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posted by Woods on Wednesday July 09 2014, @04:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the D dept.

More than two years after the last release, Bay12 Games have unleashed Dwarf Fortress 0.40.01 on the world. From Toady's release announcement:

Here is the world activation release! Lots of processes from world generation birth, invasions, succession, site foundation, and so on now operate in the world after play has begun. Getting all of that to work led to a meandering route through various pieces of the game, some of which are described below. Aside from any bugginess, a lot of it will still feel rough and unfinished as things bump around.

Although many of us will be waiting around for extra stability and for our mods and tilesets to support the new version, many more will be sharpening their pickaxes and hoping they can create the next Planepacked.

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  • (Score: 3) by frojack on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:14PM

    by frojack (1554) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:14PM (#66611) Journal

    What precisely is the attraction here?
    Is this meant to run on a raspberry Pi or something?

    --
    No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by MozeeToby on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:34PM

      by MozeeToby (1118) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:34PM (#66619)

      Not sure if joking... but I'll try to explain anyway.

      The game has terrible, non-existent graphics. A UI that makes learning VI or EMACS look like a weekend diversion. Accomplishing something like building a single leather boot and telling a member of the army to wear it will involve several hours of planning, browsing the wiki, and experimentation.

      But it is also arguably the most complex, in depth, world simulating "sim city" type game that's ever been written. A wonderful amount of the functionality of the game shines through as a result of procedural generation and interactions of relatively simple agents creating enormous complexity. Because of that, it's like a giant, never ending, constantly evolving puzzle game crossed with Sim City and Civilization; where a series of small mistakes can snowball into your mayor going insane, lighting himself on fire, and murdering everyone with a battle ax. It takes a certain level of imagination to enjoy; if I had to point to an explanation of why it's fun I guess I could do worse than the writeup of Boatmurdered [lparchive.org].

      • (Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:24PM

        by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:24PM (#66648)

        Boatmurdered is perhaps best summarized with the line opening one of StarkRavingMad's sections: 'I've started project "Fuck The World", a top secret attempt to funnel magma to the outside. I'll kill those elephants. I'll kill all those fucking elephants.'

    • (Score: 1) by karmawhore on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:41PM

      by karmawhore (1635) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:41PM (#66625)

      In case you're being serious...

      Every resource that's not put toward pretty pictures goes toward obsessively detailed, often hilarious, simulation instead. Just as an example (not mine): this [imgur.com] is what happens when a random bird flies into a tree. And DF will remember that that specific bird has a bruised right upper leg bone, among other things.

      I happen to think that's pretty cool, but it's obviously not for everybody.

      --
      =kw= lurkin' to please
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:18PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:18PM (#66646)

        "often hilarious"

        This is fun to explore.

        Lets see. Dwarves only drink ethanol (ethanolfueled... are you a ... naw couldn't be). Also dwarf kids only drink booze which is hilarious the first time you read it. "needs alcohol to get thru the day"

        The craftsdwarves go insane and barricade themselves in workshops and demand crazy stuff and build totally crazy, yet often valuable, things.

        Dwarves are kinda racist and they like other dwarves, livestock, pets, ... and thats about it. The relationship with elves is a bit strained from time to time.

        Dwarves go crazy sometimes in grief yet sometimes they get distracted by some comical engraving or statue. Making the fortress cool enough internally to keep everyone sane despite occasional death and disaster is a lot of work.

        Dwarves have peculiar and non-human ideas about real estate in general. Owning a dresser is important.

        Dwarves are not really picky eaters but they can't stand the smell of rotting corpses and getting dead mice and dead pets and dead dwarves out of the fortress is a big deal. On the other hand, if you don't put a dead dwarf corpse in a coffin in a shrine, its ghost will pester the residents. The death-industrial complex is such a PITA.

        Dwarven social hierarchy and bureaucracy is a PITA and I'm sad to say most players end up dumping newly arrived dwarf politicians in a lake of fire. Well, nobody invited them and they're an expensive non-productive PITA.

        • (Score: 2, Interesting) by boristhespider on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:51PM

          by boristhespider (4048) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:51PM (#66699)

          "in a lake of fire"

          or "unarmed into an amphitheatre to face a captured goblin"

          I've never got into DF -- far too little time and inclination -- but I love reading about DF. What some people manage to do with the game is impressive and often hilarious.

