Top products from r/dwarffortress

These are castings of species you can find in the US. Somewhere there are probably better quality photos but these are the best I could find. I saw these in a presentation given by Dr Tschinkel and he had a bunch of really awesome high quality shots that might not have made it to the web.

I actually met him and Dr. Holldobler (mentioned in the linked video) one summer in Arizona.

For anyone interested the book Journey to the Ants by EO Wilson and Holldobler is the laymen version of their seminal book The Ants... which is pretty much the bible for anyone that studies ants.

Interesting factiod: You can find some interesting species just about any place in the world... in the US there are about 400+ species including army ants, fungus growers, slave making ants, etc.

Honestly I bought the book "Getting Started With Dwarf Fortress" for like $10 on Kindle or something and LOVED it. It was not only a really enjoyable book to read, peppered with good dwarf humor and tragedy, but also walked me through building and maintaining a powerful fortress. It also helped walk me through the more complex aspects of the game like using liquids, machines, and dwarven logic circuits. I highly recommend it.

Heres the link

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Dwarf-Fortress-complex/dp/1449314945

This one. Trust me, it was one of the most tranquil reads in my life.

It's not a narrative book or anything but I deeply enjoyed reading it, I couldn't wait to sleep so I could keep on reading it on the next day - every chapter showed a new possibility that could be done in DF. You can totally learn without it but it is a great learning resource on the game.

It was made in an older version without things like taverns and stuff but the basics still applies.

If you're interested in stuff like that, Horror Video Games is a pretty excellent book that introduced me to that concept. One of my last essays for college actually used that book and Dwarf Fortress as references.

You may want to check out this book:

Getting Started With Dwarf Fortress

He walks you through from the basics of setting out, setting up forts, getting dug in, getting crafting started, beginning a military... so much information! It's also illustrated and very easy to read.

While the information covered is for the last version (0.34.11), it all carries over and will teach you the basics you need to know. Once you understand the fundamentals, THEN the !!FUN!! begins :)

1. No capitalized hot keys
   
2. undo on every non-trivial actions (squad/noble/military/burrow management.
   
3. Everything that is longer than one page: make it searchable.
   
4. For building walls/floors: Select material(s), just designate until done or out of materials.
   
5. Standardized hot keys for every sub menu(stocks/trading/trading request/stockpiles, for a start)
   
6. Offer undo for every non-trivial function (burrows/military/nobles)
   
7. Unified scrolling: Not Pgdown/PgUp | +/- | / - *
   
   Actually, read some books about interface and object design - it is really fun and enlightening. For start: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465067107/

I don't! I remember the Gnome book...this looks equally awesome :)

I bought the epic Logitech N305 for this very reason. :D

The ability to hook my mouse, numpad, and keyboard via the same wireless adapter is beyond useful. The battery life is icing. :)

Edit: Updated URL to non-mobile link...

I bought the book off Amazon a few years ago, back in the days of v0.34.11

I'm not sure if it's been updated since then, I don't think it has been honestly, but it's still a good resource for learning the game since not that much has changed in Fort mode (which the book is about specifically) beyond the changes to trees, and the addition of taverns and libraries.

It was surprisingly cheap, I customized it through amazon and it arrived a couple weeks later

link for those interested:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY6KYJB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have looked into libtcod a bit, and while it seems to be THE go-to lib for roguelikes, my original idea was to keep away from it and use pretty strictly ASCII art. But then it turns out that getting Curses to work on windows is about the most stupid thing I've ever encountered, so now I'm back to maybe looking a little more into libtcod.

I'm wanting to do this in an object oriented style, but I really have no experience with OO at all, so I don't 100% understand it. I have a big book-o-python, but working through it is getting kinda dry and difficult to process.

I guess you can do ascii style graphics with libtcod...but for some reason the idea of using a 'false' ascii kinda seems like cheating. I need to get over that mentality lol

thanks for the info :)

Non DeviantArt link

I've done quite a lot of DF fan-art before, including this Toady One sanctioned alphabet book, but this is the first time I've fully developed a digital painting inspired by the game.

Peter Tyson's book (http://amzn.com/1449314945) is excellent for getting the basics down. It's based on 34.11, but all of his examples are basic enough to work for 2014 too. Highly recommended.

There is also a novel that helps you learn all the major features.
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Dwarf-Fortress-complex/dp/1449314945

I found this book, Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress, and thought it'd be an interesting read for a newish player, but it was published way back in 2012, and DF has changed a lot since then, so I don't know if it's worth it.

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Dwarf-Fortress-complex/dp/1449314945

^ theres a good resource. Use the wiki at the same time and the weekly questions thread on here and youre all set. If all that SOMEHOW fails, theres the Bay12 forum.

I get that thats all a bit impersonal, and itd be even easier with someone looking over your shoulder, but i for example just dont have the time to dedicate to helping you that directly. Now, if you just wanted to ask random questions over text because its more direct/personal and dont mind timezone differences, thats a different story.

i bought the book "getting started with dwarf fortress", i still use it as a quick reference and a good way to get started. if you don't want a physical copy, there are loads of tutorials to get started, i use the wiki quickstart guide if i don't have my book handy

As far as I know this i the only book for DF. It is a bit dated but pretty much everthing still applies today, except maybe for woodcutting, no need for farms anymore

Getting Started Dwarf Fortress

Yup, passive reconnaissance is quite different from those other programming books ;)

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress

Get your nothing here! Buy them now, before they're out of business!

I feel obligated to link to the book on proc gen, co written by the creator of Dwarf Fortress.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1498799191/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_WXb5BbJ35M53M

It isn’t a coincidence how you feel about it.

For others that might wonder the same:
Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem-Solving Approach

Reminds me of this.

They're whales! And they're on stilts!

This is the only other one I can think of.

See also: LOTR the Boardgame

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Board-Game/dp/1589940512

Almost impossible.

there's a book, it is goddamn long yea
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Dwarf-Fortress-complex-ebook/dp/B0086I5MCO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407027960&sr=1-1&keywords=dwarf+fortress

I really enjoyed Grudgelore. It is obviously Warhammer focussed in dwarf type, but Warhammer dwarves are very similar to DwarfFortress dwarves in terms of craziness.

Its expensive and difficult to get, but you can probably download a .pdf.