[Roguelike] Dwarf Fortress

[Sepiche]

Pretty sure he fixed the bug that was making them so effective.

[The Bad Shepherd]

Really? What a shame. I thought he was going to add weapon durability later on (so they'll break in combat) because obsidian really IS that sharp in real life. It has an almost monomolecular edge. Still. What a shame.

[LordMortis]

Really? What a shame. I thought he was going to add weapon durability later on (so they'll break in combat) because obsidian really IS that sharp in real life. It has an almost monomolecular edge. Still. What a shame.

Terry Whatshis face on the History Channel was doing some of the Malaysian warrior code stuff and they were working with making and training with obsidian tipped spears and while training a light graze did a nice little surface wound splitting open the skin of his calf like butter. He was fortunate not to have have been just a little more off with his filmed training exercise.

[Vorret]

Since this is 34 pages long...
Is there a tile that's better than another to... better visualize the game?

[LordMortis]

Maybe someone can find the captainduck demo and then you could play along his... at least 40 ten minute tutorials...

I don't think you need to watch them all but they do get you in the swing of things on an older version of the game. I watched the first 12 of them to help get me back up to speed but if I hadn't played before I'd crazy lost watching him and was pretty lost at time watching him anyway.

[Sepiche]

Since this is 34 pages long...
Is there a tile that's better than another to... better visualize the game?

There are three main ones that are popular, and they aren't hard to install if you don't mind moving files around and changing a few text files.

Ironhand (updated):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53180.0" target="_blank

Phoebus (updated):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0" target="_blank

Mayday (should be updated to latest version soon):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53649.0" target="_blank

I personally use Phoebus. I don't like it's Dwarf images as well as Mayday, but it has new images for stone and mineral tiles that makes it much easier to see at a glance where important minerals are.

[EzeKieL]

How can you easily tell what kind of basic goods you have?

like what kind of stone, wood etc?

Is there a status screen somewhere? I can't find it

[The Bad Shepherd]

How can you easily tell what kind of basic goods you have?

like what kind of stone, wood etc?

Is there a status screen somewhere? I can't find it

Press Z. But you'll need a stock-keeper keeping track of everything in the Fortress to have an accurate count. Press "N" and assign a stock-keeper. Once you have someone assigned, scroll over them in the Nobles screen, press S. Set it to "Highest Precision." Assign the stock-keeper his or her own office. (Build a chair, scroll over it after pressing "Q", press "A" and assign the stock-keeper, he'll be probably the second or third one down). They'll begin recording, and you will gradually have a list of everything in the Fortress!

[Sepiche]

Another way to get at least a basic idea of what you have early on is using the 'k' command.

Hitting 'k' will open up tile viewing mode. Just move the cursor over any tile and you can use - + and enter to view in detail the contents of that tile. So for example, early on if you want to get an idea of what types of food you have, just hit 'k' cursor over your food stockpile, and you can view any containers stored there and what's inside of them.

Easiest way in the long run is definitely using a book keeper though. I generally just keep a dwarf permanently assigned to nothing but that. If you don't like him sitting around the rest of the time you can give him some other tasks, but like the manager, I like my administrators to be always available so there's never a delay in updating records/work orders.

[Vorret]

So... I've managed to get a ... I guess decent fortress going but I have a problem.
I got like 10 migrants who arrived but they seem to be stuck on :

1- Another level
2- Behind a river

What can I do?
They all have an arrow that's pointing down on them.

Help

[Shinjin]

Have you tried spanning the river with a bridge (road)?

[baelthazar]

Since this is 34 pages long...
Is there a tile that's better than another to... better visualize the game?

There are three main ones that are popular, and they aren't hard to install if you don't mind moving files around and changing a few text files.

Ironhand (updated):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53180.0" target="_blank

Phoebus (updated):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57557.0" target="_blank

Mayday (should be updated to latest version soon):
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53649.0" target="_blank

I personally use Phoebus. I don't like it's Dwarf images as well as Mayday, but it has new images for stone and mineral tiles that makes it much easier to see at a glance where important minerals are.

