Dwarf Fortress 40_24 Tutorial: Step 2: Creating a World for the First Time

So, you've downloaded Dwarf Fortress Lazy Newb Pack, you've sorted out Sound Sense and now you start up the game. You will notice that the mouse doesn't work here so it's going to be keyboard from here on out.

The first thing you need to do is create a world to build your fortress in. These worlds are dynamic and each event for each year of the history of the world is recorded and plays a part in shaping all the events that follow. This means that if you're computer is a little slow you should consider building a smaller world with a shorter history.

Here's the settings you should use for your first few forays into the world of Dwarf Fortress…

World Size 

• Choose nothing larger than Medium 
• How big the world is. Actual size does not matter except for processor power of your computer. 

History 

• Choose Short or Medium 
• How long the world evolves before you begin playing. This will give some time for the world to evolve and civilizations to grow thus giving you better trade options late on. 

Number of Civilizations 

• Choose Medium 
• How many nations of Dwarves there are at the start of your embarking. Not overly important for your first play through. 

Max number of Sites 

• Choose Medium 
• How many places the civilizations of the world can settle. Not overly important for Fortress mode. 

Number of Beasts 

• Choose Low or Very Low 
• How many Forgotten Beasts are generated at world creation. These are big scary end boss Fortress Slaughtering monsters that you don't want to encounter on your first play through. 

Natural Savagery 

• Choose Low or Very Low 
• How difficult the world is to settle. A higher savagery rating increases the amount of aggressive animals (and monsters) that your Fortress will have to contend with. 

Mineral Occurrence 

• Choose Frequent 
• The amount and variety of useful minerals (Rock types, metals, gems) that spawn per zone. 

You can have multiple worlds created at any time but only one fortress per world. If your fortress is destroyed or if you choose to abandon it you can continue on in that world with a new fortress adding further to the history of that world.


More information at: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:World_generation


Continue on to Step 3: Embarking for the First Time