    • (Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:09PM

      by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:09PM (#66640)

      Only if you like watching a Raspberry Pi spontaneously ignite from the strain.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:11PM

      by frojack (1554) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:11PM (#66642) Journal

      Thanks for the explanation guys. It was indeed a serious question, (born of ignorance I suppose), and not an attempt at dismissal.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:18PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:18PM (#66613)

    Thanks Toady, I was hoping to get some work done this weekend (sarcasm).

    At least it'll be Fun.

    I find it amusing to estimate how long my dwarves will survive each time I play. Somehow I suspect the massive amount of new changes means I won't make it very long on the first couple.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by hubie on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:36PM

    by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:36PM (#66621) Journal

    Is there a good link that describes what the game is about? I've found the wiki and the Bay 12 page, and there is a lot of nice info on how to download it, what the changes are from the last version, and all sorts of stuff that makes sense to someone who already plays the game. How does it compare to nethack? Do you need to be online at all? Are there any issues or concerns about it not being open source? From the bit I've read, I gather Adventure Mode is more nethack-like and Fortress Mode is more like SimCity?

    • (Score: 2) by hubie on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:38PM

      by hubie (1068) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:38PM (#66623) Journal

      Thanks to MozeeToby above, who answered some of my questions while I was still typing them. :)

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:52PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:52PM (#66630)

      "Is there a good link that describes what the game is about?"

      http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/09/the-complete-and-utter-newby-tutorial-for-dwarf-fortress-part-1-wtf/ [afteractionreporter.com]

      I bought the ebook to support the author quite some time ago. Although this specific tutorial is 5 years old and lots has changed (like, multi block trees? huh?) this gives an idea.

      If nobody has given you a good explanation of the game yet, about 30 years ago I ran this BASIC language program that using baseball player stats and baseball rules, it kind of simulated play by play for any random team. Pretty close to a non-graphical form of those cruddy EA console games.

      Anyway imagine that a million times larger in all aspects for a bunch of RPG dwarves trying to create a colony in a rather unforgiving land and they kinda sorta listen to you occasionally, as if they're a hundred movie extras and you're the movie director. What happens? Well, play, and try some stuff, and see what happens.

      Also as a warning this is not a grind game where you're guaranteed forward progress based solely on time invested, nor is it a participation trophy game. Its pretty brutal, makes a Rogue-like look friendly.

      Also check out some succession games which are kind of like everyone takes one turn in sequence, with sometimes hilarious results, a old but stereotypical example is the boatmurdered (thats the name the dwarves picked for their own fortress... dwarves have a peculiar aesthetic sense and learning about it is part of the "fun").

      http://lparchive.org/Dwarf-Fortress-Boatmurdered/Introduction/ [lparchive.org]

      Also when a DF player writes Fun or "fun" they really mean screaming at the screen and pounding the keyboard and calling some dwarf a GD SOB for leaving the back door of the fortress open while a dragon invades or the elves kill everyone or whatever.

      Oh, and elves... they might look cute in real life cosplay but in DF they suck. Go set a tree on fire F those elves.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by MozeeToby on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:42PM

        by MozeeToby (1118) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:42PM (#66664)

        Its pretty brutal, makes a Rogue-like look friendly.To elaborate on this a bit. In roguelikes, you generally know how you're doing. Oh sure, it'll take a few plays to understand the things you need to look for but before too long you get a good handle on what can kill you and what you need to survive and what your current state is. DF isn't like that. What can kill you? Everything. What do you need to survive? Too many things to list here. Just when you get a handle on how to grow food, you realize that your dwarves are about to throw muderous tantrums because they don't have beds. By the time you get beds some goblins will show up and steal some kids (potentially kicking off another round of tantrums due to the grief). Put some dogs at your entrance to guard against the goblins, just make sure you feed and water them regularly. And now the elves showed up to trade and you tried to give them some nice gold trinkets but they happened to catch sight of the wooden bucket you used to haul the goods to the depot and they leave in a huff threatening war (trees are sacred to the elves). Aaaaand now you're out of booze and don't have the plants to make more because someone cooked all the giant mushrooms instead of brewing them.

