DF2014 Talk:Quickstart guide

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Spring

Some of this article still assumes that the fortress will start in Spring, but that's not necessarily true any more. I don't know how to fix it without making things more complicated though. --Dree12 (talk) 20:31, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

I decided to go with "in the first six month", "by your third season", or similar. --Dree12 (talk) 02:19, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

Feedback: what?

Section: Delving Secure Lodgings

This is incredibly confusing. The picture doesn't even show the entrance. I thought it was supposed to be 20 tiles long and 1 wide. It is nowhere to be found. --63.142.119.65 13:14, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

This picture shows the entry tunnel after the modifications described in the first two sentences of this section:

"Near the middle of the entry tunnel, build a 5x5 room, and link it to the entrance tunnel with a 3-tile-wide passageway. Expand the main entry tunnel to three tiles wide from the entrance of the new room to the outside entry."

The entrance tunnel extends from the upward ramps on the right to the large room on the left. —Lethosor (talk) 14:16, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Feedback: Boooze over

Section: Checking Supplies

In a upper paragraph didn't we make more booze? --191.180.4.103 02:38, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Feedback from anonymous user

Section: Stockpiles

I got some issues with my "general purpose stockpiles", whem digging it, i got many leftover chert . . . I don't know how to remove those stuff to create a fully vacant stockpiles.

In the guide we get a note about it, but no info on how to change this. Hide the chert let them still on the tiles and dumping them, not make something for me at this point . . .

Thank for the guide and for the help --89.3.210.92 18:24, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Strictness of instructions

There are a lot of instructions like "dig a 3x20 hallway", "make a 3x3 stairway", "two tiles past that, dig a 11x11 room". I believe it's detrimental to the creativity of beginners and ultimately the variety of fortresses to give such exact instructions. Instead, something like "make a stairway", "dig a large room", etc should be preferred. In addition, a paragraph talking about reasonable dimensions ("most fortresses will do with a 2x2 staircase", "a 3 tile wide hallway is enough for the main hallways of 200+ fortresses") should give beginners a sufficient scale to base their decisions on.

The question is whether it's better to give new players actual numbers to follow or instead give them rough dimensions and tell them to experiment. I fear that the former will rear players that build nothing but cookie cutter fortresses following exact dimensions of this guide; while the latter might simply be inferior as a guide. CLA (talk) 23:31, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

I tried to remove some rigid measurements from the guide a while back, so I don't object to removing others and adding more explanations. Of course, the minimum 3-tile-wide hallway to allow for wagon access is important to mention, but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. —Lethosor (talk) 18:40, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Done. CLA (talk) 18:06, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps more information on trading would be useful?

What should I get? What should I be trading? 216.254.133.138 21:28, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

I think the most reliable thing for trading away would be prepared meals? They're relatively high value, and not very difficult to make lots of. 2602:302:D111:7290:9357:C7C4:D315:4B93 01:38, 22 August 2015 (UTC)

I expanded the trading section a little. Probably needs some correction and changes. In the end, I decided to omit the prepared meals, as a couple of barrels full of lavish meals created by a legendary cook can easily buy the entire caravan 3 times over. It makes the game ridiculously easy really quick, and I figure new players probably have more fun in the long run if they can't get everything from a caravan right away. I also mentioned the usual suspects for missing mood items as must-have supply, without explicitly mentioning moods as they're a bit spoiler-y and not mentioned anywhere else in the guide. Not sure if we should a) not mention these altogether, b) mention them without explaining why they're important, or c) list them with an explanation and link to mood page. Personally I think it's fine as I made it though.CLA (talk) 13:54, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

Feedback: how to cook

Section: Brewing and Cooking

It would be nice to know how one actually does any cooking. Shall one dwarf be assigned with the cooking labor? And then what? --81.216.197.38 13:14, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Feedback: Those pictures are extremely confusing

Section: Traps

The pictures are either not helpful at all or marginally helpful without explanation of what they mean. --67.54.220.18 20:27, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

Feedback: Zombies!

Section: World Generation

I would like to suggests that all players to consider the fact that if there's a necromancer tower near you. Your kingdom will most likely be siege by various undead animals. Please put this note in for future new players. I have suffered the consequence by these unholy beings slaughtering my 22 little workers, 2 of which being children. RIP Rocksgrope. --Stagskull (talk) 07:04, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

Mouse wheel

Under DF2014:Quickstart_guide#Surveying_the_Area it talks about keys. I noticed that when I scroll my mouse wheel up/forward it zooms out and down/back it zooms in. Is this a proper way to interact with the map? 184.145.18.50 20:54, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Feedback: Add a bit more

Section: Refuse

Add a bit more --69.112.13.248 00:43, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Such as? For a quick start, that's all you need to know about refuse. Remember that this is the quickstart guide - here to give you a quick start with only the minimal amount of critical information. If you need in depth documentation, you can look up everything on the relevant wiki pages. CLA (talk) 11:32, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Feedback: Example screenshot of search

Section: Choosing a Good Site

There should be an example screenshot of the search window for new players to understand how the interface works better. --Enzanki ars (talk) 22:52, 30 May 2016 (UTC)

Feedback: Thanks!

