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Community => Other Games => Topic started by: Anaris on March 05, 2011, 03:44:55 PM

Title: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 05, 2011, 03:44:55 PM
Some of you may have heard of Minecraft.  Well, Dwarf Fortress is what Minecraft was based on. http://bay12games.com/dwarves/ (http://bay12games.com/dwarves/)

Its AI is absolutely staggering.  It generates a world, from scratch, with erosion, mountain formation, caverns, volcanoes, civilizations, trade...it's just incredible the amount of detail that goes into the background of the game. 

You can play it in two modes, "adventure" mode, which is very much like a classic roguelike game (Angband, Moria, Nethack, etc), or "fortress" mode, which is the one that Minecraft is based off of.  So far, I've only played fortress mode.  If I want a regular roguelike, I play Angband http://rephial.org/ (http://rephial.org/) ;-)

In Fortress Mode, you pick a place on the world where you want to build a fortress, equip your seven initial dwarves, and start digging.  And building.  And making beds, and crafts, and doors, and furniture, and weapons...

It's an incredible sandbox, and the kinds of things that you can make with it are vastly varied, and very cool.  My latest fortress has been running for about 7 IG years, and has tapped a magma vent to power its forges, smelters, and glassmakers, and is churning out steel armour and weapons just as fast as my dwarves can make it.  I've dug out the housing for a set of pumps that will bring the magma up into a giant holding tank at the top of the cliff my fortress is delved into, so I can dump it out on invading goblins any time I need to.  After a number of immigration waves, I'm up to (I think) 142 dwarves, and the Mountainhome is about to promote us to a Dukedom.

If you like building things, and can handle the steep learning curve (following one of the various tutorials is pretty nearly essential), it's an amazingly fun game.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 05, 2011, 05:14:51 PM
Great fun! And great difficulty! Don't be surprised you will not last a year with your first Fortress as they say. From time to time I start up a Fortress when I have some hours to sink into it. It's good to set small goals for each of your fortresses, I'll admit I never come too far ('Oops that trap system has one tiny flaw, now all my dwarves are dead', 'Oops, water' etc. etc.), but as they say Losing is Fun.

I do very much recommend to grab one of the Tutorials on the Wiki and go through that. They give you enough to do for your first Fortress and are pretty much essential. Also, the Lazy Newb Pack (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0) gives you Dwarf Fortress plus a graphic pack for nicer looks and some other handy tools you may or may not ignore in the beginning. Mostly, I like the graphic pack and the Dwarf Therapist stuff.

Never played Adventure Mode oddly, but thena gain I can keep myself infinitely occupied with Fortress Mode.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: ^ban^ on March 05, 2011, 07:14:50 PM
It's not fun without the Fun.

"Back, vile [censored]! Shatteredmountain shall not fall OH GOD FIRE!"
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 05, 2011, 07:47:27 PM
Ah right, I also recommend Boatmurdered (http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/), a sucession game involving a lot of hilarious stuff and quite famous within the Dwarf Fortress community. Might be a bit hard to understand if you don't know the game, but this actually got me playing Dwarf Fortress in the first place.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Alpha on March 05, 2011, 11:11:01 PM
My first "successful" fortress ended in failure after a population of about 70 dwarves.  My weaponsmith/axedwarf took a mood, which ended with the dwarf killing 3 others, and all my fortress' dogs. That was a setback. I didn't know about burial though, and the main crafting level of my fortress was infected with miasma. And I thought I was doing so well.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 05, 2011, 11:27:39 PM
Hehe, anyone thinking about playing a sequential game?  ( I forget the technical term)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: ^ban^ on March 06, 2011, 12:38:30 AM
Hehe, anyone thinking about playing a bloodline game?  ( I forget the technical term)

ftfy
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: De-Legro on March 06, 2011, 02:54:51 AM
Channel #Arcaea has a small bloodline game running at the moment I believe.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: De-Legro on March 13, 2011, 12:32:46 PM
Also those that like Dwarf Fortress might want to check out Goblin Camp. It is not as deep as Dwarf Fortress in my opinion, but still a fun game.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 13, 2011, 01:53:15 PM
Hehe, anyone thinking about playing a sequential game?  ( I forget the technical term)

If we can get a group going, why not :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 13, 2011, 02:43:13 PM
Like the DF LPs on SA? Don't let me get in on it. I'll die in less than 20 real minutes.  :-[
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 13, 2011, 05:49:26 PM
If we can get a group going, why not :)

So... it's been a long time since I played it, but anyone wanna try a season per week or something?  New players welcome, it's okay if you destroy it, it'll be up to the next person to restore... or destroy further. :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 13, 2011, 09:33:43 PM
So... it's been a long time since I played it, but anyone wanna try a season per week or something?  New players welcome, it's okay if you destroy it, it'll be up to the next person to restore... or destroy further. :P

If we want to do that, we should wait until at least the next release (0.31.22), which is supposed to fix a whole slew of old bugs.  Just today, Toady One (the guy who writes DF, for those unaware) fixed most of the major hospital bugs.

