[GDJustin]

Please Note: This topic is a couple years old and Dwarf Fortress is an ever-evolving game, so much of the info in this OP is now outdated.


EDIT: April 1st 2010: OOOH FUUUUUUCK THE NEW DWARF FORTRESS IS HERE:

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

Released April 1st, in true Dwarf Fortress fashion. No mac or linux version yet, but they are imminent.

Want to know how huge DF is? This release has been in the works for well over a year (closer to 18 months), and took the version number from 0.28 to 0.31 :lol

NOTE: This new release means that all the info in the OP below is now outdated.


News:
Sept 30: NeoGAF succession fortress Fightanus announced: [link]

Helpful links for first-timers:
Download the game (without graphics): Link
Download the game with graphics (Win): Link
Download the game with graphics (Mac/Linux): Link
Probably the best step-by-step tutorial. Follow this, and you'll know how to play: Link
Video Tutorials: Link
Dwarf Fortress Wiki (ie your best friend): Link

~~~~~~

Various times I've seen Dwarf Fortress come up at GAF or elsewhere, I've heard people mention they wish they could get into it, but it seems too dense or the learning curve is too steep. This makes me sad. Other times I've heard people count the game's depth as an actual fault against it. This makes me even sadder. So in this topic, we're ALL going to play Dwarf Fortress. All of us. Yes, even you. I'm going to help you.

Because Dwarf Fortress is the most amazing game I have ever played. EVER. It's not the "best" (yet), but it IS the most astonishing.

First, a preamble:

What is Dwarf Fortress?
Dwarf Fortress is, and this is an extreme simplification, a simulation game. You control an expedition of seven dwarves, and begin the game with just the contents of your wagon. You must build a fortress to survive. Assign dwarves tasks like cook, miner, woodworker, doctor, build barracks, workshops, traps to catch invaders. Get a food supply going. Begin trading goods with your neighbors.

...but what makes it so amazing?
It's simple: Dwarf Fortress is most likely the most complex and deep game ever created. EVER. There's so much going on, I'm not even sure where to start.

I guess I'll start at the beginning (world generation). Before playing, you must generate a random game world. But this isn't like other world generation tools. DF's world generation fully simulates 1000 years of world history before you even play. The outcomes of wars, the effect rivers will have on the landscape... it is all simulated. The result determines what religion the various races practice, the names of cities are determined by the dead historical figures, and more.

This level of extreme, extreme detail carries over into the game itself. There are over 75 jobs you can assign to your dwarves. Miner, Glassworker, soapmaker, fishing, brewing, weaver, milker...

This depth manifests itself in strange and surprising ways every single time you play. One job you can assign your dwarves is to engrave the walls and floors of your fortress. Their engravings will actually correspond with things that happened previously (rampaging elephants killing half your dwarves, a goblin attack).

OK, I get it. It's deep. But what does this actually mean? For me, the player?
You know how open-ended games like Scribblenauts claim to have "endless possibilities?" And for a while, it seems true. The game is great. But then you eventually come up against the limits of the system, and you learn things like "vegetarians" will eat meat, because they're just assigned as "person" in the database?

DWARF FORTRESS DOES NOT HAVE THESE LIMITATIONS.

- If someone vomits because their stomach or pancreas was injured (yes you can target internal organs and tissue layers in combat), you can actually wield and throw that vomit back at them as a weapon.
- The idea is to dig your fortress into the side of a mountain, but you could also harvest all the trees in the world and use the lumber to build a 30-story high tower out of wood. Or clear glass. Or ice.
- To give you an idea of the level of fine-grain detail, something being added in the next release is more venoms/poisons/infections depth. Look at how much work has been done to this one sub-sub system:
# Inhaled poisons
# Contact poisons
# Injected poisons
# Update poison weapon framework
# Neurotoxins
# Necrosis
# Other poison effects as needed
# Delayed poison effects
# Resistance in terms of attributes and also developed against specific toxins through exposure
# More organ links to function
# Syndromes linked to failure of body systems (instead of materials)
# Digestive venoms and generalization of bruises/blisters/necrosis to other damage types
# Move many death effects over to brain death (maintaining original cause text)
# Wound infection and sepsis

- I once played a fortress where I failed to keep the refuse pile where dead animals and dwarves were dumped sealed tightly. As a result miasma (noxious gas) leaked out into my fortress. As my Dwarves ran away from it one had an accident and bled everywhere, and blood was tracked through my entire fortress. The gas and blood cause loops of negative feelings leading to dwarves killing themselves by throwing themselves off a river bridge.

