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Gnomoria |OT| of playing Dwarf Fortress "Lite" in isometric 2D with mouse input

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
dwarfport.png

Courtesy of the Gnomoria forums. Just so that you are greeted by a gnome in the first post of the new page!
 
High Five!
OT, but how do you like CK2? I was asking myself yesterday whether I could ask someone who played both and loved EU3 about his opinion on CK2. Tried getting into it a few days ago and the spark has not sparked yet. Kinda feel bad about not getting the same vibe as all the other players hyping it to death right now :/ Took me a while to get into EU3, so that might still come, but who knows.

I 'like' CK2. It's a neat game, but the parts of it that are supposed to be the highlights (the family management) are a distraction from what I enjoy about EU3. I don't really care that much about rewarding titles and all--I like the option though--but I'd rather just conquer provinces and raise huge armies to crush infidels (without worrying about the loyalty of my nobles at home). So I went back to EU3 and am doing a Byzantium game. I've wiped the Ottomans from existence and am going to turn Thrace into the center of the world.

I think the reason it is getting so much positive vibe is because it's a Paradox game that released and WORKED and wasn't completely obtuse. I would love if they do another Rome or EU title and work with a lot of the CK2 systems, but pull out a bit from the family stuff so I'm not constantly shopping for brides instead of crushing OPMs and thumbing my nose at the HRE.

I'm actually taking the day off tomorrow to relax, listen to history podcasts, and play Gnomoria and my current EU3 campaign...
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I'm actually taking the day off tomorrow to relax, listen to history podcasts, and play Gnomoria and my current EU3 campaign...

Make some screenshots and post them! Want to see more layouts by other Gaffers :)
 

cametall

Member
I've got the basics down. Had farms and a pasture going, plenty of food and drink.

A military of 4 gnomes, easily defeated goblins ... until armed ones showed up! Each time they showed up they would kill a soldier until I had none left.

So ... can weapons be made with bones? (I saw some placed in my stockpiles). I think all but one member of my army walked around with torches ... and a copper bar.

I actually had a few copper bars in stock, but making a weaponsmith was going to use them all up.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I've got the basics down. Had farms and a pasture going, plenty of food and drink.

A military of 4 gnomes, easily defeated goblins ... until armed ones showed up! Each time they showed up they would kill a soldier until I had none left.

So ... can weapons be made with bones? (I saw some placed in my stockpiles). I think all but one member of my army walked around with torches ... and a copper bar.

I actually had a few copper bars in stock, but making a weaponsmith was going to use them all up.

I don't think you have a chance against them without proper metal weapons. Best idea is to just wall yourself in/lock up any entrances with walls, so that the goblins cant come in. That way they just starve outside of your fortress. You need to make your fortress self sustainable of course. Dont forget to plant enough trees somewhere in the air on a big platform. Best idea is probably to ignore the armed goblins for a while.
 

cametall

Member
I don't think you have a chance against them without proper metal weapons. Best idea is to just wall yourself in/lock up any entrances with walls, so that the goblins cant come in. That way they just starve outside of your fortress. You need to make your fortress self sustainable of course. Dont forget to make plant enough trees somewhere in the air on a big platform. Best idea is probably to ignore the armed goblins for a while.

Under ground?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Under ground?

Not even sure if trees can grow underground. If they can its pretty likely to be a bug mentioned in the Gnomoria forums, so dont rely on underground planting too often.

You can just dig up to the surface though, wall your stairs in like this:

Code:
wwww
wUSw
wwww
w= wall
D= Downstairs
U=Upstairs

After that you can lay floors on top of those walls which are then away from the ground and untouchable for goblins since the only entrance is from your fortress, sort of like this:

Sorry if you already knew that anyway, going to bed now so I wanted to make sure to post the information :p
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I see. Thanks!

I had my fortress pretty much open.

Oh yeah, minor warning. Dont build anything going up (no ramps/stairs) on level 25 (upper left corner). That will lead to crashing your game since they try to access a level that cant be accessed.
 

cametall

Member
Oh yeah, minor warning. Dont build anything going up (no ramps/stairs) on level 25 (upper left corner). That will lead crashing your game since they try to access a level that cant be accessed.

What level is ground level?

EDIT: NM, I see the game tells you what level you're at.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
I guess I have been ruined by modern gaming/IOS gaming. Some kind of rudimentary intro/'lead me by the nose' beginning would be nice. I'll dig in more tomorrow.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I guess I have been ruined by modern gaming/IOS gaming. Some kind of rudimentary intro/'lead me by the nose' beginning would be nice. I'll dig in more tomorrow.