        By about the 10th time you restart and have a good handle on how to make everything you need word of your success will spread and suddenly you'll find a wave of 30 new dwarves (2/3rds of which have worthless skills or are children or (worse) nobles) that need food, booze, places to sleep, etc.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:05PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:05PM (#66676)

          What can kill you? Everything. What do you need to survive? Too many things to list here. Just when you get a handle on how to grow food, you realize that your dwarves are about to throw muderous tantrums because they don't have beds. By the time you get beds some goblins will show up and steal some kids (potentially kicking off another round of tantrums due to the grief). Put some dogs at your entrance to guard against the goblins, just make sure you feed and water them regularly. And now the elves showed up to trade and you tried to give them some nice gold trinkets but they happened to catch sight of the wooden bucket you used to haul the goods to the depot and they leave in a huff threatening war (trees are sacred to the elves). Aaaaand now you're out of booze and don't have the plants to make more because someone cooked all the giant mushrooms instead of brewing them.

          By about the 10th time you restart and have a good handle on how to make everything you need word of your success will spread and suddenly you'll find a wave of 30 new dwarves (2/3rds of which have worthless skills or are children or (worse) nobles) that need food, booze, places to sleep, etc.

          Wasn't that the exact walkthrough of some 1980's 3rd person Sierra game?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MozeeToby on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:46PM

      by MozeeToby (1118) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:46PM (#66665)

      Are there any issues or concerns about it not being open source?The game lives and dies by it's sole coder, if he gets hit by a bus that's all there is or ever will be (unless of course his brother and co-creator does something with the source). The code isn't always fantastic (as evidenced by the improved performance over the years on simple things like pathing) but it is fueled by nothing less than one man's complete obsession.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by tibman on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:24PM

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:24PM (#66685)

        I believe Toady has something planned if he dies suddenly. But right now he is very serious about nobody seeing the sourcecode. Plenty of people have patched it and made 3rd party programs for it anyways.

        --
        SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by tibman on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:38PM

      by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 09 2014, @07:38PM (#66694)

      The wiki is a great source of information. The LazyNewbPack is probably the fastest way to get up and running: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Utilities#Lazy_Newb_Pack [dwarffortresswiki.org]

      After you play a bit you can take the training wheels off : )

      --
      SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
  • (Score: 2) by tynin on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:20PM

    by tynin (2013) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:20PM (#66743) Journal

    Any suggested tutorials, or is groking http://dwarffortresswiki.org/ [dwarffortresswiki.org] the way to go?

    I've always meant to give this game a go. Going to start reading the dwarf fortress mode guide and go from there. Though right away I'm seeing I should probably download the previous version, since the entire wiki appears to be geared toward it. Or should I plod down the new release road?

    • (Score: 2) by tynin on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:30PM

      by tynin (2013) on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:30PM (#66747) Journal

      OK, I'm going to stick to 34.11 till I get the hang of things or till the wiki catches up. I'd hate to hit bugs that I don't even have the experience to recognize as bugs.

      • (Score: 2) by forsythe on Thursday July 10 2014, @02:04PM

        by forsythe (831) on Thursday July 10 2014, @02:04PM (#67057)

        That may be a good strategy as a beginner, but you should update as soon as you feel confident (or probably quite a bit before, since you may never feel confident). A lot of the fun with DF is the way the laws of the world interact and produce quirks. There are very few bugs of the ``I put three bars of iron in the same pile as four bars of soap, and whenever a cat walks over that square the game crashes'' type, but lots of the ``birds don't know that they should avoid trees while flying'' variety. It's a lot of fun to discover those quirks.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by mathi on Thursday July 10 2014, @12:37PM

    by mathi (3292) on Thursday July 10 2014, @12:37PM (#67026)

    A word of warning, this new release is still quite buggy, and the difference between a bug and a difficult to understand game concept might be easy to miss. It might be easier to start with the previous version of DF.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 10 2014, @05:20PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 10 2014, @05:20PM (#67182)

    In case you don't already know how Dwarf Fortress works Here is a diagram from the Wiki.

    http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png [dwarffortresswiki.org]