Dwarf fortress
This page is dedicated to Dwarf Fortress, an incredible simulation game where you have to build your own fortress. The learning curve is very steep but the universe is very rich and detailed.
Reference
- Dwarf Fortress on Bay 12 Games
- Dwarf Fortress Wiki, a must-visit place
- Ascii Tilesets reference
- Ascii Status Icon reference
- The complete and utter newbie tutorial for DF
Tilesets:
- Mayday's graphic tileset, a fan's tileset that greatly eases the gameplay
- Phoebius' tileset
3D visualizers:
Utilities:
- Dwarf Therapist, a mandatory utility that simplify considerably the management of dwarf's profession (Linux version)
Alternatives to Dwarf Fortress:
- Rimworld — A futurist game dwarf-fortress-like.
- Gnomoria — although dead by now, and gnomes seem to be dead stupid.
Packs
- Utility:Lazy Newb Pack on the Wiki.
- Linux: Enay's LinuxLNP on the forum (latest information).
Guides
- DF Wiki - Quick start guide — Fortress
- Bedroom / Housing
- Trading
- DF Wiki - Trading.
- Trading for fun and profit, a blog post about trading in DF.
SoundCense
See SoundCense on forum.
Install
- DF Wiki - Installation
- Newbie / full package Utility:Lazy_Newb_Pack:
- Linux: Enay's LinuxLNP
Recommended solution is to install complete software package like the Lazy Newb Pack.
- Install Lazy Newb Pack.
Some personalization:
- Edit keymap to use , instead of m for movement. TODO
- Add main song theme and title theme to SoundCense.
- Enable Workflow plugin
- Enable Dwarf Monitor.
To start playing:
- Start Dwarf Fortress
- Start Dwarf Therapist
- Start StoneCense #
How To Play
Embark
Choose a 2x2 embark site to reduce FPS issues.
DFHack plugins
- Ctrl-F1 list of available DFHack hotkeys in current context
- A plugin to show dwarf occupation statistics and fort efficiency. Ctrl-F to display.
- A must-have to reduce micro-management and keep stocks up.
- Alt-W in workshop to trigger DFHack Workflow plugin.
- A plugin to designate automatically nearby tree to cut to maintain wood stock within some limits.
- Trigger from the wood cutting designation interface.
- Quick stock statistics
- Shift-Ctrl-I to display.
Links to available plugins (incomplete list):
Occupation
Hunting
- See this forum post for some guidelines. Basically:
- Make crossbows.
- Make quivers.
- Make bolts.
- Have a refuse stockpile.
- Allow collection of corpses/refuse on the surface.
- Make sure hunters have ammo assigned to them. If you have large numbers of hunters you may need to increase their ammo allotments.
- Periodically unforbid all used ammo (recycling it back into quivers again) and/or manufacture new ammo.
Tips and tricks
- Unconscious wounded dwarf ignored by hospital and doctors
I had a wounded dwarf in his bedroom that required healthcare, but was ignored by the doctors. To solve this, I assigned an hospital zone on his room, de-assigned the bedroom and removed (claim back) his bed. At that time, the doctors came and brought him to the hospital.
See also bug tracker entry for more information and tricks.
- Animals starving to death.
Grazing animals must be assigned to a pasture zone, otherwise they won't eat and starve to death.
- Dump materials easily. In Look mode (k or left-click), move cursor to an object on the map. Press d to dump the object. When done, a letter D appears next to the object in the list. If the square contains multiple object, make sure you select the correct one with -+.
- Hide object. In look mode, select an object, then press h. There will be a letter H next to the hidden object, and object will disappear from the map.
- Show hole in floor. Use command
multilevel 0
in DFHack, then floor hole will become easily noticeable.multilevel 5
to restore the default TWBT plugin setting.
Managing dwarfs
- Give each dwarf a nickname like
Miner CMX
[1] where Miner is the profession, C means it is customized (all customized miner are doing Mining, Stone detailing, Stone crafting and architecture; C means that job allocation was done manually for all profession for this dwarf), M/F means male/female (for squad assignment), and X whether dwarf can be drafted if necessary (for squad making).
Avoid tantrums
- Set up cloth / textile industry to make sure all dwarfs can replace worn cloths (cloths marked with
x...x
).
DFHack
TWBT
- Set multilevel
multilevel 5 # The default
multilevel less # Reduce number of levels
multilevel more # Increase number of levels
Commands
- Show detailed Strange Mood information
- Note that this might be a bit of cheating since part of the game fun is to diagnose yourself what the dwarfs want and bear the in-game consequence if you can't.
showmood # Show detailed 'Strange Mood' information.
