v0.31:Embark

v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

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

Embark is the moment at the very beginning of the game, before actual game play begins (but after Template:L), when you and your initial 7 dwarves:

1. Choose a site.
2. Assign starting Template:L to each dwarf.
3. Select an initial load of Template:L.
4. Arrive at the site with your wagon full of supplies.

Choosing a Site

The process of choosing a site in DF2010 is much less involved than prior versions due to the ubiquitous presence of magma, gems, and ore, but that said there are still several considerations to keep in mind, namely aquifers, ore types, wood, climate, and neighbors.

The Choose Fortress Location screen shows four seperate sections, with three of them being three views of the land at three different levels of magnification: Local, Region, and World. A section of lit tiles in the Local view indicates the current embark location within the region. The local view constitutes a 16x16 grid of embark area tiles (each representing 48x48 tiles when you are playing the game) that is within a single region tile. The world map cannot be directly controled, and exists only to give you the overall view of where, relative to the rest of the features of the world, the region map is focused on.

The arrow keys control the X cursor in the center "Region" view while u, m, k, and h move the embark location around within the Local view. Shift-u, m, k, and h will resize the embark location.

The size of the embark location directly affects how much data about a map the game will have to store in your computer's memory, the size of your save files, and correspondingly, will dramatically affect the save and load times for your map, potentially make pathfinding more resource-intensive, and may generally slow your game down. As such, smaller maps are recommended, especially for less powerful computers. Remember that each tile on your embark screen is 48x48 tiles large.

On the far right of the screen is a list of local features in the dominant biome. Individual biomes, which form at least one map-tile of your embark location, can be cycled with the F#-keys; for example, an area with 3 biomes present can be cycled using F1, F2 and F3. The selected biome will be highlighted with flashing Xs on the Local Map, and the biome's information will be displayed on the right side of the screen. The list at the bottom of the biome information indicates the dominant soil/stone composition from top to bottom for the first eight layers.

Biomes

Main article: Template:L

A biome is a biotic area with homogeneous features, characterized by distinctive Template:L, Template:L and Template:L.

In the above image, the biome is "Temperate Broadleaf Forest", and the region the biome is part of is given a specific name: "The Oily Forest".

Biomes will also contain only one set of stone layers, though these usually expand beyond a single biome. Your Template:L will find different resources depending on which biomes they select when starting a fort.

Biomes are important when choosing a fortress location in order to understand your Template:L.

Climate

Main article: Template:L

Climate determines the maximum temperature range of the region, which in turn impacts the severity of exposure to the outside, whether water will freeze in winter, and how quickly water evaporates.

The climate is displayed as "Temperature: Hot" in the above image.

Very hot and very cold biomes bring their own challenges which may be further compounded with overlapping features, such as a glacier being frozen for half the year, and being devoid of trees, and lacking a river. Very hot climates may see all its surface water quickly evaporate, making finding a water supply more dangerous, as underground caves filled with hostile creatures may be the only supply of water.

Plant Life

Main article: Template:L and Template:L

Seen in the above image as "Trees: Heavily Forested" and "Other Vegetation: Thick".

Trees are useful for the Template:L they provide, and wood is a basic building material, important for being the only material that beds can be made of, and, as metal bins and barrels require three times as much of less common metal resources as wood bins and barrels do, they are preferred materials for that, as well. Wood is also a renewable source for Template:L, the Template:L used in forges to make metal products in smelters or forges that are not magma-powered, and is needed to make steel even when you have magma forges. Wood is finally also useful in making Template:L for soap or fertilizing farms.

In spite of wood's many uses, it is entirely possible to play in this version without any trees in your biomes, as trees can be farmed in muddied underground areas regardless of how barren the surface is. Due to the inexpensive nature of wood, it is possible to simply embark with enough wood to last until you are ready to set up tree farming operations underground. Wood is also a common good that elves, humans, and dwarves alike will sell to you.

Shrubs can provide some quick food through the Template:L skill, Template:L, and Template:L for some very helpful above-ground Template:L which are generally only available through trading with Elves.

Surroundings

main article: Template:L

Surroundings affect how powerful and hostile local wildlife will be, and some forms of plants are available only in specific types of surroundings.

The surroundings of the example image are listed as, "Surroundings: Calm".

Any biome can have any set of surroundings; for example a glacier could be haunted, wilderness or mirthful. However, a named region (which is a contiguous area of one category of biomes, such as forests or wetlands) will be either good, neutral, or evil.

There are two axis for surroundings: Savagry and alignment. Calm and neutral savagry are functionally identical. Savage lands are like normal lands, except they will frequently have giant or hostile humanoid versions of normal animals, for example you might have a Template:L instead of "merely" a Template:L in a savage jungle. Good biomes are similar to neutral biomes, except have more fanciful (and generally benign) creatures like pixies, Template:Ls, or Template:Ls, and are generally no more dangerous than neutral biomes. Evil biomes are home to many dangerous creatures, often dead vegetation and even including undead versions of normal creatures, making for a far more hostile environment specifically for players who want to face a greater challenge to stay alive, especially early on.

