Editing v0.31:Bentgirder

'''Bentgirder''' is a ''Dwarf Fortress'' package for beginners. With it, you skip [[World_generation|generating a world]], finding an [[Embark|embark point]], and [[Embark#Creating_Your_Settlers|preparing an expedition]]. Unzip the Bentgirder package to the same directory as ''Dwarf Fortress'', and play along with this tutorial.  

You can get Bentgirder here: [http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2645 Download] If you're using a graphical tile set, you will need to copy over the modified raw files. If you're using the [[Lazy Newb Pack]] there's an automatic save updater that will do this for you. If you have already created a world, you can use the same [http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=2855 embark file] used for Bentgirder. This gives you the same [[starting build]], but you're on your own for finding a location.  

At the '''main menu''', choose to '''continue''' a game (use arrow keys, then hit enter to select). 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'''. A loading screen will appear, with the words "loading game..."

[[File:MainMenuv0.31.png|The command window.|frame]]

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 {{k|F11}}, but that will make it harder to read this as you play.

{{k|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 struggle through, or [[abandon]] and start over. Remember, losing is [[Fun]]!

First, lets make sense of this jumble of characters that is the main screen. Press {{k|k}} to activate the '''look mode'''. This pauses the game, and puts a yellow {{Raw Tile|X|6:0:1}} 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 what 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 [[tree]]s and [[shrub]]s. To the right, there's a [[brook]]. The dark blue patches that show up as "empty space" are [[Murky pool|ponds]].  

''Dwarf Fortress'' is a '''three dimensional''' game. Anywhere you can use the arrow keys to move a cursor or the map, you can use {{k|<}} and {{k|>}} to move vertically. Each step is called a '''z-level'''. You can only see one z-level at a time.  Undiscovered earth is blacked out, while empty space above ground show as light blue. In the bottom right of the screen, there's a display of the current z-level.  On the right is also a scroll bar that shows where you are relative to sky (light blue) and earth (dark). The wagon is parked on level 146.  

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

Since your dwarves don't know how much stuff is around (without a [[bookkeeper]]) or how much stuff is worth (without a [[broker]]), the food and wealth information is not helpful. (More on that later.)

She may not look tough, but Vabôk is your only [[miner]] and that makes her very important.  

Enough looking around, let's start [[mining]]! Press {{k|d}} to bring up the designations menu. This gives us the cursor, and a list of options, each with a letter.   

[[Soil]] just disappears as it is mined out, but [[stone]] is left behind in big chunks. There is an outcropping  of stone nearby, north and west of the wagon. [[Gypsum]] is a type of stone that can be made into [[plaster powder]]. There is also some useful [[lignite]] nearby, a source of [[fuel]] for your forge, and clusters of agates, a type of low-value [[gem]].  

The more Vabok digs, the more [[Experience|experienced]] she gets in mining. As her skill increases, she'll dig squares out quicker and destroy less  [[rock]], [[gem]]s, and [[ore]], as she goes.   

This is true of all skills in ''Dwarf Fortress''. Dwarves improve their skills through practice. More skill means higher quality work, done faster. Keeping your dwarves working and learning is the key to a thriving fortress.  

Kubuk has been leaving cut-down [[tree]]s all over the place. Why don't we move them all closer to the carpenter's workshop so Stakud doesn't have to drag them so far?  

Besides beds, the most important things a carpenter will make are [[bin]]s and [[barrel]]s. Barrels are used to hold food and drink. Bins are used to store nearly everything else. Try to keep a few extras of each.

Ïteb has already been working on the surface, gathering useful plants, but his main function is to plant a farm.  

All the seeds you have are for dwarven [[crop]]s that grow underground. Farms can only be built on soil or muddy stone. Dig an area for your farm, one z-level below the surface and near the brook or a pond. A three by three area will easily feed all your dwarves. Make it four-by-four if you want a big one.  

Now it's time to build a [[farm plot]]. It's in the build menu, and the shortcut is p. Changing the size of your plot with u,m,k, and h. {{k|u}} and {{k|k}} make it larger, {{k|h}}and {{k|m}} make it smaller. (This awkward method is used in a very few places in ''Dwarf Fortress''.) As soon as you exit build mode, Ïteb will build the new plot.  