For some reason Phoebus seems to be more "laggy" with my system. I prefer Mayday but until updated will probably use Ironhand, although I hate the trees in Ironhand.

[Vorret]

Have you tried spanning the river with a bridge (road)?

Ah no... didn't know we could do that.
Will my dwarf be able to go up a level by themselves to go and build the bridge?

[Paingod]

I'm not specifically asking for help, because I know the answer is out there and I just need to go find it.

I got this up and running last night and got myself started. Using what I had gleaned from the first three tutorials by CaptDuck, I was able to get into the game and make my initial 7 dwarves. I made:

1 Miner/Engraver - Something to do when not digging.
1 Miner/Mason - Something to do when not digging.
1 Woodcutter/Carpenter - Something to do when not cutting.
1 Surgeon/Diagnostician/Sutcherer/Bandager (can't recall, but a bit of all the "Medical" skills; only Surgeon was "Competent")
1 Farmer/Herbalist
1 Farmer/Brewer
1 Leader/Negotiator/Bookkeeper - The "Administrator"

I had a smattering of lots of seeds and foodstuffs by default and left them pretty much alone, but took 2 bronze picks, 2 crossbows, 10 bolts, 4 war dogs, 4 dogs, 4 cats, 2 horses.

I spent time looking for a good location - it had Flux Stone (as advised by CaptDuck), clay, limestone, and (I think) deep metals near a river and with no aquifer. I picked a spot right outside what seemed like a large hill with a couple small ponds right next to the entrance area.

I had no problem figuring out how to get my miners to start digging and set to immediately making a wide corridor with a few largish rooms off of it, I designated several different types of stockpiles and had my dwarves move everything into them. I couldn't figure out how to get my animals inside, but figured that would come eventually.

The cats had a merry time killing rats in the foodstores, and I'm a little worried about the rat corpses contaminating the food. I'm not sure what to do with them, but will figure it out in time.

I set aside every tree within 100 yards of my entrance to be cut down and watched my woodcutter proceed to stand there with his finger in his nose. I hunted through menus, options, jobs, menus, and nothing I found could kick him in the ass and get him to start chopping. I downloaded and ran Dwarf Therapist and saw his "Woodcutting" job in black, so I changed it to purple (like the Miner's mining), sent the orders, and he then did me proud - by continuing to scratch his ass and not move.

After 45 minutes of struggling to figure out how to cut wood, I powered off my PC and went to bed. I'll watch the tutorials again today and see what I was missing.

[LordMortis]

So... I've managed to get a ... I guess decent fortress going but I have a problem.
I got like 10 migrants who arrived but they seem to be stuck on :

1- Another level
2- Behind a river

What can I do?
They all have an arrow that's pointing down on them.

Help

They won't go through the water so you need a bridge. I've not seen dwarves not able to go up and down levels outside as they've always been able to find slopes. I'd imagine if you can't find a slope then you could either build trenches (whatever they are called that slope) or stairs.

woodcutter stuff

You're going to need to start over or wait for migration and hope for a woodcutter. I recommend the former However, a lot of false starts are common in DF as far as I know. I guess that's why "Dying is fun". Anyhow the three components of woodcutting are 1) You need an axe. Start with any sort of Battle Axe. 2) You need to set to chopping trees. That's d) on the main menu to designate. t) to chop trees. X enter set area enter and then 3) to have a woodcutter set to the job u) to look at your guys, up and down arrows to find the guy in question, c) to center on him. enter to choose him (I think), p) for job preferences, l) for labor, arrow to woodcutter, enter to choose, arrow to chop wood, enter to choose.

Most likely your problem is simply that you have no axe though.

It's entirely possible you will want an anvil as well. It's likely not necessary as the your trade with the Dwarves can probably get you one but it's a nice insurance policy if they don't.

