Dwarf fortress

[Breltar]

Tried again, had very little wood. Also strange system of stockpiling and the whatnot.

Maybe I'm just not good at having to control every aspect of everything.

At first it seems that way, then you end up craving more and more control.

My suggestion is to use the f key when picking an embark location and toggle on river. Very few rivers are without trees, but you will want to toggle aquifer to no so that you can actually dig fairly deep.

Stockpiles are something you will want to set up first, right after setting up an underground farm plot (make sure it is in sandy loam, dirt, etc and not rock or sand). If you can get the farms set (Q button and then S to set the settings on the farm plots after a dwarf built them) then make a stockpile for food and one for furniture.

After that setting up a masonry and carpentry workshop is paramount to get tables and chairs built from masonry (mine some stone first, usually a level or two under the loam/dirt) and beds from the carpentry (you had your woodcutter chopping trees right?).

I always embark with one of my two farmers with plant gathering and herbalism so that they can gather and use the native surface plants (D for designation and p for plant, then set the area) for extra food and brewing. Brewing is the next thing I do once the meeting hall is set up with the table and chairs and the barracks set up with the beds.

Last but not least set up a refuse stockpile outside on the surface so that any rotten items are taken up there and then no miasma will occur.

That's my normal setup and then I expand from there depending on what the miners hit and what types of natural resources are around.

[Artanis]

Stockpiles are something you will want to set up first, right after setting up an underground farm plot (make sure it is in sandy loam, dirt, etc and not rock or sand).

Sand counts as soil, meaning you can build a farm on sand just like you can build a farm on loam and clay and whatnot.

[Breltar]

Sand counts as soil, meaning you can build a farm on sand just like you can build a farm on loam and clay and whatnot.

While true, I like to build on something besides sand so that I can save the sand areas for glass later, especially if there is little sand to be had. (a full layer of sand wouldn't be as problematic of course)

With glass you can also build greenhouses and effectively have above ground farms below ground.

[Artanis]

If you have sand, you probably have a whole layer of it. Even if not, you only need one tile of sand to feed a glass industry.

[tribble]

one of my dwarves just had my first mood. so far he's taken over a crafts workshop and grabbed two turtle shellls. I havent got anything walled off yet (ive got my finished goods stock slated for it after a trio of %#^@ing racoons raided it) and i'm kind of worries. anything i should do right away?

[lordsigmund]

I wouldn't worry, unless hes super strong or anything I've never had a problem with moods gone wrong. They usually just go mental and end up dying of thirst. If they DO go berserk, you could always draft the rest of your dwarves into the military and have em beet him up.

[tribble]

I wouldn't worry, unless hes super strong or anything I've never had a problem with moods gone wrong. They usually just go mental and end up dying of thirst. If they DO go berserk, you could always draft the rest of your dwarves into the military and have em beet him up.

ok, well its just a BLOODY PEASANT!!! and i have a hunter, so i should be ok. hoping for a fun item.

[Rockphed]

Is he demanding things you don't have, or is he working/getting more stuff? You only need to worry if you don't have everything he wants.

[tribble]

Is he demanding things you don't have, or is he working/getting more stuff? You only need to worry if you don't have everything he wants.

he's drawing pictures of a shell. I have shells. he has to know where to find them, as he's already grabbed three. He knows where they are, so why is he drawing pictures?! what the hey is going on here?

[Mael]

he's drawing pictures of a shell. I have shells. he has to know where to find them, as he's already grabbed three. He knows where they are, so why is he drawing pictures?! what the hey is going on here?

he'll draw pictures of everything he needs, including the things he already has. If it pauses for longer on one of the drawings it means he needs more than one.
So, either he needs more than two shells, or keep watching it to see if he draws anything else.
And get a door onto his workshop in case you don't have whatever he's looking for.

[Wraith]

Alternatively, he'#s just being lazy. I've lost count of the number of times I've had a Dwarf taken by a mood, run around finding materials to use, and then do nothing with them for a few months. Just as I think he's about to go on a rampage, off he goes and starts his construction.

They're fickle little things, these Dwarfs. I can't prove it, but I'm sure that they're programmed to lie to you if it means causing you trouble....

[ObadiahtheSlim]

If you have dwarf companion you can see exactly what he wants. Although some would say that is cheating.

[lordsigmund]

Aaargh, just started my master fortress, with intricately designed floors, all pre-planned, started building my over complicated entrance trap and checked my civilisations screen by accident to find out there are no damn goblins on it. Will they show up there before I encounter one or does a goblin thief have to turn up first?

If not I'll have anger the elves so they attack

[banthesun]

I tend to find the civilisations screen looks depressingly blank until you meet any of them

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Civ screen only tells you if you've meet them. There are 2 ways you can find out if you really have goblins. First, backup your save file, abandon and then check to see if there are goblins when you try to start a new fort in the same spot. The other is to wait until your first ambush or snatcher.