I wouldn't mind being the starter on something like this (though I'd get input from the other participants on just how to embark), as the part of DF I've always enjoyed most is the initial dig-in :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 13, 2011, 10:10:46 PM
Sounds pretty awesome, Tim.  I always enjoyed making a giant wall and traps, although I'm guessing beasts can go through double walls now?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 13, 2011, 10:25:14 PM
What, you guys want to keep your dudes happy and safe? I let them elephants and stuffs rumble in and wreak havoc. It's fun to build over a cursed or haunted place especially. Woot.  8)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 13, 2011, 10:32:00 PM
Certainly will join in, albeit I don't consider myself experienced in the game. As long as nobody intentionally screws anything up, it should be a lot of fun, as Dwarf Fortress provides so many ways to screw up unintentionally ;)

My current Fortress is going well, too well... The Goblins are at Peace with me and the wildlife is less then dangerous. The worst I had in my current Fortress is a monkey stealing some cloth from Merchants....My fault for picking Untamed Wilds I guess. Where are those Goblins? I want to check my Magma System already!

Anyway, due those experiences, I support embarking on an evil location for some good fun :) Let's not make it easy. Before we got everything set up with players, rules (If we wish to set any groundrules) etc. the next version will hopefully be released ;)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 13, 2011, 11:41:03 PM
So the consensus is wait till next release of DF, then we kick it off?

Will we be passing on our savefiles via email or directly on this forum? If I were to be in on this, I would prefer email attachments, but that I guess is also up to everyone else.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 14, 2011, 12:04:03 AM
I would recommend DFFD: http://dffd.wimbli.com/ (http://dffd.wimbli.com/)

It's the more-or-less official Dwarf Fortress File Depot, and tends to be used for such things.

Passing files by email could be problematic, as DF saved games can grow to 100MB+.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 14, 2011, 12:29:20 AM
Ah, thanks. That would be difficult, huh. I've never shared my DF gaming before, so I had no clue about that site.  :o
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 12:53:13 AM
Sounds good, we can have screenshots in a thread and discussion there, and put links to the DFFD to pass on saves. :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 01:56:07 AM
Alright, so to keep track of things, we have signing up for now (In no particular order, order to play to be figured out later):

Anaris
Artemesia
Foundation
Telrunya
Indirik

Still time to join in ;D
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 14, 2011, 02:17:15 AM
Id give it a shot.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 14, 2011, 02:21:48 AM
Is there a preference for civilization managers who are competent and/or intend to keep it running safely and well? I ask this because I will probably fulfill neither of the two aforementioned.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 02:29:09 AM
Id give it a shot.

Id is a very demanding part of your psyche, expecting instant gratification.  Are you sure you want it running the fortress, Rob? ;)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 01:46:20 PM
Is there a preference for civilization managers who are competent and/or intend to keep it running safely and well? I ask this because I will probably fulfill neither of the two aforementioned.

My personal opinion:
As long as the Fortress remains playable for the rest of the group. :P Mistakes happen for sure, and I consider myself only a beginner as well (And I'll surely make lots of mistakes), but personally I think a lot of Fun in Dwarf Fortress lies in incompetently combatting what the game throws at you and praying you survive. Though I did read some games set some rules to make things more challenging (No Dwarven Atom Smasher, no huge hallways with traps etc.).

Anyway I say competence isn't important (So don't let that stop anyone), as long as you know how a Dwarf looks like in the game. And for keeping it running safely: Just try to keep the Fortress alive for the rest of us. Go wild beyond that. All I ask is that you take proper screenshots and write it all down for everyone to enjoy ;)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 14, 2011, 02:30:19 PM
By the sounds of things, it's going to be around another week before .22 comes out—which, given the number of bugs Toady One has fixed already, is actually quite encouraging!

I would say that if you want to take a turn on this fort, and you have no experience, you should play through at least the first few steps of this tutorial: http://afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials/ (http://afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials/)

Make sure to download the copy of the game that's actually included in there.  That's an old version of the game, but it has the same basic principles.  It's how I learned to play, and I've got a fort that's successfully repelled sieges and invasions without resorting to simply trapping the entire overworld (which, in my view, is a valid way to do it, but takes too damn long!).  Anyone who wants to play that, I'll be happy to help run through some of the differences between version 0.28.181.40d and 0.31.22 once you feel you have the gist of things.

I think the only real rules for this should be that everyone must play in good faith.  You can play a dwarven overseer who's a bit eccentric or quirky, but you cannot deliberately sabotage progress on the fort. 

I would suggest that, once we have decided on a suitable embark site, we take a look at it using the dfreveal utility and plan out the general structure of the fort collectively, among at least the initial players.  This will help avoid a problem I've seen with some succession games I've read through, where things go randomly off in all directions because no two consecutive managers share any common goals.

While this can increase !!Fun!!, in my view, it is more fun in a traditional sense for most people—including those simply spectating—if the fort makes real progress toward at least a few specific goals.

