40d:Location

A starting location (also called a starting site) is a group of map tiles where a dwarven settlement is located. Starting out in the right location is crucial to not having fun. Beginning players have several things to keep in mind when selecting a site.

Choosing sites

The Choose Fortress Location screen.

When starting dwarf fortress mode, the "Choose Fortress Location" screen allows you to choose your site. The right-hand pane shows its location within the entire generated world; the middle pane ("Region") shows the general terrain types and civilizations in the area; and the left-hand pane shows the "Local" map. The umkh and UMKH keys allow you to change the placement and size of your starting site within the region map -- any rectangular shape from 2x2 tiles up to the entire local area (16x16 tiles). The site you choose must contain at least one non-mountain/river square to be accessible to travelers as well as your settlers.

The far-right pane displays text information about the map tiles you have selected. Sites will usually span more than one biome type; to see the information on each biome, press the function keys (F1 through F8, depending on how many biomes are contained in your site). Each biome will be home to different creatures as well as different types of rock and rock layers.

Pressing tab will show other location information as well:

• What civilizations can reach the site (remote sites such as glaciers and islands are often accessible only to dwarven immigrants and traders; all other locations are usually accessible to dwarves, elves, humans, and goblins).
• What dwarven civilization you want your settlers to be from. Depending on whether you chose a civilization from the north, the middle or the south, you will get a combination of muskoxes, mules, horses or camels with your wagon. This also determines what kind of meat you can buy on your starting screen and may have some other effects.
• The "relative elevation" of the site (useful for seeing how mountainous the terrain is)
• A "cliff indicator" (useful for the same reason)

It is recommended to choose the smallest site possible that still contains all the map features you want (river, magma, trees, etc.) Sites larger than about 6x6 (36 tiles) will run slowly on all but the newest/fastest computers, and even a 6x6 site will probably not run at maximum speed (100 FPS) on a fast computer once several dwarves immigrate to the site (see maximizing framerate for more details).

The utility Regional Prospector is very useful in identifying what kind of map features exist underground (chasms, pits, magma, lakes, etc.) This makes good starting sites much easier to find, although it takes away the "surprise" of stumbling upon these features on your own (which may be good or bad, depending on your play style).

Once you have chosen the tiles you want for your site, press e to have your settlers embark on their journey. You will then be prompted to choose what starting equipment and skills you want them to have (you can also choose to have them start with the default equipment and skills).

The pregenerated worlds page contains several pre-scouted sites (some downloadable), with descriptions of what kinds of resources are available in each.

Surroundings

It's probably a good idea to avoid Haunted, Sinister, and Terrifying biomes, as well as extremes of cold and heat. Fortunately that still leaves you with a lot of options most of the time. Make sure you've got at least some trees and vegetation.

Make sure you at least have contact with Dwarves; Humans are also good trading partners. If you get those two, you'll probably be around Elves and Goblins too. Elves will trade some things, but are picky about what they'll accept; Goblins will just lay siege to your fortress every so often once they get angry enough about your presence.

Terrain

Mountain squares will contain certain features, and each world map mountain tile is guaranteed an underground river, a chasm, and pits somewhere in the mountain tiles of the local view. Also, mountainous areas are worth looking into for the stone and greater probability of finding magma.

Water is also a valuable commodity, for the purposes of farming and drinking. Ocean water is not drinkable. (See Water below.)

Forest, jungle and swamp tiles with heavy vegetation are also beneficial for their ample supplies of wood. (See Lumber below.)

Some biomes will also contain unique types of fauna and flora. (See Vegetation below.)

The surrounding elevation is a matter of preference. Elevation is represented in numbers from 1 to 9 and the * character for changes in elevation greater than 9. If you want an extreme landscape, with sheer cliffs and drop-offs, then pick a location with a large amount of elevation change (elevation changes of 4 or greater.) If you'd like a more flat landscape, try to settle in an area with low elevation (1's and 2's.) Remember: the more Z-levels you have on your map, the more data your computer will have to process. More Z-Levels will result in decreased performance.

Layers

Pay attention to the layer types listed on the right when choosing a location. The ones listed in white are sedimentary layers, which have the most iron ores and are the only ones containing bituminous coal. If you plan to have steel production, you will also need a supply of flux stones. Since flux stones are almost always confined to their own layers, keep an eye out for them.

Any layer listed in brown is topsoil. It can be used for farming even without water, but it contains no stone or ore.

Dark gray layers are igneous extrusive. If you want valuable metals like gold and aluminum, these are your best bet.

Water

Farming won't get you much in the middle of a desert, though you can farm directly on sand. Try to find an area with a brook -- larger water sources can hinder mining. If the game warns you that you've selected an area with an aquifer, pay attention: it's likely going to be very difficult to get through it to the stone below.

Currently a permanent source of water isn't required because farms don't dry out, this is expected to change. If your map starts with even the smallest pond you can dig under it, drain it into the room (and down again if there's that much water), and build a farm on the residual mud – water levels of 1/7 can be ignored when placing the farm plot.

Lumber

The amount of trees in the selected biome will be listed on the right hand side of your location selection screen. Treeless maps should be avoided by new players.

Trees grow on the lower surface z-levels, so make sure you have a nice large swath to chop down. Just because the biome says "heavily forested" doesn't mean you will actually have trees.

Vegetation

The local flora can be a good source of seeds, alcohol, and food for a just started fortress. Use the Gather plants designation to collect them for use.

Magma

Unlike in previous versions, you aren't guaranteed to find a source of magma, unless you have a volcano or magma vent at your starting location. Sure, you could burn charcoal to fuel your smithies, but the convenience of magma makes it invaluable. The site selection screen can give you a good idea of whether or not you'll be able to get any: look for darker igneous rocks like basalt, obsidian, gabbro, and so on.

Towns

Towns created by other civilizations exist only for your benefit. Humans won't mind at all if you tear apart their main pub to build your tunnel entrance. ^{v0.27.176.38c} Also, their buildings provide plentiful wood and other useful items such as prebuilt furniture and ready to sell trade goods.

V · T · E Worlds
World generation (Advanced)
Region · Biome · Climate · Surroundings · Map legend · Calendar
Civilization · Sites (Cave · Town · Fortress · Ruin)
Aquifer · Brook · Chasm/Pit · Island · Tunnel · Volcano · Waterfall
Badlands · Desert · Flatland · Forest · Glacier · Lake · Marsh · Mountain · Murky pool · Ocean · River · Rocky wasteland · Sand desert · Swamp · Tundra

Beginner's guide FAQ
Basic getting started guide
Where in the world should I settle?
What skills and items should I equip my dwarves with?
Where in my area should I build my fort?
What should I build first?
How do I assign tasks to specific dwarves?
How do I get more dwarves?
Add a question to this FAQ
Back to the Main FAQ