The Dwarf Fortress even Newer Release !!!

[Cthulhugoat]

Damnit. A lot has changed. I keep getting maps without a mountain, how funny.

 

[Nicolai]

You have to dig down, nigga. Just place a staircase above ground and then another one below it. ctrl+5 to go down a level, shift+5 to go up

My first underground fortress is coming along quite well.

 

[BigWeather]

The first real release of DF -- what was it like?

The current DF has an insane amount of really cool features, particularly in world creation and simulation. How much of this was visible in the first DF release?

A very enviable thing that Toady has is a not-so-small community that helps encourage him to do more and more with his engine / game. It's a great help to the hobbyist that may spend many hours at a real job coding just to come home and code even more.

Was DF's great future immediately seen on first release (or before)? What are the keys to getting a product like this started and the community involved such that the encouragement / validation is there and the project takes on a life of its own? Is it a great first release? Is it a first release with potential? And a heck of a mission statement?

 

[fastjack]

re

i for one remember drooling at the thought of the dwarf fortress release, waiting like a year or two and checking in to watch the little gameplay movies hed make and hear more of the aar-like discussion.

the 1st release had a lot of promise, with a lot of bugs and incomplete features. Im not sure what all has changed since i stopped playing early on when toady mentioned how he thought the game needed mouse support and graphics to not overhelm the player with all the features, present and planned (which i totally agree with). Also it seemed like each minor bug fix release would break compatability.

looks like its coming along great though, i may just go back in myself. Maybe be a wrestler and break some skeleton thumbs with my hips

 

[Nedrah]

I think the game is such a success because it is filling a niche that was not filled before. We can come up with games that share similarities with it, but there is nothing quite like it.
It seems to draw a somewhat more mature crowd than most games, although I wouldn't go as far as call it an intellectual fanbase. Now if only I could get it to work.

This is how my game currently looks, seems like something went wrong

Edit: Why is that image tag not working? Here's a link:
http://img251.imageshack.us/my.php?image=df1oj8.jpg

 

[Balor]

Well, just use the 'embark' screen to select your starting area.
You can set it rather precisely - for instance, right near a mountain, close to a river - just like before. But if you are feeling harcore, you can start right on top of a glacier. You'll have to make everything out of ice, though .
But, my first fortress appeared right near a limonite (iron ore) vein, and an exposed platinum vein!
Theres's a chasm righn near my entry, too. Seen naked mole dogs and swallowmen milling around on the chasm's edges down below, and some nice ores/gems too.
Too bad there is no river nearby, but used a pool to create a farm - I expect it to last for an other year, and then I'll have to think of something else... perhaps I'll just refill my 'watering pond' by ordering my dwards to do so (possible now). Or I'll find a subterranear river (not guaranteed).

 

[Nicolai]

Edit: Why is that image tag not working? Here's a link:
http://img251.imageshack.us/my.php?image=df1oj8.jpg

The image tags only work with direct links.

 

[Nedrah]

Which this one wasn't, I see. Yes, makes sense.

What I was trying to show with that screen was that I'm getting messed up graphics which don't have much to do with mayday's screenshots, which I was trying to achieve.

 

[Jasede]

You're so doof. :/

 

[Nedrah]

You're so doof. :/

When did you go from "sexual deviant but likeable" to "wannabe boardbully", anyways?

I already linked to the pic, I just didn't notice it wasn't a direct link when trying the img tags at first. You can delete it again if you want, it seems to break the thread format, at least for me.

I reinstalled everything and made sure to follow the directions carefully. Worked better this time, I think I forgot to place the .txt last time. I still don't get my game screen to be as big as I'd like it to be, but I'm getting there.

Upon embarking for the very first time, I was greeted by an "ironman" who proceeded to kill a doggy and my fish cleaner (?) dwarf the second my waggon was set up. I quickly drafted 2 dwarfes into the military, both of whom survived wrestling with the iron man. I still think we might be doomed, because it seems I brought two woodcutters and a jeweler and I can't see any trees or jewels. The bigger problem is, of course, that I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing and that I'm still struggling with the interface. Unfortunately I suppose it might be a while until there's a new guide to surviving first winter out.

 

[Gwendo]

Is there any Newbie Guide, something with the First Steps?

The game looks promising, yet, overwhelming for a first timer.

 

[Destroid]

The most glorious part of dwarf fortress is the suffering it makes you endure. Truly this is a game for masochists.