STORIES AND INTERACTIONS LIKE THIS WILL HAPPEN EVERY TIME YOU PLAY. The game will NEVER stop surprising you, because it isn't "faking" it's depth. You really are playing a game with all attributes implemented realistically, in a realistically-simulated world.

LET'S DO THIS

You can download the game here (Mac/Win/Linux): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

A lot of people are turned off of DF because they think it has to look like this:



But it doesn't. When I play, it looks like this:



Various graphics packs replace the game's default acii art with real art. The game, with the graphics above already included and installed, can be downloaded here: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

If you run a mac and want to play with the graphic packs, you'll need to download the mac-native game itself from the first link, the graphic pack from the second link, and then copy over some of the files and folders. It's what I had to do and I'll help you if you want.

FAQ

1) WTF the interface is TERRIBLE.
This is pretty much everyone's first reaction. If they're using graphics that is, and therefore aren't complaining about the ascii art. There's a three-part answer to this:

- Yes, it is very dense, and could really use an overhaul. Frankly, it's not good. But rather than overhaul something that will just need to be overhauled again, DF's team of 1 instead chooses to focus on adding more more more depth. UI will come when the "game" is finished.
- The game is deep, as I think I've established. thousands of creatures. 100+ dwarves. dozens of queued tasks. Huge, multi-level 3D fortresses. For how much is actually going on, the UI is surprisingly functional.
- You really do get used to it. REALLY. I promise. And it doesn't take as long as you might think. Two super-important keys to help you learn: "K" displays whatever object your cursor is currently resting on. Use it all the time. "V" does the same, but brings up the options for the nearest dwarf or living creature. Q is similar, but brings up options for workshops or rooms.

USE K, Q, AND V TO VIEW AND MANIPULATE YOUR SURROUNDINGS. You'll be on your way in no time.

2) So, what's the point? What should I be doing?

The greatest and most exciting thing about DF is that as deep as it is, the game is still in alpha. ALPHA. So there's no win state. The DF community has adopted the motto "Losing is fun!" and in this instance, it really, truly is. Your first fortress will be a disaster. You'll probably mine into an underground river and flood the whole thing, killing everyone. Your second time, you won't do that, but you'll fail to set up traps by your entrence and hostiles will kill everyone. Third time, you'll fail at setting up a valve/locke system properly that was intended to water your crops, and everyone will starve to death.

And so on and so on.

The point is that each new fortress you make you learn from your previous, grisly deaths. Eventually it's not enough to just have a peaceful, "normal" fortress. You have to lose in new and innovative ways. Can you survive in a completely frozen environment, making an ice fortress? Can dig under a lake in winter and create a glass ceiling prior to the spring thaw, so that the ceiling of your dwarf dining hall now looks up into fish swimming above? Can you survive in a zombie biome by sealing the doors and never letter a dwarf outside for any reason, ever?

3) Gotcha. But literally, how do I start?

The DF Wiki is incredibly thorough, and for your first several fortresses, you will want to have it open next to the game itself. Here is a guide for your first fortress: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.p...first_fortress

REFER TO IT CONSTANTLY. Until you have something down. Look up how to dig up/down stairways. Look up how mechanics work. Look up what soapmaking is for. Look up everything.

As that guide (eventually) gets to, the "d" button is for designations, and is how you assign your dwarves to do things. The first thing I do is designate a dig site, and have my dwarves dig the entrance into the mountain. Savor the small victories! Your dwarves are actually doing something!

Next, I press "q" by my wagon to select it, and "x" for deconstruct. The carpenter will get to work.

Then, I define stockpiles for food, wood, stone, goods, and everything else, by the entrance to my fortress.

By this time all my dwarves should be hauling, digging, keeping busy :D

Once this is done, have your miners dig down some levels, or dig out some space. You'll need to make workshops for furniture, make bedrooms, and much more :D

DF is really about making your own fun. There's no benefit to making your bedrooms follow a fractal design, besides that A) it looks super cool and B) it seems a dwarvy thing to do:



Digging out all these bedrooms, hauling away the loose stone, fitting the rooms with doors and getting wood beds, cabinets, and storage chests inside is a monumental undertaking. But there's so much freedom and it's so satisfying to accomplish. Eventually massive, multifaceted construction projects like this will be second nature.

