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Adventure mode quick start

2016-08-04T05:08:03Z

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{{Quality|Exceptional|21:43, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
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This guide provides step-by-step instruction for those who have never played Dwarf Fortress in '''Adventure Mode''' before. It assumes that you have already installed the game and can navigate the menus on your own, but no significant knowledge of how to play Fortress Mode is required.

Read the full [[adventure mode]] documentation for additional detail.

== Common UI concepts ==

{{KeyConventions|3}}

== World generation ==

Some custom worlds which are interesting for fortress mode may be annoying for adventure mode for various reasons such as few civilizations, low population, certain races not existing, lack of access to metals, or history being so far advanced that many fortresses and [[town]]s have been abandoned.

For your first game it's best to start with a generic world to avoid potential problems. You can come back to an existing world once you have the hang of things.

See [[World generation]] if you need help with world generation.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|For your first game...|'''Generate a world using''' {{DFtext|Create New World!}} '''with:'''
* {{DFtext|World Size}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|History}} is {{DFtext|Short|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|Number of Civilizations}} is {{DFtext|High|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|Number of Sites}} is {{DFtext|High|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|Number of Beasts}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|Natural Savagery}} is {{DFtext|Medium|3:1}}
* {{DFtext|Mineral Occurrence}} is {{DFtext|Frequent|3:1}}
These settings should help avoid the aforementioned problems.
It is advisable not to stop the world generation until the game stops it automatically. This would normally be at 125 years with the Short world history option.
}}

== Character creation ==

=== Race and civilization===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|For your first game...|'''Humans and Human-sized characters beginning in Human civilizations are the easiest to fully equip.'''}}

The first step in starting an [[adventure mode]] game is to choose the race (and civilization) of your adventurer. All races can complete the same quests.

*'''Civilized Humans''' begin with bronze, iron, or silver weapons and can use any of the items sold by shopkeepers (who, for the time being, are only found in human towns and only sell human-sized clothing/armor). They also start with the widest variety of weapon skills. Human settlements are by far the easiest to acquire beginning goods and supplies in.

*'''Human Outsiders''' can only start with Spear User and Knife User as weapon skills, and they cannot start with Armor User or Shield User. They also start out with only a copper spear and dagger, no clothing. If starting in a Human Settlement their poverty quickly becomes moot, as they benefit from available goods as easily as any other race.

*'''Dwarves''' have the advantage of being able to go into a [[Martial trance|martial trance]] when fighting multiple foes at once. They are the only race which can start with steel weapons. Dwarves can equip equipment sized for Dwarves, Goblins, and Elves, but are unable to wear Human-sized clothing and armor. Their best starting sources for armor and weapons are in a fortress Market and Warehouse. Good quality leather clothing can be found by rummaging Dwarven apartments in Fortresses and residences in Hillocks. Better equipment can later be found on veteran soldiers and fortress guards, possibly in Goblin fortresses, and in bandit camps close to these civilizations.

*'''Elves''' start with very weak wooden weapons and have a more limited list of weapon skills during character creation. They have the advantage that they have higher natural speed, and higher average Agility to grant them greater starting speed. Though they can wear clothing sized for Dwarves, they will have greater difficulty in acquiring suitable gear from the same sources that Dwarves do. While this is of limited benefit, Elves from Elvish civilizations are at peace with the wilderness and therefore will never be attacked by wild animals.

*'''Intelligent Wilderness Creature'''{{version|0.42.01}} are various [[Animal people]] who have joined a major civilization in world history. Anthropomorphic creatures acquire many beneficial traits from their base creatures, such as material layers (fur, hide, scales, etc,) and appendages (hooves, horns, claws, talons, wings, etc.) All of them inherit innate swimming, which obviates the need for Swimming skill. Some traits are obviously beneficial (such as flight, natural climbing talent, or immense mass to shake off wrestling holds) and others detrimental or limiting (such as carnivorous diet, inability to jump, climb or even speak.) Some can be more or less advantageous than the three major races, and some can be game-breakingly powerful starter characters (ie [[Elephant man]].) It's best to study the creature's raws in order to make an informed choice, which you may prefer to put off until getting some experience with the game.

=== Status ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|For your first game...|'''A Demigod begins with the greatest potential survivability.'''}}
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 how difficult it is to get started, so to make things easier to survive combat you may want to pick "Demigod". If you chose to focus on non-combat abilities, a Demigod has the points to augment physical hardiness and have plenty left over for a versatile spread of skills and attributes.

=== Starting attributes ===
The ranking descriptions of Attributes are based on your racial averages, which for Human and Animal People are all 1000. All of these can be increased over the course of adventuring, though some have fewer opportunities to increase (and some opportunities are unimplemented.) Maximum Attributes will be 1000 plus your starting value for Average or lower initial values, and double your initial value for Attributes higher than Average.
==== Physical attributes ====
{|
!Attribute!!Description
|-
|'''Strength''' ||Damage dealt, encumbrance limits and mass, which increases total blood but slows Gaits.
|-
|'''Agility''' ||Speed in Gaits and combat actions, all defensive and ranged skills, Stealth, and to lesser extent all weapon and movement skills.
|-
|'''Toughness''' ||Base durability of tissue layers, reduces penetration along with armor, and the probability of getting knocked unconscious or broken bones.
|-
|'''Endurance''' ||Rate at which exhaustion is reduced, which is incurred by every physical action and many passive, and total blood supply.
|-
|'''Recuperation''' ||Rate at which lost blood is restored, recovery from Bleeding and Winded conditions.
|-
|'''Disease Resistance''' ||Resistance to syndromes, curses from vampire blood or a werebeast bite, resistance to infections and rate at which infection spreads.
|}

