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Dwarf Fortress
Alright, I would have talked about this on tonight's show, but that's not going to happen. Basically, there's this game called Dwarf Fortress. I've known about it for quite some time. I tried to play it once many months ago, but I failed miserably. This game is perhaps the deepest video game there has ever been. It also has perhaps the worst user interface of any video game there has ever been. This is why I failed to play it the first time.
Now for the first time I have succesfully played a little bit of this game thanks to this tutorial. Has anyone else here played, and do you perhaps have wisdom to share? For those of you who have not played, will you try it out, so we can discuss it? The game is a free game for Windows, but it runs in Linux with wine absolutely perfectly. Also, no matter what OS you are using, the game will eat all your CPU. Here is a better description of what the game is like, if you want more info before you decide to try this.
This game is completely nothing like any other game ever, so I really want to see what people think about it.
Now for the first time I have succesfully played a little bit of this game thanks to this tutorial. Has anyone else here played, and do you perhaps have wisdom to share? For those of you who have not played, will you try it out, so we can discuss it? The game is a free game for Windows, but it runs in Linux with wine absolutely perfectly. Also, no matter what OS you are using, the game will eat all your CPU. Here is a better description of what the game is like, if you want more info before you decide to try this.
This game is completely nothing like any other game ever, so I really want to see what people think about it.
Comments
Much like most German board games, once you've worked it out it becomes somewhat boring, but working it out takes countless (amazing) hours. You will fail, perhaps many times, before you create a self-sustaining fortress. The wiki is a gift from the FSM, and you will certainly fail in your first attempt without it. And the new version, oh teh complexities!
This game... aaaah, this game. I think I love it more for its unlimited potential than for what it is right now. If the developer's notes are to be believed, over the next few years, it will become the greatest game ever made. I say that without any sarcasm, equivocation or doubt. If they can pull it off, it will be up there with Citizen Kane, Le Comte De Monte Cristo and The Ring Cycle. But right now, it is merely amazing. And it's only in alpha. The roguelike elements of this game are a bit undercooked at the moment, but like the fortress-building half of the game, big things are in the works. Stay tuned.
Every game I have played in the past that is remotely like this, Civilization, Master of Orion, Sim City, etc. has gone the same way for me. Early in the game you micromanage a small amount of stuff, and it's fun. Later in the game after your stuff grows, you basically play a different game where you macromanage a large amount of stuff. That part of the game has never been fun for me for whatever reason. I feel like Dwarf Fortress is headed in the same direction.
Also, another problem with this game so far. I already know the basic stuff of what I want to do, and I know how to get my dwarves to do it. They are all very happy, and they merrily do my bidding. The problem is that I often find myself spending a lot of time just waiting. Here is an example.
Let's say I want to build a barracks and a mess hall. Alright, here's what I do. I pause the game. I order the carpenter to make beds. I order the mason to make tables and chairs. I designate areas to dig where I will eventually place all these things. I order doors, because dwarves like rooms with doors. Then I unpause and let the game go. The dwarves get right to work, and try to build these things with all their might. However, it takes like 30 minutes of real world waiting before I get to the point where I can actually place all this furniture in the rooms.
Most of the waiting is because the rooms are filled with rocks left over from mining. I can't put the furniture in the rooms until the rocks are clear, but it takes forever for all the rocks to be hauled to the stockpile. I'm trying to find a way to just smash the rocks, but I haven't found one. The problem of mining and having a stone stockpile in the early game really needs fixing.
For now I am having fun playing this game, but the waiting is really killing me. There needs to be some sort of fast forward button or something.
Of course, another option for speeding up the dwarves is cheating, by editing the speed of dwarves. Not that I recommend it, but [SPEED:5] does make the little dudes awfully fast. You don't have to clear the rocks before placing furniture. The dwarves just move the rocks aside when placing the item. Most players just live with the idea of rocks being on the floor everywhere, and don't bother with stockpiling. Or you could just set up a mason's workshop and have it churn out rock blocks on repeat. Or you could just chasm the fuckers.
Book club?
Why read a book when you could just watch this 43 episode YouTube series (7:00:00 -ish) instead.
The five dollar deal is also awesome. It's primarily intended for "$5 ebook upgrades" on print books, but there's no way to filter it. As a result, I've been buying O'Reilly books as if it were an endless Steam sale...
...okay... maybe it's not THAT bad...
I'm curious if it's a game over if everyone is simultaneously a werelizard on a full moon. If that's the case, keep the one non-were guy in prison instead. :P
Is there anywhere, in-game, that tracks the actions of an individual dwarf that can be reviewed as a kind of life story?