Part 1: Create the Entire Universe

Last time on Get into Dwarf Fortress, we downloaded Dwarf Fortress. This time, we’re going to set up our first embark. But first, we need to create the universe.

Start up Dwarf Fortress. On Windows, run Dwarf Fortress.exe, and on Linux or Mac OS, run the ./df script.

Press Enter to open the simple world generator. There’s also an advanced world generator, but we don’t need that right now.

Change World Size from Medium to Small by pressing the left arrow key. If your computer isn’t very powerful, you might also want to change History from Medium to Short. Now, press y to generate your world.

After the world is generated, you can look around with the arrow keys. Press Enter when you’re done to save it.

You’ll be brought back to the title screen with a new option: Start Playing. Press Enter twice to start your new world in Dwarf Fortress mode.

The calendar will advance by 2 weeks, and then you’ll be brought to the embark selector.

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We’re going to start simple, so there are a few rules for sites we can choose. If your site covers multiple biomes, make sure to check all of them using F1, F2, F3, etc.

Hostile Environment: Since this is our first fortress, we don’t want to have to deal with conditions that make it complicated to survive or break the earth.

• Don’t embark in an area with an aquifer. If a biome has an aquifer, the word “Aquifer” will show up in dark blue text on the embark summary.
• The temperature should be livable. Pick a site with a temperature that’s either “Warm” (in yellow) or “Temperate” (in green).

Imminent Death: Keeping our dwarves alive will be much harder if we embark in an area where reanimated corpses are a threat.

• Make sure the surroundings are good or neutral. Surroundings for evil locations will say “Sinister”, “Haunted”, or “Terrifying” in purple text.
• Don’t embark next to a Tower. You can use Tab to cycle through the summary modes. In neighbors mode, the word “Tower” will appear if there is a tower nearby.

Safety Net: Having easily accessible sources of clean water, wood, and edible plants will make starting a fortress a lot easier, and will also make it easier to recover from running out of stockpiled necessities.

• Our site should overlap a river, stream, or brook. These show up as double dark blue lines on the local map. Move the site in the local map using the u, m, k, and h keys to make sure it overlaps the river.
• We want to have at least some trees and other plants. Make sure Trees and Other Vegetation don’t say “None” in bright red.

While it is possible to embark almost anywhere, these restrictions will make the fortress much easier to sustain. Additional nice things to have include soil, metals, and flux stone, but they are not required for our first fortress.

When you’re ready, press e to embark, and Enter to select “Play Now!”. Press Enter again when you’re done reading the intro screen, and then press Space if the game isn’t already paused.

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Our story starts in early spring. There will be a trade caravan from our civilization in autumn, but right now we’re on our own. We have a few supplies to get us started, but apart from the animals that pulled our wagon, a few pets, and the seven dwarves in our expedition party, we’re alone.

It’s time to strike the earth.