Dwarf Fortress - Lazy Newb Pack

[StardogChampion]

Download Lazy Newb Pack
- Comes with quickstart dwarf setups, and easy install tilesets.

Stonesense - Isometric View (Only works fully for 0.31.16)

 

[Dinnesch]

I might once try out DF if I feel like exhausting my brains.

 

[Viperidae]

That's ****ing disgusting. Dwarves building surface dwellings? Out of WOOD?

* Urist Hammerkitten vomits

Also I've posted pics of stonesense before and no one but Raz has cared. :arms:

 

[Krynn72]

I still have no idea what this game even is.

 

[Viperidae]

It's Populous, Civilisation, Ultima, Rogue and Sim City all in one.

 

[Stigmata]

Can I use Stonesense in real time to play the game?

 

[ríomhaire]

Wow. With mods like that installed I might actually want to play Dwarf Fortress.

 

[Viperidae]

Can I use Stonesense in real time to play the game?

No. But you can let it update every half second and leave the game running. Stonesense will render almost realtime what your dwarves are doing.

 

[Stigmata]

Aw I can tell that the game is great, but I can't get past the interface.

 

[Viperidae]

Suck it up. The harder you work for something the more worthwhile it'll be.

 

[Ennui]

Aw I can tell that the game is great, but I can't get past the interface.

This. I know a lot about it, I've tried quite hard a bunch of times to get into it, but I never make it past an hour or two because the interface is just so byzantine, esoteric and confusing. I still want to, I just...

One of my RL friends loves it though and is always trying to get me to play it.

 

[Viperidae]

Don't set unrealistic goals. Yes, it's obtrusiveness is stupid, but once you learn it, you'll see that it's pretty simple. Set small goals for yourself. Baby steps. Here are the goals I would attempt were I to start all over again.

1. Dig a basic burrow, and get a sense of the z-plane system.
2. Assign stockpiles, so I can put all my dwarves' food inside their newly dug home.
3. Build beds for my dwarves.
4. Build a stone-fall trap to defend my entrance.

If you can figure out how to do those four things, you've figured out 75% of the game mechanics right there.

And always have wiki open at all times.

 

[StardogChampion]

I still have no idea what this game even is.

It's an RTS. Like Minecraft + Caesar 3 + Anno + Dungeon Keeper. Minecraft is almost a 3D version of DF where you play as one of the dwarves. So imagine if Minecraft had AI helpers, and you gave them jobs, instead of you doing everything yourself.

You start with 7 dwarves and can give them jobs. Then, for example, you can designate trees to be cut down, and the woodcutter dwarf will go cut them down. Then you create a stockpile for wood (p, w) and draw out a rectangle anywhere, and the dwarves will collect the wood and put it inside that stockpile. Then you create a carpenters workshop (b, w, c), and use it to build doors/beds/buckets/tons of other objects. It's not complex.

You can do loads of other stuff including more workshops, traps, military, machinery, trading and farming, etc.

 

[Viperidae]

Also, another thing. Part of the problem new people have when approaching this game is not knowing what to do, not so much figuring out how to do it.

The game has several stages.

First is survival. If you **** up your food/drink supply, you'll die by winter.

Second is shelter. You want to build enough beds and make enough underground space to keep your dwarves (and subsequent immigrant dwarves) happy.

Third is getting a basic trade going. What does your area have in abundance? What does it lack? What are your dwarves naturally good at making? Do you have a master brewer? Do you even need trade? Or can you lock yourself off from the rest of the world, and survive off the treasures of the deep?

Fourth, and final, is where the fun begins. You do whatever the hell you want. Want to build a city out of glass? Make an army of naked wrestlers? Start a war with every single civilisation out there? Create an arena to pit captured minotaurs against each other? Start a mermaid farming and butchering plant? Build a giagantic platinum hammer (I did this once)? Have your dungeonmaster train a pet dragon? The choices are endless.

If any of you really want to try the game but are held back by confusing wiki articles and forum posts, I'm happy to answer questions on Steam. I WILL HOLD YOUR HAND.