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[Manic Typist]

For some reason, I have had very little luck finding places that I can actually smooth/engrave. It seems that I've mostly hit patches that aren't suitable for that designation, if that's possible.

And yes, obviously it's my fault for somehow accidentally hitting "Wall" instead of "Floor."

Military experiments later tonight, after class.


(As an aside, I'm probably only about four or five z levels down. I think I need to star digging deeper to find the metals for a proper army).

[ledgekindred]

Dig deeper, my son.  Dig deeper.

Upper levels will still have dirt and sand and clay.  Dorfs must live in their natural environment -- ROCK.  If you are still hitting areas that are dirt or sand, you are not digging deep enough.  Once all your levels are rock, move all your storage areas and rooms and stuff down there where you can smooth and engrave stuff. It increases the wealth of your fort and makes your dwarves happier to see the nice engravings and stuff. 

[Number4]

And when you moved downwards, you can dig entire layers of soil out for a: miner expierience and b: a tree/moss farm. You'll need to breach a cavern first, however you can wall it off right afterwards. Trees are obvious, and you can use the moss instead of grass to feed herbivores.

[geoduck]

You'll need to breach a cavern first, however you can wall it off right afterwards..

Just be aware that dwarves love to end up on the wrong side of a sealed-off wall. You can start building other walls on the spots you want the builder to avoid, and then suspend construction until the wall you really want is built.

[Manic Typist]

Geoduck- Nice! I'll try that.

Number4- how can I get sunlight down that deep, covering an entire (or even MOST OF) a layer....without destroying everything I've done above/literally tearing up the entire surface? Further, how do I transplant trees so that I can begin to "farm" them?

[Darkmere]

You don't have to daylight the underground to get tree-like products from them. The caverns contain mushroom trees that mature faster that surface trees, have the same utility, and are colorful to boot.

Once you breach a cavern (and wall it up immediately, to be safe) any muddy ground OR subterranean soil levels will start sprouting cave plants and mushroom trees that match the breached caver layer's flora.

In short, dig deeper!

[Anathema]

Also just to be clear, you can smooth and engrave any natural stone, which you'll find beneath any soil layer(s) on your map (usually 0-5 of them). Any soil type (dirt, sand, clay, etc) cannot be smoothed or engraved, and any constructed walls/floors will look just like smoothed natural stone, but cannot be engraved.

Note that by cooling magma with water to form obsidian stone (i.e. obsidian casting), you can actually create "natural" obsidian that can be smoothed/engraved anywhere you like. Transporting manageable quantities of water and magma to the right area without killing anyone too many dwarves is fairly advanced dwarven engineering however, might want to wait before you tackle that.

[Manic Typist]

First goblin snatcher shows up. Hilarity ensues as the novice military tries to catch her!

[Number4]

Do you have watchanimals? You can place a restraint, which is a (cloth) rope or (metal) chain near your entrance and assign an animal to it to spot any infiltrators. Dogs are a popular and realistic choice.

[Xorn]

Althogh the Lazy Newb Pack is great for getting everything you could ever want all nicely wrapped up in a bow, it doesn't teach you very much.
For teaching a person the game of DF I use http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/ for several reasons;
1) It gives you the same world he uses to teach with. It helps you learn the basics easier.
2) The game world you are in is on the easier side, less death by the undead thanks to terrifying things.
3) The online guide is very well laid out, and covers just about everything you need to run a basic fort. He doesn't tell you how to make things like danger rooms, but you really don't need it when you start.
4) And because it is what I used to learn DFs confusing ways, and it's easier for me to link a person to it than to teach DF myself.

[Manic Typist]

Goblin got away. Wish I did have guard dogs, Number 4, but so far I've had no luck in training any animals.

I'm also considering exploring this "quantum dump" 'exploit' since my stone stockpiles are filling up, and leftover stone is cluttering up places I need to put to use.

[Reelyanoob]

Tip: don't make stone stockpile except for tiny ones right near masons, mechanics etc. This will free up a lot of hauling time and annoyances like running out of space. Only exception is metal ore only stockpiles near furnaces.

Dump/clear any areas you need to with the quantum system. Be selective with this and don't clear more than you need to (or anytime you have idle haulers), as it locks up a lot of hauling labour.

If you're planning to build above ground, you might like to consider block factories instead. Dump a couple of masons workshops right in the middle of the rock you want to clear, and get some guys churning out blocks, which can be stacked into bins. When an area is cleared out, create new workshops and deconstruct the old ones.

[Manic Typist]

First goblin invasion shows up. Got so distracted completely relocating my mayor to finally acceptable (beyond acceptable) quarters that I didn't have any traps set up in time. Of course, they show up right next to the dwarven caravan.... hopefully they'll help. Fortunately, my small military was already in that area killing some potentially troublesome cabaryas.

I'll fight that battle upon the morrow.

[Manic Typist]

Fought off that wave of goblins. Merchant guards took the brunt of it. Killed two goblins, the rest seem to have run away (do they do that?).

Caught a goblin snatcher.

Broke into an extensive set of caverns. Didn't get a door set up soon enough (or perhaps I forgot to lock it) and a giant cave spider and troglodyte cause some.... gave us some... fun?

Watched two dwarves die of thirst in my infirmary because it is winter and apparently injured dwarves don't drink booze. Another (injured axedwarf in the infirmary) just went insane, and as I send my squads after him.....a goblin ambush appears. And a goblin snatcher.

I managed to drain and plug the flooded tunnels.... and I thought "Hey! Here's some water!" I designated it as a water drinking zone but it doesn't seem to be working too well... perhaps because it's mudy/murky?


I just feel so far behind the curve and events and like I can't catch up. Is this the normal new guy experience? I just want to do.... BETTER. Looking for magma, ores.

[Starver]

Right, you've got cavern access (or at least can still see them).  Is there any water in any part of them?  If so, dig along in the Z above the top of the cavern until you can channel down into the cavern above the water, then build a well.  (This would be far more efficient than my wells, which are often tens, sometimes even approaching hundreds, of Z-levels of well shaft, and thus takes a relatively long time to drag water up.)  You need your architect to gather the appropriate materials and then a guy to assemble it, but shouldn't take too long.

Once built, this will be a year-round water-source.  So as long as you've got enough little guys willing to go and fetch water for others, nobody else should ever dehydrate in that way.


If you can't see water in the caverns, that'd be quite rare (from personal experience), but you might want to try punching down into the top of the caverns (similarly to making the well access, but you can close it back off with a floor, if you want) off to one edge of the visible area and see if that reveals any water-logged cavern area suitable for the well(s) to be built over.