Overwhelming

[datCookie]

So I'm a first time player here in Dwarf Fortress, I love the concept of the game and also reading some of the horror stories people have had with their playthroughs.

I've spent time watching several tutorials, read a guide or two and even did the in-game tutorial as far as it allows. But I'm still honestly feeling pretty overwhelmed by everything that's in-game and it's making it very difficult for me to get into this.

I spend time finding good spots to start (no aquifiers and such) and then start laying out my base, whilst getting other dwarves to chop down trees and gather plants. I make an area for general storage, workshops and a dorm as well as an area for farming if I've got ground that allows it under the surface. I've not quite figured out farming yet, but once I hit this point, everything kinda blurs into one and I've no idea what's going on or what to do/focus on next.

Any tips to help ease me into it from those who know this game well enough or have experienced the same thing as I am?

Cheers

[Slowhand]

I feel you. It is my first time as well so I can not give you any pro tips. What helped me a lot was the following guide:

https://www.dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Quickstart_guide

Have Fun!

[db48x]

Take it slow, enjoy the game, and expect to lose the first few forts to low mood and other causes until you figure out how to get food, drink, crafts, metals, weapons, armor, and clothes industries going simultaneously. Losing is part of the exploration of the game!

[pRaX]

You already watched some guides and tutorials.
Just go and play and try to apply it.
Fail, learn from that and try again.

Just take it step by step.

I personally propably restarted 8x on the very first day of play and a couple of times more the days after.

Now I'm sitting on my 14th run iirc got a sizable fortress of over 200 dwarves and there will still be a ton of things I'll do differently in the next run based on all the things I've learned so far.

It's one of those games where "theory" only gets you so far.
You gotta dive in and smash your head against some walls.

[Haethei]

Sitting there worrying about the bigger picture can be pretty difficult to overcome. I always stress about designing my fortress in my head way before I actually mine anything out, which is a huge mistake for me every time.

If you haven't figured out farming yet, sit there and learn about farming. Learn how to make farm plots, learn how to plant the seeds, learn how your dwarves will pick up the plants and put them in a stockpile, learn how to cook food and alcohol. Don't worry about the 200 other things you could be doing right now. Your dwarves aren't super likely to die while you're busy, and if they do, you can try again with your new knowledge.

That's the essentials of farming, but it has a lot more stuff going on as well. You can make cloth, dye, oil, etc with other types of plants, and you can create fertilizer to make your crops grow better. None of that is stuff you are expected to learn very quickly. Go through the process of growing one type of plant (plump helmets are the best for food and alcohol) and you will be that much closer to loving the game every time you complete a small task like that

[Zuao]

Steam version includes several options previously only available through cheating.

You can disable enemies (treasure thieves will still come. Just put the stealables behind a lockable door and they'll immediatelly do an 180 and go away) and cap your population. I think that's the most overwhelming part, at least it's for me (not experienced but not quite a noob either).

The happyness meter is also quite useful. You can sort your dorfs in the population list and see what they're lacking by reading their details window. If you're not constantly being sieged by disabling it in the options, you should not be overwhelmed by sad dwarves mourning their lost ones and facing death all around them. But if you are, you need to dig out a cistern and get yourself some soap to clean wounds of your own dorfs. BTW, to deal with dead bodies one option is to make an Atom Smasher with a drawbridge and a spot of land.

This game is filled with little tricks and exploits also. Like the aforementioned Atom Smasher and the Quantum Storage trick.

This dude has been useful to unrust my knowledge and learn new things. You probably came across him already, but if not...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEVegl_VPQ

[Seabhac]

One solid way at least for me is to just leave it paused and look around at what is built already and find things to fix before pushing forward. When you can't think of anything else let her rip for a bit and see what comes to mind then rinse and repeat this process.

[76561188078797539]

Originally posted by pRaX:

Fail, learn from that and try again.

Just take it step by step.

Absolutely second this.

Figuring things out, and watching them go horribly (awesomely) wrong, is what the best memories of your dorfs are made of. Don't think of it as a game you need to win with a perfect run, think of it as a narrative experience that you win at no matter what happens.

Even if it's strands of animated hair choking the life out of your fortress' last survivor.

[The Trashman]

Originally posted by datCookie:

So I'm a first time player here in Dwarf Fortress, I love the concept of the game and also reading some of the horror stories people have had with their playthroughs.

I've spent time watching several tutorials, read a guide or two and even did the in-game tutorial as far as it allows. But I'm still honestly feeling pretty overwhelmed by everything that's in-game and it's making it very difficult for me to get into this.

I spend time finding good spots to start (no aquifiers and such) and then start laying out my base, whilst getting other dwarves to chop down trees and gather plants. I make an area for general storage, workshops and a dorm as well as an area for farming if I've got ground that allows it under the surface. I've not quite figured out farming yet, but once I hit this point, everything kinda blurs into one and I've no idea what's going on or what to do/focus on next.

