Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

DF2014 Talk:Currency

2015-12-19T07:30:23Z

Ijon: /* Any usefulness? */ new section

==Bandit leader with quality levels on coins==

"As a curiosity, coins with quality levels can show up in adventurer mode. Bandit leaders receive quality equipment, which often results in them carrying coins with improved quality."

I haven't seen this in DF2014

== Any usefulness? ==

So, without economy, is there any reason to mint coins, other than the flinging-at-dwarves-as-armor-practice idea? [[User:Ijon|Ijon]] ([[User talk:Ijon|talk]]) 07:30, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

User:Ijon

2015-12-19T07:29:34Z

Ijon: something

Hullo. I first played '''rogue''' in 1986.

I'm also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ijon this guy].

Quickstart guide

2014-07-16T04:21:32Z

Ijon: /* Fuel */ wikify

{{quality|unrated}}{{av}}

:''This is a quickstart guide for [[Dwarf fortress mode]] for those who have never played before and quickly want to jump in head-first.''
:''If you are looking to learn adventure mode instead, see the [[Adventure mode quick start]] guide.''
:''Also see [[Tutorials]] for more detailed tutorials that people have submitted.''
{{TipBox2|float=right|Before you get started...|Always remember that '''losing is [[fun]]!''' Be prepared to lose a few fortresses before you get all the way through this guide – it can be easy to accidentally kill the entire fortress while learning. But remember: losing means that next time, ''you'll remember how you lost.'' In a big way, Dwarf Fortress uses the principle of learning from one's mistakes.}}
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0cb|Feedback|
If you have any feedback on this guide, please see the instructions in the [[#Feedback|feedback section]].
}}

So, you want to play '''Dwarf Fortress''', but you have no idea what to do. That's understandable; in Dwarf Fortress you can really do anything you like. It is a huge, complex, and totally open-ended game. But in order to do anything, first you need a sustainable fortress. It turns out that this is not as hard as you might think.

As this article doesn't always contain the exact key sequences needed to do everything described, you will likely need to refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the rest of the wiki while reading this.

[[File:FlowchartDF.png|thumb|502px|right|[[Main:From Caravan to Happy Dwarves|From Caravan to Happy Dwarves]] - This is a flowchart showing approximately what sequence of actions players usually take when starting up a new fort. Feel free to ignore it if you want. It's not necessary to refer to this to understand the rest of the guide, but by the time you finish the guide it will probably all make sense.]]

__TOC__

= Common UI Concepts =

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keeping Up|While the guide contains many links, you may still need to look something up. Refer to the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] or use the wiki [[Special:Search|search]] function. Also, don't hesitate to [[Main:Troubleshooting|ask for help]] if you can't find answers on the wiki.}}
{{KeyConventions}}

== Options menu ==
{{main|DF2014:Dwarf_fortress_mode#Options_Screen|l1=Options screen}}

Most basic game-related tasks (saving, keybindings, sound, etc.) are performed through the options menu, which can be reached with {{k|Esc}} from the main screen. There are usually seven available options:
* Return to Game: Exits the options menu (shortcut {{k|Esc}}).
* Save Game: Saves the game, unloads the fortress, and returns to the main menu. There is no "save and continue" option, but saves can be [[saved game folder|backed up and reloaded]].
* Key Bindings: Allows you to change the keys that trigger nearly any function in the game. This can appear extremely confusing to use, but it is fairly simple to navigate through (as it uses the standard arrow keys, {{k|Esc}} and {{k|Enter}}). Changing keys for menus is probably a bad idea, since this guide assumes the default keybindings — however, it may occasionally be useful to change navigation keybindings on some laptops (for example, changing menus to use {{k|{{=}}}} instead of {{k|+}}).
* Export Local Image: Saves full-size images of your fortress.
* Music and Sound: Controls for volume adjustment.
* Retire the Fortress (for the time being): {{tc|#d00|Do not select this option unless you know what you are doing!}} It retires the fortress from your control and gives control to the normal world updating process. You can later reclaim the fortress but it may not be as you left it.
* Abandon the Fortress to Ruin: {{tc|#d00|Do not select this option unless you know what you are doing!}} It will end your fortress permanently and return to the main menu (all progress in your fortress will be lost). Your fort and most items will remain, however, so this can be useful in extreme circumstances (e.g. when you know your fortress is doomed and want to start again) – see [[abandon]] for more information).

Notably lacking is an "exit without save" option. Players who wish to quit and leave their previous save unchanged may manually kill the Dwarf Fortress process using the "die" command in [[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]], the Windows Task Manager (you might then have to end the process dumprep.exe), or the Unix "kill" command (on some systems, {{k|ctrl}}-{{k|\}} in the terminal running DF accomplishes the same thing). '''Do not''' attempt this while saving, as your save folder may become corrupted. Alternatively, you can make a copy of your region folder in the (DF)/data/save folder (e.g. "regionXX") ''before saving'', save the game normally, remove the "regionXX" folder and rename the copy.

=World Generation=

The first thing you will need to do is [[World generation|generate a new world]]. Unlike many games, the world that your game takes place in will always be procedurally randomly generated by you or someone else. There is no "default" or "standard" world.

Luckily the basic version of this process is rather simple, and doesn't usually take too long unless your computer is a bit outdated or the world's history is set to Long.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting World|
For your first game, [[World generation|generate a new world]] using the {{DFtext|Create New World!}} option in the main menu with the following options:

* {{DFtext|World Size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|History}} is {{DFtext|Short|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Very Low|3:1}}

* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Frequent|3:1}}

This should help to avoid difficulties.
}}

= Pre-Embark =

:''Also see: [[Embark]]''

'''Embarking''' is the process of choosing a site, outfitting your initial dwarves, and sending them on their way.

Select {{DFtext|Start Playing}} from the main menu, then select {{DFtext|Dwarf Fortress}}. The game will go through a few screens doing various world loading and updating activities. Then it will show the "Choose Fortress Location" screen.

The map you see on the right is the '''World Map''' which will show you the whole world. The one in the middle is the '''Region Map''' which will show you a zoomed-in view of the part of the world indicated by the cursor in the world map. The '''Local Map''' on the left will show a zoomed-in view of the part of the region indicated by the cursor in the region map. In the local map area there will be a highlighted embark region that you can move around with {{K|u}} {{K|m}} {{K|k}} {{K|h}} and resize with {{K|U}} {{K|M}} {{K|K}} {{K|H}}. This highlighted square is what will become your play area after you embark (This means that you cannot do or see anything outside of this area during your game). Use {{k|↑}} {{k|↓}} {{k|←}} {{k|→}} to move the region and world cursors around. Hold down {{K|Shift}} while doing this to move more rapidly.

== Choosing a Good Site ==

Choosing a good embark site is crucial for beginners. (Very) highly skilled players can create a functional fortress on an evil glacier, but for now, let's stick to dwarf (and newbie) friendly environments. You will want to look for certain features in your initial embark site that will make your first fort much easier to manage.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#00a|Starting Site|
[[File:Quickstart-good-location.png|thumb|300px|right|An example of a good starting site.]]
For your first game, find a site with the following properties:
*'''NO [[Aquifer]]''' (This is '''''very''''' important!)
*'''Trees:''' Forested or Heavily Forested (or, at the very least, sparsely forested)
*'''Temperature:''' Warm
*'''Surroundings:''' Serene, calm, or at least '''not''' any evil or savage biome.
*'''Clay or Soil''' is important to make farming easier when starting out
*'''Shallow Metals''' (That's Metals, plural, not Metal. You want more than one.)
*A '''River''' if possible
*'''Deep Metal(s)''' if possible
*'''Flux Stone''' if possible

You may want to use the {{K|f}}ind tool to help you find a site. You may find it easier to put only some of the criteria into the tool (at the very least, No Aquifer). Once the find tool has finished running, the general areas which it has found will be indicated by flashing characters on the map.

'''Notes about the find tool:'''

"Calm" is classified as Neutral, Low Savagery (see [[Surroundings#Combinations_of_surroundings|the chart here]] for why). The find tool will also only indicate a ''general area'' containing suitable sites, so you will still need to check the attributes manually by moving between flashing regions on the world and region maps (with the arrow keys or numpad) '''and''' by moving around on the local map (with {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} {{k|h}}) until you find the most suitable site.

The find tool may take 1-2 minutes to run, when it's done, '''be sure to press {{K|ESC}} to look around at the different sites it returns''' (look for flashing Xs on the world map). As you move your yellow X over the flashing suggested sites, the info bar on the right will tell you soil, minerals, aquifer, etc. Choose the one that looks best to you!

Your site may have '''multiple biomes''' overlapping it. If so make sure to press {{K|F1}}, {{K|F2}}, etc, to take a look at all of them (Macs and laptops may require {{k|fn}}-{{k|F1}}, depending on your settings). They may each have significantly different characteristics. Note that occasionally a site with multiple biomes may contain an aquifer which ''isn't visible on the local map at first'', due to it not being in the "first" biome (the one visible with {{k|F1}}). If your site has multiple biomes, it is '''very important''' to check all of them to avoid surprises like this.

Additionally, you can resize your embark area using {{k|U}} {{k|M}} {{k|K}} {{k|H}}. A 4x4 embark (the standard) is usually reasonable, but you may want to decrease the size to avoid an undesirable biome (or if your computer can't handle a 4x4 embark).

See '''[[/Starting site/]]''' for more info on why these characteristics are important.}}

Press {{K|e}} to embark once you're sure you have the right area highlighted on the local map.

== Skills and Equipment ==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Optional: Preparing Carefully|If, at this point, you'd like to get into all of the details of picking individual skills and equipment for your expedition, select {{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}} and see '''[[Quickstart_guide/Preparing_carefully|Preparing carefully]]''' for instructions. '''This is completely optional.'''}}

Now the '''Prepare for the Journey''' screen should appear. You will be given the choice to either:
*{{DFtext|Play Now!}}
*{{DFtext|Prepare for the journey carefully}}.

Selecting {{DFtext|Play Now!}} will start you out with a default set of equipment that is reasonably safe, allowing you to skip having to set up your skills and equipment. If you'd like to get going now, just select that option.
{{clear}}

=A Minimal Fortress=
[[File:Quickstart-map-starting.png|thumb|right|Starting out. In this example the dwarves will be digging out an entrance tunnel in the sandy cliff on the right. (You can use {{K|Tab}} to show or hide the overview map.)]]

At this point you have embarked and your dwarves have arrived at their destination. You will see your dwarves clustered around their wagon full of supplies somewhere near the center of your map. '''Immediately hit {{K|Space}} to pause the game''' unless it is already paused.

==Surveying the Area==
'''Do not unpause the game just yet.''' Take a look around. Use the {{K|k}} command and the arrow keys (remember that {{k|Shift}}+arrow keys will move faster). Look up and down a few [[z-level]]s with {{K|<}} and {{K|>}}. Place the cursor on various tiles to familiarize yourself with what the symbols mean. If you get lost, you can press {{K|F1}} (or {{k|Fn}}-{{k|F1}} on some systems) to return to the wagon. (You can define more [[hotkeys]] later, to jump quickly to other sites of interest.)

Notice the terrain features, the vegetation, and any minerals visible. If you chose a site with flowing water, where is it? What about pools of water? The more carefully you examine your site before breaking ground, the better off you will be.

Remember that this is more of a simulation than a game. It is not "play balanced", and you can very easily find yourself in impossible situations. That is all part of the [[fun]] because even when you lose, you create an interesting story.

Your wagon serves as the initial meeting area for your dwarves. Since you should have started in a non-freezing, calm (low savagery), non-evil biome, you shouldn't face any immediate danger, but if for some reason the area around your wagon proves to be unsafe, immediately designate another meeting zone using {{K|i}} (see ''Temporary Meeting Area'' below).

==Controlling Your Dwarves==
The first thing to keep in mind is that, for the most part, you can't directly control your dwarves the way you control characters in a typical fantasy RPG. Instead, you '''designate''' things that need to be done and then dwarves with the appropriate labor assignments will decide what to start working on based on a set of largely hard-coded priorities.

For example, if a dwarf needs to eat then he will go eat and only get around to digging a tunnel once he is done eating. It is also possible to designate things that no dwarf is able to do. For example, if you designate an area to mine but no dwarf has mining as one of his allowed labors or no dwarf has a pickaxe then the mining will never get done, and the game will not always advise you of why.

So what you are doing throughout the game is essentially giving your dwarves a detailed group-wide to-do list, but it's up to them to figure out which one of them will execute any given task if the task is even possible. Often many of the details of how a task is performed (such as exactly which rock will be used to make crafts) are left up to them.

===Stout Labor===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Keybindings|
If you're on a laptop (or using a restricted keyboard), you may notice that using {{k|+}} to scroll upward on some menus is inconvenient, since it requires the {{k|Shift}} key. Fortunately, this is easy to change by modifying your [[key binding]]s:
# Press {{k|Esc}} to access the [[#Options menu|options menu]] and select {{DFtext|Key Bindings}}
# Select {{DFtext|General}}, scroll down to {{DFtext|Move secondary selector down}} (using the arrow keys), move right, and select {{DFtext|Add binding}}
# Press {{k|1==}} and select either option that appears. (Technically, you can choose any key you like at this point. However, {{k|1==}} (equals) is probably a good choice, since it's next to {{k|-}} and isn't used for anything else in menus.)
# Scroll down, select {{DFtext|By letter: +}}, and press {{k|Backspace}} (or {{k|Delete}}, depending on your keyboard)
# Press {{k|Esc}} and select {{DFtext|Save and exit}}
You can now use {{k|1==}} instead of {{k|+}} to scroll these types of menus (including the labors menu), which can be significantly easier than using {{k|+}} on certain keyboards.
}}
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#aa0|Utilities|2=
You may have noticed that the UI for managing dwarves is a bit difficult to use. There are a few utilities available for this purpose (for Windows, Mac OS X, and most Linux systems):
* '''[[Utilities#Dwarf_Therapist|Dwarf Therapist]]''' can make labor management considerably easier, especially when you're dealing with twenty times the number of dwarves you have now. It can group and sort dwarves by multiple attributes and display their preferences, mood, and more.
* '''[[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]]''' also contains a UI for managing labors. While it has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, it still lets you change labors. In addition, it is accessible from within DF (which eliminates the need to constantly switch between applications). It also supports sorting and can display dwarves' moods and preferences.
}}

'''Labors''' are how you control what types of tasks a dwarf will do. For example, if the [[Fishing]] labor is enabled for a dwarf, that dwarf is allowed to engage in fishing.

When dwarves are idle, it could be because you haven't given them anything to do, or it could be because none of the idle dwarves have been told that they're allowed to do the types of tasks you've designated. For example, if you designate an area to mine, but none of the dwarves have the mining labor enabled, they will all just sit around ignoring your mining designation thinking that it isn't their job.

Dwarves will automatically have some labors enabled if they start out with skill in those labors, and some labors (such as hauling and cleaning) are enabled for all dwarves by default. This is why you didn't need to enable any labors on dwarves to get them to haul and mine, but later you may need a labor that no dwarf is currently capable of.

Look over your dwarves' assigned [[labor]]s. Press {{K|v}} (View Units) then place the cursor on a dwarf. Now, press {{K|p}}-{{K|l}} for "preferences: labors". You will see a list of labor categories that you can navigate using {{K|-}} and {{K|+}}. You can enter each category with {{k|Enter}} (except for mining, which is a single labor), toggle each labor off and on with {{K|Enter}}, and get back out with {{K|Esc}}.

After exiting the View Units menu, you can use {{K|u}} (the units screen) to help you locate dwarves. Hit {{K|u}}, select a dwarf, hit {{K|c}} for "zoom to creature" and you'll automatically be placed in view mode on that dwarf. (Then use {{K|p}}-{{K|l}} to get to the labor configuration menu if necessary.)

Even if no dwarves have the corresponding skills, ensure that someone has [[wood burner]], [[furnace operator]], [[wood cutter]], [[plant gathering]], [[gem cutter]], [[armorsmith]], [[weaponsmith]], [[blacksmith]], [[metal crafter]], and [[engraver]] (stone detailing) enabled. If you have dwarves with hunting or fishing, ''disable'' those until you have your initial fort completed — dwarves with these labors enabled will constantly be outside attempting to perform them. When you're first starting out you don't want dwarves wandering around alone where they can get killed (in addition, they won't be doing anything useful, like hauling).

Note that ''any'' unskilled dwarf can perform any labor given the necessary equipment and materials. Dwarves with no skill will simply be slow and produce a smaller quantity of lower quality goods in a given time period, but they will gain skill points as they do so.

==Strike The Earth!==
{{migrated section}}
Decide where you will build your main entrance. Generally, you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible. The best strategy is to put the entrance near your wagon to speed up the process of hauling all of your supplies inside.

The {{K|d}}esignations menu allows you to select areas to dig. There are multiple methods of digging:
* '''[[Mining]]''' removes solid floor-to-ceiling terrain (natural 'walls') on the z-level selected, leaving behind a natural [[floor]] (essentially a soil/rock surface). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or areas already dug out).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' removes 'natural' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a downward slope on the z-level selected, as well as creating an upward slope on the z-level below. (For best results, ensure that the area below is unrevealed, i.e. black).

To designate an area for digging:
#Hit {{K|d}} to bring up the [[Designations Menu]].
#Hit {{K|d}} to mine or {{k|h}} to channel (see above)
#Place the cursor on one corner of the rectangular area you want to designate and press {{K|Enter}}.
#Move the cursor to the other corner of the rectangle and press {{K|Enter}}. A rectangle will be highlighted and a miner will start to dig out this area once you exit the menu (with {{K|Esc}}) and unpause the game with {{K|Space}}.

This is basically how all of the designation commands work. Everything has to be designated one rectangle at a time, but rectangles can be many tiles wide.

[[File:Digging Channeling tiles.PNG|200px|thumb|right|Demonstrating the difference between mining and channeling. Mining creates empty space on the same level where it is designated. Channeling creates empty space in the level below, clearing the floor. The levels are connected by up/down ramps. ]]

If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually showed by the existence of natural ramps), you can just designate a tunnel to mine ({{K|d}}-{{K|d}}) into the cliff to create an entryway. If you are on flat land with no cliff near the wagon, [[channel]] out a small rectangle (perhaps 3x3) on the surface with {{K|d}}-{{K|h}} to create a sort of pit with ramps on the edges, then go down one z-level with {{K|>}} and tunnel into the wall of the pit (with {{K|d}}-{{K|d}}) to create your entry. (Think of this as creating your own cliff, with the inside wall of the pit being the "cliff".)

Dig a hallway one tile wide and ''at least'' 10 long, ideally more like 20 ({{k|Shift}} moves 10 tiles when digging, so this can be easily accomplished by pressing {{k|Shift}}+an arrow key twice). This will be your entryway.

Your entryway defines the boundary between your safe and protected inner fort, and the big bad outside world. You want this to be your only entrance so that you only have to worry about defending this one opening.

A video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]

=== Additional miners ===
Mining will go faster if you have more than one dwarf doing it. By default, only one dwarf has the Mining labor enabled, but this can be changed fairly easily:
* Choose a dwarf that isn't doing anything especially useful (the fish cleaner is a good choice for a beginning fortress, but you can always change your mind if you end up with a useless peasant later on)
* Press {{k|v}}, navigate to the dwarf, and press {{k|p}}-{{k|l}}
* Enable the "Mining" option (see [[#Stout Labor|Stout Labor]] above)
* Exit with {{k|Esc}}
The next time you designate an area for mining, both of your miners should start working (assuming they're not busy doing something else).

'''Notes:'''
* Each miner requires a [[pick]]. A standard embark comes with 2 picks. If you want more than two miners, you'll need to forge more picks (forging is covered later in this guide). Two miners should be adequate for most fortresses, but more miners can add reliability (for when a miner decides to sleep) and speed. For now, you'll almost never need more than two miners, but you'll want more once your fortress expands.
* If you're digging a one-tile-wide hallway, only one miner can work from an end.
* Mining, Wood Cutting, & Hunting labors are mutually exclusive - a dwarf can only have up to one of these professions active at a time. For this reason, it's not recommended to make your only woodcutter a miner, since they won't be able to cut wood anymore.

==Delving Secure Lodgings==
[[File:Quickstart lodgings 1.png|thumb|right|An example layout, as described in this section. Note the 3-tile wide passage - this allows merchants to access your depot, which will go in the 5x5 room. Note that the turn also needs to be 3 tiles wide; otherwise, wagons won't be able to access the room.]]

Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to ''three'' tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry. At the end of the entry tunnel, dig a 3x3 room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig an 11x11 room (one {{k|Shift}}+arrow key in each direction), which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a 1-wide passageway.

Don't make any of these rooms too much larger than the sizes given, or your miner will take forever to dig the rooms out, especially if they're digging in stone instead of soil (digging through soil is much faster). Most sites have at least one level soil layer below ground level, which is where you're digging right now, but as you dig deeper you'll hit stone (if you haven't already), and digging will become slower.

=== Mining safety ===
While mining, take care to avoid digging into [[water]]. Dwarves are usually poor swimmers, and are unlikely to escape from an underground flood. However, it is safe to mine ''next to'' underground water, as long as you leave at least one "wall" tile between them (see the picture to the right). You can also mine one z-level under a body of water (for example, mining under a river), but you will have to designate each tile individually because DF automatically cancels digging of newly-revealed "damp" tiles (tiles are considered damp when they are adjacent to a water tile, regardless of whether the water tile is on the same z-level or not).

Also note that '''water can flow diagonally''':
<diagram>
[#00f]≈[#]▓.▓ [#00f]≈[#]▓.▓
▓▓.▓ ▓..▓

[#0f0]ok[#] [#f00]flood[#]
</diagram>

=== Stockpiles ===
[[File:Quickstart-custom-stockpile.png|right|thumb|Keep corpses, refuse, stone and wood out of general use stockpiles. You can come back and change the settings on this stockpile using {{K|q}}, selecting the stockpile, then pressing {{K|s}}. Try to remember to come back here to disable/forbid types of things as you create more specific stockpiles for them.]]
'''Stockpiles''' are very important. These areas are where your dwarves will drop things for storage when they aren't needed elsewhere. To create a '''general purpose stockpile''' for your first storage area:
#Hit {{K|p}} to open the Stockpiles menu.
#Use {{K|t}} to change the [[Stockpile#Custom_stockpiles|custom stockpile]] settings to {{K|e}}nable everything but '''Corpses''', '''Refuse''', '''Stone''', '''Gems''', and '''Wood'''. Use directional keys, {{K|e}}nable, {{K|d}}isable to do this.
#{{k|Esc}} out of that screen back to the stockpiles menu.
#Hit {{K|c}} to select Custom Stockpile, if it isn't already selected.
#Designate the whole 11x11 storage room as a custom stockpile. This works just like designating an area to dig: place the cursor on one corner of the room, hit {{K|Enter}}, move to the opposite corner, and hit {{K|Enter}} again.
#Press {{K|Esc}} to get out of the Stockpiles menu.
Once you exit the stockpiles menu and unpause you should see dwarves running off to haul everything from your wagon into the new stockpile area. Later, if you like, you can change what sort of things the stockpile accepts by hitting {{K|q}} (Set Building Tasks/Prefs), placing the cursor on the stockpile, then pressing {{K|s}} to get to the stockpile settings.

It is particularly important to '''keep wood, stone, refuse, and corpses out of your general purpose stockpile''', so you may want to double check to make sure all of these things are disabled in the stockpile settings. Failure to keep these things out of this stockpile will rapidly fill it up, causing workshops to become cluttered when dwarves can't store things in the stockpile.

Note: When assigning stockpiles, you should make sure they're in a vacant area (i.e. the tiles should not have any items already stored on them). Dwarves will not haul items to occupied tiles, so make sure the area is vacant before assigning a stockpile.

