v0.31:Bentgirder

Bentgirder is a Dwarf Fortress package for beginners. With it, you can skip the dull, time-consuming tasks of generating a world, finding an embark point, and preparing an expedition. Just unzip the save, and play along with this tutorial.

You can get it here: http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2645

Unzip the Bentgirder package to the same directory as Dwarf Fortress.

[screen shot: strike the earth]

Lesson One: The Basics

Starting the game

At the main menu, choose to continue a game. It will ask you to pick a game region, but there should only be one choice: region0, the location of future outpost Matthob, aka Bentgirder.

[screen shot of continue game screen?]

Setting up the screen: tab, resize, zoom

The default screen setup is a little crowded. The actual game view is on the left hand side. You can use the tab key to hide the mini-map and the command menu. Just keep tapping tab to cycle through different configurations. You might want to keep the command menu visible for easy reference.

In the most recent versions of Dwarf Fortress, you can re-size the window with the mouse, and zoom in and out with the mouse wheel. Also, you can toggle the full-screen mode with F11, but that will make it harder to read this as you play.

You can use the arrow keys to scroll around the map. To move faster, use shift-arrow. If you get lost, press F1 to center the screen on the wagon.

Game Options: Escape

Esc brings up the game options menu, which includes things like volume control, and the quit & save option. Note there is no save & continue option. Dwarf Fortress is hardcore. If your fortress goes south, you don't go back to your last save, you have to suck it up or start over. Remember, loosing is fun!

When in doubt, pause: space bar

The game starts paused. Use the space bar pause and unpause your game. It might be best to leave it paused for now. Your dwarves will only mill around and eat without any orders from you.

Looking around: K

First, lets make sense of this jumble of characters that is the main screen. Press k to activate the look mode. The pauses the game, and puts a yellow X in the middle of the screen. That X is your cursor. Use the arrow keys or number pad to move it around. The right side of the screen will show a list of what is in the selected tile. It also shows that the ground below is made of.

The screen will be centered on a 3x3 brown square. That's the wagon full of supplies to get you through the year. Nearby, you will see your seven dwarves, a few animals, and lots of trees and shrubs. To the right, there's a brook. The dark blue patches that show up as "empty space" are ponds.

Opposite the brook is a hillside. You'll see that the green up-arrows are upward slopes, so your dwarves can walk up this hill easily. Beyond that is a silt loam wall. That's just a kind of dirt. It's called a wall because the whole tile is full of dirt.

Press Escape to end look mode.

[screen shot]

Z-levels: <, >

Dwarf Fortress is a three dimensional game. Anywhere you can use the arrow keys to move a cursor or the map, you can use < and > to move vertically. Each step is called a z-level. You can only see one z-level at a time, so hills are blacked out walls, and valleys show as empty space. In the bottom right of the screen, there's a display of the current z-level. The wagon is parked on level 146.

If you move the display up one step, (to 147) most of the map will appear as empty space, but the hill to the left now looks normal. Conversely, if you go down to 145, all you can see is the bottoms of the ponds and the brook. If you follow the brook south, there's a valley at the bottom edge of the map. From level 146 it appears as empty space, but on 145, it is normal terrain.

View creatures: V

K is good for looking at the map itself, but to get more information on creatures (including your dwarves) use v. This works a lot like k mode, but the right side menu now shows detailed info on the creature closest to the cursor. If you're between creatures, or if there's more than one in a tile, press v again to cycle between creatures.

There are four sub-sections here: general, inventory, preferences, and wounds. For your dwarves, general shows what skills that dwarf has. Inventory shows what the dwarf is carrying and wearing. Preferences shows what work the dwarf will do. (This will be important later.) Wounds shows the creature's injuries as color codes. Healthy body parts are shown as bright white.

Secondary selection keys: +, -

In many modes, you can scroll though the information in the right-hand menu with the secondary select keys, + and -. For example, scrolling through lists of skills when viewing a dwarf.

Unit List: U

Press u to bring up unit list. This shows every living thing on the map. That's your seven dwarves, two dogs, two cats, a donkey, and some wild deer. ("Stray" animals are tame, but not attached to any individual dwarf.)