Finally, for anyone who doesn't really know how a succession game works, I would propose as required reading the tragic saga of Boatmurdered: http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Introduction/ (http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Introduction/)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 02:32:45 PM
Anyone who wants to play that, I'll be happy to help run through some of the differences between version 0.28.181.40d and 0.31.22 once you feel you have the gist of things.

I played the old version, what's different? :)  I know a LOT is different, just never got a chance to try them all out yet. :(

Apparently you can actually... order your dwarves inside and they'd stay inside now, eh?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 03:14:32 PM
Yes, you can designate burrow zones where civilian Dwarves will stay when you put it on active (Or something in that sense). I haven't tried that out yet though, as while my Military is training nicely, it's too peaceful and I haven't come under any attack yet :(

Read up on it here: http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Burrow

Apparently there's more uses to it then just to tell your civilians where to go. The magmawiki is a great place anyway, and I've basically looked up all my information as I go along there.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 14, 2011, 03:32:20 PM
For a brief overview of the changes I can think of offhand:

- The military works very differently now. It is more complex, and a bit hard to get a handle on, but now that I understand how it works, I think I'm getting it to do well for me.
- There are, as Telrunya says, burrows you can designate to force dwarves to stick to certain areas (though they can travel between them). I use this to keep my smelters and the haulers dedicated to them on task.
- In .40d, you could order your dwarves to just go inside.  Now, you can't: you must designate a burrow that your civilians will remain within, and activate an alert that sets them there.  Mine includes everything inside my outer wall.
- There are now hospitals, which, with the fixes in .22, should be pretty much completely functional at last.  Any dwarf who gets injured will try to go to the hospital, and dwarves with the various (new) medical labours enabled will (eventually) diagnose and treat them.
- In the latest feature version, .20, Toady added a bunch of new creatures and labours, including bees, and the beekeeping industry to support them, and clay and a pottery and ceramics industry to support it. He also made (some of) your animals require grazing land, and gave you the ability to pasture them. The latest version I've played is .18, so I can't comment on the practical effects of these changes yet.
- Bauxite is no longer the only magma-safe stone; a whole host of different stone types are now magma-safe, thanks to some research and setting the actual melting points of most stones in the game to their RL equivalents.

Some new bugs in the 0.31.x line that, so far as I know, remain, and seem unlikely to be fixed in time for .22:
- Trader caravans don't bring wagons; everything is loaded onto horses and donkeys.  This doesn't change what they bring, it just means that it takes them absolutely bloody forever to load back up before they leave, and means you don't have to build 3-tile-wide access to your depot (though it's still a good idea, in case Toady fixes wagons!).
- Nobles appointed by the Baron or Mayor are broken. This means no Dungeon Master.  I'm unclear as to what the status is of nobles that belong with the King; stay tuned, though, because I've got a game running that's ready to become the Capital, and should get the King within another year...

And yes, the DF Wiki is an absolutely necessary resource.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 03:52:49 PM
Quote
- There are now hospitals, which, with the fixes in .22, should be pretty much completely functional at last.  Any dwarf who gets injured will try to go to the hospital, and dwarves with the various (new) medical labours enabled will (eventually) diagnose and treat them.

Keep in mind the Chief Medical Dwarf (Appointed Noble) is the only that will Diagnose. If he's busy with other stuff, Dwarves might not get treated, so keep a good eye on that. I had one injured Dwarf (which may have been my fault *whistles*) and all that seemed to work well, albeit you really shouldn't use Dwarves without skills there or all the wounds will get infected and the Dwarf dies.

Quote
- Nobles appointed by the Baron or Mayor are broken. This means no Dungeon Master.  I'm unclear as to what the status is of nobles that belong with the King; stay tuned, though, because I've got a game running that's ready to become the Capital, and should get the King within another year...

There's another bug here in the more recent versions. Your Fortress will only receive an offer to become a Barony (and all the other following upgrades) if your Leader conducts a meeting with your Mayor after the Dwarven Caravan has left the map. You need to keep your Leader occupied till then so he doesn't Conduct Meeting (I generally just tell him to stay at the Trade Depot). If Toady doesn't fix that in .22, we'll have to keep this in mind.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 14, 2011, 05:09:51 PM
Id is a very demanding part of your psyche, expecting instant gratification.  Are you sure you want it running the fortress, Rob? ;)
Dwarf Fortress demands that you be a little psycho, and more than a little masochistic, to play on a regular basis. So, sure. Why not turn my id loose on a fortress? Maybe it will be Fun.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 14, 2011, 05:24:07 PM
Apparently you can actually... order your dwarves inside and they'd stay inside now, eh?

HA HA HA HAH AH@! HAAAA!HAAAAAAAA!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~

OMG, I can't stop laughing!!!!!!

A AH AH HAH HAH!!!!!!!!!

As if anything in Dwarf Fortress could be so easy as to simply tell a dorf to "stay inside".

