i figured it out, i started diging in soft sand near a river :s

this is like one of the biggest threads now
i have a big boner about that

I need a DF Tutor.

I completely fail at it, .

I don't even know what all changed in the new version...

started playing two days ago.. got the basics right.. fun so far.. designing a good fortress require a lot of ..long term planning.

Making underground farms is really hard for no good reason.. cant find the way of making my dwarves bring water manually to create mud in my caves.. and my attempts at making channels and stuff like that resulted in either nothing or pure liquid devastation (that was funny to see..)

And i cant find any button that allows me to view different "floors" (elevations).. any help?
How do i build walls (to protect outside)? Cant find the option.. i guess i need to have stone blocks first?

The UI is the worst, most clutered monster i have ever seen in gaming.. hell, different menus use different methods of navigating in them ! (+-,/*, arrows.. all or few at a time! ARG!! If only it was always the same it would be good..)
i changed version; i use a version that have improved visuals (http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.htm) so dirt look like dirt and cats look likes cats.. a bit less confusing that way..

The downside to the sexy version is that it changes some of the controls, personally I found the ASCII easier to learn.

> and < should control elevation, but like I said, I'm not sure if that's correct on the sprite version.

On mayday's I believe it's + and - on the keypad.

Sweet mercifull lord on wheels with lasers. Nice Necro there dude.
Anywno. Yeah its +- on the numpad. He changed it somehow.
Also if anyone needs help i'm all for it. Add yourself to MSN or Steam.
MSN: Skiv@poczta.fm
Steam: Skiv757
I am offering help

For underground farming, floodgates/doors, and levers are all you need. You dig a path to the water with one square between, and place a floodgate in the second to last square. Then build a lever where you want and link them. then channel from above to destroy the last square.

Or just mine through the wall behind the floodgate. The water won't drown the dwarf.

I think I had a retarded Dwarf once I was trying to do that and the end result was him drowning in almost no water. ;_;

I created the infamous Cog's Magma Camp, it is a great thing.

It includes somethings, like;

Manual Pumps
Miner/Stone Detail Course ( smooth, detail, dig one row, smooth... )
Catapulter Marathons, they launch it, they run for it.
Sweatshops.
The Tower Up, make a maximum height tower, 10x10, make the floors, build the walls, fill with walls, collapse.
Death Row Arena, just start the timer and you got a timed match.

The warriors, that come from that Camp are completely beefed.

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=28477.0
A series of in depth video tutorials on how to play DF

Also about the mud thing If you have a river running through your map then you may be able to find mud underground near the river.

In my fortress my guys never built the trade depot and I missed the traders, so I cheated and ended the process via task manager, went back and it happened again, then I realized I needed an architect , so I did it again this time designating a guy to be an architect... silly mistake and it almost made me miss the traders, I only cheated because I was puzzled by the traders inability to get to my fortress, I would except the death of a few dwarfs from drowning or being attacked etc.

DF is addicting... But i needed those vid tutorials or else i wouldnt know how to play. Im using Mayday's version since its easier for me to understand the game.
The normal ASCII version is too confusing for me.

If you've never played roguelikes before, ASCII can take some (see: a ♥♥♥♥ ton) getting used to. The first time I played was with the ASCII, but after awhile I switched to maydays and I still don't know why. I went back to ASCII awhile back, though.