==== Mental attributes====
{|
!Attribute!!Description
|-
! colspan="2"|Adventurer-Oriented
|-
|'''Analytical Ability'''||important for Tracking, useful for Knapping
|-
|'''Focus'''||all ranged attacks, Observation
|-
|'''Willpower'''||Fighter and Swimmer skills, resistance to pain and unconsciousness, rate of recovery from unconsciousness
|-
|'''Intuition'''||Most important for Observation, also used in Social interactions.
|-
|'''Spatial Sense'''||All combat skills, Ambusher and Observer, Knapping, Swimming, Crutch-Walking
|-
|'''Kinesthetic Sense'''||All movement skills, most combat skills
|-
! colspan="2"|Social
|-
|'''Linguistic Ability'''||All social and literary skills. Good Speaking ability makes others enjoy your company, and more likely to trust you
|-
|'''Empathy'''||As with Speaking, others enjoy the company more and are likely to trust a character they can relate to.
|-
|'''Social Awareness'''||Determines number of companions willing to join, applied to other Social actions.
|-
|}

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|For your first game...|'''Recommended starting attributes:'''

* High '''Strength'''
* High '''Agility''' - no less than 1:1 ratio with strength, see below
* High '''Toughness'''
* High '''Endurance'''
* Above Average '''Focus''', '''Willpower''', '''Intuition'''
* High '''Spatial Sense'''
* High '''Kinesthetic Sense'''

These are most frequently employed attributes for combat. The suggested amounts may be further increased by reducing other, less combat-oriented, attributes, but this naturally narrows the character' competency to combat-oriented actions in exchange for increased might and durability.}}

Speed is an advantage and necessity in combat, which is reliant directly on '''Agility''' and indirectly on '''Strength'''. A higher starting Strength increases encumbrance limits, so you can carry more and wear heavier armor without reducing your speed. With higher '''Strength''' comes higher mass, which can nibble away at the advantages granted by higher '''Agility'''. For optimal speed potential, '''Agility''' must be in equal or higher proportion to '''Strength'''. '''Endurance''' in good proportion enables you to sustain your high speed activity and makes up for the additional blood that Strength could supply.

The value of '''Social Awareness''' varies by physical attributes. A Peasant of average or lower physical ability benefits greatly per companion -- strength in numbers. But a Demigod combat monster gains very little benefit per companion -- at best they serve as decoy, so you may as well issue them a Red Shirt and draft their Living Will upon recruitment.

For the purpose of a quick start, the remaining skills ('''Creativity''', '''Patience''', '''Memory''', and '''Musicality''') are self-explanatory, but you can only learn what value they are to you by playing and exploring the game. These don't contribute anything to survivability, but they can add fun to the downtime.

Later you may find that you want to start with different attributes, but these are a good safe starting point.

Read up on [[Attribute]]s for more information. [[Attribute#Skills_By_Body_Attribute|Skills by Body Attribute]] and [[Attribute#Skills_By_Soul_Attribute|Skills by Soul Attribute]] also hint at how each Attribute is applied.

=== Starting skills ===
Starting Skill selection is dependent on your character's civilization. Starting Skill rating doesn't influence potential maximum Skill because there is no maximum. The highest rating description is "Legendary", but your Skill rating can develop to many times over that.

All Skills can be developed in adventuring, even from no skill (with a few exceptions such as Reading.) But some are so necessary to success that you may fail unless you get a head start in their advancement.

Defensive skills ('''Dodger''', '''Shield User''' and '''Armor User''') are absolutely critical to survival. '''Dodger''' enables you to sidestep unblockable attacks and charges, and to passively evade unforeseen attacks (though that presents its own danger in certain terrains.) '''Shield User''' improves rate of passive blocking, and reduces the exhaustion from active and passive blocking. '''Armor User''' reduces the encumbrance value of worn equipment to as low as 0, and reduces the penetration of attacks striking the layers of your armor.

Make no mistake: '''Observer''' ''is a defensive skill.'' In the beginning your defensive skills will not serve you as well as learning to anticipate your opponent's attacks and acting accordingly. When you can identify if your opponent is off-guard or open to a good chance of attack, you can strike selectively, and without exhausting your energy before you can finish the fight. Striking futilely until you reach exhaustion will leave you as vulnerable as you could possibly be.

A good offense is the best defense, but (as Miyamoto Musashi says) you should not overspecialize in a weapon at start, but be willing to develop skills opportunistically as the best attack for the situation presents itself. Investing in '''Fighter''' Skill will start you with a broad competency in every martial form. With enough skill in this you can comfortably train other attack skills from nothing, and take advantage of the best quality weapon you come across.

'''Wrestling''' holds are always available to you; and to your enemies. Skill in '''Wrestling''' improves your defense against '''Wrestling''', and is the easiest form to exercise all Physical Attributes. There are less risky methods of developing Wrestling, but you may not get the opportunity to use them if you face a deadlier opponent first.

(See [[Fighter|combat skills]] for more info, and [[Weapons]] to learn the practical utility of each weapon type.)

'''Swimmer''' skill is needed enter water as deep as 7/7 without drowning. It's possible but very risky and time-consuming to develop this from no skill, but starting with at least Novice will enable you to develop Physical Attributes from it sooner. Animal People do not need any skill in this, as it will never be needed or used. They also cannot gain Physical Attributes by practicing it.

