Dwarf Fortress: Tutorial (Part 1)

[Minecraftdj01]

Where is everything? Aparently the graphics suck eggs. How do you possibly see them?! It looks like diffrent colored squares! No ppl buildings or anything.

[VineFynn]

@Minecraftdj01 Graphics packs like Ironhand are really good at what they do. The devs are more into making a great, complex game and leaving the graphics to the modders, who are just as dedicated as the devs.

[mat967]

dark world overworld from a link to the past ^^

[mrcow94]

Oh yea its from the legend of zelda...and i call myself a fan

[mrcow94]

I watched because of the music...I forget what game its from though, damn.

[bitesh]

...much lamer than actual DF music.

[Aelkamal]

I use the Dwarf Fortress version of Phoebius, it has more appealing graphics + info on materials !

[fr4n7]

i don't get it.

[treevstree]

wtf is this...man this can kiss my ass it sucks so bad

[Aelkamal]

@treevstree it's a game where you start with an expedition of 7 or less dwarfs, than you start making a stronghold wherever you want, cause the gameworld was generated by you, and it's history too.

[bitesh]

@treevstree oh no, no it doesn't. don't be fooled by appearances.

[SmokNiszczyciel]

@imurfather MOTHAFUCKA HALO OWNS YOU LOL YOURE NOT WORTH HALO GET LOST TIBIA KID, GET KILLED BY LVL 0 RAT AT ROOKGARD

[dislexicfrog]

Wen duz teh gaim stert?

[zenREVolution]

is this game really that fun? it looks like a quite complex strategy game. ive never heard of this game till now but it seems like people love it. if its really fun please people let me know

[oopsIdidasuper]

bloody hell, I didn't even get past disbanding the wagon!

[Killroi99]

im too stupid for this game. im goin back to Minecraft. Love the first song tho.

[TheMetalification666]

Cool..a micless person again

[F0Rccyay]

how do u go down floors>?

[chaplain900]

omg I cant even see through those pixels! can anybody tell what he's doing when screen changes? is this game really so complex?

[GobBluth1]

"cool music though?"

yeah, that's because it's legend of freakin zelda! of course it would be good music; what did you expect?

[chocho12321]

rage quit.

[lupine73]

Like the remixed Zelda theme :-p

[DeathbyDusk]

The funny thing is when I first tried this game, it had a nostalgic feal to it. Then I had a serious momment of thinking "This would have been amazing if it was 1981." Then I had to think "Wait, its 2008, can't this fucker be easier to play!?" Still, far more user friendly and lower difficulty curve then Eve online. Crappy tutorial though, you don't really explain things for new players to understand.

[raino1000]

woow i dont get shit bout this omg i don't get it i have this game and it is just numbers and shit like yours idk what the fuck to do NOOOOOOOOOO

[Fragglezed]

Holy crap this game looks so complicated. Why was I not born in the ASCII era :( Got no hope in hell understanding this now.

[xcusemeprincess]

holy crap new DF release, IVE BEEN WAITING ALMOST 2 YEARS FOR THIS

[WO2DW6Rocks]

how do i add skills it doesnt work with + or -

[xcusemeprincess]

@WO2DW6Rocks make sure you're using KEYPAD + or -, not the ones that next to the backspace on typical US keyboard layouts

[yi238]

@xcusemeprincess I have a laptop and i used Shift and the keys worked fine.

[Willson307]

@xcusemeprincess I don't have a keypad on my laptop! Help!

[xcusemeprincess]

@imurfather +1

[xcusemeprincess]

@imurfather go back 2 halo

[ChronoMagnium]

Not really a tutorial, but fun to watch! ^_^

[abortionxfetus]

what is song at 3:09?

[xcusemeprincess]

check out the video comments on the top right hand side of this page, click "More Info" and you'll see the list of the songs

[abortionxfetus]

right sorry, saw that after i made my post

[TehRassah]

LMFAO 2 CAT

[Chickidydow]

I usually hang on to the anvil in the beginning, the traders gouge you on the one you try to trade for and it's just much simpler to start out with one.

[Chardmalamune]

Graphics aside, this looks like a wonderful game. And I adore cave story, so clearly, graphics aren't a huge concern. I'd never play this, but that's because it's not really in my favored genre (aRPGs and platformers). Looks wonderful for the sort of people it's aimed at, though! From what I've read, the complexity is really astounding, way beyond me.

