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Peter Tyson

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress: Learn to play the most complex video game ever made 1st Edition

by Peter Tyson (Author), Tarn Adams (Author)

147 ratings

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Dwarf Fortress may be the most complex video game ever made, but all that detail makes for fascinating game play, as various elements collide in interesting and challenging ways. The trick is getting started. In this guide, Fortress geek Peter Tyson takes you through the basics of this menacing realm, and helps you overcome the formidable learning curve.

The bookâ??s focus is the gameâ??s simulation mode, in which youâ??re tasked with building a dwarf city. Once you learn how to establish and maintain your very first fortress, you can consult the more advanced chapters on resource management and training a dwarf military. Youâ??ll soon have stories to share from your interactions with the Dwarf Fortress universe.

Create your own world, then locate a site for an underground fortress
Equip your party of dwarves and have them build workshops and rooms
Produce a healthy food supply so your dwarves wonâ??t starve (or go insane)
Retain control over a fortress and dozens of dwarves, their children, and their pets
Expand your fortress with fortifications, stairs, bridges, and subterranean halls
Construct fantastic traps, machines, and weapons of mass destruction

ISBN-10

1449314945
ISBN-13

978-1449314941
Edition

1st
Publisher

O'Reilly Media
Publication date

July 10, 2012
Language

English
Dimensions

7 x 0.51 x 9.19 inches
Print length

245 pages
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress" is current to the April 2012 releases of Dwarf Fortress. It's full of art, and I'm told, humor and good guidance. I hope you enjoy it!

About the Author

Peter Tyson created the AfterActionReporter blog in February 2009 for reporting on, listing and writing great after action reports (game reviews through storytelling). He created the online resource "The Complete and Utter Newbie Tutorial for Dwarf Fortress." Tim Denee is an illustrator from Wellington New Zealand.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (July 10, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 245 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1449314945
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1449314941
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.51 x 9.19 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,033,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #671 in Game Programming
- #2,038 in Video & Computer Games
- #2,341 in Fantasy Gaming

Customer Reviews:
147 ratings

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Peter Tyson

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"Peter Tyson is a human born in 1975 in New Zealand. He is the oldest son of Ron Tyson and Ann Tyson. In the Summer of 1996 Peter became a student at Auckland University. In the Summer of 1999 Peter became a student at Victoria University. In the Spring of 2000 Peter became an Analyst at Datamonitor. In the Spring of 2002 Peter became a Community Manager at Codemasters. In the Autumn of 2005 Peter became an Administrator in the New Zealand Government. In the Summer of 2008 Peter married Laura. In the Winter of 2009 Peter wrote popular tutorials for Dwarf Fortress on his blog, afteractionreporter.com. In the Winter of 2011 Peter was struck by a Strange Mood.

In the Summer of 2012 Peter wrote "Pasubabo Thrathdad Teme", "Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress", a legendary wood-pulp paper bound book. The written portion consists of 180 page guide to the game Dwarf Fortress entitled "Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress". The writing is lighthearted with moments of humor.

In Summer 2012 "Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress" was stored in O'Reilly by the human administrator, Peter Tyson."

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

147 global ratings

5 star		84%
4 star		14%
3 star		2%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kuroth

Excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

Great condition and great book. Thanks

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 24, 2022

Verified Purchase

A great book to get if you're into Dwarf Fortress or want to seriously give the game a try.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2013

Verified Purchase

Dwarf Fortress is known as one of the most complex, detailed, confusing, interesting, painful, funny, amazing, awesome, hardest-game-to-learn computer game to exist. Which may make it the hardest game EVER. The amount of enjoyment one gets from playing a long game is a great reward ONCE you figure out HOW to play it. This book takes you step-by-step through the process of starting a game, explains the basics of Dwarf management and Fortress design, and also gets into the finer details about how to set up the many industries, how the military works, and the steps needed to help run things smoothly.
Do you need to read it from cover to cover? No, if you have played the game and are just looking for hints and tips, you can just go to the chapter you need. It also has a very useful appendix in the back of the book that allows you, at a glance, to see how things work - what workshop does what, what ore produces what metal, what you need to do this and that.
And then there is the wonderful images by Tim Denne that help explain many of the points hit on in the chapters while showing us the rich and detailed history of the game, Dwarf Fortress, and its many famous characters.
While the fact the game is always being developed may make this book outdated soon, 90% of the information and tactics inside will likely never become outdated. Remember, this book is on the Dwarf Mode of the game. The Adventurer Mode is not explained inside this book - that is a whole different kettle of fish.
Once you are comfortable with the game you can do almost anything. Grand engineering projects, above ground apartment buildings, underground zoos, massive greenhouses, grand dining halls, redirecting rivers to make pretty water falls, and even Dwarf breeding programs! Yes, people are carrying out eugenic programs on their Dwarfs. Some players have done so well that there are Fortresses out there that are hundreds of game years old.
And remember, in the end, Losing is FUN!

