Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Meat industry

2025-01-30T22:31:25Z

Ghoul Some: images in the "internal pasture" and "Slaughtering and butchering" sections

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Exceptional}}
{{av}}

[[File:meats_preview.png|right]]This article is a quick guide to running a '''meat and related goods industry'''. If you're basing your economy on the meat industry, you should keep in mind that the amount of product available depends on the breeding rate (how long the offspring takes to be born and mature) of your tame animals, the spawning rates of wild animals, and/or the amount of meat and leather that traders bring.

Note that the meat industry involves many materials which can [[rot]], and therefore requires slightly more micromanagement than other [[industry|industries]].

'''Summary''': Obtain some animals; kill and [[butcher]] them to obtain [[bone]]s, (organ-)[[meat]], [[fat]], [[skull]]/[[horn]]s and [[skin|raw hide]]s; the meat can be used immediately, but the hide needs to be [[tanner|tanned]] into [[leather]], and the fat needs to be processed into [[tallow]]; finally [[cook]] the tallow into a meal (or make [[soap]] with it), and craft the bones, skull, horns and leather into an end product.

== Acquisition ==
The basic units of the meat industry are its [[Animal|animals]], of which the acquisition presents a number of methods (note that the related [[fishing industry]] is its own matter).

=== Embark ===
You can buy animals on [[embark]], and doing so even allows you to choose from male and female animals. Since you need only one male to breed, an example way to kick-start your meat industry is to embark with one bull and 3 cows. Note, though, that with the exception of cats, dogs and poultry, buying animals on embark is extremely expensive. You also get two random [[Domestic animal|draft animal]]s on embark for each wagon (usually one wagon with two draft animals). These can be butchered when needed, or be kept in the hopes that [[Trade#Liaisons|traders]] or [[Immigration|immigrants]] will supply matching specimens for breeding. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to buy one: If you happen to have a female, chances are that sooner rather than later it will meet a companion among the traders' many pack animals; see [[#Breeding|breeding]], below.

=== Trading ===
As with most industry goods, you can purchase both animals and processed [[meat]] and [[leather]] from [[caravan]]s, allowing you to vary your dwarves' diets without having to establish a meat industry proper. Note, however, that traders will never bring preprocessed [[hair]], [[horn]]s, [[skull]]s, or [[bone]]s. If you want to keep your [[leatherworker]]s constantly occupied, buying up caravans' (often vast) collections of leather is a cheap way to get your fort [[clothing|clothed]] quickly.

It might be necessary that you request every type of leather, in order to ensure the merchant comes back with a large quantity next year (they usually bring excessive amounts, even if you don't). You can only buy leather from [[human]] and [[dwarf|dwarven]] caravans. [[Elf|Elven]] caravans are interesting in that they often bring a small number of tame, caged animals with them, which may be useful as [[pet]]s (such as [[silvery gibbon]]s) or for defense purposes (such as [[grizzly bear]]s).

=== Hunting ===
In all but the most inhospitable of places, there will be some <s>running food</s> wildlife frolicking in the biome. An [[ambusher]] armed with a [[crossbow]] and a [[quiver]] full of [[bolts]] can and will attack these animals, cautiously approaching them ("ambushing", their speed and chances of not being noticed being dependent on their skill) before opening fire at their quarry with crossbow bolts. Hunting is a very outdoorsy activity, and will take your hunters well past where you can establish reasonable defenses; in addition, hunters will occasionally do stupid things that will get them maimed, such as hunting [[lion]]s, or worse still, killed in grisly ways, such as attacking herds of [[giant elephant]]s.

Upon a successful hunt, the dwarf will return the kill, carrying the [[corpse]] to the nearest [[butcher's shop]] for processing, or the nearest refuse stockpile if available. Failing that, they may leave the corpses wherever they happen to be--meeting areas, bedrooms, etc. Hunters are rather single-minded; when hunting, they will ignore other animals besides their chosen quarry, even if the others are more easily attacked or less dangerous. Although multiple kills happen, hunters generally only return their quarry, or quit when they run out of bolts. To avoid wasting perfectly edible corpses, you need to change your [[standing orders]] ({{k|o}}) to Gather refuse from outside, although this will enable much more than ambusher-kill returning.
Hunting makes an erratic but, with a skilled ambusher, bountiful meat source. It avoids the bother of pasturing animals, but comes at the trade-off of defensibility. Many players on mature fortresses are simply too concerned with enemy sieges and the like to send dwarves out too far, and will thus disable hunting jobs on their dwarves.

=== Military ===
You can order your soldiers out to kill wild animals by selecting their squads or the soldiers individually (for a basic outline of such actions, see [[attack]]). This takes some management, but is particularly useful if a large herd appears and you want to get them all before they emigrate to less blood-soaked pastures; be prepared to process them all, however, as you do not want your potential foodstuffs to rot away if your butcheries are overloaded. Soldiers will not kill or butcher [[Domestic animal|domestic]] or [[tame]] animals. Take note that soldiers will attack animals regardless of the target you've given them, as they will attack the nearest non-friendly creature in sight when told to move somewhere or kill a target.

Your soldiers must generally be very [[Attribute#Agility|agile]] to catch up with a running animal before it leaves the edge of the map, and attacking with melee always carries the risk of getting your soldiers maimed or killed, so as you might expect military hunting is mainly for the crossbow dwarves.

Hunting undead or aggressive animals is much more fun. Unlike the regular animals where agility is required to catch them, these animals will happily come to you. Crossbow bolts and piercing weapons are next to useless in this case, but hunting undead can be a valuable source of meat and bones in an evil biome if you manage to mangle the corpse such that it cannot reanimate. It's also wise to do so as a preemptive measure if you plan to do anything outdoors (before actual hunters, or civilians, come in contact with them). One should take extra caution when doing so though, because even minor zombies like ravens have been known to shatter bone through adamantine and steel.

=== Trapping ===
It is also possible to catch animals through judicious use of [[cage trap]]s. Building cage traps where animals will walk will ensure that some of them will be caught; dwarves with the [[hauling#animal_hauling|Animal Hauling]] labor can then haul the occupied [[cage]]s away and [[mechanic]]s will reload the traps with fresh cages.

Cage traps should be built where animals will walk, not where they are when you decide to trap them. Any dwarves sent out to create and arm traps in the animals' midst will scare them away or (worse) trigger their aggression.

To successfully trap large animals you need to build choke points into your map. The destruction of ramps to create sheer cliffs is the easiest way to force them to go down a particular route; with the construction of walls, ponds, channels, and so forth, you can force them to walk right through your cage traps. Such obstacles and traps will also work against invading forces, as shown in the article on [[Trap_design#Trapping_efficiently|trap architecture]].

Leave a small gap one or two tiles wide (depending on how many of the critters you want to trap) and build your cage traps there. If the animals haven't moved off or been scared off by the time you're done, and they're docile enough to not attack once they see your dwarves, use military orders to send a dwarf (or several) around behind the animals and herd them toward the choke point.

Note that when using channels and ponds together to create a choke point, connecting the channel all the way up to the pond's edge will end up draining the pond. If this is undesirable for your fort's water supply plans, be sure to leave a tile between the edge of the pond and the edge of the channel, and build a cage trap or wall instead.

Note also that cage traps cannot be built within a certain number of tiles of the map edge, so when planning your funnels and choke points, be sure to leave four or five tiles as a buffer zone.

=== Breeding ===
Many animals in ''Dwarf Fortress'' are capable of [[breeding]] if a male and female are in close proximity. You can elect to bring breeding pairs at [[embark]], or purchase them from traders at a later date. Some [[immigrant]]s will bring [[pet]]s or stray animals with them, potentially forming or completing breeding pairs. Remember that you only ever need one breeding male: the only non-butchering product male animals produce, besides reproduction, is [[wool]], and only a few of them. For this reason having a large proportion of females to males is a good idea. However, a small percentage of male animals will not breed, so it's best to keep one or two spare males around.

Using [[cage trap|cage traps]] judiciously (or taking advantage of the animals [[elf|elves]] trade) can sometimes snag you a breeding pair of wild animals. These can be used to establish crazy schemes, like [[alligator]] farms and [[giant eagle]] [[egg production|hatcheries]]. Tame something unusual and start something crazy if you get lucky enough! Many creatures can be tamed, but it can take a long time for exotic animals and they will slowly revert to wild state if left unattended; a skilled [[animal trainer]] is a real blessing in this regard.

There is currently a per-species population cap, observed to be around 50, past which animals will not get pregnant; existing pregnancies will mature to term, and once some adults are slaughtered, the population can begin moving up again. There is also a population cap on the percentage of juvenile animals, which can have a significant impact on [[elephant|slow-maturing species]].

When two animals breed, their genetic traits combine, just like in real life. This means that you can selectively butcher less-desirable specimens to leave only more-desirable breeding stock. This can include your dwarves, although social engineering with intelligent species (i.e. that breed via marriage) is an extra challenge. Extra points for splitting your alpaca herds into one bred for meat and one bred for hair!

=== Breeding wild animals ===
Most animals that are neither intelligent nor egg-layers will eventually give birth if a male and female are able to touch. Some intelligent creatures can also do this if they don't require marriage to have children (i.e. troglodytes, blind cave ogres). Wild animals require neither food nor water (in the case of intelligent humanoids).

This can be exploited and has an advantage for several reasons. Animals that are still wild will be butchered regardless of how or why they died; stray animals will only provide meat when slaughtered. This makes penning and breeding of non-tame animals attractive for short-lived species that die often such as rats of any kind, mole dogs, and giant insects. Grazers can also be adequately bred this way if you're only using them for meat; wild draltha, elephants, and giant pandas survive perfectly fine penned underground in pits. Untameable animals can only be bred this way; this includes unicorns, intelligent creatures that don't require marriage (blind cave ogres, troglodytes, possibly merpeople), and other [[fun]] beasts that cannot be tamed.

Methods for how to do this vary, but chaining is a practical approach. Trapping the offspring is then easy because the adults cannot walk onto the cage traps due to the chains, and the infants will invariably wander; hollowed out mine-shafts that you haven't bothered to fill out make excellent dungeons. Be wary of chaining different creature castes together though. Most neutral creatures are fine with each other, but some of them freak out and get scared; most reactions will provoke a fight and subsequent death of the inmates before children can be received. Chaining up building destroyers can result in potentially unwanted fun as the children proceed to destroy the restraints, freeing their parents, and causing a possible insurrection if they manage to further destroy other restraints in the dungeon and free creatures neutral to them (but hostile to dwarves). Building destroyers can't destroy anything when chained, but should ideally be pitted into pens controlled by bridges (or at least chained with extra cage traps around; and disposable chains). Remember, all creatures can destroy restraints when tantruming, which sometimes occurs with some more disagreeable inmates that happen to be intelligent. Also, cages must be placed one square away from restraints because chained wild animals still trigger cage traps for some reason.

TRAPAVOID creatures are harder to breed since they cannot easily be caged, chained, or pitted. [[Web]]bed cage traps can work (for non web-immune creatures), though it is possible to seal them in a small area without trapping them first. [[Artifact]] furniture immune to [[building destroyer]]s can be used as permanent bait, but separating the herd for a partial harvest may prove challenging. Creatures which provide a rare resource (like [[shell]]s) may be worth the difficulty to farm, particularly if your map is otherwise devoid of the resource your [[strange mood|moody]] dwarves are clamoring for.

== Management ==
=== Pastures ===
Tame animals with the [GRAZER:<value>] token (most herbivores) need to constantly munch on grass to survive, and as such require a [[pasture]] containing [[grass]], [[cave moss]], or [[floor fungus]] to graze upon, or they will starve to death. Be ware that animal fodder isn't usually available when embarking in barren and inhospitable biomes, like [[glacier]]s, at least not until you breach the [[caverns]] deep underground.

Pastures are simple enough to build (unless you've embarked someplace where it [[evil weather|rains]] [[fun]]). Designate a grassy area as a pasture [[activity zone]] ({{k|i}}-{{k|n}}), set ({{k|N}}) the animals to be released onto the pasture, and your dwarves will haul the designated animals to it if they have the animal hauling labor enabled. Once in the pasture, the animals will munch on all the grass they need, as long as there is enough of it.

Pastures can be easily depleted if the herd of animals on it is large enough; in addition, having too many animals on a pasture at once will lead to fights, which can seriously maim and injure your livestock. Since an above-ground pasture requires a significant plot of land, it is a major security concern - having enough grazing land for your animals while also keeping them protected from invading goblins is an important concern. A solution is to use the fact that livestock can graze on [[floor fungus]] and the like as easily as on regular old grass, and wall off a pasture inside of a [[cavern]] layer or set them loose in your underground [[tree farm]].

Animals that don't require a constant stream of plant matter, like poultry, can be put in any pasture (or cage). The basis of [[egg production]] is a pasture with [[nest box]]es in it.

=== Pens ===
A strategy to improve your framerate is to [[restraint|restrain]] most of your livestock near your [[butcher's shop]], as a large number of free-roaming animals will reduce your game speed. Additionally it reduces the amount of time it takes butchers to track down and retrieve animals they are to slaughter.

Animals on [[restraint|restraints]] still can [[path]] (1 tile in any direction from the chain/rope), and that can hurt your [[Maximizing framerate|framerate]]. When placed in "holding pens" consisting of closed 1x1 rooms, the animals have nowhere to go and so [[path|pathing]] is not a problem. Creating and managing such rooms can be difficult, however. [[Activity zone#Pit/Pond|Pits]] and [[Pasture]]s can be adapted for this purpose.

To move animals in and out of pens, doors are the best choice, with floodgates and (raising) bridges as alternatives. To get the framerate benefit, doors should be "forbidden" but "pet-passable", since non-pet-passable state of doors is not taken into account during calculation of paths. Cold, hard reality stops pets at tightly closed doors, but they continue to calculate paths through them while bumping their heads into the door. Pets in cages help framerate the most, followed closely by restraints, since the search space bottoms out after only 2 moves (corner to corner). Pens with blocked access are also very effective, as pathing will stop as soon as the space of the pit is exhausted, so it's like a restraint with a slightly longer leash. Moving of animals in and out of such pens requires player intervention, via unlocking doors or issuing "pull lever" orders to open floodgates or bridges. It would be quite extreme, but such a collection of 1x1 pits could be an effective way of stopping pathfinding while retaining breeding. One could even use bars instead of floodgates, and have a really proper zoo/cage.

All that being said, the framerate impact of large numbers of tame animals is notable but not crippling - a fort can have 200 animals moving about more or less freely without being brought to its knees. While caging particularly fecund non-grazers makes sense to reduce unit clutter, extreme measures are not really called for to preserve framerate.

A common strategy is to cage all your young until matured because they do not give the same amount of bones, meat, and fat as adults. Some tamed wild species take more than 1 year to mature, unlike most domestic animals; this makes it excusable to butcher, for instance, elephant calves right away, as they take ten years to mature.

Furthermore:
* Cages can hold an unlimited number of animals, so you only need one.
* Caged animals do not path, and therefore, do not consume a lot of processor speed.
* Distinguishing between breeding animals and butcherable livestock is easier when clearly separated.
* Caged cats cannot adopt owners (thus decreasing the chances of a [[catsplosion]]).
* You can define a [[zoo]] from a cage, increasing overall fortress wealth, dwarven happiness, and so on.

=== Internal pastures ===
[[File:DFWikiInternalPasture.png|right]]
The livestock of a large meat industry requires a lot of pasture space that might not be safe on the surface. Creating an underground pasture is more secure and relatively simple after discovering the [[cavern]]s: [[Floor fungus]] and other such underground "grass" will begin to grow anywhere there is [[soil]] or [[mud]]. You can take advantage of this by digging out a large room in a soil layer and waiting for floor fungus to grow. Limit dwarven traffic in your pasture levels to prevent plant trampling, and then wait a bit for the floor fungi and cave moss to grow dense enough to support your livestock. Forbidden doors and hatches or a restricted area [[traffic]] designation can be helpful for this. Once ready, make a new pasture and move the livestock underground.

You can also create pastures in stone layers, but the area will need to be cleared of all excess stone and [[irrigation|irrigated]] to create mud, enabling plant growth. The easiest way to do this is to dig out a level of rock and then either redirect some river flow or drain some small lakes to provide the necessary water. Once every tile of stone floor has been muddied, drain the water and wait for the underground vegetation to grow.

== Processing ==
=== Slaughtering and butchering ===
Animals can be marked for slaughter in the [[Unit_list|Creatures]] {{k|u}} menu under the Pets/Livestock tab. Animals marked for slaughter will queue a {{DFtext|Slaughter {name of the animal} (Tame)|3:1}} task at a [[butcher's shop]], be dragged there by a dwarf with the [[butcher]] labor and put down.

Once an animal has been killed it must then be butchered before the corpse rots. This happens instantly in the case of slaughtering. The corpses provided by hunters take some time to pry apart and in a fort with very few available workers, corpses can rot before anybody finds the time to process them. An animal corpse or body part is available if it is inside the butcher's shop or within a certain distance of the shop. Butcher's shops will only scan a limited amount of area (about 20 tiles in every direction) for butcherable corpses. If the corpse is too far away, the workshop will not task it. Putting a refuse pile accepting corpses and body parts close to the butcher's shop is therefore required to make sure "collateral" kills of hunters and the military are processed. The skill of the butcher only affects the time taken for the butcher animal task, not the amount produced, nor the quality.

Once butchered, the animal will yield one skull (though [[hydra|hydras]] produce more than one), and may also produce a raw hide, a number of (prepared)(organ-)meat pieces, and/or bones. Animal size and chance determines the exact yield. Very small animals, such as [[cavy|cavies]] or [[weasel]]s will produce only a skull when slaughtered. If a hunter kills such an animal, it will not be butchered, and you will not even get the skull. Depending on the animal type, the butchered animal may also yield [[horn|horns]], [[hoof|hoofs]], [[fat]], and/or [[cartilage]].
[[File:Butcher's shop.png|right]]
Butchering of hunted or otherwise killed (not slaughtered) animals will produce a proportionate amount of meat, bones and skin for every butchered item, as long as the body part is big enough (otherwise, the butchers will simply ignore it). An animal chopped into several pieces by the military can thus give several hides of leather, while slaughtering a tame animal will only produce one. It will not grant more meat, fat, or bones, however.

Meat and fat goes to your food stockpile. Bones, horns, hoofs, hair, cartilage and raw hides go to the refuse stockpile. Cartilage has no use and should be disposed of, but you would be well put to create custom stockpiles for hides next to your tanner's shop (see [[#Tanning|''Tanning'' below]]), for bones/horns/hoofs next to your craftsdwarves workshop (see [[#Bone carving|''Bone carving'' below]]), and changing the settings on your main refuse pile to not accept bones, horns/hoofs and hides. Hair can be spun into low-value thread at the [[farmer's workshop]].

If it takes too long for the butchered parts to be hauled into the stockpile, the food will rot and miasma will spread. To prevent this, it is advisable to build the butcher's workshop outside of the fortress, near refuse piles (you may want it inside the walls though). The fresh air prevents miasma spreading. Miasma doesn't spread through diagonal openings, so a clever architect might isolate the smell in a 3x3 room with the shop.

If the animal is butchered just before it rots, the products of the animal MAY not rot. It is unknown whether the time of rotting for butchering products is based on the time of death of the animal or the time of production of the butchering returns.{{verify}}

==== Overdrive ====
In some instances - most notably, after [[rhesus macaque]] or [[mandrill]] invasions, or killing some other large herd with your soldiers - you may find yourself with more bodies and [[severed body part|severed body parts]] than you can process. In this case it is a good idea to set up some temporary extra butcher and tanners' shops (and butcher and tanner workers) to process them all before they rot. Butchers are more important because these workshops have a tendency to get [[clutter|cluttered]] quickly. Setting up a new workshop takes but a moment, so one might even construct a whole chamber of them and suspend the butchering job in all the cluttered shops.

