Hey there.
Thought I'd mention this to ya'll. Might not appeal to some, but to each his own.
There's a game out there called "Clonk," the most recent* version of which is called "Clonk Rage." It's a platformer-type game that plays a lot like DF, with the biggest two differences being that the worlds you play in aren't persistent, randomly generated, but rather "screens" that your "clonks" live in, and it's a 2d sidescroller. Also of note is the fact that your clonks rarely act on their own, and it is a very graphically based game; when digging into the ground, dirt, rock, gold, ore, etc. are kept track of on a per-pixel basis. The game is full of missions, which can be played cooperatively with friends, in which you strive to achieve objectives such as establishing settlements, collecting all the gold on the map, etc.. There are also deathmatch modes that go hand in hand with the game's different "packs," which give you access to different settings such as medieval, magic, space-age, western, etc. It's an interesting game that may keep you occupied between DF releases; it's almost like another artist's interpretation of the same subject. I don't mean to draw attention away from DF with this post, but I figure people that enjoy DF may also enjoy this lighthearted game. If I've caught your attention, check it out here:
www.clonk.de*technically, the most recent release is a pre-alpha build of a new version, called "OpenClonk." The original designer made his money off it, then closed up shop and released it as open source. You can get Clonk Rage for free now, and if you know anything about programing you might consider helping the OpenClonk project.