-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
DWARF FORTRESS - For real this time. - This topic is for you (yes YOU)
- Thread starter GDJustin
- Start date
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Shit, I looked at a screenshot and I'm hooked on Dwarf Fortress again
Oh, hey, a tutorial. I've been meaning to give this game another try...
This is the tutorial I used to get the basics down and will show you how to search for a nice safe spot to start in. Anything else you can generally find an answer for in the wiki or ask here.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Quickstart_guide
I watched an 8 hour tutorial, and it still didn't get me very far.
Im dooooooomed
Awesome Animals
Member
I think we should make an official |OT| when Toady releases the next version in the next month or so. Thoughts?
bigdaddygamebot
Member
I love this game...well...I WANT to love it.
It's brilliant, it really is but the interface is just so...inscrutable to me. : /
It's brilliant, it really is but the interface is just so...inscrutable to me. : /
Awesome Animals
Member
http://afteractionreporter.com/2009...newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/
Use this tutorial to learn the ropes. It did a hell of a lot for me when I first started playing.
It's like learning to ride an incredibly complicated bicycle. Believe me, things get a lot easier once you're proficient in the basic menus.
I second this. An amazing guide for newbies - it's what I used when I was first starting out. They even supply you with a template save game which makes it easier to play along.
Awesome Animals
Member
I know you can cap how many dwarfs your fortress can have which will help alleviate framerate issues.
You can edit the ini file and cap the population to stop this happening,
I believe.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
Get through this. Seriously. Once you push through it, you'll start to see how a lot of little things work.
Awesome Animals
Member
Probably for a little bit, but you would probably hit framerate issues pretty quickly.
I think so, it's very CPU dependent though, so your mileage may vary. If you cap your population then I can't see why it wouldn't. I used to play on a fairly low spec MacBook, with boot camp.
The Hermit
Member
The only time I've ever heard about this game before was in this image...
Reading this thread, its quite accurate!
Reading this thread, its quite accurate!
I guess, but for me the point is to get my fortress bigger and bigger and make an army
I guess, but for me the point is to get my fortress bigger and bigger and make an army
There's quite a few ways to go about improving your FPS on the wiki - http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Maximizing_framerate - but obviously ymmv with regards to how much use each solution is, depending on the structure / residents of your fort.
Okay you bastards you did it again. Everytime this thread is bumped I get sucked into this awesome game.
Anyway, this tutorial is the best and damn easy too:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Quickstart_guide
And use the lazy newbie pack and pick a nice titleset and using the dwarf therapist utility from the launcher helps loads when fiddling with your dwarves skills and assignments.. It makes a difference to understanding whats going on when a door looks like a door.
I'll post some interesting bits from my fortress soon, but I've managed to pick a place that is completely inaccessible to all wagons. Yey. Has no gems or metals. Huzzar. And I've gotten three loads of migrants already and a couple of babies. I'm spending my time making beds for them, most of them just hang around the common room having parties most of the time and cooking in the kitchen. They are a happy lot though. Some of the idlers I've assigned to a milita. I don't even know if they have weapons or armour but they started training anyway.
It's so cute when I create a new wing of bedrooms and build doors to see the dwarves swarm in carrying the doors. Industrious little chaps.
Apart from some dangerous racoons they're doesn't seem to be anything too nasty around at the moment. I've got two puppies guarding the entrance to watch for thieves and kidnappers.
I've installed it onto a usb key and I'm bringing it around with me. Works great.
Anyway, this tutorial is the best and damn easy too:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Quickstart_guide
And use the lazy newbie pack and pick a nice titleset and using the dwarf therapist utility from the launcher helps loads when fiddling with your dwarves skills and assignments.. It makes a difference to understanding whats going on when a door looks like a door.
I'll post some interesting bits from my fortress soon, but I've managed to pick a place that is completely inaccessible to all wagons. Yey. Has no gems or metals. Huzzar. And I've gotten three loads of migrants already and a couple of babies. I'm spending my time making beds for them, most of them just hang around the common room having parties most of the time and cooking in the kitchen. They are a happy lot though. Some of the idlers I've assigned to a milita. I don't even know if they have weapons or armour but they started training anyway.
It's so cute when I create a new wing of bedrooms and build doors to see the dwarves swarm in carrying the doors. Industrious little chaps.
Apart from some dangerous racoons they're doesn't seem to be anything too nasty around at the moment. I've got two puppies guarding the entrance to watch for thieves and kidnappers.