== Animal products ==
The [[value]] of an animal product is multiplied by the species' [[multiply value]]; items from common domestic animals like [[cow]]s and [[horse]]s have a multiplier of 1x, which pales in comparison with those made from more exotic wild animals (usually between 2x and 4x, although some, like [[elephant]]s, hit 5x); the distinction for the highest value multiplier goes to the [[dragon]] and the [[roc]], whose meat is worth 15 times that of an ordinary cow's. An animal's value multiplier can be found in the creature raw files.

===Meat===
The primary output of the meat industry is the titular [[meat]]. Meat comes in two flavors: meat proper, that is the muscle tissue removed from the animal, and [[prepared organs]] like prepared brain, tripe, sweetbread, and so on. Both can be either eaten raw or [[cooking|cooked]] into a meal.

===Fat===
Butchering an animal also produces some number of units of [[fat]], which must be processed into [[tallow]] at the kitchen. Tallow is very useful for a fort as ingredient in the making of [[soap]]. Soap plays an important role in staving off [[infection]]s when performing operations and cleaning wounds in your [[Healthcare|hospital]], as well as increasing happiness from dwarves being able to clean themselves; it's recommended to stock your hospitals and baths with at least some bars of it. See [[soap]] on the exact details of processing.

Tallow can also be cooked. However, tallow is a minimum-value food item and thus will not result in particularly valuable meals. It is much more useful as a soap input. If your meat industry is small, you may be better off disabling the cooking of tallow in the [[Labor#Kitchen|Kitchen tab]] in the Labor menu {{menu icon|y}}. With a large meat industry, you'll produce large amounts of tallow, and cooking it makes sense in this case, since your need for soap (which also consumes otherwise valuable [[wood]]) is limited.

===Bones===
Butchering an animal produces a number of [[bone]]s. Craftsdwarves with [[bone carving]] enabled can turn these into bone [[craft]]s or bone [[bolt]]s, bone [[decoration]]s or a few [[armor|wearable items]] (bone helms and the like) at a [[craftsdwarf's workshop]]. [[Bowyer]]s can use them to make bone [[crossbow]]s at a [[bowyer's workshop]]. These various products can be traded, used to equip your [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]], and used for practice, respectively (bone bolts are better than wooden ones, but inferior to metal bolts, and thus should not be used extensively militarily).

===Skull===
[[Skull]]s can only be used to make [[totem]]s at a craftdwarf's workshop, for [[trading]]. Virtually all animals produce a single skull when they die; the only exception is the [[hydra]], which produces seven. Totems do not fall under any category in the "Move trade goods to depot" screen, so you need to {{k|s}}earch for them. Usually, however, they will be in a [[finished goods]] [[bin]], so just transport the bins to the depot.

===Hooves and horns===
Animals with hooves and/or horns will produce generic "[[horn]]" once butchered. These can be used to create horn trade goods or decorate items at a craftsdwarf's workshop.

===Raw hides===
Butchering produces a [[skin|raw hide]], or scales or chitin (currently unusable, [[Skin#Modding_scales_to_be_usable_in_leatherworking|save via mod]]), depending on the animal. Raw hides can be [[tanner|tanned]] at a [[tanner's shop]] and made into usable [[leather]], an input into the leather industry. It's quite difficult to have a meat industry large enough to keep a leather industry fully occupied, and caravans arrive with tons of it for cheap anyway, so your meat industry will be at best a supplement in that regard. As with the butcher's shop, the tanner's shop will queue a "tan raw hide" job automatically; the tanner's skill has no effect on quantity nor quality of the leather produced, and the task is time-sensitive because of rot.

It is quite sensible to have a single dwarf as both the butcher and tanner, as you will never need to begin tanning until you finish butchering. You could also make this same dwarf your leatherworker. However, there is no outstanding reason to do this. It may be advisable (or not) to simply ensure that there are ''no'' stockpiles that will accept Fresh Raw Hides and to have the tanner's shops in the immediate area of the butcher's shop - if fresh raw hides can be stored in any refuse stockpile, they will instantly be designated for hauling and cannot be tanned until they have been stored. Ensuring that raw hides will not be stockpiled means that they will be available for tanning fresh off the former owner.

===Hair===
Some animals drop [[hair]] when butchered, which can be [[spinner|spun]] into [[thread]] at a [[farmer's workshop]]. However, animal hair thread cannot be used to make [[cloth]], which means that the only use of hair thread is for [[suturing]] in [[hospital]]s. Hair thread can be [[dye]]d.

===Cartilage and nervous tissue===
[[Cartilage]] and [[nervous tissue]] are both butchering byproducts with no current uses, and should be dumped as garbage once stripped of their former owner. Nervous tissue will rot and may generate miasma.

===Ivory/Teeth===
[[Ivory]] is used to make trade goods or decorations at a craftsdwarf's workshop. Besides the obvious elephant tusks and so forth, sufficiently large teeth, e.g. of large felines, can be used for the same purpose.

===Shells===
[[Shell]]s are a relatively rare crafting material which may be demanded by dwarves in a [[strange mood]]. Few creatures provide shells, but you may have the opportunity to buy a breeding pair of [[giant tortoise]]s from the elves or hunt a shelled [[forgotten beast|beast]] in the [[cavern]]s.

==Secondary products==
You don't necessarily have to slaughter your animals to get something useful out of them, as specific creatures can also produce some products while alive.

===Eggs===
Tame female egg-laying animals will produce [[egg]]s at intervals, which in turn can be used to feed your fortress on a more interim basis than butchering. [[Egg production]] is a viable way to keep a fortress fed, and in areas where setting up a farm will be difficult, starting out with some poultry can be essential to survival. Animals that can lay eggs are [[poultry]] (easily acquired), reptiles like [[alligator]]s (only if you're particularly [[elf]]ish), and some more exotic animals like [[dragon]]s and [[giant eagle]]s (only if you're very lucky). Female egg-laying animals will claim a nest box, and lay a clutch of [[egg]]s. These can be allowed to hatch into young animals (to replace the ones sent to the butcher), or collected into [[food]] stockpiles and [[cook]]ed into [[prepared meal|meals]] at a [[kitchen]].

=== Milk ===
You can also [[milking|milk]] tame female mammals such as horses, cows, and so forth at the [[farmers workshop]] with an empty [[bucket]] and a dwarf with the milking labor enabled. The resulting [[milk]] can be used as a cooking ingredient or turned into high-value edible [[cheese]] at the farmers workshop by a dwarf with cheesemaking enabled (it cannot, however, be eaten raw).

Many animals can be milked in ''Dwarf Fortress'' that would not normally be, for example, [[pig|pigs]].

===Wool===
[[Wool]] can be produced by [[shearing]] one of three animals: [[llama]]s, [[alpaca]]s, and [[sheep]] (also [[troll]]s, but only goblins can do so). It can be woven into wool [[thread]] and then wool [[cloth]]; for a full discussion on the uses of wool, see the [[textile industry]].

==Automation==
Manually managing your meat industry can become quite tedious, especially since the game has a tendency to not provide crucial information (age, gender, etc.).

'''''DFHack: the content in this section requires the use of [[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]'''''

The DFHack utility can greatly assist, in several ways:

[[File:DFHack-autobutcherUI.png|thumb|right|400px|The DFHack autobutcher interface]]

* '''Autobutcher - automatic, configurable butchering:''' DFHack provides an <tt>autobutcher</tt> command and UI screen, which can automatically (and semi-intelligently) maintain a breeding population and provide a steady stream of butchering returns.
** Autobutcher monitors the animals in a fort on a per-species basis. The user can configure the maximum number of male and female children and adults to keep of each species - the default is to keep 5 each of female children and adults, and 1 male child and adult (a total of 12 per species.)
** Whenever there are more animals than the rules specify, the excess will be automatically marked Ready for Slaughter.
** The user can edit the configuration for any individual species, for example to keep more than 5 female chickens for egg-laying purposes, or fewer cats to avoid a [[Catsplosion]]. Monitoring can also be disabled on a per-species basis.
** Pets and work animals (Hunting/War) will never be slaughtered.
** Other options include: editing the default limits that apply to new species; choose to cancel an automatically given butchering order; choosing to butcher an entire species in one go.
** With DFHack installed and its default config enabled, you can access the Autobutcher UI by opening the [[Status#Animal Status Screen|animal status screen]] and then pressing hotkey {{K|Shift-B}}.
** For more information, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#autobutcher autobutcher in the DFHack documentation]
* '''Autonestbox - automatically assigned nest boxes:''' DFHack provides a utility called <tt>autonestbox</tt>, which once started runs automatically and periodically in the background. Each time it runs, it looks for unpastured, non-grazing egg-laying females and unoccupied nestboxes. It will then assign the former to the latter.
** Once started, Autonestbox runs by default once per 6000 ticks, which is 60 seconds when playing at 100 FPS.
** The user only needs to construct and place nestboxes and then to place a Pen/Pasture zone for each nestbox. Autonestbox will then automatically assign birds to these. It will also inform the user, via a log message, if there are not enough nestbox zones available for the current number of egg-laying birds.
** DFHack users can start Autonestbox by adding <tt>autonestbox start</tt> to a DFHack init file, or by typing this command from the console (then applies to current session only.)
** Users of the [[Utility:Lazy_Newb_Pack|PyLNP-based]] [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=126076 Windows Starter Pack] can enable Autonestbox by toggling <tt>Other Automation Plugins</tt> on the DFHack tab in PyLNP.
** For more information, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#autonestbox autonestbox in the DFHack documentation]
* '''Better pasture management:''' DFHack enhances the Activity Zone->Set Pen/Pasture Information UI. [[File:DFHack-PastureFilteringUI.png|thumb|right|200px|DFHack Pasture filtering example]]
** When adding animals to a pasture, you can filter the animals:
*** By text search
*** Male/Female
*** Caged/Not Caged
*** Currently Pastured/Not Pastured
*** Grazing/Not Grazing
** This allows for quicker, easier and more sophisticated pasturing of animals - for example ensuring breeding pairs are together, ensuring grazing animals have grass (and not wasting it on non-grazing), and so on.
* '''<tt>zone</tt> - advanced pasture/cage management:''' For even more sophisticated pasturing, DFHack provides a command-line tool <tt>zone</tt>, which allows very advanced allocation of animals/species to specified pastures and cages.
** There is unfortunately no in-game UI for this as yet, but for users willing to use the console and/or add hotkeys through the DFHack init file, there are some very sophisticated features available.
** Commands can be assigned to a hotkey (either via DFHack console or by editing the DFHack init file(s)), which can give easy, immediate benefits:
*** Assign <tt>zone set</tt> to a DFHack hotkey: then when your cursor is over a Pasture Zone, press the hotkey to set this zone as your current default for future <tt>zone assign</tt> commands.
*** Assign <tt>zone assign</tt> to a DFHack hotkey: then select an animal in-game and press this hotkey to assign this animal to your defined default Pasture.
*** If you always want to have all your animals in a single pasture, assign <tt>zone assign all own</tt> to a hotkey: any time you get new animals, press this hotkey to ensure all animals are assigned to your Pasture.
** Some examples of more advanced command-line usages of <tt>zone</tt>:
*** <tt>zone assign all own ALPACA minage 3 maxage 10</tt>
**** Assign all Alpacas between the ages of 3 and 10 to the selected Pasture Zone.
*** <tt>zone assign all own caged grazer nick grazing</tt>
**** Assign all caged animals in stockpiles (eg just purchased from merchants) that are grazers to the current Pasture, and give them all the nickname ''grazing'' (for easy identification/filtering later.)
*** <tt>zone assign count 5 own female milkable</tt>
**** Assign up to 5 female, milkable animals to the selected Pasture.
** For full details, and more examples, see: [https://docs.dfhack.org/en/stable/docs/Plugins.html#zone zone in the DFHack documentation]

== Summary ==
''Worker type / Labor''

*[[Ambusher]] / [[Hunting]]
** A [[crossbow]] or other [[weapon]]
** [[Bolt|Bolts]], [[quiver]]
** Leather [[armor]]
** [[Cross-training|Stats buffing]]
** [[Archery target|Archery practice]]

*[[Soldier|Soldiers]]/[[Military]]
**[[Soldier|Soldiers]]
**Some form of [[armor]]
**Any [[weapon]]

*[[Cage trap]]ping
** [[Mechanic]]
** [[Mechanic's workshop]]
** [[Mechanisms]]
** [[Cage|Cages]]

*Breeding
** [[Animals]]
** [[Cage|Cages]]
** [[Restraint|Restraints]]

*Processing
** [[Butcher]] / Butchery
*** [[Butcher's shop]]
** [[Tanner]] / Tanning
*** [[Tanner's shop]]
** [[Leatherworker]] / Leatherworking
*** [[Leather works]]
** [[Bone carver]] / Bone carving
*** [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]]
** [[Cook]] / Cooking
*** [[Kitchen]]
*** [[Barrel]]s

==See also==
*[[Leather]]
*[[Industry]]

{{Workshops FAQ}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Industry}}
{{Industry}}
[[ru:DF2012:Meat industry]]

File:DFWikiInternalPasture.png

2025-01-30T22:25:42Z

Ghoul Some: Internal pasture in meat industry

== Summary ==
Internal pasture in meat industry
== Licensing ==
{{Non-free Dwarf Fortress Screenshot}}

Military

2023-03-01T15:06:28Z

Ghoul Some: added image showing the active orders

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}

<div style="float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-top:1em;">__TOC__</div>
[[File:dwarf_army.jpg|thumb|350px|right|A dwarf squad ready to deliver permanent deaths.]]The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squad|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (except the enemy, of course).

'''WARNING! Mining, woodcutting, and hunting have a "civilian uniform" that conflicts with ''all'' military equipment. Assigning any dwarf with the mining, woodcutting, or hunting labors enabled to the military is strongly discouraged.'''{{bug|1451}}

The military system is rather extensive and complex, and there is a lot of documentation. Here is a list of key documents categorized by expertise level:
* '''Beginner:'''
** [[Attack]] is a ''very'' simple "How to attack a target" guide. This is useful if you don't know anything about the military, and just want to order some (untrained) dwarves to (suicide) attack something, ''now''.
** [[Military quickstart]] will teach you to set up and train your very first properly-organized squad.

* '''Intermediate:'''
** [[Squad]]s helps you understand everything about squads.
** [[Military interface]] contains mostly complete documentation on the ''military screen''.
** [[Scheduling]] describes the squad scheduling system in more detail.
** [[Military F.A.Q.]] is a list of frequently asked questions.

* '''Advanced:'''
** [[Training]] will give you insights about combat training.
** [[military design|Military Design]] provides specific advice on how to get your soldiers prepared for any threat.
** [[Security design|Security Design]] will give you specific suggestions on the physical defenses that will defend your military.
** [[Defense guide|Defense Guide]] is a general overview of threats and considerations for fortress defense.
** [[Trap design|Trap Design]] contains information on complex traps that are not a minor/optional part of a larger defensive plan (but might be adapted or plugged into one).
** The [[Advanced Marksdwarf Training Guide|Marksdwarf Training Guide]] is an in-depth guide on getting marksdwarves reliably training, while noting and providing workarounds for bugs related to marksdwarfs, reloading, and ammunition.
** The [[Military testing|Military Testing]] page contains community tests of different combat scenarios carefully planned out in the [[Object testing arena|Arena]], and results of each. You may find some useful information about results of combat variables contained within.

The rest of this guide contains an overview of military features (with links to associated sections of other documents).

==Quick Reference==
From the main menu:
*The '''[[squad]]''' screen is accessible through the {{k|q}} key.
*The '''[[burrow]]s''' screen is accessible through the {{k|U}} key.

==Creating a Military==
While it may be confusing to a new player, the military system makes up for its initial impenetrability with its versatility. Using the [[military interface]], squads can be assigned, reordered and restructured at will, dwarves can be set to equip a highly specified uniform along with the rest of their squad or stand out and equip something unique, and you can give incredibly detailed commands and programming to your squads to follow out based on time of year, circumstance, location, and user convenience. That being said, there's a lot to be learned.

This article is about the general aspects of what a military comprises. For more detailed information including specific key commands, see the associated article expanding on a subject. In particular you may want to check out the [[military interface]] article since the interface is one of the most confusing aspects.

===Squads===

{{main|Squad}}

'''Squads''' are the groups of soldiers that make up your military. Your military is led by the appointed '''[[militia commander]]''' (or, if the [[monarch]] is present, the [[general]]), and has many other squads led by '''[[militia captain]]s''' (or [[captain]]s) under him. Creating a squad in the military screen is one of the first things you should do when starting your military.

===Equipping Soldiers===

{{main|Squad#Equipping Soldiers}}

Rather than simply pick a level of equipment and hope your dwarves pick up the right stuff, you can select what your dwarf will wear by item type or specific item, or create a new uniform template and apply it to a dwarf or entire squad all at once. This includes the material and color of your soldiers' uniform. For example, you can create identical armored units with intimidating red cloaks or just slap something together based on need and circumstance, up to and including artifact weapons/armor.

==Directing Soldiers==

Getting your military to actually ''do'' something is somewhat difficult. It is possible to give your squads different monthly '''schedules''', create different '''alert levels''' which will cause squads to follow out user-programmed instructions depending on circumstance, give '''direct orders''' to '''attack''' one or more specific targets or '''move''' to a specific location, or follow '''patrol routes''' and '''stations''' with greater accuracy.

There is a clear difference between ''active'' orders and ''passive'' orders-- the latter is programming that a dwarf will follow to the letter and acts more as a defense method, and the former is used for taking the fight to the enemy. The ''squads'' menu is predominantly used for active commands, and the ''alert'' and ''scheduling'' menus are used for passive commands.

===Active Command===

{{main|Squad#Orders}}
[[File:DFwikiOrders.png|thumb|right|Orders in the squad menu]]
In the military, soldiers operate much more like part-time militiamen than full-time warriors. When soldiers are not passively doing their civilian duties or following their schedule programming, they can be actively sent to do small tasks to aggressively defend your fortress. After these orders have been carried out or cancelled, your dwarves will happily return to their passive programming as if they were never interrupted. It is possible to select multiple squads or specific dwarves to carry out these orders.

Your forces can be commanded to carry out two types of orders: '''Move''' orders and '''Attack''' (or '''kill''') orders. Move orders are much like the 'station squad' command in previous versions; your selected dwarves will run to wherever you've sent them. Similarly, attack orders will select an enemy (by location on screen, general area on screen, or list) and send your dwarves charging off that way.

Soldiers following orders will attack any hostiles they encounter on their way to their destination as well as wild animals and whatever other creatures they might encounter, whether you like it or not. As a result it is very difficult to attack members of an enemy group with any sort of precision, and if your dwarves cannot take down their target there is no real way to get them out of combat; it's do-or-die. It is unknown whether this is a bug or a feature.

Orders can be cancelled through the squads screen, but your dwarves tend to be so enthusiastic that they'll just ignore you in their bloodlust. This is likely a bug.

===Passive Command===

{{main|Scheduling}}

The '''alert level''' and '''scheduling''' system is a feature that is both incredibly versatile... and, initially, completely impenetrable. Once you learn the system, though, you will find that you barely need to manage your military at all. Effectively, a schedule is programming for a squad to follow within an alert, broken up by month, and alerts can be quickly and easily swapped in order to apply different schedules of your choosing to different squads of your choosing. Without scheduling, alert levels would do nothing; without alert levels scheduling would be horribly inefficient; the two functions co-exist and rely on each other.

It is possible to give your squads different monthly schedules, create different alert levels which will cause squads to follow out user-programmed instructions depending on circumstance, give direct orders to attack one or more specific targets or move to a specific location, or follow patrol routes and stations with greater accuracy. The entire system (including alert names) is completely configurable, and in time you will find yourself using complicated scheduling to rotate squads between training and defending/patrolling specified areas over the course of a year without any user input, or to start defending the fort entrance or trader route with a few easy key presses.

[[Civilian alert]] levels are also possible - civilians can be restricted by '''[[burrow]]''' to where they can roam should the need to tuck them away into a panic room arise. If a dwarf restricted to a burrow is not there, he will do his best to make the journey.

