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Difference between revisions of "v0.34:Quickstart guide"
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==Strike The Earth!== | ==Strike The Earth!== | ||
| − | Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. | + | 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 {{K|d}}esignations menu allows you to select areas to dig. There are multiple methods of digging: | |
| + | * '''[[Mining]]''' removes solid floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a natural [[floor]] (essentially a soil/rock surface). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls. | ||
| + | * '''[[Channel]]ing''' removes the floor and creates a downward slope on the z-level selected, as well as creating an upward slope on the z-level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black). | ||
To designate an area for digging: | To designate an area for digging: | ||
#Hit {{K|d}} to bring up the [[Designations Menu]]. | #Hit {{K|d}} to bring up the [[Designations Menu]]. | ||
| − | #Hit {{K|d}} | + | #Hit {{K|d}} to mine or {{k|h}} to channel (see above) |
#Place the cursor on one corner of the rectangular area you want to designate and press {{K|Enter}}. | #Place the cursor on one corner of the rectangular area you want to designate and press {{K|Enter}}. | ||
| − | #Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangle and press {{K|Enter}}. A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner | + | #Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangle and press {{K|Enter}}. A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you exit the menu (with {{K|Esc}}) and unpause the game with {{K|Space}}. |
This is basically how all of the designation commands work. Everything has to be designated one rectangle at a time, but rectangles can also be one tile wide, or just one single tile. | This is basically how all of the designation commands work. Everything has to be designated one rectangle at a time, but rectangles can also be one tile wide, or just one single tile. | ||
Revision as of 15:15, 21 June 2014
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
- This is a quickstart guide for Dwarf fortress mode for those who have never played before who 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.
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, you'll remember how you lost. In a big way, Dwarf Fortress uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.
If you have any feedback on this guide, please see the instructions in the feedback section.
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.
As this article doesn't always contain the exact key sequences needed to do everything described, you will likely need to refer to the Fortress Mode Reference Guide and the rest of the wiki while reading this.
Common UI Concepts
While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the Fortress Mode Reference Guide or use the wiki search function. Also, don't hesitate to ask for help if you can't find answers on the wiki.
About key symbols
This wiki uses symbols that look like t or 
t to indicate what keys or interface buttons are used for an operation. Note that keys are case sensitive and to save space, Shift+t is shown as T. So t means "press the 't' key without the shift key" and T means "hold down shift and press the 't' key". Lowercase and uppercase keys will often perform different functions, so it is important to use the correct key. Sequences of keys will be in separate boxes, so abC means "press 'a', then press 'b', then hold shift and press 'c'"; while 
b
T means "press 'b', then hold shift and press 'T'. A plus sign '+' between the boxes means to press them all together, so Shift+Enter means to hold shift and press 'Enter'. Other separators, such as ',' or '-', might be used but mean the same as no separator: to press the keys in sequence.
Keybindings can be seen and changed on the Keybindings tab in the Settings menu.
| Esc or right mouse | Go back to the previous screen/menu |
| Mouse wheel | Scroll menu one line |
| Shift+mouse wheel | Scroll menu one page |
| Left mouse | Select menu option |
Esc or right mouse will almost always return to the previous screen until you get to the top level of the UI, at which point Esc will display the options menu.
Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with Esc from the main screen. There are usually six available options:
- Return to Game: Exits the options menu (shortcut Esc).
- Save Game: Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be backed up and reloaded.
- Key Bindings: Allows you to change the keys that trigger nearly any function in the game. This can appear extremely confusing to use, but it is fairly simple to navigate through (as it uses the standard arrow keys, Esc and Enter). Changing keys for menus is probably a bad idea, since this guide assumes the default keybindings — however, it may occasionally be useful to change navigation keybindings on some laptops (for example, changing menus to use = instead of +).
- Export Local Image: Saves full-size images of your fortress.
- Music and Sound: Controls for volume adjustment.
- Abandon the Fortress: Do not select this option unless you know what you are doing! It will end your fortress permanently and return to the main menu (all progress in your fortress will be lost). Your fort and most items will remain, however, so this can be useful in extreme circumstances (e.g. when you know your fortress is doomed and want to start again) – see abandon for more information).
Notably lacking is an "exit without save" option. Players who wish to quit and leave their previous save unchanged may manually kill the Dwarf Fortress process using the "die" command in DFHack, the Windows Task Manager (you might then have to end the process dumprep.exe), or the Unix "kill" command (on some systems, ctrl-