Dwarf Fortress Noob Help - Page 3

NeonSamurai · 11-16-10, 04:05 PM

Dry moat is better, some mobs can swim, but none of them can go down a z level without stairs or a ramp (well unless they fly).

I often do 3 spaces wide moats and then a drawbridge with stairs in the middle on each side.

Also with levers, the notes key is your friend

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Dry moat is better, some mobs can swim, but none of them can go down a z level without stairs or a ramp (well unless they fly).

I often do 3 spaces wide moats and then a drawbridge with stairs in the middle on each side.

I take it a moat is a channel? The Dwarf wiki only links to a blank page for "Moat" Although I'm looking at:
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010

efense_guide
and
http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF...ecurity_design
Right now

Quote:

Also with levers, the notes key is your friend

I came to realize this when I got confused on which lever does what, and almost drowned my facility a second time. Luckily it was only a surge of 2/7 and 3/7 water.

NeonSamurai · 11-16-10, 04:24 PM

Yep, channel. I may post some screens of my super fortress later which is totally siege proof, and can defeat any siege, even super mobs.

Early game, long coridors for your entrance (above or below ground) loaded with stonefall traps is your friend (chained guard dogs are good too to catch ambushers/thieves).

Also another tip, trade wagons need 3 tile wide paths to get anywhere, and can go up and down ramps as long as they are 3 tiles wide. This is useful to know for getting them underground if you have dug down into the ground rather than into the side of a mountain.

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Yep, channel. I may post some screens of my super fortress later which is totally siege proof, and can defeat any siege, even super mobs.

Early game, long coridors for your entrance (above or below ground) loaded with stonefall traps is your friend (chained guard dogs are good too to catch ambushers/thieves).

Also another tip, trade wagons need 3 tile wide paths to get anywhere, and can go up and down ramps as long as they are 3 tiles wide. This is useful to know for getting them underground if you have dug down into the ground rather than into the side of a mountain.

I'm thinking of making a Circular wall around my fortress with a dry pit, and then another wall with a wet moat. Draw bridges for both walls

NeonSamurai · 11-16-10, 07:29 PM

Ok here is part of my superfort

First off this is the main entrance. The bridges are drawbridges that raise north (up). the path on the left is for enemies to walk across and get sniped from the positions above (shown later). The whole area is paved as this area is designed to quickly be flooded to drown attackers and not turn into mud and plants and crap (i pave everywhere water goes to prevent that). To get the enemies to use the winding pathway, I pull up the middle drawbridge (top in this picture), and leave the other's open. Also notice the stairs going down at the bottom bridge. PS the ^ are deadfall traps

This shows the upper area of the fort entrance including stairs going up into the ramparts (there are lever operated doors there to block enemy access)
You can see the third drawbridge, which seals off the tunnel and lets the area be flooded, and the water flooding mechanism (it drains out on the level below). It is basically 2 pumps, a perpetual motion machine (pumps & waterwheel) grates, and a 1x2 bridge (which as I said previously I use rather than floodgates in water, as tower caps and other plants cant grow where one is (since it doesn't disappear when up or down, plus it smashes to bits anything under it). Oh also in the tunnel there is are 2 (or 3 i forget) portcullises (grates), but they are up right now

Here you can see more of the tunnel, and my 4 balistae which cover the tunnel.The 2 bridges there at the bottom cover the entrance to the fortress proper in time of siege, and the porticullus (which the balistae can shoot through) keep the enemy far enough away. The balistae are all masterwork, and maned by 4 legendary siege operators

The main lever room and central staircase. The levers here control almost everything in the fortress. On the left and right you can see the water that goes to wells on the living quarter above (not shown). The zigzag controls for water pressure (there is a gigantic water cistern fed from an underground river behind that is under massive pressure, no pics of it though)

This is the entrance way (at the bottom is where it goes up to where the balistae and 2 drawbridges are). You can see the guard room and training area with pumps that are being run dry to build up stats before i start having the recruits train (it's a lot safer if they toughen up first before having them spar). You can also see the Trade depot to the north, and more traps. Carts can easily get down there due to the ramps and 4 tile wide corridors

Central staircase and main meeting hall/statue garden. It has 4 waterfalls (the misty areas) which refresh (and wash) the dwarfs. They love being sprayed with mist, and it is cool too. Engineering it was a pain though.