The scheduling screen is broken up into a list of squads, months, alert types and '''order criteria'''. Each order (applied to one month; multiple orders can be stacked on one month as well) can be given criteria to define how many dwarves within a squad will follow its programming at once, allowing you to make a few dwarves out of the squad active at a time while the rest go about their business or to make the entire squad always active for a matter of the utmost importance, foregoing food, sleep, and booze. You can also choose which positions in a squad the order will prefer to utilize when forcing a squad to follow it.

Four types of orders can be given (as well as the 'inactive' command), defining different types of patrolling or stationary defending. Squads can spar and be given combat demonstrations in the '''[[barracks]]''', defend a '''[[burrow]]''', patrol a '''route''', or defend a single '''station'''. The monthly schedules can be named so as to better suit your needs, and a copy/paste system is available to eliminate some of the tedium in creating fancy scheduling for many months. The display can also be flipped around.

Barracks can serve the needs of multiple specific squads at once. A barracks can be defined as a place to train, sleep, store squad equipment, store individual equipment, or any combination of the above, in any weird overlapping combination of barracks you like. Barracks are necessary for training.

When dwarves are being ordered to train, squad leaders will set up training classes for particular skills, or they will have dwarves spar. Any dwarves in the squad that don't qualify for these will default to individual training. In the current release, training classes are bugged where if a squad leader sets up a training class, he will wait forever (Or until you change his orders) for students, even if nobody shows up. Likewise, if students decide to request a class and the squad leader is doing individual training, they will wait for him to finish, even if they start starving. Thus, at the moment it's best to alternate your forced training schedules with downtime so the longest a dwarf will be stuck waiting is a game month (which isn't long enough to die), or just leave them off duty all the time and have them do individual training only, at least until this issue is fixed.

==Frequently Asked Questions==

{{main|Military F.A.Q.}}

==Bugs==
* When selecting new dwarves to place in a squad the cursor always returns to the first available dwarf instead of remaining where it is.
* There are still various problems with dwarves not equipping what they should; most notably, dwarves will not remove conflicting clothing to don assigned armor. Toggling to "replace clothing" is recommended, at least temporarily.{{bug|535}} Note, however, that soldiers may unequip clothing before armor for that part is available.
* Mining, Hunting, and Wood cutting labors have "invisible uniforms" that conflict with military uniforms (and each other).{{bug|1451}}
* Military dwarves going on duty carry any currently-hauled items with them to training, pickup equipment, and even into battle.{{bug|2561}}

{{Military}}
{{Category|Military| }}
[[ru:Military]]

File:DFwikiScheduling.png

2023-03-01T15:03:35Z

Ghoul Some: Schedule menu

== Summary ==
Schedule menu

File:DFwikiOrders.png

2023-03-01T15:00:32Z

Ghoul Some: orders in squad menu

== Summary ==
orders in squad menu

Quickstart guide

2023-02-25T18:23:02Z

Ghoul Some: dig vs channel image now shows how it looks after it's been dug out

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed to do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelDifference.png|225px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{Menu icon|P|sep=-}} (Places) and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

File:DFwikiDigChannelDifference.png

2023-02-25T18:08:05Z

Ghoul Some: showing the difference between digging and channeling.

== Summary ==
showing the difference between digging and channeling.

Dwarf fortress mode

2023-02-08T22:08:16Z

Ghoul Some: updated removing constructions to how they currently work

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
: ''This is a detailed reference guide. For a beginner tutorial, see [[Quickstart guide]], see further [[tutorials]].''
:''[[Modding guide|Modding]] is not covered on this page.''

'''Fortress mode''' is the most popular of three modes in ''Dwarf Fortress'', with the other two being [[Adventurer mode]] and [[Legends mode]], often the mode implied when one talks about ''Dwarf Fortress''. Fortress mode is a construction and management simulation of a colony of dwarves. In fortress mode, you pick an [[embark]] location, and then assign your seven initial [[dwarves]] some starting [[Skill | skills]], equipment, provisions, and perhaps, [[animals]] to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers [[embark]], they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail; from geologically appropriate stone types, to roaring waterfalls, to, for example, ornery [[Hippo | hippopotami]]. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything, and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.

== Goals ==
Fortress mode is considered a [[wikipedia:Construction_and_management_simulation_games|construction and management simulation game]]. This entails that few goals are imposed upon the player by the game.

The most apparent goal is survival, as your endeavors at the chosen site will, [[Reclaim fortress mode|for the moment]], end if the last dwarf dies. With this comes the need to keep your dwarves happy, as unhappy dwarves will cultivate some very unhealthy (yet surprisingly [[Losing|Fun]]) habits like murdering their colleagues.

Another goal of sorts, programmed into the game, is creating a fortress that attracts the king/queen of your civilization. Therefore, players typically, but by no means necessarily, choose to expand into a thriving community with skilled [[Labor|workers]], [[military|battle-ready warriors]] and [[nobles]], creating ridiculous amounts of [[wealth|wealth]] like fine [[finished goods|crafts]], excellent armor, valuable [[furniture]], decorated with precious [[gem]]s, all the while protecting them from [[siege|foes]] with deadly [[trap]]s and a trained [[military]]. Avoiding imminent death also requires providing the dwarves with plenty of [[food]] and [[alcohol]], by way of [[farming|farms]] above and below ground, while [[clothing]] from [[leather]] or [[cloth]] will keep them happy.

Of course, every dwarf loves precious [[metal]]s, but the only way to find them is to [[mining|dig]]. Make sure you don't delve too greedily and too deep, for many creatures dwell in the [[caverns]] below...

== The world ==
To play ''Dwarf Fortress'' in fortress mode, you must generate a world that includes a dwarven civilization - see [[World generation]] for detailed instructions. After at least one world has been generated, you will be able to start the game. Only one game may be going on in a world at the same time.

=== Geographic features / Inhabitants / History ===
The main features of a world are [[biome]]s on the surface and [[stone layer]]s underground, some of which may contain [[aquifer]]s. Other surface features that are significant, but which aren't biomes, strictly speaking, are [[river]]s, [[volcano]]es, and [[cave]]s. There are also [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]]s everywhere underground which your dwarves will most likely encounter, but you can't see these on the world map, or on the local map, for that matter, until you dig into them. There may also be other [[Fun]] things underground that you can't see. You will have to find these on your own, if they exist.

Every playable world will be inhabited by various [[creature]]s, [[civilization]]s, [[night creature]]s, and [[megabeast]]s (including [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s) in addition to your dwarves. You may encounter all of these types of inhabitants at some point in the form of wildlife, invaders, or rampaging forces of nature.

Given that your world includes creatures and civilizations capable of independent action, it also has a history that is viewable in [[legends mode]], historical events showing up in [[engraving]]s and other artwork created by your dwarves. Historical dates are expressed in terms of the [[Calendar|dwarven calendar]].

You will also be making history as events occur in your fortress, and these events will be recorded for all time in the annals of your world, even if you'd rather that they not be. These events may later become the subject of various [[engraving]]s and [[decoration]]s created by your dwarves, or those in a later fortress.

== Embarking ==
{{Main|Embark}}
:''See also: [[Reclaim fortress mode]]''

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|250px|right|[[From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] – a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions most people will take after embarking.]]

Before starting to build a fortress, you must choose the embark location in the world, then assign skills and supplies to the seven dwarves on the expedition team you will embark with into that environment. This is the embarking process, and is a major subject on its own - see the [[Embark]] guide for all the details. Also see [[Starting build]] for more information on outfitting your expedition. After you embark, the real game begins.

== Gameplay user interface ==
{{Main|Interface}}
Your main view of the in-game world is a top-down view of a multi-layered environment. You can move your view in the four main cardinal directions as well as up and down [[Z-level]]s (elevation) to see different layers. There is also a command menu that lets you issue commands that your dutiful dwarves will attempt to follow.

This section covers most of the screens and user interface elements used after embarking, at least in brief. It does not necessarily tell you how to accomplish every task you might need to, but instead just describes what you see on the screen and what various keystrokes do.

Later sections in this document and ''many'' other articles on this wiki help you tie all of this together by describing the sequence of actions needed to accomplish various things in the game; see [[Menu]] for a more detailed reference for the UI itself.

=== Common UI concepts ===
{{KeyConventions|4}}

=== Pausing and resuming ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Space}}
| Pause/Unpause the game
|}

Entering all menus (except the {{K|s}}quads menu) will automatically pause the game, but if you want to pause or unpause the game without entering a menu use {{K|Space}}. You will see {{DFtext|*PAUSED*|3:3:1}} appear in the upper left corner of the window when the game is paused. Certain [[announcement]]s will also pause the game automatically and you will have to unpause it manually to proceed.

=== Main screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Image:Mouse-wheeldown.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel down.]][[Image:Mouse-wheelup.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel up.]] or {{K|[}} {{K|]}}
| Zoom in and out('['and ']' must be set manually in the key bindings)
|-
| {{k|Tab}}
| Toggle mini-map and command menu.
|-
| {{k|F11}}
| Toggle fullscreen mode
|}

The screen at the top level of the user interface hierarchy consists of the '''main map''', a '''command window''', and an '''overview mini-map''' area along with a few '''status indicators''' around the edge. While the main map is always visible at the top level of the UI, you can use the {{K|Tab}} key to show and hide the command window and overview map areas, giving you more space to view the main map if desired.

=== Options screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Esc}}
|
* Enter options menu (if at top level)
* Move back up one UI level (if not at top level)
|}

Assuming you are at the top level of the user interface looking at the map, you can hit {{K|Esc}} to enter the options menu.

*{{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}} – Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu screen. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
*{{DFtext|Save and continue playing}}
*{{DFtext|Retire the fortress (for the time being)}} – Saves and ends your control of the fort, giving limited control to the game. Most of the fortress remains as is, with citizens, livestock, and most items continuing to exist. Not always available, such as during [[siege]]s. After it saves and returns to the main menu you may start a new game in any mode including to [[Reclaim fortress mode|unretire]] the fortress.
*{{DFtext|Abandon the fortress to ruin}} (or {{DFtext|Succumb to Invasion}}) – This permanently [[abandon]]s the fortress, saves the map to the world's data files for later use, and returns to the main menu. Once you abandon a fort, all of your dwarves leave the site, all of your livestock dies, and all items including corpses will be scattered around the map before it is saved. This is how you "give up" on a fortress. You might later [[Reclaim fortress mode|reclaim]] the fortress with a new group of dwarves or visit it with an adventurer in [[Adventurer mode]].
*{{DFtext|Quit without saving}}
*{{DFtext|Settings}}
*{{DFtext|Return to game}} – Exits the options menu. You can also just press {{K|Esc}}.

=== Main map ===
[[File:bentgirder-embark.png|thumb|300px|Main map on the left, command window on the right.]]
[[Image:3_dimensions.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} ( + {{k|Shift}})
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|<}} {{k|>}}
| Move one [[Z-level]] up or down.
|-
| {{k|F1}}
| Zoom to starting location (default [[#Hotkeys|hotkey]])
|}
The main map window is what you will be looking at for the majority of the time. This is where all of the action happens.

While the play area itself is three-dimensional, the window is not; you can only view one [[Z-level]] at a time. You can change which Z-Level is currently displayed using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}.

On the far right side of the screen is the '''depth bar''' showing you the approximate depth, below or above ground, of the current [[Z-level]] that the map is displaying. This indicator is relative to the surface, so it will change if you move the map around an area with a non-flat surface, even if you don't press {{K|<}} or {{K|>}}.

==== Map cursor ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|Shift}} + direction key
| Move map cursor 10 tiles
|}

After entering a command that involves the map cursor ({{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}}), you can use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} as well as the numeric keypad keys to move the cursor around in all eight directions. If you hold {{k|Shift}} while pressing one of these, the cursor will move 10 tiles instead of one, enabling you to move it more quickly.

=== Overview map ===
The overview mini-map shows a compact version of the entire available map area. This can be useful especially if your embark zone is very large. After the fortress has settled into certain areas of the map, its utility decreases and it can be hidden with {{K|Tab}} to provide more space for the main map.

A cursor that looks like {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} on the overview map shows approximately what part of the map you are viewing in the main map window. Parts of the map inhabited by dwarves will be highlighted in blue.

=== Status indicators ===
In the upper left corner of the screen, you may see some '''report flags''' indicating that new combat-related [[Reports]] have been generated. Some common flags are:

:{{Tile|C|4:7:1}}: new [[combat]] report available
:{{Tile|H|2:7:1}}: new [[Ambusher#Hunting|hunting]] report available
:{{Tile|S|3:7:1}}: new [[sparring]] report available

Press {{K|r}} to view the new reports in the [[DF2014:Reports#Combat|reports screen]]. Once you do so, the flags will be reset.

There is also an '''idle counter''', usually in the upper right, indicating how many dwarves are milling around uselessly, in need of something productive to do.

An '''[[FPS]] (Frames Per Second) counter''' may also be present on the screen if it has been enabled. It is disabled by default. See [[Frames per second]] for more information on what this counter means, as well as how to enable/disable it.

=== Command window ===
[[File:MainMenu.png|The command window.|frame]]
This is where key menus and most of the textual information about tiles and buildings is displayed. You can toggle it between single width, double width, and hidden using {{K|Tab}}. The double-width option is particularly useful when lines of text are too long to fit. Once you become familiar with the UI you may want to hide it completely; it will reappear as needed when you activate a command.

The most important interfaces that use the command window are listed below. Many of these encompass a wide variety of functionality so they will not be fully described here. See the linked articles for more details on how they are used.

== Your dwarves ==

Your [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are one of the creature types who implement your designs in-between periods of drinking, eating, partying, drinking again, sleeping, and entertaining themselves. While you do not have full control of your dwarves, you have more control over them than any other creatures. Be aware that it is not necessarily always the case that a dwarf is friendly; [[Insanity|insane]] dwarves, [[Werebeast|weredwarves]] or [[Vampire|vampires]] are anything but.

For a comprehensive reference, Reddit user DarxusC has done research on the minimum requirements to keep dwarves alive for long periods of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/cvdssa/a_video_showing_how_little_is_needed_to_survive/ here].

=== Eating, drinking, and sleeping ===
Dwarves need [[food]] to eat, [[alcohol]] to drink (water is a poor substitute), and time to [[sleep]]. If only one of these is available, it better be [[alcohol]]; while water will keep dwarves alive, they will actually work more slowly and get unhappy thoughts (see below) if they don't get much alcohol to drink.

Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to eat a single type of food or drink a single type of alcohol all the time, so variety is also important. Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to sleep on the floor.

=== Happiness ===
While going about their day, dwarves will get happy and unhappy [[thought]]s, depending on what sorts of things happen to them. This will nudge their happiness levels up or down each time one such event occurs to them. If they become too unhappy, they may throw [[tantrum]]s, or go completely [[Insanity|berserk]], killing and destroying things.

=== Children and immigration ===
Periodically, new dwarves from the outside world will [[Immigration|migrate]] to your fortress, drawn by tales of, and looking to share in, your wealth and success. Female dwarves will also get pregnant and have [[children]], if they are [[Marriage|married]] to a male dwarf.

=== Jobs, labors and skills ===
Any adult dwarf can perform any [[labor]] even if they have no [[skill]] in that area. Unskilled dwarves will simply be slow and not very good at what they are trying to do, but, with practice, dwarves will acquire skill, and become faster and better at their jobs. Lack of practice for long periods leads to skill "rust".

=== Nobles ===
[[Noble]]s are dwarves who have special positions within your fort. Some of these are appointed, such as your [[broker]] and [[bookkeeper]], but others, such as the [[mayor]], are essentially forced on you by conditions in the game. See the main article on [[Noble]]s for more information.

=== Death ===

Assuming they somehow manage to avoid starving, dehydrating, freezing, drowning, burning, falling, being crushed, or otherwise suffering fatal [[wound]]s or [[soap|infections]], your dwarves will inevitably [[Death|die]] of old age. Unfortunately, they are a bit picky about how they are [[Coffin|buried]] or otherwise [[Memorial|memorialized]], and they will [[Ghost|cause trouble]] if they are unsatisfied with their remembrance. Corpses lying around can also pose a hazard if there are [[Necromancer|necromancers]] in the area.

A [[Healthcare]] industry might help your wounded dwarves postpone death.

== Digging ==
{{Main|Mining}}

Digging is an essential part of building a fort. There are several reasons you might want to dig, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort.

All of the digging operations are considered [[Mining]]. Even if your goal is simply to dig out a passage and you don't care about extracting ore, your miners will be generating [[stone]] as a byproduct unless they are digging through [[soil]]. See [[Stone management]] for ways to deal with all the unwanted stone.

== Stockpiles ==
{{Main|Stockpile}}

'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] will store items of various types. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job on will seek out items that aren't already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to the appropriate stockpile. See the main [[Stockpile]] article for detailed information on setting up stockpiles.

== Rooms, furniture, and portals ==

To remove one of these, Click on the furniture Item, the press the remove build icon . This will mark the item for removal and a hauling job will be queued. Eventually a dwarf will show up and haul the item off to a [[stockpile]] if one exists.

=== Furniture ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}}
| place Bed
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}}
| place Chair or Throne (seat)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}}
| place Table
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|h|sep=-}}
| place Chest or Container
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|n|sep=-}}
| place Cabinet
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|x|sep=-}}
| place Burial Receptacle (coffin)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|l|sep=-}}
| place Memorial Slab
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|u|sep=-}}
| place Statue
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|T|sep=-}}
| place Traction Bench
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|o|sep=-}}
| place Book Case
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|y|sep=-}}
| place Display (Pedestal)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|p|sep=-}}
| place Offering Place (Alter)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|i|sep=-}}
| place Instrument
|}
Assuming that dwarves have already made a piece of [[furniture]], they can install it somewhere using one of these commands.

=== Defining rooms ===
{{Main|Room}}

Areas can be defined as a [[room]] using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones), some rooms may require specific pieces of furniture to function properly. The zones menu can also be used to undefine rooms, with or without removing the associated furniture.

=== Doors and hatches ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}
| place door
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|h|sep=-}}
| place floor hatch
|}
These commands allow you to place already created [[door]]s and [[hatch cover]]s assuming that you have an adjacent wall.

== Constructions ==
{{Main|Construction}}

[[Construction]]s are features that are built in place, rather than carved out of existing rock. Constructions are how you build above-ground structures or structures in any other place where there's no rock or soil to carve them out of.

Constructions are usually built out of, and thus require, [[stone]] or [[wood]], but you can also use a variety of materials (such as metal) to build them. Possible constructions include [[Floor]]s, [[Wall]]s, [[Stair]]s, [[Ramp]]s, and [[Fortification]]s. Some constructions may also require to be created in a workshop first before being able to place them down, such as [[Grate]].

=== Walls, floors, and stairs ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|sep=-}}
| build Constructions submenu
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|l|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Wall]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|f|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Floor]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|r|sep=-}}
| build Constructed upward [[Ramp]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|t|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Stair]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}
| build a [[bridge]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}}
| build Paved [[road]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|O|sep=-}}
| build Dirt road
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|F|sep=-}}
| build a [[Fortification]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|G|sep=-}}
| build a Wall [[grate]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|g|sep=-}}
| build a Floor grate
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|M|sep=-}}
| build a Vertical bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|m|sep=-}}
| build a Floor bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|y|sep=-}}
| build a Glass [[window]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|Y|sep=-}}
| build a Gem window
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|p|sep=-}}
| build a [[Support]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|k|sep=-}}
| build a [[Track]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|K|sep=-}}
| build a Track stop
|-
|}

Walls, Floors, and Stairs are removed with the {{Key|m}}ining menu and selecting {{Key|x}} Remove Construction. Bridges and roads are removed by selecting them and clicking the button in the top right corner.

=== Bridges ===

A [[Bridge]] is not only used to cross rivers or chasms, but can also be used as a large door when built as a drawbridge. Such use requires that a [[Lever]] be linked to it in order for dwarves to control its open or closed state.

