Strike the Earth: E's Unofficial Dwarf Fortress Thread

[Inkidu]

This thread is about Dwarf Fortress, the little game that's trying to be a fantasy-world simulator. This thread is for funny stories, tips and tricks, ideas, even group games (though no personal contact info in the public forums, it's a rule remember). It's not limited to Dwarf Mode either, adventure mode stories and whatnot are more than welcome.

And... that's it. :)

If you've always wanted to erm... I don't want to use play... experience Dwarf Fortress I highly recommend it and the Lazy Newb Pack (which is a bit of a misnomer, because even non-newbs use it). It has the invaluable Dwarf Therapist app and some graphical tile-sets if ASCII isn't your thing.

Also, don't come to me for help. I haven't managed to make an irrigation system that hasn't drowned my fortress yet. :P

[Inkidu]

In the spirit of kicking this sucker off here's my current fortress log. :) It's not one month in, it's about halfway into spring.

Omon Kisnst, "The Realm of Visions"

Second Age of Myth, year 125

Location: The Forests of Control, on the eastern bank of Lasheddress the Whisky of Mud

Tasked by the dwarven kingdom of Ruldastot the group known as the Fated Abbey of Keeepers has been
sent to this hot, humid jungle to see if making a fotress is viable on this remote jungele
island. With this possiblity of rare metals and materials this small expedition of seven
dwarves sets out with seeds and picks, along with a few goats, dogs, and guineafowl they reach
The Forrests of Control ready to strike the earth at the location of the fortress known as
Likotnicat, Inkchained.

Spring 127: For the interest of keeping a record my name is Skazul Dodokobok, expedition
leader. We arrive at the site of Inkchained. This isn't the first expedition sent to this
location, but nothing was ever heard from the original party. The consensus back in the
courts is that they embarked prematurely.

Initial surveys show that the area is rich with peat. We have decided to dig down in the earth
as peat holds hidden water. There is a small deep pond that were intend to connect to the
nearby brook. Our first priority is to  get shelter.

We have dug out a temporary place, and we're clear cutting the area around the entrance.

While we were stockpiling the wagon's goods we came across a black mamba, a venemous snake.
No one seems to be willing to attack the creature for now... we're all a bit warry.
In other news, the humidity has caused the prepared food we had with us to rot. This does
not bode well. However, the wagon of the first expedition is here, providing us with extra
supplies.

Meanwhile, we have begun planting our subterranian farmlands and carving out space for work-
shops. Dwellings and channeling the pond to the brook are slated to be completed. We have also
started fishing the brook for anything to eat. A fishery will be needed.

The first few basic workshops are open and working. The moat project has been placed on hold
as calculations are needed to make sure that the laws of fluid dynmics don't cause some un-
forseen consequences.

[Chris Brady]

I can't get into this game, because the point is apparently to lose.  And I don't play games to lose.

However, one of the most epic tales of the game, is actually a victory:

Welcome to Bronzemurder

[Inkidu]

Yeah, I lost that game. Black mambas came out of everywhere. They poisoned all my dwarves. Vomit and death everywhere. :P

Time to start again.

Actually, I would hate the game if you had a victory objective. It would be too hard for my skill level. It's like MineCraft. If you're playing it to win, you're not getting it. :)

Waterburned is pretty cool too. They actually made a booth at the circus but couldn't hold onto it. :)

[BraveEarth]

I have a bad habit of always making my military in squads according to weapons and making my Commander a Speardwarf my first on was godly and lived up to his designation. He was the only dwarf with competent dodger.

[Inkidu]

I have a bad habit of always making my military in squads according to weapons and making my Commander a Speardwarf my first on was godly and lived up to his designation. He was the only dwarf with competent dodger.

You know, I've never managed to make a metal weapon. I've put in about  thirty hours into the game over a couple of years. In fact. I'm happy because I finally got a draw bridge to function properly. I still haven't figured out if it's possible to take the slopes off my channels so people can climb in and out of them. :P

[BraveEarth]

Z is your friend Inkidu

[Inkidu]

Z is your friend Inkidu

I thought that but it won't designate.

Do you have to go to the level bellow it to get it to remove them? (Which kind of defeats the purpose of a bit. :P

[BraveEarth]

What is your version?

[Inkidu]

What is your version?

Latest.

