Bay 12 Games Forum

Hmm--I received a notice that the human arrived, the poor baron consort was discovered as a human, and shot to pieces as a human.  There was no warning about a werebeast, or a transformation.

The most annoying change that I have found is that of the military.  It is much more difficult to train up a powerful military, and the squad system is much more complex. 

And to all players new and old, remember there are no stupid questions here, only stupid and overly complex solutions.

Stupid and overly complex solutions are the real point of the game--at least, the way it is played by most of the forum goers.

I would add that Dwarf Fortress is probably one of the best management simulators ever created.  Compared it to Dungeon Keeper, for example, where you build underground, and comedic sociopathy is a substantial game play element.  In DK, you can instantly view all of you minions, you can give them orders that they will follow, you know exactly what is happening in your dungeon all the time.  Compare Sim City--instantly build everything, no disobedience, no delays, and full information all the time. 

In Dwarf Fortress, however, the dwarves have lives of their own.  You don't always know what is going on, you can't tell them what to do, you can at best make suggestions, you rarely have all the information, and the dwarves will have their own interests (ie drinking, eating, sleeping, partying, etc.) all of which gets in the way of fulfilling your mad visions.  I can't count the number of times I've been frustrated because the damned dwarves refuse to build, and instead, are busy carrying around bins of socks. 

Just like real life, but with more magma!

Dear, darling, dumpling Hoki.

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress!  We were all once like you.  Confused.  Upset.  Fully expecting things to make perfect sense.  Ahh, I remember those days.  Fondly, even.  The halcyon days of innocence, when one fully expected that going down to the river to fish would not result in being pulled into the water by the beard and torn to pieces by vicious carp.  When risking life and limb to recover a single wool sock seemed like a bad idea.  When the sight of the sun did not lead to vomit.

Alas, those days are behind us now.  Now, we know better.  There is no higher purpose than finding the most efficient means of pumping magma onto an eleven trading caravan.  We all serve the Toady One's whims, now, and are the better for it!  Why, if I had not discovered Dwarf Fortress, I never would have known that pressurized water can cause a geyser of water to shoot straight out of a well, but can also prevent dwarves from pulling the floodgate lever to shut down the aquaduct.  Now I know:  leaving the tap on can result in hideous death by drowning!  Teach your children, Hoki!  Pass on the knowledge!  I know I have.

Keep in mind, as well, that some of the more annoying elements of gameplay can serve a higher prupose.  For example:

Two sources validated each other that book keeping is just something where you lock a dwarf in a room, tell him to get accurate book keeping, and forget he exists. Another example of fake-depth. It isn't interesting, no value added.

Ahh, but what you need to do is carefully select your book-keeper.  For example, once I discover my first vampire, I immediately lock him or her away in a room with a bed and a chair, and have the little bloodsucker serve as my book-keeper.  No muss, no fuss.  He never starves, never gets bored, never drinks, never kills again, and ultimately serves a greater good.  And if I have any annoying nobles, I just have to sent them into a conference with the book-keeper, wait a while, and let nature take its course!

But burning wood, turning a pump crank, plant gathering, milking, fish-cleaning, and 9 different kinds of hauling? Those aren't professions, those are everyday everyone-on-earth-can-do-them chores.

But don't forget--it takes special skill to be a wood burner.  Not only will an expert wood burner be more efficient, given the inability of the average dwarf to feel the effects of heat, a wood burner is actually a highly skilled specialist who will not accidentally set him or herself on fire!  For the rest of your list, if you didn't know who the milkers are, then how will you know who to draft into the military?  And naturally, you don't want you master armourer to haul stone like a chump.  Let the peons engage in such base labour!

I know I'm going to figure it out and enjoy the pants out of this game.

Ahh, truer words have never been spoken.  And once you have removed those ☼Giant Cave Spider Silk Pants☼, please--have a seat in the meeting hall with the rest of us, admire the tastefully arranged statues, and draw a flagon of rum!

And remember--the Dwarf Fortress community loves you ever, ever, ever, EVER so much!

My fort has grown quickly.  It is finishing year two, I have a booming clothing industry which can easily allow me to buy the goods I need from the caravans.  I am planning on expanding it still futher.

I have steadily smelting steel and iron.  The steel is being made into plate mail, while the iron is being made into chain mail.  My military is limited to two squads, one of marksdwarves, and one of melee dwarves with a mix of weapons.  To date, they have dealt with one weregopher, a few kobolds and lone snatchers, and one raid.  The raid was very quickly dealt with.

I am resisting expanding too fast, since I do not want to spark sieges jsut yet.  The fortress largely consists of Keep that is slowly being build in the middle of a lightly-forested plain, with water nearby.  I have dug to the magma sea as well.  Smelting and forging revolves around weapons and armour.  Once I am content with my weaponry, I might consider luxury items.

I did break into the caverns, once deliberatley, and twice accidentially.  The two lower caverns are walled off.  I had staircases that opened into the upper cavern for a while, but then a flying forgotten beast was able to penetrate my fort.  According to the combat reports, he was torn to pieces by the combined efforts of my two squads, and assorted wardogs.  There were a number of injuries, including some lost limbs, but it looks like my entire military survived.

I have one vampire.  He is locked in a room, and serves as a book keeper.  I am assuming he shouts the current fortress status through the door.

Next steps will include digging out quarters for my smelting and forging crew in the bowels of the fortress, putting together another military squad, and builidng some sharp-shooting towers for the inevitable siege.

Huh.  Comedic sociopathy of the dwarf fortress community x black comedy of team fortress2?

Count me in.

My handle for TF2 is KnicholasG.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198072024766

Possibly because you dont understand the backburner?    Its hard to do right, but on the times when you do, a backburner can wipe out half a team and still get the odd reflect.  Ive got 2000 hours at tf2, so I think im beyond noobsville, but I call the backburner viable and potentially heaps of fun.

I've got to agree with this.  Backburner is excellent in certain situations.  For example, Hightower, when you can drop down off the central tower and crit the enemy at the cart.  Any map where ambush possibilities are high.  That said, it is still a situational weapon.  On hightower, I might start with a bb, but I will switch to vanilla flamethrower, to take advantage of environmental kills.