[lordsigmund]

Awesome, my 1006 cubic square spiral drowning chamber is not going to go to waste then :)

On the prototype on my last map I had a problem when a Titan appeared, trapped it in my entrance hall, but when I tried to retract the bridge it was standing on it wouldn't move. Anyone know if this is intended behaviour? I killed it easy enough with my champion wrestlers, but I would have liked to have been able to get it with the trap.

[tribble]

I'm having trouble obtaining booze. will dwarves die or go nuts if they dont get a drink?

[ObadiahtheSlim]

If dwarves drink water instead of booze, they get an unhappy thought IIRC (or maybe its just for dirty water). They also will start working slower. The long they go without booze the slower they work.

However if they don't have access to water, then they will get unhappy thoughts about being thristy and will either go insane from the unhappiness or will die of dehydration.

[tribble]

If dwarves drink water instead of booze, they get an unhappy thought IIRC (or maybe its just for dirty water). They also will start working slower. The long they go without booze the slower they work.

However if they don't have access to water, then they will get unhappy thoughts about being thristy and will either go insane from the unhappiness or will die of dehydration.

hm. ok, that means i should be able to keep on like this until i figure out how to farm.

[Breltar]

I'm having trouble obtaining booze. will dwarves die or go nuts if they dont get a drink?

What is the trouble? Booze is booze and dwarves will be happy even with the lowest quality swill.

All it takes is plant gathering or farming and brewing and building a still. Booze can be made from underground or aboveground plants.

The only time you shouldnt be able to make your own is if your biome doesnt support any farming, in which case you are kinda screwed anyway lol.

No booze is bad, no booze and only murky water is worse. Murky water can be countered by placing a well above the water, which somehow makes it a lot more tolerable to them and they do not get the murky unhappiness. No booze and only murky water is going to make your fortress go downhill in a hurry.


To farm you need plump helmet spawn, some underground room that isnt stone. Build a farming plot by hitting b and then p and then the umkh keys to expand the plot to the size of the room. Once the plot is built by a farmer skilled dwarf then you hit q, target the plot and then hit s to set up the plot to have crops in spring through winter.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Just remember that dwarves get unhappy thoughts if they constantly have to drink the same booze over and over. So a little variety helps, even if it is that 1 value crap like Sewer Brew. A little foraging for extra plants can give you a few extra plants for a variety of booze while you still trying to get your farms set.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Okay question time. I don't have Dwarf Manager (doesn't run on Win 2k) so I can't disable any of my Dungeon Master's labors. If I set a lever on repeat with only him allowed to use it, will that stop him from using my forges? I would set my forges to not allow dabbling, but I want to train my immigrants so they will create useful stuff on a strange mood. I'd also don't really want to go into each forge and set permission to everyone except him because i'd have to go in after each immigration wave.

[The Glyphstone]

In other news, I saw a snippet about this in my newspaper:
Monster Carp Dies.

Apparently, a police investigation is still ongoing as to the origins of reported axe and crossbow bolt wounds in the body.

[The_JJ]

Okay question time. I don't have Dwarf Manager (doesn't run on Win 2k) so I can't disable any of my Dungeon Master's labors. If I set a lever on repeat with only him allowed to use it, will that stop him from using my forges? I would set my forges to not allow dabbling, but I want to train my immigrants so they will create useful stuff on a strange mood. I'd also don't really want to go into each forge and set permission to everyone except him because i'd have to go in after each immigration wave.

Eh, let him work. He'll be just like any other metal dude.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

In other news, I saw a snippet about this in my newspaper:
Monster Carp Dies.

Apparently, a police investigation is still ongoing as to the origins of reported axe and crossbow bolt wounds in the body.

Yeah I saw that from a different site. The carp had a name and a full title. Truely a monster indeed.

[Mael]

Okay question time. I don't have Dwarf Manager (doesn't run on Win 2k) so I can't disable any of my Dungeon Master's labors. If I set a lever on repeat with only him allowed to use it, will that stop him from using my forges? I would set my forges to not allow dabbling, but I want to train my immigrants so they will create useful stuff on a strange mood. I'd also don't really want to go into each forge and set permission to everyone except him because i'd have to go in after each immigration wave.

It's a bit of a pain, but you can set each forges profile to only allow certain named dwarfs. Just select the ones you want trained up, and make sure he isn't selected.
I usually let him work in the smelters myself.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Yeah I was trying to avoid that. If he works the forges that's fine. I don't care about those since extra hands means my real smiths will be less likely to be smelting when I need them at the forge. Maybe I'll just install it on my work laptop (a vista machine) and use dwarf companion there.

[Breltar]

Yeah I was trying to avoid that. If he works the forges that's fine. I don't care about those since extra hands means my real smiths will be less likely to be smelting when I need them at the forge. Maybe I'll just install it on my work laptop (a vista machine) and use dwarf companion there.

The joys of having a noble....

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Well i suppose I could do the dwarven thing and arrange for an "unfortunate accident".

[Breltar]

Well i suppose I could do the dwarven thing and arrange for an "unfortunate accident".

If you change the init to have 80 or less dwarves you will never get a noble supposedly.