EoFF: Dwarf Fortress - Spoonproblems. Also, goblin problems.

[Loony BoB]

The best thing you can do is download the game (use the Lazy Newbie pack Psy linked to early on), open the Lazy Newbie pack, set the preferred options (I can't advise on them at the moment since I'm at work, but someone else can probably chime in to help) and mess about with a few games. Install a graphics pack and I advise using Dwarf Therapist, as it makes it a lot easier to manage your dwarfs after they get a little numerous.

As for a startup walkthrough sort of thing, well, the best you'll get is something like this...

Dwarf Fortress Wiki

Particularly the "New to Dwarf Fortress?" bit. Particularly this: DF2010:Quickstart guide - Dwarf Fortress Wiki

You'll lose a few games early on, probably, but eventually you'll get the hang of things. The more you play, the more you learn. There are still things I don't know about the game but I can have a very large almost-self-running fortress pretty quickly in this game despite that. Once you have a fair idea of how things work (ie how to change jobs of dwarfs, how to nickname them, how to obtain wood/stone, how to mine, how to increase food production, how to increase drink production, how to create things, how to build structures/place furniture, how to trade, how to run away from an enemy and how to attack an enemy) then you should be good to at least have a shot at the EoFF version. In fact, in the EoFF game, you'll barely have to touch the food/drink production for some time as we're overflowing with plant-food and alcohol.

Basically, though: Wing it! If you're not ready just yet, I'm sure someone else can have a go and then you can pick up after their year. =] But somebody carry on the line! If nobody is playing this game by tomorrow I may resort to PM'ing people bugging them into it. I'll at least PM DP, MB and Quin since they established an interest in running the game some time ago.

[Dignified Pauper]

I will get on this later tonight hopefully, I have the download file, however, if someone else beats me to it, that too is fine.

[Iceglow]

Do it, do it nao!

[Dignified Pauper]

So first off, you people have designed an absolutely amazingly terrible fortress. I also hate these bedroom designs and will be constructing a new and more beautiful apartment complex. Secondly, since I don't know trout about military, I'm going to push through and just wing it because I never go any military training. I'll post fall by late this morning, I haven't done a damn thing other than to look at how all of you have done screwed up this fortress to high heaven and back. I'm so lost and confused in this place.

Oh, I will also be making a zoo!

[Dignified Pauper]

So... the total of Spring is right now in video format. I'm not too impressed with myself as I had no clue what you all had done so far as I've been absent. I'll upload the video and post it tonight. It's really not spectacular. I did accidentally release some of the goblins, but that turned out to be not such a bad thing. I also don't know who we need to add to the new migrants.



EDIT:

What is the best file format to upload that will compress a video and keep a relatively good quality on fullscreen?

[Loony BoB]

You could always put it on YouTube, possibly as a private video if you don't want random people seeing it. I don't think there is any realistic way you can attach video files at EoFF as the size of them would be way above our attachment restrictions (which we won't raise for this kind of thing).

Psy: Good mayor. Terrible city planner.

[Dignified Pauper]

No kidding. Well, the problem is that the videos are about 4Gbs total, about an hour and a half. I'm going to trim out dead stuff, so it will look a little choppy. Further, I want to maintain the quality and upload everything as one video. Ugh. I think the next video will be done in Stone Sense totally, maybe... I dunno.

[Psychotic]

Sod off the pair of you, the bedroom design is amazing. And it's all around the central ramp to maximise pathfinding - and thus framerate - efficiency!

[Loony BoB]

This is my general aim for things. But then, I don't like using ramps. Stairs are so much easier to work with!

_______________entrance________________
_forest__farms__stairs__farms___forest_
______barracks__stairs__barracks_______
_______storage__stairs__storage________
_____workshops__stairs__workshops______
__dining rooms__stairs__dining rooms___
______bedrooms__stairs__bedrooms_______
______bedrooms__stairs__bedrooms_______
______bedrooms__stairs__bedrooms_______
___noble rooms__stairs__noble rooms____
_________tombs__stairs__tombs__________
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
/////MINING/////stairs/////MINING//////
*****CAVERN*****stairs*****CAVERN******
********FUN*****stairs*****FUN*********

Also, 4GB!? An hour and a half!? Did you record your entire playthrough? xD Man, I spent about 12 hours doing my turn, it'd be crazy boring as a video. Did you talk through the video and record that, too? That would be interesting. But probably not interesting enough to warrant an hour and a half of listening. Definitely would cut it down to 30 minutes or so, tops, and post it in ten-minute videos turn-by-turn.

But then, I'm terrible at editing videos and I don't think DF really shines when it comes to that end of things.

[Iceglow]

That or you should offer them up as we have with images taken from to note key events and text. Some of us don't have enough spare time to watch a DF movie!

[Dignified Pauper]

Yeah, as of right now, it's just an hour and a half with some dead time here and there. I'm working on cropping this trout, but it's going to be choppy. I might just screen shot from the video and figure out what was going on. If I make a video for summer, I'll probably put it into sections that link together.

[Madonna]

Is Iceglow criticizing someone for length? I smell hypocrisy.

There is a video-making function in the game, yes? I seem to recall Necronopticus using such to record his caravan trap shenanigans.

[Iceglow]

There isn't he used Fraps to record the video. Same program many of us use to get screen captures on Stonesense and various other games.

As for me sitting here criticizing on length? Well, my updates were at least posts, you could wander off, pee, make a cuppa and get some dinner in before coming back and reading another couple of paragraphs about what happened and not have missed anything. A video however, you will miss important things going on and 1.5 hours of video of DF is not going to be the most entertaining of things, especially if theres a quiet season much like some of the ones I experienced in year 2.

[Loony BoB]

If only they made some kind of function in videos where you could cause a video to freeze it's position. You could click on a button to make it do this, or something, and then when you want it to carry on from that position, you could click that button again to make it continue.

If only there were such a way!

But 1.5 hours is too much. 30 minutes or even 10 minutes would be far more ideal, but we'll see how it goes! I hope there is a running commentary!

[Dignified Pauper]

I completely agree. I'm going to post-pone and let someone else go over and do some random tests with video. I'm really interested in making this a plausible video. I can definitely get everything synced well, I just hate typing everything out, mainly because I don't know who is who yet, and I need to figure out what is going on since I played UPDATES ago.