Also, lol at me upgrading my PC to play an ASCII game.

 

[Jasede]

You're so doof. :/

When did you go from "sexual deviant but likeable" to "wannabe boardbully"

Oh come on, there's nothing "boardbully" about what I said. I thought I was going to make you smile.

I am sorry if I offended you.

 

[Nedrah]

Oh well, looks like I got you wrong / should do something about my current mood.
No problem


Well, apart from that, yes, there used to be a newbie guide, but I think it's currently down (at least the DF wiki one) because the new version changed quite a bit.

I managed to get some stockpiles filled with various crap and I also dug out some rooms and got a carpenters workshop as well as a kittchen set up. I wanted my carpenter to make some beds, however we seem to be lacking any wooden logs. Great. Also I have no real idea where I want to be going, so yeah, a new newbie guide would be good - as someone at the bay12 forums mentioned, it looks a bit like the learning curve has evolved to a learning wall.

And I seem to suck at choosing starting locations. There seemed to be trees at the location I picked for embarking, but now there's only grass.

 

[Nicolai]

Figuring stuff out on your own is half the fun, but you can probably still access the old newbie guide through the old wiki (archives.newurl.com or something), though you'll find that quite a bit has, as mentioned above, changed since the last version.

Really loving the new z-axis, having loads of fun making water pumps and multi-level garbage dumps.

 

[Nedrah]

I can see how you would be right about figuring stuff out being half the fun, but it's not without a solid starting point - what and whom to bring along and what to do at first.

 

[Jasede]

Actually. Nedrah, when I was younger and less stupid I shared Nicolai's viewpoint on this: the more complex and daunting a game, the more fun it is to find everything out by yourself. There's many great old games young me had to figure out without a manual or the benefit of the internet, like Shadow of the Horned Rat, many Sierra adventures, Privateer, etc.

But I will say this: with Dwarf Fortress I may actually actually with you; it's a daunting game and honestly too complex for me to play without tiles or without a lengthy study of the "manual".

 

[Destroid]

I don't know whats changed in the new version... but if you don't have trees then the only way you could get them is by floody large areas of the underground, drying them out (to leave them muddy) and waiting until tower caps (a type of mushroom) grew. You can cut down mature towercaps for wood.

As for getting started tips, make sure you bring plenty of seeds, plant nothing but plump helmets early on, and make sure you get a farm of roughly 5x5 or 6x6 to see you through the first winter. If you have trouble you can build a butcher and slaughter a few donkeys/horses/dogs/etc (It should also be pointed out that you can't farm in winter, so the earlier start you get the better. Make pretty much any spare dwarf a farmer).

Pretty soon you will also want a brewery (as dwarves work poorly without alcohol) and you can make plenty of alcohol with plump helmets. Just be careful not to make too much or you wont have any to eat!


If you don't have an underground river then I have nfi what you do since I have not played the new version.

Also, make sure you don't read anything about the various kinds of obstacles you will find under the mountain, it will spoil half the fun

 

[pkt-zer0]

Hmm, this thread made me consider starting the game. Hopefully there exists a decent enough tileset, or learning 200 ASCII character + color combinations isn't as hard as it sounds.

 

[Jasede]

It's the hardest game there is to learn I know, pkt-zer0, definitely harder than learning Nethack without a tileset.

 

[JarlFrank]

Hmm, this thread made me consider starting the game. Hopefully there exists a decent enough tileset, or learning 200 ASCII character + color combinations isn't as hard as it sounds.

Just start with adventure mode and you'll get a grasp of what ASCII character depicts what kind of thing. Especially trees are easy to notice, and creatures. It's not a big problem, really.

 

[Nicolai]

Just use the look feature a lot. Shouldn't take you too long to memorize what the various characters represent

 

[hicksman]

Use the Dwarf Fortress Wikiif you're a noob.

 

[Cthulhugoat]

You have to dig down, nigga. Just place a staircase above ground and then another one below it. ctrl+5 to go down a level, shift+5 to go up

My first underground fortress is coming along quite well.

Oh fenks. Though I still prefer "Mountain Fortress" over "Dwarven Bunker", it has a lot more charm. Ah, fuck it. Strike the earf!

 

[Joe Krow]

I'm excited to hear about the sprite packs. I have been wanting to give this game a shot. Any ETA? Need a beta tester?