Dwarf Fortress

L

Laughing Manji

School Idol
Anyone playing this? If you have ever liked Nethack or Angband you owe it to yourself to check this out.

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Main_Page

Very high quality considering it is just an alpha, and the strategic depth is staggering. The war stories coming out from the players are great. I can understand the game allowing you to bring along some horses/cattle to breed and eventually slaughter for food as a viable game mechanic. Its the fact that you can do the same with cats is freaky, all the more so because its a surprisingly good early game strategy. You have to admire a game that then lets you fashion Jewelry and crossbow bolts out of their bones.

However, its the scary depth of thought that went into construction of irrigation schemes that really takes the biscuit though. The strategies on just making an efficient farm are nothing when you realise that they can also be applied to emergency base defense too ...
 
You are going to have to read up the wiki and in particular the forums.

The game is complex enough, but its the interface combined with its unusual concepts that make it really hard to play. Alpha status, and UI improvements being second tier feature requests dont help it currently.

Basically it was summer of the first year before I figured out how to order my dwarfs about. Some tips to get you up and running, i will use (k)ey bindings where appropriate:

The game has a key concept for ordering your dwarfs about:
- the (j)ob queue. Your dwarfs look at the job queue for jobs that they are currently set to perform, if they find a job that matches their currently configured tasks they will take it off the job queue and perform it.

Some idle dwarfs can self-motivate for certain skills (like fishing and hunting). You can get basic stuff done by hitting (d)esignate. From here you can tell your dwarfs to mine coridoors and rooms out of the rock (use (u), (h), (k) & (m) to expand the work area), gather plants and chop trees etc.

You can use the (b)uild menu to create the structures you need, (w)orkshops which are pretty important are on the second page, accessed via the (*) key.

Initially you will need a Fishery, a Carpenters workshop, a Masons Workshop, a room for sleeping in, a dining area, and a few storage areas for the basics (food, furniture etc.). Buildings can only be built inside the mine, but storage areas for basic crap can be left outside (like refuse, wood, stones). A Butchery maybe as well.

Dwarfs will only do a job if it is switched on for them. They don't have to be skilled at it (but any dwarf with these skills will automatically have these jobs enabled). If you select a Dwarf, hit (p)references and then (l)abor. Hit enter to switch on and off jobs.

Workshops can only be constructed by someone who has the appropriate labor enabled - only a carpenter can build the carpentry shop. Other buildings may also require someone with the architecture labour switched on.

After this you will need to start working on making a sustainable food supply. You will need to figure out farming by reading the wiki. Its not the only way to get food, but its the only really reliable way to get booze. You want to also figure out how to make tradeable items - the Craftwork shop is the best way initially - set him to repeat making stone trinkets or obsidian swords.

Anyway happy fortressing. Abandon your fortress if you get hosed ... don't quit or anything. The game remembers your failures and lets you Reclaim any abandoned fortresses.
 
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