Command tiletypes
- Let's remove all trees
- First in the game, press k to select the top-left square on the map.
- Then
tiletypes
range 200 200 100
filter mat tree # Or: filter all tree
paint mat air # Or: paint all air
paint shape empty # Or: paint shape empty
run
- Applicable shapes [2]:
WALL FLOOR ...
- Applicable material:
SOIL STONE MINERAL
- Note
filter any
orpaint any
to clear the filter/paint
Hacks
AZERTY keyboard bindings
Edit file data/init/interface.txt [3]:
diff --git a/df_linux/data/init/interface.txt b/df_linux/data/init/interface.txt
index efe4622..9246a35 100644
--- a/df_linux/data/init/interface.txt
+++ b/df_linux/data/init/interface.txt
@@ -961,7 +961,7 @@
[BIND:SETUP_LOCAL_Y_MUP:REPEAT_SLOW]
[KEY:u]
[BIND:SETUP_LOCAL_Y_MDOWN:REPEAT_SLOW]
-[KEY:m]
+[KEY:,]
[BIND:SETUP_LOCAL_X_MUP:REPEAT_SLOW]
[KEY:k]
[BIND:SETUP_LOCAL_X_MDOWN:REPEAT_SLOW]
@@ -1412,7 +1412,7 @@
[BIND:BUILDING_DIM_Y_UP:REPEAT_NOT]
[KEY:u]
[BIND:BUILDING_DIM_Y_DOWN:REPEAT_NOT]
-[KEY:m]
+[KEY:,]
[BIND:BUILDING_DIM_X_UP:REPEAT_NOT]
[KEY:k]
[BIND:BUILDING_DIM_X_DOWN:REPEAT_NOT]
First game (after long time)
Vocabulary
DFHack / Dwarf Therapist have different terminology. I take here DFHack as reference:
Digram | Profession | Labor |
---|---|---|
En | Engraver | Stone Detailing |
He | Herbalist | Plant Gathering |
Trading
Some prices I got for items.
Base modifiers are:
Designation | Description | Valud modifier | Sharpness | Weapon/Armor modifier |
---|---|---|---|---|
Item Name | — | 1x | 50% | 1x |
+Item Name+ | Finely-crafted | 3x | 70% | 1.4x |
*Item Name* | Superior quality | 4x | 80% | 1.6x |
≡Item Name≡ =Item Name= |
Exceptional | 5x | 90% | 1.8x |
☼Item Name☼ **Item Name** |
Masterful | 12x | 100% | 2x |
Unique name | Artifact | 120x | 100% | 3x |
«Item Name» | Decorated object | varies | varies | varies |
1x | - 2x - | + 3x + | * 4x * | = 5* = | ** 12x ** | ! 120x ! |
---|
Base price | Item |
---|---|
3 |
|
6 |
|
24 |
|
10 |
|
14 |
|
20 |
|
25 |
|
44 |
|
50 |
|
90 |
|
100 |
|
110 |
|
125 |
|
140 |
|
150 |
|
200 |
|
230 |
|
340 |
|
400 |
|
Design
Ideas, things to know when designing a fortress.
- Stockpile desing — stockpile design is essential for an efficient fortress.
- Create feeding stockpile around workshop.
- Create stock stockpile under workshop (to ease extension).
Troubleshooting
Plant mood
in Dwarf Therapist
There is a bug in DT where the Mood Type is replaced by a Material Type, and hence Strange Mood
becomes Plant Mood
.
Use the in-game information to know what mood the dwarf is in (Strange Mood in the wiki), or use DFHack command showmood
to get an accurate description (cheating a bit).
How - To
Uncage a creature from a cage stored in a stockpile
Several ways [4]. Among others:
- First build the cage (b-j and Template:X to be sure to get the right cage), then q to examine the cage and a and enter to toggle the animal. Beware of hostile creatures.
- Assign creature to a pasture zone via the pasture menu q-N.
- With traders around, select the cage for trade via the move good to trading depot menu. When cage is hauled, animal inside will be released.
To Do
Things to try...
- Rename units to better organize them (like prefix letters for profession...). See DFHack command
rename unit "nick"
. There is also a DFHack scriptnames
. There is also an in-game gui/rename plugin. - Organize better stockpiles (with give and take).
- Use DFHack StoneSense to view the fortress in 3D.
Fortress
Inspiration:
Trade
- Buy lot of tan / hide / whatever to make leather works (needed for quiver, leather armors, ...).
Military
- Marksdwarf