Well I believe it's because we generally take our
frustrationscuriosity to the dwarves rather than one another and it's why we are so helpful.
Try the ultimate newbie guide, it works wonders for getting you set up for the basics. It's like comparing two guns. Both shoot bullets but there are small differences inbetween them. Maybe one shoots out a different bullet but it's shot the same way. I believe the military part was completely overhauled (I assume a more long-term player can point out what is not useful in this version).
Oh, one thing: the farming is a bit different. We can farm on the grass. We can also farm on soil. BUT (and this is very important), you cannot farm on rock (or rather, certain types). So, what I advise you doing is building a farm in your fortress!
It's very easy. I'll explain in as easy a manner as possible.
You and your band of 7 dwarves start on grass. You dig a stairway down to the next Z level. After that, you find some clay. Now, you can build a farm on clay, in the cave, without irrigation, yay! But here's the problem, how to do it.
What I do is build my fortress about 3 or 4 Z levels down, then I make a path to were my food storage will be, then, I make a small section out of the wall (maybe mine 2x2 at most), but use "up stairs" instead of mining (press d, then u) and highlight the staris. You just need one square, I use three, though.
Now, go up to the next Z level, build "down stairs" or "down/up stairs (I'll explain in a moment why). So basically, when you do that, you have connect the levels on your main fortress to the level above. Now, if there is no farming area on the level above, you will want to build the "up/down stairs". Then, when they are built, if there is no farmable soil above, do the same with the "up/down stairs" untill you can mine out a farming area.
One thing I urge you to remember is "d, b d". It gives you a menu that untill two days ago, I did not know existed. See, when you're "dumping" items, you have to select them manually, one-by-one... Or, using that menu you can select them all at once. It's something I thought I should mention should you ever want to dumb items that are not useful (just don't dump them into lava otherwise you don't get them back).
To add to why Lytha said: in the LNP there is a utility called "DFReveal". It shows the whole map. DO NOT CLOSE IT YOURSELF!
Basically, it reveals the whole map including the magma river/sea and... the very, very !fun! stuff. BUT DO NOT CLOSE IT YOURSELF! I am serious, if you do, the very fun stuff will be enabled in your game. And trust me it is very... VERY fun.
What you want to do is: double click it to open it, then (you need to be actually playing the game in the fortress mode), let it do its thing. It'll reveal the whole map. Make sure though, before you open it, then the game is paused (press space and notice the "PAUSE" word in the upper left). Now, while it is cheating, it can greatly help your first few fortresses. See, you can use the "Designations" menu to mind/create stairs down to the lava. But... while you can bypass the carvens, most of the fun in the game is by trying to bypass them or exploring them without the revealing utility.
Anyway, if you do use it and it reveals your map for you, go back to the utility and press "enter", then it should close after a few seconds.
If you really do want to blatantly cheat (and I don't see why not, it's your first few games and learning expirences), try using the "dfliquid" utility to make lava. Keep in mind it will destroy lots of things so be very careful unless you like fun.
Are there any specific questions you have?
Nevertheless about specific quetsions, please, please use the link I gave you for those tutorials. It teaches you the basics. Kind of like saying: you have 10 switches, each one does the following, now, go nuts and combine them! You might lose a dwarf or two, you might lose a fortress or two but soon you will be happily killing giant worms with twenty eyes, breathing gas that gives you blood diseases and having trading with eleves... after you trap them and pour magma on them (I swear, everyone likes to pour magma on the traders
).
