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[frodo0800]

my current embark is a perfect plain grassland can you give me an hint for how i should proceed next?

[thatkid]

You want it to be above ground only?
Set up some walls, first. Just a quick perimeter as a first line of defense. If later you find out that the area given is too small, you can always expand and use that area as a fall-back point in the event of a siege.

Then gather some plants (assuming you didn't embark with above ground plants), and set up a farm within the perimeter. While that's going on, set up a still and kitchen and then clear-cut and build sleeping areas.

Or at least that's what I usually do when forced to work above ground, such as in Kobold Camp and the like.

[Girlinhat]

Since this is (somewhat) my specialty, here's my method.  First fell all the trees.  1-2 dedicated woodcutters should scour the map in a season or two.  As they're working, dig some.  1 good miner (trust me on this) will become near legendary digging out stockpiles.  I usually dig a 19x19 underground square, and dig 3 of them on the first three Z levels.  These are the first stockpiles (for me, 7x7 plots) and farmland.  If you hit rock, then place a dining hall there, once smoothed and engraved.  By this time you'll have some trees, so build a wooden wall around your fort.  Being the tower-minded and OCD person I am, this is a 21x21 wall for me, which consumes 160 logs (159 +1 door).  Now you've got 2 legendary woodcutters and your miner should be hitting rock.  Have him expand, dig exploratory tunnels looking for ore.  If you're not sure what exploratory mining is, you're pretty much just trying to reveal as little of the underground as possible while still finding ore.  For full coverage, 1 wide hallways separated 2 each will reveal all tiles.  You can separate further though, because the ore is big and you're not going to miss a whole vein of hematite in a 3x3 square.  As you're mining for ore for military/traps/whatever, your one, single miner is going to skill up.  He's legendary quickly, and all the stone he chugs through will become boulders.  This is important, because above-ground forts consume a TON of resources.  A 21x21 tower consumes 441 building materials, and these materials don't come from nowhere.  Your average underground fort has stone as a waste resource, but an above-ground will periodically lack stone.  You're not naturally digging for it when you expand, so the amount of available stone is based purely on what you quarry out.  Thus, fewer legendary miners are much preferred over many unskilled ones.

Also bring a herbalist.  Enjoy strawberries.  I usually channel out a layer of the surface, then floor over it, giving me an under-the-surface "above-ground" farm plot for strawberries, and another plot for plump helmets.  I usually embark without food, as a herbalist can find a lot quickly.

[iEpinephrine]

Are there any trees?  Sounds like a challenge mode if you don't plan to dig down and don't have trees on a grassland, you're going to need to get wood, stone blocks and rocks from traders or you're in trouble.
dig dike's/moats to protect yourself early on if you're permitting yourself to do that.
It's really easy to produce massive amounts of farming products above land, so that'll be your easiest main export.  cloth, cloth items, and prepared meals (as if prepared meals aren't anyway). You can also produce glass if you trade
to get coal/coke but it'd be more of a luxury.  Um, basically otherwise get your dorfs all holed up in a small fort and gradually expand it as you get resources to do so..

Good luck!

[frodo0800]

thank you for the replies,i've made an big moat,and 1 bridge,the map has a lot of wood, and in center of the moat i've done and "keep" wich takes to my underground part stockpiles farms and workshops,as my fortress grows (10 dorf now) i plan to expand and do some above ground workshops.

[Fredd]

 First I decide where the keep will be. Close to a water source for a future well, and a spot to fish. I use a 21x21 design for a central keep. I use it so often, will use Quickfort to designate area to dig out its basement. Once done, I can see the safe perimeter to channel a defensive ditch on the surface.
 While the digging is going on,  build a underground farmplot soon as possible, set the woodcutters to work, and build the basic workshops. Have herbalists gathering plants.
 With the basic excavation completed, will dig out a 3x3 stairwell till I strike stone. Stone will be used for mechanisms, and rock pots for food/booze storage.
 When the first wave of migrants arrive, be happy to get a miner. Assign a couple mason skill., remove hauling labors. Just never let them use the mason shop. Assign it to your best mason. This will not give the labor gang a moodable skill. Its nice when the builders includes a armorer, or a weaponsmith. When they get a mood, draft another builder to replace them, if you want.
 Start on the citys perimeter ditch, and construction of the keep. Your miners should have excavated enough stone to start construction of the keep. When new ditch is dug, have the miners start digging out stone for future constuction materials.
 Before you ever even begin building/digging, take a screen shot of the embark area, pull it up in a imaging program, and start creating the blueprint of the city. Which is quite fun in itself

[Jelle]

I'm sure you've got all the advice you got, but I'll just throw in my experience when building aboveground eve if I rarely do it.

First thing you want to do is get building material. You could turn part of the map into a quarry if you've got stone near the surface if you do want to mine, if you insist on not mining one bit you want wood. You want wood anyway for furniture and fuel.
So you get your woodcutter working asap and start building a wall, a wooden wall would be easiest and fastest. This just to create a safe zone you can retreat into.
Once you got a safe zone and a food industry setup in there you're set to start building the real deal.

Atleast that's how I usually set up, once you've got a safe place you're set to start building.

[UristMcHuman]

As my basically morph my dorfs into humans, I just dig out 7 channels, then dig out 5x5 chambers on one side of the underground part of the channel. Instant housing. Later on, you may want to channel out the roof and replace it with wood or clay, as your 'pit houses' are currently considered underground. Or, gather enough wood or clay and build a 3x4 house above the pit house and you have a nice little shack with a root cellar.

For ore and stone, I try to dig out a quarry with the very first level being 40x40 decreasing to 38x38, then 36x36, 34x34 and so on. Hopefully, you will have found coal or lignite. Otherwise, the Elves will get mad at you for cutting too many trees to smelt ore.

Try to seek out an area with clay, as it's basically stone once gathered up and stockpiled.

Wood is a crucial resource in construction and (cross)bowmaking. It can also smelt any ore you find once you turn it into charcoal. Too bad you can't make a BBQ with charcoal, though...

Clay is also a good material for stuff like pots and some goods to trade, however goods made with any clay other than fire clay must be glazed to hold liquids.

Water is useful, too, if you embark of a stream or river, as you can place a water-wheel for near-constant power.