OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Imagine Dungeon Keeper. Now imagine that the imps were dwarves. Finally, imagine that you only had imps, and everything else you met would try to kill your imps.

That's Dwarf Fortress. There are other small differences, like the fact that you can't slap your lazy minions with a virtual hand to make them work faster. You can drown them, though, or lock them in their rooms.

The game is hard, unforgiving and probably unwinnable. Fortunately, losing is fun.

The game is almost revolutionary in the things it has already incorporated. It already generates geographical and political worlds with bit of history and populates them, generates areas based on rainfall, temperature etc, has a bodyparts system which allows for some gory descriptions, has information that's mostly unnecessary (to make steel: mine hematite, smelt it with charcoal made from wood, smelt iron bar with some limestone and charcoal into pig iron, smelt another iron bar with the pig iron and piece of limestone and two pieces of charcoal for a steel bar - or die before you find anything but galena, silver ore), forces you to get food, water and lodging for your dwarves but sends in nobles whose demands make the other dwarves insane (and penniless and starving) just when you started to like them... Insanity includes berserking. Nobles whose demands AREN'T fulfilled go insane and kill the working dwarves (at least those of them who the Sheriff hasn't thrown in jail for ignoring a noble's orders).

It is still in Alpha, and as said, even if you can't win it, you can enjoy it. The game runs on Windows, and can run on Linux under Wine (at least). Unfortunately, Macs aren't supported yet.


The game itself:
http://bay12games.com/dwarves/screen..._building.html


Some screenshots:
Geographical map of the world. WARNING, 700+ kt.
http://bay12games.com/dwarves/screens/world_map1.PNG

Here the seven dwarves are getting ready for their journey.
http://bay12games.com/dwarves/screen...e_journey.html


The beginning: a wagon and the dwarves standing in heavily-forested mountainside:
http://bay12games.com/dwarves/screen..._at_cliff.html

Here the area just outside the cliff is already cleared of trees, the first few building are up and stone stockpile is already filling up. Carpenter is on his way inside, and his trusty but useless-as-of-yet mule following him. Inside, a rudimentary meeting hall has already been constructed and a well has been mined to its center; north of the hall are the first few quarters reserved for the dwarves, while there's a small room fit for industry in the east, as well as some dark stone (jet, onyx or obsidian) to be mined and used for crafts to trade for food before the winter comes.
http://bay12games.com/dwarves/screen..._building.html


Oh, and the game uses extended ASCII graphics. That's a good thing. I wouldn't like to see HOW, exactly, my hunter who ran out of bolts managed to severe that poor fox's left hind paw from its body, or how long the animal suffered when he forgot the animal existed. Or how, exactly, an extremely strong Legendary Engraver unskilled in the art of Wrestling managed to severe the head of a berserking Craftsdwarf. Or what an obsidian crown menacing with spikes of Tin and decorated by pictures of rats in Opal looks like. Not to mention the Flint trumpets!


P.S.
There's a reason for me not posting this before Dom3 had gone gold. This is quite addictive. I'm not sure if this particular addiction one wears down before October, but that's not necessarily a bad things, is it?

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

This looks like a nice game to play at work when there is no work to do.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

You know, it's funny, I just happened to stumble upon this exact game yesterday...

It's quite addictive, but people who think the dominions interface is arcane should be forewarned- you haven't seen anything yet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Information about it has spread like a wildfire. Few weeks ago, it was unknown. Now it's been mentioned on some big forums, many smaller ones, and few big sites. The creator is in a bit of trouble... He can't read through all the posts in his forum, as an example. I think he now gets more posts in few hours than he used to get in a week.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

JO is currently occupying one of Illwinter's computers hacking away in the deeps of the earth http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Dungeon Keeper with no evil minions?
Where's the fun in that? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

And while I'm all for old (and old looking) games, when you go all the way to ASCII, you've gone too far for me.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I guess that's what you get for trying Alpha releases, but the absence of a tutorial or even a manual file that you can read to get you through the first few minutes of the game tends to put me off. Too bad - the game seems to have a lot of stuff included, but that much (apparent?) complexity and no help dealing with it...