Oh no. In current versions Dwarf Fortress you have have to define a burrow. Define military squads. Assign dorfs to squads. Set alerts. Set rally points. Set burrows for the alerts. Turn on the Alert. Pray that you got it right. Ooops, you missed a step somewhere. One of the invading goblins steppe on a trap and got diced into tiny pieces. Now all your dorfs are running out to clean the trap and pick up the xx giant earthworm loincloth xx (i.e. useless crap) and getting slaughtered by the other 27 goblin marksmen. There goes 19 dorfs. Oh, what's that ? A tantrum spiral? Weee! Fun!

(Oh, and you have to do all that without any documentation of what any of these features actually does, singly or in combination. Or how to set them up. Or that they even exist.)

Wel, time to start a new fortress.

The absolutely ridiculously complex military system in the current versions is so frustrating, I almost quit and deleted the entire game in exasperation. If Anaris hadn't been willing to essentially walk me through it step by step, I probably would have just quit and deleted everything. As it is, I think I have managed to learn how to tell my dorfs to stay inside. But I still don't understand the military system at all. The only way I manage to stay alive in DF is to Trap The World.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 05:47:44 PM
That sounds quite complicated. :(

I hope someone else sets these up before it gets to me. :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: songqu88@gmail.com on March 14, 2011, 05:51:45 PM
There's nothing wrong with being the drunk crazy founder who sets up shop over a haunted graveyard and allows the creatures of the wild to wander in while the dwarves all get to roam around in their drunken stupors. It shall be a decadent fortress of hedonism!  ;D
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: ^ban^ on March 14, 2011, 08:03:34 PM
Sounds good, we can have screenshots in a thread and discussion there, and put links to the DFFD to pass on saves. :)

A communal dropbox folder could also work. I can make one available if anyone is interested in trying (http://db.tt/5aEV7Vo) that instead of DFFD, as I've got a fair bit of space.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 08:20:33 PM
I'd love a dropbox solution, fast and simple, for me, that is. :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 08:22:15 PM
I don't mind either way. Whatever everyone prefers :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 14, 2011, 08:41:21 PM
So, someone with some experience in this bloodlines style start laying down the ground rules.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 09:18:41 PM
So, someone with some experience in this bloodlines style start laying down the ground rules.

Let us unanimously voluntell Tim to do it by our inaction and lack of initiative. :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 14, 2011, 09:19:57 PM
So, someone with some experience in this bloodlines style start laying down the ground rules.

I thought I already did...?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 14, 2011, 09:22:36 PM
I thought I already did...?

I think Rob meant more specific plans like the "general goals" you were talking about.  Like, let's dig down or dig into a mountain and up or make a wall on a plain and don't cut too many trees. :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: ^ban^ on March 14, 2011, 09:26:54 PM
I think Rob meant more specific plans like the "general goals" you were talking about.  Like, let's dig down or dig into a mountain and up or make a wall on a plain and don't cut too many trees. :P

Long term goals defeat the purpose of a bloodline game. The whole point is the hilarity that happens as each of the players adds their own bit to the fort... and the journals everyone should be writing.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 14, 2011, 09:33:17 PM
Long term goals defeat the purpose of a bloodline game. The whole point is the hilarity that happens as each of the players adds their own bit to the fort... and the journals everyone should be writing.

I disagree.

There can be a lot of hilarity and changed directions anyway.  Setting some common goals and forbidding deliberate fomenting of chaos just makes sure that there's something everyone can work toward that can be seen as progress.

Just because a later overseer can't abandon the officially-mandated construction of the giant obsidian colossus doesn't mean he can't fill in the carefully-dug noble apartments with magma (with or without the nobles still in them) or collapse the half-built 27 z-level high observation tower the previous overseer began on his own initiative.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 09:38:31 PM
Players can always leave comments on their longterm goals, allowing other players to follow them or do something of their own instead. While we can certainly discuss plans, I prefer players to have the final decision on what to do in their year. If the plans are good, I'm sure they will be followed, depending on the Dwarf in leadership.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 14, 2011, 09:40:13 PM
We need things like: a specific set of general rules, order of play, how long does each "turn" take, who starts, starting fortress location, etc.

I vote that the site must have magma available in some location other than the magma sea.

Oh, and no aquifers. I hate aquifers.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 14, 2011, 09:47:35 PM
I suggest an Evil starting location. Let the players sweat a bit :P I never worked with aquifers up to now, as I always avoided them (They can be disabled if needed)

Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 15, 2011, 12:05:35 AM
I tried working with an aquifer once. Despite several tries, I was never able to make a freshwater reservoir. I went over the instructions many times, inspected every square, and tried different locations. No matter what, my reservoir was always salty. I sent my files to Anaris, and he couldn't find anything wrong either.

I really hope that the latest bug fix release actually fixes some bugs. They really kill a lot of the fun you could have. Well, that and the insanely slow frame rates if you're running anything short of a supercomputer...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: De-Legro on March 15, 2011, 12:34:38 AM
I tried working with an aquifer once. Despite several tries, I was never able to make a freshwater reservoir. I went over the instructions many times, inspected every square, and tried different locations. No matter what, my reservoir was always salty. I sent my files to Anaris, and he couldn't find anything wrong either.

I really hope that the latest bug fix release actually fixes some bugs. They really kill a lot of the fun you could have. Well, that and the insanely slow frame rates if you're running anything short of a supercomputer...