=== Roads ===

[[Road]]s are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge, though they don't really require one. A paved road is much like a [[floor]] except that it requires fewer raw materials per tile to build. A dirt road requires no materials to build, but deteriorates over time.

=== Grates and Bars ===
[[Grates]] and bars are used to stop creatures for passing through, while still allowing liquids such as water and magma to. Bars are similar to grates, but they are made of metal instead of rock or wood and don't have to be built in a workshop first.

== Trading ==
{{Main|Trading}}

When you want to obtain things not available on your map, and you don't want to just kill people to get them, [[Trading]] is the way to go about it. See the main article for everything you ever wanted to know about legitimately and non-violently obtaining things from other creatures.

== Military and combat ==
{{Main|Military}}
:''See also: [[Military interface]]''

The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squads|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).

Setting up a military is a huge subject in and of itself, so check out the [[Military|main article]] on it and the [[military interface]] guide.

== Hospitals and healthcare ==
{{Main|Healthcare}}

Normally your dwarves do just fine assuming they get enough food and alcohol, but sometimes they get wounded. When this happens they can benefit from an efficient [[Healthcare]] system.

== Burrows ==
{{Main|Burrow}}

'''Burrows''' are optional user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. Dwarves will only use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc. in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow will still use workshops etc. even if they are located in a burrow assigned to some other dwarves.

Burrows are by no means required, but are useful when you want to restrict certain dwarves to certain areas of the map.

== Macros ==
{{Main|Macros and Keymaps}}

'''Macros''' allow recording sequences of keystrokes and "playing" them back into the user interface as desired. Since the game often requires using a lot of repetitive keystrokes, this can sometimes make life much easier. See the main article for full information.

== Reference sheet ==
A quick reference guide on fortress mode in DF can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8akafeuqfsxth7t/U-zOsO7pNr here.] '''Credit to spongemandan on reddit.com'''

It includes a reference sheet on the military, stone, agriculture and a summary reference sheet.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Dwarf fortress mode]]

Dwarf fortress mode

2023-02-04T16:20:25Z

Ghoul Some: keyboard shortcuts links to their pages, removed keyboard shortcuts that are already included in the constructions, changed grate explanation

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
: ''This is a detailed reference guide. For a beginner tutorial, see [[Quickstart guide]], see further [[tutorials]].''
:''[[Modding guide|Modding]] is not covered on this page.''

'''Fortress mode''' is the most popular of three modes in ''Dwarf Fortress'', with the other two being [[Adventurer mode]] and [[Legends mode]], often the mode implied when one talks about ''Dwarf Fortress''. Fortress mode is a construction and management simulation of a colony of dwarves. In fortress mode, you pick an [[embark]] location, and then assign your seven initial [[dwarves]] some starting [[Skill | skills]], equipment, provisions, and perhaps, [[animals]] to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers [[embark]], they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail; from geologically appropriate stone types, to roaring waterfalls, to, for example, ornery [[Hippo | hippopotami]]. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything, and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.

== Goals ==
Fortress mode is considered a [[wikipedia:Construction_and_management_simulation_games|construction and management simulation game]]. This entails that few goals are imposed upon the player by the game.

The most apparent goal is survival, as your endeavors at the chosen site will, [[Reclaim fortress mode|for the moment]], end if the last dwarf dies. With this comes the need to keep your dwarves happy, as unhappy dwarves will cultivate some very unhealthy (yet surprisingly [[Losing|Fun]]) habits like murdering their colleagues.

Another goal of sorts, programmed into the game, is creating a fortress that attracts the king/queen of your civilization. Therefore, players typically, but by no means necessarily, choose to expand into a thriving community with skilled [[Labor|workers]], [[military|battle-ready warriors]] and [[nobles]], creating ridiculous amounts of [[wealth|wealth]] like fine [[finished goods|crafts]], excellent armor, valuable [[furniture]], decorated with precious [[gem]]s, all the while protecting them from [[siege|foes]] with deadly [[trap]]s and a trained [[military]]. Avoiding imminent death also requires providing the dwarves with plenty of [[food]] and [[alcohol]], by way of [[farming|farms]] above and below ground, while [[clothing]] from [[leather]] or [[cloth]] will keep them happy.

Of course, every dwarf loves precious [[metal]]s, but the only way to find them is to [[mining|dig]]. Make sure you don't delve too greedily and too deep, for many creatures dwell in the [[caverns]] below...

== The world ==
To play ''Dwarf Fortress'' in fortress mode, you must generate a world that includes a dwarven civilization - see [[World generation]] for detailed instructions. After at least one world has been generated, you will be able to start the game. Only one game may be going on in a world at the same time.

=== Geographic features / Inhabitants / History ===
The main features of a world are [[biome]]s on the surface and [[stone layer]]s underground, some of which may contain [[aquifer]]s. Other surface features that are significant, but which aren't biomes, strictly speaking, are [[river]]s, [[volcano]]es, and [[cave]]s. There are also [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]]s everywhere underground which your dwarves will most likely encounter, but you can't see these on the world map, or on the local map, for that matter, until you dig into them. There may also be other [[Fun]] things underground that you can't see. You will have to find these on your own, if they exist.

Every playable world will be inhabited by various [[creature]]s, [[civilization]]s, [[night creature]]s, and [[megabeast]]s (including [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s) in addition to your dwarves. You may encounter all of these types of inhabitants at some point in the form of wildlife, invaders, or rampaging forces of nature.

Given that your world includes creatures and civilizations capable of independent action, it also has a history that is viewable in [[legends mode]], historical events showing up in [[engraving]]s and other artwork created by your dwarves. Historical dates are expressed in terms of the [[Calendar|dwarven calendar]].

You will also be making history as events occur in your fortress, and these events will be recorded for all time in the annals of your world, even if you'd rather that they not be. These events may later become the subject of various [[engraving]]s and [[decoration]]s created by your dwarves, or those in a later fortress.

== Embarking ==
{{Main|Embark}}
:''See also: [[Reclaim fortress mode]]''

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|250px|right|[[From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] – a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions most people will take after embarking.]]

Before starting to build a fortress, you must choose the embark location in the world, then assign skills and supplies to the seven dwarves on the expedition team you will embark with into that environment. This is the embarking process, and is a major subject on its own - see the [[Embark]] guide for all the details. Also see [[Starting build]] for more information on outfitting your expedition. After you embark, the real game begins.

== Gameplay user interface ==
{{Main|Interface}}
Your main view of the in-game world is a top-down view of a multi-layered environment. You can move your view in the four main cardinal directions as well as up and down [[Z-level]]s (elevation) to see different layers. There is also a command menu that lets you issue commands that your dutiful dwarves will attempt to follow.

This section covers most of the screens and user interface elements used after embarking, at least in brief. It does not necessarily tell you how to accomplish every task you might need to, but instead just describes what you see on the screen and what various keystrokes do.

Later sections in this document and ''many'' other articles on this wiki help you tie all of this together by describing the sequence of actions needed to accomplish various things in the game; see [[Menu]] for a more detailed reference for the UI itself.

=== Common UI concepts ===
{{KeyConventions|4}}

=== Pausing and resuming ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Space}}
| Pause/Unpause the game
|}

Entering all menus (except the {{K|s}}quads menu) will automatically pause the game, but if you want to pause or unpause the game without entering a menu use {{K|Space}}. You will see {{DFtext|*PAUSED*|3:3:1}} appear in the upper left corner of the window when the game is paused. Certain [[announcement]]s will also pause the game automatically and you will have to unpause it manually to proceed.

=== Main screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Image:Mouse-wheeldown.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel down.]][[Image:Mouse-wheelup.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel up.]] or {{K|[}} {{K|]}}
| Zoom in and out('['and ']' must be set manually in the key bindings)
|-
| {{k|Tab}}
| Toggle mini-map and command menu.
|-
| {{k|F11}}
| Toggle fullscreen mode
|}

The screen at the top level of the user interface hierarchy consists of the '''main map''', a '''command window''', and an '''overview mini-map''' area along with a few '''status indicators''' around the edge. While the main map is always visible at the top level of the UI, you can use the {{K|Tab}} key to show and hide the command window and overview map areas, giving you more space to view the main map if desired.

=== Options screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Esc}}
|
* Enter options menu (if at top level)
* Move back up one UI level (if not at top level)
|}

Assuming you are at the top level of the user interface looking at the map, you can hit {{K|Esc}} to enter the options menu.

*{{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}} – Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu screen. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
*{{DFtext|Save and continue playing}}
*{{DFtext|Retire the fortress (for the time being)}} – Saves and ends your control of the fort, giving limited control to the game. Most of the fortress remains as is, with citizens, livestock, and most items continuing to exist. Not always available, such as during [[siege]]s. After it saves and returns to the main menu you may start a new game in any mode including to [[Reclaim fortress mode|unretire]] the fortress.
*{{DFtext|Abandon the fortress to ruin}} (or {{DFtext|Succumb to Invasion}}) – This permanently [[abandon]]s the fortress, saves the map to the world's data files for later use, and returns to the main menu. Once you abandon a fort, all of your dwarves leave the site, all of your livestock dies, and all items including corpses will be scattered around the map before it is saved. This is how you "give up" on a fortress. You might later [[Reclaim fortress mode|reclaim]] the fortress with a new group of dwarves or visit it with an adventurer in [[Adventurer mode]].
*{{DFtext|Quit without saving}}
*{{DFtext|Settings}}
*{{DFtext|Return to game}} – Exits the options menu. You can also just press {{K|Esc}}.

=== Main map ===
[[File:bentgirder-embark.png|thumb|300px|Main map on the left, command window on the right.]]
[[Image:3_dimensions.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} ( + {{k|Shift}})
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|<}} {{k|>}}
| Move one [[Z-level]] up or down.
|-
| {{k|F1}}
| Zoom to starting location (default [[#Hotkeys|hotkey]])
|}
The main map window is what you will be looking at for the majority of the time. This is where all of the action happens.

While the play area itself is three-dimensional, the window is not; you can only view one [[Z-level]] at a time. You can change which Z-Level is currently displayed using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}.

On the far right side of the screen is the '''depth bar''' showing you the approximate depth, below or above ground, of the current [[Z-level]] that the map is displaying. This indicator is relative to the surface, so it will change if you move the map around an area with a non-flat surface, even if you don't press {{K|<}} or {{K|>}}.

==== Map cursor ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|Shift}} + direction key
| Move map cursor 10 tiles
|}

After entering a command that involves the map cursor ({{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}}), you can use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} as well as the numeric keypad keys to move the cursor around in all eight directions. If you hold {{k|Shift}} while pressing one of these, the cursor will move 10 tiles instead of one, enabling you to move it more quickly.

=== Overview map ===
The overview mini-map shows a compact version of the entire available map area. This can be useful especially if your embark zone is very large. After the fortress has settled into certain areas of the map, its utility decreases and it can be hidden with {{K|Tab}} to provide more space for the main map.

A cursor that looks like {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} on the overview map shows approximately what part of the map you are viewing in the main map window. Parts of the map inhabited by dwarves will be highlighted in blue.

=== Status indicators ===
In the upper left corner of the screen, you may see some '''report flags''' indicating that new combat-related [[Reports]] have been generated. Some common flags are:

:{{Tile|C|4:7:1}}: new [[combat]] report available
:{{Tile|H|2:7:1}}: new [[Ambusher#Hunting|hunting]] report available
:{{Tile|S|3:7:1}}: new [[sparring]] report available

Press {{K|r}} to view the new reports in the [[DF2014:Reports#Combat|reports screen]]. Once you do so, the flags will be reset.

There is also an '''idle counter''', usually in the upper right, indicating how many dwarves are milling around uselessly, in need of something productive to do.

An '''[[FPS]] (Frames Per Second) counter''' may also be present on the screen if it has been enabled. It is disabled by default. See [[Frames per second]] for more information on what this counter means, as well as how to enable/disable it.

=== Command window ===
[[File:MainMenu.png|The command window.|frame]]
This is where key menus and most of the textual information about tiles and buildings is displayed. You can toggle it between single width, double width, and hidden using {{K|Tab}}. The double-width option is particularly useful when lines of text are too long to fit. Once you become familiar with the UI you may want to hide it completely; it will reappear as needed when you activate a command.

The most important interfaces that use the command window are listed below. Many of these encompass a wide variety of functionality so they will not be fully described here. See the linked articles for more details on how they are used.

== Your dwarves ==

Your [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are one of the creature types who implement your designs in-between periods of drinking, eating, partying, drinking again, sleeping, and entertaining themselves. While you do not have full control of your dwarves, you have more control over them than any other creatures. Be aware that it is not necessarily always the case that a dwarf is friendly; [[Insanity|insane]] dwarves, [[Werebeast|weredwarves]] or [[Vampire|vampires]] are anything but.

For a comprehensive reference, Reddit user DarxusC has done research on the minimum requirements to keep dwarves alive for long periods of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/cvdssa/a_video_showing_how_little_is_needed_to_survive/ here].

=== Eating, drinking, and sleeping ===
Dwarves need [[food]] to eat, [[alcohol]] to drink (water is a poor substitute), and time to [[sleep]]. If only one of these is available, it better be [[alcohol]]; while water will keep dwarves alive, they will actually work more slowly and get unhappy thoughts (see below) if they don't get much alcohol to drink.

Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to eat a single type of food or drink a single type of alcohol all the time, so variety is also important. Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to sleep on the floor.

=== Happiness ===
While going about their day, dwarves will get happy and unhappy [[thought]]s, depending on what sorts of things happen to them. This will nudge their happiness levels up or down each time one such event occurs to them. If they become too unhappy, they may throw [[tantrum]]s, or go completely [[Insanity|berserk]], killing and destroying things.

=== Children and immigration ===
Periodically, new dwarves from the outside world will [[Immigration|migrate]] to your fortress, drawn by tales of, and looking to share in, your wealth and success. Female dwarves will also get pregnant and have [[children]], if they are [[Marriage|married]] to a male dwarf.

=== Jobs, labors and skills ===
Any adult dwarf can perform any [[labor]] even if they have no [[skill]] in that area. Unskilled dwarves will simply be slow and not very good at what they are trying to do, but, with practice, dwarves will acquire skill, and become faster and better at their jobs. Lack of practice for long periods leads to skill "rust".

=== Nobles ===
[[Noble]]s are dwarves who have special positions within your fort. Some of these are appointed, such as your [[broker]] and [[bookkeeper]], but others, such as the [[mayor]], are essentially forced on you by conditions in the game. See the main article on [[Noble]]s for more information.

=== Death ===

Assuming they somehow manage to avoid starving, dehydrating, freezing, drowning, burning, falling, being crushed, or otherwise suffering fatal [[wound]]s or [[soap|infections]], your dwarves will inevitably [[Death|die]] of old age. Unfortunately, they are a bit picky about how they are [[Coffin|buried]] or otherwise [[Memorial|memorialized]], and they will [[Ghost|cause trouble]] if they are unsatisfied with their remembrance. Corpses lying around can also pose a hazard if there are [[Necromancer|necromancers]] in the area.

A [[Healthcare]] industry might help your wounded dwarves postpone death.

== Digging ==
{{Main|Mining}}

Digging is an essential part of building a fort. There are several reasons you might want to dig, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort.

All of the digging operations are considered [[Mining]]. Even if your goal is simply to dig out a passage and you don't care about extracting ore, your miners will be generating [[stone]] as a byproduct unless they are digging through [[soil]]. See [[Stone management]] for ways to deal with all the unwanted stone.

== Stockpiles ==
{{Main|Stockpile}}

'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] will store items of various types. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job on will seek out items that aren't already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to the appropriate stockpile. See the main [[Stockpile]] article for detailed information on setting up stockpiles.

== Rooms, furniture, and portals ==

To remove one of these, Click on the furniture Item, the press the remove build icon . This will mark the item for removal and a hauling job will be queued. Eventually a dwarf will show up and haul the item off to a [[stockpile]] if one exists.

=== Furniture ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}}
| place Bed
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}}
| place Chair or Throne (seat)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}}
| place Table
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|h|sep=-}}
| place Chest or Container
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|n|sep=-}}
| place Cabinet
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|x|sep=-}}
| place Burial Receptacle (coffin)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|l|sep=-}}
| place Memorial Slab
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|u|sep=-}}
| place Statue
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|T|sep=-}}
| place Traction Bench
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|o|sep=-}}
| place Book Case
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|y|sep=-}}
| place Display (Pedestal)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|p|sep=-}}
| place Offering Place (Alter)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|i|sep=-}}
| place Instrument
|}
Assuming that dwarves have already made a piece of [[furniture]], they can install it somewhere using one of these commands.

=== Defining rooms ===
{{Main|Room}}

Areas can be defined as a [[room]] using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones), some rooms may require specific pieces of furniture to function properly. The zones menu can also be used to undefine rooms, with or without removing the associated furniture.

=== Doors and hatches ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}
| place door
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|h|sep=-}}
| place floor hatch
|}
These commands allow you to place already created [[door]]s and [[hatch cover]]s assuming that you have an adjacent wall.

== Constructions ==
{{Main|Construction}}

[[Construction]]s are features that are built in place, rather than carved out of existing rock. Constructions are how you build above-ground structures or structures in any other place where there's no rock or soil to carve them out of.

Constructions are usually built out of, and thus require, [[stone]] or [[wood]], but you can also use a variety of materials (such as metal) to build them. Possible constructions include [[Floor]]s, [[Wall]]s, [[Stair]]s, [[Ramp]]s, and [[Fortification]]s. Some constructions may also require to be created in a workshop first before being able to place them down, such as [[Grate]].

=== Walls, floors, and stairs ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|sep=-}}
| build Constructions submenu
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|l|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Wall]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|f|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Floor]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|r|sep=-}}
| build Constructed upward [[Ramp]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|t|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Stair]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}
| build a [[bridge]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}}
| build Paved [[road]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|O|sep=-}}
| build Dirt road
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|F|sep=-}}
| build a [[Fortification]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|G|sep=-}}
| build a Wall [[grate]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|g|sep=-}}
| build a Floor grate
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|M|sep=-}}
| build a Vertical bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|m|sep=-}}
| build a Floor bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|y|sep=-}}
| build a Glass [[window]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|Y|sep=-}}
| build a Gem window
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|p|sep=-}}
| build a [[Support]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|k|sep=-}}
| build a [[Track]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|K|sep=-}}
| build a Track stop
|-
|}

Walls, Floors, and Stairs are removed with {{K|d}}-{{K|n}}. Bridges and roads are removed with {{K|q}}.

=== Bridges ===

A [[Bridge]] is not only used to cross rivers or chasms, but can also be used as a large door when built as a drawbridge. Such use requires that a [[Lever]] be linked to it in order for dwarves to control its open or closed state.

=== Roads ===

[[Road]]s are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge, though they don't really require one. A paved road is much like a [[floor]] except that it requires fewer raw materials per tile to build. A dirt road requires no materials to build, but deteriorates over time.

=== Grates and Bars ===
[[Grates]] and bars are used to stop creatures for passing through, while still allowing liquids such as water and magma to. Bars are similar to grates, but they are made of metal instead of rock or wood and don't have to be built in a workshop first.

== Trading ==
{{Main|Trading}}

When you want to obtain things not available on your map, and you don't want to just kill people to get them, [[Trading]] is the way to go about it. See the main article for everything you ever wanted to know about legitimately and non-violently obtaining things from other creatures.

== Military and combat ==
{{Main|Military}}
:''See also: [[Military interface]]''

The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squads|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).

Setting up a military is a huge subject in and of itself, so check out the [[Military|main article]] on it and the [[military interface]] guide.

== Hospitals and healthcare ==
{{Main|Healthcare}}

Normally your dwarves do just fine assuming they get enough food and alcohol, but sometimes they get wounded. When this happens they can benefit from an efficient [[Healthcare]] system.

