np! one other thing is that if you like your games to have clear goals and win conditions, DF is probably not gonna be satisfying. DF's creators are very devoted to creating a pure sandbox, so there are aspects of the game's design that really have no regard to balance or making "wins" possible or even meaningful. another poster alluded to the fact that there are a lot of cheese strats in DF. this is strictly true, but i would argue if you're playing DF to win like you would a game of Starcraft or whatever, the game is not really designed for you.

i find satisfaction by building elaborate machines or architecture, playing out RP scenarios, designing fortresses for specific, impractical purposes (one of my favorites I've seen is a fortress that was designed to export a balanced, diverse diet for the entire population of the fortresses' civilization) or simply watching for the stories that emerge during the course of constructing the basic necessities of survival. there's certainly a lot of "losing" (invaders, tantrums, engineering mishaps, disease and starvation) but no real winning with any of these ways to play. I like it but definitely a lot of people bounce off the game because of that.