Yeah bugs have been a problem for years, but at least he does fix them, and then adds new ones to enjoy. All part of the fun of playing a game that is in develpment. The latest version really seem to have good preformance increases. My computer is a good 8 years old these days. About 6 months ago is became impractical for me to play DF. Now I'm back to being able to control 100 dwarfs fairly well.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 15, 2011, 12:00:21 PM
I suggest an Evil starting location. Let the players sweat a bit :P I never worked with aquifers up to now, as I always avoided them (They can be disabled if needed)

I think, given that this will be the first bloodline game for all of us and the first game ever for many of us, it would be better not to embark somewhere where just walking outside to chop wood can be deadly most of the time.

I tried working with an aquifer once. Despite several tries, I was never able to make a freshwater reservoir. I went over the instructions many times, inspected every square, and tried different locations. No matter what, my reservoir was always salty. I sent my files to Anaris, and he couldn't find anything wrong either.

That has nothing to do with an aquifer.  Aquifers in saltwater regions are salty; aquifers in freshwater regions are fresh.  It sounds like what you want to avoid is a saltwater region.  That's usually pretty easy—just stay well away from coastline.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 15, 2011, 12:56:24 PM
I have salt water in my current Fortress, but apparently building a well on top of it is already enough for the Dwarves to use it. Nonetheless, I'm still busy trying to build a cistern to see if I can get it working to create actual fresh water, as the well thing is surely a bug.

I think, given that this will be the first bloodline game for all of us and the first game ever for many of us, it would be better not to embark somewhere where just walking outside to chop wood can be deadly most of the time.

Sure thing then :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 15, 2011, 01:49:18 PM
I have salt water in my current Fortress, but apparently building a well on top of it is already enough for the Dwarves to use it. Nonetheless, I'm still busy trying to build a cistern to see if I can get it working to create actual fresh water, as the well thing is surely a bug.

They'll use it, but it's still salty, and there are some things for which I think it doesn't work.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 15, 2011, 01:54:28 PM
Oh, one other thing, we have to use one of the graphical tile sets.  I've been using Ironhand lately, but the mayday is pretty good, too. Without it, there's no way I could play.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 15, 2011, 02:04:55 PM
Oh, one other thing, we have to use one of the graphical tile sets.  I've been using Ironhand lately, but the mayday is pretty good, too. Without it, there's no way I could play.

Whaaa?  Really?  I've tried to switch, but no graphical tile set seems simple and informative enough to compare to the pure ASCII, though I'd be willing to give it another serious try.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 15, 2011, 02:24:29 PM
We just send the save to each other, so everyone can use their own graphic pack right? That shouldn't be a problem.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 15, 2011, 02:33:18 PM
I just can't figure out what all those ASCII symbols mean. Nor do I really care to invest the effort to figure out the difference between ; and :. I mean, why bother? I'm not running DOS anymore. Games are allowed to look like what they're trying to represent. One of my fortresses had a glass tunnel through an artificial tank I carved into the bottom of a river. This is what it looked like using Mayday's graphic tile set:

(http://i.imgur.com/tzd7v.png)

In ASCII text, it's not quite so nice.

Ironhands graphics: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53180.0

Mayday's graphics: http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

Although, if one person can run a game in text, then pass the file along to someone else who runs it in a graphic set, then I'm fine with that. Don't know if it's possible, though.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 15, 2011, 03:20:27 PM
We just send the save to each other, so everyone can use their own graphic pack right? That shouldn't be a problem.

Some graphic packs have particular requirements as far as the raws go.  Ironhand, for instance, adds in llamas.

I've been using Ironhand, too, and I think I like its latest iteration better than the current Mayday graphic pack. 

If I do end up being the starter, I think I can twiddle the raws some to ensure that they will work with Mayday, Ironhand, or (naturally) plain ASCII.  A least-common-denominator raw set, if you will, so that all we'll have to do is change the settings in the init.txt file to switch smoothly between graphics packs.

I can handle ASCII if I have to, but I very, very much prefer a good graphics pack.  This is why another of my side projects (back-burnered due to bugs in DF) is a client for dfterm2 that lets you use a graphics pack...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Bael on March 15, 2011, 07:03:04 PM
Heh, i looked at the original graphics and they were wayyyy too retro for me lol. That ironhand is not bad though. Might have a look when I have time.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: ^ban^ on March 15, 2011, 07:20:54 PM
Heh, i looked at the original graphics and they were wayyyy too retro for me lol. That ironhand is not bad though. Might have a look when I have time.

I can think of nothing more terrifying than &&&&


Edit:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J8UnEYzH2p8/ShKmrb5X_cI/AAAAAAAAAAc/OVzmRfqSOsA/s400/Matrix+Fortress.jpg)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 15, 2011, 08:23:14 PM
It terrifies me, too. But I bet it's for an entirely different reason.   :D
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: DoctorHarte on March 16, 2011, 10:41:06 PM
Looks like a pretty awesome game - something that will sap up more of my time rather than refreshing my family page for more news  ::)

I'll try it out with maybe the Lazy Newb Pack and some nicer graphics packs, read a ton of the tutorials tonight and get back to you on the "bloodline game". Sounds like it would be fun and I could learn a lot but I certainly don't want to join in with zero experience.

