Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

40d Talk:Cross-training

2009-07-13T16:53:25Z

ThunderClaw: /* Chit-chatting */

=Pump operator notes=
Not sure the toughness note is really that important. The gym is just used for dwarven stat gains, so dwarves are beefy enough to excell at whatever you throw at them. It scarcely matters how well they pump, just so long as they get to Legendary to be reassigned to the military or something else. I've noticed gym graduates make fantastic hunters for example. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:47, 3 November 2008 (EST)

:Well, it makes pump-training far more effective for dwarves that are already tough: they can hit legendary in a season or two, where other dwarves take about a year. So if you have a finite number of dwarves you can spare for training, choose tough ones. Strong ones can be put in plate and made to spar, or turned into siege operators.

:Currently I'm training all my haulers, in shifts. Ones that gain toughness get to keep pumping until they're ready for the military. Strong ones get stone hauling duty. Everyone else gets food, item, or refuse duty.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 20:06, 3 November 2008 (EST)

:: I now give all my haulers the custom profession ''ROTC.'' --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 07:50, 8 November 2008 (EST)

::: I've been trying cross-training, and I'm not really seeing much point at the moment. The thing is, sparring practices three skills ''at the same time'': Armor user, the weapon you're using, and shield user. The gym's rate of stat gain is almost the same as regularly sparring dwarves. And military dwarves are useful for something. [[User:Greep|Greep]] 09:05, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

::::The "point" is several - 1) that some players don't want to put non-Attribute (or at least, non-Tough) dwarves directly into sparring; 2) that some players want military with more than "one-skill-worth" of training attributes under their belts; 3) that some players want to see what the attribute mix is on a dwarf ''before'' allocating to training (vs hauling/etc); and, 4) it's ''cross''-training. Military dwarves aren't useful for anything ''but'' military - that's the "cross" part. There are several suggestions other than pump operator - use them or not - your call. --[[User:Albedo|Albedo]] 18:39, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

:::::Alright, I guess gym training just isn't for me. But as for the one skill worth of attribute training, I thought attributes continued to rise even after legendary + 5. Like an uber miner would eventually gain 16 attributes? That's what the stat page seems to indicate [[User:Greep|Greep]] 06:16, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

=Dwarf Powered Mill notes=
Actually, it is better not to cook seeds. As seeds have quantity cap at 200 seeds for each plant, milling will not produce seeds after you hit the cap. It saves a visible amount of food hauler's work. [[User:Denspb|Denspb]] 02:58, 25 February 2009 (EST)

== Managing ==

Assigning a dwarf to manager may be even better than clerking. I had two useless dwarves. Assigned one to clerk, another to manager+broker. Disabled hauling jobs for the manager. I then went to the manager screen and queued up a full screen of "Make Soap x30." I chose soap because I don't even have an alchemist's workshop and I didn't want any jobs assigned to existing workshops and disrupting work flow. I lost track of how many times I had to go back in and cancel/re-issue the soap orders. The manager reached legendary while the clerk was still a pathetic high master. I didn't measure steps, but their offices and bedrooms were all very close together, should be around 5-10 steps difference for each dwarf to go get food/drink.

Other factors:
 -Clerk has a husband (no kids), manager is single
 -Clerk went on break at least once
 -Hauling was still enabled for the clerk, not sure if she did any jobs though
 -At the beginning, Clerk had no skills, Manager had Normal Skill Wood Carving (not much good on my treeless map)
 -Manager met with human diplomat and traded at depot during training

--[[User:Mjo625|Mjo625]] 17:18, 2 March 2009 (EST)

== Chit-chatting ==

Having no meeting halls (well rooms, statue gardens etc) at all, and just having a single 1x1 meeting area REALLY boosted my haulers stats. I might not be the most efficient assigner of work orders, but some of the time most of my haulers were out of work and just spent their time at the meeting area chatting. I had a lot of proficient-or-higher in EVERY social skill within a couple of years. This might be an exploit. Thoughts? [[User:Tardface|Tardface]] 22:53, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

: Yes and no. Chatting dwarfs make friends... and if some dies... Well, you'll have a nice domino effect. Dwarf don't like to lose friends. --[[User:Karl|Karl]] 23:12, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

:: So, dwarves will actually be happier overall if you don't let them have any friends? :) [[User:Tardface|Tardface]] 23:15, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

:::In the long-run (which inevitably includes many random deaths) yes.. very much so. Rather few, are the fortresses that can survive a death among legendary haulers, and fewer still are those than can survive several. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 21:06, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

::::Not really. Random deaths are not exactly inevitable unless you want them to be, and party forts are pretty resilient when it comes to a couple odd deaths: everyone is racking up "talked to a friend lately" thoughts like crazy, so even if a few deaths push them down to miserable they will bounce back up to ecstatic in about a minute. The danger is that if you have more than a couple of deaths at once, the immediate surge in unhappiness may cause spontaneous insanity, which will lead to more deaths... [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 11:09, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
:::::Thoughts don't stack on themselves, so you can only get one "talked to a friend recently" thought at one time. The wisdom of having dwarves too busy to make friends is still the best, hands down. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:53, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

40d Talk:Ranger

2009-02-02T20:10:48Z

ThunderClaw:

What exactly does a ranger do?
:Hybrid professions (Engineer, Ranger, Metalworker, et al) are just a way of expressing that a dwarf can handle 2 or more jobs in that general discipline.
:So to answer your question, they'll do 2 or more of the outdoorsman skills noted in the article. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 15:10, 2 February 2009 (EST)

40d:Food

2009-01-23T16:12:16Z

ThunderClaw: /* Types of Food */ - clarified some confusing language

'''Food''' is anything [[dwarves]] eat to ward off starvation, but if they are not able to attain sustenance then they will eventually die. The most common foods are [[butcher|meat]], [[fishing|fish]], [[farming|crops]], and [[plant gathering|gathered shrubs]]. Each dwarf has a [[preference]] for certain foods.

==Types of Food==

Food comes in two main varieties: [[Meat industry|meat]] and [[plants]], with cooked food possibly mixing the two.

Plants can be grown [[underground]] or on the surface, and a single dedicated [[grower]]/harvester can produce enough food for all but the largest of fortresses. The advantages of plants are the infinite and readily available supply, and the versatility; plants can be [[alcohol|brewed]], made into [[cloth]]ing and [[dye]], and also used as further ingredients for [[cooking]]. Further processing plants leads to greater amount delivered as an end product. The disadvantage is it's exponential growth; without control, [[seed]]/plant [[stockpile]]s will envelop all available space.

Meat can be obtained from [[hunting]] and [[fishing]], as well as raising livestock. Uncooked meat and fish is subject to [[wear]] and will eventually rot if it is not cooked, even in [[barrel]]s. The advantages are the additional skills raised during hunting, and there is less mass labor required for [[butchering]] meat or [[fish cleaner|cleaning]] fish than planting a seed, waiting for it to grow, eating it, moving the seed back, etc. Cleaned [[Turtle]]s leave behind [[bone]]s and [[shell]]s. [[Animal]]s, when butchered, leave behind large stacks of [[bone]]s, and usually [[raw hide]]s and [[skull]]s. An export industry devoted to bone [[craft]]s can be profitable, and [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] always benefit from a cheap supply of [[bolt]]s made from bone. The disadvantages are a limited supply of food; in the current version, animals are eventually depleted from a map, and even though aquatic life restocks, there are limited numbers present at a particular time, so larger fortresses usually cannot be supported with hunting/fishing alone. There is also no way to make alcohol from animals, so without trading some plants are necessary. Finally, even though livestock breeding can be unlimited, the additional units on the map required for this to work put additional strain on the CPU, slowing the game down.

On occasion, if you have a trapper that has captured a [[vermin]] creature in an [[animal trap]], a [[dwarf]] may eat that creature instead of other food.

==Eating==

A dwarf with the "Eat" task will pick up a unit of food, often according to his or her dietary preferences, then bring it to an available [[table]] or [[chair]] for consumption. A private [[room]] will normally be chosen over a public room; for this reason, note that a dwarf who owns a table-less [[office]] but no [[dining room]] will [[thought|complain]] about the lack of tables, even if a high-quality public dining room is available. This problem is easily solved by adding a table next to such an office-chair (like you would in a dining room). Also note that eating in a high-quality dining room does wonders for a dwarf's [[Thoughts|mood]].

Dwarves will eat two meals per season on average, and drink four drinks. A fortress of 100 dwarves will thus consume 800 meals (food-units) and 1600 drinks (booze-units) in a single year. Plan your stockpiles accordingly.

==Storage==

Food is stored in food [[stockpile]]s and may be placed in barrels. [[Seed]]s (and powders, such as flour or dye) are put in [[bag]]s, which are themselves stored within barrels. [[Meat]] and [[prepared meal]]s will [[rot]] (making it inedible) if not placed on a stockpile within a month or so. Plants not on a stockpile will wither, which also makes them inedible but does not produce [[miasma]]. Food on a stockpile will never rot, nor will food in a barrel even if it is not on a stockpile. Seeds will never rot no matter where they are.

According to [[Toady]], [[vermin]] can eat your food, even when it is on a stockpile (although the amount they eat appears to be quite minimal). Food in barrels is even less likely to be eaten by vermin.

==Cooked food==

Raw food can be [[cook]]ed into meals at a [[kitchen]]. The wider the variety of ingredients that a meal contains, the greater the number of dwarves who will have a preference for that meal. Additionally, some foods must be cooked before they can be eaten.

==Obtaining food==

The possible sources of food are [[farming]], [[plant gathering|foraging]], [[fishing]], [[caravan|trading]], [[butcher's shop|butchering animals]], [[hunting]], and a few exotic [[cheese|processes]]. Farming is by far the most reliable, foraging is perhaps the easiest to manage, and fishing is good early in a fortresses' life. If you are constantly experiencing problems with starvation, you are well advised to look into alternate means of procuring food.

==Processing food==

Some food is inedible raw, and needs processing first. For example:
* [[Fat]] must be rendered ([[kitchen]]) into [[tallow]] and then cooked ([[kitchen]])
* Raw [[fish]] must be [[fish cleaner|cleaned]] ([[fishery]])
* [[Sweet pod]]s must be either milled into [[dwarven sugar]] ([[mill]]/[[quern]]), processed to barrels of [[dwarven syrup]] ([[farmer's workshop]]), or brewed into barrels of [[dwarven rum]] ([[brewery]]) before they can finally be cooked ([[kitchen]])

Unprocessed food and non-food [[crop]]s will be stored in a food stockpile and take up barrel space, the [[bookkeeper]] can tell you how much of each type of "food" you have in the [[stocks]] screen.
[[Category:Food]]

==Food is important==

Food is crucial to the survival of your fortress. Before you know it your 200 population will dive-bomb right down to 10 or even lower. Your population will go on a downward spiral because of all the Miasma and dead bodies, and of course you'll have fewer farmers/hunters to generate new food. If you're very lucky you can start again in another area, or you can get some helpful migrants.

Remember to keep a large stockpile of food. If you do not have food;
*Dwarves will become unhappy and generate bad thoughts
*Dwarves will start hunting for vermin instead of doing important jobs
*Dwarves will get upset and start breaking things
*Dwarves will get mad and start trying to kill each other
*Dwarves will die from starvation
*The new dead bodies will only make everyone even more depressed

40d:Raccoon

2009-01-19T16:36:26Z

ThunderClaw: Slight update

{{CreatureInfo|name=Raccoon|symbol=r|color={{COLOR:7:0:0}}|bones=2|chunks=2|meat=2|fat=1|skulls=1|skin=Yes|biome= * [[Forest]] taiga
* Any [[temperate]] forest}}

'''Raccoons''' are medium-[[size]]d, omnivorous [[animals]]. They live in [[temperate]] [[regions]]. Like real live raccoons, they can steal garbage and items left outside, so don't leave your [[masterpiece]] items in the open. If it gets stolen, the [[dwarf]] who made the item will get an unhappy [[thought]] which can potentially be extremely powerful and send him into a year-long [[tantrum]]. Raccoons probably will not attack your [[dwarves]] or your [[pet]]s unless provoked into defending themselves. They can seriously wound or even kill a normal [[dog]] or an untrained peasant with no weapon. An armed [[Ambusher|hunter]] or skilled dwarf can easily kill a raccoon. 
They can also be captured, tamed, and raised as food animals, or adopted as pets.

{{Game_Data|[CREATURE:RACCOON]
[NAME:raccoon:raccoons:raccoon]
[TILE:'r'][COLOR:7:0:0]
[LARGE_ROAMING][FREQUENCY:10]
[POPULATION_NUMBER:10:20]
[CLUSTER_NUMBER:1:3][LOOSE_CLUSTERS]
[CURIOUSBEAST_ITEM]
[PETVALUE:25]
[GRASSTRAMPLE:0][NATURAL][PET]
[PREFSTRING:mischief]
[BODY:QUADRUPED:TAIL:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH]
[SIZE:2]
[MAXAGE:10:20]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:1][CHILDNAME:raccoon pup:raccoon pups]
[FAT:1]
[NOCTURNAL]
[BIOME_FOREST_TAIGA]
[BIOME_ANY_TEMPERATE_FOREST]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:100]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:2500]
}}
{{Creatures}}
[[Category:Animals]]

40d Talk:Phantom spider

2009-01-19T15:18:33Z

ThunderClaw:

I'm not going to change anything back, but I've not had a single problem with being poisoned, or attacked in general by them. The only times I've seen them have been in colder climates, although I guess I could have been lucky. They also seem to occur with great frequency with werewolves, I've been able to pick the last 3 maps with both of them consistently. --[[User:Gotthard|Gotthard]] 19:19, 26 November 2007

:Well, they have similiar tags to cave spiders, and people do have trouble with those, so it seems you did get lucky. They occur in both temperate and tropical forests. They probably occur with werewolves because werewolves have the EVIL and ANY_TEMPERATE_FOREST tags, too. I don't mean to shoot you down or anything, I'm just stating what the game definition says about them. If one of your dwarves does get bitten, let us know how long the effect lasts...purely in the interest of science, of course. ;-) [[User:Turgid Bolk|Turgid Bolk]] 14:39, 26 November 2007 (EST)

Yeah, I'm not familiar with the raws, but given the case of bauxite (I think) which seems to show up intermittently even with raw editing, I'm wondering if Phantom spiders/werewolves have this same problem. Perhaps I am lucky, or terrifying cold has less creatures than terrifying temperate, making it more likely werewolves and phantom spiders show up, I'm not sure. Just thought it was a wierd coincidence. Has anyone actually been bitten by one of them? I seem to be able to wander the map with hapless abandon; not a single casualty or warning message.

Is it possible to embark on a site with both phantom and cave spiders? It seems to me like phantom spiders only generate in evil forest ''regions,'' not biomes, which don't contain underground pools/rivers. --[[User:Syff|Syff]] 03:53, 14 December 2008 (EST)
=Tamed Spiders=
Do tamed Phantom Spiders still weave webs? I was thinking it might be neat to tame 10-15 of them and have a self-contained silk factory in the fortress. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 10:18, 19 January 2009 (EST)

User talk:Zeta

2009-01-15T17:31:15Z

ThunderClaw:

<blockquote>
Some people forbid the area near river or any body of ice before it might melt, so if you do that, your poor suckers should be safe!
Carp are not "that" dangerous anymore afaik
--[[User:Karl|Karl]] 07:29, 13 January 2009 (EST)
:Uh, [[User:Karl|Karl]], use my [[User_talk:Zeta|talk page]] for this, maybe? I'd like to keep discussion out of my main page. :P
::Sorry, I thought I was already on your talk page :p --[[User:Karl|Karl]] 12:04, 15 January 2009 (EST)
</blockquote>
:''"Carp are not "that" dangerous anymore afaik"''
:Hahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahaha. No. They'll still wreck your face. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:31, 15 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Strange mood

2009-01-14T17:05:57Z

ThunderClaw: /* Confusing macabre mood */

Does the new version still have the strange mood? It wouldnt be complete without it!

:It still exists, I've had it happen several times now, I went to the archive wiki and copy/pasted the old page.

::Isnt that why the wiki was nuked? To make sure that no old info lingers? Ill put some "verify" in there, I dont think that the bold text is enough for users to understand that some of this may no longer apply. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 06:03, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:::I agree. Although moods themselves don't seem to have been changed in this version, the changes to the stones/ores that they use means that some of the information in this article is no longer true. I'll have a go at cleaning it up when I have the proper time for it, but this wiki definitely needs a 'no copypasting from the archives' rule to avoid screwups like this. If people are going to copypaste old stuff, then it is downright irresponsible of them not to verify the accuracy of the information before committing it to the wiki. --[[User:Morlark|Morlark]]

I know, I was a huge fan of that little strange aspect of the old one.

I need my dwarfs to make more swordfish bone swords, and i still need some glass weapons/armor

The moods seem to have changed. One of my dwarfs went fey, made a nice hematite mug, and is now a legendary... Engraver. Very wierd, he also had no stoneworking or other craftdwarf skills. But he was a competent mason. This was also my fifth dwarf who took the same craftworkshop, so it's a bit strange. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 17:36, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:Six fey dwarf, all took the craftdwarfshop, now my bowyer took one. Think it might be a bug. Is the 15 artifacts limit still in? --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:34, 8 November 2007 (EST)

:: Whohoo my second legendary engraver made a gold mug. My bowyer became a legendary engraver. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:40, 8 November 2007 (EST)
::: Scratch all that, one of my woodworkers just used a carpenters shop. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 07:45, 9 November 2007 (EST)

:Have you marked all statements in the article that risks being falsified with <nowiki>{{verify}}</nowiki>? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 19:41, 6 November 2007 (EST)

Hey, I am getting a dwarf who wants "raw...crystal". Help? -- [[User:Bovinepro|Bovinepro]]
:Probably wants raw crystal glass. I had a dwarf ask for "raw...green", they wanted raw green glass. Looks like Toady might have moved the glass demands out of the "rough...color" category. [[User:Iddq?|Iddq?]]

About the engravers taking over craftdwarf's shops and becoming legendary engravers afterwards is quite true. I recently got a bunch of immigrants, and the engraver that came with them fell into a strange mood before even crossing the bridge on my river. He took over a craftdwarf's workshop and made a basalt scepter, and now he's legendary level in engraving. So yeah, perfect laboratory conditions, he was 100% engraver when he went into his mood and came out a legendary engraver. --[[User:Zhang5|Zhang5]] 17:07, 12 November 2007 (EST)

It seems that no craft skill is required. I just had a peasant go into a strange mood. His skills were: competent marksdwarf; novice wrestler; novice armor wearer. He grabbed a craftsdwarf's workshop and 10 items (3xFelsite, Schorls, Tigereyes, Red Beryls, Giant cave swallow leather, Grizzly Bear Leather, Rough harlequin opals and Ash logs -- guess he has expensive taste?) and churned out an idol in relatively short order. This is my 9th successful mood in this fortress, and I've seen requests for between 3 and 10 items, personally. Since they seem to be increasing in complexity, I've either hit the item cap, or I'm about to break ten :) [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 16:34, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:This is consistent with older versions. Moody peasants would become crafters, and 10 items was the cap. The minimum was 1 item -- generally when constructing a "perfect gem".--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 16:55, 19 November 2007 (EST)

I had a miner go into a strange mood, take over a mason's workshop, and make a something that got him up to legendary miner status. In my current fort, I have had 6 artifacts made, 2 of which were actual moods and 5 of which were possessions (I can add, one of them failed and the dwarf became a babbling wreck). My dwarves love to use only one item: an oak door (1 item), an olivine coffin (2 items), a turtle shell mask (1 item and is my cheapest artifiact at 3600), a diorite amulet (3 items), and a perfect jelly opal (1 item). --[[User:Penguinofhonor|Penguinofhonor]] 18:47, 28 November 2007 (EST)

Where to add the info that in my game (.33c) a miner took over a mason's workshop, became legendary miner and then held the artifact in his right hand instead of a pick, which became 'hauled', then droped the pick and then took the pick with his left hand? He can mine after all these. While holding a 667 weight units cabinet in his right hand. --[[User:Another|Another]] 10:07, 1 December 2007 (EST)

I had dwarf Miller, profecienty Grower who had Fey Mood, and he became a Legendary Mason ....
Is it normal ? [[user:Feydreva|Feydreva]]

One of my dwarves has become possessed and is demanding cloth, bones and stone, which I have plenty of. But he refuses to go fetch them. Is there something I'm doing wrong?—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Patarak|Patarak]] ([[User talk:Patarak|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Patarak|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}
: They want either silk or fiber cloth. Make sure you have both! [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 03:40, 21 January 2008 (EST)

Aargh! One of my dwarves went secretive and is demanding a huge list of stuff. He seems to be demanding two types of stone because the "sketches quarry" message stays on twice as long as the others. I have (and he has gathered) flint: is there any way to tell what kind of stone he wants? --[[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 011:55, 7 March 2008 (EST)

I had a Glassmaker that sat around when I had a lot of Magma Glass Furnaces, but then decided to get going when I made a regular Glass Furnace. Seems like they will only use a specific kind. Not sure yet if it's random. Might be they won't take the Magma Glass Furnace in version 38a. Can anyone verify? --[[User:Afbee|Afbee]] 05:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

: My Glassmaker successfully used Magma Glass Furnace in a fey mood. --[[User:Digger|Digger]] 07:54, 24 February 2008 (EST)
:: I just had the same problem. I had a glass maker who wouldn't take over a magma glass furnace. Since I'm creating a glass fortress and had a mess of glass orders piled up, I thought that might have confused the AI and I built 2 more magma glass furnaces. No dice, he didn't want them. After reading this page I decided to create a normal glass furnace. He snapped it up as soon as it was built. --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 04:07, 9 November 2008 (EST)

==Maximum number of artifacts==
Well, I just got my umpteenth mood, and it resulted in the 16th successfully created artifact.(33b) So that 15 cap thing is clearly wrong. As it happens, this single artifact is worth 754,800, and is an adamantine spear decorated with, among other things, adamantine. For the record, in case this data is important to someone tabulating number of ingredients, my moods in order created the following objects using the corresponding number of ingredients: (Flute, 4; Mechanism, 4; Spear, 3; Millstone, 6; Ring, 8; Chest, 7; Cape, 7; Ring, 9; Statue, 8; Idol, 10; earring, 8; Buckler, 8; Table, 3; Mechanism, 10; Bracelet, 5; and Spear, 8). [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:54, 27 November 2007 (EST)

Do fell/macabre moods still exist? I haven't seen any for quite a few versions. It'd be nice to have that verified.—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Rabek|Rabek]] ([[User talk:Rabek|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Rabek|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}

== clarification on "trade" skills ==

Are trade skills all the skills that produce items with some level of quality? Mainly I want to know if dyer is a trade skill. And how does that work with miner? I didn't think miner was a trade skill. Maybe someone who knows more than me could clarify in the wiki.
I just got my first artifact. It's worth 2400. The dwarf took one log and made a scepter. -[[User:Radtse|Radtse]]

:I don't know exactly, we should make a list of the skills we know are not trade skills. I'll start: my brewer/grower once got a strange mood and made a wood item and gained woodcrafting skill. Let's try to only add to the list when we have experienced a moody dwarf with that skill only.--[[User:Valdemar|Valdemar]] 19:36, 27 December 2007 (EST)

::I'm adding Weaver and Furnace Operator to this list, since they're on the wiki. I haven't seen them myself, but I'm assuming someone else has. Knowing that Furnace Operator is a "fey-able" skill will be quite helpful.-[[User:Radtse|Radtse]] 18:28, 29 December 2007 (EST)

:::Where's cooking fit in? --[[User:KittenyKat|KittenyKat]] 20:09, 6 January 2008 (EST)

List of non-trade skills:

* [[Brewer]]
* [[Grower]]
* [[Miller]]
* [[Wood Cutter]]

Skills that may be used and gained by dwarves with no trade skills:

* [[Wood crafter]]
* [[Stone crafter]]

Skills that use a different skill(See list above), but give correct skill:

* [[Miner]]
* [[Engraver]]
* [[Furnace Operator]]
* [[Weaver]]

:::For the record, i can confirm both Furnace Operator and Weaver, since no one else has commented to verify them thus far. (The weaver actually surprised me when it happened). --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:43, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

:::I can confirm that a Miner will claim a Mason's shop, and produce a stone item, even with no Mason skill at all. It works just like the wiki says. --[[User:Strangething|Strangething]] 23:47, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

:::And I can confirm that Wood Cutter does not contribute -- I had a Novice Glassmaker/No Prefix Wood Cutter take a glass furnace. [[User:Slitherrr|Slitherrr]] 13:48, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

== mood condition ==
The 20 dwarves / no crazy stuff has been found while looking at the binary of v0.27.169.33d, might be different now, but i don't think so. [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 15:08, 2 January 2008 (EST)

Regarding the calulations for required maximum existing artifacts (items/200 and dugout/(48*48)) wouldn't it make more sense to either use the squared symbol, or the actual result of that square (which was the original number actually discovered/revealed I believe)? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 19:17, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:<sup>2</sup> --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 21:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:20 dorf must be still there. I've made low-population fort and I had no mood for ~8 years (from start). I'm sure that I've digged at least 2700 tiles and created at least 300 items. I will test if raising population to 20 will cause moods. I think that 20 dwarf limit should be mentioned even if it's not confirmed. --[[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 18:30, 26 May 2008 (EDT)

== Random Workshop Seizure ==

I just had a gem cutter seize a carpenter's workshop and make a perfect gem; upon completion I had a worthless Legendary dwarf and a new jeweler's workshop, so I guess that's still in from the previous version. I've removed the verify in the article. [[User:Tacroy|Tacroy]] 16:51, 9 January 2008 (EST)

:nonsense. Should be a bigger chance of making ZOMG high-quality gem crafts now ;) --[[User:Frostedfire|Frostedfire]] 07:35, 18 February 2008 (EST)

::More to the point, if you don't like the profession your dwarf has Legendary in...draft for the stats! --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 12:16, 18 February 2008 (EST)

== forbidden items ==

Do moody dwarfs use forbidden items? Will they demand forbid items? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 02:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

:I don't know whether moody dwarves will use forbidden items (my guess would be they won't). But they don't choose the demands based on what is on the map, they can and do demand things you don't have. So it's safe to assume forbidding doesn't prevent dwarves from demanding the forbidden kind of item. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 16:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

::Forbidden items are not used. Similarly, if your mooder slipped in e.g. an iron bar when you wanted him to use a platinum bar, you can forbid AND dump the item to stop him from using it. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 16:35, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

== Impossible Requests? ==
Will dwarves try to use items that you just don't have access to? I had a dwarf asking for silk when I haven't imported any and I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant spider anywhere. Also asking for "rocks" when I have mined at least one of each type of rock that is visible (requiring rocks from unmined areas seem pretty harsh). Also a request for "metal bars" when I have smeltered at least one of each ore I have found and made at least one of each possible alloy. [[User:Yvain|Yvain]] 23:27, 26 February 2008 (EST)
:Yeah, impossible stuff is all my dwarves ever want. :-P Right now mine appears to want stone I don't have, and no traders have come by with any stone.... So my guys are frantically mining in various directions.... [[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 13:59, 7 March 2008 (EST)

::As far as i can tell they never request anything it is truly impossible for you to get. Available by trade seems to imply possible for the game engine though. Too bad if its the start of winter (which is when all my moods which require things I don't have and can't produce happen, of course). But if there's no sand on your map at all you will not be asked for glass, since you can't trade for sand. (If there's 5 tiles of sand under that underground lake you haven't found yet... sucks to be you - my first fortress lost 3 dwarves to this). So yes, requiring things present on the map that you haven't found yet appears to be possible and routine. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:48, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

== Procastinator! ==

I just had a moody dwarf demand bones, wood, rocks, and cloth.

He got the rocks okay, and then did nothing for ages. Then, as soon as the fire imp corpse rotted away, he ran down and got the bones, then ran over to my wood stockpile and got a piece of wood...

Do they need to get their ingredients in order now?--[[User:Shadow archmagi|Shadow archmagi]] 06:28, 29 February 2008 (EST)
:i think so, not that it matters, he wont start unless he has ALL the ingridents.

== gems ==
My moody dwarf asked for 2 kinds of rough gems, but i had cut all rough ones at that point. So i "printed out" all layers and started checking for leftover gems in the walls. Guess what, he picked the first 2 kinds i mined. So either

* random/pure luck (don't think so)
* they only ask what they "see"
* they only ask what is somehow on the map
* or they might even adapt somewhat to availability, but i doubt that. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 15:59, 28 March 2008 (EDT)

:I believe, but don't know for sure, that sometimes they want specific items and sometimes they just want anything in a category of items, such as any rough gems in this case. It used to work that way in the 2d version, didn't it? --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:23, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::Confirming behaviour that BahamutZERO sees. Dwarves will '''always''' grab the closest object that falls under the category unless he is requesting a specific metal, specific silk, or specific plant fiber cloth. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 14:25, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Just standing around? ==

I have a dwarf who was possessed, but won't leave the main hall. He's also a novice in everything, but to be safe I've already cleared the shops. It's winter of my first year, but somehow I've already had 2 waves of immigrants. Back to the point, I'm afraid he's going to wait out the mood and go berserk. Help?
--[[User:Ilmmad|Ilmmad]] 20:00, 6 March 2008 (EST)
:Well, make sure u ve got one workshop of every possible kind available - there are however quite a few u dont need to build, its covered in the article. Check for locked doors or otherwise blocked access (bridges, channels, statues..) Dont forget furnaces, glass and magma. Check with 'q' if all workshops are completely build. If it doesnt help consider building workshops not related to his skills, or more "exotic" ones, like Ashery or Alchemist. No one can guarantee that Toady didnt have some new fun ideas ;) --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 22:59, 6 March 2008 (EST)

== stark raving suicide ==

My mechanic wanted silk cloth, which I didn't have, and eventually gone insane ("stark raving mad" to be precise).
Seconds after that I had message that he died in heat (I had artificial magma pool nearby).
He probably jumped into the pool like in melancholy. Main article states that only melancholic dwarves kill themselves in such way.
Could anyone confirm that mad ones do that too, and this wasn't just an accident/bug? [[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 16:59, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

:Perhaps it ''was'' an accident -- I seem to recall that "stark raving mad" ones wander around at random. Perhaps it wandered into the lava. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 18:30, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

::It was an accident, the stark raving mad ones wander around aimlessly, regardless of Z- levels. --[[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 12:53, 9 November 2008 (EST)

== Glassmaker with no glass ==

I had an immigrant glassworker get a mood, seize a glass workshop, and created an artifact made entirely of gemstones. No glass involved or asked for. (No sand on the map, anyway.) He turned into a Legendary Glassworker, despite having never made a glass anything.

== Rewrite ==

I think I got most of the old information and then some into the new article. Please make any necessary modifications. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 01:22, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

== Silk Cloth ==

I had a dwarf demand silk cloth, but he refused to use my giant cave spider silk cloth. I didn't have any regular cave spider silk cloth. To verify that the silk was the problem, I used Companion to change the silk demand to any stone, and he immediately collected the rest of the materials and constructed the artifact.
Can anyone else confirm that giant cave spider silk cloth does '''not''' count as silk cloth? --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:55, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:No, I'm pretty sure I can't. I've seen a dwarf grab GCS silk. Could it be that you had thread and not cloth? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 13:59, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::Nope, giant cave spider cloth [3] sorted under cloth on the stock screen. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 16:52, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
Probably they may specifically require GCS silk or specifically require CS silk. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 14:10, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
I figured it out - the silk was outside and I had accidentally left "Dwarves Stay Inside" on after the latest attack. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:52, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Engineer taken by secretive mood, and creates... ==

Evidently engineers who are taken by a secretive mood ("withdraws from society", in case it's later determined that the descriptor has an effect) will have no problems taking over the mechanic's workshop. And there's only one thing mechanic-shops build - that's right, you heard right, ladies and gentlemen, I present ''Kodor ós: A claystone mechanism''. It's even available for use from the appropriate {{k|b}})uild screens. He decided to make this splendid 86,400o creation while on an eight-mechanism binge in that very same mechanic's workshop. Maybe dwarves choose the workshop they've been in the most often? --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

:Ah, actually I can confirm I've had a Mechanic create an artifact mechanism as well. Stick some obsidian swords in that baby and you'll be good to go! That should probably go in the main article for skills vs workshops... I would expect siege engineers also have strange moods, but I imagine pump op and siege op fall under the general craftsman catch-all --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 15:45, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::I'd like to smack BismuthBismuthBismuth with the facts stated in the article.
A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill
::In this case it was Engineering and therefore your mechanic went to a Mechanic's Workshop. It's the same with the possessed glassmakers. They hit a glassmaker's shop. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:49, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::I'd like to hit GreyMario-Maria, preferably in the upper-body region, with the fact that at the time of my post, the table in the article did not mention mechanics whatsoever. --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 22:26, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::::Pardon me, but I was not aware that ''mechanics'' worked at a ''mechanic's workshop'', where objects are created that have ''quality mofidiers'' and can thus become ''artifacts''. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:28, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::Pardon me as well, but it seems that the table in [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&oldid=25231 this particular revision] did not encapsulate this information. '''GreyMario is throwing a tantrum!''' --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:22, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::::::Mechanics. Work at a mechanic's workshop. Produce items which have visible quality modifiers. Items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to be artifacts. THEREFORE, mechanics claim mechanic's workshops when they go fey. Seriously, logic sometimes, please? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:30, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::::That would follow if we knew for certain that the proposition "items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to artifacts" is necessarily true. We don't. For instance, siege engine components are not verified as artifact eligible. Since that isn't a given, it's perfectly reasonable for people to not jump to the conclusion that a job type will create artifacts relevant to it until they see it happen. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 16:26, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

i love the absurd randomness factor with artifacts - you end up with really weird stuff. like grates, and socks. a question pertinent to legendary mechanisms - i got a stupidly valuable one of these as the first legendary item in a new fort and i used it to create a gear assembly in a public dining area in the hopes that it would give dwarves happy thoughts, but after a few years gametime of checking randomly on them nothing particular showed up. any particular use along these lines for legendary mechanisms for something other then simple fortress value? --[[User:FruityBix|FruityBix]] 11:51, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
: weapon traps! --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 12:03, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:: FWIW, that might be a more general answer for artifact items... I had a Weaponsmith dwarf go into a strange mood and create a lead warhammer (Yes, there was plenty of steel and iron around, but this dwarf likes lead, I guess). It can't be equipped as a weapon (lead isn't a valid material type normally for constructing weapons) but I can put it into a weapons trap. Which... is basically the only thing I can do with this 65000* artifact... -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 14:37, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
::: Actually, artifact equipment can be used, it just requires a "hero" level dwarf or higher. However, for the nonstandard material weapons and armor you may do well to forbid them so that they're not used. The actual effectiveness of odd material artifacts is supposedly lower than that of decent iron or steel equipment, and artifact equipment cannot be unequipped once a dwarf decides to use it. --[[User:Janus|Janus]] 15:36, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:Build your artifact mechanism into a really, really, really wonderful well. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:37, 13 December 2008 (EST)

== Tanner fixed ==

I just had a Tanner claim a leather works, not a tannery. I updated the table. For the record, the dwarf has no skill level in leather working.

:I wonder if Tanners even claim Tanner's shops? Tanner's shops just make leather, and leather doesn't have quality modifiers, so you shouldn't be able to produce an artifact from one, aye? That information came from an older version of the page, I wonder if it was inaccurate. Weavers supposed claim Clothier's shops and not Looms, so it would make sense if Tanners were the same way. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 18:08, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

== Cooks ==

I can confirm that cooks do not produce artifacts: my Peasant with Dabbling Cook/Brewer/(various social) and nothing else just took over a Craftsdwarf's Workshop. I'm removing the verify tag for cooks in the article. --[[User:Comonad|Comonad]] 16:16, 2 August 2008 (EDT)

mmmm. . . . artifact roast. [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 19:12, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

== Soapers etc. ==

It stands to reason that soapers, lye makers, and wood burners wouldn't make artifacts. Neither soap, lye, charcoal, nor ash have quality modifiers, and that's all those skills can produce. I'm pretty sure you can't have artifact soap, lye, charcoal, or ash. --[[User:Tachyon|Tachyon]] 20:26, 11 August 2008 (EDT)

: My woodburner just got possessed. He wants a shell and wood. I have the shell but I'm not sure what type of wood he wants. --[[User:Ehertlein|Ehertlein]] 20:18, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

== Not all demands need to be met ==

I just had a dwarf taken by a secretive mood and collect a huge variety of things: 4 stone, 1 block, 1 gem, 2 rough gems, bones, a shell, 2 leather. He was further sketching for more bones, 2 leather, another stone, a log, another shell, and raw green glass. The only things I didn't have on hand were the shell and the green glass -- dwarves seem to go through their list in order, and get stuck on certain items.

I just hoped someone would eat a turtle (50/1678 chance!) and queued a raw green glass. When the glass was made, he got started, totally ignoring his previous requests for wood, another shell, and the other things. Anyone else have this experience? [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 13:28, 13 August 2008 (EDT)

:I think they keep sketching images even after they get the items. Your dwarf already had all of the shells, leather, bones, stones, blocks, and gems he needed. [[User:Curudan|Curudan]] 15:26, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

::This is correct. I've had dwarves run out, grab two items, and then sit at the Workshop shouting a need for three items. When the item he was waiting on became available, he ran out, grabbed it, went back in, and started working. So it's pretty evident that they list ALL of the items they want, regardless of how many of them they've already collected. --[[User:Nekojin|Nekojin]] 22:28, 23 August 2008 (EDT)

== Possession ==

I've had 14 moods in my current Fortress, 11 of them have been possessions. Am I really unlucky, or is the type of mood weighted? [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 09:55, 26 August 2008 (EDT)
: As far as I can tell by looking at the game logic, each mood types are as likely to be rolled (except fell of course, which is selected if happiness<rand(128) or something like that). --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 07:56, 3 September 2008 (EDT)
:: I had a feeling I was just getting really unlucky, thanks. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:34, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

== Furnace Operator ==

Apparently furnace operator is no longer a mood skill as of df 28 181 40d. I just had a expert furnace operator take over a Craftdwarf's Workshop and become a legendary stonecrafter. [[User:Otherdwarf|Otherdwarf]] 10:26, 1 October 2008 (EDT)
:I had one take over a mason's workshop, I would guess that Furnace Operator is treating like Engraver or Miner. I'm kind of disappointed, I was hoping he'd churn out an artifact coke or something.[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 13:03, 14 November 2008 (EST)

::Back when furnace operator was moodable, they'd turn out metal crafts. But taking over a mason's workshop is surprising. Occasionally they'll take over a random workshop and convert it into the type they want -- what artifact did the dwarf produce? And, just to rule out some obvious things, did the dwarf have dabbling skill in mining, masonry, or engraving?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:51, 14 November 2008 (EST)
:::He went crazy looking for some kind of rough gem, so we'll never know. It was ''right'' after the dwarf trading caravan left, too, so I really had no chance whatsoever. I don't know for sure what skills he had, I don't think he had much other than Furnace Operator, Architect, and the social skills though. I ''might'' have enabled mining, but there was plenty of work for him at the smelter so I don't know for sure.--[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 15:56, 14 November 2008 (EST)

== Chunk Butchery? ==

Well, even though the selection of items for artifacts is totally random, its a bit wierd if a macabre dwarf goes to a butcher's workshop and starts bringing in tons of dwarf CHUNKS! My dwarf just started doing that, should I expect rotting meat (yes, the chunks are already rotten)? - 09:57, 30 October 2008 Stinhad Limarezum
: ^_^ "This is a delicious meat pie. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. On the item is an image of a dwarf and dwarves in rotting dwarf chunks. The dwarf is baking the other dwarves into meat pies. The artwork relates to the rise of the dwarf butcher Sweeney Todd as the cook of The Fleet Street in 78" -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 11:11, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Oh, ''do'' post the description of the artifact when the dwarf completes it. ("Menaces with spikes of dwarf chunk?" I'd be intimidated for sure.)--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:18, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

== What Workshop? ==

Is there any way to discover what workshop a dwarf in a secretive mood requires? I had nearly everything. I built a siege workshop and a bowery before I ran out of ideas and he went beserk. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 10:55, 3 November 2008 (EST)

:You have to look at what skills he has first and rule out the obvious. If he has no mood-able skills then it's going to be a craftsdwarf's workshop. If you have hit magma and he wants a forge or glass furnace, he will insist on the magma version of that workshop. Finally, maybe one of your existing workshops was inaccessible or you accidentally [[forbid]] it at some point. If none of that works, I'm out of ideas too.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:01, 3 November 2008 (EST)
::I have a functioning magma glass furnace and I had to build a normal glass furnace when my glass maker became secretive. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:23, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Same here, in fact I had 2 moody glass making dwarves refuse to use anything but a normal glass furnace when there were 5 fully functional magma glass furnaces in the same fort. (sorry, almost forgot to sign) --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 14:27, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Ditto. A glassmaker got possessed and refused to use my magma glass furnace. I had to build a regular one. --[[User:Schwern|Schwern]] 19:33, 27 December 2008 (EST)

:::Ah. In older versions, they'd insist on a magma workshop, when possible. Do they now insist on using a regular workshop, or has anyone seen a moody dwarf use a magma workshop in recent versions?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::::I believe my metalsmith is waiting for my magma forge to come on line, I have a standard forge built, but that isn't doing anything for him. Does anyone know what effect fluctuating power will have on the strange mood? Edit: If a claimed workshop looses power for even a millisecond, the mood fails. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 12:02, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Possessed Child ==

I have a child that has become possessed and taken over one of my craft workshops (of course). He is muttering the following: rough color, leather skin, bone yes, stone rock, cloth thread, blocks bricks, and a shell. He has already acquired the following: turtle bones, donkey bones [4], microcline blocks, turtle shell, rough pink garnets, dog leather, carp leather, and hematite. I have plenty of all the things that he's already gathered, so I'm assuming that he doesn't need anymore of those items. That leaves the thread. I have turned off my auto-loom a while ago so that I would keep the thread around for artifacts. I currently have plenty of plant thread (4 pig tail and 14 rope reed) and enough spider silk (5). What I don't have is giant spider silk. I have confirmed that the child has access to all these items, including the thread which I have piles next to his workshop. Still he doesn't start construction.

Can any help? Is there a difference for artifact creation between regular cave spider silk and giant cave spider silk? ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

:Do you have both silk and plant cloth available? (Not just thread.) And do you see any specific cloth preferences in his thoughts and preferences screen?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 01:32, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::Argh. I bet that's it. No silk cloth, just thread. I have had guys go crazy for lack of thread before, so I never make silk cloth, just kept the thread. Oh well, the child is now melancholy. I can re-load and see what would happen if I make the thread into cloth. Maybe I'll test that out. ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

::: Wouldn't you be able to solve this problem by only weaving dyed thread? Then you'll always have some thread waiting to be dyed. --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 03:04, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::::You could also leave high quality, expensive materials lying around Forbidden, and only Claim them when someone's trying to make an artifact. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 15:07, 11 November 2008 (EST)

== Getting More Strange Moods ==

According to the article, the number of artifacts is limited by "The number of items created divided by 200." This indicates that making bolts (5 for each bone or 25 for each log) or brewing (5 units of drink for each unit of plant brewed) are efficient ways to encourage strange moods. Does that sound accurate?

It also states that the number of revealed subterranean tiles is a limit. Does that mean an area like a chasm, where many tiles are revealed to start with, will produce more strange moods?

Also, does anyone know whether the division rounds up or down? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 22:24, 16 November 2008 (EST)

:I'd be willing to bet all stacks count as only one "item" for this kind of calculation. 200 sounds like a paltry number, however. If rocks are counted as items, most fortresses have thousands of them in just a few years. The other number is what is most significant (I wonder where the heck it comes from?) I've had four miners digging non-stop for about 10 years now, and my stocks menu says I have 70,000 stones. Allowing for underground soil tiles (which don't produce stone) and stone/ore consumed by industry, each miner can probably clear about 2,000 tiles a year: one artifact. I have 21 artifacts in my fortress now (and two failed moods early on), so if that rate is indicative, I'd say you want to employ three or more miners non-stop to maximize your chances.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:09, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::The guy who wrote [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Stone_management#Block_Stockpile this] doesn't seem to think that stones count as created items. Also, "revealed tiles" is ambiguous. For example, [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Exploratory_mining#Mine_shafts this] method is very good at showing you what's inside of a tile without actually mining it out. Do you suppose that seeing whats inside is enough?

::Where do you think these numbers came from anyway? I'm gonna take a look through the edit history and try to track them down. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 00:15, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::They came during [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&diff=25038&oldid=24936 this edit]. They're so specific I've got to think the author did some poking around with a disassembler. Again, though, 200 is such a paltry number. If underground "open space" counts, then discovering a chasm, bottomless pit, or magma pipe should many thousands thousands of revealed tiles. If underground floor tiles are needed, you'll have to mine most of them out yourself.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:34, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::::I had a chat with [[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] over at his talk page, since he edited the page around the time the changes were made. He seemed fairly certain that all you had to do to "reveal" a tile was to have a passable square next to it, so I edited the article to reflect that. He did not, however, know anything about how bolts or stones would affect things. Right now my hopes are on [[User:Marble_Dice|Marble Dice]], whom I believe made the actual addition. I'm not sure if he's a very active user though.

::::By the way, the reason I'm doing all this is that I'm considering optimizing a fortress for strange moods: have '''lots''' of dwarves with only "dabbling" in a single strange mood skill to gain maximum benefit from the moods. Any ideas for fortress strategies that will go well with this? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 02:44, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::::I saw the conversation -- I keep my eye on [[Special:Recentchanges]]. What he says about "reveal" is correct, as far as I know. I still wonder about "open space" tiles. If they count as revealed, all you really need to do is find a chasm/pit/magma pipe and you'll be in moods for years to come.

