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[AzuredreamsXT]

And is it considered cheating to lower it?

[Blue_Dwarf]

We adjust it all the time to improve framerate and to prevent useless migrants from coming. Nothing is wrong with that.

100-150 should be the most common settings. I've played with 300, but that was too much...

[Diamond]

Default is 200. Goblins come at 90. Some nobles have population requirements.
Optimal is around 100 for me. Just enough haulers, military and workers for megaprojects.

[FearfulJesuit]

Goblins come at 90? Really?

[Mickey Blue]

Its not cheating to manipulate the cap because changing it in either direction can make things both easier and harder. 

I know I normally keep mine at about 80-110 though its not for the sieges* but just cause I feel that is about the level of dwarves that I can handle and I feel work without FPS becoming an issue.  I don't know if there is a 'standard' really but due to FPS constraints I am betting you won't have too many people who have very high numbers.

*I turn all the attack constraints off and use Fortress Defense II mod so titans and sieges and such can come at any time (in fact I once had a titan attack before the first caravan arrived, it killed me) so for me population no longer is really relevant with regards to attacks.

[Kofthefens]

Goblins come at 90? Really?

I'm pretty sure you can have seiges over 70, but I might be wrong. I keep my pop cap at 1000, because that is the only way I can get big enough migrant waves to offset the fun. My population tends to stabilize around ~150

[Azated]

I had mine set to 200 for my most recent fort, but the low FPS just killed it for me so I decided to keep it at 100.

[Zaerosz]

My current popcap is 350, and it increases every few seasons, since I get 10-20 migrants per season. I'm still running at 40-50 FPS, surprisingly.

[Diamond]

Goblins come at 90? Really?

I'm pretty sure you can have seiges over 70, but I might be wrong. I keep my pop cap at 1000, because that is the only way I can get big enough migrant waves to offset the fun. My population tends to stabilize around ~150

Wiki says 80 (unverified), FD mod 2nd-tier enemies come at 90 - same time as goblins, but I had sieges at my scientific testing fort that has less then 70 dorfs. Gotta check that save for precise data.

[King DZA]

I have mine at the standard 200. I would like to have more, but with my FPS hovering around 17, I don't think I could increase it too much without murdering my framerate.

[khearn]

It would be interesting to try a fort aimed at having the highest population one's computer can handle and still get a reasonable FPS (at least 20?). You'd want to be very careful about how you lay out your fortress to avoid pathfinding slowdowns, and keep a minimum number of items around.

It would also be interesting to pick a save file from a reasonably complex fortress and try it on a bunch of different machines as a benchmark to compare various hardware combinations, but that's straying away from the purpose of this thread.

[MagmaMcFry]

The raws say that goblin sieges start at 80.

[krenshala]

Personally, up until my current fort I had my popcap at 20, with the babycap set to 1000:1000.  My goal was to get 20 to 30 dwarves through the initial seven plus immigration, and try and grow the rest.  A side effect is slightly higher frame rates, depending on the map.

My current fort is using a popcap of 32 (which got me to 47 dwarves, if you include the one that dodged into the well during training and died).  I'm expecting goblins sooner rather than later since my civ is at war with them (my civ attacked them in year 2, I embarked in year 4 with the war still going).

Remember, if you are at or below the cap it will send a migrant wave.  Normally the closer to the cap the smaller the wave, but not always.  e.g., if you want 120 dwarves, set your cap to 100 or 110, and you will probably still end up with closer to 130 dwarves in your fort.