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Ha! There, have a taste of your own medicine! The taste of addiction, the heat of a computer that has been on for too long - now you know what you've forced us to endure! (and enjoy, but that's beside the point) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif


The dwarves mightn't start as evil, but they sure go nuts fast... At least that's what I get from reading the forums. My first fort is still running for some reason, even with all the really strange decision I made.

ASCII can be hard, and it's especially confusing for this game. It has so much stuff that it'd need a huge tileset - the characters just make the game almost playable. Proper graphics might come in once the alpha has matured into a full-grown game, but that'll take years. At least.

It does have a simple manual that gets you started - but for some reason, it starts from * instead of ?. For me, at least. I think it uses the US keyboard layout or something, because < and > work from my ; and : .

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Its too bad he canceled "Slaves to Armok: God of Blood". I was following that game from the beginning.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I'm using a US keyboard myself, so the ? key does work. But the ingame help has several problems for me - first, it's not exactly fun to read it on screen (I tend to print anything that I intend to really read), and second, it's not organized too well.

The Wiki, though, might provide some help. I'll try to see how it goes.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

This game looks very interesting. I will give it a try for sure. Thanks for letting us know about it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Nevermind. I figured it out. Thanks

Ok, im playing the game and trying to figure it out, but I can't get my dwarves to mine anything. I set up two dwarves at the beginning with the mining skill but they don't seem to do anything and I can't figure out how to select the area to mine.

Thanks for any help,
Chris

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

'd'esignate

mine stone or cut wood for raw materials with which to build buildings. Some buildings require processed goods. Stone blocks are made in the mason's workshop, and can be used instead of normal stone almost everywhere, but the difference is minimal. However, stone blocks and wooden buckets (made in the carpener's worshop) are needed for wells, which help quite a bit.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I just generated a new world and started to play. This game is very confusing at first look, I think it will take some time to figure out what to do. This ASCII gfx is also "hardcore" at first.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I'm really enjoying this game! Something to do until Oct. 2nd, I guess.

Thanks for linking to it.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

OK, what I don't seem to get is this thing about stockpiles. When creating a stockpile, are you just designating a zone (supposedly inside your fortress) where dwarves are supposed to drop stuff? And do you need one square per item?

(I Managed to get a few dwarves to dig in the mountain, but I apparently cannot build a bed to create a bedroom; and I don't see a way to craft stuff)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I had this exact problem. Found out you have to first build a carpenter's shop (under workshops) then order it to create a bed then when it's done place the bed through the building menu.

Btw, has anyone managed farming or fishing yet? I got so frustrated with them, my last dwarf fort I just spent most my points on bringing food stockpiles so I didn't have to worry about it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Stockpiles - that's correct. 'p' for those who haven't found the feature yet. You can build bins in the Carpenter's workshop, which store more things in them. Some things, like raw stone and wood, don't go into bins. You can't decide how the dwarves use bins, though, so you can just hope they go where you want them to go. Barrels are bins for food. They also keep food from spoiling.

Stockpiles can also be put outside. Wood stockpile might be easier to have outside. Carpenter's workshop can also be outside. You MUST build refuse stockpile outside. Refuse rots, and becomes - MIASMA! Luckily, it isn't quite as ominous as I first thought. I only makes dwarves unhappy, which is still pretty severe but not instant death sentence.

To "build" furniture you need one piece of furniture made in the Mason's or the Carpenter's workshop. Beds can only be made from wood, so you need a carpenter. Coffins/Caskets, Thrones/Chairs and various other items can be built in both. Buckets, needed for wells and for bringing water for wounded, can be made from wood or metal, but wood is much easier to get.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

It can cause problems if dwarves stay in it too long.I've seen a dwarf faint due to prolonged miasma, and I suspect it can eventually cause death.

