@Loafsmooch: Well it is just personal preference really.

You guys who've played a lot and tried different tilesets.. You got any favourite? Been looking at the tileset repository on the wiki but there's so many to choose from.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Main_Page

This is your manual. Use it.

Also: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Quickstart_guide

Couple of questions:

1. How do you tell a room to stop being a room? I had a temporary dining/meeting hall and now that I built a new one, I want to turn the old one into a butchery. Obviously I don't want people meeting there anymore.

2. Whats the best way to acquire food? I haven't hit soil underground yet, should I just start an above ground farm?

3. A migrant woman came onto the map with a missing foot. Is she basically useless for the rest of eternity? Shes been resting for about a season now.

@FoolishChaos: 1. Find the table that you designated for the room and pretend to designate it again but this time undesignate it.

2. Do you have chickens? You can collect a lot of eggs. Or what ever other animals you have and use them as livestock. You can fish and hunt and gather plants until you find soil to build a farm, or build one on the surface and move it when you can.

3. Yup. You could try to send her to her death somehow.

Couple of questions:

1. How do you tell a room to stop being a room? I had a temporary dining/meeting hall and now that I built a new one, I want to turn the old one into a butchery. Obviously I don't want people meeting there anymore.

2. Whats the best way to acquire food? I haven't hit soil underground yet, should I just start an above ground farm?

3. A migrant woman came onto the map with a missing foot. Is she basically useless for the rest of eternity? Shes been resting for about a season now.

Maybe not the best option but there is always slaughtering stray animals you might have. That might be best best saved for an emergency though.

@FoolishChaos said:

2. Whats the best way to acquire food? I haven't hit soil underground yet, should I just start an above ground farm?

@onarum said:

you could just try to flood a stone floored room to make a muddy floor, that makes so you can create farms in it, be careful at it though.

Started to try this, but then it became winter and all the water turned to ice D:

And now because of that, my dwarfs are unable to bring water to the crippled lady

@onarum said:

you could just try to flood a stone floored room to make a muddy floor, that makes so you can create farms in it, be careful at it though.

Started to try this, but then it became winter and all the water turned to ice D:

And now because of that, my dwarfs are unable to bring water to the crippled lady

I got lucky and some freaking LOADED dwarf merchants arrived. Traded for a ton of food and booze (which I had almost run out of, on both accounts), giving them some gems I don't really have a use for yet.

And then my 4 hens produced 54 chicks (I counted). I don't know if that is normal, but it seems like alot.

I ended up getting that book and man...I woulda lost my brain without it I think. Im playing on a mac so it took a few hours of fiddling around but I got it running with nicer graphics and Dwarf Therapist. It has consumed my life. Things were going great until one of my dwarves lots his mind and started rampaging through the fortress. I didn't have any soldiers yet so he killed a kid and a bunch of chickens before he was taken down. What a turd.

@FoolishChaos: You may want to start collecting eggs now. That should be enough egg production.

@TheSouthernDandy: Did you get the lazy newb pack? I'm just wondering if it works for mac OS X

I am having some trouble with Nest boxes, in that I can't seem to make them. I have a Craftsdwarf Workshop built, I queue up a handful of wooden nest boxes, I have the wood available in a stockpile in the same room and yet my Carpenter dwarf just sits there Idle with "No Job". I can't seem to figure out what I am doing wrong, but he refuses to work on them. He will build in the Carpenter Workshop no problem though. What am I missing?

EDIT: I just tried making a stone nest box since I hit some stone, my Mason dwarf won't make them either. It seems I am missing some crucial step with the Craftdwarf's Shop.

@Sign: Load up dwarf therapist and make sure someone has stonecrafting and woodcrafting. They are different than masonry and carpentry.

@Sign said:

I am having some trouble with Nest boxes, in that I can't seem to make them. I have a Craftsdwarf Workshop built, I queue up a handful of wooden nest boxes, I have the wood available in a stockpile in the same room and yet my Carpenter dwarf just sits there Idle with "No Job". I can't seem to figure out what I am doing wrong, but he refuses to work on them. He will build in the Carpenter Workshop no problem though. What am I missing?

EDIT: I just tried making a stone nest box since I hit some stone, my Mason dwarf won't make them either. It seems I am missing some crucial step with the Craftdwarf's Shop.

Yeah, you need someone with either stonecrafting (not masonry) or woodcrafting (not carpentry) labor enabled to make stuff out of stone or wood respectively in the craftdwarf's workshop.

Also, I'd stick with rock nest boxes. Save that wood for beds & bins! (Also, rock pots, not wooden barrels for the same reason! :) )

@Llewelyn MacNewbie is the Mac equivalent of the LNP. It works well for playing Dwarf Fortress, Dwarf Therapist, & editing some options. I wasn't able to get DFHack (utility that adds some commandline controls like the old Quake console) to work with it, which is a shame because DFHack's 'quicksave' command is indispensable in my [humble] opinion.

