What are the differences between the Dwarf Fortress clones?

[Vitruviansquid]

I checked out Rimworld and have been hooked on it for a few days, but my problem with that game is my problem with everything else in Early Access that I enjoy - I want to put it down and let it mature rather than tire of it before it gets out of early access. Or at least gets more developed. Rimworld seems to be one of those games that don't leave Early Access.

In any case, I've been left with a fierce itch for Dwarf Fortress clones, and I was wondering what thoughts people had on the different ones out there.

I've played Dwarf Fortress itself years ago, when it was entirely 2D, and I found it very fun, but it's off the table these days because I don't actually want to take the time to learn its UI again.

Now I'm vaguely aware that other Dwarf Fortress clones existed, and there was a time when Early Access was teeming with them. Did any of them ever develop into anything very fun? Which ones are the best? What are the differences between them?

[factotum]

I'd be interested in the answer to this myself--the history of DF clones has not been a stellar one, with Towns and Spacebase DF-9 abandoned before they were finished and apparently Gnomoria going the same way.

[Leecros]

Unfortunately as Factotum has mentioned, many of the older examples of a DF clone have unfortunately fallen short. Gnomoria is probably one of the most complete ones and the most faithful to the premise of Dwarf Fortress, but as Factotum has mentioned...since reaching 1.0, updates to Gnomoria have really dried up and it looks like the devs have finished on that little project. One game that i'm looking at with curiosity(although I haven't yet played it) is Stonehearth. It's on Steam for $24.99. I haven't played it, but it does have good reviews and the bad ones involve a seemingly obtuse building system.

However, as a still regular player of Dwarf Fortress, I tend to find DF clones...lacking.

[Vitruviansquid]

I know Gnomoria is technically finished, but I found it kind of... offensively unambitious. It was just so dwarf fortress, but slightly... nicer. Nicer? The UI is easier to handle, there's a cleaner presentation, the military is a lot easier to use (at least compared to when I was playing Dwarf Fortress) and so on. But I was hoping to play something new.

Does anyone have any dirt on Clockwork Empires? I liked the idea of that game because it seemed like it actually wanted to put its own spin on Dwarf Fortress and include more fantastical elements that Dwarf Fortress wouldn't.

[Destro_Yersul]

Been following the development of Clockwork Empires, but haven't played it. I can vouch for the quality of Gaslamp Games, at least, since they were great about providing updates and content for Dungeons of Dredmor after it released. They have a Dev Blog (https://www.gaslampgames.com/2016/07/13/popping-the-real-estate-bubble/)if you want to get a peek at the progress that's been made with the game.

[factotum]

I'd forgotten about Clockwork Empires! Do they have an actual projected release date for that yet? (And by release date, I mean "Actually finished", rather than "early access" aka "Buggy mess we're pushing out the door early because we need to eat and this ain't getting finished anytime soon").

[KatarinaKate]

Had same problam:smallfurious:

[Trekkin]

I found Clockwork Empires unplayably buggy. I liked it in principle, but between the graphics glitches and the generally sluggish response to the UI it really wasn't worth it. The dev log suggests that these problems persist, albeit in diminished form.

One disclaimer, though: I run Linux, so native Windows users may have a more polished experience.

[Vitruviansquid]

Frankly, I really disliked Dungeons of Dredmor because I thought they kind of missed the point of Roguelikes in it (making you regenerate health by walking around instead of losing health) so I should've assumed Clockwork Empires was bad.

But then I bought it, because I was so interested to see what it is...

Actually, the game's shaping up to not be bad. SHAPING UP.

There are a lot of weirdo buildings that are going to be very interesting to explore, and I like how the game wants you to have a lot of interaction with events and factions from off-map that are supposed to form arcs (only those arcs don't totally exist yet).

The huge pain in the ass, though, is how clunky the system is for harvesting your resources. You have a number of Overseers who are allowed to have jobs, and each Overseer can have a number of underlings who help whatever job they did, but you can be doing as many jobs as you have Overseers. So in order to get the raw resources, you need to mark trees, boulders, and whatevers to be harvested, and then an Overseer without a job will start doing it.

So if I have 5 Overseers, what if I mark 10 trees, then mark 2 boulders, and I need the stones really bad? The Overseers will do all their harvesting on some random logic that isn't explained in the tutorial, so you might not actually get any of those boulder-stones until ALL the tree-wood has been harvested. So why not just mark the 4 trees and 1 boulder so your 5 overseers are doing exactly what you want them to? As it turns out, you can't actually see what you've marked to be harvested, or if you can, it hasn't been shown in the tutorial.

edit: Oh, and the loading speeds are glacial.