40d:What should I build first

Dwarves have basic needs similar to humans - food, drink, and somewhere to live & work. If you don't fulfill these requirements your dwarves will become unhappy and eventually go insane.

Food and Drink

You should start out with a plentiful supply of food and drink at your wagon. But depending on where you build your fort, this could be quite a walk back and forth for your dwarves when they get hungry and thirsty - you'll probably want to create a food stockpile near the entrance of your fort, preferably dig out a store room inside the fort to protect both your food and dwarves.

For replenishing your food you have several options:

• Grow food from seeds at a farm;
• Gather plants from the surroundings;
• Fish from rivers, and prepare the raw fish at the fishery;
• Hunt wild animals.

Dwarves like to eat their food in a dining room, so you will need to create tables and chairs, and build them inside. Once you've built at least one table you can select it and define a dining room from it.

Tables and chairs can be made from any material, but stone is (generally) readily available. So you'll need a mason's workshop and a dwarf with the Masonry labour enabled.

If your alcohol ever runs out, your dwarves will drink water from any pool/stream in the surrondings - you may want to designate a drinking zone at the nearest pond.

To brew more alcohol you will need a still, the appropriate raw plants, and a dwarf with the Brewing labour enabled.

Dwarves who are either injured (they only drink water) or forced to drink water when the alcohol runs out, will be happier less upset if they have a well to get their water from.

Bedrooms

You need to construct beds for your dwarves and build them inside. Beds can only be made out of wood, and hence you will need a carpenter's workshop, logs, and a dwarf with the Carpentry labour enabled.

A bed is first constructed by the carpenter, then built/placed by a furniture hauler. It is worth planning the placement of bedrooms as dwarves are greatly bothered by noise, and poor placement of bedrooms will result in a very inefficient fortress.

Expanding

While there are no fixed goals, general goals either develop with the location or are regarded as managing a growing, prosperous dwarven settlement. Achieving this will require industry beyond subsistence living.

• Defense: Most forts need at least a small military to fend of various nuisances.

• A mechanic's workshop allows creation of traps and machines, taking some pressure from your military.

• Dwarves will be happier if they have recreational space, starting with a meeting hall (defined from a table, or through an activity zone) for your idle dwarves, craftdwarf's workshop so you can start making goods to sell the merchants, and burner/smelter/forge workshops for making metal items.

Your first fortress has some great suggestions, but really it's up to you how you build your fort.

Beginner's guide FAQ
Basic getting started guide
Where in the world should I settle?
What skills and items should I equip my dwarves with?
Where in my area should I build my fort?
What should I build first?
How do I assign tasks to specific dwarves?
How do I get more dwarves?
Add a question to this FAQ
Back to the Main FAQ