To buy, or not to buy?

[Edmund Greyfox]

I'm trying to decide whether or not to pick up the game now or wait to see what happens in the future, and I'd really like some advice from people who haven't been playing so long that they've forgotten what it was like when they were a total newb.

My main concerns are the learning curve and the posts i've seen about how the game really doesn't give you enough information on how anything works. I don't mind looking things up on the wiki or watching a video now and then, but I really don't want to need to spend hours reading/watching others just to learn the basics. Given that, how long does it really take to figure out how to do things and build a fortress that can survive more or less indefinitely?

I'm also not sure i like the whole "losing is fun" thing, because i don't ever play to lose. In these type of games i expect my first few attempts to crash and burn, but i also expect that once I've mastered that basics that I'm not going to get wiped out unless i make a serious mistake. Is this game really designed in such a way that every colony is eventually going to be wiped out, no matter how experienced the player?

[Testikles]

It doesn't take long, especially if you are familiar with colony builders in general. There is an ingame tutorial, and then you may want to watch at least ~half an hour of a YT tutorial and a bit of wiki and leave the rest to trial and error. There are plenty of ressources on this game, and you get answers really quick here. If you start up for the first time it might look a wee bit confusing, but once you get a feeling for it you'll realise that it's really not rocket science for the most part.

[McFuzz]

I'm old hat, so take my post with a grain of bias. This is meant to be informative, not encouragement.

The learning curve's not too bad really. You can learn the basics of food and drink production, making dwarves happy, and setting up a military or trap defense in the first hour of play - now you have a self sustaining defensible fortress and then you're pretty much free to experiment with whatever systems you like. It's more of a colony sandbox than it's contemporaries, which play more like a tower defense or hold-out-long-as-you-can sim.

You don't have to lose. Many colonies do not lose; but rather should be abandoned due to heavy losses, a major screw-up (whoopsy my whole fort is flooded lol), or simply wanting to do it better or different next time. I can only count on my own two hands the number of times I've seen the defeat screen in 12 years.

Ultimately, on the fence buyers are at risk of disappointment. To some, the game is not worth 30 dollars, but to some it's worth much more. I can't say for sure which you'd be. I'd suggest trying the free version, playing for a bit, and if you'd be interested in a more streamlined version, picking this up.

But it's also worth saying, the game is 2 guy's lifelong megaproject ambition, 20 years down and 30 to go, so it's very probably free updates for the rest of our human lifespans. Not a bad $30 spent in my opinion lol.

[Edmund Greyfox]

I'm not overly worried about the cost. Compared to most games these days $30 is cheap, even if it does have old school graphics. From what I've seen and heard this is enough like rimworld that i'll get my monies worth, assuming that i don't get frustrated with the learning curve.

[strikebackstudios]

You should check the negative reviews before purchasing. Most of the people on these forums, and posting "positive" reviews are part of the Dwarf Furtress fanboi cult.

The state of the steam version is arguably worse than the free version with Lazy New Pack, for many reasons.

[Juez]

Originally posted by strikebackstudios:

You should check the negative reviews before purchasing. Most of the people on these forums, and posting "positive" reviews are part of the Dwarf Furtress fanboi cult.

The state of the steam version is arguably worse than the free version with Lazy New Pack, for many reasons.

No.

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by strikebackstudios:

You should check the negative reviews before purchasing. Most of the people on these forums, and posting "positive" reviews are part of the Dwarf Furtress fanboi cult.

The state of the steam version is arguably worse than the free version with Lazy New Pack, for many reasons.

I'm just here to help people with a game I like, man, why are you here :3
BUT. What you said, agreeable. The negative reviews, however, are mostly veterans players disappointed with the steam release because things have been changed or moved or taken away entirely. I don't think they're massively applicable to new players who don't have the context of the old version, but they are serious concerns. Ones which I hope are addressed.

[Lexyvil]

Originally posted by #Juez:

Originally posted by strikebackstudios:

You should check the negative reviews before purchasing. Most of the people on these forums, and posting "positive" reviews are part of the Dwarf Furtress fanboi cult.

