Hopefully I'm not startling anyone, but it was inevitable that once Zonhoroc mentioned it, I had to get it, play it, and since it's just that good, make a thread for it. For those posessing no information of it, http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ is the official site. It is Dwarf Fortress, probably the best game ever made. I'm not sure how popular around here it is, but I've had it downloaded for maybe 3 weeks or so and I've loved every moment I've played. Having just 3 days ago managed to get just the right type of environment for the perfect fortress (right next to a brook that provides a handy moat, water source and fishing source, situated in a forest, found bitominous coal and bauxite, and only 1 kobold thief in 2 years!) I immediatly set to work on the greatest fort I could make. If anyone shows interest in this thread I'll try to get descriptionaries and pictures up, and besides that, discuss the game.

I posted a thread on this a while back, but it never caught on. Either way, it's a pretty cool game. I never got very into it though, because I wasn't really patient enough to learn all I could before jumping in. It looks like a very deep game though...and I love how it can make a random generated world THAT big. :geek:

I know, it's insanely hard to pick just that one 6x6 spot when theres like, a gabillion and a half other tiles.

Don't do it, this game is a trap.

 

 

 

Like Sins of a Solar Empire, except it doesn't need graphics to make you play it for hours on end without realising what you're doing.

Don't do it, this game is a trap.

 

 

 

Like Sins of a Solar Empire, except it doesn't need graphics to make you play it for hours on end without realising what you're doing.

 

 

 

This game will take your life, and hide it in the corner while putting an amazing game right in front of you.

It really is an amazing game, you constantly have to manage your people into the militairy to keep your workers safe, while at the same time the workers have to be in the thick of it to build walls and fortifications and such to make your squads have an easier job. My favorite part is the farming aspect and water mechanics. The first time I actually managed to irrigate a field, I was close to crying.

I built ceilings out of glass blocks so I could grow outdoor crops underground.

 

 

 

And that's awesome.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, every time one of my dwarves who've developed cave adaptation walks through the greenhouse, they will start puking everywhere.

I just started, but I really don't know what do do : :

Same. I stopped playing for a while, and now I'm completely overwhelmed XD

This wiki is really helpful http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Your_first_fortress. Treat it like a holy book, and you will thrive.

I'm in the process of building a two-level 10x10 artificial lake underground. It's fed with one screw pump and an overland "pipe", and can be drained via a second set of screw pumps. I have hatches linked to levers to control water input/output during construction. It's roughly 50% done at the moment, because I've run out of fuel to make glass windows with - I've dug out the walls of the lake and I'm in the process of turning it into a giant aquarium for my dwarves.

 

 

 

Once it's done, I'm going to try and find a way to turn it into a weapon.

This wiki is really helpful http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Your_first_fortress. Treat it like a holy book, and you will thrive.

 

 

 

I tried that, and right after I embark I get stuck. :thumbsup:

After finding that wiki, I was finally able to start making my own fortress. I haven't really done much other than digging a room and setting up some stockpiles. I haven't been able to get stone for some reason, so I haven't been able to make stone things...

You get stone from digging out stone tiles, as opposed to soil or sand tiles. If you can't find any on one level, try moving down a couple of z-levels using stairs.

How do you move between levels? I think it's shift + , . (< >) but nothing happens when I press them...

 

 

 

I've been trying to find out how on the wiki, but I haven't found anything yet...

You do move between levels using < and >. It should work unless you're playing one of the very old versions of the game. If you can't see anything but black when you move levels, that is because you haven't explored anything yet. Look on the right side of the screen - there's an indicator there showing you how far under or above ground you are.

 

 

 

If you want to move your dwarves between levels, build a down stairway on your current level, move down one and then build an up stairway directly underneath the one going down.

I'm in the process of building a huge tower with walled bridges to the magma-canoe I have that oh so conveniently fills up to just 2 z-levels above me. My plan is to build in such a way that to enter my fortress, goblins will have to cause a chain-trap reaction that will lock my dwarves in and flood the area they get stuck in with magma.

I finished building my underground lake.

 

 

 

It turns out that opening the hatch to take water out of the lake has the unfortunate side effect of flooding the entire first level of my fortress and the surrounding countryside. Luckily, a system of hatches prevented the water from trickling down any further than that, and I didn't lose anything except a couple of kittens and a baby. All my important stuff is down below - the first level is just for farms, rows of siege engines and non-essential workshops.

 

 

 

It took a couple of months for the first level to dry up enough for my dwarves to start using it again, and now I've built a wall to channel the outgoing water flow to a more favourable path. I've moved the input/output control levers to an underground location so I won't have to deal with another unstoppable drain sequence.

 

 

 

sonerohi, your plan has a good chance of accidentally flooding your fortress with magma. I approve of this and demand that you DO IT NOW.

