OT: Dwarf Fortress

[Archonsod]

Agrajag said:
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.

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

2) You can't trade raw gems. I guess you have to process them somehow (I don't have a jeweler yet)

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)

1) How long does winter last? (Real Time and Game Time*)

It's about the same time as any other season 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.

2) How much food do you need to survive winter?

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!

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?

I think food units only counts prepared meals, not raw ingredients. Hence you probably have 70 prepared meals stored in barrels somewhere.

[PhilD]

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

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.

2) You can't trade raw gems. I guess you have to process them somehow (I don't have a jeweler yet)

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

It's about the same time as any other season maybe 30 minutes? I think 2 'days' is the norm for a season.

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...

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!

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...

[DominionsFan]

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.

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

[Agrajag]

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

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 tried farming with floodgates and channels, as it should be safer

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)

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

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

It's about the same time as any other season maybe 30 minutes? I think 2 'days' is the norm for a season.

Thanks

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...

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

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)

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

[DominionsFan]

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.

[PhilD]

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

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)

[Endoperez]

'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.

[DominionsFan]

Endoperez said:
'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.

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.

[DominionsFan]

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.

[Agrajag]

DominionsFAN said:
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.

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...