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Difference between revisions of "v0.31:Important advice"

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== Known Bugs and Issues {{v|0.31.01}} ==
+
{{quality|Exceptional|03:56, 29 September 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}
  
This isn't meant to be comprehensive, but more of a quick guide to check when something isn't working right. So yeah.
+
Here are a few things to keep in mind when playing Dwarf Fortress.
  
<nowiki>*</nowiki> indicates spoilers.
+
Above all, one must remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get the hang of things &ndash; it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while playing around with the different mechanics.
 +
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.
  
As a general rule, always try to
+
If you cannot find your answer on this wiki, check out the forums at [http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php Bay12games.com]
*Disable and re-enable the labor
 
*Save and reload again
 
*Quit and launch the game again, reload your save
 
  
It sounds generic, but these do seem to work very well in this case.
+
== DF 2010 Advice ==
 +
* [[Soap]] is very important now.  If a dwarf is injured, soap will be necessary to clean the wound, otherwise infection will set in.
 +
* Do not take on an armoured opponent with your fists; you will lose.  Wrestling is no longer very effective and the use of quality weapons is strongly encouraged. It is still faster than using [[training weapon]]s of any type, though.
 +
* Don't dig too greedily or too deep without a proper army - expecting a couple rookies to fend off a [[Giant cave spider]] (or [[Hidden_Fun_Stuff|worse]]) results in much [[fun]].  Make sure to properly train and equip your soldiers before breaching the depths.  Equipment is much more important than before.
 +
* The new resource allocation defaults (defined in init) means that dwarves stack resources far more efficiently into barrels than they used to. The net result is that the average number of barrels/bins you need has roughly halved compared to 40d. This means that you can put more of that precious wood towards beds in the early game as opposed to logging half the map to supply containers for your precious [[booze]].
  
'''Take from stockpile:''' Currently, "take from stockpile" will make dwarfs run over to that stockpile, pick up the item, and drop it right back. Don't use it, it will keep your dwarfs busy with a pointless task.
+
== Advice ==
 +
<!-- General suggestions and philosophy -->
 +
* Keep in mind that Dwarf Fortress doesn't have a "win" condition. It just has a long series of "lose" conditions.
 +
** (Well, really just one lose condition {all your dwarves die}, but many ways to accomplish it.)
 +
** Not a loss if you only have children and insane adults left. Migrants might come and kids might live long enough to grow up.
 +
** What about {Abandon Fortress}?
  
'''No fish*:''' There are currently no (or occasionally very few) fish. This includes brooks, rivers, oceans, ponds, lakes (underground and otherwise). You may get a few turtles sometimes. No known workaround.
+
* Learn the [[controls_guide|controls]]. There are lots, and learning them may seem daunting at first, but once you get the basics down (like how to check the status of your dwarves or the hotkeys for building certain structures), you'll find yourself playing much more efficiently.
  
'''Double fish:''' You may see fish listed twice in embark or trade screens. This is suspected to be because both female and male fish are listed, separately.
+
* If your game is running slowly, learn how to [[Maximizing framerate|maximize your framerate]]. Perhaps try a 3x2 size embark.
  
'''Farms*:''' Underground farms must be on muddy ground. This is apparently a bug, and will supposedly be fixed in later releases. If you don't want to bother flooding your fortress, you can build above ground farms (this works just as in the old version, ignore warnings about mud) or you can break into the underground cave which always has muddy ground.
+
* Save often! Although it can be a hassle to have to quit out and get back in, it's a lot better than after crash having to build that long hallway of stone-fall traps, plant the whole bag of plump helmet seeds, and make that shipment of steel battleaxes for the caravan next year, ''all over again''.
 +
** In this version, there is a seasonal auto-save feature which you can turn on by editing your /data/init/d_init.txt file.
  
'''Graphics:''' When you generate a world and try to embark in it, some tiles may be missing. Simply quit the game, launch it again, embark as usual. Arena mode does not work with graphics.
+
* Plan ahead a little during construction. When building your first couple dozen rooms, consider that in the future you might want to make certain busy hallways wider so dwarves aren't always climbing over each other. This will be a lot easier if you put rooms back an extra tile so you don't have to rebuild everything.
  
