My Little Dwarf Fortress

[Moose]

Greetings all and welcome to a new segment I’m calling “My Little Fortress: Losing is Magicâ€

[Ante Bellum]

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into this. I heard a little about Dwarf Fortress' huge amount of information but have never really looked into it before. Sounds like it'll be an interesting run too, with the pony mods. I know I'm looking forward to it.

[Moose]

Alright folks, lets get this fortress a movin'! The first step for any game of Dwarf Fortress will be generating the world we will be playing in. Selecting "Create New World" will take us to the world building screen. (After the world is generated the Play Game option will be available on the main screen).



After a short prompt about the development of the game we arrive at the variables table for world building. For this game I'll be setting the generator for a small map (default is medium) while leaving the rest of the variables set to normal.



Now hit [y] to let the game do its magic. And... Ta da the world is built! As you may notice the map is not entirely in ASCII. I will be using the Ironhand tilesets for this game because that's what came with the Lazy Newb Pack :3



You can hit [p] to export a screenshot of the whole map or just hit [enter] to save the world and return to the main screen. Now that we have the Start Playing option available lets get our hooves dirty (hah thought I forgot about the pony puns did you).

[Wallachia]

Moose, you have my axe.

(Click for full size.)

Dwarf Fortress: The definitive sandbox game to roguelike fans and the matrix to everyone else.

A great source of hilarious inside jokes, comics, epic stories, and wonderful images of hilarious bugs. Like Dwarves throwing socks at dragons, and those socks being thrown so hard they firmly lodge themselves into the wound.

When I first tried to learn how to play Dwarf Fortress, it was a daunting task. Fortunately, this guide combined with the wiki was able to drill the basics into my head. (Sadly, the tutorial is now outdated.)
Eventually, the ASCII became more pleasing than a normal tileset. Combined with a modified color-scheme, it also looked more pleasant.

For anyone who's not concerned about graphics that require the use of imagination and a learning curve that requires you to slowly ease yourself into the game, Dwarf Fortress is wonderful.

Sadly, it's the learning curve that scares a lot of people away.

This chart should be of great help to anyone who decides to invest some time in a tutorial and make their own world and fort right after.

[Moose]

Using the "Legends" option when starting the game is essentially looking into the world's history book. LISTS of names, dates, places and events can be found. This portion of the game is entirily option but can help during the deployment phase (selecting the right civilization for the race you want to play)

Now that our world is made we'll be looking at some of the history of the world and the "The Lutes of Owning" civilization (the one we will be selecting to play.) The pony mod has several different races in it including zebra and buffalo (all playable) but for the sake of this lets play we will just stick to ponies.

Here are our worlds current civilizations:

The Named Confederations - human
The Thief of Sewers - goblins
The Admired Mirth - elven

The Lutes of Owning - Pony
The Named Earth - Zebra
The Gorge of Growers – cave pony

And here's where they are located (Notice: the three horse races are overlapping and are not fully shown)



Well we will be following the brave ponies from The Lutes of Owning. Looking through their histories the Lutes of Owning has been plagued by monsters (loosing their founder to an Ursa Major 4 years after the start of the civilization) However in more modern times it seem the civilization is doing well and undergoing several large building projects. Their current ruler is a Pegasus named Matchedhoneys, a pony of unknown parentage O.o who worships the unicorn goddess Lolor, associated with loyalty, painting and inspiration.



The princess of the land named Shellshandles shared many similarities with our king (including unknown parentage...where do these nobles keep coming from!) but sadly starved 19 years before the current date.

But enough about the past it's time for the future!

Onward to the Embarking screen!

[Moose]

Here it is folks, now we get to pick our destination. After selecting "Start Playing" go ahead and choose Dwarf Fortress mode. (Adventure is more like the game rogue-like where you only control one character while Dwarf Fortress is more like a Sim game in play-style)



Picking a starting location can be one of the most important choises you can make. Good things to look for are trees, a water source (rivers are nice) and metal/flux stone for crafting. The Deployment screen has three windows which are (from left to right) the local screen, region screen and world screen. Think of them like 3 tiers of zoom.



Aquifers are bad since it will cause you to repeatedly run into water underground (not good when you're tunneling). Fortunately there is a search function that allows you to set parameters and display suitable locations. (note the green X's on the map)



I've chosen this area for it's temperature, trees, elevation, and large supply of various metals. Yes there is an Aquifer here, and I know I just said to avoid it, but now we'll get to see why. Also remember to use [Tab] to get to the "your civilization" tab to select your starting civilization or you'll wind up in charge of who knows what.




[e] stands for EMBARK!

[Moose]

Now comes the Embarking screen, I usually choose "Plan Journey Carefully" so I know which characters are going to be doing what jobs. In the pony mod we have 3 (4) kinds of ponies.
Earth Ponies gain a bonus to manual tasks/nature based skills and are a bit hardier but are slow a skilled/crafting work.
Unicorns gain bonuses to crafting skills but are slower at manual tasks. They do gain the ability to use their horn in combat.
Pegasi are faster and have a high dodge chance
(Alicorns/royal-ponies/the ones with wings and horns are in the game but rare)

But before we get ahead of ourselves in finding jobs for everypony, lets meet our team!