There are several useful functions here. Use v to get more info on the highlighted creature. For the animals, this jumps straight to a description. For dwarves, there is an intermediate screen showing the dwarf's owned objects.

Use c to go back to the map, centered on the highlighted creature. For example, we could find out where those wild deer are hiding. This puts you into the view creature mode, just like the v command, above.

Fortress information: Z

Instead of scanning around the map, you can press z to get an overview of the whole fortress from the status screen. This shows the current date, your dwarven population, your wealth total (including imported and exported wealth), as well as food and drink supplies.

Wait a minute, what's this?

[SS: need appraisal]

Assign Nobles: N

Press escape to exit the overview screen. Press n to bring up the nobles and administrators screen. We need to assign a broker, so use the arrow keys to move the highlight to broker, and press enter. This brings up a list of dwarves. Fortunately, we have a dwarf with the Appraiser skill: Mörul Kibdakon. He is already our expedition leader, but that's OK.

Mörul also has medical skills, so you could set him up as chief medical dwarf.

Lesson Two: Meet Vabôk the Miner

[SS: vabok]

Designation Menu: D

Enough looking around, let's get digging! Press d to bring up the designations menu. This gives us the cursor, and a list of options, each with a letter.

Let's go straight down, right next to the wagon. For that we need downward staircase. According to the window, that's j. Press j and downward staircase becomes highlighted.

The designation mode assumes that you want to mark a rectangular area. To make a designation, press enter to mark one corner, move the cursor to the opposite corner, and press enter again. You can also use the mouse, which is easier for small designations, like the one we're about to make.

Since we only need a small staircase, just click one square. The square is now marked with a > sign. As soon as we unpause, Vabok will walk to the tile, and carve a staircase into the dirt.

One problem, though. A designation doesn't cross z-levels. If you look at the level below, you'll see that the square below is exposed, but does not contain a staircase. We need to designate an upward staircase (u) in that square before we can dig any further.

Once that's taken care of, we can the regular mine designation to dig horizontally. We need some space for shelter and storage, so make a tunnel north or west, and then expand it into a big underground room.

Note that in designation mode, any tile that's next to water will blink blue. This is warn you against mining into water and flooding your fortress.

Removing designations

If you make a designation by accident, you can remove it from the designation mode. Choose remove designation, (x) and mark the tiles you want to un-designate. If Vabok has already mined it out, it'll take a bit of work to fix it. See the FAQ at the bottom of the page.

You have struck gypsum!

There is an outcropping of stone nearby, just west of the wagon. Gypsum is a common type of stone. There is also some useful lignite nearby, and clusters of agates, a type of low-value gem.

You might want to avoid digging these valuables until Vabok is more experienced, or at least until you can take advantage of these resources.

Announcement list: A

Press a to see previous announcements. As you fortress grows, these come up more and more often, so it's easy to miss them. Also note that you can zoom to the location of an announcement from here.

Other Designations: cutting trees, gathering plants

While we're waiting for Vabok to finish our new digs, (pardon the pun) we can put our other dwarves to work with other designations.

Choose the "chop down trees" designation, and mark a big swath around the wagon. Then do it again with "gather plants." Your dwarves will quickly go to work on these tasks.

[SS: working dwarves]

That's three out of seven dwarves hard at work. Not bad for just knowing one command!

Lesson Three: Meet Stâkud the Carpenter

[SS: Stakud]

Building: B

To get any carpentry done, we need the appropriate workshop. Press b for the build menu. There are three pages of things that can be built here, and some of these entries lead to sub-menus. You can use the secondary select keys here, and each entry has a shortcut key as well. We are looking for workshops. Press w for the shortcut. The carpenter's workshop is on the first page here, with the shortcut c.

Now it's time to place the workshop where we want it. Since there's not much room underground, lets build it on the surface for now. It's trivial to break down a workshop and build a new one, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

The last step is choosing the materials to build it out of. Like most workshops, it can be built out of wood, metal, or stone, and it only takes one unit of materials. Our woodcutter has been hard at work, so there are some logs lying around, and there are a few tower-cap logs on the wagon, just in case. Materials are sorted by distance, and wood is wood, so just take the first one. Stâkud will run to the chosen location and start building his workshop.