I've installed it onto a usb key and I'm bringing it around with me. Works great.
Awesome Animals
Member
Hypocrite!
Although, if you were to play through a tutorial you would get used to the UI and wouldn't even notice it. It really is worth it, especially if you are a minecraft player.
RelentlessRolento
Member
Been wanting to get into playing at least one full cycle of this, but have yet to... this should have gotten ported to 360 instead of Minecraft
squads of non-armored wrestlers and biters can still win battles! Makes for entertaining battle reports.
Teach them at a young age
this is from my current fortress shortly after I had set up most of my basic structures but before traps were set. Badger man wanders into the fortress and starts harassing dwarves and whatnot. Badger man pisses off my woodcutter who promptly cuts off one of its hands and then Badger man wanders off trailing blood and harasses this child. Shortly after this took place he left the fortress to roam the wilds again.
bengraven
Member
Wait, so the 1.5 hour tutorial is IN-GAME?
That's a horse of a different color then. I assumed it was one of the thousands of hours of DF tutorials on Youtube.
Awesome Animals
Member
No, the tutorial is not in-game. But there are written tutorials with pictures to accompany them which I think helps much more than the Youtube videos. I like using the Youtube videos for refresher on how to do things or learn more complicated things after I had the general feel for the game.
Seriously, I linked a written tutorial earlier, and a few people have linked the Quickstart Guide, which is just as helpful. These are what you want to do to familiarize yourself with the game. It is seriously a lot of fun. And remember, Losing is Fun!
hehe blahness that's some dangerous children you've got there. I'm going to try and equip them with something hefty. Without metal I can't make many weapons, but the carpenter can make training axes and spears. I also need some hides for my leather worker to make armour, I need to figure out how to hunt.
Stop being such a wuss and follow one of the written guides. It's well worth it. The quickstart guide is very good and you'll get the hang of the interface quickly.
The only problem I had was trying to get the find to work for the starting area. Just pick something without an aquifer, those things are death.
Stop being such a wuss and follow one of the written guides. It's well worth it. The quickstart guide is very good and you'll get the hang of the interface quickly.
The only problem I had was trying to get the find to work for the starting area. Just pick something without an aquifer, those things are death.
Awesome Animals
Member
I've always avoided aquifers, but a big part of me wants to start a game with an aquifer and watch my fun grow exponentially.
In one of my previous forts a Kobold managed to sneak in, presumably to nab some supplies from my stockpiles, but got chased before he got anything.
Until he met one of my female fisher dwarves who was on her way back in with her catch. As the two passed on the drawbridge, the Kobold buried a knife into her and she died on the spot. The Kobold fled and wasn't seen again.
I felt really bad for the poor dwarf She was an innocent victim in the wrong place at the wrong time, killed by a spiteful Kobold.
I can't think of any other game that's given me quite as many cool, individual, mini-stories as dwarf fortress, every time I play.
Until he met one of my female fisher dwarves who was on her way back in with her catch. As the two passed on the drawbridge, the Kobold buried a knife into her and she died on the spot. The Kobold fled and wasn't seen again.
I felt really bad for the poor dwarf
She was an innocent victim in the wrong place at the wrong time, killed by a spiteful Kobold.I can't think of any other game that's given me quite as many cool, individual, mini-stories as dwarf fortress, every time I play.
I gave it another go yesterday with the Newbie pack and tutorials. I might just be hooked this time, and I haven't even seen an enemy yet. I was bothered by the interface at first, but now I hardly notice it.
Learning how to dump rock made a huge difference for me. I need a tidy fortress!
Learning how to dump rock made a huge difference for me. I need a tidy fortress!
Sye d'Burns
Member
I've been wanting to take another stab at getting into this game. The last time I gave it a shot it ended in confusion.
I've been playing Unreal World: The Finnish Viking Roguelike Survival Sim. It's an under appreciated game for sure.
Maybe I should give DF another go.
I've been playing Unreal World: The Finnish Viking Roguelike Survival Sim. It's an under appreciated game for sure.
Maybe I should give DF another go.
Lol that made me cringe. I need to get into this game, it's soooo crazily deep, it seems like.
Awesome Animals
Member
Fixed
In one of my previous forts a Kobold managed to sneak in, presumably to nab some supplies from my stockpiles, but got chased before he got anything.
Until he met one of my female fisher dwarves who was on her way back in with her catch. As the two passed on the drawbridge, the Kobold buried a knife into her and she died on the spot. The Kobold fled and wasn't seen again.