This is the second level of the fortress main gate, notice the fortifications point inward

third level of the main gate, there are 4 towers which can shoot outwards or inwards. Also the ramparts below are covered with a roof to prevent sniping from above by enemies

Last level of the gate. the towers also have roofs on them

picture of in front of the main gate, there was a battle recently with about 50 goblin invaders, but they got slaughtered by my 8 elites (i've seen them send goblins flying 100 squares or more) and ran very quickly My guys are cleaning up the damn mess of junk they always leave behind. I also have roads going to the edge of each side of the map, and the tunnel on the right is cut out of the mountain all the way through (so that when I order the dwarves indoors during a siege, they do not hide in there and get slaughtered.

this is my side "secret" entrance, concealed behind a lake. It is 100% secured when like this as flying mobs can't swim under the water, and swimming mobs cant cross the dry moat behind the water. I often use this passageway for wood gathering as it is closer to the forested area.

View of the lower level of the secret entrance. You can see how it is flooded and drained, and also the dry moat

I figured I would now show off some of the other areas

This is the main food production&storage floor, with grand dining hall in the center (with waterfall), fishing area to the north of that, storage to ether side of the dining hall, and farms after that. I have to be extremely careful though with flooding, as the water source is pressurized and can flood in an instant if i open both gates at once. Though the fort can be recovered as I designed drains and pumps in case of an emergency like that. I can also flush out the cistern and drain the farm area (had to do that actually due to wiring a lever wrong). There is also production areas to the south, and that south central area is to be a hospital. Below that is the refuse area which is air-locked to prevent miasma escaping (diagonal paths break water pressure and prevent miasma from spreading)

Workshops floor, below it is the raw materials storage, and above is finished products storage. Has all the workshops here

Smithy, with magma forges, smelters, kilns, glass making, charcoal, etc. All are magma powered. the 2 side rooms hold sand for glass making, center area is materials storage (wood, charcoal, iron ore, iron bars, and pig iron bars). Other ore is stored 1 level below, along with finished bars.

Picture of my underground tower cap farm. This fortress can literally seal itself off from the outside world forever, and be completely self sufficient with wood production (the main reason for going outside). Best of all its real dwarf mushroom wood, not that fancy dancy la te da stuff the damn elves like. That is only good for burning...

This is my obsidian production line (waiting to be mined out atm). It works by having lava fill below, then pressurized water floods over top turning it to stone before being drained off. You can see where i paved (no mud) here too.

The magma level of the obsidian production factory. This is also where the execution area is where nobles, the hammerer, and other dwarves that piss me off go to die, either by burning lava to the right, or starvation to the left.

This is my animal area. the C's are all cows, on the left and currently locked in by lever operated door. I also have cages inside in case they over breed or i just want to lock them away. The right side is the same but is my dog area. The dogs are all in the cages at the top right now as I don't want them breeding any more at this time.

Kennels training area, you can see the 2 pits which lead to the animal rooms show in the picture above. This is also where I keep pests under control as I have 4 trappers doing the job of vermin control (and no god damn cats, or any other pets). The fortress is also over max pop (240 or so atm), with no nobles other than the mayor, and a philosopher, who doesn't make demands (and can pull levers).

Anyhow that wraps up the tour for now. That is only about 1/4 of the fortress though. I didn't show quarters, storage, vaults, the cisterns, water and lava sources, all the piping, zoo, jail, etc etc etc

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 07:58 PM

The ASCII makes my cringe.

Glad I use a tile pack.

I started my base defenses. Will post them up after they're done.

Saw my Miner flashing, and I'm thinking "OH GOD! What's about to happen" Turns out she's a legendary miner now.

NeonSamurai · 11-16-10, 08:07 PM

Not me, I can't play it any other way. Actually I find the ascii better than the tiles as I find it more clear (especially humanoid icons, its impossible to quickly tell what profession they are, color coded ascii is so much easier). Frankly I am rather lost with the screen shots you posted, being only able to make out some of it. Oh and that is a custom 16x16 ascii style font (notice it's all square not stretched out) that I use.

Besides this is how real manly dwarfs play the game. The kind with beard so long they trip over it when trying to walk, that gnaw on cold raw mushrooms in the dark and throw epic civilization destroying tantrums. Tiles are for elven weenies.

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Not me, I can't play it any other way. Actually I find the ascii better than the tiles as i find it more clear. Frankly I am rather lost with the screen shots you posted, being only able to make out some of it. Oh and that is a custom 16x16 ascii style font (notice it's all square not stretched out).

This is the same for the shots you posted.

Quote:

Besides this is how real manly dwarfs play the game. The kind with beard so long they trip over it when trying to walk, that gnaw on cold raw mushrooms in the dark and throw epic civilization destroying tantrums. Tiles are for elven weenies.

