Dwarf Fortress
I started several days ago. I checked [Veronica search for: dwarf fortress] and [Geminispace.info search for: dwarf fortress]. One point for Geminispace in the number of Dwarf Fortress players. One point for Gophersphere for [Dwarf Fortress at Gopherpedia], a Wikipedia mirror. So it's a draw.
Several years ago I was playing Dwarf Fortress very often. Encouraged by above results I downloaded and played it today. I'd like to recall that great immersion. It was long time, but after first second of play it was obvious that playing Dwarf Fortress is the same as riding on the bicycle. Who learns once, does not forget.
My standard opening for the game
1. Generating a new world with short history (it's better for your computer), and frequent mineral occurrences.
2. Choosing a place for embark with:
- no aquifer
- not too hot, nor too cold
- trees, and metals (not one metal)
- I prefer river biomes
3. In the first seconds after game started:
- set two dwarfs for masons and miners, without hauling
- set another two dwarfs for all: fishing, after a while I'm adding hunting
- set another two dwarfs for all: wood working
- set one dwarf for: farming, crafting, after a while I'm adding jewelry
4. Miners must dig first rooms underground, I prefer schema like below:
~~~ ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ................. ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ . . . ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ..... .XXX. ..... ~~~ .......XXX....... ~~~ ..... .XXX. ..... ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ . . . ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ................. ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~ ..... ..... ..... ~~~
5. Finished digging for 5-10 levels would provide much resources and information what metals are near us.
6. Fishers are next to the river - so they can provide enough food.
7. On the ground, directly above 1st level of nine rooms wood workers clear all trees.
9. Farmer planting four fields of plump helmets - one field for one season. I won't fertilize them.
10. I organising first workshops:
- carpenter - barrels, bins, after a while 10 beds
- boyer - 10 bows
- craftsman - wooden bolts for hunters
- mason - 1 throne, 2 doors for organising manager's room
11. Setting a manager's room and assigning a manager role is crucial.
12. With manager I'm setting automatic orders:
- Do wooden bolts for hunters - only when quantity of bolts under 100
- Do meals and drinks - ...
- Do bins and barrels - ...
- Do some crafts - it could be bone/shell crafts, or rock crafts if there are bone/shell shortage. We should be prepared for trading and we should build Trade Depot.
13. We shouldn't use wood too much because after a while we would have wood shortage. Try to use alternate materials.
14. We should looking for coal or lignite. Without own metalsmith's forge it would be hard in the later game.
15. In the moderate temperature regions we should dig a well. River would freeze in the winter, and our dwarfs die without wine/beer and freezed water.
In that point our fort will automatically organise and:
- don't die from starvation
- don't die from dehydration
- would be able to trade
- would be able to defend (every hunter will be adequate archer - it's enough to build some walls around "nine rooms" area, dig some moat and install one bascule bridge - archers should defeat first attackers from behind the wall; we shouldn't put water into the moat in colder biomes because attackers would went on ice; attackers can swim and climb so moat should be deep, and walls should be high; moat is the cheapest and quickest way to defend;)
16. The next step is to improve trading - by for example run jewelry workshop and cut gems, and encrust crafted goods.
17. The next step is also improve our military power, we need metal armors and metal weapons. We could buy them, or forge.
18. To forge them we need coal or lignite. Charcoal furnace wouldn't last for long. If there aren't coal or lignite it's possible to look for magma but it's not novice level choice in my opinion.
19. Digging deep would lead to found of underground caves. Without 2 squads (include one archers) it's safer to wall up the entry to the cave in case of accidental discovery.
20. At the beginning we shouldn't be too quick, because with several dwarfs and many orders everything would last ages. We shouldn't for example put all citizens to military squads because we would run out of food and drinks. We should plan sustainable development.
In first games I tried to build separated rooms for dwarfs but it's very time consuming - after a while our fort would have 100-200 citizens/rooms. It's better to build special rooms for notable dwarfs.
Regular dwarfs could sleep in dormitory, and eat in 10-20 tables meeting hall.
The more important than building fancy rooms is to organise piles. We should organise place for storage:
- wood, near wood workshops
- metal ores, metal bars near metal workshops
- rough gems, and separated cut gems for trading
- cooked food, and prepared drinks - we should be able to look at the level of food supplies
- unprepared food - separated
- crafts for trading (after a while we could organise them by overall quality for better trading - with poor trader other traders would pay us to less)
- refuses - bones, skulls and shells for crafting; separated from the rest
It's good idea to assign a role of bookkeeper, but we should have skilled dwarf for it. Manager will train itself in the most cases, but bookkeeper won't.
Later in the game
- Above steps will take a time but only after that beginning time the game would start for real. Sieges with several squads of attackers (sometimes 20-40 enemies or more) will fight with fully equipped 2-4 squads of dwarfs.
- Dodging forgotten beast which we can't slay... but after a while accidentally caged in the trap and butchered for sausages.
- The end is always the same, our small mistake will end as some catastrophe. We would start the next embark, and after a while the survivors will came into our new place. Wounded or with traumatic memories.
- This game is complex generator of real life histories. It's nice to look at the ASCII interface, and read life histories of individual dwarfs. It's good idea to rename dwarfs and places. We will easier spot them later.
[Veronica search for: dwarf fortress]
[Geminispace.info search for: dwarf fortress]
[Dwarf Fortress at Gopherpedia]
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@ Mon 16 Aug 2021 12:01:09 AM CEST
tags: #dwarfFortress, #game, #howto
/gemlog/