Let's Learn: Dwarf Fortress - Beginner-friendly fort! - Ep 1

This KZbin Let's Play is going to focus on explaining our process in a beginner-friendly way!
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New to the channel? I do Let's Play videos -- these are like walkthrough guides of gameplay with continuous English commentary trying to explain my decisions and what strategy I use. If you're looking for hacks or cheats, you're in the wrong place!

[@johankrpl8606]

The one big bonus to the new look is me actually being able to understand what's happening in the game. This is the perfect time for me to transition from Rimworld to DF. Thanks Quill.

[@timefororbit]

Knowing what is happening is highly underrated

[@miniclip1162]

amen! I love rimworld. But the DF world just captures me more? not the mention the ACTUAL history of DF and how it is in the museum of modern art in NYC. It is a game of legend. How could I not strike the earth?

[@BalimaarTheBassFish]

There are plenty of tilesets out for the classic version that makes life a lot easier.

[@colbyboucher6391]

@@BalimaarTheBassFish Yeah, but tilesets also tend to muck up the rest of the UI. Square tileset + regular text = ugly mess. Plus the artwork they're using in the new premium version is just... nice. This is the first time I"ve played DF without feeling like my eyes are bugging out of my head.

[@BalimaarTheBassFish]

@@colbyboucher6391 I havent found that the tilesets mess with the UI to that degree but if thats your experience fair enough!

[@rallybanner5983]

Thanks for doing a youtube exclusive series Quill. Appreciate it.

[@brytenwaldaco.productions825]

Agreed, not everyone enjoys livestream (have never watched them myself)

[@Joostmhw]

@@brytenwaldaco.productions825 so you might enjoy a livestream.... You just have never checked...

[@AT-ug9jo]

@@Joostmhw Some people prefer a video without live audience. Like I do

[@movinMat]

Same but I'll watch it all

[@wowisthatgami8293]

Livestreams are annoying as a vod watcher because most of the time it's interactions with a chat you can't participate in

[@stratidemic]

I feel like 90% of strategy games I play I've learnt by watching you, I am so glad you're doing a Dwarf Fortress series!

[@crt4292]

Same here! Learned civ with him years ago and now DF.

[@ryankhart]

8:39 omg, I've been doing stairs one level at a time in alternating directions because I had though directions mattered. This helps so much.

[@Santeuss]

I discovered Dwarf Fortress yesterday and it really caught my attention, however I'm afraid that jumping into it with no knowledge at all would discourage me with the amount of possibilities the game seems to offer, that's why I was really hoping someone would make a series like this so thank you!

[@ImJustWiggles]

I tried getting into it before the steam release but was thoroughly overwhelmed, but the steam version encouraged me to get it and it's been fun so far!!

[@IronDeath79]

Good call. This game is notoriously difficult to learn, but if you just tackle it step-by-step, and aren't afraid of losing (losing is fun!) then you're in for a treat. You'll have some great stories in no time.

[@colbyboucher6391]

Luckily the in-game tutorial/ help menu is pretty good (can always suppliment what doesn't make sense with the wiki) and the new UI is intuitive enough to just jump in. Seriously, I started playing yesterday and I was surprised at how smooth it went. The only thing I needed to look up was how trade depos actually work.

[@ElderGod4]

Bro its been out for decades 😂 where you been . I was playing this at 12 years old , im 27 now 😂

[@Santeuss]

@@ElderGod4 I really don't know how I missed it! I love indie games in general but I really never heard of it in my entire life

[@Ashe_Tracks]

The music is such a masterpiece, stunning.

[@DarkweaveOmnom]

Love it! I do enjoy the streams but this has an oldschool vibe to it that I prefer. Keep them coming!

[@carny2797]

I agree:) without streaming, it makes the videos fill more like I’m sitting next to my friend as we play games when I was a kid lol

[@jakeayres1979]

That had to be the fastest embark I've ever seen Quill do

[@tylerroberts7475]

Hey Quill, I'm intentionally a few days late so that I had a sufficient number of episodes to binge while working remotely in preparation for striking the earth later tonight. As always, you are my go-to source for the "Let's Learn" style videos. Thank you for taking the time to create this series. I'm really looking forward to viewing the streams after completing this series and getting a novice understanding of the game under my belt. Hope your 2022 has been great and that your 2023 is even better.