I find the essentials for the starting colony are a carpenter's workshop, a mason's workshop and at least one food workshop, depending on what your using (fish cleaners for fishing, butcher for hunting). A mechanist is also essential to get your farming industry up. Try and build a well as soon as possible to make a meeting hall (just be careful of frogmen spawning from it), a barracks (a room with several beds) and head east till you hit the river.
Remember to designate the area for tree cutting - fairly common newbie mistake.
I also find it a good idea to take along a number of dogs. War dogs are much more powerful than armed dwarves until you can build decent weapons, and a hunting dog tends to die far less than training a dwarf as a hunter (btw if your taking the hunting route, remember to give the dwarf some combat skills).A cat can be useful to keep the number of rats and similar down.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I just dont understand, that why is this execellent game uses ASCII as "gfx". Its very annoying imho. It would take 1-2 days to create basic tiles and add them to the game. Even if those tiles would be ugly, it would be much better then ASCII.
The game is a pearl, I must say. Its really addictive and complex. Also its got a great potential. [Hopefully we will see real gfx in the game sometime soon]

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

DominionsFAN: they say it's currently an Alpha release, and everything is likely to change enough that creating graphics for now would be a waste.

No, for me... I can't figure how to build a well. I've made stone blocks, and a bucket, but I can't find the menu to build a well... (same goes for fishery: one of my guys is a fisherdwarf, but I haven't managed to build a fishery, so I guess all that he fishes just rots away...)

Got my first immigrant: a metalsmith. Well, I can build him a nice workshop, but since I haven't found any ore at the moment, I guess he'll be mostly useful for moving stuff around http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Well & fisheries are on the building lists. Just scroll them down (you have figured out that you can do that, right?)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

The problem is that there's lots of stuff in the game that's going to go away. It's easier to add things when Toady One (the creator) doesn't have to worry about tiles. Making GOOD tiles is actually pretty hard. How to make a bed that looks like a bed? You can't go for details, and if it's more abstract, it might still be pretty close to an '8'.

Also...
You might've noticed that this is game number II. This game is built on "Slaves to Armok: God of Blood" (Amos mentioned in it the first page). That game had simple 3d-graphics. It seems graphics weren't the reason he stopped that project, but the fact that Toady One can do something like that gives me much hope for the game once its finished. It'll probably take years to get to that point, though... Have you seen his Req and Bloat lists? Those are things he will and things he would like to introduce into the game. Things like this:

Bloat144, DISEASE AND INFECTION, (Future): Disease and infection. Get some from swamp or blood drinking. Hearty creatures (like dwarves) shouldn't be affected so much. The absence of a spleen can increase the chance of septicemia. Infections of some wounds, especially if you are dirty, leprosy type stuff, plagues. Tumors, especially those caused by magic. The kidneys, spleen, liver, stomach and pancreas should have functions that are reduced by damage.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I take it back, this is a fun game, thanks for linking.
I started playing at ~22:00 last night only to realize its suddenly 00:30.
Also, surprisingly enough, after only a little roaming around the website I found the game to be quite easy to understand. Obviously I'm not at the stage of being a master dungeoneer (or even a good one) but I can enjoy the game without constant feelings of confusion http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Well, no... the interface is somewhat confusing, and I didn't find a way to scroll down these lists! How do you do that?

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Press ecape and look in the key bindings under 'move secondary selector'. That key should let you scroll through lists you couldn't otherwise.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Well, that does make things quite a bit harder...

-/+ , or up/down arrows. If one doesn't work, try the other. PageUp/PageDown work if arrows work, / and * do the same if + and - work.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Instead, I'd just look at the interface more carefully, IIRC it shows you how to move your selection, written on the bottom of the screen. (Default is +/-)

As for the US/EU keyboard, what is the difference between the two keyboards? Is the layout different or is it something else? (For me '?' works as you'd expect it)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Well the problem is, that the dev[s] dont have an artist who will make the graphic tiles. If they could find someone to do it, it would be easy to add new tiles with all patch.

Anyways, this game is really awesome, its very complex, I cant stop playing. Its extremely addictive. The developer [toady one] must be a master programmer. Hats off. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I managed to scroll the list with * and /, I believe. I wouldn't have tried them if I hadn't known it was there to try, though.

There is no "EU" layout; it seems that every country in Europe has its own "standard" keyboard layout http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

"UK" keyboards have some differences from the US layout, though I can live with the difference.

French keyboards use a different order for letters (AZERTY... instead of QWERTY...), with more differences for other characters. Because of these differences, I can't use a French keyboard with any kind of speed, and it's even worse when programming - though French keyboards have keys for accented characters, which is helpful.