The state of the steam version is arguably worse than the free version with Lazy New Pack, for many reasons.

No.

I would agree with Juez. The Steam version is still lacking a lot features and some of the new methods of handling things (labours and stairs) are not properly implemented.

Currently in this version, stairs are locked to a minimum spanning of 2 elevations which doesn't let you modify a single stair without being forced to build a second one, which makes you do an extra step to cancel the second construction. This is a nuisance whenever you want to change an up/down stairs to an upstairs or downstairs.

Also a lot of labours in the new labour management system are missing and must be manually defined, which are hard to relate with the current custom symbols (I, II, III, etc). When you have 10+ Custom labours, it gets hard to know which icon represents which job.

But I am confident they will improve everything overtime.

[Chairman Meow]

It's still a bit unintuitive despite it's successful efforts to make the game more approachable. So you need a little patience before you get to the enjoyable parts. But having experience in colony sims will give you a headstart.

It's also like many sandboxes lacking in concrete goals, so if you like game like Minecraft were you set goals for yourself you will like it, but if you prefer being given a series win conditions and a satisfying conclusion this isn't your game. Your fortress isn't guaranteed to lose but if you do too good you will crave challenge and likely retire your fortress for a new one. Because of the rich content and complexity, the replayability makes this constant fresh start playstyle rewarding.

At the moment it's also a bit unstable. I've first hand had a couple game breaking bugs and crashes. If this sounds like your kind of game, maybe wait until next patch.

[Onyx Wake]

Figure any game is worth about a $1 an hour, so if you play 30 hours you'll have gotten your money's worth. It's taken me a week to get over 30 hours game play and that whole time has been a learning curve. It's a learning / experimenting / dying game.

[strikebackstudios]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

I'm just here to help people with a game I like, man, why are you here :3

To let people know there is a better version of the game for free, and that this version is not worth the 30 bucks, and to express disappointment that the litany of long standing issue in the game were not addressed before the steam release, making the steam release feel like someone put a fresh coat of lipstick on a broken pig at a 30 dollar price tag.

Play the free version, use LNP, and wait and see if any of the pre-exisiting bugs in the game are fixed, let alone the new ones introduced before you buy it.

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by strikebackstudios:

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

I'm just here to help people with a game I like, man, why are you here :3

To let people know there is a better version of the game for free, and that this version is not worth the 30 bucks, and to express disappointment that the litany of long standing issue in the game were not addressed before the steam release, making the steam release feel like someone put a fresh coat of lipstick on a broken pig at a 30 dollar price tag.

Play the free version, use LNP, and wait and see if any of the pre-exisiting bugs in the game are fixed, let alone the new ones introduced before you buy it.

Valid, enjoy your day ❤

[AmesNFire]

One thing to note is most of the 'issues' people (new and 'vet' alike) are running into is not understanding the new UI or willing to learn it.

A good example is stairs, which work just fine but people have fabricated this telephone-game myth about them being extremely broken.

[Snazzy Bowtie]

Took me like 2 hours to understand whats going on.

[Rex]

Is a great game, now is the moment because a lot of tutorials and people can help you so is easy to learn how to play ( no easy but no so hard like the other DF version)

[Vis]

Originally posted by Onyx Wake:

Figure any game is worth about a $1 an hour, so if you play 30 hours you'll have gotten your money's worth. It's taken me a week to get over 30 hours game play and that whole time has been a learning curve. It's a learning / experimenting / dying game.

I really don't like the whole $ per hour thing. I see this so often in the Rimworld community or whenever any Paradox game is discussed. Sure, you have replayability with those games., but we're talking about people who've never even tried the games. They could stop at 3 hours for all we know. Alternatively they could end up having 50 hours in a game but found it to be a giant slog.

By that logic I'm getting infinite value out of free games and have the oppertunity to make another short title worth millions just by replaying it over and over. You just can't (and imo. shouldn't) advertise the game to new people like that.