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[Psieye]

I disagree. Walling a fortress off from the surface is a challenge of itīs own:

- no trees
- no water
- no caravans
- no outdoor farming
- no fishing
- no hunting

Some of that can be solved by opening the caverns, but they are dangerous, too.

That's some highly unoptimal walling off you have in mind there. Flat embark site with a brook down the middle is what you want. Then by walling off you have water and fishing. A small amount of garden space is all you need for outdoor farming. Caravans, diplomats and migrants are to be let in via a heavily trapped, long passage way possibly also with a bridge to completely seal off if necessary.

Trees? Make your own if you have a good soil layer - seal off the caverns immediately and they'll still grow. Not that you should need to, you know you won't be bothered in the first year so cut down all the trees on the map during that time and haul them in. Use them all up for beds and whatnot. Rely on caaravans to bring you extra wood from there on. Now that barrels aren't necessary given stone pots, most forts only need wood for beds. Charcoal? Dig down to magma instead.

[Vodrilus]

Charcoal? Dig down to magma instead.

But I want my STEEL! 

[ASCIt]

Great name, by the way. Also, I recommend assigning the broker and CMD as soon as you start, you won't have to worry about forgetting about them that way and they have no requirements, so you can just ignore them. Also, I'd get in to the habit of building a kennel and taming EVERYTHING. Especially once the updated training system comes out, this shall become one of the more useful aspects of your defense. Nothing says "don't bother me, or you'll regret it" quite like chained up eldritch horrors guarding the front gate. Voracious cave crawlers are my favorite, in that regard. Also, you may find tweaking the raws to remove [PET_EXOTIC] will help in that venture, since the DM is mia. While you're at it, you may as well get rid of aquifers until you feel ready to handle them, actually.

[mispy]

Learning about burrows and their relationship with military alerts helps tremendously in preventing dumb civilian casualties on account of missing socks and the like.  Also keep in mind that bait animals can be used to lure enemies to their deaths without ever exposing your fortress interior to danger.