v0.31:Adventure mode quick start

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

v50.13 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

The first step in starting an adventure mode game is to choose the race (and civilization) of your adventurer. All three races can complete the same quests. Elves are arguably the most challenging since they start with very weak wooden weapons. Starting equipment for dwarves is generally better (the only race which can start with steel weapons), though for now much of the armor and clothing you will find is too large for dwarves. Humans are all around the best choice, as they begin with bronze or iron weapons and can use any of the items sold by shopkeepers (who, for the time being, are only found in human towns). "Human outsiders" start with almost no equipment and most civilizations are unfriendly to them, so it's suggested that you not pick that "civilization" option until you really get the hang of things and want a challenge.

You can then choose to start as either a peasant, hero or demigod. Each offers progressively more points to spend on attributes and skills. These three options essentially amount to difficulty levels, so to make things easier for your first game you may want to just pick "demigod".

Read up on Template:L and Template:L to customize your character.

Attribute point allocation suggestions:

• Strength and agility are somewhat important as they impact damage and movement speed.
• Toughness is important to decrease your chance of getting killed.
• Recuperation is less important assuming you have a safe place to rest.
• Spacial Sense and Kinesthetic Sense are significant.
• Willpower helps resist pain effects.
• Focus impacts archery skill.
• Strength, Agility, Toughness, and Spacial/Kinesthetic Sense are probably the most important.
• Most of the others are currently not very useful in adventure mode.

Skill point allocation suggestions:

• Because one (un)lucky hit can easily kill your character, the most important skills for survival are defense skills, so make sure to distribute many or most of your skill points in Shield User, Armor User, and/or Dodging. (See Combat Skill for more info.)
• If nothing else, put significant points into both *Shield User* and *Armor User*.
• Don't bother putting points in Fighter because that trains rather quickly.
• Specific weapon skills like Swordsman train slower than Fighter, so it's best to invest points in one specific weapon skill. Pick one of these so you start with a weapon.
• Some skills like Throwing and Knapper (sharpening rocks) can be trained rather easily, possibly with macros, with the unlimited supply of rocks. So it's probably best to avoid spending points on those.

You will usually start your adventure near a peasant hut. You can ask nearby commoners, using the k key, if you may be of any Service. They will then inform you of any problems their locality is suffering from, giving you a Quest! This can be repeated several times in order to gain additional quests.

Using shift+t will open the fast-travel screen and enable you to roam the land very quickly. Notice the uppermost bar indicating the position of the sun. You may wish to avoid traveling wilderness at night, particularly when you are alone.

When in the fast-travel screen, press m to bring up the map. Use shift+Q to bring up the quest screen. Using the + and - keys, you can scroll through the quests displayed on the right. Pressing z will zoom in on the current quest target, showing you the quickest path to reach it. The quest menu can also be used to pinpoint the location of many other useful sites and entities.

When your adventurer becomes tired, as indicated by the "drowsy" attribute, it's time for some sleep. Use the Z key to bring up the sleep menu. Beware of sleeping in the wilderness at night! If you are in a private house, you must first ask the owner for permission before you can sleep. If a commoner is blocking you from entering his home, use the s key to crawl under his legs, and then the same key to stand back up.

Once you complete your first quest, you can talk to any hamlet, town or fortress dweller to spread the news of your success. Though your quest log will direct you there, it is not necessary to return to the individual who gave you the quest to report your success.

Once your fame has risen enough mighty warriors may want to join you on your way to glory. They can be recruited at fortresses (marked as O on the map) or among the common peasants. Your companions will greatly increase your chances of survival and adventurers who care about such things should drop by the nearest fortress as quickly as possible. When fast-traveling, make sure that all of your companions are near you or some may be left behind.

At any time, use the z key to display your status. This can be used to look for any scratches, bruises or missing limbs. When questing, use the g key to pick up any equipment or item lying on the ground. These will then be added to your inventory i. Items may be sold later on to a shop at a nearby town (not hamlet). You can tell at a glance which towns have shops by looking for ■ (yellow, rather than the white ■ of houses) on the travel map. To check on the status of your companions, use the c key to get a list of them (specifically, the ones within visual range) and a summary of their conditions, then press the key corresponding to the one you want to view up close. Alternatively, you can use the l key, which can also be used to look at any other item or creature within your range of vision.

You may equip any items that you find or buy using the w key. Existing items must first be removed using the r key. Unfortunately, swapping equipment is somewhat broken in the current version.

Starting suggestions:

• To help increase your survivability, immediately go to the closest fortress and recruit two soldiers to join you. (At first your lack of fame will limit you to two.) Pick soldiers with good equipment so you can "inherit" it when they get killed.
• Before attempting the first quest you may want to kill some random animals out in the wild, then butcher their corpses and sell the meat in order to buy metal armor. Metal armor is rather important so get a full suit as soon as possible. If you don't mind causing an entire civilization to be hostile to you (preventing trade, et al, with that civ):
  • It's also relatively easy to obtain some armor by killing a sleeping soldier in a fort and taking his stuff.
  • Most villagers are pretty easy to kill and while their stuff isn't usually too valuable it is worth something. Instead of killing animals you can go around killing villagers and taking their stuff, then travel to another civilization that doesn't know (or maybe care) how evil you are in order to trade.
  • Don't try this in the beginning if the next civilization over is more than a day or so away.
• Butcher everything you can and sell the parts until you have full decent armor and/or are wealthy enough.
• Read the section on Template:L because how to do this is not entirely obvious, especially the fact that you must manually pick up your change and whatever you buy.
• Once you've finished a quest, your companion limit will increase. Go recruit more and stay with the max number of companions for a while.