 

 

 

Remember to use bauxite floodgates/doors and bauxite mechanisms to power them. Other types of rock have a tendency to melt when exposed to magma. Oh, and for the love of god, make sure you have a way for the magma to drain away. Make sure that this drainage system is remote-controlled.

You do move between levels using < and >. It should work unless you're playing one of the very old versions of the game. If you can't see anything but black when you move levels, that is because you haven't explored anything yet. Look on the right side of the screen - there's an indicator there showing you how far under or above ground you are.

 

 

 

If you want to move your dwarves between levels, build a down stairway on your current level, move down one and then build an up stairway directly underneath the one going down.

 

 

 

I checked the keybindings, and found out that they were set differently.

 

 

 

I didn't know about the stairs though, thanks for the help.

I finished building my underground lake.

 

 

 

It turns out that opening the hatch to take water out of the lake has the unfortunate side effect of flooding the entire first level of my fortress and the surrounding countryside. Luckily, a system of hatches prevented the water from trickling down any further than that, and I didn't lose anything except a couple of kittens and a baby. All my important stuff is down below - the first level is just for farms, rows of siege engines and non-essential workshops.

 

 

 

It took a couple of months for the first level to dry up enough for my dwarves to start using it again, and now I've built a wall to channel the outgoing water flow to a more favourable path. I've moved the input/output control levers to an underground location so I won't have to deal with another unstoppable drain sequence.

 

 

 

sonerohi, your plan has a good chance of accidentally flooding your fortress with magma. I approve of this and demand that you DO IT NOW.

 

 

 

Remember to use bauxite floodgates/doors and bauxite mechanisms to power them. Other types of rock have a tendency to melt when exposed to magma. Oh, and for the love of god, make sure you have a way for the magma to drain away. Make sure that this drainage system is remote-controlled.

 

 

 

I used bauxite, and some HFS metal, and it works great. What it does is opens up a bajillion hatches, dropping any of my dorfs trying to leave or enter into my basement, and sets the magma flowing down a walled in ramp, that spreads to cover my bauxite stairs that the goblins are a runnin to. It successfully repelled three sieges before a gobbo thief snuck in and threw the lever that unblocks the stairs before the pressure plates of doom, thereby letting the enemy sneak up to the 2 wide walkway that was constantly getting fired on by catapults.

 

 

 

Later on though, I tried building some towers that you can only get to from the basment of my fort to pick off the gobbos from a couple levels up. It works, an ambush is getting pot-shotted by 3 marksdwarves and a ballista, when a bird-monster begins pushing my guys off the towers.

Now that my underground lake (read: water-pumping death machine) project is complete, I have moved to the next phase of crazy ideas.

 

 

 

I am sealing the area around my fortress with stone walls and ceilings, with only one retractable bridge and a heavily trapped side door for entrances. Once this is done, I will proceed to convert the entire fortress - stockpiles, living areas and all - into a utopia of glass domes and glass viaducts, while hollowing out the mountain and everything underground, leaving only the rock that is necessary to support my structures and walkways.

 

 

 

Then I will fill it all with water, and I will have Rapture.

Now that my underground lake (read: water-pumping death machine) project is complete, I have moved to the next phase of crazy ideas.

 

 

 

I am sealing the area around my fortress with stone walls and ceilings, with only one retractable bridge and a heavily trapped side door for entrances. Once this is done, I will proceed to convert the entire fortress - stockpiles, living areas and all - into a utopia of glass domes and glass viaducts, while hollowing out the mountain and everything underground, leaving only the rock that is necessary to support my structures and walkways.

 

 

 

Then I will fill it all with water, and I will have Rapture.

 

 

 

You. Are. A. GENIUS.

 

 

 

I demand screenshots. :geek:

Now that my underground lake (read: water-pumping death machine) project is complete, I have moved to the next phase of crazy ideas.

 

 

 

I am sealing the area around my fortress with stone walls and ceilings, with only one retractable bridge and a heavily trapped side door for entrances. Once this is done, I will proceed to convert the entire fortress - stockpiles, living areas and all - into a utopia of glass domes and glass viaducts, while hollowing out the mountain and everything underground, leaving only the rock that is necessary to support my structures and walkways.

 

 

 

Then I will fill it all with water, and I will have Rapture.

 

 

 

You. Are. A. GENIUS.

 

 

 

I demand screenshots. :geek:

 

 

 

Not nearly as cool as when I sealed off my fort during a siege, and then removed the supports that were blocking the magma flowing from my windmill powered pumps.

 

 

 

"Hey gobbo friends, lesse charge de dearveses!!"

 

"hey looke, der gates are closed up. Mesas wonderin why?"

 

"lookie der! magma!!! ruuuuun!!"

 

*they charge into my specially built tower that is housing completely steel-suited and armed squad of 20 legendary swordsdwarves*