Dwarf Fortress

[DoctorHarte]

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 

[Indirik]

(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.

[Sypher]

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.

[Foundation]

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...

[Telrunya]

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.

[Anaris]

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.

[DoctorHarte]

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.

[Telrunya]

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.

[Indirik]

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. )

[Foundation]

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.

[Indirik]

...now I have too much wine.

Too much alcohol? That's impossible.

[Alpha]

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.

[Indirik]

To make soap, you have to schedule a job with the manager. He will assign the task to the shop.

[Telrunya]

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.

[Anaris]

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.