[@joshcompton1693]

I’m so excited about dwarf fortress and seeing Ole’ Quillarooni play it ices the cake

[@Gnipahell1r]

Oh thank you so very much. I despise the whole twitch thing with all those shoutouts, the distractions, the chaotic chat, etc. It is very refreshing seeing somebody actually producing content for KZbin rather than just posting the twitch stuff to KZbin.

[@richp6028]

Excited to watch! This release is HUGE, and I hope more people get to discover Quill when they pick up Dwarf Fortress for the first time on steam. Been a while since I played the original so I was anxiously looking forward to some good old DF content :)

[@Gorbachoph]

I've been watching the first few episodes of this series on repeat for the last few days. I'm still lost but loving it.

[@Kanyusi1234]

Thanks for the video, Quill! Always great to see more DF. The music is a bit loud, but at least no bird noises in this one :D

[@imploder]

I used to play df many many years ago and loved it so glad to see how much attention and success they are getting! I bought it but have forgotten pretty much everything. Love to see YT & beginner series like these that help me get back into it!

[@mathews.6663]

This game has changed so much over the years. I’ll never stop coming back to it

[@jimkavanagh1293]

I love your DF runs, but this dumbed down version where you really talk us through things slowly is great for me, (and I'm sure many others), who love the idea of DF but are just struggling to get up and running with the steam version. In other news, I'm afraid the advice to search for what wildlife is about on the surface reached me too late, but on the plus side I now appreciate just how much blood is created by the death of a Giant Lizard, 3 Dwarves and a host of tame animals. #RIP

[@aurielklasovsky1435]

Sounds like great fun😊

[@ryankhart]

9:59 "Disdains stoicism" (the endurance of hardship without the display of feelings) Also: "Unswayed by emotions" 🤣

[@vde1846]

"I'm not like those other stoics."

[@hippipunk]

This! This is what I needed. Thank you! I can finally dwell into this brilliant game.

[@vaidenkelsier7757]

That labor menu explanation was gold. So much more confident now manipulating stuff in there. Thanks!

[@DairyKing404]

I appreciate this. Your CK2 videos back in the day helped me learn how to play grand strategy and your DF videos have been a huge help.

[@Jograu1]

Thank you Quill, I always wanted to get into DF, and now with this series and the Steam Release, I can see it happening!

[@emrysevans7064]

As a person who always had a fascination with Dwarf Fortress over the years, I took the plunge and just got the game on Steam! Even though the tutorial itself was helpful, this video guide has been perfect for a newbie like me! Very clear and concise (which is a god send when trying to understand the mechanics!) Great Stuff! :)

[@markbelluk]

I've just purchased Dwarf Fortress and your tutorials are the best I e seen on KZbin. I'm going to watch them all. Great work.

[@FleezyOG]

Wow, crazy to see you still making videos! I remember younger me sitting down and watching all of your EU4 videos to learn how to play way back in 2013/14. Now here I am excited to learn a classic game, reminiscing on the golden days of let's plays on YT.. glad I stumbled across you again. Thanks so much for all the content, man.

[@darcypatko1992]

First time playing the game using the in-game tutorial mode, I was hopelessly lost. Started over with this walkthrough and I feel like a new dwarf. A welcome introduction! Subscribed.

[@pawl937]

Thank you for this! I haven't played Dwarf Fortress for maybe 15 years and this has been a perfect re-introduction! :3

[@Challis2070]

Just got started playing the game, and was looking for a tutorial. Thanks! It's already helping, I didn't know the Dwarves needed more stairwell space than I was giving them! I look forward to learning a lot!

[@chaoko954]

Completely new to Dwarf Fortress and I was having a really hard time learning to play and knowing what to do next. Found you on KZbin and watched your stream recently and I'm excited for this series!

[@mertarican5456]

Thank you so much for doing exclusive ones for youtube. I love the streams too but this is so refined.

[@Griexxt]

Just bought it, and I am overwhelmed by the detail, so thanks for this.👍

[@miniclip1162]

I have been playing DF for a couple of hours now. With a lot of help of the awesome DF community I have been managing. I am doing my first fortress as a sort of tutorial. actually i lie. This is my second fort. The first got attacked almost instantly by a 3 eyed demon who made my miner not be able to stand and broke the hands of my carpenter. You know... the 2 dwarfs you need in the beginning. It will go down in my world as the Speedrun fort. Speedrun to ruin. Anyway I learned 2 really good things from this vid: 1: you can set a camera position with a keybind and 2: how to prioritize a mining task. I am struggling in a lot of other areas. So i am looking forward to your next vid. I am hoping to learn about farming and distilling. Since they are vital parts of a fort but are not so obvious. Especially because the game chose a embark with rocky soil. So i cannot farm on the surface. Now i am trying to desperately find a cave to farm. Anyway, keep up the good work!