:::::I've done the dabbling strategy in the past. It's best to emphasize just a few skills you really really want that are otherwise hard to train due to limited materials -- armorsmith, weaponsmith, bone carver, leatherworker, carpenter, etc. It works fine with any fortress strategy.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:30, 17 November 2008 (EST)

== Two missing labors ==

Strand Extractor and Blacksmith don't currently appear in either the Causes Moods category or the Doesn't Cause Moods category. I put Strand Extractor in Doesn't Cause Moods and the Blacksmith in Causes Moods; feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 19:59, 18 November 2008 (EST)

:I can confirm that blacksmith is moodable, I've got a nice steel chest to show for it. It stands to reason that strand extractor isn't moodable, but we don't know for sure -- I've slapped a verify on it.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:01, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Order of stuff ==

I'm wondering if dwarves always claim items in a certain order. For example, when a dwarf wants three pieces of wood he always wants them back-to-back, never wood gem wood bone wood. So are types ALWAYS in a certain order? My current moody dwarf wanted two bars of metal, then spider silk cloth, then ash logs, then bones, then a rough gem, then a shell. Knowing the order might help you guess what the dwarf wants next if he doesn't need to wait for anything (and thus tell you what he wants). This might be useful for micromanaging forbidding stuff to make sure your dwarf gets the highest value things available. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:19, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:<s>This is actually well-defined in the article, if you'd bothered to look close enough. Dwarves will gather items in the order they scream their demands in.</s> It's unknown. I think there's no real order, just similar things end up grouped together. :V --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:32, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::fail. Uh, I mean, as soon as anyone else sees a strange mood, it can either be disproven, or we can start putting some data together immediately and be done pretty quick. I saw: Metal Bars, Silk Cloth, Wood, Bones, Rough Gem, Shell. If anyone sees bones before wood or something, that means there's no guaranteed order. But no harm done. :) --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:36, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::It's simpler than that. Items have a certain number of slots for improvements, and for artifacts the first improvement slot is always filled by the base material of the item. Then the rest are filled in order, with whatever is a valid candidate for that slot (which is probably 'anything that's anything' in every case, though I'm not absolutely sure.) So, there isn't any explicit sorting because it has to be in order.

:::If you fill an item's slots with ordinary decoration, which is easiest to do by encrusting a wide variety of gems on a piece of furniture or the like, you'll see what I mean. Maybe. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 23:40, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::::Ah! So you're saying that instead of generating a list of ingredients, it first plans out the artifact itself, saying "This one is a chest, it has hanging rings and an image, first let's get a material for the chest, then a material for the hanging rings, then a material for the image"? That makes a ton of sense, and answers my question. Thanks! --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:47, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::::Well, I know it doesn't do that, because if you close the game and reopen it, you can get different items... With my elf game, I had one artifact that came out as either a thong, a left mitten, or a rope on five tries. But it's roughly the same idea, even with the details randomized upon creation. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 00:05, 27 November 2008 (EST)

== Fell Mood Demands ==

It looks like when a brooding dwarf sits in the tanner's shop and says he needs "Things..." what he's looking for is vermin remains. Other demands are like in Fey moods. --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 22:24, 3 December 2008 (EST)

== Confusing macabre mood ==

My mayor just entered one, while 'quite content', claimed a smelter, waited for a bit, until the parts appeared (the vermin must have died). He then created a roach rock chitin bracelet, and gained the carpenter skill. Am I missing something here? Smelter, rock and carpenter don't seem to mix well... Note: The only skills were proficient cook and fish cleaner, with some dabbling and noice social.--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 13:03, 6 December 2008 (EST)

:Carpenter? Or wood crafter? Claiming a smelter isn't out of the question: they sometimes grab a random workshop and turn it into the one they want (is it still a smelter?). And what is roach rock? Give the actual description of the artifact.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:14, 6 December 2008 (EST)

::Carpenter. It's still a smelter, yes. "This is a large roach chitin bracelet. All craftsdwaftship is of the highest quality. It is encircled with bands of large roach chitin and dwarf bone. This object menaces with spikes of rat leather."--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 15:32, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::Hmm. Post that one on the forums, find out if it's an actual bug. Does sound pretty nonstandard.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:50, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::: :-D Pretty sure that a roach is an actual bug. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 09:00, 8 December 2008 (EST)

:::::D'oh.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:56, 8 December 2008 (EST)

::::::I did have two very close together, but I am certain that neither had any carpenter skill, and the smelter was claimed.

: I've just had a similar occurance. Immediately after a goblin ambush (that killed 5 of my soldiers and caused major unhappiness in many dwarves), one dwarf that had lost a friend but was just "content" clained a tanner's workshop, grabbed a rhesus macque chunk, and made a rather boring rhesus macaque leather amulet (no embelishments apart from rhesus macaque leather bands). It did have quite an impressive name though - Gethustongos Nelas Luror, "Harshtainted the Flicker of Cruelties". The dwarf herself became a Legendary Weaponsmith, despite having no weaponsmithing skill! (Her highest skill was unlabled armoring). [[User:Iapetus|Iapetus]] 19:47, 10 January 2009 (EST)
::I imagine the requirement for a macabre/fell mood is having a thought psychology of less than 0 (being 'unhappy'). "Quite Content" shows up until -25, and then 'fine' is -26 to -50, so either of these diagnoses would theoretically qualify for a fell/macabre mood. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:05, 14 January 2009 (EST)

== Rough Gems ==

EVERY Fey Mood that has happened for the last 3 years has required Rough Gems! Argh! Mining out an entire Z-level has found ONE GEM, which I was idiotic enough to cut the instant I found it. I do not have Rough Gems. You cannot buy Rough Gems. My fortress will die slowly and painfully without Rough Gems. Cut green glass is good enough when a fey dwarf demands cut gems, why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems? Can it be made good enough with a mod? --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Dig down to an igneous intrusive level - they have more gems. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

::To mod out gem-demanding fey dwarves, you could remove all gems and then generate a new world. Alternatively, if you don't mind the lack of moods, turn them off in init.txt. Personally, I highly dislike moods, since they just make it that much easier to have abundant so-called "legendary" dwarves, although the random killer effect is quite nice. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 20:15, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Regarding "why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems" -- it is good enough. I've had fey dwarves grab raw green glass a half-dozen times. I think it's more likely that all the raw green glass in your fortress was TASKED, and therefore unavailable to the fey dwarf. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:16, 12 January 2009 (EST)

==Trapper?==
Has anyone seen a dwarf get trapper experience from a mood? I've made a couple of artifact animal traps at this point, and all of them were by dwarves without the trapper skill who received xp in skills related to the material. (ie, my turtle-shell animal trap was made by someone who became a legendary bonecarver therefrom). I know I made a similar comment on the Trapper talk page. From the other end, I'm sure I've had immigrant trappers get moods before and have never seen a legendary trapper, although I don't recall specifically enough to be certain they had moods. But I've seen zero evidence that Trapper is actually a moodable skill. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 16:00, 15 December 2008 (EST)

==Craftdwarf's Workshop==
I just had a lye maker take over a metalsmith's forge and turn out a bracelet; now he's a legendary metalcrafter. I think that "Dwarves with only the following skills will construct their artifact at a craftsdwarf's workshop..." might be too constrictive, and that such dwarves could seize any craftdwarf-related workshop (including forges and carpenter's shops), not just a craftdwarf's workshop. Anyone else observed this behavior? --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 09:55, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:You're certain that the dwarf in question had no experience in any other tasks? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 11:19, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:Yes, the lyemaker had no other (non-social) skills. He was a recent immigrant I was using as a hauler. --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 11:35, 22 December 2008 (EST)

::There have been quite a few anomalous moods that we haven't documented properly yet.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 22 December 2008 (EST)

Figure this falls here. Had a Potash Maker refuse every shop I built, I had thought I had a craft shop. Turns out it was forbidden, I reclaimed it and he claimed it for his mood. I think this is verified.--[[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] 15:18, 3 January 2009 (EST)

== Time limit of a mood. ==

Do we have a fix on the exact time the player has to satisfy a mood before the dwarf goes insane? Any clue on whether it's fixed or variable?
--[[User:Shurikane|Shurikane]] 12:04, 27 December 2008 (EST)
:I don't have a specific time limit, nor have I checked for variability, but 60 days/2 months is very close to the limit in my experience. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:18, 12 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Dragon

2009-01-14T16:05:19Z

ThunderClaw: /* Still Relevant? */

== Tameable? ==

Are Dragons tameable in this version? Supposedly they were in the previous version, but I am not sure. [[User:KiTA|KiTA]] 18:59, 24 November 2007 (EST)

If you see a Hyrda in a fortress, will a Dragon ever appear, or will you forever see Hyrdas going forward? [[User:KiTA|KiTA]] 18:59, 24 November 2007 (EST)

: Yes, they can be tamed once you get the [[dungeon master]], just like before. --[[User:JT|JT]] 18:43, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:: What about multiple types of megabeasts showing up? Or is it "once a hyrda, always a hydra?"
::: I had both a hydra and bronze colossus show up in the same fort [[User:Coelocanth|Coelocanth]]
::: I had a Dragon, and then 3 months later a hydra show up as well. PS: I edited your comment. --[[User:Gotthard|Gotthard]] 11:08, 10 December 2007 (EST)
::::So far I'm 15 years into my fortress and I've had 3 Bronze Collusi, 2 Hydras, 1 Titan and 1 Dragon. I've tossed them all into a pit which I drop sieging armies into for my amusment... [[User:XRsyst|XRsyst]] 22:55, May 15 2008 (PDT)

== Disappointment ==

I was pretty disappointed with my first Dragon. It came during a goblin siege, and proceeded to make a bee line for them. The first goblin bolt grounded it as unconscious, and the second killed it. Highly anticlimactic, it didn't even singe anything. Would be nice if they were somewhat threatening. --Gotthard 13:50, 3 December 2007 (EST)
:This is not a problem with dragons, it's a recuring problem from ranged weapons. Did you ever try to send champions against a horde of bowmen? They'd die just as easily as recruits... --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 14:30, 3 December 2007 (EST)
::I would say it is somewhat a problem with megabeasts in general, though. Someone actually mentioned this to me in another context the other day, but megabeasts really need to have some special mechanics for them if they're going to be very mega.--[[User:Qalnor|Qalnor]] 15:01, 3 December 2007 (EST)
::If I read the raws correctly, it just looks like his only attack is a bite (with a good damage of 1-6). Shouldn't he have a tail swipe, or a wing buffet to complement his fire breathing ability? Perhaps an increased resistance to ranged attacks, although armor doesn't seem to do much to piercing damage. Very irritating. --Gotthard 17:21, 3 December 2007 (EST)
:I just saw something similar -- my hunter was out hunting, and came upon a dragon that had just invaded. He seems to have dodged the fire the dragon breathed at him, then knocked it unconscious with a bolt to the heart. The hunter must have agreed that this was anticlimactic, as he then shrugged and went to kill a mountain goat. [[User:Dolohov|Dolohov]] 14:35, 24 August 2008 (EDT)
A dragon raided my village, burning everything above ground. The flames consumed everything. Including the dragon itself. --[[User:Sebbekai|Sebbekai]] 16:31, 5 April 2008 (EDT)
:err... it burned itself to death? Are you sure? Because if you look at the object data for dragons in this article, it has the [FIREIMMUNE_SUPER] tag... --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 22:17, 16 May 2008 (EDT)
::[FIREIMMUNE_SUPER] grants immunity to dragonbreath and the belief that the creature is immune to fire. It does not actually grant an immunity to fire. [FIREIMMUNE] does that. The dragon breathed, ignited grass, and burned upon the fire it started. Sometimes they purposefully hop into lava and become dragon fritters. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 23:43, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:Yup, my dragon just destroyed itself in it's own firey fury too, unless my recruit kicked it in it's softspot... And the wooden building nearby just become 'warm'. So there we have it.--[[User:Khimaera UK|JK]] 18:17, 7 January 2009 (EST)

== Tiny? ==

Dragons can enter dwarf homes? That's a bit odd. A five story tall dragon probably should be a bit taller then the four-or-so foot dwarves. I'd imagine elves have a hard enough time as is. [[User:Minalkra|Minalkra]] 01:20, 2 May 2008 (EDT)
:Uhh.. This is Dwarf Fortress not the North American Scale and Size Convention (NASSC) ...Duh [[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 14:03, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

== Burning items ... ==

IMO the easiest way of dealing with fire breath is: Options -> Only military allowed outside.

Setting this ON as soon as the dragon arrives will result in dwarves not doing much (or more precisely cancelling any task that paths them outside), but should also prevent dwarves from picking up burning items (providing you kill the dragon while it's still outside the fortress.)

== They're [FANCIFUL]...? ==

I just noticed the object data for dragons has the [FANCIFUL] tag. I had been led to believe by [[Fanciful|this article]] that this tag was for creatures that were just mythical and didn't actually spawn in the game. But dragons certainly do spawn in the game. Is that article wrong or what? --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 22:26, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

:I think this makes dragons not spawn normally. Instead, they spawn when it's time for a dragon attack. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 22:32, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

::Ah, I just looked at the other megabeasts, and they have the tag too, along with the demons. So that's probably why. The [FANCIFUL] article is still somewhat wrong or misleading though. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 22:36, 16 May 2008 (EDT)

== After being tamed ==

Will the defend themselves if they get attacked? I would love burning the bloody goblins who go after my dwarf families. It seems they won't move much if you let them out of their cages. It would also be fun to have a match with 2 mega beasts against each other.--[[User:Seaneat|Seaneat]] 13:37, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

== Spawning Injured? ==

I was just assaulted by a Dragon. With no legs. (Well... it was missing 2 legs... completely cut off)

It constantly was unconscious (although it did wake up every 5 minutes or so and take a couple steps forward)
I haven't checked up on the legends for that dragon yet, but I can assume it lost those body parts in a battle sometime back. Very... intriguing. Should a note be made about mega-beasts spawning as such?

:This does sound rather interesting. When did Toady Introduce the fact that Megabeasts exist in the world and can be encountered on numerous occasions, given that you haven't killed them yet? And, Can you find mega-beasts in Adventure mode? [[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 08:17, 10 August 2008 (EDT)

:As I recall, Megabeasts have their own lives and histories, generated when the map is generated. There is a rotating quote on the front page from Toady about a Titan that had its leg gnawed off by a dwarf and then laid waste to the land for 1000 years or so. So, no, your Dragon didn't start injured. Someone else injured it for you. --[[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 17:09, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

::Hell, even the semi-megabeasts that mayors want you to fight spawn injured. In my most recent adventure, besides successfully killing almost an entire town (I had recruited like 30 marksdwarves. Heh.) I had at least 5 occassions where a semi would constantly fall unconcious from the fact it had missling legs, lungs, arms, etc. [[User:Milskidasith|Milskidasith]] 22:16, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Dragon Footprints ==

From SomethingAwful forums thread #2917631<blockquote>

'''Krinkle posted:'''

holy poo poo! Just as I was getting ready to go home I get a message.

''Berayi Nelarthesa, Dragon, has arrived.''

I saved and took the save with me. Holy crap. I sounded the alarm that nobody but nobody was allowed outside and let loose and he leaves sand where he walks HE LEAVES SAND WHERE HE WALKS.
</blockquote>
Reposted for flavour by --[[User:Jellyfishgreen|Jellyfishgreen]] 07:02, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

:It seems to me that dwarves walking on a layer of sand covered by grass leave sand where they walk, too. This way the stange phenomenon posted above might be explained. --[[User:Doub|Doub]]
::Elves have grasstrample 0. Dwarves have default grasstrample. Giant desert scorpions have grasstrample 10. Alligators have grasstrample 20. Dragons have grasstrample 50. A mess of dwarves milling about your entrance will wear away all the grass eventually. A dragon does it with every step. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 23:43, 10 September 2008 (EDT)

== Trapped! ==

I have built a few hundred cage traps around my fortress. The second a Dragon appeared, I ordered (o) my dwarves to stay indoors and just waited. AWESOME! Caught him in a dumb cage trap. Shucks the kobalts don't get caught in them... (so I put a few stone traps around the exits/entrances).

== Bugged Dragon? ==

I had 3 stonefall traps lining the entrance to my fortress (this was very early in the game). A dragon showed up when I was still getting settled (not even a season into the game) and cheerfully walked right past my traps without setting them off, then torched all of my dwarves. Why didn't it set off the traps? Was it flying over them?--[[User:Aegeus|Aegeus]] 20:17, 20 September 2008 (EDT)

It probably set off the stonefall traps. (you can check, there should be stone on the ground). Dragons just don't get hurt much by them (I had a skeletal dragon run through a line of 8 and come out with some badly bruised bones and a broken (for skeletal, that means totally lost) left claw. [[User:Milskidasith|Milskidasith]] 17:02, 9 November 2008 (EST)
:Depends on random factors, I suppose. When a dragon went after the chained horse surrounded by stonefall traps I keep outside, it was already nauseous by the time my military arrived to finish the job. It can't have gone through more than three traps, more likely two. I don't think I'll d trapfields again, they're just too appallingly effective. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 09:50, 14 January 2009 (EST)

== Dragonfire too weak? ==

Ok, I got a skeletal dragon invading my fortress. He sends dragonfire out at a regular dwarf, and it hits him at the very edge for no damage (the land is scorched, no fire). Dwarf flees, jumps in the river, dies to carp (which rather hilariously start attacking the skeletal dragon, who proceeds to claw one to death until another dwarf walks by. No big deal, the fire barely hit the peasant so it makes sense it didn't hurt him.

I send in a military squad to fight the dragon. My champion (the one *without* my legendary shield, his was -quality- iron) runs to the dragon, gets hit POINT BLANK by dragonfire (which once again kills the plants without setting them on fire) and doesn't even get hurt. Repeat when two swordsdwarves, one who is only a low level shield user, get hit at about a third of the total range. I killed the dragon, but honestly, he didn't light a thing on fire and couldn't hurt the dwarves. It would AT LEAST make sense if the dwarves got light injuries from the fact they are standing on freshly scorched land while it's in the process of being scorched again.[[User:Milskidasith|Milskidasith]] 17:08, 9 November 2008 (EST)

== Still Relevant? ==
Those parts about training not working on murderous dragons, and especially about fire being inexplicably deadly, sound vaguely 2D. Can anyone confirm the training issue still exists? --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 09:50, 14 January 2009 (EST)
:The training quirk is a problem with all tamed animals, not just dragons. [[Fire]] is still outrageously deadly because the dwarven AI doesn't correctly understand being on fire, or why they should not touch things that are on fire. So yes, this is all still relevant. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:05, 14 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Butcher

2009-01-13T18:29:11Z

ThunderClaw: /* Empty Heads? */ - clarification

Wouldnt it make more sense to redirect this to [[Butcher%27s_shop]]? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 20:29, 4 November 2007 (EST)

== Experience/Speed==
it takes my dabbling butcher only a splitsecond to butcher a mule - how could he be faster? --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 19:43, 14 February 2008 (EST)
:read carefully: "Higher skill allows them to '''process corpses''' only faster." He's getting faster with processing corpses of dead animals, e.g. from a hunt or from some accident. Butchering of an animal is surprisingly fast and independent of skill.
::yeah, i had noticed that later and even made an edit to just that quote, only forgot to remove the above post ;) but thanks --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 07:57, 15 February 2008 (EST)

== Butchering immature animals ==

I was looking to see if there is any benefit to waiting for animals to mature before butchering them... ie does a "cow calf" produce less meat than a cow? does a kitten produce less meat than a cat? (we all know how quick the cat population explodes and there are no wild animals on the Z-levels I have access to!)[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 09:15, 21 June 2008 (EDT)

: I noticed the other day that kittens product 2 meat (1 less than adult cats), and I believe also 2 bones. I would ''guess'' that in general you get 1/2 of what you would get from the adult, rounded up. That's a complete guess though, so some actual research might be in order. --[[User:Raumkraut|Raumkraut]] 19:10, 21 June 2008 (EDT)

A cow calf returns 6 meat, 6 chunks, 6 bone, 6 fat, skin and skull. This is 2/3 the value of a full cow, though the fat level is the same. I would expect then that butchering immature animals returns 2/3 the full value of a grown animal. -- [[User:Primax|Primax]] 23:35, 6 October 2008 (EDT)

== Butchering Goblins ==

Goblins are BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD. The page says this means they MUST be tamed and then marked to be slaughtered. Does this mean I can't butcher the bodies? You should be able to butcher just about anything...
--[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 04:04, 24 October 2008 (EDT)

: Correct. You can still get their bones by putting their bodies in a refuse stockpile and waiting for them to decompose (you'll get the bones anywhere inside, but the refuse area will hopefully not make a problem with miasma). I guess dwarves don't like to feast on the bodies of their enemies. --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 04:28, 24 October 2008 (EDT)

== Empty Heads? ==
I was watching my butcher slog her way through the dismembered carcasses of a barrel of [[rhesus macaque]]s when I noticed something odd. Because my traps are filled with obsidian swords, the monkeys were in many pieces. Like heads. When she butchered a head, I was expecting a skull to come out, but instead it was one bone and one meat. Bug? Is the head a feature of the body for some reason? --[[User:Oddrune|Oddrune]] 02:43, 13 January 2009 (EST)
:AFAIK, heads, chunks, and limbs cannot be butchered, only the listed dead body, which always yields the specified bones/skin/skull/fat/meat values. Are you certain that the actual corpse was not being butchered, not the head object? Although, that leads to the question, do headless corpses still produce a skull, or is that handled? -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 13:12, 13 January 2009 (EST)
::Body parts can be and often are butchered. They produce materials proportional to the whole corpse - the size of the body part is the numerator, the size of the parent creature is the denominator. All of these are rounded down (that's what computers ALWAYS do unless told to do otherwise). So in this case, while you might reasonably expect the head to contain a skull, it's a fraction of the corpse, and computationally it produces a fraction of a skull - and that's rounded down to no skull at all. You could conceivably consider this a bug, but in my mind it's fine. Decapitations are rarely clean, so it's not unreasaonble to expect that the skull was ruined in the messiness, and the bones extracted are merely the usable parts. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:28, 13 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Butcher

2009-01-13T18:28:00Z

ThunderClaw: /* Empty Heads? */

Wouldnt it make more sense to redirect this to [[Butcher%27s_shop]]? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 20:29, 4 November 2007 (EST)

== Experience/Speed==
it takes my dabbling butcher only a splitsecond to butcher a mule - how could he be faster? --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 19:43, 14 February 2008 (EST)
:read carefully: "Higher skill allows them to '''process corpses''' only faster." He's getting faster with processing corpses of dead animals, e.g. from a hunt or from some accident. Butchering of an animal is surprisingly fast and independent of skill.
::yeah, i had noticed that later and even made an edit to just that quote, only forgot to remove the above post ;) but thanks --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 07:57, 15 February 2008 (EST)

== Butchering immature animals ==

I was looking to see if there is any benefit to waiting for animals to mature before butchering them... ie does a "cow calf" produce less meat than a cow? does a kitten produce less meat than a cat? (we all know how quick the cat population explodes and there are no wild animals on the Z-levels I have access to!)[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 09:15, 21 June 2008 (EDT)

: I noticed the other day that kittens product 2 meat (1 less than adult cats), and I believe also 2 bones. I would ''guess'' that in general you get 1/2 of what you would get from the adult, rounded up. That's a complete guess though, so some actual research might be in order. --[[User:Raumkraut|Raumkraut]] 19:10, 21 June 2008 (EDT)

A cow calf returns 6 meat, 6 chunks, 6 bone, 6 fat, skin and skull. This is 2/3 the value of a full cow, though the fat level is the same. I would expect then that butchering immature animals returns 2/3 the full value of a grown animal. -- [[User:Primax|Primax]] 23:35, 6 October 2008 (EDT)

== Butchering Goblins ==

Goblins are BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD. The page says this means they MUST be tamed and then marked to be slaughtered. Does this mean I can't butcher the bodies? You should be able to butcher just about anything...
--[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 04:04, 24 October 2008 (EDT)

: Correct. You can still get their bones by putting their bodies in a refuse stockpile and waiting for them to decompose (you'll get the bones anywhere inside, but the refuse area will hopefully not make a problem with miasma). I guess dwarves don't like to feast on the bodies of their enemies. --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 04:28, 24 October 2008 (EDT)

== Empty Heads? ==
I was watching my butcher slog her way through the dismembered carcasses of a barrel of [[rhesus macaque]]s when I noticed something odd. Because my traps are filled with obsidian swords, the monkeys were in many pieces. Like heads. When she butchered a head, I was expecting a skull to come out, but instead it was one bone and one meat. Bug? Is the head a feature of the body for some reason? --[[User:Oddrune|Oddrune]] 02:43, 13 January 2009 (EST)
:AFAIK, heads, chunks, and limbs cannot be butchered, only the listed dead body, which always yields the specified bones/skin/skull/fat/meat values. Are you certain that the actual corpse was not being butchered, not the head object? Although, that leads to the question, do headless corpses still produce a skull, or is that handled? -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 13:12, 13 January 2009 (EST)
::Body parts can be and often are butchered. They produce materials proportional to the whole corpse - the size of the body part is the numerator, the size of the parent creature is the denominator. All of these are rounded down (that's what computers ALWAYS do unless told to do otherwise). So in this case, while you might reasonably expect the head to contain a skull, it's a fraction of the corpse, and computationally it produces a fraction of a skull. You could conceivably consider this a bug, but in my mind it's fine. Decapitations are rarely clean, so it's not unreasaonble to expect that the skull was ruined in the messiness, and the bones extracted are merely the usable parts. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:28, 13 January 2009 (EST)

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-13T14:58:32Z

ThunderClaw: /* Building workshops */

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarf|dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option, <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the gray triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. Rivers provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]es are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. Magma makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of biomes. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[dwarf|Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarven civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liaison]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4. However, choosing areas with high elevation changes gives you much more stone, ore, and gems to work with and may even provide decent protection against invaders. It's your choice in the long run, particularly if you don't really care about performance.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. Aquifers can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water ([[river]]s, streams, and [[brook]]s) are a permanent source of [[water]]. [[Lake]]s and [[pool]]s have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough water can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[aquifer]]s require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
** If you insist on starting in an area with an aquifer, read up on the dangers of aquifers, and, if at all possible, choose an embark site that includes an aquifer-less [[biome]].
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient miners and growers, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the Axedwarf skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in Appraiser and Judge of Intent will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the starting builds, ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
** A good ore to bring along is [[tetrahedrite]] - it acts simultaneously as the ore for copper and [[silver]], a good crafting metal. (That is, with every piece of tetrahedrite, you will always get a copper bar, and will sometimes get a silver bar as well [about a 20 percent chance, or one in five].) This kills two birds with one stone (heh): you still have your copper, and if you get silver you can smelt metal crafts for use as [[trade]] goods. 
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and {{k|d}}esignate an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and {{k|d}}esignate a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[masonry]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of soil. Avoid using irrigation if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. After placing the farmland, a dwarf with the Farming (Fields) labor enabled will come by and prepare it for use. After it's done, {{k|q}}uery the new field and decide on your crops for each season. The crop display will show every crop that can possibly be planted there - it does not nessecerally mean you have seeds to plant. [[Plump helmet]]s are best for your first field, since they can be brewed to [[booze]], eaten raw, and cooked. If you find some seasons have red letters, that is because the season has already passed and you cannot edit it again this year. You will have to pick it up in the spring of the following year. Be aware that Dwarf Fortress will '''NOT''' give you an error if you attempt to plant something you have no seeds of. It will give you an error if you '''run out''' of seeds after starting planting, but not if you simply have none to begin with. If you can't remember what kind of seeds you have, check around your wagon and your designated food stockpile using {{k|k}} for a seeds bag. Hit {{k|Enter}} when you find it to inspect the bag and see what kind of seeds it carries. Later on, you will be able to find it more easily using the {{k|z}} key and the "Stocks" menu, but right now your stocks will lack the precision to use the "zoom" key. See the [[bookkeeper]] article for more information on stockpile precision.

Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly. Stone mugs are a good trade good - you get three mugs from one stone, adding up to 30☼ at the start. Since your stonecrafter will level up relatively quickly (and if you have several dwarves working on stonecrafts) this can quickly add up to several thousand monies worth of goods.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads|stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door settings|forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-12T22:54:33Z

ThunderClaw: /* Selecting a dig site */

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarf|dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option, <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the gray triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. Rivers provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]es are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. Magma makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of biomes. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[dwarf|Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarven civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liaison]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4. However, choosing areas with high elevation changes gives you much more stone, ore, and gems to work with and may even provide decent protection against invaders. It's your choice in the long run, particularly if you don't really care about performance.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. Aquifers can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water ([[river]]s, streams, and [[brook]]s) are a permanent source of [[water]]. [[Lake]]s and [[pool]]s have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough water can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[aquifer]]s require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
** If you insist on starting in an area with an aquifer, read up on the dangers of aquifers, and, if at all possible, choose an embark site that includes an aquifer-less [[biome]].
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient miners and growers, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the Axedwarf skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in Appraiser and Judge of Intent will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the starting builds, ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
** A good ore to bring along is [[tetrahedrite]] - it acts simultaneously as the ore for copper and [[silver]], a good crafting metal. (That is, with every piece of tetrahedrite, you will always get a copper bar, and will sometimes get a silver bar as well [about a 20 percent chance, or one in five].) This kills two birds with one stone (heh): you still have your copper, and if you get silver you can smelt metal crafts for use as [[trade]] goods. 
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and {{k|d}}esignate an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and {{k|d}}esignate a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[stonecrafting]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of soil. Avoid using irrigation if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. After placing the farmland, a dwarf with the Farming (Fields) labor enabled will come by and prepare it for use. After it's done, {{k|q}}uery the new field and decide on your crops for each season. The crop display will show every crop that can possibly be planted there - it does not nessecerally mean you have seeds to plant. [[Plump helmet]]s are best for your first field, since they can be brewed to [[booze]], eaten raw, and cooked. If you find some seasons have red letters, that is because the season has already passed and you cannot edit it again this year. You will have to pick it up in the spring of the following year. Be aware that Dwarf Fortress will '''NOT''' give you an error if you attempt to plant something you have no seeds of. It will give you an error if you '''run out''' of seeds after starting planting, but not if you simply have none to begin with. If you can't remember what kind of seeds you have, check around your wagon and your designated food stockpile using {{k|k}} for a seeds bag. Hit {{k|Enter}} when you find it to inspect the bag and see what kind of seeds it carries. Later on, you will be able to find it more easily using the {{k|z}} key and the "Stocks" menu, but right now your stocks will lack the precision to use the "zoom" key. See the [[bookkeeper]] article for more information on stockpile precision.

Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly. Stone mugs are a good trade good - you get three mugs from one stone, adding up to 30☼ at the start. Since your stonecrafter will level up relatively quickly (and if you have several dwarves working on stonecrafts) this can quickly add up to several thousand monies worth of goods.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads|stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door settings|forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d Talk:Strange mood

2009-01-12T17:18:12Z

ThunderClaw: /* Time limit of a mood. */

Does the new version still have the strange mood? It wouldnt be complete without it!

:It still exists, I've had it happen several times now, I went to the archive wiki and copy/pasted the old page.

::Isnt that why the wiki was nuked? To make sure that no old info lingers? Ill put some "verify" in there, I dont think that the bold text is enough for users to understand that some of this may no longer apply. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 06:03, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:::I agree. Although moods themselves don't seem to have been changed in this version, the changes to the stones/ores that they use means that some of the information in this article is no longer true. I'll have a go at cleaning it up when I have the proper time for it, but this wiki definitely needs a 'no copypasting from the archives' rule to avoid screwups like this. If people are going to copypaste old stuff, then it is downright irresponsible of them not to verify the accuracy of the information before committing it to the wiki. --[[User:Morlark|Morlark]]

I know, I was a huge fan of that little strange aspect of the old one.

I need my dwarfs to make more swordfish bone swords, and i still need some glass weapons/armor

The moods seem to have changed. One of my dwarfs went fey, made a nice hematite mug, and is now a legendary... Engraver. Very wierd, he also had no stoneworking or other craftdwarf skills. But he was a competent mason. This was also my fifth dwarf who took the same craftworkshop, so it's a bit strange. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 17:36, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:Six fey dwarf, all took the craftdwarfshop, now my bowyer took one. Think it might be a bug. Is the 15 artifacts limit still in? --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:34, 8 November 2007 (EST)

:: Whohoo my second legendary engraver made a gold mug. My bowyer became a legendary engraver. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:40, 8 November 2007 (EST)
::: Scratch all that, one of my woodworkers just used a carpenters shop. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 07:45, 9 November 2007 (EST)

:Have you marked all statements in the article that risks being falsified with <nowiki>{{verify}}</nowiki>? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 19:41, 6 November 2007 (EST)

Hey, I am getting a dwarf who wants "raw...crystal". Help? -- [[User:Bovinepro|Bovinepro]]
:Probably wants raw crystal glass. I had a dwarf ask for "raw...green", they wanted raw green glass. Looks like Toady might have moved the glass demands out of the "rough...color" category. [[User:Iddq?|Iddq?]]

About the engravers taking over craftdwarf's shops and becoming legendary engravers afterwards is quite true. I recently got a bunch of immigrants, and the engraver that came with them fell into a strange mood before even crossing the bridge on my river. He took over a craftdwarf's workshop and made a basalt scepter, and now he's legendary level in engraving. So yeah, perfect laboratory conditions, he was 100% engraver when he went into his mood and came out a legendary engraver. --[[User:Zhang5|Zhang5]] 17:07, 12 November 2007 (EST)

It seems that no craft skill is required. I just had a peasant go into a strange mood. His skills were: competent marksdwarf; novice wrestler; novice armor wearer. He grabbed a craftsdwarf's workshop and 10 items (3xFelsite, Schorls, Tigereyes, Red Beryls, Giant cave swallow leather, Grizzly Bear Leather, Rough harlequin opals and Ash logs -- guess he has expensive taste?) and churned out an idol in relatively short order. This is my 9th successful mood in this fortress, and I've seen requests for between 3 and 10 items, personally. Since they seem to be increasing in complexity, I've either hit the item cap, or I'm about to break ten :) [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 16:34, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:This is consistent with older versions. Moody peasants would become crafters, and 10 items was the cap. The minimum was 1 item -- generally when constructing a "perfect gem".--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 16:55, 19 November 2007 (EST)

I had a miner go into a strange mood, take over a mason's workshop, and make a something that got him up to legendary miner status. In my current fort, I have had 6 artifacts made, 2 of which were actual moods and 5 of which were possessions (I can add, one of them failed and the dwarf became a babbling wreck). My dwarves love to use only one item: an oak door (1 item), an olivine coffin (2 items), a turtle shell mask (1 item and is my cheapest artifiact at 3600), a diorite amulet (3 items), and a perfect jelly opal (1 item). --[[User:Penguinofhonor|Penguinofhonor]] 18:47, 28 November 2007 (EST)

Where to add the info that in my game (.33c) a miner took over a mason's workshop, became legendary miner and then held the artifact in his right hand instead of a pick, which became 'hauled', then droped the pick and then took the pick with his left hand? He can mine after all these. While holding a 667 weight units cabinet in his right hand. --[[User:Another|Another]] 10:07, 1 December 2007 (EST)

I had dwarf Miller, profecienty Grower who had Fey Mood, and he became a Legendary Mason ....
Is it normal ? [[user:Feydreva|Feydreva]]

One of my dwarves has become possessed and is demanding cloth, bones and stone, which I have plenty of. But he refuses to go fetch them. Is there something I'm doing wrong?—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Patarak|Patarak]] ([[User talk:Patarak|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Patarak|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}
: They want either silk or fiber cloth. Make sure you have both! [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 03:40, 21 January 2008 (EST)

Aargh! One of my dwarves went secretive and is demanding a huge list of stuff. He seems to be demanding two types of stone because the "sketches quarry" message stays on twice as long as the others. I have (and he has gathered) flint: is there any way to tell what kind of stone he wants? --[[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 011:55, 7 March 2008 (EST)

I had a Glassmaker that sat around when I had a lot of Magma Glass Furnaces, but then decided to get going when I made a regular Glass Furnace. Seems like they will only use a specific kind. Not sure yet if it's random. Might be they won't take the Magma Glass Furnace in version 38a. Can anyone verify? --[[User:Afbee|Afbee]] 05:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

: My Glassmaker successfully used Magma Glass Furnace in a fey mood. --[[User:Digger|Digger]] 07:54, 24 February 2008 (EST)
:: I just had the same problem. I had a glass maker who wouldn't take over a magma glass furnace. Since I'm creating a glass fortress and had a mess of glass orders piled up, I thought that might have confused the AI and I built 2 more magma glass furnaces. No dice, he didn't want them. After reading this page I decided to create a normal glass furnace. He snapped it up as soon as it was built. --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 04:07, 9 November 2008 (EST)

==Maximum number of artifacts==
Well, I just got my umpteenth mood, and it resulted in the 16th successfully created artifact.(33b) So that 15 cap thing is clearly wrong. As it happens, this single artifact is worth 754,800, and is an adamantine spear decorated with, among other things, adamantine. For the record, in case this data is important to someone tabulating number of ingredients, my moods in order created the following objects using the corresponding number of ingredients: (Flute, 4; Mechanism, 4; Spear, 3; Millstone, 6; Ring, 8; Chest, 7; Cape, 7; Ring, 9; Statue, 8; Idol, 10; earring, 8; Buckler, 8; Table, 3; Mechanism, 10; Bracelet, 5; and Spear, 8). [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:54, 27 November 2007 (EST)

Do fell/macabre moods still exist? I haven't seen any for quite a few versions. It'd be nice to have that verified.—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Rabek|Rabek]] ([[User talk:Rabek|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Rabek|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}

== clarification on "trade" skills ==

Are trade skills all the skills that produce items with some level of quality? Mainly I want to know if dyer is a trade skill. And how does that work with miner? I didn't think miner was a trade skill. Maybe someone who knows more than me could clarify in the wiki.
I just got my first artifact. It's worth 2400. The dwarf took one log and made a scepter. -[[User:Radtse|Radtse]]

:I don't know exactly, we should make a list of the skills we know are not trade skills. I'll start: my brewer/grower once got a strange mood and made a wood item and gained woodcrafting skill. Let's try to only add to the list when we have experienced a moody dwarf with that skill only.--[[User:Valdemar|Valdemar]] 19:36, 27 December 2007 (EST)

::I'm adding Weaver and Furnace Operator to this list, since they're on the wiki. I haven't seen them myself, but I'm assuming someone else has. Knowing that Furnace Operator is a "fey-able" skill will be quite helpful.-[[User:Radtse|Radtse]] 18:28, 29 December 2007 (EST)

:::Where's cooking fit in? --[[User:KittenyKat|KittenyKat]] 20:09, 6 January 2008 (EST)

List of non-trade skills:

* [[Brewer]]
* [[Grower]]
* [[Miller]]
* [[Wood Cutter]]

Skills that may be used and gained by dwarves with no trade skills:

* [[Wood crafter]]
* [[Stone crafter]]

Skills that use a different skill(See list above), but give correct skill:

* [[Miner]]
* [[Engraver]]
* [[Furnace Operator]]
* [[Weaver]]

:::For the record, i can confirm both Furnace Operator and Weaver, since no one else has commented to verify them thus far. (The weaver actually surprised me when it happened). --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:43, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

:::I can confirm that a Miner will claim a Mason's shop, and produce a stone item, even with no Mason skill at all. It works just like the wiki says. --[[User:Strangething|Strangething]] 23:47, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

:::And I can confirm that Wood Cutter does not contribute -- I had a Novice Glassmaker/No Prefix Wood Cutter take a glass furnace. [[User:Slitherrr|Slitherrr]] 13:48, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

== mood condition ==
The 20 dwarves / no crazy stuff has been found while looking at the binary of v0.27.169.33d, might be different now, but i don't think so. [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 15:08, 2 January 2008 (EST)

Regarding the calulations for required maximum existing artifacts (items/200 and dugout/(48*48)) wouldn't it make more sense to either use the squared symbol, or the actual result of that square (which was the original number actually discovered/revealed I believe)? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 19:17, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:<sup>2</sup> --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 21:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:20 dorf must be still there. I've made low-population fort and I had no mood for ~8 years (from start). I'm sure that I've digged at least 2700 tiles and created at least 300 items. I will test if raising population to 20 will cause moods. I think that 20 dwarf limit should be mentioned even if it's not confirmed. --[[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 18:30, 26 May 2008 (EDT)

== Random Workshop Seizure ==

I just had a gem cutter seize a carpenter's workshop and make a perfect gem; upon completion I had a worthless Legendary dwarf and a new jeweler's workshop, so I guess that's still in from the previous version. I've removed the verify in the article. [[User:Tacroy|Tacroy]] 16:51, 9 January 2008 (EST)

:nonsense. Should be a bigger chance of making ZOMG high-quality gem crafts now ;) --[[User:Frostedfire|Frostedfire]] 07:35, 18 February 2008 (EST)

::More to the point, if you don't like the profession your dwarf has Legendary in...draft for the stats! --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 12:16, 18 February 2008 (EST)

== forbidden items ==

Do moody dwarfs use forbidden items? Will they demand forbid items? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 02:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

:I don't know whether moody dwarves will use forbidden items (my guess would be they won't). But they don't choose the demands based on what is on the map, they can and do demand things you don't have. So it's safe to assume forbidding doesn't prevent dwarves from demanding the forbidden kind of item. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 16:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

::Forbidden items are not used. Similarly, if your mooder slipped in e.g. an iron bar when you wanted him to use a platinum bar, you can forbid AND dump the item to stop him from using it. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 16:35, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

== Impossible Requests? ==
Will dwarves try to use items that you just don't have access to? I had a dwarf asking for silk when I haven't imported any and I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant spider anywhere. Also asking for "rocks" when I have mined at least one of each type of rock that is visible (requiring rocks from unmined areas seem pretty harsh). Also a request for "metal bars" when I have smeltered at least one of each ore I have found and made at least one of each possible alloy. [[User:Yvain|Yvain]] 23:27, 26 February 2008 (EST)
:Yeah, impossible stuff is all my dwarves ever want. :-P Right now mine appears to want stone I don't have, and no traders have come by with any stone.... So my guys are frantically mining in various directions.... [[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 13:59, 7 March 2008 (EST)

::As far as i can tell they never request anything it is truly impossible for you to get. Available by trade seems to imply possible for the game engine though. Too bad if its the start of winter (which is when all my moods which require things I don't have and can't produce happen, of course). But if there's no sand on your map at all you will not be asked for glass, since you can't trade for sand. (If there's 5 tiles of sand under that underground lake you haven't found yet... sucks to be you - my first fortress lost 3 dwarves to this). So yes, requiring things present on the map that you haven't found yet appears to be possible and routine. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:48, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

== Procastinator! ==

I just had a moody dwarf demand bones, wood, rocks, and cloth.

He got the rocks okay, and then did nothing for ages. Then, as soon as the fire imp corpse rotted away, he ran down and got the bones, then ran over to my wood stockpile and got a piece of wood...

Do they need to get their ingredients in order now?--[[User:Shadow archmagi|Shadow archmagi]] 06:28, 29 February 2008 (EST)
:i think so, not that it matters, he wont start unless he has ALL the ingridents.

== gems ==
My moody dwarf asked for 2 kinds of rough gems, but i had cut all rough ones at that point. So i "printed out" all layers and started checking for leftover gems in the walls. Guess what, he picked the first 2 kinds i mined. So either

* random/pure luck (don't think so)
* they only ask what they "see"
* they only ask what is somehow on the map
* or they might even adapt somewhat to availability, but i doubt that. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 15:59, 28 March 2008 (EDT)

:I believe, but don't know for sure, that sometimes they want specific items and sometimes they just want anything in a category of items, such as any rough gems in this case. It used to work that way in the 2d version, didn't it? --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:23, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::Confirming behaviour that BahamutZERO sees. Dwarves will '''always''' grab the closest object that falls under the category unless he is requesting a specific metal, specific silk, or specific plant fiber cloth. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 14:25, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Just standing around? ==

I have a dwarf who was possessed, but won't leave the main hall. He's also a novice in everything, but to be safe I've already cleared the shops. It's winter of my first year, but somehow I've already had 2 waves of immigrants. Back to the point, I'm afraid he's going to wait out the mood and go berserk. Help?
--[[User:Ilmmad|Ilmmad]] 20:00, 6 March 2008 (EST)
:Well, make sure u ve got one workshop of every possible kind available - there are however quite a few u dont need to build, its covered in the article. Check for locked doors or otherwise blocked access (bridges, channels, statues..) Dont forget furnaces, glass and magma. Check with 'q' if all workshops are completely build. If it doesnt help consider building workshops not related to his skills, or more "exotic" ones, like Ashery or Alchemist. No one can guarantee that Toady didnt have some new fun ideas ;) --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 22:59, 6 March 2008 (EST)

== stark raving suicide ==

My mechanic wanted silk cloth, which I didn't have, and eventually gone insane ("stark raving mad" to be precise).
Seconds after that I had message that he died in heat (I had artificial magma pool nearby).
He probably jumped into the pool like in melancholy. Main article states that only melancholic dwarves kill themselves in such way.
Could anyone confirm that mad ones do that too, and this wasn't just an accident/bug? [[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 16:59, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

:Perhaps it ''was'' an accident -- I seem to recall that "stark raving mad" ones wander around at random. Perhaps it wandered into the lava. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 18:30, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

::It was an accident, the stark raving mad ones wander around aimlessly, regardless of Z- levels. --[[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 12:53, 9 November 2008 (EST)

== Glassmaker with no glass ==

I had an immigrant glassworker get a mood, seize a glass workshop, and created an artifact made entirely of gemstones. No glass involved or asked for. (No sand on the map, anyway.) He turned into a Legendary Glassworker, despite having never made a glass anything.