Now watch as Ïteb comes and builds the fields.  Once your plot is constructed, use {{k|q}} to view its settings. Here, you can use the secondary select to choose a crop to grow for the current season. You can also use a-d to plan other seasons of the year. What to grow first?

[[Plump helmet]]s are the best thing to grow in a new fortress. They can be eaten raw, with no preparation required. You can grow them year-round.  They can also be [[brew]]ed into dwarven wine, but more about that later. You have a bag of seeds for nearly every dwarven crop in your starting supplies, but none are as immediately useful as plump helmets. You can experiment with the other [[crop]]s later on.  

Once you make your selection, Ïteb will start bringing seeds (called "spawn") to plant. If you made a big farm, you might get an alert that Ïteb is out of plump helmet spawn. Don't panic. That is just temporary. Every time a dwarf eats (or brews) a plump helmet, a spawn seed gets spat onto the floor. Eventually, these seeds get gathered back into your food stockpile, with the rest of the seeds.

Some items have different names, depending on what material the item is made out of. Stone chairs are called "thrones" and stone chests are called "coffers". Don't get confused! They work exactly the same. There are a lot of items that have multiple names, like [[coffin]]s (aka caskets or sarcophagi), [[goblet]]s (aka mugs or cups), and [[flask]]s (aka waterskins or vials).  

==What's [[Economic_stone|economic stone]]?==

One of the options under the [[status]] screen is [[Stone]]s. (Remember, bring up the status screen by pressing {{k|z}}).  This is where you direct your dwarves which stones are reserved for special uses and which can be used to make any old thing ([[crafts]], [[mechanism]]s, [[furniture]], etc.). This prevents a future engineer from taking a very valuable (say [[platinum]]) stone and making a [[quality|no name]] mechanism out of it.  Gypsum is reserved as a component of [[Plaster_powder|plaster]], but we have an abundance.  Go ahead and hit enter when gypsum is selected to change it from red (unavailable for general use) to green (available).

While we're at it, let's appoint a [[bookkeeper]], to fix all those annoying question marks in the status screen. Sadly, none of our starting seven have the proper skills for this job. You can assign an unskilled dwarf to this position, but it will take much more work for your records to be made accurate.  If you've gotten any [[migrant]]s by now, you could appoint a useless [[peasant]] to this role. If not, then one of the seven founders can take the job for now.  

This is a common method in ''Dwarf Fortress'' of placing a piece of furniture and expanding a [[room]] around it. Chairs turn into offices, tables turn into [[dining room]]s, beds turn into [[bedroom]]s, coffins turn into [[tomb]]s, [[chain]]s and [[cage]]s into [[jail]]s, [[statue]]s turn into statue gardens, and nearly anything can be turned into a [[barracks]].  

More often than not, some of your dwarves will meet [[fun|untimely deaths]].  Dwarves like to bury their comrades properly.  Have Meng build a few [[coffin]]s at the mason workshop. (The queue size for most workshops is 10.  If you want more, you can use the job manager queue, but don't forget to appoint a [[manager]].)  At the same time, have Vabôk mine out a small 3x3 area.  Once the coffins are done, have them built ({{K|b}} and then {{K|n}}) in the area that you mined out. After the coffin is installed, designate the coffin for use by your dwarves by ({{K|q}} and then {{K|b}}).  Nobles demand (and rightfully belong in) [[tomb]]s, which are coffins made into rooms and assigned to them specifically.

[[Dining_room|Dining halls]] are simple - a few tables and chairs in a room.  Have a larger 5x5 area mined out close to your food stockpiles.  Then, have four or five stone [[chair]]s (thrones, remember) and [[table]]s made.  Arrange the tables and chairs in the room as you like, making sure that every table has a chair next to it.  Don't worry about blocking doors, as dwarves don't believe in manners and will walk over most furniture if needed.  Now, designate the room for use as a dining room by pressing {{k|q}} , then selecting the table.  You can also designate the room as a [[Meeting_hall|meeting place]], which means dwarves will hang out there if they don't have any jobs to do.  This also means they can celebrate weddings and have [[Party|parties]] there, too!  Grand dining halls are a good way to make your dwarves happy.

