Mapping all 13.8 gigapixels of the Caves of Qud world map

[marcellus23]

I've always wanted to get into Caves of Qud but it seems so daunting, similar to Dwarf Fortress. It's been a few years though, maybe I should give it another shot. Does anyone here play it? Are there any good guides or tutorials out there?

[ninininino]

If you're the type that likes to optimize or solve problems perfectly, it's easy to get into a situation of feeling overwhelmed by the scope of choice and scope of the problem space, so it's best to just accept imperfection and avoid thinking too hard for your first 3-5 playthroughs (accepting you'll likely lose/die), and -then- be more strategic or pre-optimize if you wish to. That or lean into roleplay for your decision making and always just immediately choose what the character/archetype you're imagining would choose, even if it feels suboptimal.

[cdiamand]

I come back to it from time to time and play for a week. It looks like it's been getting more accessible over time, with a new UI update having been rolled out recently.

There's definitely a certain mindset that helps make it more enjoyable. Imagination being key! From the technical side, the developers have peeled back the curtain on how they've created parts of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U03XXzcThGU&ab_channel=Logo%...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV-DZqdKlnE&ab_channel=GDC20...

[VagabundoP]

DF is such a time sink and its got a lot of hacking potential with DFhack and some lua skills.

However the recent update for Steam - and I'm very glad for the dev success - has left me cold and I haven't played it since.

I've been building dorf death forts since 2010 though and will always remember the goblins riding giant sparrow invasion of my underground cavern level fort in v0.34.

[xipho]

Caves of Qud 1.0 is out as of a couple days ago. It has a built in Tutorial now, and lots of UI improvements (though I pine for Nethack feel it started with). They have a publisher, Freehold Games, and their first DLC. I suspect the push to 1.0 was a good ting in terms of recognizing that they can make the came more accessible?!

[eddd-ddde]

FWIW it's MUCH easier to get into than dwarf fortress. You don't really need a guide like you need for DF.

[brunoqc]

Don't be afraid to play using "role-play mode" which is, IIRC, the one that saves in each settlement. There's no shame in that. You'll still be careful not to die, but it's a lot less punishing.

[Night_Thastus]

Caves of Qud, similar to Dwarf Fortress, is one of those games that I have a lot of respect for. The amount of complexity and content is pretty nuts.

I'll never play either, but they're super cool and deserve a footnote in gaming history.

[corytheboyd]

I too respect these games but cannot for the life of me play them. I’ve tried to get into DF a few times and it’s just too low-fidelity for me, nothing feels like it matters. It’s just not for me and that’s okay! Glad they made a bunch of hard earned money off of it on steam recently :)

[pull_my_finger]

Honestly I think you're doing Caves of Qud a disservice by comparing the two. Yes they are both very much heavy into procedural generation. But Caves of Qud is a roguelike/RPG. It's a game, where as Dwarf Fortress always felt more like a simulation. I've tried many times to get into DF to no avail. CoQ is quite hard but I think it's much more _fun_ to play.

[portaouflop]

The most crazy unhinged game ever

[xnx]

Cool project. 0.036 gigapixels of tiles

[ganzuul]

Zoom in.