[lenowin]

Someone gave you a negative for that post? Lol, way too many fanboi's on the internet these days. Give the game a try and watch these and Captnducks tutorials, and it'll surprise you.

[jbrowsingj]

Cave story's graphics are beautiful.

[sharpiedyourwhat]

Then you clearly didn't read enough because half of the game is Adventure mode, which would fit in perfectly with your "aRPG."

[HerccoelFalater]

whats with the remixed zelda music.

kinda ruins it.

[Game4Dead]

You get really tired of hearing the Dwarf Fortress music, and without any music the video would just be silence (If you want that you can just mute it). Whether or not you like the music is completely an opinion tho.

[PwnzorBob]

No.

One of the most demanding games you will ever play.

Seriously, it's one of the most deepest and complex games ever.

Simply because it focuses on gameplay rather than graphics... because if it suddenly got detailed 3D graphics it would be more demanding than Crysis (In terms of RAM and CPU power it already is, anyway.)

[elpolentatlp]

no it's not

[PwnzorBob]

Really?

Try to create a catsplosion.

Then you will seeeeeeeeeeee!

[elpolentatlp]

Try editing a crysis map and adding 102729375092874 mobs and you'll see.

[PwnzorBob]

But that'll crowd the map.

Because Crysis maps are small compared to this.

[elpolentatlp]

omg ur rite df is tha best game eva

[PwnzorBob]

I don't think pretending to be retarded helps you.

But uuuh... okay, it's the best game ever if you say so.

[elpolentatlp]

Oh, forgive me then. I was just trying to speak in terms you'd understand.

[PwnzorBob]

... But I didn't understand it.

I admire your attempt though.

[elpolentatlp]

And you do well for any attempt to make you understand something is admirable.

[Tottte]

omfg dont you get it elpolentalp? If this was in 3d it would demand more ram and shit then crysis. there isnt 102729376092874 in Crysis. The system requirement is not for your edits. this game take way more ram then what they could handle in the 90s and the graphic is for the 90s

[elpolentatlp]

wat

[mariomon]

noooo zeldamusic misused for such a...weird game

[mattyhoohoo]

do you need a Tandy to play this?

[SchoolhouseTechno]

Was that sarcastic? Just wondering...and no it is a fairly modern game, and far more complex than most games...other than the graphics...

And those can be upgraded to at least SNES levels with tilesets which change them from ASCII characters to actual images.

[Person67]

SchoolhouseTechno is correct. It's made by the guy at bay12 games with, I think his brother, right guys? Anyway, this may not need a killer graphics card, but the complexity requires a decent CPU. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the most complex game in existence. It is also free! ToadyOne has it as his full time job because his growing fanbase allows its continued development via donations alone!

Graphics whores will never know the joy pumping magma from volcanoes onto hordes of goblins!

[SJGster]

I'd imagine it's more difficult to make a Boatmurdered-style weapon now than it was in the time of Boatmurdered, though :/. Haven't really gotten that far in my own fortresses, I keep ignoring Dwarf Fortress because it literally eats hours whole, and that's not something I admire in single-player games.

[Chickidydow]

Well, if you know how to use pumps and have access to native/are wealthy enough to buy bauxite for mechanisms it all boils down to locating the magma pipe. Of course, that is assuming your tough enough to build a fortress that can succeed in the typically inhospitable areas that house magma. It's tough enough to find anything underground what with the new z level thing, so that is easier said than done.

[James89B]

I learnt some from this thanks, the custom stockpiles mainly, I think it's a little fast for a complete newb to follow, even I struggled to keep up with what you were doing but it's not bad :)

[SuperUltraMegaWalrus]

this tuturial is fail,captnduck is over 9000 times better

[xcusemeprincess]

it's out of date, kind of low quality (compared with what you can get now, the HQ and HD), but i'm proud of it and i'm sorry you didn't find it that useful :)

[Sawta]

It would help if you listed some of the items that you stocked up on, in the "more info" tab. You go through it pretty quick, so it can get a bit hard to rewind the video multiple times.

[SchoolhouseTechno]

Did you speed up the video at all? I am able to keep track of everything...but it seems like increasing amounts and stuff seems to go really fast.

