This is a thread for people more experienced with the game to help new players and give hints for people that want to start playing the game. As you guys have seen it can get pretty complicated and it is nice to have people around to help guide you along.

First here are some links to help you get a feel for the crazy things that can happen in the game.

The story of Boatmurdered and of Bronzemurder (Dwarves love murder it seems). A little easier to get some of the stories that can emerge than by looking at some ascii.

One thing you are going to want to do is get the Lazy Newb Pack. Pretty much a must for people starting out. It combines many helpful programs and has tilesets to make the game look a little easier on the eyes. (For Macs try this)

I myself started off watching some very helpful video tutorials here. Despite his accent he can come in very handy with getting you to learn the basics of the game. A tutorial for a slightly older version of the game can be found here, many of the things you would learn would carry over to the latest version.

For those of you looking for the book that Dave is using, it can be found here.

The Dwarf Fortress wiki can be found here. Here is a very handy Quick Start Guide from said wiki.

So, if anyone has experience with the game feel free to give any hints,tips etc. that you have learned over the years to help guide new players. For anyone starting out, feel free to ask questions and I am sure myself or others can go about helping you.

One thing you will want to get the hang of is the use of the program Dwarf Therapist.

It comes with the Lazy Newb Pack, so no need to download it again. It is a program that comes in VERY handy with managing your Dwarves. You can see what skills they are good at, see how many you have, what migration wave they came in on, and help assign them new jobs and skills. It is much better and cleaner than mucking around the tasks menus of Dwarves and other such things.

A few of those features to me at least in the Dwarf Therapist is kind of cheating and against the game for me.

BUT THEN! I am someone experienced with DF and made do with out this long ago.

For newbies sure why not.

Claiming that Dwarf Therapist is cheating is like claiming that tile sets are cheating. It's perfectly fine and possible to go through the game without them, but they do make managing the game simpler.

@Akyho: Yeah, eventually you can ease off stuff. You don't want to start people off with the ful thing. It will kill them. (Though I use that stuff still >.>)

Dwarf Therapist CAN cheat, because it can do a couple things it shouldn't be able to, like giving orders to children. But it will warn you if you are doing one of these things, and call you a filthy cheater. So use it guilt free! It makes managing anything upwards of 20 dwarves drastically easier.

Thanks for this. I had been reading through the wiki and eyeing the book but hopefully those videos can save me some money.

You don't need the book. The book is a novelty. Especially since the game is constantly being updated. I bet the book doesn't cover Vampires and Lycanthropy, which are major threats right now! Use the wiki and the wiki tutorial your first fort. Your first fort will be terrible. Once you feel like you can make a better one, abandon it and start over. It really doesn't take all that long to learn this game, just stick with it, and once you get the basics you won't be able to STOP playing. It is obviously the kind of game that requires keeping the wiki open though.

@ShadowMarth: It actually does cover vampires(and good ways to use their free time). Its up to date as of may and "supposedly" is going to be updated as needed to keep it current. I read the book completely and now I'm just free-styling now seeing how far i can go before i die with few actual goals in mind. I might go back to it for a little advice on building my barracks. So, I'd say the book isn't a novelty but a pretty comprehensive tutorial for your first few games before you decide to really strke the earth.

Also. Dwarf therapist is essential for anybody who wants to play this game and not feel like killing themselves. I had 30+ Dwarves migrate in at once. It was.... Mind numbing. Every single one of them was next to useless and not as good as the dwarves I already had. But I'm afraid my fortress is on the downturn soon. There's a stark raving mad (popular) dwarf (with a family) stuck on the wrong side of a river that he traversed in winter. Oops.

One thing you will want to do is make a ton of boxes/crates/containers to put stuff in. If you do Dwarves will store many things inside them before putting them in a stockpile. If you don't one item will take up a whole space and you will run out of room quickly.

@FinalDasa: Without those videos I would be lost as well. Extremely helpful.

So I designated a stockpile area for corpses, but nobody is picking up the dead rats and whatnot that litter my food room D:

Is there something else I need to do with corpse stockpiles that I didn't do with stone/lumber/etc?

edit: @Daveyo520 Thanks!

@FoolishChaos: The corpse stockpile is for dead Dwarves and pets (unless you give them graves/tombs). The dead rats and such should go to a Refuse Stockpile, which should really really really be placed outside.