Thanks, this is just what I needed! *Applaud*

Update: Just got to the building process and realized I had to start over with my new graphics pack -_- so much to prepare for, too.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Sypher on March 17, 2011, 08:55:44 AM
My problem has been the game slowing down once it reaches a certain size.

For one of my fortresses I setup next to a river and then dug a moat. The goblins had to go through one area that I had left as an entrance which was also filled with traps. I think that one fell when a forgotten beast came up through one of the tunnels and started killing people.

One fortress I had to abandon when I dug into a underground lake from below (on accident)while building a second shaft for dwarves to use. I had somehow missed a underground layer completely in my attempt to dig down to find lava.

Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: De-Legro on March 17, 2011, 11:20:21 AM
Fluid dynamics, corpses, lots of items outside stockpiles and excessive path finding are all known to cause serious slow downs. Since the game is in beta and so often large part a rewritten, it doesn't make a lot of sense for the developer to spend large amounts of time optimising these parts of the code. There are lots of posts on the forums for the game that detail ways to avoid some of the worst slow down issues.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 17, 2011, 01:33:48 PM
Yeah, thee are a lot of things you can do to make the game speed up. Perhaps one of the easiest is to just limit your dorf count. Try keeping it around 100. And then turn off children so you have more working dorfs. There are others that are supposed to be good, too, like turning off temperature and economy. Try this wiki page:

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Maximizing_framerate
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 17, 2011, 01:37:26 PM
I have a very simple method for maximizing framerate:

I run the game on an 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 12GB of RAM  ;D
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 17, 2011, 01:49:08 PM
Yeah, thee are a lot of things you can do to make the game speed up. Perhaps one of the easiest is to just limit your dorf count. Try keeping it around 100. And then turn off children so you have more working dorfs. There are others that are supposed to be good, too, like turning off temperature and economy. Try this wiki page:

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Maximizing_framerate

I played a fortress before where I turned off immigration so the only new dwarves were children. :D

Had maybe 14-16 dwarves for a long time, so no performance issues there.

I have a very simple method for maximizing framerate:

I run the game on an 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 12GB of RAM  ;D

Haha, showoff!  How much did that cost, especially since it's a mac? :o
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 17, 2011, 02:08:40 PM
I have a very simple method for maximizing framerate:

I run the game on an 8-core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 12GB of RAM  ;D

Haha, showoff!  How much did that cost, especially since it's a mac? :o

Didn't cost me anything.  It's the computer I inherited from my predecessor at work ;)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 17, 2011, 02:17:59 PM
DF runs very well on a 3 GHz quad-core Opteron. I wish it would actually *use* multiple cores, though. Then you'd see the game really fly.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 17, 2011, 02:55:01 PM
DF runs very well on a 3 GHz quad-core Opteron. I wish it would actually *use* multiple cores, though. Then you'd see the game really fly.

Yeah, once Toady eventually implements proper multithreading, I'll probably have to limit my framerate to keep it from going way too fast to keep up with  ::)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Bael on March 17, 2011, 09:01:24 PM
Since the game is in beta and so often large part a rewritten, it doesn't make a lot of sense for the developer to spend large amounts of time optimising these parts of the code.

Wait...I thought this was actually an old game?!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 17, 2011, 09:05:52 PM
Didn't cost me anything.  It's the computer I inherited from my predecessor at work ;)

Haha... nicely done. :D  I had a pretty awesome comp at work too.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 17, 2011, 09:36:54 PM
Wait...I thought this was actually an old game?!

No, it's being actively developed.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Adriddae on March 17, 2011, 09:43:44 PM
This thread sparked my interest of dwarf fortress. The first go around, I had no idea what was happening, didn`t know what to do. Sadly, all my dwarfs died. After a couple more tries, I still have no idea whats happening. I think I need to read the wiki.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 17, 2011, 09:56:36 PM
I highly recommend the tutorial Anaris posted early in the thread. Make sure you download the game archive they link to. It provides a complete copy of the game as well as a save game you can use. The step by step instruction they provide are great. It is literally impossible to comprehend this game without a detailed, step-by-step tutorial.

For reference:
http://afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials/

The title for the first two lessons are:
Part 1: “WTF?”
Part 2: “No, srsly, WTF?!”
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: DoctorHarte on March 18, 2011, 06:13:43 AM
I highly recommend the tutorial Anaris posted early in the thread. Make sure you download the game archive they link to. It provides a complete copy of the game as well as a save game you can use. The step by step instruction they provide are great. It is literally impossible to comprehend this game without a detailed, step-by-step tutorial.

For reference:
http://afteractionreporter.com/dwarf-fortress-tutorials/

The title for the first two lessons are:
Part 1: “WTF?”
Part 2: “No, srsly, WTF?!”