=== Stairways ===
Designate a Downward Stairway in the middle of your 3x3 room with {{K|d}}-{{K|j}}. Notice that after your miner digs the stairway, it doesn't automatically create another stairway on the z-level below. If you hit {{K|>}} to move the view down a z-level you'll see that there's no stairway below, but there is a revealed tile of rock/soil. Because of the down stairway that was dug, this tile is now accessible to miners. You can then designate an Up/Down Stairway on it with {{K|d}}-{{K|i}} and the miner dwarf will dig it out. Below that you can then dig out another up/down stairway and so on. For now just dig down one level; we will deepen the stairwell later.

==Temporary Meeting Area==
[[File:Quickstart lodgings 2.png|thumb|right|An example meeting area. Note that this layer has a different type of soil than the layer above - this can happen often. Also note that the "north" side of this room is directly below the lake in the level above, but no water is present.]]

On the second z-level below ground (the one below the stockpile level, which you just reached with the staircase), dig a short, 3-tile wide passageway (this only needs to be 1-2 tiles long). Past that, dig out a room between 5x5 and 7x7, leaving room to enlarge it in at least one direction in the future.

Using the {{k|i}} key, create an activity zone in the room you just created, filling the entire room (be careful not to make this too small lest your [[overcrowding|overcrowded]] animals start fighting). This works much like creating a stockpile except that you draw the rectangle before defining what the area is for. Draw the rectangle, filling the entire room, and set it to be a {{K|m}}eeting area. Your idle dwarves will hang around in this area, hopefully keeping them inside the fort and out of trouble.

{{clear}}

==Refuse==
[[File:Dwarf fort tut miasma.jpg|thumb|right|Avoiding [[Miasma]]]]
Outside your fort entrance, use {{K|p}} followed by {{K|r}} to create a stock{{K|p}}ile for [[Stockpile#Refuse|{{K|r}}efuse]] ''at least'' 5x5 in size. This should be outside in the open or you will have problems with [[Miasma]]. If you do not disable [[vermin]] (Item Types -> remains), you will probably have to expand it later as it will fill up with vermin remains rather quickly. If you are seeing refuse appear in your general-purpose stockpile instead of the refuse pile, use {{K|q}} on the general stockpile and check its {{K|s}}ettings to make sure refuse has been disabled.
{{clear}}

==Food==

To keep functioning, your dwarves require constant supplies of food and drink. You can use the {{k|z}} stock screen to monitor how much food and drink are available. Luckily, your dwarves will eat almost everything raw, including plants.

===Farming===
For a reliable, long-term food and alcohol supply, you'll need to set up a farm. Dig out a medium-sized room in a [[soil]] layer accessible from inside your existing fortress (5x5 is a good size to start with, but you'll want to leave room to expand in at least one direction). You must pick an ''underground'' area with mud or soil*. Placing this near the stockpiles is more efficient, since farmers won't need to travel as far.

[[File:Quickstart layout 3.png|thumb|right|A 5x5 room with a 3x3 farm plot]]


* Hopefully you have chosen a site with a soil layer, which will make farming much easier, but if not you will need to [[Irrigation|irrigate]] to create the required mud on stone floors.

Use {{K|b}}-{{k|p}} to build a 3x3 [[Farming|farm plot]] in the room you just created. Notice that some types of buildings (as well as most constructions) are not designated corner-to-corner like digging designations, stockpiles, or activity zones. Instead, you define the length and width of the building using {{K|u}}{{K|m}}{{K|k}}{{K|h}} and position it with the directional keys. Use {{K|u}}{{K|u}}{{K|k}}{{K|k}} to make the plot 3x3 and position it in the room, ideally near the wall to leave space for more plots later on.

Remember that you must enable the {{DFtext|Farming (Fields)}} labour for at least one dwarf or the farm plot won't get built and farming will not take place. (If you selected "Play Now" earlier then you will start with a dwarf with farming enabled.)

{{K|Esc}} out of the build menu and wait for the farmer dwarf to create the plot. Once the plot is built, use {{K|q}} to set the plot to grow [[plump helmet]]s during all seasons. You can use {{K|+}} and {{K|-}} to select plump helmets (pressing {{k|-}} once should do the trick). '''You will need to press {{K|a}}, {{K|b}}, {{K|c}}, {{K|d}} and select Plump Helmets for each season''' — otherwise you'll end up with an idle field for 3/4ths of the year.

Note that a default embark starts with ''five'' plump helmet seeds — for now, only half of your field will end up being planted. Eventually, as your dwarves consume plump helmets, more seeds will become available and will be automatically planted by an unoccupied farmer.
:''For more troubleshooting tips, see [[How do I build a farm]]''
{{clear}}

=== Emergency food sources ===
Occasionally, even with a working plump helmet farm, you may experience food shortages. For now, you should have plenty of food on hand left over from embarking. However, if you ever run low on food, there are a few ways to obtain more:

==== Plant gathering ====
If you have shrubs ({{raw tile|"|2:0}}) growing above ground, you can harvest plants from them. Note that this requires a dwarf with the {{dftext|Plant gathering}} labor enabled (under {{dftext|Farming}}), and time (this can take a while for an inexperienced dwarf, and it doesn't always yield edible plants). To start, {{k|d}}esignate some {{k|p}}lants to be gathered on the surface (similar to selecting an area for mining, except it only selects plants in the given rectangle). Once processed, some will leave behind harvested plants (often edible berries).

====Butchering====
If you suddenly run low on food, butchering an animal is another option. Build a [[butcher]] shop ({{k|b}}, {{k|w}}, {{k|u}}) and mark one of your animals for slaughtering (press {{k|v}}, move the cursor to the animal, then press {{k|p}}, {{k|s}}). A dwarf with the butchering labor enabled will haul the animal off to the butcher's shop, work for a while, and produce neat stacks of meat products.

==Building material==
Initially, [[wood]] is probably a good choice for building materials, as it's lightweight and can be easily obtained. You will need plenty of building materials as your fortress grows, but wood will suffice for now. If you are unable to locate enough wood (or if you run out of trees, which is unlikely at this point), extend your staircase down to a stone level ({{k|d}}-{{k|i}}) and mine out a small area (at least 5x5) to obtain stone.

Even if you don't have trees, you can obtain 3 logs from your embark wagon. Press {{K|q}}, place the cursor on your wagon, and hit {{K|x}} to deconstruct it. This will flag the wagon for disassembly. Eventually a carpenter will come along and turn the useless wagon into a few units of wood. (Removing other buildings is done the same way.)

===Woodcutting===
{{Update in next major version}}
Assuming your site has [[tree]]s above ground, now is a good time to start obtaining wood.

Create a stock{{K|p}}ile for {{K|w}}ood outside your entrance (preferably near to it). As it will only be temporary, don't make it too big (maybe 5x3, or 15 tiles total). Later, you will move this closer to your carpenter's workshop (once you build one), so don't worry about placement too much.

Also near the entry, designate a couple of trees to be chopped down with {{K|d}}-{{K|t}}. One tree will generate many logs. Don't designate too many trees at the beginning, or your dwarves will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling them rather than doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down trees).

==Drinks==
Drinks can be more problematic than food, since they require more preparation (except for [[water]], that is). In warmer weather, you can specify a "water source" activity zone ({{k|i}}-{{k|w}}) around a lake or river on the surface to keep your dwarves from dying of thirst, but dwarves deprived of [[alcohol]] slow down and become unhappy. In addition, drinking outside can be dangerous — dwarves running outside constantly risk running into wild animals, or worse. Creating a [[still]] to brew alcohol is the simplest solution to these problems.

You need a [[brewer]] to brew drinks. Unfortunately, your brewer is also your woodcutter (with a default embark), who is busy cutting down trees. You will want to make a different dwarf your brewer instead, since both your brewer and woodcutter will be busy (and one dwarf can't do both jobs at the same time).
# Find your woodcutter in the {{k|u}}nits list, select it, and press {{k|c}} (this selects the dwarf without you having to search your entire map). Use the {{k|p}}-{{k|l}} menu to disable brewing (located under "Farming/related" — you can navigate this menu with the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} buttons).
# Pick another dwarf that isn't doing anything useful. Right now, this can probably be your fish cleaner, but you can change this as soon as some migrants arrive (by following these steps again).
# Use the {{k|u}}-{{k|c}}-{{k|p}}-{{k|l}} menu again to enable brewing on the new dwarf.

[[File:Quickstart still 1.png|thumb|right|A completed still]]
Assuming you have building materials available (which you will if your woodcutter has been doing their job), you can now create a still:
# Dig out a 3x3 area connected to the farm plot.
# Use {{k|b}}-{{k|w}}-{{k|l}} to build a still. Position it in the 3x3 area you just created and press {{k|Enter}}.
# Use {{K|Enter}} to select a building material for the still (this is probably one of the logs you just cut down by default).
# Use {{k|Esc}} to exit the menu, and unpause the game.
After a short delay, your new brewer should run off, drag a log over to the workshop site, and build the workshop. (This is also how building other workshops works, but you won't need to do that yet).

To brew drinks, use {{k|q}} to select the still and press {{k|a}}dd task-{{k|b}}rew drink. '''This will not work yet''', since you don't have any empty barrels or rock pots, but you should start brewing in the first six months.
{{clear}}

==Pasture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|Grazers|
If you aren't sure whether or not an animal is a grazer, you can check {{catlink|Grazer|this category}}. (You can also [[Special:search|search]] for the animal on this wiki.)
}}
If you have any grazing animals with you, such as the draft animals used to pull your wagon, they will die if they are kept away from grass for too long. Use {{K|i}} to create a Pe{{K|n}}/[[Pasture]] zone over a grassy area outside and assign your grazing animals to it using {{K|N}} (while still selecting the zone). This area needs to be about 10x10 or so to ensure they have enough grass and don't trample it all.

The amount of grass required varies greatly depending on the type(s) of animals being pastured. If you intend to keep grazing animals permanently, you may need vastly larger pastures later. As an alternative, you might wish to [[Butcher's shop|slaughter]] your largest animals for food and materials.

==Designing Your First Fortress==
While this guide recommends a vertical fortress design around a central stairwell with each z-level being used for a particular purpose, it is not really that important to use this design for your first fortress. Therefore, feel free to put any of the areas described in the rest of this guide on your main level or wherever you want as long as dwarves can get to them without going outside the fort. In other words, you can think of the "levels" described in the guide more as areas that can really all be on the same level if you have space. Later you can ponder over what makes things most efficient, but for now just do whatever you find easiest.

Note that you may need to dig down a bit to get to stone if you have more than one z-level of sand/clay/soil below the surface.

==Workshops==
[[File:Quickstart workshops 1.png|thumb|right|An example workshop layout. The gem stockpile (empty) is north of the Jeweler's workshop (southwest corner), the wood stockpile is east of the Carpenter's workshop (northwest corner), and the stone stockpile occupies the rest of the space. Note the wheelbarrow (Ö/umlaut-O) in the stone stockpile.]]
Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K|d}}-{{K|i}}), if you haven't already. It's fine if this layer is soil — in fact, soil is better, since it's easier to dig through (if you only have one soil layer, you can put these workshops somewhere on your first level). Dig an 11x11 room (which can be designated easily using shift+arrow keys) off of the stairwell. This room will hold your [[Mechanic's_workshop|mechanic's]], [[Mason's_workshop|mason's]], [[Carpenter's_workshop|carpenter's]], and [[Jeweler's_workshop|jeweler's]] [[workshop]]s.

Once you've dug out your room, set your miners to work by adding a z-level or two to the staircase (you can designate multiple z-levels at once using {{k|<}} and {{k|>}}, just like moving up and down). Hopefully you'll obtain some stone by doing this, which will be useful eventually.

While your miners are busy, use {{K|b}}-{{K|w}} to build the workshops, using whatever building material you have. If you are still digging in soil and don't have stone yet, just use wood. (The material really doesn't matter in this case.) Put each workshop in a corner of the room, and use the remaining space for the appropriate type of stockpile (wood for your carpenter, stone for your mason and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler.) If the construction of any building gets "suspended" just use {{K|q}} to unsuspend it. (This can happen if another dwarf or object is blocking the way. See [[#"Garbage" Dumping|Garbage Dumping]] below if you find you need to remove an object.)

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Too Good for Menial Peon Work|Certain labors are crucial in setting up a fort. At some point you may want to disable less important labors such as hauling for dwarves with the crucial skills of mining, masonry, architecture, carpentry, mechanics, and maybe others. You want these dwarves working on creating beds, doors, and trap components before hauling stone and cleaning.}}
Remove the temporary wood stockpile you created outside (using {{K|p}}-{{K|x}}) and dwarves will move the wood to the new wood storage area.

Go to your mason's shop with {{K|q}} and use {{K|a}} to queue up one [[table|{{k|t}}able]] and one [[throne]]/{{k|c}}hair. You will find out why you need these in a second, but now is a good time to start building them. If you still don't have any stone at this point just use wood at the carpenter's workshop.

Also, it would be helpful to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects easier. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop (they're located near the bottom of the list, but remember that scrolling up with {{k|-}} warps to the bottom of the list). While the wheelbarrows are being built, select your stone stockpile with {{k|q}} and use {{k|w}} to increase "Max Wheelbarrow" to 3 (the maximum). Your dwarves will automatically move wheelbarrows to the stockpile once they are built.
{{clear}}

== Brewing ==
You'll need [[barrel]]s to store drinks for your dwarves. The stockpile you set up earlier will use as many barrels as possible to store items in, which means they can't be used to store drinks. To change this, press {{k|p}} to access the stockpile menu and use {{k|*}} to increase the number of "reserved" barrels (e.g. barrels kept out of stockpiles - 5 barrels is good for now).

You'll also want to decrease the maximum number of barrels in the stockpile* you created before, so your dwarves don't put all of your barrels in one stockpile. Select the stockpile with {{k|q}} (not {{k|p}} - {{k|p}} only ''designates'' stockpiles), and use {{k|e}} to decrease the maximum number of barrels ({{k|E}} decreases it to zero). Set the maximum to the number of barrels currently in your stockpile.

*If you created more than one stockpile, you'll need to set the maximum number of barrels for each stockpile.

Queue up two or three barrels in your carpenter's workshop with {{k|a}}-{{k|v}}. (If you run out of wood at any point, cut down 1-3 more trees outside. If a lack of wood cancelled a job, you will need to queue the job again).

Go back to your still and order some drinks to be {{k|a}}-{{k|b}}rewed. Each drink requires one barrel and one edible plant, such as a plump helmet. Even if none of yours have been harvested yet, you should have some left over from embark. Also, brewing plump helmets creates ''two'' seeds from one plant, which makes plump helmets an excellent choice for a beginning fortress.

Five barrels should be plenty for now (each plant makes 5 "units", or servings, of booze, and dwarves don't need to drink too often, so 30 units should last you a whole year. When the stocks get low, you'll probably want to start queueing up more drinks to be made (you should have more empty barrels by then).

=="Garbage" Dumping==
{{main|Garbage dump}}

'''Note that garbage is not the same thing as refuse.''' [[Stockpile#Refuse|Refuse]] is [[Miasma|rotting stuff]]. Garbage is anything you designate to be hauled to a [[Activity_zone#Garbage_Dump|garbage dump]], even important things that aren't really garbage. Think of your garbage dump zone as a way to specify that objects you select will be brought to a specific area.

Use {{K|i}} to create a 1x1 activity zone somewhere near your mason's and mechanic's workshops and set it to be a {{K|g}}arbage dump. Unlike stockpile areas where you are limited to storing one object per tile, any number of items may be piled in a garbage area. That means you will only need one tile to hold as much garbage as you like. Although many of the room sizes in this guide are suggestions, think of the 1x1 garbage dump size as mandatory. At some point you will probably want to retrieve an important item from your garbage dump, and the more tiles your dump contains, the harder it will be to find anything in it.

Press {{k|d}}-{{k|b}} to get to the mass dump/forbid screen and select the {{k|d}}ump option. With "dump" selected, designate a rectangle over the loose stones cluttering up your living area (if there are any – this often isn't a problem yet if you've build your fort in a soil layer). This will designate this stone to be transported to the closest garbage dump zone. Be sure not to dump stone in your stockpiles by mistake, since that will only cause your dwarves to perform unneeded hauling.

Once the stone from your living area has been moved there, it will be set as [[Forbid|forbidden]]. Before it can be used you will need to unforbid it using the same {{k|d}}-{{k|b}} screen, hitting {{k|c}} to claim it.

Note that dwarves hauling stone (or any large, heavy objects) move slowly, and can take a lot of time to reach their destination. This can be a major waste of time if you designate 50 boulders to be dumped at once. Unless the stone is in the way of something, you don't ''need'' to dump it every time you dig out a new area. Stones lying on the ground don't slow dwarves down at all.

If there is a particular dwarf you don't want hauling stone, you can disable the "Stone Hauling" labor (under the "Hauling" category). Miners are good candidates, since they are far more useful when digging than when moving the stone they just dug out.

Congratulations! Knowing how to use garbage zones as garbage dumps puts you head and shoulders above many new players. It takes some people weeks to figure this out.

==Trade Depot==
Build a [[trade depot]] using {{K|b}}-{{K|D}} in the 5x5 room you created near your entrance. This is where caravans will park their stuff and where [[trading]] will take place when one arrives. (as stated earlier, the wagons are 3x3 so the entrance tunnel needs to be at least 3x3 for the wagons to go by).

You will need one [[architect]], which will be enabled on your mason if you selected {{DFtext|Play now!}} at embark. You also need at least 3 logs or boulders to build the depot.

===Troubleshooting===
Once the depot is built, use {{K|D}} from the main menu to make sure your depot is accessible. ( This command is only available once the depot is built – before building, the command will be disabled, and while the depot is under construction everything will flash red until the depot is built). Once completed, checking {{k|D}}epot access will flash some of the following symbols:
* {{raw tile|X|4:4:1}}: This tile is not accessible by wagon. This could be because something is blocking it (a tree, a natural [[boulder]], etc.).
* {{raw tile|W|2:2:1}}: This tile is accessible by wagon. (These tiles will radiate outward from the depot, not from the map edges.)
:This is good, but does not guarantee wagons will be able to reach the depot. Make sure you see the words {{DFtext|Depot accessible|2:1}} on the left.
* {{raw tile|D|3:2:1}} The depot is accessible via wagon.
* {{raw tile|D|6:2:1}} The depot is '''not''' accessible by wagon. See below.

If you see the message {{DFtext|Depot inaccessible|4:1}} in the menu (or the {{raw tile|D|6:2:1}}) symbol over the depot, try these solutions:
* Is the path to the depot (in your fortress) less than 3 tiles wide? If not, expand the entranceway and try {{k|D}} again.
* Are there [[tree]]s blocking a path to the depot outside? Try clearing a path by cutting down a few (you probably won't need to cut ''all'' the trees in a 3-tile wide path; usually cutting some a few at the end of a path of {{raw tile|W|2:2:1}}'s clears a path.
* Are there [[boulder]]s ({{raw tile|∞|7:0:0}}) blocking the path outside? To remove them easily, you need an [[engraver]]. If you selected "play now", you should have one already. Select {{k|d}}-{{k|s}}mooth Stone and designate the boulder(s) for smoothing. They should flash this symbol: {{raw tile|┼|7:0:1}}.
It's possible that there are multiple obstacles blocking the depot, so keep checking {{k|D}}epot access until the {{DFtext|Depot accessible|2:1}} message appears.

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point, you'll most likely be getting migrants soon (if you haven't already). You'll usually get between 5 and 15 migrants in the first 2 waves, which occur sometime during your second and third seasons. See [[/Migrants|this page]] for advice when you receive migrants.

== Bedrooms ==
Up to this point, your dwarves have probably been sleeping on dirt or rock in your fortress. While this is fine for a short time, your dwarves will gradually become less happy if they are forced to sleep without a bed. Wood is required for beds, unlike many other things, so be sure to designate some more trees to be cut down if you're short on logs.

[[Bedroom design|Designing living quarters]] is largely a matter of personal preference and aesthetic sense. While a few useful designs are discussed here, there are many other options. In general, try to keep the bedrooms close to the stairs, and make your access hallways at least two tiles wide to reduce congestion.

=== Location ===
Because noise generated from certain jobs (especially mining and woodcutting) can bother sleeping dwarves, doing these jobs within 8 tiles of a sleeping dwarf should be avoided (see [[noise]] for more information). There are two ways of accomplishing this:
* Placing bedrooms at the end of a hallway at least 8 tiles long will avoid most noise (as long as you are careful to avoid noisy jobs directly above or below the bedrooms).
* Extending your fortress down several z-levels will also work (9 levels from the surface is a safe choice), although extending a 3x3 staircase takes more work than extending a single hallway.
Both options works equally well, as long as you are careful to avoid disturbing sleeping dwarves. Ultimately it depends on how you want your fortress to look.

=== Layout ===
Due to the limited resources of a new fortress, setting up a dormitory is a good idea. However, you can also set up individual bedrooms for dwarves.

'''Benefits of individual bedrooms:'''
* Dwarves are happier with their own bedroom and furniture.
* Individual rooms can increase your fort's perceived wealth.
'''Benefits of dormitories:'''
* Dormitories are easier to set up and expand (only one room is necessary, and each dwarf only requires one bed).
* Sleeping dwarves are much less likely to be attacked when other dwarves are around them.
* Multiple dwarves can sleep in a dormitory. In contrast, only one dwarf can ever sleep in a bedroom (other dwarves cannot sleep in a dwarf's bedroom, even when unoccupied).
* Far fewer beds are needed – in a fort of 50 dwarves, for example, around five dwarves will be sleeping at a time (on average). A dormitory, therefore, rarely requires above ten beds, while individual bedrooms would require 50 beds to be built.
* Even when all of the beds are occupied, dwarves will still sleep in the general area of the dormitory. This is more convenient than having dwarves sleeping all over your fort.
For now, setting up a dormitory is easiest (although you can change this later, if you feel the need to).
=== Building ===
Queue up as many beds as you need in a carpenter's workshop (no more than 3 or 4 should be necessary for a dormitory). Beds are queued with {{k|q}}-{{k|a}}-{{k|b}} at a carpenter's workshop and built with {{k|b}}-{{k|b}}. (As long as your furniture/general-purpose stockpile isn't full yet, dwarves will store beds in them as they are finished, so there may be a delay before they're available to be built.)

'''Setting up a dormitory:'''
# Dig out an empty room in the location you selected.
# Once you have a bed ready, build it near the middle of the room (towards the end away from the entrance).
# Use {{k|q}} to select the bed and {{k|r}} to turn it into a bedroom. Resize the room until it fills the area you dug out (positioning the bed away from the entrance makes it easier to avoid extending the room out into the hallway). If you decide you don't like the position of the bed, remove it with {{k|q}}-{{k|x}} and place it again.
# Press {{k|d}} to turn the room into a dormitory (the menu should read {{DFtext|d: Dormitory <Y>}})
Once you have more beds built, you can place them in the same room. You don't need to mark them as dormitories as long as they're in the area you designated for the bedroom.

[[File:Quickstart-level-7-bedrooms.png|thumb|right|An example of individual bedrooms (with furniture, discussed below)]]
'''Setting up individual bedrooms:'''
# Dig out a small room for each bed (the size and shape are up to you, but 2 to 4 tiles generally works best).
# Build each bed in a room when ready
# Use {{k|q}}-{{k|r}} to mark the bed as a bedroom.
You should see {{DFtext|Current owner: Nobody}} in the menu. A dwarf will eventually get around to claiming the bedroom – you don't need to assign each dwarf to a specific bedroom.

==Nobles==
Hit the {{k|n}} key to open up the [[Noble|nobles and administrators]] screen.

The most important positions to assign are '''[[broker]]''', '''[[bookkeeper]]''' and '''[[manager]]'''. Your [[expedition leader]] is a good choice for bookkeeper and manager when starting out. Don't worry that it's just one dwarf doing all this; none of these jobs take very long. The broker should be another one of your other dwarves (rather than being the same as your bookkeeper) so that they're not too busy doing bookkeeping when a trade delegation arrives to actually talk to the traders.