I didn't play around with it too much though so perhaps I just wasn't doing it right!

@Llewelyn: @TheSouthernDandy: Here is the LNP equivalent for Macs.

@jesterroyal said:

@Sign: Load up dwarf therapist and make sure someone has stonecrafting and woodcrafting. They are different than masonry and carpentry.

@iTreefish said:

Yeah, you need someone with either stonecrafting (not masonry) or woodcrafting (not carpentry) labor enabled to make stuff out of stone or wood respectively in the craftdwarf's workshop.

Also, I'd stick with rock nest boxes. Save that wood for beds & bins! (Also, rock pots, not wooden barrels for the same reason! :) )

@Llewelyn MacNewbie is the Mac equivalent of the LNP. It works well for playing Dwarf Fortress, Dwarf Therapist, & editing some options. I wasn't able to get DFHack (utility that adds some commandline controls like the old Quake console) to work with it, which is a shame because DFHack's 'quicksave' command is indispensable in my [humble] opinion.

I didn't play around with it too much though so perhaps I just wasn't doing it right!

Hmm, I know I have a stone crafter because one of my miners is set to stonecrafting. Not sure about the woodcrafting though. Thanks duders.

Welp, I'm five minutes in to my first world. While I was digging out my entryway and storeroom, my fisherdwarf roamed off and managed to make his way to a subterranean river, where he was attacked by... something... which broke his arms and tore his liver. He proceeded to alternate between passing out and vomiting into the river before he collapsed and died. Naturally, this was just before reaching the point in the tutorial where it says to turn off hunting and fishing. So lesson learned I guess.

@Chadster: Sounds like you had "FUN". You got a good story and hopefully a good laugh out of it. What more can you ask for?

Speaking of fishing, I have a dude whose job is labeled "Wood Burner", yet only seems to fish.

Even though I have a furnace set up and queued with make charcoal. Something I am missing?

@FoolishChaos: His job title might just be what he is most skilled at. However if you look at the jobs he is allowed to do he will have fishing enabled. (This again is where dwarf therapist comes in handy because its hell to try to explain how to get to all that mumbo jumbo in the game's UI). Disable fishing and he should default to doing only that which you allow him to.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Labor <- if you want to try to go through the default UI the instructions are on that page.

@Llewelyn: The link Davey sent you is same pack I used.

Here's the instructions I used for changing the graphics http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=88575.0

I'll repost it here too. It's pretty simple to make the switch.

"Now, I use mac. This is what I did, a step by step guide. Download the Mac (Intel). Download the Pheobus Graphic pack.

Mac(Intel): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

Pheobus: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0

Now, after downloading go into the data file, then copy the 'art' file. Go to the vanilla Mac version you have just installed, and go into the data file. Then 'command + v'. You have just replaced the vanilla graphics with Pheobus. Then go to the init folder, click the 'init' text edit file. Scroll down, and change the no in [GRAPHICS:NO] to [GRAPHICS:YES]. This enables all graphics you have.

Then change the [GRAPHICS_FONT:curses_square_16x16.png] to [GRAPHICS_FONT:Phoebus_16x16_Diagonal.png]. 2 lines of text beneath is another tag - [GRAPHICS_FULLFONT:curses_square_16x16.png]. Do the same by replacing the 'curses_square_16*16.png' with 'Phoebus_16x16_Diagonal.png'.

Hard part's over. Now go to the Pheobus file you installed, go into 'raw', copy the 2 files inside ('graphic' and 'raw') and 'command + c' them. Go to the vanilla Mac DF you have just installed. Go into the 'raw' file, and paste and replace with the two files you copied."

I don't know if there's an easier way, but it worked for me.

@jesterroyal:

Yup, that seemed to do it.

An unrelated question: I now have a new dwarf with a messed up foot, but this one might recover. Can I force the other dwarfs to bring him booze instead of water, seeing as water freezes in winter (in my game)?

I assume a well would also freeze up, and I don't have access to lava.

@FoolishChaos: Sadly sick Dwarves only drink water.

Wereanteater just showed up. Am I fucked? Year two and I just got flooded with 30 something migrants. Oh, geeze.

@FoolishChaos said:

@jesterroyal:

Yup, that seemed to do it.

An unrelated question: I now have a new dwarf with a messed up foot, but this one might recover. Can I force the other dwarfs to bring him booze instead of water, seeing as water freezes in winter (in my game)?

