You don't control dwarves directly. You give orders by picking a tool at the bottom and dragging a rectangle on the map. Dwarves pick up jobs on their own, haul things to your stockpile, and look after their own hunger, thirst and sleep. Keep them alive and fed, and survive the goblin raids.
Getting started
Farm first. Pick Farm (F), choose what to Plant in the bar that appears (you start with potato and hops seeds), then drag plots on grass. Dwarves plant a seed from the stockpile in each empty plot; harvesting gives food plus seeds back for the next crop, so a plot with no seed stays empty. Click an existing plot with another crop selected to change it. Potatoes are food. Hops are for beer. Food runs out after a few minutes without farms.
Forage.Forage (G) on grass or trees sends dwarves hunting. They turn up wild berries and mushrooms (food), and seeds for new crops: carrot, cabbage, pumpkin. A new seed unlocks that crop in the Plant bar.
Brewery and kitchen. A Brewery (9, wood) turns hops into 2 beer. A Kitchen (8, stone) cooks a meal from 2 or 3 different foods (potato + carrot, say), keeping a few raw ones back so nobody starves. Thirsty dwarves drink beer before water, and hungry ones eat meals first. Beer and meals cheer a dwarf up for a while, and a meal with more ingredients lasts longer.
Get wood.Chop (T) a few trees. Wood is made into doors, beds and tables at a Carpenter's workshop.
Get stone.Dig (D) into the grey rock. Coloured * tiles are metal ore. Stone is needed for walls and the smelter.
Assign roles. Click a dwarf in the side list and choose a Role (miner, lumberjack, farmer, hauler, builder, blacksmith, jeweler, chef, brewer, fighter). They take matching jobs first and only help with other work when nothing matches. Auto (the default) takes the nearest job of any kind. Use Also to give a dwarf a second role: its jobs come after the main role's but before everything else. Fighters drop everything to hunt goblins from anywhere on the map and hit harder; other dwarves only fight goblins that come close.
Add a stockpile.Stockpile (S) marks where dwarves put loose items. One starts near the middle. Make more, or bigger ones, if items pile up elsewhere.
Build.Build (B), then choose wall, smelter, forge, jeweler, kitchen, brewery or Carpenter (C): those are built straight from stone or wood. Doors, beds, tables, gates, traps and trading posts are furniture: they have to be made first (see Work orders), then you place them and a dwarf builds it using a finished piece. Beds help dwarves sleep better. Walls and a door around your dwarves slow raiders.
Work orders. Workshops don't make things on their own. Open Orders (W) and queue what you want: +1 / +5 add to the queue, ∞ keeps a product going until enough are in stock. You start with two beds and a table in the stockpile; build a Carpenter's workshop (C, wood) and queue more when you need them. The carpenter role (or Auto) works there.
Smelt. A smelter turns ore into bars. Wealthier fortresses get bigger raids, so it's a risk as well as a score.
Forge and jeweler. A Forge (6, stone) turns metal bars into weapons. Idle dwarves fetch the best weapons from the stockpile, one each, and hit harder in raids: mithril and iron are the best, gold is soft, so it's mostly for show. Weapons wear out with every blow and hit weaker as they go, then break, so keep the forge busy. A Jeweler (7, wood) cuts gems into jewelry, worth 3× the gem. Dwarves wear one piece each, and finer jewelry makes them happier (a diamond ring far more than quartz). Happy dwarves (green dot) work faster and hit harder; unhappy ones (red) are slower, usually because they're hungry, thirsty, tired or hurt. Click a dwarf to see their mood and gear. Both take what's in your stockpile. Jewelry makes you wealthy, and wealth brings bigger raids.
Metals. Five metals, from common to rare: copper, iron, silver, gold and mithril (worth 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8). The surface has only copper. Iron and silver start at depth 1–2, and gold and mithril are found only deep down. Gems are separate: quartz, garnet, topaz, ruby and diamond (worth 1, 2, 4, 7, 12) grow as ♦ crystal clusters in the rock. None on the surface; rubies and diamonds only turn up deep. Just dig them out and they get stockpiled, no smelting needed. The top bar shows your ore/bars of each metal and your total wealth, which raises raid size.
Raids start around day 6 and come every few days. Dwarves fight on their own, so keep them healthy and armed, and don't spread them thin.
Going underground
The world has 5 levels: the surface and 4 levels of rock below it. Switch the level you're looking at with the ▲ ▼ buttons, < / > (or , / ., or PageUp / PageDown), or by clicking a depth in the left panel. Each depth shows how many dwarves are there. Everything you paint (dig, build, stockpile…) applies to the level you're viewing. Deeper levels are drawn darker.
Levels are only connected by stairs. Use Stairs (R) on the surface, or on solid rock, to dig a shaft down. It opens the tile below too. Go down a level, then paint stairs again on the same tile to keep going deeper. In the ASCII view > leads down, < leads up and X goes both ways.
Dwarves carry things up and down stairs, so ore mined deep down gets hauled to a stockpile on any level. Farms and trees only work on the surface.
Seasons, skills and rooms
Seasons last 3 days; a year is 12. Crops grow fastest in summer, slower in autumn, and not at all in winter, when dwarves also get hungrier and foraging mostly finds nothing. Stockpile food and beer before the snow. The top bar shows the year and season.
Skills. Dwarves get better at what they do: mining, woodcutting, farming, building, smithing, jewelcraft, cooking, brewing and fighting. Higher levels work faster. Skilled smiths make tougher gear, skilled jewelers finer rings (happier wearers), a skilled chef makes richer meals and a skilled brewer makes 3 beers instead of 2. Click a dwarf to see their best skills. Specialist roles (blacksmith, chef…) level up fastest.