Anyway. I'm planning my next fortress. Seeing as I have yet to make a self-sufficient fortress I'm not looking for anything like a magma cannon.

If I go back far enough into the mountain I've got about seven levels above my entrance. I was thinking about putting the civilian sector above this (not including forges and furnaces) Workshops kitchen and dinning hall (I'm thinking about cuttting the level above it out to give it the grand appearance. I was wondering how to do pillars.

I've got grand visions, just not grand ability. :)

So I'm thinking at and this is dependent on what I hit:

0- is the entrance initial stock, and trading depot. The stockpile will become a barracks once everything gets moved

As you go up. I've got more levels than I initially thought too.

+1: Farms, birds, butcheries.
+2-3: Crafting promenade.
+3-4: Kitchens still and grand dining hall.
+5: Sleeping quarters for the common folk. Hospital.
+6 and up noble crap.

as you go down:

-1-2 Forges, furnaces, machinist, heavy crafting stuff.
-3 Military. Armory. Danger room.
-4 The fall back fortification and barracks and the point where the mining will truly begin.

I've got access to stone, wood, metal, and water. :) I'm just trying to figure out if I'm missing something.

[Chris Brady]

You're also sounding like you're trying to succeed.  Don't.  The apparent point of this is to fail as spectacularly as possible.

[Inkidu]

You're also sounding like you're trying to succeed.  Don't.  The apparent point of this is to fail as spectacularly as possible.

No no, you've got to make one "successful" fort first. Then you can start really having fun.

It's kind of like publishing a book. Your first one's got to follow the rules, once you're published then you can do what you want.

I know it's going to fail but I want it to look magnificent when it does so. :)

I also use the obsidian tileset. ;P

It's the prefect blend of graphics and ASCII. Pure ASCII hurts my eyes.

[Chris Brady]

If I ever won at Dwarf Fortress, I'd stop and call it a life.

[Inkidu]

If I ever won at Dwarf Fortress, I'd stop and call it a life.

If I get the dwarf king to show up I consider it a successful fort. Plus it makes his impending demise that much sweeter. :)

Honestly I want to build everything at least once. You know kind of explore at least all the build options. More or less. I'd like to learn how to make metal weapons for instance. Generally I don't mind that my forts fail, but they're just not failing spectacularly enough.

My unrealistic dream fort will be Frostforge It will be built on ice. It will use geothermal energy to keep it warm. However, I want some building savvy in my belt. :)

[Inkidu]

Okay, why can't I dig up, I put upward stairs but it's not leaving exposed rock for me to work with! GAH!

EDIT: Apparently Toady just needs to remove upstairs. They don't work. Just use up/down stairs. PFFFFT :P

No time to figure out irrigation like the present!

Fluid Dynamics, Ho!

I think I'm done with this game until it reaches completion. I get that it's an alpha, but that just reinforces the uselessness of early access to me. I have used up stairs and up/down stairs and going up into my mountain is impossible. I just can't understand it. Maybe yeah there's a big cavity in the mountain, but I can't firgu that out because it all looks dark. I can understand when my forays into irrigation fail miserably because you need to channel out an area beneath your floor grates.

BUT WHEN STAIRS DON'T WORK... I call it a day. :P

Also, why can't floodgates be built into the cavern walls? That makes the most sense. Otherwise its an exercise in flooding your fort and hoping you can survive. :P

No one can tell me why up stairs don't reveal the level above. No one. Not the wiki, not the Bay12 forums.

I'd love to play DF, but when the basic mechanics aren't performing as advertised it's just not worth it.

Down stairs allow me to access a layer below my current level.
Up stairs should allow me to access a layer above my current level.
Up/down stairs do both.

I can't find any reason as to why the up stairs aren't working.

I don't get it. Apparently you need ramps. Ramps pierce the upper Z level. However. That doesn't make any freaking sense!

Why use upstairs for anything? Why? Up/down stairs do it with much less fuss. Why do they exist. You just dig down stairs on the surface and then up/down stairs. Why use up stairs unless you're trying to pierce the upper Z level. Bricks are more intuitive in playing minesweeper.



I keep looking at this trying to figure it out. :\
I can't for the life of me.

[Inkidu]

Okay, so after creating a world so I could bang it out I think I found the best way to do upstairs that will breakthrough the above layer completely. It's involved.