== Rewrite ==

I think I got most of the old information and then some into the new article. Please make any necessary modifications. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 01:22, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

== Silk Cloth ==

I had a dwarf demand silk cloth, but he refused to use my giant cave spider silk cloth. I didn't have any regular cave spider silk cloth. To verify that the silk was the problem, I used Companion to change the silk demand to any stone, and he immediately collected the rest of the materials and constructed the artifact.
Can anyone else confirm that giant cave spider silk cloth does '''not''' count as silk cloth? --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:55, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:No, I'm pretty sure I can't. I've seen a dwarf grab GCS silk. Could it be that you had thread and not cloth? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 13:59, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::Nope, giant cave spider cloth [3] sorted under cloth on the stock screen. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 16:52, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
Probably they may specifically require GCS silk or specifically require CS silk. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 14:10, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
I figured it out - the silk was outside and I had accidentally left "Dwarves Stay Inside" on after the latest attack. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:52, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Engineer taken by secretive mood, and creates... ==

Evidently engineers who are taken by a secretive mood ("withdraws from society", in case it's later determined that the descriptor has an effect) will have no problems taking over the mechanic's workshop. And there's only one thing mechanic-shops build - that's right, you heard right, ladies and gentlemen, I present ''Kodor ós: A claystone mechanism''. It's even available for use from the appropriate {{k|b}})uild screens. He decided to make this splendid 86,400o creation while on an eight-mechanism binge in that very same mechanic's workshop. Maybe dwarves choose the workshop they've been in the most often? --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

:Ah, actually I can confirm I've had a Mechanic create an artifact mechanism as well. Stick some obsidian swords in that baby and you'll be good to go! That should probably go in the main article for skills vs workshops... I would expect siege engineers also have strange moods, but I imagine pump op and siege op fall under the general craftsman catch-all --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 15:45, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::I'd like to smack BismuthBismuthBismuth with the facts stated in the article.
A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill
::In this case it was Engineering and therefore your mechanic went to a Mechanic's Workshop. It's the same with the possessed glassmakers. They hit a glassmaker's shop. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:49, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::I'd like to hit GreyMario-Maria, preferably in the upper-body region, with the fact that at the time of my post, the table in the article did not mention mechanics whatsoever. --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 22:26, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::::Pardon me, but I was not aware that ''mechanics'' worked at a ''mechanic's workshop'', where objects are created that have ''quality mofidiers'' and can thus become ''artifacts''. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:28, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::Pardon me as well, but it seems that the table in [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&oldid=25231 this particular revision] did not encapsulate this information. '''GreyMario is throwing a tantrum!''' --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:22, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::::::Mechanics. Work at a mechanic's workshop. Produce items which have visible quality modifiers. Items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to be artifacts. THEREFORE, mechanics claim mechanic's workshops when they go fey. Seriously, logic sometimes, please? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:30, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::::That would follow if we knew for certain that the proposition "items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to artifacts" is necessarily true. We don't. For instance, siege engine components are not verified as artifact eligible. Since that isn't a given, it's perfectly reasonable for people to not jump to the conclusion that a job type will create artifacts relevant to it until they see it happen. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 16:26, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

i love the absurd randomness factor with artifacts - you end up with really weird stuff. like grates, and socks. a question pertinent to legendary mechanisms - i got a stupidly valuable one of these as the first legendary item in a new fort and i used it to create a gear assembly in a public dining area in the hopes that it would give dwarves happy thoughts, but after a few years gametime of checking randomly on them nothing particular showed up. any particular use along these lines for legendary mechanisms for something other then simple fortress value? --[[User:FruityBix|FruityBix]] 11:51, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
: weapon traps! --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 12:03, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:: FWIW, that might be a more general answer for artifact items... I had a Weaponsmith dwarf go into a strange mood and create a lead warhammer (Yes, there was plenty of steel and iron around, but this dwarf likes lead, I guess). It can't be equipped as a weapon (lead isn't a valid material type normally for constructing weapons) but I can put it into a weapons trap. Which... is basically the only thing I can do with this 65000* artifact... -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 14:37, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
::: Actually, artifact equipment can be used, it just requires a "hero" level dwarf or higher. However, for the nonstandard material weapons and armor you may do well to forbid them so that they're not used. The actual effectiveness of odd material artifacts is supposedly lower than that of decent iron or steel equipment, and artifact equipment cannot be unequipped once a dwarf decides to use it. --[[User:Janus|Janus]] 15:36, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:Build your artifact mechanism into a really, really, really wonderful well. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:37, 13 December 2008 (EST)

== Tanner fixed ==

I just had a Tanner claim a leather works, not a tannery. I updated the table. For the record, the dwarf has no skill level in leather working.

:I wonder if Tanners even claim Tanner's shops? Tanner's shops just make leather, and leather doesn't have quality modifiers, so you shouldn't be able to produce an artifact from one, aye? That information came from an older version of the page, I wonder if it was inaccurate. Weavers supposed claim Clothier's shops and not Looms, so it would make sense if Tanners were the same way. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 18:08, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

== Cooks ==

I can confirm that cooks do not produce artifacts: my Peasant with Dabbling Cook/Brewer/(various social) and nothing else just took over a Craftsdwarf's Workshop. I'm removing the verify tag for cooks in the article. --[[User:Comonad|Comonad]] 16:16, 2 August 2008 (EDT)

mmmm. . . . artifact roast. [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 19:12, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

== Soapers etc. ==

It stands to reason that soapers, lye makers, and wood burners wouldn't make artifacts. Neither soap, lye, charcoal, nor ash have quality modifiers, and that's all those skills can produce. I'm pretty sure you can't have artifact soap, lye, charcoal, or ash. --[[User:Tachyon|Tachyon]] 20:26, 11 August 2008 (EDT)

: My woodburner just got possessed. He wants a shell and wood. I have the shell but I'm not sure what type of wood he wants. --[[User:Ehertlein|Ehertlein]] 20:18, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

== Not all demands need to be met ==

I just had a dwarf taken by a secretive mood and collect a huge variety of things: 4 stone, 1 block, 1 gem, 2 rough gems, bones, a shell, 2 leather. He was further sketching for more bones, 2 leather, another stone, a log, another shell, and raw green glass. The only things I didn't have on hand were the shell and the green glass -- dwarves seem to go through their list in order, and get stuck on certain items.

I just hoped someone would eat a turtle (50/1678 chance!) and queued a raw green glass. When the glass was made, he got started, totally ignoring his previous requests for wood, another shell, and the other things. Anyone else have this experience? [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 13:28, 13 August 2008 (EDT)

:I think they keep sketching images even after they get the items. Your dwarf already had all of the shells, leather, bones, stones, blocks, and gems he needed. [[User:Curudan|Curudan]] 15:26, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

::This is correct. I've had dwarves run out, grab two items, and then sit at the Workshop shouting a need for three items. When the item he was waiting on became available, he ran out, grabbed it, went back in, and started working. So it's pretty evident that they list ALL of the items they want, regardless of how many of them they've already collected. --[[User:Nekojin|Nekojin]] 22:28, 23 August 2008 (EDT)

== Possession ==

I've had 14 moods in my current Fortress, 11 of them have been possessions. Am I really unlucky, or is the type of mood weighted? [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 09:55, 26 August 2008 (EDT)
: As far as I can tell by looking at the game logic, each mood types are as likely to be rolled (except fell of course, which is selected if happiness<rand(128) or something like that). --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 07:56, 3 September 2008 (EDT)
:: I had a feeling I was just getting really unlucky, thanks. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:34, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

== Furnace Operator ==

Apparently furnace operator is no longer a mood skill as of df 28 181 40d. I just had a expert furnace operator take over a Craftdwarf's Workshop and become a legendary stonecrafter. [[User:Otherdwarf|Otherdwarf]] 10:26, 1 October 2008 (EDT)
:I had one take over a mason's workshop, I would guess that Furnace Operator is treating like Engraver or Miner. I'm kind of disappointed, I was hoping he'd churn out an artifact coke or something.[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 13:03, 14 November 2008 (EST)

::Back when furnace operator was moodable, they'd turn out metal crafts. But taking over a mason's workshop is surprising. Occasionally they'll take over a random workshop and convert it into the type they want -- what artifact did the dwarf produce? And, just to rule out some obvious things, did the dwarf have dabbling skill in mining, masonry, or engraving?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:51, 14 November 2008 (EST)
:::He went crazy looking for some kind of rough gem, so we'll never know. It was ''right'' after the dwarf trading caravan left, too, so I really had no chance whatsoever. I don't know for sure what skills he had, I don't think he had much other than Furnace Operator, Architect, and the social skills though. I ''might'' have enabled mining, but there was plenty of work for him at the smelter so I don't know for sure.--[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 15:56, 14 November 2008 (EST)

== Chunk Butchery? ==

Well, even though the selection of items for artifacts is totally random, its a bit wierd if a macabre dwarf goes to a butcher's workshop and starts bringing in tons of dwarf CHUNKS! My dwarf just started doing that, should I expect rotting meat (yes, the chunks are already rotten)? - 09:57, 30 October 2008 Stinhad Limarezum
: ^_^ "This is a delicious meat pie. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. On the item is an image of a dwarf and dwarves in rotting dwarf chunks. The dwarf is baking the other dwarves into meat pies. The artwork relates to the rise of the dwarf butcher Sweeney Todd as the cook of The Fleet Street in 78" -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 11:11, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Oh, ''do'' post the description of the artifact when the dwarf completes it. ("Menaces with spikes of dwarf chunk?" I'd be intimidated for sure.)--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:18, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

== What Workshop? ==

Is there any way to discover what workshop a dwarf in a secretive mood requires? I had nearly everything. I built a siege workshop and a bowery before I ran out of ideas and he went beserk. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 10:55, 3 November 2008 (EST)

:You have to look at what skills he has first and rule out the obvious. If he has no mood-able skills then it's going to be a craftsdwarf's workshop. If you have hit magma and he wants a forge or glass furnace, he will insist on the magma version of that workshop. Finally, maybe one of your existing workshops was inaccessible or you accidentally [[forbid]] it at some point. If none of that works, I'm out of ideas too.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:01, 3 November 2008 (EST)
::I have a functioning magma glass furnace and I had to build a normal glass furnace when my glass maker became secretive. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:23, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Same here, in fact I had 2 moody glass making dwarves refuse to use anything but a normal glass furnace when there were 5 fully functional magma glass furnaces in the same fort. (sorry, almost forgot to sign) --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 14:27, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Ditto. A glassmaker got possessed and refused to use my magma glass furnace. I had to build a regular one. --[[User:Schwern|Schwern]] 19:33, 27 December 2008 (EST)

:::Ah. In older versions, they'd insist on a magma workshop, when possible. Do they now insist on using a regular workshop, or has anyone seen a moody dwarf use a magma workshop in recent versions?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::::I believe my metalsmith is waiting for my magma forge to come on line, I have a standard forge built, but that isn't doing anything for him. Does anyone know what effect fluctuating power will have on the strange mood? Edit: If a claimed workshop looses power for even a millisecond, the mood fails. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 12:02, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Possessed Child ==

I have a child that has become possessed and taken over one of my craft workshops (of course). He is muttering the following: rough color, leather skin, bone yes, stone rock, cloth thread, blocks bricks, and a shell. He has already acquired the following: turtle bones, donkey bones [4], microcline blocks, turtle shell, rough pink garnets, dog leather, carp leather, and hematite. I have plenty of all the things that he's already gathered, so I'm assuming that he doesn't need anymore of those items. That leaves the thread. I have turned off my auto-loom a while ago so that I would keep the thread around for artifacts. I currently have plenty of plant thread (4 pig tail and 14 rope reed) and enough spider silk (5). What I don't have is giant spider silk. I have confirmed that the child has access to all these items, including the thread which I have piles next to his workshop. Still he doesn't start construction.

Can any help? Is there a difference for artifact creation between regular cave spider silk and giant cave spider silk? ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

:Do you have both silk and plant cloth available? (Not just thread.) And do you see any specific cloth preferences in his thoughts and preferences screen?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 01:32, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::Argh. I bet that's it. No silk cloth, just thread. I have had guys go crazy for lack of thread before, so I never make silk cloth, just kept the thread. Oh well, the child is now melancholy. I can re-load and see what would happen if I make the thread into cloth. Maybe I'll test that out. ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

::: Wouldn't you be able to solve this problem by only weaving dyed thread? Then you'll always have some thread waiting to be dyed. --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 03:04, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::::You could also leave high quality, expensive materials lying around Forbidden, and only Claim them when someone's trying to make an artifact. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 15:07, 11 November 2008 (EST)

== Getting More Strange Moods ==

According to the article, the number of artifacts is limited by "The number of items created divided by 200." This indicates that making bolts (5 for each bone or 25 for each log) or brewing (5 units of drink for each unit of plant brewed) are efficient ways to encourage strange moods. Does that sound accurate?

It also states that the number of revealed subterranean tiles is a limit. Does that mean an area like a chasm, where many tiles are revealed to start with, will produce more strange moods?

Also, does anyone know whether the division rounds up or down? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 22:24, 16 November 2008 (EST)

:I'd be willing to bet all stacks count as only one "item" for this kind of calculation. 200 sounds like a paltry number, however. If rocks are counted as items, most fortresses have thousands of them in just a few years. The other number is what is most significant (I wonder where the heck it comes from?) I've had four miners digging non-stop for about 10 years now, and my stocks menu says I have 70,000 stones. Allowing for underground soil tiles (which don't produce stone) and stone/ore consumed by industry, each miner can probably clear about 2,000 tiles a year: one artifact. I have 21 artifacts in my fortress now (and two failed moods early on), so if that rate is indicative, I'd say you want to employ three or more miners non-stop to maximize your chances.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:09, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::The guy who wrote [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Stone_management#Block_Stockpile this] doesn't seem to think that stones count as created items. Also, "revealed tiles" is ambiguous. For example, [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Exploratory_mining#Mine_shafts this] method is very good at showing you what's inside of a tile without actually mining it out. Do you suppose that seeing whats inside is enough?

::Where do you think these numbers came from anyway? I'm gonna take a look through the edit history and try to track them down. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 00:15, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::They came during [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&diff=25038&oldid=24936 this edit]. They're so specific I've got to think the author did some poking around with a disassembler. Again, though, 200 is such a paltry number. If underground "open space" counts, then discovering a chasm, bottomless pit, or magma pipe should many thousands thousands of revealed tiles. If underground floor tiles are needed, you'll have to mine most of them out yourself.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:34, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::::I had a chat with [[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] over at his talk page, since he edited the page around the time the changes were made. He seemed fairly certain that all you had to do to "reveal" a tile was to have a passable square next to it, so I edited the article to reflect that. He did not, however, know anything about how bolts or stones would affect things. Right now my hopes are on [[User:Marble_Dice|Marble Dice]], whom I believe made the actual addition. I'm not sure if he's a very active user though.

::::By the way, the reason I'm doing all this is that I'm considering optimizing a fortress for strange moods: have '''lots''' of dwarves with only "dabbling" in a single strange mood skill to gain maximum benefit from the moods. Any ideas for fortress strategies that will go well with this? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 02:44, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::::I saw the conversation -- I keep my eye on [[Special:Recentchanges]]. What he says about "reveal" is correct, as far as I know. I still wonder about "open space" tiles. If they count as revealed, all you really need to do is find a chasm/pit/magma pipe and you'll be in moods for years to come.

:::::I've done the dabbling strategy in the past. It's best to emphasize just a few skills you really really want that are otherwise hard to train due to limited materials -- armorsmith, weaponsmith, bone carver, leatherworker, carpenter, etc. It works fine with any fortress strategy.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:30, 17 November 2008 (EST)

== Two missing labors ==

Strand Extractor and Blacksmith don't currently appear in either the Causes Moods category or the Doesn't Cause Moods category. I put Strand Extractor in Doesn't Cause Moods and the Blacksmith in Causes Moods; feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 19:59, 18 November 2008 (EST)

:I can confirm that blacksmith is moodable, I've got a nice steel chest to show for it. It stands to reason that strand extractor isn't moodable, but we don't know for sure -- I've slapped a verify on it.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:01, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Order of stuff ==

I'm wondering if dwarves always claim items in a certain order. For example, when a dwarf wants three pieces of wood he always wants them back-to-back, never wood gem wood bone wood. So are types ALWAYS in a certain order? My current moody dwarf wanted two bars of metal, then spider silk cloth, then ash logs, then bones, then a rough gem, then a shell. Knowing the order might help you guess what the dwarf wants next if he doesn't need to wait for anything (and thus tell you what he wants). This might be useful for micromanaging forbidding stuff to make sure your dwarf gets the highest value things available. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:19, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:<s>This is actually well-defined in the article, if you'd bothered to look close enough. Dwarves will gather items in the order they scream their demands in.</s> It's unknown. I think there's no real order, just similar things end up grouped together. :V --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:32, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::fail. Uh, I mean, as soon as anyone else sees a strange mood, it can either be disproven, or we can start putting some data together immediately and be done pretty quick. I saw: Metal Bars, Silk Cloth, Wood, Bones, Rough Gem, Shell. If anyone sees bones before wood or something, that means there's no guaranteed order. But no harm done. :) --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:36, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::It's simpler than that. Items have a certain number of slots for improvements, and for artifacts the first improvement slot is always filled by the base material of the item. Then the rest are filled in order, with whatever is a valid candidate for that slot (which is probably 'anything that's anything' in every case, though I'm not absolutely sure.) So, there isn't any explicit sorting because it has to be in order.

:::If you fill an item's slots with ordinary decoration, which is easiest to do by encrusting a wide variety of gems on a piece of furniture or the like, you'll see what I mean. Maybe. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 23:40, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::::Ah! So you're saying that instead of generating a list of ingredients, it first plans out the artifact itself, saying "This one is a chest, it has hanging rings and an image, first let's get a material for the chest, then a material for the hanging rings, then a material for the image"? That makes a ton of sense, and answers my question. Thanks! --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:47, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::::Well, I know it doesn't do that, because if you close the game and reopen it, you can get different items... With my elf game, I had one artifact that came out as either a thong, a left mitten, or a rope on five tries. But it's roughly the same idea, even with the details randomized upon creation. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 00:05, 27 November 2008 (EST)

== Fell Mood Demands ==

It looks like when a brooding dwarf sits in the tanner's shop and says he needs "Things..." what he's looking for is vermin remains. Other demands are like in Fey moods. --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 22:24, 3 December 2008 (EST)

== Confusing macabre mood ==

My mayor just entered one, while 'quite content', claimed a smelter, waited for a bit, until the parts appeared (the vermin must have died). He then created a roach rock chitin bracelet, and gained the carpenter skill. Am I missing something here? Smelter, rock and carpenter don't seem to mix well... Note: The only skills were proficient cook and fish cleaner, with some dabbling and noice social.--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 13:03, 6 December 2008 (EST)

:Carpenter? Or wood crafter? Claiming a smelter isn't out of the question: they sometimes grab a random workshop and turn it into the one they want (is it still a smelter?). And what is roach rock? Give the actual description of the artifact.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:14, 6 December 2008 (EST)

::Carpenter. It's still a smelter, yes. "This is a large roach chitin bracelet. All craftsdwaftship is of the highest quality. It is encircled with bands of large roach chitin and dwarf bone. This object menaces with spikes of rat leather."--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 15:32, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::Hmm. Post that one on the forums, find out if it's an actual bug. Does sound pretty nonstandard.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:50, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::: :-D Pretty sure that a roach is an actual bug. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 09:00, 8 December 2008 (EST)

:::::D'oh.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:56, 8 December 2008 (EST)

::::::I did have two very close together, but I am certain that neither had any carpenter skill, and the smelter was claimed.

: I've just had a similar occurance. Immediately after a goblin ambush (that killed 5 of my soldiers and caused major unhappiness in many dwarves), one dwarf that had lost a friend but was just "content" clained a tanner's workshop, grabbed a rhesus macque chunk, and made a rather boring rhesus macaque leather amulet (no embelishments apart from rhesus macaque leather bands). It did have quite an impressive name though - Gethustongos Nelas Luror, "Harshtainted the Flicker of Cruelties". The dwarf herself became a Legendary Weaponsmith, despite having no weaponsmithing skill! (Her highest skill was unlabled armoring). [[User:Iapetus|Iapetus]] 19:47, 10 January 2009 (EST)

== Rough Gems ==

EVERY Fey Mood that has happened for the last 3 years has required Rough Gems! Argh! Mining out an entire Z-level has found ONE GEM, which I was idiotic enough to cut the instant I found it. I do not have Rough Gems. You cannot buy Rough Gems. My fortress will die slowly and painfully without Rough Gems. Cut green glass is good enough when a fey dwarf demands cut gems, why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems? Can it be made good enough with a mod? --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Dig down to an igneous intrusive level - they have more gems. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

::To mod out gem-demanding fey dwarves, you could remove all gems and then generate a new world. Alternatively, if you don't mind the lack of moods, turn them off in init.txt. Personally, I highly dislike moods, since they just make it that much easier to have abundant so-called "legendary" dwarves, although the random killer effect is quite nice. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 20:15, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Regarding "why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems" -- it is good enough. I've had fey dwarves grab raw green glass a half-dozen times. I think it's more likely that all the raw green glass in your fortress was TASKED, and therefore unavailable to the fey dwarf. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:16, 12 January 2009 (EST)

==Trapper?==
Has anyone seen a dwarf get trapper experience from a mood? I've made a couple of artifact animal traps at this point, and all of them were by dwarves without the trapper skill who received xp in skills related to the material. (ie, my turtle-shell animal trap was made by someone who became a legendary bonecarver therefrom). I know I made a similar comment on the Trapper talk page. From the other end, I'm sure I've had immigrant trappers get moods before and have never seen a legendary trapper, although I don't recall specifically enough to be certain they had moods. But I've seen zero evidence that Trapper is actually a moodable skill. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 16:00, 15 December 2008 (EST)

==Craftdwarf's Workshop==
I just had a lye maker take over a metalsmith's forge and turn out a bracelet; now he's a legendary metalcrafter. I think that "Dwarves with only the following skills will construct their artifact at a craftsdwarf's workshop..." might be too constrictive, and that such dwarves could seize any craftdwarf-related workshop (including forges and carpenter's shops), not just a craftdwarf's workshop. Anyone else observed this behavior? --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 09:55, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:You're certain that the dwarf in question had no experience in any other tasks? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 11:19, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:Yes, the lyemaker had no other (non-social) skills. He was a recent immigrant I was using as a hauler. --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 11:35, 22 December 2008 (EST)

::There have been quite a few anomalous moods that we haven't documented properly yet.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 22 December 2008 (EST)

Figure this falls here. Had a Potash Maker refuse every shop I built, I had thought I had a craft shop. Turns out it was forbidden, I reclaimed it and he claimed it for his mood. I think this is verified.--[[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] 15:18, 3 January 2009 (EST)

== Time limit of a mood. ==

Do we have a fix on the exact time the player has to satisfy a mood before the dwarf goes insane? Any clue on whether it's fixed or variable?
--[[User:Shurikane|Shurikane]] 12:04, 27 December 2008 (EST)
:I don't have a specific time limit, nor have I checked for variability, but 60 days/2 months is very close to the limit in my experience. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:18, 12 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Strange mood

2009-01-12T17:16:58Z

ThunderClaw: /* Rough Gems */

Does the new version still have the strange mood? It wouldnt be complete without it!

:It still exists, I've had it happen several times now, I went to the archive wiki and copy/pasted the old page.

::Isnt that why the wiki was nuked? To make sure that no old info lingers? Ill put some "verify" in there, I dont think that the bold text is enough for users to understand that some of this may no longer apply. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 06:03, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:::I agree. Although moods themselves don't seem to have been changed in this version, the changes to the stones/ores that they use means that some of the information in this article is no longer true. I'll have a go at cleaning it up when I have the proper time for it, but this wiki definitely needs a 'no copypasting from the archives' rule to avoid screwups like this. If people are going to copypaste old stuff, then it is downright irresponsible of them not to verify the accuracy of the information before committing it to the wiki. --[[User:Morlark|Morlark]]

I know, I was a huge fan of that little strange aspect of the old one.

I need my dwarfs to make more swordfish bone swords, and i still need some glass weapons/armor

The moods seem to have changed. One of my dwarfs went fey, made a nice hematite mug, and is now a legendary... Engraver. Very wierd, he also had no stoneworking or other craftdwarf skills. But he was a competent mason. This was also my fifth dwarf who took the same craftworkshop, so it's a bit strange. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 17:36, 6 November 2007 (EST)

:Six fey dwarf, all took the craftdwarfshop, now my bowyer took one. Think it might be a bug. Is the 15 artifacts limit still in? --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:34, 8 November 2007 (EST)

:: Whohoo my second legendary engraver made a gold mug. My bowyer became a legendary engraver. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 14:40, 8 November 2007 (EST)
::: Scratch all that, one of my woodworkers just used a carpenters shop. --[[User:Soyweiser|Soyweiser]] 07:45, 9 November 2007 (EST)

:Have you marked all statements in the article that risks being falsified with <nowiki>{{verify}}</nowiki>? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 19:41, 6 November 2007 (EST)

Hey, I am getting a dwarf who wants "raw...crystal". Help? -- [[User:Bovinepro|Bovinepro]]
:Probably wants raw crystal glass. I had a dwarf ask for "raw...green", they wanted raw green glass. Looks like Toady might have moved the glass demands out of the "rough...color" category. [[User:Iddq?|Iddq?]]

About the engravers taking over craftdwarf's shops and becoming legendary engravers afterwards is quite true. I recently got a bunch of immigrants, and the engraver that came with them fell into a strange mood before even crossing the bridge on my river. He took over a craftdwarf's workshop and made a basalt scepter, and now he's legendary level in engraving. So yeah, perfect laboratory conditions, he was 100% engraver when he went into his mood and came out a legendary engraver. --[[User:Zhang5|Zhang5]] 17:07, 12 November 2007 (EST)

It seems that no craft skill is required. I just had a peasant go into a strange mood. His skills were: competent marksdwarf; novice wrestler; novice armor wearer. He grabbed a craftsdwarf's workshop and 10 items (3xFelsite, Schorls, Tigereyes, Red Beryls, Giant cave swallow leather, Grizzly Bear Leather, Rough harlequin opals and Ash logs -- guess he has expensive taste?) and churned out an idol in relatively short order. This is my 9th successful mood in this fortress, and I've seen requests for between 3 and 10 items, personally. Since they seem to be increasing in complexity, I've either hit the item cap, or I'm about to break ten :) [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 16:34, 19 November 2007 (EST)
:This is consistent with older versions. Moody peasants would become crafters, and 10 items was the cap. The minimum was 1 item -- generally when constructing a "perfect gem".--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 16:55, 19 November 2007 (EST)

I had a miner go into a strange mood, take over a mason's workshop, and make a something that got him up to legendary miner status. In my current fort, I have had 6 artifacts made, 2 of which were actual moods and 5 of which were possessions (I can add, one of them failed and the dwarf became a babbling wreck). My dwarves love to use only one item: an oak door (1 item), an olivine coffin (2 items), a turtle shell mask (1 item and is my cheapest artifiact at 3600), a diorite amulet (3 items), and a perfect jelly opal (1 item). --[[User:Penguinofhonor|Penguinofhonor]] 18:47, 28 November 2007 (EST)

Where to add the info that in my game (.33c) a miner took over a mason's workshop, became legendary miner and then held the artifact in his right hand instead of a pick, which became 'hauled', then droped the pick and then took the pick with his left hand? He can mine after all these. While holding a 667 weight units cabinet in his right hand. --[[User:Another|Another]] 10:07, 1 December 2007 (EST)

I had dwarf Miller, profecienty Grower who had Fey Mood, and he became a Legendary Mason ....
Is it normal ? [[user:Feydreva|Feydreva]]

One of my dwarves has become possessed and is demanding cloth, bones and stone, which I have plenty of. But he refuses to go fetch them. Is there something I'm doing wrong?—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Patarak|Patarak]] ([[User talk:Patarak|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Patarak|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}
: They want either silk or fiber cloth. Make sure you have both! [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 03:40, 21 January 2008 (EST)

Aargh! One of my dwarves went secretive and is demanding a huge list of stuff. He seems to be demanding two types of stone because the "sketches quarry" message stays on twice as long as the others. I have (and he has gathered) flint: is there any way to tell what kind of stone he wants? --[[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 011:55, 7 March 2008 (EST)

I had a Glassmaker that sat around when I had a lot of Magma Glass Furnaces, but then decided to get going when I made a regular Glass Furnace. Seems like they will only use a specific kind. Not sure yet if it's random. Might be they won't take the Magma Glass Furnace in version 38a. Can anyone verify? --[[User:Afbee|Afbee]] 05:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

: My Glassmaker successfully used Magma Glass Furnace in a fey mood. --[[User:Digger|Digger]] 07:54, 24 February 2008 (EST)
:: I just had the same problem. I had a glass maker who wouldn't take over a magma glass furnace. Since I'm creating a glass fortress and had a mess of glass orders piled up, I thought that might have confused the AI and I built 2 more magma glass furnaces. No dice, he didn't want them. After reading this page I decided to create a normal glass furnace. He snapped it up as soon as it was built. --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 04:07, 9 November 2008 (EST)

==Maximum number of artifacts==
Well, I just got my umpteenth mood, and it resulted in the 16th successfully created artifact.(33b) So that 15 cap thing is clearly wrong. As it happens, this single artifact is worth 754,800, and is an adamantine spear decorated with, among other things, adamantine. For the record, in case this data is important to someone tabulating number of ingredients, my moods in order created the following objects using the corresponding number of ingredients: (Flute, 4; Mechanism, 4; Spear, 3; Millstone, 6; Ring, 8; Chest, 7; Cape, 7; Ring, 9; Statue, 8; Idol, 10; earring, 8; Buckler, 8; Table, 3; Mechanism, 10; Bracelet, 5; and Spear, 8). [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:54, 27 November 2007 (EST)

Do fell/macabre moods still exist? I haven't seen any for quite a few versions. It'd be nice to have that verified.—Preceding [[template:unsigned|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Rabek|Rabek]] ([[User talk:Rabek|talk]]•[[Special:Contributions/Rabek|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}

== clarification on "trade" skills ==

Are trade skills all the skills that produce items with some level of quality? Mainly I want to know if dyer is a trade skill. And how does that work with miner? I didn't think miner was a trade skill. Maybe someone who knows more than me could clarify in the wiki.
I just got my first artifact. It's worth 2400. The dwarf took one log and made a scepter. -[[User:Radtse|Radtse]]

:I don't know exactly, we should make a list of the skills we know are not trade skills. I'll start: my brewer/grower once got a strange mood and made a wood item and gained woodcrafting skill. Let's try to only add to the list when we have experienced a moody dwarf with that skill only.--[[User:Valdemar|Valdemar]] 19:36, 27 December 2007 (EST)

::I'm adding Weaver and Furnace Operator to this list, since they're on the wiki. I haven't seen them myself, but I'm assuming someone else has. Knowing that Furnace Operator is a "fey-able" skill will be quite helpful.-[[User:Radtse|Radtse]] 18:28, 29 December 2007 (EST)

:::Where's cooking fit in? --[[User:KittenyKat|KittenyKat]] 20:09, 6 January 2008 (EST)

List of non-trade skills:

* [[Brewer]]
* [[Grower]]
* [[Miller]]
* [[Wood Cutter]]

Skills that may be used and gained by dwarves with no trade skills:

* [[Wood crafter]]
* [[Stone crafter]]

Skills that use a different skill(See list above), but give correct skill:

* [[Miner]]
* [[Engraver]]
* [[Furnace Operator]]
* [[Weaver]]

:::For the record, i can confirm both Furnace Operator and Weaver, since no one else has commented to verify them thus far. (The weaver actually surprised me when it happened). --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:43, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

:::I can confirm that a Miner will claim a Mason's shop, and produce a stone item, even with no Mason skill at all. It works just like the wiki says. --[[User:Strangething|Strangething]] 23:47, 31 May 2008 (EDT)

:::And I can confirm that Wood Cutter does not contribute -- I had a Novice Glassmaker/No Prefix Wood Cutter take a glass furnace. [[User:Slitherrr|Slitherrr]] 13:48, 28 July 2008 (EDT)

== mood condition ==
The 20 dwarves / no crazy stuff has been found while looking at the binary of v0.27.169.33d, might be different now, but i don't think so. [[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 15:08, 2 January 2008 (EST)

Regarding the calulations for required maximum existing artifacts (items/200 and dugout/(48*48)) wouldn't it make more sense to either use the squared symbol, or the actual result of that square (which was the original number actually discovered/revealed I believe)? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 19:17, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:<sup>2</sup> --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] 21:28, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

:20 dorf must be still there. I've made low-population fort and I had no mood for ~8 years (from start). I'm sure that I've digged at least 2700 tiles and created at least 300 items. I will test if raising population to 20 will cause moods. I think that 20 dwarf limit should be mentioned even if it's not confirmed. --[[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 18:30, 26 May 2008 (EDT)

== Random Workshop Seizure ==

I just had a gem cutter seize a carpenter's workshop and make a perfect gem; upon completion I had a worthless Legendary dwarf and a new jeweler's workshop, so I guess that's still in from the previous version. I've removed the verify in the article. [[User:Tacroy|Tacroy]] 16:51, 9 January 2008 (EST)

:nonsense. Should be a bigger chance of making ZOMG high-quality gem crafts now ;) --[[User:Frostedfire|Frostedfire]] 07:35, 18 February 2008 (EST)

::More to the point, if you don't like the profession your dwarf has Legendary in...draft for the stats! --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 12:16, 18 February 2008 (EST)

== forbidden items ==

Do moody dwarfs use forbidden items? Will they demand forbid items? [[User:Diabl0658|Diabl0658]] 02:07, 21 February 2008 (EST)

:I don't know whether moody dwarves will use forbidden items (my guess would be they won't). But they don't choose the demands based on what is on the map, they can and do demand things you don't have. So it's safe to assume forbidding doesn't prevent dwarves from demanding the forbidden kind of item. --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 16:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

::Forbidden items are not used. Similarly, if your mooder slipped in e.g. an iron bar when you wanted him to use a platinum bar, you can forbid AND dump the item to stop him from using it. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 16:35, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

== Impossible Requests? ==
Will dwarves try to use items that you just don't have access to? I had a dwarf asking for silk when I haven't imported any and I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant spider anywhere. Also asking for "rocks" when I have mined at least one of each type of rock that is visible (requiring rocks from unmined areas seem pretty harsh). Also a request for "metal bars" when I have smeltered at least one of each ore I have found and made at least one of each possible alloy. [[User:Yvain|Yvain]] 23:27, 26 February 2008 (EST)
:Yeah, impossible stuff is all my dwarves ever want. :-P Right now mine appears to want stone I don't have, and no traders have come by with any stone.... So my guys are frantically mining in various directions.... [[User:Holyfool|Holyfool]] 13:59, 7 March 2008 (EST)

::As far as i can tell they never request anything it is truly impossible for you to get. Available by trade seems to imply possible for the game engine though. Too bad if its the start of winter (which is when all my moods which require things I don't have and can't produce happen, of course). But if there's no sand on your map at all you will not be asked for glass, since you can't trade for sand. (If there's 5 tiles of sand under that underground lake you haven't found yet... sucks to be you - my first fortress lost 3 dwarves to this). So yes, requiring things present on the map that you haven't found yet appears to be possible and routine. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 01:48, 29 April 2008 (EDT)

== Procastinator! ==

I just had a moody dwarf demand bones, wood, rocks, and cloth.

He got the rocks okay, and then did nothing for ages. Then, as soon as the fire imp corpse rotted away, he ran down and got the bones, then ran over to my wood stockpile and got a piece of wood...

Do they need to get their ingredients in order now?--[[User:Shadow archmagi|Shadow archmagi]] 06:28, 29 February 2008 (EST)
:i think so, not that it matters, he wont start unless he has ALL the ingridents.

== gems ==
My moody dwarf asked for 2 kinds of rough gems, but i had cut all rough ones at that point. So i "printed out" all layers and started checking for leftover gems in the walls. Guess what, he picked the first 2 kinds i mined. So either

* random/pure luck (don't think so)
* they only ask what they "see"
* they only ask what is somehow on the map
* or they might even adapt somewhat to availability, but i doubt that. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 15:59, 28 March 2008 (EDT)

:I believe, but don't know for sure, that sometimes they want specific items and sometimes they just want anything in a category of items, such as any rough gems in this case. It used to work that way in the 2d version, didn't it? --[[User:BahamutZERO|BahamutZERO]] 12:23, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::Confirming behaviour that BahamutZERO sees. Dwarves will '''always''' grab the closest object that falls under the category unless he is requesting a specific metal, specific silk, or specific plant fiber cloth. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 14:25, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Just standing around? ==

I have a dwarf who was possessed, but won't leave the main hall. He's also a novice in everything, but to be safe I've already cleared the shops. It's winter of my first year, but somehow I've already had 2 waves of immigrants. Back to the point, I'm afraid he's going to wait out the mood and go berserk. Help?
--[[User:Ilmmad|Ilmmad]] 20:00, 6 March 2008 (EST)
:Well, make sure u ve got one workshop of every possible kind available - there are however quite a few u dont need to build, its covered in the article. Check for locked doors or otherwise blocked access (bridges, channels, statues..) Dont forget furnaces, glass and magma. Check with 'q' if all workshops are completely build. If it doesnt help consider building workshops not related to his skills, or more "exotic" ones, like Ashery or Alchemist. No one can guarantee that Toady didnt have some new fun ideas ;) --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 22:59, 6 March 2008 (EST)

== stark raving suicide ==

My mechanic wanted silk cloth, which I didn't have, and eventually gone insane ("stark raving mad" to be precise).
Seconds after that I had message that he died in heat (I had artificial magma pool nearby).
He probably jumped into the pool like in melancholy. Main article states that only melancholic dwarves kill themselves in such way.
Could anyone confirm that mad ones do that too, and this wasn't just an accident/bug? [[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 16:59, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

:Perhaps it ''was'' an accident -- I seem to recall that "stark raving mad" ones wander around at random. Perhaps it wandered into the lava. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 18:30, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

::It was an accident, the stark raving mad ones wander around aimlessly, regardless of Z- levels. --[[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 12:53, 9 November 2008 (EST)

== Glassmaker with no glass ==

I had an immigrant glassworker get a mood, seize a glass workshop, and created an artifact made entirely of gemstones. No glass involved or asked for. (No sand on the map, anyway.) He turned into a Legendary Glassworker, despite having never made a glass anything.

== Rewrite ==

I think I got most of the old information and then some into the new article. Please make any necessary modifications. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 01:22, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

== Silk Cloth ==

I had a dwarf demand silk cloth, but he refused to use my giant cave spider silk cloth. I didn't have any regular cave spider silk cloth. To verify that the silk was the problem, I used Companion to change the silk demand to any stone, and he immediately collected the rest of the materials and constructed the artifact.
Can anyone else confirm that giant cave spider silk cloth does '''not''' count as silk cloth? --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:55, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:No, I'm pretty sure I can't. I've seen a dwarf grab GCS silk. Could it be that you had thread and not cloth? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 13:59, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::Nope, giant cave spider cloth [3] sorted under cloth on the stock screen. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 16:52, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
Probably they may specifically require GCS silk or specifically require CS silk. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 14:10, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
I figured it out - the silk was outside and I had accidentally left "Dwarves Stay Inside" on after the latest attack. --[[User:Doniazade|Doniazade]] 08:52, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

== Engineer taken by secretive mood, and creates... ==

Evidently engineers who are taken by a secretive mood ("withdraws from society", in case it's later determined that the descriptor has an effect) will have no problems taking over the mechanic's workshop. And there's only one thing mechanic-shops build - that's right, you heard right, ladies and gentlemen, I present ''Kodor ós: A claystone mechanism''. It's even available for use from the appropriate {{k|b}})uild screens. He decided to make this splendid 86,400o creation while on an eight-mechanism binge in that very same mechanic's workshop. Maybe dwarves choose the workshop they've been in the most often? --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:31, 13 May 2008 (EDT)

:Ah, actually I can confirm I've had a Mechanic create an artifact mechanism as well. Stick some obsidian swords in that baby and you'll be good to go! That should probably go in the main article for skills vs workshops... I would expect siege engineers also have strange moods, but I imagine pump op and siege op fall under the general craftsman catch-all --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 15:45, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::I'd like to smack BismuthBismuthBismuth with the facts stated in the article.
A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill
::In this case it was Engineering and therefore your mechanic went to a Mechanic's Workshop. It's the same with the possessed glassmakers. They hit a glassmaker's shop. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:49, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::I'd like to hit GreyMario-Maria, preferably in the upper-body region, with the fact that at the time of my post, the table in the article did not mention mechanics whatsoever. --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 22:26, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
::::Pardon me, but I was not aware that ''mechanics'' worked at a ''mechanic's workshop'', where objects are created that have ''quality mofidiers'' and can thus become ''artifacts''. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:28, 13 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::Pardon me as well, but it seems that the table in [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&oldid=25231 this particular revision] did not encapsulate this information. '''GreyMario is throwing a tantrum!''' --[[User:BismuthBismuthBismuth|BismuthBismuthBismuth]] 15:22, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
::::::Mechanics. Work at a mechanic's workshop. Produce items which have visible quality modifiers. Items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to be artifacts. THEREFORE, mechanics claim mechanic's workshops when they go fey. Seriously, logic sometimes, please? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:30, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
:::::::That would follow if we knew for certain that the proposition "items with visible quality modifiers are eligible to artifacts" is necessarily true. We don't. For instance, siege engine components are not verified as artifact eligible. Since that isn't a given, it's perfectly reasonable for people to not jump to the conclusion that a job type will create artifacts relevant to it until they see it happen. —[[User:Chaos|Chaos]] 16:26, 14 May 2008 (EDT)

i love the absurd randomness factor with artifacts - you end up with really weird stuff. like grates, and socks. a question pertinent to legendary mechanisms - i got a stupidly valuable one of these as the first legendary item in a new fort and i used it to create a gear assembly in a public dining area in the hopes that it would give dwarves happy thoughts, but after a few years gametime of checking randomly on them nothing particular showed up. any particular use along these lines for legendary mechanisms for something other then simple fortress value? --[[User:FruityBix|FruityBix]] 11:51, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
: weapon traps! --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 12:03, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:: FWIW, that might be a more general answer for artifact items... I had a Weaponsmith dwarf go into a strange mood and create a lead warhammer (Yes, there was plenty of steel and iron around, but this dwarf likes lead, I guess). It can't be equipped as a weapon (lead isn't a valid material type normally for constructing weapons) but I can put it into a weapons trap. Which... is basically the only thing I can do with this 65000* artifact... -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 14:37, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
::: Actually, artifact equipment can be used, it just requires a "hero" level dwarf or higher. However, for the nonstandard material weapons and armor you may do well to forbid them so that they're not used. The actual effectiveness of odd material artifacts is supposedly lower than that of decent iron or steel equipment, and artifact equipment cannot be unequipped once a dwarf decides to use it. --[[User:Janus|Janus]] 15:36, 10 September 2008 (EDT)
:Build your artifact mechanism into a really, really, really wonderful well. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:37, 13 December 2008 (EST)

== Tanner fixed ==

I just had a Tanner claim a leather works, not a tannery. I updated the table. For the record, the dwarf has no skill level in leather working.

:I wonder if Tanners even claim Tanner's shops? Tanner's shops just make leather, and leather doesn't have quality modifiers, so you shouldn't be able to produce an artifact from one, aye? That information came from an older version of the page, I wonder if it was inaccurate. Weavers supposed claim Clothier's shops and not Looms, so it would make sense if Tanners were the same way. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 18:08, 2 June 2008 (EDT)

== Cooks ==

I can confirm that cooks do not produce artifacts: my Peasant with Dabbling Cook/Brewer/(various social) and nothing else just took over a Craftsdwarf's Workshop. I'm removing the verify tag for cooks in the article. --[[User:Comonad|Comonad]] 16:16, 2 August 2008 (EDT)

mmmm. . . . artifact roast. [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 19:12, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

== Soapers etc. ==

It stands to reason that soapers, lye makers, and wood burners wouldn't make artifacts. Neither soap, lye, charcoal, nor ash have quality modifiers, and that's all those skills can produce. I'm pretty sure you can't have artifact soap, lye, charcoal, or ash. --[[User:Tachyon|Tachyon]] 20:26, 11 August 2008 (EDT)

: My woodburner just got possessed. He wants a shell and wood. I have the shell but I'm not sure what type of wood he wants. --[[User:Ehertlein|Ehertlein]] 20:18, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

== Not all demands need to be met ==

I just had a dwarf taken by a secretive mood and collect a huge variety of things: 4 stone, 1 block, 1 gem, 2 rough gems, bones, a shell, 2 leather. He was further sketching for more bones, 2 leather, another stone, a log, another shell, and raw green glass. The only things I didn't have on hand were the shell and the green glass -- dwarves seem to go through their list in order, and get stuck on certain items.

