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[Aquilegia]

Hello,

First time I tried this game I quickly gave up after seeing the interface and having some keyboard troubles (stupid laptop :( ), but after reading the wiki and seeing some tutorials I'd like to try again.

But now I'm a bit stuck with finding a good place to embark on my first fortress with the site-finder, since it only seems to show 1 site with the same preferences, while I think there should be a lot of places with my preferences (flux, no-aquifer, river).

Is there a way to go to a second/third (or even more) site which matches the same site preferences? I can't seem to find anything about this on the wiki.

Thanks : )

[Albedo]

Yeah, but it's cludgey.

(e)mbark, then immediately "abandon fortress".  That site will then not be eligible for another re-embark, but the map will be.  Then you can run the finder again, with the same parameters, and it will skip over that first (any similarly abandoned) site.

If you simply "save", you will only have the option to continue on that same game - two active fortresses are not allowed on the same saved file.  (Tho' you could make a copy and have two running on identical worlds.)

If you change your mind and want to go back, you'll have to go back to a saved copy of the clean world - not a bad idea to make a couple, and be neurotic about never using the master copy.

[Sutremaine]

If the initial site has extra features, you can set the site finder to exclude them. You can also do this with the savagery and evil levels, although that's a bit more fiddly. Use a >129x129 world if you're going to do this, otherwise it'll be quicker to use the abandon method.

[Derakon]

In short, no, there's no way to cycle through all matches for the site finder.

But if you're learning to play the game, then you don't need to worry too much about your site. Any reasonably friendly-looking place will do. About the only things you really want to look out for are a) that the Dwarven civ can reach you (hit Tab until you get to the list of civilizations that can reach that site), because otherwise you won't get dwarven trade caravans, and b) that the wildlife isn't evil.

Trust me, your first fort won't last long enough to worry about anything else.

[Shoku]

The first fort just might last long enough to die of dehydration if there's no river/brook and no ponds or he picks some place hot enough to evaporate em.

[geoduck]

Aquilegia already mentioned this, but I would re-emphasize aquifers being on the "things to avoid" list when you're first getting into the game.

[Aquilegia]

Thanks for the answers,

now busy with the second year of my fortress and immigrants messing up my working-scheme..
Although it was a bit of a slow start (especially building bridges was a bit hard to figure out (you can't seem to channel under bridges.. got to build the moat first), and somehow the dwarves took almost a year to build it :O, probably 1 mason for building 100+? fortifications and walls and bridges isn't a very good idea if you still want to produce doors for bedrooms and such  :) ), I finally got some defenses and I'm going to try to train some military and building a well (scary), since these stupid carps scare away my dwarves (quite a strange thing actually.. why drink nasty river water when there's lovely booze).

[Neruz]

In short, no, there's no way to cycle through all matches for the site finder.

But if you're learning to play the game, then you don't need to worry too much about your site. Any reasonably friendly-looking place will do. About the only things you really want to look out for are a) that the Dwarven civ can reach you (hit Tab until you get to the list of civilizations that can reach that site), because otherwise you won't get dwarven trade caravans, and b) that the wildlife isn't evil.

Trust me, your first fort won't last long enough to worry about anything else.

I'm pretty sure no matter where you embark the Dorfs can always reach you.

[Sutremaine]

probably 1 mason for building 100+? fortifications and walls and bridges isn't a very good idea if you still want to produce doors for bedrooms and such 

Set the (P)rofile on your mason's workshops* to accept either a minimum skill level (Competent or above will stop new immigrants from taking on tasks) or just your active masons. Then activate Masonry on everyone you want to build constructions (this will be much easier on your sanity than activating individual dwarves). Dwarves don't gain experience from building constructions, so you'll never have to worry about job-stealers.

*If you have more than 20 dwarves you'll need a manager if you don't already have one. Look at the (n)obles screen to see who's got the job, and assign them a chair. You can always replace the current manager.

Dwarves seem to be a bit weird about drinking from carp-infested river. Try setting them to zone-only drinking ( (o)(z)(d) ) once you have the well built, and seal off the river if they still insist on drinking from it.

[Albedo]

(It might be worth your while to set up an apprentice mason training program - build (temporary) mason shops (1/apprentice) near your stone piles or project site, change the shops' Profile (P, as above) to accept only Dabbling level (or Novice, or wherever you want them to stop), and set all your masons to producing stone blocks.  (Since blocks have no quality, dabbling will produce the same generic block as a Legendary mason would - if not as fast.)

This will train them up so they work faster in the future, turn your stones into blocks which can be stored in bins (cleaning up those piles a bit), and increase the value of your final structures. 

[Derakon]

If a dwarf gets thirsty, but all of the booze barrels are currently being used, then he'll go find a source of water to drink from. He won't wait for a barrel to free up. So you need a lot more booze than you have dwarves, just to ensure that there's enough free barrels for everyone.

[Shoku]

In short, no, there's no way to cycle through all matches for the site finder.

But if you're learning to play the game, then you don't need to worry too much about your site. Any reasonably friendly-looking place will do. About the only things you really want to look out for are a) that the Dwarven civ can reach you (hit Tab until you get to the list of civilizations that can reach that site), because otherwise you won't get dwarven trade caravans, and b) that the wildlife isn't evil.

Trust me, your first fort won't last long enough to worry about anything else.

I'm pretty sure no matter where you embark the Dorfs can always reach you.

I've noticed that a lot of glaciers tend to be inaccessible to your home civ.