Starting the Game: Your First Steps into Dwarf Fortress
Starting a game of Dwarf Fortress involves a series of crucial steps, from world generation to embarking your expedition. This initial phase sets the foundation for your entire fortress and its subsequent adventures.
The very first action is to 'Create new world' from the main menu. Dwarf Fortress generates unique worlds procedurally, so each game begins with a fresh landscape and history. For your initial playthroughs, it's recommended to use medium settings for world map size, history length (around 100 years), and the number of civilizations and sites. This ensures a balanced generation time and a rich, yet manageable, world.
Once the world is generated, you'll be prompted to embark. You have two main options: 'Play Now!' for a quick start with default settings, or 'Prepare for the journey carefully' for a more hands-on approach to customizing your expedition's skills and equipment. For beginners, 'Play Now!' is often recommended, perhaps with enemies turned off in the settings to ease the learning curve.
The embark process involves selecting a suitable location. Look for sites with key features like trees, a river, and serene surroundings, while avoiding aquifers and evil biomes. The game's interface provides visual cues and tooltips to help you assess potential embark sites. A 4x4 embark area is the default, but you can resize it.
After choosing your site and outfitting your dwarves, you'll officially begin your fortress. The core gameplay loop involves digging into the earth, establishing living quarters and workshops, managing your dwarves' needs and labors, and defending against threats. Remember the game's philosophy: 'losing is fun,' so embrace the learning process.