Dwarf Fortress

[Jon Miller]

The biggest thing is that they recently allowed the map to be expanded. Which is huge!

JM

[DarkCloud]

...have been trying to puzzle through it for a while now- it's quite complicated. I've been at it for over an hour and read the wiki and still have some trouble figuring out how to set reasonable orders and to build a dwarf-society

For example This: http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/ind...es_to_do_stuff
Was probably the most useless piece of advice on orders.

...I am beginning to think that perhaps my fears were correct, this game might be too complicated for me. I'm willing to give it a little more time, but not much more...

[Jon Miller]

My problem is that it was too addictive

JM

[Whoha]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Out of curio... what's the largest you managed to grow your fortress, or the longest you've been able to keep it alive?

I read that discovering "adamantine" dooms your colony... should I look out for that?

Its going to be way at the bottom, if it is even on the map at all, in the eariler maps it used to be that you had to fight past the demons to get to it, but now you can mine some safely.

...I am beginning to think that perhaps my fears were correct, this game might be too complicated for me. I'm willing to give it a little more time, but not much more...

Focus on one thing at a time(bad advice because I can rattle off 10 or so things I do right at the start of the game ). What are you trying to do?

[DarkCloud]

Well, I was trying to build some rooms. and trying to figure out what actions I had to turn "on" for the dwarves to make them useful.

I started wtih 7 dwarves. 1 a miner was working which was good. another, a woodcutter, did his job. The others just puttered around despite general orders to harvest plants and hunt animals.

I also could not figure out how to harvest the wood from the wagon?

I would like to establish a carpenter shop... how would I go about doing that. I zoned the area for one, does that mean it's done? No one came over to build... Do I have to assign someone to be a carpenter for him to "go to his home" so to speak?

Would you recommend taking the randomly generated group of dwarves into the game when starting or equipping them?

Also, this is strange, but the in-game help doesn't appear to work. I press "?" and get the help screen, but I can't scroll down and accept any of the specific help commands. Does that happen for everyone? Or am I just not hitting the right command (It took a while to discover that + and - navigate some prompts.)

I am gradually learning what some of the symbols indicate.

The problem with the game is that it's quite overwhelming. There seem to be an infinite variety of things I can do.

I followed the tutorial instructions to
1.) Mine a cave.
2.) Set up Refuse, Food, Wood stockpiles
3.) Try to build some rooms in the cave

But beyond that, I'm lost.

thanks,
DC.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Well, I was trying to build some rooms. and trying to figure out what actions I had to turn "on" for the dwarves to make them useful.

Dwarves only do jobs that they have assigned. Press v, move the cursor to a dwarf, then press p to move to the preferences screen, then press l for labor. move up and down with numpad + and -, and press enter to activate a job type for that dwarf. Or buy the skill as you embark, I generally max out a single skill, or get 2 points in 2 different skills

I started with 7 dwarves. 1 a miner was working which was good. another, a woodcutter, did his job. The others just puttered around despite general orders to harvest plants and hunt animals.

Only hunters with crossbows can hunt, and plant gathering needs to be active as well as a defined plant gathering area on the map where plant gathering is acceptable. since you were able to get the woodcutter to work you can do this part.

I also could not figure out how to harvest the wood from the wagon?

press q, then move to the wagon, then press x. the nearest carpenter will take it apart and produce 3 wood from it.

I would like to establish a carpenter shop... how would I go about doing that. I zoned the area for one, does that mean it's done? No one came over to build... Do I have to assign someone to be a carpenter for him to "go to his home" so to speak?

You do infact need someone with the carpentry skill enabled to come build that.

Would you recommend taking the randomly generated group of dwarves into the game when starting or equipping them?

I manually select mine. I choose 2 miners, 1 tree cutter/carpenter, 1 mechanic/mason, 1 stonecrafter, and one organizer/apraiser/architect/nobility skill(my noble guy).
Since I only have 1 tree cutter early on I only need 1 axe so I "sell" one for points.

The miners dig everything out, the carpenter gets beds out for a general barracks area,and wooden bins for trading. the mason/mechanic gets some doors and traps up, the stonecrafter gets trade goods out which uses up stone and lets me grab all kinds of goodies from the traders.

Later on I do rooms(defined rooms that are assigned to people/rented later) for my dwarves, industrial areas, stockpiles for those industrial areas,etc.

Also, this is strange, but the in-game help doesn't appear to work. I press "?" and get the help screen, but I can't scroll down and accept any of the specific help commands. Does that happen for everyone? Or am I just not hitting the right command (It took a while to discover that + and - navigate some prompts.)
I am gradually learning what some of the symbols indicate.

numpad + and - work for this screen. press enter to bring up an entry. space bar generally goes back a level.

The problem with the game is that it's quite overwhelming. There seem to be an infinite variety of things I can do.

I followed the tutorial instructions to
1.) Mine a cave.
2.) Set up Refuse, Food, Wood stockpiles
3.) Try to build some rooms in the cave

But beyond that, I'm lost.
thanks,
DC.