It is possible to start a fortress that overlaps multiple alignment types (for example good, evil, savage, and benign). Some players consider this desirable, as it provides diversity in your little corner of the world, but it also has its dangers in the form of more ferocious wildlife.

Layers

Main articles: Template:L, Template:L and Template:L

At the bottom right of the biome view is the data on stone layers, displaying the top eight layers of stone or soil.

Each type of layer stone has certain kinds of ores, gems, and other minerals that will appear within that form of layer. Layers are color-coded by the type of rock they are, with brown indicating Template:L (useless for raw materials, but easy to dig through), white indicating a Template:L (good for gems, coal, and steel production), light grey indicating a Template:L (which has gems, silver, and copper, but little else), and dark grey indicating either an Template:L or an Template:L, (which may indicate magma pools in the caverns, as well as being good for various metal ores). Igneous layers will never be found in the same biome as sedimentary layers, but it is possible to have both in the same map by embarking over two or more different biomes.

Note that steel requires both an Iron ore and Template:L making Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, and Template:L frequently preferred stone layers.

Aquifer

Main article: Template:L

An aquifer is a layer of soil or stone saturated with water, and a biome may contain upwards of 3 aquifer layers (theoretically more, but such would be rare to say the least). These are represented with ≈≈≈≈≈ symbols in the soil layers. Embarking on an aquifer brings up a warning before embark as an aquifer can significantly raise the difficulty of starting a fort. For specific tactics on working with an aquifer see the main page.

Changing Views

Pressing Tab will cycle the presented information through a variety of different views and panels.

• Neighbors - other civilizations that are closest to your current location. Proximity increases the chance of interaction, though at present this largely means "nearby goblins are more likely to attack you." If any race is not represented on this page, it means that the civilization cannot reach you if you are in that location. Embarking on an Template:L, or a location completely surrounded by mountains will make it impossible for any civilization but your own dwarven civilization to reach you, as world map travel across oceans or mountains is impossible. If not even "Dwarves" appears, it means that your home civilization is dead, and there will be no Template:L or Template:L with your home civilization. (If this is the case, it is reccomended you change to a still-existant civilization unless you want the challenge of having no support from the mountainhome.) Races that are hostile to you are represented by a series of red "-" marks. In vanilla DF, goblins are always hostile, but humans or elves may also be at war with particular dwarven civilizations (and if you change your starting civilization in the "Your Civilization" screen, they may not be at war with you).
• Your Civilization - indicates all Dwarven civilizations in the world. * and - will cycle through the civilizations allowing you to choose which your settlers will be embarking from. It may be worth looking at your choice of starting civilizations in Template:L Mode before embarking, as there is much information about your civilization that is not shown directly at embark, and there is no way short of abandoning a fort to change your civilization once you have embarked. Civilization choice will affect who is at war with you, what goods are available for trade (Dwarven caravans will only have the goods in the region of the city that is trading with your fort. These will be the same goods that are available for you to purchase at embark. Metals or stones, for example, that are not available for you to purchase in the "Prepare Carefully" screen will never be available for trade with the dwarven caravan.), who your regent will be (considering one might be surprised by who turns out to be one's regent, this might be of note, but is only checkable in Legends Mode), and if there are any surviving members of your civilization left to migrate to or trade with your fort.
• Relative Elevation - Shows the land height relative to the lowest point in the region.
• Cliff Indicator - Shows the severity of cliffs. Unless you have turned erosion off, then, with the exception of rivers that cut through mountains, even apparently very steep cliffs will still have ramps that make it perfectly accessable for any creature or even the wagons in caravans.

Creating Your Settlers

Play Now!

You can forgo the process of assigning skills and supplies and instead select Play Now! This option will give you a selection of Dwarves with the following profiles:

• Miner: Adequate Miner
• Woodworker: Novice Carpenter and Bowyer
• Stoneworker: Novice Engraver, Mason, Mechanic, and Building Designer
• Jeweler: Novice Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Wood Crafter, Stone Crafter, and Bone Crafter
• Fisherdwarf: Novice Fisherdwarf
• Fish Cleaner: Novice Fish Cleaner, Butcher, Tanner, Weaver, Clothier, and Leatherworker
• Doctor¹: Novice Wood Cutter, Brewer, Cook, Grower, Herbalist, Furnace Operator, Wood Burner, Lye Maker, and Potash Maker; Competent Wound Dresser, Diagnostician, Surgeon, Bone Doctor, and Suturer.