@FoolishChaos: The corpse stockpile is for dead Dwarves and pets (unless you give them graves/tombs). The dead rats and such should go to a Refuse Stockpile, which should really really really be placed outside.

@Paul_Is_Drunk: I just like keeping it away from my Dwarves.

Is it possible to burn them? Or dig a giant pit and throw them in? Lava?

@FoolishChaos: I don't know about the burning one, you would have to build some stuff for that and it could get tricky. You can indeed make a pit and throw stuff in it, and if you find some lava you can throw stuff in it as well. Just gotta be careful no one falls in. Though you may want to do that later after you get settled a bit and use the refuse pile until you are ready.

@FoolishChaos: Fire bad.

@Daveyo520: Airlock (just a couple doors with a corridor between your refuse pile and your main hallway) is a good way to keep miasma contained, as a previous dude said. You really don't need more than that. But if you don't start burying your dwarves in proper coffins/caskets they'll frequently turn into ghosts and float about the place scaring your dwarves. Or worse.

@ShadowMarth: Ghost are always annoying. I shall start keeping a room for trash now I guess. It is a lot safer.

Just a heads up for any newbies like me who have no clue about existing bugs. If you happen to dig into the roof of a cavern. Do whatever you can to block it off. In caverns there are forgotten beasts sometimes and If one of them happens to stand below (oh about 15 z levels below in my case) the opening to the stairs it will bug all your dwarves out and they will be unable to move. Ever. You'll have to abandon the fortress. So.. Don't let that happen to you.

@jesterroyal: Like Dave said, still Alpha lol.

@Daveyo520: After years and years, still alpha, yes. But keep playing because it keeps getting better!

@ShadowMarth: Indeed it does. So much stuff gets added all the time, sometimes really major stuff too. Vampires yall.

Anyone tried Stonesense?

@FengShuiGod: In the past I did. A great way to visualize the game. I however can't find a version that runs with the current version of DF or I would have put it in the OP.

It works for a few versions ago.

@Daveyo520: Yeah. I expect some jank. That was just super depressing. I was doing so well with minimal losses still getting the hang of everything and then my game came to a screeching halt in a way I never would have expected. Im sure other people might do it though so i figured I would share my experience because what newbie is going to troll through the bug report list just to see what they should and shouldn't do. So far, its pretty freaking awesome and with a little DFhack I was able to fill in the bottom of the staircase with obsidian floor tiles and stop the horrible howling that paralyzed 71 adult dwarves with fear. It also scared the children so bad they couldn't drink their booze anymore.

@jesterroyal: Those poor poor sober children :(

as a df veteran i can wholeheartedly assert that using mods/therapist/dfhack etc are FINE , as long as you still plan to have FUN , and by that i mean lose

i can see the temptation to use all these things to get a perfect fortress with everything running like clockwork etc, but especially with the full removal of economy , shit gets boring at that point , and waiting ofr the siege to end all sieges is boring too if your have a impenetrable defense (or unpathable defense hehe)

i use therapist as an overview , the sorting by migration waves or profession types , and easily spotting your skilled dwarves that have the wrong jobs etc .. child labor / nobles gettign put to work etc is fine , but if you want to go that far get some mods that add more playable races/creatures etc get real crazy.

dfhack is ammmmazing , but i usually leave that till im REALLY bored , the simple embark editor to allow any number of starting dwarves is nice if you want to start with a whole damn tailored workforce (reclaim mode is a bit more clunky but does the same thing) and direct editing of floors/walls and placing liquids etc is great but ultimately trivial ... the real shit is AUTODUMP , oh my god , i tend to use this as a crutch and function off of quantum stockpiles of everything possible .. which lets me ignore the need for 80% of my workforce to have hauling jobs , so more shit gets done , ill keep using this probably until stockpiles / mining / minecarts / and hauling are all properly implemented/reworked.

playing vanilla 0.34.11 with ironhand gfx now tho , buildign a stable fort but planning on finding trouble if it doesnt find me eheh .. camped right near a necromancers tower so things should be interersting ..

going to check out masterwork df next http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=98196.0

its like lnp on crack with alooot of added modded stuff , but seems to be fully modular so you can remove the majority of dubious stuff or go balls out with crazy monsters and races

great to see df get some exposure here :)

I've had the game a while, just sitting on my pc and recently i watched a few youtube tutorial videos and read through the newb starter guide but im still struggling with basic things like making adequate storage areas for all the stone and stuff, i made whats turning out to be a miasma generator outside and started production on beds and all that good stuff dwarfs like to eat and drink, my dwarfs are always depressed, not sure how to get my fortress out of its slump right now, cant seem to figure out whats wrong.

the tutorial hasnt got into any of the dwarf management stuff yet and i dont want to skip ahead, i guess i'll keep going and learn my lessons the hard way.

I've had the game a while, just sitting on my pc and recently i watched a few youtube tutorial videos and read through the newb starter guide but im still struggling with basic things like making adequate storage areas for all the stone and stuff, i made whats turning out to be a miasma generator outside and started production on beds and all that good stuff dwarfs like to eat and drink, my dwarfs are always depressed, not sure how to get my fortress out of its slump right now, cant seem to figure out whats wrong.

the tutorial hasnt got into any of the dwarf management stuff yet and i dont want to skip ahead, i guess i'll keep going and learn my lessons the hard way.

Dwarf Fortress is a plate spinning game. You're trying to keep many systems operational. The best way to approach it is to start with small goals. You will lose a few games but you'll be surprised how quickly you develop. For your first few attempts, I suggest focusing on these discrete goals:

• Learning the interface
• Digging some rooms out
• Building furniture (Beds, Doors, Workshops)
• Managing food and alcohol production
• Designing bedrooms
• Securing your fortress
• Military and Hospital
• Metalworking and Industry

Pick one goal per game to focus on, it doesn't matter if everything collapses, your goal is to learn as much about that facet of the game as possible. Once you've got one down, move onto the next one. You'll be spinning plates with the best of them in no time. Also don't abandon your game, you'll be surprised what you can learn when everything is going wrong. For example:

I started a new game shortly after Dave finished his video, at the moment I'm at 130 dwarves in a secure location. I'm in the third stage of a war with the local goblins, they attacked when I was building and I managed to secure myself and use archers from the walls to take them down. I had no material so I made crossbows and bolts out of the bones of slaughtered animals. Once they were driven off I pressed out, erecting great walls and pillboxes connected by a series of underground tunnels. But then disaster struck, I was attacked by a force of goblins and trolls before the walls were completed. They got into my fortress before I could raise the drawbridges. My ramshackle military met them as they passed the food stockpiles, a narrow two square passage that became a killzone. Dwarves and goblins fell but I outnumbered them. By luck one of my waves of migrants had been a group of dwarven rangers. As my defenders fell I conscripted replacements to step over the bodies, pick up the axe and continue the fight. Through sheer force of numbers I prevailed. The wall was complete and the final drawbridge was raised, sealing me away from the outside world, and not a moment too soon as a large group of goblins, olms and trolls currently siege the walls.

But now a new darkness stalks the fortress, dwarves are being found drained of blood with alarming regularity. I may have sealed my dwarves off from the danger outside, but unwittingly sealed them in with something much worse.

I've actually been trying this game out recently, but I can't help but feel like it's just difficult for the sake of being difficult. I know that most people criticize DF for being too difficult, but it's kind of bringing me back to my childhood when I used to study to Dungeons and Dragons modules and handbooks.

Top Tip: Set off from your expedition with TWO CATS. You will enjoy the game more. Or less.

@SathingtonWaltz: No, the difficult part just comes from the fact Toady (the guy who made it) is horrible at UI. lol

@Daveyo520: Well things certainly haven't started off well. I can't even get my Dwarves to dig anything. Is there some super secret command I'm missing, or is the quickstart guide just lying to me?

So is this game actually really taxing on your computer? I really want to play it but I only have a laptop ATM.

@wmaustin55: No it's not. Still though, the game is fucking boring as shit so far. Also frustrating too, as I can't actually accomplish anything in the game even though I've been following a quickstart guide.

So is this game actually really taxing on your computer? I really want to play it but I only have a laptop ATM.

So after an hour of trying to accomplish what are supposed to be basic concepts in DF, I'm giving up. If it's already an hour into playing the game and I still can't create a damn entrance and get my dwarves to dig or do anything, I'm just going to assume that the game is bad. I know some of you folks have a lot of fun with it, but I'm certainly not.

@wmaustin55: No it's not. Still though, the game is fucking boring as shit so far. Also frustrating too, as I can't actually accomplish anything in the game even though I've been following a quickstart guide.

