Dwarf Fortress Beginner's Guide (Steam Edition)

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What You'll Achieve in 20 Minutes

Your complete roadmap to fortress survival and early prosperity.

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Smart Embark Setup

Embark with forgiving settings and essential supplies for guaranteed early success.

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Sustainable Production

Set up food and drink production chains that will keep your fortress thriving.

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Safe Housing

Build secure dormitories and living spaces before migrant waves arrive.

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First Industries

Establish carpenter, mason, and mining operations for economic foundation.

Embark Settings that Forgive Mistakes

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Location Selection Strategy

The right embark location can make or break your first fortress. Here's how to set yourself up for success.

Recommended Biome & Terrain

Biome: Temperate forest or grassland

Elevation: Medium (not mountain peaks, not valleys)

Temperature: Warm or temperate (avoid freezing)

Rain: Medium to high rainfall

Essential Resources

Fresh Water: Look for rivers or streams on the map

Trees: Ensure plenty of woodland for wood

Stone: Any stone is good - you'll need it for construction

Metals: Iron and flux stone are ideal, but not critical for starting

Embark Supplies Checklist

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Keep These Items

2 picks (mining tools)

1 axe (for woodcutting)

Food: plump helmets, drinks

Seeds for farming

Some wood and stone

Basic medical supplies

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You Can Remove

Expensive weapons and armor

Exotic animals

Luxury crafts

See Complete Embark Profiles →

Your First 30 Minutes

Systematic Fortress Foundation

Follow this precise order to establish the basics quickly and safely, ensuring your survival through the first season.

Pause and Survey (2 minutes)

Press Space to pause immediately

Look around your starting area

Find your wagon, dwarves, and supplies

Locate water source and stone outcroppings

Dig Your First Rooms (8 minutes)

Press d to open designation menu

Select miners and dig into a hillside or down

Create a 7x7 entrance room

Dig a hallway to a 10x10 main room

Essential Workshops (10 minutes)

Press b to build

Place Carpenter's Workshop near your entrance

Add Mason's Workshop if you have stone

Build a Still for brewing drinks

Add a Kitchen for cooking food

Stockpiles (5 minutes)

Press p to place stockpiles

Food stockpile near kitchen

Drink stockpile near still

Wood stockpile near carpenter

Stone stockpile near mason

Basic Sleeping (5 minutes)

Designate a dormitory room

Place beds or use floor as dormitory

Assign room as dormitory in q menu

Your dwarves can now sleep safely indoors

Food, Drinks, and Stockpiles

⚠️ Critical Survival Rule

Dwarves MUST drink alcohol or clean water. They will die of thirst in days without it. Food is secondary to drinks!

Drink Production (Most Important)

Still: Converts plants to alcohol. Always keep brewing.

Plump Helmets: Can be eaten raw OR brewed into alcohol

Emergency: Fresh water works, but dwarves prefer alcohol

Target: Keep at least 30 drinks in storage at all times

Food Basics

Kitchen: Cooks raw food into meals (more nutritious)

Raw Food: Plump helmets, other plants from gathering

Farming: Start underground farms in soil or muddy stone

Target: Keep 50+ prepared meals for 7 dwarves

Common Stockpile Mistakes

Too few barrels: Drinks need containers. Make barrels at carpenter's workshop.

Food rotting: Keep food stockpiles indoors, away from miasma.

Wrong size: Stockpiles should match workshop output (food near kitchen).

No refuse pile: Create a garbage dump outside for bones/waste.

Basic Safety

Defensive Strategy

You don't need elaborate defenses immediately, but basic safety prevents early disasters and ensures long-term survival.

Immediate Safety (First Year)

Door: Build a door at your main entrance. Dwarves can pass, animals cannot.

Inside Living: Move all essential activities underground or indoors.

Activity Zones: Use i to restrict dwarves from dangerous areas.

Animal Watch: Keep an eye on the units list for hostile wildlife.

Medium-term Safety (Year 2+)

Drawbridge: A retractable bridge can completely seal your fortress.

