Bay 12 Games Forum

I have a problem,

The thing about dwarf fortress is losing is supposed to be fun, the game is all about imperfections, what resources you don't start with, how you are effected by your environment.

But I hate it.

I've tried to start a fort many times but I never get passed around two years. I want every resource to be accessible from my fort, I hate not having everything. Around a dozen forts I tried to start I would get a while in only to realize that one of the civilizations was already extinct, be it dwarves or goblins mainly or I would realize I had no lignite and bituminous coal on the map, meaning the experience I felt I would get from the game was already reduced so instead of continuing I would just make a new fort.

I did this so many times that I got so sick of the slow starts so I started using Speed=0

I think it has had a large impact on ruining the game for me, I have a habit of altering games as I play them instead of simply just playing them as they were intended which interests me for a while but I eventually regret the decision, (Examples are speed,gold hacking games live Civilization, Debugging or altering games like Oblivion and Fallout or preventing death, save scumming in various other games) I end up enjoying playing console games much more because the option is not there (well it is..just requires much more effort)

So my most recent forts have been maps I downloaded off the internet claiming to be perfect embarks. With the speed altering I have completely mined out, without me even really learning how to play the game or dealing with my first encounters I already have legendary miners and engravers with legendary dining rooms builds and magma forges fully operational. I actually made a what I believed to be completely perfect fort, with a expansive entrance system sure to stop any siege.

Well I suppose it became to be a funny story. I was training dwarves into archers for quite some time, around a year I suppose they never really seemed to improve only went up about 2 skill levels

- It is my understanding the a group of dwarves constantly training as archers would level quicker? I think I really just don't understand the military system yet -

Well anyway the speed=0 was still in place I positioned my dwarves in one of my completely golden outdoor towers to shoot at the goblins as they came into my fortress, and they managed to kill a goblin.

He died.

This lead to all my dwarves running outside to pick up his stuff.
You can imagine around fifty dwarves running up to a siege of goblins trying to grab the dead goblins gear. At the time I had no idea about burrows, and as the fortress I had just spent a good 12 hours game time building I was nearly in tears as a good forty dwarves dies to the goblins simply by running up to them with a sign on their foreheads saying "Just picking up your dead goblin friends stuff, please shoot me in the face'

But this is supposed to be the enjoyable part right? Dying=Fun?
I hated it, I hated absolutely everything about it, that I didn't know about burrows, that the dwarves would do that in the first place I thought was ridiculous.
I had no fun I am a perfectionist.

I made this thread because like the AA meeting reference in the title, I really just want help, I think I could really enjoy this game I keep coming back and reading some of the threads which can be very funny and interesting and make me 'want' to want to play the game. But I always end up not having fun when I play the game itself.

Can you help me to enjoy it? Or is the game just not for me?

Hello I've been trying to use my head to smash the brick wall that is the Dwarf Fortress learning curve for about two weeks now. I've scoured every thread I can find on information about embarking but with every solution I find I always find another problem.

Basically im trying to find a relatively perfect embark location.

Here is what I'm able to understand so far.

• When embarking I generally want a fresh water source I.E a river which I read somewhere is now in every location
• When embarking it is extremely important to have some form of flux stone such as limestone because its useful in creating various things.
• When embarking magma forges tend to be extremely useful, its important to make sure the location you embark on has one although you can just dig to the core instead now
• When embarking if your looking for trade it is important to make sure the civilizations are accessible and are not extinct, confirm by checking legends (Not really sure how I just went to the age and looked to see 'dwarf leads attack, elf leads attack, human leads attack) Otherwise you will only receive two waves of migrants.
• When embarking having obsidian and basalt in your square can be extremely useful for magma proof items and stone swords
• The type of climate you start in effects your farming??

I probably stress too much, I'm someone who wants everything perfect before I commit is this everything? I think ive watched about 8 embarking tutorial videos and read 8 embarking posts but none of them go into the detail I want.


What I really want is something like this.


Some of the things i've looked at which have helped.

What I'm asking really is what I said right? Is there anything else I should really consider? Sand for glass perhaps? Does the climate i.e shrubland effect farming?