I don't know what other kinds of keyboards look like, but I know there are lots of them out there - even for Latin alphabets.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Hm, I just managed to do well finally...I had like 12 rooms, and lot of dwarves, and a small but strong army. Then I just got a sheriff, and I couldnt make him happy enough, he demanded some kind of jail or what, but I couldnt make all the required stuff. So he bacame angry and murderized like 20 dwarves, including my uber skilled miner. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif
Finally I managed to kill him, but my losses were still great.
Not so long after this, some monsters appeared and began to run after my weak little worker dwarves, they managed to kill 2, and wounded 3 others badly [1 lost his right arm http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif]. Thankfully I had nice traps, so 2 from the monsters died because they walked into them, and my army took care of the other monsters.
Damn this game is very hard and complex, but its extremely addictive. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif
I think that Shrapnel should take a look at this indie game, because in like 1-2 years this game might reach beta, and I must say that its so unique and awesome, that some publishers should contact the developer immediately then.
I bet that this game would sell very good.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Without graphics it probably wouldn't sell at all http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif
As for keyboard layouts, check this out.
Obviously mine is the Hebrew layout (though I have a Start/Win between the left Ctrl and Alt, and what they call the Menu key between the right Ctrl and Alt), although atleast here in Israel we have several variations on the layout (bigger Return/Enter button but smaller Backspace and the | and \ button is moved upwards, different buttons between Ctrls and Alts as well as a bigger Left Shift instead of the second | \ button.)

Anyway, my active fortress just reached Automn, and apparently I wasn't doing as well as I thought, I need more dwarves (specifically an architect) and my food supplies are low, I doubt if I'll survive the winter.
I also made mistakes due to my noobness (for example I have a Metalsmith Workshop, but no Smelter, I have a FisherDwarf and for some reason can't build a fishery etc.)
Quite a shame too, because I had an excellent starting position.
Maybe I'll regenerate the world (because that was the only good position http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I know Agrajag. However, I was browsing the game forum, and Ive seen posts, where the people were talking about adding real gfx to the game, in fact someone was working on some basic tiles already. I might contact the developer about this, because if Im gonna have more freetime I could make some excellent tile graphics. The problem is, that I dont know how can we gonna use tiles, since all "squares" are 1 character big, because of the ASCII "graphics".

I guess the developer must code a gfx engine to allow to use tiles in 1x2, 2x1, 2x2 etc. sizes.

Seriously Im enjoying this game more, then for example Oblivion. This shows that graphics is nothing, gameplay is what matters.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

My response was to him responding to me for mentioning money instead of responding to you (now that's a confusing sentence.)
Actually, I don't think the tiles will be that much of a problem, because currently the ASCII characters aren't "true" characters, there's a .bmp file with all of them (two files actually, one for 640*300 and one for 800*600), so making a .bmp file with tiles instead shouldn't be a real problem (coding the graphic engin however, could be a problem, so would coming up with so many tiles and sprites O:)

Anyway, I'm in the middle of a very interesting Fortress building right now, just thought people would like to learn from my huge mistakes which are probably going to cost me that game: (in order of noticing the mistakes)
1) When making a Farm Plot, use the u/h/k/m keys to change the size of the plot, it took me a while to notice which is a major blow to my food income this early. Luckily I fixed it soon enough to at least have hope of surviving winter.
2) You can't trade raw gems. I guess you have to process them somehow (I don't have a jeweler yet)
I was counting on trading away my many (many!) gems for some food from the caravan, and was quite surprised when I couldn't.
3) (O)ffer means give that item as an offering to some king >_< (and not offering something to be traded)
4) Caravans have limited space aboard (measured in weight), so make sure to trade light trade goods (especially since food is light, and you want to buy food)
5) Don't make the same extremely stupid mistake I did and gift the trader with a huge stone door that weighs 250 godamn (weight units) and thus make him unable to trade anything with you due to overweight >_<