Having a manager will allow you to queue up work orders which will greatly simplify managing your production. Having a bookkeeper will allow you to maintain inventory counts on the {{K|z}} screen so you'll know what you do and don't have. A broker is necessary to trade with a caravan once one has arrived at your trade depot.

[[File:Quickstart-noble-selection.png|right|thumb|Nobles screen. The red stuff turns white once an office is assigned.]]
Don't worry about the [[chief medical dwarf]] yet. He/she will be needed when you set up your [[Healthcare|hospital]] which won't be covered in this guide. Feel free to go check out the [[Healthcare]] guide once you're done.

Lastly, while you are on this screen, highlight the bookkeeper and {{K|s}}et him to work for "Highest Precision" (all counts accurate). This will help train bookkeeping faster and ensure that you aren't dealing with vague inventory counts.

===Offices (Studies)===
Some of your administrative positions (manager and bookkeeper) require an [[office]] in order to function. If your manager, for example, doesn't have an office, you will not be able to do any of the things that require a manager even though you have one assigned.

Earlier you should have queued up a table and throne in your mason's shop, and they should be done by now. Dig out a room near your sleeping quarters or stockpiles (at least 1x3, no more than 5x5). Place the furniture in it with {{k|b}}-{{k|c}} (chair) and {{k|b}}-{{k|t}} (table). Once dwarves have installed the furniture, use {{K|q}} to select the '''chair''' (not the table), select "Make Throne Room or Study" ({{k|r}}), size the room appropriately, and assign the office to your expedition leader (who should be your bookkeeper and manager). Hit {{K|n}} to verify that these positions now have the office they need (if so, {{DFtext|[REQUIRE]|7:1}} should no longer be red).

==Furniture==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Different Names, Same Thing|As you've noticed, some things have different names based on what they're made of (like chairs vs. thrones) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). So, if it seems like you can't make something of a particular material, do some poking around and check the wiki.

[[Bed]]s are a notable exception — they can only be made of wood.
}}
Now would be a good time to start building some [[furniture]]. You could queue up all these items directly from your workshops, but why not give your new manager a little practice?

Using the manager screen {{k|j}}-{{k|m}}, hit {{k|q}} to queue up a new job, and type "[[bed]]", and then select "construct bed." Set the quantity to around 4 (or more, depending on how many beds you need). Next, queue up at least four [[table]]s, eight [[throne]]s/chairs, and four doors. Make sure you select a material you have – rock or wood will both work for all of these (except beds), so use whatever you have in your stockpiles. If you like, you can also queue up a few wooden [[chest]]s or rock coffers and [[cabinet]]s (which can be used in bedrooms, if you set up individual bedrooms). The tables and chairs will go in your [[dining room]], speaking of which...

==Dining and Food Prep Area==
Right off the main stairwell (any unused area by the staircase will work), create three rooms. One will be for general food storage, one a [[dining room|dining hall]], and one a [[kitchen]]. The kitchen will allow you to make [[Cook#Recipes|prepared food]]. Make the room for the kitchen 5x5. The storage area and dining hall should be larger. Ideally, leave empty space on at least one side of your dining hall so that it can be expanded later if necessary.

[[File:Quickstart_dining_area.png|right|thumb|Dining level with dining hall (east), kitchen (north), storage area (west), fishery, butcher's workshop, and tanner's workshop (south).]]

Use {{K|b}}-{{K|w}}-{{k|z}} to build the kitchen in the middle of the 5x5 room. Use {{k|p}} to create {{K|f}}ood stockpiles in the remaining space around it, as well as the entire food storage room.

Go back to your general purpose stockpile on the top level and use {{K|q}} to change the {{K|s}}ettings to {{K|d}}isable Food. This will cause any food in your general purpose stockpile to get moved to your new food-only stockpiles.

Hit {{K|z}} and select ''[[Kitchen]]'' from the top of the screen, then disable all cooking for plants and enable brewing for them so that they will only be used for brewing. Also disable alcoholic beverages for cooking, otherwise your cooks will waste perfectly good hooch in their cooking. The only time you might want to use alcohol in cooking is when you have lots of booze but are running out of food.

If you plan to do any fishing, dig out another area and create a [[Fishery]] on this level so the uncleaned fish your fisherdwarf just caught can be cleaned (gutted) for consumption or cooking. If you plan to do any hunting or [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] any animals, create a [[Butcher's shop]] on this level so animal corpses can be butchered. The fishery/butcher's shop can be placed behind the kitchen or the general food stockpile, for example. A door is recommended for the butcher's shop in order to contain [[Miasma]] should something rot, and to otherwise avoid offending squeamish dwarves.

Eventually go check out the subpage on [[/Stockpiles/]] for more information on fine-tuning these stockpiles for maximum efficiency. For now you can safely procrastinate on this and move on to the next section.

==Placing Furniture==
Once your furnishings are complete, you need to place them in rooms using the {{K|b}}uild command. Put the new {{k|c}}hairs and {{k|t}}ables in the dining room. If you like, you can add doors for aesthetics (they can be useful in case something starts rotting in your food stockpiles). If you created chests and cabinets, you can add them to each room if you want, but it is not urgent now.

==Meeting Hall==
Use {{K|q}} on one of the tables you just placed in the dining room, define the area as a {{k|r}}oom, and configure it to be a meeting {{k|h}}all. This will cause idle dwarves to hang around in the dining hall. You want idlers in a central location, close to where you will be placing your emergency drawbridge levers. You should probably remove the temporary meeting area (and any other meeting areas that you created earlier) with {{K|i}}-{{k|x}}.

==Checking Supplies==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Hostile Wilds|Before turning on either hunting or fishing, examine the {{K|u}}nits screen to see if there are any dangerous critters your hunters/fishers need worry about. With hunting especially, you may need to check this screen frequently.}}
Use the {{K|z}} ([[status]]) screen to check your stock levels. How much food and booze do you have left? You only have unprepared food at this point, and the booze you brought with you, but soon you will be making more. If you are running low on food, you can designate gathering some [[shrub|outdoor plants]], [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some animals, turn on [[fishing]], or turn on [[hunting]] to tide you over for a bit. Hunting and slaughtering animals both require a butcher's shop.

==Brewing and Cooking==
Once your first crop of plump helmets starts to come in, you will want to start [[brewing]] as a [[repeat]]ing task. Also, now would be a good time to start [[cooking]] actual meals rather than forcing your dwarves to eat raw food. Cooking [[Cooking#Recipes|easy meals]] will train dwarves faster, but they may be happier with [[Cooking#Recipes|lavish meals]]. So, you might want to cook easy ones until your cook or cooks skill up to a certain point then have them start making lavish meals. Prepared food is cooked from two (easy), three (fine), or four (lavish) raw food/alcohol ingredients. Each prepared food item will be called a 'something' (for instance, a specific animal meat) "biscuit", "stew", or "roast" depending on the lavishness of the meal.

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Conserving Resources|Some things absolutely require wood (like beds and charcoal), but others can be made out of more common materials like stone. For this reason it's best, especially in the beginning, to make everything that you can out of stone. For example, you could make wood chests and barrels, but stone coffers and rock pots would let you save wood for things that require it and help you rid yourself of all that stone. And if you decide you want solid gold chests or something later when you have more resources, you can always throw out the rock coffers.}}
Speaking of booze, in order to keep the booze flowing, you will need to create some [[barrel]]s, or some stone [[pot]]s. Your dwarves should have emptied a few barrels by now to get you started, but you will definitely need more. A ''lot'' more. If you have an abundance of trees, then you can designate some more for cutting, and have your carpenter make a bunch of wooden barrels, but it may be more prudent to make a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], make sure someone has the [[Stonecrafting]] labor enabled, and build a bunch of rock pots. (Rock pots are essentially barrels made of rock.) And don't worry that you've made too many; you almost can't get enough of them.

Keep checking your food and drink stock levels on the {{K|z}} screen periodically. While cooked food (properly stockpiled) and alcohol don't spoil, there is really no need to stock 2,000 units of dwarven wine at this point. Ten times the number of drinks and meals as you have dwarves is more than enough. If you start running out of food or drinks, designate some wild plants for harvesting, [[Status#Animal_Status_Screen|slaughter]] some of your animals, start hunting or fishing, or start more farms.

Actually, now would be a fine time to make another 3x3 farm. Set it to produce [[sweet pod]]s in the spring and summer, [[cave wheat]] or [[pig tail]]s (your choice) in the fall (autumn), and [[plump helmet]]s in the winter. Having multiple types of plants will give your dwarves more variety in their food and drink, keeping them from [[Thought|grumbling]].

==Storage Space==
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Advanced Stockpiling|Check out the [[/Stockpiles|Stockpiles]] sub page for more information on fine-tuning your stockpiles, especially in the food production area. This is somewhat complicated and it can safely be skipped if you don't feel like tinkering with stockpiles right now.}}
You should probably start making some wooden '''[[Bin|bins]]''' to help you store more stuff in less space. You might not need them yet, but you certainly will later. Bins are somewhat like barrels/pots, but they can store things other than just food and drink. Bins will also reduce the amount of labor needed to [[haul]] things to your trade depot or other stockpiles. So designate some more trees to be chopped down and queue up some bins. As with barrels and pots, you almost can't have enough bins.

=Beyond a Minimal Fortress=

By now you should have your main entrance created, along with a farm, general purpose stockpile, refuse pile (for trash), and [[trade depot]]. Somewhere you should have a mason's shop, a mechanic's shop, a carpenter's shop, and a jeweler's shop, surrounded by appropriate storage piles with garbage zone (for excess stone). You should also have a furnished dining area with kitchen, still, and food storage, and a residential area with furnished bedrooms and an office. You should have selected your administrators, and might even have an optional fishery, butcher's shop, craftsdwarf's workshop, or other stuff.

At this point, you have all the components of a minimal but functional fortress! Your next steps will be to make it safer and better protected, to set up your [[metal industry]], and later to prepare your [[military|militia]].

==Traps==
Start producing '''[[mechanism]]s''' at your [[mechanic's workshop]]. Queue up ten. After they are built, use them to create [[Trap#Stone-fall_Trap|stone fall traps]] using {{K|b}}-{{K|T}}. Be sure not to block access to your depot! Queue up some [[cage]]s, and more mechanisms, and use these to create some [[Trap#Cage_Trap|cage traps]] right after your stone traps. Cage traps are incredibly effective at stopping ambushers, but traps in general will not protect you from [[thief|thieves and kidnappers]] who will almost always bypass them. Stationing animals, such as the dogs previously mentioned, near your entrance will alert you to these ambushers.

Continue to fill up your entry hall with alternating rows of stone and cage traps as the parts become available.

Note that traps will block wagons from reaching your trade depot (although pack animals will still arrive safely). A few ways to avoid this are shown below:

{|
|-
|<diagram>
[#1:1]^^^^^
[#2:1].....
.....
.....
[#1:1]^^^^^
</diagram>
|A simple strategy, most useful outside where invaders can come from the sides – inside, this is less useful (invaders don't tend to emerge from the walls)
|-
|<diagram fg="4:0">
░░░░░░░░░
░.......░
░.......░
░.......░
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
....[#1:1]^[#]....
░░░░░░░░░
</diagram>
|A more complex design, but also extremely effective (best used underground). The majority of invaders will choose to take the shortest path, directly through the traps. This can also be extended to make a wider group of traps of a longer safe route.

This is relatively easy to implement it you already have a 3-tile wide hallway – just dig a small loop off it and place traps in the old location.
|}

Note that this is only necessary when caravans can't get to your trade depot because the hallway is filled with traps - if your trade depot is not behind a trap-lined hallway, you can safely make a hallway full of traps - citizens won't trigger traps.

If you place a trap somewhere you didn't mean to, remove it with {{k|t}}-{{k|x}} ({{k|q}}-{{k|x}} will work, but it won't display the name of the trap, making it harder to select the correct one).

==Guard Animals==
Create two 1x1 [[pasture]]s near the beginning of your entryway, one on either side, using {{K|i}}. Using the {{K|N}} key inside the zone interface, assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to each of them. These animals will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick disposable animals, as they ''will'' be slaughtered by the first ambush raiders. Ideally, don't assign female animals; you want them safe for [[Meat industry#Breeding|breeding]] (you should make sure to keep at least one male around for breeding as well).

==Drawbridge==
Build a [[Bridge|drawbridge]] ({{K|b}}-{{K|g}}) to seal off your entryway. Make sure to use {{K|w}}, {{K|a}}, {{K|d}}, or {{K|x}} to make it raise up in the right direction; otherwise it will just retract (disappear) instead of raising up to form a barrier. And therefore, enemy ranged units will be able fire across.

Put the drawbridge between the trade depot and the hall-o-traps so you can lock things out of the fort. Build a lever ({{K|b}}-{{K|T}}-{{K|l}}) near your meeting area and connect it to the drawbridge by using {{K|q}} on the lever.

In case of an [[ambush]] or [[siege]], you will want to close up your fort, keeping the goblins out until your [[squad]]s have formed up and are in position. Ideally you want to have enough cage traps to take out most of the goblins so your military will only have to mop up.

==Metal Industry==
[[File:Quickstart-level-2-forge.png|thumb|right|Level -2: Forge and smelters with ore stockpile in the middle.]]
Now, below your first workshop level, dig out four more 5x5 rooms around the stairwell. Three of these will be [[smelter]]s, and one a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Designate stockpiles for {{K|b}}ars around the smelters and forge. The bar stockpiles will hold [[Fuel|coke and charcoal]] and metal [[bar]]s. You will probably need larger bar stockpiles, but you can dig out more space and expand them later.

Also dig out some space and create a stockpile for [[ore]] somewhere nearby. To make an ore stockpile, designate a {{K|s}}tone stockpile, then use {{K|q}} to change the {{K|s}}ettings on it to forbid all types of stone other than ore.

Finally, go to your general purpose stockpile on the top level and use {{K|q}} to disable Bars. Stone should already be disabled on this stockpile, and if so then ore is already disabled for it.

===Wood Burning===
Somewhere near your carpenter's shop, near your wood stockpile, dig out an area and build a [[wood furnace]]. This is where you will create charcoal (see below) and ash (for making soap).

Dwarf Fortress has two forms of carbon which are useful as [[fuel]] in the metal industry: ''charcoal'' (which is charred wood), and ''coke'' (refined coal). They are completely interchangeable. If your map has a lot of '''lignite''' or '''bituminous coal''', you can process that into coke, using charcoal to jump-start the process.

If you don't find coal on your map, you'll need to either dig down to [[magma]] or make charcoal out of wood to run your forges and smelters, but don't worry about this yet. You need to do some digging around.

===Mining===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|"I have struck what?"|New players who don't have a degree in geology usually find themselves confused as to what all these mineral names mean. In DF you'll never strike "iron ore" but you will strike [[magnetite]] or [[limonite]] which are [[ore]]s of [[iron]]. If you don't know that these things are ores of iron then it obviously won't occur to you to try to smelt iron. Note that ores usually look like {{Raw Tile|£|6:7:1}} before they are mined and {{Raw Tile|*|6:1}} after, though the colors will differ. See '''''[[The Non-Dwarf's Guide to Rock]]''''' to help you figure out exactly what you've found.}}
At this point you want to start looking for metal ore. You may have already found some while digging out rooms, in which case you can just mine into the walls of the rooms to get more ore. If you haven't found ore yet or you want to see what else you can find, you will need to dig [[Exploratory mining|exploratory tunnels]] looking for ores, minerals, and [[gem]]s. For now just start digging tunnels out from your stairwell or rooms in all directions and see what you run into. Note that digging into '''damp stone''' or '''warm stone''' is not recommended as those areas may be holding back water or lava which can flood your fort.

===Fuel===
Whether you find [[coal]] or not, you will need to burn wood into at least one unit of [[charcoal]]. If you find some coal ([[lignite]] or [[bituminous coal]]), start your [[smelter]]s out processing it into [[coke]] using your charcoal to get things started. From then out you can burn coke to make more coal into more coke and so on.

Put these coke-making jobs on repeat. Only use one smelter to begin with, but you should be getting a group of [[Immigration|immigrants]] fairly soon, if you haven't already, and you can put them to work in the other smelters.

Don't give up on finding coal right away. Dig around for a while and if you're starting to get impatient then burn some more wood into charcoal, smelt some ore, and make some [[weapon]]s. If you rely on charcoal for fuel then you'll be needing a ''lot'' of wood, so in that case dig out another room near the furnace and create a wood stockpile. You might also want to just remove a smelter, replace it with a [[wood furnace]], and create the new wood stockpile down in the smelting area. Finally, go designate more trees for chopping.

===Forging===
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|Alternative Energy|If you don't find coal then you will have to continue to burn wood into charcoal, or dig down to the bottom of the map and find the magma sea so you can power [[magma smelter]]s and [[magma forge]]s. Getting to magma can be difficult for various reasons that you will discover, so make sure you are ready for some trouble before you go that direction. Burning charcoal should work out okay in the short term.}}
Once you have smelted some ore to get metal bars, and have additional bars of either coal or charcoal, you can start forging metal items. Here are some suggestions on what to make first:
#'''[[Pick]]s''' - You may have only started out with one pick which limits the number of miners you have to one. By this point you are probably wishing you had more miners. Make a few picks and give some dwarves the mining labor once you get some immigrants. It doesn't matter what metal you use to make picks, at least when it comes to mining, so even copper is perfectly good.
#'''[[Weapon]]s''' - Picks actually make pretty good weapons, but there can be some issues equipping them because they're tied to the mining labor. You may want to make a few axes. They make good weapons, at least against most lightly armored opponents you're likely to encounter first, and can be used to chop trees. Start with 5 or so.
#'''[[Armor]]''' - You're going to want some armor. Start with mail shirts, helmets, leggings, then gauntlets and boots. Start with 3 or so of each in the order listed, then make more later when your military grows. Also make some shields out of wood, unless you're swimming in metal (since the shield's material doesn't matter for defensive purposes). Once you have the essentials covered, you can include breastplates (but they take 3 bars of metal to make, and they don't cover as much of the torso and arms as a mail shirt).

[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you're likely find that you want some arms before you can make steel. [[Iron]] is good, and [[bronze]] is also good. [[Copper]] is not ideal, but it still works and is better than no metal weapons/armor at all.

==Gemcutting and Trinkets==
You should have uncovered some [[gem]]s by now, so put your [[jeweler]] to work [[Gem cutter|cutting]] them. These will be used for [[Trading|trade]]. Only buy things that you need in the first year.

[[Finished goods|Stone crafts]] produced by a craftsdwarf can make good trading goods as well. To get enough goods, you will need to dedicate a craftsdwarf's workshop and craftsdwarf to this task full-time, but you're very unlikely to ever run out of stone.

==Sticking to the Plan==
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Getting Distracted|Say one of your new immigrants turns out to be a legendary weaver. Should you plant some pig tails and create a loom for him? '''No!''' Put his legendary ass to work smelting metal or something that's part of your current industry even though he has no skill at it. Do not split your efforts yet. You can make use of his unique talents later when you can afford to diversify your industry.}}
Metalsmithing will be your primary economic activity, with cutting gems (and possibly making stone crafts) being used to give you some short-term [[wealth]] until the [[metal industry]] gets going. This means you will need miners, haulers, smiths and furnace operators. Unless a dwarf is doing something else vital to the proper functioning of your fort, such as training in the militia, making traps, cooking food, and so forth, they should be doing one of those four things.

==Wealth and Invasion==
{{migrated section}}
{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#a00|Crafting Invitations for Trouble|Creating too much wealth initially is a sure fire method of pulling down a goblin ambush that you are ill-equipped to deal with. Titans will also start attacking you should your wealth go over a certain amount. For this reason, spend no time smelting gold, smoothing, or engraving anything yet. Most of the wealth you create in the beginning should be the sharp pointy kind.}}
You may have struck [[gold]] or some other valuable metal, and you may be tempted to put your furnaces and smiths to work creating valuable metal crafts. Don't do it! Until you have your militia formed and fully equipped with armor and weaponry, your smelters and forge should be doing nothing else but smelting cheaper materials like coal, iron, making pig iron and steel if possible, and making weapons and armor. Making [[steel]] will actually increase your wealth quite a bit, but at least you can stab and beat things to death with steel; you can't make weapons from gold.

=Military=

Your '''military''' is an important part of fortress defense. Unless you have totally cut yourself off from the outside world then you will want at least some sort of military.

Once you reach this point you should hopefully have enough dwarves to start a small military training program. You will need at least 5 dwarves who aren't otherwise doing anything important.

If you don't have any spare dwarves yet, or just don't want to mess with it yet, just skip to the next section and come back to this later. Don't wait too long to set up your military though; you especially will want soldiers before you reach a population of 80 dwarves. (You will find out why.)

When you're ready to start up your military, see the [[Military quickstart]] guide.

= What Next =

Congratulations! If you've made it this far then you have a self-sustaining fort going and can now start to branch out into whatever you are interested in exploring. Expect some goblin invasions, forgotten beasts, titans, dragons, giants, and other creatures to interrupt your activities at various points. This is part of the [[fun]].

Here are some things that people almost always do eventually though not necessarily in any particular order (these are somewhat essential):
*Build [[coffin]]s and a graveyard or [[tomb]]s for dead dwarves and pets
*Set up a [[Healthcare|hospital]]
*Build a [[well]]
*Start producing [[textile industry|clothing]] to replace [[wear|worn-out attire]]
*Build a [[jail]] for unruly dwarves
*Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|civilian alerts]] to get civilians to a safe area during ambushes and sieges

Here are some things that players often do as their population grows:
*Smooth and [[engraving|engrave]] walls and floors
*Produce [[Meat industry|Meat]], [[Egg production|eggs]], milk and [[Beekeeping industry|honey]]
*Continue to expand the [[military]]
*Explore new [[Industry|industries]]
*Dig down to the [[caverns]] and create a defended lower entrance with traps to defend the fort against the [[creatures|denizens]] below
*Enable [[Animal training]] for a dwarf and train some war animals
*Build a [[Mass pitting]] system to dispose of caged enemies
*Build above-ground [[construction]]s such as an archery tower or garden
*Create a [[statue|statue garden]] or [[zoo]]
*Farm in an [[Farm#Above_Ground_Farming|above-ground farm plot]]
*Dig down to [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s and [[magma smelter]]s to avoid the need for fuel
*Build [[machine component]]s to pump magma and water
*Create more [[Trap design|elaborate traps]] such as magma and drowning chambers
*Try some [[stupid dwarf trick]]s

You may also want to just read over the [[Dwarf fortress mode|Fortress Mode Reference Guide]] and the many other very useful documents on the wiki to give you other ideas of what to do.

Keep in mind that how you play is not set in stone. Some people never defend, some start a [[Megaprojects|megaproject]] right after settling, some never dig and just build an above ground castle or town using logs. Some never smelt ore, some start smelting as soon as they arrive. Some make their home in the dangerous natural caverns. Some deal with invaders by flooding the map or isolating themselves completely. And that's not even considering the [[List of mods|mods]] and some of the crazier [[challenges]] that people have come up with. There's really no one "right" way to play DF.

= Feedback =
{{Feedback reporter|triggers=section:Feedback, tab, sectionlink}}
If you have any feedback on this guide, you can leave a message
* by using [[#Feedback|the feedback reporter]] (assuming JavaScript is enabled),
* on the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]] for this article, or
* in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=83452.0 this thread] on the forums.

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

[[de:DF2012:Schnellstart]]
[[ru:Быстрый старт]]

v0.31:Door

2012-01-16T09:00:45Z

Ijon: Corrected the Latin

{{quality|Exceptional|18:03, 8 November 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}
{{Buggy|withoutbugsection=1}}
[[Image:Doors!.png‎|thumb|right|It is important to have many doors, but don't get carried away.]]
'''Doors''' are a piece of [[furniture]] used mainly to control the movement of dwarves, [[pet]]s and liquids and define the exits of [[room]]s. A door must be built next to a [[wall]] or other form of support.