[Paingod]

You are correct, sir. A restarting I shall go. I had no axe, and it didn't even occur to me that I might need one. I mean, in Minecraft, I just tear trees apart with my bare hands.

I'll probably end up doing a juggle of tutorial & game and try to "play along" with the game tutorial while building my own fortress. With almost 7 hours of tutorials, I estimate I might be able to play the game with some level of proficiency in about 8 days of picking away at learning it. Once I've got it "down" I'll restart and do my own thing.

[Vorret]

I'm not specifically asking for help, because I know the answer is out there and I just need to go find it.

I got this up and running last night and got myself started. Using what I had gleaned from the first three tutorials by CaptDuck, I was able to get into the game and make my initial 7 dwarves. I made:

1 Miner/Engraver - Something to do when not digging.
1 Miner/Mason - Something to do when not digging.
1 Woodcutter/Carpenter - Something to do when not cutting.
1 Surgeon/Diagnostician/Sutcherer/Bandager (can't recall, but a bit of all the "Medical" skills; only Surgeon was "Competent")
1 Farmer/Herbalist
1 Farmer/Brewer
1 Leader/Negotiator/Bookkeeper - The "Administrator"

I had a smattering of lots of seeds and foodstuffs by default and left them pretty much alone, but took 2 bronze picks, 2 crossbows, 10 bolts, 4 war dogs, 4 dogs, 4 cats, 2 horses.

I spent time looking for a good location - it had Flux Stone (as advised by CaptDuck), clay, limestone, and (I think) deep metals near a river and with no aquifer. I picked a spot right outside what seemed like a large hill with a couple small ponds right next to the entrance area.

I had no problem figuring out how to get my miners to start digging and set to immediately making a wide corridor with a few largish rooms off of it, I designated several different types of stockpiles and had my dwarves move everything into them. I couldn't figure out how to get my animals inside, but figured that would come eventually.

The cats had a merry time killing rats in the foodstores, and I'm a little worried about the rat corpses contaminating the food. I'm not sure what to do with them, but will figure it out in time.

I set aside every tree within 100 yards of my entrance to be cut down and watched my woodcutter proceed to stand there with his finger in his nose. I hunted through menus, options, jobs, menus, and nothing I found could kick him in the ass and get him to start chopping. I downloaded and ran Dwarf Therapist and saw his "Woodcutting" job in black, so I changed it to purple (like the Miner's mining), sent the orders, and he then did me proud - by continuing to scratch his ass and not move.

After 45 minutes of struggling to figure out how to cut wood, I powered off my PC and went to bed. I'll watch the tutorials again today and see what I was missing.

That's odd... mine usually did what they we're told right off the bat.
I did have a "my dwarf aren't mining... aren't making doors, aren't making ANYTHING!!!" panick for a good 5 minutes before I realized the game was paused.

With the tile sepiche suggested it's much more user friendly and I'm following the ultra-newb walkthrough which helped me ALOT :

http://afteractionreporter.com/2009/02/ ... art-1-wtf/" target="_blank

[LordMortis]

I'll probably end up doing a juggle of tutorial & game and try to "play along" with the game tutorial while building my own fortress. With almost 7 hours of tutorials, I estimate I might be able to play the game with some level of proficiency in about 8 days of picking away at learning it. Once I've got it "down" I'll restart and do my own thing.

That's more or less what I am doing right now. I'm not going to sit and watch hours and hours of tutorial not not get it at all.

And speaking of going back and forth from tutorial to game. Ever since the z axis, I don't get how to build a well. The tutorial says you can put the well anywhere but everywhere I go to put it, except on top of 7 swamps outside, I get some sort of message about need an empty space or something.

I also might be redoing a false start again this weekend with my new lessons learned.

[Shinjin]

Will my dwarf be able to go up a level by themselves to go and build the bridge?