Traps: Simple weapon traps in a narrow corridor catch invaders.

Military: Train 2-3 dwarves in basic combat skills.

Warning System: Assign a dwarf to pull levers during danger.

Pro Tip: The Moat Strategy

Dig a 1-tile wide channel around your entrance. Build a bridge across it. Most enemies can't cross water or jump the gap, but your dwarves can use the bridge.

Early Industries

Progressive Economic Development

Build your economy step by step. Each industry supports the next, creating a self-sustaining economic ecosystem.

Phase 1: Wood & Stone (Immediate)

Carpenter

Makes beds, barrels, bins, furniture

Mason

Makes stone blocks, furniture, mechanisms

Mining

Expands fortress, finds ores and gems

Goal: Basic furniture and containers for every dwarf

Phase 2: Metalworking (Year 2)

Smelter

Melts ores into metal bars

Forge

Makes weapons, armor, tools from metal

Fuel

Make charcoal from wood or find coal

Goal: Basic weapons and armor for military

Phase 3: Advanced Crafts (Year 3+)

Leatherworking

Armor and bags from animal hides

Textiles

Cloth from plants or animals

Jewelry

Cut gems, craft valuable items for trade

Goal: Wealth and trade goods for caravans

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Need detailed production chains and workshop layouts?

Get comprehensive fortress blueprints and optimization guides

See Fortress Layout Guide →

Common Mistakes

Avoid These Fortress-Killers

Learn from the mistakes that have ended countless promising fortresses before they could flourish.

Running out of drinks

Always check your drink stockpile. If it's low, pause everything and focus on brewing. Dehydration kills faster than starvation.

No sleeping arrangements before migrants

Migrants arrive unexpectedly. Have a dormitory ready or they'll sleep outside and get unhappy, leading to tantrums and poor work quality.

Digging too deep too fast

Stay in the upper levels for your first year. Deep areas have more dangerous creatures that can overwhelm unprepared fortresses.

Not managing labors

Press 'v' to view dwarfs, then 'p' and 'l' to manage their job assignments. Specialists are more efficient than generalists.

Ignoring happiness/stress

Unhappy dwarfs work slower and may tantrum. Provide decent food, drinks, and rooms. Happy dwarfs are productive dwarfs.

Printable Checklist

Your Fortress Survival Roadmap

Copy these checklists to keep track of your progress and ensure nothing critical is forgotten during your first fortress.

First Week Survival Checklist

□ Embark with picks, axe, food, drinks, seeds □ Pause game immediately upon arrival □ Dig entrance room (7x7) and main hall (10x10) □ Build carpenter's workshop near entrance □ Build still for brewing drinks □ Build kitchen for cooking food □ Place food stockpile near kitchen □ Place drink stockpile near still □ Place wood stockpile near carpenter □ Create dormitory with beds (or sleeping area) □ Secure fresh water source or ensure drink production □ Build door at main entrance □ Check drink supplies: minimum 30 drinks for 7 dwarfs □ Check food supplies: minimum 50 meals □ Assign labors: miners, carpenter, brewer, cook □ Start underground farm if soil available □ Make extra barrels for drink storage □ Plan next phase: military or advanced workshops

First Month Goals

□ Sustainable food production (farming + cooking) □ Sustainable drink production (brewing) □ Individual bedrooms for each dwarf □ Mason's workshop and stone furniture □ Basic military: 2-3 dwarfs with weapons □ Trade depot for merchant caravans □ Defensive entrance with traps or bridge □ Refuse stockpile outside fortress □ Hospital with beds and medical supplies □ Meeting area/tavern for social needs □ Start metal industry if ore available □ Establish clothing production if materials available

Continue Learning

Your Journey Continues

Master the fundamentals, then explore advanced fortress design and quality-of-life enhancements.

Advanced Fortress Planning

Ready-to-use layout templates, stockpile organization, and production chains for efficient fortresses.

Visit Fortress Planner →

DFHack Quality of Life

Safe, useful tools and scripts to enhance your Dwarf Fortress experience without breaking gameplay.

Explore DFHack Tools →