Sombre

Dwarf Fortress- Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the rum.

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Has anyone played this, or is playing this?

It's a crazy roguelike fort simulator with the potential for some of the fucking craziest scenarios I have ever seen in a game. I can't explain much really, but I CAN give some insight into some of my own personal adventures.

If you go here, you can see what happened to my most recent settlers.

Would you like to give this hellish ride a whirl?

Please, by all means:

http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/

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I tried. Boy did I try. It's just not for me though.

A little off topic but: I only discovered the rogue-like genre early last year with Shiren on the DS and since then have been going back through the years to see how the genre started and developed. So far Shiren is still the king in my view followed closely by a charming little donation-ware title called Powder by Jeff Lait. It's on PC but I use it mainly on the DS.

I must admit part of it for me is the graphical nature of those titles but also its this: usability! 99% of rogue-likes are horrible to interact with in my opinion. Shiren and Powder boil it down to to a few buttons and context sensitive stuff yet still retain the complexity and interplay between the world and the player.

Dwarf Fortress is almost the opposite side of the spectrum. I'm am a little envious of you for actually breaking that barrier though. I love that DF exists and the ideas and ambition, I just can't play it!

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Shiren and Powder boil it down to to a few buttons and context sensitive stuff yet still retain the complexity and interplay between the world and the player.

There's a new Xbox Live Indie game called Dungeon Adventure that does this too. It's $3. If anyone is looking for a good entry point to the genre, it's my first rogue-like (tried to play Nethack and was scared off) and I've really enjoyed what I've played so far. I think the fact that they're forced to pare down their interactions and contextualize them make for an immensely more smooth experience. I know, people are probably thinking "Groucho is a dumb console gamer who can't handle any complexity. I hate Groucho. Let's conspire to kill Groucho." But, really, it's not that I'm opposed to complexity, I just don't want to have to memorize a zillion commands or have to keep flipping between the game and an index. Being complex and being needlessly difficult to interact with are different things.

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Well, not quite. I took it off topic there, but to me it certainly is a descendant of those games.

It has a lot of similarities, most obviously in the ascii gfx and it does actually include the ability to adventure rogue-like style in the created world instead of managing a fortress.

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I read the tragic story of your dwarf colony and thanks to the link you posted, decided to give DF another go. I didn't have a gfx set before and I must say that the download with Mike Mayday's gfx set all set up is pretty funky. After following that tutorial (and I recommend anyone one who has tried and failed before to check that out and give it another go), I've got the hang of building stuff and have a nice little hole in the cliff (I won't call it a fortress... yet).

I still don't understand 99% of the screen or stuff that happens, but I'm happy crafting beds, brewing beer and creating a huge long hall for my dwarfs to quaff it in. Despite the UI nightmare, I'm actually enjoying it all this time so thanks for posting!

Also during my DF related browsings I found this: http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/11/03/stonesense-dwarf-fortress-visualizer

In the comments one of they guys responsible says he hopes to make it into a GUI rather than just a visualizer. If that happens, Dwarf Fortress may just consume me!

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Dwarf Fortress isn't a roguelike!

It has enough in common with roguelikes to be classified as "a roguelike with a twist." Plus it has a "pure" roguelike built in as an alternate game!

Genres are a stupid thing to argue about anyway. The lines are constantly blurred as more genre blending occurs.

Anyway, I love this game. :D

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Feic me, i'm page 2 of the tutorial and i'm loving it. It brings out the settlers in me:)

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Feic me, i'm page 2 of the tutorial and i'm loving it. It brings out the settlers in me:)

Wait for your first immigrant wave/goblin attack. It's overwhelming.

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Oh dear. I nearly had a breakdown when i put a bed in a corridore earlier. I hope the goblins are nice to me:(

(How do i remove the errant bed btw, its irritating me).

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Oh dear. I nearly had a breakdown when i put a bed in a corridore earlier. I hope the goblins are nice to me:(

(How do i remove the errant bed btw, its irritating me).

I actually forget. I think you can move it with a building movement, but I honestly don't know. Don't try to be a neat freak in DF, it'll ruin your life.

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That Bronzemurdered story is awesome. Love the visualisation.

The past few months I've spent 90% of my gaming time on this damn game! Not to mention about 50% of time that should be for other things... it's all your fault Sombre! I'm loving it though. That matrix pic is great Wurtsi, I'm amazed at how much of the game I can understand at a glance now and how fucked up I remember it looking before hand. Although vanilla is too much for me, I'm using a graphics tileset (the deep quantas one I recommend although it's not perfect. I'd like to see that combined with Mayday's set for the animals/enemies and some objects).

I'm at the point of thinking and designing engineering feats and fort layouts on scraps of paper on my lunch break now which is kind of worrying. I haven't been engaged by a game in that way since Little Big Planet and it's level editor. My only problem is how long it takes to get resources to do anything like I can imagine. I've usually fucked it up well before I can start thinking about doing anything that isn't vital for my Dwarfs survival.