'''Hunters don't gonna hunt:''' If you bring along a hunter, you will notice he does not hunt, despite having the labor enabled. Disable and re-enable hunting to remedy. You may or may not need to make sure he has a crossbow, and/or to go to the {{k|m]]ilitary menu and assign ammunition ({{k|f}}.
+
* Think three-dimensionally. You have a Z-axis. Things will be much closer when they're downstairs one floor than if they're 20 tiles away down the hallway. Also note that, with the default [[tilesets|tileset]], your display of the fortress is not square, so north/south distances will appear longer than east/west distances -- they aren't.
  
'''Immigrants don't work:''' Immigrants arrive with only peasant labors enabled, even if they are legendary jewelers or whatever. They may sometimes have weird labors enabled. (Stonecrafting master lye makers) No known workaround, manually check each immigrants labors.
+
== Tips ==
 +
<!-- Little facts about the game to keep in mind -->
 +
* Dwarves thrive on [[alcohol]]. If a dwarf drinks only water, the rate at which he gets tasks done decreases. If the fortress has no alcohol for years, things will slow down quite a bit.
 +
* Dwarves also need [[food]], obviously - and a good [[cook]] (and a nice dining hall) go a long way towards keeping your fortress happy.
 +
** Don't cook all your alcohol or all your [[seed]]s (or all the things that leave seeds). ({{k|z}} >> Kitchen).
 +
* Dwarves tend to get trapped easily. They like [[Digging#Dig_Priority|building and digging things from certain directions]], so try to make sure there is a way out (and keep an eye on them just in case they try something crazy). Also keep in mind that workshops block certain squares, so if you ever notice that your jeweler dies after constructing a workshop with a door on the east side, that's why.
 +
* Digging, wood cutting, and engraving are [[noise|noisy]]. Keep your sleeping areas away from noise and your dwarves will get a good night's rest.
 +
* Workshops will become [[clutter|cluttered]] once they have 15 average goods in them (more for [[craft]]s, less for [[siege weapon]]s).  Make stockpiles to receive the goods, and have ample [[hauler]]s, and/or more than one of a workshop that's likely to get cluttered.
 +
* [[Trap]]s can help take care of invaders at no risk to your dwarves. Any fortress can build a <!-- tub style mechanical chicken plucker --> bunch of stone-fall traps. Cage traps are also easy (you can make cages out of wood).
 +
* Having a dwarf with the Appraiser skill to be your [[broker]] will help a lot when [[trading]]. Otherwise, you can't see how much an item is worth.
 +
* [[Chain]]ing some [[dog]]s by your front door may deter thieves.
 +
* Remember that dwarves can be assigned new [[labor|jobs]] at any time. If your carpenter has died, your farmer can start making beds. (He won't be good at it, since he doesn't have the skill, but lowest-quality beds are better than sleeping on the ground.)
 +
* Idle carpenters? It's hard to have too many [[barrel]]s (or too many [[bin]]s... [[bed]]s for the next wave of [[immigrant]]s are pretty handy too). Idle masons? You can fit a lot of [[door]]s into your fortress, and buildings constructed from [[block]]s add value over rough stone.
 +
* Too many [[immigrant]]s? Don't know what to do with them? Have you started an [[military|army]] yet?
 +
* When setting a [[water]] source (for designated drinking zones) or a [[fishing]] zone, remember that only walkable tiles are valid - you need only mark the shore.
 +
* When in doubt, wall off the outside world and do soldier training for a year.
  
'''Weird red "C" in the top left corner:''' <span style="color:#FF0000; background:#B22222">''' C '''</span> means new combat report, <span style="color:#00FF00; background:#008000">''' H '''</span> means new hunting message, <span style="color:#48D1CC; background:#008080">''' S '''</span> means new sparring message. Feature, not bug.
+
== Tricks ==
 +
<!-- Specific little actions the users can take to make their lives better -->
 +
* To find a dead dwarf, go under status ({{k|z}}), then select stock>>corpses. Hit tab, and use {{k|z}} to zoom to the particular dwarf to find a hint on where and how he died.
  