I'm only partial Manly Dwarf. My beard aint that long and I don't know on mushrooms(yet).

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 08:40 PM

Temporary defense:

Will add another floor to the wall at one point, and there will be an exterior wall at another point.

I know you said dry moat is the best, But this is the easiest way to get water into the fortress.

NeonSamurai · 11-16-10, 09:04 PM

Ya, make sure you put a lever on the bridge (drawbridges are best rather than disappearing bridges as they act like a wall when up), and put the lever by a meeting area inside.

This is the tileset I use

it is actually pretty simple, and I preferred it over the graphics stuff as it didn't corrupt the text in the game

the double stacked + sign is paved, smoothed, or tiled floor
the random colored .,'` stuff and black background is rough ground, round solid things are boulders
,'% etc with a color around it is rough walls
the smooth stuff is build walls or smoothed natural walls
faint . shows empty space with a floor 1 z level down
^ are stonefall traps
the smooth border around double + are bridges
smiley faces are dwarves, helmet are dwarf soldiers. color says what their profession is
Trees are tree shaped, squigly y are saplings, " are bushes
# is are floor grates, the thick vertical line with a think horizontal line is a wall grate (picture 2)
double ~ is surface water if blue, lava if red (same for numbers)
!! are cages
smooth wall looking things with T type ends are raised bridges (top of pic 2 for example)
The thick + shaped things are fortifications
+ are doors
The white man shaped outlines are statues (pic 4)
the o with a ` above are levers
the grey double barrel shaped things are pumps
notched right angle triangles are stairs going up or down, X are stairs going up and down, smooth right angle triangles are ramps (eg bottom of pic 5)
g is goblin (red outlines mean dead ones, color of letter indicates type of soldier), C is cow, d is dog, etc
the male symbol (shield and spear) are bags
% are prepared meals
brown double ~ are farm fields thick horizontal bars are planted fields
X surrounded by brown are bins
brown = is wood
= with three lines are bars

Spike88 · 11-16-10, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Ya, make sure you put a lever on the bridge (drawbridges are best rather than disappearing bridges as they act like a wall when up), and put the lever by a meeting area inside.

This is the tileset I use

AH THE PINK BURNS MINE EYES.

I put the lever next to the bridge... I best destroy it and relocate.

Spike88 · 11-17-10, 01:00 AM

How do I build roofs?

And it's new fortress time. ran into a cave that killed everyone.

Submarine · 11-17-10, 03:28 AM

Anyone interested in doing a bloodline succession game? I'm quite the DF player myself

.

Spike88 · 11-17-10, 03:34 AM

Bah this is the third time I've struck a cave at around level 12.

11-17-10, 04:14 AM

Right now I'm using Talyrth's 15x15 tileset, good size and easy to read...

http://df.magmawiki.com/images/6/6d/...uare_15x15.png

(Note it may look white with two icons in the corner but its a full tileset)

Also finally got back into this a bit haven't seriously played in AGES...

11-16-10, 04:05 PM	#31
NeonSamurai Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Socialist Republic of Kanadia Posts: 3,044 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Dry moat is better, some mobs can swim, but none of them can go down a z level without stairs or a ramp (well unless they fly). I often do 3 spaces wide moats and then a drawbridge with stairs in the middle on each side. Also with levers, the notes key is your friend __________________ SH3 Newbie Guide Links and other helpfull stuff

11-16-10, 04:24 PM	#33
NeonSamurai Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Socialist Republic of Kanadia Posts: 3,044 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Yep, channel. I may post some screens of my super fortress later which is totally siege proof, and can defeat any siege, even super mobs. Early game, long coridors for your entrance (above or below ground) loaded with stonefall traps is your friend (chained guard dogs are good too to catch ambushers/thieves). Also another tip, trade wagons need 3 tile wide paths to get anywhere, and can go up and down ramps as long as they are 3 tiles wide. This is useful to know for getting them underground if you have dug down into the ground rather than into the side of a mountain. __________________ SH3 Newbie Guide Links and other helpfull stuff

11-16-10, 07:58 PM	#36
Spike88 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 3,052 Downloads: 36 Uploads: 0	The ASCII makes my cringe. Glad I use a tile pack. I started my base defenses. Will post them up after they're done. Saw my Miner flashing, and I'm thinking "OH GOD! What's about to happen" Turns out she's a legendary miner now. __________________