[DragonDoomLord]

My eyes cant understand what they r seeing. I have a problem or anyone of you hav the same?

[45009234]

The first super mario bros is the best you fucking faggot.

[ErlendYo91]

lol it's your loss :) graphics whore

[gopherdude]

get 2 cats.

:P

Thats the only thing I understand about dorf fortress..

is 2 cats=catsplosion.

[Slashcko]

Cats are useful, they kill vermin.

[Campernicus]

"I don't care how in depth it is"

There is the problem.

[misterph3r]

In essence you're doing the same with any other game. Or am I wrong?

[reddog22000]

TheBlindObserver: "If I can customize a series of multi-colored dots 115236236236 different ways, at the end of the day it's still a series of multi-colored dots."

Yeah, you pretty much countered your own argument with that one.

[Slashcko]

You have no idea how advanced the AI is. It's not always about graphical appeal.

[EviICookie]

Yea games with dots customized 115236236236 are a lot worse than games with dots customized 1152362362362 ways huh

[Lateduster]

what is this i dont even

[AcwazHere]

...This is a tutorial? I can't even tell what you're doing. Try actually explaining instead of clicking like a madman. <_<

[twostringguitar]

@AcwazHere There is no clicking in DF.

[IAmPhotoBucket]

this game does a wonderful job of making me feel like a TOTAL FUCKING RETARD.

[BLARGHALT]

This is one of those games I tried to like, but couldn't. Too much micromanagement, very hostile interface, and ultra-steep learning curve just doesn't do it for me. :/

Still, you have to admire the depth of this game. The creator's considering having a feature where every tooth on a dwarf has a name, for God's sake.

[happytodd]

This has better AI than Crysis, shame I still don't know how to play this game though.

[supernigger2000]

no, computers that old aren't capable of playing dwarf fortress. it eats massive amounts of RAM, and is easily the most detailed game ever to date.

still severely unpolished though.

[supernigger2000]

no it's not you retard.

[quellek2]

you should have said "no it not u retard" to put it into language he can understand

[SuperLlama53]

This game is amazing if you can figure it out. As soon as I found out about Z-Layers, the whole thing made so much more sense and it hasn't ceased to amaze me. Digging for resources is so much fun! :D

[paladn95]

JESUS CHRIST I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO CHANGE VALUES!! The Fn key is the one next to the left CTRL, right? Because if it is, its not working.

[draconic33]

Why won't values add or subtract when I press - or + ?

[Arcaani]

If you're on a laptop, you'll have to use Fn (the "Function" key) and the + or - on your numpad.

[grandhighlazybum]

Just change the key bindings to something unused that you can remember.

[vicbrandao]

lol pac-man

[Dinomasic666]

agreed

[Joymani]

Ah, now I've kinda learned this. The only problem I'm having is that if I dig into a soil mountain I can't get any building material and if I dig into a stone mountain I can't make any farms inside.

[PlankofWood1]

Learn a bit of geography then, just dig down into the soil using up/down staircases until you hit the stone layer. If you're having trouble growing stuff, just pump a bit of water onto the stone to make it damp, and voila, you can make some crops. If you pick a mixed map with a soil biome and a stone biome you'll do well :)

[Joymani]

Man, I'm gonna need personal help with this. What buttons are you pressing what the heck is going on in that video? This must be one of the trickiest roguelikes ever. I'll stick to ADoM.

[PlankofWood1]

By god it is tricky. You can download a version that uses graphics tilesets, and that's way easiler to understand. DF is definitly worth playing once you've conquered the freakish difficulty curve.

[W4RW017]

Name of the song?

[ydyammo]

My usual setup: D1: Architect + Social skills. D2: Armorer + Weaponsmith D3: Blacksmith + Metalcrafter D4: Planter + Cook D5: Planter + Brewer D6: Carpentry + Masonry D7: Carpentry + Masonry Bring 5 Picks. D1: Will become the leader while architecting. But! Start out with setting D1-5 to mining-operations and D6-7 to building beds + doors, etc... Trying to focus digging on soft ground. As soon as basic facilities has been dug out, D4-5 is Planting, Brewing and Hauling.