One of these will be randomly flagged as Expedition Leader at the start. However all these Dwarves are selected from the surrounding civilizations and as a result it is possible to get Dwarves with honorary titles such as Law Giver or War Leader^[Verify]. These titles do not change the Dwarf's Template:L but indicate that they are important in some way within the world history.

The default embark value for a custom embark is 1274: 974 in pre-chosen goods and 300 unassigned. The Play Now! embark only uses 1038 points. While a Play Now! embark is no more doomed than any other embark, it is always better to Prepare Carefully once you know what you're doing with the set up of an early fort since Novice Butcher is hardly better than a Dwarf you manually flagged for the job. The only good reason is if you really want the Super Doctor, given the hazards of learning medical skills on-the-job.

¹The doctor here is impossible to create in a custom embark, having 24 skill points (135 embark points) out of the usual possible 10.

Prepare Carefully

Preparing allows the player to customize their embarking party and supplies by spending a pool of points which is shared between skills and equipment, with each skill rank and equipment item having a set value. The total value of embarking is set at 1,274 points, though all but 300 of these are pre-spent on an array of basic equipment (the same equipment Play Now! uses.) It stands that one should try to maximize the value of their embark by spending all available points.

Skills

Main article: Template:L

The seven settlers you begin with can be assigned up to ten skill ranks picked from the entire Dwarven skill list, including military, though only a maximum of 5 ranks (giving them a rank of "Proficient") can be bought in any one skill. Skill ranks are bought from the shared pool at a cost of 5 for the first rank, 6 for the second, 7 for the third, and so on. Maxing out a skill thus costs a total of 35 points. Although this is already fairly involved, between the long skill list and the floating cost, the value of a rank is subject to further scrutiny given the early-game value, or lack thereof, of certain skills as well as the relative ease or difficulty of training ranks in a given skill. Many skills are performed just as well (or with little functional difference) by a Novice or even a Dabbler as they are by a Legendary. A Novice Furnace Operator won't produce Coke as fast as a Legendary Furnace Operator, but they will produce it fast enough to keep their neighbor smelting hematite until the cows come home.

For a more complex example there is much overlap between what can be produced out of wood and what can be produced out of metal, but wood is plentiful in the early game (often throughout if a tree farm is established, and caravans will bring in several pages worth of wood if you request it) while metalworking can take much longer to establish, or would take several times longer to produce a given product in early game due to the multiple steps required, especially without a magma smelter. Metalworking also skills up slower than woodworking and metal products have a longer base production time than wood products.

From one point of view Woodworking skills would be of more immediate use in producing quick goods of higher value in the early game, especially given the high volume needed; however furniture quality is of little concern in the early game, and the high volume of value-independent goods (such as barrels which you won't be trading away on their own or using to furnish chambers) will cause your carpenter to skill up fairly quickly. Even on a strictly functional level even a Novice carpenter can produce beds, barrels, and bins fast enough to keep up with a fledgling base. Lastly once metal production is up and running it can be agonizingly slow if a Farmer or Peasant has to be re-assigned to learn from scratch, thus a Proficient Metalsmith stands to pay off much more in the run of the game than starting with a Proficient Carpenter.

Supplies

The default array of supplies covers a broad range of foodstuffs, seeds, drink, tools, and medical equipment, and is reasonable, though extra food and drink never hurt anyone. Lower forest embark sites should definitely consider bringing extra logs to cover the early demand for beds, &c. Also do not overlook the value of bringing animals. Dogs in particular can provide an excellent early warning system, good fighters against kobolds and other thieves, and a healthy supply of meat and bones.

(To be inserted: list of default supplies - currently found on Template:L.)

Embark Strategies

The strategies below are suggestions. They are not universal, and many are even contradictory. This is because there is no One True Way to play Dwarf Fortress. Some may not work for you because of unstated assumptions about priority, value, fun, or procedure. However, since Losing is Fun, it's always worth it to try something out, even if it doesn't go well.

Picking the Right Location

Need More Dirt - three layers of soil before the stone layers begin provides a very large area that can be used to quickly carve out efficient storage rooms and large tree farms of the colorful underground trees without the need to flood/muddy large areas of stone.

Flowing Water (and Its Inverse) - flowing water (river or stream) is a must have for the infinite power it supplies for working machinery and because underground water supplies are too dangerous to tap into. Alternately flowing water is nothing but a FPS killer given that infinite water is available underground.

Preparation Strategies

Free Barrels - many products are stored in bins, barrels, or bags and do not stack with other items even if they're in the same broad classification. Plump Helmets and Horse Meat come in separate barrels even though they're both food. Purchasing a single item of food (or increasing the number to one above the storage limit of the barrel i.e. 11, 21, 31) will also produce a free barrel for it to be stored in. As barrels have a cost of 3 to buy empty buying a single unit of cost 2 foodstuffs gets you a value of 5. Anything above cost 2 bought for the express purpose of getting barrels would be better off just buying barrels empty or raw logs. This concept can be extended to many different goods and for any stored good you were "going to buy anyway" you should avoid buying exactly a container's worth of. Do not get 20, get 21.

