DWARF Fortress recently launched on Steam, and made headlines as fans flocked to pay for the game they’d been playing for years for free.
The small and dedicated team behind the game allowed players the opportunity to play the game as it developed over the last decade.
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The result of the team’s dedication and player feedback is one of the most complex strategy games of all time.
Much like Skyrim, or Runescape, in Dwarf Fortress you set your own goals. Here’s our tips if you’re just starting out.
Dwarf Fortress: How to choose the right start point
One of the first challenges in Dwarf Fortress is deciding where to place your starting citadel. But not all areas are suitable.
In the bottom right, use ‘Find embark location’ to filter out unsuitable areas. You want to filter out Aquifers and make sure the area has Flux Stone.
Other things to look out for are that the area has accessible trees, and other easy to grab resources. You are then ready to settle your first dwarfs.
Dwarf Fortress: How to distribute work
Your dwarves will live underground, but you will need to find a good entrance to your fortress that’s easy to defend, and near water and trees.
Start by using the commands at the bottom to get your army to cut down trees and gather plants.
You need to lock your dwarves into certain jobs to stop them helping out in the wrong areas. This will allow their skill in that job to grow.
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Make sure you’ve locked in your miners before asking them to dig a staircase down and lay the foundations for your fort.
Dwarf Fortress: How to set out your fortress
You can choose any layout for your fortress as long as it has all of the rooms necessary, but this is the floor plan that we recommend.
Once you have built a staircase down, build a large red storage room here, where you can stockpile items and keep your goods protected.
Smaller 3×3 yellow rooms will serve as workshops. You will need four — Carpenter, Stonecutter, Crafts, and Still — to begin with.
Then you will need a large blue dining hall which you will then need to define as a meeting place with the zoning tool.
Not every dwarf needs their own room, so you can start out with a small green dormitory which again you will need to zone.
Then set up two small purple offices with a table and chair in each.
The last important layout tip is that your corridors should be at least two squares wide, or your dwarves will keep bumping into each other and never get anything done.
Dwarf Fortress: How to assign Work Orders
The officers will house a manager and a bookkeeper, which are required to keep your fortress running smoothly.
You need to appoint these as early as possible by clicking on the crown icon. The game will suggest the best dwarves for the job based on their skills.
The managers will look after the workshops themselves, so you don’t have to check that tasks are being done yourself. They also unlock Work Orders which can be accessed via the clipboard button.
This gives you more control over the workshops. For example, you can tell your dwarves to only build barrels when there are no empty ones left.
The bookkeeper keeps track of how many goods you have in your fortress. This will help your manager better delegate tasks that need doing.
Dwarf Fortress: How to trade
One of the most important things to build is a trade depot on the surface. You will then need to appoint a broker to work there.
At least one of the workshops should always be producing goods that you can trade. Ask coming traders for seeds and cloth, they will then tell you what they would like in return so you can prepare it in advance.
If a caravan arrives at your depot, follow these steps to trade:
- Send your trade goods to the depot (be sure to build bins at the Carpenter for this purpose).
- Send your broker to the depot.
- Use the Trade button to buy and sell goods.
If the foreign trader does not make a sufficient profit (a green number), he may lose patience and may not trade with you, so be as generous as necessary to get the deal through.
Dwarf Fortress: How to manage food and drink
Without alcohol your dwarves will become dissatisfied, so you need to ensure that beer and wine are constantly being produced.
For this you will need to dig a few fields one level below the surface, around 5×5 each. Grow Plump Helmets and other seeds for a constant supply.
To start with your dwarves will be happy with raw produce, but later you will need a kitchen workshop to cook food.
On the surface you will need a grazing zone for your animals, and you can also build a farmer’s workshop which will provide milk and wool.
Dwarf Fortress: How to create weapons
At some point you will need good weapons in order to protect your fortress. When digging you will find different kinds of rocks and metals.
When you click on a rock, it will tell you if it contains an ore, that you can fashion into a metal.
Once you discover a vein, you can use the auto-mining function to collect all the ore you want.
Steel is the metal of choice, and you can get this using iron ore, coal, and flux stone, which can be processed via the smelting furnace.
From here on, fulfil the needs of your dwarves and follow your personal game goal – and remember: losing is fun!
Written by Marco Wutz and Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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