[@colbyboucher6391]

Lmao it seems like I got lucky with the tutorial actually putting me somewhere safe. Lots of stories of crazy nonsense happening right at the start floating around.

[@Vynxxgaming]

So ready for more Dwarf Fort from you Quill! Always was a fan of it on the channel

[@Fallub]

Yay - there it is finally. Thank you Quill.

[@BlindRaven]

Thanks for this. It's been a few years since I've played DF and this is a great refresher for the steam version.

[@BreedonNoah]

Haven't been interested in a let's play in a while, so glad to see you playing this, very excited to watch it :)

[@eldheimm]

Just a friendly tip: I'd disable the music when doing tutorials, or turn it all the way to a minimum. It is very distracting. Thank you for the very informative content, though. so happy DF-veterans take their time to do this!

[@zooly132]

I learned more from this in 5 mins then I did after 2 hours of playing the game. Thanks Quill!

[@AngelicHunk]

Besides the massive graphics work they did, I appreciate the other changes they made to make the Steam release more accessible. And thank you, Quill for this tutorial series!

[@viktorvolkov5314]

Quill, I have been watching you since you did your victoria 2 Japan lets play, gotta say great content and I am a huge fan of these games like dwarf fortress. Your videos have helped me learn a lot of game mechanics I have been struggling with!

[@casualbrowsingyeah]

I remember first looking up Dwarf Fortress on your channel years ago. Time really does fly. God bless.

[@chonky2129]

I’m so glad someone made that mod that removes the bird screeching

[@brandtc.7991]

Thank you so much for this series! You are doing a fantastic job at explaining smoothly :)

[@bowenc24]

Thanks for this Quill! Loaded up the game and really had no idea were to start

[@Bugman82]

Thank you for doing this. I'm excited to learn to play on the Steam version.

[@Taimoorabdullah]

Exactly the kind of teaching video i needed for this game!

[@goosechasing]

Wow. so looking forward to this series!

[@TheKenworthys]

I learned more in less time than any video I've found. Excellent and thank you. Subscribed

[@nosehair16]

yay quill and dwarves! what a combo

[@fuckinmoron3230]

Just this episode alone is super helpful, i really want to enjoy this game, but theres so much to learn and im not keen on reading tutorials. I loved watching this video and seeing you do it as you explained the mechanics, thanks.

[@jalle2k3]

Fantastic to play along to this -- well done @quill18

[@Ilovemyfamilyandfriends-z3o]

I’ve played dwarf fortress for years on and off and with the steam release and new UI this feels like the perfect opportunity to give fortress mode a chance

[@ThePoetInWhite]

If you could maybe mention how to equip certain items to dwarves next episode that’d be awesome! Definitely gonna keep watching these so I can learn what to do 😂😂

[@trolololoolable]

Id always heard about this game but didnt know much about it. It blows my mind there are multiple levels to it!

[@jorundef2032]

I've played DF years ago and thought I could jump right back into it. Turns out I've forgotten a lot so these videos help.

[@grisgris733]

Love it, can't wait for Ep 2 :)

[@Think4aChange]

Thanks for the series.

[@chuck430]

was always curious about this game since you always mention it, glad to see a tutorial

[@vaughn1804]

10/10 beginner's intro 👏👍

[@owokisu4351]

Things I learned from this video despite doing the in-game tutorial, watching another video tutorial as well as playing a couple hours: Find embark location, I completely skipped over this button and was trying to manually hover over every single spot. Dwarves get slowed down from bumping into each other. How to make a specialized dwarf. How to set recenter hotkeys. How to set mining order priority. A brook can be walked over, a river needs a bridge.

[@stgm]

I was hoping you'd do this. I've been playing off an on for years, but I haven't in maybe 4 or 5 years, so this is a great refresher.

[@haeusserk]

Awesome - played through the tutorial & this was super helpful still

[@Merugaf]

2:00 "Sir, are you aware our whole existence as a species in a galaxy hinges on the non-completion of this seed? Once it is done and the program does the checks notices how unviable it is, it will simply delete it." -A smart dwaft of a world we will never know

[@Cepheus23]

As an intermediate player, work orders is something I haven't messed with. I mainly didn't understand its importance until now, thanks a lot!