At least Novice '''Reader''' is important to be able to read anything, as there is currently no way of increasing it from no skill. Reading is especially required if you wish to become a Necromancer.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|For your first game...|'''Recommended starting skills:'''

* Talented '''Fighter'''
* Proficient '''Observer'''
* Novice '''Swimmer''' (except Animal Person characters)
* Adequate '''Shield User'''
* Proficient '''Armor User'''
* Adequate '''Dodger'''
* Adequate '''Wrestler'''
* Novice '''Reader'''

With high '''Fighter''', you have a great range of combat tactics. With high '''Observer''', '''Shield User''' and '''Dodger''' can be best developed through active use. '''Armor User''' can only be improved passively, which will be painful both in encumbrance costs of your armor and the beatings you will have to soak up with it. '''Wrestler''' can be improved from no skill, but some skill provides a buffer from unexpected challenges.}}

As with Attributes, you may later find that you want to experiment with different skill point allocations, but these are some good safe starting choices for purposes of getting through the tutorial.

(Read up on [[Skill|Skills]] for more information.)

=== Appearance and personality ===
While your appearance has no effect in game, your [[personality trait]]s influence your [[needs]]. As long as your needs are satisfied, your adventurer will stay focused. Have an too extreme personality, and your adventurer craves for his urges to be satisfied more easily - an adventurer that values nature highly, will become unsatisfied when he doesn't see animals often enough.

For your first playthrough try to balance your adventurer's personality in a way that minimizes needs. Managing needs and achieving higher Focus can be very valuable to your character, but beginning with a shorter list makes it easier to learn what behavior adjustments to make in order to satisfy them. When you have those down, you can acquire more needs later with changes in your values.

But be sure to avoid needs that cannot currently be satisfied. The conditions for "Eat good meal" (high Immoderation and low Self-Control value) "Make romance" (high Love Propensity and high Romance value) and "Be with family/Be with friends" (high Family and Friendship values) aren't confirmed to be implemented for Adventurer mode {{version|0.42.01}} The means to satisfy "Self-examination" (high Introspection value) and "Take it easy" (low Activity Level and high Leisure value) are uncertain, if possible. The conditions to satisfy "Help someone" (high Altruism and High Sacrifice value) are extremely narrow and fraught with error (it's doable, but not feasible to keep up regularly.)

=== Other ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Key Reference|Most of the key commands you will need are noted in the text, but refer to the [[Adventure Mode quick reference|quick reference]] guide if you need to look up the key for a particular action.}}
Background doesn't matter too much, although if you're '''Locally Important''', you'll start off right in a mead hall (as opposed to having to walk to one as a peasant), which usually contains plenty of weaponry and armor for you to take. You'll also be a hearthperson, who can take orders from the lord or lady in the mead hall.

Your name has little bearing on game play, so that can be freely selected. If you customize your first name, people may comment on how unusual it is. Your name can grow with fame; as your deeds increase so will the length of your name be extended with a title given by populace and posterity. If you define something in every category at the start, then your name won't grow with fame, though it can change with infamy.

Gender can make a difference in gameplay. Males of mammalian species have a higher average mass, which adds to base blood capacity, the effectiveness of and resistance to charge attacks, and the ability to break wrestling holds. The larger the species, the greater the difference in range and average. Females of other species may have advantages over other genders, such as the [[Antman|Queen Antman]].

== Gameplay ==
Once you have finished character creation, hit the {{k|Esc}} key at any time and select {{DFtext|Save Game}} to save your game. You can then come back to it later by using the {{DFtext|Continue Playing}} option in the main menu.

=== Setting off ===
[[File:Advmode_conversation_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Talking to someone.]]

You will usually start your adventure in a peasant hut (if you're a '''Peasant''') or a mead hall or keep (if you're '''Locally Important'''). You can talk to nearby people using the {{k|k}} key, and {{DFtext|Inquire about any troubles}} to learn of any quests you can take on. Some of the more common types you may be told about:

* '''Beasts''' are any kind of creature that may be harassing people. The type of beasts range from vampires living amongst the inhabitants of a site, all the way up to titans and other mythical creatures.
* '''Bandits''' are groups of people who menace people in nearby sites, out of the reach of civilization. They usually hang out in camps (shown by a {{Tile|{{DB}}|6:0:1}} on the map).
* '''Criminals''' are similar to bandits, except they operate right under the nose of authorities -- sites ruled by civilizations. You will find these outcasts hiding in abandoned houses and underground cells.
* '''Skulking Vermin''' are thieving kobolds, and otherwise similar to bandits. Due to their relative ineptitude in combat, these are probably the best targets for fledgling adventurers.

Note that you have to press {{k|k}} each time you want to continue the conversation, and select the appropriate ongoing conversation. If someone else is said to know where to go, you may ask for the whereabouts of that person through {{DFtext|Ask for directions (new menu)}}

=== Fast travel ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#a00|float=right|Alone in the dark...|'''Avoid traveling in the wilderness at night, particularly when you are alone.'''}}
[[File:Advmode_fasttravel_DF2014.png|thumb|400px|Fast Travel screen. This adventurer is in a hamlet, with houses to the right and the mead hall visible in the upper-left corner of the hamlet. The asterisk in the middle of all the houses represents a group, in this case a group of unfriendly goblins. The zoomed-out world map is on the right.]]
So far you've been traveling around at normal scale, but this can be very slow for traveling between geographical regions.

Using {{k|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.

Use {{k|m}} to open a zoomed-out overview map to further help you navigate. This key cycles between the most-zoomed-out "sepia tone" world map and no secondary map when traveling between sites, and in sites it cycles between a list of notable buildings where you're standing, the region map (your main map when not near a site), and the most-zoomed-out world map.

=== Finding some muscle ===
Much of the time, especially at the beginning, you need some companions to watch your back. The best place to find some is at a [[fortress]], keep, [[tavern]]{{version|0.42.01}}, or [[mead hall]]. Fortresses will be marked by a {{dftext|Ω}} on the region and world maps. On the site-level map, the fortress entrance will be marked by an 8 or ∞ in the outer wall. Keeps are in towns, and are a 3x3 building with a path leading from the entrance, usually surround by a large, encircling wall. Mead halls are found in hamlets, and are usually in a 3x3 yellow/brown square by itself, although sometimes it's integrated with the main housing area (in any case, the mead hall will be evidenced by a bright magenta name in the list of notable buildings).

