Play-along Dwarf Fortress tutorials - complete!

[Calistas]

I've finished the dozen tutorials for Dwarf Fortress I've been working on over on me site. I have mentioned them in the DF threads, but I thought there might be people out there who have long since given up on ever learning DF for whom a play-along tutorial might be the tool they need to get into the game. I've had lots of comments to that effect, so with that in mind here they all are!

If this is a horrible shill, please pwn my post!

The Complete and Utter Newby Tutorial for Dwarf Fortress
- Part 1: “WTF?”
- Part 2: “No, srsly, WTF?!”
- Part 3: “Dwarf whatnow?”
- Part 4: “It almost makes sense!”
- Part 5: “Onwards to Victory!”
- Part 6: “Dwarf Resource Management”
- Part 7: “A Mighty Fortress!”
- Part 8: “It’s a trap!”
- Part 9: “Nobles and other useless sods”
- Part 10: “Soldiers and your army”
- Part 11: “Burning hot mag-ma!”
- Part 12: “That’s all folks?!”
- Post-tutorial Dwarf Fortress links and resources

- Part 13: "World Building Badness"
- Part 14: "Embark... to your doom!"

And all of the tutorials in a big PDF!
Feedback and comments welcome.

[Pogo]

I finished up to Part 3 before getting annoyed with the UI, although your tutorial was the catalyst for me really giving the game a chance in the first place. I thought it was easy to understand and the pictures, instructions, and accompanying save file with the tileset were all great.

[Calistas]

Thanks! Yeah, no matter how much effort one puts in to a tutorial one is still dealing with Dwarf Fortress and its.... unique.. UI :)

[frank austin]

Ooh, this looks really good. I will give this a try over the next couple of days and give you more constructive feedback then. I have been waiting for a good tutorial to spur me into DF.

[BobJustBob]

Dammit Calistas, you know better than this. You can't go around saying "Dwarf Fortress" willy nilly. I demand those hours of my life back! You stole them from me!

[Morberis]

Congrats man

[Calistas]

The dwarfs will consume all! And then, as Aeon221 pointed out, menace with spikes!

[InfiniteJest]

Thanks for putting together such a fantastic set of tutorials. I finally came back to DF and got over the 3-d learning curve thanks to these.

[Cory]

thanks for putting these together calistas! they are really gonna help me "get" dwarf fortress.

[Demon G Sides]

Yeah, mad props Calistas, even I used them for a bit before growing tired of the UI.

[Calistas]

Ta muchly for the comments and feedback. It was good fun. Now I have to raise the energy to do my pirate-based DF AAR!

I'm enjoying my website. Perhaps I should make it pretty or something. Would be good to do.

[intruder]

Thanks a lot.
Always wanted to see what is behind that game and its raving fans.

Did tutorial 1 and managed to find "saving" myself.

Looking forward to do tutorial 2 tomorrow. So far I'm still at the "WTF? What's so special about this game?" stage but I hope that will clear soon. :)

[tiohn]

I also want to offer my thanks for your hard work on these tutorials, Calistas. I've played through all but the last two or three and even learned a thing or two that I didn't know. I'm hoping to find time to finish the last few since I am completely ignorant about militias.

[Tyjenks]

They look superb. I think you had posted a partial of these before and I decided to dive back into DF after you finished. I guess that time is now.

Great Job!!!

[Calistas]

Ta muchly! I have had a request for windmills and pumps. Will have to have a think about that!

[Jon Rowe]

Loved the tutorial. it helped me get back into the game after a long hiatus.

I love this game.

[Damien Neil]

Originally Posted by intruder

Looking forward to do tutorial 2 tomorrow. So far I'm still at the "WTF? What's so special about this game?" stage but I hope that will clear soon. :)

I built an arena. A pit on the bottom level for the contestants. On the next level up, seats for the spectators, with a pair of thrones forged from solid gold for the Baroness and her consort. A level above that, the cheap seats. On the top level, a retracting bridge extends out over the pit, so that unlucky contestants can be dropped in.

The main level has a number of silver statues on it, and is designated as a sculpture garden, so my dwarves like to hang out there, giving me plenty of spectators. Unfortunately, they tend to run away when I toss a goblin in. Wimps.