Perhaps the migrants came in where they are blocked by cliffs? Designating a slope at the cliff should do the trick.

Ever since the z axis, I don't get how to build a well. The tutorial says you can put the well anywhere but everywhere I go to put it, except on top of 7 swamps outside, I get some sort of message about need an empty space or something.

This took me a few tries to understand as well. If I remember right, before the z-axis you could drop a well anywhere and it would just work. With the z-axis a well takes two things (other than the construction requirements) - water and a clear path straight down to it.

If you want to go the 'natural' way, you dig down until you find caverns that have water. Let's say you find water at z-14. Find a spot for your well in your fortress that is directly above the water source. Let's call that location z-0. You'll need to dig a trench/slope at that spot, then go down one level and mine that spot. Now you're at z-1. Dig a trench/slope, go down to z-2 and mine. Repeat until you've broken through all the way to the opening above your water source. You'll probably need to designate a route to get your miner back home. I also don't know what happens if you dig straight down this way and break through the cavern ceiling - your miner may plummet. So it might make sense to build a set of up/down stairs right next to it.

If you have a river on your map you can always carve out a cistern (doesn't need to be big), use a u-trap and other tricks to control water pressure and get yourself a well wherever you want it. One downside to this approach is that you end up with stagnant water eventually, which the dwarves aren't too fond of. Once you get into powered devices, you can use pumps to draw the water out of the cistern (and back into the river) to keep it flowing.

[LordMortis]

If you want to go the 'natural' way, you dig down until you find caverns that have water. Let's say you find water at z-14. Find a spot for your well in your fortress that is directly above the water source. Let's call that location z-0. You'll need to dig a trench/slope at that spot, then go down one level and mine that spot. Now you're at z-1. Dig a trench/slope, go down to z-2 and mine. Repeat until you've broken through all the way to the opening above your water source. You'll probably need to designate a route to get your miner back home. I also don't know what happens if you dig straight down this way and break through the cavern ceiling - your miner may plummet. So it might make sense to build a set of up/down stairs right next to it.

I think I will take my current game and keep playing it and trying to dig well until it works... Then it's off to restart a new game with well digging understanding...

I'm also trying to relearn the military and learn the hospital.

It's weird how half the fun of the game is learning the game. When last I played, once I learned the game I was kind of bored by it and put it away. Now it looks like there is a little more "game"... or sim in there.

[Sepiche]

My usual tactic for a well now is carving a good sized room under my main dining hall to store water. I then connect that with floodgates (or even easier... doors hooked up to levers) to a nearby brook or river. I'll also usually carve a tunnel with fortifications opening out into a cavern to act as a drain in case I overflow the reservoir (the fortifications let water out, but nothing in the caverns can get it since it counts as a wall).

If you do open out to the caverns make sure you completely close off the areas you are using. After a little while in most games forgotten beasts will show up in the tunnels. They can often fly or swim and if you don't seal off your fort well they can slip in and wreck havoc. They aren't impossible to kill, but they do often have poisons that will kill even your best dwarves after a single touch.

[LordMortis]

My usual tactic for a well now is carving a good sized room under my main dining hall to store water. I then connect that with floodgates (or even easier... doors hooked up to levers) to a nearby brook or river. I'll also usually carve a tunnel with fortifications opening out into a cavern to act as a drain in case I overflow the reservoir (the fortifications let water out, but nothing in the caverns can get it since it counts as a wall).

That's all stuff I will have to learn. Floodgates and reservoirs and such are all different than they were years ago when last I played and I had a bitch of a time learning them then as well. Drainage and such was never a problem then either.

It's going to be a shame trashing my existing world. I had a great starting spot.

[Paingod]

I keep making it a few more steps each time I start before I'm befuddled. Right now I have a farm running (using all seasons), a brewer making drinks of out berries I've collected, a solid carpenter's shop (making barrels, boxes, cages, etc). I've dug down several levels and finally found Marble, loads of it, so I can make things out of stone now and set up my Mason's shop.

