The Steaming of Dwarf Fortress

[Modeps]

I tried to get into DF many years ago but felt it was too impenetrable at the time. Now with the release on Steam with all the mouse clicks and graphics, I grabbed it and started playing the other night. My first attempt had a dead dwarf in about 10 minutes when he decided to chop down a tree that fell directly onto him. This caused a cascade of ill effects from other dwarves... some that were sad because it happened, some that saw it happen.

So I figured I'd restart and now everyone is happy-ish. There was a meeting room, they were happy! Then annoyed that there were no tables. Now there are tables, but no chairs... ok fine. Now there are chairs and tables, but no mugs. I get the feeling this is going to be quite a bit of work.

Questions I will be working to answer:
Is there a way I can just say "I want 10 beds" or "10 doors" instead of creating a work order individually for each?
How do I plant stuff? Get seeds? I need food and stuff to make liquor.

 

[KMFJD]

i really want to play this but no mac client and i have no desire to try this on my steam deck due to the small screen, i'll have to wait a few months until i get back home

 

[Captante]

Is it entertaining so far? I mean the price is certainly right!

i really want to play this but no mac client and i have no desire to try this on my steam deck due to the small screen, i'll have to wait a few months until i get back home

It's currently free on Steam from what I was just reading earlier.... if you have interest go for it and just wait to install it.

 

[KMFJD]

Is it entertaining so far? I mean the price is certainly right!




It's currently free on Steam from what I was just reading earlier.... if you have interest go for it and just wait to install it.

the old ascii version is free, but not the new one with the graphic/ui/qol upgrades

 

[Fallen Kell]

I tried to get into DF many years ago but felt it was too impenetrable at the time. Now with the release on Steam with all the mouse clicks and graphics, I grabbed it and started playing the other night. My first attempt had a dead dwarf in about 10 minutes when he decided to chop down a tree that fell directly onto him. This caused a cascade of ill effects from other dwarves... some that were sad because it happened, some that saw it happen.

So I figured I'd restart and now everyone is happy-ish. There was a meeting room, they were happy! Then annoyed that there were no tables. Now there are tables, but no chairs... ok fine. Now there are chairs and tables, but no mugs. I get the feeling this is going to be quite a bit of work.

Questions I will be working to answer:
Is there a way I can just say "I want 10 beds" or "10 doors" instead of creating a work order individually for each?
How do I plant stuff? Get seeds? I need food and stuff to make liquor.

In the original DF versions there was a plugin/tool that let you do queue up multiple orders such as make 10 doors using material XXX, etc. I don't know if that is in this steam version though, as I think it was an external tool like DFHack or Dwarf Therapist.

 

[Modeps]

In the original DF versions there was a plugin/tool that let you do queue up multiple orders such as make 10 doors using material XXX, etc. I don't know if that is in this steam version though, as I think it was an external tool like DFHack or Dwarf Therapist.

Yeah now there's a way to assign effectively a foreman that allows you to create work orders for whatever you want so you don't have to go directly to the workshops. It just took me a while to find out how to do that (but it is pretty straightforward)

 

[Fallen Kell]

So just to let you know, your dwarves will start complaining about a lot of stuff. The first thing is to do what you did, get a general meeting/eating hall, with tables, chairs, mugs. But you may have not known that you really need that hall to be in rock (so deep enough in the ground/hill/mountain so that it was all contained in rock, not dirt), because next you will need to smooth the walls and floors, else they will start complaining about it (like dirty floors, or dirty food).

You will also need to build individual bedrooms (also in the rock, also eventually with smoothed walls/ground), with a bed, door, chest, walls, and possibly a table+chair. Many people will also have waterfall next to the stairs that lead to/from the bedrooms as going next to it puts the dwarves in a better mood (and they will go past it when they get up or go to bed if you do this). Eventually you will get dwarves that will want specific kinds of furniture (i.e. they want specific materials to be used in the bed/door/chair/chest/table).

Things can very quickly spiral, especially if you didn't know ahead of time what you need to have ahead of time (like not realizing you need cats and dogs, and probably should have grabbed 2 hens+1 rooster (or turkeys) so you have a supply of meat/eggs and something that kills the rats/vermin and can detect robbers/sneaking monsters trying to enter your fortress).