[@viserus_]

everytime i play a new strategy game and want to watch someone play it, i always see if you did content on it and ive yet to be disappointed lol

[@aurielklasovsky1435]

Wow. This looks fantastic! Time to come back to the game :) I'm very excited

[@KanTokyo]

just got the for christmas from the wife, no idea what im doing. thank you for the tutorials i'm sure they will be very helpful

[@LeButcher5887]

I subbed because you had a good introductory video for dwarf fortress. Now I'm gonna buy it.

[@Ghost_PM11]

Ready to make history from glorious fortress Graspedpage!

[@sym0n]

To make this a bit more beginner-friendly, would it be possible to show the keystrokes on the screen? It'd help when you're flying through menus using the keyboard commands.

[@chunkycornbread4773]

I was kinda on the fence about the game but man it has such depth! All pun’s intended.

[@jasonthorpe7746]

I just bought the game but only had time to fool around with it a bit but was definitely a bit intimidated. Thank you for this videos its very helpful and I look forward for more

[@jcaashby3]

Thanks for this video. You showed me quite a few things I had no idea about or thought to do. Like starting out and building stairs going down 10 or so levels. Then seeing what the soil is made of. Never even paid attention to that before. Also locking a dwarf to one task only I did not know. Setting F keybinds to move around faster makes the game easier. In my tutorial run I kept getting lost as to where I was. It was disorienting. It didn't help that I embarked on a complicated landscape with a lot of elevation... just got confusing. So I opted to go with something more flat. Then later get into more difficult terrain.

[@SheepInACart]

Lungfish dig into the riverbed and line it with a pouch, so when the river dries up they hibernate till it flows again. They haven't changed much in a very long time, being a key prey item of many dinosaurs. Beware cave adaptation, I personally build a "fort" above ground over the entrance to my main base, and ensure that a lot of common acts occur up inside it, like dining, craft workshops, and the trade area. Also gives you walls for archers to shoot from, which works pretty well for defense.

[@otroligaollis3885]

Excellent series, Quill!

[@naturallyflorida9052]

This is great! Thanks for the tutorial

[@hobertcooke2346]

I'm sooo excited for the mouse support I tried to play a while ago and I just couldn't get past the control difficulty.

[@LittleLion93]

I was looking for something like that, thank you very much.

[@BerenasYT]

Thanks for making these videos, I really needed them :)

[@NebulaLuna]

Thanks for the youtube exclusive!!

[@viralvids4all168]

I dont even play this but i let it play in the background since u sound so positive!

[@iamfromthewild]

Ok it's out on stream. Time to try and figure this game out again wondering how much has changed since 2016

[@emilesteenkamp]

Thank you. Now it starting to make sense. Will tackle DF during the weekend

[@lobardin]

Thanks for doing these videos.

[@amshermansen]

Appreciate a series without constant twitch notifications.

[@oatmealftw]

Can't wait for more!

[@Espresso139]

Beautiful initial layout. You've enjoyed this game before I can tell

[@KrutchesRDH]

Ay one of the dudes who taught me Dwarf fortress in like 2010-2012 is doing new DF neat

[@ourlordandsaviorbrendanfra4428]

Going to be the best DF tutorial series on YT, calling it now!

[@zeonos]

I know what my Saturday will be spend with, and it wont be watching this! (thats for friday). Finally this game have an interface i can work with so i can play and enjoy the game.

[@charlieh3510]

Quill thank you so much for this. You rule

[@DeoFavento]

Thank god, was waiting for you to do one of these 🤘

[@dustinbailey8351]

Thank you, very good video tutorial!

[@Peter_Parker69]

Great tutorial!

[@ShughaKane]

The music is really good. Good idea to play it on the side.

[@kerrymoore1961]

Thank you, very informative!

[@Menleah]

Verrry helpful! I'm taking notes, hah, thank you!

[@serkan978]

Ive watched quite a few of your tutorials even tho i sidnt need em i just now noticed i wasnt subbed The ones i actually really needed are cdda and dwarf fortress thank you for providing good content and guides

[@141Wingman]

I remember playing this game years ago amazed its seen a steam release

[@TheOneTrueGriswel]

Thanks Quill18!