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#a00|float=right|No companion left behind...|When fast-traveling, make sure that all of your companions are near you or some may be left behind. If you've left behind companions, an asterisk will appear on the map where you previously were, and may even try to join up with you.}}
Move next to the entrance of your chosen source of soldiers and hit {{k|d}} to exit fast travel. You may need to walk around a bit to find the entrance. Once inside, if the location is not abandoned, you will find soldiers milling around. Use {{k|k}} to talk to them and select {{DFtext|Ask listener to join you (new menu)}}. Make sure you ask them to go on an adventure, ''not'' to lead you to some location. At first you will only be able to get three followers, but this is enough for now.

If the location is abandoned, leave and try another one.

Walk some distance away from the fort (or walk on the path out the keep until the path changes in material, or don't bother getting out if you're in a mead hall) and go back to the fast travel screen with {{key|T}}.

=== Obtaining food and drink ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Thirsty in the rain|If your character is thirsty, and it is raining, even if you do have water with you; drink the water coverings. This will help you to save water for when it is not raining, especially when you are traveling a big distance. Press {{k|e}} like you normally would and scroll all the way to the bottom. You can also drink blood from wounds - maybe a little salty in real life, but in dwarf fortress, it works. Note that if you drink vampire blood, you will turn into a vampire, but this early in the game you dont have to worry about that.}}
You will get hungry or thirsty after some time, indicated by the {{DFtext|Hungry|6:0}} or {{DFtext|Thirsty|1:0}} attributes respectively. As you should know, when this appears its time for a snack. To eat or drink, press {{k|e}} and locate some food - it can be anything, as long as it is actually food. You can "eat" something like a sword, but it will say "You lick the sword", and you will not get less hungry or thirsty.

==== Where can I find food? ====
There are many ways of obtaining food:
* [[Meat]] - probably the easiest to come by. Find an [[animal]] in the wilds, kill it and butcher the [[corpse]] with a sharp tool.
* [[Fruit]]s - they grow on the ground and on [[tree]]s during the [[calendar|summer]]. Just ensure the season is appropriate - you won't find any fruits in the winter!
* Exploring human and dwarf [[site]]s - there are [[bag]]s of food stored in the houses. Or you can buy some.

And if you search for something to quench your thirst:
* Drink fresh [[water]] directly from a [[river]], or fill your waterskin with it.
* [[Snow]] can be found in cold biomes. Pick some from the ground and melt it near a [[campfire]].
* You can drink [[blood]], even when you aren't a [[vampire]]. Wound a creature to make it bleed and then pick some blood from the bloody pool.
* If you fancy to drink [[alcohol]], search for [[barrel]]s of [[booze]] inside dwarven [[fortress]]es. Or order a drink at a [[Tavern]].

=== Getting some rest ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#a00|float=right|Going bump in the night...|'''Beware of sleeping in the wilderness at night!''' If you have to sleep outside, only do so if you have companions. Even if you do have companions, it will usually be better to travel drowsy until you reach a fort or town where it's safe to sleep.}}
At this point you may have traveled enough that your character is tired. When your adventurer becomes tired, as indicated by the {{DFtext|Drowsy|1:0}} attribute, it's time for some sleep. Move to a settlement of some sort, go into a building, and use the {{k|Z}} key to bring up the sleep menu.

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 {{k|s}} key to crawl under his legs, and then the same key to stand back up.

=== Finding your target ===
Use {{k|Q}} to bring up the quest screen. By default you will get a list of events. Using the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys, you can scroll through the quests displayed on the right. Pressing {{k|z}} will zoom in on the current quest target (if it's possible to), 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. If there are a lot of items to go through, you can use {{k|f}} to filter the list.

Fast travel toward the location where your target is. When you get close, go back to the quest screen, hit {{k|z}} and you should get a more detailed map of exactly where to go. Once you are in the right spot, hit {{k|d}} to exit fast travel mode. (If you want to come out of fast travel mode sneaking, press {{k|s}} and then {{k|d}}.)

In the upper-left corner of the screen you will now see a box with a list of icons and an abbreviation for a direction such as {{DFtext|NNE}} (north northeast). Continue to move in the indicated direction until you find the target that you're supposed to kill. This won't work if your target is in the sewers unless you are in the sewers and standing on a ramp, but it will lead you to a lair entrance or the middle of a bandit camp.

=== Fighting ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#a00|float=right|Bandits|Note that the target of your first quest may be in a camp (looks like {{Tile|{{DB}}|6:0:1}}) surrounded by henchmen. Make sure to approach carefully and when you see one of them, let them come to you and let your companions attack first.}}
'''If you attempt to kill the target(s) of your first quest with neither companions nor armor then you are very likely to die.''' Therefore, before proceeding make sure you have friends with you. If you do, you shouldn't need armor if you let them do most of the fighting.

As you may have noticed by now, combat in Dwarf Fortress is quite complex compared to other games, so this section is kind of long. Please read it carefully though.

==== Movement and positioning ====
When approaching a target it's usually best to wait using {{k|.}} to wait 10 instants (or {{k|,}} to wait just one) once you get close and let your target come to you so you can get the first shot on them. Positioning can be important because you don't want to let enemies attack you from the side or behind (!) and you should also try to move so that you're never fighting more than one opponent at a time. Green symbols that may appear next to you or others show the direction in which people are headed, which can be useful in positioning yourself.

If you need to catch up with someone, or change your sneak status, use {{k|S}} to pull up the movement dialog. This dialog controls the speed at which you move, and whether or not you're sneaking. If you're sneaking, you will see three-dimensional vision cones for people.