~~~

...That's about it. If you're going to give the game a shot (and PLEASE do. It's very very playable with the graphics packs), take lots of pictures, post your stories, let us know how you lost. If you couldn't figure out how to dig and your dwarves were harried and killed by macaw monkeys minutes after starting, document it! :D You'll do better next time, and it's part of the fun.

If you're a DF veteran, consider undertaking a mega-construction or an extreme challenge, to test yourself. Take pics and let us know how it goes:

http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.p..._Constructions
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Challenges

To everyone: Give the game a REAL shot. I had to try three times to get into it. I heard all the amazing, hilarious stories and wanted to try the game, but found it too dense. The third time I referenced the wiki constantly and used graphics, and the game finally "clicked." So glad it did.

Have fun everyone! Look forward to your stories.

See also:

Illustrated tutorial: http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.p..._mode_tutorial

Video tutorials:
http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Video_tutorials

[GDJustin]

Reasons why Dwarf Fortress might become the REAL Game of the Forever (post in progress)

1) The Community

DF clearly has a much higher-than-average number of CompSci graduates as fans. They do amazing things, like the 3Dwarf project, which creates a 3D visualization of your fortress:

[IMG]http://i32.************/14x06q1.png[/IMG]

2) The stories.

Oh god, the stories. THIS is what makes DF, well... DF. If you wanna know what hooked me on Dwarf Fortress, read SomethingAwful's "Let's Play..." topic, where they cooperatively worked on the Boatmurdered fortress:

http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Boatmurdered/

[Peronthious]

Video tutorials by Dubious Quality's Bill Harris that are an absolute must if you plan on diving into the game.

Every few months I dive in intending to actually figure it out. Every few months I start to grasp it and then fail miserably. If I had time, I'd dive in again.

[Joseph Merrick]

I prefer the ascii

[bistromathics]

This thread makes me want to open a discussion on depth vs complexity, since the OP reads like a version of how I feel about 'dystopia'

[Cat in the Hat]

I prefer the ascii

Call me a pussy but when I tried the Ascii version I just couldn't get in to it. I only played Triangle Wizard, Powder, and K's eye. I need graphics sorry :/

In other words i'm very happy about this.

[Mejilan]

Seems cool, but I really don't have time for this kind of game.
Hell, I only play roguelikes on portables these days.

That, and dwarves are like my least favorite RPG race. Or nearly so.
;p

[Joseph Merrick]

Call me a pussy but when I tried the Ascii version I just couldn't get in to it. I only played Triangle Wizard, Powder, and K's eye. I need graphics sorry :/ In other words i'm very happy about this.

even portal is better in ascii http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/60612

[Tiktaalik]

Yeah this is the classic "I've been meaning to play that forever" game. :lol

I'll admit I've been scared away by how it throws you off the deep end.

I have a week off coming up though so maybe I'll finally give it another shot....

[Artanisix]

I was, admittedly, turned off by the original ascii graphics. However, I will now try this game again.