Now, since I'm posting anyway I might as well add in a question:
1) How long does winter last? (Real Time and Game Time*)
2) How much food do you need to survive winter?
Winter will be upon me soon and I only have ~70 food units (according to the [z] menu, which doesn't make sense since I have ~20 plants and ~10 meats), am I going to make it?
*-Yes, I know in game time Winter lasts exactly one season. What I wanna know is how many days does it last (considering most Dwarves go to sleep roughly at the same time, which makes me think of that time as night)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Watch out if your farming the underground river. I got a nice farm all up and running, only to have my farmers killed by a frogman invasion. Probably an idea to manufacture a few weapons first, or at least give novice wrestling skills to your starting group
You don't need a dwarf skilled in it. Just turn off all of their tasks and switch on jewel carving and they'll go do it (their skill will improve over time)
It's about the same time as any other season http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif maybe 30 minutes? I think 2 'days' is the norm for a season.
Not sure if this is affected by the location you choose (i.e. shorter in hot climates, longer in cold climates). Winter doesn't necessarily mean no food either - if your in a hot climate and the river doesn't freeze, you can still fish. You can usually still hunt too, regardless of the climate.
Depends on the number of dwarves you have and the type of meals your cooking. Switching your cook to prepare simple meals will save food (it only uses 2 ingredients per meal) and your peasants will probably be just as happy. You can slaughter the horses & mules, since they're completely useless. Another method if you have a large breeding population of dogs & cats is to cull a few of those for food. I made it through winter largely on cat meat, and still had a growing cat population at the end!
I think food units only counts prepared meals, not raw ingredients. Hence you probably have 70 prepared meals stored in barrels somewhere.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

I've not seem Frogmen, only Lizardmen (who come in rather large groups) and once a Cave Crocodile. Since I haven't tried looking into the combat thing, each attack results in some severe wounding, and worse (my wounded apparently never heal, and I had no burial grounds, so any dwarf corpses were left to rot in the fortress for more bad feelings). I've read that monsters sometimes crawl out of wells, but I have yet to see them (attacks all seem to come from the river).

I tried farming with floodgates and channels, as it should be safer, but I must be doing something wrong, because after the first cycle of flooding and farming, when I flood again I cannot build a new farm plot. And I didn't see this with farming naturally flooded areas - which are probably more prone to river creature invasion.

Hey, when my first caravan arrived I had no trading post. Completely missed them; but then I survived to see a few more.

Is there even a way to see what season it is? Sometimes I miss the messages that tells of the turning of the season, and then I'm lost...

How do you slaughter animals? I mean, a butcher's shop doesn't seem to do it... I've got mules and horses wandering around in my fortress, because I don't know what to do with them.

Also, is there a way to train cats and dogs for some fighting? I leave them entirely alone, and they all seem to adopt some dwarf or other at some point, but I don't exactly use them too wisely... (I hope they at least help keep some vermin away)

Definitely an addictive game. I woke up last night when I couldn't sleep, looked up someting on the net, and ended up playing for 1-2 more hours... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Argh... My fortress was doing very well, and of course something bad had to happen. Somehow a dragon appeared in my fortress, I have no idea that where its came from, probably it came in via the main entrance??..

Anyways, its killed most of my dwarves, including 11 from my dwarven axeman. I made a huge mistake as well..my patrol armies contained only 2-3 dwarves, I guess a 10 dwarf main patrol should guard the main entrance area.
The other mistake is that I never built gates and levers near the main gate. But hell knew that monsters can walk in like this. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif

I guess I will have to restart the game, since my fortress is now full with blood and dead dwarves.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Well, I've got the two initial picks and axes, nothing more.
I've struck some copper though, so I could make some low quality weapons to last until I find something better.

I hope it is, as soon as I found the river I floodgated it, so now the river can't reach me, and hopefuly no creatures will. (They can still climb through the well though)

I missed them as well, the jeweling thing was a mistake after a restart.