If you find yourself being shot at with ranged weapons, put a tree, hill, or other terrain feature between you and the archer and wait for some melee equipped opponents to come to you. Your followers will probably not be so smart though.

For your first fight, you may want to let your companions take the lead anyway though as you may not have any decent armor yet. Press {{k|.}} or {{k|,}} to skip instants if you want to wait in one spot and let your friends advance and soften up some enemies first. If one of your companions dies, no big deal. You can just take his stuff by pressing {{k|g}} then get another follower later. If they die and you're outnumbered, just run away and come back later with new companions.

If you want to be useful while sitting back and letting your friends charge in first, use {{k|t}} to throw objects such as rocks (freely available on many outdoor tiles by pressing {{k|g}}) at your opponent.

==== Attacking effectively ====
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Don't expect it to be easy...|If you're finding your first quest too difficult, and you manage to escape with your life, you can ignore the quest for a while, replace any dead followers, go ask NPCs about Surroundings, and try to find an easier camp or lair to attack. When you kill whatever "boss" is there, even if it not part of a quest, you can still go brag about it (most effectively by spreading the rumor of your deeds), raise your fame, get more followers, and then go back to the original quest. You can also just ask different people in different towns for different quests and perhaps find an easy one like killing a leopard.}}
To attack, you can simply use a directional key to move your character as if to collide with your target. More effective though is pressing {{key|A}} when directly adjacent to a target in order to target specific body parts.

At first your skills obviously won't be that great, so it's important to make targeted shots using {{k|A}}. Take the '''Easy''' strikes that are also '''Solid''' even if they target arms or legs. At first you're going to want to target limbs anyway because you're much less likely to be able to one-shot enemies with a blow to the head and you want to render them harmless as quickly as possible. If you get an '''Easy''' or '''Tricky''' shot to the head that is also relatively '''Solid''', you might want to take it though. If every shot is difficult except for a body shot, take the body shot.

Taking out an arm or hand can disarm your foe, cutting off a foot or leg will knock the opponent down and severely limit their movement, and anything causing severe pain can cause the opponent to lose consciousness making a follow-up headshot very easy. Cutting off weapon arms and a leg means they're almost as good as dead, so take note of what will most easily neutralize the threat before killing it. You may want to ignore such disabled opponents for a while and help your companions disable uninjured enemies.

For armored areas, either avoid attacking them or attempt stabbing or blunt force rather than slashing.

* '''Frequently your weapon will get "lodged in the wound" making it unavailable for another attack until you free it.''' To free the weapon, use the directional keys to step away/sideways, or use the Advanced Interaction ({{key|I}}) menu.

* '''When your weapon is lodged in an opponent, they are unable to dodge.''' If you have another weapon, then getting 1 weapon lodged is extremely beneficial as you can then proceed to kill/neutralize your opponent without worrying about them dodging. However, they are still able to parry, and you are still able to miss. Remember - counterattacks are the most deadly attacks. If you want to attack an opponent in a difficult place, then don't - it's not worth the risk.

* '''Enemies behind you get a higher hit chance.''' You want to stay facing most of your enemies if you can, but you should never back into a corner.

* You can select different styles for any aimed attack. Quick and wild attacks sacrifice power and/or accuracy for speed (leading to a greater chance that you will hit your target), while heavy and precise attacks sacrifice speed for increased power and/or accuracy. The speedier styles are good for initial hits, and the slower styles are good for finishing blows.

=== Looting ===
Once your targets are dead, take their stuff using the {{k|g}} key. Immediately use {{k|w}} to wear any armor or clothing you gain. Severed heads can be left behind (although they can be used as a rather morbid way of showing people what you've done).

When walking around, use the {{k|g}} key to pick up any equipment or item lying on the ground. These will then be added to your inventory {{k|i}}. Items may be sold later on to a shop at a nearby town (not hamlet). However, if you have too many things in your inventory you will be slowed down (indicated by a slower speed number, less than 1 if you're in the default walk pace) and may lose your next fight because of it.

If you must choose which items to keep, try to keep the ones of the best material and [[item quality]].

=== Completing quests ===
Once you complete your first quest, you can talk to any hamlet, town or fortress dweller to spread the news of your success. {{DFtext|Brag about your past violent acts}} isn't as effective as {{DFtext|Bring up specific incident or rumor (new menu)}}. It is not necessary to return to the individual who told you about the trouble to report your success.

{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|Small army...|For now, always recruit the maximum number of companions. Later you may find that you don't need as many, though you'll usually need at least a few.}}
Each time you report your success, your level of fame will increase. Once your fame has risen, more mighty warriors may want to join you on your way to glory. They can be recruited at the usual locations 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, keep, or mead hall as quickly as possible.

=== Checking things out ===
At any time, use the {{k|z}} key to display your status. This can be used to look for any scratches, bruises or missing limbs.

To check on the status of your companions, use the {{k|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 {{K|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 {{k|w}} key. If you are wearing too many items in an existing location, items must first be removed using the {{k|r}} key. To swap weapons you should {{k|d}}rop the equipped weapon first, or {{k|p}}ut it in your backpack, then {{k|g}}et the new equipment from the ground or {{k|r}}emove it from your backpack.

You can look at tracks nearby using {{k|K}}. If there are any obvious directions to pursue, a box under the "closest locations" box will tell you which way to follow particular tracks. {{k|Alt}}+{{k|k}} will give you a summary of the tracks right under you. {{k|o}} and {{k|O}} deal in odor detection.

=== Trading ===
You can tell at a glance which [[town]]s have shops by looking for white roads in towns (rather than the yellow roads that are houses most of the time) on the travel map.

