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[0Uncertainty1]

So, I started playing DF last year but eventually stopped due to the extreme stress issues. I recently decided to see if it got fixed and am glad that it has! But I'm running into an issue I had before and that is what do I do with all the crap my dwarves make? I used to play with 200 dwarves but remembering my massive over production and the lack of use for most of my population I am playing with 100 now. But I still make so much crap I don't know what to do with it all.
First year I don't have much but get any books as well as a few handy things. Second year I get anything I could efficiently make use of. By the 3rd year I have a decade worth of food, alcohol and leather/cloth. I get every book I can and any useful metals and still have trade value left. I give large profits (min 100% profit) every trade so they can bring more stuff. I only embark where there are humans so I can off load stuff 2wice a year.
I'm not even making things with trade value in mind, I only use master work furniture in my fort and am pretty much just trading the less than master works stuff. Being some one who hates wastefulness I couldn't stand just putting it in an atomizer or just quantum stockpiling it with no plan to ever use it for anything.
Is there any way to get them to bring more books since that is the only thing that I can never have too many of? It would be nice if I could say "bring me a quarter million dwarf bucks in books next year continue increasing it each year"
What do you all do with everything you make? Is the only solution to have a fort full of soldiers, scholars and performers with a few trades dwarves to keep things running? Curious to see how everyone else approaches setting up their fort.

[HungThir]

once i hit the point of being able to buy everything i actually want from the caravan without needing to scrimp, i just trade away everything i don't want.  sometimes that means trading hundreds of thousands worth of local goods for a few thousand from the caravan, but whatever, reducing the clutter is more useful to me than the wealth

if you're aiming to become the mountain home, gift the extra stuff instead of trading it, but same thing really

most dwarves want some kind of crafting labour to keep them sane, fwiw

[PatrikLundell]

There's a reason I call caravans "Garbage Disposal Service"...

I'm trying to only use masterworks furniture, so all inferior stuff gets sent to a quantum stockpile beside the trade depot for faster movement once a garbage disposal team shows up. The same goes for worn and sub standard clothing, although I use bins for those (only bin usage in my fortresses) as it's faster to haul a garbage bin than each individual item. Sometimes I buy something from the caravan, but mostly I just buy a token item to make it a trade (with elves I often have to buy heavy stuff so they have some capacity to haul some of the garbage away).

Atom smashing is an alternative. Quantum stockpiling isn't, because items in the fortress contribute to FPS death, so excess stuff should really be removed from the fortress one way or another.

[Kat]

What I tend to do, to get rid of stuff is to:

Trade away as much stuff as possible.
Buy everything metal. Melt it. Make metal objects to trade. Literally every metal object the caravans bring - trap components, furniture, whatever.
Build a refuse dump on a trapdoor into magma. Dump everything that would burn.
Things that don't burn, trade away at the next opportunity.

To keep the citizens employed crafting, buy as much thread, cloth, metal, wood, food, as you can. Burn or melt low quality items aggressively.

[Thisfox]

I sell and give away a massive amount to the caravans. Rich elves bring back fanciful beasts. Anything we made too much of can make the merchants ridiculous profits. There's no rule saying you can't let the traders get away with extra profit.

[Salmeuk]

Sounds like you're severely lacking in 'meta-goals'. DF is hardly a game on it's own, more of a sandbox, and it's up to YOU how to define your fortresses purpose and function.

But I still make so much crap I don't know what to do with it all.

Yeah, burnt that sh*t and make more of it. Pretend your dwarves all want to hit legendary, or try to set PB on highest trade value.. less concrete goals include building an aesthetically pleasing fortress and trying to recreate IRL social hierarchies with dwarven labor management.

[anewaname]

Bumping on Salmeuk posted...

There are three learning-to-play arcs that players go through, "keep my fort fed and clothed", "keep bad guys out of the fort", and "keep problem dwarfs happy". When players have accomplished these learning-to-play arcs, they often get bored if they do not have meta-goals.

You do not need to impress everyone else, but do something to make yourself satisfied.