Yeah, sort of the reason why I worte the how do I play part in the OP. Whats your problem exactly? The missing tutorial or the lack of goals? There are a few early game goals you need to go far, which als teach you how to play in the long run. If you have some difficulties grasping theconcept here, start off in peaceful mode. Enemies can be a bit of a pain if not prepared properly.
 

Consul

Member
Your bug still strikes me as odd, though. Since I havent read your bug anywhere else (and 0.8.2 worked before but now doesnt anymore either?), I am guessing that something with the framework the game is running on must be borked. You could try updating/reinstalling the .net framework since the game is programmed in XNA. That might be worth a try.

I assume other games work fine? I assume deleting the documents folder didnt solve the issue either?

I got it working again :D

What i did was uninstall and remove all traces of the game including /documents/mygames/gnomoria

I then restarted my computer. I had read earlier that someone else with the same problem i was experiencing thought it was something to do with the overlay(?) and how running other programs before/during Gnomoria can effect such things. So.. Gnomoria was the first program i opened up.. later on i alt-tabbed and ran things like media monkey and i'm happy to say i haven't experienced any further problems. I'm just about to try it again now after my pc has been on for a while and see if things are all still good in the hood.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I got it working again :D

What i did was uninstall and remove all traces of the game including /documents/mygames/gnomoria

I then restarted my computer. I had read earlier that someone else with the same problem i was experiencing thought it was something to do with the overlay(?) and how running other programs before/during Gnomoria can effect such things. So.. Gnomoria was the first program i opened up.. later on i alt-tabbed and ran things like media monkey and i'm happy to say i haven't experienced any further problems. I'm just about to try it again now after my pc has been on for a while and see if things are all still good in the hood.

Oh yeah. Dont alt tab. Play in window mode or dont go to windows. That seems to make problems. Glad to hear you got it to work! Enjoy then and post some screenshots ;)
 

Consul

Member
Alt tabbing is such a bad habit of mine, i doubt i'll be able to stop myself even if i wanted to but fortunately i've ran into no other problems when doing so.

Here is my shitty 'kingdom' so far..


I'm spent most of my time trying to put the floors in and it's now day 12 and we still don't have any workshops up and running.

I've mined through 10 levels and i still haven't found any stone.. only a ridiculous amount of lapis lazuli & saphires lol

 

krissgjeng

Neo Member
got this because of this thread, and i'm really enjoying it. i could never get into dwarf fortress because of the interface, so this game is much better for me and loving it so far.

and fyi lapiz lazuli is a type of stone
 

Consul

Member
Damn dude. Thank you for pointing that out, i dunno how long it would have taken me to realize..

My population just doubled but I'm scared to let them in in-case loads of baddies follow them.. it's going to be a delicate operation. I'm now building the workshops too. Industrial age here we come!
 

Azriell

Member
On the first page people were talking about designating areas for dirt only. I see how to designate areas for "goods", etc, but I don't see how to get anymore specific than that. What about food only?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
On the first page people were talking about designating areas for dirt only. I see how to designate areas for "goods", etc, but I don't see how to get anymore specific than that. What about food only?

You can extend those categories by clicking on the plus:

8GYjj.jpg
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Can goblins use doors?

I thought I was sealed off, but then I noticed blood all over my fort and a dead goblin. :(

Doors are currently still "useless", or decorative is probably the better word for them. Their animation works, but its not blocking anything. If you want to seal of your fortress, do so by placing walls and removing those when you need to get out/let newcomers in. Good idea to hoard resources before you lock yourself up.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Alt tabbing is such a bad habit of mine, i doubt i'll be able to stop myself even if i wanted to but fortunately i've ran into no other problems when doing so.

Here is my shitty 'kingdom' so far..



I'm spent most of my time trying to put the floors in and it's now day 12 and we still don't have any workshops up and running.

Don't worry. My first run took AGES to get going. I also used up a lot of time to change the position of my stockpiles around all the time according to my growing fortress. Needless to say, the first goblins slaughtered my gnomes.

I've mined through 10 levels and i still haven't found any stone.. only a ridiculous amount of lapis lazuli & saphires lol

Your layout looks great btw! I wish mine looked that orderly, haha. And I also want your Lapislazuli :-o Which also reminds me to mention the importance of rarer stones/metal, I probably should mention how that works at some point.

My population just doubled but I'm scared to let them in in-case loads of baddies follow them.. it's going to be a delicate operation. I'm now building the workshops too. Industrial age here we come!
Haha, I have the same fear. I am always just waiting on the Goblins out there dying, then opening it up to gather any resources I might need.
 