To find shops, go stand on a white road tile on the fast travel screen then press {{k|m}} to display nearby structures. Walk around a bit and you should find some shops. Press {{k|d}} to appear on the road outside of them. You can walk inside and talk to the residents just like anyone else, except that residents in shops will be willing to {{DFtext|Trade}} with you. In fast-travel mode, the list of significant buildings will tell you the shops available in that particular 3x3 square of land.

=== What next? ===
The next thing you should do is work on getting a full set of armor unless you have been lucky enough to have already obtained one. You may want to go tromping around in the woods looking for animals to kill. Killing animals can be profitable because you can butcher their corpses with {{k|x}} and sell the products. Butcher and sell all animal corpses until you've managed to obtain a full set of metal armor. Meat is surprisingly valuable.

You may need to visit several armor shops to find all the armor pieces you need.

Somewhat more dangerous, but much more profitable, is attacking bandit camps. Just let followers do most of the fighting and concentrate on picking off severely wounded enemies until you get at least a helmet, body, and leg armor. And if some followers die, all the better. You can take their stuff and use or sell it.

You can also rummage around in fortress, keeps, and mead halls for equipment.

After you've armored up a bit, it's probably safe to go on the next quest. Get as many companions as you can and set off for your next target. You can also {{DFtext|Ask about the surrounding area}}, which can reveal lairs and other hidden sites on the map. You should probably avoid any non-quest lairs in the beginning, though, as lairs and such can have creatures that you won't be able to handle at this point.

=== Preparing For longer journeys ===
If you plan to visit sites that are very far away, you need to make a few preparations.
==== Planning your route ====
Traveling in Quick Travel mode is very fast, so you want to maximize the time you spend there. Most importantly, you cannot cross rivers and mountain ranges while quick traveling. You can leave the quick travel screen and jump over or swim through them, but companions won't do that. Reentering the quick travel screen will make them follow you, but that might not always work. If you can avoid it, move around rivers. Note that brooks (lighter color) ''can'' be crossed in quick travel. While getting past rivers is relatively fast, crossing a large mountain range can take a while.

Ideally, you plan your route so you walk most of the time in roughly the middle of a land mass so rivers originate left and right of you and drain into the oceans away from you. If there are settlements along a river, they will have bridges you can use to cross without leaving quick travel. Avoid mountain ranges altogether unless they're narrow and going around would take longer.

==== Securing more supplies ====
On long journeys, your original few units of food and water won't last very long. You can carry more food, but unless you find another waterskin, you won't be able to carry more than 3 units of water. As such, you should try to travel in the vicinity of rivers and refill your waterskin (by {{k|I}}nteracting with it while standing on or next to a water tile) if you get the opportunity – for example a river you have to cross anyway. You will rarely find rivers in mountain ranges, and as you might expect, crossing a desert will give you no chance to refill your water skin either. Glaciers, on the other hand, have infinite water everywhere: Just fill your waterskin with snow, then make a [[campfire]] by pressing {{k|g}} (you might need to scroll down to find the entry) and use the {{k|I}}nteract menu standing next to it to melt the snow.

Food is relatively easy to get: Killing a single medium sized animal will give you an ample amount of edible items. After killing, stand on the corpse of the animal and press {{k|x}} to open the actions menu. Select "butcher" and move your cursor to the right, selecting the corpse you want to butcher. Press {{k|→}} again to pick the tool that you want to use. Press {{k|Enter}} and you will then proceed to butcher the corpse, dropping all of the products on the same tile as yourself.
If you're having difficulty catching up to animals that run away, try [[Ambusher#Adventurer Mode|sneaking]] up on them.

=== After that? ===
{{TipBox2|titlebg=#0a0|float=right|More Tips|See the [[Adventurer_mode#FAQ|Adventure mode FAQ]] for lots of tips and suggestions on how to avoid death and increase your skills.}}
Congratulations, you have graduated from adventurer school. You can now keep doing quests, explore random sites, go find and explore an old fort of yours in one of your existing worlds, get lost in the underworld, or whatever you feel like.

You may want to read through the full [[adventure mode]] documentation to learn about things that weren't covered here.

== Feedback ==
[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=80637.0 Thread about this tutorial on the Bay12 Forums]

{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Adventurer mode}}

Quickstart guide

2016-07-24T08:17:26Z

Mount2010:

{{Quality|Masterwork|12:22, 28 March 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
:''For installation instructions, see [[Installation]].''
:''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, ''[[#Situational Awareness|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|500px|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|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 '''will''' 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 or Very Long.

A common new player error is to stop the World Generation once the History year counter slows down. Do not do this, as this may impede trading later on. Instead, wait until the game shows that the world has been generated.

{{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 a few minutes to run. When it's done, '''press {{K|ESC}} to look at the results'''. If the world map is just covered with red flashing Xs, it means that it couldn't find an area matching your criteria. Try again with different criteria, or make a new world. What you want to see are some flashing green Xs, which are areas that match your criteria. As you move your yellow X over those suggested sites, the info bar on the right will tell you what features are present in that general area, such as sand, soil, minerals, an aquifer, etc. Choose the one that looks best to you!

Your highlighted embark site - the moveable rectangle shown on the leftmost map - may contain '''multiple biomes'''. If so be 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). Each may have significantly different characteristics. Note that occasionally a site with multiple biomes may contain an aquifer which ''isn't shown in the info bar'' due to it not being in the predominant 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 [[Maximizing framerate|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|>}} ({{k-|Shift|,}} and {{k-|Shift|.}} on many keyboards). 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|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|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 do.