I assume a well would also freeze up, and I don't have access to lava.

actually if i remember correctly any water thats indoors wont freeze, so if you make a well inside youre golden

@crazyleaves: Your first big wave is the best. It is what lets you really start to make dwarves who do ONLY one thing and one thing VERY well. Legendary carpenters make bitchin beds. Also, I have no clue about the werebeast. Be sure to tell us if you were indeed fucked. It will hopefully make a good story.

@FoolishChaos: Do be careful with wells. Dwarves seem to be stupid enough to walk right into them. And die. So maybe you should try to make a ditch and have dwarves fill that with water by bucket when it unfreezes. Or feverishly dig down to find a cavern with some muddy underground water. That's better than none for sure.

Oh hey I am asking for help now. They have changed the way you train war dogs and I do not know how to do that anymore. Kennels just do small animals now.

Oh hey I am asking for help now. They have changed the way you train war dogs and I do not know how to do that anymore. Kennels just do small animals now.

@onarum: Thanks.

@TheSouthernDandy said:

I ended up getting that book and man...I woulda lost my brain without it I think. Im playing on a mac so it took a few hours of fiddling around but I got it running with nicer graphics and Dwarf Therapist. It has consumed my life. Things were going great until one of my dwarves lots his mind and started rampaging through the fortress. I didn't have any soldiers yet so he killed a kid and a bunch of chickens before he was taken down. What a turd.

He probably wanted to make something and you didn't have the proper material. That happens sometimes. That's why you sequester all workshops with doors and lock them if a dwarf goes insane. Insane dwarves can't open doors, apparently, and will starve to death.

Also, what is with everyone fishing and raising livestock? You can build a farm on clay, and most embarks have clay on the layer you start on. You usually have to dig a couple levels before you hit rock. Just start a farm of plump helmets and you won't have any food problems ever.

@gladspooky said:

@TheSouthernDandy said:

I ended up getting that book and man...I woulda lost my brain without it I think. Im playing on a mac so it took a few hours of fiddling around but I got it running with nicer graphics and Dwarf Therapist. It has consumed my life. Things were going great until one of my dwarves lots his mind and started rampaging through the fortress. I didn't have any soldiers yet so he killed a kid and a bunch of chickens before he was taken down. What a turd.

He probably wanted to make something and you didn't have the proper material. That happens sometimes. That's why you sequester all workshops with doors and lock them if a dwarf goes insane. Insane dwarves can't open doors, apparently, and will starve to death.

Yeah I read that bit after it happened unfortunately :P The next one that went loopy I walled up real good. I have soldiers now too so that makes me feel a little more comfy. Man, this game...MAN...

@TheSouthernDandy: Glad you are having fun fun before the fun.

@TheSouthernDandy: If i see a dwarf going towards a strange mood and not getting what he needs. I give him special treatment. He gets 3 war dogs for ...... Fun? I had a dwarf kidney punch one of the dogs but the other 2 ripped him limb from limb before he could actually harm someone important (like my nearby legendary mason)

@jesterroyal: You could see he gets what he wants and have another legendary what ever the guy is.

@gladspooky said:

He probably wanted to make something and you didn't have the proper material. That happens sometimes. That's why you sequester all workshops with doors and lock them if a dwarf goes insane. Insane dwarves can't open doors, apparently, and will starve to death.

I'll have to remember that. I lost my first dwarf today. He got a fey mood and commandeered my craft workshop. I didn't have all the stuff he wanted and eventually went berserk and somebody killed him. I don't think it affected my other dwarfs too much because it looks like everybody is content or better.

@Slay3r1583: You know what is fun? Tantrum spirals. One guy gets crazy and makes other people get pissed and so on.

@Daveyo520: Ah, i was totally doomed. Believe me, I tried to give him what he wanted. But it was one of those moods that wouldnt have produced a legendary anyway. And he was my first strange mood in the middle of the first year. He wanted lots of cloth and shiny bars. Heh.. Good luck with that.

Yeah, it's usually like "He wants Giant Spider Silk" or something and I'm like "We don't even have beer yet" or he picks up nine turtle shells (the ones I brought just in case this kind of thing happened) and there aren't any left.

He was probably going to make a floodgate, anyway.

The Quick Start guide on the DF wiki tells me to disable cooking for all plants so that they're only used to make booze. Is this really a good idea? I've disabled hunting and fishing so at this point the only food I have is plants. My kitchen isn't being used at all right now. Fishing is definitely too dangerous in the area I'm in and I'm worried about enabling hunting. My food stores are stable but there's not nearly as much food as I'd like. The next migration could destroy me if I don't ramp up production. Could I just enable plant cooking and build some more farms to offset the decreased alcohol production?

EDIT: And also, all of my cats and dogs are female. How can I find/tame some male cats or dogs to get 'em boning?

