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DF has a reputation for being impenetrable. Like it requires weeks or months of work or study to get anything out of it. Not true! You can start from scratch

by KVFinn 12y ago

DF has a reputation for being impenetrable. Like it requires weeks or months of work or study to get anything out of it. Not true! You can start from scratch and have a crazy little adventure in minutes. Really. Dwarf Fortress: The Detailed Roguelike That’s Easy To Play http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-the-detailed-roguelike-thats-easy-to-play/ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/04/16/dwarf-fortress-th... >Dwarf Fortress is famous for producing anecdotes by the minute. The two-man, twelve-year, donation-funded indie project weaves together procedurally generated geography, civilizations and histories to create a rich fantasy world. It simulates its characters – standard fare like dwarves, elves, goblins, etc. – down to the most minute detail, and when all its systems combine, the results are often hilarious, occasionally tragic, and always surprising. >It’s also blissfully easy to play. The game is free to download and easy to install, the UI comes with a detailed and handy help system, and there’s a community wiki full of guides – not that you’ll need them. I started from scratch last night and was having fun immediately. >This whole experience has taken around twenty minutes, and while it’s a shame Akan Seasonveiled didn’t get to see more of her homeland, the experience encapsulated much of what I love about Dwarf Fortress. I discovered a town, talked to people and formed a posse. I went on a dynamically generated fantasy adventure and slayed a grim beast. I discovered a camp of travellers out in the wilds, had a tense and hard-fought combat encounter, and finally met my own grisly end. It was exciting! It was just a tiny taste of this world, but I’m itching to go explore more. I actually enjoy simply generating worlds and looking through the history afterwords... even easier.

garretraziel 12y ago
On the other hand, "rogue" part of dwarf fortress is much easier than "dwarf fortress" part.
- imdsm 12y ago
  But the dwarf fortress part is amazing. My number 1 game.
- astrobe_ 12y ago
  The fortress mode tutorial on the DF wiki allows you to build a self-sustaining fortress. The Lazy Noob Pack is also of great help. One will probably have to wait for it to be updated for the newer version of DF, but one can begin with the previous version of DF and update when it's available. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide
vacri 12y ago
The ASCII interface is already a huge stumbling block for anyone not used to it. For anyone that is used to roguelikes, then Adventure mode is 'Just Another Roguelike'. Dwarf mode, where you have to build a home, has a huge number of pitfalls. Try figuring out the military system on the first read-through, for example (or even without a read-through!). It's flexible and makes sense... after you've come to grips with it... and there are a lot of moving parts and tweaks for any kind of military deployment. DF in 'Dwarf mode' is one of the poster-children for games with steep learning curves.
- Natsu 12y ago
  Aye, Fortress mode takes quite a lot of time on the wiki/forums to get used to. I've played quite a few roguelikes and it was more akin to learning vim (complete with all the single letter commands...) But once you master it, you're draining the oceans, trapping whales in lead cages, and rocketing them down the steep slope to hell on minecarts as a kinetic demon-slaying weapon of choice. Or something like that :)
  - vacri 12y ago
    The thing I love about DF is knowing enough to see the creativity in other people's solutions to problems. I know enough to get a stable, defensible fort, but nothing too creative (I still can't work out how to disarm a caged goblin - so I generally have an ever-increasing number of cages...). But the glorious creativity in what so many people do with the DF 'framework' can be truly beautiful at times.
    - Natsu 12y ago
      Mass dump the tile the cage is on, then undump the cage itself is what I've always done. EDIT: and claim them. I haven't played for a while, I'm getting forgetful. And yes, people can be very creative. Farming various rare creatures (possibly via draining oceans), creating orbital magma cannons that can target any part of the world, conquering hell, creating mechanical calculators that operate on magma where an "overflow" error results in a literal overflow of magma... You don't see that in many games. But there aren't many Turing complete games out there, either. I think Minecraft & Starbound are the only big ones, though I'm not sure if Terraria is or isn't.
dscrd 12y ago
>I started from scratch last night and was having fun immediately. "Fun" in dwarf fortress usually refers to losing violently.
- quchen 12y ago
  Capitalization of "fun" makes all the difference when reading stories about it.

by KVFinn 12y ago

garretraziel 12y ago

On the other hand, "rogue" part of dwarf fortress is much easier than "dwarf fortress" part.

imdsm 12y ago
But the dwarf fortress part is amazing. My number 1 game.
astrobe_ 12y ago
The fortress mode tutorial on the DF wiki allows you to build a self-sustaining fortress. The Lazy Noob Pack is also of great help. One will probably have to wait for it to be updated for the newer version of DF, but one can begin with the previous version of DF and update when it's available. http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide

vacri 12y ago

The ASCII interface is already a huge stumbling block for anyone not used to it. For anyone that is used to roguelikes, then Adventure mode is 'Just Another Roguelike'. Dwarf mode, where you have to build a home, has a huge number of pitfalls. Try figuring out the military system on the first read-through, for example (or even without a read-through!). It's flexible and makes sense... after you've come to grips with it... and there are a lot of moving parts and tweaks for any kind of military deployment. DF in 'Dwarf mode' is one of the poster-children for games with steep learning curves.

Natsu 12y ago
Aye, Fortress mode takes quite a lot of time on the wiki/forums to get used to. I've played quite a few roguelikes and it was more akin to learning vim (complete with all the single letter commands...) But once you master it, you're draining the oceans, trapping whales in lead cages, and rocketing them down the steep slope to hell on minecarts as a kinetic demon-slaying weapon of choice. Or something like that :)
- vacri 12y ago
  The thing I love about DF is knowing enough to see the creativity in other people's solutions to problems. I know enough to get a stable, defensible fort, but nothing too creative (I still can't work out how to disarm a caged goblin - so I generally have an ever-increasing number of cages...). But the glorious creativity in what so many people do with the DF 'framework' can be truly beautiful at times.
  - Natsu 12y ago
    Mass dump the tile the cage is on, then undump the cage itself is what I've always done. EDIT: and claim them. I haven't played for a while, I'm getting forgetful. And yes, people can be very creative. Farming various rare creatures (possibly via draining oceans), creating orbital magma cannons that can target any part of the world, conquering hell, creating mechanical calculators that operate on magma where an "overflow" error results in a literal overflow of magma... You don't see that in many games. But there aren't many Turing complete games out there, either. I think Minecraft & Starbound are the only big ones, though I'm not sure if Terraria is or isn't.

dscrd 12y ago

>I started from scratch last night and was having fun immediately. "Fun" in dwarf fortress usually refers to losing violently.

quchen 12y ago
Capitalization of "fun" makes all the difference when reading stories about it.