Consul

Member
Thanks dude. I was half way through doubling the size of my lair and had just built my first workshop when i noticed a dead gnome and goblin on top of my granary. A couple minutes later and 5 people dropped dead from dehydration due to an unfinished stone work shop and not being able to build a distillery. Oh well, it's time for another shot :D
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Thanks dude. I was half way through doubling the size of my lair and had just built my first workshop when i noticed a dead gnome and goblin on top of my granary. A couple minutes later and 5 people dropped dead from dehydration due to an unfinished stone work shop and not being able to build a distillery. Oh well, it's time for another shot :D

Try setting up a stone/wood workshop as soon as possible together with the destillery next time :) As soon as thats up, you are pretty safe since you can get food rather fast. Have an eye on them! If those workshops don't get build, double check you have the materials needed.
 

flowsnake

Member
Doors are currently still "useless", or decorative is probably the better word for them. Their animation works, but its not blocking anything. If you want to seal of your fortress, do so by placing walls and removing those when you need to get out/let newcomers in. Good idea to hoard resources before you lock yourself up.

I see. :/
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Alright, on the topic of: "Why digging for rare stone/materials?"

In general, the idea is to craft better items by using better/rare materials. The 3 major applications I can think of are these:

1. Higher value for selling them, to get other rare/hard to obtain items from the merchants

2. Equippable items that are stronger. More damage from rare ores in weapons and more protection with rare ores in other equipment.

3. Now the funky part, which I want to explain now : Room value.
Currently there is only one application for that, the structure of the Great Dining hall. The higher the value of that one (right click your great dining hall to see it), the more immigrant gnomes you'll get. You can achieve a higher value of the dining hall not only by using higher value interior (chairs made from lapislazulie instead of normal stone), but also by which kind of walls/floors the room has.

Its only the start of that feature though. The same value system is supposed to come for the living quarters, including requests by noble/higher gnomes who want to have a certain standard in their rooms to continue working effectively.

So. I want that Lapislazulie too :D
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
I see. :/

Well its not THAT bad. If its going to be like the system in DF, "doors" will probably never be used to keep enemies outside. You need to build traps and have a military to defend yourself, or completely block yourself off.

The problem with that in Gnomoria is that its impossible to build traps before the first Goblins arrive, unlike in DF where you can build traps pretty soon. Guess we need to get used to working with a simple military to fend the first Goblins off or completely walling ourselves in at the start of the game.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Which types of stone are better/rare other than LL?

http://www.gnomoriawiki.com/wiki/Economy#Rocks

Havent actually found those yet, but based on this list, I guess Marble and Serpentine. Ores seem to be Copper, Tin, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum.

Pure guess, but I could imagine that iron is better for crafting equip than gold, but gold is more valuable, seeing how iron still drops in the rarest stone.
 

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
Oh my god, this is exactly what I don't need. I already spent too much time in DF. I swore if I ever played a similar game again it'd have to have more RPG elements, but I'm already considering this. Thanks a lot. :x
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Oh my god, this is exactly what I don't need. I already spent too much time in DF. I swore if I ever played a similar game again it'd have to have more RPG elements, but I'm already considering this. Thanks a lot. :x

Haha, well its not as in depth as DF. I think its also way less of a time sink. The initial playing phase is quite big of course, but after that I probably wont spend more than 1-2 hours per week on this game since (to check out updates), compared to DF, you'll reach the end of whats possible rather "soon" currently. Looking forward to the updates and tweaks each week, but I dont think this game is as much a timesink as DF is.

Dont get me wrong, its very fun and I absolutely love what the dev is trying to achieve here, but it Gnomoria definitely needs more longevity. I am pretty sure we'll see enough interesting features added in the future though :) And as the replies in this thread show, its already fun now. Perfect for a short break since its progression is also a bit faster than in DF.

One thing Gnomoria has over DF, though, is building. I never felt the urge to build giant structures/block statues in DF. *looks at huge ass sphere*
 
Try setting up a stone/wood workshop as soon as possible together with the destillery next time :) As soon as thats up, you are pretty safe since you can get food rather fast. Have an eye on them! If those workshops don't get build, double check you have the materials needed.

You could also designate an outside pasture area and dedicate it to the two initial yaks you start with (your rancher gnome will drag them into the area and they will stay there as long as the pasture exists). If you give them enough space they will produce milk that your rancher gnome will gather and your gnomes can drink, making for a handy renewable source of drinks for your initial crew while you set up your fortress.