== Burrows ==
{{Main|Burrow}}

'''Burrows''' are optional user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. Dwarves will only use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc. in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow will still use workshops etc. even if they are located in a burrow assigned to some other dwarves.

Burrows are by no means required, but are useful when you want to restrict certain dwarves to certain areas of the map.

== Macros ==
{{Main|Macros and Keymaps}}

'''Macros''' allow recording sequences of keystrokes and "playing" them back into the user interface as desired. Since the game often requires using a lot of repetitive keystrokes, this can sometimes make life much easier. See the main article for full information.

== Reference sheet ==
A quick reference guide on fortress mode in DF can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8akafeuqfsxth7t/U-zOsO7pNr here.] '''Credit to spongemandan on reddit.com'''

It includes a reference sheet on the military, stone, agriculture and a summary reference sheet.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Dwarf fortress mode]]

Dwarf fortress mode

2023-02-02T17:25:52Z

Ghoul Some: Updated to include all the options in the Constructions menu menu

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
: ''This is a detailed reference guide. For a beginner tutorial, see [[Quickstart guide]], see further [[tutorials]].''
:''[[Modding guide|Modding]] is not covered on this page.''

'''Fortress mode''' is the most popular of three modes in ''Dwarf Fortress'', with the other two being [[Adventurer mode]] and [[Legends mode]], often the mode implied when one talks about ''Dwarf Fortress''. Fortress mode is a construction and management simulation of a colony of dwarves. In fortress mode, you pick an [[embark]] location, and then assign your seven initial [[dwarves]] some starting [[Skill | skills]], equipment, provisions, and perhaps, [[animals]] to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers [[embark]], they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail; from geologically appropriate stone types, to roaring waterfalls, to, for example, ornery [[Hippo | hippopotami]]. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything, and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.

== Goals ==
Fortress mode is considered a [[wikipedia:Construction_and_management_simulation_games|construction and management simulation game]]. This entails that few goals are imposed upon the player by the game.

The most apparent goal is survival, as your endeavors at the chosen site will, [[Reclaim fortress mode|for the moment]], end if the last dwarf dies. With this comes the need to keep your dwarves happy, as unhappy dwarves will cultivate some very unhealthy (yet surprisingly [[Losing|Fun]]) habits like murdering their colleagues.

Another goal of sorts, programmed into the game, is creating a fortress that attracts the king/queen of your civilization. Therefore, players typically, but by no means necessarily, choose to expand into a thriving community with skilled [[Labor|workers]], [[military|battle-ready warriors]] and [[nobles]], creating ridiculous amounts of [[wealth|wealth]] like fine [[finished goods|crafts]], excellent armor, valuable [[furniture]], decorated with precious [[gem]]s, all the while protecting them from [[siege|foes]] with deadly [[trap]]s and a trained [[military]]. Avoiding imminent death also requires providing the dwarves with plenty of [[food]] and [[alcohol]], by way of [[farming|farms]] above and below ground, while [[clothing]] from [[leather]] or [[cloth]] will keep them happy.

Of course, every dwarf loves precious [[metal]]s, but the only way to find them is to [[mining|dig]]. Make sure you don't delve too greedily and too deep, for many creatures dwell in the [[caverns]] below...

== The world ==
To play ''Dwarf Fortress'' in fortress mode, you must generate a world that includes a dwarven civilization - see [[World generation]] for detailed instructions. After at least one world has been generated, you will be able to start the game. Only one game may be going on in a world at the same time.

=== Geographic features / Inhabitants / History ===
The main features of a world are [[biome]]s on the surface and [[stone layer]]s underground, some of which may contain [[aquifer]]s. Other surface features that are significant, but which aren't biomes, strictly speaking, are [[river]]s, [[volcano]]es, and [[cave]]s. There are also [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]]s everywhere underground which your dwarves will most likely encounter, but you can't see these on the world map, or on the local map, for that matter, until you dig into them. There may also be other [[Fun]] things underground that you can't see. You will have to find these on your own, if they exist.

Every playable world will be inhabited by various [[creature]]s, [[civilization]]s, [[night creature]]s, and [[megabeast]]s (including [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s) in addition to your dwarves. You may encounter all of these types of inhabitants at some point in the form of wildlife, invaders, or rampaging forces of nature.

Given that your world includes creatures and civilizations capable of independent action, it also has a history that is viewable in [[legends mode]], historical events showing up in [[engraving]]s and other artwork created by your dwarves. Historical dates are expressed in terms of the [[Calendar|dwarven calendar]].

You will also be making history as events occur in your fortress, and these events will be recorded for all time in the annals of your world, even if you'd rather that they not be. These events may later become the subject of various [[engraving]]s and [[decoration]]s created by your dwarves, or those in a later fortress.

== Embarking ==
{{Main|Embark}}
:''See also: [[Reclaim fortress mode]]''

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|250px|right|[[From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] – a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions most people will take after embarking.]]

Before starting to build a fortress, you must choose the embark location in the world, then assign skills and supplies to the seven dwarves on the expedition team you will embark with into that environment. This is the embarking process, and is a major subject on its own - see the [[Embark]] guide for all the details. Also see [[Starting build]] for more information on outfitting your expedition. After you embark, the real game begins.

== Gameplay user interface ==
{{Main|Interface}}
Your main view of the in-game world is a top-down view of a multi-layered environment. You can move your view in the four main cardinal directions as well as up and down [[Z-level]]s (elevation) to see different layers. There is also a command menu that lets you issue commands that your dutiful dwarves will attempt to follow.

This section covers most of the screens and user interface elements used after embarking, at least in brief. It does not necessarily tell you how to accomplish every task you might need to, but instead just describes what you see on the screen and what various keystrokes do.

Later sections in this document and ''many'' other articles on this wiki help you tie all of this together by describing the sequence of actions needed to accomplish various things in the game; see [[Menu]] for a more detailed reference for the UI itself.

=== Common UI concepts ===
{{KeyConventions|4}}

=== Pausing and resuming ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Space}}
| Pause/Unpause the game
|}

Entering all menus (except the {{K|s}}quads menu) will automatically pause the game, but if you want to pause or unpause the game without entering a menu use {{K|Space}}. You will see {{DFtext|*PAUSED*|3:3:1}} appear in the upper left corner of the window when the game is paused. Certain [[announcement]]s will also pause the game automatically and you will have to unpause it manually to proceed.

=== Main screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Image:Mouse-wheeldown.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel down.]][[Image:Mouse-wheelup.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel up.]] or {{K|[}} {{K|]}}
| Zoom in and out('['and ']' must be set manually in the key bindings)
|-
| {{k|Tab}}
| Toggle mini-map and command menu.
|-
| {{k|F11}}
| Toggle fullscreen mode
|}

The screen at the top level of the user interface hierarchy consists of the '''main map''', a '''command window''', and an '''overview mini-map''' area along with a few '''status indicators''' around the edge. While the main map is always visible at the top level of the UI, you can use the {{K|Tab}} key to show and hide the command window and overview map areas, giving you more space to view the main map if desired.

=== Options screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Esc}}
|
* Enter options menu (if at top level)
* Move back up one UI level (if not at top level)
|}

Assuming you are at the top level of the user interface looking at the map, you can hit {{K|Esc}} to enter the options menu.

*{{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}} – Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu screen. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
*{{DFtext|Save and continue playing}}
*{{DFtext|Retire the fortress (for the time being)}} – Saves and ends your control of the fort, giving limited control to the game. Most of the fortress remains as is, with citizens, livestock, and most items continuing to exist. Not always available, such as during [[siege]]s. After it saves and returns to the main menu you may start a new game in any mode including to [[Reclaim fortress mode|unretire]] the fortress.
*{{DFtext|Abandon the fortress to ruin}} (or {{DFtext|Succumb to Invasion}}) – This permanently [[abandon]]s the fortress, saves the map to the world's data files for later use, and returns to the main menu. Once you abandon a fort, all of your dwarves leave the site, all of your livestock dies, and all items including corpses will be scattered around the map before it is saved. This is how you "give up" on a fortress. You might later [[Reclaim fortress mode|reclaim]] the fortress with a new group of dwarves or visit it with an adventurer in [[Adventurer mode]].
*{{DFtext|Quit without saving}}
*{{DFtext|Settings}}
*{{DFtext|Return to game}} – Exits the options menu. You can also just press {{K|Esc}}.

=== Main map ===
[[File:bentgirder-embark.png|thumb|300px|Main map on the left, command window on the right.]]
[[Image:3_dimensions.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} ( + {{k|Shift}})
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|<}} {{k|>}}
| Move one [[Z-level]] up or down.
|-
| {{k|F1}}
| Zoom to starting location (default [[#Hotkeys|hotkey]])
|}
The main map window is what you will be looking at for the majority of the time. This is where all of the action happens.

While the play area itself is three-dimensional, the window is not; you can only view one [[Z-level]] at a time. You can change which Z-Level is currently displayed using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}.

On the far right side of the screen is the '''depth bar''' showing you the approximate depth, below or above ground, of the current [[Z-level]] that the map is displaying. This indicator is relative to the surface, so it will change if you move the map around an area with a non-flat surface, even if you don't press {{K|<}} or {{K|>}}.

==== Map cursor ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|Shift}} + direction key
| Move map cursor 10 tiles
|}

After entering a command that involves the map cursor ({{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}}), you can use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} as well as the numeric keypad keys to move the cursor around in all eight directions. If you hold {{k|Shift}} while pressing one of these, the cursor will move 10 tiles instead of one, enabling you to move it more quickly.

=== Overview map ===
The overview mini-map shows a compact version of the entire available map area. This can be useful especially if your embark zone is very large. After the fortress has settled into certain areas of the map, its utility decreases and it can be hidden with {{K|Tab}} to provide more space for the main map.

A cursor that looks like {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} on the overview map shows approximately what part of the map you are viewing in the main map window. Parts of the map inhabited by dwarves will be highlighted in blue.

=== Status indicators ===
In the upper left corner of the screen, you may see some '''report flags''' indicating that new combat-related [[Reports]] have been generated. Some common flags are:

:{{Tile|C|4:7:1}}: new [[combat]] report available
:{{Tile|H|2:7:1}}: new [[Ambusher#Hunting|hunting]] report available
:{{Tile|S|3:7:1}}: new [[sparring]] report available

Press {{K|r}} to view the new reports in the [[DF2014:Reports#Combat|reports screen]]. Once you do so, the flags will be reset.

There is also an '''idle counter''', usually in the upper right, indicating how many dwarves are milling around uselessly, in need of something productive to do.

An '''[[FPS]] (Frames Per Second) counter''' may also be present on the screen if it has been enabled. It is disabled by default. See [[Frames per second]] for more information on what this counter means, as well as how to enable/disable it.

=== Command window ===
[[File:MainMenu.png|The command window.|frame]]
This is where key menus and most of the textual information about tiles and buildings is displayed. You can toggle it between single width, double width, and hidden using {{K|Tab}}. The double-width option is particularly useful when lines of text are too long to fit. Once you become familiar with the UI you may want to hide it completely; it will reappear as needed when you activate a command.

The most important interfaces that use the command window are listed below. Many of these encompass a wide variety of functionality so they will not be fully described here. See the linked articles for more details on how they are used.

== Your dwarves ==

Your [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are one of the creature types who implement your designs in-between periods of drinking, eating, partying, drinking again, sleeping, and entertaining themselves. While you do not have full control of your dwarves, you have more control over them than any other creatures. Be aware that it is not necessarily always the case that a dwarf is friendly; [[Insanity|insane]] dwarves, [[Werebeast|weredwarves]] or [[Vampire|vampires]] are anything but.

For a comprehensive reference, Reddit user DarxusC has done research on the minimum requirements to keep dwarves alive for long periods of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/cvdssa/a_video_showing_how_little_is_needed_to_survive/ here].

=== Eating, drinking, and sleeping ===
Dwarves need [[food]] to eat, [[alcohol]] to drink (water is a poor substitute), and time to [[sleep]]. If only one of these is available, it better be [[alcohol]]; while water will keep dwarves alive, they will actually work more slowly and get unhappy thoughts (see below) if they don't get much alcohol to drink.

Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to eat a single type of food or drink a single type of alcohol all the time, so variety is also important. Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to sleep on the floor.

=== Happiness ===
While going about their day, dwarves will get happy and unhappy [[thought]]s, depending on what sorts of things happen to them. This will nudge their happiness levels up or down each time one such event occurs to them. If they become too unhappy, they may throw [[tantrum]]s, or go completely [[Insanity|berserk]], killing and destroying things.

=== Children and immigration ===
Periodically, new dwarves from the outside world will [[Immigration|migrate]] to your fortress, drawn by tales of, and looking to share in, your wealth and success. Female dwarves will also get pregnant and have [[children]], if they are [[Marriage|married]] to a male dwarf.

=== Jobs, labors and skills ===
Any adult dwarf can perform any [[labor]] even if they have no [[skill]] in that area. Unskilled dwarves will simply be slow and not very good at what they are trying to do, but, with practice, dwarves will acquire skill, and become faster and better at their jobs. Lack of practice for long periods leads to skill "rust".

=== Nobles ===
[[Noble]]s are dwarves who have special positions within your fort. Some of these are appointed, such as your [[broker]] and [[bookkeeper]], but others, such as the [[mayor]], are essentially forced on you by conditions in the game. See the main article on [[Noble]]s for more information.

=== Death ===

Assuming they somehow manage to avoid starving, dehydrating, freezing, drowning, burning, falling, being crushed, or otherwise suffering fatal [[wound]]s or [[soap|infections]], your dwarves will inevitably [[Death|die]] of old age. Unfortunately, they are a bit picky about how they are [[Coffin|buried]] or otherwise [[Memorial|memorialized]], and they will [[Ghost|cause trouble]] if they are unsatisfied with their remembrance. Corpses lying around can also pose a hazard if there are [[Necromancer|necromancers]] in the area.

A [[Healthcare]] industry might help your wounded dwarves postpone death.

== Digging ==
{{Main|Mining}}

Digging is an essential part of building a fort. There are several reasons you might want to dig, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort.

All of the digging operations are considered [[Mining]]. Even if your goal is simply to dig out a passage and you don't care about extracting ore, your miners will be generating [[stone]] as a byproduct unless they are digging through [[soil]]. See [[Stone management]] for ways to deal with all the unwanted stone.

== Stockpiles ==
{{Main|Stockpile}}

'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] will store items of various types. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job on will seek out items that aren't already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to the appropriate stockpile. See the main [[Stockpile]] article for detailed information on setting up stockpiles.

== Rooms, furniture, and portals ==

To remove one of these, Click on the furniture Item, the press the remove build icon . This will mark the item for removal and a hauling job will be queued. Eventually a dwarf will show up and haul the item off to a [[stockpile]] if one exists.

=== Furniture ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}}
| place Bed
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}}
| place Chair or Throne (seat)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}}
| place Table
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|h|sep=-}}
| place Chest or Container
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|n|sep=-}}
| place Cabinet
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|x|sep=-}}
| place Burial Receptacle (coffin)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|l|sep=-}}
| place Memorial Slab
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|u|sep=-}}
| place Statue
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|T|sep=-}}
| place Traction Bench
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|o|sep=-}}
| place Book Case
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|y|sep=-}}
| place Display (Pedestal)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|p|sep=-}}
| place Offering Place (Alter)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|i|sep=-}}
| place Instrument
|}
Assuming that dwarves have already made a piece of [[furniture]], they can install it somewhere using one of these commands.

=== Defining rooms ===
{{Main|Room}}

Areas can be defined as a [[room]] using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones), some rooms may require specific pieces of furniture to function properly. The zones menu can also be used to undefine rooms, with or without removing the associated furniture.

=== Doors and hatches ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}
| place door
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|h|sep=-}}
| place floor hatch
|}
These commands allow you to place already created [[door]]s and [[hatch cover]]s assuming that you have an adjacent wall.

=== Windows, grates, and bars ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|W}}
| place wall grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|G}}
| place floor grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|B}}
| place vertical bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Alt}}+{{K|b}}
| place floor bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|y}}
| place glass window
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Y}}
| place gem window
|}
These commands allow you to install [[window]]s, [[grate]]s, and [[bars]] over openings, assuming that you have already created them.

== Constructions ==
{{Main|Construction}}

[[Construction]]s are features that are built in place rather than created in a workshop and installed or carved out of existing rock. Constructions are how you build above-ground structures or structures in any other place where there's no rock or soil to carve them out of.

Constructions are usually built out of, and thus require, [[stone]] or [[wood]], but you can also use a variety of materials (such as metal) to build them. Possible constructions include [[Floor]]s, [[Wall]]s, [[Stair]]s, [[Ramp]]s, and [[Fortification]]s.

=== Walls, floors, and stairs ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|sep=-}}
| build Constructions submenu
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|l|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Wall]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|f|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Floor]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|r|sep=-}}
| build Constructed upward [[Ramp]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|t|sep=-}}
| build Constructed [[Stair]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}
| build a bridge
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}}
| build Paved road
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|O|sep=-}}
| build Dirt road
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|F|sep=-}}
| build a [[Fortification]]
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|G|sep=-}}
| build a Wall grate
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|g|sep=-}}
| build a Floor grate
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|M|sep=-}}
| build a Vertical bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|m|sep=-}}
| build a Floor bar
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|y|sep=-}}
| build a Glass window
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|Y|sep=-}}
| build a Gem window
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|p|sep=-}}
| build a Support
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|k|sep=-}}
| build a Track
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|n|K|sep=-}}
| build a Track stop
|-
|}

Walls, Floors, and Stairs are removed with {{K|d}}-{{K|n}}. Bridges and roads are removed with {{K|q}}.

=== Bridges ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|g}}
| build a bridge
|}
A [[Bridge]] is not only used to cross rivers or chasms, but can also be used as a large door when built as a drawbridge. Such use requires that a [[Lever]] be linked to it in order for dwarves to control its open or closed state.

=== Roads ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|o}}
| build Paved road
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|O}}
| build Dirt road
|}
[[Road]]s are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge, though they don't really require one. A paved road is much like a [[floor]] except that it requires fewer raw materials per tile to build. A dirt road requires no materials to build, but deteriorates over time.

== Trading ==
{{Main|Trading}}

When you want to obtain things not available on your map, and you don't want to just kill people to get them, [[Trading]] is the way to go about it. See the main article for everything you ever wanted to know about legitimately and non-violently obtaining things from other creatures.

== Military and combat ==
{{Main|Military}}
:''See also: [[Military interface]]''

The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squads|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).

Setting up a military is a huge subject in and of itself, so check out the [[Military|main article]] on it and the [[military interface]] guide.

== Hospitals and healthcare ==
{{Main|Healthcare}}

Normally your dwarves do just fine assuming they get enough food and alcohol, but sometimes they get wounded. When this happens they can benefit from an efficient [[Healthcare]] system.

== Burrows ==
{{Main|Burrow}}

'''Burrows''' are optional user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. Dwarves will only use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc. in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow will still use workshops etc. even if they are located in a burrow assigned to some other dwarves.

Burrows are by no means required, but are useful when you want to restrict certain dwarves to certain areas of the map.

== Macros ==
{{Main|Macros and Keymaps}}

'''Macros''' allow recording sequences of keystrokes and "playing" them back into the user interface as desired. Since the game often requires using a lot of repetitive keystrokes, this can sometimes make life much easier. See the main article for full information.

== Reference sheet ==
A quick reference guide on fortress mode in DF can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8akafeuqfsxth7t/U-zOsO7pNr here.] '''Credit to spongemandan on reddit.com'''

It includes a reference sheet on the military, stone, agriculture and a summary reference sheet.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Dwarf fortress mode]]

Dwarf fortress mode

2023-02-02T17:12:44Z

Ghoul Some: updated "Defining rooms" to how they work in the current version

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
: ''This is a detailed reference guide. For a beginner tutorial, see [[Quickstart guide]], see further [[tutorials]].''
:''[[Modding guide|Modding]] is not covered on this page.''