11-16-10, 08:07 PM	#37
NeonSamurai Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Socialist Republic of Kanadia Posts: 3,044 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Not me, I can't play it any other way. Actually I find the ascii better than the tiles as I find it more clear (especially humanoid icons, its impossible to quickly tell what profession they are, color coded ascii is so much easier). Frankly I am rather lost with the screen shots you posted, being only able to make out some of it. Oh and that is a custom 16x16 ascii style font (notice it's all square not stretched out) that I use. Besides this is how real manly dwarfs play the game. The kind with beard so long they trip over it when trying to walk, that gnaw on cold raw mushrooms in the dark and throw epic civilization destroying tantrums. Tiles are for elven weenies. __________________ SH3 Newbie Guide Links and other helpfull stuff

11-16-10, 08:40 PM	#39
Spike88 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 3,052 Downloads: 36 Uploads: 0	Temporary defense: Will add another floor to the wall at one point, and there will be an exterior wall at another point. I know you said dry moat is the best, But this is the easiest way to get water into the fortress. __________________

11-16-10, 07:29 PM	#35
NeonSamurai Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Socialist Republic of Kanadia Posts: 3,044 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Ok here is part of my superfort First off this is the main entrance. The bridges are drawbridges that raise north (up). the path on the left is for enemies to walk across and get sniped from the positions above (shown later). The whole area is paved as this area is designed to quickly be flooded to drown attackers and not turn into mud and plants and crap (i pave everywhere water goes to prevent that). To get the enemies to use the winding pathway, I pull up the middle drawbridge (top in this picture), and leave the other's open. Also notice the stairs going down at the bottom bridge. PS the ^ are deadfall traps This shows the upper area of the fort entrance including stairs going up into the ramparts (there are lever operated doors there to block enemy access) You can see the third drawbridge, which seals off the tunnel and lets the area be flooded, and the water flooding mechanism (it drains out on the level below). It is basically 2 pumps, a perpetual motion machine (pumps & waterwheel) grates, and a 1x2 bridge (which as I said previously I use rather than floodgates in water, as tower caps and other plants cant grow where one is (since it doesn't disappear when up or down, plus it smashes to bits anything under it). Oh also in the tunnel there is are 2 (or 3 i forget) portcullises (grates), but they are up right now Here you can see more of the tunnel, and my 4 balistae which cover the tunnel.The 2 bridges there at the bottom cover the entrance to the fortress proper in time of siege, and the porticullus (which the balistae can shoot through) keep the enemy far enough away. The balistae are all masterwork, and maned by 4 legendary siege operators The main lever room and central staircase. The levers here control almost everything in the fortress. On the left and right you can see the water that goes to wells on the living quarter above (not shown). The zigzag controls for water pressure (there is a gigantic water cistern fed from an underground river behind that is under massive pressure, no pics of it though) This is the entrance way (at the bottom is where it goes up to where the balistae and 2 drawbridges are). You can see the guard room and training area with pumps that are being run dry to build up stats before i start having the recruits train (it's a lot safer if they toughen up first before having them spar). You can also see the Trade depot to the north, and more traps. Carts can easily get down there due to the ramps and 4 tile wide corridors Central staircase and main meeting hall/statue garden. It has 4 waterfalls (the misty areas) which refresh (and wash) the dwarfs. They love being sprayed with mist, and it is cool too. Engineering it was a pain though. This is the second level of the fortress main gate, notice the fortifications point inward third level of the main gate, there are 4 towers which can shoot outwards or inwards. Also the ramparts below are covered with a roof to prevent sniping from above by enemies Last level of the gate. the towers also have roofs on them picture of in front of the main gate, there was a battle recently with about 50 goblin invaders, but they got slaughtered by my 8 elites (i've seen them send goblins flying 100 squares or more) and ran very quickly My guys are cleaning up the damn mess of junk they always leave behind. I also have roads going to the edge of each side of the map, and the tunnel on the right is cut out of the mountain all the way through (so that when I order the dwarves indoors during a siege, they do not hide in there and get slaughtered. this is my side "secret" entrance, concealed behind a lake. It is 100% secured when like this as flying mobs can't swim under the water, and swimming mobs cant cross the dry moat behind the water. I often use this passageway for wood gathering as it is closer to the forested area. View of the lower level of the secret entrance. You can see how it is flooded and drained, and also the dry moat I figured I would now show off some of the other areas This is the main food production&storage floor, with grand dining hall in the center (with waterfall), fishing area to the north of that, storage to ether side of the dining hall, and farms after that. I have to be extremely careful though with flooding, as the water source is pressurized and can flood in an instant if i open both gates at once. Though the fort can be recovered as I designed drains and pumps in case of an emergency like that. I can also flush out the cistern and drain the farm area (had to do that actually due to wiring a lever wrong). There is also production areas to the south, and that south central area is to be a hospital. Below that is the refuse area which is air-locked to prevent miasma escaping (diagonal paths break water pressure and prevent miasma from spreading) Workshops floor, below it is the raw materials storage, and above is finished products storage. Has all the workshops here Smithy, with magma forges, smelters, kilns, glass making, charcoal, etc. All are magma powered. the 2 side rooms hold sand for glass making, center area is materials storage (wood, charcoal, iron ore, iron bars, and pig iron bars). Other ore is stored 1 level below, along with finished bars. Picture of my underground tower cap farm. This fortress can literally seal itself off from the outside world forever, and be completely self sufficient with wood production (the main reason for going outside). Best of all its real dwarf mushroom wood, not that fancy dancy la te da stuff the damn elves like. That is only good for burning... This is my obsidian production line (waiting to be mined out atm). It works by having lava fill below, then pressurized water floods over top turning it to stone before being drained off. You can see where i paved (no mud) here too. The magma level of the obsidian production factory. This is also where the execution area is where nobles, the hammerer, and other dwarves that piss me off go to die, either by burning lava to the right, or starvation to the left. This is my animal area. the C's are all cows, on the left and currently locked in by lever operated door. I also have cages inside in case they over breed or i just want to lock them away. The right side is the same but is my dog area. The dogs are all in the cages at the top right now as I don't want them breeding any more at this time. Kennels training area, you can see the 2 pits which lead to the animal rooms show in the picture above. This is also where I keep pests under control as I have 4 trappers doing the job of vermin control (and no god damn cats, or any other pets). The fortress is also over max pop (240 or so atm), with no nobles other than the mayor, and a philosopher, who doesn't make demands (and can pull levers). Anyhow that wraps up the tour for now. That is only about 1/4 of the fortress though. I didn't show quarters, storage, vaults, the cisterns, water and lava sources, all the piping, zoo, jail, etc etc etc