I've just left one fort struggling in a flat wintry desert (due to not paying attention on the embark screen) with a werewolf problem on the surface. There's only one military wrestler left now and he's been locked in combat rolling around the snow-scape for about 3 months. They don't seem to be able to inflict any serious damage on each other, only getting tired or unconscious every now and again. Amazing for the Dwarf though considering this particular werewolf already tore down 2 military, 3 woefully mistimed migrants and a trade caravan. If I ever go back to it, whichever way it goes, I'll create a memorial for that dude.

In the meantime I've got a crazy idea for a waterfall fort next...

p.s this may be a little late dibs, but hit q and move the cursor over that errant bed and select x to remove construction. They should take it back to your stockpile and then it's available to put down in a more appropriate place. I've stuck so many beds in doorways instead of doors...

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I've been playing this a fair bit, but i'm still utterly confused by any plant usage beyond eating or brewing it and anything to do with animals/leather/clothes making. Also, i have yet to construct a military beyond 2 pesants and 4 cage traps. I guess i had better get back to the last pages of that tutorial!

Still, it is awesome.

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Haha, nice scribbles Sombre.

dibs, I haven't quite figured out all those connections yet either. I only got about half way through those tutorials before going off on my own and building/destroying about a dozen forts (mostly I get to a point where I think I can do better and start again). I should go back and read the tutorials some more.

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You at least read the bit up to using Dwarfmanager i hope:P

I think i'll play through the tutorial again. I got to the lava use and stopped. I do the same as you, build fortresses untill i get to a point and then abandon and start again. I really want to get into the higher level industry one of these days, but i need to learn the military for that so that i don't get invaded by goblins.

One of my fortresses got abandoned because a worker went insane and killed a bunch of people, another because a child got stolen.

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Yeah, the Dwarf Manager bit is about where I got to. Once I discovered the wiki though I was having too much fun figuring things out on my own to go back to the tutorials.

I've started on the aforementioned waterfall fort. I found a great site. It's going to be a long time before I can even think about starting building it though as it requires damming a brook and re-diverting it's course. It was great at first because the river was frozen and I thought I'd be able to dam it fairly quickly. Unfortunately half way through floodgate construction it thawed...

I haven't figured a good way of doing it while it's flowing. Tried some techniques from the bay12 forums which didn't go too well. Now I have trolls and dralthas running around the place.

I'm forced into making a temporary hovel away from that site until winter. The main thing now is to just survive!

All I want is a glass windowed viewing deck/meeting hall looking out through a water fall. I suspect that may be more 'fun' than I can handle though.

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Glass, i haven't figured out that yet either.

My current ambitions are to figure out how to make a military force and to discover exactly what "process plants" means. Oh, i want to butcher some unicorns too, and have some pet dogs.

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Alright, I'm addicted. It has such a difficult time for entry but as soon as you do and get the basic tools down it's pretty amazing.

I've talked at length about this here and other places, but I really need to revive this to get more people playing, it's pretty amazing. I was a huge fan of Sim City, Civilizations, Dungeon Keeper and Populous when they all came out; this basically takes all those together, combines it and goes beyond.

If this eventually turns into spam, I'll be sure to stop, but I'm going to catalog my newbie entry into a fortress.

Civilization: The Avalanche of Punches (I know! right?!)

Fortress: Outpost Sazrizustash * Bridgeancient* ( I don't know if the first word is dwarf and the other is the translation?)

Year: 21st of Granite Early Spring 1052, Age of Myth- 1 Year from expedition settling

Region: Field of Battles

Current Noteworthy Dwarves

Expedition Leader: Astesh Skinnycraft, profession: Fish Cleaner\Miner

Chief Medical Dwarf: Murdoc SyrupEcho, profession:Doctor\Woodcutter

Year 1

Spring

We arrived in The Field of Battles, a peaceful forest bordering a large range of mountains.

Our expedition leader, Uvash Spikearrow, a miner by trade will be doing most of the digging as our expedition party is suboptimal for construction, to say the least.

Eight dwarves have set on on this mission, one, our leader, a miner, a fisherdwarf, fishcleaner, butcher, clothier, herbalist, doctor, and 2 carpenters.

Immediately we knew we couldn't begin construction on a grand dwarf fortress with this ramble. The Fishcleaner was upgraded to peasant and will be mainly hauling and cleaning things. One of the carpenters is trading an axe for a pick to do some mining. While the area offers ample rivers and waterworks, there are no fish to be had. The Fisherdwarf is now gathering plants with the herbalist and put on farm duty... whenever those get built. The Butcher and Clothier don't seem to be doing much of anything. The Doctor is on wood cutting duty until he is needed.

Tragedy! It's been a month and our outdoor farm seems to be producing grass, so we are still resorted to gathering plants. During a channeling excavation one of the experienced miners was crushed to death due to a cave in and the second miner was injured. The doctor could do very little when supplies were not ready to put the second miner into traction. The Carpenter was able to make her a crutch and she seems able to get around a mine with that... but the doctor doesn't seem confident that the now gimped hand will heal properly.

We have only two function rooms at the moment just outside the entrance where we started. One being a general dormitory. The second turned out to be a small burial chamber to commemorate the fallen(crushed) miner. With out a mason or any type of stoneworker his corpse was stored in a wooden coffin... sad really.

