Advice to get (re)started in DF?

[AmesNFire]

Having played DF a bit in the past and being amused by certain trolls who keep posting in the discussion board, I'm getting back into the game.
I know most of the surface-level basics but was wondering if there was any tips or tricks the steam community could provide me.

I'm also interested in mods if there's any great quality-of-life ones that I should look into. Collection recommendations are welcome.

[Fel]

For QoL, get DFHack for starters as it countains quite a few.

I would say watch Blind's youtube series for beginner tips as well as his video about how to avoid FPS problems (some of those things are very simple like the stairs thing and it has a big impact).

[AlP]

Originally posted by AmesNFire:

I know most of the surface-level basics but was wondering if there was any tips or tricks the steam community could provide me.

Embark with a good mechanic, instead of relying on military dwarves early on. Build cage traps in a corridor leading into your base.

Build a roof over your base, to force any flying hostiles to fight on the same z-level instead of escaping to the sky. Build corridors for your military to fight in.

Do that asap, before your first agitated animals show up.

[The Knowledge Seeker]

I am not sure what you do and do not know, but since it has been a little bit, this should be useful to you ( and others ) to get a head start or to remember what something is used for.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2899235556

[Wolfguarde]

Get yourself magma smelters and forgers as soon as is viable. Not having to use wood is 1: a massive time saver, and 2: much, much safer than having to individually cancel every single haul job after you barrow your dwarves in an invasion. Just make sure you isolate the lava pools you're drawing from from the lava sea itself, to avoid nasty ♥♥♥♥ crawling up the intake shafts and setting fire to your metalworkers.

If you're not inclined/able to train and gear up a viable military before raids generally start showing up, cage traps, bridges and drowning chambers are a wonderful alternative. If you're going to do a drowning chamber and don't want to work on convoluted piping/pumping, though, you're going to want to start on a tile with a river.

Hotkey "n" will expand your designation menus (mining, etc) to include priority listing and, in the case of mining, the ore-only designation. Ore-only auto-mines every new ore/crystal tile discovered when the currently-designated tiles are mined. It can also be used to mine out certain rock types.

Hammerers are Dwarf Fortress's leg privilege. Only they're usually fatal, so use the justice system sparingly for the likes of serial killers and dwarves who break things.

You can (and probably should, where viable) build and zone temples and guild halls before your dwarves start pestering you for them.

Siege monsters can break doors and grates, but not bridges.

[Fel]

With the default settings now being "ores everywhere" you should have a lot of coke-producing boulders so rushing magma is not as important thankfully.

[AlP]

Originally posted by Wolfguarde:

Siege monsters can break doors and grates, but not bridges.

Building destroyers don't work right now, so those doors are safe.

[Wolfguarde]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by Wolfguarde:

Siege monsters can break doors and grates, but not bridges.

Building destroyers don't work right now, so those doors are safe.

Noted, I was not aware of that. Thank you.

[Fel]

To be fair it's better to get into the right habit even if it currently wouldn't hurt your fortress.
I mean, way too many people over the years have lost entire forts by neglecting the military and relying on locking the front door when something dangerous pops up.

[Wolfguarde]

There is nothing a military can protect a fortress from that walls, floors and bridges can't.

Except child serial killers, as my current fortress has discovered...

[Den Bjornen]

A general design tip: remember to think three-dimensionally. For example, put stockpiles with the relevant materials in the layers directly above or below your workshops and connect to them by stairs.

Use "give to" and "take from" to keep stockpiles "down the chain" filled. For example, have a surface wood stockpile that gives to a below surface wood stockpile, which, in turn , gives to wood stockpiles near workshops that use wood.

If you want to boost a certain under-used skill among your dwarves, make an early guildhall dedicated to that skill that is open to all residents. If you have at least someone with skills, dwarves hang out there in their free time and build up that skill.

[olElLI]

Have fun.