Things I need to figure out (I'll hit the wiki later):

- Collecting and using tame animals - my war dogs and an assortment of "Wagon" animals are just sitting at the starting point.
- Using kennels; I built one and assigned it "Collect tame animals" but the dwarf doing that canceled the action.
- Using cages; I've got a half dozen wooden cages made and they were stored in my "Animal" stockpile, but I'm not sure how to put anything in them.
- Someone referenced leashes in an earlier post, which might be my missing link.
- Making use of Rocks in the open areas
- Farming when there's no farm-able soil (or is this a "false start" ?)

I haven't been attacked yet, but when/if I do, I'm pretty much dead. My "soldiers" have no weapons and none of my migrants is any good at anything (though I got one that was everything Fish - fishherman, cleaning, dismembering). I'm thinking that when I restart, my dwarves will all be single-professionals and I'll take someone here's advice on bringing enough raw materials to make tools over buying them. I haven't been enjoying my brewer trying to spend time growing or my grower having to go out and collect herbs.

I am really enjoying having silt-loam at my starting hill, giving me nothing but farm-able lands. It took two starts to get something that would let me plant in it inside my fortress.

[Vorret]

press Q
go over your wagon
Press X and use set for removal

in your fort create a community room with table and chair, press Q and create a meeting hall (I think that's the name)

So instead of hanging outside, everyone is inside.

[Shinjin]

- Using cages; I've got a half dozen wooden cages made and they were stored in my "Animal" stockpile, but I'm not sure how to put anything in them.

For cages, I think you have to 'build' a cage. One of the cages from your stockpile will get used and permanently placed. Then you can manipulate them (assign critters/prisoners, attach levers, etc). When my likestock start getting in the way, I tend to jam them all into cages. Last time I played there was no limit on how many you could stuff in a cage

I haven't been attacked yet, but when/if I do, I'm pretty much dead. My "soldiers" have no weapons

I have always sucked at the military side of the game and go with a trap-lined alternate route for my primary initial defenses. Doesn't help much with sieges though unless you have lots of supplies stocked away.

[LordMortis]

- Collecting and using tame animals - my war dogs and an assortment of "Wagon" animals are just sitting at the starting point.

Get near the wagon, press q) for building function and the x) to disassemble it.

- Using kennels; I built one and assigned it "Collect tame animals" but the dwarf doing that canceled the action.

Kennels used to be for training dogs. You need an animal trainer and non trained dogs. I think. But I haven't gotten that far in my new fortress(es) yet.

- Using cages; I've got a half dozen wooden cages made and they were stored in my "Animal" stockpile, but I'm not sure how to put anything in them.

There's a way to collect animals for a zoo but I can't remember what task that is. It's not hunting.

- Farming when there's no farm-able soil (or is this a "false start" ?)

I haven't tried above ground farming yet so I'm not sure. Down below so far, as far as I can tell, it's all about having pools of water. You want to look for areas with soil as part of your biome when you choose your area or you will never see planting soil.

I haven't been attacked yet, but when/if I do, I'm pretty much dead. My "soldiers" have no weapons and none of my migrants is any good at anything (though I got one that was everything Fish - fishherman, cleaning, dismembering). I'm thinking that when I restart, my dwarves will all be single-professionals and I'll take someone here's advice on bringing enough raw materials to make tools over buying them. I haven't been enjoying my brewer trying to spend time growing or my grower having to go out and collect herbs.

My current game is about two years in with no soldiers and no weapons. That needs to be false start as well.

I'm about 17 tutuorials in for the outdated version of Captnducks tutorials. I skipped to look at 40 and his fortress was jaw dropping.

in your fort create a community room with table and chair, press Q and create a meeting hall (I think that's the name)

You used to need a well to make a meeting hall. I take it that is no longer the case. I still haven't built a damned well yet. I still haven't got to the new engineering of building irrigation and such.

