Anyone Playing Dwarf Fortress?

[Glyph Seeker]

I've had this shiny new computer for a year - and played lots of lovely 3D games on it that I'd not been able to enjoy for a long while --- but I find myself yearning for the pleasure I first felt on encountering Dwarf Fortress for the first time...

 

But every time I try to get into it again - I feel like I've no idea what I'm doing. I don't mind dying out or losing because that's <<fun>>, but I'm not actually having any you know, fun.

 

The interface is still a stumbling block for me. I'm trying the Lazy Newb pack with all the graphics and interface stuff but it's still tripping me up a bit.

 

===

 

Do we have any regulars here who play DF?

 

What tutorials or reference guides do you use to keep you from getting frustrated and giving up on it?

[SeriousToni]

I never played because it looked so complex and what you say about tutorials and guides makes me shake even more. I'm not getting my hands on this game

[Sotha]

Oh god, no! Stay away! Stay away!

 

That game is like a drug. Be sure you don't get hooked. I love games like nethack or dungeon crawl so spending a few days to learn DF felt like fun. I got hooked for quite a while.

 

Luckily I got busy IRL so I got my rehab. I got out. I'm not touching it again, unless I have plenty of free time.

 

It is very fun and deep game, definately worth to try. There is plenty of things to do and things to find and ways to die and lose. Just remember to stop when you play it assuring yourself that you can stop any time you want. It is a lie!!!

 

To get in, read the wiki and read some beginning fortress tips. And remember: you can't win and losing is fun.

 

I absolutely forbid any TDM mappers or team members to touch this stuff. Your time is better spent elsewhere...

[SiyahParsomen]

@Sotha

Now I'm more curious about it.

[demagogue]

Heh, I played it a lot when it first got big. The best way to learn is just read the wiki, and maybe a good forum thread you've googled and you can learn some tips. There's not one right way to play it anyway, so it's better not to have your hand held too much.

 

I always thought Minecraft owed a lot to Dwarf Fortress, with the idea of the perfect sandbox, the mining & materials, and building your fortress to keep out the monsters, but even MC doesn't have the crafting & complexity DF has.

[Sotha]

Oh, here it was.. It explains all about DF.

 

http://df.magmawiki....40/FunComic.png

 

The learning curve is quite steep, but reading this first helps a lot:

http://df.magmawiki....uickstart_guide

 

But do not read it too thoroughly as it may be fun to lose a fortress or two due to silly mistakes. (Flooding accidents are my favourites as I usually channel a river to have fresh water or farms inside my fortresses.)

[Sotha]

Hey!

Looks like sneaking mechanics are being implemented into dwarf fortress adventure mode!

 

http://www.mkv25.net...ng--visionsound

Set the rate to 500 to get it play at a reasonable speed. The player is apparently seeing sounds the character hears and also each baddie has a vision cone shown. Maybe there will be pickpocketing too?

 

From: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev.html

 

 

 

Adventurer Role: Thief

• Valuables and mansions
  
  • Towns with large entity populations should have sections/quarters with varying residence quality etc.
    
  • Mansions/villas out of the way as well
    
  • Many high quality dwarf mode style items in these places
    
  • Guards, servants and watch animals/pets associated to the owner wandering the premises
    
  • Inns associated to roads and entity pop sprawl where you can stay and get information about the surroundings
    
  • Overhearing conversations as you move about town
    

  [*]Inns, taverns and dens

  • Taverns/inns
    
    • Lay out the basic area/furniture and entertain dwarves/guests
      
    • Fortress guests include hill dwarves, merchants, diplomats, adventurers, mercenaries, bandits, travelers, etc.
      
    • Musical instrument use, dancing, storytelling, etc.
      
    • Set prices/activities
      
    • Recipes/drink quality
      
    • Games
      
    • Dwarves can gamble with outsiders
      
    • Rooms rentable to outsiders
      
    • Reputation tracked
      
    • Tie-ins with fortress justice if things go badly
      

    [*]Adv mode taverns/inns

    [*]Some of these places shadier with shadier individuals

  [*]Selling stolen property

  • Unscrupulous people in markets and others willing to take stolen goods
    

  [*]Sneaking and disguise portions of the Hero role above are required

  [*]Bounties and being hunted

  • No automatic recognition that you have stolen an item
    
  • People should notice when items are missing and raise an alert
    
  • Strangers found around town when crime is suspected should be stopped and searched
    
  • Your identity/appearance should be remembered for a time if you are seen in an area
    
  • If your identity/appearance is associated to an alert over a crime, somebody responsible in the entity should put a bounty on you if appropriate for the entity
    
  • You should leave tracking information and it should keep track of the last many people you have talked to
    
  • Entity warriors and other adventurers should follow your tracking information
    
  • Villains/raiders/etc. from the Hero role should also receive bounties that you can fulfill
    

  [*]Justice

  • Surrender to those seeking you
    
    • You have to follow orders to remain in surrendered state (generally to go to a location or drop your weapon)
      
    • When you make a command that follows an order, there should be an option to skip ahead to stages of the journey (such as to a dungeon or halfway through the journey back if you want to attempt to escape from your captor)
      
    • If you leave the surrendered state, you should be attacked until you surrender again, though force should not necessarily be lethal immediately
      

    [*]Punishment

    • Initial beatings
      
    • Cutting off some small body part
      
    • Branding (requires wounds to support art image from crafts)
      
    • Stocks, buried to neck, tied to post
      
    • Caned, whipped, hammered
      
    • Executions
      
    • Imprisonment (until there are ways to escape, might as well retire the character, at which point rescue might be possible by a subsequent character)
      

  [*]Concealing your identity

  • Being able to assume a different name
    
  • Changing your clothes should affect the appearance tracking
    
  • Covering your face/hair with hoods, masks, etc. should affect appearance tracking
    
  • Skills for changing voice and mannerisms convincingly
    
    • If you screw up, you can be regarded as a suspicious stranger, which is worse than being a regular stranger
      

 

Pretty neat sounding stuff.

[demagogue]

Yeah this is one of those games where they're apparently going to update it forever. I can imagine they've come a long way from the early release I played back in 2006 or whenever it was.

[Sotha]

Dwarf fortress got an update. I hear it has many bugs, but more updates will follow.