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[accoro]

Admittedly I am a bit of a newbie, but I only ever make it to 3 years before my fort descends into utter chaos.

I end up having WAY too many migrants than I know what to do with, I quickly run out of space (favouring a linear fortress, rather than hundreds of z-levels to cope), I can't find magma/bring it to the surface... and because of all this I'm quickly running out of patience, Task Manager close, cry and then come back.


HELP!


(the crying was a joke... really. Honestly.)

[Lexx]

Design your fort with larger population in mind.  several squares wide main corridors with alleys leading off to workshops and specific local buildings/rooms helps a fort grow and not be congested. Work on getting a legendary dining hall built with plentiful types of food and booze to have in it. This will keep most dwarfs at least content. There is always a way to use immigrants. Be it for setting up different industries, dedicated haulers or specialists in a certain labor/job or just enlist them all in the militia and send them to their death/glory against cave creatures. Those that survive proving their worth.

[LemonFrosted]

The key to a long lasting fort is sufficient food and a well trained military, or impregnable defenses.

Invasion and starvation are the only factors that will consistently lead to mass chaos. Once you have those stable then it's just a matter of figuring out what you want dwarves to be doing.

Also you'll want to break the "linear fort" habit. Even moving your fort to 2-3 layers instead of 1 will give you vast amounts of space.

Also build more housing than you need. If you feel like your miners aren't doing anything then just have them carve out more apartments, make some more beds, doors, chests, and whatnot.

For magma: if you can't bring it to you then go to it. Set up a sub-fort way down in the bowls of the earth or, hell, slowly move the entire fort down there.

[Lectorog]

Dwarf Therapist

[accoro]

or just enlist them all in the militia and send them to their death/glory against cave creatures. Those that survive proving their worth.

A rite of passage?
 ^_^

[Mushroo]

A good question!

First things first, I think you seem to be making an assumption that "long-lasting fort = WINNING." There is no "prize" in DF for having a fort that lasts a long time, and many players enjoy starting new forts, rarely sticking with a fort for more than a few years.

Second, do you know about the "init" files and how to edit them? If you edit the text file /data/init/d_init.txt you can set a "population cap." This can be very helpful when you're learning, set the population cap to a reasonable number while you learn the basics of the game.

Third and finally, some actual advice:

Make sure you have plenty of food and alcohol. Plump helmets are your friends!
Use the manager, bookkeeper, etc. to keep your production and supplies under control.
Use Dwarf Therapist!!!
Learn about "passive" defenses (training schedules, defend burrow, patrol, etc.) so you don't have to micro-manage your military.
Keep new migrants segregated from old-timers to reduce tantrum spirals.
Don't get upset about "too many idlers" because they are your haulers/lever-pullers/emergency suicide squad.

[Khris]

Seconding the advice to give up the linear fortress design.
I'm very content with my design now, uppermost floor is for defense, next is for underground farming, trade, etc, then come three workshop levels followed by the meet and eat level, further down the tombs and the bedrooms. Only make sure to keep your bedrooms far enough from vertical noise from above.

[darthbob88]

Dwarf Therapist

QFT. Indispensable on larger forts.

Magma is a must-have for serious metalworking, glassmaking, or pottery; either learn to build pump stacks, magma pistons, or learn to build forts that go deep into the earth.

Maintain healthy stocks of food and booze. Personally I freak out at <2 years worth of booze; food is never an issue with forgotten beasts/goblin mounts.

Keep a military and/or traps ready for invaders. As noted, starvation and sieges are the only things, aside from human error with levers, that can kill a fort.

Feel free to build up as well as down; archer towers will do terrible things to goblin sieges, and large warehouses can provide even more storage space than caverns and soil layers.

Biggest things: food and booze, and military defenses. Keep those in mind, and your fortress will last forever.

[Sandrew]

Millitary might. Crush all who challenge your right to settle!



That, and booze. Tons of it.

[accoro]

Booze and sheer unmatched military power - sounds fun! Wish me luck!

[Agent_86]

Wish me luck!

You'll definitely need it.   

[Javarock]

Tell all the useless migrants to work at the farm, Also Start up a statue garden in addition to the normal things

[Lectorog]

Tell all the useless migrants to work at the farm, Also Start up a statue garden in addition to the normal things

I turn on the farming labor for useless dwarves. They're no longer useless mouths! It works well, for any population.

[Mikehpoo]

Immigrants I don't have a need for become engravers/masons (have a manager to set your Masonry's to only accept legendary workers so you don't craft poo statues all day long) Only build your fort in stone layers, use your peasants to smooth/Construct your above ground fortress walls.

My fort has roughly 90 dwarves atm with 30 in the military and 15 stoneworkers.

[Mushroo]

I disagree on the farming issue.
1 legendary grower is better than several novice growers, in my opinion. More efficient use of land and seeds.

Better to put "useless" migrants to work on a job where skill has no impact on quality. For example milling, threshing, potash making, wood burning, etc.