[Vorret]

my animals are dying from lack of food... is there a way to make animal food?

[LordMortis]

my animals are dying from lack of food... is there a way to make animal food?

I don't know but you are supposed to give some animals pastures. I haven't domesticated pasture needing animals yet so I haven't built one. Also either in this thread or in Captnducks tutorials, it was mentioned that you need to make sure the pastures were big enough or your animals get pissed and may even go on a rampage.

[Vorret]

my animals are dying from lack of food... is there a way to make animal food?

I don't know but you are supposed to give some animals pastures. I haven't domesticated pasture needing animals yet so I haven't built one. Also either in this thread or in Captnducks tutorials, it was mentioned that you need to make sure the pastures were big enough or your animals get pissed and may even go on a rampage.

uh oh.
Thanks will look into that next lunch break.

[Vorret]

This game is getting strangely addicting once you get the hang of things.

[Paingod]

I had read here that "Embark" isn't working correctly and that you need to find your location manually, which may explain some of my issues starting. Once I pick a suitable area (heavily forested, calm woodlands, thick vegetation are three big things I like, with Low savagery, soil, and some kind of resource). It sounds like an Aquifer is both good and bad, so I might try one someday... but anyways - when I hit "e" after finding a location and reviewing it, I end up somewhere that looks nothing like what I selected.

How do I find where I was aiming for?

A question on digging - I've read comments to the effect of "collapsing" a room or floor, but when I dig, I don't leave spaces between floors. Does the game assume a floor and ceiling for every layer unless you specifically remove them?

[Shinjin]

A question on digging - I've read comments to the effect of "collapsing" a room or floor, but when I dig, I don't leave spaces between floors. Does the game assume a floor and ceiling for every layer unless you specifically remove them?

Yes, you need to channel after mining to remove the floor. Channeling does have dangers involved, especially if you have more than one miner at work.

A 'floating' floor will be stable as long as some part of it is still attached to the wall. Once that last tile is gone, the floor will drop, crushing anything below. Anything that is on the floor that drops will also take damage.

If you are planning to drop floors on purpose there are a couple of tricks you can use, such as a pillar below it with a lever attached. Channel around it, clear the rooms and then pull the lever. If there is no place for a pillar to be installed, be careful about that last tile. Miners like to work from one of two directions (is it N and W?) and a miner can easily send itself plummeting to its doom. There are workarounds for that as well - make sure the last tile is removed from the preferred direction or else designate a wall to be built in the tile where you don't want the dwarf to stand, but halt construction on it.

[LordMortis]

I had read here that "Embark" isn't working correctly and that you need to find your location manually, which may explain some of my issues starting.

As far as I know, in 3.18 (F)ind a suitable site did not work at all. It works alright in 3.19 which I am currently using... again and again and again... It's not perfect but it's good at pointing me in the right direction, so I use it to find a site and then look around that site for something I really like.

I look for forests and vegetation of some type, a river, no aquafier, high metal, low metal, some soil, low savagery, low evil (ie calm), sand (I think), clay, flux stone, with some sort of hills/mountain nearby.

How do I find where I was aiming for?

I expand the area from 4x4 to 6x6 or even 8x8 to get everything I want. 8x8 will sometimes get you 4 different biomes.

A question on digging - I've read comments to the effect of "collapsing" a room or floor, but when I dig, I don't leave spaces between floors. Does the game assume a floor and ceiling for every layer unless you specifically remove them?

Collapsing is totally different than what it was when I played a few years ago. Reading the wiki, it's actually difficult to collapse rooms nowadays, when it used to be anything bigger than 11x11 did. I think tutorial addresses collapsing an area about 300 minutes in or more. I'll let you know when I get there if I remember. 400 (+30) minutes of tutorial is going to take some time to get through.

[Paingod]

Holy banana pants... 300 minutes in?