'''Weak military/wrestlers:''' Wrestlers suck, don't use them. They will take long years to kill an enemy, and both parties are at a higher risk of death by starvation (granted, that's pretty high because the "wrestling" is keeping them occupied).
+
* Don't like all the stone laying around? Instead of using a stone [[stockpile]] create a 1-square garbage [[zone]] and [[dump]] (d,b,d) the stone. Reclaim (d,b,c) the stone after it's been dumped. This way, you can store an unlimited amount of stone in just 1 tile! (This is especially useful when the tile in question is next to your mason shop). Also use the mouse to paint which stones to dump.
 +
** [[miasma|Miasma]] from the garbage zone won't spread diagonally.  Making your garbage dump a 1-tile room dug diagonally into a corner means you won't even need a door.
  
'''Training from hell:''' The default settings are such that your military dwarfs will train, train, train, and possibly starve in the process. See [[DF2010:Military/Guide]], "Getting your squad to do something", for details.
+
* Usually the closest available material is used for tasks such as (for example) building a floodgate, but not always. To prevent frustration, you can make a custom stockpile (e.g. for [[bauxite]]) next to your workshop and close the dwarf in. Don't forget there's a z-axis, so make sure there aren't unwanted materials above/below your workshop.
 +
** Lock your [[gem setter]] in a room with some cut [[gem]]s and a [[stockpile]] set to gather quality [[furniture]], so that he doesn't waste time (and valuables) encrusting stupid things like barrels.
  
'''Auto kitchen:''' In the {{k|o}}rders menu, there are options for auto {{k|b}}utcher, auto {{k|k}}itchen and auto {{k|f}}ishery. All three of these respond to {{k|b}} only, {{k|k}} and {{k|f}} do nothing.
+
* The Standing Orders ({{k|o}}) screen can be used for a variety of useful settings, like having your dwarves temporarily ignore wood and refuse or making your weavers stop heading outside all the time to collect spiderwebs and get slaughtered by wild animals.
  
'''Menu confusion:''' {{k|Space}} used to be the key to leave a menu, this has been changed to {{k|Esc}}. You may change it back through the key bindings menu, but don't. If you do, you will have problems using the job manager because typing a space will cancel the add new job command.
+
* Hitting {{k|x}} when building a building (especially a cage) expands the list of items, so you can pick one with a specific [[quality]] (a nice bed for a noble's bedroom, or a cheap door for the garbage room).
  
'''Rat remains don't rot:''' Presumably will be fixed. Until then, treat rat remains like [[40d:Stone management|unwanted stone]].
+
* If you're scanning the outdoors for your next swath of [[tree]]s, move your view up one level. They will appear as little rectangles on a field of dots and will be easier to spot.
 +
** Speaking of timber, try designating some high-traffic lanes ({{k|d}} {{k|o}} {{k|h}}) outside radiating away from your front door  to the trees. Your dwarves will stick to the paths somewhat, and probably trample fewer saplings. (They also won't mess up the ground and leave a bunch of ugly [[sand]] spots scattered around on a sandy map.)
 +
 
 +
* Take preventative measures to avoid [[cave adaptation]].  Only one of these is necessary.
 +
** Build a walled [[statue]] garden outside your fortress.
 +
** A protective wall around an outdoor well or other meeting area also works well.
 +
** In any central stairways dig up to the surface. Any dwarves moving through that central stairway will receive their daily dose of sunlight. You could do the same for a meeting hall or statue garden, but just do it underground.
 +
** You could even rely on the one activity that every dwarf does with regularity - [[alcohol|drinking]].  Store the fortress's booze supplies in a well-defended tower atop your fortress.
 +
** Keep in mind that you still probably want to minimize access points to your fortress. Really, any opening could be used by animals or enemies to get into your fortress. You should be able to close it in again afterwards, and the light will remain anyways, as once a tile becomes light, it doesn't stop being so. (Well, not yet anyways; though putting in a ''glass'' roof might not be a bad idea if you feel like it)
 +
 
 +
* [[Trade]] for basic items like [[meat]] and [[wood]]. They're cheap, and it's easier than gathering them yourself.  It's amazing how many logs you can get for a couple mugs.  Keep plenty of [[useless crap|valuable supplies]] for trading; a single skilled craftsdwarf with a steady supply of stone can potentially take every single item of value from every caravan that stops by.
 +
 
 +
{{Category|Guides}}

Latest revision as of 22:23, 26 July 2021

This article is about an older version of DF.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when playing Dwarf Fortress.