[GDJustin]

Call me a pussy but when I tried the Ascii version I just couldn't get in to it. I only played Triangle Wizard, Powder, and K's eye. I need graphics sorry :/ In other words i'm very happy about this.

Agreed. The ASCII, when combined with the already-labyrinthine depth, was just too much. With graphics, the game is just-simple enough for me to wrap my head around.

Every few months I dive in intending to actually figure it out. Every few months I start to grasp it and then fail miserably. If I had time, I'd dive in again.

You're supposed to fail miserably :p

It's not DF if you don't accidentally drown some dwarves digging a water channel or have a fisher dwarf murdered by a zombie carp, driving his wife insane and causing her to run around the fortress taking all her clothes off, until the hammerer (sheriff) has to come and subdue her :p

Seems cool, but I really don't have time for this kind of game. Hell, I only play roguelikes on portables these days. That, and dwarves are like my least favorite RPG race. Or nearly so. ;p

DF has a roguelike mode, where instead of simulating a fortress you take a single dwarf and explore this generated world.

[rpmurphy]

Yeah this is the classic "I've been meaning to play that forever" game. :lol I'll admit I've been scared away as well by how it throws you off the deep end. I have a week off coming up though so maybe I'll finally give it another shot....

Well, if you want to just get a hold of the construction and dwarf society management aspect of the game, you can always turn off all the risk factors of the game -- no monster attacks (unless you choose a reclaim fortress site), no disasters, no artifacts, etc. It's still has a ton of depth even like that.

[Cat in the Hat]

Agreed. The ASCII, when combined with the already-labyrinthine depth, was just too much. With graphics, the game is just-simple enough for me to wrap my head around.

I'm glad someone agrees. I mean it's not like I didn't try it's just I can not do it.

[mrWalrus]

I really, really wish I had time for a game like this.

Where's multiplicity when you need it?

[bengraven]

I'm totally up for this.

I wish someone would make an incredibly, insanely deep game for a current system, ignoring how bad the textures may be, concentrating on the depth.

[doomed1]

dorf fortress? CARPS AND ELEPHANTS? WHERE! OH GOD THE DORFMANITY, THE DORFMANITY!

i wish i could get into this, but eh, it's a bit much for me. at this point...

[GDJustin]

I really, really wish I had time for a game like this. Where's multiplicity when you need it?

Well, clearly DF is is a game that rewards players the deeper and deeper they go down the rabbit hole. I hope my OP established this. But, it's not a game that a player has to devote 100 hours to in order to enjoy. For a couple of reasons.

1) Although there are no "achievements" or explicit goals, there's lots of little everyday victories that make good stopping points. If floor 1 of your fortress is looking decent and you wanna dig down to floor 2 to start with noble's quarters, dig a quick stairway down, save your game, and exit. You now have a nice place to start for next time.

2) The gameplay is fairly passive. You tell your dwarves to dig out a HUGE room. They'll then... set off and do it. If you have someone assigned to hauling, they'll haul the stone away. And you probably have cooks assigned to cook food, brewers making beers, etc. Dwaves have the PERFECT level of "mind of their own" in my opinion. You still have to manage them, but they eat on their own, and sleep, and prioritize the tasks you've given them, etc.

When a Fortress gets rolling, I've been known to queue up huge digs and just walk off and do other things while it sorts itself out.

This is usually fine, but every once in a while I'll come back and all my dwarves will be dead with blood everywere:lol

[BobJustBob]

Some other features are very likely to be put off, and I'd like to get it out by the end of the year, but it might not be possible.

:(

These tutorials are pretty nice.

[Cohsae]

Dwarf Fortress is fantastic. Takes some time to get the hang of it but once you do you will play it like crazy.

[rpmurphy]

Great thread btw. Have you tried building everything above ground, like living quarters, mess halls, working spaces, etc? That was my last DF project but it was so tedious because I didn't want to dig out stuff too much and was making all the buildings out of wood. I just don't have as much time atm. :(

The game is amazing though. It's like a living and breathing Lego set.