Bedrooms. A bed inside a closed room (walls or rock all round, with a door, no more than about 40 tiles) is a bedroom, and one with a table or all to itself is a fine one. Sleeping on the ground makes a dwarf unhappy, in a bed is neutral, and in a bedroom is happy. Click a dwarf to see where they sleep.
Tavern. Paint a Tavern zone (V) on floor and put tables in it. Dwarves take their beer and meals there, and are much cheerier doing it at a table.
Trade
A merchant (a dwarf with a horse and cart) walks in from the edge of the map every season. While he is on the road the top bar shows Merchant coming… (press it to look at him). When he reaches the fortress he stays for a while and a green Trade button appears; then he packs up and walks home. Build a Trading post (P, made at the carpenter's, on the surface) and he drives to the nearest one instead of the middle of the fortress, so you choose where he parks. Sell bars, gems, jewelry, spare gear, and surplus beer, meals and food for coins, and buy seeds (including crops you haven't found yet), food, beer, wood and iron or silver bars. Bought goods appear at your stockpile. Things worn or already promised to a job aren't sold, and the sell buttons keep a stock of food and drink back.
Defence and the military
Armor. The forge makes weapons, armor and traps as you queue them. Idle dwarves fetch the best armor too. Each blow it soaks wears it down until it falls apart. Mithril and iron armor is the best.
Barracks. Paint a Barracks zone (K). Idle fighters gather and train there, and improve their fighting skill.
Alert (A, red button): civilians drop their work and shelter in the barracks or underground (they still eat, drink and sleep), while fighters go hunting. Switch it off when the raid is over.
Traps (0, forged from one bar) hurt the first goblin to step on them and are used up. Gates (Q, made at the carpenter's) are like heavy doors you control: with Open/close gate (O) you shut one so nobody passes (goblins must smash it) or open it so your dwarves can. Seal the fortress with gates, wait for raiders to find the traps, then open them to let fighters out.
More dangers
Raids now include archers (from the 3rd raid; they shoot from a distance) and brutes (from the 5th; tough, and they smash walls fast). Armor and fighters matter.
Digging deep can break into a nest of cave crawlers. They stay put until a dwarf comes near.
Now and then an underground spring bursts open somewhere in your tunnels and floods them for a while.
Mood, goals and saves
Unhappy dwarves work slower. A dwarf who is miserable (hungry, thirsty, sleepless, grieving after a death…) for long enough throws a tantrum and smashes beds, tables and doors, and one who stays miserable walks out of the fortress. Keep them fed, watered, housed and cheered up.
Goals in the top bar lists milestones (dig deep, forge weapons, trade, survive a year…) and your fortress score ★. When every dwarf is gone the game ends with a final score.
Saves. Save / Load are a quick slot (also the autosave). Saves has four named slots. New lets you type a seed: the same seed always gives the same map; leave it blank for a random one. The current seed is shown in the Saves window. Cloud saves (in the Saves window) work across devices: make a sync code on one device, type the same code on another, and your saves appear there.
Water
Water has a depth of 1–7 per tile (deeper = darker blue; hover a tile to see it). It flows downhill, falls down stairs, and levels out, getting thinner the further it spreads.
Lakes on the surface never run dry. They don't flood the grass, but a staircase dug next to a lake will pour water into your mine.
Hidden pockets of water (and empty caves) sit inside the rock on the lower levels. Dig into one and it floods out. They're finite, so they drain and thin out.
Rock, walls and doors hold water back. Thin puddles dry up over time.
Dwarves can wade through shallow water. In deep water they drop everything and wade out, and in very deep water they drown. They'll drink from any water, including a flooded tunnel.
Changing your mind
Cancel orders (E): clears dig/chop/build orders and stockpile zones you painted.
Demolish (X): tears down walls, doors, beds, tables, smelters, farm plots, kitchens, breweries and stairs. You get the material or furniture back (stairs turn into plain floor).
Controls
Tab
Toggle ASCII ⇄ sprite view
Arrows / right-drag
Pan (left-drag also pans in Select mode)
Wheel
Zoom
< > / , .
Move the view up / down one level
Space
Pause · + / − change speed
Click a dwarf
Inspect; or click a name in the side list to jump to them
Esc
Back to Select (stop painting)
A
Alert on / off
V / K / O
Tavern zone / Barracks zone / open-close gates
Q / 0
Build gate / trap
P / C
Build trading post / carpenter
W
Work orders
H
Show / hide this guide
Stats at the top: food, meals, beer, hops, seeds, wood, stone, metals and gems you own. Dwarf bars: hunger / thirst / tiredness. The game autosaves; Save / Load / Saves / New are in the top bar.
The fortress has fallen
Every dwarf is gone.
Merchant caravan
Work orders
Workshops only make what you queue here. +1 / +5 add to the queue, ∞ keeps making it until enough are in stock. Furniture is made at a Carpenter's workshop, then placed with the Build tools. A dwarf needs the right role (or Auto) to work at a shop.
Fortress goals
Saves
The game autosaves to the quick slot (Save / Load in the top bar). Named slots below are kept separately, up to 4. World seed of this fortress:
Cloud saves (play on any device)
Saves in the cloud are kept on this game's server. Press Generate code (or just save) to get a sync code, then enter the same code on every device to see them. Anyone with the code can open them, so keep it private.
(uses the name above; makes a sync code for you if you have none)
New fortress
Abandon this fortress and start again? The same seed always makes the same map. Leave it blank for a random one.