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[Jeoshua]

Dwarves are Mountain creatures, right?  They live underground, underneath the mountains of the world.  That's what we're led to believe. But when setting up a fortress, one cannot embark onto mountain-only regions.  Not even if there's a water source, a volcano for free magma, or a river running through it.

I know this can be "hacked" with external tools, but the question remains why Dwarves cannot embark on their stated habitat.  It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Dwarves should be able to embark on mountain tiles if those tiles contain in whole or in part:
Low Mountain Tiles - Represented by boulders on the main map.  These should be the Dwarves' native habitat.
Volcanos - Free Magma is too hard to ignore, despite the height of the embark.
Rivers - Mountain stream? I can deffinitely see Dwarves setting up shop here.

[Supersnes]

I think it has to do with accessibility for a wagon as well as foot travel.  The way that the maintains are heavily sloped and cliffed may cause the game to think that there are no viable paths to the location.  Does this sound like a reasonable theory?

[Jeoshua]

It would, except low mountains are rarely ever very tall or extremely sloped.  It strains the pathfinding a touch but even without generating a world with pereodic cliff erosion, there is rarely any problem finding a path up the mountain.

Besides, traders do not use wagons anymore, and immigrant dwarves and traders both appear ex nihlum on the map already there.  Making a 3x3 accessable pathway up the mountain would not be hard.

The actual reason that it happens is that the game says "Mountains?  No, you cannot embark there".  It's a decision that was made, I believe, before there were any differentiations between high, medium, low, peaks, and volcano type mountains.

[Stromko]

First of all, I'd like to say that there's no ironclad reason to not let you settle in mountains by default, though it could cause issues, but I did want to point out some things.

For one, traders should be using wagons in the newest version, I've seen this myself in some of my recent forts, though I haven't had a chance to really play since about 34_02. You could eventually smooth out a path no matter where you are, but only to the edge of your local map.

Eventually, immigrant and trader off-map pathing will probably be an issue. There's already historical figures implemented in many capacities, and at some point there will be patrols, settlements, armies, etc that move around on the world map and could reach your fort.

Personally I find mountains to be hard to embark on right now, as there tends to be a dizzying number of Z level changes.

All in all I'd like to see Embark Anywhere as an option you can enable in the init files, turned off by default of course.

[Geb]

I think it has to do with accessibility for a wagon as well as foot travel.  The way that the maintains are heavily sloped and cliffed may cause the game to think that there are no viable paths to the location.  Does this sound like a reasonable theory?

My current fort has its embark area centred on a mountain, with a bit of marshland around the edges. It doesn't let your embark wagon up onto the mountain, so you appear without one, but that doesn't stop the game.

You just end up starting the game with seven dwarfs and a pile of their equipment on the ground.

[Escapism]

You could have an aquifer-esque warning when embarking on a mountain.

[Jeoshua]

You could have an aquifer-esque warning when embarking on a mountain.

This.

"You have selected spot to embark that is all mountains and no flat land.  This could be very difficult.  Proceed?"

[peskyninja]

The only problem with mountains is the complete lack of soil thus, making them impossible to setttle without a decent trade system, which the currently version lacks.

[Jeoshua]

I've DONE IT.

Bucket Brigade or digging out channels or pumping some water from a local mountain stream into a farming area.  Water evaporates, leaves mud.

Or dig down down down into the caverns really quickly.

Your deffinition of "Impossible" is apparently "Very Hard"

[kaenneth]

How about Embarking directly into the first cavern layer?

I can't wait for deep roads and mountainhomes to properly exist.

[dizzyelk]

How about Embarking directly into the first cavern layer?

I can't wait for deep roads and mountainhomes to properly exist.

This. And I agree totally. I want my dwarven caravan to come from the deep roads if there's one there.

[Jeoshua]

Oh absolutely!

Goblins, Traders, and occasional wanderers should come from roads of all kinds, including deep roads.  The Mountains should be absolutely RIDDLED with them, and at different heights.

Once the Mountain Homes have been made real again, basically every Mountain Home should be connected to every other Mountain Home in range by a separate tunnel, which would exist somewhere above the first cavern layer and below ground.

But that's a separate argument, right there.

Actually... maybe not.  If there is no available "correct" placement for a city, starting in the caverns should be given as an option.  One should have the ability to choose "aboveground" or "underground" for their fortress.  Tho, that might all have to wait until underground civs actually make towns.  They should, really.

They could "connect" themselves with "roads" as well.  And by "roads", I mean the game would generate a path between the civilizations underground, much like a river is currently generated.  Twisty, turny, rock passages about 2 z levels in height.  Technically they'd be created like roads, and would be drawn between underground civs, but actually would be generated more like rivers are now.

Return of the Chasm.

Really this has all gone into a whole other world.  For the time being, I really wish I could embark on a freaking mountain stream.  I have to "cheat" every time.

[Corai]

Heres why-


Your a supply caravan, a military fort, refugees from war. Why the HELL would you embark to get needed resources, when the halls already have it? Why embark on a mountain, when your suppose to attack elves? Why embark on a mountain, when your trying to escape your enemies, who are attacking said mountains?

[Putnam]

Besides, traders do not use wagons anymore

That was fixed in February with 34.01 >_>

[Helgoland]

Heres why-


Your a supply caravan, a military fort, refugees from war. Why the HELL would you embark to get needed resources, when the halls already have it? Why embark on a mountain, when your suppose to attack elves? Why embark on a mountain, when your trying to escape your enemies, who are attacking said mountains?

Isn't some sort of embark scenario implementation planned? That would of course involve such limitations.