Some tasks receive a higher priority. 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 [[pick]] 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]]''' includes "Dwarf Manipulator", a UI for managing labors. It has fewer features than Dwarf Therapist, but displays much of the same information and is adequate for normal use. In addition, it is accessible from within DF via {{k-|u|l}}, eliminating the need to constantly switch between applications.
}}

'''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|z}} 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!==
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 rock or soil surface (also referred to as a natural floor). This does '''not''' do anything in areas without natural walls (for example, the surface or previously-mined areas).
* '''[[Channel]]ing''' removes ''natural'' (rock/soil) floors (either created naturally or by mining) and creates a ramp (▲) on the z-level below. Note that you will see a down arrow (▼) on the current z-level, indicating a ramp on the 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. ]]

{{TipBox2|titlebg=red|float=left|Channeling|
Note that channeling can be [[fun|dangerous]]. Unless you know what you're doing, you should only ever make a pit one z-level deep. If you dig a pit multiple z-levels deep, only the lowest level will have an upward ramp, which is not enough for dwarves to leave the pit. (Dwarves can [[climb]] out in some circumstances, but this is unreliable.)

<diagram>
Pit depth: 1 z-level 2 z-levels 2 z-levels
Ground[%26] [#2:1]__[#4:1][%31][#2:1]__ __ __ __ [#4:1][%31][#2:1]_
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%31][#6:1][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][#4:1][@][%30][#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][@#]
[#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#] [#6:1][@4:1][%178][%178][%178][%178][%178][@#]
</diagram>
This diagram shows the cross-section (side view) of 1x1 pits channeled 1 z-level deep, 2 z-levels deep and the correct way to do a 2 z-level deep ramp. The appearance of "downward ramps" can be confusing as there is no such thing - the down arrow indicates a ramp on the level below. Dwarves in the first pit can climb the ramp to ground level and escape, while dwarves in the second pit can only climb to the level below ground level (and are then faced with a vertical wall). The third pit lets dwarves climb back to the surface again as the ramps are not only above each other but also next to each other (like a 45° slope).

In short, channels (particularly channels multiple z-levels deep) can be dangerous. Digging an entryway from surface level is one of the few times you'll ever need to channel.

<small>Stairs can also be used for an entryway, but channels allow [[wagon]]s entry to your fortress.</small>
}}
If your wagon is near a [[cliff]] or hill (generally speaking, any difference in levels, usually shown 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 the wagon is surrounded by flat terrain, [[channel]] out a 3x3 rectangle 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 one wall of the pit (with {{K|d}}-{{K|d}}) to create your entry.

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 somewhat-outdated video guide to starting a fortress can be found [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYDcuk29bE&feature=plcp here]. (Note that this applies to v0.34.11, not v{{current/version/ns}}, so some parts may be inaccurate in the current version.)

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=== 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==
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 small room, which will later become your main stairwell. Two tiles past that, dig a larger room, which will later become your general stockpile, and connect it to the stairwell with a narrow passageway.

[[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.]]

=== Room dimensions ===
Apart from wagon access (3 tiles wide), the trade depot (5x5), and other workshops (3x3), there are no fixed dimensions you need to worry about. The lower limiting factor is the traffic your tunnels receive (dwarves may have to start climbing over each other), and the space your rooms need (stockpiles, tables/chairs, livestock). The practical maximum size is limited by how long it takes your miners 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.

In most fortresses, even the main hallways never need to be wider than 3 tiles, and needing more than 3 tiles of stairs per floor is very rare. A 3x3 per floor staircase (9 stairs!) is absolute overkill for anything but 20 year old 300-resident capitals. For most tunnels in your fortress, 2 tiles wide will be sufficient, and many will be fine at just 1 tile wide. 11x11 is a convenient size for stockpile rooms, as the {{k|Shift}}+arrow keys move the cursor 11 tiles. However, something smaller is perfectly fine for rarer stockpiles, offices, and small dining rooms. Commoner's bedrooms need not be larger than the amount of furniture you want inside.

=== 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 ===

{{TipBox2|float=right|titlebg=#0a0|width=45%|Up, Down, Up/Down: Types of Stairs|
In Dwarf Fortress, every [[z-level]] is composed of a [[floor]] and a [[wall]] (or "space between floors"). The confusingly named "down" and "up" [[stairs]] have nothing to do with the direction creatures can move to; instead, down stairs penetrate floors, while up stairs penetrate walls. Up/down stairs penetrate the wall and the floor below. ''(note the picture to the left)''

Consequently, you will normally use up/down stairs, and use down and up stairs only for the bottom and topmost level of your staircase respectively. If you're not sure whether you want to expand the staircase in the future, use up/down stairs at the end.
}}

Designate a 3x3 downward [[Stairs|stairway]] in the middle of the 3x3 room (''not'' the 5x5 room) that you dug out earlier with {{K-|d|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|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.

[[Image:DF_Terraform_2.PNG|thumb|left|600px|''This is how the different stairs would look like from the side.'']]

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==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.

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==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.
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==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]]


<sub>* 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.</sub>

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). Select with {{K|enter}}. '''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]]''
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=== 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 produce many logs, so only designate three to five at this point. If you designate too many trees, your woodcutters will spend all of their time chopping them down and hauling the resulting logs instead of doing other work. As soon as one tree is cut down and its wood stored in a stockpile, you can proceed to the next step (your woodcutter will continue cutting down any remaining designated 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|z}} (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|z}}-{{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.
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==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.]]
Most labors of your dwarves need a place where they can process raw materials — [[workshop]]s. Almost all of them occupy a 3x3 square, and most of them require just 1 unit of any building material (wood, stone, metal).