@Chadster said:

The Quick Start guide on the DF wiki tells me to disable cooking for all plants so that they're only used to make booze. Is this really a good idea? I've disabled hunting and fishing so at this point the only food I have is plants. My kitchen isn't being used at all right now. Fishing is definitely too dangerous in the area I'm in and I'm worried about enabling hunting. My food stores are stable but there's not nearly as much food as I'd like. The next migration could destroy me if I don't ramp up production. Could I just enable plant cooking and build some more farms to offset the decreased alcohol production?

EDIT: And also, all of my cats and dogs are female. How can I find/tame some male cats or dogs to get 'em boning?

Do you just have one type of plant? Make sure not to cook all of them, then. Also, cooking doesn't produce seeds. Eating (uncooked) and brewing does.

I'd say just make another farm. I usually don't cook until I've got so many plump helmets that I don't know what to do with them. Then again, my dwarves get SO SICK of plump helmets over the course of the seasons, so eh.

Also, migrants sometimes come in with cats and/or dogs with them. Maybe you can trade some, too, I'm not sure.

@Chadster: Exactly what gladspooky said. If you cook your fruits and veggies you wont get seeds. Then your farms will starve. with the traders you can always try to find some sort of bird that lays eggs. Male and female. Eggs are a good source of food too.

I have a question maybe somebody can help with. I downloaded the Ironhand tileset and for some reason none of the dwarfs or creatures have changed. All the goods/rock/items etc look like they're supposed to but the dwarves and my animals are different. Help?

EDIT: NM I got it :)

So, couple of farming questions:

1. Why is it my farms always have the problem of "Cancels plant seed: Need plump helmet spawn". Even though I've got hundreds of plump helmet.

2. Are you supposed to gather plants on your farms, or will they do it automatically? I ask because I figured it was automatic, but i've got some withered plump helmets on my farm.

More questions from me too!

- How much should I be using trade caravans to get stuff? I recently had my first one come, but I didn't really see much that was worth getting, so I just traded a couple small things. I also messed around with the liaison screen but didn't really know what I was doing.

- I can't find decent ore to save my life. I'm up to my ass in gold nuggets but I can't make weapons and such out of that. Everything else I've found has been stone or gems, and I've started digging out tunnels on at least 4 or 5 z-levels. Are there any tips on getting this going?

Maybe buy weapons and armor from the trade caravans? I usually buy lots of food and drink when they arrive, because like you I've got shit tons of gold.

@FoolishChaos said:

So, couple of farming questions:

1. Why is it my farms always have the problem of "Cancels plant seed: Need plump helmet spawn". Even though I've got hundreds of plump helmet.

2. Are you supposed to gather plants on your farms, or will they do it automatically? I ask because I figured it was automatic, but i've got some withered plump helmets on my farm.

You need plump helmet spawn, not plump helmets. The spawn are the seeds. The plump helmets are the plants. Your dwarves need to eat some plump helmets or you need to brew them, and then you'll have seeds. Also, yes, the gathering happens automatically, so either all your dwarves are occupied, or you've run out of room to store them. Barrels are good for that. Make sure the stockpile has maximum barrels enabled.

@Chadster said:

More questions from me too!

- How much should I be using trade caravans to get stuff? I recently had my first one come, but I didn't really see much that was worth getting, so I just traded a couple small things. I also messed around with the liaison screen but didn't really know what I was doing.

- I can't find decent ore to save my life. I'm up to my ass in gold nuggets but I can't make weapons and such out of that. Everything else I've found has been stone or gems, and I've started digging out tunnels on at least 4 or 5 z-levels. Are there any tips on getting this going?

Elves are good for wood and above-ground plants. Dwarves are good for anvils, weapons/clothes your dwarves can actually use (they cannot use any other race's weapons/armor/clothing), and random stuff you might need (it's always a good idea to have a couple cloths or leathers around). When you have your yearly meeting with the Dwarven Liason, you can also request specific materials/objects for their next caravan, which is good if you want a specific type of metal bar.

The ore thing is a bummer. I'd say dig down a few more levels, like down to ten or even twenty levels. You may have gotten a bad embark area. Or trade gold objects for steel bars with the Dwarven Caravan.

@FoolishChaos said:

So, couple of farming questions:

1. Why is it my farms always have the problem of "Cancels plant seed: Need plump helmet spawn". Even though I've got hundreds of plump helmet.

2. Are you supposed to gather plants on your farms, or will they do it automatically? I ask because I figured it was automatic, but i've got some withered plump helmets on my farm.

First one I'm a little confused about myself. I've gotten that message a couple times before as well even though I've got like 100 seeds. For the second it should be automatic. Maybe load up Dwarf Therapist and set one guy to nothing but farming because if your farmers all have other skills they might be doing that stuff instead.