Get a farm running, find soft terrain, you can farm there with no restrictions.

[DarkCloud]

Okay. I'll give this a try.

In your opinion, how long does it take you (real life time)
to accomplish something of note? Is the game generally 1 year=1 hour even factoring in pausing for giving orders or is it set at a higher ratio?

[Whoha]

I can generally get the first farm set up by summer of the first year, I take my time in doing so though. I don't know how long each season is in real time.

Flood the Chasm doomsday weapons take a little longer(and don't infact flood the chasm Still, it did manage to send all the antmen to their chasmy/watery graves).

[Skanky Burns]

Game speed is dependant on many variables. How often you pause, how long for. Even while the game is running, the FPS vary wildly. The more creatures running around your map, the slower it will run, same with flowing water or magma. The more powerful your computer, the faster it will run (subject to the FPS cap you have set in the init file). Basically, the only valid relation real time has to in-game time is that older fortresses run slower than new fortresses.

Out of curio... what's the largest you managed to grow your fortress, or the longest you've been able to keep it alive?

I have gotten quite a few fortresses above 200 population and kept them there a while. Due to the mature fotress slowdown and the lack of challenge though, I don't normally keep playing them until their death. Also, I generally set my population cap to 75 or 100.

Only hunters with crossbows can hunt

Not quite true. Any dwarf set to hunt can do so, armed or otherwise. Unless the local animals are cute and fluffy though, the dwarf is likely to die wrestling with an animal.

numpad + and - work for this screen

One thing not mentioned often is that for arrow-key screens, pgup and pgdn scroll up/down a page at a time. For + and - screens, / and * are used instead.

How long does it take you to accomplish something of note?

It depends on what you consider noteworthy.
I once made a clear glass chamber in the middle of my forge area, then had magma from a magma pipe travel halfway across the map through a smoothed passage, drop down through the glass chamber and spread under the floor of the workshops to power my magma forges. It was a big, needlessly complicated project and took me until about year 8 (can't remember how long real-time it took) to get my forges online for the first time. Still, I started that fortress specifically to build that architecture.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Would you recommend taking the randomly generated group of dwarves into the game when starting or equipping them?

I would recommend equipping them yourself. If you sell an axe and the anvil, that frees up lots of points you can use to bring extra food and booze. This gives you longer to establish farming before your dwarves start hunting vermin or resort to drinking water.

[DarkCloud]

Thank you. This was working. But

1.) My carpenter was also a woodcutter... (first and foremost)
2.) So the carpenter wanders off (8 SCREENS SOUTH!) to go fish.
3.) by the time I realize this and need a workshop built, she refused to come home. She just keeps standing there, idle.

The only way I can figure out how to remedy this is by ordering all dwarves indoors. I can't figure out how to order fishing to stop now I have to wait. And hope.

Also, how do I harvest chalk stone? It implies that is needed to build the workshop ("chalk 0/31") but I can't figure out waht order that would apply to?

[EPW]

no, that's how many chalk you have mined out. I think you use +/- to select how many to use in the construction.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Thank you. This was working. But

1.) My carpenter was also a woodcutter... (first and foremost)
2.) So the carpenter wanders off (8 SCREENS SOUTH!) to go fish.
3.) by the time I realize this and need a workshop built, she refused to come home. She just keeps standing there, idle.

The only way I can figure out how to remedy this is by ordering all dwarves indoors. I can't figure out how to order fishing to stop now I have to wait. And hope.

Also, how do I harvest chalk stone? It implies that is needed to build the workshop ("chalk 0/31") but I can't figure out waht order that would apply to?

disable fishing in the worker's labor duty thing.

Chalk is the nearest available free rock that your worker can build with, so just select it and let him go get it, bring it back, and build the building. You might have it limited to economic production only though, since chalk is a flux stone, so you'd have to enable it for all uses.

[DarkCloud]

Okay, that worked. Thank you.

How do I place an item now? A bucket, for example?

-DC.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
1.) My carpenter was also a woodcutter... (first and foremost)

Generally not a good idea. I recommend having a dedicated woodcutter (turn off ALL labours except woodcutting, including hauling) and make someone else the carpenter. Otherwise you will find them running off to the side of the map to cut a tree, returning to make a bed and then running off to the side of the map again. Only to get thirsty and return for a drink.

2.) So the carpenter wanders off (8 SCREENS SOUTH!) to go fish.

Fishing takes priority over most tasks. Turn this off on everyone except for those you actually want to fish. Somewhat related, you need to process most fish at a fishery before they are ready to eat.

Also, how do I harvest chalk stone? It implies that is needed to build the workshop ("chalk 0/31") but I can't figure out waht order that would apply to?

This shows what building materials are already available. Considering you have selected this to build with, it is probably already enabled for building. All you need is for an idle dwarf with the correct labour enabled to finish the workshop.

To enable (or check) economic stones, press 'z' and scroll across to the stone menu. This lets you restrict or allow stones that are otherwise used for metalworking. If the first stone you uncover is an economic stone, the game by default enables that stone for use.