I don't like cheating x.x. I'll try it sometime, but I'll have to download it.

But, yeah, I do have (ANOTHER) question. Why am I not getting any caravans? I read you're supposed to get your first one in Autumn, but I haven't got one. I've built a trade depot...I am onto my first winter.

Also, firstly, I don't really wanna do much fighting in this game. I'd prefer just to mosey on peacefully, and killing traders and fighting "Giant worms with twenty eyes" sounds too scary. x.x.

Starver

That's a nice tip for the text based version, I was planning on downloading that sometime, just to have fun. Of course, after I learn the graphic version.

Using the numpad would probably be better for movement, I think I'll try that! I always seem to have Numlock on, never know why. Silly windows...

I'm bad with anything mental, working things in my head is an impossible difficulty. I'm not too smart, so I try and keep things simple lol. That Fortress Mode sounds kinda cool, I'll probably play it sometime. I'll try to get Fortress Mode downpat though. I appreciate the help, but it is, uhh...Kinda confusing lol. I'll digest it though, might take an hour or so. As I said, I'm a slow person.

Whooee! Once I figure all this out, it'll be a blessing! Will be hard, but with a cupp'a coffee and a few hours to burn, I'll be a true and blue Dwarf!

But, yes. As I had said previously, why am I not getting any Caravans? Do I need to do something specific...? Thanks xD.

Also, what is an Aquifier? Is it some sort of devilish contraption? Or is it that thing that makes "Wet" stone? (Stupid wet stone. It makes my newly built rooms uneven. UNEVEN. This is a CALAMITY, especially with OCD. Horrible, horrible, horrible...Any way to destroy it?)

That's all for now, my batteries running out (Have to plug in downstairs, stupid dial-up!)

Much appreciated all

[AdeleneDawner]

Aquifer is stone or dirt that generates water - it's meant to simulate groundwater, but it generates *infinite* water and never runs out. It's also usually between you and any stone, if you embark someplace that has it. It's not too hard to deal with once you have a good grasp of the physics involved in doing so, but it's generally not a challenge that's meant to be taken on by newbies.

Also, you can dig through damp stone, for example under a lake - just re-designate it to be dug out once it's revealed. You'll have to do this layer by layer, since when the miners reveal more damp stone they'll un-designate it, but it can be done. Just be careful what you're digging into. Digging underneath a lake is fine. Digging underneath an aquifer, or into the side of a river... not so much, unless you're prepared for the results.

When you're ready to download things, I suggest getting the lazy newb pack. It's a big download, but it comes with basically everything, most notably Dwarf Therapist and three different tilesets. It also lets you turn off aquifers and invasions and set your population cap easily, and if you do decide that you want to use any of the 'cheat' tools (some of which are less cheat-y than others) you'll have those handy too. (Even if you don't want to cheat with a proper fort, making a spare one and doing a quick build and then spawning water to test some bit of water physics or something is a good way to learn how the game works.) Oh, and it comes with stonesense, too, which is a 3d visualizer that you might find useful if you're having trouble getting the lay of the land.

[Dave1004]

Hmm...Well, thanks for the link Adelene, but I probbly won't be able to download it for a while. I'll bookmark it though, for when I can!

Thanks for explaining an Aquifer to me, heh. Much appreciated!

Also, I have two more simple questions, if anybody has the answers...


1. What are the chest-looking things hidden in the dark wall-areas?

2. How do I get rid of all the remains? I select them, hit "d", and wait. I have plenty of Refuse and Corpse spots, but no go! It's been a year nearly now, and they're all still there...

Thanks again y'all!

[AdeleneDawner]

1) They're just indications that that's unexplored stone rather than some kind of pit. They don't relate to anything being hidden there.

2) Hit 'o' for orders, then under 'refuse' toggle 'collect refuse from outside' and 'ignore vermin corpses'. Dwarves ignore aboveground rubbish by default. The orders menu in general is a good thing to have a look at - some of the defaults aren't quite optimal for most play styles.