Toma said:
Doors are currently still "useless", or decorative is probably the better word for them. Their animation works, but its not blocking anything. If you want to seal of your fortress, do so by placing walls and removing those when you need to get out/let newcomers in. Good idea to hoard resources before you lock yourself up.

Another option is to dig a simple ditch (a 1 square wide line will do, via remove floor) around your entrance and/or farming areas. Gnomes, Yaks, and Goblins alike won't cross and, since you don't have to worry about missile weapons in the game (yet), your gnomes can point and laugh while they tend the fields and the gobbos will dance helplessly outside and die of thirst. Dirt floors are quick to construct/remove as well and will leave a clod nearby that (assuming you don't have a stockpile set to take them) can be reused again and again as a makeshift bridge.
 

okiemok

Member
Originally Posted by Ghizz:
- Can't command military to anything except patrol, guard or just be in a squad.
Response by Toma:
I wish more control over them too, but its a simulation, not an RTS. Thats just some stuff that comes along with the genre I guess. He might be adding more to that though to allow for more precise orders.


I wanted to mention that you actually can have psuedo RTS-like control of your squads. If there is an engagement and you need other squads to come to aid, simply create a one square guard station next the action, and assign it to the desired squad. The come pretty quick. When the fighting is done, remove the stations and reassign the squads. The Military option 'Overview' tab makes this management easy.

I have not tried this a I use full-time soldiers, but you probably can have gnomes in unassigned squads doing other work, then assign the extra squad at battle time.

What is desperately needed is an event telling you you see a goblin/golem or an attack is taking place, instead of waiting to hear someone died or you spot trails of blood. Hopefully that will be in soon.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Originally Posted by Ghizz:
- Can't command military to anything except patrol, guard or just be in a squad.
Response by Toma:
I wish more control over them too, but its a simulation, not an RTS. Thats just some stuff that comes along with the genre I guess. He might be adding more to that though to allow for more precise orders.


I wanted to mention that you actually can have psuedo RTS-like control of your squads. If there is an engagement and you need other squads to come to aid, simply create a one square guard station next the action, and assign it to the desired squad. The come pretty quick. When the fighting is done, remove the stations and reassign the squads. The Military option 'Overview' tab makes this management easy.

I have not tried this a I use full-time soldiers, but you probably can have gnomes in unassigned squads doing other work, then assign the extra squad at battle time.

What is desperately needed is an event telling you you see a goblin/golem or an attack is taking place, instead of waiting to hear someone died or you spot trails of blood. Hopefully that will be in soon.

Ah true. While we are at the topic of soldiers: Does anyone know whether they still eat/drink when they are on guard? Its a bit of a pain to unassign them from their guard duty just so they can drink and eat. Not sure whether thats the case, but I saw their hungry symbol over their heads constantly when I left them in one place.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
The guards leave thier posts to eat/drink and sleep. Best to have several in a squad to insure coverage.

Hm, alright. They just complained the whole time that they were hungry. Guess they werent hungry enough!
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Haha, yeah. I like the "windows" :) Cute. I wish my fortresses would look this orderly :p
 

cametall

Member
I'm having an issue where production stops because the station says "no room" but there are several nearby stockpiles designated for any good...
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Look at the workshop, I bet there's a big pile of stuff in it waiting to be hauled.

Well, if he has stockpiles for ALL goods with open spaces.. then those goods in the workshop still should be hauled.

I'm having an issue where production stops because the station says "no room" but there are several nearby stockpiles designated for any good...

Could you upload the save file/world? And tell me which workshop it is?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Oh neat. Information tidbit about sleep behaviour:

RoboB0b said:
Instead, I have the quality of sleep be effected by the room value. The sleep quality scales up with effort put into the room without having a hard cap and you get your choice of visuals for beds.

Meaning that:

RandomDude said:
That's amazing! So if there is, say, a desk/chair/door/etc, the value increases, thereby increasing amount of sleep.

So, decorate your personal quarters if you want to maximize your Gnomes work rate!
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
How shall I get it to you?

I am sending you my mail address via PM.

Should be, but that doesn't mean he has a Gnome available to do so.

True, but I never had an issue of gnomes not taking goods from a workshop if the space was available. That seems to have a somewhat higher priority.
 

cametall

Member
Just sent the email.

There are completed items in the stations, they've been sitting there for a while, but no gnomes have moved them.

I've had this happen before and it did turn out to be completed items sitting in the station that had to be moved, and moved they were. But this time around the items have been sitting for a long while.
 
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