There is a way to place 3 or more doors side by side. (X = Wall, o = Door, _ = Empty Tile) Build 2 walls, with 2 spaces inbetween, (X__X) build doors inside those spaces,(XooX) and delete one wall,(Xoo_) construct a wall beside the wall you destroyed,(Xoo_X) and place a door between the other 2 doors and your new wall (XoooX). Repeat ad nauseam. Note that the deleted wall must be a constructed wall for this to work.

==Materials==
Doors can be made of [[stone]], [[metal]], [[glass]], and [[wood]]. Artifact doors can be made out of just about anything. A glass door is called a '''portal'''.

While [[stone]], [[wood]], and [[glass]] doors require only a single building material, [[metal]] doors are intended to require 3 [[bar]]s; due to a bug, however, they only require one bar{{bug|130}}.

==Usage==
A door has three main settings:
*'''Forbid Passage''': The door can not be passed unless it is permitted again or destroyed. [[Dwarf|Dwarves]], [[animals]], both wild and tame, and most [[invader]]s will all be unable to pass ([[DF2010:Thief|thieves]] can pick the locks of forbidden doors and pass them that way.)
*'''Keep tightly closed''': Animals will not be able to pass though the door, but dwarves and invaders will not be hindered. (A dwarf that passes through the door can accidentally let in the animals... {Or say a goblin that just so happened to be one of the 50 goblins that ambushed you was to open this door and let out these 500 ravenous [[Dog|Wardogs]].}) This setting has been known to cause game lag{{bug|797}}.
*'''Set as internal''': When designating rooms, a door set as internal will not block room expansion.

Doors can also be connected to [[lever]]s or [[pressure plate]]s to open on command. Doors also halt the movement of liquids in the manner of [[floodgate]]s, and can be used in the same ways if a passageway is narrow enough.

==Notes==
Any item on the same tile as a door will cause the door to be propped open, which makes it impossible to lock and will allow fluids in. Such will also jam mechanically linked doors, needing to be cleared out and the lever or pressure plate triggered again to shut.

Doors destroy any fluid on their tile when they close.

If invaders move past a door, they "take" the door and you have to move a dwarf onto the door to be able to forbid it again.

See also: [[Floor hatch]]

{{buildings}}

v0.31:Office

2010-05-17T16:26:55Z

Ijon: /* Reducing Office Space */

{{av}}
{{Quality|Fine}}

==Overview==
An office (called a study in some game-menus) is a room required by certain nobles and administrators. Some higher-ranking nobles require a "throne room", but this is the same thing, just fancier. These can simply be designated from a throne or chair using q, and do not (necessarily) have to be a separate enclosed space separated from other areas by walls and a door.

Note that if you assign an office to a dwarf, sometimes he will eat a meal in his office and complain about the lack of tables. To avoid this thought, put a table next to the chair in said office.

==Reducing Office Space==
A "meager office" can consist of a 1-tile-big area designated from a single chair, designated as a study/office, and assigned to a particular dwarf. You will probably first encounter this need in the {{L|bookkeeper}}. Assigning one of the chairs in the dining room for him is perfectly acceptable. However, conducting meetings in an office that overlaps with the dining room will cause (other) nobles to be embarrassed, so this might be a bad idea for general practice.

Holding meetings in a bedroom also results in a negative thought, so put the office in a separate room to the bed for nobles who will be conducting meetings.

If you put a table next to the office chair and assign it to be a dining room, both rooms will be used like they are supposed to. However, overlapping rooms drop considerably in value rating, making it harder to meet demands by higher ranking nobles. While this can be countered with high-value furniture (very helpful: artifacts), actual individual areas, designated separately from other areas (whether or not separated by walls) are the easier way to meet demands.
{{buildings}}

v0.31:Starting build

2010-05-10T22:13:06Z

Ijon: /* BillyBob and the Rock Nuts */ book keeping -> record keeper

{{av}}{{Quality|Exceptional}}

A '''starting build''' is a personal ''strategy'' for choosing the initial supplies, equipment, and {{l|skill}}s of your initial seven dwarves when starting a new game in {{l|fortress mode}}. These skills and items which you assign to your dwarves will have a large impact on life in your new fortress, especially in its first year.

This page attempts to give advice on some of the many gameplay elements which influence the flow of your game based on your goals. These include: choosing a ''fortress site'', the ''starting build'' itself, as well as ''challenge builds'' aimed at providing new or unusual challenges to advanced players.

But one thing should be made clear - there is no "best" build, no "perfect" or "clearly superior" final mix of skills and items. There are too many variables to connect, not the least of which is... you! Your play style, what you, as an individual player, consider preferable for the proper mix of fun and challenge. And then there is the environment, where your dwarves will arrive, the creatures, the resources available, and so forth.

Items are tied to starting skills, and starting skills are tied to the expected environment for your chosen embark, and all are tied to your preferences for playing the game - not all sites require (or invite) the same approach, and no two players would take the same approach to the same environment.

So while suggestions can be made, and new ideas presented for your consideration, ultimately the final "best" mix for you will have to come from your experience, which will begin to grow during your first game. Without understanding "everything", some decisions will just have to be guesswork - and even later you never know "everything".

__TOC__

== Components of a Starting Build ==
A starting build must be seen as a whole - the embark location affects the needed supplies, and influences what skills may be most needed or useful. Along with this is player preferences - if you wish an economy based on {{l|prepared meal}}s, {{l|glass}}, or {{l|steel}}, each of those have very different requirements. Likewise, if you want to play a military game, fighting off sieges with huge battles, that's a very different mix (and different site requirements) than if you want a calm location to build your perfect {{l|mega construction}}.

=== Skills ===
With only 7 dwarves, you can't take every {{l|skill}}, so you have to balance what you do take. At this starting phase, each dwarf can only be assigned a maximum total of 10 skill levels, with no single skill starting higher than "5". With 7 starting dwarves, you could no skills at all, or take 70 skills all at level 1, or 14 skills all at level 5* (2 per dwarf), the highest allowed at embark, or (most likely) something close in between the last two, but closer to that last.

:''(* Note that an unskilled dwarf starts with all Skills at Level '''0'''. Adding +5 Levels is then Level '''5'''. This is true regardless of how many "points" a level costs when first buying skills at embark.)''

Once play starts, dwarves can learn any and all skills - these choices only determine what sort of "head start" they have, what they are good at when they first hit the ground. See {{l|experience}} for a discussion of increasing skills during game play.

The considerations are several:

:* Maximizing starting skill ranks vs. generalizing and having more skills covered at lower levels.
:* Balancing multiple skills for a single dwarf, so they aren't constantly needed for two different tasks at critical periods
:* Military vs economic needs
:* Your goals vs "basic survival needs" to keep your fortress healthy and happy.
:* Speed that a skill can be trained in game
:* Demand for a skill during a game
:* Whether quality or speed are significant considerations for tasks/final product
:* Balancing the desire to create {{l|wealth}} ''(with high-value products)'' with the need to maintain {{l|thought|morale}} ''(with low-value but commonly used products, like {{l|bed}}s, which normally are made from {{l|wood}})''.
:* & most importantly - ''your playstyle'' - what '''you''' think is "fun"!

While there are some arguable "no-brainer" choices (or are for each player, according to their playstyle), the final few selections are often a coin toss, or close to. And there is often more than one way to skin a cat - in fact, while many players recommend ''never'' starting with more than one cat, starting with many cats (breeding them for leather, bones and meat) and a skilled {{l|leatherworker}} and/or {{l|bone carver}} is one way to go with (part of) a starting build. Until you have some personal experience, the various suggestions and advice may mean little, but will have more meaning after your first fortress inevitably fails - {{l|Losing|losing is fun}}.

So don't over-think it at first - you'll make a good guess, dive in, and learn far more than we can explain here.

=== Items ===
The starting items are what is needed for your dwarves to survive until they are self-sufficient, or at least until the first yearly {{l|caravan}}s will keep them afloat. The first won't show up until Autumn, so that's more than 2 seasons your dwarves are on their own.

A dwarf eats about 2 meals a season, and drinks a little more than 4 drinks in that same time. If you add your expected {{L|migrant}}s, multiply that by the number of seasons, you can estimate how much food and booze will be needed to get you safely through to the first {{L|caravan}} - barring {{L|losing|the unforeseen}}. In your starting build, you can bring all of that, or your {{l|hunter}}s, {{l|Plant gathering|plant gatherers}}, {{l|fisherdwarf}}s, {{l|grower}}s and {{l|brewer}}s can provide some or most of it.

Similarly, most of the finished products are expensive to buy pre-embark, and so a minimum is recommended - maybe a pick or two for immediate mining and basic defense, maybe a (cheap?) axe* or two for better defense and cutting wood, thread, cloth or a rope for a {{l|well}}, maybe a few leather to make bags, and call it good.

:''(* "Wooden practice axes" cost only 17P, and cut down wood just fine. They will be significantly weaker than metal axes in combat, but still far superior to {{L|wrestling}}, and you can {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} quickly enough.)''

You can produce any and all of those from scratch if you are willing to wait - and your {{l|surroundings}} don't kill you first. Raw materials are much cheaper, in the form of {{l|ore}}s, {{l|wood}}, {{l|leather}} and so forth, but whether you want to take the time at the start of the game is the question. The trade-off is always a balance of cost savings vs. time savings when you first strike the earth. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

====Your civilization====
On the map menu, if you hit {{k|Tab}} twice, you will see a list of possible {{l |Civilization}}s that your dwarves can start from, if there is more than one. Each can have access to different starting equipment and material to offer you - some will be significantly better or worse supplied, and some may be lacking one key item you desire, while another will lack something else equally critical to your plan. Unfortunately you will only find out when selecting your items, after selecting a {{l|location}}. To chose another Civilization requires a start-over. Another important difference is whether your civilization is at {{l|war}} with one of the neighbours; This results in early attacks on your fort and, obviously, no trade {{l|caravan}}s from them.

If you don't like the civilization you chose, or wish to compare what each has to offer, you must either finish the embark, "abandon" the fortress and then re-embark in the same location (using a '''saved''' copy of the game world!), or use {{k|Ctl}}+{{k|Alt}}+{{k|Del}} (or the equiv for your OS), shut down the game and restart it from scratch, then Start again, reload the game world, and find the same embark site - this is not difficult if you made careful notes, but is still a pain, no doubt.

Every such re-start gives you a different mix of dwarves with different names, {{L |attribute|attributes}}, {{L |personality|personalities}} and {{L |preferences}}, but the civilizations are part of the map and stay constant. The default civilization chosen for you will vary, however.

===Saving a starting mix===
Once you have the mix of items and skills that you like, you can hit {{k|s}} and save it to a template with a custom name. In a later game, you can pick that profile when you embark. If your selected civilization does not have some of the desired items in your template, this is announced clearly, and a different civilization can be tried as described above, or you can continue and change your mix.

If you match skills to the {{l|preferences}} and {{L |personality|personalities}} of your dwarves, it may be an idea not to include any skills in such a template, as they will simply be applied in the original order to the current dwarves as they appear on the list.

If you find additional items that you wish to add (perhaps another type of cheap meat, or an ore not previously available), you can edit those in by hitting {{k|s}}, overwriting your old template.

:''(You can also go into the .txt file, located at data/init/embark_profiles, and edit in the SKILLS or ITEMS as you want - the syntax is fairly straightforward.)''

= "Play Now!" =
This option gives you an automatic, low-powered and generalized starting mix with no thinking involved. If you select this option, you are ''immediately'' advanced to the game map with no chance to alter your starting skills or items.

When you pick this option, you currently{{version|0.31.01}} start with:

'''dwarves:'''
:* one Adequate" {{l|Miner}} (+2 {{l|Experience|skill levels}})
& five dwarves with Novice (+1 skill level) in each of the following skills...
:* {{l|Carpenter}}/ {{l|Bowyer}}
:* {{l|Engraver}}/ {{l|Mason}}/ {{l|Mechanic}}/ {{l|Building designer|Building Designer}}
:* {{l|Gem cutter|Gem Cutter}}/ {{l|Gem setter|Gem Setter}}/ {{l|Wood crafter}}/ {{l|Stone crafter}}/ {{l|Bone carver|Bone Carver}}
:* {{l|Fisherdwarf}}
:* {{l|Fish cleaner|Fish Cleaner}}/ {{l|Butcher}}/ {{l|Tanner}}/ {{l|Weaver}}/ {{l|Clothier}}/ {{l|Leatherworker}}

:And one "Leader", with Novice in:
:* {{l|Wood cutter|Wood Cutter}}/ {{l|Brewer}}/ {{l|Cook}}/ {{l|Grower}}/ {{l|Herbalist}}/ {{l|Wood burner|Wood Burner}}/ {{l|Furnace operator|Furnace Operator}}/ {{l|Lye maker|Lye Maker}}/ {{l|Potash maker|Potash Maker}}
::''plus'' Adequate in:
:: {{l|Wound dresser|Wound Dresser}}, {{l|Diagnostician}}, {{l|Surgeon}}, {{l|Bone doctor|Bone Doctor}}, {{l|Suturer}}.

:''(Note that that last dwarf has far more "levels" in starting skills (by twice!) for a single dwarf than are allowed by "Planning Carefully", below!)''

'''Items'''
:* 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s
:* 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s
:* 1 Iron {{l|anvil}}
:* 60 units alcohol (20 each of 3 random types1, 12 free barrels)
:* 5 ''each'' {{l|seed}}s2 (& 6 bags)
:* 15 units of meat (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of fish (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of plump helmets (10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 5 pig tail fiber thread
:* 5 pig tail fiber cloth
:* 5 pig tail fiber bag
:* 3 pig tail fiber ropes
:* 3 wooden4 buckets
:* 3 wooden4 splints
:* 3 wooden4 crutch
:* 2 dogs (random sex)
:* 2 cats (random sex)
:* 1 random cow/ox/mule/horse (random sex)

::''Notes:''
:::1. ''There are only 4 different {{L |alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)''
:::2. ''The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, quarry bush.''
:::3. ''A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full. ''
:::4. ''All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.''

As a challenge for an experienced player, this is not an uncommon choice. But even as a starting player you can do much better if you choose the "'''Prepare for the journey carefully'''" option and do just that - prepare carefully, as described below...

="Prepare for the Journey Carefully"=
Good advice. This option allows you complete control over your starting mix of skills and beginning items. By default, your dwarves start with no skills, and you are offered the following items, which are very similar to the "Play Now" mix, but all are optional and can be sold back and changed according to your preferences. Each item costs a number of "points" - you will buy ''both'' your starting items ''and'' the starting {{L |skills}} for your dwarves with one pool of combined points, 1274 total.

(This choice also allows you to select/create the {{l|Fortress name}} yourself, rather than have it randomly generated.)

The point costs for the default items are listed below.

::{|cellpadding="2" border="1"
! Default Items !! Cost (in "points") !! Comments
|-
| 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s || 88 (44 each) || for {{l|mining}}
|-
| 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s || 136 (68 each) || weapons and {{l|woodcutting}}
|-
| 1 Iron {{l|anvil}} || 100 || required for any metal working
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 5 of each underground seed2 || | 30 6*5 (1 each) || 6 free bags
|-
| 15 meat of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 fish of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 {{l|Plump helmet}}s || 60 (4 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber thread || 60 (12 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber cloth || 70 (14 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber bag || 100 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 pig tail fiber ropes || 60 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 wooden4 buckets || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 splints || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 crutch || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| No dogs, no cats || ||
|-
|}
:1. There are only 4 different {{L|alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)
:2. The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, and quarry bush.
:3. A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full.
:4. All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.

With the above items, your point pool starts at '''300''' (visible in the lower right corner). This is not ''close'' to enough points to buy full skills for all your dwarves, but you can sell back any or all of the above items that you choose and recover the points, spending them as you prefer. There is no quick and easy solution to this, but the possible options are infinite*. Returning all equipment is worth 1274 points total, but unused points are of no use after embark, once the actual gameplay starts, so spend now or waste them.

:''(* Note that an anvil is needed to do any metalworking, and in turn cannot be created without another anvil. Selling your anvil back means you will not do any metalworking at least until the Autumn {{L |caravan}}, and then only if they bring one - which they 'usually' do, but not always. Next dwarven caravan is a year after that, and so on.)''

=====Using the menu=====
Use {{k|Tab}} to switch between selecting Skills and Items. Use the 4 directional keys or number pad to navigate to highlight the different choices/columns, and {{k|+}} or {{k|-}} to choose more or less of the highlighted item or skill. When viewing items, hit {{k|n}} to go to a menu for any "new" items, that are not currently listed, including any you removed by reducing the number to 0; select the item, hit {{k|Enter}}, then increase the number desired as above ({{k|+}} or {{k|-}}) in the main menu.

If you cannot buy additional skill levels, you are out of points and must return some items for additional points. Higher-priced items will automatically be removed from viewable new items if you do not have enough points for those selections, showing only what you can afford with your current points.

=== Skills ===
At this stage, pre-embark, skills cost a number of starting points, equaling monetary value. Later, during fortress mode, all skills will be trained by practice, and "cost" is no longer a concern. All dwarves start with "No Skill" and the first additional skill level (Novice) costs 5 points. To buy the next level would cost 6, and so on. To buy up Proficient (the max allowed to start with), costs 5+6+7+8+9, or 35 points.

A dwarf can start with up to 10 additional levels, regardless whether that's 10 skills at Novice, or 2 skills at Proficient. So, if you are going to buy the maximum skills allowed (highly recommended), that can cost from between 50 to 70 points each, but is usually around 400-450+ for all 7 dwarves.

Each {{l|dwarf}} can (over time) learn any or all {{l|skills}}. Dwarves with little experience in a skill will work slowly and ineffectively, while dwarves with higher skill work faster and/or produce a significantly higher quality product. Some skills are not used often, and/or produce no "quality" in the final product, or produce qualities that have little impact on the game - for these it's questionable whether investing in high starting levels is worthwhile, but that's often a judgment call.

* For example inexperienced {{l|herbalist|herbalists}} will gather stacks of only one or two {{l|plant}}s, and often nothing at all, and inexperienced {{l|farming|farmers}} will often plant stacks of only one or two plants. This results in a small overall output which takes many {{l|container#container|containers}} to store in, less effective {{l|food}} preparation in the {{l|kitchen}}, and more space needed for {{l|stockpiles}}.
* Inexperienced {{l|miner}}s work very slowly and are less likely to recover mined gems or valuable ores. Mining can be leveled up quite quickly by mining {{l|soil#soil|soil}}, but taking two dwarves with at least some points in mining is recommended in many cases.
* In nearly all {{l|workshop}}s, inexperienced dwarves who create items will only rarely produce high-quality goods, and take a long time doing so. Skilled dwarves work quickly and produce high-quality items far more reliably.
** {{l|Quality}} is a central concept in the game - it affects {{l|food}}, {{l|alcohol}}, and almost anything you will have your dwarves create in the game: {{l|trading}} goods, {{l|barrel}}s, {{l|clothing}}, {{l|armor}}, {{l|furniture}}, {{l|weapon|weapons}}, and so on. Quality also has a large effect on the worth of an item while {{l|trading}}.

Dwarves improve their skills on a learning-by-doing-basis. Dwarves who have specific labors will attain Dabbling status as soon as they complete one job of that type. (Certain jobs, such as building workshops, won't make your dwarves more experienced. But most will.) As the number of jobs they do increases, their skill will increase as well. Overall, "leveling up" the dwarves' skills quickly is a good game goal to set. Doing so may result in your dwarves efficiently creating a magnificent fortress filled to the brim with valuable items and {{l|furniture}}. (Or it might {{l|losing|not}}.)

Using and seeing high-quality items gives dwarves happy {{l|thought}}s. This tends to decrease the incidences of {{l|tantrum}}s, increasing a fortress's longevity.

==== Which skills do I need, really? ====

The only thing that you absolutely must do in the first year is get your food supplies into a food stockpile, preferably inside, otherwise your food will rot on the ground and your dwarves will starve. Anything else you want to do can be accommodated by sufficient investment in initial food supplies and/or skills. This means the options for possible starting builds are vast because virtually any set of starting skills for your dwarves is viable (and that's before you even think about equipment, which adds more variables). So the short answer is: none.

That said, there are some skills which will be '''used''', to one extent or another, by virtually every fortress - but that doesn't mean you '''need''' or even want to invest points in them to start. You could even manipulate the fortress (see {{l|challenge}}) to completely avoid one or more of the following, but these are the skills you will find it exceptionally hard to avoid creating jobs for:
:{{l|Mining}} - to dig your fortress, and gain stone for projects. Only possible to avoid using if you're secretly an elf.
:{{l|Carpentry}} - {{l|bed}}s can only be produced from {{l|wood}} (rare {{l|mood}}s aside)
:{{l|Masonry}} - to build walls and stairs, and fashion dwarven furniture from stone. Possible to work around, but incredibly hard and annoying to do.
:{{l|Grower|Growing}} - your farmers' work echoes throughout so many other tasks, it's stunning
:{{l|Brewing}} - all dwarves "need alcohol to get through the working day"
:{{l|Mechanics}} - if you want traps, and most people will. Also needed for most machinery, now more essential than ever since irrigating is no longer optional.
:{{l|Architecture|Building Designer}} - mandatory for some buildings and constructions, but skill only improves speed a tad and increases structure {{l|value}}
:{{l|Broker skills}} - most importantly {{l|appraiser}} - for {{l|trade|trading}}
:{{L|Record keeper}} - Lets you be able to see the exact amount of things you have much faster than training one, and is necessary to view the stocks screen.

''Note! - Some new skills in 01.30.01 are unclear as to their use/need - Observer, Fighter, Leader and so on.''

Of the above, Masonry, Growing, Brewing, Cooking, and Mechanics are generally worth considering as "highly desirable" starting skills for your dwarves. Carpentry is used, but opinions differ - on one hand, wood items are just not worth that much {{l|value}}-wise ''(10's of dwarfbucks vs 100's for stone furniture or 1000's for armor or prepared foods, for instance)'', so the difference in monetary value between high-quality and no-quality is minor for wood products. However, high-quality {{l|bed}}s are one of the easiest ways to help make and keep your dwarves {{l|thought|happy}} (since every dwarf will encounter a bed regularly), so some players swear by it. Mining is important but also fast to train, so one or two unskilled miners is usually ample. You will almost certainly have animals to butcher, but skill in {{l|butchery}} produces nothing of "quality" (meat is meat) and speed is usually not a consideration for the typical demand (butchering unwanted offspring, like kittens). A minimum of Broker skills are highly recommended to start with at the Novice (1 pt) level - it'll make your life much easier (especially Novice level of {{l|Appraiser}}, at least, as it greatly facilitates trading).

Of course, even near-certainty that you will use these skills doesn't mean you have to start with dwarves already skilled in them. Remember, '''any skill can be used untrained, and/or get trained on the job''' - it just means a slower process and/or average lower quality product than if done by a dwarf with a higher {{l|experience|skill level}}. All of the above skills can be used untrained if you so choose, but you will use them.

Ultimately the answer to "What skills do I need?" is "Whichever ''you'' want". Choosing a mixture of these commonly used skills and your desired specialized skills will make starting up your fortress easier and more efficient.

==== What considerations could inform my skill selection?====
Every skill not listed in the preceeding section is only used if you want it to be, and the benefits of experience in skills vary considerably. Skills you choose have to be balanced against your play-style, the environment (danger, ores, other resources), the relative value of the final product, and what you must give up to gain those skills. You will often want some optional skills, often vastly more than something as useful and desirable as even masonry. For example, any player intending to do more than dabble in the metal industry may well want to start with multiple dwarves each highly skilled in at least one metal industry skill, especially those that produce goods with {{L|Quality|quality}}.