 

[Modeps]

I've been building individual bedrooms, but not fully in stone. Curses! Also one of my dwarves became possessed and built some metalworking thing, but so at least she's happy for now

 

[Fallen Kell]

That happens. And at least you had the correct station and materials needed to build what they were trying to build. Things get bad when you don't and many times you don't have the time to get said missing materials and workshops (like the dwarf going crazy and attacking anyone/everyone). All you can do is hope to knock them out and then lock them in a bedroom until they die at that point.

Basically the game is letting you know that you need to have at least one of all crafting stations by now (really need to consider 2 since that dwarf is going to take over one of them and you won't be able to make items that you really need). The good thing is that if you do have everything needed, that dwarf usually gets a massive boost in that particular skill and as you noted got a big bonus to their mental health.

Also at this point, you should be starting to be prepaired for dealing with your first major attacks. Start setting up appropriate defenses for your fortress such as protected entrances and have get guard dogs covering the entrances so they can uncover anyone trying to sneak in. Start looking into setting up manned switches that you can use to close up your fortress.

 

[Modeps]

Also at this point, you should be starting to be prepaired for dealing with your first major attacks.

NOW you tell me. Some zombie guys showed up and walked through my front door which I think I need to lock manually (I didn't). My meager militia that I defined and ignored died quickly. Now they're just walking through slaughtering everyone. This happened soon after my expedition leader somehow, super happy and content from his smiley face, "withdrew from society"

 

[KMFJD]

It work on the steam deck, started a game last night, very interesting, only got through the first tutorial

/ended up buying a monitor and was using m/kb

 

[Fallen Kell]

NOW you tell me. Some zombie guys showed up and walked through my front door which I think I need to lock manually (I didn't). My meager militia that I defined and ignored died quickly. Now they're just walking through slaughtering everyone. This happened soon after my expedition leader somehow, super happy and content from his smiley face, "withdrew from society"

Well, now you know Start a new fort (or just re-embark to the same location with a new set). The bonus of re-embarking is that you have the old fort still there (mostly), might need to find the stuff that gets scattered all over the place and make a graveyard to bury all the dead bodies (otherwise you will get haunted by their ghosts).... That said, be prepaired to take a mental hit for all the dwarves that find/move/bury the dead bodies, but that can usually be handled by bonus they have for essentially having a partially complete home all done for them when they show up.

Oh, and go research protected entrances. A simple door won't really cut it (there are lots of monsters that can bash doors down). You need to build a 4 or so wide, and 2 deep pit (without any slopes that go up to your side of it) and build a drawbridge across that closes to your side of it. There are some enemies that can jump 2 or 3 squares, so that is why it needs to be 4 wide, and they can jump one up (flying enemies obviously can fly, so it won't help entirely against those, without building it such that the drawn bridge as it gets pulled up blocks off the entrance tunnel).

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

In the original DF versions there was a plugin/tool that let you do queue up multiple orders such as make 10 doors using material XXX, etc. I don't know if that is in this steam version though, as I think it was an external tool like DFHack or Dwarf Therapist.

That's just the manager ('noble' assignment for a dwarf), I don't remember if in the default version permitted materials but the normal manager does in the steam version.

Oh, and go research protected entrances. A simple door won't really cut it (there are lots of monsters that can bash doors down). You need to build a 4 or so wide, and 2 deep pit (without any slopes that go up to your side of it) and build a drawbridge across that closes to your side of it. There are some enemies that can jump 2 or 3 squares, so that is why it needs to be 4 wide, and they can jump one up (flying enemies obviously can fly, so it won't help entirely against those, without building it such that the drawn bridge as it gets pulled up blocks off the entrance tunnel).

There's a handful of building destroyers a given fort is likely to run into, but initially your problem will likely be goblins or annoying wildlife, which a simple door or hatch will suffice. 90% of my forts are just a hole in a ground with a hatch on top that I can seal off in the event of an early goblin invasion until I can get some walls and a moat up.

I have a *lot* of experience with DF, so feel free to ask any questions.