Dig your stairwell down one level (with {{K-|d|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 space for your workshops off of the stairwell. It 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. Something to consider is stockpile proximity: the farther away the material is the dwarves use, the more time they waste with walking. So for now, dig out some more space for stockpiles close to where your new workshops will be (wood for your carpenter, stone for your mason and mechanic, and gems for your jeweler).
It doesn't matter if you put everything in one large room or dig out small rooms for each workshop and stockpile. Note however that some tiles of workshops are impassable: they appear as dark green 'X' when you choose a location (the specific wiki pages of the workshops also show you this). So before you build small 3x3 rooms for each workshop, make sure your dwarves will be able to reach them.

Once you've dug out your rooms, 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|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.) 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|x}} and selecting the entire stockpile) 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.

At this point, it is a good idea to build a few [[wheelbarrow]]s to make hauling large objects (particularly stone) more efficient. Queue up 2 or 3 at the carpenter's workshop. (Wheelbarrows are located near the bottom of the list, on a separate page. They are not visible initially, so you'll need to scroll with {{k|+}} or {{k|-}} — scrolling up with {{k|-}} is more efficient, as it wraps 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.
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== 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).

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 another tree or two 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 garbage {{k|d}}ump. 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.

==Trading==
Not all embark sites have all the resources you need for a successful fortress, but every site has ''something'' you can sell. A talented dwarf can process any useless resource into something valuable, and [[trading]] is a good way to sell those goods.

''Note that producing goods creates [[wealth]] and getting too much wealth too fast can have [[Immigration#Migrant_wave_sizes|unwanted]] [[Siege|consequences]].''
===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.

===Choosing what to sell and what to buy===
While there are some goods that are more valuable, and some that are less valuable, it's a good idea to simply produce/export what you have too much of and to import what you have too little of.
Generally though, [[Gem]]s and [[Finished goods]] are good export goods for a new player.

In your first fortress your priority should be importing some [[food]] and [[alcohol]]. In addition, you might want more [[Meat industry|livestock]], [[seed]]s (comes with a free bag), and - depending on what resources you are missing - additional [[pick]]s, [[barrel]]s, [[wood]], [[bag]]s, as well as [[rope]] and a [[bucket]] (for a well). While you're at it, check if you need an [[anvil]]. Maybe you forgot to bring one, or a [[kea]] stole it. Always having a small supply of ''all 3 kinds'' of [[cloth]], some [[gem]]s, [[leather]], a bit of [[sand]] (free bag!) and some [[bone]]s are handy to have, as those are hard to come by on short notice.
If you're short on weapons-grade [[metal]] for your military, import not only actual metal [[bar]]s and [[ore]]s, buy ''all'' metal goods you can afford and [[Melt item|melt]] them down in a [[smelter]] to increase your yield.

===Trading===
Once a caravan has arrived, you can mark the goods you want to sell through the Trade Depot, and your dwarves will begin moving them to the Depot. Be careful not to sell wooden items to Elves; '''this includes containers:''' even a wooden bin full of metal crafts will make them upset. Also note that the Traders will want to make a profit off of you. While they're happy with about 200%, the more profit they make on your site, the more goods they will bring next time, so it can be a good idea to give them even better deals.

''A more detailed overview of the entire process is [[Trading#Trading_Flowchart|here]].''

===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}} in the menu.
* {{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}}
* Is the path to the depot only accessible via stairs or did you build traps in the way? Wagons cannot pass traps or stairs, even if they're 3x3 wide.
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.

''Note that even if your depot is inaccessible to wagons, traders still will come without wagons. They will carry much less goods and you can sell them much less, because their carrying capacity is greatly reduced.''

== Migrants ==
{{gametext|Some migrants have arrived.}}
At some point soon, you'll most likely be getting migrants (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. Under normal circumstances beds can only be made from wood, 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 communal sleeping area in a dormitory is often the best short-term solution. 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 (dwarves cannot sleep in another 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.

:''See [[Stocks]] for a detailed explanation of the {{k|z}}-stocks screen.''

===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 (for example, chairs vs. thrones and chests vs. coffers) even if they're functionally the same (material almost never makes a difference). [[Furniture#Furniture_types_with_multiple_names|Here's a list.]]

[[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.

==Situational Awareness==
At this point you might already have lost one or two times. Understanding why that happened is the most important part to get better and avoid frustration. To do so, you should be aware of what situation your fortress is in at all times: Are there enemies on the map? Do your dwarves have enough food? How many dwarves do you have? What season is it?

Along with just loo{{K|k}}ing around periodically, there are 4 screens that can help you with these questions:

* The {{K|u}}nit screen with its various tabs. Keep an eye out for invaders, dangerous animals and so on
* The status screen ({{K|z}}) and its "stocks" subscreen ''(Remember to appoint a [[bookkeeper]] and set him to the highest accuracy)''. Pay attention to the current date and your supplies.
* {{K|a}}nnouncements, and
* Combat {{K|r}}eports

Check them periodically and you will be able to recognize problems earlier and avoid disasters better.

=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). {{bug|1540}}

==Guard Animals==
Create one 1x1 [[pasture]] near the beginning of your entryway, in the middle tile, using {{K|i}}. Using the {{K|N}} key inside the zone interface, assign a [[dog]] or other non-grazing animal to it. This animal will spot thieves and raiders before they gain entrance to your fortress. Try to pick a disposable animal, as it ''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 to 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 ({{k-|b|e|s}}), and one a [[metalsmith's forge]] ({{k-|b|w|f}}). 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]] ({{k-|b|e|w}}). 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, helms, 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).
An important thing to note is that mail shirts protect the upper leg as well as the torso and arms, and high boots protect the lower leg. As dwarves have no knees (at least in military terms), high boots and mail shirts are sufficient to protect your dwarves's legs.

[[Steel]] is the best normal metal to make armor and most weapons out of, but you will 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 butt 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==
{{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 [[weapon|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 [[Farming#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 =
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{{Getting Started}}
{{Category|Fortress mode}}
{{Category|Quickstart guide}}

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