The following may influence your choices of skills:

#Some skills are harder to gain experience in than others - requiring valuable resources or taking an extended period of time, and thus inconvenient to train from the ground up. Investing in some of these extensively in your initial dwarves can make those industries much less painful to start. For example, metal-related skills generally eat metal bars, and thus the less time you spend training metal workers up to a decent level, the faster they'll be churning out high-quality items for you, and the fewer bars they'll waste becoming skilled. On the other hand, despite its importance, skills like mining train relatively quickly and barring extenuating circumstances (expected need to accomplish particular digging projects in the first month or you'll get mauled by a Giant for example) there's little need to actually invest your starting skills in it - they can learn on the job.
#Keep in mind that some skills are used to make {{l|legendary artifact}}s, and successfully making an artifact will give the dwarf a lot of experience in the used skill. It can be worth investing in some skills solely to bias your artifact skill pool in the hopes of getting a legendary dwarf in an industry you want to really get working on a year or two in. (See {{l|Strange mood}}s for more info.)
#While its possible to feed your fortress on nothing but caravan goods, you'll never come by enough alcohol that way, so you'll eventually need to grow crops for brewing, and dwarves will literally go crazy if forced to drink nothing but water for long periods. Thus you'll want to plan for farming eventually - not that you need to bring a highly skilled {{l|Grower}}, but it'll certainly be ''very'' helpful. Likewise, a skilled {{l|brewer}} produces higher quality {{l|alcohol}} (''though the quality is hidden!)'', which improves your dwarves' mood, as does a skilled {{l|cook}} with the foods they prepare. However, most food can be eaten raw, and so long as they are not starving there is life.
#If you plan on settling in a dangerous area, consider including at least some military skills, if not a dedicated {{l|soldier}}, or several. The nature of the environment should dictate the military skills chosen (for example, marksdwarves will be an ineffective counter to expected roving hordes of {{l|skeletal}} wildlife).

====Generalist vs Specialist====
Any dwarf can have any labor designated, and they will perform that task and learn or improve that skill, even if they have no skill related to that labor when they start. So you don't need an example of every skill. A skilled dwarf will produce a better {{l|quality}} product, and/or do it faster, but if that's rarely used, "faster" doesn't mean as much. Many jobs have no real "product", and so no quality modifiers - plant gathering, wood cutting, wood burning, smelting, animal trainer, etc. etc. merely produce "stuff", not "quality stuff", or may not be used very often, and/or not be used much after the first year of the fortress. There are as many opinions about balancing generalists with specialists as there are players.

Some skills are also trained up fairly quickly or cheaply, especially where the task consumes no (valuable) materials, or doesn't matter in the final product - mining, furnace operator, wood cutting, butcher, tanner, glass making and (especially) {{l|administrator}} skills being only a few examples.



==== Combining Skills ====
Some {{l|skills}} are highly time-consuming, and working at different jobs levels up specific {{l|attribute}}s. One could level up a miner until he becomes mighty and ultra-tough - and then turn him into a soldier, or retire him to haul stone. If you plan on doing so, it may not be a good idea to give this guy a second critical job that will demand a lot of time away from their focus. There are many parts to a suit of armour, so armoursmithing will take more time than weaponsmithing - once you have one weapon per soldier, he's done. Masons, miners, growers, and any craft that your fortress will base their economy off of (glass, stonecrafts, armour, etc) will take a lot of time.

Since tasks will take place in specific areas, another approach is to combine tasks into dwarves who will take care of a specific industry, or spend all their time in one generally narrow part of the fortress - the forges, or the kitchens, or outdoors, for instance. So combining Farming with cooking, rather than mining, for example, and turn on only Haul Food, not Haul Stone. Woodcutter/Herbalist/Mason/Axedwarf (for outdoor walls/projects) might be another combination - the possibilities are endless.

Some combinations follow naturally in sequence to each other, but also can conflict with each other. One animal is butchered, then the leather is tanned, and the meat is cooked. But if you have 5 animals, several will rot before one dwarf can process all of those. A highly skilled craftsdwarf is often better suited at sitting in their {{l|workshop}} and having others deliver raw materials to them, than going out and obtaining their own raw materials themselves.

Many builds recommend combinations such as:

* '''Outdoors''': Woodcutter/Plant Gatherer. Add {{l|axeman|Axedwarf}} for added security.
* '''Mason+____''' : In many fortresses, the Mason is a very busy dwarf. He could be a spare miner, have abilities that are only rarely needed, or do tasks that can be accomplished quickly like {{l|building designer}}.
* '''Farmer/Cook, Farmer/Brewer'''. Basic two-person food team.
* '''Farmer/Herbalist, Farmer/Brewer/Cook'''. One bold dwarf to farm and venture outside looking for wild plants, the other to keep busy in the {{l|still}}, kitchen, and indoor farms.
* '''Boss''': Novice {{l|Negotiator}}/Novice {{l|Judge of intent}}/Novice {{l|Appraiser}}. This guy will be your {{l|Leader}} and {{l|Trader}}; you can make him {{l|record keeper}} too (the default), at least to start with. Combine this with a single time-intensive task such as {{l|Masonry}} and optionally turn off all hauling tasks right at the start of the game. Or keep him a generalist, or combine with one of the other options.
* '''Weaponsmith/Leatherworker''': If they're not arming your military, they're making leather armor for them.
* '''{{l|Craftsdwarf}}''', depending on your strategy - e.g. {{l|glass}} maker, {{l|weaponsmith}} or {{l|armorsmith}}, sometimes combined with related tasks from that industry ({{l|furnace operating}}, {{l|wood burner|wood burning}}). Typically an item hauler in the initial months of your fortress, this dwarf may become one of your most valuable dwarves later.

Not all combinations have to "look right" together. A weaponsmith will most probably not spend nearly 100% of their time creating weapons - what they do with the other part of their time may have nothing at all to do with forges or smithing.

* '''Grower/GemCutter''' (or Grower/x-Craft): When gems are found, he's there, otherwise he's outstanding in his fields.
* '''Mechanic/Brewer''': usually produces the mechanized defenses, but does moonshining when it's called for.
* '''Miner/______''': This dwarf will quickly become legendary in mining, and then retire to pursue something else full time. On call for important veins of high-value ore.
* '''Brewer/Appraiser/Leatherworker''': several typically low-demand skills
* '''StoneCrafter/Herbalist''' - after quickly finding above-ground plants for seeds for the first season, they never go back unless something goes wrong.
* '''(x-Craft)/Armor User''': Plan for the future - armor using is slow to train in if this dwarf is ever going to join the military.

You can max out one skill and have several lower-level skills additionally, or just several skills that are not maxed out - the combinations are (almost) infinite.

Combinations like these often have one {{l|moodable}} skill and one non-moodable (or a less desired moodable skill at lower level), so any mood will improve the desired one.

==== Combining Skills for Moods ====

{{l|Strange mood}}s will create a Legendary skill of the "moodable" skill with the highest level, and moods take hold of dwarves with different professions at different rates. Some skills are "moodable" where others are not. Another consideration is to place desired moodable skills with non-moodable, to ensure that both the professions and highest skills stay as preferred. Usually this involves one "craft" skill and one "farmer" type skill, such as Armor/Cook, or Weapon/Brewer. This can take some manipulation, and is not of primary concern to many players.

=====Matching skills to a dwarf's personal profile=====
Once you have your optimal skill mix for all 7 starting dwarves, you can, if you wish, take the time to {{k|v}}iew each of your individual dwarves and match skills to their {{l|preference}}s. This can be very advantageous: if you have a dwarf who likes {{l|steel}}, {{l|clear glass}}, {{l|crossbow}}s, {{l|siege engine}} parts, or something else equally interesting, they're an ideal candidate for matching skills (specifically for these examples, {{l|armorsmith}}, {{l|glassmaker}}, {{l|bowyer}}, or {{l|siege engineer}}).

Likewise, if they have any obviously relevant {{l|personality}} strengths or weaknesses, those should be factored in. Some are obscure or ambiguous, but some ("Is constantly active and energetic") are a clear sign.

=== Items ===

An experienced player can start out with no skills for their starting dwarves, 1 copper nugget and an anvil - and nothing else - and have {{l|Make_your_own_weapons#Minimalist_challenge_build|everything they need}}. So what is "needed" is up to what you think is "fun" vs. "too hard" etc. etc. etc.

Some basics are recommended for all builds. Unless you plan to {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}}, you definitely need to bring one {{l|pick}} for each {{l|miner}}, and if you plan to gather wood, you need an {{l|axe}}, which will become a weapon in wartime. Also a minimum of about 25-30* {{l|food}} and about 55-60* {{l|alcohol}}, which should get 7 dwarves through to the first {{l|caravan}} in Fall. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

::''(* A single dwarf eats about 2x/season, and drinks about 4x/season. With 7 dwarves that's ~approximately~ 14 meals per season and 28 alcohol per season, or ~28 meals and ~56 alcohol until the end of Summer. The Caravan is due sometime in Autumn, usually early Autumn, in the second week or so, but the first won't have enough to keep you going until whenever the next one arrives. Hopefully you'll have some food and brewing industry going by the first, or soon after.)''

Note: Many builds recommend that you bring many different cheap foods, in quantities ending in a "1" (1, 11, 21, etc.), and alcohols in amounts ending in a "1" or "6". This is to maximize the number of free {{l|barrel|barrels}} you start with; dry foodstuffs fit 10/barrel, and (pre-embark) alcohol fits 5/barrel. More barrels will let you build a larger stockpile for your first winter and conserves the {{l|wood}} you need to cut and shape in the early game for beds and other necessities. (Seeds are 100/bag, and you don't need near that many of any one type, so 6 bags max with this approach. Even if you don't plan on growing much {{l|cave wheat}}, starting with 1 seed and getting the free bag, and planting that one see later and dumping the result could be worth it.)

===== Items for moods =====
When a dwarf is taken by a {{l|strange mood}}, they often need obscure material or they will go insane and die, possibly with severe consequences to an entire fortress. Bringing along some of the harder to find ores ({{l|cassiterite}}, {{l|sphalerite}}, {{l|bismuthinite}}, {{l|garnierite}}) and shells ({{l|cave lobster}}, {{l|turtle}}), and putting those aside, forbidding their use "just in case", is spending a few points on an insurance policy. Bringing along a few bits of cloth thread is a good idea. Just in case.

===== Free Equipment =====

Dwarves who start with the ambusher skill may get some leather {{l|armor}}, a crossbow and some bolts for free.





====Different starting cultures====
Before actually hitting "embark", you often have the option to choose one of several starting dwarven cultures (one of the options shown when you {{k|Tab}} through the various sub-screens). Different cultures will have different meats, fish, stones and etc to offer, and occasionally even different types of armour. The only way to know which is "best" is to remember ''exactly'' where on the 3 maps your embark site is, select one culture, embark and see what they have to offer, then hit {{k|Esc}} and "abandon game", and try it again with a different culture and compare. A real pain, sometimes. (Make a note about your exact starting location, don't trust it to memory.) In general, civilizations that occupy more world-map tiles offer more types of goods, both for embark and for trade. 

= Site considerations =
Each fortress {{l|location}} offers particular challenges and opportunities, and can make different demands on your starting build. The starting builds below should be adjusted depending on the {{l|region}} your fort occupies, the specific vision you have of your fortress, and what it will take to {{l|losing|stay alive}} where you're going!

The differences include what {{l|biome}}s, {{l|region}}s and stone {{l|layer}}s are present in your chosen embark site, as viewable on the starting menu.

=== General Surroundings ===
Simply put, if your {{l|surroundings}} are {{l|evil}} or {{l|savage}}, your dwarves have a higher risk of suddenly facing personal combat before they are safely behind their defenses. Consider bringing extra weaponry, in the form of axes, picks or crossbows (see {{l|Starting_builds#Free_Equipment|free equipment}}). Hand in hand with those, consider skill mixes that include {{l|axedwarf}}, {{l|mining}} (the skill used to wield a pick), {{l|marksdwarf}}, or {{l|wrestling}} (a solid unarmed-combat skill).

The same is true if you are embarking near an exposed magma vent or an open chasm - these features can be seen on the embark map, but it's impossible to tell if they are "open" to the surface or not, until you are there in person.

Be sure to include some source of {{l|water}} on the map, preferably running {{l|water}}. Water is (almost) essential for any fortress. In Cold and Freezing climates streams and {{l|lake}}s will often be frozen year-round and your dwarves may quickly die of exposure, in Hot climates {{l|murky pool}}s will dry up, and in Dry ones rain will only rarely re-fill them, if ever. Choose Temperate or tropical zones for an easier game.

===Aquifers===
If an {{l|aquifer}} is present in the first soil or stone layers (visible on the pre-embark menu), it may bar all access to {{l|stone}} and {{l|ore}} until you find a way through the water barrier. Consider bringing some stone for building, and ore for your first basic needs, may be critical.

=== Mountains ===
Mountains often have abundant {{l|ore}}s, but at the loss of trees and plants. {{l|Magma}} and rare {{l|metal}}s lure settlers here, but {{l|giant eagle}}s and {{l|chasm}} dwellers are potent threats. You'll want to include a sufficient amount non-mountainous areas in your embark area to obtain lumber and food - or, failing this, to pack a lot of extra food and logs.

Depending on the exact layers, it's common to find exposed {{l|vein}}s of useful {{l|ore}}s that can be immediately mined for {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} weapons and tools.

=== Wooded/Plains ===
Flatlands with at least some trees and gatherable plants can also make for highly successful fortresses. Advantages over mountain zones include abundant trees and plants and (unless frozen) more abundant water. There are even (rare) magma vents. More water also means a high likelyhood of an {{l|aquifer}} being present. Make sure to check on embark.

The greatest disadvantage is the potential lack of exposed {{l|stone}} to mine. The first level(s) below the surface is often {{l|soil}} of some type, which offers no building materials. However, soil is mined much more quickly than stone (x3-x4 faster), and expansive accommodations (rooms) can be achieved quickly even by untrained miners. You will find stone, you just have to go down a bit for it - but that's what dwarves do, isn't it?

{{l|Experience|Training}} a {{l|Miner}} from No Skill to Proficient takes <NEED NEW TIME> in soil, and to Legendary in less than <DITTO>.

=== Oceanside ===
With many features in common with some of the above locations, {{l|beach}}es are often a mix of ease intermingled with bouts of extreme difficulty. Minerals and trees are often abundant, as well as farmland and sand, but there is often no drinking water unless the biome has a flowing {{l|water}} of some sort.

By definition, the settlement will fall between (at least) two {{l|biome}}s (one land, one water), potentially hazardous if the player expects a peaceful oceanside meadow, without realizing the {{l|terrifying}} ocean is full of amphibious zombie {{l|whale}}s.

=== Desert, Glaciers, and Barren ===
Treeless (or near-treeless) {{l|biome}}s are challenging sites for a fortress: you get most of the disadvantages of a flatland site without having access to nearly as many trees and plants. However, near-lifeless zones such as {{l|glacier}}s are wonderful for those with slower machines, as there's little to burden the CPU but your dwarves and livestock. {{l|Desert}}s and barren areas often have sand; with a sufficient source of energy (preferably magma), you can build almost anything out of unlimited glass.

Hunters should be replaced with fisherdwarves and a fish cleaner (although the latter can be easily trained). Depending how much water vs. land, more starting wood and ores might be helpful. Swimming is rarely useful in Fortress mode, even at the beach, and can be trained.

==Sample starting builds==
To use an example starting build, open data/init/embark_profiles.txt and paste the text into it. Next time you embark, the profile will appear as a possible group to take. Using embark profiles is faster than planning carefully, but totally skips dwarf personality. Dwarves are simply assigned first come, first served.
=== BillyBob and the Rock Nuts ===
{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="1" cellpadding="5"
!Profession
!Skills
|-
|FarmerBrewer
|Grower-5, Brewer-5
|-
|MinerMason
|Mining-5, Masonry-3, Engraving-2
|-
|MinerJeweller
|Mining-5, Masonry-2, GemCutting-4
|-
|LumberjackHerbalist
|Woodcutting-4,Herbalism-4, Axedwarf, Armor, Carpentry
|-
|CookDoctor
|Cook-3, Threshing-2, Diagnose, DressWounds, Suture, SetBones, Surgery
|-
|CarpenterLeader
|Carpentry-4, Leadership-3, Negotiate, Appraisal, Record Keeper
|-
|CrafterArchitect
|Stonecraft-5, Building Designer-3, Mechanic
|}
The lumberjack is the only one that _has_ to go outside, and all the rest can work indoors. Two main sources of income are farming (Sweet Pods->Dwarven Syrup) and Rock Crafting (to buy elven wood/barrels).

<pre>
[PROFILE]
[TITLE:BillyBob and the Rock Nuts]
[SKILL:1:MINING:5]
[SKILL:1:DETAILSTONE:3]
[SKILL:1:MASONRY:2]
[SKILL:2:MINING:5]
[SKILL:2:MASONRY:1]
[SKILL:2:CUTGEM:4]
[SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:4]
[SKILL:3:CARPENTRY:1]
[SKILL:3:HERBALISM:3]
[SKILL:3:AXE:1]
[SKILL:3:ARMOR:1]
[SKILL:4:CARPENTRY:4]
[SKILL:4:NEGOTIATION:1]
[SKILL:4:APPRAISAL:1]
[SKILL:4:RECORD_KEEPING:1]
[SKILL:4:LEADERSHIP:3]
[SKILL:5:BREWING:5]
[SKILL:5:PLANT:5]
[SKILL:6:PROCESSPLANTS:2]
[SKILL:6:COOK:3]
[SKILL:6:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
[SKILL:6:DIAGNOSE:1]
[SKILL:6:SURGERY:1]
[SKILL:6:SET_BONE:1]
[SKILL:6:SUTURE:1]
[SKILL:7:STONECRAFT:5]
[SKILL:7:MECHANICS:1]
[SKILL:7:DESIGNBUILDING:4]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:DRINK]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
[ITEM:12:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
[ITEM:11:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
[ITEM:11:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:MARMOT_HOARY:STOMACH]
[ITEM:11:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
[ITEM:1:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:1:CLOTH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:2:CHAIN:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BUCKET:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:SPLINT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:CRUTCH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:15:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:MUSCLE]
[PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:1:DOG:MALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]
</pre>

{{Starting FAQ}}
[[Category:Guides]]

v0.31:Starting build

2010-05-10T22:10:12Z

Ijon: /* BillyBob and the Rock Nuts */ architect -> building designer

{{av}}{{Quality|Exceptional}}

A '''starting build''' is a personal ''strategy'' for choosing the initial supplies, equipment, and {{l|skill}}s of your initial seven dwarves when starting a new game in {{l|fortress mode}}. These skills and items which you assign to your dwarves will have a large impact on life in your new fortress, especially in its first year.

This page attempts to give advice on some of the many gameplay elements which influence the flow of your game based on your goals. These include: choosing a ''fortress site'', the ''starting build'' itself, as well as ''challenge builds'' aimed at providing new or unusual challenges to advanced players.

But one thing should be made clear - there is no "best" build, no "perfect" or "clearly superior" final mix of skills and items. There are too many variables to connect, not the least of which is... you! Your play style, what you, as an individual player, consider preferable for the proper mix of fun and challenge. And then there is the environment, where your dwarves will arrive, the creatures, the resources available, and so forth.

Items are tied to starting skills, and starting skills are tied to the expected environment for your chosen embark, and all are tied to your preferences for playing the game - not all sites require (or invite) the same approach, and no two players would take the same approach to the same environment.

So while suggestions can be made, and new ideas presented for your consideration, ultimately the final "best" mix for you will have to come from your experience, which will begin to grow during your first game. Without understanding "everything", some decisions will just have to be guesswork - and even later you never know "everything".

__TOC__

== Components of a Starting Build ==
A starting build must be seen as a whole - the embark location affects the needed supplies, and influences what skills may be most needed or useful. Along with this is player preferences - if you wish an economy based on {{l|prepared meal}}s, {{l|glass}}, or {{l|steel}}, each of those have very different requirements. Likewise, if you want to play a military game, fighting off sieges with huge battles, that's a very different mix (and different site requirements) than if you want a calm location to build your perfect {{l|mega construction}}.

=== Skills ===
With only 7 dwarves, you can't take every {{l|skill}}, so you have to balance what you do take. At this starting phase, each dwarf can only be assigned a maximum total of 10 skill levels, with no single skill starting higher than "5". With 7 starting dwarves, you could no skills at all, or take 70 skills all at level 1, or 14 skills all at level 5* (2 per dwarf), the highest allowed at embark, or (most likely) something close in between the last two, but closer to that last.

:''(* Note that an unskilled dwarf starts with all Skills at Level '''0'''. Adding +5 Levels is then Level '''5'''. This is true regardless of how many "points" a level costs when first buying skills at embark.)''

Once play starts, dwarves can learn any and all skills - these choices only determine what sort of "head start" they have, what they are good at when they first hit the ground. See {{l|experience}} for a discussion of increasing skills during game play.

The considerations are several:

:* Maximizing starting skill ranks vs. generalizing and having more skills covered at lower levels.
:* Balancing multiple skills for a single dwarf, so they aren't constantly needed for two different tasks at critical periods
:* Military vs economic needs
:* Your goals vs "basic survival needs" to keep your fortress healthy and happy.
:* Speed that a skill can be trained in game
:* Demand for a skill during a game
:* Whether quality or speed are significant considerations for tasks/final product
:* Balancing the desire to create {{l|wealth}} ''(with high-value products)'' with the need to maintain {{l|thought|morale}} ''(with low-value but commonly used products, like {{l|bed}}s, which normally are made from {{l|wood}})''.
:* & most importantly - ''your playstyle'' - what '''you''' think is "fun"!

While there are some arguable "no-brainer" choices (or are for each player, according to their playstyle), the final few selections are often a coin toss, or close to. And there is often more than one way to skin a cat - in fact, while many players recommend ''never'' starting with more than one cat, starting with many cats (breeding them for leather, bones and meat) and a skilled {{l|leatherworker}} and/or {{l|bone carver}} is one way to go with (part of) a starting build. Until you have some personal experience, the various suggestions and advice may mean little, but will have more meaning after your first fortress inevitably fails - {{l|Losing|losing is fun}}.

So don't over-think it at first - you'll make a good guess, dive in, and learn far more than we can explain here.

=== Items ===
The starting items are what is needed for your dwarves to survive until they are self-sufficient, or at least until the first yearly {{l|caravan}}s will keep them afloat. The first won't show up until Autumn, so that's more than 2 seasons your dwarves are on their own.

A dwarf eats about 2 meals a season, and drinks a little more than 4 drinks in that same time. If you add your expected {{L|migrant}}s, multiply that by the number of seasons, you can estimate how much food and booze will be needed to get you safely through to the first {{L|caravan}} - barring {{L|losing|the unforeseen}}. In your starting build, you can bring all of that, or your {{l|hunter}}s, {{l|Plant gathering|plant gatherers}}, {{l|fisherdwarf}}s, {{l|grower}}s and {{l|brewer}}s can provide some or most of it.

Similarly, most of the finished products are expensive to buy pre-embark, and so a minimum is recommended - maybe a pick or two for immediate mining and basic defense, maybe a (cheap?) axe* or two for better defense and cutting wood, thread, cloth or a rope for a {{l|well}}, maybe a few leather to make bags, and call it good.

:''(* "Wooden practice axes" cost only 17P, and cut down wood just fine. They will be significantly weaker than metal axes in combat, but still far superior to {{L|wrestling}}, and you can {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} quickly enough.)''

You can produce any and all of those from scratch if you are willing to wait - and your {{l|surroundings}} don't kill you first. Raw materials are much cheaper, in the form of {{l|ore}}s, {{l|wood}}, {{l|leather}} and so forth, but whether you want to take the time at the start of the game is the question. The trade-off is always a balance of cost savings vs. time savings when you first strike the earth. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

====Your civilization====
On the map menu, if you hit {{k|Tab}} twice, you will see a list of possible {{l |Civilization}}s that your dwarves can start from, if there is more than one. Each can have access to different starting equipment and material to offer you - some will be significantly better or worse supplied, and some may be lacking one key item you desire, while another will lack something else equally critical to your plan. Unfortunately you will only find out when selecting your items, after selecting a {{l|location}}. To chose another Civilization requires a start-over. Another important difference is whether your civilization is at {{l|war}} with one of the neighbours; This results in early attacks on your fort and, obviously, no trade {{l|caravan}}s from them.