So I decided to add some additional features to keep them happy when the arena isn't being used for my goblin-war dog cage matches. I dug out a cistern below the arena, and an lengthy, winding channel leading from the brook on the surface down to the cistern. Floodgates controlled by levers allow me to fill the cistern without flooding the fortress.

I then added a sequence of pumps to draw water from the cistern to a channel above the arena. The water falls through two holes to splash down in the gladiatorial pit. From there, it drains back into the cistern. The pumps are powered by windmills on the surface, and a lever permits me to disengage a gear and shut off the pump system.

My dwarves were ecstatic, with many happy thoughts generated--dwarves like waterfalls.

While this construction went on, the Baroness's consort mandated that we produce several adamantine items. We have no adamantium available, which made this request...problematic. Eventually, he furiously gave up--and declared one of the smithdwarves responsible for failing to fulfill the mandate.

One of the guards carried out the smithdwarf's punishment, beating her senseless in the dining room. He was overly zealous: She died.

A short while later, her youngest daughter threw herself into the arena pit in despair. She was washed into the cistern and drowned. The stench of her rotting corpse hindered the dwarves' enjoyment of the lovely sculpture garden.

I resolved to retrieve her bones from the cistern to provide her with a proper burial. I added hatches to the top of the waterfall system, covering the holes that allow water to pour down into the pit. Pull a lever to close the hatches, and water flows over them and to a new sequence of pumps that will draw it to the surface. The uppermost pump is located in a small building atop a hill behind the fortress, and a windmill on the roof powers the system. To dispose of the water cleanly, I constructed an aqueduct (built of lovely blue microcline) that will carries the water back to the stream.

The system isn't quite complete yet; I still need to redesign the bottom end of the pumping system to reach the lower depths of the cistern.

And that's what's so special about this game. :>

[Morberis]

You've been featured on RPS!

[Calistas]

It will all end in tears!

[Morberis]

I wonder how much the site traffic will spike after this :p

[Calistas]

I will let you know. I am a bit of a stars slag, I must admit!

[peterb]

This is brilliant.

Here's the question I have: I have a fortress where I've fought off goblin hordes, the King has moved in, we can afford everything we want, and I'm a bit ... bored.

Is this basically what happens when you manage to avoid a Losing Is Fun scenario? Is there anything else in store?

[Therlun]

Originally Posted by peterb

This is brilliant.

Here's the question I have: I have a fortress where I've fought off goblin hordes, the King has moved in, we can afford everything we want, and I'm a bit ... bored.

Is this basically what happens when you manage to avoid a Losing Is Fun scenario? Is there anything else in store?

No, so far thats pretty much it. You have to make your own game and there are very few long term goals and ways to actually influence the game world.
Such things are planned, but great features like you sending out armies to the world map have to compete with stuff like individually tracked blood stains for toady's time.

[Morberis]

Originally Posted by peterb

This is brilliant.

Here's the question I have: I have a fortress where I've fought off goblin hordes, the King has moved in, we can afford everything we want, and I'm a bit ... bored.

Is this basically what happens when you manage to avoid a Losing Is Fun scenario? Is there anything else in store?

Build a mega project!!

Or start getting creative with your fortress if you haven't already. Remove any and all traps and make the military guard everything. Mod in the ability to train captured goblins, Mmm nothing says success like chained War Goblins at the entrance to your fort.

[Calistas]

http://penny-arcade.com/2009/03/13/nature-man/
Bloody hell! I got linked from Penny Arcade!

I've changed the theme and made my own header title. It sucks ass. If you want to make a better one you get a big kiss from me. HALP, HALP!

[Jon Rowe]

Congrats dude! May your website be bountiful.

[cesare]

Wow, just saw the reference at PA. That's freakin awesome.

[John Many Jars]

Nice one, C. You'll bring many a player into this game.

[Pogo]

Originally Posted by Calistas

I've changed the theme and made my own header title. It sucks ass. If you want to make a better one you get a big kiss from me. HALP, HALP!

You're talking about the image of the battleships and the terrible fonts, right? Yeah that needs to go. I can try to fix it up for you. If you have any ideas or other images you want to use, let me know and I could probably whip something up.

[Jon Rowe]

Yeah, the fonts in the banner aren't anything to call home about. Also, it gives me the impression that your website is nautical themed.