I just hoped someone would eat a turtle (50/1678 chance!) and queued a raw green glass. When the glass was made, he got started, totally ignoring his previous requests for wood, another shell, and the other things. Anyone else have this experience? [[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 13:28, 13 August 2008 (EDT)

:I think they keep sketching images even after they get the items. Your dwarf already had all of the shells, leather, bones, stones, blocks, and gems he needed. [[User:Curudan|Curudan]] 15:26, 22 August 2008 (EDT)

::This is correct. I've had dwarves run out, grab two items, and then sit at the Workshop shouting a need for three items. When the item he was waiting on became available, he ran out, grabbed it, went back in, and started working. So it's pretty evident that they list ALL of the items they want, regardless of how many of them they've already collected. --[[User:Nekojin|Nekojin]] 22:28, 23 August 2008 (EDT)

== Possession ==

I've had 14 moods in my current Fortress, 11 of them have been possessions. Am I really unlucky, or is the type of mood weighted? [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 09:55, 26 August 2008 (EDT)
: As far as I can tell by looking at the game logic, each mood types are as likely to be rolled (except fell of course, which is selected if happiness<rand(128) or something like that). --[[User:Bartavelle|Bartavelle]] 07:56, 3 September 2008 (EDT)
:: I had a feeling I was just getting really unlucky, thanks. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:34, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

== Furnace Operator ==

Apparently furnace operator is no longer a mood skill as of df 28 181 40d. I just had a expert furnace operator take over a Craftdwarf's Workshop and become a legendary stonecrafter. [[User:Otherdwarf|Otherdwarf]] 10:26, 1 October 2008 (EDT)
:I had one take over a mason's workshop, I would guess that Furnace Operator is treating like Engraver or Miner. I'm kind of disappointed, I was hoping he'd churn out an artifact coke or something.[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 13:03, 14 November 2008 (EST)

::Back when furnace operator was moodable, they'd turn out metal crafts. But taking over a mason's workshop is surprising. Occasionally they'll take over a random workshop and convert it into the type they want -- what artifact did the dwarf produce? And, just to rule out some obvious things, did the dwarf have dabbling skill in mining, masonry, or engraving?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:51, 14 November 2008 (EST)
:::He went crazy looking for some kind of rough gem, so we'll never know. It was ''right'' after the dwarf trading caravan left, too, so I really had no chance whatsoever. I don't know for sure what skills he had, I don't think he had much other than Furnace Operator, Architect, and the social skills though. I ''might'' have enabled mining, but there was plenty of work for him at the smelter so I don't know for sure.--[[User:Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)|Gandalf the Dwarf (No, really! Look it up!)]] 15:56, 14 November 2008 (EST)

== Chunk Butchery? ==

Well, even though the selection of items for artifacts is totally random, its a bit wierd if a macabre dwarf goes to a butcher's workshop and starts bringing in tons of dwarf CHUNKS! My dwarf just started doing that, should I expect rotting meat (yes, the chunks are already rotten)? - 09:57, 30 October 2008 Stinhad Limarezum
: ^_^ "This is a delicious meat pie. All craftsdwarfship is of the highest quality. On the item is an image of a dwarf and dwarves in rotting dwarf chunks. The dwarf is baking the other dwarves into meat pies. The artwork relates to the rise of the dwarf butcher Sweeney Todd as the cook of The Fleet Street in 78" -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 11:11, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Oh, ''do'' post the description of the artifact when the dwarf completes it. ("Menaces with spikes of dwarf chunk?" I'd be intimidated for sure.)--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:18, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

== What Workshop? ==

Is there any way to discover what workshop a dwarf in a secretive mood requires? I had nearly everything. I built a siege workshop and a bowery before I ran out of ideas and he went beserk. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 10:55, 3 November 2008 (EST)

:You have to look at what skills he has first and rule out the obvious. If he has no mood-able skills then it's going to be a craftsdwarf's workshop. If you have hit magma and he wants a forge or glass furnace, he will insist on the magma version of that workshop. Finally, maybe one of your existing workshops was inaccessible or you accidentally [[forbid]] it at some point. If none of that works, I'm out of ideas too.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 13:01, 3 November 2008 (EST)
::I have a functioning magma glass furnace and I had to build a normal glass furnace when my glass maker became secretive. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 14:23, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Same here, in fact I had 2 moody glass making dwarves refuse to use anything but a normal glass furnace when there were 5 fully functional magma glass furnaces in the same fort. (sorry, almost forgot to sign) --[[User:Alkyon|Alkyon]] 14:27, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::Ditto. A glassmaker got possessed and refused to use my magma glass furnace. I had to build a regular one. --[[User:Schwern|Schwern]] 19:33, 27 December 2008 (EST)

:::Ah. In older versions, they'd insist on a magma workshop, when possible. Do they now insist on using a regular workshop, or has anyone seen a moody dwarf use a magma workshop in recent versions?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 11 November 2008 (EST)
::::I believe my metalsmith is waiting for my magma forge to come on line, I have a standard forge built, but that isn't doing anything for him. Does anyone know what effect fluctuating power will have on the strange mood? Edit: If a claimed workshop looses power for even a millisecond, the mood fails. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 12:02, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Possessed Child ==

I have a child that has become possessed and taken over one of my craft workshops (of course). He is muttering the following: rough color, leather skin, bone yes, stone rock, cloth thread, blocks bricks, and a shell. He has already acquired the following: turtle bones, donkey bones [4], microcline blocks, turtle shell, rough pink garnets, dog leather, carp leather, and hematite. I have plenty of all the things that he's already gathered, so I'm assuming that he doesn't need anymore of those items. That leaves the thread. I have turned off my auto-loom a while ago so that I would keep the thread around for artifacts. I currently have plenty of plant thread (4 pig tail and 14 rope reed) and enough spider silk (5). What I don't have is giant spider silk. I have confirmed that the child has access to all these items, including the thread which I have piles next to his workshop. Still he doesn't start construction.

Can any help? Is there a difference for artifact creation between regular cave spider silk and giant cave spider silk? ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

:Do you have both silk and plant cloth available? (Not just thread.) And do you see any specific cloth preferences in his thoughts and preferences screen?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 01:32, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::Argh. I bet that's it. No silk cloth, just thread. I have had guys go crazy for lack of thread before, so I never make silk cloth, just kept the thread. Oh well, the child is now melancholy. I can re-load and see what would happen if I make the thread into cloth. Maybe I'll test that out. ---[[User:Frewfrux|Frewfrux]]

::: Wouldn't you be able to solve this problem by only weaving dyed thread? Then you'll always have some thread waiting to be dyed. --[[User:RomeoFalling|RomeoFalling]] 03:04, 6 November 2008 (EST)

::::You could also leave high quality, expensive materials lying around Forbidden, and only Claim them when someone's trying to make an artifact. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 15:07, 11 November 2008 (EST)

== Getting More Strange Moods ==

According to the article, the number of artifacts is limited by "The number of items created divided by 200." This indicates that making bolts (5 for each bone or 25 for each log) or brewing (5 units of drink for each unit of plant brewed) are efficient ways to encourage strange moods. Does that sound accurate?

It also states that the number of revealed subterranean tiles is a limit. Does that mean an area like a chasm, where many tiles are revealed to start with, will produce more strange moods?

Also, does anyone know whether the division rounds up or down? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 22:24, 16 November 2008 (EST)

:I'd be willing to bet all stacks count as only one "item" for this kind of calculation. 200 sounds like a paltry number, however. If rocks are counted as items, most fortresses have thousands of them in just a few years. The other number is what is most significant (I wonder where the heck it comes from?) I've had four miners digging non-stop for about 10 years now, and my stocks menu says I have 70,000 stones. Allowing for underground soil tiles (which don't produce stone) and stone/ore consumed by industry, each miner can probably clear about 2,000 tiles a year: one artifact. I have 21 artifacts in my fortress now (and two failed moods early on), so if that rate is indicative, I'd say you want to employ three or more miners non-stop to maximize your chances.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:09, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::The guy who wrote [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Stone_management#Block_Stockpile this] doesn't seem to think that stones count as created items. Also, "revealed tiles" is ambiguous. For example, [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Exploratory_mining#Mine_shafts this] method is very good at showing you what's inside of a tile without actually mining it out. Do you suppose that seeing whats inside is enough?

::Where do you think these numbers came from anyway? I'm gonna take a look through the edit history and try to track them down. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 00:15, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::They came during [http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php?title=Strange_mood&diff=25038&oldid=24936 this edit]. They're so specific I've got to think the author did some poking around with a disassembler. Again, though, 200 is such a paltry number. If underground "open space" counts, then discovering a chasm, bottomless pit, or magma pipe should many thousands thousands of revealed tiles. If underground floor tiles are needed, you'll have to mine most of them out yourself.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 00:34, 17 November 2008 (EST)

::::I had a chat with [[User:GreyMario|GreyMario]] over at his talk page, since he edited the page around the time the changes were made. He seemed fairly certain that all you had to do to "reveal" a tile was to have a passable square next to it, so I edited the article to reflect that. He did not, however, know anything about how bolts or stones would affect things. Right now my hopes are on [[User:Marble_Dice|Marble Dice]], whom I believe made the actual addition. I'm not sure if he's a very active user though.

::::By the way, the reason I'm doing all this is that I'm considering optimizing a fortress for strange moods: have '''lots''' of dwarves with only "dabbling" in a single strange mood skill to gain maximum benefit from the moods. Any ideas for fortress strategies that will go well with this? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 02:44, 17 November 2008 (EST)

:::::I saw the conversation -- I keep my eye on [[Special:Recentchanges]]. What he says about "reveal" is correct, as far as I know. I still wonder about "open space" tiles. If they count as revealed, all you really need to do is find a chasm/pit/magma pipe and you'll be in moods for years to come.

:::::I've done the dabbling strategy in the past. It's best to emphasize just a few skills you really really want that are otherwise hard to train due to limited materials -- armorsmith, weaponsmith, bone carver, leatherworker, carpenter, etc. It works fine with any fortress strategy.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:30, 17 November 2008 (EST)

== Two missing labors ==

Strand Extractor and Blacksmith don't currently appear in either the Causes Moods category or the Doesn't Cause Moods category. I put Strand Extractor in Doesn't Cause Moods and the Blacksmith in Causes Moods; feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong. [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 19:59, 18 November 2008 (EST)

:I can confirm that blacksmith is moodable, I've got a nice steel chest to show for it. It stands to reason that strand extractor isn't moodable, but we don't know for sure -- I've slapped a verify on it.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:01, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Order of stuff ==

I'm wondering if dwarves always claim items in a certain order. For example, when a dwarf wants three pieces of wood he always wants them back-to-back, never wood gem wood bone wood. So are types ALWAYS in a certain order? My current moody dwarf wanted two bars of metal, then spider silk cloth, then ash logs, then bones, then a rough gem, then a shell. Knowing the order might help you guess what the dwarf wants next if he doesn't need to wait for anything (and thus tell you what he wants). This might be useful for micromanaging forbidding stuff to make sure your dwarf gets the highest value things available. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:19, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:<s>This is actually well-defined in the article, if you'd bothered to look close enough. Dwarves will gather items in the order they scream their demands in.</s> It's unknown. I think there's no real order, just similar things end up grouped together. :V --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 23:32, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::fail. Uh, I mean, as soon as anyone else sees a strange mood, it can either be disproven, or we can start putting some data together immediately and be done pretty quick. I saw: Metal Bars, Silk Cloth, Wood, Bones, Rough Gem, Shell. If anyone sees bones before wood or something, that means there's no guaranteed order. But no harm done. :) --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:36, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::It's simpler than that. Items have a certain number of slots for improvements, and for artifacts the first improvement slot is always filled by the base material of the item. Then the rest are filled in order, with whatever is a valid candidate for that slot (which is probably 'anything that's anything' in every case, though I'm not absolutely sure.) So, there isn't any explicit sorting because it has to be in order.

:::If you fill an item's slots with ordinary decoration, which is easiest to do by encrusting a wide variety of gems on a piece of furniture or the like, you'll see what I mean. Maybe. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 23:40, 26 November 2008 (EST)

::::Ah! So you're saying that instead of generating a list of ingredients, it first plans out the artifact itself, saying "This one is a chest, it has hanging rings and an image, first let's get a material for the chest, then a material for the hanging rings, then a material for the image"? That makes a ton of sense, and answers my question. Thanks! --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 23:47, 26 November 2008 (EST)

:::::Well, I know it doesn't do that, because if you close the game and reopen it, you can get different items... With my elf game, I had one artifact that came out as either a thong, a left mitten, or a rope on five tries. But it's roughly the same idea, even with the details randomized upon creation. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 00:05, 27 November 2008 (EST)

== Fell Mood Demands ==

It looks like when a brooding dwarf sits in the tanner's shop and says he needs "Things..." what he's looking for is vermin remains. Other demands are like in Fey moods. --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 22:24, 3 December 2008 (EST)

== Confusing macabre mood ==

My mayor just entered one, while 'quite content', claimed a smelter, waited for a bit, until the parts appeared (the vermin must have died). He then created a roach rock chitin bracelet, and gained the carpenter skill. Am I missing something here? Smelter, rock and carpenter don't seem to mix well... Note: The only skills were proficient cook and fish cleaner, with some dabbling and noice social.--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 13:03, 6 December 2008 (EST)

:Carpenter? Or wood crafter? Claiming a smelter isn't out of the question: they sometimes grab a random workshop and turn it into the one they want (is it still a smelter?). And what is roach rock? Give the actual description of the artifact.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:14, 6 December 2008 (EST)

::Carpenter. It's still a smelter, yes. "This is a large roach chitin bracelet. All craftsdwaftship is of the highest quality. It is encircled with bands of large roach chitin and dwarf bone. This object menaces with spikes of rat leather."--[[User:Finbeer|Finbeer]] 15:32, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::Hmm. Post that one on the forums, find out if it's an actual bug. Does sound pretty nonstandard.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:50, 7 December 2008 (EST)

:::: :-D Pretty sure that a roach is an actual bug. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 09:00, 8 December 2008 (EST)

:::::D'oh.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:56, 8 December 2008 (EST)

::::::I did have two very close together, but I am certain that neither had any carpenter skill, and the smelter was claimed.

: I've just had a similar occurance. Immediately after a goblin ambush (that killed 5 of my soldiers and caused major unhappiness in many dwarves), one dwarf that had lost a friend but was just "content" clained a tanner's workshop, grabbed a rhesus macque chunk, and made a rather boring rhesus macaque leather amulet (no embelishments apart from rhesus macaque leather bands). It did have quite an impressive name though - Gethustongos Nelas Luror, "Harshtainted the Flicker of Cruelties". The dwarf herself became a Legendary Weaponsmith, despite having no weaponsmithing skill! (Her highest skill was unlabled armoring). [[User:Iapetus|Iapetus]] 19:47, 10 January 2009 (EST)

== Rough Gems ==

EVERY Fey Mood that has happened for the last 3 years has required Rough Gems! Argh! Mining out an entire Z-level has found ONE GEM, which I was idiotic enough to cut the instant I found it. I do not have Rough Gems. You cannot buy Rough Gems. My fortress will die slowly and painfully without Rough Gems. Cut green glass is good enough when a fey dwarf demands cut gems, why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems? Can it be made good enough with a mod? --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 11:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Dig down to an igneous intrusive level - they have more gems. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:19, 13 December 2008 (EST)

::To mod out gem-demanding fey dwarves, you could remove all gems and then generate a new world. Alternatively, if you don't mind the lack of moods, turn them off in init.txt. Personally, I highly dislike moods, since they just make it that much easier to have abundant so-called "legendary" dwarves, although the random killer effect is quite nice. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 20:15, 13 December 2008 (EST)

:Regarding "why isn't raw green glass good enough when they want rough gems" -- it is good enough. I've had fey dwarves grab raw green glass a half-dozen times. I think it's more likely that all the raw green glass in your fortress was TASKED, and therefore unavailable to the fey dwarf. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:16, 12 January 2009 (EST)

==Trapper?==
Has anyone seen a dwarf get trapper experience from a mood? I've made a couple of artifact animal traps at this point, and all of them were by dwarves without the trapper skill who received xp in skills related to the material. (ie, my turtle-shell animal trap was made by someone who became a legendary bonecarver therefrom). I know I made a similar comment on the Trapper talk page. From the other end, I'm sure I've had immigrant trappers get moods before and have never seen a legendary trapper, although I don't recall specifically enough to be certain they had moods. But I've seen zero evidence that Trapper is actually a moodable skill. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 16:00, 15 December 2008 (EST)

==Craftdwarf's Workshop==
I just had a lye maker take over a metalsmith's forge and turn out a bracelet; now he's a legendary metalcrafter. I think that "Dwarves with only the following skills will construct their artifact at a craftsdwarf's workshop..." might be too constrictive, and that such dwarves could seize any craftdwarf-related workshop (including forges and carpenter's shops), not just a craftdwarf's workshop. Anyone else observed this behavior? --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 09:55, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:You're certain that the dwarf in question had no experience in any other tasks? --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 11:19, 22 December 2008 (EST)

:Yes, the lyemaker had no other (non-social) skills. He was a recent immigrant I was using as a hauler. --[[User:Wingus|Wingus]] 11:35, 22 December 2008 (EST)

::There have been quite a few anomalous moods that we haven't documented properly yet.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 14:34, 22 December 2008 (EST)

Figure this falls here. Had a Potash Maker refuse every shop I built, I had thought I had a craft shop. Turns out it was forbidden, I reclaimed it and he claimed it for his mood. I think this is verified.--[[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] 15:18, 3 January 2009 (EST)

== Time limit of a mood. ==

Do we have a fix on the exact time the player has to satisfy a mood before the dwarf goes insane? Any clue on whether it's fixed or variable?
--[[User:Shurikane|Shurikane]] 12:04, 27 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Torture

2009-01-12T17:11:24Z

ThunderClaw:

==Creating this page==

Should we make this page so that people can find out how to kill their dwarves off in creative ways (a la "chucking towers", "gladiator arenas", "drawbridge catapults")?

[[User:SwallowedSpear|SwallowedSpear]] 21:36, 11 January 2009 (EST)

:Misplaced/Misnamed at best. Additionally, there are several places where such things are already mentioned, typically in reference to nobles, but there's no difference between getting a noble to pull a lever and any other dwarf. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 23:56, 11 January 2009 (EST)

:Voting no. Totally unnessecery. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:11, 12 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Bedroom design

2009-01-08T22:47:28Z

ThunderClaw: /* Weapon/Armour Racks */

Isn't 200 the absolute maximum number of dwarves one can have at any time?

If so, the High density single floor housing plan of 77x77 is... rather useless, isn't it?

[[User:MagicGuigz|MagicGuigz]] 16:51, 29 September 2008 (EDT)
:The max number of dwarves can be changed in the init files. So no. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 16:55, 29 September 2008 (EDT)
:Even if you had only 200 dwarves, linking 2, 3, or even 4 rooms together to make noble housing, offices, and the like is quite useful. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 10:14, 30 September 2008 (EDT)
::I've always found it more space efficient to throw all my nobles into about a 10x10 room filled with 20x value gem encrusted furniture (granted, I *did* have a legendary gem setter making this easier the last time I did it) and just plop down all their necessities. I currently have a countess/count consort, hammerer, tax collecter, and duchess/duke consort all in one room with all their buildings set as royal. They also have a legendary mechanism hooked up to some gem encrusted spikes. Heh. Heh heh heh. [[User:Milskidasith|Milskidasith]] 04:19, 10 November 2008 (EST)

I have heard that fractal based designs (like the High density single floor housing) can cause the game to slow down is this true? --[[User:Rwindmtg|Rwindmtg]] 06:02, 10 November 2008 (EST)

== Bitmap designs ==

Coudl we get some kind of colour key for these? Or standardise them or something if there isn't one? It can be very confusing to tell what is what in them. - [[User:Alloy|Alloy]] 01:37, 23 November 2008 (EST)

:Seconded... GnomeChomsky's Tessellated Apartments in particular are munged, looks like an earthquake broke them along several faultlines... --[[User:Azaram|Azaram]] 00:11, 4 December 2008 (EST)

::GnomeChomsky's looks fine - only the beds look weird. Its virtually everything after that which isn't in the standard tile set and needs to be changed. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 04:08, 4 December 2008 (EST)

:I don't see why any of them are hard to understand. Access corridors, walls, doors, sometimes furniture. How hard is it to figure out that the small enclosed areas are the bedrooms, and that a door goes at the entrance to each?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 17:32, 4 December 2008 (EST)

::Its not about hard to understand, its about our style guidelines. All graphics are supposed to be in the standard tileset. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 18:50, 4 December 2008 (EST)

:::Most of these diagrams are are large-scale designs that can't be shown via a screenshot, so insisting on "standard tilesets" doesn't even make sense. We could change them to use a consistent set of colors, however. Gnome Chomsky's diagrams use [[template:qd]], which is one of our accepted standards for small diagrams.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:03, 4 December 2008 (EST)

Azaram, what browser are you using and what fonts do you have installed? Can you post a screenshot of what the diagram looks like? [[User:Random832|Random832]] 09:23, 5 December 2008 (EST)

==Weapon/Armour Racks==

You don't need a weapon rack/armor rack to designate a barracks. You can do that with the bed. So why build the racks? [[User:Kwieland|Kwieland]]
:Soldiers banging around against beds and other furniture is the number one cause of wounds and deaths during sparring. Designating a barrack from an armor stand will provide an open dojo without clutter. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 14:05, 6 January 2009 (EST)
::(added header) Actually, I believe consensus is that beds cause no injuries when collided with, and that the only real difference (until weapon and armour racks become functional, at least) is that you won't get random homeless dwarves trying to sleep in a barracks that have no beds (unless you have a severe shortage of beds), so you can have barracks in military areas without the risk of civilians sleeping in potentially dangerous places.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 16:37, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:::I'm not sure what to tell you aside from the fact that I routinely had dwarves die of suffocation (broken necks) before I moved my beds out of my barracks. And these were armored legendary (or close to it) wrestlers, to boot. I've never seen civilians get hurt by being in the middle of a sparring match, but I have definitely seen dwarf after dwarf after dwarf turn up dead on top of a barrack bed with the excuse 'suffocation'. Moving the beds out reduced accidents by 100%. I have not had a dwarf get hurt or die in 5 years, where I would otherwise see one to four a year. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:50, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:::::I see, thanks for the heads up. I wondered about the suffocation as well. Another question - do dwarfs train faster as a guard or as an off-duty military dwarf? Does it make a difference? It seems if I have several (say 6) off duty, only two will spar in the barracks, but 6 guards will all spar at the same time. Do I need to designate more barracks? Does it mack a difference if I have two weapon racks in the same room and designate both as barracks?--[[User:Kwieland|Kwieland]] 01:47, 8 January 2009 (EST)
::::::Fortress/Royal Guards are well known for sparring enthusiastically. The dwarves in the regular military don't have a clear determiner, so it's probably either their stats or their personality. I unfortuantely don't have a clearer answer for you. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:10, 8 January 2009 (EST)
::::RE the bed/suffocation thing, I've had barracks with beds in them and barracks without beds in them, and I must confess I've not seen a statistically significant difference in the amount of injuries that people have suffered when sparring, even with unarmoured sparrers. Although I've only ever had one case of suffocation, long ago, so maybe there's a large element of random chance or some other variable involved.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 17:35, 8 January 2009 (EST)
:::::Entirely possible. For my mileage, though, I've had a bunch of broken necks and/or crushed lungs from idiots knocking eachother up against beds, so I avoid them in the barrack. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:47, 8 January 2009 (EST)

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-08T18:44:13Z

ThunderClaw: /* Starting farms */

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the grey triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. [[River]]s provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]s are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. [[Magma]] makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of [[biomes]]. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarf civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liason]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. [[Aquifers]] can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water (rivers, streams, and brooks) are a permanent source of [[water]]. Lakes and pools have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough [[water]] can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[Aquifers]] require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient [[miner]]s and [[grower]]s, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the [[Axedwarf]] skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in [[Appraiser]] and [[Judge of Intent]] will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the [[starting builds]], ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[stonecrafting]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of [[soil]]. Avoid using [[irrigation]] if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. After placing the farmland, a dwarf with the Farming (Fields) labor enabled will come by and prepare it for use. After it's done, {{k|q}}uery the new field and decide on your crops for each season. The crop display will show every crop that can possibly be planted there - it does not nessecerally mean you have seeds to plant. [[Plump helmet]]s are best for your first field, since they can be brewed to [[booze]], eaten raw, and cooked. If you find some seasons have red letters, that is because the season has already passed and you cannot edit it again this year. You will have to pick it up in the spring of the following year. Be aware that Dwarf Fortress will '''NOT''' give you an error if you attempt to plant something you have no seeds of. It will give you an error if you '''run out''' of seeds after starting planting, but not if you simply have none to begin with. If you can't remember what kind of seeds you have, check around your wagon and your designated food stockpile using {{k|k}} for a seeds bag. Hit {{k|Enter}} when you find it to inspect the bag and see what kind of seeds it carries. Later on, you will be able to find it more easily using the {{k|z}} key and the "Stocks" menu, but right now your stocks will lack the precision to use the "zoom" key. See the [[bookkeeper]] article for more information on stockpile precision.

Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads | stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door Settings | forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-08T18:34:19Z

ThunderClaw: /* Starting farms */ working with a newbie in the IRC channel to eliminate vagueness

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the grey triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. [[River]]s provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]s are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. [[Magma]] makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of [[biomes]]. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarf civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liason]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. [[Aquifers]] can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water (rivers, streams, and brooks) are a permanent source of [[water]]. Lakes and pools have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough [[water]] can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[Aquifers]] require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient [[miner]]s and [[grower]]s, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the [[Axedwarf]] skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in [[Appraiser]] and [[Judge of Intent]] will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the [[starting builds]], ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[stonecrafting]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of [[soil]]. Avoid using [[irrigation]] if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. After placing the farmland, a dwarf with the Farming (Fields) labor enabled will come by and prepare it for use. After it's done, {{k|q}}uery the new field and decide on your crops for each season. The crop display will show every crop that can possibly be planted there - it does not nessecerally mean you have seeds to plant. [[Plump helmet]]s are best for your first field, since they can be brewed to [[booze]], eaten raw, and cooked. If you find some seasons have red letters, that is because the season has already passed and you cannot edit it again this year. You will have to pick it up in the spring of the following year. Be aware that Dwarf Fortress will '''NOT''' give you an error if you attempt to plant something you have no seeds of. It will give you an error if you '''run out''' of seeds after starting planting, but not if you simply have none to begin with. Check around your wagon and your designated food stockpile using {{k|k}} for a seeds bag. Hit {{k|Enter}} when you find it to inspect the bag and see what kind of seeds it carries. Later on, you will be able to find it more easily using the {{k|z}} key and the "Stocks" menu, but right now your stocks will lack the precision to use the "zoom" key. See the [[bookkeeper]] article for more information on stockpile precision.

Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads | stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door Settings | forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-08T18:02:17Z

ThunderClaw: /* Starting farms */

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the grey triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. [[River]]s provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]s are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. [[Magma]] makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of [[biomes]]. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarf civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liason]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. [[Aquifers]] can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water (rivers, streams, and brooks) are a permanent source of [[water]]. Lakes and pools have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough [[water]] can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[Aquifers]] require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient [[miner]]s and [[grower]]s, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the [[Axedwarf]] skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in [[Appraiser]] and [[Judge of Intent]] will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the [[starting builds]], ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[stonecrafting]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of [[soil]]. Avoid using [[irrigation]] if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. After placing the farmland, a dwarf with the Farming (Fields) labor enabled will come by and prepare it for use. After it's done, {{k|q}}uery the new field and decide on your crops for each season. [[Plump helmet]]s are best for your first field, since they can be brewed to [[booze]], eaten raw, and cooked. If you find some seasons have red letters, that is because the season has already passed and you cannot edit it again this year. You will have to pick it up in the spring of the following year. Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads | stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door Settings | forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d:Your first fortress

2009-01-08T17:13:36Z

ThunderClaw: /* Starting farms */

This is a guide to help new players get started on their first [[fortress]] and teach them the basics of keeping their [[dwarves]] alive. If you have unanswered questions or find given details confusing, please tell us so on the [[Talk:Your_first_fortress|discussion page]]! Above all else, always remember the [[Dwarf Fortress]] motto: "Losing is fun!"

We discuss generating a world, choosing a fortress location, buying [[skill]]s and items, and playing the first month or so. Setting game initialization options is covered in [[technical tricks]]. The advice here is biased for safety; with a little experience you'll do better with strategies customized for your play style and preferred start locations. For more extended treatment of particular subjects, consult the linked pages or the rest of the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.

== Generating a world ==

It all starts here. The first thing to do when starting Dwarf Fortress is to [[World generation |create a world]]. Later on, you may wish to tweak the parameters to suit your play style, but for now, the ''Create New World Now!'' option is an easy way to get into your first game.

The engine will start to create the world--watch it unfold! You might notice that worlds are rejected, sometimes even after the generator begins running rivers and lakes. This is normal, as the generator seeks a world which meets the criteria for optimum Dwarven Fun.

Generating a standard random world can take several minutes. You can speed things up by selecting ''Design New World with Parameters'' instead of ''Create New World Now!'' and setting a smaller world size. These worlds tend to be less interesting and replayable, but work well if you want to try new things.

Once you've generated a world you will return to the main screen and there will be a new option <tt>Start Playing</tt>. Upon selecting that you can choose the game mode - [[Dwarf fortress]], [[Adventurer]], or [[Legends]]. This article is written with respect to Fortress mode.

See the article on [[world generation]] for a complete guide to the world generation screen.

== Choosing a location ==

=== The interface ===

So long as you have at least one world without an active game, you will be able to choose "Start Playing" from the main menu. Select "Dwarf Fortress" and you'll find a four-section window:

[[Image:FortressLocation_fd2f10.png | caption | This picture is shown with the default tileset. Other [[tilesets]] are available]]

Going from left to right, these windows represent:
*The local map. The black box represents the area that your fortress will occupy if you decide to embark. The blue line is a stream, the green icons represent forests and swamps, and the grey triangles are mountain slopes.
*The regional map. This is like zooming out from the local map. The entire local map is represented by that yellow X. Most of the region is forest, with a mountain range in the bottom right. The two light blue lines are minor rivers.
*The world map. This is zooming out all the way. The yellow X represents the approximate position of the region.
*Information about the area that the black box is occupying. More on this below.

You can move around the region map with {{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}, or at 10x speed with {{k|Shift}}+{{k|←}}{{k|↑}}{{k|→}}{{k|↓}}. Note that using {{k|Shift}} can cause the key to get "stuck" - press it again to cancel.

You can move around the local map with these keys:
{{k|u}}
{{k|h}} {{k|k}}
{{k|m}}

You cannot directly move around the world map. Movement across the world map is shown relative to your movement on the region map. In world generated with the default settings, each square of the world map contains several squares of the region map.

Your next goal will be choosing the starting location for your fortress.

=== Your surroundings ===

You can discern a lot of information by scrolling through the various modes. The interface has five modes which you cycle through by pressing {{k|TAB}}. In turn, they display the ''biomes'', ''civilizations'', and ''geology'' of the local area.

====Biomes screen====
This display gives you an idea for the environment you'll be parachuting into. Click any of the blue links for more information on the subject. [[Biome]]s are determined by the type of life in the area. On the Biome screen, you'll see:
* '''[[Temperature]]''': How hot or cold it gets in the area. Can be ''Freezing'', ''Cold'', ''Temperate'', ''Warm'', ''Hot'', and ''Scorching''. In a nutshell, temperature extremes make it harder to get and keep a reliable source of [[water]] going. In Freezing and Scorching climates, you may have to do without water at all. Temperate and Warm are both good places to start your first fort. 
* '''Amount of [[tree]]s, and [[plant|other vegetation]]''': A general indication of the density of plant life in the area. For trees, this can be ''none'', ''scarce'', ''sparse'', ''woodland'', or ''heavily forested''. For other plants, you can see ''none'', ''scarce'', ''moderate'', and ''thick''. Trees are chopped down for [[wood]], which is a critical, if small, part of your fortress. You can import lots of it from [[caravan]]s, so don't worry too much about it. However, more trees never hurt anyone, and totally treeless maps are quite a bit more difficult in the early going, so aim for ''sparse'' or greater trees. Other plants basically means shrubs, bushes, and other vegetation that you can harvest food from with the [[plant gathering]] skill. Generally speaking, you will use this trick in the first year of your fortress, then never again. [[Plant]] density is not very important. 
* '''[[Surroundings]]''': This is a hint at how wild the wilderness is. The outskirts of a jungle might be fairly calm and safe, while the heart of that same jungle could be thick with vicious predators. In game terms, this will clue you in to the specific types of [[tree]]s and [[plant]]s you will find, in addition to indicating the [[animal]] types you'll run into. This also clues you in to the ''alignment'' of the surrounding area. So, the two things this word tells you is how ''good'' or ''evil'' an area is, and how ''calm'' or ''savage'' an area is. ''Good''-aligned areas, from calm to savage, are ''serene'', ''mirthful'', or ''joyous wilds''. ''Neutral''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''calm'', ''wilderness'', or ''untamed wilds''. ''Evil''-aligned areas are, from calm to savage, ''sinister'', ''haunted'', or ''terrifying''. ''Good'' zones tend to have one of the most aggressive animals in the game, the [[unicorn]], and ''evil'' areas have a multitude of [[undead]] and some of the most vicious [[creature]]s in the game. For your first fortress, stick to a ''neutral'' alignment. 
* '''Major land forms''': A last field, which will not always be full, will mention things you should know about, like [[river]]s. [[River]]s provide an unlimited source of [[water]], but can be home to dangerous fish like the [[longnose gar]] and [[carp]]. Still, though, the benefits generally far outweigh the risks. [[Volcano]]s are also noted here, one of the only guaranteed ways to get [[magma]]. [[Magma]] makes a few things a lot easier, but it is dangerous to work with and must be handled very carefully because of the [[fire imp|horrible]] [[magma man|creature]]s that come out of it. Not critical, especially not for your first time out. 

Sometimes, you'll be looking at a place with more than one [[biome]] in the same selected square. You can press {{k|F1}} {{k|F2}} {{k|F3}} or {{k|F4}} to view the different types of [[biomes]]. In the picture above, we are looking at the mountain in the center, which is cold and has no trees or plants because it's too high up for those things to grow.

====Civilization screen====
These are nearby [[civilization]]s that are capable of interacting with you. Other settlements are shown with various symbols on the regional map. The possible entries here are ''dwarves'', ''humans'', ''elves'', ''goblins'', and ''kobolds''.
* '''[[Dwarves]]''': You will want to be in contact with dwarves to get [[immigrant]]s and a dwarven trading caravan. However, dwarves are, sometimes seemingly magically, everywhere. It is impossible to settle anywhere without dwarves, assuming there is at least one surviving dwarf civilization. Depending on how remote the area is, though, you may not get some of the features of the game you would otherwise: being cut off from the world will prevent most [[noble]]s from coming to your fort, which will stop the [[dwarven economy]] from ever being activated. You will also not get a [[liason]] with your dwarven caravan, so you will be unable to request goods. 
* '''[[Humans]]''': Humans are almost always friendly, and love [[trade]]. They send [[liason]]s to let you request goods and are generally a huge boon to any fortress. 
* '''[[Elves]]''': Elves are usually friendly and make fair trading partners, but have a [[Trade#Elves|particular ethos]] about trading. They do not send a trade [[liason]] and their goods are luxuries at best. They can be very annoying, but are generally not dangerous unless you provoke them. 
* '''[[Goblin]]s''': Goblins are your main enemies in Dwarf Fortress, and will produce most of the aggression against your fort. They periodically launch ambushes, consisting of five to ten goblin warriors, and will send [[siege]]s after your fort reaches 80 dwarves. [[Trap]]ped entrances, [[war dog]]s, and eventually a [[military]] will be needed to repel them. Just be sure not to start in the middle of a goblin citadel. 
* '''[[Kobold]]''': Kobolds are petty thieves that are little more than irritations in most situations. If you are careless and let their thieves get away with a lot of stuff, though, they may upgrade to raiding parties of archers.

====Elevation screen====
Relative [[elevation]]. This is a normal topographic map that you're used to from real-life maps. It just gives you an idea of the lay of the land.
====Slope screen====
[[Slope]] steepness. This shows you where large cliffs are. Try to avoid [[cliff]]s of 4 or more, as the taller maps take a lot more computer power to run. On the other hand, flat areas are boring - a good elevation map contains lots of low elevation changes ranging from 1 to 4.
====Embark alerts====
When you're satisfied with your area and hit {{k|e}} to embark, you may get some alerts about being in a very difficult area, or about an [[aquifer]]. [[Aquifers]] can make it frustrating to get started, so if you are alerted about an aquifer, seriously consider moving somewhere else for your first fortress. After you have the basics down, tackling an aquifer is much easier.
====Location recap====

For your first fortress, it's not entirely important. However, there are some general guidelines that can help you decide: 

* Try to get a temperate or warm climate, since extreme temperatures are more difficult.
* Trees and vegetation are good for producing lumber and food for your fortress, but you don't need tons of them.
* ''Neutral''-aligned [[surroundings]] are best for your first fortress, but ''good''-aligned surroundings are also OK. Avoid ''evil''-aligned surroundings, however.
* Running water (rivers, streams, and brooks) are a permanent source of [[water]]. Lakes and pools have a finite amount of water and may dry out. Not having enough [[water]] can be a big obstacle, so try to get some running water your first time out.
* [[Humans]] and [[elves]] are friendly, so an area they have access to is nice.
* [[Magma]] is cool (hah!), but not critical.
* Areas with [[Aquifers]] require some engineering to get to rock. You'll be warned if you chose an area with an aquifer. When in doubt, don't try it.
* Who cares? If you like what you see, go for it. You can always start over. And remember the DF motto: Losing is fun! 

For more information on specific game mechanics such as [[sand]], [[flux]], and how to find [[iron]], check [[How_to_correctly_start_fortress_mode|this page]].

==== Fortress size ====

Once you've decided on location, you need to decide the size of your fortress area. This is the size of the game field you're playing on. Advantages of requesting a large local area include more raw materials, greater diversity of [[rock]]s and special underground features, and the ability to include desired terrain (such as a river, a forest, or a magma vent). Disadvantages include slower game performance (larger areas require more CPU power), higher likelihood of merchants failing to reach your [[trade depot]] before they run out of time, and more risk of losing immigrants as they struggle to your front [[gate]]. (Note that you can [[mine]] many levels deep into the ground, and even a 3x3 area generally contains more raw materials than you're ever likely to need.)

You can adjust the size of your fort's area by using {{k|SHIFT}} + the {{k|u}} {{k|m}} {{k|k}} or {{k|h}} keys. 

=== Embark ===

When done, hit {{k|e}} to embark. A warning may appear if you've chosen a challenging site, or one with an [[aquifer]].

==Buying skills and items==
After you embark, you're given the option to either start immediately or prepare for the journey carefully. You should pretty much always prepare carefully if you enjoy staying alive.

Here, presumably, you are the dwarf determining who will go and what they will take. You have a total of 2060☼ to spend in two categories: Skilled dwarves and items. Some items have already been selected for you, but you probably won't want most of these.

There are as many possible ways to approach setting up as there are fortress locations. The [[starting builds]] page offers several examples for you to choose from. Here, we are only going to discuss some basics that help you understand enough to make your own decisions. The embark screen opens up on the ''skills'' screen, and can be changed to the ''items'' screen by pressing {{k|TAB}}.

===Skills===
In Dwarf Fortress, it's not what you have, it's who you have. Skilled dwarves are the cornerstone of everything, from domestics to security, so it's extremely important to embark with good people.

As you will see in this screen, you have 7 dwarves, all with 10 points to put toward starting skills. We will want to use all 10 of the points on all 7 of the dwarves. By default, you won't have enough ☼ to do this, so hit {{k|TAB}} to go to the items screen and hit {{k|-}} over the ''Steel battle axe'' line to give subtract one. This should give you enough ☼ to assign all your skills. You can only spend 5 of the 10 points in any one skill, making the maximum skill level upon embark ''proficient''. This makes a total of 14 ''proficient'' skills, or a larger number of lower skill levels. 

In a fledgling fortress, the 4 indispensable jobs are [[mason]], [[miner]], [[grower]], and [[carpenter]]. A good beginning strategy is to embark with at least 1 dwarf being ''proficient'' in these 4 skills. Many people choose to double up on proficient [[miner]]s and [[grower]]s, since mining and farming are both pretty big jobs.

Other useful skills to consider: 
* '''[[Cook]]:''' Cooks make [[prepared meal]]s in the [[kitchen]], which helps you manage your food stock space. Well-prepared meals are also valuable [[trade]] goods, and make dwarves happy when eaten. Highly skilled cooks make better meals, and prepare meals faster. 
* '''[[Brewer]]:''' Brewers make [[booze]] in the [[still]]. Dwarves being dwarves, they need alcohol to operate at peak efficiency, and highly-skilled brewers make better tasting booze and finish brewing faster. Dwarves get happier when they drink good booze. 
* '''[[Herbalist]]:''' Herbalists gather food and seeds from [[shrub]]s in the local area. Skilled herbalists pick faster and come away with far more food. Where an unskilled herbalist will come away with one [[wild strawberry]] or none at all, a proficient herbalist will often pick 3, 4, or sometimes 5. 
* '''[[Woodcutter]]:''' Woodcutters fell [[tree]]s for use by [[carpenter]]s. Highly skilled woodcutters fell trees much faster. However, since you don't need that much wood, you can get away with a normal (no tag) woodcutter just fine. 
* '''[[Mechanic]]:''' Mechanics build and use [[mechanism]]s, which have myriad uses in [[trap]]s, [[lever]]s and some [[machine]]s. Highly skilled mechanics finish installing mechanisms much faster, and the mechanisms they build are of higher quality. However, the quality of the mechanism primarily matters to beginning players for its [[trade]] value, and in early fortresses the need for mechanisms is usually so small that any dwarf can pick it up and handle it well enough. Still, a solid choice, especially if you like [[trap]]s, which respond more quickly when made with higher-quality mechanisms. 
* '''[[Armorsmith]], [[Weaponsmith]], and [[Siege engineer]]:''' These 3 skills are not useful at all in an early fortress, but become very important later on, and training an unskilled dwarf in these skills is hard and requires a lot of material, so if you're in it for the long haul, consider them. 
* '''Military skills ([[Wrestler]], [[Axedwarf]], [[Hammerdwarf]], etc):''' Early on, it's unlikely that you'll need these, since there's generally very few things that will bother a band of dwarves who aren't hurting anyone, but certain places, such as those with a [[chasm]], will have hostile creatures around. In these areas, you may consider giving your woodcutter the [[Axedwarf]] skill so he can use his chopping axe as a weapon. 
* '''Social skills ([[Appraiser]], [[Judge of Intent]], [[Consoler]], etc):''' Putting these on one dwarf will make them a shoo-in for the Expedition Leader slot, and ranks in [[Appraiser]] and [[Judge of Intent]] will make interacting with the first caravan much easier. However, even if you don't train this at all, some persistence in trading with the first caravan will level your leader up enough to trade with the second caravan like a champion. 

Once again, examples can be found in the [[starting builds]] page. What you bring is incredibly dependent on your play style, though. Some people think bringing Mechanics along is a total waste of time, others consider them indispensable. Some people like having skills that aren't even on this list, like [[Leatherworker]]. Read the [[starting builds]], ask questions, and explore! Who cares if your first idea doesn't work out after playing an hour? Restarting is easy and ''losing is fun''.

===Items===
Now that we're done with assigning skills, hit {{k|TAB}} to go over to the item screen. Item worth is another extremely situational thing, and you'll find as many opinions as there are Dwarf Fortress players as to what is good to bring. Once more, it depends VERY heavily on your play style. Again, [[starting builds]] can provide some good example reading. This section will only cover the basics and give you enough information to make your own decisions.

====Tools====
You'll need a couple of finished tools to get yourself started.
* '''[[Battle axe]]s''': Every [[Woodcutter]] needs an axe. Steel battle axes are the only type you can purchase on this screen, and they're expensive. You might want to bring just one, unless you expect to need a lot of lumber and/or axedwarf muscle. 
* '''[[Pick]]s''': Likewise, [[Miner]]s need picks. All picks work equally well, their material only determines the damage they do in combat. Thus, copper picks are the budgeting dwarf's choice, at a paltry 20☼ each. 
* '''[[Anvil]]''': One of the big questions to ask yourself is whether to bring an anvil on embark. It's extremely expensive at 1000☼, but to start a [[metal]] industry, you will either have to start with one or request and purchase (or steal!) one from a [[caravan]] somewhere down the line.

Generally, if you are going to a very mountainous area where you're likely to see lots of ore and you want to be able to make use of it right from the get-go, bring an anvil. If you're going to spend a few years getting your fortress established before worrying about metal production, drop it and bring more raw commodities. 

One occasional problem is that axes and picks are absent entirely. If this is the case, you can bring the materials to build these things yourself.
* Purchase an anvil.
* Purchase 3 rocks that are not [[lignite]], [[bituminous coal]], or [[graphite]]. Any other rocks will work fine.
* Purchase fuel for the forge. You can purchase it outright as charcoal at 10☼ per unit, or refine it yourself for a big savings.
** To refine it yourself, purchase one unit of charcoal, and several (at least 5) units of [[bituminous coal]]. When you arrive on site, make sure someone has the [[furnace operating]] labor enabled ({{k|v}} to select a dwarf, then select {{k|p}}references and {{k|l}}abor to designate a dwarf's labor assignments), and build a [[smelter]] (hit {{k|b}}, then {{k|e}}, then {{k|s}}). Order the smelter to turn bituminous coal into [[coke]]. [[Coke]] is functionally the same as [[charcoal]], and bituminous coal produces 3 coke for each hunk of rock you bring. You need the first hunk of charcoal to start the string, but after that it feeds itself.
* Purchase metal to shape. You can buy bars directly to save time, or again, smelt it yourself. Take [[copper]] to start out with. It's cheap, and with any luck your initial tools aren't going to see heavy combat. You can take the materials for [[bronze]], [[iron]], or [[steel]] if you like, but this is more expensive. Still, if you're willing to go through the process, you can end up with 2 steel axes, likely of decent quality, for 82☼, instead of 600☼, with no quality modifiers at all.
** If you want to save points and smelt it yourself, take copper nuggets instead of copper bars, and use the smelter to convert them into copper bars.
* Fuel and metal in hand, deconstruct the smelter (if needed; {{k|q}} to highlight, then {{k|x}} to deconstruct), and construct a [[metalsmith's forge]]. Make sure someone has [[weaponsmith]]ing on. After the forge is up, order it to make the axes and picks you need. Deconstruct the forge when you're done and enjoy your new tools, hopefully with [[quality]] modifiers!

====Raw materials====
As it was briefly covered above, sometimes it makes more sense to bring a lot of raw materials than some finished goods. Raw materials are a lot cheaper than finished goods, and so long as you invest heavily in your dwarves' skills (which you should!), you can probably make better quality stuff, anyway.
*'''[[Stone]]''': Only bring this if you're trying to build some of your tools on the spot, as noted above. Otherwise, you will get stone coming out of your ears once you start mining. 
*'''[[Metal]]''': Generally not recommended. However, if you're expecting trouble and you're bringing an anvil, bringing many bars of [[iron]] and [[charcoal]] in lieu of a [[battle axe]] can be a big boon. If your dwarves can get to a spot that gives them a breather, a proficient [[weaponsmith]] or [[armorsmith]] could stamp out high-quality goods to give your dwarves a better fighting chance. This is a pretty advanced trick to pull off, though, so don't try to pull it if you're not confident. 
*'''[[Wood]]''': Wood is a bargain at only 3☼ per log, and the 100 logs you can bring in exchange for a steel battle axe will last you a long time. This is a great technique for making [[Woodcutter]] unneeded in the early game, but you need to budget your wood use for the first year very carefully. When you're out, you're out! 