'''Fortress mode''' is the most popular of three modes in ''Dwarf Fortress'', with the other two being [[Adventurer mode]] and [[Legends mode]], often the mode implied when one talks about ''Dwarf Fortress''. Fortress mode is a construction and management simulation of a colony of dwarves. In fortress mode, you pick an [[embark]] location, and then assign your seven initial [[dwarves]] some starting [[Skill | skills]], equipment, provisions, and perhaps, [[animals]] to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers [[embark]], they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail; from geologically appropriate stone types, to roaring waterfalls, to, for example, ornery [[Hippo | hippopotami]]. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything, and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.

== Goals ==
Fortress mode is considered a [[wikipedia:Construction_and_management_simulation_games|construction and management simulation game]]. This entails that few goals are imposed upon the player by the game.

The most apparent goal is survival, as your endeavors at the chosen site will, [[Reclaim fortress mode|for the moment]], end if the last dwarf dies. With this comes the need to keep your dwarves happy, as unhappy dwarves will cultivate some very unhealthy (yet surprisingly [[Losing|Fun]]) habits like murdering their colleagues.

Another goal of sorts, programmed into the game, is creating a fortress that attracts the king/queen of your civilization. Therefore, players typically, but by no means necessarily, choose to expand into a thriving community with skilled [[Labor|workers]], [[military|battle-ready warriors]] and [[nobles]], creating ridiculous amounts of [[wealth|wealth]] like fine [[finished goods|crafts]], excellent armor, valuable [[furniture]], decorated with precious [[gem]]s, all the while protecting them from [[siege|foes]] with deadly [[trap]]s and a trained [[military]]. Avoiding imminent death also requires providing the dwarves with plenty of [[food]] and [[alcohol]], by way of [[farming|farms]] above and below ground, while [[clothing]] from [[leather]] or [[cloth]] will keep them happy.

Of course, every dwarf loves precious [[metal]]s, but the only way to find them is to [[mining|dig]]. Make sure you don't delve too greedily and too deep, for many creatures dwell in the [[caverns]] below...

== The world ==
To play ''Dwarf Fortress'' in fortress mode, you must generate a world that includes a dwarven civilization - see [[World generation]] for detailed instructions. After at least one world has been generated, you will be able to start the game. Only one game may be going on in a world at the same time.

=== Geographic features / Inhabitants / History ===
The main features of a world are [[biome]]s on the surface and [[stone layer]]s underground, some of which may contain [[aquifer]]s. Other surface features that are significant, but which aren't biomes, strictly speaking, are [[river]]s, [[volcano]]es, and [[cave]]s. There are also [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]]s everywhere underground which your dwarves will most likely encounter, but you can't see these on the world map, or on the local map, for that matter, until you dig into them. There may also be other [[Fun]] things underground that you can't see. You will have to find these on your own, if they exist.

Every playable world will be inhabited by various [[creature]]s, [[civilization]]s, [[night creature]]s, and [[megabeast]]s (including [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s) in addition to your dwarves. You may encounter all of these types of inhabitants at some point in the form of wildlife, invaders, or rampaging forces of nature.

Given that your world includes creatures and civilizations capable of independent action, it also has a history that is viewable in [[legends mode]], historical events showing up in [[engraving]]s and other artwork created by your dwarves. Historical dates are expressed in terms of the [[Calendar|dwarven calendar]].

You will also be making history as events occur in your fortress, and these events will be recorded for all time in the annals of your world, even if you'd rather that they not be. These events may later become the subject of various [[engraving]]s and [[decoration]]s created by your dwarves, or those in a later fortress.

== Embarking ==
{{Main|Embark}}
:''See also: [[Reclaim fortress mode]]''

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|250px|right|[[From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] – a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions most people will take after embarking.]]

Before starting to build a fortress, you must choose the embark location in the world, then assign skills and supplies to the seven dwarves on the expedition team you will embark with into that environment. This is the embarking process, and is a major subject on its own - see the [[Embark]] guide for all the details. Also see [[Starting build]] for more information on outfitting your expedition. After you embark, the real game begins.

== Gameplay user interface ==
{{Main|Interface}}
Your main view of the in-game world is a top-down view of a multi-layered environment. You can move your view in the four main cardinal directions as well as up and down [[Z-level]]s (elevation) to see different layers. There is also a command menu that lets you issue commands that your dutiful dwarves will attempt to follow.

This section covers most of the screens and user interface elements used after embarking, at least in brief. It does not necessarily tell you how to accomplish every task you might need to, but instead just describes what you see on the screen and what various keystrokes do.

Later sections in this document and ''many'' other articles on this wiki help you tie all of this together by describing the sequence of actions needed to accomplish various things in the game; see [[Menu]] for a more detailed reference for the UI itself.

=== Common UI concepts ===
{{KeyConventions|4}}

=== Pausing and resuming ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Space}}
| Pause/Unpause the game
|}

Entering all menus (except the {{K|s}}quads menu) will automatically pause the game, but if you want to pause or unpause the game without entering a menu use {{K|Space}}. You will see {{DFtext|*PAUSED*|3:3:1}} appear in the upper left corner of the window when the game is paused. Certain [[announcement]]s will also pause the game automatically and you will have to unpause it manually to proceed.

=== Main screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Image:Mouse-wheeldown.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel down.]][[Image:Mouse-wheelup.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel up.]] or {{K|[}} {{K|]}}
| Zoom in and out('['and ']' must be set manually in the key bindings)
|-
| {{k|Tab}}
| Toggle mini-map and command menu.
|-
| {{k|F11}}
| Toggle fullscreen mode
|}

The screen at the top level of the user interface hierarchy consists of the '''main map''', a '''command window''', and an '''overview mini-map''' area along with a few '''status indicators''' around the edge. While the main map is always visible at the top level of the UI, you can use the {{K|Tab}} key to show and hide the command window and overview map areas, giving you more space to view the main map if desired.

=== Options screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Esc}}
|
* Enter options menu (if at top level)
* Move back up one UI level (if not at top level)
|}

Assuming you are at the top level of the user interface looking at the map, you can hit {{K|Esc}} to enter the options menu.

*{{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}} – Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu screen. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
*{{DFtext|Save and continue playing}}
*{{DFtext|Retire the fortress (for the time being)}} – Saves and ends your control of the fort, giving limited control to the game. Most of the fortress remains as is, with citizens, livestock, and most items continuing to exist. Not always available, such as during [[siege]]s. After it saves and returns to the main menu you may start a new game in any mode including to [[Reclaim fortress mode|unretire]] the fortress.
*{{DFtext|Abandon the fortress to ruin}} (or {{DFtext|Succumb to Invasion}}) – This permanently [[abandon]]s the fortress, saves the map to the world's data files for later use, and returns to the main menu. Once you abandon a fort, all of your dwarves leave the site, all of your livestock dies, and all items including corpses will be scattered around the map before it is saved. This is how you "give up" on a fortress. You might later [[Reclaim fortress mode|reclaim]] the fortress with a new group of dwarves or visit it with an adventurer in [[Adventurer mode]].
*{{DFtext|Quit without saving}}
*{{DFtext|Settings}}
*{{DFtext|Return to game}} – Exits the options menu. You can also just press {{K|Esc}}.

=== Main map ===
[[File:bentgirder-embark.png|thumb|300px|Main map on the left, command window on the right.]]
[[Image:3_dimensions.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} ( + {{k|Shift}})
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|<}} {{k|>}}
| Move one [[Z-level]] up or down.
|-
| {{k|F1}}
| Zoom to starting location (default [[#Hotkeys|hotkey]])
|}
The main map window is what you will be looking at for the majority of the time. This is where all of the action happens.

While the play area itself is three-dimensional, the window is not; you can only view one [[Z-level]] at a time. You can change which Z-Level is currently displayed using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}.

On the far right side of the screen is the '''depth bar''' showing you the approximate depth, below or above ground, of the current [[Z-level]] that the map is displaying. This indicator is relative to the surface, so it will change if you move the map around an area with a non-flat surface, even if you don't press {{K|<}} or {{K|>}}.

==== Map cursor ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|Shift}} + direction key
| Move map cursor 10 tiles
|}

After entering a command that involves the map cursor ({{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}}), you can use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} as well as the numeric keypad keys to move the cursor around in all eight directions. If you hold {{k|Shift}} while pressing one of these, the cursor will move 10 tiles instead of one, enabling you to move it more quickly.

=== Overview map ===
The overview mini-map shows a compact version of the entire available map area. This can be useful especially if your embark zone is very large. After the fortress has settled into certain areas of the map, its utility decreases and it can be hidden with {{K|Tab}} to provide more space for the main map.

A cursor that looks like {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} on the overview map shows approximately what part of the map you are viewing in the main map window. Parts of the map inhabited by dwarves will be highlighted in blue.

=== Status indicators ===
In the upper left corner of the screen, you may see some '''report flags''' indicating that new combat-related [[Reports]] have been generated. Some common flags are:

:{{Tile|C|4:7:1}}: new [[combat]] report available
:{{Tile|H|2:7:1}}: new [[Ambusher#Hunting|hunting]] report available
:{{Tile|S|3:7:1}}: new [[sparring]] report available

Press {{K|r}} to view the new reports in the [[DF2014:Reports#Combat|reports screen]]. Once you do so, the flags will be reset.

There is also an '''idle counter''', usually in the upper right, indicating how many dwarves are milling around uselessly, in need of something productive to do.

An '''[[FPS]] (Frames Per Second) counter''' may also be present on the screen if it has been enabled. It is disabled by default. See [[Frames per second]] for more information on what this counter means, as well as how to enable/disable it.

=== Command window ===
[[File:MainMenu.png|The command window.|frame]]
This is where key menus and most of the textual information about tiles and buildings is displayed. You can toggle it between single width, double width, and hidden using {{K|Tab}}. The double-width option is particularly useful when lines of text are too long to fit. Once you become familiar with the UI you may want to hide it completely; it will reappear as needed when you activate a command.

The most important interfaces that use the command window are listed below. Many of these encompass a wide variety of functionality so they will not be fully described here. See the linked articles for more details on how they are used.

== Your dwarves ==

Your [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are one of the creature types who implement your designs in-between periods of drinking, eating, partying, drinking again, sleeping, and entertaining themselves. While you do not have full control of your dwarves, you have more control over them than any other creatures. Be aware that it is not necessarily always the case that a dwarf is friendly; [[Insanity|insane]] dwarves, [[Werebeast|weredwarves]] or [[Vampire|vampires]] are anything but.

For a comprehensive reference, Reddit user DarxusC has done research on the minimum requirements to keep dwarves alive for long periods of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/cvdssa/a_video_showing_how_little_is_needed_to_survive/ here].

=== Eating, drinking, and sleeping ===
Dwarves need [[food]] to eat, [[alcohol]] to drink (water is a poor substitute), and time to [[sleep]]. If only one of these is available, it better be [[alcohol]]; while water will keep dwarves alive, they will actually work more slowly and get unhappy thoughts (see below) if they don't get much alcohol to drink.

Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to eat a single type of food or drink a single type of alcohol all the time, so variety is also important. Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to sleep on the floor.

=== Happiness ===
While going about their day, dwarves will get happy and unhappy [[thought]]s, depending on what sorts of things happen to them. This will nudge their happiness levels up or down each time one such event occurs to them. If they become too unhappy, they may throw [[tantrum]]s, or go completely [[Insanity|berserk]], killing and destroying things.

=== Children and immigration ===
Periodically, new dwarves from the outside world will [[Immigration|migrate]] to your fortress, drawn by tales of, and looking to share in, your wealth and success. Female dwarves will also get pregnant and have [[children]], if they are [[Marriage|married]] to a male dwarf.

=== Jobs, labors and skills ===
Any adult dwarf can perform any [[labor]] even if they have no [[skill]] in that area. Unskilled dwarves will simply be slow and not very good at what they are trying to do, but, with practice, dwarves will acquire skill, and become faster and better at their jobs. Lack of practice for long periods leads to skill "rust".

=== Nobles ===
[[Noble]]s are dwarves who have special positions within your fort. Some of these are appointed, such as your [[broker]] and [[bookkeeper]], but others, such as the [[mayor]], are essentially forced on you by conditions in the game. See the main article on [[Noble]]s for more information.

=== Death ===

Assuming they somehow manage to avoid starving, dehydrating, freezing, drowning, burning, falling, being crushed, or otherwise suffering fatal [[wound]]s or [[soap|infections]], your dwarves will inevitably [[Death|die]] of old age. Unfortunately, they are a bit picky about how they are [[Coffin|buried]] or otherwise [[Memorial|memorialized]], and they will [[Ghost|cause trouble]] if they are unsatisfied with their remembrance. Corpses lying around can also pose a hazard if there are [[Necromancer|necromancers]] in the area.

A [[Healthcare]] industry might help your wounded dwarves postpone death.

== Digging ==
{{Main|Mining}}

Digging is an essential part of building a fort. There are several reasons you might want to dig, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort.

All of the digging operations are considered [[Mining]]. Even if your goal is simply to dig out a passage and you don't care about extracting ore, your miners will be generating [[stone]] as a byproduct unless they are digging through [[soil]]. See [[Stone management]] for ways to deal with all the unwanted stone.

== Stockpiles ==
{{Main|Stockpile}}

'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] will store items of various types. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job on will seek out items that aren't already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to the appropriate stockpile. See the main [[Stockpile]] article for detailed information on setting up stockpiles.

== Rooms, furniture, and portals ==

To remove one of these, Click on the furniture Item, the press the remove build icon . This will mark the item for removal and a hauling job will be queued. Eventually a dwarf will show up and haul the item off to a [[stockpile]] if one exists.

=== Furniture ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}}
| place Bed
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}}
| place Chair or Throne (seat)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}}
| place Table
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|h|sep=-}}
| place Chest or Container
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|n|sep=-}}
| place Cabinet
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|x|sep=-}}
| place Burial Receptacle (coffin)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|l|sep=-}}
| place Memorial Slab
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|u|sep=-}}
| place Statue
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|T|sep=-}}
| place Traction Bench
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|o|sep=-}}
| place Book Case
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|y|sep=-}}
| place Display (Pedestal)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|p|sep=-}}
| place Offering Place (Alter)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|i|sep=-}}
| place Instrument
|}
Assuming that dwarves have already made a piece of [[Furniture]], they can install it somewhere using one of these commands.

=== Defining rooms ===
{{Main|Room}}

Areas can be defined as a [[Room]] using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones), some rooms may require specific pieces of furniture to function properly. The zones menu can also be used to undefine rooms, with or without removing the associated furniture.

=== Doors and hatches ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}
| place Door
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|p|h|sep=-}}
| place floor Hatch
|}
These commands allow you to place already created [[Door]]s and [[Hatch cover]]s assuming that you have an adjacent wall.

=== Windows, grates, and bars ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|W}}
| place Wall grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|G}}
| place floor Grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|B}}
| place vertical Bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Alt}}+{{K|b}}
| place floor Bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|y}}
| place glass window
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Y}}
| place gem window
|}
These commands allow you to install [[Window]]s, [[Grate]]s, and [[Bars]] over openings, assuming that you have already created them.

== Constructions ==
{{Main|Construction}}

[[Construction]]s are features that are built in place rather than created in a workshop and installed or carved out of existing rock. Constructions are how you build above-ground structures or structures in any other place where there's no rock or soil to carve them out of.

Constructions are usually built out of, and thus require, [[Stone]] or [[Wood]], but you can also use a variety of materials (such as metal) to build them. Possible constructions include [[Floor]]s, [[Wall]]s, [[Stair]]s, [[Ramp]]s, and [[Fortification]]s.

=== Walls, floors, and stairs ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}
| build Constructions submenu
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|w}}
| build Constructed [[Wall]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|f}}
| build Constructed [[Floor]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|r}}
| build Constructed upward [[Ramp]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|u}}
| build Constructed Up [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|d}}
| build Constructed Down [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|x}}
| build Constructed up and down [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|F}}
| build Constructed [[Fortification]]
|}

Walls, Floors, and Stairs are removed with {{K|d}}-{{K|n}}. Bridges and roads are removed with {{K|q}}.

=== Bridges ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|g}}
| build a bridge
|}
A [[Bridge]] is not only used to cross rivers or chasms, but can also be used as a large door when built as a drawbridge. Such use requires that a [[Lever]] be linked to it in order for dwarves to control its open or closed state.

=== Roads ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|o}}
| build Paved road
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|O}}
| build Dirt road
|}
[[Road]]s are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge, though they don't really require one. A paved road is much like a [[floor]] except that it requires fewer raw materials per tile to build. A dirt road requires no materials to build, but deteriorates over time.

== Trading ==
{{Main|Trading}}

When you want to obtain things not available on your map, and you don't want to just kill people to get them, [[Trading]] is the way to go about it. See the main article for everything you ever wanted to know about legitimately and non-violently obtaining things from other creatures.

== Military and combat ==
{{Main|Military}}
:''See also: [[Military interface]]''

The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squads|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).

Setting up a military is a huge subject in and of itself, so check out the [[Military|main article]] on it and the [[military interface]] guide.

== Hospitals and healthcare ==
{{Main|Healthcare}}

Normally your dwarves do just fine assuming they get enough food and alcohol, but sometimes they get wounded. When this happens they can benefit from an efficient [[Healthcare]] system.

== Burrows ==
{{Main|Burrow}}

'''Burrows''' are optional user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. Dwarves will only use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc. in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow will still use workshops etc. even if they are located in a burrow assigned to some other dwarves.

Burrows are by no means required, but are useful when you want to restrict certain dwarves to certain areas of the map.

== Macros ==
{{Main|Macros and Keymaps}}

'''Macros''' allow recording sequences of keystrokes and "playing" them back into the user interface as desired. Since the game often requires using a lot of repetitive keystrokes, this can sometimes make life much easier. See the main article for full information.

== Reference sheet ==
A quick reference guide on fortress mode in DF can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8akafeuqfsxth7t/U-zOsO7pNr here.] '''Credit to spongemandan on reddit.com'''

It includes a reference sheet on the military, stone, agriculture and a summary reference sheet.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Dwarf fortress mode]]

Dwarf fortress mode

2023-02-02T03:13:51Z

Ghoul Some: updated keyboard shortcuts

{{migrated article}}
{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
: ''This is a detailed reference guide. For a beginner tutorial, see [[Quickstart guide]], see further [[tutorials]].''
:''[[Modding guide|Modding]] is not covered on this page.''

'''Fortress mode''' is the most popular of three modes in ''Dwarf Fortress'', with the other two being [[Adventurer mode]] and [[Legends mode]], often the mode implied when one talks about ''Dwarf Fortress''. Fortress mode is a construction and management simulation of a colony of dwarves. In fortress mode, you pick an [[embark]] location, and then assign your seven initial [[dwarves]] some starting [[Skill | skills]], equipment, provisions, and perhaps, [[animals]] to bring along. After preparations are complete and your hardy explorers [[embark]], they'll be faced with the fortress site you picked down to every little detail; from geologically appropriate stone types, to roaring waterfalls, to, for example, ornery [[Hippo | hippopotami]]. Rather than control individual dwarves, you design everything, and your dwarves will go about implementing your designs on their own.

== Goals ==
Fortress mode is considered a [[wikipedia:Construction_and_management_simulation_games|construction and management simulation game]]. This entails that few goals are imposed upon the player by the game.

The most apparent goal is survival, as your endeavors at the chosen site will, [[Reclaim fortress mode|for the moment]], end if the last dwarf dies. With this comes the need to keep your dwarves happy, as unhappy dwarves will cultivate some very unhealthy (yet surprisingly [[Losing|Fun]]) habits like murdering their colleagues.