[Dineren]

I've tried a couple times to get in to this, but was always pretty intimidated and didn't have the time to put into it. I think I'm going to give this another shot this weekend when I have the time to actually try and understand what is going on. This had almost completely fallen off my radar, thanks for this thread!

[platypotamus]

We started a GAF game of this way back when. I know I posted the story for my part and sent the save off to the next guy in the list, but I'm not sure if things continued beyond me :(

[GDJustin]

:( These tutorials are pretty nice.

Wow, those are pretty amazing. I just browsed them and learned a few new things :D

[ElectricThunder]

I endorse the spirit of this thread mightily though:

1. The next major revision looks to seemingly come out sometime this year, which'd probably make for a better "jumping in" event same as when Incursion's next gigantic revision likely his around the end of Oct in 2010

2. OBLIGATORY tutorial bit:

http://www.youtube.com/user/captnduck

[squinters]

:( These tutorials are pretty nice.

Question: I despise tutorials. I just wanna jump right in with every game I get. So will I be screwed if I skip the tutorial and play by trial-and-error?

Granted, I have tried starting a game before, though I think I made it only 15 minutes before I quit. But this thread got me interested, so I figure why not.

[Iced_Eagle]

Question: I despise tutorials. I just wanna jump right in with every game I get. So will I be screwed if I skip the tutorial and play by trial-and-error? Granted, I have tried starting a game before, though I think I made it only 15 minutes before I quit. But this thread got me interested, so I figure why not.

It's possible, but the depth of the game, and the fact it assumes you know what you're doing, you are going to get lost very fast.

You can do it with trial and error, but expect a LOT of error if you are going to do this alone :lol

[squinters]

It's possible, but the depth of the game, and the fact it assumes you know what you're doing, you are going to get lost very fast. You can do it with trial and error, but expect a LOT of error if you are going to do this alone :lol

Well, I guess I'll try that video tutorial.

Look out Dwarf Fortress, I'm gonna master you!

edit:Oh my gosh, the video tutorial has 40 parts! And it even has stuff missing!?
Well, see ya in a couple hours.

[GDJustin]

Question: I despise tutorials. I just wanna jump right in with every game I get. So will I be screwed if I skip the tutorial and play by trial-and-error? Granted, I have tried starting a game before, though I think I made it only 15 minutes before I quit. But this thread got me interested, so I figure why not.

When I taught myself how to play, I didn't use a tutorial (there weren't any, yet). I followed this guide to get me started:

http://dwarffortresswiki.net/index.p...first_fortress

Once I'd learned a little, I started over, making my fortress more efficient. I kept starting over, but each time my fortress making it a little farther.

Anytime I had a question (how to levers work? is this animal dangerous? What is this ore for?) I would pause the game and look it up in the wiki. Just diving right in with the wiki at your side is prob the fastest way to learn.

[lowlylowlycook]

This is all I can add to this thread



IMO this game seems like it would be harder to get into after the move to 3D and the removal of the standard map. I sort of wish it had a classic mode for new players.

[Woo-Fu]

I have a lot of fun with DF in fortress mode, but I think of it as a simulation more than as a game, something along the lines of lincoln logs or tinker toys that just happens to have dwarfs. Survival is pretty easy once you have the basics so if you're not into building things, figuring out just what kind of mega-projects your dwarfs can make, it will get old pretty quick.

40d is the main version, but there are dev releases where the OpenGL code is getting a major rework/overhaul. The latest is 40d16 and that is the one you want so you don't have to fiddle with getting your screen setup just right, grid size, etc. Just use a square tileset and then you can resize the window, zoom in/out on the fly and everything just works.

[taoofjord]

Everything I've heard about this game makes it seem like it is the greatest thing ever created. The ascii always turned me off but that graphic pack you posted a screen of looks pleasant enough that I think I'll give this a try again soon.

