Dwarf Fortress - Hive Tutorial ep 06 - Metal Armor and Weapons, and Making a Barracks

Hello my fellow gamers!

Today we're back to complete the process we started a couple of days ago: it's time to ramp up our metal production and get to crafting ourselves some weapons and armor!

There are a few steps to getting metal production up and going, but it's actually pretty simple as far as a production process goes.

First, we need to get some charcoal, which means we need a simple furnace which we can use to turn logs into charcoal. We don't need much of that, because often, once you start down metal production you'll be running across enough coal-coke producing materials that you won't really use anything else.

Next, we need a Smelter, and then we need a Metalsmith's workshop.

Now, I like to make two smelters usually, as it ensures I can keep production up for both smelting the actual ores, and for creating coke for the smelter's fuel. We're not deep enough yet to use Magma Smelters which don't require fuel, so this is our best option.

Once that is set up, because our squads are 10-Dwarf squads, I like to create some default Work Orders gearing them up. 10 of any weapon type, then 10 shields/bucklers, then 10 breastplates... you get the idea. Through until they're fully geared except for flasks and backpacks. (Which are super useful, and you should consider making them - but aren't strictly mandatory for your success).

With this episode behind us, I would call this the end of the Brand New Beginner's section. If you've watched these 6 and followed along, you'll be doing well enough that you could survive for several years without worry I think!

Next time, we'll dig a little deeper by... digging a little deeper, and finding the first Cavern layer.

Until then, Happy Gaming!