{"id":1441,"date":"2009-12-02T00:49:53","date_gmt":"2009-12-02T08:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:07:24","slug":"dwarf-fortress-wrapup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441","title":{"rendered":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right, time to wrap this bad boy up.<\/p>\n

I had a good bit of fun with this project. It was hard to play and hard to write, but it was fun nonetheless.<\/p>\n

This game is every bit the bastard I\u2019d thought it was. Honestly, though, almost all of this game\u2019s difficulties lie in its clunky wreck of an interface. Sometimes, even if you (very basically) know what you\u2019re doing, it\u2019s hard to tell why it is or is not working and what you can do about it. The in-game documentation is a joke, although there are quite a few good tutorials out there. Certainly, if I was playing this for my own enjoyment, I\u2019d focus more on learning from those.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, that was something of a dilemma for me. On the one hand, floundering about without any <\/em>idea of how to control my dorfs hardly seemed like a good read, but on the other hand, it wouldn\u2019t be nearly as entertainingly bad if I followed a noobtorial. Heck, if you stick to most of those, you might actually make it a year or so before everyone starves to death or gets killed by wild animals.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I used a text walkthrough for the beginning stages, then (once I got a grip on the controls) started flying solo. You can spot the exact point where I went independent\u2014it\u2019s where any flimsy indication that I knew what I was doing vanished.<\/p>\n

A few parting notes:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I still <\/em>don\u2019t know what\u2019s up with that damn farm.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When Smiley went berserk, the game became extremely dull. Basically, none of the dorfs would move\u2014those inside wouldn\u2019t leave, because she was blocking the entrance (doing\u2026I don\u2019t actually know what, but she injured someone in the process), and those outside wouldn\u2019t move either. Everyone just sort of paced around until they died. I think I went to the bathroom twice in the interim.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Admittedly, I don\u2019t really know what <\/em>killed She-Wolf. I\u2019m guessing it\u2019s a monkey, since we found bloody monkey bits all over the place, but it\u2019s possible she faked her own death and went to join up with a traveling minstrel troupe or something.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I really should have loaded out with: a farmer, a carpenter of some sort.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t need: pretty much anyone I actually did bring.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I loaded up with an axe, but I\u2019m not sure I ever properly equipped She-Wolf with it. So, she was just taking on monkeys with her bare hands. Fitting, I guess.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It took me bloody ages to figure out how to dismantle the wagon.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Never once were there enough beds.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I kept getting messages asking what I wanted from the next caravan. You know what I want? A hot meal, some clean water, and a quick death. In that order. <\/em>
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t spare the manpower to make coffins, and dwarves won\u2019t drag a body anywhere, so I was basically stuck with rotting corpses everywhere towards the end.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were actually a few other berserkers towards the end, but none so successful as Smiley.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I like to think Kahdzbar was never seen again.<\/p>\n

Also, here\u2019s a screenshot of the final fortress:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I didn't get a shot of downstairs--all that's down there is some cleared off space that wasn't used for anything. Not pictured: the endless mounds of waste stone and corpses outside.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right, time to wrap this bad boy up. I had a good bit of fun with this project. It was hard to play and hard to write, but it was fun nonetheless. This game...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[188,200],"class_list":["post-1441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lets-play","tag-dwarf-fortress","tag-kahdzbar"],"yoast_head":"\nDwarf Fortress Wrapup -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Right, time to wrap this bad boy up. I had a good bit of fun with this project. It was hard to play and hard to write, but it was fun nonetheless. This game...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"677\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"617\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"headline\":\"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441\"},\"wordCount\":594,\"commentCount\":18,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dwarf Fortress\",\"Kahdzbar\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Let's Play\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441\",\"name\":\"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/12\\\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1441#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\",\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rutskarn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ChocolateHammer.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup -","og_description":"Right, time to wrap this bad boy up. I had a good bit of fun with this project. It was hard to play and hard to write, but it was fun nonetheless. This game...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441","article_published_time":"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":677,"height":617,"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rutskarn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Rutskarn","twitter_site":"@Rutskarn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rutskarn","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441"},"author":{"name":"Rutskarn","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"headline":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup","datePublished":"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441"},"wordCount":594,"commentCount":18,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg","keywords":["Dwarf Fortress","Kahdzbar"],"articleSection":["Let's Play"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441","name":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg","datePublished":"2009-12-02T08:49:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/dwarfort-2009-12-02-00-43-02-92.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1441#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dwarf Fortress Wrapup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/","name":"","description":"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9","name":"Rutskarn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rutskarn"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ChocolateHammer.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6562,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1441\/revisions\/6562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}