I'm all about games that create stories through gameplay and this is clearly the ultimate one.

[Blizzard]

What's that you say? This is a thread where I should play Nethack again? Sounds good to me! :D

[Shining Sunshine]

The randomness kills this game so bad. Having the most fortified shit ever, invaders can still get into my keep even though I have like a hall of 30 wardogs and 60 trained bowman.

[inner-G]

This is not for me.

[ixix]

The randomness kills this game so bad. Having the most fortified shit ever, invaders can still get into my keep even though I have like a hall of 30 wardogs and 60 trained bowman.

The most effective defense is a moat. Filled with lava. With only a single retractable bridge.

If anything it's too easy to keep everything out.

[GDJustin]

Everything I've heard about this game makes it seem like it is the greatest thing ever created. The ascii always turned me off but that graphic pack you posted a screen of looks pleasant enough that I think I'll give this a try again soon. I'm all about games that create stories through gameplay and this is clearly the ultimate one.

I might have sounded like a raving DF fanboy in the OP, but I'm not. I promise. The game has a lot of faults, and I'll go long stretches (6+ months) where I don't play it or think about it.

But I can say, with complete truth, that DF creates the best stories of any game I've ever played. Examples:

http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2...r-stories.html
http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/2...stories-2.html
http://poobar.wordpress.com/
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=8576354
http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/...tress-stories/

Zombie whale beaching himself and murdering everyone:

The Zombie Whales story is fairly simple: I decided to build beachfront property- this was just after the start of the most recent build, so not everyone was aware of the horrors of fish just yet. And as I settled in for the first winter, the zombie whales came in the night. They don't sleep. They don't breathe; they don't even need water; they simply pull themselves up the beach on rotting stumps of fins. They hunger for dwarven flesh. There was one brave holdout still barely clinging to life in the spring. He had enough time to shout a warning before he expired- but it was too late for that wave of settlers, who were devoured to the last kitten.

Raccoons stealing some legendary items a craftsdwarf had made, sending him into a rampage:

Everything was running smoothly until two raccoons ran in and stole a pair of legendary mugs that my crafting-dwarf had created. This set my crafting-dwarf off on a ballistic path of murder and mayhem. First up was my miner who was just trying to get a drink at the well--several injuries, but none life-threatening, thankfully. The crafting-dwarf shifted his sights to a war-dog, then a horse--who were both killed--and then mortally wounding a mule. That calmed his rage for a bit and he decided that a nap was in order, I figured the worst was over, but had I known what was to come next I would've locked him in his room permanently. After waking he destroyed several pieces of furniture that he was trying to take to their designated spots, he then chased my grower across the bridge to the farming area where he wounded him. On his way back to the rest of the fortress he took his frustration out on the bridge crossing the river, plunging himself and my newly acquired blacksmith into the river. I literally screamed at my scream, "Drown you bastard" but alas the crafting-dwarf pulled himself out of harms way while my blacksmith was washed away downstream.

etc etc etc. :lol :lol :lol

If you play the game, you'll end up with all kinds of bizarre shit. I knew I was hooked when I kept ignoring a dwarf's "negative feelings" and she killed herself by throwing herself into the river.

[Cday]

How do you keep track of what's going on? Such as the racoon stealing the legendary items. Is it written down somewhere?

[bard]

I had three false starts with Dwarf Fortress. The fourth one stuck and I managed to cobble together my first fortress. It's incredibly satisfying to do even the most mundane tasks, like carving out sleeping quarters.

Eventually, one of my diggers found an underground lake. A huge one. It seeped up and flooded everything. I didn't survive too long, but I had an amazing time doing it. I love the game so much.

I think your post has inspired me to go at it once again. But now you have to post a "GO GET 'EM CHAMP!"-style message every day. We demand it.