Above all, one must remember that losing is fun! Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get the hang of things – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while playing around with the different mechanics. 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 cannot find your answer on this wiki, check out the forums at Bay12games.com

DF 2010 Advice[edit]

  • Soap is very important now. If a dwarf is injured, soap will be necessary to clean the wound, otherwise infection will set in.
  • Do not take on an armoured opponent with your fists; you will lose. Wrestling is no longer very effective and the use of quality weapons is strongly encouraged. It is still faster than using training weapons of any type, though.
  • Don't dig too greedily or too deep without a proper army - expecting a couple rookies to fend off a Giant cave spider (or worse) results in much fun. Make sure to properly train and equip your soldiers before breaching the depths. Equipment is much more important than before.
  • The new resource allocation defaults (defined in init) means that dwarves stack resources far more efficiently into barrels than they used to. The net result is that the average number of barrels/bins you need has roughly halved compared to 40d. This means that you can put more of that precious wood towards beds in the early game as opposed to logging half the map to supply containers for your precious booze.

Advice[edit]

  • Keep in mind that Dwarf Fortress doesn't have a "win" condition. It just has a long series of "lose" conditions.
    • (Well, really just one lose condition {all your dwarves die}, but many ways to accomplish it.)
    • Not a loss if you only have children and insane adults left. Migrants might come and kids might live long enough to grow up.
    • What about {Abandon Fortress}?
  • Learn the controls. There are lots, and learning them may seem daunting at first, but once you get the basics down (like how to check the status of your dwarves or the hotkeys for building certain structures), you'll find yourself playing much more efficiently.
  • Save often! Although it can be a hassle to have to quit out and get back in, it's a lot better than after crash having to build that long hallway of stone-fall traps, plant the whole bag of plump helmet seeds, and make that shipment of steel battleaxes for the caravan next year, all over again.
    • In this version, there is a seasonal auto-save feature which you can turn on by editing your /data/init/d_init.txt file.
  • Plan ahead a little during construction. When building your first couple dozen rooms, consider that in the future you might want to make certain busy hallways wider so dwarves aren't always climbing over each other. This will be a lot easier if you put rooms back an extra tile so you don't have to rebuild everything.
  • Think three-dimensionally. You have a Z-axis. Things will be much closer when they're downstairs one floor than if they're 20 tiles away down the hallway. Also note that, with the default tileset, your display of the fortress is not square, so north/south distances will appear longer than east/west distances -- they aren't.

Tips[edit]

  • Dwarves thrive on alcohol. If a dwarf drinks only water, the rate at which he gets tasks done decreases. If the fortress has no alcohol for years, things will slow down quite a bit.
  • Dwarves also need food, obviously - and a good cook (and a nice dining hall) go a long way towards keeping your fortress happy.
    • Don't cook all your alcohol or all your seeds (or all the things that leave seeds). (z >> Kitchen).
  • Dwarves tend to get trapped easily. They like building and digging things from certain directions, so try to make sure there is a way out (and keep an eye on them just in case they try something crazy). Also keep in mind that workshops block certain squares, so if you ever notice that your jeweler dies after constructing a workshop with a door on the east side, that's why.
  • Digging, wood cutting, and engraving are noisy. Keep your sleeping areas away from noise and your dwarves will get a good night's rest.
  • Workshops will become cluttered once they have 15 average goods in them (more for crafts, less for siege weapons). Make stockpiles to receive the goods, and have ample haulers, and/or more than one of a workshop that's likely to get cluttered.
  • Traps can help take care of invaders at no risk to your dwarves. Any fortress can build a bunch of stone-fall traps. Cage traps are also easy (you can make cages out of wood).
  • Having a dwarf with the Appraiser skill to be your broker will help a lot when trading. Otherwise, you can't see how much an item is worth.
  • Chaining some dogs by your front door may deter thieves.
  • Remember that dwarves can be assigned new jobs at any time. If your carpenter has died, your farmer can start making beds. (He won't be good at it, since he doesn't have the skill, but lowest-quality beds are better than sleeping on the ground.)
  • Idle carpenters? It's hard to have too many barrels (or too many bins... beds for the next wave of immigrants are pretty handy too). Idle masons? You can fit a lot of doors into your fortress, and buildings constructed from blocks add value over rough stone.
  • Too many immigrants? Don't know what to do with them? Have you started an army yet?
  • When setting a water source (for designated drinking zones) or a fishing zone, remember that only walkable tiles are valid - you need only mark the shore.
  • When in doubt, wall off the outside world and do soldier training for a year.

