New player in need of a few tips.

[Tericc]

I'm well aware of how how hard this game is. So i know i did something wrong somewhere as this seems a bit over the top.
To give a brief summery.

1) I start a new game. Got my 7 dwarfs freshly embarked and digging some holes.
Collected some wood making farms, bins and whatnot.
Within a few days giant goats started mauling my dwarfs to death.

Ok not a big deal. It happens.

2) Second embark. I got a bit further. This time i started to make dwellings!
All dwarfs are murdered by a single undead soldier with a mace and shield.

ok. I got to watch my dwarfs get hunted down one screaming for their lives.
Was rather funny.
the fisherman lasted the longest!

3) Embark. This time I did not last as long as the first. I barely made a single carpenter workshop and a storage then i got raided by a tone of simple undead.

Five or Six. death was swifter as there wasn't nearly as much hiding space

4) Embark.

I legit barely made my first hallway. Not even a single room.
Drafted all 7 dwarfs into a single squad vrs 2 Undead soldiers and about 4 simple undead.

Died in seconds..

And this area i embarked on is not haunted or anything. Just temperate wilderness.

I got to be missing something here.

[[WD4B] SeizeThoseMeans]

Try to find a site with less neighbors, particularly hostile ones, all neighbors will be listed when picking an embark site and it will tell you if they are hostile

Past that, you can always do the quick hole up, staircase down 3 z levels, make a 11x5 hallway, channel 7x5 within it, build a 9x3 bridge over the channel, then channel once more (leaving a ramp for dwarves to exit on the far side), then hook up the bridge to a lever with mechanisms. Now whenever you have an intruder you can pull the lever and prevent the threats from attacking you until they get bored and leave

[Ghiron]

Check your neighbors before embarking. If you have a tower as a neighbor, find somewhere else to settle. Usually you won't get attacked until you have a bigger population, but undead ignore the thresholds and come at you right away.

[Excellion]

I assume that either your embark area is (partially) in a haunted area, or near a necromancer tower for it to face undead. I'd advice settling in a different area to start out.

If you are settling in a hostile area (Which i strongly advice against for a first game!) the name of the game is usually to get underground and turtle up as soon as possible.

Pretty much:
- Dig a ramp or stairs down as close to the cart as possible.
- Add a small tunnel and add a general storage there. Have all the dwaves haul the supplies down as fast as possible.
- Wall off the entrance.

Walls (both natural and constructed) cannot be destroyed by anything except the player, as opposed to doors which can be. So after you build a wall our dwarves are cloistered in and you can start setting up a fort peacefully. Of course they cannot get out either, so changing that wall for a bridge linked to a lever is preferable.

Again, this is not an ideal zone to start and the above strategy is the most basic "Get down safely" there is (But certainly not the most optimal either).

[Tericc]

Originally posted by Ghiron:

Check your neighbors before embarking. If you have a tower as a neighbor, find somewhere else to settle. Usually you won't get attacked until you have a bigger population, but undead ignore the thresholds and come at you right away.

Oh a tower huh? Prob it then. I thought something was wrong somehow if i cant even start digging and im already getting slaughtered.

Figured enemy raids are based on wealth and/or population
I will keep an eye out for towers then.

[The Former]

That's a lot of undead! Make sure you avoid embarking in or too close to Haunted areas and it should hopefully help with that particular peril. I know my first embark (tutorial put me there, can you believe it?!) as fraught with undead animals and dwarven blood-rain, but when I embarked far away from haunted terrain, not a single undead in a whole year.

[Tericc]

Originally posted by Excellion:

I assume that either your embark area is (partially) in a haunted area, or near a necromancer tower for it to face undead. I'd advice settling in a different area to start out.

If you are settling in a hostile area (Which i strongly advice against for a first game!) the name of the game is usually to get underground and turtle up as soon as possible.

Pretty much:
- Dig a ramp or stairs down as close to the cart as possible.
- Add a small tunnel and add a general storage there. Have all the dwaves haul the supplies down as fast as possible.
- Wall off the entrance.

Walls (both natural and constructed) cannot be destroyed by anything except the player, as opposed to doors which can be. So after you build a wall our dwarves are cloistered in and you can start setting up a fort peacefully. Of course they cannot get out either, so changing that wall for a bridge linked to a lever is preferable.

Again, this is not an ideal zone to start and the above strategy is the most basic "Get down safely" there is (But certainly not the most optimal either).

Its a Tower. Even tho its a human tower apparently that's a bad thing..
I knew something was wrong when i get invaded by raiding undead before i can even mine out a storage room

[db48x]

People only build towers once they have started to practice Necromancy. There’s just no other reason to build a tower.

[LaChouette]

Originally posted by Tericc:

Its a Tower. Even tho its a human tower apparently that's a bad thing..
I knew something was wrong when i get invaded by raiding undead before i can even mine out a storage room

Human tower just means the necromancer is a human.
You can still try to build a fortress there, maybe by giving combat skills and weapons to your starting dwarves rather than utility skills. But it's definitely going to be a challenge and it's probably better to settle someplace far away from that tower (and maybe send a raid or two there once you have a decent military, as revenge!)

[OgichiGame]

That's rough buddy. When you select an area to spawn into, there's information about the region that's given to you before you start. You're going to want to read all of that carefully. You want to avoid things like existing structures, haunted areas, and aquifers. And make sure that you're picking somewhere that's nearby mountains and water and forests.

Other than that, sometimes it's just bad luck.

[[HW] Boar]

I think what might be confusing here: In DF, the location you pick is very much picking your difficulty. Things do scale with wealth/population, but based on what's around you

Starting in a mirthful forest with no goblins nearby will be a very different experience.

[Wharrgarbl]

Pick an embark that has the following.
Trees. A river (for fishing). A hillside ( check the elevation button in world gen. .. A hillside is easy to dig into and start a protected underground fort)
Soil.( so you can farm)
flux stone layer (forging)
metals
clay or sand ( meh )

Aquifer: Lot's of people hate them. Especially the new players. I am of the opinion that they are extremely useful and you should dive right in an maybe make some test worlds and practice dealing with them. When you have that down, you have a water supply for wells. Or channeling to a mote. flooding the caverns. whatever. I like Aquifers. But learn them first before creating an entire fort maybe.

[Tericc]

Originally posted by Wharrgarbl:

Pick an embark that has the following.
Trees. A river (for fishing). A hillside ( check the elevation button in world gen. .. A hillside is easy to dig into and start a protected underground fort)
Soil.( so you can farm)
flux stone layer (forging)
metals
clay or sand ( meh )

Aquifer: Lot's of people hate them. Especially the new players. I am of the opinion that they are extremely useful and you should dive right in an maybe make some test worlds and practice dealing with them. When you have that down, you have a water supply for wells. Or channeling to a mote. flooding the caverns. whatever. I like Aquifers. But learn them first before creating an entire fort maybe.

I probably dont use them to the extent your thinking about but i do use water already. I create lakes and ponds already. First thing i look for is a body of moving water. I start planning my defense around it as well.

And added bonuses other then wells is the amount of fish i get swimming inside sometimes.

I just unfortunately keep selecting embark locations that dont allow me to live long enough to actually advance beyond a simple pool with a well yet