Oops!  You mined out the wrong square. Or, "Boy wouldn't a lookout tower be nice so my [[crossbowman|marksdwarves]] can pelt the enemy with bolts?"  These are possible with [[constructions]].  You can designate what to construct under the build menu, ({{k|b}}-{{k|C}}). You'll need to determine what you want to build, and the material that will be used.  (The material determines who will build it - a mason for rock, etc.) Now you can build [[stair]]s, [[ramp]]s, [[wall]]s to finish whatever [[Mega_construction|project]] you have in mind.

Sazir has two jobs: He's a [[mechanic]] and a [[stone crafter]]. The former task requires a [[mechanic's workshop]], and the latter calls for a [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]].  

[[Trap]]s are the easiest way to defend your fortress. Your dwarves, and friendly visitors like the merchants, can walk across traps without danger, but they are devastating to hostile creatures and wildlife.  

To build traps, you need mechanisms. A [[mechanism]] is an abstract collection of gears, pulleys and widgets that can be used to make machines. Mechanisms are made from stone, at a mechanic's workshop, and stored in a furniture stockpile. There are lots of fun things you can do with mechanisms, like a [[drawbridge]] that raises with a pull of a lever. This lesson only covers the easy ones. Advanced [[trap design]] is too big a subject to cover here.  

Cage trap can capture some intruders alive with great efficiency. (What to do with [[captured creatures]] is another question.) They are built just like the stone fall trap, but instead of a rock, you need a [[cage]]. Wooden cages can be created at the carpenter's workshop, glass terrariums in the glass shop, etc.  

Notice that cages don't get stored in the furniture stockpile. Instead, they go to the animal stockpile {{k|p}}-{{k|a}}. If you catch something in a cage trap, or you buy an animal from the merchants, the cage with its occupant are brought back to this stockpile. It's a good idea to keep some empty space in this stockpile, if you're using cage traps.  To remove the animal from the cage, build the cage {{k|b}}-{{k|j}} and then use the {{k|q}} command to deselect the occupant.  A dwarf will come along and let the creature out.

As a stone crafter, Sazir can turn common stone into valuable [[goods|trade goods]]. The idea is to fill up a few bins of useless gewgaws, then trade them for more useful stuff from the merchants. The best place to start is stone mugs. Mugs are nice, since each lump of rock always turns into three mugs. (This is true of wineskins, cups, goblets, and flasks, too.) If mugs are too dull, make [[craft]]s instead. Crafts are randomized and often produce interesting figurines.

Trade goods can take up a huge amount of space. Make a big stockpile for [[finished goods]], and keep making [[bin]]s. Each bin can hold around twenty small items. Bins will not only improve storage, but also make it easier to move the goods to the depot when the merchants arrive.  

* '''Corpses''' Don't use this stockpile to take and store dead dwarves. Build [[coffin]]s for a proper burial.  

* '''Refuse''' Things in this stockpile will [[rot]], by definition. To avoid clouds of [[miasma]], build it outdoors.

Your most common drink starting out, will be [[dwarven wine]], which is made from brewing [[plump helmet]]s.  Always be sure to have a decent stock of plants to brew, as dwarves drink about three times as much as they eat. As a plus, brewing leaves the seeds behind, so your food can be brewed into drink while the seeds go right back into the ground. What plant gets brewed vs cooked? In the {{k|z}} status screen you can tell your cook exactly that using the ''kitchen'' menu.   

[[Trading]] is also under Mörul's authority.  He will be meeting [[merchant]]s at your trade depot up to three times a year, in Spring for the [[elf|elves]], Summer for the [[human]]s, and Autumn for the [[dwarf|dwarves]].   

When the merchants arrive, you'll get an announcement, the game will pause, and the screen will center on the newly arrived merchant. To prepare for trading, use the room control ({{k|q}}) on the [[trade depot]], and choose move {{k|g}}oods to depot. From this screen, you can use the arrow keys and enter to select anything in the fortress to be moved here for trading. This is an awful lot to scroll through, but you can press {{k|s}} to type in a partial name of the item you're looking for. If you search for "goods" it will show all the finished goods bins in the fortress. With a good broker, you can also sort by distance or item value.

