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[Eidre]

I have deceived myself, after a dozen fortresses, that I've got the basics of dwarven life support, defenses, and haberdashery down pretty well (to the point where the basic layout of my fortresses is starting to look somewhat the same each time).  I've so far been sticking to the advice in the wiki quickstart guide (avoiding aquifers and savage/evil biomes, seeking out multiple shallow metals, soil, flux stone, and lots of trees, taking an occasional foray into volcanos), which generally pushes off the "crap, I wasn't ready for that" to the first goblin ambush that takes out a bunch of fisher-dwarves and woodcutters.

So...I'm trying not to fall into a rut, because I know the game has a lot more to offer than what I've seen so far.  What is the most entertaining (not necessarily most challenging or difficult, I'm not ready for a terrifying glacier just yet) embark or set of conditions that you, the collected Overseers, have genned up for yourselves?

Some obvious things I have yet to try:
- Beach-front property
- Aquifers (fresh or salt)
- Mineral poor (relying on wood/bone/copper for example)
- Mountain/Desert/Badlands/Tundra (very limited wood and water supply)
- Detailed preparation for embark (I always go for the "Play Now" option)
- "Good" or mildly "Evil" biomes (I'm probably not ready for reanimating just yet)
- Necromancer tower in range
- Isolationism (island embark, or few/no enemy civs in range)

Any thoughts on what to try first?

[catenate]

- Detailed preparation for embark (I always go for the "Play Now" option)

I would say this, since (1) you teach yourself what equipment you really need for your own playstyle, which is personal and rewarding, and (2) you can tune it to lessons you learn starting in the other conditions.

[Kattel]

- Aquifers (fresh or salt)

aquifer breaching is always a good skill to have. read up on the wiki and then have a few runs at it.

[vjek]

I'd try this embark.

Embark with: 40 food, 40 drink, 30 pigtail seeds, 30 plump helmet seeds, one rope, one bucket, 7 copper picks and one anvil.

Goals could be:
Build a well over the aquifer for a secure, unlimited water supply.
Completely outfit a steel-wielding, steel-armored military OR Build a steel-weapon trap corridor.
Trade only to obtain logs for beds, create everything else yourself.

Stretch goal could be:
Include meat from forgotten beast / titan / megabeast / semi-megabeast in lavish meals.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Breaching aquifers is a good skill to have, but it's really binary.  Once you know how to do it, an aquifer isn't any kind of challenge (unless only soil lies above it), and is even a little nice to have around.

Mountain biomes are just boring.  Limited wood isn't as big of a problem as you might imagine, unless there's neither any wood nor any traders with wood.  Mineral poor can be a bit of a challenge, if you are very military.

Hard to find water limited embarks, thanks to the caverns.  Doesn't seem like an interesting problem to me.  Just means that the injured die.  Salt water is probably more fun that no water, because then you at least struggle to desalinate, whereas otherwise, you just write them off.

Reanimating is fun and challenging.  Evil weather is fun, if you don't just wall it all off.  I'd recommend giving it a shot.  You know what they say about losing.

[PDF urist master]

isolationism is kind of boring. part of the fun are the hostile creatures, which are rarer when you're isolated.

That being said too much fun is still too much fun. I personally prefer untamed wilds because I can get giant animals to wreck my enemies with.

[Clover Magic]

Unless I'm testing something (and even then) I pretty much exclusively embark on evil regions.  What with reanimation, huskifying clouds, or spontaneous blistering eyeball rain, it's always a party on what you'll get.  Purple rain is the best.

I also like seaside forts the best - the seafood and potential to catch and maim sea creatures like a horde of drunken breaded Ahabs is always fun.  So my favorite embarks are usually evil arctic seas.

[Necrisha]

I like an embark split between an evil biome with husking clouds and a mirthful one. you get to find out if there's any cases where husked creatures will run away from wrestlers.

[Ravendarksky]

No traps, no danger rooms, no walling off embark. There must be nearby goblins. See if you can survive 3 years.