[Norfair]

Wow, those are pretty amazing. I just browsed them and learned a few new things :D

Yeah these are some of the best tutorials out there. Mostly because they give you the same map he's working on in the pictures.

[Norfair]

Wow, those are pretty amazing. I just browsed them and learned a few new things :D

Yeah these are some of the best tutorials out there. Mostly because they give you the same map he's working on in the pictures.

[GDJustin]

How do you keep track of what's going on? Such as the racoon stealing the legendary items. Is it written down somewhere?

There's an announcements screen ("a" button) that records important events. I don't know if it would mention a legendary item being stolen, but they tend to be pretty big deals, so... probably. I know it records when one is created.

[wayward archer]

For some reason I lost interest in this game when they added elevation. The original single floor version was so elegant and clean and I really felt that it lost that in the upgrade to multiple floors.

Still remember the first time I ever reached the lava... lost an entire crew of miners and rock haulers that day, and then the spiders came... the horror... the horror... the floors were slick with speardwarves blood and the halls echoed the screams of the innocent.

[SpinningFrog]

Never even heard of Dwarf Fortress before this and it looks like a game I could enjoy. I better make up for all that lost time.

[Cohsae]

Everyone who's new should be aware that Adamantine is really cool and if you find any you should mine lots and lots of it.

[Death Dealer]

New to RPGs maybe.


It looks like Ultima. I might try it despite wishing it wasn't dedicated to dwarves.

[GDJustin]

I have a confession to make: I haven't played much DF in a long, long time. I don't think I've played it heavily since the last release, which was almost exactly one year ago. So I decided to rectify that and rolled a new world to play around in. Most of the game is coming back to me pretty quickly, besides keyboard shortcuts. They're taking longer to pick back up.

The generated world is named "The Absolute Universe" which I thought was a good sign:


The random group name generator spit out "The Round Razors" for my group, which I thought sounded kinda cool:


I used the GREAT "find destination" tool on the overworld to give me a map that had no aquifer, had magma, a cave river, and flux. So, yay magma! Boo Fire Imps:


I know it's not really *that* impressive, but it's still neat to me that the random world generator works as well as it does. I settled down in a desert, which happens to be home to a large herd of camels:


Also, lots and lots (and lots) of Carp. There was like 5 pages of them. Shit.


Like any self-respecting dwarf crew, after setting p stockpiles the first thing I had them get to work on was a tremendous Great Hall. Who needs farms, or beds, or workshops? There's a GREAT HALL to get cracking on, dammit. Dwarves either need to go big, or go home:


More updates to follow! I don't really remember how to work channels or floodgates very well, so it should be interesting trying to get an underground farm going. And a Magma mote, in case those camels get too aggressive...

[golem]

here's a ready to go mac dfg pack

http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=881

[SpinningFrog]

I'm currently going through the "Complete and Utter Newby Tutorial for Dwarf Fortress" and it is pretty fun so far.

[Mekere]

A great game! I have had so many stories with dwarf fortress, like the day I began a game and my stupid lumberjack fall in a hole with the only axe I had! It took me a whole year to get his body and drops back >_<
Or the day one of my "Best grand-dwarf ever" mugs maker (always a hit with human merchant) made a legendary item, the best item in his whole life! And when he realised he couldn't do an item this quality any more, he just felt depressed, stopped working and spent all his days near a little lake with his favourite pet. Until the day... he committed suicide. His pet followed him in death a few days later. :'(

So really, one of my favourite game but! I don't have time to play it now... No really I don't. Please, I'm at work now, I really can't play. Stop tempting me :(

[chicken_ramen]

I've put off playing this until the next release comes out, but at this point who knows how long that will be, and it turns out that things have changed since I last really played the game anyway. The evaporation model completely threw me for one thing. Made me have to rethink how I build underground farms.

The game is as good as it ever was though. And that 3Dwarf thing is really neat to fly around in. If only it had models for some of the objects and so on, but that would obviously be a much more monumental task, the guy has done a cool job as it is.