Dwarf Fortress - Praise Armok!

<3 Dwarf fortress

 

Just download the Lazy Newb Pack. I did that even before I played the game and it made it so much better. The ASCII graphics are not my thing, but the game itself is brilliant. The two best graphic tile sets are included in the LZP.

I will have to try this “Fortress Defense” mod.

 

I agree. If he would make it more graphical to make it easier to tell wtf things are and wtf is going on and then made his menus CONSITENT with how they are arranged/operate. This would hands down be the best game ever.

As it stands now its just a really good game.

 

I love this game even though i am no good at it. The steep learning curve is there because there is so much to do and learning the game has great payoff!

 

Oh My GOD this game is so good that for a moment i've stopped studying... It took me a nearly whole month of non-stop playing to understand how to manage all this tiny little dwarf.
I still don't know how to play decently at DF, but losing is fun

 

I know right? The biggest issue I have is trying to manage all the dwarves. Even with dwarf therapist its quite a chore.

 

Whenever I get a big influx of workers, I set everybody on "masonry", and build MEGAPROJECTS!

Then, once we run out of stone, I switch over to my mechanics, who work like hell while everybody else makes babies.

 

I so horribly suck at DF. Its a pita to play/run on my crappy laptop where I play most of my games. Would probably have a better experience if I played at home on my desktop.

Also does it bug the living hell out of anyone else that all the menus in the game are so inconsistent in layout and keys use/operation?

 

I kinda feel left out of the whole Dwarf Fortress experience. I've downloaded graphic packs and I've read the Complete and Utter Newb's Guide to Dwarf Fortress, but it seems like I simply lose interest. My DF sessions eventually boil down to just continuously mining, carving out rooms, and building things necessary for all my Dwarves to have a proper living space, but I never get that far. I understand that failing and finding your 'story' is part of the game's fun, but honestly nothing ever happens that I find exciting. Part of this is graphics (like discovering your dwarf got mauled by fish about 2 minutes after it actually happened), but I feel like there's something I'm doing wrong that makes DF not as appealing as it is to other people who seem to absolutely love the game.

So, I'll tip my hat to anyone who has a similar feeling / can help shed light on my situation.

In actual discussion of the game, its complexity is hard to approach but seems to bring almost limitless possibilities.
While I think graphics can be left alone in place of content, I do feel like there are some changes that could be made that wouldn't necessarily be so much creating new graphics but adding more flexibility (for instance, calling up separate images so graphic packs don't end up using the same images for different objects), and I think the interface could be greatly improved upon, as learning to play is like learning to use a moving debug console.

 

I've created a goulag for all my unskilled dwarves and ask them to make megaproject to death .
I have just some military to watch them.
It's been a long time I haven't play, cause it is so chronophage, but now, alls my dwarves are starving, insane, unhappy...

 

the learning of the game as most others said is HNG.
They throw you in a world,you somehow choose a place that is good,and after that you see some letters moving...
Most advanced thing i managed to do was plant something and curve out a room,after that my mind exploded.

 

Yeah, it's unusual. I don't completely sympathize because I have more trouble with controls than with visuals, but I can find ways around this by using different alternatives (Workshop skill limits vs Therapist adjustments).

Goblin Camp was interesting for a bit but it's just not as good yet. I don't think I'll ever like it as much because of the "tier" structure making it so linear but whatever. Maybe someday you could skip farming or something like it.

 

The lazy newb pack - and Ironhand/Mayday graphics, along with Dwarf Therapist, will help, to a great extent.

Being a veteran of the roguelike genre helps, too.

That being said, the game is extremely slow-paced by any standards. The "Fortress Defense" mod alleviates this issue, to a degree.

And once you realize that the game is bloody simple, the meta-gaming aspect comes into play. Stories, videos, mods, etc. And that's really where the game shines. They've developed an intelligent and mature playerbase - an accomplishment very few designers can be said to have achieved.

 

A quick note to say that Toady One is very close to making a new release, the first one since March 28th, 2011. In anticipation, a new multiplayer server has sprung up (search Dwarf Fortress Multi Player on Steam). It's a good time to get refreshed on the game before the update, which will introduce new town schematics and adventure-mode improvements. Vampires and necromancers appear in worldgen, and potentially, your fortress, which necessitated improvements in the dwarven justice system.

Don't expect the first release to run smoothly, or your plugins to work well within the first few weeks, as there is typically a slew of bugfix releases after a new version. Last year, they were coming out almost every day! Worlds don't always translate well between versions, so consider the first few weeks 'practice', for the megaconstruction you spend the next year working on. ;)

If I go missing from KAG for a little while, this, along with some looming career-deadlines, will likely be the cause.

 

What is this multiplayer server you speak of? I am intrigued.

 

DFTERM is an application which connects a dwarf fortress window to a telnet port. Players can connect remotely and jockey for control of the gamewindow. Problem is, you can't use applications, like the utterly essential Dwarf Therapist, since you're limited to keyboard input. It's also difficult to set up correctly, in keeping with the spirit of dwarf fortress; However, DFTERM isn't required for players to connect to a server. All they need is a telnet client. There's a pre-configured PuTTY install floating around out there which automatically connects to the DFMP server, complete with custom tilesets.

If you have a steam account, search term is "Dwarf Fortress Multi Player"

 

So a couple weeks ago I recently picked up Dwarf Fortress again. Before that, I played it and didn't understand anything, and simply got bored of it out of lack of understanding. Now, however, I've been playing everyday trying to raise up a mighty fortress in a swell pre-generated world. One particular reason was the Dwarves themselves. Personally, I don't find managing a gang of Dwarves that appealing. Rather, I modded in humans and played with them.

I've found DF to be absolutely fascinating. Everything is incredibly detailed, from the shape of a dwarf(0r human's) nose to the recording of individual toes being damaged in battle! My most anticipated developement is the army, since I've always wanted to send out my warriors to butcher the bastard goblin settlements and recaptured my poor brainwashed children.

 

Oh hey guys. Guess what time it is.

Released Dwarf Fortress 0.34.01