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Neon Orange

Incredible book, but now I can't stop playing Dwarf Fortress

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 29, 2017

Verified Purchase

PRO: If you buy this book, you will learn how to play Dwarf Fortress.
CON: If you learn how to play Dwarf Fortress, you may not be able to stop.

I had been curious about Dwarf Fortress for several years, but I never approached the game due to its intimidatingly minimalist graphics and so-called "learning cliff". I wasn't 100% certain I would enjoy DF, but after hearing some amazing stories and reading a handful of the reviews here I threw caution to the wind and bought the book without having played the game first. Buying the book was a good move!

On first play through, I followed the first four chapters of this book to the letter. The author's lighthearted approach and the book's sprinkling of humorous/educational illustrations made following along feel like fun instead of homework. Hotkeys, menus, and actions are explained in detail and marked in bold text. The bold text and smattering of screenshots were both very helpful, as it was easy to locate key interface items when I forgot something and needed to go back a page (or chapter). I paused gameplay frequently to stay in sync with the book, and as I tackled more and more that the game had to offer I boggled at how I could have figured any of this stuff out on my own. As I started to get the hang of things, I used the book's later chapters as reference when I had questions or wanted to yet again expand my horizons. It would appear the book (somehow, incredibly) is able to describe how to play Dwarf Fortress in detail without delving into spoiler-y territory.

My book is marked with numerous post-its and bookmarks, which I recommend keeping close at hand while playing. :) I can't imagine this book will leave my desk anytime soon. I can't imagine I will stop playing Dwarf Fortress anytime soon, either.

15 people found this helpful

Helpful

Matt Barker

Confused on how to play DF? Get this book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

Why did I get this guide? Several months back I was reading articles on DF on how epic this game was. The graphics are lacking and I heard the learning curve is very steep, but I thought I would give it a try. Downloaded the game and 5 minutes later uninstalled it. Way to confusing to get a game started and then had no idea what I was doing. I watched several YouTube videos, but none of them came nearly as close to helping me get started with DF as this book has.

I decided not to give up and looked for good starter guides on DF. Thankfully I spotted an amazon ad on one of the articles I was reading about DF that took me to this book. (Ironic I hate ads but they led me to this book) So I went ahead and purchased this book and two days later I was playing DF and actually could understand what was happening, what stuff meant, and the basics of creating your group of 7 dwarves, picking a place to start your fortress, and actually starting to create your fortress.

This book does not tell you everything about DF. It simply does a great job of getting you started with DF. I owe my many hours (don't want to say how many) on DF to this book. This is truly a great game and this book is an excellent place to start if you want to start playing DF.

The book now is on my coffee table and always a great conversation piece with my friends.

10 people found this helpful

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Jamie O

This Book Will Get You Started!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 17, 2020

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Dwarf Fortress is an incredibly complex game, but also a huge amount of fun. This book will get you going, from world generation, planning your embark, doing your first dig, and up through working on your military, production chains, and mechanization.

The book will not teach you everything about the game. But it will get you started. I personally started playing just after receiving the book, and am now the owner of a fortress of oiled-up muscledwarves who wrestle trolls and kindly shear sheep.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. K. C. Ballard

Digging down to the good info!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 13, 2012

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I've been playing Dwarf Fortress (DF) on and off for about three years now, and although I refer to the DF Wiki very often, I was looking for a new source of information and tips which would approach the game with a fresh viewpoint. I read through the "look inside" pages on Amazon.co.uk, and I was impressed by what I saw, so I took the plunge and ordered the book.

My first impressions are very positive. The book is clearly printed and well laid out. It makes good use of different typefaces to highlight hints, tips and possible pitfalls. It makes good use of tables to present appropriate information in a concise way. The author writes with a style which contains a similar brand of humour to that in the game, so there are a few smiles as you're reading. And there are a number of cartoons and illustrations which add to that humour.

The depth of information is also impressive. Although the title is prefaced with "Getting started...", the author doesn't shy away from tackling some fairly deep subjects towards the end of the book, and presenting a lot of information and ideas which are inspiring me to extend the ambitions of my fortresses.

For example, a lot of people have found it hard to set up military squads. The book goes through most aspects of running your military, including setting up the squad, equipping, training, and accommodating them. It then details methods of using burrows, notes and routes to get your troops to do what you want, when you want.