I felt really bad for the poor dwarf
I can't think of any other game that's given me quite as many cool, individual, mini-stories as dwarf fortress, every time I play.
One of my early forts I was trying to create underground irrigation and dug a river underneath my field. I accidentally dug into my stairwell and flooded my entire dormitory. Killing almost every dorf. Losing is fun!
Wait until you smooth or engrave it. Wowthe place look gorgeous. And smoothing the stone increases the quality of the room, from megar to modest for example.
All dead? All you need is one and you might get a fresh batch of immigrants. You could then construct some defended. You should have traps all along you entrance hall and dogs, get loads of dogs. Yu could also have a retractable bridge. And develop a few squads for ðefence.
Water deaths are the worst. I constantly forget that water can flow on a diagonal, if it's not blocked off properly. I've designated an area for the dorfs to dig out, planning to make an underground stream, left them to it, been distracted by something a few z levels above for a while and returned to find an impromptu level-wide swimming pool in my fort.
Just as well I never seem to embark anywhere near any magma, really. That would be too much Fun.
Awesome Animals
Member
I've barely tapped into magma. It took me the longest time to realize that I need to just start digging down. All those z-levels that aren't being used! I'm OCD when it comes to Fortress Management and keeping things tidy (like smooth stone, and dumping stone). It kills me to think of all those z-levels that won't get utilized right away!
It was a revelation for me when I found out you could quantum-dump all of the excess stone in your fort and have nice, tidy floors, but now I have to do it every time I mine anywhere, else I get all uncomfortable.
I never seem to make it down more than a few z-levels - I have a general layout of:
Top Level - Entrance way, Caravan room, Barracks and Drawbridge.
-1 - Stockpiles
-2 - Meeting Rooms, Bedrooms / Dormitory
-3 - Workshops
-4 - Jail / Cemetery / Hall of Heroes
After that I can never usually find a reason to dig down, other than to search for metallic veins. I know that, eventually, I'll start uncovering Hidden Fun Stuff, but all of the under-utilised z-levels between there and my fort make me sad
As an aside, smoothing and then engraving stone is far more fun that it should be. All of the little details that sometimes appear in the engravings are amazing. Right at the start of one of my forts an alligator, by the name of Plaguescream, ran up and tore a dwarf in two, running off with his lower half still in his jaws. Later in the game, when I came to smoothing and engraving the stone in my dining room, the engraver had carved in a little tribute to the scene
While quantum dumping works, I find it better to just hide the rocks. The rock can then still be used and you are not wasting your dorfs time and creating unnecessary pathing to dump it. I usually clear it on a room by room basis. hit d-b and then h to hide the entire room. BEFORE hitting ESC use H to unhide any buildings or items in the room that the h command hid. Of course this is easier to do right after carving out a new room or path but can still be done effectively after populating a room, you just have to be careful.
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Hide_Items_or_Buildings
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Hide_Items_or_Buildings
Awesome Animals
Member
This is what I do for stone removal: Garbage Dumping.
Huh, wow, the more you know... Thanks for that - I'll just use that method in the future; seems much simpler and quicker. I was just doing it the same way as Awesome Animals before.
Sarcasm - You can use any of the included graphics, it's really just a matter of preference. I think the default one is Mayday's set, so just go with that one. As for settings, I find it helps, if you're just starting, to turn aquifers off, as they can be a right pain till you get to grips with the game. And turn economy off too - I don't think it works properly yet.
The reason I stopped using it was because somehow my dorfs kept throwing animal carcasses down into it and it would cause miasma constantly. That and trying to reclaim something out of it was a pain.
Yeah, the goblins got everyone. Not sure if they went to every level, or if my dwarves just tried to zerg them. So New Game.
Any tips for how to start more defensively? My new game is on a snowfield with no mountains nearby, so looks like I'll have to dig in. I'm not sure how to do a trade depot under this kind of setup, but I've hardly had much use for them anyway.
Any tips for how to start more defensively? My new game is on a snowfield with no mountains nearby, so looks like I'll have to dig in. I'm not sure how to do a trade depot under this kind of setup, but I've hardly had much use for them anyway.
Reclaim the fortress and build an enclosed maze of walls that shield your entrance with only one entrance. fill out every space in the maze with stonefall and cage traps. All sieges will have to traverse through the maze to reach the entrance of your fortress and will likely not make through.
this is from one of my old forts to give you an idea:
