Dwarf Fortress

[CobaltFlare]

Alright. A friend on here recently got me playing this game, and OH MY GOD. This is the most complicated and frustrating game I have ever played. Heck, the game's motto or whatever is "Losing is Fun!"

I wanted to know if anyone else has played this thing, wants to get into it, can somehow help me from starving in the 1st year because apparently "SEEDS TASTE BETTR THAN PLUMP HELMET LOLOLOL", etc.

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

[SeanMirrsen]

I don't suppose you have already discovered the two pony mods for the game yet?

As for not starving in the first year: it's kind of easy, once you know what you're doing. All you need is: a farm, a farmer, seeds, (maybe)water, and some time.

Now, the actual skills involved don't matter for the mechanics of it, so for the purpose of this assume that when I say "farmer" or "plant gatherer" I don't mean a dwarf skilled in Growing or Herbalism, but a dwarf with the Farming(Fields) or Plant Gathering labors enabled. Having the skills doesn't hurt though. ^_^

First, you need a farm. For this you designate a farm plot, with "b"-"p". The interface will tell you where it's possible to plant a farm - usually this is soft soil with no rocks. For seeds you bring with you at the start, this must also be underground, otherwise you'll have to gather and eat/brew the plants from the surface. You will also need some water if you're planting outside, where there may be no dirt or mud for the farm - just spill some onto the floor, either with buckets or a cleverly positioned pump. Once you have the farm designated, if you have a farmer he will run to it and "set it up", but it will remain empty until you choose what seeds to plant on the farm through the four seasons. Press "q" to enter building tasks mode, and put the cursor over the farm. Press "a", "b", "c", and "d" to see the list of seeds you can plant on the farm plot in those seasons, and select which kind you want planted with "Enter". And that's that. Once you unpause the game (it automatically pauses in any designation mode), your farmer should start running back and forth planting the seeds. They take some time to grow, but once they do either a farmer or a plant gatherer will run over and put them in the nearest food stockpile - assuming you have one set up.

To get seeds from the plants, they must be either eaten or brewed - cooking seems to consume the seeds as well. If you get a cloth or leather production running, make some bags - otherwise you'll have single seeds stored in whole tiles of stockpile space, which is kinda inefficient. Keep several farms running at once to make use of all your seeds, make sure at least one farmer dwarf has no extraneous labor settings so that he can focus on the food production, and as few as two 5x5 farm plots could feed a whole fortress indefinitely. It really is rather easy, just keep an eye on it once it's set up to see if it isn't going horribly wrong at some point (which, this being Dwarf Fortress, it is very much prone to do).

[Linkhopper]

This game is amazing. I am considered an expert and can teach you anything you need to know. When I get back from equestria la

[CobaltFlare]

pony mods

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN

also, thanks for the farming help. The part I can't get is the water, it floods my stuff and then I have to deal with all that fun. :U

[SeanMirrsen]

You can simply dump water onto it with buckets. I don't remember if designating flat ground as a pond works, but you can always construct some quick walkways above the farm and designate the empty space above. For this to work you need to designate (with "i") zones: one on/above the farm, as a pit/pond, and another over a body of water, as a watersource. Once that is done, any dwarf with hauling labor and some free time will start making rounds with a bucket (you should start with at least one, and a carpenter can make one from wood rather easy). The benefit to this is that buckets don't cause much of an overspill, and you can quickly turn the process on or off by activating or deactivating the pond zone, without deleting it.

[CobaltFlare]

You can simply dump water onto it with buckets. I don't remember if designating flat ground as a pond works, but you can always construct some quick walkways above the farm and designate the empty space above. For this to work you need to designate (with "i") zones: one on/above the farm, as a pit/pond, and another over a body of water, as a watersource. Once that is done, any dwarf with hauling labor and some free time will start making rounds with a bucket (you should start with at least one, and a carpenter can make one from wood rather easy). The benefit to this is that buckets don't cause much of an overspill, and you can quickly turn the process on or off by activating or deactivating the pond zone, without deleting it.

Ah, cool. I'll try that.

[MisterChippy]

Eventually I'm going to figure out how to play this game. Eventually.

[CobaltFlare]

Eventually I'm going to figure out how to play this game. Eventually.

You know those moments when you figure out how to do something and you go;

OH I GET IT NOW! I feel smart.

This game has tons of those.

[Sparkleheart]

Oh boy, Dwarf Fortress... I tried playing it a couple years back, but couldn't get past the obscure interface and graphics. I don't suppose there's any sort of mod for the game that fixes that since then?

[Lerian]

It can be really fun when you get used to it and if you can get past the interface.

Some help

Get dwarf therapist to help with orders/tasks.

There's a pony wiki for that

Nip to step 3 or 4 for design ideas

Once you are used to it, try the pony mods for extra fun

[Ancre]

Oh, I love this game ! I tend to play a lot of it every six months, then forget about it, then go back and do the same. Right now, I'm forcing myself not to erase my saves and update the game, just so my fortresses can last longer. It's going to become very chaotic soon, especially since I play without any program help (not even dwarf therapist). I shall play until a massive catastrophe destroy my colony ! It's also fun to come back to old save and wonder what the heck was I planning, then do something different, then come back again later and wonder what the heck was I doing.

I must be one of the few who actually like the graphics. Obscure, ugly graphics ! I find them easy to get around once you know what is what, and people have a lot of different interpretations of what dwarves (and the world) actually looks like. Fan art is fun.