I'm currently working against the written tutorial provided above, but with my own map instead of his. I guess I need to stop trying to figure out things that are down the road.

[LordMortis]

I guess I need to stop trying to figure out things that are down the road.

I'm like that as well. I want to do what I want when I want and the labels on each 10 minute tutorial isn't entirely accurate. But I'm no hurry. I watch a tutorial or two when I sit down to play. Most of them don't tell you much that you can't figure out on your own but there's enough of value that I can relax and watch a tutorial or two when I eat dinner when I get home.

It used to be that half the of the game was trying to figure it out and when you did you were pretty much done with it but they put enough in there now, that I am excited to get a full feel for the game and actually try and design a little civilization.

I skipped to the end of the tutorial and I was just in awe at what this guy built while teaching you how to play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHgWiHo1pWM" target="_blank

[EzeKieL]

Some questions:

- What do you do with a dwarf who has lost the ability to stand -and- is unconscious?

- I've got stonetraps and cagetraps. What else should I add? And maybe more important, how do I make it?

- What do you do with dwarfs that keep getting unhappy with every draft? Does it change over time?

[LordMortis]

Sadly, I haven't replayed enough to answer you questions. I haven' even figured out how to build a hospital yet, I'm still learning the new military.

And I just want to say curse you BS for making me waste nearly my entire weekend.

[Sepiche]

- What do you do with a dwarf who has lost the ability to stand -and- is unconscious?

If you make sure you have a free bed or preferably a free hospital bed another dwarf should be by at some point to carry him there. There's a labor option that's something like "rescue injured dwarves".

- I've got stonetraps and cagetraps. What else should I add? And maybe more important, how do I make it?

You can build weapon traps ("b","T","w"). All you need for those is some type of weapon, but there are special ones designed for traps that will do better damage than a basic battle axe or sword. Just look through the build options on a forge and there are giant axes, serrated blades, etc. that you can mount into weapon traps.

- What do you do with dwarfs that keep getting unhappy with every draft? Does it change over time?

Those dwarves are just not disposed to liking being ordered around for some reason (you can usually see why on their profile). If it becomes a problem you can remove them from the military, but usually just having a nice barracks for them to train/sleep in and a nice dining hall will cheer them up enough that it's not an issue.

Rooms that are smoothed or, even better, engraved, makes dwarves who use them happy. Also each dwarf has certain items and materials they like... if you are really motivated you could build a few things those dwarves like around the fort and that will help cheer them up as well.

[EzeKieL]

Thanks a lot! It really helps ^^

One other question though,

I can't seem to get my meat/leather industry started.
Every time I try to assign an animal for slaughter, it's not close enough, apparently.

But basically I don't know what I'm doing, I have a butcher, a kitchen, a tannery, leatherworkers, farmer's workshop..

[Sepiche]

Thanks a lot! It really helps ^^

Happy to help!

One other question though,

I can't seem to get my meat/leather industry started.
Every time I try to assign an animal for slaughter, it's not close enough, apparently.

But basically I don't know what I'm doing, I have a butcher, a kitchen, a tannery, leatherworkers, farmer's workshop..

Hmm... is there a cancel message that appears in the logs when this happens? (dwarf x cancels butcher animal: xxxx) where xxxx is the reason it gives.

There are some issues with pens currently where one dwarf will take an animal out of the pen to do something, but another will grab it and take it back, but as far as I've seen that only effects farmers workshops, not butcher's shops.

The process for butchering a domestic animal is generally:
- Make the animal available for butchering (press z, then select animal from the top, then highlight the animal in question and hit 'b')
- From there a butcher should fetch the animal, take it back to the butchers shop, and kill it
- Haulers will carry the meat, fat, and organs back to your food stocks and a "Tan hide" order should automatically be created at your tanners
- The hide will get tanned then and the leather will be placed in a leather stockpile for use by a leather maker

You also need to make sure you have a dwarf assigned to those particular tasks, but other than that it should be working.