They are very very helpful, but my only problem is that when Im mining to build my fortress the tunnels and rooms are all filled with rocks, I don't know how to remove them so I can plant farms and stuff in there. Captain Duck also doesn't explain it in his videos so far and I can't really go on without help with this problem.  :-\
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: De-Legro on March 18, 2011, 06:18:46 AM
Rock stockpiles will collect the rocks into one area, I tend to make a huge stockpile outside my fortress for this purpose early on. You can also designate a trash area, and mark the rock you want to move to be discarded.

One thing to remember the tag line for the game is "Losing is Fun" It generally takes a lot of fortress attempts to get to the point where you can really build something large or ornate, and even then there are always ways for your poor fortress to come to an untimely end.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: DoctorHarte on March 18, 2011, 06:28:07 AM
Oh it's inevitable I'll fail pretty soo. Probably once anything attack me or I try to create a trap.. I've had to start over twice already  ;D
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 18, 2011, 06:39:52 AM
(i) to create a zone.

Create a 1 tile zone.

(g) to mark it as a garbage dump.

(esc) to exit zones.

(d)(b)(d) to mark stuff for dumping.

Designate all your excess stone for dumping. It will all get piled into the garbage dump.

When done, make sure you go back into your zones and deactivate the garbage dump so your dorfs don't put dead bodies and stuff into it.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Sypher on March 18, 2011, 11:18:28 AM
Fluid dynamics, corpses, lots of items outside stockpiles and excessive path finding are all known to cause serious slow downs. Since the game is in beta and so often large part a rewritten, it doesn't make a lot of sense for the developer to spend large amounts of time optimising these parts of the code. There are lots of posts on the forums for the game that detail ways to avoid some of the worst slow down issues.

Mostly its from me having a not very powerful machine. I ditched my old desktop when I moved to Hong Kong and brought along my HP netbook.

Rock stockpiles will collect the rocks into one area, I tend to make a huge stockpile outside my fortress for this purpose early on. You can also designate a trash area, and mark the rock you want to move to be discarded.


To use up excess stone I would have 2-3 dwarves set to making stone crafts to sell and furnishings to keep everyone happy. The crafts don't sell for much but they would use up some of the excess rock filling up the tunnels and provide a way to buy things that I wasn't having anyone produce. I'd also put a rock stockpile outside and use that rock for making walls around the entrance.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 18, 2011, 11:37:12 AM
Rock stockpiles will collect the rocks into one area, I tend to make a huge stockpile outside my fortress for this purpose early on. You can also designate a trash area, and mark the rock you want to move to be discarded.

One thing to remember the tag line for the game is "Losing is Fun" It generally takes a lot of fortress attempts to get to the point where you can really build something large or ornate, and even then there are always ways for your poor fortress to come to an untimely end.

I recall there being a mechanism that allowed you to just dump all the rocks in one place... I forget what...
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 18, 2011, 01:49:30 PM
Thats the whole Dumping system. It puts all your rocks in one place. I mostly just use it to clear Stockpiles from Stones.

Having a full-time stonecrafter is an excellent way to get some good trading goods. After a while, you can add a few more or add (Magma) Kilns and you'll get more crafts then you'll need. :)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 18, 2011, 02:16:56 PM
They are very very helpful, but my only problem is that when Im mining to build my fortress the tunnels and rooms are all filled with rocks, I don't know how to remove them so I can plant farms and stuff in there. Captain Duck also doesn't explain it in his videos so far and I can't really go on without help with this problem.  :-\

You don't need to get the stones out of the way.  For everything except stockpiles, the dwarves will automatically move stones (and any other items) that are in their way when you go to build something.  That includes farm plots, workshops, walls, and any other building.

If the stone bothers you aesthetically, you can use (d)(b)(h) to hide large swathes of it.  You want to be a little careful with that, though, because it can also hide buildings, and you can only un-hide them from the same menu: the option doesn't show up when using (k) to look at them.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: DoctorHarte on March 18, 2011, 10:50:23 PM
I just gotta start over. I realized in order to do this the right way, I must have a river near me.. or at least more than a tiny pool.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 18, 2011, 11:08:23 PM
Yes, you will need water for irrigation for your farms on stone, which can lead to much flooding fun if you're not careful. You can also start at a spot a good amount of soil around, which will allow you to skip the whole difficult Irrigation part. It's also faster to dig through, although you get no stone. And can't smooth/engrave the walls.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 19, 2011, 01:55:31 AM
If you embark on a site with Clay Loam, or I think any kind of Loam, you don't need to irrigate your underground farms. Just dig them into the Loam. (I just did this today. :) )
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 19, 2011, 02:58:47 AM
If you embark on a site with Clay Loam, or I think any kind of Loam, you don't need to irrigate your underground farms. Just dig them into the Loam. (I just did this today. :) )

Whaa?  I just failed then, since I irrigated loam into... muddy loam before trying farm.