If you don't like the civilization you chose, or wish to compare what each has to offer, you must either finish the embark, "abandon" the fortress and then re-embark in the same location (using a '''saved''' copy of the game world!), or use {{k|Ctl}}+{{k|Alt}}+{{k|Del}} (or the equiv for your OS), shut down the game and restart it from scratch, then Start again, reload the game world, and find the same embark site - this is not difficult if you made careful notes, but is still a pain, no doubt.

Every such re-start gives you a different mix of dwarves with different names, {{L |attribute|attributes}}, {{L |personality|personalities}} and {{L |preferences}}, but the civilizations are part of the map and stay constant. The default civilization chosen for you will vary, however.

===Saving a starting mix===
Once you have the mix of items and skills that you like, you can hit {{k|s}} and save it to a template with a custom name. In a later game, you can pick that profile when you embark. If your selected civilization does not have some of the desired items in your template, this is announced clearly, and a different civilization can be tried as described above, or you can continue and change your mix.

If you match skills to the {{l|preferences}} and {{L |personality|personalities}} of your dwarves, it may be an idea not to include any skills in such a template, as they will simply be applied in the original order to the current dwarves as they appear on the list.

If you find additional items that you wish to add (perhaps another type of cheap meat, or an ore not previously available), you can edit those in by hitting {{k|s}}, overwriting your old template.

:''(You can also go into the .txt file, located at data/init/embark_profiles, and edit in the SKILLS or ITEMS as you want - the syntax is fairly straightforward.)''

= "Play Now!" =
This option gives you an automatic, low-powered and generalized starting mix with no thinking involved. If you select this option, you are ''immediately'' advanced to the game map with no chance to alter your starting skills or items.

When you pick this option, you currently{{version|0.31.01}} start with:

'''dwarves:'''
:* one Adequate" {{l|Miner}} (+2 {{l|Experience|skill levels}})
& five dwarves with Novice (+1 skill level) in each of the following skills...
:* {{l|Carpenter}}/ {{l|Bowyer}}
:* {{l|Engraver}}/ {{l|Mason}}/ {{l|Mechanic}}/ {{l|Building designer|Building Designer}}
:* {{l|Gem cutter|Gem Cutter}}/ {{l|Gem setter|Gem Setter}}/ {{l|Wood crafter}}/ {{l|Stone crafter}}/ {{l|Bone carver|Bone Carver}}
:* {{l|Fisherdwarf}}
:* {{l|Fish cleaner|Fish Cleaner}}/ {{l|Butcher}}/ {{l|Tanner}}/ {{l|Weaver}}/ {{l|Clothier}}/ {{l|Leatherworker}}

:And one "Leader", with Novice in:
:* {{l|Wood cutter|Wood Cutter}}/ {{l|Brewer}}/ {{l|Cook}}/ {{l|Grower}}/ {{l|Herbalist}}/ {{l|Wood burner|Wood Burner}}/ {{l|Furnace operator|Furnace Operator}}/ {{l|Lye maker|Lye Maker}}/ {{l|Potash maker|Potash Maker}}
::''plus'' Adequate in:
:: {{l|Wound dresser|Wound Dresser}}, {{l|Diagnostician}}, {{l|Surgeon}}, {{l|Bone doctor|Bone Doctor}}, {{l|Suturer}}.

:''(Note that that last dwarf has far more "levels" in starting skills (by twice!) for a single dwarf than are allowed by "Planning Carefully", below!)''

'''Items'''
:* 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s
:* 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s
:* 1 Iron {{l|anvil}}
:* 60 units alcohol (20 each of 3 random types1, 12 free barrels)
:* 5 ''each'' {{l|seed}}s2 (& 6 bags)
:* 15 units of meat (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of fish (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of plump helmets (10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 5 pig tail fiber thread
:* 5 pig tail fiber cloth
:* 5 pig tail fiber bag
:* 3 pig tail fiber ropes
:* 3 wooden4 buckets
:* 3 wooden4 splints
:* 3 wooden4 crutch
:* 2 dogs (random sex)
:* 2 cats (random sex)
:* 1 random cow/ox/mule/horse (random sex)

::''Notes:''
:::1. ''There are only 4 different {{L |alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)''
:::2. ''The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, quarry bush.''
:::3. ''A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full. ''
:::4. ''All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.''

As a challenge for an experienced player, this is not an uncommon choice. But even as a starting player you can do much better if you choose the "'''Prepare for the journey carefully'''" option and do just that - prepare carefully, as described below...

="Prepare for the Journey Carefully"=
Good advice. This option allows you complete control over your starting mix of skills and beginning items. By default, your dwarves start with no skills, and you are offered the following items, which are very similar to the "Play Now" mix, but all are optional and can be sold back and changed according to your preferences. Each item costs a number of "points" - you will buy ''both'' your starting items ''and'' the starting {{L |skills}} for your dwarves with one pool of combined points, 1274 total.

(This choice also allows you to select/create the {{l|Fortress name}} yourself, rather than have it randomly generated.)

The point costs for the default items are listed below.

::{|cellpadding="2" border="1"
! Default Items !! Cost (in "points") !! Comments
|-
| 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s || 88 (44 each) || for {{l|mining}}
|-
| 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s || 136 (68 each) || weapons and {{l|woodcutting}}
|-
| 1 Iron {{l|anvil}} || 100 || required for any metal working
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 5 of each underground seed2 || | 30 6*5 (1 each) || 6 free bags
|-
| 15 meat of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 fish of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 {{l|Plump helmet}}s || 60 (4 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber thread || 60 (12 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber cloth || 70 (14 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber bag || 100 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 pig tail fiber ropes || 60 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 wooden4 buckets || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 splints || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 crutch || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| No dogs, no cats || ||
|-
|}
:1. There are only 4 different {{L|alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)
:2. The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, and quarry bush.
:3. A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full.
:4. All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.

With the above items, your point pool starts at '''300''' (visible in the lower right corner). This is not ''close'' to enough points to buy full skills for all your dwarves, but you can sell back any or all of the above items that you choose and recover the points, spending them as you prefer. There is no quick and easy solution to this, but the possible options are infinite*. Returning all equipment is worth 1274 points total, but unused points are of no use after embark, once the actual gameplay starts, so spend now or waste them.

:''(* Note that an anvil is needed to do any metalworking, and in turn cannot be created without another anvil. Selling your anvil back means you will not do any metalworking at least until the Autumn {{L |caravan}}, and then only if they bring one - which they 'usually' do, but not always. Next dwarven caravan is a year after that, and so on.)''

=====Using the menu=====
Use {{k|Tab}} to switch between selecting Skills and Items. Use the 4 directional keys or number pad to navigate to highlight the different choices/columns, and {{k|+}} or {{k|-}} to choose more or less of the highlighted item or skill. When viewing items, hit {{k|n}} to go to a menu for any "new" items, that are not currently listed, including any you removed by reducing the number to 0; select the item, hit {{k|Enter}}, then increase the number desired as above ({{k|+}} or {{k|-}}) in the main menu.

If you cannot buy additional skill levels, you are out of points and must return some items for additional points. Higher-priced items will automatically be removed from viewable new items if you do not have enough points for those selections, showing only what you can afford with your current points.

=== Skills ===
At this stage, pre-embark, skills cost a number of starting points, equaling monetary value. Later, during fortress mode, all skills will be trained by practice, and "cost" is no longer a concern. All dwarves start with "No Skill" and the first additional skill level (Novice) costs 5 points. To buy the next level would cost 6, and so on. To buy up Proficient (the max allowed to start with), costs 5+6+7+8+9, or 35 points.

A dwarf can start with up to 10 additional levels, regardless whether that's 10 skills at Novice, or 2 skills at Proficient. So, if you are going to buy the maximum skills allowed (highly recommended), that can cost from between 50 to 70 points each, but is usually around 400-450+ for all 7 dwarves.

Each {{l|dwarf}} can (over time) learn any or all {{l|skills}}. Dwarves with little experience in a skill will work slowly and ineffectively, while dwarves with higher skill work faster and/or produce a significantly higher quality product. Some skills are not used often, and/or produce no "quality" in the final product, or produce qualities that have little impact on the game - for these it's questionable whether investing in high starting levels is worthwhile, but that's often a judgment call.

* For example inexperienced {{l|herbalist|herbalists}} will gather stacks of only one or two {{l|plant}}s, and often nothing at all, and inexperienced {{l|farming|farmers}} will often plant stacks of only one or two plants. This results in a small overall output which takes many {{l|container#container|containers}} to store in, less effective {{l|food}} preparation in the {{l|kitchen}}, and more space needed for {{l|stockpiles}}.
* Inexperienced {{l|miner}}s work very slowly and are less likely to recover mined gems or valuable ores. Mining can be leveled up quite quickly by mining {{l|soil#soil|soil}}, but taking two dwarves with at least some points in mining is recommended in many cases.
* In nearly all {{l|workshop}}s, inexperienced dwarves who create items will only rarely produce high-quality goods, and take a long time doing so. Skilled dwarves work quickly and produce high-quality items far more reliably.
** {{l|Quality}} is a central concept in the game - it affects {{l|food}}, {{l|alcohol}}, and almost anything you will have your dwarves create in the game: {{l|trading}} goods, {{l|barrel}}s, {{l|clothing}}, {{l|armor}}, {{l|furniture}}, {{l|weapon|weapons}}, and so on. Quality also has a large effect on the worth of an item while {{l|trading}}.

Dwarves improve their skills on a learning-by-doing-basis. Dwarves who have specific labors will attain Dabbling status as soon as they complete one job of that type. (Certain jobs, such as building workshops, won't make your dwarves more experienced. But most will.) As the number of jobs they do increases, their skill will increase as well. Overall, "leveling up" the dwarves' skills quickly is a good game goal to set. Doing so may result in your dwarves efficiently creating a magnificent fortress filled to the brim with valuable items and {{l|furniture}}. (Or it might {{l|losing|not}}.)

Using and seeing high-quality items gives dwarves happy {{l|thought}}s. This tends to decrease the incidences of {{l|tantrum}}s, increasing a fortress's longevity.

==== Which skills do I need, really? ====

The only thing that you absolutely must do in the first year is get your food supplies into a food stockpile, preferably inside, otherwise your food will rot on the ground and your dwarves will starve. Anything else you want to do can be accommodated by sufficient investment in initial food supplies and/or skills. This means the options for possible starting builds are vast because virtually any set of starting skills for your dwarves is viable (and that's before you even think about equipment, which adds more variables). So the short answer is: none.

That said, there are some skills which will be '''used''', to one extent or another, by virtually every fortress - but that doesn't mean you '''need''' or even want to invest points in them to start. You could even manipulate the fortress (see {{l|challenge}}) to completely avoid one or more of the following, but these are the skills you will find it exceptionally hard to avoid creating jobs for:
:{{l|Mining}} - to dig your fortress, and gain stone for projects. Only possible to avoid using if you're secretly an elf.
:{{l|Carpentry}} - {{l|bed}}s can only be produced from {{l|wood}} (rare {{l|mood}}s aside)
:{{l|Masonry}} - to build walls and stairs, and fashion dwarven furniture from stone. Possible to work around, but incredibly hard and annoying to do.
:{{l|Grower|Growing}} - your farmers' work echoes throughout so many other tasks, it's stunning
:{{l|Brewing}} - all dwarves "need alcohol to get through the working day"
:{{L|Butchery}} - to control the inevitable catsplosion. Killing your processor is not a good idea.
:{{l|Mechanics}} - if you want traps, and most people will. Also needed for most machinery, now more essential than ever since irrigating is no longer optional.
:{{l|Architecture|Building Designer}} - mandatory for some buildings and constructions, but skill only improves speed a tad and increases structure {{l|value}}
:{{l|Broker skills}} - most importantly {{l|appraiser}} - for {{l|trade|trading}}
:{{L|Record keeper}} - Lets you be able to see the exact amount of things you have much faster than training one, and is necessary to view the stocks screen.

''Note! - Some new skills in 01.30.01 are unclear as to their use/need - Observer, Fighter, Leader and so on.''

Of the above, Masonry, Growing, Brewing, Cooking, and Mechanics are generally worth considering as "highly desirable" starting skills for your dwarves. Carpentry is used, but opinions differ - on one hand, wood items are just not worth that much {{l|value}}-wise ''(10's of dwarfbucks vs 100's for stone furniture or 1000's for armor or prepared foods, for instance)'', so the difference in monetary value between high-quality and no-quality is minor for wood products. However, high-quality {{l|bed}}s are one of the easiest ways to help make and keep your dwarves {{l|thought|happy}} (since every dwarf will encounter a bed regularly), so some players swear by it. Mining is important but also fast to train, so one or two unskilled miners is usually ample. You will almost certainly have animals to butcher, but skill in {{l|butchery}} produces nothing of "quality" (meat is meat) and speed is usually not a consideration for the typical demand (butchering unwanted offspring, like kittens). A minimum of Broker skills are highly recommended to start with at the Novice (1 pt) level - it'll make your life much easier (especially Novice level of {{l|Appraiser}}, at least, as it greatly facilitates trading).

Of course, even near-certainty that you will use these skills doesn't mean you have to start with dwarves already skilled in them. Remember, '''any skill can be used untrained, and/or get trained on the job''' - it just means a slower process and/or average lower quality product than if done by a dwarf with a higher {{l|experience|skill level}}. All of the above skills can be used untrained if you so choose, but you will use them.

Ultimately the answer to "What skills do I need?" is "Whichever ''you'' want". Choosing a mixture of these commonly used skills and your desired specialized skills will make starting up your fortress easier and more efficient.

==== What considerations could inform my skill selection?====
Every skill not listed in the preceeding section is only used if you want it to be, and the benefits of experience in skills vary considerably. Skills you choose have to be balanced against your play-style, the environment (danger, ores, other resources), the relative value of the final product, and what you must give up to gain those skills. You will often want some optional skills, often vastly more than something as useful and desirable as even masonry. For example, any player intending to do more than dabble in the metal industry may well want to start with multiple dwarves each highly skilled in at least one metal industry skill, especially those that produce goods with {{L|Quality|quality}}.

The following may influence your choices of skills:

#Some skills are harder to gain experience in than others - requiring valuable resources or taking an extended period of time, and thus inconvenient to train from the ground up. Investing in some of these extensively in your initial dwarves can make those industries much less painful to start. For example, metal-related skills generally eat metal bars, and thus the less time you spend training metal workers up to a decent level, the faster they'll be churning out high-quality items for you, and the fewer bars they'll waste becoming skilled. On the other hand, despite its importance, skills like mining train relatively quickly and barring extenuating circumstances (expected need to accomplish particular digging projects in the first month or you'll get mauled by a Giant for example) there's little need to actually invest your starting skills in it - they can learn on the job.
#Keep in mind that some skills are used to make {{l|legendary artifact}}s, and successfully making an artifact will give the dwarf a lot of experience in the used skill. It can be worth investing in some skills solely to bias your artifact skill pool in the hopes of getting a legendary dwarf in an industry you want to really get working on a year or two in. (See {{l|Strange mood}}s for more info.)
#While its possible to feed your fortress on nothing but caravan goods, you'll never come by enough alcohol that way, so you'll eventually need to grow crops for brewing, and dwarves will literally go crazy if forced to drink nothing but water for long periods. Thus you'll want to plan for farming eventually - not that you need to bring a highly skilled {{l|Grower}}, but it'll certainly be ''very'' helpful. Likewise, a skilled {{l|brewer}} produces higher quality {{l|alcohol}} (''though the quality is hidden!)'', which improves your dwarves' mood, as does a skilled {{l|cook}} with the foods they prepare. However, most food can be eaten raw, and so long as they are not starving there is life.
#If you plan on settling in a dangerous area, consider including at least some military skills, if not a dedicated {{l|soldier}}, or several. The nature of the environment should dictate the military skills chosen (for example, marksdwarves will be an ineffective counter to expected roving hordes of {{l|skeletal}} wildlife).

====Generalist vs Specialist====
Any dwarf can have any labor designated, and they will perform that task and learn or improve that skill, even if they have no skill related to that labor when they start. So you don't need an example of every skill. A skilled dwarf will produce a better {{l|quality}} product, and/or do it faster, but if that's rarely used, "faster" doesn't mean as much. Many jobs have no real "product", and so no quality modifiers - plant gathering, wood cutting, wood burning, smelting, animal trainer, etc. etc. merely produce "stuff", not "quality stuff", or may not be used very often, and/or not be used much after the first year of the fortress. There are as many opinions about balancing generalists with specialists as there are players.

Some skills are also trained up fairly quickly or cheaply, especially where the task consumes no (valuable) materials, or doesn't matter in the final product - mining, furnace operator, wood cutting, butcher, tanner, glass making and (especially) {{l|administrator}} skills being only a few examples.



==== Combining Skills ====
Some {{l|skills}} are highly time-consuming, and working at different jobs levels up specific {{l|attribute}}s. One could level up a miner until he becomes mighty and ultra-tough - and then turn him into a soldier, or retire him to haul stone. If you plan on doing so, it may not be a good idea to give this guy a second critical job that will demand a lot of time away from their focus. There are many parts to a suit of armour, so armoursmithing will take more time than weaponsmithing - once you have one weapon per soldier, he's done. Masons, miners, growers, and any craft that your fortress will base their economy off of (glass, stonecrafts, armour, etc) will take a lot of time.

Since tasks will take place in specific areas, another approach is to combine tasks into dwarves who will take care of a specific industry, or spend all their time in one generally narrow part of the fortress - the forges, or the kitchens, or outdoors, for instance. So combining Farming with cooking, rather than mining, for example, and turn on only Haul Food, not Haul Stone. Woodcutter/Herbalist/Mason/Axedwarf (for outdoor walls/projects) might be another combination - the possibilities are endless.

Some combinations follow naturally in sequence to each other, but also can conflict with each other. One animal is butchered, then the leather is tanned, and the meat is cooked. But if you have 5 animals, several will rot before one dwarf can process all of those. A highly skilled craftsdwarf is often better suited at sitting in their {{l|workshop}} and having others deliver raw materials to them, than going out and obtaining their own raw materials themselves.

Many builds recommend combinations such as:

* '''Outdoors''': Woodcutter/Plant Gatherer. Add {{l|axeman|Axedwarf}} for added security.
* '''Mason+____''' : In many fortresses, the Mason is a very busy dwarf. He could be a spare miner, have abilities that are only rarely needed, or do tasks that can be accomplished quickly like {{l|building designer}}.
* '''Farmer/Cook, Farmer/Brewer'''. Basic two-person food team.
* '''Farmer/Herbalist, Farmer/Brewer/Cook'''. One bold dwarf to farm and venture outside looking for wild plants, the other to keep busy in the {{l|still}}, kitchen, and indoor farms.
* '''Boss''': Novice {{l|Negotiator}}/Novice {{l|Judge of intent}}/Novice {{l|Appraiser}}. This guy will be your {{l|Leader}} and {{l|Trader}}; you can make him {{l|record keeper}} too (the default), at least to start with. Combine this with a single time-intensive task such as {{l|Masonry}} and optionally turn off all hauling tasks right at the start of the game. Or keep him a generalist, or combine with one of the other options.
* '''Weaponsmith/Leatherworker''': If they're not arming your military, they're making leather armor for them.
* '''{{l|Craftsdwarf}}''', depending on your strategy - e.g. {{l|glass}} maker, {{l|weaponsmith}} or {{l|armorsmith}}, sometimes combined with related tasks from that industry ({{l|furnace operating}}, {{l|wood burner|wood burning}}). Typically an item hauler in the initial months of your fortress, this dwarf may become one of your most valuable dwarves later.

Not all combinations have to "look right" together. A weaponsmith will most probably not spend nearly 100% of their time creating weapons - what they do with the other part of their time may have nothing at all to do with forges or smithing.

* '''Grower/GemCutter''' (or Grower/x-Craft): When gems are found, he's there, otherwise he's outstanding in his fields.
* '''Mechanic/Brewer''': usually produces the mechanized defenses, but does moonshining when it's called for.
* '''Miner/______''': This dwarf will quickly become legendary in mining, and then retire to pursue something else full time. On call for important veins of high-value ore.
* '''Brewer/Appraiser/Leatherworker''': several typically low-demand skills
* '''StoneCrafter/Herbalist''' - after quickly finding above-ground plants for seeds for the first season, they never go back unless something goes wrong.
* '''(x-Craft)/Armor User''': Plan for the future - armor using is slow to train in if this dwarf is ever going to join the military.

You can max out one skill and have several lower-level skills additionally, or just several skills that are not maxed out - the combinations are (almost) infinite.

Combinations like these often have one {{l|moodable}} skill and one non-moodable (or a less desired moodable skill at lower level), so any mood will improve the desired one.

==== Combining Skills for Moods ====

{{l|Strange mood}}s will create a Legendary skill of the "moodable" skill with the highest level, and moods take hold of dwarves with different professions at different rates. Some skills are "moodable" where others are not. Another consideration is to place desired moodable skills with non-moodable, to ensure that both the professions and highest skills stay as preferred. Usually this involves one "craft" skill and one "farmer" type skill, such as Armor/Cook, or Weapon/Brewer. This can take some manipulation, and is not of primary concern to many players.

=====Matching skills to a dwarf's personal profile=====
Once you have your optimal skill mix for all 7 starting dwarves, you can, if you wish, take the time to {{k|v}}iew each of your individual dwarves and match skills to their {{l|preference}}s. This can be very advantageous: if you have a dwarf who likes {{l|steel}}, {{l|clear glass}}, {{l|crossbow}}s, {{l|siege engine}} parts, or something else equally interesting, they're an ideal candidate for matching skills (specifically for these examples, {{l|armorsmith}}, {{l|glassmaker}}, {{l|bowyer}}, or {{l|siege engineer}}).

Likewise, if they have any obviously relevant {{l|personality}} strengths or weaknesses, those should be factored in. Some are obscure or ambiguous, but some ("Is constantly active and energetic") are a clear sign.

=== Items ===

An experienced player can start out with no skills for their starting dwarves, 1 copper nugget and an anvil - and nothing else - and have {{l|Make_your_own_weapons#Minimalist_challenge_build|everything they need}}. So what is "needed" is up to what you think is "fun" vs. "too hard" etc. etc. etc.

Some basics are recommended for all builds. Unless you plan to {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}}, you definitely need to bring one {{l|pick}} for each {{l|miner}}, and if you plan to gather wood, you need an {{l|axe}}, which will become a weapon in wartime. Also a minimum of about 25-30* {{l|food}} and about 55-60* {{l|alcohol}}, which should get 7 dwarves through to the first {{l|caravan}} in Fall. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

::''(* A single dwarf eats about 2x/season, and drinks about 4x/season. With 7 dwarves that's ~approximately~ 14 meals per season and 28 alcohol per season, or ~28 meals and ~56 alcohol until the end of Summer. The Caravan is due sometime in Autumn, usually early Autumn, in the second week or so, but the first won't have enough to keep you going until whenever the next one arrives. Hopefully you'll have some food and brewing industry going by the first, or soon after.)''

Note: Many builds recommend that you bring many different cheap foods, in quantities ending in a "1" (1, 11, 21, etc.), and alcohols in amounts ending in a "1" or "6". This is to maximize the number of free {{l|barrel|barrels}} you start with; dry foodstuffs fit 10/barrel, and (pre-embark) alcohol fits 5/barrel. More barrels will let you build a larger stockpile for your first winter and conserves the {{l|wood}} you need to cut and shape in the early game for beds and other necessities. (Seeds are 100/bag, and you don't need near that many of any one type, so 6 bags max with this approach. Even if you don't plan on growing much {{l|cave wheat}}, starting with 1 seed and getting the free bag, and planting that one see later and dumping the result could be worth it.)