11-16-10, 09:04 PM	#40
NeonSamurai Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Socialist Republic of Kanadia Posts: 3,044 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	Ya, make sure you put a lever on the bridge (drawbridges are best rather than disappearing bridges as they act like a wall when up), and put the lever by a meeting area inside. This is the tileset I use it is actually pretty simple, and I preferred it over the graphics stuff as it didn't corrupt the text in the game the double stacked + sign is paved, smoothed, or tiled floor the random colored .,'` stuff and black background is rough ground, round solid things are boulders ,'% etc with a color around it is rough walls the smooth stuff is build walls or smoothed natural walls faint . shows empty space with a floor 1 z level down ^ are stonefall traps the smooth border around double + are bridges smiley faces are dwarves, helmet are dwarf soldiers. color says what their profession is Trees are tree shaped, squigly y are saplings, " are bushes # is are floor grates, the thick vertical line with a think horizontal line is a wall grate (picture 2) double ~ is surface water if blue, lava if red (same for numbers) !! are cages smooth wall looking things with T type ends are raised bridges (top of pic 2 for example) The thick + shaped things are fortifications + are doors The white man shaped outlines are statues (pic 4) the o with a ` above are levers the grey double barrel shaped things are pumps notched right angle triangles are stairs going up or down, X are stairs going up and down, smooth right angle triangles are ramps (eg bottom of pic 5) g is goblin (red outlines mean dead ones, color of letter indicates type of soldier), C is cow, d is dog, etc the male symbol (shield and spear) are bags % are prepared meals brown double ~ are farm fields thick horizontal bars are planted fields X surrounded by brown are bins brown = is wood = with three lines are bars __________________ SH3 Newbie Guide Links and other helpfull stuff

11-17-10, 01:00 AM	#42
Spike88 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 3,052 Downloads: 36 Uploads: 0	How do I build roofs? And it's new fortress time. ran into a cave that killed everyone. __________________ Last edited by Spike88; 11-17-10 at 01:19 AM.

11-17-10, 03:28 AM	#43
Submarine Torpedoman Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: USA Posts: 117 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Anyone interested in doing a bloodline succession game? I'm quite the DF player myself . __________________

11-17-10, 03:34 AM	#44
Spike88 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 3,052 Downloads: 36 Uploads: 0	Bah this is the third time I've struck a cave at around level 12. __________________

11-17-10, 04:14 AM	#45
Rilder Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	Right now I'm using Talyrth's 15x15 tileset, good size and easy to read... http://df.magmawiki.com/images/6/6d/...uare_15x15.png (Note it may look white with two icons in the corner but its a full tileset) Also finally got back into this a bit haven't seriously played in AGES...