Dwarf Fortress III: Instant Fun : Just Add Magma

[factotum]

3. You will need some fuel to power your smelter. If you have magma nearby, just build the smelter a square above the magma (at the top of the magma vent or on top of a channel above the magma vent). If you do not, you will need to use fuel (coke or charcoal). Coke is made by putting coal in a smelter, charcoal is made by putting a wood log in a Wood Furnace.

Note that this means you're almost certain to need a Wood Furnace, because you can't make coke without fuel and the only fuel available to you if you don't have coke is charcoal!

[YPU]

Heya guys, I finally managed to get myself going on DF, mostly due to due to the tile set that is in the lazy noob pack.

But I have one burning question on my mind, and it is indeed a noob question. How do you use a flood gate, it can be switched open shut right? I asumed it required a lever, but I cant even find how to make those... I am having FUN tough, possession running rampant.

[Lord Herman]

To make a lever-operated floodgate, you need a mechanism for the lever itself, and two mechanisms to link it to the floodgate.

Mechanisms are made at the Mechanic's Workshop ([b][w][t]), and need a dorf with Mechanics enabled (found in the Engineering category).

A lever can be built with [b][shift+t][l]. Again, you need a dorf with Mechanics enabled.

A floodgate is built with [b][x]. Any dorf can do this.

When the lever and the floodgate are built, select the lever with [q], then [a]dd a job, link the lever to a [f]loodgate, and select the floodgate you want to link it to from the list. Choose the mechanisms you want it to use for the link, and presto! Your mechanic will link the lever to the floodgate.

Note that you can link one lever to multiple floodgates, so you can make a wider floodgate by building several of them next to each other and linking them all to the same lever.

Hope this helps, and have Fun!

[ObadiahtheSlim]

It isn't obvious, but levers are found under [T]raps in the [b]uild menu. You also will probably want some sort of system in place to keep track of what lever does what. You can use the in game notes system, or you can try and build levers of certain colors (by using colored stone) to indicate what lever does what. Like microcline blue levers for your water plumbing and bauxite red levers for magma plumbing.

[dromer]

It isn't obvious, but levers are found under [T]raps in the [b]uild menu. You also will probably want some sort of system in place to keep track of what lever does what. You can use the in game notes system, or you can try and build levers of certain colors (by using colored stone) to indicate what lever does what. Like microcline blue levers for your water plumbing and bauxite red levers for magma plumbing.

Are you implying that leaving the unmarked irrigation floodgate switch next to the unmarked 'flood the world with magma' switch is a bad idea?

[factotum]

You can use the in game notes system, or you can try and build levers of certain colors (by using colored stone) to indicate what lever does what.

You know, until I read that sentence I had no idea levers could be made from stone...I always thought you had to smelt some metal bars first. That'll make setting up that first farm a lot easier!

[YPU]

Good thing failure is fun, cause I somewhat screwed up that one, ah well next one will be better, bigger, stronger!

[ObadiahtheSlim]

You know, until I read that sentence I had no idea levers could be made from stone...I always thought you had to smelt some metal bars first. That'll make setting up that first farm a lot easier!

Not exactly. In 30.XX you can make metal mechanisms to make your levers and such.

[factotum]

Er, yes, I already knew you could make mechanisms from metal. What I didn't know was that you could make them from stone, as I mentioned above. Probably because I'd never actually built a mechanic's workshop before!

[Celesyne]

Ok, I've downloaded 31.12, to try and get a new fort going, but I cant seem to find a Dwarf Therapist style utility that is up to date for 31.12 Anyone know of one that works?

[Zodiac]

Here's a patch.

[Celesyne]

You sir, are my new best friend. Now I'm off to play with the new military, get confused/ragequit, then try the new medical system, get confused/rage quit, and somewhere along the way attempt to build a fortress that actually functions.

On a side note, are Warhammers functional again yet? They've always been me most preferred weapon, and I recall people saying they were useless in the earlier versions, that been remedied?

[Lord Herman]

You sir, are my new best friend. Now I'm off to play with the new military, get confused/ragequit, then try the new medical system, get confused/rage quit, and somewhere along the way attempt to build a fortress that actually functions.

On a side note, are Warhammers functional again yet? They've always been me most preferred weapon, and I recall people saying they were useless in the earlier versions, that been remedied?

It's not so much that they're useless, it's that they're useless if you make them out of steel. Due to the new combat and materials system, warhammers and maces are best made of the heaviest material available, whereas steel is relatively light. If I'm not mistaken, silver is the material of choice for blunt weapons. Strong but light materials like steel or blue stuff are best used for edged weapons.

[YPU]

I am still clearly getting to grips with the water mechanic, my new fortress was in a zone that froze up every now and again. This sometimes lead to my dwarfs being out of drink, as my food production hadnt yet started up well enough to sustain a decent brewing process. So I set out to build a well, and find out that they can flood upward if the water is coming in a U shape tunnel from a higher placed river.

the tutorial I followed suggested starting near a river, but is this really necessary? I can see that I would have a problem if there was no watter to create a farm tough.

[Shpadoinkle]

I am still clearly getting to grips with the water mechanic, my new fortress was in a zone that froze up every now and again. This sometimes lead to my dwarfs being out of drink, as my food production hadnt yet started up well enough to sustain a decent brewing process. So I set out to build a well, and find out that they can flood upward if the water is coming in a U shape tunnel from a higher placed river.

the tutorial I followed suggested starting near a river, but is this really necessary? I can see that I would have a problem if there was no watter to create a farm tough.

Neccesary? No. Not with undergrouond water being nearly guaranteed wherever you embark. But it's really nice.

[Lord Herman]

<snip>
the tutorial I followed suggested starting near a river, but is this really necessary? I can see that I would have a problem if there was no watter to create a farm tough.

