Dwarf Fortress Settles Down

Once a world exists in Dwarf Fortress, you can then start the game. Obviously, but it's not so simple as click start and go.

First, you need to pick where, in this vast vast world you want to begin the game. Do you want to start in the arctic, in the desert, the mountains, the forest? Each has different resources available and thus different challenges for the player.

There's lots of different options between those few generic choices, too. Do you want there to be sand to make glass? How about coal? How plentiful and near the surface is the magma? Do you want a lot of plant life nearby? How about animal life for hunting? What races do you want as close neighbors? How about soil to grow crops? Each of these has a strategy and costs and rewards associated with.

Most of these things will make your game easier if chosen right. Lots of coal, great - you have easy metalsmithing. Lots of sand, glass is really valuable! Lots of plants outside? Wood, and food. A lot of people choose deliberately harder starting areas to have more fun while playing, because as DF is still 'in alpha' that means there is no real goal. Much like simcity, actually. You have to make your own goals, the biggest of which is to pace your city's growth so as to avoid having other civilizations become jealous and attack you before you're ready.

But this isn't about gameplay yet. This is bout picking a location for your fortress. Ultimately, I prefer to choose a maps with a river, lots of rock, and some trees. But, there have to be balancing acts there too. If there's rock that water can seep through, your fortress is quickly going to flood. If there are no trees, you'll have a hard time buildng beds (sleep on a rock? silly man). It' really interestng, but as everything else in DF it's probably a lot more complex than i really needs to be. Certainly far more complex than I need for tinygame.