Workshop Control: Q

Press q for the view room mode. This works a lot like view creature mode. Move the cursor near a room, and you'll get some options listed in the right panel. The only rooms so far are new carpenter's workshop and the wagon. The wagon's only option is to tear it down, but the workshop has the all important "add new task" option.

This brings up a list of things that can be built at this workshop. For now, lets build some beds. Our dwarves are going to get tired eventually, and beds can only be made from wood.

Stockpiles: P

Kubuk has been leaving cut-down trees all over the place. Why don't we move them all closer to the carpenter's workshop to Stakud doesn't have to drag them all that way?

Press p for the stockpiles mode. Stockpile mode works just like a designation, but with no mouse control. We want a wood stockpile, so press w to highlight wood. Then mark the opposite corners of a small rectangular area near Stakud's workshop. The area is filled in with = signs. As soon as the game resumes, all your dwarves will run to fill the stockpile with logs.

Why stop there? The beds that Stakud is building are just cluttering up the workshop. Lets make a furniture stockpile on the opposite side. Note that there is some furniture on the wagon.

Vabok should be about done clearing space underground, and all these rats are making me nervous. Create a big food stockpile in the cleared space.

You can use k to look at the contents of your stockpiles. Take a look at your new beds, the enormous piles of booze, and the barrels of revolting organ meats.

Eventually, you will want to move all your workshops and stockpiles underground. There are creatures that will steal your things. Moving everything underground is safer. Building them on the surface is just to get started quickly.

Quality symbols

Notice that your new creations have symbols around their names, like -pine bed- or +cedar bed+. These are quality indicators. Items with no symbols are minimum quality crap. As a general rule, more lines mean more quality, which means the item is worth more money.

-double-

+triple+

*quadruple*

≡five times≡

¤twelve times¤

Placing Furniture (beds)

Dwarves can't sleep on a bed while it's in the stockpile. To set up a bed properly, use the build mode again. Bed is the second option, shortcut b. This is just like how we built the workshop, but instead of a log, the only component is a bed.

Meet ïteb the Farmer

Irrigation

All the seeds you have are for dwarven fungus that grows underground. They don't grow in dirt, they only grow in mud. To get some mud in your new home, you need to dump some water.

Channel a hole

Zones: I Creating a farm plot Plump helmets: the staff of life

Meet Meng the Mason

A mason's workshop is very much like the carpenter's workshop, only it makes things out of stone. Since you will soon be neck deep in stone,

Make an office for a bookkeeper

All the question marks in the overview screen are annoying.

Build a trade depot Making a dining hall Construction Make a tomb

Meet Sazir the Mechanic

Traps Cages and the Animal stockpile Trade Goods: Bentgirder Memorial Collectable Mugs

Meet Mörul the Doctor/Trader/Brewer

Brewing Trading Make a hospital

Meet Kûbuk the Axedwarf

Military screen: M Burrows: W Combat Reports: R Squad Command: S Points and Routes: shift-N

Meet the Migrants

Changing labor assignments Smoothing & Engraving Animal Trainer Appointing a Bookkeeper and Manager Boyer Bone Carving and Wood Crafting Food Industry: Cook, Miller, Thresher, Milker, Cheese maker Fishing Butcher Hunter Cloth Industry Metal Industry Gem Industry Glass Industry Leather Industry Soap Herbalist Useless skills: Trapper, Dissector, Animal Caretaker, Pump Operator

Future of the Fortress

Dealing with Nobles Individual Bedrooms Better Military Build a Castle Farming Above Ground Dig a Well Build a Prison Build a Statue Garden or Zoo The Dwarven Economy

Other Commands

Hot keys: H Items in Room: T Job Manager: J Artifact List: L Options: O Trade Depot Access: shift-D Local Civilizations: C Artifact List: L Room List: R The (Questionable) Manual: ?

FAQ

What's with all the vomit? What's with the dead rats? A dwarf just withdrew from society, got possessed, or was taken by a fey mood. What is berserk / stark, raving mad / melancholy? An animal stole my stuff! A thief or snatcher appeared! A squad of goblins appeared! What's a vile force of darkness? A dragon/colossus/hydra/titan/forgotten beast appears!