My current game plan was based on the following:
- One Proficient Miner, who is set to dig a one-wide corridor due east until he hits the river. No hauling, only stopping to eat, drink and sleep. When he hits the river, he backtracks a bit, and digs out a 6x6 off the corridor near the river.
- One Skilled Woodcutter. His job is to chop trees and haul stuff.
- One Skilled Carpenter. He makes his workshop, dismantles the wagons, makes ten beds, then a bucket. After that, he's free to haul. The beds are installed into the narrow corridor. It means they get to sleep off the floor, and in the dry.
- One Skilled Mason with Architect (one rank above Novice). When the Miner hits the river, he uses the two pieces of stone nearest the river to build a bridge. He then builds a workshop in the room dug by the Miner, and makes two floodgates, two doors.
- One Mechanic/Stonecrafter. At the start, he builds a crafting workshop, and makes some light/dark stone crafts. When the 6x6 room is available, he makes a mechanics workshop in there, and builds six mechanisms.
- Two Proficient Growers. These guys are the key. Until the river is bridged, the farm dug out, the floodgates installed and connected, one is set to fish, the other set to clean fish. A fishery is built, and off they go, helping haul as well as bringing in basic food.
These steps get you a position with the river bridged, and basic workshops needed to get the farm built. Because of the bridge, you get a good layout revealed of the river. I pick an area above or below the main corridor, and ensure there's about ten map squares between the eastern river bank and the western edge of the farm. I usually dig a 6x6, with the future intention of ending up with four 6x6 arranged in a square. Floodgates are installed, and the necessary levers, channels are dug as well. I have managed to set farm plots being built in late-spring.
Once the farm is being built, the miner digs out a food storage room, again 6x6, adjacent and east of the planned 4 6x6 farms. Outside food is brought in, and then proceeds the plan of digging out a barracks, dining room, workshop space, and moving everything indoors.
When winter arrived on the first try at this plan, I had 70-ish meat from the caravan, 120-ish plump helmets, and after some aggresive mid-season crop mixing, over 70 dwarven ale and beer.
Needless to say, food was not a problem. The 12 spring migrants of utterly useless skills was a problem (two metalsmiths, I hadn't even done anything with metal yet; a jeweler, thanks; five, yes five, peasants). Considering the amount of planting, I was surprised another farmer didn't appear.
In all this, one important fact must be borne in mind: Proficient Growers. They seem to plant a bit faster, but more importantly every harvest plant is 2,3 or 4 'lots' of food.
[ September 02, 2006: Message edited by: Blackcat ]