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[AmberMac]

O.K, So here are my questions

1. Whats a really good setup to when i start the game? Like what items, Stats, And stuff i should get. (I abandoned my fortress since cougars had other ideas, Killed all my units, >_> )

2. How do i designate dig/chop/fishing areas? My fisher keeps getting hunted down by cougars a few squares away from where he fishes. Its pretty funny on the bright side though.

3. How do i make the storage bins? Do i make some by pressing the key that's right by its name? Or do i press the letter and then enter? And what do they look like when there made, And what color or symbol are they?

4. Whats a great starting area on a map, (I know the maps are random, Just some pointers please to what i should try and get)

5. How do i make stairs? It seems like everytime i try, I can never make stairs.

6. What are the big red O's? Or red symbols mean?

         Thank you so much for your concern if you can answer my questions,

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

[BoBoTheBum]

I can only answer your 5. You have to build stairs where there is nothing, not even floor. (That is, unmined ground.) You make one downstair on the "top" level, and an up-stair on the level beneath that.

Horrible explanation, sorry.

[Kagus]

Unh-huh...  Here we have someone who's used to mainstream games, and will need a little time before they adapt to the Dwarf Fortress style.

1. Optimal starting equipment can vary wildly depending on where you are settling, but a few things are good for starters.

Remove the anvil from your starting list.  You will get a ton of points that you can spend on items that are significantly more useful in the early game.  

Buy at least two dogs, preferably more.  Don't go overboard though, as animals have rather terrifying reproduction rates.  Taking a cat is optional, but I wouldn't really recommend it at the moment.  The reason why will be covered in a little bit.

Drop whatever food items you have (but remember to bring plump helmet spawn!  Other seeds are nice to have, but less important) and buy one item of each of the 2-point meats and fishes.  Then, get a massive amount of turtles (60-80 to be completely safe, although not nearly that amount is really needed).

For skills, make sure you have one or two miners, one dedicated planter, one trader (appraisal, judge of intent, and persuade), one stone-and-bone crafter, one carpenter/woodcutter (unless you're on a treeless map, but that's a moot point right now.  The folks who play on treeless maps generally already know enough about the game to decide for themselves what they're gonna bring), and then try to decide what to do with the last guy(s).

I recommend a cook/brewer.  This will let you process the plants that the farmer brings in, and will create some very expensive meals that can be sold should you ever need the extra bargaining power.  Otherwise, take a mason to make useful items out of the rock that you will dig up.  

If you decided to take one miner and no cats, then the last dwarf should be a trapper.  Get this dwarf to make some small animal traps, and then set him to the "capture land animal" task.  He will run around, pick up the vermin critters that are running around, and stuff them into the traps.  This will remove annoying vermin from your fort -which is the only reason to have cats-, will not generate the miasma that cat-slain vermin will generate, and actually adds to your food supplies (dwarves will happily eat live vermin if they have been trapped in such a manner).

You will probably have a load of points left over, so feel free to get a few logs, some extra booze (make sure the numbers for food items and booze end in 1 or 6.  This will get you an extra barrel for future use. Also, each booze item should ideally have around 56 units, for all four booze items), maybe some more types of meat, and whatever other junk you feel like packing along.  But make sure that your dwarves are as skilled as you can possibly make them, they're more important than your starting items.

2. You designate all digging and treecutting yourself.  Fishing zones can be created through the zoning tool .

3.   Bins can be created at a carpenter's workshop or a smithy.  Since you'll probably have access to wood before you have access to metal, I recommend the carpentry shop.  The key for requesting one is [n].

4. That is a really difficult question, and doesn't really have any definitive answer.  Try for heavily forested areas with a brook, the "calm" biome designation, a temperate climate, and a high density of shrubs.

5. Check the Wiki, check other threads, or wait for someone willing to tell you.  

6.  I'm not sure what you're talking about, where are they?  Are they moving?

[AmberMac]

The O's dont move,

[Name Lips]

quote:Originally posted by AmberMac:
[QB]O.K, So here are my questions

1. Whats a really good setup to when i start the game? Like what items, Stats, And stuff i should get. (I abandoned my fortress since cougars had other ideas, Killed all my units, >_> )

It's possible to survive and build up a fort bringing absolutely nothing. It's devilshly difficult, though.  

quote:6. What are the big red O's? Or red symbols mean?

I don't remember red O's. Unless they're anthills. But you can examine them! Use the [k] command to put your curser over anything in the game world. You can then use the + and - keys (on the numeric keypad - the ones at the top of the regular keyboard don't work) to select different objects in that square. Then you hit enter to view the one you have selected in more detail. You can also use the [v] command to get a good look at creatures and dwarves (some commands for dwarves are ONLY accessable through [v]iewiing them).

[Karlito]

Ok, here's how stairs work:

Stairs should be either carved into solid rock via the [d]esignations menu or constructed on empty ground via the uild menu.

There are three types of stairs

1)Down Stairs (> ): pierce through the floor of the current level and allow you to see the z-level beneath.
2)Up Stairs (< ): a staircase that stretches to the ceiling (floor of the level above) but doesn't go through.  They don't reveal any tiles.
3)Up/Down Stairs (X): have the functionality of both an up stair and a down stair.

So let's say you want to dig a staircase that descends down into the earth.  On the ground level [d]esignate a down stair to be dug into the ground.  It will look like a >.  Then on the tile 1 z-level below designate an up/down stair (looks like a X).  On every z-level that you want your staircase to penetrate [d]esignate an up/down stair, except on the last z-level you would designate an up stair.

Hopefully that made sense.

EDIT: ninja'd by NameLips

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

[Name Lips]

quote:
Drop whatever food items you have (but remember to bring plump helmet spawn!  Other seeds are nice to have, but less important) and buy one item of each of the 2-point meats and fishes.  Then, get a massive amount of turtles (60-80 to be complete

You no longer get "free" barrels for picking one of each food item, IIRC. They just shove them all into one barrel until it's all the way full, then start on another barrel.   Drinks probably get you barrels, though. But plump helmets are great because they can be eaten raw (many plants require additional processing to become edible). He's recommending you get turtles because if your dwarves eat them raw, they produce shells, and this is one of the few ways in the game to get shells. Occasionally a dwarf will go mad if he can't build something out of a shell, so it's nice to build up a stockpile of them while you can.  :p

Oh, and if you don't want to mess around with chopping wood early on, you can bring along a bunch of Tower Cap logs. They're very cheap.

[AmberMac]

Okay, Thanks, Ill go try everything now,
 

[zagibu]

They are not THAT cheap, actually. They cost 3*. Bring ten, and you could have brougt 15 units of booze, food, or almost two dogs.

[Name Lips]

They're a lot cheaper than bringing barrels!