There is currently a thief in my fortress and I do not know what to do with him. So, what can be done about a thief?
Dealing with thieves in Dwarf Fortress
dwarf-fortress
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Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress is a single player, tile based, real time strategy, city building, and adventure game by Bay 12 Games developer Tarn Adams. The game is playable on PC, under Windows (XP+), Mac (OSX), and Linux (Most distros, contains a text only mode). Most game content is procedurally generated and the game is highly moddable. One unique feature is the continuity of the world you play in. You can play many games of fortress and/or adventure mode in the same world, each building up it's history.
It features three modes:
- Fortress Mode (real time strategy, city building)
- Adventure Mode (adventure/roguelike)
- Legends (read only view of generated history)
So to answer your question about genre, it doesn't fit into any one genre.
Resources:
I'm a brand new player of this game, so I admit my knowledge of the later things are limited - keep that in mind when reading this answer.
Dwarf Fortress is a hard game, in that there are so many things you need to take care of, and if you don't, things can go horribly, horribly wrong. You have to keep all of your dwarves both happy and safe, and if you don't, you can get into some serious trouble. When you fail, you learn something new about how to manage this task.
Of course, the curve is exaggerated, but the reason it stays so high is because there are so many things which can go wrong if you don't keep a close eye on things. A dwarf goes into a rage? Kill him before he kills everything else. Goblins started a siege? Get your civilians to safety and get your military ready to take them on. Discovered a cavern? Make sure you block it off until you are ready to deal with any monsters in there.
The list goes on, and that's what makes the game hard. But it also feels rewarding to successfully deal with these threats.
There are of course a number of things you can do to remedy that:
- Install a texture pack so you can more easily tell things apart. I personally like the Ironhand texture pack, but there are several others. This will make it so much easier to recognize things at a glance.
- Get Dwarf Therapist. It's a much more convenient way to manage your individual dwarves.
- Choose a really good location for your fortress. I actually ended up discarding several worlds before finding one with a site I really liked.
- Watch tutorials and Let's Plays on e.g. YouTube to get a feel for the game. There are a lot of helpful tutorials out there - my favorite is Djrodw's series on the FogeyGaming channel, which covers all of the basics; he also has a Let's Play on his own channel where some other stuff is covered.
I recommend getting the Lazy Newb Pack, which contains a frontend to configure the game, the game itself, a bunch of tools (including Dwarf Therapist), and a few texture packs (including Ironhand).
Best Answer
Thieves come in two varieties: goblins and kobolds. Kobolds aim to steal items while goblins aim to steal your children! Parents of course become very distraught when their children are snatched away.
Dealing with thieves is easy: spot them before they take anything. A found thief will run away without a fight. Thieves are invisible (to you) until they are spotted, but they are on the map. Any dwarf and tamed animal near the thief has a chance to spot it. So to increase your odds of spotting any incoming thieves, it is typical to chain a pet near your entrances. (This doesn't block caravans.)
It is also worth noting that doors and traps will not stop all thieves.
It is also possible of course for your military to deal with thieves, but they're quick so your best bet is just to prevent them from getting to the goods.