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

Embark is the moment at the very beginning of the game, before actual game play begins (but after generating a world), 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. That said there are still several considerations to keep in mind, namely aquifers, ore types, wood, climate, and neighbours.

Biomes

Main article: Template:L

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

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). 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.

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, wether water will freeze in winter, and how quickly water evaporates. 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.

Note also that there is presently a bug in Hot or hotter climates where rain may superheat and melt dwarves and pets that are outside.

Ore and Stone Types

Main articles: Template:L and Template:L

The types of stone available will determine the types of ore and gems available, but regardless of the specifics plenty of both will be available. Ore will determine what metals are available for use, which will in turn have significant impacts on your weapons and armour. Note that steel requires both an Iron ore and Template:L making Template:L, Template:L, and Template:L frequently preferred stone layers.

Plant Life

Main article: Template:L and Template:L

Wood is the only substance Template:L can be made of and producing wooden bins and barrels is far faster and easier in the early game than producing metal versions. Most forts will require at least a nominal number of trees, though trees can be farmed underground in any biome.

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

Surroundings

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. Surroundings affect the types of plant life, wild animals and creatures which will appear in play within a given biome. 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.

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
• Fisherdwarf¹: Novice Fisherdwarf, and Negotiator; Dabbling Judge of Intent, Conversationalist, Comedian, and Flatterer
• Fish Cleaner: Novice Fish Cleaner, Butcher, Tanner, Weaver, Clothier, and Leatherworker
• Doctor²: 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.

None of these will be flagged as Expedition Leader at the start due to the lack of an Adequate Negotiator. 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. These titles do not change the Dwarf's Template:L but indicate that they are important in some way within the world history.

¹It is possible that this dwarf will not have Negotiator or the other social skills. A Novice Negotiator is required to be able to flag dwarves for any jobs besides mining, hauling, cleaning, and Other. The presence or lack of these skills on this dwarf does not seem to be reflected in the overall point value of the embark, though this value is functionally only 5 since it's impossible to buy a skill at the Dabbling value.
²The doctor here is impossible to create in the custom embark, having 24 skill points (135 embark points).
³The 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.

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 neighbour 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 fledgeling 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).

Embark Strategies

The strategies below are suggestions. 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.

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.

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 cost 100 Iron anvil, or even a cost 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 editions where an anvil was worth close to 50% of the total embark value (2,060) at cost 1,000 and an axe could buy 100 logs, but is still fairly valid.

Bugs

^v31.02

• Once you choose "dwarf fortress" from the start new game menu, you cannot go back to the main menu without embarking or force-quitting the game.
• Once you choose a location to embark, you likewise cannot go back.
• Fish are double-listed in the embark items screen. If you choose both fish the game will crash. ^[Verify]