If you make aboveground farms, you don't even need water for farming. Only underground farms need irrigation.

I would advise finding a source of water, be it a river, a few murky pools, or an underground lake. Now that health care is working properly, you'll need water to keep your injured dorfs (and jailed dorfs) from dying of thirst.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Just make your prison chains in the middle of the booze stockpile. You don't have to worry about thirsty prisoners.

[Lord Herman]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I prefer having actual jail cells with doors and chains and beds, though. I'd make a booze stockpile in each cell, but then I'd have a massive dwarven jail break on my hands - that is to say, the dorfs would break into the jail to get a drink.

[Rollory]

My standard jail cell

####
#Θ§#
+=~#
####

where = is a prepared food stockpile, and ~ is a pit over a water-filled corridor running underneath the cells.

Bed, food, and water, all within reach.

[YPU]

Am I the only one who has a tendency to restart over and over?

[Lord Herman]

Well, I restart a lot (and regen new worlds) because I do a lot of modding. Back in 40d, I played the same world for over a year, and usually made forts that lasted a long time - I usually kept going until I had a king, and then got bored and abandoned it.

[YPU]

One bezerk dwarf in your meeting hall and the entire fortress tarts throwing tantrums and slowly going insane!

EDIT: lost 45 dwarfs and counting. The good news is the well is finally working (so they have a good supply of water now)

[Lord Herman]

My way of dealing with berserk dorfs when I don't have a proper military: draft a squad of ten useless (and preferably idling) dorfs. Give them the order to kill the berserk dorf. See the body parts fly. Then disband the squad again. Problem solved.

[TheLogman]

My way of dealing with berserk dorfs when I don't have a proper military: draft a squad of ten useless (and preferably idling) dorfs. Give them the order to kill the berserk dorf. See the body parts fly. Then disband the squad again. Problem solved.

Friend-killing squad I call them.

Sometimes the experience of ripping their friend apart gets them to novice Wrestling. And then you can just keep them as military.

[Shpadoinkle]

One bezerk dwarf in your meeting hall and the entire fortress tarts throwing tantrums and slowly going insane!

EDIT: lost 45 dwarfs and counting. The good news is the well is finally working (so they have a good supply of water now)

Congrats, it's your first tantrum spiral!

My first one was a thing of beauty. It was a 99% aboveground fort, just for the hell of it. I had skyscraper living quarters and a large dining room suspended in the middle of them. Aside from building walls and floors, there wasn't much to do, so most everyone was idle a lot. I'd deliberately not built city walls or any traps, instead relying on my military to deal with the goblins (whose entries I'd duplicated in the raws twice, to spice things up.) A few goblins got past my military and killed a few people, and things rapidly went downhill from there.

I went from 96 dwarves to about 8 over the course of a year or so from dwarves murdering each other and succumbing to melancholy. Pretty much the only people left were four champions, the stonecrafter, a fisherman, and a couple farmers.

[YPU]

Yes, I am sure there are many more downward spirals to come.

To continue my endless flood of questions, can somebody explain trade to me?

[TheLogman]

You need a Trade Depot, and a Dwarf to be your Broker.

If you want to actually know what you are trading for is WORTH, you need a dwarf with the appraiser skill. It's a pain to train, so I'd recommend just embarking with a dwarf with appraiser.

So you get the alert that the caravan has come! Great!

Hope you built a Trade Depot!

Then you're gonna wanna go into the Depot menu (Q, select the Depot), and push G.

Then you get a list of everything you have you can trade. I like to make stone crafts throughout the year, until I have a cloth industry running and can trade *Giant Cave Spider Silk Sock*'s. So then you select everything you want to be able to trade, and your Dwarves bring it to the Depot. Once your broker is sitting in the Depot (Be sure to request him), and the traders have unpacked, you can trade. You don't have to have your broker trade, but you want a Dwarf with good social skills trading, because better social skills give you a better idea of how the trade is going and let you get away with giving the traders less profit.

Select what you want to trade away and what they have you want. Traders will never trade at a loss, and like to come away with like 10% profit or something. If the Dwarf you have is great with social skills, I'm sure you could get away with less.

Then push "t" to trade it all.

At the same time, your Liaison will meet up with your leader, probably mayor or expedition leader. They will discuss trade agreements, and you will have the chance to tell the Liaison what you want from him next year by moving the sliders on various items. The more you move the slider, the more they will bring, but the more it will cost you. He will also do the same for you, telling you what they will pay for extra for next year.

Fun Facts:

1. Elves will get insulted and leave if you offer them anything that is wood, even if it's just a bin containing nothing wooden, but made of wood! Be sure to offer everything in the bin, but not the bin itself!

2. Your Leader will not consider meeting with the Liaison very important, nor will your broker consider trading important! Make sure they have no other jobs to do when the traders come.

3. If you are trading with a non-Dwarven race, you can just select everything you want and push Seize, and you will violently take everything they have! They won't even fight you! They will bring worse stuff next time though, and you might provoke war if you do it too often.

Answer your questions?

[YPU]

Yea, thanks, it was the whole slider priority thing that made me think I was trading but nothing was happening. This explains a lot!

[Rockphed]

I find appraiser to be the easiest skill to train ever. Just remember to load the trade depot full of lots of stuff as the caravan is approaching, and then when your broker shows up, he will have basic appraisal. Getting to legendary took about 2 years in the old version, but it might take longer now.

[littlebottom]

hey... i just decided to download DF yesterday, ive been thinking of doing it ages ago, but never got round to it.

ive watched a tutorial to help me get started-ish, but any tips for someone who has virtually nil knowledge of the game thus far?

infact i was thinking of running a LP off of it, but it wouldnt go far since i recon i would die in 10 minutes without practice first. what do you guys think?