Another goal of sorts, programmed into the game, is creating a fortress that attracts the king/queen of your civilization. Therefore, players typically, but by no means necessarily, choose to expand into a thriving community with skilled [[Labor|workers]], [[military|battle-ready warriors]] and [[nobles]], creating ridiculous amounts of [[wealth|wealth]] like fine [[finished goods|crafts]], excellent armor, valuable [[furniture]], decorated with precious [[gem]]s, all the while protecting them from [[siege|foes]] with deadly [[trap]]s and a trained [[military]]. Avoiding imminent death also requires providing the dwarves with plenty of [[food]] and [[alcohol]], by way of [[farming|farms]] above and below ground, while [[clothing]] from [[leather]] or [[cloth]] will keep them happy.

Of course, every dwarf loves precious [[metal]]s, but the only way to find them is to [[mining|dig]]. Make sure you don't delve too greedily and too deep, for many creatures dwell in the [[caverns]] below...

== The world ==
To play ''Dwarf Fortress'' in fortress mode, you must generate a world that includes a dwarven civilization - see [[World generation]] for detailed instructions. After at least one world has been generated, you will be able to start the game. Only one game may be going on in a world at the same time.

=== Geographic features / Inhabitants / History ===
The main features of a world are [[biome]]s on the surface and [[stone layer]]s underground, some of which may contain [[aquifer]]s. Other surface features that are significant, but which aren't biomes, strictly speaking, are [[river]]s, [[volcano]]es, and [[cave]]s. There are also [[cavern]]s and [[magma sea]]s everywhere underground which your dwarves will most likely encounter, but you can't see these on the world map, or on the local map, for that matter, until you dig into them. There may also be other [[Fun]] things underground that you can't see. You will have to find these on your own, if they exist.

Every playable world will be inhabited by various [[creature]]s, [[civilization]]s, [[night creature]]s, and [[megabeast]]s (including [[titan]]s and [[forgotten beast]]s) in addition to your dwarves. You may encounter all of these types of inhabitants at some point in the form of wildlife, invaders, or rampaging forces of nature.

Given that your world includes creatures and civilizations capable of independent action, it also has a history that is viewable in [[legends mode]], historical events showing up in [[engraving]]s and other artwork created by your dwarves. Historical dates are expressed in terms of the [[Calendar|dwarven calendar]].

You will also be making history as events occur in your fortress, and these events will be recorded for all time in the annals of your world, even if you'd rather that they not be. These events may later become the subject of various [[engraving]]s and [[decoration]]s created by your dwarves, or those in a later fortress.

== Embarking ==
{{Main|Embark}}
:''See also: [[Reclaim fortress mode]]''

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|250px|right|[[From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] – a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions most people will take after embarking.]]

Before starting to build a fortress, you must choose the embark location in the world, then assign skills and supplies to the seven dwarves on the expedition team you will embark with into that environment. This is the embarking process, and is a major subject on its own - see the [[Embark]] guide for all the details. Also see [[Starting build]] for more information on outfitting your expedition. After you embark, the real game begins.

== Gameplay user interface ==
{{Main|Interface}}
Your main view of the in-game world is a top-down view of a multi-layered environment. You can move your view in the four main cardinal directions as well as up and down [[Z-level]]s (elevation) to see different layers. There is also a command menu that lets you issue commands that your dutiful dwarves will attempt to follow.

This section covers most of the screens and user interface elements used after embarking, at least in brief. It does not necessarily tell you how to accomplish every task you might need to, but instead just describes what you see on the screen and what various keystrokes do.

Later sections in this document and ''many'' other articles on this wiki help you tie all of this together by describing the sequence of actions needed to accomplish various things in the game; see [[Menu]] for a more detailed reference for the UI itself.

=== Common UI concepts ===
{{KeyConventions|4}}

=== Pausing and resuming ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Space}}
| Pause/Unpause the game
|}

Entering all menus (except the {{K|s}}quads menu) will automatically pause the game, but if you want to pause or unpause the game without entering a menu use {{K|Space}}. You will see {{DFtext|*PAUSED*|3:3:1}} appear in the upper left corner of the window when the game is paused. Certain [[announcement]]s will also pause the game automatically and you will have to unpause it manually to proceed.

=== Main screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| [[Image:Mouse-wheeldown.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel down.]][[Image:Mouse-wheelup.png|20px|Scroll mouse wheel up.]] or {{K|[}} {{K|]}}
| Zoom in and out('['and ']' must be set manually in the key bindings)
|-
| {{k|Tab}}
| Toggle mini-map and command menu.
|-
| {{k|F11}}
| Toggle fullscreen mode
|}

The screen at the top level of the user interface hierarchy consists of the '''main map''', a '''command window''', and an '''overview mini-map''' area along with a few '''status indicators''' around the edge. While the main map is always visible at the top level of the UI, you can use the {{K|Tab}} key to show and hide the command window and overview map areas, giving you more space to view the main map if desired.

=== Options screen ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|Esc}}
|
* Enter options menu (if at top level)
* Move back up one UI level (if not at top level)
|}

Assuming you are at the top level of the user interface looking at the map, you can hit {{K|Esc}} to enter the options menu.

*{{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}} – Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu screen. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
*{{DFtext|Save and continue playing}}
*{{DFtext|Retire the fortress (for the time being)}} – Saves and ends your control of the fort, giving limited control to the game. Most of the fortress remains as is, with citizens, livestock, and most items continuing to exist. Not always available, such as during [[siege]]s. After it saves and returns to the main menu you may start a new game in any mode including to [[Reclaim fortress mode|unretire]] the fortress.
*{{DFtext|Abandon the fortress to ruin}} (or {{DFtext|Succumb to Invasion}}) – This permanently [[abandon]]s the fortress, saves the map to the world's data files for later use, and returns to the main menu. Once you abandon a fort, all of your dwarves leave the site, all of your livestock dies, and all items including corpses will be scattered around the map before it is saved. This is how you "give up" on a fortress. You might later [[Reclaim fortress mode|reclaim]] the fortress with a new group of dwarves or visit it with an adventurer in [[Adventurer mode]].
*{{DFtext|Quit without saving}}
*{{DFtext|Settings}}
*{{DFtext|Return to game}} – Exits the options menu. You can also just press {{K|Esc}}.

=== Main map ===
[[File:bentgirder-embark.png|thumb|300px|Main map on the left, command window on the right.]]
[[Image:3_dimensions.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} ( + {{k|Shift}})
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map view around
|-
| {{k|<}} {{k|>}}
| Move one [[Z-level]] up or down.
|-
| {{k|F1}}
| Zoom to starting location (default [[#Hotkeys|hotkey]])
|}
The main map window is what you will be looking at for the majority of the time. This is where all of the action happens.

While the play area itself is three-dimensional, the window is not; you can only view one [[Z-level]] at a time. You can change which Z-Level is currently displayed using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}.

On the far right side of the screen is the '''depth bar''' showing you the approximate depth, below or above ground, of the current [[Z-level]] that the map is displaying. This indicator is relative to the surface, so it will change if you move the map around an area with a non-flat surface, even if you don't press {{K|<}} or {{K|>}}.

==== Map cursor ====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{k|8}} {{k|2}} {{k|4}} {{k|6}} {{k|7}} {{k|9}} {{k|1}} {{k|3}} (keypad)
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}}
| Move map cursor 1 tile
|-
| {{k|Shift}} + direction key
| Move map cursor 10 tiles
|}

After entering a command that involves the map cursor ({{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}}), you can use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} as well as the numeric keypad keys to move the cursor around in all eight directions. If you hold {{k|Shift}} while pressing one of these, the cursor will move 10 tiles instead of one, enabling you to move it more quickly.

=== Overview map ===
The overview mini-map shows a compact version of the entire available map area. This can be useful especially if your embark zone is very large. After the fortress has settled into certain areas of the map, its utility decreases and it can be hidden with {{K|Tab}} to provide more space for the main map.

A cursor that looks like {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} on the overview map shows approximately what part of the map you are viewing in the main map window. Parts of the map inhabited by dwarves will be highlighted in blue.

=== Status indicators ===
In the upper left corner of the screen, you may see some '''report flags''' indicating that new combat-related [[Reports]] have been generated. Some common flags are:

:{{Tile|C|4:7:1}}: new [[combat]] report available
:{{Tile|H|2:7:1}}: new [[Ambusher#Hunting|hunting]] report available
:{{Tile|S|3:7:1}}: new [[sparring]] report available

Press {{K|r}} to view the new reports in the [[DF2014:Reports#Combat|reports screen]]. Once you do so, the flags will be reset.

There is also an '''idle counter''', usually in the upper right, indicating how many dwarves are milling around uselessly, in need of something productive to do.

An '''[[FPS]] (Frames Per Second) counter''' may also be present on the screen if it has been enabled. It is disabled by default. See [[Frames per second]] for more information on what this counter means, as well as how to enable/disable it.

=== Command window ===
[[File:MainMenu.png|The command window.|frame]]
This is where key menus and most of the textual information about tiles and buildings is displayed. You can toggle it between single width, double width, and hidden using {{K|Tab}}. The double-width option is particularly useful when lines of text are too long to fit. Once you become familiar with the UI you may want to hide it completely; it will reappear as needed when you activate a command.

The most important interfaces that use the command window are listed below. Many of these encompass a wide variety of functionality so they will not be fully described here. See the linked articles for more details on how they are used.

== Your dwarves ==

Your [[Dwarf|dwarves]] are one of the creature types who implement your designs in-between periods of drinking, eating, partying, drinking again, sleeping, and entertaining themselves. While you do not have full control of your dwarves, you have more control over them than any other creatures. Be aware that it is not necessarily always the case that a dwarf is friendly; [[Insanity|insane]] dwarves, [[Werebeast|weredwarves]] or [[Vampire|vampires]] are anything but.

For a comprehensive reference, Reddit user DarxusC has done research on the minimum requirements to keep dwarves alive for long periods of time [https://www.reddit.com/r/dwarffortress/comments/cvdssa/a_video_showing_how_little_is_needed_to_survive/ here].

=== Eating, drinking, and sleeping ===
Dwarves need [[food]] to eat, [[alcohol]] to drink (water is a poor substitute), and time to [[sleep]]. If only one of these is available, it better be [[alcohol]]; while water will keep dwarves alive, they will actually work more slowly and get unhappy thoughts (see below) if they don't get much alcohol to drink.

Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to eat a single type of food or drink a single type of alcohol all the time, so variety is also important. Dwarves will also get unhappy thoughts if forced to sleep on the floor.

=== Happiness ===
While going about their day, dwarves will get happy and unhappy [[thought]]s, depending on what sorts of things happen to them. This will nudge their happiness levels up or down each time one such event occurs to them. If they become too unhappy, they may throw [[tantrum]]s, or go completely [[Insanity|berserk]], killing and destroying things.

=== Children and immigration ===
Periodically, new dwarves from the outside world will [[Immigration|migrate]] to your fortress, drawn by tales of, and looking to share in, your wealth and success. Female dwarves will also get pregnant and have [[children]], if they are [[Marriage|married]] to a male dwarf.

=== Jobs, labors and skills ===
Any adult dwarf can perform any [[labor]] even if they have no [[skill]] in that area. Unskilled dwarves will simply be slow and not very good at what they are trying to do, but, with practice, dwarves will acquire skill, and become faster and better at their jobs. Lack of practice for long periods leads to skill "rust".

=== Nobles ===
[[Noble]]s are dwarves who have special positions within your fort. Some of these are appointed, such as your [[broker]] and [[bookkeeper]], but others, such as the [[mayor]], are essentially forced on you by conditions in the game. See the main article on [[Noble]]s for more information.

=== Death ===

Assuming they somehow manage to avoid starving, dehydrating, freezing, drowning, burning, falling, being crushed, or otherwise suffering fatal [[wound]]s or [[soap|infections]], your dwarves will inevitably [[Death|die]] of old age. Unfortunately, they are a bit picky about how they are [[Coffin|buried]] or otherwise [[Memorial|memorialized]], and they will [[Ghost|cause trouble]] if they are unsatisfied with their remembrance. Corpses lying around can also pose a hazard if there are [[Necromancer|necromancers]] in the area.

A [[Healthcare]] industry might help your wounded dwarves postpone death.

== Digging ==
{{Main|Mining}}

Digging is an essential part of building a fort. There are several reasons you might want to dig, such as searching for various stone types, ores and gems, or simply to create the basic tunnels and rooms in your fort.

All of the digging operations are considered [[Mining]]. Even if your goal is simply to dig out a passage and you don't care about extracting ore, your miners will be generating [[stone]] as a byproduct unless they are digging through [[soil]]. See [[Stone management]] for ways to deal with all the unwanted stone.

== Stockpiles ==
{{Main|Stockpile}}

'''Stockpiles''' are where [[dwarf|dwarves]] will store items of various types. Dwarves with the corresponding "[[hauling]]" job on will seek out items that aren't already on a stockpile that accepts them and carry them to the appropriate stockpile. See the main [[Stockpile]] article for detailed information on setting up stockpiles.

== Rooms, furniture, and portals ==

To remove one of these, use the {{K|q}} command, place the cursor on the item to remove, and hit {{K|x}}. This will mark the item for removal and a hauling job will be queued. Eventually a dwarf will show up and haul the item off to a [[stockpile]] if one exists.

=== Furniture ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|y|n|sep=-}}
| place Armor Stand
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}}
| place Bed
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}}
| place Chair or Throne (seat)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|x|sep=-}}
| place Burial Receptacle (coffin)
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|n|sep=-}}
| place Cabinet
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|h|sep=-}}
| place Container
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|y|r|sep=-}}
| place Weapon Rack
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|u|sep=-}}
| place Statue
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|l|sep=-}}
| place memorial Slab
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}}
| place Table
|-
| {{Menu icon|b|f|T|sep=-}}
| place Traction Bench
|}
Assuming that dwarves have already made a piece of [[Furniture]], they can install it somewhere using one of these commands.

=== Defining rooms ===
{{Main|Room}}

Certain types of furniture placed in an area can allow the area to be defined as a [[Room]] using {{K|q}}. The {{K|q}} command can also be used to undefine rooms, with or without removing the associated furniture.

=== Doors and hatches ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|d}}
| place Door
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|x}}
| place floodgate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|H}}
| place floor Hatch
|}
These commands allow you to place already created [[Door]]s and [[Hatch cover]]s assuming that you have an adjacent wall.

=== Windows, grates, and bars ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|W}}
| place Wall grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|G}}
| place floor Grate
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|B}}
| place vertical Bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Alt}}+{{K|b}}
| place floor Bars
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|y}}
| place glass window
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|Y}}
| place gem window
|}
These commands allow you to install [[Window]]s, [[Grate]]s, and [[Bars]] over openings, assuming that you have already created them.

== Constructions ==
{{Main|Construction}}

[[Construction]]s are features that are built in place rather than created in a workshop and installed or carved out of existing rock. Constructions are how you build above-ground structures or structures in any other place where there's no rock or soil to carve them out of.

Constructions are usually built out of, and thus require, [[Stone]] or [[Wood]], but you can also use a variety of materials (such as metal) to build them. Possible constructions include [[Floor]]s, [[Wall]]s, [[Stair]]s, [[Ramp]]s, and [[Fortification]]s.

=== Walls, floors, and stairs ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}
| build Constructions submenu
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|w}}
| build Constructed [[Wall]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|f}}
| build Constructed [[Floor]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|r}}
| build Constructed upward [[Ramp]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|u}}
| build Constructed Up [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|d}}
| build Constructed Down [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|x}}
| build Constructed up and down [[Stair]]
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|C}}-{{K|F}}
| build Constructed [[Fortification]]
|}

Walls, Floors, and Stairs are removed with {{K|d}}-{{K|n}}. Bridges and roads are removed with {{K|q}}.

=== Bridges ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|g}}
| build a bridge
|}
A [[Bridge]] is not only used to cross rivers or chasms, but can also be used as a large door when built as a drawbridge. Such use requires that a [[Lever]] be linked to it in order for dwarves to control its open or closed state.

=== Roads ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|o}}
| build Paved road
|-
| {{K|b}}-{{K|O}}
| build Dirt road
|}
[[Road]]s are most commonly used to give [[caravan|caravans]] a reliable path to your fortress from the map's edge, though they don't really require one. A paved road is much like a [[floor]] except that it requires fewer raw materials per tile to build. A dirt road requires no materials to build, but deteriorates over time.

== Trading ==
{{Main|Trading}}

When you want to obtain things not available on your map, and you don't want to just kill people to get them, [[Trading]] is the way to go about it. See the main article for everything you ever wanted to know about legitimately and non-violently obtaining things from other creatures.

== Military and combat ==
{{Main|Military}}
:''See also: [[Military interface]]''

The '''military''' is one of the most important aspects of a successful fortress. Even with many [[trap]]s, [[bridge|drawbridges]] and [[magma|other defenses]], your military will still need to fend off [[goblin]] [[siege]]s, [[megabeast]]s, [[titan]]s, and fiendish [[Giant cave spider|underground]] [[Forgotten beast|beasties]]. Using a combination of [[squads|squad orders]] and [[scheduling]], you can set up an elaborate offensive, defensive, or balanced military structure for your [[equipment|well-equipped]] [[soldier]]s to follow. Turning your dwarves from [[immigration|useless migrants]] into bloodthirsty killing machines never hurts (unless you're the enemy).

Setting up a military is a huge subject in and of itself, so check out the [[Military|main article]] on it and the [[military interface]] guide.

== Hospitals and healthcare ==
{{Main|Healthcare}}

Normally your dwarves do just fine assuming they get enough food and alcohol, but sometimes they get wounded. When this happens they can benefit from an efficient [[Healthcare]] system.

== Burrows ==
{{Main|Burrow}}

'''Burrows''' are optional user-defined areas in your fort where selected dwarves live and work. Dwarves will only use workshops, dig walls, use rooms, etc. in burrows they are assigned to, though dwarves not assigned to any burrow will still use workshops etc. even if they are located in a burrow assigned to some other dwarves.

Burrows are by no means required, but are useful when you want to restrict certain dwarves to certain areas of the map.

== Macros ==
{{Main|Macros and Keymaps}}

'''Macros''' allow recording sequences of keystrokes and "playing" them back into the user interface as desired. Since the game often requires using a lot of repetitive keystrokes, this can sometimes make life much easier. See the main article for full information.

== Reference sheet ==
A quick reference guide on fortress mode in DF can be found [https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8akafeuqfsxth7t/U-zOsO7pNr here.] '''Credit to spongemandan on reddit.com'''

It includes a reference sheet on the military, stone, agriculture and a summary reference sheet.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Guides}}
{{Category|Interface}}
[[ru:Dwarf fortress mode]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:40:27Z

Ghoul Some: /* "Where did I build that ____?" */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{Menu icon|P|sep=-}} (Places) and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:39:54Z

Ghoul Some: /* Pasture */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:39:20Z

Ghoul Some: /* Woodcutting */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{Menu icon|l|sep=-}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:37:16Z

Ghoul Some: /* Metal Industry */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|l|sep=-}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|i|sep=-}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{Menu icon|b|o|u|f|sep=-}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:36:13Z

Ghoul Some: /* Drawbridge */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{Menu icon|b|n|b|sep=-}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{Menu icon|b|m|l|sep=-}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:35:36Z

Ghoul Some: /* Guard Animals */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:34:52Z

Ghoul Some: /* Traps */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{Menu icon|b|t|t|sep=-}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:34:15Z

Ghoul Some: /* Meeting Hall */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zone) in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:33:18Z

Ghoul Some: /* Placing Furniture */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{Menu icon|b|f|sep=-}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:32:47Z

Ghoul Some: /* Dining and Food Prep Area */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|k|sep=-}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:31:58Z

Ghoul Some: /* Nobles and Administrators */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:29:47Z

Ghoul Some: /* Refuse */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:29:15Z

Ghoul Some: /* Temporary Meeting Area */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:28:38Z

Ghoul Some: /* Stockpiles */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{Menu icon|p|sep=-}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:28:11Z

Ghoul Some: /* Additional miners */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{Menu icon|y|sep=-}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:27:03Z

Ghoul Some: /* Strike The Earth! */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{Menu icon|m|sep=-}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{K|y}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:26:25Z

Ghoul Some: /* Strike The Earth! */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{K|m}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{K|y}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:21:25Z

Ghoul Some: /* Offices (Studies) */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{k|z}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{K|m}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{K|y}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{Menu icon|n|sep=-}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:20:51Z

Ghoul Some: /* Offices (Studies) */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{k|z}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{K|m}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{K|y}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}} (zones) menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{K|n}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]

Quickstart guide

2023-02-01T17:20:27Z

Ghoul Some: /* Offices (Studies) */

{{Quality|Unrated}}
{{av}}
{{old}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''This is a quickstart guide for [[dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.'' ''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''[[#Situational Awareness|you'll remember how you lost]].'' In a big way, ''Dwarf Fortress'' uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in ''Dwarf Fortress'' you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|446px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =
{{old}}

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}

This is just the Quickstart Guide, so we skip lots of details on the UI. If you're looking for more UI help as you get deeper into your first fortress, you may also want to read this section in the [[Dwarf_fortress_mode#Gameplay_user_interface|Fortress Mode Guide]].
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen.