[TekknoVikking]

Removing the anvil is not a great idea. I guess maybe for begginers, but I'd much rather have one with me because you might not get one in trade with the first caravan and I want a smithy before the third year. I had to wait four years for one once because of goblin ambushes

[ydyammo]

Well... I would say it depends on "danger-level" of the area. Although, I never bring an anvil... And even if it takes some time to get your hands on an anvil, there is always the option of using Crossbows.

But if the area is really dangerous, yes you are right... bringing an anvil is almost mandatory. But then you would have alot of dogs and an axe-dwarf for added security.

[NutNapalm]

I can't quite get this game to work on my G4. Shame, looks fun.

[ydyammo]

It is... :) If you liked Settlers, this is 1000 times better ;) (Still some missing features though, which makes the game a bit clumsy at times... but on the whole... the best game I've played in years. :))

[Zambaku]

What key do you use to shift floors and dig out the underground?

[ArronaxTheProphet]

"d" and then "h" - dig a channel

[nahor23]

how do you switch view to underground?

[StickmanEMK]

Shift + 5 - zoom out

Ctrl + 5 - zoom in

[nahor23]

when you were selecting your items at the start, how do you add new items? when i press n nothing happens

[ydyammo]

you add items by pressing n and then selecting the item to add with arrows and +/-. When the item is added... add additional items with +.

(Although, the post was a month ago so I assume you've figured this out already. ;)

[Rarrak]

Bear in mind that you have to use the + and - on the number pad (or at least I did).

[CFHughespoet]

Nice video, a worthy beginner's guide. Hopefully your efforts will help to stimulate a more active DF youtube community.

[MetaKnight345]

I'll definitely try this game, although it looks complex like hell!

It's like Real-Time-Strategy, The Settlers, Sims and an RPG (The dwarfs get more experienced.) together with a whole bunch of extra stuff and only with ASCII letters. o.O

[Gradir]

yeah, its still evolving, and it has an adventure mode too so its also an cRPG :)

PS. its a pity that we call a game a rpg only because there are stats :/

[Cordman1221]

Losing is fun!

Shoulda put that in the title.

[Temetrix]

One more tip for choosing equipment: For food and drinks aim for item amounts that aren't divisible by 5. Eg instead of 15 beer take 16 so you'll get extra barrel for that 1 unit of booze. 15 booze/meat/plant... takes (and gives you) 3 barrels but 16 of em take 4. And fellow dwarves... you're really gonna need those barrels. (At least I do need lots of em due to my booze/food production rates) This is stated in the wiki also.

[h3xxor]

You click and change screens too fast. It is very little informative.

[malfunit]

I don't know how to view different elevations in the game. I tried to find the magic button that scrolls through elevation, but failed.

Then again, I don't know about and fail at most things in Dwarf Fortress. I was even picked off by harpies as soon as one game started.

[Poringo]

shift and .

shift and ,

[malfunit]

Thanks. Now I have trouble assigning my dwarves to certain places.

[Poringo]

what kind of places?

[malfunit]

Beds, workshops, stockpiles, and other things. I can't seem to do it correctly. I also have trouble assigning tasks to my dwarves.

[JuanLeTwnz]

Great tutorial and music choice, helped me a lot during my first times trying to learn the game.

Did you know there is a version with better graphics?

[Skitlus]

What's the name of it?

[noleti]

I love the music, very fitting. I always go for the anvil, no tools variant where you take some copper bars and a steel one to first make your own tools - many beginners will probably have problems with trading in the first game...

[xcusemeprincess]

Yeah, you're absolutely right about this. Someone posted something like this earlier, and it is what I regularly do now! Thanks for the advice :) I will be including this in my next tutorial

[savionmarquis]

Arguably the best game in the world!

Love what you're doing with your tutorial. Spread the word! :)

[wereguy2]

part 2 please :P

[xcusemeprincess]

When the new DF gets released this month I'll be redoing all the tutorials!

[Gamingninja13]

I heard it comes out tommorow :D

[Poringo]

are there any more tutorials from you? o.0

i actually would like to know more about DF, and you're doing it GREAT

[xcusemeprincess]

Thanks! I'm working on redoing this tutorial right now (just started now that the new version is out.. OMG it's amazing!)

I'll have it up asap, probably within the week.

[Gamingninja13]

I think you should only use a tutorial till you get the hang of things, then make your own path, also, wiki helps, tons.