Note: I'll be leaving the names blank but will be posting the family names. A group picture will be posted later with names/jobs etc. I will open naming the crew up to you guys (as names can be changed at any point in the game)

Here we go:



First out the gate is this assertive little earth pony from the Peachmassive family.




Next up is a clumsy, shy Pegasus from the Velvetsyrup family.




Next up is a scrawny earth pony with bad memory problems. Looks happy enough though. She hails from the Holycacti family (hehe).





Our first male pony, and he's a Unicorn at that. Seems like everything is serious business with this guy. Bet he got teased a lot as a kid with the family name Sweetbulwarks.





Our next Brony here is a jumpy Pegasus. Looks like the bookworm type, and he's from the Passionlittered family.





Next up is a big, kind gal Pegasus, very self conscious but ready to help out. She belongs to the Boarshins family.





And last but not least, representing the Hailtugs family is this stoic (as much as a man can be with purple fur and pink hair) earth pony.



So here they our our starting Fillies and Colts. Now we just need to assign them jobs!



edit:
The file has been saved (and I've already distributed tasks)

Peachmassive: head miner/ archetect

Velvetsyrup: tree cutter/surgeon/guard

Holycacti: Mason/Farmer/Herbalist

Sweetbulwarks: Crafter/Carpenter/toymaker

Passionglittered: assistant miner field medic

Boarshins: fishing/brewing/cooking

Hailtugs: Fortress leader/official

I'm going to leave this thread as is for feedback before continuing on. Do you like the layout so far/how pictures are hosted. Also I will be accepting names for the starting cast, anyone without a name by sometime tomorrow will be put through the random name generator. I'll post the embarking walk through as well as early base building tomorrow. See Y'all then!

[Wallachia]

I'm going to leave this thread as is for feedback before continuing on. Do you like the layout so far/how pictures are hosted.

I think you're doing a fine job with the layout. Though if you wish I suggest imgur as a host and/or changing the [ url= ] code to direct viewers from the thumbnail directly to the full-size image like so:

Though really, me suggesting imgur is just being picky. Stick with whatever works for you.

[Moose]

Alright the pictures have been fixed (was wondering how to do that earlier actually)
If anyone has any good ideas for name for our intrepid band of ponies go ahead and post em here.

[mechana2015]

Certain Death Stallions?

[Moose]

Certain Death Stallions?

Actually I was looking for names of individual characters. The group name was already generated as well as the fortress name.

Our ponies are members of "The Holy Hooves" setting out to build the fortress of "Clear Rains"

We need names for the following characters (in order of appearance from earlier post):

Female Earth Pony: Head Miner/Architect

Female Pegasus: Tree Cutter/Guard

Female Earth Pony: Mason/Farmer/Herbalist

Male Unicorn: Crafter/Carpenter

Male Pegasus: assistant miner

Female Pegasus: fishing/brewing/cooking

Male Earth Pony: Expedition Leader


Feel free to post more names, I'll try and pick the best suited name from whatever you folks submit.

[mechana2015]

Pony the First: Leed
Pony the Second: shyleaf
Pony the Third: Pharmacy
Pony the Fourth: Lathe
Pony the Fifth: Saddlebag
Pony the Sixth: Hoppy
Pony the Seventh: The Unfortunate

[Wallachia]

Pony the Seventh: The Unfortunate

This is going to be great.

[Moose]

I'm collecting a pool of names for each of the characters and will be picking from that, so go ahead and come up with your own names and they'll be added to the pool. Planning on doing the walk through of the embark screen tonight so I'll be checking for names.

[mechana2015]

Name for the Mason Pony alternate: Chipper

[Moose]

After selecting "Prepare for the Journey Carefully" you'll arrive at the preparation screen.



On the left is the list of the starting members of your fortress. On the right is the list of skills that you can give them to start with (several pages worth) You start with a basic equipment setup including food/seed and equipment as well as 225 points for skills and additional equipment. Each character can be given up to 10 skills (each rank of the skill also counts as a selection). Each rank of a skill has an increased cost associated with it (5/6/7/8/9pts.)

Basic roles that need fulfilling are:
Mining (usually 2 miners)
Wood Cutting
Carpentry
Masonry
Food Acquisition (Fishing/Farming/Hunting/brewing)
Medical (I haven't played much since the update with the whole medical system so I'm not sure how vital it is at the start)
Record Keeper (some leadership/appraising skills for when trade caravans come by you can get a fair trade going.)

Tasks like farming will not use up all of a character's time so they can take up multiple jobs. There are many professions in the game but as migrants arrive later these spots wont feel so stretched out. You can find a full list of skills here http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Skill

For our game I outfitted our ponies thus (Also Names Finally!):


Pony #1
Name: Auger (A tough name for our tough little filly head-miner. Also in charge of getting some of the big buildings designed)

3 pts. Mining (Usually set higher but wanted to spend points on more diverse characters)
2 pts. Architecture (used in a few buildings, doesn't interfere to much with mining)



Pony #2
Name: Shy Leaf (Working out in the trees with some time to herself, but ready to bring that axe to protect her friends)

2 pts. Woodcutter (Much needed resource for beds/doors/chairs)
2 pts. Surgeon (not sure what it does but comes recommended)
2 pts. Axe-pony (Good to combo with woodcutter since they are using an axe anyway. Learn to chop down more then just trees!)



