Dwarf Fortress

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[Khalan]

It's been around for quite a while (in constant active development) and most of you would have heard of it.

I've finally gotten into playing it in the last couple of days, and it's brilliant.  For those who don't know, you build a massive sprawling fortress deep into the ground (in all 3 dimensions), and take care of the needs of the dwarfs that migrate in over time.  Quite similar to Dungeon Keeper, but a much larger scale.

Extremely detailed, eg. over 200 types of rocks and minerals, a huge variety of plants and animals, pets, detailed combat, traps and fortifications, randomly generated persistant worlds, other races and cities, trading, huge economy, fluid modelling, weather, customisable stockpiles, completely 3D world (presented in 2D slices), crafting etc.

I'd say it's something like a combination of Dungeon Keeper, Stronghold, and Settlers.

Downsides:
- ASCII graphics and basic tilesets.  Much easier to understand with tilesets, such as the one I've linked further down.
- very complex, steep learning curve

The game is free:
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

I highly recommend the following tileset (comes with all-in-one configured game download).  It's made the game much easier to get into.
http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

The following video tutorials by captnduck have helped enormously:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5A3D7682BDD48FC2

By the way, is there any way to display a youtube link as a link instead of as a video?

I've attached a screenshot of one of my fortresses (the purple stuff in the main dining hall is a cloud of miasma; some food started rotting).

[City Builder]

I think you've figured out how to post it as a link instead of a video for us 

[Bluetop]

Looking at this ascii/tiles is sending me on a sentimental journey.  I guess the more things change the more they stay the same because I'm strangely intrigued by this.  Looks like it will run on a low end laptop, maybe?

[City Builder]

I tried this briefly some time ago, it shouldn't have any trouble running on a low end laptop at all I would think.  For me it was too much of a sentimental journey back in time to play.  I just couldn't seem to get into it.  To each their own I guess, I've become to much of a 3D graphics lover now to step back this far in time (heck it's hard enough to step back to the days of Diablo II at this point for me, and I use to play D2 for 8 to 24 hours at one sitting).  Had I known about this when 3D graphics games were just emerging on the market, I would of grabbed it up and played it like nobody's business.

[Khalan]

Bluetop:
The game will run on pretty much anything as long as you have at least 512MB ram; however it is uses quite a lot of CPU power to model everything happening in the world.  With lots of dwarves or pets around, or even just rocks strewn through your fortress, the game can slow down.

Here are the CPU recommendations:

CPU: Dwarf Fortress loves as much raw CPU power as you can provide it with. A Pentium II 500Mhz is sufficient, but you will not have much fun in late game stages with a lot of population.

Recommended:
Core2: 1.4GHz or higher
Pentium 4: 3.0GHz or higher
Athlon: 3000+ or higher

One other essential link is the Dwarf Fortress wiki:
http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Main_Page
You'll need it to identify certain rocks etc, and it's a great guide on how to do almost anything in the game.

It has the following section for maximising framerate:
http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Maximizing_framerate

City Builder:
Yeah, I've tried to get into it a number of times over the years and never really been able to until now.  The tileset has really made it easier for me, plus the fact that Dungeon Keeper type games are unfortunately very rare.  I've got DK2, Startopia and Evil Genius, I don't know of any others.
Apparently the creator Tarn Adams wants to add proper graphics and a good interface to the game, but not for a long time yet.

[Bluetop]

Thanks Khalan I'll give it a whirl.  This seemingly simple game needs some relatively hefty power! Off topic but sometimes I think I might build me a P4 3. 0 just for the heck of it.  You can still get the parts for them.  Back when they were the hot machines I could not afford one! They're rare!

[rangent]

Anyone try to play this?  I've just started a few days ago.   Hectic!  Excellent example of the worst user interface of all time though.   Still, I think it'll be a fun adventure.

[Seron]

Looks pretty interesting Khalan. I will have to try it out.

[Khalan]

Yeah it's a great game, though it takes some effort to learn.  I go back to it every so often, but I haven't played for a little while.  Also try the Stonesense visualizer.

Whenever I do go back to Dwarf Fortress, instead of updating everything it's much easier to download and use the ready-to-run Lazy Newb Pack.  Includes everything you need to start playing, including tileset and visualizer, as well as other tools and utilities.

Here's a good screenshot (from the original post) of some of what's in the pack (click for full size):

[Bruschev]

Easily the most complex game ever made for me, the amount of stuff that can happen and you can do in it is awesome.

Lazy Newb Pack is great for first timers, and Khalan is right, gotta sit down with it for a while to know what to do, kind of like riding a bike heh.

My most recent colony got swarmed by Goblins, they seriously they just came out of no where, I must of missed a goblin fort near-by or something, however, one of the dwarfs put up a decent fight, but died of hunger/thirst. 

Also, the most important thing about this game is that you cannot win, you will die one way or another no matter what, be it a goblin raid, disease, vampires, herds of elephants etc. etc. You will get slaughtered.