====Consumables====
Easily the most important part of your preparation is what you're going to eat, drink, and plant once you get on site. Without food and booze, you're not going much of anywhere.
*'''[[Food]]''': Most food comes at a mere 2☼ per unit, and 8 units will feed 1 dwarf for a year. Bringing a year of food will give you a good cushion to getting your farms working, so aim for about 60 food if you can. If you must cut back, though, 40 will be fine if you make your farms an early priority. The best food staple to bring along is [[turtle]]. Turtle produces [[shell]] and [[bones]] when eaten, which can be used as raw materials for other things you need, including armor, crossbows, and crossbow bolts. Further, shell is a common request for [[strange mood]]s and is a pain to produce, so getting some early could save yourself a failed mood and a dead dwarf. 
*'''[[Booze]]''': Dwarves drink twice as often as they eat, and they always want to down some alcohol if at all possible. They also like different kinds of alcohol. Bring twice as much booze as you bring food, and divide it evenly among the 4 types of alcohol you can take ([[dwarven wine]], [[dwarven beer]], [[dwarven ale]], [[dwarven rum]]). 
*'''[[Seeds]]''': Your farms have got to start somewhere. Definitely bring along [[plump helmet spawn]] (for food and booze) and [[pig tails]] (for cloth ropes and booze variety). How many you bring is dependent on how big you want your initial farms to be. 5 of each is plenty to feed your initial dwarves, and you will get more seeds any time the plants are consumed in any way ''except cooking''. You may want to use the [[kitchen]] menu to disallow cooking of plump helmets until you have a healthy supply of seeds. Or, alternatively, just don't make any prepared meals until you've got a healthy supply of seeds. The other seed types require a lot more labor to use properly, and should probably wait until you have more dwarves in the fortress. You can buy seeds from the dwarven caravan for almost nothing, but if you want a greater variety along, go for [[rock nuts]]. The [[quarry bush]] that sprouts from it produces the greatest space to yield ratio in the game. Eventually, though, you should be planting all 6 of the underground [[crop]]s at least. 
Food and booze are stored in [[barrel]]s, with each type in its own barrel. Since barrels have a 10-unit capacity, you can get a lot of free barrels by starting with many, many kinds of food in quantities which in end 1. Barrels are important, and usually need wood to make, so it's worth it to use this quirk while you can by starting with at least one unit of every type of food. 
Seeds are stored in [[bag]]s in multiples of 14, also by type. Bags are not as important as barrels, since making cloth bags is a good way to train up your [[clothier]], but you ''can'' do the math to figure out how to get an extra bag for the cost of a single seed, if you're so inclined: get a multiple of 14, plus 1.

====Animals====
Not only dwarves live in your fortress, after all.
*'''[[Dog]]s''': Dogs are dwarf's best friend. They can be trained into [[hunting dog]]s or [[war dog]]s, require no food or maintenance, and make good pets for your dwarves. Always bring at least 2. Genders alternate when picking them up, so 2 will give you a breeding pair that will have more puppies freely. They make fantastic security early and fantastic dwarfsaving distractions later on. Dogs will happily lay down their lives to protect their master, which is huge when it means one of your best legendary dwarves is running away from an angry [[goblin]]. 
*'''[[Cat]]s''': Cats provide a wonderful function in controlling [[vermin]] in the fort. Vermin can make your dwarves extremely unhappy, so some cats are more or less a requirement. The largest problem with cats, however, is that their population is very difficult to control. Cats will choose their own owners (without the dwarf in question's consent), and after they've done so, you cannot order them butchered to control their numbers. The resulting [[catsplosion|population explosion]] can clutter hallways and murder your framerate. The best thing to do is to put all stray cats and kittens in a [[cage]] (one will hold them all). You can then butcher them without running the risk of the cats adopting dwarves before the butcher gets around to them, and if vermin start to get out of hand, you can always release one or two to help. If you want vermin control from the start, bring just ONE cat so it cannot breed and cause a population problem early. However, immigrants will very commonly bring their pet cats to the fortress, so if you can live with vermin early, you'll likely get a cat for free within a year. 
*'''Beasts of burden ([[Horse]]s, [[muskox]]en, etc)''': You will probably get a breeding pair of these for free when you start the game (they pull your starting wagon), and they will breed just as fast as anything else, so don't bring any along, and don't be afraid to use that [[cage]] to contain their numbers. Unlike cats, dwarves must choose to adopt beasts of burden, which they won't do unless they have a particular affinity for the animal. That's fairly rare, so the vast majority of the beasts of burden in your fortress will stay strays. 

Once again, check the [[starting builds]] page for more ideas, read the pages linked above, and experiment. The learning process is half the fun in Dwarf Fortress; enjoy it!

==Game on!==
We've chosen an area, selected our supplies, and we're ready to play. The game opens with your dwarves huddled around the wagon they used to get here.
==Gameplay overview==
This section will deal with the tasks you'll need to tackle in your first year of gameplay. These tasks are ''selecting a dig site'', ''building workshops'' (and ''marking stockpiles''), ''building lodging'', ''starting farms'', and ''trading''.
===Selecting a dig site===
You'll have to decide where you're going to dig in and start your fortress. You should consider the natural formations of the surrounding area when deciding where you want your main entrance. Ideally, there should be one way in and one way out. This one way should be fairly sizable, to pander to [[caravans]] and [[traffic]]. Proximity to a good [[water]] source so you can build a [[well]] more easily is also desirable. You can fix either of these things with extra digging and building later on, though, so don't sweat the decision too much.<r>

The most direct way to start is to find the side of a nearby mountain and dig into it, but if you're in a very flat area, you might have to dig downward instead. To start digging, hit {{k|d}}esignations, then {{k|m}}ine. Move your cursor using the arrow keys to where you want to dig, and hit {{k|ENTER}}, then move your cursor over to the place you want the digging to end. Mining designations are rectangular, so you can go both left and right and up and down as you're designating area. This tells your dwarves to cut into a wall and hollow it out, often leaving behind a [[stone]] if it is a rock wall. [[Soil]] walls become hollowed out, but never drop anything. These hollowed out areas are where you'll build the vast majority of everything you need. 

If you need to dig down instead of in, you need to use either a '''[[stairs|stairwell]]''' or a '''[[ramp]]'''. For a stairwell, use {{k|d}}esignations, and downward stairway ({{k|j}}). Note that this is only half of a stairwell. To build the other half, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build an {{k|u}}pward stairway to connect to it. You are then underground and can use {{k|m}}ining normally. For a ramp, you must go down a z-level ({{k|>}}) and build a {{k|r}}amp on the area you want cut away. You do not need to build anything above it; your miners will figure it out. If you are building downward and want [[caravans]] to come down into your fortress, you will need to use [[ramp]]s, at least 3 right next to each other. Keep this in mind when deciding where you want to dig down. 

When designing your main entrance, be mindful that as many as 200 dwarves could be coming and going eventually, and that [[goblin]]s are going to want in at some point or another. A 3-wide entrance corridor is ideal. It is wide enough to accept a good amount of traffic and caravans, but narrow enough to use diabolical traps and designs to kill lots of goblins. Your main doors will have to be only 2-wide, though, as [[door]]s require a wall adjacent to them to build properly.

Once you've decided where you want your main entrance, it's time to move your supplies over there. We will have to set them outside for now, but we'll want to move them indoors as soon as we can. Press stock{{k|p}}iles, and designate areas for {{k|f}}ood, {{k|w}}ood, and {{k|r}}efuse. You can designate all sorts of stockpiles from this screen, so hit {{k|t}} and poke around in the custom stockpile settings for a little bit, figuring out what you can do. Do '''NOT''' designate a stone stockpile for now. It will eat up a lot of time unnecessarily. While we're organizing our supplies, deconstruct your wagon by pressing {{k|q}}uery, putting the cursor over your wagon, and pressing deconstruct ({{k|x}}). A dwarf with the [[carpentry]] labor enabled will come by and pull the wagon apart, turning it into 3 [[log]]s. The wagon is useless to you, so there's no reason to not do this. Some people prefer to wait until the wagon has been emptied before deconstructing it. In order to see the contents of a building, use the {{k|t}} command and scroll over the wagon.

Plan for your finished, 200-dwarf fortress right from the get-go. It's very easy to dig out new area. It's very HARD to go back and redo something the way it should've been from the start. 3-wide hallways is typically plenty for high-traffic areas.

===Building workshops===
Time to get some work done! Taking in raw materials and spitting out stuff that's useful: that's the name of the game for workshops. You should start putting down workshops as soon as you have raw materials. You'll need to get basic living provisions like [[bed]]s, [[table]]s, [[chair]]s, [[chest]]s, and the like down for not only your first 7 dwarves, but the [[immigrant]]s that could come at any time as soon as possible, so you can't waste any time. 

[[Stone]] will show up from your miners digging. Once you have an area with a decent amount of stone, you should get a [[mason's workshop]] built in the area. Check the [[workshop]] page for full details if you have problems building one. The keyboard command is:
* {{k|b}}uild order
* the {{k|w}}orkshops sub-menu
* {{k|m}}ason's workshop.

Once the workshop has been built by a dwarf with the [[stonecrafting]] [[labor]], you can {{k|q}}uery the workshop to find out what it's current orders are, {{k|a}}dd or {{k|c}}ancel orders, set an existing order to {{k|r}}epeat, order the workshop dismantled, and other tasks.

Add orders for a {{k|d}}oor, a {{k|t}}able, and a {{k|c}}hair. Stone chairs will show up as ''thrones'' in the orders. They are exactly the same. Then set each order to repeat. This workshop will now make [[door]]s, [[table]]s, and [[chair]]s until you tell it to stop. You'll need a lot of these, so that's OK.

Also build a [[carpenter's workshop]] near the wood stockpile you designated earlier, and tell it to make {{k|b}}eds. Put this on {{k|r}}epeat, also. The wood you brought along, even after disassembling your wagon, won't last long. If you brought along a [[woodcutter]], now would be a good time to get him to chop down some trees. Hit {{k|d}}esignations, and then hit chop down {{k|t}}rees. Chopping designations work exactly like mining designations, but it will only highlight trees in the rectangle you give it. Don't worry about chopping a ton of wood right now; trees don't go anywhere fast, so you can always come back for more.

While making workshops anywhere the material happens to be works fine right now, you will want a more organized way of doing it later. Check out the [[Design_strategies#Workshop_Logistics|workshop logistics]] page for ideas on how to set it up. After you do get things set up, be sure to move your stockpiles underground; aboveground stockpiles are vulnerable to thieves and are usually a long way away. Don't be afraid to tear down workshops; they are built quickly and easily, and tearing them down does absolutely nothing harmful, even returning the materials used in it's construction. Be aware that workshops create [[noise]] when they are in use, which can disturb your dwarves' sleep, so don't build them close to any [[bed]]s.

===Building lodging===
With commodities coming out, it's time to set up places where they can be used. 

Tell your miners to dig out a large (5x5 minimum) room to become your [[barracks]]. The barracks is essentially a communal sleeping room where dwarves without their own apartment can come to crash. It is also the place where your [[military]] will come to [[sparring|spar]] once you start recruiting soldiers. Since your military hangs out in the barracks a lot, it's a good idea to put it near the main entrance of the fortress. If [[thieves]] stumble in, they are likely to meet a very grisly end as they bump into a pair of dwarves in the middle of combat training, and later, in case of a more major attack, they are more likely to be closer to where you need them. Note, however, that sparring dwarves can very seriously [[wound|hurt]] or kill eachother if their sparring area is too crowded, so keep beds stacked along one wall and the rest of the room clear and uncluttered. You do not need too many beds in the barracks right now. Beds in the barracks are public, and dwarves have their own schedules, so the entire fortress will not sleep at once.

After the barracks is dug, tell your dwarves to {{k|b}}uild a {{k|b}}ed. Your cursor will come up, turning red on an unacceptable location and green on an acceptable location. Unacceptable locations will give you a short reason as to why they're unacceptable. Again, just stack beds against one wall of the barracks; 5 beds will be fine to start out with. After indicating the placement of the beds, your dwarves will haul them over and install them. Once they are installed, {{k|q}}uery a bed, then make a {{k|r}}oom. Use the {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} keys to size the room that will be considered the barracks. All beds within the flashing square will be considered public, so there's no need to do this more than once. Fill up the whole 5x5 area ({{k|b}}uild {{k|d}}oors if you need to cordon off the area to make it a nice square) and hit {{k|ENTER}}. You've created your first [[room]]! A room status screen shows up. Be sure to hit {{k|b}} to confirm that it is a barracks. If you don't, the first dwarf that sleeps in this room will claim it as his or her apartment, which isn't what we want. 

The barracks will keep your dwarves from sleeping on the floor, which would make them [[thought|unhappy]]. As the game goes on, though, it is a very good idea to move dwarves into their own apartments. They get much [[thought|happier]] for it, it keeps traffic down, and provides you with some more diabolical options such as locking a troublemaker in his room by {{k|q}}uerying the door and {{k|l}}ocking (forbidding) it. See the [[bedroom design]] page for ideas on how to set up your apartments. 

With bedding handled, we need to set up a [[dining room]], which will double as our [[meeting area]]. Dwarves will eat in their apartment sometimes if you install a table and chair in it, but mostly, dwarves prefer to eat in a public [[dining room|dining hall]] with a table all to themselves. As the [[meeting area]], dwarves will also show up there whenever they have nothing better to do (have 'No Job') to socialize and kill time. It is a pretty high-traffic area, so be sure to use double-doors as the entrance and exit. It should again be fairly large (25 tiles minimum; this could be 5x5, 4x6, whatever suits your fancy). Once it's dug out, {{k|b}}uild {{k|t}}ables along the walls, and then {{k|b}}uild {{k|c}}hairs next to the tables, one per table. Once a table is laid out, {{k|q}}uery the table and make a {{k|r}}oom out of it. Fill up the dining hall area, and hit {{k|ENTER}}. Be sure to hit {{k|p}} to set it as a meeting area, and you're done here.

As with most kinds of furniture, dwarves can walk through tiles containing tables, chairs and beds. The most notable exception to this are [[statue]]s.

===Starting farms===
The basics of life are in place! Now it's just a matter of getting the farms in place to make sure life goes on. 

[[Farming]] is the most reliable source of food in the game, and the only way to be sure you're going to feed a large population. The catch is, we can only farm on [[mud]] or [[soil]]. Mud is only created through [[irrigation]], which is complicated and more trouble than it's worth if you have access to any serious quantity of [[soil]]. Avoid using [[irrigation]] if you can. The logistics of controlling enough water to make arable land on stone are extremely annoying.

On [[soil]], however, farming couldn't be easier. Simply mine out an area of soil (underground, since the seeds you can embark with will NOT grow aboveground), then {{k|b}}uild a farm {{k|p}}lot. Use {{k|u}}, {{k|m}}, {{k|k}}, and {{k|j}} to resize your plot to the size you want; 3x3 should be plenty to start out, and you will max out at roughly 30 to 40 total squares being used for food and booze production to support a full fortress. This changes some depending on the skill of your [[grower]]s, but it's a fair guideline. Eventually, you will want to be planting many, many different kinds of crops. [[Dimple cups]] are great later on, because they produce [[dimple dye]], which can be used to increase the value of the clothing your fortress produces. [[Cave wheat]] can be used to provide fodder for luxury prepared meals, and to make more brewing fodder. As your fortress grows and you need more and more luxuries to keep everyone happy, diversifying can only help you.

On a note about [[irrigation]] before wrapping this section up, mud behaves almost identically to soil. All below-ground crops can be grown equally well on either, and you build and place the plots exactly the same. There are a few differences, though. Mud can be [[Farming#Increasing_yield|fertilized]] with [[potash]], while dry soil cannot. Some above-ground crops can only be grown in mud, while others can only be planted in dry soil. Check the [[crops]] page for more details. Irrigation is a very advanced technique that provides only marginal benefits. Some "unlivable" areas can be turned around with skillful irrigation and fertilizer, but by and large they're not necessary. Just use soil whenever you can.

=== Trade ===

Now that you've given your dwarves a place to sleep and avoided the possibility of starvation, you can start thinking about the finer things in life.

First, we'll take care of a few organizational considerations, to make trading easier. Our carpenter will take care of this, since he's done making beds. Order up 2 or 3 [[bucket]]s. Buckets are used to carry water to injured, bedridden dwarves from water source [[zone]]s and are one of the requirements to building a [[well]]. Then, get to work stamping out some [[bin]]s. Bins are used to store a lot of non-perishable items in the same square; they work much the same as [[barrel]]s, but barrels are used on perishables like food and booze. You'll need a LOT of bins, but for the moment 5 or so will do. You will also need to make a lot of barrels, but since you brought a number of them with you, you can hold off a bit. Both of these can be made from [[metal]] as well, but producing them from wood is far more economical.

Since you have all this stone lying around, let's put it to use. Build a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]], assign one of your dwarves to [[stonecrafting]]. Order this [[workshop]] to build rock {{k|c}}rafts of all sorts {{k|r}}epeatedly.

Now that you've got some goods to [[trade]], we'll need to {{k|b}}uild a trade {{k|d}}epot. Build this somewhere easily accessible from all edges of the map, but close to (or inside) your entrance. [[Trade depot]]s require [[architecture]] and a [[mason]], assuming you make it out of your copious quantities of stone. Many times you will not have an [[building designer]] on embark, so you will have to assign one to get the [[architecture]] phase of the depot done.

In the long term, you'll want your trade depot to be in a defensible spot. As it is 5x5 squares, and requires a 3-square wide path for the caravans to get in and out of it, you'll eventually want to spend some time thinking about its [[defense]]. Once the depot has been completed, you can check for depot access using the {{k|shift}}-{{k|D}} key.

The first caravan will come in your first autumn: the dwarven caravan from the mountainhome. When it comes, the game will pause, you'll be alerted, and the screen will center on the [[caravan]]. If you do not have a depot, or they can't get to it, they will wait on the edge of the map for you to build a depot they can get to, or to clear the obstructions. The two most common obstructions are [[tree]]s and [[boulder]]s. Trees can be chopped down, and boulders can be eliminated by {{k|d}}esignating them to be {{k|s}}moothed. This uses the [[stone detailing]] labor, so turn it on if you need.

After the caravan is on its way, you'll need to fill the depot with things to trade, and get a trader there to broker the negotiations. Hit {{k|q}}uery over the depot and press {{k|g}} to start moving supplies. Use the arrow keys to navigate the trade goods window. If you've been making stone crafts, you'll want the ''crafts'' heading to make the game filter out the bins you've been filling. Otherwise, you'll have to sift through every stone you've created while digging the fortress, which is a huge pain. Press {{k|ENTER}} on the bins to mark them for trading, and some dwarves will come along to haul the bins to the depot. Once that's take care of, {{k|q}}uery the depot and {{k|r}}equest a trader there. By default, only the broker will trade at the depot. This is generally what you want, since brokers with better [[appraisal]] skills can see the worth of all the commodities and tend to get away with giving the caravan boss a lower profit margin on the trade. Trading at the depot is a low-priority job, though, so you may have to turn off your broker's other labors temporarily to get him to respond to the request in a timely manner. Once your broker is at the depot, {{k|q}}uery the depot and start {{k|t}}rading.

On the screen that comes up, the left side shows the trader's goods, while the right side shows your own. Use the arrow keys to navigate and {{k|ENTER}} to mark something for trading. If your trader does not have at least Novice Appraiser in his skill set, you will not be able to see the values of everything, so you'll have to guess. The caravan boss will refuse to sell at a loss, and if you're close to making a deal, he'll give you a counteroffer that he'd accept. Being able to see the values of things is really helpful, but don't worry if you can't. It usually only takes one or two successful trades before your broker will hit Novice Appraiser and all will become known to you. One fun note is that raw materials cost the same from merchants as they do at the embark screen; so you already know that [[plump helmets]] are 4☼, most meat is 2☼, wooden logs are 3☼, and so on. It's difficult to know the value of your crafts, and some things must be bought as a package deal (you cannot buy seeds alone, you must also buy the bag they come in), though, so it can still be hard to trade without Appraiser.

On your first year, you're probably pretty light on things to trade with, so start small. Wood [[log]]s are very useful and cheap. Extra food can be useful if your farms are lagging behind. Maybe a barrel or two. Sell what goods you have and don't fret about it any longer.

Next year, after you get some immigrants you can think about exploring other kinds of industry as well, like the [[furniture industry]], [[meat industry]], or [[clothing industry]], but this is a great place to start.

The last element to trading is the [[liason]]. The dwarven liason will want to meet with your [[expedition leader]] to work out your requests for next year, and let you know what their requests are. By making a request of the caravan, you are essentially promising to pay more (up to double the normal price) for various things, which entices the traders to bring more of those things. Wood logs are always a great thing to request. Even at double the normal price, they're still very cheap, and merchants bring a lot of them. It's not unusual to get 50 logs from a single caravan. It saves you a massive amount of time and effort. [[Barrel]]s and [[bag]]s are also good to request, as are [[dog]]s. You can also request [[seed]]s to get your more diverse crops started. Look around, explore, and experiment. That's half the fun of the game.

The liason will also tell you what they want from you, with the same deal: they'll pay more for it if you build it. Unfortunately, they usually want stupid things that don't trade well (such as stone [[block]]s) or things you'd rather keep to yourself (such as [[booze]]). Many players simply ignore their liason's requests and build the same things they always build. Diplomatic relations will not suffer at all.

Your expedition leader must actually pick up the job ''conduct meeting'' to get this process done, and it ends up being a very low-priority job, so again, you may consider turning off your leader's other labors to make sure he gets to it. If you really want to force the liason to take the meeting, move him to the meeting spot by enlisting him in the [[Military]] and [[Military#Controlling your squads | stationing]] him at the meeting spot. Then [[Door#Door Settings | forbid the door]] behind him and the liason, locking them in until the meeting is completed (when the Liason says "Goodbye" in a message).

=== The future ===

After this point, you'll be able to start exploring the other intricacies of the game. Here is a list of some other gameplay commands which have not been covered:

* [[labor]]
* [[noble]]s
* [[military]]

==Sample games==
These are sample games that others have played and recorded to provide good learning examples. They are not routinely updated, so some information may be out of date, but they still provide good hands-on tutorials of how to prepare for your fortress and play the game.

[[Indecisive's illustrated fortress mode tutorial]] 
[[Savok's first fortress playthrough]] 
[[ThunderClaw's 0.28.181.40d graphical tileset playthrough]]
[[Category:Guides]]

{{Starting FAQ}}

40d Talk:Bedroom design

2009-01-08T16:10:06Z

ThunderClaw: /* Weapon/Armour Racks */

40d Talk:Noble

2009-01-07T21:36:09Z

ThunderClaw: /* Pretentious Arrangements */

Added the dungeon keeper noble. He just showed up at my fort in year 1053. --[[Idles]]

I'm "fixing" the change, "16:59, 31 October 2007 Lightning4 (Talk | contribs) (1,934 bytes) (→Appointments - Isn't called bookkeeper, at least when the fortress is new.)", because in my forts it IS called bookkeeper when the fortress starts. Other edits have backed me up, suspect editor was confused--Please discuss this here? --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 15:09, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

:I apologize, I was indeed incorrect. You do start with a Bookkeeper, which in very short order can be upgraded to a Treasurer. Unsure of requirements, possibly only requires 20 dwarves like the sheriff. My fortress has one and I haven't even done anything besides changed who had bookkeeping and set it to higher priority (did not build study yet). That's probably what got me confused since the bookkeeper upgrades very quickly. [[User:Lightning4|Lightning4]] 18:11, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

::Yeah, 20 dwarves sounds accurate enough to put in there. He didn't turn when I had only 17. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 18:14, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

"Your original expedition leader will be the fourth dwarf down in the starting screen(the one in the middle)." This does not seem to hold true; I have a newly-developed habit of making the last dwarf on the screen (used to be my designated hauler-peasant) into the administrator, with all the social skills for filling the four starter noble roles. He gets auto-assigned to all four administrative positions; I'm thinking that instead of being fixed or random, the starting assignment is based on social skills. --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 00:29, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

I had a Philosopher show up last night. I'm unsure of the requirement to get him; the only really notable thing that had happened was I got over 100 dwarves. I'm adding him to the list of Nobles, though, since I can confirm he still exists in the new version. I also divided the page structure between Appointed and Immigrant nobles, since the current header was misleading (Dungeon Master and Philosopher cannot be appointed). --[[User:Zurai|Zurai]] 20:55, 10 November 2007 (EST)

I had the king show up tonight. "The King arrives, dressed as a peasant." I have no idea what the requirements were. I missed the 1051 and 1052 dwarf caravans due to prolonged sieges, and had no immigrants those years. 1053 I had the caravan; a season later a wave of immigration brought my total dwarves up to 37. In the spring the king arrived, along with enough others to bring the population to 63. At that time I was notified that the Captain of the Guard position was available. Only thing I can think is that I hit adamantine during the siege years, and mistakenly built a number of ridiculously valuable adamantine objects. (Door, Coffin, etc.) This has raised my fortress value to 1.3 million. Is 1 million value perhaps the trigger? I have no coins, and no nobles other than the starting 4 positions. I did not appoint a sheriff. [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:15, 15 November 2007 (EST)
:In the last version, hitting adamantine without proper requirement for the king triggered the reaction of having the king arrive dressed as a paysant. Maybe it's the same here. --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 04:20, 15 November 2007 (EST)
== What determines expedition leader? ==

There are a number of situations to test out:
* No social skills on any dwarves
** ''Probably random, possibly based on the Dwarf's thoughts and preferences''
* Majority of social skills on one dwarf (various positions in start order)
** ''Test case 1: only one dwarf has social skills - gives that dwarf as leader and all positions''
* Social skills spread between multiple dwarves
** Is there any weight on which skill determines the leader?
--[[User:Shagie|Shagie]] 01:25, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

:Is the first point certain? In my current fortress, I didn't assign any social skills to any dwarf, and I'm pretty certain that the dwarf that ended up expedition leader was the seventh in the list. --[[User:Peristarkawan|Peristarkawan]] 02:28, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::In my current fort I assigned no social skills and the first dwarf in the list, one of my miners, is the expedition leader. --[[User:Moller|Moller]] 02:40, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
:::Might be randomised then, I started three new fortresses for the test and each time it was the same so I made an assumption. Obviously this isn't the case can you two check what thoughts/prefs you have for those so we can look for some leadership criteria. --[[User:Shades|Shades]] 08:10, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::::It's almost always been the first dwarf for me (assuming no one had leadership skills), but I could have sworn one time it assigned someone else. Maybe it defaults to the first dwarf on the list but can sometimes choose someone else under certain conditions. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 22:29, 10 November 2007 (EST)
:::::Perhaps the first dwarf didn't get it because of negative preferences? Some dwarves have a line in their thoughts/prefs that reads something like "X prefers to let others take leadership roles". [[User:Tocky|Tocky]] 11:04, 11 November 2007 (EST)

==Room requirements==
Maybe something about the nobles requiring better rooms and how to build them? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:15, 4 November 2007 (EST)
:Found it in [[room]]s, adding a link. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:34, 4 November 2007 (EST)

== Not 100? ==

I just received migrants. My population went from 76 to 100, and my settlement went from a village to a town. No nobles arrived with the migrants. [[User:Geekwad|Geekwad]] 17:14, 18 November 2007 (EST)
:Still a town at 108
:Another wave, and we're a city at 111 (migrants still incoming)
::My population went from 101 to 126 in one wave. A Baroness arrived at the same time and turned my settlement into a Barony. Shortly afterwards, my settlement turned into a County (125+ dwarves?). Then Baroness upgraded into a Countess. Baron consort upgraded to a Count Consort.--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 16:49, 19 November 2007 (EST)
::Next immigration wave, my pop hit 138. Nothing happens. Then next immigration wave, my pop hits 141, the Countess upgrades to Duchess and the Count Consort upgrades to Duke Consort. Also, "Incoming King" is the top line on the Nobles screen. When you select it, it shows you what you need to achieve in terms of 1. architecture value (15000) 2. road value (5000) and 3. offerings value. (5000). I'm not sure what criteria triggers the King as it happened at the same time as my Duchess. I did just hit 200k exported wealth. Conincedence? --[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 10:27, 20 November 2007 (EST)
::Another wave, jumped to 161 pop, and some more nobles, a Duke and his Duke Consort. Now I have both a Duke and Duchess!--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 14:06, 20 November 2007 (EST)
:I was made a city and a barony at 110, and promoted to county almost immediately after. No new immigration happened, and I hadn't reached the 120 mark yet. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 16:27, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:The last immigration wave brought me from 98 to a total of 124 including baron/consort, tax collector and hammerer. It is now a City and a Barony. I'll watch out if it changes on the first immigrant from the next wave.I currently have over 500k created wealth and 17000 exported.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:05, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:One child is born and now my total population is 125. Still a City and a Barony.--[[User:Another|Another]] 09:23, 25 November 2007 (EST)
:My fortress was upgraded to County when the caravan left the map and my exported wealth leaped from 17k to 26k. The trigger for the County must be either 20k or 25k exported wealth. --[[User:Another|Another]] 12:47, 25 November 2007 (EST)
::Baron arrived during an immigration wave going from 88 to 112 dwarves, and upgraded to a Count not long after arrival but ''not'' immediately either (perhaps as the population went over 100?). Exported wealth was probably around 50k at the time. Now at 119 (and 80k exported) and not yet a Duke. Looks like there's a combination of factors involved. [[User:Cim|Cim]] 11:10, 14 December 2007 (EST)
:Upgrade of the fortress to Duchy was at exactly 140th dwarf from an immigration wave. "The Incoming King" included. Total created wealth - 950k, total exported - 30k.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:37, 1 December 2007 (EST)
: My Baron arrived in the immigration wave that took me over 100 (I had peaked at 96 previously) but this was also the season where I crossed the 50,000 threshold on exported wealth. I actually went from 48,000 to 62,000 over the course of the year, and the baron arrived in the Spring, I did have an immigration wave after crossing 50,000 in the fall. Almost immediately after my baron arrived, he was promoted to count. My population is 119. --[[User:Mitchy|Mitchy]] 16:41, 3 January 2008 (EST)
:At exported wealth 45k, my Baron promoted to Count at the 110th immigrant. (Baron arrived in the first immigration wave after getting 80 population, can't remember what exported wealth was then) [[User:Cim|Cim]] 20:12, 5 January 2008 (EST)
:Population at 93 no Baron. Next wave - first person to arrive is a Countess, with this wave population went to 114. (So, had no Baron at all) --[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 23:39, 10 January 2008 (EST)

Verified about 140 limit for Duke. My Wrestler have given birth to a boy, the populationd got to 140, and the next message is about the fortress becoming a capital of Duchy. --[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 00:10, 24 January 2008 (EST)

== Queen As Peasant ==

I had dug out some raw adamantine, not done anything with it, and I got a notification that 'Your ruler has arrived disguised as a peasant.' At the same time, my Dungeon Master arrived. I don't have an announcement in the log about the Queen, but I do about the DM. I'm treating her like it's legit, what's the deal?

:Your ruler has heard of the discovery of adamantine, and hurried to yuor fort to oversee the digging. She turned up "disguised as a peasant" because your fort doesn't meet the regular requirements for attracting the monarch and moving to your site officially would be embarassing (in roleplaying/story terms of course). She's perfectly legit, just wasn't attracted in the "conventional" sense by having the largest, wealthiest fort in the civilisation you belong to.--[[User:TangoThree|TangoThree]] 06:42, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

== Baron mandates "crowns"? ==

I just got a baron, and the first thing he mandates is two crowns. So i type Crown into the jobs/manager list. nothing. So I type crown in dwarf wiki. Nothing. Can anyone help before I have to drop this noble into a pit to keep him from locking up my crafters?
:Info about specific crafts isn't present in the new wiki, but a crown is in fact a "craft" item. [http://archive.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Craftsdwarf%27s_Workshop#Crafts You can see the old wiki info about crafts here]. You'll probably need to set several crafting jobs to get a crown since the item produced by a crafting task is random with several possibilities. --[[User:Janus|Janus]] 00:06, 1 February 2008 (EST)

== Killing nobles ? ==

Is killing nobles dangerous ? (does it stop immigrations or something ?)

Because I've got a Count totally uncontrolable, who can't stop throwing tantrums in the middle of my fortress, which is somewhat tiresome... So, if I just can lock him into his bedroom and let him starve to death, it would be great, but I don't know if it won't cause more problems..

(Also, sorry for my bad english, I'm french)
[[User:Timst|Timst]] 05:40, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

:Killing off your nobles only really has the penalties associated with killing any other dwarf - their friends and family will be upset, and you lose that dwarf's abilities. In the case of nobles a replacement will usually turn up with the next migrant wave, unless your fort no longer meets the requirements for that noble. You can, of course, kill the replacement too - with lesser repercussions as he won't have had time to make any friends yet.--[[User:TangoThree|TangoThree]] 06:38, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

::Ok, thanks :) I was afraid that the death of a count could induct a reaction of the mountainhomes or something like that... If the only reaction will be the one of the countess, it will be ok :) [[User:Timst|Timst]] 07:00, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

:::In the future, killing off a noble will have repercussions, however, so don't depend on that behaviour forever. ;-)
:::''Req291, NOBLE DEATH, (Future): Killing off nobles needs to have serious consequences. Once the counties (see Core28) are in, there could be revolts from the village if the count is popular. Other nobles could have angry relatives. Losing your law enforcement nobles could lead to more tantrums and other acts in large fortresses. Nobles should all be upset by the death of the tax collector. When a noble is buried, other dwarves could be sealed in the tomb.''
:::--[[User:JT|JT]] 15:11, 26 April 2008 (EDT)

== Sorting nobles ==
I find it rather silly to have the Expedition leader in the ''Appointed'' section just to be immediately told (s)he can not be appointed. I'm too newbie in terms of nobles to draft sections that make sense, but I feel this needs changing.[[User:Aykavil|Aykavil]] 08:23, 7 July 2008 (EDT)

== Selling Nobles ==
<tt>╔═╦═╗</tt> Unlock doors, assign lever to noble, order lever pulled. 
<tt>║ò┼^┼</tt> Wait for noble to stand on cage trap, lock both doors. 
<tt>╚═╩═╝</tt> Wait for noble to fall asleep, sell caged noble to elves. 
:Sorry for the crude drawing. My wiki format skills are weak. [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 14:36, 20 September 2008 (EDT)

:Eh... except for the small known bug where trying to haul an occupied cage to the trading depot results in whatever is caged being freed and the empty cage being brought in. But once they fix that bug, maybe. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 16:30, 20 September 2008 (EDT)

== Category? ==

I would do this myself if I knew how, but perhaps someone should make a noble category, with all the noble related articles (Unfortunate accident, mandate, types of nobles, etc) in it. I think it would be useful. [[User:Spoggerific|Spoggerific]] 20:53, 10 August 2008 (EDT)

==Nobles Working==

Actually, nobles not only gather harvest if you put all dwarves harvest on, but they also help demolishing constructed walls.=--[[User:Stinhad Limarezum|Stinhad Limarezum]] 00:53, 23 October 2008 (EDT)

:Thanks, I'll add that to [[labor]].--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:16, 23 October 2008 (EDT)

==Arrival Requirements Verified==
Ok, I just had the Baroness, Hammerer, and Tax Collector arrive simultaneously with no other dwarves. I'm playing with a population cap of 50, and births (plus overflow of last immigration wave) has finally taken me up to exactly 80 dwarves. Despite the population cap, the Baroness, Tax Collector, and Hammerer arrived by themselves.

<s>Note that the Baroness Consort has not arrived, presumably because he takes the place of a normal dwarf during the immigration wave and can't be generated in violation of the population cap (whereas the other three can).</s> nevermind, he just showed up.

I should also note that I earlier had the King arrive as a peasant by himself despite being at the population cap. He also brought no consort nor advisor (although I've never had him arrive as a peasant before, so I don't know if that's normal).

I have not seen a philosopher as of yet.

As my fortress wealth is past 8 million at this point, I think its safe to say I can rule that out as a cause (having seen them at much lower wealth in default pop cap games).

--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 19:30, 7 December 2008 (EST)

==Noble demands==

I currently have a Baroness demanding "item in Dining Room". Any idea what could satisfy this? I tried a bismuth bronze statue, no luck. [[User:JubalHarshaw|JubalHarshaw]] 00:24, 5 January 2009 (EST)

: This is a bug. Check # 000491 @ http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_bugs.html --[[User:Sinergistic|Sinergistic]] 00:47, 5 January 2009 (EST)

==Pretentious Arrangements==

Thoughts about a lesser's pretentious <whatever> arrangements seem to be a common source of noble unhappiness. (this is especially annoying for me as my mayor has an artifact in her bedroom raising it to Royal and my queen has no list of likes and dislikes, so I can't make her happy just by having the right booze) it would be interesting to know what exactly causes the difference between "upset" and "shattered", how to avoid it, and good ways to mitigate it's effects. I might have to do some research on my old fort to check this myself. --[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 13:58, 6 January 2009 (EST)

:Well, I suspect that the difference is related to the difference in room value, although I suppose that's stating the obvious. Another obvious solution would be to move the artefact into the higher-ranked Noble's room, assuming that's possible. Otherwise, I suppose the simplest (if not the easiest) way to mitigate its effects is to add as much value as possible to the Queen's room. As well as furniture, you can get surprising results with smoothings, engravings, and building an expensive floor over the engraved one if you have no qualms about exploiting such strangeness.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 18:07, 6 January 2009 (EST)
::I can confirm it's the difference between relative worth. I kept getting these annoying messages in my count + consort until I stuffed a platinum statue in their rooms. Obviously, this increased the worth of the room by 12K, easily dominating the 'lesser' quarters.

::It does require that there be a significant difference; having them at roughly equal worth will cause unhappy thoughts, which was my problem in my most recent fortress. I just housed all my nobles in the same residential stack as everyone else, adding extra room additions off the main design for offices, dining rooms, etc. The Count's room was a LITTLE better as his walls happened to be ore-bearing, but it wasn't enough to please him, hence the statue.--[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 10:04, 7 January 2009 (EST)
:::Alright, I've put the artefact cabinet back in my mayor's room, and now will proceed to test this principle by making the Queen's rooms incredibly nice. I'm going to start by replacing all her furniture with gold and platinum, and move up from there.--[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 15:49, 7 January 2009 (EST)
::::You may have a long way to go. Artifact furniture can easily be 50 or 60K, whereas the most expensive single piece of furniture I've ever been able to produce is a masterwork platinum statue, which is 12K. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:36, 7 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Silver

2009-01-07T21:19:57Z

ThunderClaw:

==No More Elf References?==

I'm not going to start a revert war, but personally I thought the recently-removed parts of the article comparing the merits of wooden and silver weapons to be amusing and entirely in keeping with the style of this wiki. Impromptu vote, anyone? I vote '''keep''', myself.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 17:54, 6 January 2009 (EST)
:I agree. Also, it helped further the distinction between wooden and silver weapons, so that a person can easily understand that, for instance, they won't find a wooden hammer.--[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 22:35, 6 January 2009 (EST)
::'''Keep''', and if I actually gave a crap, I'd have reverted it myself. --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 00:01, 7 January 2009 (EST)

:::'''Keep''', because it was funny, and this wiki doesn't mind funny. I mean, we have D for Dwarf for a reason, yes? --[[User:Sinergistic|Sinergistic]] 01:20, 7 January 2009 (EST)

::::'''Keep''', I like flavorful D is for Dwarf entries. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 09:33, 7 January 2009 (EST)

I don't know, I think there's a difference between "dwarven humour" and "distracting and irrelevant information". I know this "isn't Wikipedia" and that humour is fine, but I prefer *well written* humour, and honestly I'm so sick of hearing people bitch about the elves that it's no longer even remotely funny. Really it's not (for me) so much the humour of it, but its placement. I could see it on the "wood" page, or on the "elves" page (though I'd rather not), but it doesn't have anything to do with silver. [[User:Thestripedone|Thestripedone]] 14:40, 7 January 2009 (EST)
:Quit gettin' mad at video games. Also, keep. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:19, 7 January 2009 (EST)
:It's about a use for silver (sparring weapons) and comparing silver with a material that is also affective for that use. --[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 15:47, 7 January 2009 (EST)

:As far as I'm concerned, the section is mildly amusing, also provides some information and links to other articles (as tenuous as their relation may be in some cases), and any random visitor might just happen to look up silver, go "ooh, these are good for sparring, are there any other options?" and hey, there are links to wooden weapons and where to get them from. You never know...--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 16:17, 7 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Justice

2009-01-07T21:17:44Z

ThunderClaw: /* Metal Chains are breakable */ forgot my signature

== A cage for every man, woman and child! ==

One chain / restraint is needed for every 10 dwarves (but not parts thereof).
:I've not noticed such a rule in this version of DF. My Captain of the Guard(former sheriff) hasn't had a single unhappy thought about not having not enough restraints. Might it be, that in this version the thought is triggered, when all restraints are used up and the law enforcement doesn't have any place, where to put a criminal. [[User:Noctis|Noctis]] 01:43, 24 November 2007 (EST)

== Unnecessary? ==

Personally I never allocate the Sheriff or build a jail. The only crimes in my fortress are violations of work orders, and I'm not going to let my hardworking crafters sit in jail because some noble had a hissyfit because we didn't build platinum chairs on a map with no platinum. Now every time a work order expires, the noble gets an unhappy thought (so what, they live in a solid gold house), and the workers get ''happy thoughts'' for getting away with the "crime". [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 18:43, 6 March 2008 (EST)
: I guess you should pray you never get a [[Hammerer]] turning up then. Or pray that any arriving Hammerer meets an unfortunate end, due to an entirely unforseeable series of bizarre accidents... -- [[User:Raumkraut|Raumkraut]] 13:46, 7 April 2008 (EDT)

Actually, I've had a hammerer for years. She never lifts a finger, just eats and wanders around. I assume a jail must exist for the hammerer's justice jobs to be created, or something. [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 20:34, 12 April 2008 (EDT)

Hm. I've been trying to ignore Justice, but my nobles keep going insane, with the only negative thought I can see being "angered that nobody could be punished". This last time I hadn't even missed a mandate. They don't ''quite'' live in a solid gold house, but it's close. In my last fortress, after my third Duke arrived I started building chains; then I noticed dwarves were getting Hammered and dying for mandate failures. Which way is worse? Maybe I'll just set a low pop cap and not worry about nobles. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 19:49, 16 April 2008 (EDT)

:Possibly disregard. I spent a while narrowing down exactly when my latest noble was going insane, only to find out that it's [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_bugs.html bug 777] and will be fixed in the next version. Now I just have to buy all the iron off the caravan. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 17:46, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

Just a minor update to clarify a few things. I'm still playing, and still have no jails, a full cadre of nobles, and a hammerer who does nothing. Looking at the thoughts page for my nobles, they're definitely getting (multiple) unhappy thoughts from all the work orders I'm ignoring and the punishments I'm failing to deliver. And sometimes they dip below ecstatic for this reason, briefly. However, they then go and eat some masterwork food and sleep on their masterwork bed, and get happy thoughts for these events, so they're soon back up to ecstatic. If you want to ignore justice, just make sure your nobles live in the lap of luxury, and it'll balance out. [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 12:31, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

== Eternal Prisoners? ==

My Captain of the Guard never seems to release the prisoners, and they just starve to death or go mad in their cages. Is there any way to get them out? (Fun fact: Currently the lazy ass is responsible for more deaths than goblins, elves, mining accidents and humans put together) While I'm here, I have more than enough cages, but sometimes he just decides to beat the living daylights out of criminals instead of imprisoning them. There is a hammerer, but I've never seen her do anything but stuff her face and start parties. -[[User:Namako|Namako]] 14:44, 30 July 2008 (EDT)

==Beating==
Article says: the sheriff or fortress guard attack the dwarf unarmed for a short time - this punishment is used instead of imprisonment if the jail is full. But in my experience they do it with whatever weapon they have equipped, not unarmed. I won't believe, that my absolutely unskilled captain, who was assigned this duty after a minor lower spine injury, and who didn't have any military skill higher than dabbling, has mandled both legs and a shoulder of a prisoner unarmed... He was wielding a sword. --[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 00:55, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

==Waiting on injured criminals?==

My justice page lists thirty criminals, but only two have sentences listed -- one for hammerstrikes, one for imprisonment. The two dwarves with listed sentences are both injured. Are they holding up the whole justice process? Those two dwarves have spinal injuries and will never recover; any way to get the system moving again? --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 15:07, 2 September 2008 (EDT)
:To answer my own question: New offenders are added at the top of the list. So it appears that, until I find a solution, the older offenders are all safe from punishment due to the injured dwarves before them. --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 18:00, 2 September 2008 (EDT)
::The ones without sentence are the ones, whose sentences has already expired--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 04:39, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

==Metal Chains are breakable==

[[Image:90f49e6c zincchainbroken.png|600px|thumb]]
I was under the impression that they were not breakable when the dwarf in question was tied to the chain. This Furnace Operator, though, seems to think otherwise. I think we should add a note about this. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:17, 7 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:Justice

2009-01-07T21:16:44Z

ThunderClaw: /* Metal Chains are breakable */

40d Talk:Justice

2009-01-07T21:15:32Z

ThunderClaw:

== A cage for every man, woman and child! ==

One chain / restraint is needed for every 10 dwarves (but not parts thereof).
:I've not noticed such a rule in this version of DF. My Captain of the Guard(former sheriff) hasn't had a single unhappy thought about not having not enough restraints. Might it be, that in this version the thought is triggered, when all restraints are used up and the law enforcement doesn't have any place, where to put a criminal. [[User:Noctis|Noctis]] 01:43, 24 November 2007 (EST)

== Unnecessary? ==

Personally I never allocate the Sheriff or build a jail. The only crimes in my fortress are violations of work orders, and I'm not going to let my hardworking crafters sit in jail because some noble had a hissyfit because we didn't build platinum chairs on a map with no platinum. Now every time a work order expires, the noble gets an unhappy thought (so what, they live in a solid gold house), and the workers get ''happy thoughts'' for getting away with the "crime". [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 18:43, 6 March 2008 (EST)
: I guess you should pray you never get a [[Hammerer]] turning up then. Or pray that any arriving Hammerer meets an unfortunate end, due to an entirely unforseeable series of bizarre accidents... -- [[User:Raumkraut|Raumkraut]] 13:46, 7 April 2008 (EDT)

Actually, I've had a hammerer for years. She never lifts a finger, just eats and wanders around. I assume a jail must exist for the hammerer's justice jobs to be created, or something. [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 20:34, 12 April 2008 (EDT)

Hm. I've been trying to ignore Justice, but my nobles keep going insane, with the only negative thought I can see being "angered that nobody could be punished". This last time I hadn't even missed a mandate. They don't ''quite'' live in a solid gold house, but it's close. In my last fortress, after my third Duke arrived I started building chains; then I noticed dwarves were getting Hammered and dying for mandate failures. Which way is worse? Maybe I'll just set a low pop cap and not worry about nobles. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 19:49, 16 April 2008 (EDT)

:Possibly disregard. I spent a while narrowing down exactly when my latest noble was going insane, only to find out that it's [http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_bugs.html bug 777] and will be fixed in the next version. Now I just have to buy all the iron off the caravan. [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 17:46, 19 April 2008 (EDT)

Just a minor update to clarify a few things. I'm still playing, and still have no jails, a full cadre of nobles, and a hammerer who does nothing. Looking at the thoughts page for my nobles, they're definitely getting (multiple) unhappy thoughts from all the work orders I'm ignoring and the punishments I'm failing to deliver. And sometimes they dip below ecstatic for this reason, briefly. However, they then go and eat some masterwork food and sleep on their masterwork bed, and get happy thoughts for these events, so they're soon back up to ecstatic. If you want to ignore justice, just make sure your nobles live in the lap of luxury, and it'll balance out. [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 12:31, 10 May 2008 (EDT)

== Eternal Prisoners? ==

My Captain of the Guard never seems to release the prisoners, and they just starve to death or go mad in their cages. Is there any way to get them out? (Fun fact: Currently the lazy ass is responsible for more deaths than goblins, elves, mining accidents and humans put together) While I'm here, I have more than enough cages, but sometimes he just decides to beat the living daylights out of criminals instead of imprisoning them. There is a hammerer, but I've never seen her do anything but stuff her face and start parties. -[[User:Namako|Namako]] 14:44, 30 July 2008 (EDT)

==Beating==
Article says: the sheriff or fortress guard attack the dwarf unarmed for a short time - this punishment is used instead of imprisonment if the jail is full. But in my experience they do it with whatever weapon they have equipped, not unarmed. I won't believe, that my absolutely unskilled captain, who was assigned this duty after a minor lower spine injury, and who didn't have any military skill higher than dabbling, has mandled both legs and a shoulder of a prisoner unarmed... He was wielding a sword. --[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 00:55, 27 August 2008 (EDT)

==Waiting on injured criminals?==

My justice page lists thirty criminals, but only two have sentences listed -- one for hammerstrikes, one for imprisonment. The two dwarves with listed sentences are both injured. Are they holding up the whole justice process? Those two dwarves have spinal injuries and will never recover; any way to get the system moving again? --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 15:07, 2 September 2008 (EDT)
:To answer my own question: New offenders are added at the top of the list. So it appears that, until I find a solution, the older offenders are all safe from punishment due to the injured dwarves before them. --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 18:00, 2 September 2008 (EDT)
::The ones without sentence are the ones, whose sentences has already expired--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 04:39, 3 September 2008 (EDT)

==Metal Chains are breakable==

[[Image:90f49e6c zincchainbroken.png]]
I was under the impression that they were not breakable. I think we should add a note about this.