Tricks[edit]

  • To find a dead dwarf, go under status (z), then select stock>>corpses. Hit tab, and use z to zoom to the particular dwarf to find a hint on where and how he died.
  • Don't like all the stone laying around? Instead of using a stone stockpile create a 1-square garbage zone and dump (d,b,d) the stone. Reclaim (d,b,c) the stone after it's been dumped. This way, you can store an unlimited amount of stone in just 1 tile! (This is especially useful when the tile in question is next to your mason shop). Also use the mouse to paint which stones to dump.
    • Miasma from the garbage zone won't spread diagonally. Making your garbage dump a 1-tile room dug diagonally into a corner means you won't even need a door.
  • Usually the closest available material is used for tasks such as (for example) building a floodgate, but not always. To prevent frustration, you can make a custom stockpile (e.g. for bauxite) next to your workshop and close the dwarf in. Don't forget there's a z-axis, so make sure there aren't unwanted materials above/below your workshop.
    • Lock your gem setter in a room with some cut gems and a stockpile set to gather quality furniture, so that he doesn't waste time (and valuables) encrusting stupid things like barrels.
  • The Standing Orders (o) screen can be used for a variety of useful settings, like having your dwarves temporarily ignore wood and refuse or making your weavers stop heading outside all the time to collect spiderwebs and get slaughtered by wild animals.
  • Hitting x when building a building (especially a cage) expands the list of items, so you can pick one with a specific quality (a nice bed for a noble's bedroom, or a cheap door for the garbage room).
  • If you're scanning the outdoors for your next swath of trees, move your view up one level. They will appear as little rectangles on a field of dots and will be easier to spot.
    • Speaking of timber, try designating some high-traffic lanes (d o h) outside radiating away from your front door to the trees. Your dwarves will stick to the paths somewhat, and probably trample fewer saplings. (They also won't mess up the ground and leave a bunch of ugly sand spots scattered around on a sandy map.)
  • Take preventative measures to avoid cave adaptation. Only one of these is necessary.
    • Build a walled statue garden outside your fortress.
    • A protective wall around an outdoor well or other meeting area also works well.
    • In any central stairways dig up to the surface. Any dwarves moving through that central stairway will receive their daily dose of sunlight. You could do the same for a meeting hall or statue garden, but just do it underground.
    • You could even rely on the one activity that every dwarf does with regularity - drinking. Store the fortress's booze supplies in a well-defended tower atop your fortress.
    • Keep in mind that you still probably want to minimize access points to your fortress. Really, any opening could be used by animals or enemies to get into your fortress. You should be able to close it in again afterwards, and the light will remain anyways, as once a tile becomes light, it doesn't stop being so. (Well, not yet anyways; though putting in a glass roof might not be a bad idea if you feel like it)
  • Trade for basic items like meat and wood. They're cheap, and it's easier than gathering them yourself. It's amazing how many logs you can get for a couple mugs. Keep plenty of valuable supplies for trading; a single skilled craftsdwarf with a steady supply of stone can potentially take every single item of value from every caravan that stops by.