Any tips to help ease me into it from those who know this game well enough or have experienced the same thing as I am?

Cheers

In the help menu (the ? button by the minimap), there's info on other topics, including one called Goals which gives some ideas for things you can aim for. I'd also recommend checking out the other help section, they cover a lot

[suejak]

Personally, I think it's important to stop trying to follow details. Embrace sloppiness and imperfection and just work on high-level goals. Make sure your guys have food, drink, and quarters. Make sure you are working towards decent military gear for the military. Make sure you have stuff to trade when traders come.

Farming is not as complicated as it seems. Just check to make sure you're planting something at all times, with a focus on food/drink plants like pump helmets (indoors) and fruit (outdoors).

If you have guys in the lower mood range, peek at their needs and see if there's something you can fulfill like a temple.

[Peepwood]

I have the exact same experience OP: I'm constantly overwhelmed by the situations, setup, possibilities and options! Even now with 40+ hours put in, I'm only mildly more comfortable (though obviously enjoying myself thoroughly!)

My ways of dealing with feeling overwhelmed are: take breaks away from the game (for perspective and blood pressure), watch videos/read discussions about the game (for ideas on what the hell you are supposed to prioritise), simply look up a small thing on the wiki, and then try to implement it in game (e.g. fertilizer).

Also, I keep the game paused a lot - try and "get myself up to speed", and then un-pause for as long as I can stomach, before checking everything is going OK. I probably spent 80%+ of my first 10 hours with the game paused. The opposite might work too, never pause and deliberately ignore everything apart from your current objective - not something that I do though.

I have had a fortress for a few years now, and I am still not familiar with all the gameplay components, I'm trying to understand clothing at the moment. I keep adding each component one at a time, whilst continuing to operate all/most of the things I have come to understand.

I think if you focus on one thing at a time to learn, and then move on to the next when you feel like it you will feel that you are doing the right thing. I also try to balance the notion of "finding an equilibrium" with "being adventurous".

The key to me countering the feeling of being overwhelmed in DF is to appreciate and enjoy the results of my previous work/existing knowledge - this means that over time I am less overwhelmed, even though I have "more plates to spin".

So that's how I try and deal with being overwhelmed, and I assume that I will no longer be overwhelmed when I have played the game for a longer time :)


Also a tip if you end up wanting to restart from scratch, whilst also erasing all your mistakes from history:
Generate a new world with the default settings, choose to take the tutorial, then cancel the tutorial with the 'X'. This gives quick and easy access to a good starting spot with minimal faff.

[Nipply]

I'm the type of person where I can read about how to do something multiple times, but if the concept is complex enough (For me thats like...algebra and anything above that) I have to watch someone do something to understand the process and why they did things a certain way.

Give some youtubers a chance and watch their videos.

Blind is excellent. He has a bunch of tutorial videos and a lets-play going on. He takes the time to explain why he's doing something.

Nookrium is also great. He has some tutorial videos and a couple lets-plays.

Quill is also another good choice. He has a big lets-play series.

I've watched a bunch of their videos and it's helped me out a lot. Just when you're starting to get confused on something, chances are Blind just put out a tutorial video on it.

[Kasa]

I'll throw in my 2 cents here, don't feel obligated to keep playing the same fort once you figure out how to do something or do something better.

If you delete the save but not the world you can restart on the same spot with a new fort.

I've done this easily 12+ times as I learn new things re-learn old things and just generally get better at the game.

[76561188078797539]

Originally posted by Nipply:

Give some youtubers a chance and watch their videos.

I really struggle to understand the reliance on guides.

Probably because, to me, most of the enjoyment comes from figuring out the mechanics of gameplay. A lot of games I haven't "finished" simply because I ran out of new things to discover (probably why I still love playing DF even after all these decades).

Feels like denying yourself the thrill and excitement of first-hand discoveries.

[Emilie Sackenball]

Well I can tell you that's quite the the step curve, just imagine, years and years ago, no community on discord, no video help at all in youtube, no really helpful forum posts, really impatient "experts and pros" that acts like you should get quickly when they say a small phrase. Got some years away of player (more than 5) and now I come back with a better control or UI. Discovering a new thing that you feel amazing how a game actually is having that detail covered is the best.
Take in consideration you can remove aquifers but you eventually will learn a workaround any challenge you find, and you will like me, just play and you will say "Dang I need water for doing this"

[Dirty_Curty]

Look, I've been playing the game for over 10 years and there are still systems I haven't really touched, so you're not the only one that gets overwhelmed by the game. You just do whatever you wanna do and learn as you go.