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Author Topic: What am I missing?  (Read 2857 times)

kestrelshades

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What am I missing?
« on: August 21, 2011, 11:18:43 pm »

I picked up DF about two days ago, so I'm about as fresh as they get.

So far I've only played the adventure mode as I basically haven't got a clue what I'm doing, or more importantly - am supposed to be doing. I've started several adventurers, all of which have been mutilated or severely disfigured by bandits and bogeymen before I realized what the gently caress has happened. I did break into the soap maker's hut and strangled his son, but that's about as epic as my adventures have gotten.

Anyway, I have been exploring the wild during the day, but so far, there doesn't seem like there is a whole lot to do aside from travelling from hamlet to hamlet, picking up quests and whatnot. I don't really understand what most of the letters are supposed to represent, so I might be missing out on a few things - but are there supposed to be caverns, keeps or other interesting junk out in the wilds or is the mode not as beefed up as DF? Apart from sleeping and picking up quests, is there any depth or point to talk to villagers? Can you work or, say, start a family?

Thanks
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RayesKotrora

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2011, 07:34:31 am »

At the moment you can't do anything other than quest. You can create your own adventures, but that's not coded into the game, just use your imagination.

Here are some resources that will help you with the technical aspects.

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Adventurer_mode

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Adventure_mode_quick_start


These are more advanced and help you determine what types of weapons and armours are better for certain purposes.

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Weapon

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Metal


One thing I see on these forums constantly so I will just mention it, dwarves and elves currently do not have any civilisations available. You will not find them unless they are in a bandit group or a very, very rare occurrence where a human civilisation in worldgen conquers a dwarf/elf civilisation so there are dwarves/elves living in human towns. You can mod it so that they live in human-type towns by default, but I don't really see the point of that. If you want to know how just look in one of the 200+ threads asking why there are no dwarves or elves.
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Psieye

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2011, 08:00:41 am »

Yeah, adventure mode could be said to not be as advanced as fortress mode. However, there's definitely enough material to make an epic adventure at present - your trouble is learning how to survive. Skill training depends on how many times you perform the action so between character creation and finding some harmless wildlife to safely practice some wrestling (or weapon using) on you can get a good start. Try going into arena mode and stepping into adventure mode from there to get to grips with the interface - especially on the finer art of stealing what your opponent has equipped.

I will also say: besides quests the main point of adventure mode is to re-visit your abandoned forts. In my opinion, looting your own fort and going around killing stuff with those masterpieces you made yourself is what makes it fun.
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Kay12

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2011, 08:12:54 am »

What has been said before is true, but... I think one of the greatest things about adventure mode is that it makes it easier to get into DF. I urge my friends who are new to DF to start with Adventure Mode - it feels like a traditional Roguelike, but the complex elements present make it less shocking to move on to the Fortress mode. Z-levels, for example, start feeling natural after a bit of adventure mode.
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onarum

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2011, 11:02:06 am »

What has been said before is true, but... I think one of the greatest things about adventure mode is that it makes it easier to get into DF. I urge my friends who are new to DF to start with Adventure Mode - it feels like a traditional Roguelike, but the complex elements present make it less shocking to move on to the Fortress mode. Z-levels, for example, start feeling natural after a bit of adventure mode.

That is the truth, I know I myself was able to get into fortress mode mainly because adventure mode eased me in.

Also for the OP, yeah, as of now the only structure present are the quests, which pretty much all involve killing someone/something, still fun though, I urge you to use a graphical tileset to replace all the ASCII nonsense, Phoebus is my favorite one, makes everything oh so incredibly better.

And you can train some stuff before venturing out, it's a bit boring, because all of them involve doing something pointless like knapping stones then throwing them constantly for 15 minutes, but it does give you better chances of survival.

I believe that Toady intends to add a whole lot more depth to adventurer mode in the future, but given that he's only 1 guy that will probably take a LONG long long time.
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The Merchant Of Menace

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2011, 11:06:58 am »

The next update, which is probably less than a few months away, will have tons of stuff to do in Adventure mode.
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Kay12

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2011, 11:49:33 am »

Also for the OP, yeah, as of now the only structure present are the quests, which pretty much all involve killing someone/something, still fun though, I urge you to use a graphical tileset to replace all the ASCII nonsense, Phoebus is my favorite one, makes everything oh so incredibly better.

