I usually start as follows:
Dwarves:
2x Miners - I like to have my fortress dug out very quickly, and two miners will certainly accomplish that.
1x Woodcutter/Carpenter - Can't make beds without him! I used to make my woodcutter a hunter, too, but I found that I just disable hunting until I have enough dwarves to support a butcher, tanner, and leather worker... and if I'm going to wait that long, why take it at embark?
1x Mason - You always need a mason. Well... at least until you've furnished your population cap's worth of bedrooms.
1x Brewer/Cook - I don't do much cooking in my first year, but I like to combine the two anyway. My brewer might also be a stonecrafter, so I can pump out doors WHILE I pump out mugs in between the carpenter making enough barrels for booze and plump helmets.
1x Administrator - I like to have my stocks at highest precision all the time, and I don't want my bookkeeper wasting time on anything other than hauling and talking to caravan leaders. So I wrap it all into one. It's like having a hauler with a lot of extra duties.
1x Grower - I always do some farming, and one grower is plenty for at least your first year.
Gear:
No Anvil.
6 seeds of each UG plant. Even if I don't plant some types the first year, I don't like having to trade for seeds later.
2 picks for the miners
1 axe for the woodcutter
2-4 Cows, mostly because they're the only creature that I can tell the gender of when I assign them to a chain. Since you only need one uncaged male animal, it's nice to easily tell if you're tying up the right one.
1-2 Hunting Dogs
1-2 War Dogs
4-6 pig tail ropes
2 cages (usually one copper, one zinc, to tell them apart. One of these is for the otherwise free dogs, like pups, the other is for anything I plan to butcher)
A few pig tail bags, because without them my food stockpiles fill up with seeds within a season or two.
5-10 Turtles
5-10 Cave Lobster
A smattering of beer.
Around 10-15 Plump Helmets
I spend the rest of my embark points on spare barrels, bags, and improving my Dwarf skills, which I initially buy at very low levels.
I forego the anvil, of course, because without it I'd never get my meat industry up and running without the "what if" of trade, and I can't STAND the metal industry without magma. It takes me time to feel comfortable channeling magma through my fort, time I spend doing other things which will, in short order, allow me to afford an anvil that will certainly come before I truly need it.
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Topic: How would you start? (Read 2048 times)