• Note that meat products from the same animal will store in the same barrel, thus 1 unit of Horse Meat and 1 unit of Horse Tripe will only get you 1 barrel, not 2.

Cheap Bags - while even the cheapest bags (made from cave spider silk and low-value leather) cost 10 points each, you can instead simply bring several units of Template:L costing 1 point each, as each unit of sand will be stored in its own bag made from a randomly selected material (including giant cave spider silk and valuable creature leather).

Don't Really Need That - unless you have tailored your embark for metal production quick and early, an anvil is unnecessary and the 100 points you get from refunding it can be better spent on skills or additional foodstuffs (can't really have enough foodstuffs). By the time the Dwarven caravan arrives in the fall, a 100☼ iron anvil, or even a 300☼ steel anvil, should be little more than an inconvenience. The same train of thought can be extended to the second copper battle axe, though weapons tend to cost much much more from caravans due to quality multipliers. This strategy was much more prevalent in prior versions where an anvil was worth 1,000☼ (close to 50% of the total embark value of 2,060) and a 300☼ steel battle axe could buy 100 logs, but is still fairly valid.

REALLY Don't Need That - bring no pre-constructed goods (weapons, buckets, &c.), just the materials to make them with. This requires several (3-10, though you're likely to bring way more) logs, 4 bars of copper, and an anvil. When first arriving build a Wood Furnace and a Forge, make charcoal, then three picks and an axe. Also medical supplies are a waste to start with because if you need them you're screwed. You may want to bring some rope along though...

Yes, I Do Need That - never leave without an anvil, since nothing guarantees the first caravan will even have one for sale.

Skill Sets

Here are some sample skill distribution sets.

Ashery

• Military: 5 armor use, 5 dodge. Possibly a mix of dodge and shield use instead of max dodge, but that's up in the air. Set to start training the moment goods are hauled inside the fort's entrance. Also does woodcutting as needed.
• Doctor/Leader: 1 appraise, 2 diagnose, 2 bone doctor, 2 surgeon, 2 wound dresser, 1 suture. Also serves as one of my primary miners and, once replacement miners come, the fort's first bookkeeper as well.
• Farmer/Cook: 4 farming, 5 cooking, 1 armorsmith. Does most of the early hauling grunt work, but eventually is restricted only to food related activites. No mining is done in order to keep armorsmithing as the highest moodable skill.
• Farmer/Brewer: 4 farming, 5 brewing, 1 armorsmith. Same as the cook.
• Weapon/Armorsmith: 5 armorsmith, 5 weaponsmith. Does a sizable amount of the early mining, but is removed from duty before the mining skill gets too high.
• Mason: 5 mason, 5 building design. Can help out with mining if necessary, but is usually busy constructing buildings or helping the farmers haul goods.
• Carpenter/Mechanic: 5 carpentry, 5 mechanic. An odd mix, but mechanisms are my primary export.

Tarran

• (every skill has five points put into it)
• 2 miners/engravers (when they are not mining they are engraving)
• 1 mason/carpenter (deals with all that stuff)
• 1 mechanic/stonecrafter (when he is not making mechanisms he is making crafts)
• 1 woodcutter/architect (when not cutting wood he is designing buildings)
• 1 grower/brewer (deals with all my needs this early in the game)
• 1 adequate armorsmith, weaponsmith, and metalcrafter. novice furnace operator, and wood burner (remove wood burner if you have magma)

Ancient Enemy

• Leader with all his points distributed through negotiation/bookkeeper/appraiser/etc.
• 3 dwarves with proficient mining
• 1 proficient grower
• 1 proficient brewer
• 1 proficient cook

Proteus

• Leader/Miner: 6-7 points into things important to become leader and broker (appraisal, negotiation, judge of intent, organizing and others, all at least with 1 pt), rest into mining
• Doc/Recordkeeper +at least another productive job: 1-2pts into diagnostics, 1pt in each other medical skill, 1pt in recordkeeping, rest into 1-2 jobs
• Cook: 4-5pts in cooking, 2-4pts in brewing, rest in fish cleaning and butchery
• Farmer: around 3-4pts in Growing, at least 1pt in milling, plant processing and brewing
• Crafter: Usually 5pts in stone crafting, rest in other crafting jobs (although that might change, as now bone carving has become next to worthless)
• Clothier: 2-4pts in leatherworking and clothier, rest into weaving and tanning
• Builder: Most of his points into Masonry, Engraving and Mechanics, as well as a few points into Carpenter (if no other dwarf already has pts in this job)

See also the Starting Build article for more detailed embark strategies.