Put a ramp next to the tile were you're going to place your up stairs.
Put your down, or up down stairs on the above level above your place you've designated for the up stairs.
Once you have your two stairs in place you can remove the ramp  by using the remove-up ramp/stairs command. Then you can floor over it if possible. :)

This is the only reliable way I've found to pierce the layer with upward stairs.

[Inkidu]

I have a feeling the guy had to work at making the damn game so unintuitive. :\

So I'm trying to trade with the dwarf caravan, but instead of some simple lists where I can throw my gems at them for say flux stone I have to deal with all sorts of crap, and God help you if you accidentally hit escape trying to get back to the next menu. I ended up sending them away without doing anything. Fuck! CONTROL ALT DELETE!

Other weird shit. I'm trying to get someone of my five furnace operators to make a little fucking charcoal so I can get my bituminous coal turned into coke. I gave that order a season ago, and no one has found any time at all to do it. FUCK THE LITTLE BEARDED SHITS!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Oh shit, wood burning is a separate labor.

[Inkidu]

Ugh, DF is just so involved. :P

I'm out of food. I grow plants strictly for hooch. Well, despite having three great fisherdwarves the fish coming in is not enough. The thing is though hunting is way too iffy. Plus I haven't figured out how to make crossbows yet, which is like all they ever use. You think a simple wooden spear would be sufficient for some hunting, but everyone's so hungry they're not doing anything, to pull them out of hunger. PFFFFT.

[Inkidu]

So I started a game on tundra. Icecastle so on and so forth of la-de-da.
I remembered to bring coke though. :3

Yeah I know I complain, but if you didn't gripe about the game somewhere it'd be unplayable.

So yeah, dig down, dig deep and kill the horses as soon as you have a butchery! :D

[Inkidu]

So is there a way to melt ice without lava?

[Chris Brady]

Does anyone play this other than you, Inky?  Honest question.  Because everything you're mention on how to do stuff would kill all my enjoyment within 10 minutes of booting up.

These aren't Dwarves, these are humanoids with less brainpower than a shoe.

[Inkidu]

Does anyone play this other than you, Inky?  Honest question.  Because everything you're mention on how to do stuff would kill all my enjoyment within 10 minutes of booting up.

These aren't Dwarves, these are humanoids with less brainpower than a shoe.

It does kill my enjoyment, but then I keep trying to find workarounds and while it's not exactly fun (even in the DF denotation of the word) it is engaging my brainpower. So I get ticked, but I like trying to figure it out.

It's not my dwarves though. I don't think there's a "Melt Ice" labor. I just don't know how the physics of it are implemented. I'm thinking of digging an underground cistern.

I think I might be the only one on E who plays it. It's just one of those games that creates a persistent world that I have a hand in shaping. It's also got adventure mode which is a rough, rough roguelike at the moment. However, going and seeing your fortress's is awesome.

[BraveEarth]

I enjoy playing it! Melting ice requires Lava, or Warm Weather, not much inbetween.

[Inkidu]

http://clockworkempires.com/

I'm keeping an eye on this. Victorian steampunk Dwarf Fortress with cosmic horror elements (why does that mean squids, by the way), yes please. ^__^

[Hazel]

http://clockworkempires.com/

I'm keeping an eye on this. Victorian steampunk Dwarf Fortress with cosmic horror elements (why does that mean squids, by the way), yes please. ^__^

Oh wow, they really have come far. Can't wait for that.

On the dwarfy side of things, I've come to realize that mountains have a LOT of wolverines in adventure mode. That's all I've seen so far, hopefully they'll help against the boogies.

[alextaylor]

I can't get into this game, because the point is apparently to lose.  And I don't play games to lose.

That's not the point. Let's use this metaphor - the objective is to have the biggest mess. This is a game where you can literally have rivers of blood, where a horse can kick a dwarf from 3 levels high, have the dwarf break his ribs and lose a finger, have a doctor patch up the guy with wooden false ribs. Then a necromancer comes, resurrects the finger and the finger tries to poke the doctor's eye out.

You build huge monuments and watch them come crashing down. The player with the messiest explosions wins.

[Chris Brady]

Which to me is a loss.  Can't do it.

[Inkidu]

Which to me is a loss.  Can't do it.

You only lose Dwarf Fortress when you've got nothing left to learn. :)