Since I didnt find anything in particular that knocked my socks off out online regarding game play I figured I would start dumping some simple points that helped me get started. As a pretty open ended game this kind of thing always has me crazy until I find out how I am supposed to proceed. Hopefully this helps some other new players like myself get started. I will be updating this here and there so don’t take it as an end all. Few if any of this stuff is my original thought, credit the interweb as needed.

Shelter – This frustrated me for a bit along with food. To officially have a shelter your Totem (NOT stockpile) must be placed within 5 walls with established entrances only. This includes the backwall, hence the 5 walls… This means doors, hatches, whatever to get in and out but it needs to be capable of closing off the outside world. If it isn’t sealed and you have your totem down, you will see little reddish stars to guide you to where the hole that needs patching is.

The quickest, safest, and ultimately most effective way to build would be down in the dirt. You could build a hut of some sort above ground but why bother? Caves provide immediate walls, can be sealed with a single hatch and provide a chokepoint to defend. You do not need to guard your stockpile. Only goblins will even touch it (ghosts as well but they just throw some things around) and every other monster will ignore it. So, dig a hole, place your totem and cap it off with a door or a hatch. Shelter built! As you proceed it can be expanded above ground as needed or desired.

Your dwarves will only reap the benefits of a shelter with a bed. Each dwarf will need a bed, they do not share. Sleeping allows them to heal and work faster. Each bed you place in a shelter will lower the comfort level, hence the more you shove in the more they don’t like it. This is one of the reasons you will get another totem at level 4 I believe. In theory you could create a distinct shelter with the second and reduce the number of beds thereby increasing the comfort level and overall productivity. I myself have never tried this and just shove more beds in keeping comfort up with decoration, etc.

Rats nests will generate inside your shelter if the comfort level remains low. Its not exact, but around 50% they stop spawning. Why this isn't a bad thing… Early on rats are a tremendous source of meat (that’s right, rat burgers) and leather. They are easy to handle and provide some combat training for the dwarves to boot. Yes, it wastes their time but the resource and skill they collect is valuable at this stage of the game. Be careful to handle the nest quickly though as they will start to eat the food on your tables.

Chow time – Being a novice to these types of games, feeding my dwarves also bewildered me for some time. A few things here… You must build a table and you must place the food on it for the dwarves to eat. Easy enough once you have a clue. As for what they eat, there are a few base items that do not need to be cooked such as cones and apples. I feed them nothing but cones (depends on the biome of course) until I can start making base recipes. Some of the base items like berries and apples have applications later in the tech tree.

There is an entire system behind what satisfies your dwarves and how effective what they eat will be. This in turn impacts how well they work. Something about not eating the same item three times in a row. I was unable to find out exactly what it was so instead I will simply say varied foods are your best bet. Make a few of whatever you can and have them out on the table.

Preparing for your first night – It seems scarier than it is. Even your naked dwarves can pretty much handle what is throw at you in the evening. Just don’t get swarmed and if possible have your shelter setup so you can command them to run home if they get low on health. Skeletons and zombies spawn via the graveyards you will see across the surface. My personal recommendation is to leave them be as they are not a real threat but do provide combat training, XP, and valuable drops. If needed though, bust a few headstones and the evening jaunts pretty much stop altogether.

Monster Waves – An entirely different story… The 45 minute timed waves are both deadly and destructive and is the primary reason you have chosen to dig your home into the earth. However they can be handled in a number of ways. They do scale a bit to your level and equipment but that could entirely be anecdotal. I have had wave 1 spawn with Beholders and multiple Skeletal Giants, both bad news early on. The best method early on is to build surface walls defending a single entrance to your underground shelter. The more earth and stone they need to plow through the better. Also not a bad idea to limit the access paths, meaning larger monsters wont go down a one block tunnel. Height is also your friend. Walls built straight up require skeletons to act as stepping stones removing them from the attack and taking time to do so. Be flexible once you see how the waves respond. If they plow through your walls, build them thicker. Should they climb over them, go higher. The point for the first few waves is to survive intact, don’t be a hero. You do get bonus XP for clearing a full wave but it isn’t required and they will despawn at dawn. When you have some decent weapons and armor feel free to start taking a stab at defeating them.

In general remember the “rule of three”. It seems the AI tends to reprioritize a path of three or more as difficult regardless of what is actually is. For example, three layers of sand that you have built your home beneath is much easier to access than the thick stone walls you have created on the surface. However the AI will doggedly smash at the wall instead of breezing through your roof assuming its at least three deep. No, this isn’t a guarantee, but it is fairly sustainable.

Skills – Each dwarf can learn up to three skills. They spawn with one already in place and to start you are pretty much stuck with it. Later you can clean the slate with a potion but by the time that comes around you will likely be sacrificing many other skill points. I find it best to buy some warrior and archer books as soon as possible and teach each dwarf one combat skill. This allows for skill points over time and even a modest skill increases damage and attack speed nicely. Throw in a mage here or there for alchemy and fireballs. Generally speaking, the higher the skill points, they faster they do said skill. I have not found that they produce more of an item or use less resources, that kind of thing.