Pony #3
Name: Prickly Pear (Carrying on in the Cacti family name, this little pony sees to the farming as well as being a proficient mason)

2 pts. Mason (Primary job used to make doors, etc. Farming is part time and wont consume to much time so I added it to our mason)
2 pts. Herbalist (plant gathering for safe early food)
2 pts. Grower (Farming skill)



Pony #4
Name: Sawdust (dedicated to his work, even if he lets his person life suffer for it. Probably not the best pony to go to for a cheering up.)

2 pts. Carpenter (Primary role, used to build doors/furniture larger wood objects)
2 pts. Woodcrafter (for more intricate wooden items like ammo/toys/trinkets to sell)
2 pts. Stonecrafter (same as wood crafting but for stone)



Pony #5
Name: Saddlebags (Forever the assistant, he's a bit to uptight to really relax and work towards a goal before getting distracted.)

2 pts. Miner (Assistant miner so I didn't spring for the 3rd rank)
2 pts. Wound Dresser (for when those ponies hurt themselves)
2 pts. Diagnostician (To assist the surgeon)
1 pt. Dodger (He's such a skiddish pony I gave him a little boosty in the danger avoidance category)



Pony #6
Name: Sweet Mead (The "soccer-mom" of the team, she works hard to ensure that everypony's stomach is full at the end of the day.)

2 pts. Cooking (Converts raw food such as meat and fish to meals that improve the eater's mood)
2 pts. Brewing (Makes drinks from plants which is vital to survival in this game since the characters get sick of water real fast.)
1 pt. Fishing (A safe and easy method of getting food)



Pony #7
Name: Cornerstone (Determined to create a town of their our, our leader is organized and ready to wheel and deal with whatever civilizations they come across.)

2 pts. Record Keeper (keeps track of all your fortress inventory. Deteriorates over time)
2 pts. Negotiator (Skill for dealing with merchants and diplomats)
2 pts. Appraiser (evaluates the cost of trade goods and the current wealth of your fortress)


I used the remaining points for more food and 2 cats (DF is notorious for something call the catsplosion in which cats become very numerous and slow the fps of the computer down. If managed properly cats can be an invaluable emergency food supply >.>)

Now that we have our destination, skills and equipment it's now time to start building our new home!

Onward to "Clearrains"!

[Moose]

Now that we've arrived in the region it's time to take a quick look around. I start off hitting [Tab] to get a larger playing window with the menu list on the side.



We have arrived near the top of a large slope with a river off to our right (ending in a waterfall!)
The downward arrows and faded tiles represent another layer down the Z axis of the game. By going up and down the Z axis (press [Shift]+[>] or [<]) we can get a good idea of where everything is on the map.

A useful utility in the Newb Pack is called dwarf therapist. It creates an easy to view spreadsheet of all your current characters as well as their tasks and profiles. Jobs can be much more easily managed using this utility.



Another fun utility program that comes with the Newb pack is the "Stone Sense" program that will render an isometric view of your current screen.



Now that we've had a look around the terrain, lets see what's nearby. Press the [u] key to view a list of units in the area. This includeds our team, cats, wildlife and fish.



on the top of the list is our team followed by the various animals they brought with them (a tank bull is apparently some kind of reptilian cow). On the bottom we see the nearby wildlife and while I know Alligator seems the worst on the list, believe me Carp are some of the deadliest creatures in the game (not a joke). Highlighting a unit and pressing [c] to zoom to that creature is an easy way to figure out where dangers are and where your ponies have wandered off to. Lets see where the carp are.



That's a lot of carp... well we will be staying away from the river for awhile till they leave. In this screen there is a lot of dark area, this is solid ground at the moment. A number in the bottom right indicates you current Z axis depth. The 77777s represent water as well as the number indicating how much is in the square (7 being the max volume of water in a cube).

My first and most immediate task will be to set the fishing/water source zone away from the river to aviod the carp. I'm choosing the small body of water north of the wagon. Use the [i] key to set a zone (press enter with the X in one corner and move to the opposite corner to draw a rectangle then press again). Once the zone is set you can use the menu on the right to set what kind of zone it will be.




While we will be safe from the carp if we stay away from the river, those alligators could give us trouble (if they aren't eaten by the carp) so we will be focusing on establishing our base near/on the slope.


Next time on My Little Fortress: "Do I know you?"

[Wallachia]

While we will be safe from the carp if we stay away from the river, those alligators could give us trouble (if they aren't eaten by the carp) so we will be focusing on establishing our base near/on the slope.

That comment alone is hilarious.

I think I remember hearing that carp were nerfed a while back to make them less horrifying, though I could be wrong.

[mechana2015]

Apparently one carp can now only murder half your dwarves before it goes down instead of all but one. Unicorns on the other hand... *tongue in cheek*