Reddit mentions of Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress: Learn To Play The Most Complex Video Game Ever Made

The book.

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

the game so complex the book costs more than it

If you want, there's a really good book for learning the game. It's outdated (The book is from 34.11, we're on 40.24), but the updates haven't changed anything big from one version to the next. There'll just be some features that you'll have to figure out without the book ;)

And if you're wondering, yes I do own that book :D

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

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

Yes the learning curve is intense. But this cartoon sums it up nicely...
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/images/4/40/FunComic.png

Edit: and I found this book to be very useful.
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Dwarf-Fortress-complex/dp/1449314945

I wouldn't be able to teach you... But I learned some handy things from this book.

Sometimes you just have to fail a little to have a some FUN. Goodluck!

(Also, if you want something a little more...uh... friendly to start out with, I recommend Rim World. It's on Steam. )

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

There's a book that teaches you how to play:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1449314945/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6ubtyb3Q4T60D

AFAIK re: graphics, there are alternative tile sets you can install.

This might be helpful

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.

Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress

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

I've been meaning to get around to it eventually, I just wrote from the stories I've heard about the game.

The simulation in that game is ridiculously detailed, and since it's single-threaded, it brings basically every CPU on Earth to its knees once your fortress starts to grow.

The stories that game generates are insane. The best one I've heard was a bunny that fell down a shaft to Hell and then proceeded to survive and kill multiple demons until the dwarves could mount a rescue.

Just looking on TVTropes I've found one where a dwarf used a heavy coffin as his weapon, and then put the corpses in the coffin to make it even more lethally heavy.

Another one was a fort overrun with demons, the last survivor is a seven-year-old cornered. This child then proceeds to dodge every attack for half a year before starving to death.

At this point I'll just quote directly from TVTropes:

> The key word for describing Dwarf Fortress is "complex". The game attempts to simulate real physics, biology, and even chemistry as accurately as possible, with a surprising degree of success, at the cost of user-friendliness. For example, in lieu of Hit Points, the game has a detailed, IVAN-esque Subsystem Damage mechanic for all dwarves, monsters, and other creatures, and an attack targeting system that allows any unit to attack or grapple any part of its opponent's body with pretty much any still-attached prehensile appendage. The game only gets more convoluted from there, becoming denser with each update. The fans joke that the sole developer, Tarn "Toady One" Adams, will continue to make the game more and more granular until it reaches the subatomic level and begins to simulate quantum mechanics and particle physics. Judging by the way the game is growing, that prediction may become true.

It should say something that this exists and is almost 250 pages long.

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.

Well the learning curve is a short book (which you can also read online) but it's fucking awesome after you've defeated the curve

seriously fucking awesome dude go check out /r/dwarffortress

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 :)

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

That’s what got me through the initial learning curve.

It may be out dated in some ways now, but I did refer to it past time I played (about 6 months ago)

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.

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.

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.