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[Shades]

In an effort to make the game hard (which was successful) I've been embarking without spending any points on either skills or equipment. I also have the Orc mod and the farming mod (which makes food worth less or take longer to grow) and am running into problems that tend to lead to excessive amounts of Fun.

My current start strategies are to harvest any native plants and grow them on farms. The starting wagon gives three essential wood that allows cooking, butchering (starting animals and bare-hand hunting) or fish cleaning and then being re-tasked to a trade depot in an effort to get either an axe or a pick or possibly just some more building materials.

As yet I've not survived the first year due to a combination of Orcish invasion and sober slothfulness so other than not attempting such suicidal embarks I was wondering if anyone had any tips. I could really use them

Please note that suggesting I start on a glacier as well would not help

Edit: Assuming I can survive the first year would anyone be interested in a community or succession game?

[Lav]

There are three advices I can give.

1. Embark as far away as possible from orcish towers. This is a priority that overrides pretty much everything else.
2. Embark in an area where you have access to threading plants so you can start a clothing industry and have more valuable items in Autumn. This implies swamp/marsh in vanilla DF, but with farming mod the choice may be different.
3. Pray.

Considering the nature of the orc mod, the last option is actually your best chance. :-)

[Grendus]

If you don't mind cheapening the game a little, you have three options.

1. Embark with an axe. This lets you have lumber for those precious bins, barrels, and beds as well as some walls. Kind of cheapens the zero point embark.

2. Embark with a single log or stone. Lets you free up a log for a barrel, which you can use to keep your dwarves from suffering withdrawal. Cheapens the zero point embark, but not as much.

3. Remove dwarves alcohol dependence. Lets you pretend to be a purist, but really you just cheated.


As for the orcs, best defense is a good offense. You'll have extra labor, I've done these embarks before, either you keep them tasked on mindless things (gathering after farms are set up) or you let them idle. Rotate your hunters and use the bones and leather they bring in to make armor and train marksdwarves. You might be able to survive early orc sieges with a good marksdwarf squad. That's really your only hope though, as you can't make a barracks without a fourth item, so any melee training is out of the question.

[qoonpooka]

As for the orcs, best defense is a good offense. You'll have extra labor, I've done these embarks before, either you keep them tasked on mindless things (gathering after farms are set up) or you let them idle. Rotate your hunters and use the bones and leather they bring in to make armor and train marksdwarves. You might be able to survive early orc sieges with a good marksdwarf squad. That's really your only hope though, as you can't make a barracks without a fourth item, so any melee training is out of the question.

I've never played with orcs but this is how I handle aggressively dangerous terrain for 0-point embark:

1) No rivers.

2) On embark find a good, safe watering hole.  Deconstruct wagon and use a wood stockpile and meeting zone to order all dwarves and logs to the encampment.

3) Forget farms, harvest some berries and whatnot for instant food, but get two of your seven on fishing.

4) Make refuse piles, build fish cleaner, butcher, tanner - job up.

5) Slaughter pack animals.

6) Butcher -> Kitchen (Cook tallow, then roast meat and tallow together, add berries and seeds to taste.)

7) Tanner -> Leatherworker (Make armor, leggings)

Kitchen -> Bowyer (Make bone crossbow from one set of bones - control for fishbones if you have them by this point.)

9) Leatherworks -> Crafts shop (MAke bone bolts from remaining bone stacks, but don't use fishbones for this, no point.)

10) Hunt.

11) Rinse and repeat cycle.

11a) Use fishbones for more crossbows or bone armor pieces.

This requires an insane amount of micro but you have only 7 dwarves and no mining to plan so what else are you going to do?

When the orcs show up?  Spam them with bone bolts.  When you drop a squad, grab their weapons and arm anyone who's left.

12) Pray.

[Kav]

A video of an attempt at this would be full of win.