===== Items for moods =====
When a dwarf is taken by a {{l|strange mood}}, they often need obscure material or they will go insane and die, possibly with severe consequences to an entire fortress. Bringing along some of the harder to find ores ({{l|cassiterite}}, {{l|sphalerite}}, {{l|bismuthinite}}, {{l|garnierite}}) and shells ({{l|cave lobster}}, {{l|turtle}}), and putting those aside, forbidding their use "just in case", is spending a few points on an insurance policy. Bringing along a few bits of cloth thread is a good idea. Just in case.

===== Free Equipment =====

Dwarves who start with the ambusher skill may get some leather {{l|armor}}, a crossbow and some bolts for free.





====Different starting cultures====
Before actually hitting "embark", you often have the option to choose one of several starting dwarven cultures (one of the options shown when you {{k|Tab}} through the various sub-screens). Different cultures will have different meats, fish, stones and etc to offer, and occasionally even different types of armour. The only way to know which is "best" is to remember ''exactly'' where on the 3 maps your embark site is, select one culture, embark and see what they have to offer, then hit {{k|Esc}} and "abandon game", and try it again with a different culture and compare. A real pain, sometimes. (Make a note about your exact starting location, don't trust it to memory.) In general, civilizations that occupy more world-map tiles offer more types of goods, both for embark and for trade. 

= Site considerations =
Each fortress {{l|location}} offers particular challenges and opportunities, and can make different demands on your starting build. The starting builds below should be adjusted depending on the {{l|region}} your fort occupies, the specific vision you have of your fortress, and what it will take to {{l|losing|stay alive}} where you're going!

The differences include what {{l|biome}}s, {{l|region}}s and stone {{l|layer}}s are present in your chosen embark site, as viewable on the starting menu.

=== General Surroundings ===
Simply put, if your {{l|surroundings}} are {{l|evil}} or {{l|savage}}, your dwarves have a higher risk of suddenly facing personal combat before they are safely behind their defenses. Consider bringing extra weaponry, in the form of axes, picks or crossbows (see {{l|Starting_builds#Free_Equipment|free equipment}}). Hand in hand with those, consider skill mixes that include {{l|axedwarf}}, {{l|mining}} (the skill used to wield a pick), {{l|marksdwarf}}, or {{l|wrestling}} (a solid unarmed-combat skill).

The same is true if you are embarking near an exposed magma vent or an open chasm - these features can be seen on the embark map, but it's impossible to tell if they are "open" to the surface or not, until you are there in person.

Be sure to include some source of {{l|water}} on the map, preferably running {{l|water}}. Water is (almost) essential for any fortress. In Cold and Freezing climates streams and {{l|lake}}s will often be frozen year-round and your dwarves may quickly die of exposure, in Hot climates {{l|murky pool}}s will dry up, and in Dry ones rain will only rarely re-fill them, if ever. Choose Temperate or tropical zones for an easier game.

===Aquifers===
If an {{l|aquifer}} is present in the first soil or stone layers (visible on the pre-embark menu), it may bar all access to {{l|stone}} and {{l|ore}} until you find a way through the water barrier. Consider bringing some stone for building, and ore for your first basic needs, may be critical.

=== Mountains ===
Mountains often have abundant {{l|ore}}s, but at the loss of trees and plants. {{l|Magma}} and rare {{l|metal}}s lure settlers here, but {{l|giant eagle}}s and {{l|chasm}} dwellers are potent threats. You'll want to include a sufficient amount non-mountainous areas in your embark area to obtain lumber and food - or, failing this, to pack a lot of extra food and logs.

Depending on the exact layers, it's common to find exposed {{l|vein}}s of useful {{l|ore}}s that can be immediately mined for {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} weapons and tools.

=== Wooded/Plains ===
Flatlands with at least some trees and gatherable plants can also make for highly successful fortresses. Advantages over mountain zones include abundant trees and plants and (unless frozen) more abundant water. There are even (rare) magma vents. More water also means a high likelyhood of an {{l|aquifer}} being present. Make sure to check on embark.

The greatest disadvantage is the potential lack of exposed {{l|stone}} to mine. The first level(s) below the surface is often {{l|soil}} of some type, which offers no building materials. However, soil is mined much more quickly than stone (x3-x4 faster), and expansive accommodations (rooms) can be achieved quickly even by untrained miners. You will find stone, you just have to go down a bit for it - but that's what dwarves do, isn't it?

{{l|Experience|Training}} a {{l|Miner}} from No Skill to Proficient takes <NEED NEW TIME> in soil, and to Legendary in less than <DITTO>.

=== Oceanside ===
With many features in common with some of the above locations, {{l|beach}}es are often a mix of ease intermingled with bouts of extreme difficulty. Minerals and trees are often abundant, as well as farmland and sand, but there is often no drinking water unless the biome has a flowing {{l|water}} of some sort.

By definition, the settlement will fall between (at least) two {{l|biome}}s (one land, one water), potentially hazardous if the player expects a peaceful oceanside meadow, without realizing the {{l|terrifying}} ocean is full of amphibious zombie {{l|whale}}s.

=== Desert, Glaciers, and Barren ===
Treeless (or near-treeless) {{l|biome}}s are challenging sites for a fortress: you get most of the disadvantages of a flatland site without having access to nearly as many trees and plants. However, near-lifeless zones such as {{l|glacier}}s are wonderful for those with slower machines, as there's little to burden the CPU but your dwarves and livestock. {{l|Desert}}s and barren areas often have sand; with a sufficient source of energy (preferably magma), you can build almost anything out of unlimited glass.

Hunters should be replaced with fisherdwarves and a fish cleaner (although the latter can be easily trained). Depending how much water vs. land, more starting wood and ores might be helpful. Swimming is rarely useful in Fortress mode, even at the beach, and can be trained.

==Sample starting builds==
To use an example starting build, open data/init/embark_profiles.txt and paste the text into it. Next time you embark, the profile will appear as a possible group to take. Using embark profiles is faster than planning carefully, but totally skips dwarf personality. Dwarves are simply assigned first come, first served.
=== BillyBob and the Rock Nuts ===
{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="1" cellpadding="5"
!Profession
!Skills
|-
|FarmerBrewer
|Grower-5, Brewer-5
|-
|MinerMason
|Mining-5, Masonry-3, Engraving-2
|-
|MinerJeweller
|Mining-5, Masonry-2, GemCutting-4
|-
|LumberjackHerbalist
|Woodcutting-4,Herbalism-4, Axedwarf, Armor, Carpentry
|-
|CookDoctor
|Cook-3, Threshing-2, Diagnose, DressWounds, Suture, SetBones, Surgery
|-
|CarpenterLeader
|Carpentry-4, Leadership-3, Negotiate, Appraisal, Bookkeeping
|-
|CrafterArchitect
|Stonecraft-5, Building Designer-3, Mechanic
|}
The lumberjack is the only one that _has_ to go outside, and all the rest can work indoors. Two main sources of income are farming (Sweet Pods->Dwarven Syrup) and Rock Crafting (to buy elven wood/barrels).

<pre>
[PROFILE]
[TITLE:BillyBob and the Rock Nuts]
[SKILL:1:MINING:5]
[SKILL:1:DETAILSTONE:3]
[SKILL:1:MASONRY:2]
[SKILL:2:MINING:5]
[SKILL:2:MASONRY:1]
[SKILL:2:CUTGEM:4]
[SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:4]
[SKILL:3:CARPENTRY:1]
[SKILL:3:HERBALISM:3]
[SKILL:3:AXE:1]
[SKILL:3:ARMOR:1]
[SKILL:4:CARPENTRY:4]
[SKILL:4:NEGOTIATION:1]
[SKILL:4:APPRAISAL:1]
[SKILL:4:RECORD_KEEPING:1]
[SKILL:4:LEADERSHIP:3]
[SKILL:5:BREWING:5]
[SKILL:5:PLANT:5]
[SKILL:6:PROCESSPLANTS:2]
[SKILL:6:COOK:3]
[SKILL:6:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
[SKILL:6:DIAGNOSE:1]
[SKILL:6:SURGERY:1]
[SKILL:6:SET_BONE:1]
[SKILL:6:SUTURE:1]
[SKILL:7:STONECRAFT:5]
[SKILL:7:MECHANICS:1]
[SKILL:7:DESIGNBUILDING:4]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:DRINK]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
[ITEM:12:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
[ITEM:11:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
[ITEM:11:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:MARMOT_HOARY:STOMACH]
[ITEM:11:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
[ITEM:1:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:1:CLOTH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:2:CHAIN:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BUCKET:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:SPLINT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:CRUTCH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:15:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:MUSCLE]
[PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:1:DOG:MALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]
</pre>

{{Starting FAQ}}
[[Category:Guides]]

v0.31:Starting build

2010-05-10T22:08:03Z

Ijon: /* BillyBob and the Rock Nuts */ Plantprocessing -> threshing

{{av}}{{Quality|Exceptional}}

A '''starting build''' is a personal ''strategy'' for choosing the initial supplies, equipment, and {{l|skill}}s of your initial seven dwarves when starting a new game in {{l|fortress mode}}. These skills and items which you assign to your dwarves will have a large impact on life in your new fortress, especially in its first year.

This page attempts to give advice on some of the many gameplay elements which influence the flow of your game based on your goals. These include: choosing a ''fortress site'', the ''starting build'' itself, as well as ''challenge builds'' aimed at providing new or unusual challenges to advanced players.

But one thing should be made clear - there is no "best" build, no "perfect" or "clearly superior" final mix of skills and items. There are too many variables to connect, not the least of which is... you! Your play style, what you, as an individual player, consider preferable for the proper mix of fun and challenge. And then there is the environment, where your dwarves will arrive, the creatures, the resources available, and so forth.

Items are tied to starting skills, and starting skills are tied to the expected environment for your chosen embark, and all are tied to your preferences for playing the game - not all sites require (or invite) the same approach, and no two players would take the same approach to the same environment.

So while suggestions can be made, and new ideas presented for your consideration, ultimately the final "best" mix for you will have to come from your experience, which will begin to grow during your first game. Without understanding "everything", some decisions will just have to be guesswork - and even later you never know "everything".

__TOC__

== Components of a Starting Build ==
A starting build must be seen as a whole - the embark location affects the needed supplies, and influences what skills may be most needed or useful. Along with this is player preferences - if you wish an economy based on {{l|prepared meal}}s, {{l|glass}}, or {{l|steel}}, each of those have very different requirements. Likewise, if you want to play a military game, fighting off sieges with huge battles, that's a very different mix (and different site requirements) than if you want a calm location to build your perfect {{l|mega construction}}.

=== Skills ===
With only 7 dwarves, you can't take every {{l|skill}}, so you have to balance what you do take. At this starting phase, each dwarf can only be assigned a maximum total of 10 skill levels, with no single skill starting higher than "5". With 7 starting dwarves, you could no skills at all, or take 70 skills all at level 1, or 14 skills all at level 5* (2 per dwarf), the highest allowed at embark, or (most likely) something close in between the last two, but closer to that last.

:''(* Note that an unskilled dwarf starts with all Skills at Level '''0'''. Adding +5 Levels is then Level '''5'''. This is true regardless of how many "points" a level costs when first buying skills at embark.)''

Once play starts, dwarves can learn any and all skills - these choices only determine what sort of "head start" they have, what they are good at when they first hit the ground. See {{l|experience}} for a discussion of increasing skills during game play.

The considerations are several:

:* Maximizing starting skill ranks vs. generalizing and having more skills covered at lower levels.
:* Balancing multiple skills for a single dwarf, so they aren't constantly needed for two different tasks at critical periods
:* Military vs economic needs
:* Your goals vs "basic survival needs" to keep your fortress healthy and happy.
:* Speed that a skill can be trained in game
:* Demand for a skill during a game
:* Whether quality or speed are significant considerations for tasks/final product
:* Balancing the desire to create {{l|wealth}} ''(with high-value products)'' with the need to maintain {{l|thought|morale}} ''(with low-value but commonly used products, like {{l|bed}}s, which normally are made from {{l|wood}})''.
:* & most importantly - ''your playstyle'' - what '''you''' think is "fun"!

While there are some arguable "no-brainer" choices (or are for each player, according to their playstyle), the final few selections are often a coin toss, or close to. And there is often more than one way to skin a cat - in fact, while many players recommend ''never'' starting with more than one cat, starting with many cats (breeding them for leather, bones and meat) and a skilled {{l|leatherworker}} and/or {{l|bone carver}} is one way to go with (part of) a starting build. Until you have some personal experience, the various suggestions and advice may mean little, but will have more meaning after your first fortress inevitably fails - {{l|Losing|losing is fun}}.

So don't over-think it at first - you'll make a good guess, dive in, and learn far more than we can explain here.

=== Items ===
The starting items are what is needed for your dwarves to survive until they are self-sufficient, or at least until the first yearly {{l|caravan}}s will keep them afloat. The first won't show up until Autumn, so that's more than 2 seasons your dwarves are on their own.

A dwarf eats about 2 meals a season, and drinks a little more than 4 drinks in that same time. If you add your expected {{L|migrant}}s, multiply that by the number of seasons, you can estimate how much food and booze will be needed to get you safely through to the first {{L|caravan}} - barring {{L|losing|the unforeseen}}. In your starting build, you can bring all of that, or your {{l|hunter}}s, {{l|Plant gathering|plant gatherers}}, {{l|fisherdwarf}}s, {{l|grower}}s and {{l|brewer}}s can provide some or most of it.

Similarly, most of the finished products are expensive to buy pre-embark, and so a minimum is recommended - maybe a pick or two for immediate mining and basic defense, maybe a (cheap?) axe* or two for better defense and cutting wood, thread, cloth or a rope for a {{l|well}}, maybe a few leather to make bags, and call it good.

:''(* "Wooden practice axes" cost only 17P, and cut down wood just fine. They will be significantly weaker than metal axes in combat, but still far superior to {{L|wrestling}}, and you can {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} quickly enough.)''

You can produce any and all of those from scratch if you are willing to wait - and your {{l|surroundings}} don't kill you first. Raw materials are much cheaper, in the form of {{l|ore}}s, {{l|wood}}, {{l|leather}} and so forth, but whether you want to take the time at the start of the game is the question. The trade-off is always a balance of cost savings vs. time savings when you first strike the earth. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

====Your civilization====
On the map menu, if you hit {{k|Tab}} twice, you will see a list of possible {{l |Civilization}}s that your dwarves can start from, if there is more than one. Each can have access to different starting equipment and material to offer you - some will be significantly better or worse supplied, and some may be lacking one key item you desire, while another will lack something else equally critical to your plan. Unfortunately you will only find out when selecting your items, after selecting a {{l|location}}. To chose another Civilization requires a start-over. Another important difference is whether your civilization is at {{l|war}} with one of the neighbours; This results in early attacks on your fort and, obviously, no trade {{l|caravan}}s from them.

If you don't like the civilization you chose, or wish to compare what each has to offer, you must either finish the embark, "abandon" the fortress and then re-embark in the same location (using a '''saved''' copy of the game world!), or use {{k|Ctl}}+{{k|Alt}}+{{k|Del}} (or the equiv for your OS), shut down the game and restart it from scratch, then Start again, reload the game world, and find the same embark site - this is not difficult if you made careful notes, but is still a pain, no doubt.

Every such re-start gives you a different mix of dwarves with different names, {{L |attribute|attributes}}, {{L |personality|personalities}} and {{L |preferences}}, but the civilizations are part of the map and stay constant. The default civilization chosen for you will vary, however.

===Saving a starting mix===
Once you have the mix of items and skills that you like, you can hit {{k|s}} and save it to a template with a custom name. In a later game, you can pick that profile when you embark. If your selected civilization does not have some of the desired items in your template, this is announced clearly, and a different civilization can be tried as described above, or you can continue and change your mix.

If you match skills to the {{l|preferences}} and {{L |personality|personalities}} of your dwarves, it may be an idea not to include any skills in such a template, as they will simply be applied in the original order to the current dwarves as they appear on the list.

If you find additional items that you wish to add (perhaps another type of cheap meat, or an ore not previously available), you can edit those in by hitting {{k|s}}, overwriting your old template.

:''(You can also go into the .txt file, located at data/init/embark_profiles, and edit in the SKILLS or ITEMS as you want - the syntax is fairly straightforward.)''

= "Play Now!" =
This option gives you an automatic, low-powered and generalized starting mix with no thinking involved. If you select this option, you are ''immediately'' advanced to the game map with no chance to alter your starting skills or items.

When you pick this option, you currently{{version|0.31.01}} start with:

'''dwarves:'''
:* one Adequate" {{l|Miner}} (+2 {{l|Experience|skill levels}})
& five dwarves with Novice (+1 skill level) in each of the following skills...
:* {{l|Carpenter}}/ {{l|Bowyer}}
:* {{l|Engraver}}/ {{l|Mason}}/ {{l|Mechanic}}/ {{l|Building designer|Building Designer}}
:* {{l|Gem cutter|Gem Cutter}}/ {{l|Gem setter|Gem Setter}}/ {{l|Wood crafter}}/ {{l|Stone crafter}}/ {{l|Bone carver|Bone Carver}}
:* {{l|Fisherdwarf}}
:* {{l|Fish cleaner|Fish Cleaner}}/ {{l|Butcher}}/ {{l|Tanner}}/ {{l|Weaver}}/ {{l|Clothier}}/ {{l|Leatherworker}}

:And one "Leader", with Novice in:
:* {{l|Wood cutter|Wood Cutter}}/ {{l|Brewer}}/ {{l|Cook}}/ {{l|Grower}}/ {{l|Herbalist}}/ {{l|Wood burner|Wood Burner}}/ {{l|Furnace operator|Furnace Operator}}/ {{l|Lye maker|Lye Maker}}/ {{l|Potash maker|Potash Maker}}
::''plus'' Adequate in:
:: {{l|Wound dresser|Wound Dresser}}, {{l|Diagnostician}}, {{l|Surgeon}}, {{l|Bone doctor|Bone Doctor}}, {{l|Suturer}}.

:''(Note that that last dwarf has far more "levels" in starting skills (by twice!) for a single dwarf than are allowed by "Planning Carefully", below!)''

'''Items'''
:* 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s
:* 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s
:* 1 Iron {{l|anvil}}
:* 60 units alcohol (20 each of 3 random types1, 12 free barrels)
:* 5 ''each'' {{l|seed}}s2 (& 6 bags)
:* 15 units of meat (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of fish (one random type, 10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 15 units of plump helmets (10 + 5 units in 2 barrels3)
:* 5 pig tail fiber thread
:* 5 pig tail fiber cloth
:* 5 pig tail fiber bag
:* 3 pig tail fiber ropes
:* 3 wooden4 buckets
:* 3 wooden4 splints
:* 3 wooden4 crutch
:* 2 dogs (random sex)
:* 2 cats (random sex)
:* 1 random cow/ox/mule/horse (random sex)

::''Notes:''
:::1. ''There are only 4 different {{L |alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)''
:::2. ''The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, quarry bush.''
:::3. ''A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full. ''
:::4. ''All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.''

As a challenge for an experienced player, this is not an uncommon choice. But even as a starting player you can do much better if you choose the "'''Prepare for the journey carefully'''" option and do just that - prepare carefully, as described below...

="Prepare for the Journey Carefully"=
Good advice. This option allows you complete control over your starting mix of skills and beginning items. By default, your dwarves start with no skills, and you are offered the following items, which are very similar to the "Play Now" mix, but all are optional and can be sold back and changed according to your preferences. Each item costs a number of "points" - you will buy ''both'' your starting items ''and'' the starting {{L |skills}} for your dwarves with one pool of combined points, 1274 total.

(This choice also allows you to select/create the {{l|Fortress name}} yourself, rather than have it randomly generated.)

The point costs for the default items are listed below.

::{|cellpadding="2" border="1"
! Default Items !! Cost (in "points") !! Comments
|-
| 2 Copper {{l|pick}}s || 88 (44 each) || for {{l|mining}}
|-
| 2 Copper battle {{l|axe}}s || 136 (68 each) || weapons and {{l|woodcutting}}
|-
| 1 Iron {{l|anvil}} || 100 || required for any metal working
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 20 alcohol, random1 || 40 (2 each) || 4 free barrels
|-
| 5 of each underground seed2 || | 30 6*5 (1 each) || 6 free bags
|-
| 15 meat of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 fish of one random (cheap) type || 30 (2 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 15 {{l|Plump helmet}}s || 60 (4 each) || 2 free barrels3
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber thread || 60 (12 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber cloth || 70 (14 each) ||
|-
| 5 pig tail fiber bag || 100 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 pig tail fiber ropes || 60 (20 each) ||
|-
| 3 wooden4 buckets || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 splints || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| 3 wooden4 crutch || 30 (10 each) || medical
|-
| No dogs, no cats || ||
|-
|}
:1. There are only 4 different {{L|alcohol}}s possible at this stage, so if two or three of the same are randomly chosen, it's quite possible to start with 40 or 60 of the same type. (A wider variety is usually better.)
:2. The six underground crops are: dimple cup, cave wheat, plump helmet, sweet pods, pig tail, and quarry bush.
:3. A barrel can hold up to 10 dry items (or 5 wet). One of these barrels is only half full.
:4. All wooden items will be of 1 type of wood.

With the above items, your point pool starts at '''300''' (visible in the lower right corner). This is not ''close'' to enough points to buy full skills for all your dwarves, but you can sell back any or all of the above items that you choose and recover the points, spending them as you prefer. There is no quick and easy solution to this, but the possible options are infinite*. Returning all equipment is worth 1274 points total, but unused points are of no use after embark, once the actual gameplay starts, so spend now or waste them.

:''(* Note that an anvil is needed to do any metalworking, and in turn cannot be created without another anvil. Selling your anvil back means you will not do any metalworking at least until the Autumn {{L |caravan}}, and then only if they bring one - which they 'usually' do, but not always. Next dwarven caravan is a year after that, and so on.)''

=====Using the menu=====
Use {{k|Tab}} to switch between selecting Skills and Items. Use the 4 directional keys or number pad to navigate to highlight the different choices/columns, and {{k|+}} or {{k|-}} to choose more or less of the highlighted item or skill. When viewing items, hit {{k|n}} to go to a menu for any "new" items, that are not currently listed, including any you removed by reducing the number to 0; select the item, hit {{k|Enter}}, then increase the number desired as above ({{k|+}} or {{k|-}}) in the main menu.

If you cannot buy additional skill levels, you are out of points and must return some items for additional points. Higher-priced items will automatically be removed from viewable new items if you do not have enough points for those selections, showing only what you can afford with your current points.

=== Skills ===
At this stage, pre-embark, skills cost a number of starting points, equaling monetary value. Later, during fortress mode, all skills will be trained by practice, and "cost" is no longer a concern. All dwarves start with "No Skill" and the first additional skill level (Novice) costs 5 points. To buy the next level would cost 6, and so on. To buy up Proficient (the max allowed to start with), costs 5+6+7+8+9, or 35 points.

A dwarf can start with up to 10 additional levels, regardless whether that's 10 skills at Novice, or 2 skills at Proficient. So, if you are going to buy the maximum skills allowed (highly recommended), that can cost from between 50 to 70 points each, but is usually around 400-450+ for all 7 dwarves.

Each {{l|dwarf}} can (over time) learn any or all {{l|skills}}. Dwarves with little experience in a skill will work slowly and ineffectively, while dwarves with higher skill work faster and/or produce a significantly higher quality product. Some skills are not used often, and/or produce no "quality" in the final product, or produce qualities that have little impact on the game - for these it's questionable whether investing in high starting levels is worthwhile, but that's often a judgment call.

