As many of you may have seen, I recently reviewed “A Game of Dwarves” and loved it! In case you missed it, the review is located here:
Now that I’ve thrown close to fifty hours at this game, I wanted to put some general tips and strategies out there for those new to it. It won’t be a long list, but these tips should help you get started. It should be noted that these tips worked well for me, but that’s not to say that they will all work for you.
A Game of Dwarves
1. You are not equipped to handle most fights starting out. Begin by branching out on the same level, avoiding question marks / point of interest as you go. I don’t begin exploring those until I’m on tier three tech or higher and have expanded my population pool to the next level. There’s no rush in getting levels done, so take your time and prepare first!
2. Another tip when starting out, build a few extra log plants. You can sell your excess wood for gold on a regular basis. When you can, replace those log plants with log trees, about five should do. After that, sell half or 3/4 of your wood when you reach your cap and watch the gold roll in!
3. Save some gold and wood whenever possible. Some of your plants have a maintenance cost. I haven’t worked out the details as to which do, but I have seen my resources dwindle on occasion when crops refresh. A good mix of crops that costs wood and gold is a good idea, so that your maintenance costs don’t deplete one or the other faster than you can generate them.
4. My favorite storage item has to be the wide wooden cupboard. Wood is fairly easy to come by and raises your storage by a good amount. One or two of these in the beginning will help you to not accidentally mine resources and waste them because you hit your cap.
5. When it comes time to upgrade your prince in between levels, I found the production tree to be the most beneficial. Research upgrades are nice, but with a little patience, you can fully upgrade your tree without any points there. The best talent in the production tree, in my opinion, is enlistment. This will allow you to upgrade your spawning pool right away at no cost, allowing you to bring in more dwarves and get your economy going. Also, don’t be afraid to go back and do the kings quests that you missed!
6. When my population cap is “10”, I normally balance my forces out by having one scholar, one crafter, two diggers, one worker, and one military. I fill out the rest of the gang with dwarflings, allowing them to level up. In an emergency, I’ll turn them into military, but keeping them as dwarflings will allow them to level automatically. This helps when you need some high level fighters later on and you don’t have the resources to build training dummies. On the next spawning pool upgrade, I stick with two to three diggers, one crafter, three to four scholars, two workers, and the rest military or dwarflings.
7. In the game’s current state, dwarf happiness isn’t all that important. If you don’t have the resources to build decorations, don’t. The only penalty I saw from having low happiness is that the spawning pool takes a while, but with the game sped up, it doesn’t take long. I’ve completed most levels with my happiness at the lowest possible rating.
8. When possible, upgrade your food crops to better ones. Having crops that give a happiness boost or more importantly, more food, will help you out immensely. It’s also important to upgrade your research tables to help move the game along.
9. When it comes time to branch out and explore, be sure to build small outposts every so often. These consist of a few beds and a food table. It also helps to station a few military units at these locations, especially if you’re about to explore an area of question marks. A good mix of military units (melee and ranged) will serve you well.
10. Sometimes, your dwarves will be idiots and not run from danger or get them into situations they can’t get out of. You can teleport multiple units with the teleport tool, so get close to death dwarves out of there ASAP and plant them back at your base / outpost near a food table and bed. Diggers have a habit of sticking around even when an enemy is pounding on them.
11. Digging can be a pain, especially if you’re not someone who can visualize your handiwork in 3D. Before you begin exploring a new depth, dig at least two levels down so you don’t accidentally knock out the floor on the level above.
12. Lastly, resource management is important. Don’t let resources cap out…you’ll waste anything you mine afterwards. Sell those resources for gold or build some training dummies for your military units…either that, or build a lot more storage items! I normally build thirty cupboards or so in a nice, out of the way area.
I hope these tips assist you on your journey. Happy digging!