@onarum said:

@SathingtonWaltz said:

@wmaustin55: No it's not. Still though, the game is fucking boring as shit so far. Also frustrating too, as I can't actually accomplish anything in the game even though I've been following a quickstart guide.

you should watch some cptnduck videoshe gives a fairly good walk thought for the basics.

This playlist to me more specific ;P

Yes I linked them in the OP, they are great videos and should tell you everything you need to know to get started. All you need to do to dig is press D to designate and d again for dig. Then you press enter on where you want the first corner to be, move the X with you arrow keys to the size you want and press enter again. Also make sure you press space to unpause the game and have the Dwarves do what you tell them.

@SathingtonWaltz: I think you may be prematurely throwing in the towel. I won't try to sell you any harder than that because if you need a hard sell you will never enjoy the game.

I'm starting to learn that its not a terribly complex game. Just bad UI and you have to be management minded and enjoy trying to keep track of a thousand things at once. (which i kind of dig). I'm still playing in pretty peaceful settings but I've had 2 dead dwarves so far. One of which died of dehydration on the side of a mountain after valiantly killing the goblin snatcher. And another who went beserk because I couldn't magically produce bars of ore for his strange mood. I also have a dog chained to my entrance way with the most beautiful rope (it has a name) ever crafted by a dwarf in a strange mood so that I can have him bite bad people's faces off. It does help that all the who pass by the entrance regularly (the plebian haulers) get to admire such a work of art tethering such a big dog. I think I love this game.

The hardest/more frustrating part for me thus far has been trying to find a decent mountain to dig into, with a river and some trees.

I can't find any stone.

Is this normal. It seems like something I need right?

@GorillaMoPena: You should be able to find plenty if you dig down enough levels.

@jesterroyal: the ui is not bad , the UI is a masterwork UI crafted by toady one , it menaces with spikes, in it is carved an image of dwarves working

but i will concede it is encrusted with bugs

I started this yesterday morning, only to realise that I was still playing it 9 hours later. I'm hooked as hell and learning new stuff every minute.

I do have a couple of semi-relates questions however:

1. Once you've embarked to a biome, are you locked there for the rest of that playthrough? Is there any way to expand my play area or explore others with expatiations and such?
2. If I'm being attacked by another force (Goblins, other Dwarfs) is there any way to take the fight back to them. Can I go to their area and mess them up or do I just have to keep weathering the storm until they give up?

@FoolishChaos: Use the finder for sure. If you want to learn the ropes. Savagery Low, Temperature medium. Aquifer NO ,River Yes, Shallow metals Multiple, Deep Metals Multiple, Soil Any level higher than none will make early underground farming easier. There should be 20 or 30 results to that on a standard world and one of them has got to be highly forested.

@GorillaMoPena: It looks like you are surrounded by soil. Thats a good thing in my opinion. Rock is just further down. At the end of your entry hallway make a 2x2 of down staircases (designate and j) then on the levels below that designate up/down stairs with d and i. Eventually you will find rock and you will be able to make 18,000 doors.

@SamStrife: You are stuck. But that's okay. Its more about making your fortress and defending it than looking for trouble. If you want to look for trouble you can give adventure mode a shot. I hear you can beat man to death with your own leg should you happen to lose it and live. After your fortress eventually fails you can still embark on the same world that you spent 15 minutes or so generating so the world itself is not lost. You just are going to be stuck to your 4x4 patch for a while. And the opposing forces never give up. Someone or something has to kill you sometime. If you didn't lose, it wouldn't be any fun.

@jesterroyal: Thank you very much for the help :)

@SathingtonWaltz: ...you hit "d" twice and designate the area to dig. If you can't figure something out just hit the wiki. It's slow going learning the interface but after that you'll have days of enjoyment figuring out all the crazy systems and building a fort.

The interface isn't "bad", it's just oldschool, which means highly functional but takes some time to learn. Once you know the hotkeys you can do things incredibly quickly without hardly thinking about them. And you never forget them, because of muscle memory. Every time I go back to Dwarf Fort I'm worried about it, but even if I can't remember they keys for things, my fingers do. That said, there are a few quirky things that don't quite make sense, like the distinction between designations and constructions, and the new military interface is a goddamned pain in the ass to learn, but once you know them you can do excellent things with them.

I honestly don't think the interface is bad at all. Sure it would be aided greatly by the ability to click on some items with your mouse but once you learn what buttons do what and how to interact with the left and right columns separately, you'll find that you can breeze through them.