Duck and Cover

Caleb wrote:Charles Barkley Shut UP and Jam Gaiden

This. And World of Goo.

DF isn't too difficult to learn...i mean...you can learn whatever you need from the wiki/readme...just experiment, it's fun as hell.

Edit: Just checked and there's a fucking FALLOUT TC for dwarf fortress...will check it out next weekend probably

Battlecruiser 3000AD is difficult to learn. Dwarf fortress, despite what people say about the interface is actually rather easy if you have some common sense. Half the fun comes from learning all the things you can do.

To be able to make a fortress that will survive through a few winters takes about an hour, learning everything you can do in the game takes a bit longer.

The thing is it's a world simulator. It's not just a roguelike dungeon keeper or something. On your first run the game will generate a world something like the size of europe, with details down to what is located inside each 1x1 metre area in the x y and z axis. Deserts, forests, mountains, seas, tundras and god knows what else are generated using a fractal algorithm. The raw world is then shaped by thousands of years of weather, all the while a history is unfolding detailing every living being that ever has and is in this world ranging from kings to demons to carp.

After a suitable world has been generated you choose a starting area (of which you are not lacking.) you assign skills and items to your starting party of seven dwarves, embark, and begin carving a fortress out of whatever clump of dirt or stone you want. You could even build a town out of wood or ice if thats your style. Or a tower, or an underwater utopia.

It sounds like I'm ranting but I'm really not. The scope of the game is already bigger than anything before it, and it's all being made by one person, and it's an early alpha.

I'd recommend downloading it, having a bit of fun watching your first world being generated, then embark anywhere you want with a computer assigned squad then just looking around and maybe fooling about with the designate menu (Which is D). Dig some tunnels and shit. See what happens when you dig into a river.

When you feel mildly confident after your first few parties have died horribly, carefully set out a party and its items and embark in a nice moderate area and try your damndest to survive through the first winter.

If you can manage that, you've won half the battle and are in for an amazing experience.

If more than 30% of the games you've played in your life have had bloom, I guess it could get a bit trying though.

Yeah...the scope of DF is really out of this world...i've put a good amount of time into it before(stopped playing for a long while) and truly only scratched the surface. So far about 2 hours into a new game..and loving it as always. Check out some of the utilities...dwarf manager and others make it quite a bit easier to keep track of dwarf jobs/etc