Thanks

Try the (a)nnoucements, they keep record of all the messages, including "Autmn has come"

But the Workshop isn't built, it says it needs Jewel Making and thus construction is suspended.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Damn lol, now I restarted. I just didnt take care of 1!!! of my axedwarf, he became very unhappy because of many things. He came into the fortress, killed the mule of my best miner. Now the miner refused to work. He is standing in the fortress, doing nothing. In fact my axedwarf caused some medium wounds to the miner, he had a pain in the head, and slight leg injuries...I love this game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Actually, it's explicitly written in the top right corner of the status (z) screen. Early/Mid/Late Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter, presumably corresponding to the "months" whose names are also readable right there. Found that out on the DF forum (which, most likely, is where we should be, instead of here, since there's no Dom3 activity right now)

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

'z' allows you to define what is used for cooking in the kitchen (generally, store seeds you want to farm; wild strawberry seeds etc above-ground plants can be cooked for food ), what animals to butcher (you can't butcher pets - yet), etc. I think it also shows date, month and season in there. Later on, when you get more nobles, you'll see more information. Especially, when the Sheriff comes, check how many metal cages and/or restraints (metal chains or silk/plant fiber ropes) he wants. He can go mad very easily, so be sure to make the cages quickly.

Animals can be trained in the Kennel building. It's on the second page of 'b'uild menu. You can only train dogs, and tame creatures caught in animal traps (small things) or cage traps (inside the mountain).

v-p-l (view a dwarf - preferences - labor) allows you to set a dwarf to do different tasks. Jewel making and gem cutting are probably somewhere there. A jeweler is needed to have the correct building built. You can also order the new jeweler to encrust various items with jewels.

Also, I had crazy luck when I started. My first fortress is still going strong, with 60 dwarves before the last immigration, and some nobles. I think I started in a tundra with no natural hostilities at all - two or three surprise attacks in all these years, and nothing worse than cougars in the wild.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Eh I started in hardcore areas [Haunted for example]...its very hard to start a fortress there. Im a newbie in this game, so I started in a very calm this time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

lol this is unbeliveable. Now a "rhesus macaque" stole the iron pick from my miner, and he cant mine now. I cant believe what bad luck I have...I got no other picks left.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

You need a butcher & butcher's shop. Then assign a "butcher animal" task the same way you assign tasks to any other workshop. The butcher will go off and slaughter one of the animals. You can slaughter any non-pets (that is, any animal which doesn't have a living owner).
Build a kennel, then have a dwarf on train animal orders (through the assign labour commands).
Your craftsdwarf can make obsidian shortswords, which are damn effective.

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Did you have dogs?
Last time I was attacked by a horde of Rhesus Macaques my dogs (and I think my dwarves as well) made short work of them.

Ooh, and I forgot to tell you something mildly amusing:
On the game forums I've read that Unicorns can be really dangerous, so when I saw them hanging around West of the outsite river I was worried that I'm soon going to lose the game that was going so well.
Time passed, and the unicorns didn't cross the river, autumn came, the caravan came and went, and suddenly I got the message "Unicorn in Enranged!".
I thought that the horde of unicorns will soon be upon me, so I went to where the unicorns were.
And found trails of blood and lots of dead unicorns, and the caravan (and the caravan guards) walking away very quietly... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Nop I didnt had any dogs, yet another newbie mistake. My guards took care of those damned monsters, but my miner was on his way to drink from the river, since I had no well yet, I just restarted the game. While he was on his way to there, 1 monster stole his pick. This game is fantastic, so many things in it already. This is the most complex game what I've ever seen + of course Dominions. I just cant stop playing Dwarf Fortress. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif
The developer's future plans are also awesome. When this game gonna reach beta and hopefully there will be 2d tiles in it by then....I think that it will suck in tons of gamers immediately. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Woohoo! Got massacred by a horde of ambushing snakemen >_<
They came in through a wall that I was sure was unmined, I must have accidentally queued it for digging while making some space for farms.
Hehe, a few more lessons learned then, and just when I was starting to think I might survive.

Now what do you think I should do, more Dwarf Fortressing or do some studying for my test tomorrow? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Damned Abstract Algebra getting in the way of Dwarf Fortress http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: OT: Dwarf Fortress
 

Sheesh! I had found the "manual" myself, but the up/down cursors and numeric keypad didn't work. Turns out you have to use +/- to move the cursor, and then it's still a huge PITA to go through it. Why in Dog's name they didn't just put together a text (or PDF) FAQ as a new player's guide...?