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[BoBoTheBum]

All my units, save for my miners, are out wandering outdoors. I can't seem to set any commands or anything to get them into my fortress. Help?

[ May 25, 2008: Message edited by: BoBoTheBum ]

[C0nscript]

Try a meeting area

I-->M

[BoBoTheBum]

I go to the zones selection screen (i), and nothing. There's nothing from that area for me to select.

If it helps, I've all but JUST started (probably obvious), and am trying to make a chiefly underground fortress. I just can't get anyone underground, save for my two digging miners. No workshops, nothing gathered, the most advanced thing I've done yet is deconstructing the wagons. That's it.

[kamikazemoose]

After pressing I you'll have to designate the zone to use as a meeting area. then activate it as a meeting area by hitting m. This will be the place where your dwarves stay if idle instead of where the wagon were at the start.

[Name Lips]

I mentioned this in the other thread, but I'll tell you here too. All you do is hit and then designate an area by hitting enter at each corner. After you do that, when you are in the interface and you move the curser over that area, you can see a list of options. Hit [m] to make that area a meeting place.

Also, any room you designate with a statue becomes a "sculpture garden" and dwarves will hang out there. They'll also hang out at "dining halls" (designated from tables) and "Meeting Halls" (designated from wells). Soldiers will hang out at barracks when off-duty (designated from beds, armor stands, or weapon racks).

[Karlito]

Here's how to do it step by step
press
press [enter] this is the first corner of the meeting area
move the cursor to the opposite corner of what you want the meeting are to be
press [enter] you should see the zone come into existence.
press [m] this turns it into a meeting area.

EDIT: curse you NameLips, you have ninja'd me again!

[ May 25, 2008: Message edited by: Karlito ]

[BoBoTheBum]

Thank you all very much.
EDIT: What about animals?
EDIT EDIT: After a moment's delay, they came too. I should really wait longer before posting.

NEW PROBLEMS: I can't build anything. I can't even seem to find who has what stones. (I try to build Mason's Workshop, specifically, and it says Cannot Use Non-economic Stone or something.)

I also managed to get all my food and animals indoors by designating stockpiles, but I just can't seem to get things like logs in.

[Wiki Suggestion, for those so inclined: Instead of one enormous, overwhelming tutorial, perhaps small individual ones? Like how to irrigate, how to build (hard, when you're not even sure if you have stones), etc.]

This game has quite the steep learning curve, doesn't it?

[ May 25, 2008: Message edited by: BoBoTheBum ]

[Name Lips]

Steep learning curve... yes, that's one way of saying it.  

By default, certain stones are deemed to have "economic value" and won't be available for construction. That can be annoying if that's the only kind of stone you have. Use [k] to figure out what kind of stone you have. To change which stones are useable for building, go to the [z] menu (which you'll notice gives you a quick overview of many aspects of your fortress) and select the Stone tab. Change the color of the stone you want to use to green. Red stones by default will not be constructed with.

[Name Lips]

You should be able to designate a wood stockpile for your logs. Your dwarves have to get around to actually moving them, though, and sometimes the little buggers are lazy.

Irrigation is difficult. The best way to farm, especially for a beginner, is to find a place where you can dig out some underground rooms in a soil layer (you can tell its soil because it won't leave rocks behind when you mine it, and it will be sand/clay/silt when you loo[k] at it).

The hard way involves digging tunnels from an underground farm to a water source, blocking it off with aqueducts, and then using levers to open and close the aqueducts to flood your farm. The floor will turn from stone into muddy stone, which can be farmed on. The trick is making sure you don't flood your whole fort! The water will dry up if it is shallow, but if its too deep you're just out of luck. You can also build pumps to get rid of excess water, but that takes a bit of practice to get working properly.

To build a farm, use the menu and hit [p] for farm plot. Then you size it with the letters it says to use (I forget, I use them automatically without looking. I've played WAY too much...), and then hit enter. If you have a dwarf with "Farming (fields)" active, he'll go build a farm there. Then you can use the [q] selection to pick what to plant in what season. The more experienced yor farmer, the more yield you get from your farm.

[BoBoTheBum]

Wait, mining should leave stones behind?

...

That's not happening for me. My fort seems to be made of peat, or something.

[Karlito]

Dig further down, you'll eventually hit a stone layer.

[RetSpline]

I termed it a "Learning Overhang" until I went and absorbed the entirety of the wiki.

Also: you can build most of the workshops out of wood. If you have an axe, a dwarf with the woodcutting labor, and some trees, that'll be your best bet if you have deeply buried rock, or an aquifer.

[Moogie]

Loam and Sand layers won't leave rocks behind, but try digging up/down a layer and see what's there.

Also, the skill level of your miners determine the chances of stone (and other unearthed materials, such as gems) being left behind once the square is cleared.

To check dwarves' skill levels, press 'v' and move the cursor near a dwarf. 'g' will show their skills. In the same set of menus, press 'p' and then 'l' to toggle on/off the Labours they are allowed to do (even complete newb dwarves can do any task you allow them to; they just won't be very good at it).

This is good to know because some of your dwarves won't immediately be allowed to do certain jobs if they don't already have proficiency in it - for example, your woodcutter will have the 'Wood Cutting' labour activated by default, but he won't have, say, 'Mining' or 'Bone Crafting', unless he started out with levels in those skills too.

It's also useful to tell some of your dwarves to not waste their time hauling items around your fortress. On a new fortress, it's a good idea to switch off all hauling labours on your Miners, so they will spend all their free time digging.

Hope that helps a bit. :]