To save and quit back to the main menu, select {{DFtext|Save and return to title menu}}.
{{tc|#d00|Unless you know what you are doing, do not select either}} {{DFtext|Retire the Fortress (for the time being)}} or {{DFtext|Abandon the Fortress to Ruin}}! These will essentially cause you to lose your save.

=World Generation=
First, [[World generation|generate a new world]]. ''Dwarf Fortress'' worlds are always procedurally randomly generated - there is no "default" or "standard" world. Luckily, the basic version of this process is simple, and with these suggested settings won't take too long. Wait until the game shows that the world has been generated, since stopping history too soon can limit material availability for embark and trade.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create new world}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World map size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History length}} is {{DFtext|100 years|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Everywhere|3:1}}
}}

= Embark =
{{migrated section}}
{{main|Embark}}

Embarking is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

After generating a world, select {{DFtext|Play now}} then choose fortress mode. The game will load and update the world, then show the world map.

Mouse over the map to inspect it. Left-click to zoom in, where you can then click the {{DFtext|Embark}} button in the bottom right corner to choose an embark site.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. Highly skilled players can run a fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, stick to friendly environments. Look for features in an embark site that will make your first fort easier to manage.

{{ambox
|type=type
|text=The world tooltip will only show features from the moused-over tile, but since the embark area covers multiple tiles it can contain '''multiple biomes'''. It is '''very important''' to inspect all tiles in your site. Each may have significantly different features such as an aquifer or evil biome '''not initially shown''' in the info due to not being under the cursor.
}}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:DFwikiStartingSiteExample.png|thumb|350px|An example of a good starting location, note details in the top-right corner]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (or at least no '''heavy''' or '''varied''' aquifers. Light is interesting on later embarks, but heavy guarantees '''[[Fun]]'''!)
*'''Trees:''' Woodland or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*A '''River'''
The following are also good to have, but focus on getting a decent site, not a perfect one.
*'''[[Climate|Temperature]]:''' Warm or Temperate
*'''Clay or Soil''' makes farming easier when starting out
*'''Flux stone layer''' For your steel industry
*Also avoid sites containing '''towers''', '''goblins''', or other groups at war with you.
See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

[[File:Quickstart-finder.png|thumb|right|Initial finder criteria]]
While finding a site is not as simple as world generation, the {{DFtext|Find embark location}} button at the bottom of the screen can help.
[[File:Quickstart-finder-partial.png|thumb|right|Finder partial match missing Good surroundings]]

Once the find tool has finished searching with matches found, press {{K|Esc}} to look at the results. Any region in which it found a match will be indicated by a green {{DFtext|X|2:1}} on the map. Any embark sites matching the criteria will be shown by a rectangle of yellow {{DFtext|X|6:1}}s on the zoomed-in map.

Additionally, when placing the embark area you can resize it using the buttons on-screen. A 4x4 embark (the default) is usually reasonable, but you may want to change the size to avoid an undesirable biome or match your finder criteria.

If you are unable to find a site that you are willing to embark on, you could always create a new world. Otherwise, move on to the next step.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional'''.
And preparing carefully makes little difference in the long run, especially without experience as to what to change.}}
Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.
In addition, settings are also displayed on the right-hand side.
Turn enemies to {{DFtext|Off}}. Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:DFwikiGettingYourBearingsExample.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example, the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the cliff on the right.]]

At this point, you have embarked, and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagonful of supplies, somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Getting your bearings==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around with {{k|w}}{{k|a}}{{k|s}}{{k|d}}. Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with the scroll wheel. You can zoom in and out with {{k|Ctrl}}-scroll wheel. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k-|Fn|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.) Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

In the bottom left, click the citizens information button to see a list of your dwarves. In the {{DFtext|Others}} tab, you can see any wild animals that may be nearby.

The {{DFtext|Stocks}} button at the top of the screen will show the items owned by your fortress.

On the left, there are buttons for various message logs.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone (see [[#Temporary Meeting Area|Temporary Meeting Area]] below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. For example, if a dwarf needs to eat, then he will go eat, and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors, or no dwarf has a [[pick]], then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So, what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Labor and work details===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' (not yet supported for v50) can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' (not yet supported for v50) includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}
{{Main|Labor}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf is allowed do. When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation, thinking that it isn't their job.

Labors are assigned to dwarves in groups called '''work details'''. Open the labor menu from the bottom left to see all the default work details and their assignments.

Fortunately, you don't need to assign a dwarf for every single labor in the game; work details can be set to "everybody does this" to allow any idle dwarf to pick up the job.

'''While you're here''', set the Hunters and Fisherdwarves work details to "nobody does this." Dwarves with these details enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them, and for now you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Also, the default embark comes with three pickaxes: so for efficiency, make sure two dwarves have the Miners detail enabled.

As dwarves perform jobs, they gain skill in those areas which leads to them working faster or producing higher-quality things. Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials; they'll just be worse at it.

The default work details contain all the essential labors for the very start of your fortress, but this guide will involve other labors. Keep in mind that at some point you'll have to assign the following labors by creating custom work details:

{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Labor
|-
| Farming/Related || Wood Burning
|-
| Metalsmithing || Furnace Operating
|-
| Metalsmithing || Armoring
|-
| Metalsmithing || Weaponsmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Blacksmithing
|-
| Metalsmithing || Metalcrafting
|-
| Jewelry || Gem Cutting
|}

==Strike The Earth!==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=green|float=right|Getting your dwarves to safety|
As you now know, you can't control your dwarves directly. So how do you tell them to get inside your newly dug rooms?
*[[Activity_zone#Meeting_area|Meeting Area]] You can designate a Meeting Area zone inside the new rooms. Press {{k|z}} and click "Meeting Area". Draw a rectangle to create a meeting area, then click "Accept". ''See also the [[zone]] page for more information.''
*[[Stockpiles]] (see [[Quickstart_guide#Stockpiles|below]]) Stockpiles tell your dwarves where to put things. Create a stockpile for everything, and dwarves will start to haul all your items there.}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The digging orders menu allows you to select areas to dig. Click the pick axe at the bottom or press {{K|m}}. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' ({{K|m}}) removes solid, floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' ({{K|m}}-{{K|u}}) removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|m}} to bring up the digging orders menu.
#Hit {{K|m}} to mine or {{k|u}} to channel (see above)
#Draw a rectangular are you want to dig out.
#A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

[[File:DFwikiDigChannelExamples.png|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward [[ramp]], which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>

This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can walk up the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit cannot use the ramp at all. The third pit lets dwarves walk back to the surface again since the two ramps are offset to produce a continued slope. In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from the surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|m}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle on the surface with {{K|m}}-{{K|u}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|c}} (or use the mouse scroll wheel) and tunnel into one wall of the pit (with {{K|m}}) to create your entry.

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20. This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big, bad, outside world. You want this to be your only entrance, so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening. A somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

{{clear}}
=== ''Additional miners'' ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Press {{K|y}} to open the labor menu, and select "Miners" on the left side.
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Click the check box next to the dwarf to enable the mining labor.
* Exit with {{k|Esc}} or right mouse.
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 3 picks. If you want more than three miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[File:DFwikiExampleLayout.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

=== ''Room dimensions'' ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower. In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20-year-old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a reasonable size for stockpile rooms. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoners’ bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== ''Mining safety'' ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== ''Stockpiles'' ===
[[File:DFwikiStockpileMenu.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile by clicking on it to open the stockpile menu, and clicking "Custom". Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Click the plus sign at the bottom to add a new stockpile.
#Draw a rectangle and click "Accept".
#Click [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|"Custom"]] to change the goods that the stockpile accepts. Enable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. To do this, first click "All" in the top left to enable everything, then go through each type you want to exclude, and click "None" in the top-center of the screen. This will reject all goods of that type.
#{{k|Esc}} or right mouse twice to exit the stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause, you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|p}}, clicking on the stockpile, then changing the stockpile settings as above.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.
'''Note:''' When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant (and already mined out) before assigning a stockpile.

=== ''Stairways'' ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

When you designate a staircase to be dug out, the top level will be down-stairs, any inner levels will be up/down stairs, and the bottom level will be up-stairs.
}}

Dig a [[Stairs|stairway]] in the room you dug out for the stairwell (''not'' the 5x5 room that you dug out earlier): press {{K-|m|t}}, click on the floor of the room to start the staircase, scroll down one level, and click again to finish designating the staircase. This will create down-stairs on the top level, and up-stairs on the level below. To continue digging downwards later, you can designate another staircase ({{K-|m|t}}) starting on the lowest exposed level and continuing downwards. For now just dig down one level.

[[Image:DF2014 Terraform.png|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

{{clear}}

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:DFwikiTemporaryMeetingHallExample.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future. Using the {{k|z}} key, create a meeting area in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you define what the area is for before you draw the rectangle. Select "Meeting area", draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and click "Accept". Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

NOTE: Again, make sure your [[Zones|activity zone]] is already mined out before attempting to designate the meeting area.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} and click the "plus stockpile" icon to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|refuse]] (trash can icon) ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, click on the general stockpile and check its custom settings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

Food is necessary for your dwarves' survival - to keep functioning, they require constant supplies of food and drink - the amount of food and drink currently available is displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===''Farming''===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer (including sand, clay, loam, silt, peat, and ooze) accessible from inside your existing fortress. 5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction. You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

{{Dual image
|premium=File:DFwiki5by53by3farm.png
|classic=File:Quickstart_layout_3.png
|width=150px
|caption=A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot
}}


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|p|sep=-}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Position the farm plot ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

The {{DFtext|Planters}} work detail must be enabled for at least one dwarf, or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. By default, Planters is set to "Everybody does this", so there's no need to change this now.

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, click on it, and set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You need to go through each season tab to enable plump helmets in all seasons — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Later, if you are curious what is planted in each plot this season and how much, click on the plot and it will show the list of seeds currently planted. There is no icon for a partially grown plant, so an empty field will look identical to a fully planted field until your crops are ready for harvest.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== ''Emergency food sources'' ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== ''Plant gathering'' ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gatherers}} work detail, and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{K|g}}ather plants on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====''Butchering''====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop {{Menu icon|b|o|f|b|sep=-}} and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|u}}, click on "Pets/Livestock", and click the meat cleaver next to the animal you want to slaughter). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building material, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|m}}-{{k|t}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Click on your wagon, and click the button in the top right to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into 3 units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===''Woodcutting''===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood. Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for wood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one with {{Menu icon|b|o|p|sep=-}}), so don't worry about placement too much. Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|l}}. One tree will produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs, instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity {{K|z}}one around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a brewer to brew drinks. Fortunately, the brewing labor is enabled on all dwarves by default. If you want to change this later, use the [[Labor|labor menu]] ({{K|y}}).

[[File:DFwikiCompletedStillQuickstart.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{Menu icon|b|o|f|l|sep=-}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created.
# Click on a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
After a short delay, one of your dwarves should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, click on the still, click "Add new task", and "Brew drink from plant". '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months (see [[Calendar]] and [[Status]]).
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|z}} to create a Pen/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it with the "plus bunny" icon in the top right of the zone menu. This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all. The amount of grass required varies greatly, depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing your first fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell, with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest. Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:DFwikiStockpileWorkshopQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is west of the Carpenter's workshop (northeast corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow in the stone stockpile.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal). Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|m|t}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Stoneworker's_workshop|stoneworker's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your stoneworker and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Once you've dug out your rooms, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase. Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually. While your miners are busy, use {{Menu icon|b|o|sep=-}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood; the material really doesn't matter in this case. Be sure that your craftsdwarves still have labors corresponding to each workshop enabled (see [[#Labor and work details|Labor and work details]] above) so they will begin construction. (Dwarves already busy mining or hauling may not immediately stop to construct workshops; if you like, you may temporarily disable other labors in order to jumpstart workshop construction.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" click on the workshop and click "Resume construction" to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}

Click on your stoneworker's shop and queue up one [[table|table]] and one [[throne]]/chair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, you will need to scroll all the way down.) While the wheelbarrows are being built, click on your stone stockpile and click the barrel icon, and increase "Max wheelbarrows" to 3. Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.

===''"Where did I build that ____?"''===
As you build workshops, furnaces, Trade Depot, other buildings, rooms and even zones, you may start to lose track of where they all are -- or where they're supposed to be built, but some dwarf is too busy eating/drinking/hauling. There are a couple of commands available from the main UI that will help you locate what you built.

* You can View {{K|P}}laces and click the "Workshops" tab to see a Building List, and also Zoom to the building/item, or view the building's tasks.

* For incomplete buildings/constructions, you can also open the {{K|t}}ask list and then recenter on the partially constructed building to find the intended location.

{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down another tree or two outside). If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again. Go back to your still and order some drinks to be brewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress. Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then)).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

[[File:DFwikiGarbageDump.png|thumb|right| The garbage dump icon in-game.]]

Press {{K|z}}, click on "Garbage Dump", and create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your stoneworker's and mechanic's workshops. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much "garbage" as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it. Press {{k-|i|p}} to select the mass dump/forbid tool. Select a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've built your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to a garbage dump zone. Be sure not to designate the stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unnecessary hauling. Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using {{K-|i|F}} (or just {{K|i}}). Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all. If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling "garbage", use the labor menu ({{K|y}}) and select the "Haulers" work detail. From there you can select certain dwarves that you want to haul items. By default, Haulers is set to "Everybody does this". You might want to exclude Miners from hauling, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage dump zones puts you head and shoulders above many new players - it takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===Trade Depot===
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{Menu icon|b|T|sep=-}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where [[caravan]]s will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by). You need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot. [[File:DFwikiTradeDepotExample.png|thumb|right|An example Trade Depot.]]

===Producing for export===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are decent exports for a new player.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to [[Elf|Elves]]; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. The same applies to items made of bone and shell (as those involve animal harm). Also note that the traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===What to buy===
In your first fortress, your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, make sure your depot is accessible. There needs to be a 3-wide passage from the depot to the edge of the map.

If you see the message [[Their wagons have bypassed your inaccessible site]] when the merchants arrive, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If so, expand the entranceway and try again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need a [[stonecutter]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Use {{K|v}} to smooth stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
* Building a paved [[road]] {{Menu icon|b|n|o|sep=-}} will stop trees from growing on the wagon path, and can be a good way to ensure that the wagons have an unobstructed path to your depot.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so this can take some troubleshooting.

''The first few times the traders arrive, they will not bring a wagon anyway. They will only start to bring a wagon once your fortress is a [[barony]]. Without a wagon, they will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
{{migrated section}}
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options work equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (dwarves cannot sleep in another dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).

=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Build the beds with {{k-|b|f|b}}. You can check "Keep building after placement" to place multiple beds. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu and click on "Dormitory". Draw a rectangle over the room you dug out.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it anywhere in your dormitory.
You can place multiple beds in the dormitory.

[[File:DfwikiIndividualBedroomsQuickstart.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed {{Menu icon|b|f|b|sep=-}} in a room when ready
# Make sure each room is enclosed by a door {{Menu icon|b|p|r|sep=-}}. You can make doors at the carpenter's or stoneworker's workshops.
# Open the {{K|z}}one menu, and click on "Bedroom".
# Click "Multi" (instead of "Paint"), and draw a rectangle containing multiple bedrooms. Each room with a bed, enclosed by a door, will be marked as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles and Administrators==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen. The most important positions to assign are '''[[manager]]''', '''[[broker]]''', and '''[[bookkeeper]]'''.
* A '''manager''' will allow you to queue up [[work order]], which will greatly simplify managing your production.
* A '''bookkeeper''' will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the stoc{{K|k}}s screen so you'll know what you do and don't have.
* A '''broker''' is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your [[trade depot]].

===Manager & Bookkeeper===
Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for manager and bookkeeper when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the stoc{{K|k}}s screen.''

===Broker===
The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping to actually talk to the traders when a trade delegation arrives.

Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. They will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.
[[File:DFwikiNoblesScreen.png|right|thumb|400px|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns green once an office is assigned.]]

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your stoneworker's shop, and they should be done by now.
# Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5).
# Place the furniture in it with {{Menu icon|b|f|r|sep=-}} (chair) and {{Menu icon|b|f|t|sep=-}} (table).
# Wait for the dwarves to install the furniture
# Using the {{Menu icon|z|sep=-}}ones menu, mark the room as an office, and then assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be both your bookkeeper and manager).
# Hit {{K|n}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, the icon next to the position should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood, which also includes the giant mushrooms in the caverns.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?
Using the work {{K|o}}rders menu, click the clipboard icon in the top right to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "Make bed." Click the number sign to set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:DFwikiDiningFoodPrepExample.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K-|b|o|f|k}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create food stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room. Go back to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and change the settings to disable food (click "Food" then click "None" in the center column). This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles. Hit {{K|y}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants, and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food. If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves. Eventually, go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the build furniture ({{K-|b|f}}) command. Put the new chai{{K|r}}s and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Add a Meeting Area {{K|z}}one in the dining room. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier).

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the [[stocks|stoc{{K|k}}s]] screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them. Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the status bar at the top of the screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms. (Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].)

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub-page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general-purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a stoneworker's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff. At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better-protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{k-|b|t|t}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. (To deal with these ambushers, see the next section on [[#Guard Animals|guard animals]]). Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the [[goblin]]s so your military will only have to mop up.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful above ground where invaders can come from the sides – underground, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls).
'''Legend:''' In this diagram and the one below, traps are blue {{DFtext|^|1:1}} (^) symbols, and the green {{DFtext|.|2:1}} and red {{DFtext|.|4}} (.) symbols represent the ground and cave floor.
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement if you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot, because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it by clicking on it and selecting "Remove this building".

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|z}}. Assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Therefore, you can build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{k-|b|n|b}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to set the draw direction, which then forms a barrier to block enemy ranged units. If you don't get the orientation of the bridge correct, it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up, allowing enemy ranged units to fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{k-|b|m|l}}) near your meeting area and [[Lever#Linking|link]] it to the drawbridge by clicking on the lever and selecting "Link lever". (This linking will require 3 [[mechanisms]] in total.)

==Metal Industry==
[[File:DFwikiForgesandSmeltersExample.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with bars stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s ({{k-|b|o|u|l}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|o|i}}). Designate stockpiles for bars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later. Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a stone stockpile, then change the settings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore. Finally, go to your general-purpose stockpile on the top level and disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so, then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]] ({{k-|b|o|u|f}}). This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap). Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process. If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on. Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters. Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helms, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves' legs.
[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, as is [[bronze]]. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
[[File:DFwikiCraftsExample.png|thumb|right|A craftsdwarf workshop. They produce crafts and trinkets which can be traded in a Depot.]]
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year. [[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary butt to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the [[weapon|sharp pointy kind]].}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world, then you will want at least some sort of military. Once you reach this point, you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important. If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.) When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next? =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually, though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*[[Smoothing|Smooth]] and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farming#Above-ground_farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[ru:Быстрый старт]]
[[zh:Quickstart guide]]