File:90f49e6c zincchainbroken.png

2009-01-07T21:13:17Z

ThunderClaw:

40d Talk:Noble

2009-01-07T15:04:40Z

ThunderClaw: /* Pretentious Arrangements */

40d Talk:Bedroom design

2009-01-06T21:50:01Z

ThunderClaw: /* Weapon/Armour Racks */

40d Talk:Bedroom design

2009-01-06T19:05:26Z

ThunderClaw: /* Bitmap designs */

40d:Human

2009-01-06T14:55:13Z

ThunderClaw: /* Humans in Fortress Mode */ added a note from buzz on the talk page

{{CreatureInfo|name=Human|symbol=U|color={{COLOR:3:0:0}}|butcher=no|bones=7|chunks=N/A|meat=N/A|fat=N/A|skulls=1|skin=N/A|biome=* Any}}

'''Humans''' are intelligent [[humanoid]] [[creatures]] that live in cities on the plains. They are one of the races playable in [[Adventure Mode]]. Their buildings are made entirely of [[wood]], and usually include several houses and [[shop]]s, and a tavern. They are primarily interested in [[trade]], and generally send large [[caravan]]s in [[Calendar|summer]].

== Humans in Fortress Mode ==

The first human [[caravan]] will arrive in the summer of your second year, provided a human [[civilization]] has access to your site. The caravan will have [[wagon]]s, which carry lots of goods, but need a 3 tile wide corridor. Humans may also send a [[Liaison|representative]] if their civilization is big enough, and having more skilled trading [[noble]]s will upgrade him to a Merchant Baron or Merchant Prince, who have larger caravans.

In the current version[[v0.28.181.40d]] humans will invade if enough humans were killed while visiting your area. They have also been known to show up if you've killed or offended too many [[elves]], though it's anyone's guess as to whether or not this is intended.

This is especially dangerous if a human noble has been to your fortress. All [[trap]]s that he/she observed while walking inside are inactive for any invading humans. If you succeed in defeating a human [[siege]], they may send a diplomat to make an offer of peace.

=== Living among them ===

Creating a settlement underneath a human town confers a number advantages. The human [[soldier]]s and [[guard]]s, in the process of protecting their town, also protect your fortress. In addition, all the objects present in the town are assumed to be your property, which provides your fortress with a huge starting value boost. You may also [[reclaim]] the items present inside the various buildings, giving you a nice early cache of [[weapons]], trade objects and [[furniture]]. Finally, the wood from the buildings may be acquired by deconstructing them, or [[cave-ins|undermining]] the structure.

== Humans in Adventure Mode ==

Human towns usually have many different shops. They typically have swordsmen and plenty of [[Drunk|drunks]] to recruit. The leader and quest giver of a city is called the [[mayor]], who can generally be found in the tavern in the center of town.

Humans characters are, in every way, the middle road between [[dwarves]] and [[elf|elves]]. Their starting equipment is [[metal]], but the type of metal depends on how advanced that particular Human civilization is. Humans might have [[copper]], [[bronze]], or [[iron]] equipment. Humans may start with skill in any [[weapon]] (as opposed to the more limited lists that [[elves]] and [[dwarves]] use). Humans lack the special damage resistance of [[dwarves]] and the raw speed of [[elves]], but they are one [[size]] category larger than [[dwarves]]. This makes them hit harder and absorb more damage (though it may not make up for their lack of damage resistance). Another downside for humans is that they have a life expectancy of 60-120 years, which is a lot shorter than dwarves and especially elves, but this is unlikely to affect anyone except a serious [[Fortress Mode]] addict.

They may buy both [[armor]] and weapons at human towns, and may scavenge dwarven weapons from abandoned fortresses. Masterpiece armor is extremely rare in human [[shop]]s, but exceptional equipment is common, and temples contain abundant loot, so a human adventurer can easily pick up a set of exceptional gear.

== Playing as Humans in Fortress Mode ==
To start a "Human fort" (or, alternately, an Elven retreat or [[Goblin]] tower) one need only add the tag [CIV_CONTROLLABLE] to the entity_default.txt file in the /raw/objects folder, under whichever race you wish to play. You should only do this after having already generated a world, otherwise you may encounter bugs. It's also advisable to only have one race playable at a time by removing the [CIV_CONTROLLABLE] tag from all but the race you wish to play, for similar reasons.

Gameplay adapts remarkably well, as if Toady intended us to do this, although there are a few bugs mostly relating to traders from certain races not arriving at your fort. The Elves can carry with them many different [[pet]]s upon embarking, and the races will start with the appropriate food and [[plants]] (for example, humans have [[prickle berry|prickle berries]] instead of [[plump helmet]]s by default).

{{Game_Data|[CREATURE:HUMAN]
[NAME:human:humans:human]
[TILE:'U'][COLOR:3:0:0]
[GENPOWER:3]
[BUTCHERABLE_NONSTANDARD]
[INTELLIGENT]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[BENIGN]
[PREFSTRING:stature]
[BODY:HUMANOID:2EYES:2EARS:NOSE:2LUNGS:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:HUMANOID_JOINTS:THROAT:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:5FINGERS:5TOES:MOUTH]
[SIZE:7]
[MAXAGE:60:120]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:1:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[CHILD:12][BABY:1][MULTIPLE_LITTER_RARE]
[FAT:3]
[EQUIPS]
[DIURNAL]
[SPEECH_MALE:human_male.txt]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[LAYERING:10]
[SWIMS_LEARNED][SWIM_SPEED:2500]
}}
{{Creatures}}
[[Category:Races]]
[[Category:Humanoids]]

40d Talk:Human

2009-01-06T14:53:54Z

ThunderClaw: /* I can't take it anymore! */

If you build in a Human town and you set up your trading post in the middle then will the caravans go from the town to the post or do they come from the edges of the map? --[[User:Varsashi|Varsashi]]
:If you set up in a human town, human traders don't show up at all. --[[User:BurnedToast|BurnedToast]] 03:42, 21 December 2007 (EST)

My current dwarftown who I started in a human town has been visited by human traders. ([[User:Keilden|Keilden]] 08:37, 3 January 2008 (EST))

Traders are coming to my fort/town as well. Building Forts in human towns seems to have no effect other than to add the value of their possessions to your own fort and to give you some dedicated guards.--[[User:The Flying Febe|The Flying Febe]] 12:27, 3 January 2008 (EST)

== I can't take it anymore! ==

Do humans seige or not? Somebody please, for god's sake, find an answer. Ask Toady if you have to. No more of this "It is unknown if." or "this was made for the 2D version". Just answer it.

Now that I have your attention, please answer this question, I apologize if I freaked anyone out with this. Also, everything is this catagory so far has been one post, not me trying to cover up my own actions. Please answer the question, not the previous sentence. --[[User:Smoking Gnu|Smoking Gnu]] 20:22, 15 April 2008 (EDT)
:If your desire is so big, why don't you ask Toady yourself?--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 01:38, 18 April 2008 (EDT)
::Yes. They seige. And they avoid traps too, just like it says in the article. That is not a thing of the past. It still happens. I'm not sure what exactly I DID to cause it. But it hurt. A lot.--[[User:Hkidnc|Hkidnc]] 18:40, 19 November 2008 (EST)
:::I can confirm that humans will siege. What I don't understand is their reasoning. There was no reason for them to. No humans were killed in my area that I was aware of. I did keep cutting trees and robbing elven caravans, but what does that have to do with them? Anyway, what a bunch of cowards. They didn't even dare attack; I had to leave the fortress to lure them in to be slaughtered. Much blood for Armok that day, but no prisoners for my menagerie ... [[User:JubalHarshaw|JubalHarshaw]] 00:42, 6 January 2009 (EST)
::::It happened exactly like that in the bloodline game I just played, too. The previous players had been abusing the elves, and in the summer of my turn, the humans showed up. I think it has something to do with the relationship between the two powers; if they like eachother enough, the humans will show up as Elven muscle. It's worth noting that I agreed to and stuck to a tree-cutting quota that year, and the humans showed up with their expected caravan the summer afteward.
::::Also, you are correct that humans have a different siege AI. They prefer to float around at the edge of your defenses, picking off stragglers and wanderers (much like an actual siege). They will attack eventually, but only after making your life a pain for almost a full season. They're definitely more difficult enemies than goblins because of this. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 09:53, 6 January 2009 (EST)

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2009-01-02T22:45:48Z

ThunderClaw: /* Lies */

== Correctness ==
There is no "correct" way to start fortress mode except from not picking Adventure Mode or Legends or Create New World on the main menu screen. It's entirely proper to embark with no skills and absolutely no supplies and watch your seven dwarves go crazy and die in the terrifying glacier. --[[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 12:03, 18 November 2008 (EST)
:If you'd like to change the name, leave a request with the sysop or something. This conversation has been done 10 times over already and it never ends in anything useful. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 18 November 2008 (EST)
::I dunno, he might be on to something there. This could be a guide on how to start the game, step by step, without pressing the wrong buttons or accidentally defenestrating either your computer or yourself! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 13:22, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Farm Size ==
''Farm size: 10x10 of plump helmets without fertilizing will feed 500 dwarves. A 5x5 field WITH fertilizing will feed about 500 dwarves. Do the math. (Rough estimates. Untested.) -Yanlin ''

Is this with or without boozecooking? [[User:Random832|Random832]] 23:12, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

== Reformatting this page ==

This page breaks from the style used on the rest of the wiki -- it's a dump of opinions and suggestions instead of a collaborative, well-organized article. The problem with this is evident in how people are just arguing with each other on the page (that's what ''talk pages'' are for) instead of putting their heads together to offer readers streamlined, practical advice.

Can we do some discussion here of what its general advice and structure should be, then rewrite it?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:38, 29 October 2008 (EDT)
:Having a bunch of different viewpoints in the page is fine to me as long as it doesn't look like a big argument :P --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 01:48, 30 October 2008 (EDT) 
:I was thinking about this too, but the unfortunate hurdle is that there's no good way to put in a 'generally agreed upon' sort of structure, and there's a lot of strong feelings that run both ways with many things. Perhaps the better way to do this would merely be to take the names out of it. Just put a heading and a couple of equally-bulleted points with the various views, possibly with the dates these views were last updated. A large part of my issue is that most of the advice on the page is clearly from many moons ago (the cats comments being the most noticable). The anvil discussion, for example, could then just be broken down into three bullets, one which suggests crafts, a second which suggests mechanisms, and a third which suggests meals.

:A reformat does need to happen, though. This wiki is really shortwinded on useful, coherant gameplay advice (MANY of the Beginners FAQ pages need total rewrites that I'll probably get to sooner rather than later) and I'd really like to see that change. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 02:09, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::Removing the signatures is definitely the starting point -- it will allow us to treat what's on the page as "our words" instead of "my words".

::I don't think "general agreement" is out of reach -- for any subject, there will be obviously bad advice, obviously good advice, and stuff that will largely depend on how you like to play the game. Our current dispute over trade goods is like that: crafts, mechanisms, meals, and clothes can ''all'' be effective trade goods; we can list their respective advantages and disadvantages and leave it for the player to decide what approach he or she wants to take. We just need to avoid the "One True Approach" mentality, except where everyone agrees that a given idea is Very Good or Very Bad.

::While we're at it, the page title needs to be changed -- though we can do that after it becomes clear what direction the rewrite is taking it in.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:38, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::I'll give the page a once-over tomorrow and give my initial thoughts on what should be changed then.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:42, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:::It shouldn't take too long. Click Edit, hit Ctrl-A, and type <nowiki>{{Del}}</nowiki>. Profit. --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 04:40, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Reformat is done. Someone else can deal with the nomenclature. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:14, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:You did an excellent job with the rewrite. I made various changes and expansions, and there's other stuff I want to add over the next several days.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

I really think that a better name for this page would be "General Advice," since that's all it really is, and "Correctly" starting a fortress is mostly a matter of opinion and we're trying to make the page look less opinionated. The page could be very helpful and I think that once it's worked on a bit it could go on the main page. --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 21:00, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Well, "general advice" is a little ''too'' general. At this point, I want to see what kind of changes we make to other related pages, such as [[your first fortress]]. Once we define the role of each better, it should be clear what this page should be named.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

== Lies ==
Don't bring any beasts of burden. You will start with a breeding pair of them for free
That's a lie. You can have different animals at start
:And they're all breeding pairs and they're all beasts of burden (Musk oxen, camels, horses, donkeys, et al). The only way to not have a breeding pair is if you get mules to start out with, which has happened a grand total of 0 times in the 32 fortresses I've made. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::I think the commenter's point was that your two wagon animals will often not be the same species. I've only received two of the same wagon animals 2 times in 30-40 fortresses, and only when it was Muskoxen. Otherwise its two different species and therefore not a breeding pair.

::Further, if you buy single animals I've seen it where the wagon animal and the bought animal of the same species are the same sex - ie, unlike purchased animals, where buying two guarantees you one of each gender, the wagon animals are generated separately and don't check purchased animals gender before determining gender.

::If you want to guarantee a breeding pair, you have to buy 2 animals of the same type. Other methods have no guarantees.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:::Well, if you want to put in 'often' then, you can be my guest, but I've seen no such thing. Every last time of the 40 fortresses or so I've played, I've gotten a breeding pair of beasts of burden for free when starting. The community I play DF with has had similar experiences - none of us have EVER had a breeding pair of beasts of burden as wagon animals, mules excepted for one playthrough on one person I speak with regularly. Overall I'd say my sample size is well over a hundred games, so I still feel this is entirely correct. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Turning off restrictions on economic stone will allow you to make a metal ANYTHING from that ore stone
Lies again. It's not '''metal''', it's made of ore. Not Iron statue, but Limonite statue, etc. (You still gain in wealth though)
:This works for '(material) nuggets'. Platinum, aluminum, gold, copper, etc. While the nomenclature is definitely wrong for ores, the ended cost of the statue is exactly the same based on quality. I don't know if this is a bug or not. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::His objection was its not metal, its still made of stone. That stone is just 'Platinum Nuggets', which is not a *metal*. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::It's indistinguishable. It's named the same, it impresses the same, it places the same, it is the same. I suppose if you want to call the swimming, feathered, quacking bird something other than a duck, go ahead, but it doesn't change the function of the game. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Siege engines the only safe way to deal with the biggest threats you will face, like megabeasts and goblins riding beak dogs as cavalry.
Oh, yeah? ONLY?
:Archers run out of ammo very quickly in pitched battles (they can only carry about 40 arrows in their quiver, and marksdwarves can run through that in no time at all. Trolls, Beak Dogs, and armored goblins will commonly take 5-7 arrows or more to bring down) and many people consider huge amounts of cage traps an exploit. If you've got another way of doing so, feel free to add it. I notice you didn't, nor did you sign your comments here. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::How about melee dwarves? Admittedly, I haven't seen beak dogs yet (my goblin civs apparently never have access), but i've seen a single legendary swordsdwarf deal with 10 armored goblins *by himself*. As melee dwarves are faster to train than marksdwarves...

::And megabeasts are a joke - even avoiding cage traps I trivially dealt with a zombie Titan via melee dwarves. Dragons and Hydrae are known pushovers, which makes the only significant megabeast threat a Colossus, and I'd be willing to bet sufficiently many legendary melee dwarves can take one. I mean, my last game featured 20 champion melee dwarves (legendary wrestlers/shield users/armor users/+1 or more weapons) who were all multi-legendary before I produced my first champion marksdwarf. They never even got injured during sieges/megabeasts/etc... And this is using training weapons (silver). Didn't see a Colossus, and by the time they do they'll probably be glad in shining adamantine, so...

::Really, the big problem with siege weapons is they don't have IFF technology, so your dwarven combatants are also at risk while you use them, meaning unlike marksdwarves you can't delay the enemy advance by sending melee dwarves into the fray to buy more firing time.

::As to solving small quiver size - stockpile your bolts right where you plan on firing from. Instant reload. Its not like you're going to attack from anything but a prepared position with them anyway.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::Two quick notes; beak dogs have a pretty annoying habit of shredding armor. The couple times I've had them get a hold of my champions, oftentimes the armor they are wearing is ruined and unusable. In other words, I don't think they'd have too many problems with melee dwarves in the grand scheme of things.

:::Secondly, archers are currently too dumb to reload bolts while still in combat mode. If they run out of ammo, they will abandon their post to charge the enemy and use the butt of their crossbow. The Hunter displays the same behavior when running out of bolts while hunting. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 09:49, 15 December 2008 (EST)

::::If you're microing enough to effectively use siege weapons, you can have your archers stand down when they run out of bolts so they can reload, then put them back on duty.
::::And I seriously doubt that if your champions are legendary wrestlers/shield users that beak dogs will get that many hits in. The megabeasts I've fought certainly haven't hit at all, and I would expect them to be better in combat than a beak dog. Even if the champion's armor gets shredded, he'll still have his dodging and blocking to keep him safe, and its not like he's just wearing one suit anyway - armor stacking (chain/plate) is good for you.
::::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 15:48, 15 December 2008 (EST)

:::::For the half-dozenth time, and this is to everyone: if you'd like to change it, go right ahead, if you have something to add. I don't agree with you, Squirreloid, since I've seen a few beak dogs get nuts on my ironclad champion wrestlers more than once, but as you might figure from the fact that I take about 2 weeks to reply to this stuff, I honestly don't have much of an attachment to this page. I'm tired of seeing this space update with more random bullcrap with nothing happening on the actual page. I ignored it the last couple times it happened, but now it's time for it to stop. Put up or shut up. I don't know why folks keep coming back to this page anyway, almost all the notes are points of the tiniest nitpicks ('platinum' statues) or things that, honestly, go against most of the stories here and on the bay12 forums (beak dogs being 'jokes'), or even totally invented things (the note that this page 'needs revision', when there had been no such rumbling anywhere on this page and everyone shamelessly sucked me off when I finally reorganized it) and it's in defense of someone who couldn't even be arsed to sign his post or come back here to defend his own wild accusations. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

:::::There has to be a better place for this discussion, but marksdwarves do in fact reload during combat now. At least they do when there is no easily available path to charge the enemy. Build towers, keep ammo in the tower, watch your dwarves go down stairs, reload quiver, and go back upstairs to continue firing. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 03:26, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Ask for pearlash and rock crystal to make crystal glass.
crystal glass requires '''RAW''' rock crystal, that can't be imported
:Can't it? I admit I've only tried this once, but I pulled it in from the dwarven caravan just fine one time. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:In conclusion, lies my ass. If you want to edit it, fine, but this is by and large good advice so you can kindly eat me if you're going to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:Go ahead and edit the page as you like... There does appear to be a consensus that it needs improvement! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 12:25, 21 November 2008 (EST)

::It's an error to say siege engines are the only safe way to deal with threats. Water traps, magma traps, hatch traps, weapon traps, and cage traps can all be arranged to be safer (and more hassle free) defense methods. [[User:VengefulDonut|VengefulDonut]] 11:54, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::That's fine, honestly it is. Feel free to add such a note, or a link to the various trap demonstrations. I'm pretty sure I meant to type 'one of the only' there anyway (it's hazy this long after the writing). I welcome editing and I welcome additions to the article. I don't welcome being called a liar by some idiot who doesn't even sign his posts. It was [[User:Dorten|Dorten]], incidentally. I have no idea who he is and I certainly don't have anything against him but he can eat my ass if he wants to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 12 December 2008 (EST)

==Thoughts on Revising this Page==
Currently this and similar pages seem deadset on giving very specific advice, which is problematic when people don't agree on the nature of that advice. Why don't we do a basic analysis of the different considerations involved in putting together a successful fortress and maximizing your dwarves, and leave specific build advice as a postscript and proof of concept/example instead of the mainthrust of the article?

Ie, make the first paragraph something like this: 
When establishing a new fortress there are certain difficulties that must be overcome. All fortresses will need to feed their dwarves, handle the influx of migrants, build a secure space to live and work, keep their dwarves happy, and generate trade goods for the merchant caravans. Beyond satisfying these basic needs, dwarves will want to be leveled in experience, both in terms of physical abilities and at particular tasks, and may gain free experience from successfully completing strange mood requests. What follows is a guide to building a fortress that not only survives, but thrives.

Follow this up with paragraphs on options for accomplishing the above basic goals, and a paragraph on the relative value of various skills and how easy it is to level them respectively. Only then should we start busting out examples. Advice should also tend to be less absolute than it currently is (I've started plenty of successful fortresses without dogs, for example).

--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 05:05, 22 November 2008 (EST)

:Yeah, I agree with that approach. Your post over at [[talk:starting builds]] got me thinking along those lines. Although it's harder than just saying "do this" ;-) .

:In truth, as long as you have a means to feed your dwarves and a handful of things to keep them happy, any fortress will work. (Sooner or later you usually need some defensive measures as well.) That's that's one of the first things we should point out.

:But for me, and I think a lot of other players, much of the fun is in figuring out how to get your dwarves to do lots of stuff very effectively. We actually give pretty good advice on that -- we just make too many assumptions about what the specific stuff will be. This is not surprising given the page's origin ("How to correctly start fortress mode"? Ugh.), though it was improved dramatically by ThunderClaw and others. But it could be improved further, as could all of our "basic advice" pages.

:Right now I'm thinking through a rewrite of [[starting builds]] in response to your post there a few days ago. You made some assumptions as well, but also you challenged me to think beyond the assumptions I had been making. Bit by bit I think we can pull everything together better.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:12, 22 November 2008 (EST)
 
:The Your First Fortress guide covers the more general aspects of this; the purpose of this page, to my understanding, was to get into a bit more detail. When I rewrote this guide from its previous format, it was nothing but headings with a lot of people making various, very specific comments on very specific things. I tried to keep it like that during the overhaul, but I consolidated and updated a bunch of the advice and lumped it together in hierarchal headings that were a lot more readable.

:I don't pretend for an instant that this guide is perfect, but a general advice sort of thing seems to be contrary to the spirit of the article as I remember it. We had Your First Fortress for that. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:36, 12 December 2008 (EST)
===An All-Inclusive Guide===
"Fortress mode: So, you've got a crew together, united in a sense of adventure, duty, social outrage, simple greed or bloody-mindedness, perhaps even all of the above. You've come down (or up) out of the mountain halls, home trees, dark fortress, death pits, mother hive or backwater village, and regardless of race, species, motivation or temperment, two questions are likely on your mind: What do you need to accomplish your goals, and what's going to allow you to live to enjoy it? Look no further, the answer(s) lie within!

The first step in your journey is the most important: Choosing a destination. With the wide, wide world laid out before you, expansive and great but not overweight and actually quite good-looking, you know, given her age, this task can be so intimidating that many might be driven to simply bury their heads in the sand or whatever else serves as a soil type within the heartlands of their home civilization. While certainly a valid option, and a safe one, a truly brave, ambitious, and/or foolhardy band of explorers should set their sights much higher.

Is there evil to cleanse? A volcano to harness? Savage wilds to tame? Perhaps you really like snowcones, think it'd be cool to be able to fry eggs right on your doorstep, or always wanted to feel the soothing mist of a waterfall as your mortal enemies plummetting to their deaths are washed away into the raging rapids. All these and more are possible--just choose the right fortress site! See [[starting builds]] for some hints when deciding what to take with you. (Sorry--no kitchen sinks allowed.)

Know your limits and remember your priorities. Most people can't live without water, and few want to live without beer. Food is important, but unless your race is carnivorous, so long as you bring or gather a few seeds and have a small patch of soil you can protect, it won't be a problem. Meat-eaters should seek deeper wildnerness areas with better hunting and fishing grounds, and bring plenty of livestock if possible. Temperature and warm areas tend to have the most wildlife.

If there's no soil for farming, wet rocks will do! By pumping water over the ground, digging a channel to briefly divert a river or stream into (make sure to install a [[floodgate]] and a [[|mechanic|lever]] first!) or digging a [[pond]] to soak with a few bucketfuls, you can ensure that you'll have plenty of crops for the years to come. Remember that outdoor plants need sun and indoor plants need a lack of sun, and that sunlight only ever falls straight down from the sky, straight through anything until it hits the ground.

On the subject of water, watch out. Rivers often menace with spikes of [[carp]], and when the [[ocean]]s were created, someone was having way too much fun with the salt shaker. It's completely undrinkable. You can fix it up so you can drink it down by [[screw pump|pumping]] it into a fully [construction|constructed]] [[reservoir]], but making one of those isn't easy, especially if the ground is so [[|aquifer|soggy]] you can't dig out any stone without [[drowning|getting pickled lungs and a dead brain.]] Bring plenty of [[booze]] if you really, really want that beachfront property; even the water in the ground, rivers, and ponds will be salty for miles around.

A last word on water in regard to temperature. In 'hot' climates, water can boil away in the summer, in 'temperate' or 'cold' it will freeze in the winter. Frozen water can be fun to play with, but drinking it is another story. Water that's flown away into the sky can be pretty to look at, especially when it's shaped like a bunny or a dragon, but it's even harder to drink than the frozen kind. In 'scorching' or 'freezing' climates, water is often in its more useless states year-round! Both problems can be solved by getting the water under the ground, or finding some already there in an [[aquifer]] layer, but keep in mind that trying to build a [[reservoir]] in a [[glacier]] is not only futile, but also very dumb.

Got your food or water? Good! This next section might help you from bleeding your foody water all over the ground. When people talk about 'basic needs', they tend to include clothing and shelter with the other two. Well, let's face it: They're optional so long as you're not in the burning sun or freezing cold, or in danger of getting mauled by lions and tigermen and [[undead|skeletal]] [[giant eagle]]s, [[losing|oh my]]. Don't be fooled by the terrible threats that are out there, though, even a [[raccoon]] can be [[wounds|lethal]] if you don't take precautions. Choosing a more peaceful [[biome]] can help, but don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite of evil is [[unicorn|cuddliness.]]

The best way to protect your community is to put as much [[wall|stuff]] as possible between ''the'' environment and ''your'' environment, by digging down, by building up, or just by picking a nigh-inaccessible site to live from the outset. More than likely, you'll still need to venture out to gather resources. This is where [[weapon]]s and [[military|armies]] come in, not to mention [[traps]] for your access points and the various other zany and funtastic aspects of [[fortress defense]].

Still alive? Phew. Lucky! If you're done securing yourself from [[food|the]] [[water|'ations,]] and you've been working on protecting yourself from [[creatures|nature]], you've got a head start on preparing for (semi-)intelligent [[semimegabeast|((semi-)]][[megabeast|mega-)]][[invader]]s. If you ''stay'' lucky, you'll have time to make [[legendary artifact|cool]] [[finished goods|stuff]] for [[trading|trade]], [[thoughts|happiness,]] or [[mega constructions|je ne sais quoi]].That's all there is to it!

...Or is it?"

do that. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 19:40, 22 November 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2009-01-02T22:43:05Z

ThunderClaw: /* Lies */ ok seriously enough now people

== Correctness ==
There is no "correct" way to start fortress mode except from not picking Adventure Mode or Legends or Create New World on the main menu screen. It's entirely proper to embark with no skills and absolutely no supplies and watch your seven dwarves go crazy and die in the terrifying glacier. --[[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 12:03, 18 November 2008 (EST)
:If you'd like to change the name, leave a request with the sysop or something. This conversation has been done 10 times over already and it never ends in anything useful. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 18 November 2008 (EST)
::I dunno, he might be on to something there. This could be a guide on how to start the game, step by step, without pressing the wrong buttons or accidentally defenestrating either your computer or yourself! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 13:22, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Farm Size ==
''Farm size: 10x10 of plump helmets without fertilizing will feed 500 dwarves. A 5x5 field WITH fertilizing will feed about 500 dwarves. Do the math. (Rough estimates. Untested.) -Yanlin ''

Is this with or without boozecooking? [[User:Random832|Random832]] 23:12, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

== Reformatting this page ==

This page breaks from the style used on the rest of the wiki -- it's a dump of opinions and suggestions instead of a collaborative, well-organized article. The problem with this is evident in how people are just arguing with each other on the page (that's what ''talk pages'' are for) instead of putting their heads together to offer readers streamlined, practical advice.

Can we do some discussion here of what its general advice and structure should be, then rewrite it?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:38, 29 October 2008 (EDT)
:Having a bunch of different viewpoints in the page is fine to me as long as it doesn't look like a big argument :P --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 01:48, 30 October 2008 (EDT) 
:I was thinking about this too, but the unfortunate hurdle is that there's no good way to put in a 'generally agreed upon' sort of structure, and there's a lot of strong feelings that run both ways with many things. Perhaps the better way to do this would merely be to take the names out of it. Just put a heading and a couple of equally-bulleted points with the various views, possibly with the dates these views were last updated. A large part of my issue is that most of the advice on the page is clearly from many moons ago (the cats comments being the most noticable). The anvil discussion, for example, could then just be broken down into three bullets, one which suggests crafts, a second which suggests mechanisms, and a third which suggests meals.

:A reformat does need to happen, though. This wiki is really shortwinded on useful, coherant gameplay advice (MANY of the Beginners FAQ pages need total rewrites that I'll probably get to sooner rather than later) and I'd really like to see that change. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 02:09, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::Removing the signatures is definitely the starting point -- it will allow us to treat what's on the page as "our words" instead of "my words".

::I don't think "general agreement" is out of reach -- for any subject, there will be obviously bad advice, obviously good advice, and stuff that will largely depend on how you like to play the game. Our current dispute over trade goods is like that: crafts, mechanisms, meals, and clothes can ''all'' be effective trade goods; we can list their respective advantages and disadvantages and leave it for the player to decide what approach he or she wants to take. We just need to avoid the "One True Approach" mentality, except where everyone agrees that a given idea is Very Good or Very Bad.

::While we're at it, the page title needs to be changed -- though we can do that after it becomes clear what direction the rewrite is taking it in.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:38, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::I'll give the page a once-over tomorrow and give my initial thoughts on what should be changed then.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:42, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:::It shouldn't take too long. Click Edit, hit Ctrl-A, and type <nowiki>{{Del}}</nowiki>. Profit. --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 04:40, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Reformat is done. Someone else can deal with the nomenclature. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:14, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:You did an excellent job with the rewrite. I made various changes and expansions, and there's other stuff I want to add over the next several days.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

I really think that a better name for this page would be "General Advice," since that's all it really is, and "Correctly" starting a fortress is mostly a matter of opinion and we're trying to make the page look less opinionated. The page could be very helpful and I think that once it's worked on a bit it could go on the main page. --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 21:00, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Well, "general advice" is a little ''too'' general. At this point, I want to see what kind of changes we make to other related pages, such as [[your first fortress]]. Once we define the role of each better, it should be clear what this page should be named.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

== Lies ==
Don't bring any beasts of burden. You will start with a breeding pair of them for free
That's a lie. You can have different animals at start
:And they're all breeding pairs and they're all beasts of burden (Musk oxen, camels, horses, donkeys, et al). The only way to not have a breeding pair is if you get mules to start out with, which has happened a grand total of 0 times in the 32 fortresses I've made. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::I think the commenter's point was that your two wagon animals will often not be the same species. I've only received two of the same wagon animals 2 times in 30-40 fortresses, and only when it was Muskoxen. Otherwise its two different species and therefore not a breeding pair.

::Further, if you buy single animals I've seen it where the wagon animal and the bought animal of the same species are the same sex - ie, unlike purchased animals, where buying two guarantees you one of each gender, the wagon animals are generated separately and don't check purchased animals gender before determining gender.

::If you want to guarantee a breeding pair, you have to buy 2 animals of the same type. Other methods have no guarantees.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:::Well, if you want to put in 'often' then, you can be my guest, but I've seen no such thing. Every last time of the 40 fortresses or so I've played, I've gotten a breeding pair of beasts of burden for free when starting. The community I play DF with has had similar experiences - none of us have EVER had a breeding pair of beasts of burden as wagon animals, mules excepted for one playthrough on one person I speak with regularly. Overall I'd say my sample size is well over a hundred games, so I still feel this is entirely correct. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Turning off restrictions on economic stone will allow you to make a metal ANYTHING from that ore stone
Lies again. It's not '''metal''', it's made of ore. Not Iron statue, but Limonite statue, etc. (You still gain in wealth though)
:This works for '(material) nuggets'. Platinum, aluminum, gold, copper, etc. While the nomenclature is definitely wrong for ores, the ended cost of the statue is exactly the same based on quality. I don't know if this is a bug or not. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::His objection was its not metal, its still made of stone. That stone is just 'Platinum Nuggets', which is not a *metal*. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::It's indistinguishable. It's named the same, it impresses the same, it places the same, it is the same. I suppose if you want to call the swimming, feathered, quacking bird something other than a duck, go ahead, but it doesn't change the function of the game. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Siege engines the only safe way to deal with the biggest threats you will face, like megabeasts and goblins riding beak dogs as cavalry.
Oh, yeah? ONLY?
:Archers run out of ammo very quickly in pitched battles (they can only carry about 40 arrows in their quiver, and marksdwarves can run through that in no time at all. Trolls, Beak Dogs, and armored goblins will commonly take 5-7 arrows or more to bring down) and many people consider huge amounts of cage traps an exploit. If you've got another way of doing so, feel free to add it. I notice you didn't, nor did you sign your comments here. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::How about melee dwarves? Admittedly, I haven't seen beak dogs yet (my goblin civs apparently never have access), but i've seen a single legendary swordsdwarf deal with 10 armored goblins *by himself*. As melee dwarves are faster to train than marksdwarves...

::And megabeasts are a joke - even avoiding cage traps I trivially dealt with a zombie Titan via melee dwarves. Dragons and Hydrae are known pushovers, which makes the only significant megabeast threat a Colossus, and I'd be willing to bet sufficiently many legendary melee dwarves can take one. I mean, my last game featured 20 champion melee dwarves (legendary wrestlers/shield users/armor users/+1 or more weapons) who were all multi-legendary before I produced my first champion marksdwarf. They never even got injured during sieges/megabeasts/etc... And this is using training weapons (silver). Didn't see a Colossus, and by the time they do they'll probably be glad in shining adamantine, so...

::Really, the big problem with siege weapons is they don't have IFF technology, so your dwarven combatants are also at risk while you use them, meaning unlike marksdwarves you can't delay the enemy advance by sending melee dwarves into the fray to buy more firing time.

::As to solving small quiver size - stockpile your bolts right where you plan on firing from. Instant reload. Its not like you're going to attack from anything but a prepared position with them anyway.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::Two quick notes; beak dogs have a pretty annoying habit of shredding armor. The couple times I've had them get a hold of my champions, oftentimes the armor they are wearing is ruined and unusable. In other words, I don't think they'd have too many problems with melee dwarves in the grand scheme of things.

:::Secondly, archers are currently too dumb to reload bolts while still in combat mode. If they run out of ammo, they will abandon their post to charge the enemy and use the butt of their crossbow. The Hunter displays the same behavior when running out of bolts while hunting. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 09:49, 15 December 2008 (EST)

::::If you're microing enough to effectively use siege weapons, you can have your archers stand down when they run out of bolts so they can reload, then put them back on duty.
::::And I seriously doubt that if your champions are legendary wrestlers/shield users that beak dogs will get that many hits in. The megabeasts I've fought certainly haven't hit at all, and I would expect them to be better in combat than a beak dog. Even if the champion's armor gets shredded, he'll still have his dodging and blocking to keep him safe, and its not like he's just wearing one suit anyway - armor stacking (chain/plate) is good for you.
::::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 15:48, 15 December 2008 (EST)

:::::For the half-dozenth time, and this is to everyone: if you'd like to change it, go right ahead, if you have something to add. I don't agree with you, Squirreloid, since I've seen a few beak dogs get nuts on my ironclad champion wrestlers more than once, but as you might figure from the fact that I take about 2 weeks to reply to this stuff, I honestly don't have much of an attachment to this page. I'm tired of seeing this space update with more random bullcrap with nothing happening on the actual page. I ignored it the last couple times it happened, but now it's time for it to stop. Put up or shut up. I don't know why folks keep coming back to this page anyway, almost all the notes are points of the tiniest nitpicks ('platinum' statues) or things that, honestly, go against most of the stories here and on the bay12 forums (beak dogs being 'jokes'), or even totally invented things (the note that this page 'needs revision', when there's no such rumbling anywhere on this page and everyone shamelessly sucked me off when I finally reorganized it) and it's in defense of someone who couldn't even be arsed to sign his post or come back here to defend his own wild accusations. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 17:43, 2 January 2009 (EST)

:::::There has to be a better place for this discussion, but marksdwarves do in fact reload during combat now. At least they do when there is no easily available path to charge the enemy. Build towers, keep ammo in the tower, watch your dwarves go down stairs, reload quiver, and go back upstairs to continue firing. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 03:26, 2 January 2009 (EST)

Ask for pearlash and rock crystal to make crystal glass.
crystal glass requires '''RAW''' rock crystal, that can't be imported
:Can't it? I admit I've only tried this once, but I pulled it in from the dwarven caravan just fine one time. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:In conclusion, lies my ass. If you want to edit it, fine, but this is by and large good advice so you can kindly eat me if you're going to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:Go ahead and edit the page as you like... There does appear to be a consensus that it needs improvement! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 12:25, 21 November 2008 (EST)

::It's an error to say siege engines are the only safe way to deal with threats. Water traps, magma traps, hatch traps, weapon traps, and cage traps can all be arranged to be safer (and more hassle free) defense methods. [[User:VengefulDonut|VengefulDonut]] 11:54, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::That's fine, honestly it is. Feel free to add such a note, or a link to the various trap demonstrations. I'm pretty sure I meant to type 'one of the only' there anyway (it's hazy this long after the writing). I welcome editing and I welcome additions to the article. I don't welcome being called a liar by some idiot who doesn't even sign his posts. It was [[User:Dorten|Dorten]], incidentally. I have no idea who he is and I certainly don't have anything against him but he can eat my ass if he wants to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 12 December 2008 (EST)

==Thoughts on Revising this Page==
Currently this and similar pages seem deadset on giving very specific advice, which is problematic when people don't agree on the nature of that advice. Why don't we do a basic analysis of the different considerations involved in putting together a successful fortress and maximizing your dwarves, and leave specific build advice as a postscript and proof of concept/example instead of the mainthrust of the article?

Ie, make the first paragraph something like this: 
When establishing a new fortress there are certain difficulties that must be overcome. All fortresses will need to feed their dwarves, handle the influx of migrants, build a secure space to live and work, keep their dwarves happy, and generate trade goods for the merchant caravans. Beyond satisfying these basic needs, dwarves will want to be leveled in experience, both in terms of physical abilities and at particular tasks, and may gain free experience from successfully completing strange mood requests. What follows is a guide to building a fortress that not only survives, but thrives.

Follow this up with paragraphs on options for accomplishing the above basic goals, and a paragraph on the relative value of various skills and how easy it is to level them respectively. Only then should we start busting out examples. Advice should also tend to be less absolute than it currently is (I've started plenty of successful fortresses without dogs, for example).

--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 05:05, 22 November 2008 (EST)

:Yeah, I agree with that approach. Your post over at [[talk:starting builds]] got me thinking along those lines. Although it's harder than just saying "do this" ;-) .

:In truth, as long as you have a means to feed your dwarves and a handful of things to keep them happy, any fortress will work. (Sooner or later you usually need some defensive measures as well.) That's that's one of the first things we should point out.

:But for me, and I think a lot of other players, much of the fun is in figuring out how to get your dwarves to do lots of stuff very effectively. We actually give pretty good advice on that -- we just make too many assumptions about what the specific stuff will be. This is not surprising given the page's origin ("How to correctly start fortress mode"? Ugh.), though it was improved dramatically by ThunderClaw and others. But it could be improved further, as could all of our "basic advice" pages.

:Right now I'm thinking through a rewrite of [[starting builds]] in response to your post there a few days ago. You made some assumptions as well, but also you challenged me to think beyond the assumptions I had been making. Bit by bit I think we can pull everything together better.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:12, 22 November 2008 (EST)
 
:The Your First Fortress guide covers the more general aspects of this; the purpose of this page, to my understanding, was to get into a bit more detail. When I rewrote this guide from its previous format, it was nothing but headings with a lot of people making various, very specific comments on very specific things. I tried to keep it like that during the overhaul, but I consolidated and updated a bunch of the advice and lumped it together in hierarchal headings that were a lot more readable.

:I don't pretend for an instant that this guide is perfect, but a general advice sort of thing seems to be contrary to the spirit of the article as I remember it. We had Your First Fortress for that. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:36, 12 December 2008 (EST)
===An All-Inclusive Guide===
"Fortress mode: So, you've got a crew together, united in a sense of adventure, duty, social outrage, simple greed or bloody-mindedness, perhaps even all of the above. You've come down (or up) out of the mountain halls, home trees, dark fortress, death pits, mother hive or backwater village, and regardless of race, species, motivation or temperment, two questions are likely on your mind: What do you need to accomplish your goals, and what's going to allow you to live to enjoy it? Look no further, the answer(s) lie within!

The first step in your journey is the most important: Choosing a destination. With the wide, wide world laid out before you, expansive and great but not overweight and actually quite good-looking, you know, given her age, this task can be so intimidating that many might be driven to simply bury their heads in the sand or whatever else serves as a soil type within the heartlands of their home civilization. While certainly a valid option, and a safe one, a truly brave, ambitious, and/or foolhardy band of explorers should set their sights much higher.

Is there evil to cleanse? A volcano to harness? Savage wilds to tame? Perhaps you really like snowcones, think it'd be cool to be able to fry eggs right on your doorstep, or always wanted to feel the soothing mist of a waterfall as your mortal enemies plummetting to their deaths are washed away into the raging rapids. All these and more are possible--just choose the right fortress site! See [[starting builds]] for some hints when deciding what to take with you. (Sorry--no kitchen sinks allowed.)

Know your limits and remember your priorities. Most people can't live without water, and few want to live without beer. Food is important, but unless your race is carnivorous, so long as you bring or gather a few seeds and have a small patch of soil you can protect, it won't be a problem. Meat-eaters should seek deeper wildnerness areas with better hunting and fishing grounds, and bring plenty of livestock if possible. Temperature and warm areas tend to have the most wildlife.

If there's no soil for farming, wet rocks will do! By pumping water over the ground, digging a channel to briefly divert a river or stream into (make sure to install a [[floodgate]] and a [[|mechanic|lever]] first!) or digging a [[pond]] to soak with a few bucketfuls, you can ensure that you'll have plenty of crops for the years to come. Remember that outdoor plants need sun and indoor plants need a lack of sun, and that sunlight only ever falls straight down from the sky, straight through anything until it hits the ground.

On the subject of water, watch out. Rivers often menace with spikes of [[carp]], and when the [[ocean]]s were created, someone was having way too much fun with the salt shaker. It's completely undrinkable. You can fix it up so you can drink it down by [[screw pump|pumping]] it into a fully [construction|constructed]] [[reservoir]], but making one of those isn't easy, especially if the ground is so [[|aquifer|soggy]] you can't dig out any stone without [[drowning|getting pickled lungs and a dead brain.]] Bring plenty of [[booze]] if you really, really want that beachfront property; even the water in the ground, rivers, and ponds will be salty for miles around.