Now simply wait as the traders meander their way to your depot.  An announcement will show you when they have started unloading their goods.  You can begin trading once all the traders have arrived.  Should anything happen to them (ambush, for example), they will make a run for it, and possibly abort trading with you. Once they have unloaded all their goods and your goods have all been moved to the depot, it is time to call your broker.  Use the room control on the [[trade depot]] to request a trader.  Note the other option that allows anyone to trade or specifically forbids anyone except the broker.  Hit {{k|b}} to let anyone trade.  Also, hit {{k|r}} to request a trader at the depot.  Once the dwarf has arrived, from the control screen of the trade center hit {{k|t}} to trade with them.  Simply put, the traders items show up on the left, your items are on the right.  Select items that you want from them on the left screen and what items you want to trade for them on the right screen.  Then hit {{k|t}} to attempt to trade.  The helpful number below show the traders profit and the weight of the items being traded.

We've seen Kûbuk at the very beginning, chopping down trees, but she is also your fortress's first line of defense. As a trained [[axedwarf]], she can chop down [[goblin]]s and [[kobold]]s as easily as trees.  

The squad will be given a random name, and you can now add Kûbuk to it. This will make her the [[v0.31:militia commander|militia commander]], as the first military dwarf of the fortress.  

To get the details of what's happening in combat, press {{k|r}} for [[combat report]]s. This starts out blank, but once the first [[thief]] stumbles into your fortress, things can get pretty gory.

The first wave of [[migrant]]s can double your population! The amount of migrants you will get depends on the overall quality of your fortress and the size of your civilization. If your fortress is just an unpolished hole-in-the-ground, you'll get very few migrants. If it's a massive, wondrously carved maze, you may get more migrants than you know what to do with. Providing food, drink, and beds for them all can be a challenge, but the extra hands make the fortress run more smoothly, and let you branch out into new fields.  

As the new dwarves come in, check their [[skill]]s and what labors are enabled. Some jobs are part of an [[industry]] of interlinked tasks. For example, a [[blacksmith]] needs a [[furnace operator]] to provide raw materials. Sometimes you luck out and get the migrant you need, sometimes you have to train an unskilled dwarf from scratch.

* Build an impressive [[dining hall]], Make individual bedrooms for your favorite dwarves, Cook meals, Smooth and [[engraving|engrave]] your walls, Grow a diversity of crops, Farm above ground, Build a [[statue]] garden or [[zoo]], Enforce justice with a [[prison]], Make [[clothing]].  

* Build a [[barracks]], Set a safe zone [[burrow]], Build a castle with a moat, Set up [[Scheduling#Alert_Levels|alert]]s, organize [[Scheduling#Schedules|training schedule]]s, Build more traps, Dig a [[well]], make [[steel]].

* Set up an [[armor]] and [[weapon]] industry to equip your eager recruits.

After the fortress reaches a certain size, the Expedition Leader will turn control over to an elected [[mayor]]. Around the same time, you are given the option of appointing a [[sheriff]]. These two are your first [[nobles]]. As your fortress gets bigger and more wealthy, you will have more of them.  

* Deal with [[demand]]s, Meet [[mandate]]s, Ramp up your exports, Attract a [[Baron]], Manage the [[Dwarven Economy]], Offer 10,000{{DB}} worth of goods to the dwarven caravan.

If ever the game seems too dull, start digging downward. The subterranean world is a complex and dangerous place. The [[caverns]] are a potential source of wealth, and deadly monsters.  

* Start an underground tree farm, Harvest [[cave spider]] [[silk]], Establish underground defenses, Reach the [[magma]] and set up [[magma forge]]s.  

''Dwarf Fortress'' just isn't the same without the giant monuments, [[stupid dwarf trick]]s and [[Megaprojects]].

Yes, that happens. There are thieving [[raccoon]]s in this area. Try to keep your stuff underground, and out of their reach. Try posting a soldier or a [[v0.31:Restraint|guard dog]] near your stockpiles to scare them off. (See Kubuk the Axedwarf for more information.)

Read the section on Kubuk the Axedwarf, if you haven't already. If a thief gets away with something valuable, your fort will attract more and more thieves in the future. [[v0.31:Restraint|guard dogs]] near entrances or entrance doors tied to levers also cut down on thieves.

That's an [[ambush]]. Hopefully, by the time your fort is wealthy enough to attract ambushes, you will have some [[Defense|defenses]] set up. Ambushes often appear with a [[Trading|caravan]], so hopefully you will have caravan guards helping you against the ambushers.  

There are still more commands in ''Dwarf Fortress'', even some very useful ones, that are not covered in this tutorial. There is detailed information at [[menu]].