Section: Feedback

Most helpful.

One confusing area: the pictures illustrating the initial setup in the Room Dimensions section.

Please edit the picture to include labels, so that it actually *is* clear which area is which. Also, it isn't too clear where in that image the fortress connects with the surface. --109.202.107.10 10:31, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

Feedback: Problems?

Section: Workshops

I've followed all of the instructions and have a ton of architect dwarves and everything is set up like it should be, but my dwarves aren't building workshops. In the "q" menu it says "Waiting for construction... Construction inactive." Maybe add more troubleshoots, I can't possibly be the only one having this problem. --50.35.12.66 00:30, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Only a few workshops require the architecture labor to be enabled for their construction. Most instead only require a labor specific to the kind of work performed at the workshop. For instance, to build a kitchen (b-w-z), you need to enable the cooking labor for at least one dwarf. The chosen dwarf does not actually need to have any skill in cooking; only workshops that actually do require Architecture have any measure of building quality, and even that has no effect on how well they function. If you choose an unskilled dwarf to construct the workshop, remember to disable the labor afterwards so he doesn't then try to make use of the workshop.

Another thing that might be wrong is for construction to have been interrupted for some reason. Common causes are animals (domestic or otherwise) wandering over the construction site, dwarves getting spooked by threatening encounters, or the selected building materials becoming inaccessible for some reason. If so, you should resolve the issue (pasture animals, wait for the threat to pass, send squads, etc.) and then q-s over the workshop in order to resume construction. If all else fails, you can q-x the workshop to deconstruct it (instantaneous if it hasn't been built yet) and attempt to build it at a different location. --Rriegs (talk) 17:03, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

I've added explicit mention of the need for workshop labors to be enabled in order to construct workshops. The other possible problem (suspended construction) and its solution was already mentioned in the Workshops section. --Rriegs (talk) 18:40, 8 February 2017 (UTC)

Feedback: Doesn't describe how to haul dwarves and supplies inside

Section: Strike The Earth!

This section's first paragraph states that "you will want to get all your dwarves and supplies inside a protected area as quickly as possible." Wise words.

But the section doesn't describe how to do that. It only describes how to designate an initial entrance and room. This is confusing for readers who expect that the section is about getting dwarves protected as fast as possible. --216.114.117.77 01:11, 31 July 2017 (UTC)

Clarified. CLA (talk) 19:23, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Feedback: UI (priorities/diplomacy?)

Section: Choosing what to sell and what to buy

Hi! Thanks for the lovely quick start guide, however it assumes that I have any idea how to interact with trader. I have no idea what has happened just now, just some lines of text were shown, no trade was done, could not set the priority (assuming it is my priority) and then they just left... maybe next year lol --77.247.162.32 00:41, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

There has been a link to the trade page for a while now. I reorganized the text a little. CLA (talk) 19:25, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

There's no mention, here or on the trading page, of the negotiation screen that pops up where you set priorities for importing goods etc. I think this was a diplomat? But it says they should only show up once you have a baron...

It happened to me too, and as an inexperienced player I was confused that it wasn't mentioned. Tme5 (talk) 19:22, 18 December 2022 (UTC)

It is the trade agreements that are negotiated with outpost liaison or foreign trade representatives\diplomats. It is mentioned on the Trading#Trade_Agreements_and_Liaisons. I agree it could be improved. --Jan (talk) 20:38, 18 December 2022 (UTC)

Feedback: Navigating through menus

Section: Common UI Concepts

You should write where should I expect to not use arrow keys and how to navigate through main menu. I was also confused with the number of pre-set controls configurations in lazy newb pack. --37.248.155.248 10:26, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

Feedback: needs more depth

Section: Surveying the Area

. --173.79.11.244 19:06, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

Created a PDF Version

I have created a PDF version of the Quickstart guide page for offline use, for users with poor internet connection or limited data. It is largely a copy-paste of the article, arranged in a way that is cleaner than the "Printable Version" of the pages, and includes the images. Would it be a good idea to upload it on the page, and how would I go about adding a link to it?

AlastríonaCatskill (talk) 21:51, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

Feedback: stone stockpile?

"While the wheelbarrows are being built, select your stone stockpile with q and use w to increase "Max Wheelbarrow" to 3 (the maximum)."

When/where should a stone stockpile be created? By this point, the guide suggests not including stone in a general purpose stockpile, but never suggests when/where to create stone stockpile.

Qwiption (talk) 02:59, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

Feedback: dining hall furniture

Guide describes construction 4 tables and 8 thrones for dining hall, however only one dwarf can make use of a table no matter how many thrones are placed around it, so this furniture layout doesn't function as intended.