Need a little help with Dwarf Fortress :D

[tropsobor]

I've read the in-game documentation... but when I start I don't know what to do. Do you guys distribute the 200 points yourselves or have the AI decide? What skills should I start with and how developed (novice or higher?)
I mined a few squares into the mountain but I have no idea how to build quarters. I made a carpentry outside and sent a woodcutter and eventually built a few beds... but I have no idea how to build walls... I tried the masonry but there's no option to build walls and having beds placed here and there doesn't make sense :S I need real quarters! what should I be on the lookout for in the first place? food?
is it better to hunt or place animal traps?
help..

 

[Hyperion2010]

google dwarf fort wiki and all your dreamms will come true

 

[HobbStweedle]

you cant build walls. but you can just not mine a section out, and essentially it is a wall.

i think hunting is better than traps. you will have to put some sort of meat in the traps, which wont really help you when starting out.

and yes, the wiki is god. helps more than you might think.

good luck!

 

[SiFi]

The standard starting build I use is this one from the wiki.

Skill advancement comes from the dwarf performing an appropriate action; make sure that you set a dwarfs labour to what you want him to do.

Rooms are designated from furniture; a bed can designate either a barracks or an individual bedroom, a chair/throne marks a dining hall or a throne room.

For food, I generally farm in the interior of the mountain. For the first winter you can get enough food just from farming the mud left behind from the initial break into the river, and the subsequent seasonal floods. From there on, I build floodgates and control the flooding to whenever I need it. One flood will provide enough mud to last for all three growing seasons.

Just a warning when digging out large areas like farms; a space of more than 7x7 tiles of unsupported rock will eventually cave in, which sucks. Optimal digging of large spaces is an 8x8 square with the corners left undug. You can also have your dwarves build rock supports in order to shore up unsafe areas.