Next I try to make sure I have at least one of each production skill and the rest miners and loggers. Mostly miners. In my limited experience I have seen no particular use for swimming, climbing, hunting, etc… They certainly improve in doing those things but in my mind the others have greater value. Anyway this is all rule of thumb, edit as you see fit.

Combat Skills:
Warrior – Standard melee setup. I tend to go male as they have more hitpoints than their female counterparts. Around 60% is a nice amount of tanks.
Archer – Ranged setup. Lean to females as they are slightly faster than males. 30% of the pop uses bows.
Mage – Whomever works. Usually I will wait to get a dwarf with the skill by the time you need one. If not, books can be purchased as needed. Say 10% for mathematics sake.

Production Skills:
Carpenter – Deals primarily with wood at the workbench. Need at least one to increase efficiency. Normally I will provide one guy with all my found books to pump him up to 100 ASAP. This has its risks of course and applies to all trade skills.
Smith – Deals primarily with ore at the foundry. Need at least one to increase efficiency.
Fisher – Collects fish to use in cooking. Fish are a nice food source as it is endless and can be done underground in a dwarf-made pond. Its not essential but they work exponentially faster than the untrained. That said, I have never lacked for fish once I got production started and cooking them requires additional processed goods. It’s a mixed bag but in my opinion you should have at least one trained fisher.
Miller – Produces flour from seeds at the mill. I am torn here on this one. A well trained miller is still painfully slow and the fact of the matter is you don’t need a ton of flour. But if you are after efficiency, someone has to be good at it.
Cook – Produces food at the fire/oven. Another skill that isn’t required but trained they are certainly faster. One other note on trained cooks, on occasion they will create a dish you are incapable of making. For example, without apples you cannot make a salad. There are no apples in an ice biome. However on occasion your cook will whip one up. I have seen this behavior with Carpenters as well, magically upgrading beds despite not having the materials to do so. In any case its more of a novelty than something to rely on. I always have one poking around and feed him all my cook books as usual.

Common Skills:
Climber – Up and down cliff faces with increased skill. Any dwarf can and will climb most cliffs that I have seen. There may be a limit (I have heard five) to what they will attempt but there are a number of ways around this if there is. Unless there is someplace I cannot dig to (there isn’t) I don’t see the need.
Swimmer – See Climber only water… They still wont work underwater prior to diving helmets so they offer no immediate value.
Hunter – No clue here. Everyone hunts, sets up traps, collects berries from snow… seemingly at the same speed. I will grant however that I have never had a high level hunter, 20 or 30 at the max. Sometimes I make an Archer/Hunter/Fisher just to feel all outdoorsy. Contrary to what you might think, there is no particular synergy with Archery that I have found and they seem just as effective beating sheep with a club as a bow.
Logger – Chops wood at an increased rate. This skill is great early on but it will lessen in value as you go as your need for constant wood dwindles and your stockpile grows. I find it synergizes nicely with carpentry as the hand saw benefits both. I always invest in one and am never sad to see a few.
Miner – Digs at an increased rate. If I had my druthers every dwarf would come with this skill and I would figure out the rest from there. Far and away your most used skill at any stage of the game. I train several.

Some final thoughts on skills, try and find reasonable skill synergies. As mentioned the Carpenter/Logger can both make use of the hand saw. You might want to not mix collection with production (although I find this to be a non-issue, your dwarves are pretty single minded). Whatever works for you. Regarding gold, I find no reason to spend on anything but books and no reason not to spend it. Admittedly there may be some game breaking thing that you will pull your hair out because you cant find or afford that last piece of silver you need but that should be an anomaly. And as for keeping your dwarves alive, many have suggested it isn’t a big deal to lose them early on and save all the books you find until armor comes along. I disagree. It isn’t game breaking by any stretch to lose one or two, but more than that and waiting for real armor and you have lost a ton of time getting skill points through activity. Things move much faster with a 100 skill smith than 10. Again, up to your tolerance levels.

Farming –Farms are created by placing a minimum of five fence segments adjacent to one another. Once place the farm building itself will pop automagically. They serve only one purpose, to house captured animals, they have zero to do with the production of wheat. Each fence segment allows for the capture of one animal, so 6 segments gets you six slots, etc. Two or more animals will fill in the remaining slots but it takes a while. Sheep require scissors to be sheered for wool and must be done manually. Chickens can be left to their own devices and will produce eggs and feathers to be collected. There was a bug in the past in which this apparently did not occur, as of Sisters in Arms (at least) it is fixed. To my knowledge boars and their biome counterparts can not be farm raised.

Wheat can be planted from seeds. Seeds can be ground into flour and are a req for some craftables. As far as I know wheat is only used to make more seeds and beer. Seeds can be collected easy enough in the temperate climates, Usually there is a patch or two of wheat growing about. In less hospitable climes it must be collected randomly from roots. Just dig up the roots and hope to see some seeds. Some rules for planting… First, it must be planted in earth. Roots, ice, sand, whatever will need to be removed for the sake of dirt. Second, it must be watered. You can just allow the natural rain handle this if you like (watering is debatable, some claim you don’t have to it just grows slower. I have not proven it out yet myself - Confirmed! Water not needed but havent yet determined speed impact). Finally, it must be “protected” from the elements. Certain biomes will simply not support wheat naturally. You can in fact grow wheat on an ice world, but it must have a roof oddly enough. Once you figure out your genetically engineered super-wheat will grow without the sun you will also come to the wonderful realization that wheat grows underground. That’s right, underground. Same rules apply, just plant and go. You will just need to water the grain occasionally (presumably). Interesting side note, farms can also be sustained underground.