Another area which is covered is handling the liquids in DF, water and magma. Finding these and directing them safely so you can use them can be quite a problem. The book gives lots of advice which makes things quite a bit clearer. Other areas which are well-covered include agriculture, nobles, trading, stockpiles, and of course details of all the possible industries in the game. The level of tips ranges from beginner up to medium-level, and it's definitely taught me a thing or two.

However, there are one or two things which I think would improve the book immensely. First and most important, there is no detailed index at the back of the book. There are so many times when I want to look up tips on a particular subject or item, and the front index is not detailed enough to point me in the right direction. I currently have a piece of A4 paper wedged in my book, acting both as a bookmark, but also my personal detailed index. I tend to add at least five page references to it every day at the moment, and it's very useful. I just wish the publishers had done this work for me!

Secondly, some colour would have been very useful in some instances. Although DF is basically an ASCII text game, the game authors do use colour to great effect, and it would have added to the clarity of some of the printed maps if they could have been shown as they appear on-screen.

Thirdly, the book does have some errata. For example, Table 6-5 on p.73 seems to have the entries for "Dining Room" and "Office" switched around. I suppose it's inevitable when a game is as complex as DF, and its keyboard interface is convoluted and sometimes inconsistent, so we shouldn't blame the author or publishers too much.

Fourth, I hesitated a bit with my order when I saw the price of the book. I recently bought a couple of books with almost as many pages and printed in full colour, for quite bit less.

Lastly, as DF is still officially in "alpha" development, it's inevitable that the game will change quite a lot in the future. I'm wondering how long the information in the book will stay valid and up-to-date. (Compare with some of Brady Games atlases for World of Warcraft. Pretty but expensive, and now completely out-of-date.)

All in all though, this book has enough going for it for me to recommend it, both to DF beginners and medium-level players like myself. The information, humour, and new ideas for fortress building make it a worthwhile and enjoyable read. Strike the Earth!

8 people found this helpful

StevieB

it's still mostly valid and a REALLY good beginners guide

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 15, 2014

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Unfortunately this is now out-of-date for the current release, however, it's still mostly valid and a REALLY good beginners guide. I tried to find good, easy to follow guides on YouTube but people would either rush, skip bits, wonder off the tutorial guide etc. This however, gives you nice step-by-step instructions from the setting up before the embark to embarking and starting out.

If you follow it as you play you'll finally understand the basics and then can look elsewhere for more advanced and up-to-date guides.

Only issue, which is why it only got 4 stars, is the book version is in black and white but there is a colour digital version I've seen. Bit annoying but not a deal breaker. Images are OK but so much better in colour and makes things easier to understand. You still won't be disappointed with the book though.

Price should really be dropped now though as it's out-of-date for the current build.

Amazon Customer

Does what it says on the tin, but should have done more.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 25, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'm going to give this book 4 stars because it does what it says on the cover: it gets people started with playing Dwarf Fortress. But I feel that they might have missed an opportunity - they wrote a book about how to play the game, instead of writing a book about the game itself.

It's a nice book to have on your shelf. That's about how I feel about this. I'm not convinced that it's worth using as a learning tool for this game because there are so many tutorials on YouTube for this kind of thing. So I would have liked it to maybe discuss some advanced topics like megaprojects or maybe discuss mods or tilesets in more detail. Most importantly, there are so many stories and lore about fortresses that have been just amazing examples of absurd emergent behaviour. That would have been a fun thing to read. There are some stories up till a point, but they have been implemented as comic-strip-panel-type one-page descriptions that are a neat diversion but don't quite work or do justice to the amazing stories in these procedurally-generated worlds.

But with this type of book, it's definitely appealing to the lowest common denominator. Which is fine; they need to sell books and get people playing the game. It would have been a nice idea to print it in colour. It's especially well-written in easy to digest prose; however, it does get a bit long-winded as they take being able to turn on a computer as the only prerequisite. So... I probably will dip in and out of it occasionally. I feel that there is still a Dwarf Fortress book waiting to be written that will appeal to the community who already play.

Orlando

Just what I needed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 22, 2012

Verified Purchase

I still find it easier to follow a physical book whilst also using a computer. As such, the existing online dwarf fortress tutorials have never really worked for me. This book is a very good walk through the incredibly complex world of Dwarf Fortress, taking you step by step through the game, whilst also providing good context on the deeper implications of the actions you take as your first steps - and so, for me, it's the perfect way to learn the game. The quality of writing and style is truly excellent, delivering a taste of the attitude and humour of the game without ever letting that humour get in the way of efficient and accurate delivery of information.

My only slight concern is that it'll go out of date quickly, since Dwarf Fortress is under very active development. Still - at the moment it's (mostly) still spot on, and so I'm hoping it'll get me up to speed and allow me to more easily keep up with developments in the game as they come.

4 people found this helpful