A last word on water in regard to temperature. In 'hot' climates, water can boil away in the summer, in 'temperate' or 'cold' it will freeze in the winter. Frozen water can be fun to play with, but drinking it is another story. Water that's flown away into the sky can be pretty to look at, especially when it's shaped like a bunny or a dragon, but it's even harder to drink than the frozen kind. In 'scorching' or 'freezing' climates, water is often in its more useless states year-round! Both problems can be solved by getting the water under the ground, or finding some already there in an [[aquifer]] layer, but keep in mind that trying to build a [[reservoir]] in a [[glacier]] is not only futile, but also very dumb.

Got your food or water? Good! This next section might help you from bleeding your foody water all over the ground. When people talk about 'basic needs', they tend to include clothing and shelter with the other two. Well, let's face it: They're optional so long as you're not in the burning sun or freezing cold, or in danger of getting mauled by lions and tigermen and [[undead|skeletal]] [[giant eagle]]s, [[losing|oh my]]. Don't be fooled by the terrible threats that are out there, though, even a [[raccoon]] can be [[wounds|lethal]] if you don't take precautions. Choosing a more peaceful [[biome]] can help, but don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite of evil is [[unicorn|cuddliness.]]

The best way to protect your community is to put as much [[wall|stuff]] as possible between ''the'' environment and ''your'' environment, by digging down, by building up, or just by picking a nigh-inaccessible site to live from the outset. More than likely, you'll still need to venture out to gather resources. This is where [[weapon]]s and [[military|armies]] come in, not to mention [[traps]] for your access points and the various other zany and funtastic aspects of [[fortress defense]].

Still alive? Phew. Lucky! If you're done securing yourself from [[food|the]] [[water|'ations,]] and you've been working on protecting yourself from [[creatures|nature]], you've got a head start on preparing for (semi-)intelligent [[semimegabeast|((semi-)]][[megabeast|mega-)]][[invader]]s. If you ''stay'' lucky, you'll have time to make [[legendary artifact|cool]] [[finished goods|stuff]] for [[trading|trade]], [[thoughts|happiness,]] or [[mega constructions|je ne sais quoi]].That's all there is to it!

...Or is it?"

do that. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 19:40, 22 November 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Dwarven economy

2008-12-26T04:03:40Z

ThunderClaw: /* Tips for living with economy? */

1) Wages paid --- dwarves gain credit for tasks completed. Credit is either maintained or transferred into physical value when the dwarf in question claims coins.

2) Rent --- bedrooms have a rent assigned to them based on their room value. The rent schedule is unknown. How the dwarves physically pay the rent is unknown. If a dwarf cannot pay the rent an eviction notice is placed on the room. The specifics of eviction are unknown. Dwarves that cannot afford one of the available bedrooms will sleep in available barracks.

3) Shops --- Once the economy begins, shops may be constructed. There are several types of shops - clothing, general goods, exotic clothing and possibly others. A type of shop may not be specified; it seems to be selected randomly. Shops have an associated cost, which is assumed to be paid by the dwarf that takes control of the shop. Once a shop is owned, items will be moved to the shop corresponding to which type of shop it is. Dwarves then may buy items for the shop, presumably using the same credit system that may or may not correspond to actual physical coins.

4) Item cost - all physical items are given a cost, whether for sale or in a shop. It is unknown if dwarves pay a cost for an item picked up that was not for sale in a shop.

also - kids have combined wealth of their parents, which can lead to paris hilton-syndrome in DF - children with wealth of several thousand buying out the noble/admin rooms and owning shops filled with =giant cave spider silk dress= --[[User:Frostedfire|Frostedfire]] 04:07, 20 November 2007 (EST)

----

It seems that the dwarven economy is now triggered by the coming of a Baron /Baroness. I haven't seen it for myself but it's what I gather from the forums. There also seems to be a bug where all coins minted appear as the same coin type (e.g., copper, silver, and gold coins all appearing as silver) on the economy window. --[[User:Keizo|Keizo]]

Just got the dwarven economy started for the first time. The game is a bit tricky to play in wine. ^^;;. Anyway, since there isn't any page here yet, I'm sort of lost, so I've added what I already know so other folks will be at least a *little* less lost :-P

Typically a page will be expanded a lot more quickly if you actually already have some content on it,.Please expand! --[[User:Kim Bruning|Kim Bruning]] 19:48, 1 December 2007 (EST)

None of my legendary dwarves have an account in their status screen.
Does this mean that they are exempt from prices or something?--[[User:Pigbuster|Pigbuster]]
:They always have been.--[[User:Heliopios|Heliopios]] 01:05, 6 December 2007 (EST)

== Wages ==

What is the deal with "- haulage being a major exception - "? Last time I checked there were some wages for item hauling, furniture hauling, food hauling,... on the in-game {{key|j}}{{key|m}}{{key|w}} wages info page. Of course a dwarf can spend a month hauling a rock to a stockpile and get his 1* for it, but a job of taking food from a stockpile and relocating it to an adjacent stockpile can yield a dwarf dozens of * in quite small period of time. Place 10-20 medium sized stockpiles accepting all furniture in a line and set them to take from each other in chain so that the first small stockpile is the closest to your workshops and your last large main furniture stockpile is the closest to your currently furnishing rooms. Watch your haulers' bank accounts sky-rocket.--[[User:Another|Another]] 05:24, 10 January 2008 (EST)

Who and whern/how can change wages percentage on first "Wages" screen? It's always 100% for me--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 06:53, 14 February 2008 (EST)
:one of the nobles can, but rarely does so (bookkeeper?)

== Soldiers ==
Will the soldiers pay for getting armor or weapons?--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 05:10, 11 January 2008 (EST)
:No, they don't own them.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 18:11, 11 January 2008 (EST)

== No Coin Economy==

How does an economy work without any coins? Do they use pretend money or something?
:Every dfwarf starts an account in DwarfEcoBanc, and is always carrying his/her credit card. But if you will be stupid enough to give them money (like I did last time), they would prefer to use money instead of card. In case you don't get it: you don't want them to use money, really.--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 23:59, 21 January 2008 (EST)

== How is this a feature? ==
I dig the realism and all, but the only effect the economy has had on my fortress is that my hard working dwarves now can't afford the rooms they've been sleeping in for the past ten years, while my nobles and champions (junta?) live in solid gold mansions. I went straight to the .ini and turned economy off. [[User:Ripheus|Ripheus]] 18:49, 6 March 2008 (EST)
:Yeah, well, the pricing of those rooms doesn't work by supply and demand for some reason, they have fixed cost. But still I kind of like the idea of an economy, and it seems a bit odd to "strongly recommend" that you shouldn't mint coins etc. I haven't even seen them hauling any of those coins. --[[User:Magirot|Magirot]] 09:18, 29 March 2008 (EDT)

It's ironic that without coins, the economy actives better. Kinda like using credit cards instead of coins (Maybe a hint to the government to stop making coins?!) --[[User:AlexFili|AlexFili]] 04:17, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

== Economy Trigger(s) ==
We know what triggers the economy, but what does having an active economy trigger? The most obvious is nobles, but there are a couple other things I've noticed. First, whether it's related to the economy or not, my only fortress that's ever been under siege has had an active economy, while my others that only get random goblin attacks did not. Likewise that fortress is my only fortress that has gotten megabeast attacks. It may or may not be related, as most of my fortresses before it didn't get as big as it is. (80 or so highest vs 110) --[[User:Eurytus|Eurytus]] 22:09, 21 April 2008 (EDT)
:Both of sieges in my current fortress (40c) were prior to the economy starting, so I don't think the economy is causal. I think it has to do with population and wealth. More dwarves attract more attention and the pickings are better with more wealth. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 12:02, 8 September 2008 (EDT)
I don't believe its a trigger for anything. My current fortress has been besieged five times and attacked by a Dragon. All this happened before I unlocked the economy.--[[User:Max Dougwell|Max Dougwell]] 07:08, 3 December 2008 (EST)

== Starving ==
"Dwarves will not starve because they cannot buy food; they just choose whatever's cheapest." - Is this true? It seems that dwarves whitout money die from either hunger or thirst. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 14:16, 24 April 2008 (EDT)

:I do believe eg plump helmets are 1* per unit, they only need to move a couple rocks ;) --[[User:Frostedfire|Frostedfire]] 10:30, 20 June 2008 (EDT)

== Setting economy to NO (ini file) stop immigration ? ==

Hello, because I really dont like economy (I want to assign bed manually !), I've desactivated it in the .ini files... but now, I haven't receive any migrants for 2 years, and my population is slowly reducing 'cause of the accidentals death.
Anyone know if desactiving the economy (just before the arrival of the baron which trigger economy) also desactive immigration ?

Again, sorry for my imperfect english. [[User:Timst|Timst]] 08:59, 26 April 2008 (EDT)
:caravan reports summon migrants, large numbers of deaths or lack of wealth stop it

== Childrens' accounts ==

"Normal" children are really wealthy - they sleep in rooms for nobles, eat roasts and buy golden things. I heard that they have combined wealth of their both parents. It's pretty crazy.
On the other hand noble children... My baroness has a son, who has 3 (yes, 3) monies on his account...
Isn't it really strange? --[[User:Someone-else|Someone-else]] 06:52, 6 May 2008 (EDT)
:His parents has no money, really. So, he has only three pennies he got hardworking in the fields, harvesting...--[[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 05:04, 16 June 2008 (EDT)
It appears Legendary Dwarves still get paid, despite being able to take whatever they please. My child of two Legendary Dwarves has 256 in her account. Either that or she's doing odd jobs when I'm not watching.--[[User:Max Dougwell|Max Dougwell]] 07:13, 3 December 2008 (EST)

== Necessary for nobles? ==

It's currently not very clear whether or not the economy needs to be enabled in order for nobles to continue arriving. For instance, the hammerer, barons, etc. Is there any confirmed knowledge of which nobles will or won't come depending on whether or not the economy is enabled in the init file? [[User:G-Flex|G-Flex]] 22:09, 6 June 2008 (EDT)

:All right, a friend of mine just confirmed through play that such nobles, even the tax collector, will still come even with the economy disabled. He's got a count (and consort), hammerer, tax collector, dungeon master, and philosopher (at least those are the ones I know of). [[User:G-Flex|G-Flex]] 04:25, 16 June 2008 (EDT)

== Effects of turning it off, once it's on? ==

Changing ECONOMY to NO in the init.txt file after the economy has kicked in doesn't seem to keep dwarves from spending already-earned credit at shops. (I haven't seen them paying for drink, so it may be that food and drink are now free; I'm not sure, though, because I haven't yet watched them pay for drinks while the economy is turned on, so I don't know when that happens.) --[[User:Sev|Sev]] 17:00, 28 August 2008 (EDT)

== Effect of turning it on, once it's off? ==

If you turn the economy off and get the tax collector, baron, etc... what happens when you turn it back on? Does the economy start back up, or do you only get one shot at it? I don't think I want the economy but if I miss the opportunity to ever turn it on, then it becomes a tough choice. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 02:22, 27 November 2008 (EST)

== Tips for living with economy? ==

I just read a suggestion on the forum, and was going to add it to a list of economy-survival tips, but there doesn't seem to be one. [http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=29016.msg373478#msg373478 here's the forum post]. Shouldn't there be such a page? [[User:Solarshado|Solarshado]] 21:57, 25 December 2008 (EST)
:There's a couple tricks for this. The casino mentioned there, triangle stockpiles (3 stone stockpiles that are all taking from eachother, making constant hauling work), etc. However, everything like this is classifiable as an exploit since if you put it in the context of an actual economy it would cause gigantic economic inflation and currency devaluation almost overnight. Really that's all you're doing with techniques like this; you're devaluing what a single ☼ means until it's basically nothing, and taking advantage of the fact that the DF engine doesn't currently have a way to adjust for inflation.

:Really, living with economy in a legit, as-intended manner is just making sure there are enough meaningful jobs to do. Growing [[dimple cup]]s and starting a dyeing attachment to a fully blown clothing industry can employ dozens of dwarves around the clock using only the caravans as resources (for importing cloth and the appropriate volume). Skilled work like sewing clothes, dying cloth, sewing leather/cloth images, etc all give 20☼ or more for a single job. A dwarf can afford a very nice apartment and very nice food, with enough money left over to go shopping, if they have a skilled-labor job to do.

:Alternatively, you can just provide a way to become legendary easily. Screw pumps connected to nothing will make Pump Operators legendary pretty quickly, especially if other duties are minimized.

:Anyway, it might be worth adding this as a few notes, but I'm not sure there's enough to say to make a full section about it. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 23:03, 25 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Noise

2008-12-20T07:13:34Z

ThunderClaw: /* Accurate for the latest version? */

== Other sources of noise ==
Any information on whether fighting causes noise? [[User:Zardus|Zardus]] 02:22, 16 April 2008 (EDT)

Does anyone know if dwarves just walking about causes noise? [[User:Yvain|Yvain]] 06:31, 5 March 2008 (EST)

:I can't say for certain now, but I am certain that they did not in the old version. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 22:50, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

Do machines make noise? --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 07:06, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

How about things like doors opening and floodgates being activated? Kinda falls under "machines" but eh. --[[User:Kefkakrazy|Kefkakrazy]] 00:01, 23 September 2008 (EDT)

Does Smoothing Stone or Engraving Stone cause noise? --[[User:Nekojin|Nekojin]]

== Diagonal Z-Noise ==
How does the Z-direction work with noise in terms of diagonals? If my bedrooms are two layers down, can they be closer than they would be if they were one layer down? Or is noise effectively a cylinder where the nearby squares aren't feasible even when down 3 layers?

I'm not sure how old this comment is, but this is actually brings up a good question. Has anyone actually verified that noise still radiates in a diamond pattern? Rooms used to "radiate" in diamond patterns, but they now expand like a square. Could noise have been modified similarly? If noise does move diagonally, a workshop would produce a noise cube with dimensions 9x9x9. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 23:29, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

On second thought it would probably look like a pyramid with square cross-sections and a base that was 9x9, which seems to be what the article suggests. I'll have to try and find some room to verify this behavior in my current fortress. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 23:37, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

:I tested this by stopping all mining, catapults, training, etc, and every workshop except one. I placed beds in places I wanted to check for noise. Here's a list of my results in (X, Y, Z) co-ordinate pairs. Assume the workshop's center tile is the origin (0, 0, 0). Positive X is east, negative Y is south, and negative Z is down.

:* (+5, 0, 0) = No
:* (+4, -4, 0) = Yes
:* (+5, -4, 0) = No
:* (0, 0, -4) = Yes
:* (+1, 0, -4) = Yes
:* (+4, -4, -4) = Yes
:* (+5, -4, -4) = No

:Dwarves get a thought about where they're sleeping when they crash (slept without a proper room, in a good bedroom, etc), but they don't get a thought for noise until they wake up. I assume this is because there are three tiers to the noise thought: uneasily, very uneasily, and was woken up by. I'd hazard a guess as jobs happen, applicable nearby sleeping dwarves will "accumulate" noise until they wake up. If they pass a certain threshold, they wake up prematurely and get the most severe negative thought. Otherwise, they get "uneasily" or "very uneasily" when the wake normally, based on how much noise they accumulated. Perhaps noise has both a loudness (how much it increases the dwarf's counter) and a range, or maybe longer range noises increase the counter more, or maybe all noise is the same loudness and it's just a matter of the number of noise events a dwarf hears while sleeping. It seems reasonable to me, but I've no way to test it. Not sure if any of this additional information belongs in the main article or not. --[[User:Marble Dice|Marble Dice]] 22:26, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

::My guess is that noise doesn't accumulate. I suspect that the reason the thought appears when they wake up is in case they hear a noise that's louder than the one they already heard. Otherwise you could insulate your dwarves from loud noises by making small noises. (not that this would be practical) [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 23:38, 19 December 2008 (EST)

== distances ==

gee, no wonder my dwarves are all upset by noise - 16 squares from anywhere a chair is being moved in is a long way! Here I was being worried about how close the masons' workshop is, when my problem all along was I keep building doors, beds and things just next door.

I think that is broken personally - building furniture should be treated way differently to building a workshop! Building a workshop I can understand being heard easily for 16 squares, but destroying/building a chair, table or bed should be pretty much cut out at 4 squares.[[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 05:55, 13 February 2008 (EST)

== Accurate for the latest version? ==

I built a hatch cover right next to a sleeping dwarf and he wasn't woken up. D'ya think some of this might have been changed? [[User:Gairabad|Gairabad]] 23:36, 19 December 2008 (EST)
:Dwarves being outright awoken due to noise is a pretty severe case - just building a hatch cover wouldn't do it. Check the dwarf when he wakes up and see if he got the sleeping uneasily thought. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 02:13, 20 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Sparring

2008-12-19T21:55:30Z

ThunderClaw: /* Miners using Mining skill */

== Miners using Mining skill ==

I've noticed my miners tend to get legendary in Miner rather than Wrestler while sparring. So not only do they use their picks and Mining skill in combat, they gain XP in that as well. Can anyone confirm? [[User:Anydwarf|Anydwarf]] 13:45, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

:I read the Dwarf Fortress forums a while ago, and picks indeed use the mining skill for combat. Seems like picks are counted as spears with 40% damage reduction ( or atleast I think it was damage ) but have an insane critical rate. So a legendary miner will be able to hold of a horde of goblins all by himself, provided you can get a civilian to attack and dodge, since civilians are not inclined to attack enemies and do not use armor... --[[User:Karpatius|Karp]] 04:34, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

::Draft 'im, I guess. I've occasionally had the fortune of having a legendary miner happen to be in the area when a goblin ambush was sprung, and they've generally done quite well for "recruits" - goblins go flying everywhere. [[User:Bryan Derksen|Bryan Derksen]] 16:32, 15 June 2008 (EDT)

While we're on the subject, do miners hit Hero status if drafted to fight with their pick? --[[User:GreyMario|GreyMaria]] 15:20, 19 December 2008 (EST)
:I can confirm to you that they do not. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 16:55, 19 December 2008 (EST)

==Speed of training in combat and in sparring==

One thing I've noticed is that my crossbow dwarves seem to gain experience quicker in combat than in target practice at the archery range. Whilst this might be down to availability of ammunition, maybe experience from sparring isn't worth as much as from the real thing, which would make sense. [[User:Extar|Extar]] 11:22, 15 June 2008 (EDT)

:It could also be that in combat, the marksdwarves are getting armor/shield user skill on top of their marksdwarf skill, which target practice doesn't do anything for --[[User:LegacyCWAL|LegacyCWAL]] 14:34, 15 June 2008 (EDT)

::They get it faster in combat. Perhaps by an order of magnitude. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 08:42, 16 June 2008 (EDT)

:::...yeah, that'd do it. --[[User:LegacyCWAL|LegacyCWAL]] 16:57, 17 June 2008 (EDT)

:::::I've witnessed something similar to this with recruits that are unarmed. What had happened was the recruits went into combat with some ambushers and jumped a few levels in wrestling fairly quickly. While Recruits who didn't fight but only spared took about a season to get the same skill in wrestling. [[User:Mission0|Mission0]] 15:41, 14 August 2008 (EDT)

== Training when and with who ==

Would it be better to train everyone at different times?
People won't get as injured when sparring with someone with around equal attributes...I think.
And to do that you'll need to deactivate or put on duty those with high strength in case thats something that you can do to prevent injury. Or put those who are strong defensively with those who need training. Also, what I thought, since every job might develop some attributes slower than sparring or pumping, is to put them through training when their skills and use are not as needed and when they are needed again, they would be more efficient.
Is that painfully obvious to everyone else?
Something for everyone to figure out for themselves?
...yeah.--[[User:Seaneat|Seaneat]] 08:25, 1 July 2008 (EDT)

== Danger ==

I once had a dorf who arrived in a migrnat wave and was and Axedwarf. As soon as he started sparring he cut of some guys head. Is there a way to change this? [[User:Hoborobo|Hoborobo]] 10:52, 1 July 2008 (EDT)

:Undraft him. Give him a worse weapon. Give the other guys armour. Don't put him on sparring. --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 02:36, 2 July 2008 (EDT)

::Heh, same question but my dorf is a swordsdwarf... the only one in the place with a steel sword and steel armour... my poor conscripts don't stand a chance with their leather armour and wooden shields apparently. Oh well at least he didn't kill my overly fertile recruit mayor (it seems she must be popular, maybe that explains all the babies she keeps having)...
::My thought had been to use my first real millitary dwarf as the squad leader but what kind of NCO goes around killing the troops during training![[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 09:18, 3 July 2008 (EDT)

:::Haven't dealt with a PO'd SGM have ya? :P --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 18:19, 3 July 2008 (EDT)

:::Dwarven soldiers never intentionally kill one another during training. However, imagine if during the modern world, karate teachers taught their students sword technique by using steel weapons. You'd have a lot of dead students there, too. In this sense DF is quite realistic; the problem is that the game doesn't yet allow dwarves to use non-lethal practice weapons instead, short of making players jump through hoops. --[[User:JT|JT]] 20:57, 31 July 2008 (EDT)

:I always put my trainees into a separate squad from anyone that hasn't undergone my training and equipping regime. Typically eliminates accidents like these, and helps keep my troops uniform, both in skill and equipment. Infact, they tend to stay in my trainee squad until they hit Elite level. Those that come pre-trained/equipped are usually placed into a 2nd squad and used as active guards. My civilian populace is placed into a 3rd squad lead by my favored dwarf.
:Squad 1 is almost always drafted and off duty, Squad Two is always on duty and either chasing down cretins or standing guard at my entrance for thieves and the like. Third Squad rarely is activated except in times of siege as an emergency retreat measure to force them to evacuate to behind the barracks. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 18:19, 3 July 2008 (EDT)

== Metal Bolts + Target Practice ==

"metal bolts will not be wasted on target practice."

I'm not sure if this is true in the latest version - I think target practice uses the least valuable of all bolts available. In my current fortress I witnessed marksdwarves using no-adjective iron bolts for target practice when masterpiece bone bolts (most of them with extra adornment) were the other available ones. --[[User:Felix the Cat|Felix the Cat]] 23:17, 6 July 2008 (EDT)

== Sparring Injuries From Furniture ==

I noticed that my soldiers were receiving a lot of brain and spinal injuries when sparring in a bedroom barracks. They were all wrestling, and using full bronze plate and bronze shields. The room layout looked like this:

####+####
#.......#
#.B.B.B.#
#.......#
+.B.B.B.+
#.......#
#.B.B.B.#
#.......#
####+####

Once I moved them to an empty barracks defined from a weapon rack, there were no more brain/spine injuries until they became legendary wrestlers/shield users and I switched them to weapon training. A single dwarf received a spinal injury afterwards, but not before achieving "great macedwarf" status. The others (9 of them) trained up to legendary weapon user status without incident.

Can anyone else verify that the presence of furniture in barracks increases the rate of sparring injuries? If so, this should be added to the artcle. --[[User:Chris Acheson|Chris Acheson]] 12:37, 10 September 2008 (EDT)

:I haven't witnessed this. My barracks is littered with beds, and only one of my dwarves got a brain injury (light gray) while training up to champion (first marksdwarf, then wrestling, then weapons). I didn't even have them in especially good armor at first. Perhaps you just got unlucky.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 22:16, 12 October 2008 (EDT)

== Fortress guard ==

I know that the Fortress and Royal guards spar with great zeal, but will they use archery ranges if assigned crossbows? [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 11:26, 16 September 2008 (EDT)
:Turns out yes, but not consistently. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 12:12, 16 September 2008 (EDT)
::Can anyone provide some additional experiences with guards being assigned crossbows? In fort A, they practiced until they ran out of bolts and then proceeded to spar with the crossbows in melee; in fort B, they practiced like once a month and never sparred in melee. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 08:35, 13 October 2008 (EDT)

== Speed of Training while Sparring ==

I have noticed something abnormal between dwarves that train.

I Drafted 8 or so dwarves at roughly the same time. I have them all off duty and in their own individual squads right now since all of them being in a squad didn't seem to make a difference.

What I'm noticing is that some Dwarves shoot up in wrestling skill tremendously fast, almost unrealistically. While some Dwarves train so slowly that while I have Dwarves at Champion level others are still only proficient wrestlers. [[User:Mission0|Mission0]] 18:07, 16 September 2008 (EDT)

I noticed it as well --[[User:Jackrabbit|Jackrabbit]] 19:37, 17 October 2008 (EDT)

:I had a super-legendary miner go from Dabbling to Great wrestler tussling with just a single zombie Giant Rat. Then again, the fight took what seemed like several in-game days, during which the miner got pretty badly injured before he finally finished the rat off. I had drafted him to ensure that he would fight back properly... and because he hit 'Great', he became a [[Hero]] and would never work again, despite being my best miner... and mayor. And manager. And broker. Heh.

:Where sparring dwarves are concerned, I've found that sometimes while changing armor they fail to drop the items they're taking off, and extra stuff in the hands causes them to be unable to use their weapon or shield. They still spar, but apparently as wrestlers.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:39, 17 October 2008 (EDT)

:Oh, it just occurred to me. If they get even a minor brain, neck, or spine injury, they'll never heal, and never spar again. Are the ones that aren't advancing injured?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 23:19, 17 October 2008 (EDT)

== Happy Thoughts from Killing a Sparring Partner ==

One of my dwarves accidentally killed another in a sparring session, but received a happy thought. His profile says he took joy in slaughter lately, and this is his only kill. The other dwarf didn't die instantly, he suffocated. Is this something isolated? - [[User:Ducky|Ducky]] 15:02, 30 November 2008 (EST)

40d:Carp

2008-12-18T22:40:59Z

ThunderClaw: made it more clear that something was a joke

{{D for Dwarf}}

{{CreatureInfo|name=The Aquatic Doombringer otherwise known as Carp|symbol=α|color=rgb(0, 128, 128)|bones=3|fat=1|skin=1|skulls=1|chunks=3|meat=3|biome= * [[Temperate]] freshwater river
* Temperate freshwater lake
* [[Tropical]] freshwater [[river]]
* Tropical freshwater lake}}

'' "I think I made fish too hardcore" ''--[[Toady One]]

These little monsters are challenging [[elephant]]s for the post of King of Beasts, not only because they can drag a fully grown [[dwarf]] into the [[water]] and nibble him to death, but also because they can stare at your [[fisherdwarf]] and send them staggering back into a [[cliff]]. To make things worse, [[Ambusher|hunters]] will unload their whole [[quiver]]s on them, oblivious to nearby [[animal]]s walking on land. Carp will however die after the first winter if you are lucky enough to have a map which freezes. Alternatively, try draining all the [[river]]s and lakes to air-drown the fish (but be wary not to water-drown your [[dwarves]] in the process). "Carp" is often joked to be an acronym for "Creatures of Awfully Ravenous Power".

== Explanation ==
The carp's status as a cold-blooded dwarf killer is no doubt due to the fact that [[Toady One]] simply used a default bite attack for the carp (as with most of the new beings in v0.27.169.33a). The carp, half the size of a dwarf, has a bite attack which inflicts 1-6 damage points. Compared to the strength of a dwarven punch (1-2 damage points), it is easy to see that it is simply an oversight and will be fixed some time in the future.

The carp's propensity to attack [[creatures]] outside of its element and its ability to scare away dwarves it could never really reach is better classifiable as a bug. The same could be said about the hunters ability to target and attack them.

Carp also used to gain attributes from skill increases. Previously, innate swimmers gained attributes as they gained swim skill. This has been changed, and innate swimmers no longer gain swimming skill (or stat increases).

Additionally, dwarves who get attacked by carp tend to end up in the river, either from being pulled in, "dodging" into it, or trying to bull-rush the carp.

== Advice ==

If you are new to DF, then there is only one thing to do if you come across a river full of carp and you don't want your dwarves to die... Run. Run and never look back.

Or if you are too tired to run after your looong journey you can use designations(d) then set traffic areas(o) to simply forbid your Dwarves going near the carp. This works best on lakes and ponds with the nasty buggers in them.

{{Game_Data|[CREATURE:FISH_CARP]
[NAME:carp:carp:carp]
[TILE:224][COLOR:3:0:0]
[LARGE_ROAMING]
[AQUATIC][UNDERSWIM][IMMOBILE_LAND]
[MODVALUE:3]
[GENPOWER:3]
[PREFSTRING:protruding mouths]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[POPULATION_NUMBER:15:30]
[CLUSTER_NUMBER:5:10]
[BENIGN][MEANDERER][NATURAL]
[PETVALUE:50]
[BODY:BASIC_2PARTBODY:BASIC_HEAD:SIDE_FINS:DORSAL_FIN:TAIL:2EYES:HEART:GUTS:ORGANS:NECK:SPINE:BRAIN:MOUTH]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:MOUTH:bite:bites:1:6:GORE][ATTACKFLAG_CANLATCH]
[ATTACK:SECOND:BYTOKEN:TAIL:slap:slaps:1:2:BLUDGEON][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[SIZE:3]
[MAXAGE:20:30]
[NO_DRINK]
[CHILD:1][CHILDNAME:carp fry:carp fry]
[FAT:1]
[BIOME:RIVER_TEMPERATE_FRESHWATER]
[BIOME:RIVER_TROPICAL_FRESHWATER]
[BIOME:LAKE_TEMPERATE_FRESHWATER]
[BIOME:LAKE_TROPICAL_FRESHWATER]
[STANDARD_FLESH]
[HOMEOTHERM:10067]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:500]
}}
{{Creatures}}
[[Category:Animals]]

[[ru:Карп]]

40d:Tim's castle building tutorial

2008-12-18T22:29:11Z

ThunderClaw: removed a reference to Sun Tzu (seriously why)

This is an intermediate to advanced tutorial on the building of castles, that is to say the front entrance. It is assumed that you are familiar with the game, it's interface, and how to do things such as properly build walls, designate stockpiles, dig channels etc. You should also be at least vaguely familiar with dwarven behaviour.

== The art of castle building ==

A great dwarven general said: "The art of castle building is of vital importance to your dwarves. It is a matter of life and death. Hence it is a subject of enquiry which can on no account be neglected."

When building your fortifications, you must consider not only the behaviours of goblin invaders, but also the behaviours of your own dwarves in order to keep them safe from their own simple minds. You must also consider means of keeping any and all invaders out, no matter their number or type (mandrill, goblin, troll, or bronze colossus).

=== On your entrance ===

In order to keep your dwarves moving smoothly in and out of your fortress, you should have a wide entrance. However, in order to keep your dwarves safe from harmful visitors, your wide entrance must be able to be quickly removed.

Also, in order to ensure that any invaders will ultimately leave (allowing dwarves to safely go outside again), once your main entrance has been removed, there should be an alternative entrance ready for goblins and the like.

Such is the art of entrance design.

===On your walls===

Fighting from elevated terrain is advantageous, particularly for Marksdwarves. While fortifications can block shots that are fired from a distance, a good marksman can still fire through fortifications that are on the same level, or even one level above. Hence Marksdwarves should patrol an area well above the surrounding terrain.

To this effect, all areas of the outside of your fortress should be higher than their immediate surroundings so that no enemy can gain a height advantage over your dwarves

Such is the art of wall design

===On your civilian population===

Dwarves are not too bright. They will happlessly wander about and only react to danger at the last moment, often when it is too late. To ensure that all dwarves are kept safe, only soldiers should be allowed outside in the event of a siege. As dwarves will also go outside before they realise that where they are going is forbidden, all main entrances should be some distance outside to give them a chance to realise their folly before they run into any serious danger.

Such is the art of keeping civilians safe

== Practical examples ==

The above principles are the basis of the following examples. Please note that these are only examples. So long as you address all the issues, you can make your entrance in any number of different ways.

===Ground Level===

[[image:GroundLevel.png|Ground level of the entrance]]

The above image shows the groud floor of the fortress's entrance.

====Main Entrance====

To the top right of the picture is the main bridge entrance. Important things to note include:

* The bridge is three tiles wide. This is the minimum width for a main bottleneck.
* The bridge retracts via a lever that is inside. This enables dwarves to operate the lever even if they are not allowed to go outside. A raised bridge also provides a wall to protect anyone on the inside from hostile ranged weapons.
* The chained dogs detect thieves and ambushers that may have made it past any detectors or traps outside
* The stockpile of stone is for building the road outside. Stockpiles are useful during the building process if kept at the base of the stairway going up.

The reason that the entrance is outside, rather than the more comfortable subterranian, is so that any civilian dwarves thinking that it would be a good idea to clean a trap, or store an item in a stockpile, get a chance to realise that what they are trying to do is in a forbidden area (ie outside with all the goblins!) before actually meeting up with an untimely death.

====Secondary (Goblin) Entrance====

The entrance to the left is specifically designed for invaders. Its features include

* The bridge on the left wall is so that this entrance can be retracted if so desired. My previous design included floor grates (one is still there) connected to a levers. These were destroyed by vandalous trolls, so the bridge, being significantly more sturdy, was used to replace them.
* There is a long winding corridor, external to the rest of the castle, which is full of traps. Weapon traps are most effective at removing goblins and trolls, but will ultimately jam under heavy use. Cage traps are essentially an instant kill for any unwelcome guest. Only one cage is used so that it can capture a large/powerful invader (one fortress of mine had a caged bronze colossus from this method), with the rest being weapon traps to kill numerous weak invaders such as goblins.
* The cage trap also means that goblin squad leaders (other than the first one) will make it some distance inside before they die and leave their squad running in disarray. Hopefully the marksdwarves on the battlements (see later in this article) will have had plenty of time to dish out the pain before that squad gets a chance to get out of range again.
* The ramp going to the top of the wall allows the removal of goblin chunks, which are occasionally flung up by the weapon traps.
* On the inner side of the secondary entrance is a long windy path for invaders that might make it past the traps. This path maximises the time invaders spend walking into the fortress while under fire from the patrolling marksdwarves above.
* The end of the winding path is blocked by a wall. This protects waiting melee dwarves from any ranged attackers that may have made it past the traps.

You can make the trapped area as long as you like, but having it turn back on itself is the most space efficient way to extend it.

====Moat====

The moat around the castle keeps invaders out away from the base of the walls. If you ever get the chance to check out your fortress in adventure mode, you will notice the vision arcs that extend out around objects such as walls and trees. These vision cones also extend from one z-level to another. This means that a dwarf behind a fortification on the top of a wall will not be able to see anything at the base of the wall they are on. Their vision is blocked as far out as the wall is high, so a wall three levels high can't see anything in the first three tiles from the castle walls at ground level.

====The Stairway up====

At the bottom of the picture, on the left and the right, you will see two upward staircases. The most important thing to note is that these are on the ''inside''. When construction is underway, it is often easier to leave these sections open so that the stone of choice (I like my walls made in a uniform colour) can be stockpiled at the bottom, but if this is not quickly sealed off again, it can leave your marksdwarves vulnerable to melee attack if ambushers can get close enough before the bridge is raised.

===Marksdwarves Patrol Route===

[[image:Patrol.png|Marksdwarf patrol route]]

Three z-levels above the previous image is the patrol route for marksdwarves. This elevated position gives them a massive advantage over incoming enemies, and full sight of the surrounding area. The dwarves patrol in a circular motion, kind of like a radar sweep, so that they should see anything that is coming in, no matter where they come from.

Interesting points to note include:

* There are ammo bins full of metal bolts available near by to minimise dwarves going outside the fortress to pick up ammo
* The fortifications are not broken up by walls, even though the level above has a floor (to stop patrolling dwarves being nauseated by the sun). The reason for this is that the cone of blocked vision is quite significant (this is particularly noticable in adventure mode), and hampers target acquisition too much over the full distance of engagement.
* The ground on the left in this case is accessible only from within the fortress. This is the only time that terrain outside the fortiications should be at the same level or higher than the dwarves.
* No, the new-born baby is not drafted into the military and on patrol. That would just be poor HR management - the new mother is patrolling while breastfeeding...

===Effective Range===

[[image:EffectiveRange.png|Fffective range of the patrolling marksdwarves]]

This image is one level above the ground level, and shows the effective range of dwarves patrolling at the top of the castle. The piles of goblin clothing shows how far some goblins make it before being shot down. Keep in mind that the actual range of engagement is a little further than this, as most goblins can take a few extra steps after being hit before being taken down. Of course, the better the marksdwarf, the more likely they are to make a kill shot at full range.

You should also notice that the entrance to the fortress is kept fairly clear of trees. This is so that incoming hostiles don't get to hide behind any cover.

This image also shows the method of building multi-level wall building. Each level of wall above the ground has a floor built beside it, and this floor is used to build the wall on that level, which provides a floor on the level above, to build a floor beside and so on. If you want something to do with your excess stone, you can build a 4x4 (or 10x10 if you really like) tower as high as you like this way.

[[Category:Guides]]

40d Talk:Currency

2008-12-18T15:29:55Z

ThunderClaw: /* Why no coins */

== Copper makes silver coins? ==

When I mint copper coins and then check the currency display, I find they are counted as silver. --[[User:Geekwad|Geekwad]] 17:13, 19 November 2007 (EST)

:It's a bug, and has been reported on the forum [http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=002030]. All coins are counted as silver by the currency display. You can see the actual coins you have on the stocks screen. --[[User:Turgid Bolk|Turgid Bolk]] 17:17, 19 November 2007 (EST)

::This has been fixed in the current version (38c). [[User:Yvain|Yvain]] 06:15, 31 March 2008 (EDT)

== Monies? ==

Who coined this term, anyway? It bugs me every time I see it. I personally use "currency" (as a mass noun), if you're wondering. --[[User:JT|JT]] 03:00, 15 April 2008 (EDT)

:I have no idea where it came from, but this isn't the first time I've seen it used; might be Engrish.--[[User:Eurytus|Eurytus]] 13:30, 20 April 2008 (EDT)

::Monies is the correct English plural of money.--[[User:Niaba|Niaba]] 07:09, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

::: And 'correct english plural' is actually kind of confusing, since its a mass noun. If you have a lot of one type of money its all just money. But if you have multiple types (gold, silver, copper) then it is both money (its all currency) and monies (multiple types of coins) depending on whether you're desiring to refer to them as one type of thing or care about there being multiple types of things. Similarly, 'fish' and 'sheep' are also words whose normal plural is the same as the singular (many fish or many sheep), but if you have multiple species (types) you could use either 'fish' or 'fishes' depending on whether you were interested in in the subdivisions in the group. Both of 'There are many fish in the sea' and 'These are the fishes of the amazon' are correct and necessarily include multiple species. Note, fishes as a plural simply signifies number of species, there is no number of actual physical fish implied by that sentence. Similarly, monies merely signifies number of coin types with no reference to a number of coins. Ie, these plurals are conceptual plurals - they are only grammatically appropriate when talking about the conceptual organization of 'money' or 'fish'. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 13:15, 28 April 2008 (EDT) (I hope that isn't too complicated.)

::::I can't see the need for 'monies' when DF has a single, universal currency. You wouldn't refer pounds and pence as different 'monies' even if it may be strictly correct. [[User:Extar|Extar]] 19:05, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

:::::Not ''quite'' true – a dwarven economy uses coins of different values, although such is unnecessary and can be worked around.
:::::At least, I'm pretty sure they did in 2D. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 22:52, 4 June 2008 (EDT)

Monies is a joke term used for comedic effect. Such as "I NEEDED THE MONIES!!". --[[User:AlexFili|AlexFili]] 04:29, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

:Possibly it is used for comedic effect. However, it is actually the plural of "money."

::That in itself, is a joke. There is no plural of money. Just like there is no plural of Sheep or Deer. --[[User:AlexFili|AlexFili]] 09:26, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

:::Reading is fundamental. --[[User:Mattmoss|Mattmoss]] 21:18, 8 August 2008 (EDT)

:::Dictionary time! [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=73&q=monies Monies] [http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=deers&search=search Deers]
:::Yep, they be words. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 15:31, 29 November 2008 (EST)

For what it's worth, I'm fairly certain this was popularized by the [http://durbutter.com/|bio force ape hoax]. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 10:25, 18 December 2008 (EST)

== Monetary value NOT affecting their value to you as the fortress deity? ==

What does this mean?--[[User:Richards|Richards]] 02:21, 21 April 2008 (EDT)

:Coins have both an [[item value]] and a (higher) money value - the question is which of the 2 is added to your created [[wealth]] totals. (deity refers to the player but i guess thats obvious)--[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 08:12, 28 April 2008 (EDT)

::I will change this. This nickname for the player is confusing since the dwarves already have their own deities. In fact, I'll comment it out. It is a bit redundant since the page already says the monetary and item values are independent. --[[User:RustyMcloon|Rusty Mcloon]] 05:54, 29 May 2008 (EDT)--

:::Speaking of Deities, is it possible that a dwarf does not believe in any god at all? (ie. an atheist?). --[[User:AlexFili|AlexFili]] 04:30, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

::::Not sure about dwarves. It is possible for powers. The correct term, according to Toady, is "godless." --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 09:03, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

== Vault ==

One of the ideas presented was to mint coins but keep the dwarves from getting them. I've tried ordering the coins dumped, but they seem to be claimed immediately and the Dwarves walk off with them instead of taking them to the vault. Is there some easy way to get my coins into the vault and out of dwarven hands? [[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 01:30, 21 May 2008 (EDT)

:If I recall correctly you pretty much have to do it before the economy starts up to achieve that. However apparently not building coins at all works too. Personally, and much to my shame/annoyance I've never actually got that far into a game, I keep meaning to but then get bored when everything is just working after a year or so. --[[User:Shades|Shades]] 05:26, 21 May 2008 (EDT)

== Other coins ==

I'm not quite to the point of economy and tax collection yet. I have noticed that more than gold, silver, and copper can be minted. In particular, iron, steel, and platinum have sprung out at me (probably because of the number of RPG systems I've played who use one of those. Ah, and then there's electrum... halfway between silver and gold. :) But that's ''really'' telling my age.) So, does anyone know if these coins have any worth in this economy thingy? -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 15:41, 1 September 2008 (EDT) 
Just to follow up, the game does indeed ignore all other coins. I currently have Iron Pieces and Electrum Pieces, but I think the only thing I can do with them is either melt them down or trade them away. Bummer. -[[User:Fuzzy|Fuzzy]] 11:53, 8 September 2008 (EDT)

:I made a bunch of nickel coins before the economy started, since I have loads of the stuff, and it seemed to make sense. They don't show up in the economy screen, but I see them in dwarven rooms all the time. --[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 20:08, 17 December 2008 (EST)

::The following tokens [[string dump|appear in the exe]], and therefore likely have some sort of hard-coded behavior: COPPER SILVER ELECTRUM GOLD PLATINUM DIAMOND EMERALD RUBY SAPPHIRE DRAGON ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_2H ITEM_ARMOR_PLATEMAIL ITEM_ARMOR_CLOAK CAVE WHEAT. [[User:Random832|Random832]] 20:29, 17 December 2008 (EST)

::there us a section in the entity raw:
[CURRENCY_BY_YEAR]
[CURRENCY:COPPER:1]
[CURRENCY:SILVER:5]
[CURRENCY:GOLD:15]
maybe only the currency listed there will be counted as such
--[[User:Rhenaya|Rhenaya]] 21:36, 17 December 2008 (EST)

:::In the process of testing this, but I added another [CURRENCY] tag with a different metal to my civ, and am now attempting to induce the economy so that I can see if it gets listed as legal tender. I'm fairly sure it'll work, though.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 22:27, 17 December 2008 (EST)

==Why no coins==
The wiki is full of ominous rumblings about why you shouldn't make coins ever, and it will destroy your economy, and the dwarven gods will weep, and so on, but no one ever explains it. Could someone please either explain it, or link to somewhere where it has been explained. I would like to have more coins in my economy, but I want to know the effects before I doom my fortress to a hundred and seventy dwarves sitting in their rooms polishing their gold.--[[User:Pyrite|Pyrite]] 20:11, 17 December 2008 (EST)

:I the problem you've heard about is about how you have a very hard time dealing with the hundreds of coin-stacks that tend to get spread throughout the fortress over time, and the only solution to it is to make a room for every dwarf and include '''MANY''' chests, in order to contain them. Then, you run into the problem of all the chests now costing the dwarf more in rent than they make, so you end up with all your non-legendary dwarves being evicted. The only alternatives to this cycle of doom are not minting/allowing access to coins ever, or having hundreds of coin-stacks scattered around, and more often than not, preventing you from building something where you want. I don't know if it's documented, but it's something I've personally dealt with, to include once making tens of thousands of coins and then locking them in a coin stockpile behind forbidden doors. That didn't go over too well, for the same reasons locking anything behind doors never goes well. (Things still try to pathfind to them.) --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 22:00, 17 December 2008 (EST)

:The problem is that dwarves currently handle their hard assets so poorly that they spend an obscene amount of time stacking coins (it's a lot worse than the random "check chest" job that shows up on unowned chests), and they have a bad habit of leaving them lying around. Since they're owned, coins that are just lying around cannot be moved by another dwarf who wants to build something.

:Besides, the economy works 100% flawlessly on credit. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 10:29, 18 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Currency

2008-12-18T15:25:35Z

ThunderClaw: /* Monies? */

40d:Fire man

2008-12-18T15:15:48Z

ThunderClaw:

{{CreatureInfo|name=Fire man|biome=Subterranean [[lava]]|symbol=M|color={{COLOR:4:0:1}}|butcher=no|bones=N/A|fat=1|skin=Yes|skulls=N/A|chunks=3|meat=3|wiki=no}}

'''Fire men''' seem to come out of the same places that [[fire imp|imps]] do, but they are a little bolder and can go out past the [[lava]] vent. They leave behind bars of [[ash]] when killed. Fire Men will melt snow off [[tree]]s, [[shrub]]s, and ground in the 8 squares around them.

To stop fire men from attacking your [[dwarf|dwarves]], build a [[moat]] around the lava vent.
If you can, fill it with [[water]] from a [[river]] or a [[brook]]. Designating the moat as a [[pond]] should also work.

After you have made a moat, the firemen should stop attacking directly, but they will still be able to breathe fireballs at your dwarves. You could also try building a [[wall]] to go with this moat.

Fire men can be captured in [[cage trap]]s, just like [[fire imp]]s. Don't worry, they won't destroy your masterwork ashen [[cage]]s.