Autumn:

Still no crops, no dining room, and a general dorm. The expedition leader is finding the multi leveled cliff side residence a challenge to work in and fortify with only himself and a gimped assistant. Irrigation efforts have been fruitless(or vegetables as well) Our Carpenter seems very adept at making Beds and Coffins now. We upgraded the fishcleaner turned peasant hauler into a miner in hopes to speed the digging. That lasted a day when the injured assistant miner succumb to the infection in his broken hand and died. A second burial room was made.

We are able to now store our goods inside a couple levels down from where we first struck stone and just in time for winter. And new migrants have arrived; an additional miner, a mason, a brewer, a craftsdwarf, and a couple others. Our colony is now at 13! That's got to be some luck for us; right?

Our outpost liaison has arrived from The Avalanche of Punches to trade! But we have no depot and our store room is barely stocked at the moment; so their caravan is impatiently waiting around outside.

A week has passed and no one was witness but our outpost liaison, our only contact to back home and trading partner has passed away. We cannot afford to make any more tombs so we threw his body out in a pit by our unproductive farm. Despite this spirits remain high.

Late Winter:

Food and water are running low, with no crops or plants to gather our people are starving. We are attempting to create a brewing still but the mason is too busy killing vermin for food.

Tragedy AGAIN! Our Expedition Leader, Uvash has starved to death or of dehydration, the doctor cannot determine. We have to take drastic measures and with our newly arrived butcher we order all the pets to be slaughtered for meat.

A week has passed and our people have been getting fed pet meat, we have a dining hall to sit in as well! With the Mason no longer having to hunt vermin for food he is able to build the brewery and a stone casket for our lost leader. The still is now operation and our Brewer must be a master or our people haven't drank anything in weeks because the people are over joyed and the decadence of his booze!

Spring

It turns out we went a little over kill with the pets, but we have been fed throughout the winter with ample supply! With some readjustments in jobs we out main level dug, storerooms storing, brewer going, woodworking and stonemasons pumping out essentials. We are just starting on an irrigation project to have some indoor farms that should finally yield crops so we can be self sustainable!

No one recalls when it happened, but that fishcleaner, turned peasant, turned miner apparently has taken over as expedition leader! The crew had indifferent thoughts on this, but since we are being fed and things are being made we have taken it as a sign from Amok!

The small colony of Bridgeancient is going to be OK and we have nowhere but up(or down in dwarf terms) to go!

Notes

I'm probably getting more jazzed up about this game because at the same time during my summer vacation I'm reading a book about starting civilizations, particular in polynesia as it's a small test study(whatever the proper term is) for all human civilizations.

What's really fun is the stuff I'm reading is sort of happening in dwarf fortress, there's a couple key systems I'd love the game to try to mimic later on(or maybe already does and I haven't gotten to that point) but right now it's really fascinating.

Through the first year of the fortress we had 8-13 dwarves; this is barely a colony, and I think the average household size around the world probably contains more then 8 people. However, Bridgeancient really started off on the wrong foot with the members specializations which has directly effected production but also kind of mimics an entire civilizations technological base.

In Dwarf Fortress your not inventing technologies, but there's only so much you can make depending on specializations and production centers. As we see in Bridgeancient's first year though we needed shelter and food. I did the horrible mistake of any city builder(or even civ game) is start with grandiose ideas for the future rather then covering the essentials.

However, again, we had like 4-5 nonproducers\ luxury good producers who had to be reassigned to making essentials, like chopping wood, gathering food. But since they weren't made for this, they were pathetically slow and it makes me wonder if some of those cave ins that killed the miners was due to their inexperience. With out proper equipment our doctor couldn't properly help anyone and was too busy chopping wood anyway... this sort of reminded me of Oregon Trail, hehe.

So anyway, I make the comparison to the beginning of human civilization, or at least specifically what I'm reading about polyneisia, is we're a group of people that have traveled from somewhere else to settle. The environment we are in wasn't optimal for our current set of skills (we had two fish specialists and no fish) so we had to attempt at farming... almost discovering it really, but have been complete unsuccessful in outputting anything.

With out a surplus of food we couldn't support our nonproducers to do what they do best(make luxury goods and cure the injured) Granted our mining/shelter situation was caused by poor leadership and I don't believe any early human civilization ever did something as dumb as this; but then I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode that was a spoof of lord of the flies, which this very thing occurred, but it's been a good 15 years since I read LoF so I can't recall that specific incident in the novel. It does make me wonder though if that was a reference to something that actually happened in early human history, I know it has much alter in development of empires, but that's not quite the same thing.

Interesting stuff none the less, I wonder what the impact of this game would be if Dwarves weren't used as the presentation, because as I interpret the game, Dwarf Fortress is not about Dwarves, they and several quirks are used as window dressing.

I will also try to keep my updates much, much shorter to be digestible. :)

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I would totally listen to a podcast about Dwarf Fortress stories. I think Rabbit from GWJ touches on it from time to time, but this game has a depth I am interested by and have no interest in participating in.

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How did you make such absolute shit of your food supplies?:P

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