* For example inexperienced {{l|herbalist|herbalists}} will gather stacks of only one or two {{l|plant}}s, and often nothing at all, and inexperienced {{l|farming|farmers}} will often plant stacks of only one or two plants. This results in a small overall output which takes many {{l|container#container|containers}} to store in, less effective {{l|food}} preparation in the {{l|kitchen}}, and more space needed for {{l|stockpiles}}.
* Inexperienced {{l|miner}}s work very slowly and are less likely to recover mined gems or valuable ores. Mining can be leveled up quite quickly by mining {{l|soil#soil|soil}}, but taking two dwarves with at least some points in mining is recommended in many cases.
* In nearly all {{l|workshop}}s, inexperienced dwarves who create items will only rarely produce high-quality goods, and take a long time doing so. Skilled dwarves work quickly and produce high-quality items far more reliably.
** {{l|Quality}} is a central concept in the game - it affects {{l|food}}, {{l|alcohol}}, and almost anything you will have your dwarves create in the game: {{l|trading}} goods, {{l|barrel}}s, {{l|clothing}}, {{l|armor}}, {{l|furniture}}, {{l|weapon|weapons}}, and so on. Quality also has a large effect on the worth of an item while {{l|trading}}.

Dwarves improve their skills on a learning-by-doing-basis. Dwarves who have specific labors will attain Dabbling status as soon as they complete one job of that type. (Certain jobs, such as building workshops, won't make your dwarves more experienced. But most will.) As the number of jobs they do increases, their skill will increase as well. Overall, "leveling up" the dwarves' skills quickly is a good game goal to set. Doing so may result in your dwarves efficiently creating a magnificent fortress filled to the brim with valuable items and {{l|furniture}}. (Or it might {{l|losing|not}}.)

Using and seeing high-quality items gives dwarves happy {{l|thought}}s. This tends to decrease the incidences of {{l|tantrum}}s, increasing a fortress's longevity.

==== Which skills do I need, really? ====

The only thing that you absolutely must do in the first year is get your food supplies into a food stockpile, preferably inside, otherwise your food will rot on the ground and your dwarves will starve. Anything else you want to do can be accommodated by sufficient investment in initial food supplies and/or skills. This means the options for possible starting builds are vast because virtually any set of starting skills for your dwarves is viable (and that's before you even think about equipment, which adds more variables). So the short answer is: none.

That said, there are some skills which will be '''used''', to one extent or another, by virtually every fortress - but that doesn't mean you '''need''' or even want to invest points in them to start. You could even manipulate the fortress (see {{l|challenge}}) to completely avoid one or more of the following, but these are the skills you will find it exceptionally hard to avoid creating jobs for:
:{{l|Mining}} - to dig your fortress, and gain stone for projects. Only possible to avoid using if you're secretly an elf.
:{{l|Carpentry}} - {{l|bed}}s can only be produced from {{l|wood}} (rare {{l|mood}}s aside)
:{{l|Masonry}} - to build walls and stairs, and fashion dwarven furniture from stone. Possible to work around, but incredibly hard and annoying to do.
:{{l|Grower|Growing}} - your farmers' work echoes throughout so many other tasks, it's stunning
:{{l|Brewing}} - all dwarves "need alcohol to get through the working day"
:{{L|Butchery}} - to control the inevitable catsplosion. Killing your processor is not a good idea.
:{{l|Mechanics}} - if you want traps, and most people will. Also needed for most machinery, now more essential than ever since irrigating is no longer optional.
:{{l|Architecture|Building Designer}} - mandatory for some buildings and constructions, but skill only improves speed a tad and increases structure {{l|value}}
:{{l|Broker skills}} - most importantly {{l|appraiser}} - for {{l|trade|trading}}
:{{L|Record keeper}} - Lets you be able to see the exact amount of things you have much faster than training one, and is necessary to view the stocks screen.

''Note! - Some new skills in 01.30.01 are unclear as to their use/need - Observer, Fighter, Leader and so on.''

Of the above, Masonry, Growing, Brewing, Cooking, and Mechanics are generally worth considering as "highly desirable" starting skills for your dwarves. Carpentry is used, but opinions differ - on one hand, wood items are just not worth that much {{l|value}}-wise ''(10's of dwarfbucks vs 100's for stone furniture or 1000's for armor or prepared foods, for instance)'', so the difference in monetary value between high-quality and no-quality is minor for wood products. However, high-quality {{l|bed}}s are one of the easiest ways to help make and keep your dwarves {{l|thought|happy}} (since every dwarf will encounter a bed regularly), so some players swear by it. Mining is important but also fast to train, so one or two unskilled miners is usually ample. You will almost certainly have animals to butcher, but skill in {{l|butchery}} produces nothing of "quality" (meat is meat) and speed is usually not a consideration for the typical demand (butchering unwanted offspring, like kittens). A minimum of Broker skills are highly recommended to start with at the Novice (1 pt) level - it'll make your life much easier (especially Novice level of {{l|Appraiser}}, at least, as it greatly facilitates trading).

Of course, even near-certainty that you will use these skills doesn't mean you have to start with dwarves already skilled in them. Remember, '''any skill can be used untrained, and/or get trained on the job''' - it just means a slower process and/or average lower quality product than if done by a dwarf with a higher {{l|experience|skill level}}. All of the above skills can be used untrained if you so choose, but you will use them.

Ultimately the answer to "What skills do I need?" is "Whichever ''you'' want". Choosing a mixture of these commonly used skills and your desired specialized skills will make starting up your fortress easier and more efficient.

==== What considerations could inform my skill selection?====
Every skill not listed in the preceeding section is only used if you want it to be, and the benefits of experience in skills vary considerably. Skills you choose have to be balanced against your play-style, the environment (danger, ores, other resources), the relative value of the final product, and what you must give up to gain those skills. You will often want some optional skills, often vastly more than something as useful and desirable as even masonry. For example, any player intending to do more than dabble in the metal industry may well want to start with multiple dwarves each highly skilled in at least one metal industry skill, especially those that produce goods with {{L|Quality|quality}}.

The following may influence your choices of skills:

#Some skills are harder to gain experience in than others - requiring valuable resources or taking an extended period of time, and thus inconvenient to train from the ground up. Investing in some of these extensively in your initial dwarves can make those industries much less painful to start. For example, metal-related skills generally eat metal bars, and thus the less time you spend training metal workers up to a decent level, the faster they'll be churning out high-quality items for you, and the fewer bars they'll waste becoming skilled. On the other hand, despite its importance, skills like mining train relatively quickly and barring extenuating circumstances (expected need to accomplish particular digging projects in the first month or you'll get mauled by a Giant for example) there's little need to actually invest your starting skills in it - they can learn on the job.
#Keep in mind that some skills are used to make {{l|legendary artifact}}s, and successfully making an artifact will give the dwarf a lot of experience in the used skill. It can be worth investing in some skills solely to bias your artifact skill pool in the hopes of getting a legendary dwarf in an industry you want to really get working on a year or two in. (See {{l|Strange mood}}s for more info.)
#While its possible to feed your fortress on nothing but caravan goods, you'll never come by enough alcohol that way, so you'll eventually need to grow crops for brewing, and dwarves will literally go crazy if forced to drink nothing but water for long periods. Thus you'll want to plan for farming eventually - not that you need to bring a highly skilled {{l|Grower}}, but it'll certainly be ''very'' helpful. Likewise, a skilled {{l|brewer}} produces higher quality {{l|alcohol}} (''though the quality is hidden!)'', which improves your dwarves' mood, as does a skilled {{l|cook}} with the foods they prepare. However, most food can be eaten raw, and so long as they are not starving there is life.
#If you plan on settling in a dangerous area, consider including at least some military skills, if not a dedicated {{l|soldier}}, or several. The nature of the environment should dictate the military skills chosen (for example, marksdwarves will be an ineffective counter to expected roving hordes of {{l|skeletal}} wildlife).

====Generalist vs Specialist====
Any dwarf can have any labor designated, and they will perform that task and learn or improve that skill, even if they have no skill related to that labor when they start. So you don't need an example of every skill. A skilled dwarf will produce a better {{l|quality}} product, and/or do it faster, but if that's rarely used, "faster" doesn't mean as much. Many jobs have no real "product", and so no quality modifiers - plant gathering, wood cutting, wood burning, smelting, animal trainer, etc. etc. merely produce "stuff", not "quality stuff", or may not be used very often, and/or not be used much after the first year of the fortress. There are as many opinions about balancing generalists with specialists as there are players.

Some skills are also trained up fairly quickly or cheaply, especially where the task consumes no (valuable) materials, or doesn't matter in the final product - mining, furnace operator, wood cutting, butcher, tanner, glass making and (especially) {{l|administrator}} skills being only a few examples.



==== Combining Skills ====
Some {{l|skills}} are highly time-consuming, and working at different jobs levels up specific {{l|attribute}}s. One could level up a miner until he becomes mighty and ultra-tough - and then turn him into a soldier, or retire him to haul stone. If you plan on doing so, it may not be a good idea to give this guy a second critical job that will demand a lot of time away from their focus. There are many parts to a suit of armour, so armoursmithing will take more time than weaponsmithing - once you have one weapon per soldier, he's done. Masons, miners, growers, and any craft that your fortress will base their economy off of (glass, stonecrafts, armour, etc) will take a lot of time.

Since tasks will take place in specific areas, another approach is to combine tasks into dwarves who will take care of a specific industry, or spend all their time in one generally narrow part of the fortress - the forges, or the kitchens, or outdoors, for instance. So combining Farming with cooking, rather than mining, for example, and turn on only Haul Food, not Haul Stone. Woodcutter/Herbalist/Mason/Axedwarf (for outdoor walls/projects) might be another combination - the possibilities are endless.

Some combinations follow naturally in sequence to each other, but also can conflict with each other. One animal is butchered, then the leather is tanned, and the meat is cooked. But if you have 5 animals, several will rot before one dwarf can process all of those. A highly skilled craftsdwarf is often better suited at sitting in their {{l|workshop}} and having others deliver raw materials to them, than going out and obtaining their own raw materials themselves.

Many builds recommend combinations such as:

* '''Outdoors''': Woodcutter/Plant Gatherer. Add {{l|axeman|Axedwarf}} for added security.
* '''Mason+____''' : In many fortresses, the Mason is a very busy dwarf. He could be a spare miner, have abilities that are only rarely needed, or do tasks that can be accomplished quickly like {{l|building designer}}.
* '''Farmer/Cook, Farmer/Brewer'''. Basic two-person food team.
* '''Farmer/Herbalist, Farmer/Brewer/Cook'''. One bold dwarf to farm and venture outside looking for wild plants, the other to keep busy in the {{l|still}}, kitchen, and indoor farms.
* '''Boss''': Novice {{l|Negotiator}}/Novice {{l|Judge of intent}}/Novice {{l|Appraiser}}. This guy will be your {{l|Leader}} and {{l|Trader}}; you can make him {{l|record keeper}} too (the default), at least to start with. Combine this with a single time-intensive task such as {{l|Masonry}} and optionally turn off all hauling tasks right at the start of the game. Or keep him a generalist, or combine with one of the other options.
* '''Weaponsmith/Leatherworker''': If they're not arming your military, they're making leather armor for them.
* '''{{l|Craftsdwarf}}''', depending on your strategy - e.g. {{l|glass}} maker, {{l|weaponsmith}} or {{l|armorsmith}}, sometimes combined with related tasks from that industry ({{l|furnace operating}}, {{l|wood burner|wood burning}}). Typically an item hauler in the initial months of your fortress, this dwarf may become one of your most valuable dwarves later.

Not all combinations have to "look right" together. A weaponsmith will most probably not spend nearly 100% of their time creating weapons - what they do with the other part of their time may have nothing at all to do with forges or smithing.

* '''Grower/GemCutter''' (or Grower/x-Craft): When gems are found, he's there, otherwise he's outstanding in his fields.
* '''Mechanic/Brewer''': usually produces the mechanized defenses, but does moonshining when it's called for.
* '''Miner/______''': This dwarf will quickly become legendary in mining, and then retire to pursue something else full time. On call for important veins of high-value ore.
* '''Brewer/Appraiser/Leatherworker''': several typically low-demand skills
* '''StoneCrafter/Herbalist''' - after quickly finding above-ground plants for seeds for the first season, they never go back unless something goes wrong.
* '''(x-Craft)/Armor User''': Plan for the future - armor using is slow to train in if this dwarf is ever going to join the military.

You can max out one skill and have several lower-level skills additionally, or just several skills that are not maxed out - the combinations are (almost) infinite.

Combinations like these often have one {{l|moodable}} skill and one non-moodable (or a less desired moodable skill at lower level), so any mood will improve the desired one.

==== Combining Skills for Moods ====

{{l|Strange mood}}s will create a Legendary skill of the "moodable" skill with the highest level, and moods take hold of dwarves with different professions at different rates. Some skills are "moodable" where others are not. Another consideration is to place desired moodable skills with non-moodable, to ensure that both the professions and highest skills stay as preferred. Usually this involves one "craft" skill and one "farmer" type skill, such as Armor/Cook, or Weapon/Brewer. This can take some manipulation, and is not of primary concern to many players.

=====Matching skills to a dwarf's personal profile=====
Once you have your optimal skill mix for all 7 starting dwarves, you can, if you wish, take the time to {{k|v}}iew each of your individual dwarves and match skills to their {{l|preference}}s. This can be very advantageous: if you have a dwarf who likes {{l|steel}}, {{l|clear glass}}, {{l|crossbow}}s, {{l|siege engine}} parts, or something else equally interesting, they're an ideal candidate for matching skills (specifically for these examples, {{l|armorsmith}}, {{l|glassmaker}}, {{l|bowyer}}, or {{l|siege engineer}}).

Likewise, if they have any obviously relevant {{l|personality}} strengths or weaknesses, those should be factored in. Some are obscure or ambiguous, but some ("Is constantly active and energetic") are a clear sign.

=== Items ===

An experienced player can start out with no skills for their starting dwarves, 1 copper nugget and an anvil - and nothing else - and have {{l|Make_your_own_weapons#Minimalist_challenge_build|everything they need}}. So what is "needed" is up to what you think is "fun" vs. "too hard" etc. etc. etc.

Some basics are recommended for all builds. Unless you plan to {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}}, you definitely need to bring one {{l|pick}} for each {{l|miner}}, and if you plan to gather wood, you need an {{l|axe}}, which will become a weapon in wartime. Also a minimum of about 25-30* {{l|food}} and about 55-60* {{l|alcohol}}, which should get 7 dwarves through to the first {{l|caravan}} in Fall. Everything else depends on your strategy and on how tough or leisurely a challenge you want the game to be.

::''(* A single dwarf eats about 2x/season, and drinks about 4x/season. With 7 dwarves that's ~approximately~ 14 meals per season and 28 alcohol per season, or ~28 meals and ~56 alcohol until the end of Summer. The Caravan is due sometime in Autumn, usually early Autumn, in the second week or so, but the first won't have enough to keep you going until whenever the next one arrives. Hopefully you'll have some food and brewing industry going by the first, or soon after.)''

Note: Many builds recommend that you bring many different cheap foods, in quantities ending in a "1" (1, 11, 21, etc.), and alcohols in amounts ending in a "1" or "6". This is to maximize the number of free {{l|barrel|barrels}} you start with; dry foodstuffs fit 10/barrel, and (pre-embark) alcohol fits 5/barrel. More barrels will let you build a larger stockpile for your first winter and conserves the {{l|wood}} you need to cut and shape in the early game for beds and other necessities. (Seeds are 100/bag, and you don't need near that many of any one type, so 6 bags max with this approach. Even if you don't plan on growing much {{l|cave wheat}}, starting with 1 seed and getting the free bag, and planting that one see later and dumping the result could be worth it.)

===== Items for moods =====
When a dwarf is taken by a {{l|strange mood}}, they often need obscure material or they will go insane and die, possibly with severe consequences to an entire fortress. Bringing along some of the harder to find ores ({{l|cassiterite}}, {{l|sphalerite}}, {{l|bismuthinite}}, {{l|garnierite}}) and shells ({{l|cave lobster}}, {{l|turtle}}), and putting those aside, forbidding their use "just in case", is spending a few points on an insurance policy. Bringing along a few bits of cloth thread is a good idea. Just in case.

===== Free Equipment =====

Dwarves who start with the ambusher skill may get some leather {{l|armor}}, a crossbow and some bolts for free.





====Different starting cultures====
Before actually hitting "embark", you often have the option to choose one of several starting dwarven cultures (one of the options shown when you {{k|Tab}} through the various sub-screens). Different cultures will have different meats, fish, stones and etc to offer, and occasionally even different types of armour. The only way to know which is "best" is to remember ''exactly'' where on the 3 maps your embark site is, select one culture, embark and see what they have to offer, then hit {{k|Esc}} and "abandon game", and try it again with a different culture and compare. A real pain, sometimes. (Make a note about your exact starting location, don't trust it to memory.) In general, civilizations that occupy more world-map tiles offer more types of goods, both for embark and for trade. 

= Site considerations =
Each fortress {{l|location}} offers particular challenges and opportunities, and can make different demands on your starting build. The starting builds below should be adjusted depending on the {{l|region}} your fort occupies, the specific vision you have of your fortress, and what it will take to {{l|losing|stay alive}} where you're going!

The differences include what {{l|biome}}s, {{l|region}}s and stone {{l|layer}}s are present in your chosen embark site, as viewable on the starting menu.

=== General Surroundings ===
Simply put, if your {{l|surroundings}} are {{l|evil}} or {{l|savage}}, your dwarves have a higher risk of suddenly facing personal combat before they are safely behind their defenses. Consider bringing extra weaponry, in the form of axes, picks or crossbows (see {{l|Starting_builds#Free_Equipment|free equipment}}). Hand in hand with those, consider skill mixes that include {{l|axedwarf}}, {{l|mining}} (the skill used to wield a pick), {{l|marksdwarf}}, or {{l|wrestling}} (a solid unarmed-combat skill).

The same is true if you are embarking near an exposed magma vent or an open chasm - these features can be seen on the embark map, but it's impossible to tell if they are "open" to the surface or not, until you are there in person.

Be sure to include some source of {{l|water}} on the map, preferably running {{l|water}}. Water is (almost) essential for any fortress. In Cold and Freezing climates streams and {{l|lake}}s will often be frozen year-round and your dwarves may quickly die of exposure, in Hot climates {{l|murky pool}}s will dry up, and in Dry ones rain will only rarely re-fill them, if ever. Choose Temperate or tropical zones for an easier game.

===Aquifers===
If an {{l|aquifer}} is present in the first soil or stone layers (visible on the pre-embark menu), it may bar all access to {{l|stone}} and {{l|ore}} until you find a way through the water barrier. Consider bringing some stone for building, and ore for your first basic needs, may be critical.

=== Mountains ===
Mountains often have abundant {{l|ore}}s, but at the loss of trees and plants. {{l|Magma}} and rare {{l|metal}}s lure settlers here, but {{l|giant eagle}}s and {{l|chasm}} dwellers are potent threats. You'll want to include a sufficient amount non-mountainous areas in your embark area to obtain lumber and food - or, failing this, to pack a lot of extra food and logs.

Depending on the exact layers, it's common to find exposed {{l|vein}}s of useful {{l|ore}}s that can be immediately mined for {{l|Make your own weapons|DIY}} weapons and tools.

=== Wooded/Plains ===
Flatlands with at least some trees and gatherable plants can also make for highly successful fortresses. Advantages over mountain zones include abundant trees and plants and (unless frozen) more abundant water. There are even (rare) magma vents. More water also means a high likelyhood of an {{l|aquifer}} being present. Make sure to check on embark.

The greatest disadvantage is the potential lack of exposed {{l|stone}} to mine. The first level(s) below the surface is often {{l|soil}} of some type, which offers no building materials. However, soil is mined much more quickly than stone (x3-x4 faster), and expansive accommodations (rooms) can be achieved quickly even by untrained miners. You will find stone, you just have to go down a bit for it - but that's what dwarves do, isn't it?

{{l|Experience|Training}} a {{l|Miner}} from No Skill to Proficient takes <NEED NEW TIME> in soil, and to Legendary in less than <DITTO>.

=== Oceanside ===
With many features in common with some of the above locations, {{l|beach}}es are often a mix of ease intermingled with bouts of extreme difficulty. Minerals and trees are often abundant, as well as farmland and sand, but there is often no drinking water unless the biome has a flowing {{l|water}} of some sort.

By definition, the settlement will fall between (at least) two {{l|biome}}s (one land, one water), potentially hazardous if the player expects a peaceful oceanside meadow, without realizing the {{l|terrifying}} ocean is full of amphibious zombie {{l|whale}}s.

=== Desert, Glaciers, and Barren ===
Treeless (or near-treeless) {{l|biome}}s are challenging sites for a fortress: you get most of the disadvantages of a flatland site without having access to nearly as many trees and plants. However, near-lifeless zones such as {{l|glacier}}s are wonderful for those with slower machines, as there's little to burden the CPU but your dwarves and livestock. {{l|Desert}}s and barren areas often have sand; with a sufficient source of energy (preferably magma), you can build almost anything out of unlimited glass.

Hunters should be replaced with fisherdwarves and a fish cleaner (although the latter can be easily trained). Depending how much water vs. land, more starting wood and ores might be helpful. Swimming is rarely useful in Fortress mode, even at the beach, and can be trained.

==Sample starting builds==
To use an example starting build, open data/init/embark_profiles.txt and paste the text into it. Next time you embark, the profile will appear as a possible group to take. Using embark profiles is faster than planning carefully, but totally skips dwarf personality. Dwarves are simply assigned first come, first served.
=== BillyBob and the Rock Nuts ===
{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" border="1" cellpadding="5"
!Profession
!Skills
|-
|FarmerBrewer
|Grower-5, Brewer-5
|-
|MinerMason
|Mining-5, Masonry-3, Engraving-2
|-
|MinerJeweller
|Mining-5, Masonry-2, GemCutting-4
|-
|LumberjackHerbalist
|Woodcutting-4,Herbalism-4, Axedwarf, Armor, Carpentry
|-
|CookDoctor
|Cook-3, Threshing-2, Diagnose, DressWounds, Suture, SetBones, Surgery
|-
|CarpenterLeader
|Carpentry-4, Leadership-3, Negotiate, Appraisal, Bookkeeping
|-
|CrafterArchitect
|Stonecraft-5, Architect-3, Mechanic
|}
The lumberjack is the only one that _has_ to go outside, and all the rest can work indoors. Two main sources of income are farming (Sweet Pods->Dwarven Syrup) and Rock Crafting (to buy elven wood/barrels).

<pre>
[PROFILE]
[TITLE:BillyBob and the Rock Nuts]
[SKILL:1:MINING:5]
[SKILL:1:DETAILSTONE:3]
[SKILL:1:MASONRY:2]
[SKILL:2:MINING:5]
[SKILL:2:MASONRY:1]
[SKILL:2:CUTGEM:4]
[SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:4]
[SKILL:3:CARPENTRY:1]
[SKILL:3:HERBALISM:3]
[SKILL:3:AXE:1]
[SKILL:3:ARMOR:1]
[SKILL:4:CARPENTRY:4]
[SKILL:4:NEGOTIATION:1]
[SKILL:4:APPRAISAL:1]
[SKILL:4:RECORD_KEEPING:1]
[SKILL:4:LEADERSHIP:3]
[SKILL:5:BREWING:5]
[SKILL:5:PLANT:5]
[SKILL:6:PROCESSPLANTS:2]
[SKILL:6:COOK:3]
[SKILL:6:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
[SKILL:6:DIAGNOSE:1]
[SKILL:6:SURGERY:1]
[SKILL:6:SET_BONE:1]
[SKILL:6:SUTURE:1]
[SKILL:7:STONECRAFT:5]
[SKILL:7:MECHANICS:1]
[SKILL:7:DESIGNBUILDING:4]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE:INORGANIC:COPPER]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:DRINK]
[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
[ITEM:12:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
[ITEM:11:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
[ITEM:11:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:MARMOT_HOARY:STOMACH]
[ITEM:11:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
[ITEM:1:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:1:CLOTH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:2:CHAIN:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
[ITEM:3:BUCKET:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:SPLINT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:2:CRUTCH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
[ITEM:15:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:MUSCLE]
[PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:1:DOG:MALE:TRAINED_WAR]
[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
[PET:1:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]
</pre>

{{Starting FAQ}}
[[Category:Guides]]