[Helsingepojken]

you make very odd fortresess :P

[xcusemeprincess]

hah, how do you do it? :) i'd like to know!  there aren't enough tutorials for this game

[VarDolzeberg]

I usually remove the battle axes instead of the anvil because the anvil can be used to make axes. It's only 400 points less than starting sans anvil and doesn't gamble on whether or not the first caravan will have an iron anvil in stock.

[xcusemeprincess]

awesome idea, you should post that on the dwarf fortress wiki (google for the address)

[GetAssista]

This fortress is gonna die from first serious attack :)

[18oroldr]

how do you look underground?

i can build the downstairs, but not the upstairs :/

[Raneman25]

Nice dude,but you have much more to do.

How about more on cretures so we know what to do with our wolves and firemen?

Also,get a mic.

[Mynameisnotooo]

What if he's 12 or something? Would you like a squeaky little voice, screaming into the mic about what to do?

[PenguinDood]

Oh fuck this game.

So much fun.

[Joshlalic]

its fun but its got a crazy learning curve

[keine031]

i hear u m8, its like chinesse right now

[darksaiyan2006]

ugly it is, but it's not retro at all, seeing as it's still being updated... besides, the content isn't retro anyway.

[TerrorWatcher]

Wow, really fucking pathetic. Using stars to censor a word that is insignificant compared to your stupidity. Go die, dipshit

[GreigerBDragon]

Nice. I personally make smaller specialized rooms off of a main hallway but everybody sets up slightly differently than others. Your approach is probably more efficient and easier for beginners to use anyway.

[LCKnecht]

Use this tut if you at least knowledgeable in the games idea and controls. Otherwise a very great tut! Nice job.

I've been playing for a while and I even learned some things I didn't know about.

[radicalaceshasbrin]

Why bother with logs if you settled in a spot with wood?

[booglegoog]

thx this helped so much ^O^

[WhatevaMeng]

Nice video. This game was pretty confusing the first few times i played it, but now i'm killing my dwarves off like a pro ;)

One point to make though, take bituminous coal(from the stone menu) at the beginning instead of charcoal. costs less than 1/3 as much, and produces 2 usable coal fuel per piece after the first is burnt. All you need is one piece of wood to start.

[xcusemeprincess]

Ooh, great tip, thanks! ^_^

[LJdaOG]

Neat tutorial. Definate fave.

One question though- How do you expand the local view like that?

[xcusemeprincess]

I believe it's tab.. haven't played for awhile!

[LJdaOG]

It is. Thanks!

[Quitschi1337]

Not a bad tutorial after all :)

though voice explanations would be good for beginners

My hints

-Bring from each kind of meat which costs 2 points one, each different one will earn you another barrel for free

-Store the steel battle axes in a stockpile somewhere in your mines, since kobolds will go after your most worthy items (and the axes are most likely to be them at the start - just disabling the lumberjackjob will make the dwarf drop the axe somewhere on the field, an easy prey for a thief)

[golightly313]

this is so confusing, it looks complicated

[xcusemeprincess]

its a very complicated game, but its really enjoyable :)

[alien3456]

damn nice encode! decent tutorial too, maybe do a voice-over and let people know what buttons you are pushing. that's the most confusing part for most beginners; what to push, when, and why.

[xcusemeprincess]

hmm, great idea! i'll work on it soon :) Just graduated, so i'm finally free ^__^

[xcusemeprincess]

man, every time i look at this i realize all the mistakes i made with the video encoding/editing...

my next video will be better i promise :)

[DarthSlayden]

they need to make a newer version of this

[xcusemeprincess]

I just formatted and forgot to back this up, so I'll be making a new series of tutorials. Sorry! Vista x64 is pretty awesome though :)

[Zaodai]

This would be so much better if I had any idea what the hell was going on. O.o

[Paul19807]

Try playing it... it gets worse. I've played (and won) roguelikes but this is different. It's insane micromanagement. I had a dwarf die of thirst because his leg was wounded and I couldn't build a bucket fast enough that my other dwarves could use to bring him water.

That was the game in a nutshell. Some technicality always stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. It's like, "Come on. What is it THIS time?!"

I do want to like DF. I'm hoping I can find the ultimate tutorial.