Fishing – Nothing overly out of the ordinary here. You do need to wait for it to open up on the tech tree. Once it does however craft yourself a pole (or buy it) and get casting! Just click on a suitable body of water and you will be given the option to fish. The number of dwarves that respond depends on the number of poles you have. So, more poles, more fish. Skilled fisherman work much quicker, but again I don’t see any difference in overall yield.

One item of interest here, you can build your own pond underground, or use an already established pond. I haven’t figured out the exact formula for getting fish but is seems no matter how wide I make the pond it requires a depth of three for at least one block. If that doesn’t make sense the best way I can say I if you have a 10x2 pond fish will not appear until you drill one block down to a depth of three. No idea whats driving this or if I am simply too impatient to see if work otherwise. Hoping to figure it out at some point.

Regarding the build, it must be stone (first layer is all that matters) or it will drain over time. If you are building it on your own, its best to use ice as your dwarves can place the blocks all at once before they melt and cause issues. Can be done with other methods, they are just slower or require more micro. Just make sure you are deep enough for the ice to naturally melt. One other point, you must fill an artificial pond to overflowing (or at least the very top) before the fish will appear and you can click to fish. So if you built it and filled but still cant fish, add more water until it hits the top and it should work.

Base Building - So before I throw in my own comments I figured I would post one of the more steadfast builds I have found. I make the effort to build this kind of setup though I havent reached the ideal yet.

Creators comments (lots of good stuff) : https://www.reddit.com/r/CraftTheWorld/comments/2oz03c/strategy_guide_kind_of/
Direct link to pic : http://imgur.com/ux9bGQd

+1 for the nice guide

Quality info here (out of date but still valuable).

https://steamcommunity.com/app/248390/discussions/0/35221031675637611/

So having played through most of the campaign now and a few sandbox worlds, I can cation that many of these ideas are for normal or less difficulty. Actually Hard isnt all that different either, but very and NM are batsh!t crazy for defense. For me, survival has been all about terra-forming to split the waves and allow automated defenses take them out while the dwarves wait in the back as shock troop reserves. And steel doors... lots and lots of steel doors.

Now completed the campaign and several custom games. Some final thoughts...

1 - I get it now why people claim to save your books. You will lose dwarves early on on the harder levels. Personally, I still hand them out, just a bit more judiciously. That said, I only do this on very hard+, anything less you shouldnt really be losing dwarves at any real clip in my experience.

2 - "Troop" composition. I now heavily favor mages and archers over melee. Usually in a standard 12 dwarf setup I look for 3-4 warriors and the rest mages/archers. Couple of reasons. One, they are much better at keeping themselves alive due to their combat mechanics, less to micromanage. Two, 100+ skill mages are a sight to see. Essentially walking tesla towers. Three, the high level gun combined with resource cheap ammo makes for an excellent setup. I dont have the numbers to prove it, but that combo seems to do a ton of damage over anything else in my experience. If you dont have the guns available, I do eventually get the heavy bows over long bows. Same reason, high level skill and guys will fire quickly regardless and they do much more damage than long bows.

3 - Chintin armor - overrated. Frankly just like leather, too resource rich for too little return. I mean its really leathers problem as chintin just requires some dead snails. Something seems off on this tech in general. You really need the upgrade from the wood armor but leather is hard to come by other than rats at this point so you end up simply waiting for steel, if not silver, armor upgrades.

4 - Battle Mode - So one of the more annoying aspects of the game for me was the idea that armor slows you down, especially shields. Actually, to be more precise, its annoying to have to disrobe your troops after every major wave so they move faster than snails... The mechanic is fine, even interesting, but give me a button to swap out combat vs economic wardrobes. After the 20th hour of swapping 13 mithril sets of armor in triplicate not to mention shields, gloves, saws, lamps, etc its gets a little tiresome.

5 - Finally, if you havent figured it out already, put your tesla towers on bridges, not earth. They dont have line of site through regular blocks but do through bridges. Raise them up a few blocks in the air and all they worry about is gargoyles.

All in all, great game. Cant wait for more expansions.

Where I talk of "skill synergies", totally bogus! With years more experience, your dwarf setup should be Combat skill of your choice, Miner, Prod/Collect Skill of your choice. Swimming and Climbing are still absurdly situational and therefor have little value. I mean its cool to watch you climber whiz past everyone on your ladders, so maybe give that a shot. And unless you are building an underwater empire (and even then, diving helmet), swimming is pointless in the campaign. I usually end up swan diving any new dwarf that starts with these skill off the edge of the map. Hunting is a close third, but at least they have improved that enough to be a somewhat viable skill as they do start to herd an animal or two around your shelter.