It's not ASCII and, most of all, not nonsense... >:(
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onarum

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2011, 11:58:17 am »

Also for the OP, yeah, as of now the only structure present are the quests, which pretty much all involve killing someone/something, still fun though, I urge you to use a graphical tileset to replace all the ASCII nonsense, Phoebus is my favorite one, makes everything oh so incredibly better.

It's not ASCII and, most of all, not nonsense... >:(

I'm not raging on the default look, but I think that we can all agree that a tileset like phoebus' makes things prettier, and more recognizable.
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The Merchant Of Menace

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2011, 12:00:32 pm »

I find things a lot more recognisable with the default actually.
I can identify things much easier from a letter than a tiny image
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thatkid

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2011, 01:25:13 pm »

Adventure mode isn't that fleshed out yet. When you're more experienced with DF in general, I suggest you check out DFusion (or is it just DF Hack now?) and Rumrusher's guide to setting up player towns and stuff. That's a tiny bit like what you're looking for.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2011, 01:30:09 pm by thatkid »
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inEQUALITY

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2011, 01:32:19 pm »

I find things a lot more recognisable with the default actually.
I can identify things much easier from a letter than a tiny image

This.


It's not ASCII and, most of all, not nonsense... >:(

And this.

Symbols encourage imagination, which is much better and easier to recall as imagery than that one blob of colors that may or may not be a an elite hammerdwarf standing next to a kobold. My opinion only, though. I'll personally never develop tilesets for any mod I make. If anyone wanted to do one for it, they'd be welcome to do that dull work, however.  :P
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RayesKotrora

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #11 on: August 22, 2011, 04:18:30 pm »

It's not ASCII and, most of all, not nonsense... >:(

I find things a lot more recognisable with the default actually.
I can identify things much easier from a letter than a tiny image

Symbols encourage imagination, which is much better and easier to recall as imagery than that one blob of colors that may or may not be a an elite hammerdwarf standing next to a kobold. My opinion only, though. I'll personally never develop tilesets for any mod I make. If anyone wanted to do one for it, they'd be welcome to do that dull work, however.  :P

I second each of these statements.
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onarum

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #12 on: August 22, 2011, 05:14:02 pm »

Okay, so let's take a look on a scene from the game with phoebus tileset.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If I was just booting the game for the first time and got dumped in that exact scene I would immediately realize "ok I'm the little guy in the middle holding a sword and a shield, I' on a clearing of sorts with some trees, there are rabbits, a bovine like creature and some horses", all that just by looking at the scene.

Not only it's way more pleasing and easily recognizable, but a lot of the features are more clear, like where you can stand or not, because I can clearly see what's a grass tile, water tile, what's a rock, what's a wall and so on, also the view range, since it actually has some contrast to it the fact that I can't see or be seen behind a tree for example is very clear.

And I'm sorry, but if you think those look like a "blob of colors", then there's not much I can do for you other than recommend stronger glasses.

now let's take a look at the exact same scene only in default "graphics".

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Unless the person playing is a seasoned veteran of the game all this will look like is a garbled mess of random characters that makes little to no sense, which is exactly what it is.

The imagination thing I think may be the strongest thing going for it, but a good bit of imagination still has to be used even with real graphics, I mean it's not like we have detailed animations, facial characteristics, 1:1 appearance changed according to your equipment and so on, at least I know that when a character of mine is in the middle of combat or just traveling around it is all going in my head at the same time the way I imagine it, because with or without tilesets all you are seeing are still just little figures moving around on a 2d plane, the difference is actually being able to identify those little figures.

Now I can understand that you guys prefer default "graphics", maybe because it makes you feel more hardcore or whatever, but saying that it's actually better? I'm sorry but that IS nonsense.
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The Merchant Of Menace

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2011, 05:52:42 pm »

Now I can understand that you have your own preference in graphics, people are allowed their own opinions, but saying that your opinion is actually more correct than someone elses? I'm sorry, but that IS nonsense.
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jc6036

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Re: What am I missing?
« Reply #14 on: August 22, 2011, 06:26:46 pm »

I prefer the default graphics over tile sets, but the genesis mod doesnt have a current version in ASCII.
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