Also, I accidentally ordered 30 brew drink commands, but forgot that each brew drink gave multiple "ales" and so now I have too much wine. :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 19, 2011, 03:09:46 AM
...now I have too much wine. :P

Too much alcohol? That's impossible.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Alpha on March 19, 2011, 04:54:20 AM
In all my fortresses, I've never been able to make soap. I build a soaper's workshop, but no matter how many orders I put in, or how many dwarves I assign I never get soap. I guess the dwarves just enjoy being filthy.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on March 19, 2011, 05:58:59 AM
To make soap, you have to schedule a job with the manager. He will assign the task to the shop.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 19, 2011, 09:56:57 AM
Ah Here's a question. I have a dug out tile but I like to create an Open Space there. How do I do that? If it's not dug out, I simply channel. I've tried create stairs and what not via Constructions, but if I remove those, they simply patch up everything nicely again. I can't seem to get it to work.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 19, 2011, 02:43:40 PM
Ah Here's a question. I have a dug out tile but I like to create an Open Space there. How do I do that? If it's not dug out, I simply channel. I've tried create stairs and what not via Constructions, but if I remove those, they simply patch up everything nicely again. I can't seem to get it to work.

You can channel a wall or floor tile.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 19, 2011, 04:46:19 PM
*bashes his head against a wall* That was embarrassingly simple, but thanks.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Anaris on March 24, 2011, 05:05:43 PM
Well, 0.31.22 is released.  Everyone go pick it up! (http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/)

I guess this means it's time to really set the rules and format for our succession fort.

I'm going to start a new thread for that; this thread can be left as a general DF discussion thread.

You can find the new thread here: http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,273.new.html (http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,273.new.html)
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Foundation on March 24, 2011, 06:07:34 PM
Healthcare with broken bones works now?  :o Yayayyaya.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Tan dSerrai on March 28, 2011, 10:40:14 PM
Heh. I am pleasantly amazed that battlemaster know of dwarf fortress.

Do you know about the dwarf fortress map archive? Linked on the wiki....its highly instructional...and often amazing.

Speaking of which I finally have to stop working on my now 30+ year old fort and export it to the map archive. I have been tinkering with it for the last RL year on and off and its now rather large and...ah...complicated. Still following a grand design though. Have to look into starting to export it tomorrow. Will post a link here.

Have fun!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on March 28, 2011, 10:46:35 PM
Sounds great. Join the Succession Game we're planning as well if you want!
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Iltaran on April 20, 2011, 03:26:39 PM
"The Hammerdwarf bites The Goblin Crossbowman in the left lower leg, bruising the muscle through the giant cave spider silk trousers!"
"The Hammerdwarf latches on firmly!"
"The Hammerdwarf shakes The Goblin Crossbowman around by the left lower leg, tearing apart the left lower leg's fat and bruising the bone! A ligament in the left lower leg has been bruised and a tendon has been bruised!"

So... this dwarf picked a Goblin up with his teeth and shook it by the leg... I'm glad he's on my side.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on April 28, 2011, 03:03:47 AM
I built what is probably one of my favorite artifacts of all time last week: Reigndancing, a native gold armor stand. It has been rather appropriately placed in the Queen's royal bedchambers.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: skiarxon@gmail.com on May 04, 2011, 10:50:01 PM
http://store.steampowered.com/app/35480/

That must be something similar right?
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on May 05, 2011, 12:33:23 AM
Looks kind of similar. Except with an arcade feel. And built-in graphics. And a real interface.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on May 05, 2011, 01:30:56 AM
Well, it's Dwarves digging tunnels and getting killed. That's pretty much where the similarities end from what I've seen :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Adriddae on May 06, 2012, 04:20:23 AM
Its been a long time since someone has replied here. However, there has been updates to Dwarf Fortress! Necromancers! Vampires! Werebeasts!

My wereslug necromancer adventurer is wreaking havoc on the enemy human civilizations. Unfortunately he died when a horde of goblins ambushed him in his slug form.
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Indirik on May 06, 2012, 05:09:51 AM
My very first fort of the current version had a vampire. Wasn't too hard to find. I locked him in my control room to pull all the levers.

I can't wait for mine carts! :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Telrunya on May 06, 2012, 01:01:33 PM
Lost my fort through a harddrive failing, I'm awaiting the new version (And the bugfix version after that) before starting again. The Mine Carts sound really interesting.

Trying to figure out the Military at the moment. Currently, I'm stuck on the 'Throw 30 dwarves at enemy, have 25 slaughtered, draft new immigrants to replace fallen dwarves'. Eh nevermind, guess it's working just fine :P
Title: Re: Dwarf Fortress
Post by: Ehndras on June 01, 2012, 09:10:26 AM
Long-time Bay12er here.

I haven't tried the cart update but it seems highly promising if not dangerously entertaining if abused. I'm considering a massive entry-chamber of 3 single-tile wide walkways suspended over a 20 z-level drop with minecart tracks down the paths, bridges at the far side where the fort begins, and weapon traps at the entrance to the chamber. I'd like to test the power of fully-loaded metal minecarts barreling down at full-speed toward your charging enemies... I do believe being suspended over a ravine and bashed with a giant metal box full o' stone will have desirable effects. ;)