To stop them from attacking your smiths is a little harder.

* First dig a [[channel]] but do not let it fill with lava yet

* Then put vertical [[bar]]s (or [[fortifications]], in case of [[bauxite]]) of [[Magma-safe_materials|Magma-safe material]] as close to the entrance of the lava as you can (in the channel)

* Dig out the rest of the lava channel

* Then add [[wall]]s to box in any lava squares that are before the [[steel]] bars (this stops the firemen from getting out before the bars and destroying them).

== Fighting them ==

Put short, don't. They don't feel pain and thus cannot be stunned. They don't bleed, feel fear, nausea or fatigue, so they can keep on fighting for a very long time after your military is crumbled. Also [[ammo|projectiles]] and [[weapon]]s don't get stuck in them, so for example [[spear]]s are quite useless against them. On top of this they like fighting and are reckless and their punches cause burn damage. Their only poor statistic is that their limb sever when broken, which means that they are susceptible towards more damage dealing weapons.

Easiest way to kill them is from far away (ie. [[crossbow]], [[bow]]s, [[ballista]] and [[catapult]]). The only problem is that they can hurl fireballs back, so either you need experienced [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] and siege-weapon crews or eventually you end up having charred dwarves.

The other method is fighting them with traps. Submerging them in water is good way to start. Just dig out a drowning [[room]], channel water behind [[floodgate]] or [[door]], put a [[lever]] somewhere or [[pressure plate]] in the room, hook it to the thing blocking water and wait for them to step into their dooms. This of course needs a tunnel or something to lead fire men in, preferably outside of your fortress, but with an access (or sacrificial animal) to you fort, so that they want to come in.

{{Game_Data|[CREATURE:ELEMENTMAN_FIRE]
[NAME:fire man:fire men:fire man]
[TILE:'M'][COLOR:4:0:1]
[LARGE_ROAMING][BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_LAVA][FREQUENCY:1][DIFFICULTY:2]
[MODVALUE:5]
[FIREBREATH][FIREIMMUNE][LIKES_FIGHTING][MAGMA_VISION]
[GENPOWER:5]
[CANOPENDOORS]
[NOT_BUTCHERABLE]
[NOPAIN][EXTRAVISION][NOBREATHE][NOBLEED][NOSTUN][NONAUSEA][NOEMOTION][RECKLESS]
[NOSTUCKINS][SEVERONBREAKS][NOSKULL][NOSKIN][NOBONES][NOMEAT][NOTHOUGHT][NOEXERT]
[BUILDINGDESTROYER:2]
[NOFEAR][NOEXERT]
[PREFSTRING:licks of fire]
[ITEMCORPSE:BAR:NO_SUBTYPE:ASH:NO_MATGLOSS]
[NOSMELLYROT]
[BODY:HUMANOID_SIMPLE]
[SIZE:7]
[ATTACK:MAIN:BYTYPE:GRASP:punch:punches:1:6:BURN][ATTACKFLAG_WITH]
[NO_DRINK][NO_EAT][NO_SLEEP]
[ALL_ACTIVE]
[NO_GENDER]
[FIXED_TEMP:10800]
[SWIMS_INNATE][SWIM_SPEED:2500]
[POPULATION_NUMBER:15:30]
[LARGE_PREDATOR]
}}
{{Creatures}}
[[Category:Humanoids]]

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2008-12-15T14:49:02Z

ThunderClaw:

== Correctness ==
There is no "correct" way to start fortress mode except from not picking Adventure Mode or Legends or Create New World on the main menu screen. It's entirely proper to embark with no skills and absolutely no supplies and watch your seven dwarves go crazy and die in the terrifying glacier. --[[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 12:03, 18 November 2008 (EST)
:If you'd like to change the name, leave a request with the sysop or something. This conversation has been done 10 times over already and it never ends in anything useful. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 18 November 2008 (EST)
::I dunno, he might be on to something there. This could be a guide on how to start the game, step by step, without pressing the wrong buttons or accidentally defenestrating either your computer or yourself! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 13:22, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Farm Size ==
''Farm size: 10x10 of plump helmets without fertilizing will feed 500 dwarves. A 5x5 field WITH fertilizing will feed about 500 dwarves. Do the math. (Rough estimates. Untested.) -Yanlin ''

Is this with or without boozecooking? [[User:Random832|Random832]] 23:12, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

== Reformatting this page ==

This page breaks from the style used on the rest of the wiki -- it's a dump of opinions and suggestions instead of a collaborative, well-organized article. The problem with this is evident in how people are just arguing with each other on the page (that's what ''talk pages'' are for) instead of putting their heads together to offer readers streamlined, practical advice.

Can we do some discussion here of what its general advice and structure should be, then rewrite it?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:38, 29 October 2008 (EDT)
:Having a bunch of different viewpoints in the page is fine to me as long as it doesn't look like a big argument :P --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 01:48, 30 October 2008 (EDT) 
:I was thinking about this too, but the unfortunate hurdle is that there's no good way to put in a 'generally agreed upon' sort of structure, and there's a lot of strong feelings that run both ways with many things. Perhaps the better way to do this would merely be to take the names out of it. Just put a heading and a couple of equally-bulleted points with the various views, possibly with the dates these views were last updated. A large part of my issue is that most of the advice on the page is clearly from many moons ago (the cats comments being the most noticable). The anvil discussion, for example, could then just be broken down into three bullets, one which suggests crafts, a second which suggests mechanisms, and a third which suggests meals.

:A reformat does need to happen, though. This wiki is really shortwinded on useful, coherant gameplay advice (MANY of the Beginners FAQ pages need total rewrites that I'll probably get to sooner rather than later) and I'd really like to see that change. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 02:09, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::Removing the signatures is definitely the starting point -- it will allow us to treat what's on the page as "our words" instead of "my words".

::I don't think "general agreement" is out of reach -- for any subject, there will be obviously bad advice, obviously good advice, and stuff that will largely depend on how you like to play the game. Our current dispute over trade goods is like that: crafts, mechanisms, meals, and clothes can ''all'' be effective trade goods; we can list their respective advantages and disadvantages and leave it for the player to decide what approach he or she wants to take. We just need to avoid the "One True Approach" mentality, except where everyone agrees that a given idea is Very Good or Very Bad.

::While we're at it, the page title needs to be changed -- though we can do that after it becomes clear what direction the rewrite is taking it in.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:38, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::I'll give the page a once-over tomorrow and give my initial thoughts on what should be changed then.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:42, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:::It shouldn't take too long. Click Edit, hit Ctrl-A, and type <nowiki>{{Del}}</nowiki>. Profit. --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 04:40, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Reformat is done. Someone else can deal with the nomenclature. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:14, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:You did an excellent job with the rewrite. I made various changes and expansions, and there's other stuff I want to add over the next several days.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

I really think that a better name for this page would be "General Advice," since that's all it really is, and "Correctly" starting a fortress is mostly a matter of opinion and we're trying to make the page look less opinionated. The page could be very helpful and I think that once it's worked on a bit it could go on the main page. --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 21:00, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Well, "general advice" is a little ''too'' general. At this point, I want to see what kind of changes we make to other related pages, such as [[your first fortress]]. Once we define the role of each better, it should be clear what this page should be named.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

== Lies ==
Don't bring any beasts of burden. You will start with a breeding pair of them for free
That's a lie. You can have different animals at start
:And they're all breeding pairs and they're all beasts of burden (Musk oxen, camels, horses, donkeys, et al). The only way to not have a breeding pair is if you get mules to start out with, which has happened a grand total of 0 times in the 32 fortresses I've made. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::I think the commenter's point was that your two wagon animals will often not be the same species. I've only received two of the same wagon animals 2 times in 30-40 fortresses, and only when it was Muskoxen. Otherwise its two different species and therefore not a breeding pair.

::Further, if you buy single animals I've seen it where the wagon animal and the bought animal of the same species are the same sex - ie, unlike purchased animals, where buying two guarantees you one of each gender, the wagon animals are generated separately and don't check purchased animals gender before determining gender.

::If you want to guarantee a breeding pair, you have to buy 2 animals of the same type. Other methods have no guarantees.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)

Turning off restrictions on economic stone will allow you to make a metal ANYTHING from that ore stone
Lies again. It's not '''metal''', it's made of ore. Not Iron statue, but Limonite statue, etc. (You still gain in wealth though)
:This works for '(material) nuggets'. Platinum, aluminum, gold, copper, etc. While the nomenclature is definitely wrong for ores, the ended cost of the statue is exactly the same based on quality. I don't know if this is a bug or not. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::His objection was its not metal, its still made of stone. That stone is just 'Platinum Nuggets', which is not a *metal*. --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)

Siege engines the only safe way to deal with the biggest threats you will face, like megabeasts and goblins riding beak dogs as cavalry.
Oh, yeah? ONLY?
:Archers run out of ammo very quickly in pitched battles (they can only carry about 40 arrows in their quiver, and marksdwarves can run through that in no time at all. Trolls, Beak Dogs, and armored goblins will commonly take 5-7 arrows or more to bring down) and many people consider huge amounts of cage traps an exploit. If you've got another way of doing so, feel free to add it. I notice you didn't, nor did you sign your comments here. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)
::How about melee dwarves? Admittedly, I haven't seen beak dogs yet (my goblin civs apparently never have access), but i've seen a single legendary swordsdwarf deal with 10 armored goblins *by himself*. As melee dwarves are faster to train than marksdwarves...

::And megabeasts are a joke - even avoiding cage traps I trivially dealt with a zombie Titan via melee dwarves. Dragons and Hydrae are known pushovers, which makes the only significant megabeast threat a Colossus, and I'd be willing to bet sufficiently many legendary melee dwarves can take one. I mean, my last game featured 20 champion melee dwarves (legendary wrestlers/shield users/armor users/+1 or more weapons) who were all multi-legendary before I produced my first champion marksdwarf. They never even got injured during sieges/megabeasts/etc... And this is using training weapons (silver). Didn't see a Colossus, and by the time they do they'll probably be glad in shining adamantine, so...

::Really, the big problem with siege weapons is they don't have IFF technology, so your dwarven combatants are also at risk while you use them, meaning unlike marksdwarves you can't delay the enemy advance by sending melee dwarves into the fray to buy more firing time.

::As to solving small quiver size - stockpile your bolts right where you plan on firing from. Instant reload. Its not like you're going to attack from anything but a prepared position with them anyway.

::--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:27, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::Two quick notes; beak dogs have a pretty annoying habit of shredding armor. The couple times I've had them get a hold of my champions, oftentimes the armor they are wearing is ruined and unusable. In other words, I don't think they'd have too many problems with melee dwarves in the grand scheme of things.

:::Secondly, archers are currently too dumb to reload bolts while still in combat mode. If they run out of ammo, they will abandon their post to charge the enemy and use the butt of their crossbow. The Hunter displays the same behavior when running out of bolts while hunting. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 09:49, 15 December 2008 (EST)

Ask for pearlash and rock crystal to make crystal glass.
crystal glass requires '''RAW''' rock crystal, that can't be imported
:Can't it? I admit I've only tried this once, but I pulled it in from the dwarven caravan just fine one time. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:In conclusion, lies my ass. If you want to edit it, fine, but this is by and large good advice so you can kindly eat me if you're going to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:Go ahead and edit the page as you like... There does appear to be a consensus that it needs improvement! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 12:25, 21 November 2008 (EST)

::It's an error to say siege engines are the only safe way to deal with threats. Water traps, magma traps, hatch traps, weapon traps, and cage traps can all be arranged to be safer (and more hassle free) defense methods. [[User:VengefulDonut|VengefulDonut]] 11:54, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::That's fine, honestly it is. Feel free to add such a note, or a link to the various trap demonstrations. I'm pretty sure I meant to type 'one of the only' there anyway (it's hazy this long after the writing). I welcome editing and I welcome additions to the article. I don't welcome being called a liar by some idiot who doesn't even sign his posts. It was [[User:Dorten|Dorten]], incidentally. I have no idea who he is and I certainly don't have anything against him but he can eat my ass if he wants to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 12 December 2008 (EST)

==Thoughts on Revising this Page==
Currently this and similar pages seem deadset on giving very specific advice, which is problematic when people don't agree on the nature of that advice. Why don't we do a basic analysis of the different considerations involved in putting together a successful fortress and maximizing your dwarves, and leave specific build advice as a postscript and proof of concept/example instead of the mainthrust of the article?

Ie, make the first paragraph something like this: 
When establishing a new fortress there are certain difficulties that must be overcome. All fortresses will need to feed their dwarves, handle the influx of migrants, build a secure space to live and work, keep their dwarves happy, and generate trade goods for the merchant caravans. Beyond satisfying these basic needs, dwarves will want to be leveled in experience, both in terms of physical abilities and at particular tasks, and may gain free experience from successfully completing strange mood requests. What follows is a guide to building a fortress that not only survives, but thrives.

Follow this up with paragraphs on options for accomplishing the above basic goals, and a paragraph on the relative value of various skills and how easy it is to level them respectively. Only then should we start busting out examples. Advice should also tend to be less absolute than it currently is (I've started plenty of successful fortresses without dogs, for example).

--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 05:05, 22 November 2008 (EST)

:Yeah, I agree with that approach. Your post over at [[talk:starting builds]] got me thinking along those lines. Although it's harder than just saying "do this" ;-) .

:In truth, as long as you have a means to feed your dwarves and a handful of things to keep them happy, any fortress will work. (Sooner or later you usually need some defensive measures as well.) That's that's one of the first things we should point out.

:But for me, and I think a lot of other players, much of the fun is in figuring out how to get your dwarves to do lots of stuff very effectively. We actually give pretty good advice on that -- we just make too many assumptions about what the specific stuff will be. This is not surprising given the page's origin ("How to correctly start fortress mode"? Ugh.), though it was improved dramatically by ThunderClaw and others. But it could be improved further, as could all of our "basic advice" pages.

:Right now I'm thinking through a rewrite of [[starting builds]] in response to your post there a few days ago. You made some assumptions as well, but also you challenged me to think beyond the assumptions I had been making. Bit by bit I think we can pull everything together better.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:12, 22 November 2008 (EST)
 
:The Your First Fortress guide covers the more general aspects of this; the purpose of this page, to my understanding, was to get into a bit more detail. When I rewrote this guide from its previous format, it was nothing but headings with a lot of people making various, very specific comments on very specific things. I tried to keep it like that during the overhaul, but I consolidated and updated a bunch of the advice and lumped it together in hierarchal headings that were a lot more readable.

:I don't pretend for an instant that this guide is perfect, but a general advice sort of thing seems to be contrary to the spirit of the article as I remember it. We had Your First Fortress for that. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:36, 12 December 2008 (EST)
===An All-Inclusive Guide===
"Fortress mode: So, you've got a crew together, united in a sense of adventure, duty, social outrage, simple greed or bloody-mindedness, perhaps even all of the above. You've come down (or up) out of the mountain halls, home trees, dark fortress, death pits, mother hive or backwater village, and regardless of race, species, motivation or temperment, two questions are likely on your mind: What do you need to accomplish your goals, and what's going to allow you to live to enjoy it? Look no further, the answer(s) lie within!

The first step in your journey is the most important: Choosing a destination. With the wide, wide world laid out before you, expansive and great but not overweight and actually quite good-looking, you know, given her age, this task can be so intimidating that many might be driven to simply bury their heads in the sand or whatever else serves as a soil type within the heartlands of their home civilization. While certainly a valid option, and a safe one, a truly brave, ambitious, and/or foolhardy band of explorers should set their sights much higher.

Is there evil to cleanse? A volcano to harness? Savage wilds to tame? Perhaps you really like snowcones, think it'd be cool to be able to fry eggs right on your doorstep, or always wanted to feel the soothing mist of a waterfall as your mortal enemies plummetting to their deaths are washed away into the raging rapids. All these and more are possible--just choose the right fortress site! See [[starting builds]] for some hints when deciding what to take with you. (Sorry--no kitchen sinks allowed.)

Know your limits and remember your priorities. Most people can't live without water, and few want to live without beer. Food is important, but unless your race is carnivorous, so long as you bring or gather a few seeds and have a small patch of soil you can protect, it won't be a problem. Meat-eaters should seek deeper wildnerness areas with better hunting and fishing grounds, and bring plenty of livestock if possible. Temperature and warm areas tend to have the most wildlife.

If there's no soil for farming, wet rocks will do! By pumping water over the ground, digging a channel to briefly divert a river or stream into (make sure to install a [[floodgate]] and a [[|mechanic|lever]] first!) or digging a [[pond]] to soak with a few bucketfuls, you can ensure that you'll have plenty of crops for the years to come. Remember that outdoor plants need sun and indoor plants need a lack of sun, and that sunlight only ever falls straight down from the sky, straight through anything until it hits the ground.

On the subject of water, watch out. Rivers often menace with spikes of [[carp]], and when the [[ocean]]s were created, someone was having way too much fun with the salt shaker. It's completely undrinkable. You can fix it up so you can drink it down by [[screw pump|pumping]] it into a fully [construction|constructed]] [[reservoir]], but making one of those isn't easy, especially if the ground is so [[|aquifer|soggy]] you can't dig out any stone without [[drowning|getting pickled lungs and a dead brain.]] Bring plenty of [[booze]] if you really, really want that beachfront property; even the water in the ground, rivers, and ponds will be salty for miles around.

A last word on water in regard to temperature. In 'hot' climates, water can boil away in the summer, in 'temperate' or 'cold' it will freeze in the winter. Frozen water can be fun to play with, but drinking it is another story. Water that's flown away into the sky can be pretty to look at, especially when it's shaped like a bunny or a dragon, but it's even harder to drink than the frozen kind. In 'scorching' or 'freezing' climates, water is often in its more useless states year-round! Both problems can be solved by getting the water under the ground, or finding some already there in an [[aquifer]] layer, but keep in mind that trying to build a [[reservoir]] in a [[glacier]] is not only futile, but also very dumb.

Got your food or water? Good! This next section might help you from bleeding your foody water all over the ground. When people talk about 'basic needs', they tend to include clothing and shelter with the other two. Well, let's face it: They're optional so long as you're not in the burning sun or freezing cold, or in danger of getting mauled by lions and tigermen and [[undead|skeletal]] [[giant eagle]]s, [[losing|oh my]]. Don't be fooled by the terrible threats that are out there, though, even a [[raccoon]] can be [[wounds|lethal]] if you don't take precautions. Choosing a more peaceful [[biome]] can help, but don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite of evil is [[unicorn|cuddliness.]]

The best way to protect your community is to put as much [[wall|stuff]] as possible between ''the'' environment and ''your'' environment, by digging down, by building up, or just by picking a nigh-inaccessible site to live from the outset. More than likely, you'll still need to venture out to gather resources. This is where [[weapon]]s and [[military|armies]] come in, not to mention [[traps]] for your access points and the various other zany and funtastic aspects of [[fortress defense]].

Still alive? Phew. Lucky! If you're done securing yourself from [[food|the]] [[water|'ations,]] and you've been working on protecting yourself from [[creatures|nature]], you've got a head start on preparing for (semi-)intelligent [[semimegabeast|((semi-)]][[megabeast|mega-)]][[invader]]s. If you ''stay'' lucky, you'll have time to make [[legendary artifact|cool]] [[finished goods|stuff]] for [[trading|trade]], [[thoughts|happiness,]] or [[mega constructions|je ne sais quoi]].That's all there is to it!

...Or is it?"

do that. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 19:40, 22 November 2008 (EST)

40d:Fortification

2008-12-12T20:50:17Z

ThunderClaw: /* Building fortifications */ you actually can, i just carved them into built stone walls just yesterday

'''Fortifications''' are arrow slits used in the defense of your [[fortress]]. They are probably most commonly used along the outside [[wall]]s of your fortress and on the upper levels of constructed watchtowers so that [[Marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] and [[siege engine]]s can fire at enemies from within your walls. Much like real world embrasures on battlements, their utility is limited if the enemy is close and at the same height; their true power lies in shooting from above and at distance, as it is possible to shoot at targets on other z-levels.

Fortifications allow ranged attacks (including [[siege weapon]]s), fireballs/breath, [[water]], [[magma]], [[steam]], etc. to pass through. Archers firing through fortifications must pass a skill test of some sort if they are not standing directly next to the fortification.{{verify}} This test is more difficult from further distances.{{verify}}

==Building fortifications==
Fortifications can be [[Carve fortifications|carved]] from stone walls, or built like any other [[construction]].

=== Carving ===
Once you have chosen the wall you want to carve, [[smooth]] the stone along its length using {{K|d}} -> {{K|s}}. After it has been smoothed, re-designate the same wall for fortifications using {{K|d}} -> {{K|a}}. Stone smoothing and fortification require a [[dwarf]] with the [[Engraver]] labor.

Built walls do not require smoothing before carving fortifications, regardless if they are smooth [[block]] walls (built from stone blocks) or rough block walls (build from raw stone).

Damaged (ie. partially mined) rock cannot be used for fortifications.

=== Construction ===
Fortifications can also be constructed from [[metal]], [[wood]], [[glass]] blocks, or [[stone]] (in lump or block form) using {{K|b}} -> {{K|C}} -> {{K|F}}. Construction of wooden fortifications require the [[Carpenter|Carpentry]] skill, fortifications made of glass or stone require the [[Mason|Masonry]] skill, and those made of metal require [[Metalsmith|Metalsmithing]].

As of version 38c, building fortifications does not include the floor on the level above. Constructing a wall and carving fortifications out of it does, however.

==Uses and strategies==
Fortifications are designed to allow your [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] to make pincushions of your enemies without exposing themselves to the dangers of melee, and providing them with cover from return fire. Obviously, their utility is derived entirely from their placement. It's a good idea to place fortifications above the Z-level that they will be defending, because otherwise ranged enemies could conceivably stand directly outside them and receive no penalty from them. Raising them above ground makes them inaccessible to enemies.

It's helpful to make the room that the fortifications look out of a [[barracks]] or [[archery range]], along with an [[ammo]] [[stockpile]], to ensure that there are always [[military]] dwarves milling about at all times, ready to fire upon any attackers that threaten the fortress.

{{Buildings}}

[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:Fortress defense]]

40d Talk:Clothing

2008-12-12T18:43:10Z

ThunderClaw: /* Seperating Dwarves from Rotten Clothing */

== masterpiece disentigration ==
Does masterpiece clothing disentigration still cause the maker to get all pissy over it?

If so, then it needs to be added to the article. --[[User:Heliopios|Heliopios]] 13:31, 1 December 2007 (EST)

I've seen a few artifact articles of clothes in the game, but I have never seen anyone wear them. It could be that the game avoids this question. --[[User:Mirthmanor|Mirthmanor]] 20:24, 18 August 2008 (EDT)

== mass-produce? discard old clothes? ==
I would like to see something on which clothes players should mass-produce to keep their dwarves happy. I'm really not sure myself. [[User:Mindsnap|Mindsnap]] 15:37, 6 December 2007 (EST)
: I second this request. Do dwarves automatically discard old clothes? It seems that my dwarves are buying new clothes at the stores, but then they still wear there old rotting trousers. --[[User:Mitchy|Mitchy]] 11:01, 9 January 2008 (EST)
::In my experience they would discard old socks and boots, but will wear a dosen rotting dresses at once. Maybe some inv slots have limit on the clothes number, and some not? [[User:Dorten|Dorten]] 23:11, 9 January 2008 (EST)
: I recall a post on the forums that said it's best not to produce clothing at all, and start a dwarven nudist colony. That method is a simple solution that prevents unhappy thoughts from accumulating. I don't think it maximizes happiness, though, as Dwarves get happy thoughts from making satisfying acquisitions. [[User:Non|Non]] 03:50, 5 February 2008 (EST)
:: No good idea. Not having clothes gives an unhappy thought for every separate piece of clothes missing. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 16:00, 18 February 2008 (EST)
:::not so. dwarves get(used to, removed this version) an unhappy thought for LOSING each piece of clothing, but once its gone(or if they started with none) there is no unhappy thought. they are perfectly fine and happy being naked, once the sadness of rotting clothes wears off --[[User:Chariot|Chariot]] 18:30, 18 February 2008 (EST)
:::: I once had the thought "XY was embarrassed to have no shirt lately". cant swear if he had one before that thought or not, but dont rotting clothes give a different thought "emb. about...clothes rot away"? It still might be that he gets that thought only once. --[[User:Koltom|Koltom]] 18:56, 18 February 2008 (EST)

== Artifact Cave Spider Silk Thong ==

All right, given that you probably ''are'' going to make exotic underwear with cave spider silk... couldn't it at least be something that the dwarf who made it was going to ''wear'' rather than something which is rare for humans?

Oh well, when my clothier passes over I will have something fantastic to sell which is also very light I guess![[User:GarrieIrons|GarrieIrons]] 21:47, 2 February 2008 (EST)

== Why bother? ==

Am I missing something? Is there any reason at all to provide new clothes for dwarfs? --[[User:Shadow archmagi|Shadow archmagi]] 09:27, 28 February 2008 (EST)
:You mean other than the fact that if old clothes start to rot the dwarf wearing said clothing gets an unhappy thought? I highly doubt that's been removed since the last version I was semi-familiar with. --[[User:BDR|BDR]] 13:52, 28 February 2008 (EST)
:: Ah. Well, I built a HUGE dining room. Its taken two years to fully smooth it, but now any dwarf who eats instantly becomes either ecstatic, happy, or, if they're whole family was killed and they had to sleep on the ground by the rotting corpses, they might just be content. Wow, writing that once again reminded me how totally R rated this game would be if it were 3d. --[[User:Shadow archmagi|Shadow archmagi]] 16:04, 28 February 2008 (EST)
::BDR- it was taken out in the latest release because of problems. Once it works right, Toady said he was going to bring it back, but for the current version and immediate future, clothes are just a waste of effort.--[[User:Erom|Erom]] 16:36, 28 February 2008 (EST)
::: Here I have a massive clothing industry sitting idle, unemployed dyers starting fights, and dear Toady is off figuring out how many ribs dwarves have and whether skin can be flayed. My civilization yearns to be built on green silk cravats, not the torturer's arts. :) --[[User:Jellyfishgreen|Jellyfishgreen]] 17:17, 17 November 2008 (EST)
::Well, there's still the awesome value of having your dwarves swank around in fancy clothes. Plus adamantine clothes provide more protection than most pieces of more conventionally-manufactured plate-level armour if I'm not mistaken, which might prove worthwhile if you happen to strike adamantine and only have legendary clothiers.--[[User:Quil|Quil]] 17:40, 17 November 2008 (EST)
::Hahaha, I have to note here that there is one very, very practical reason to give your dwarves clothes: If it's cold and they have body parts exposed, they will freeze, and the nerve damage from this is permanent. My glacial fortress suffers from chronic brainfreeze epidemics in babies and soldiers, and they don't even get to eat any ice cream. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 17:45, 17 November 2008 (EST)

== Frequency ratings ==
How common is common? It seems like every goblin invasion has had about 4 or 5 iron masks, about 50% of goblins, so it doesn't seem like they are that uncommon. Is this on the threshold of uncommon? Do others get this many masks? [[User:Dangerous Beans|Dangerous Beans]] 07:11, 2 August 2008 (EDT)

:Well, I've been playing for a couple months, and I've never seen one. So, uh, maybe it's something to do with the specific culture of the goblin civilization that's attacking you. --[[User:Zombiejustice|Zombiejustice]] 14:01, 2 August 2008 (EDT)

::That would make sense, I might start a new fortress else where, and see if I get as many. [[User:Dangerous Beans|Dangerous Beans]] 01:56, 3 August 2008 (EDT)

== Separating ==

Is there anyway to separate dwarf-sized clothing from goblin & kobold sized clothing? I've been messing with my stockpiles, but can't seem to sort them out. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 10:14, 5 September 2008 (EDT)

:I've been working under the assumption that the {{key|u}} usable and {{key|j}} unusable toggles on many of the stockpile pages provide this functionality. I ''think'' it works, but I generally don't really pay that much attention to such matters... --[[User:Raumkraut|Raumkraut]] 11:59, 5 September 2008 (EDT)
::Clothing appears to be sorted as a "finished good" though, which doesn't have those toggles. [[User:HeWhoIsPale|HeWhoIsPale]] 08:56, 8 September 2008 (EDT)

==Coats Anyone?==
I can't seem to make coats in the latest version (.40d) in either clothiers or leatherworkers, and I haven't seen a dwarf start with a coat in this version yet. Anyone know what's going on? --[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 14:36, 25 November 2008 (EST)

:I've had no problem with that in 40d. They wear coats when they arrive (unless they're wearing a robe instead), I can produce them, and they'll put on new coats if their coat or robe wears out.

:There used to be a note somewhere that not all forts/civs can produce the same clothing. Maybe that's what's at work?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 18:02, 25 November 2008 (EST)

::The possible types of clothing for civs are in the entity_default.txt file, and are selected for each individual civ (or site, even, not sure) in that 'finalizing uniforms' step near the end of world gen. I'm not sure if the climate of the civilization's cities has any effect on this determination, but they definitely will have a limited selection instead of being able to make anything on the entity_default list. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 17:39, 26 November 2008 (EST)

== Seperating Dwarves from Rotten Clothing ==
I noticed my dwarves' clothing was wearing out, and started using all that nice fabric I'd been buying from the elves for years to replace it. My dwarves don't seem to care all that much... Some of them have picked up a few new things(no economy) but none of them have ditched any of their old stuff. I have dwarves wandering around wearing three pairs of socks, two ruined, one not. I even tried marking stuff for dumping but they don't give a damn; maybe I don't have to if they don't, but it bugs me. How do I get rid of the ruined clothes? --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 15:55, 10 December 2008 (EST)

:[[!!]]?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 17:48, 10 December 2008 (EST)
::Killing everyone with fire would destroy the clothing, yes. But would also kill everyone with fire. --[[User:Corona688|Corona688]] 00:38, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::Yeah, I know. But I enjoyed typing it all the same. ;-) --[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 02:24, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:Only way to do this is to mark their stuff for dumping. They'll then realize they're naked and will (eventually) go buy/obtain new clothes. I know exactly how you feel, my Captain of the Guard was getting negative thoughts from having her clothing fall apart and I kept wishing she'd just go replace her outfit. She was still ecstatic, but when a dwarf with maxed out stats that's a legendary Pump Operator, Wrestler, Marksdwarf, and Hammerdwarf gets negative thoughts, I get worried no matter what the circumstances are. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:43, 12 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:Window

2008-12-12T17:17:02Z

ThunderClaw:

Do windows block the flow of fluids? --[[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 20:16, 5 December 2007 (EST)
:Yes --[[User:Lacero|Lacero]] 10:58, 18 December 2007 (EST)

do windows allow light in? to fight [[Cave adaptation]] --[[User:Corhen|Corhen]] 22:24 24 december 2008
:Also yes. --[[User:N9103|Edward]] 06:09, 28 April 2008 (EDT)
:: No. The article says so since the 24th of July (see also [[light]]). --[[User:Aykavil|Aykavil]] 07:27, 30 July 2008 (EDT)

Do you get the materials back when you remove a window? Especially Gem windows? --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 07:42, 4 May 2008 (EDT)
:Thirdly yes. --[[User:Savok|Savok]] 12:49, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

Can dwarves "see" through the windows (i.e. see stealthly enemies on the other side)? [[User:Optimizt|Optimizt]] 20:02, 13 June 2008 (EDT)
:Again yes. At least, they get scared of things they see on the other side. I've not tested whether they can spot stealthy enemies. --[[User:Lacero|Lacero]] 11:09, 6 July 2008 (EDT)
::For what it's worth, spotting stealthed enemies requires that you be adjacent to them, so that particular question would be moot, I think. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:17, 12 December 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2008-12-12T17:07:16Z

ThunderClaw: /* Lies */

== Correctness ==
There is no "correct" way to start fortress mode except from not picking Adventure Mode or Legends or Create New World on the main menu screen. It's entirely proper to embark with no skills and absolutely no supplies and watch your seven dwarves go crazy and die in the terrifying glacier. --[[User:Rkyeun|Rkyeun]] 12:03, 18 November 2008 (EST)
:If you'd like to change the name, leave a request with the sysop or something. This conversation has been done 10 times over already and it never ends in anything useful. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 18 November 2008 (EST)
::I dunno, he might be on to something there. This could be a guide on how to start the game, step by step, without pressing the wrong buttons or accidentally defenestrating either your computer or yourself! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 13:22, 18 November 2008 (EST)

== Farm Size ==
''Farm size: 10x10 of plump helmets without fertilizing will feed 500 dwarves. A 5x5 field WITH fertilizing will feed about 500 dwarves. Do the math. (Rough estimates. Untested.) -Yanlin ''

Is this with or without boozecooking? [[User:Random832|Random832]] 23:12, 27 October 2008 (EDT)

== Reformatting this page ==

This page breaks from the style used on the rest of the wiki -- it's a dump of opinions and suggestions instead of a collaborative, well-organized article. The problem with this is evident in how people are just arguing with each other on the page (that's what ''talk pages'' are for) instead of putting their heads together to offer readers streamlined, practical advice.

Can we do some discussion here of what its general advice and structure should be, then rewrite it?--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 21:38, 29 October 2008 (EDT)
:Having a bunch of different viewpoints in the page is fine to me as long as it doesn't look like a big argument :P --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 01:48, 30 October 2008 (EDT) 
:I was thinking about this too, but the unfortunate hurdle is that there's no good way to put in a 'generally agreed upon' sort of structure, and there's a lot of strong feelings that run both ways with many things. Perhaps the better way to do this would merely be to take the names out of it. Just put a heading and a couple of equally-bulleted points with the various views, possibly with the dates these views were last updated. A large part of my issue is that most of the advice on the page is clearly from many moons ago (the cats comments being the most noticable). The anvil discussion, for example, could then just be broken down into three bullets, one which suggests crafts, a second which suggests mechanisms, and a third which suggests meals.

:A reformat does need to happen, though. This wiki is really shortwinded on useful, coherant gameplay advice (MANY of the Beginners FAQ pages need total rewrites that I'll probably get to sooner rather than later) and I'd really like to see that change. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 02:09, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::Removing the signatures is definitely the starting point -- it will allow us to treat what's on the page as "our words" instead of "my words".

::I don't think "general agreement" is out of reach -- for any subject, there will be obviously bad advice, obviously good advice, and stuff that will largely depend on how you like to play the game. Our current dispute over trade goods is like that: crafts, mechanisms, meals, and clothes can ''all'' be effective trade goods; we can list their respective advantages and disadvantages and leave it for the player to decide what approach he or she wants to take. We just need to avoid the "One True Approach" mentality, except where everyone agrees that a given idea is Very Good or Very Bad.

::While we're at it, the page title needs to be changed -- though we can do that after it becomes clear what direction the rewrite is taking it in.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:38, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

::I'll give the page a once-over tomorrow and give my initial thoughts on what should be changed then.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 03:42, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:::It shouldn't take too long. Click Edit, hit Ctrl-A, and type <nowiki>{{Del}}</nowiki>. Profit. --[[User:Juckto|Juckto]] 04:40, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

Reformat is done. Someone else can deal with the nomenclature. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 13:14, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:You did an excellent job with the rewrite. I made various changes and expansions, and there's other stuff I want to add over the next several days.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

I really think that a better name for this page would be "General Advice," since that's all it really is, and "Correctly" starting a fortress is mostly a matter of opinion and we're trying to make the page look less opinionated. The page could be very helpful and I think that once it's worked on a bit it could go on the main page. --[[User:Xonara|Xonara]] 21:00, 30 October 2008 (EDT)

:Well, "general advice" is a little ''too'' general. At this point, I want to see what kind of changes we make to other related pages, such as [[your first fortress]]. Once we define the role of each better, it should be clear what this page should be named.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 04:04, 31 October 2008 (EDT)

== Lies ==
Don't bring any beasts of burden. You will start with a breeding pair of them for free
That's a lie. You can have different animals at start
:And they're all breeding pairs and they're all beasts of burden (Musk oxen, camels, horses, donkeys, et al). The only way to not have a breeding pair is if you get mules to start out with, which has happened a grand total of 0 times in the 32 fortresses I've made. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

Turning off restrictions on economic stone will allow you to make a metal ANYTHING from that ore stone
Lies again. It's not '''metal''', it's made of ore. Not Iron statue, but Limonite statue, etc. (You still gain in wealth though)
:This works for '(material) nuggets'. Platinum, aluminum, gold, copper, etc. While the nomenclature is definitely wrong for ores, the ended cost of the statue is exactly the same based on quality. I don't know if this is a bug or not. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

Siege engines the only safe way to deal with the biggest threats you will face, like megabeasts and goblins riding beak dogs as cavalry.
Oh, yeah? ONLY?
:Archers run out of ammo very quickly in pitched battles (they can only carry about 40 arrows in their quiver, and marksdwarves can run through that in no time at all. Trolls, Beak Dogs, and armored goblins will commonly take 5-7 arrows or more to bring down) and many people consider huge amounts of cage traps an exploit. If you've got another way of doing so, feel free to add it. I notice you didn't, nor did you sign your comments here. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

Ask for pearlash and rock crystal to make crystal glass.
crystal glass requires '''RAW''' rock crystal, that can't be imported
:Can't it? I admit I've only tried this once, but I pulled it in from the dwarven caravan just fine one time. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:In conclusion, lies my ass. If you want to edit it, fine, but this is by and large good advice so you can kindly eat me if you're going to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:28, 12 December 2008 (EST)

:Go ahead and edit the page as you like... There does appear to be a consensus that it needs improvement! --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 12:25, 21 November 2008 (EST)

::It's an error to say siege engines are the only safe way to deal with threats. Water traps, magma traps, hatch traps, weapon traps, and cage traps can all be arranged to be safer (and more hassle free) defense methods. [[User:VengefulDonut|VengefulDonut]] 11:54, 12 December 2008 (EST)
:::That's fine, honestly it is. Feel free to add such a note, or a link to the various trap demonstrations. I'm pretty sure I meant to type 'one of the only' there anyway (it's hazy this long after the writing). I welcome editing and I welcome additions to the article. I don't welcome being called a liar by some idiot who doesn't even sign his posts. It was [[User:Dorten|Dorten]], incidentally. I have no idea who he is and I certainly don't have anything against him but he can eat my ass if he wants to call me a liar. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 12:07, 12 December 2008 (EST)

==Thoughts on Revising this Page==
Currently this and similar pages seem deadset on giving very specific advice, which is problematic when people don't agree on the nature of that advice. Why don't we do a basic analysis of the different considerations involved in putting together a successful fortress and maximizing your dwarves, and leave specific build advice as a postscript and proof of concept/example instead of the mainthrust of the article?

Ie, make the first paragraph something like this: 
When establishing a new fortress there are certain difficulties that must be overcome. All fortresses will need to feed their dwarves, handle the influx of migrants, build a secure space to live and work, keep their dwarves happy, and generate trade goods for the merchant caravans. Beyond satisfying these basic needs, dwarves will want to be leveled in experience, both in terms of physical abilities and at particular tasks, and may gain free experience from successfully completing strange mood requests. What follows is a guide to building a fortress that not only survives, but thrives.

Follow this up with paragraphs on options for accomplishing the above basic goals, and a paragraph on the relative value of various skills and how easy it is to level them respectively. Only then should we start busting out examples. Advice should also tend to be less absolute than it currently is (I've started plenty of successful fortresses without dogs, for example).

--[[User:Squirrelloid|Squirrelloid]] 05:05, 22 November 2008 (EST)

:Yeah, I agree with that approach. Your post over at [[talk:starting builds]] got me thinking along those lines. Although it's harder than just saying "do this" ;-) .

:In truth, as long as you have a means to feed your dwarves and a handful of things to keep them happy, any fortress will work. (Sooner or later you usually need some defensive measures as well.) That's that's one of the first things we should point out.

:But for me, and I think a lot of other players, much of the fun is in figuring out how to get your dwarves to do lots of stuff very effectively. We actually give pretty good advice on that -- we just make too many assumptions about what the specific stuff will be. This is not surprising given the page's origin ("How to correctly start fortress mode"? Ugh.), though it was improved dramatically by ThunderClaw and others. But it could be improved further, as could all of our "basic advice" pages.

:Right now I'm thinking through a rewrite of [[starting builds]] in response to your post there a few days ago. You made some assumptions as well, but also you challenged me to think beyond the assumptions I had been making. Bit by bit I think we can pull everything together better.--[[User:Maximus|Maximus]] 19:12, 22 November 2008 (EST)
 
:The Your First Fortress guide covers the more general aspects of this; the purpose of this page, to my understanding, was to get into a bit more detail. When I rewrote this guide from its previous format, it was nothing but headings with a lot of people making various, very specific comments on very specific things. I tried to keep it like that during the overhaul, but I consolidated and updated a bunch of the advice and lumped it together in hierarchal headings that were a lot more readable.

:I don't pretend for an instant that this guide is perfect, but a general advice sort of thing seems to be contrary to the spirit of the article as I remember it. We had Your First Fortress for that. --[[User:ThunderClaw|ThunderClaw]] 11:36, 12 December 2008 (EST)
===An All-Inclusive Guide===
"Fortress mode: So, you've got a crew together, united in a sense of adventure, duty, social outrage, simple greed or bloody-mindedness, perhaps even all of the above. You've come down (or up) out of the mountain halls, home trees, dark fortress, death pits, mother hive or backwater village, and regardless of race, species, motivation or temperment, two questions are likely on your mind: What do you need to accomplish your goals, and what's going to allow you to live to enjoy it? Look no further, the answer(s) lie within!

The first step in your journey is the most important: Choosing a destination. With the wide, wide world laid out before you, expansive and great but not overweight and actually quite good-looking, you know, given her age, this task can be so intimidating that many might be driven to simply bury their heads in the sand or whatever else serves as a soil type within the heartlands of their home civilization. While certainly a valid option, and a safe one, a truly brave, ambitious, and/or foolhardy band of explorers should set their sights much higher.

Is there evil to cleanse? A volcano to harness? Savage wilds to tame? Perhaps you really like snowcones, think it'd be cool to be able to fry eggs right on your doorstep, or always wanted to feel the soothing mist of a waterfall as your mortal enemies plummetting to their deaths are washed away into the raging rapids. All these and more are possible--just choose the right fortress site! See [[starting builds]] for some hints when deciding what to take with you. (Sorry--no kitchen sinks allowed.)

Know your limits and remember your priorities. Most people can't live without water, and few want to live without beer. Food is important, but unless your race is carnivorous, so long as you bring or gather a few seeds and have a small patch of soil you can protect, it won't be a problem. Meat-eaters should seek deeper wildnerness areas with better hunting and fishing grounds, and bring plenty of livestock if possible. Temperature and warm areas tend to have the most wildlife.

If there's no soil for farming, wet rocks will do! By pumping water over the ground, digging a channel to briefly divert a river or stream into (make sure to install a [[floodgate]] and a [[|mechanic|lever]] first!) or digging a [[pond]] to soak with a few bucketfuls, you can ensure that you'll have plenty of crops for the years to come. Remember that outdoor plants need sun and indoor plants need a lack of sun, and that sunlight only ever falls straight down from the sky, straight through anything until it hits the ground.

On the subject of water, watch out. Rivers often menace with spikes of [[carp]], and when the [[ocean]]s were created, someone was having way too much fun with the salt shaker. It's completely undrinkable. You can fix it up so you can drink it down by [[screw pump|pumping]] it into a fully [construction|constructed]] [[reservoir]], but making one of those isn't easy, especially if the ground is so [[|aquifer|soggy]] you can't dig out any stone without [[drowning|getting pickled lungs and a dead brain.]] Bring plenty of [[booze]] if you really, really want that beachfront property; even the water in the ground, rivers, and ponds will be salty for miles around.

A last word on water in regard to temperature. In 'hot' climates, water can boil away in the summer, in 'temperate' or 'cold' it will freeze in the winter. Frozen water can be fun to play with, but drinking it is another story. Water that's flown away into the sky can be pretty to look at, especially when it's shaped like a bunny or a dragon, but it's even harder to drink than the frozen kind. In 'scorching' or 'freezing' climates, water is often in its more useless states year-round! Both problems can be solved by getting the water under the ground, or finding some already there in an [[aquifer]] layer, but keep in mind that trying to build a [[reservoir]] in a [[glacier]] is not only futile, but also very dumb.

Got your food or water? Good! This next section might help you from bleeding your foody water all over the ground. When people talk about 'basic needs', they tend to include clothing and shelter with the other two. Well, let's face it: They're optional so long as you're not in the burning sun or freezing cold, or in danger of getting mauled by lions and tigermen and [[undead|skeletal]] [[giant eagle]]s, [[losing|oh my]]. Don't be fooled by the terrible threats that are out there, though, even a [[raccoon]] can be [[wounds|lethal]] if you don't take precautions. Choosing a more peaceful [[biome]] can help, but don't fall into the trap of thinking the opposite of evil is [[unicorn|cuddliness.]]

The best way to protect your community is to put as much [[wall|stuff]] as possible between ''the'' environment and ''your'' environment, by digging down, by building up, or just by picking a nigh-inaccessible site to live from the outset. More than likely, you'll still need to venture out to gather resources. This is where [[weapon]]s and [[military|armies]] come in, not to mention [[traps]] for your access points and the various other zany and funtastic aspects of [[fortress defense]].

Still alive? Phew. Lucky! If you're done securing yourself from [[food|the]] [[water|'ations,]] and you've been working on protecting yourself from [[creatures|nature]], you've got a head start on preparing for (semi-)intelligent [[semimegabeast|((semi-)]][[megabeast|mega-)]][[invader]]s. If you ''stay'' lucky, you'll have time to make [[legendary artifact|cool]] [[finished goods|stuff]] for [[trading|trade]], [[thoughts|happiness,]] or [[mega constructions|je ne sais quoi]].That's all there is to it!

...Or is it?"

do that. --[[User:Navian|Navian]] 19:40, 22 November 2008 (EST)

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2008-12-12T16:37:19Z

ThunderClaw: /* Thoughts on Revising this Page */

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2008-12-12T16:36:50Z

ThunderClaw: /* Thoughts on Revising this Page */

40d Talk:How to safely start fortress mode

2008-12-12T16:28:59Z

ThunderClaw: /* Lies */ idiot