Why do I seem to have fewer points to spend when creating my party in Fortress mode?
Looks like this hasn't been answered yet, so I'll rectify that.
You always get a fixed amount of points (200, I believe), regardless of what race you play as or the aspects of that race. In addition to that, you get some other things, such as an anvil, two axes of the highest quality metal available (steel for METAL_PREF races, copper for LOW_METAL races, iron for everyone else, assuming no new metals have been modded in), two picks of the lowest quality metal available (copper), and a random assortment of food, booze, and related goods.
What most people don't realize is that all these starting items are not subtracted from your original points, but "freebies." If your race gets less freebies (generally by having iron axes instead of steel), you get less stuff to sell, and thus less total points.
The booze, at least, is not entirely random. I modded in a cheaper plant that can be brewed but not eaten, and the booze was also cheaper... and I always start with 60 of that booze (giving fewer points to spend). I bumped the price of the booze up to the same as normal but left the plant cheaper, and I still get 60 of that booze, but the points are now "normal", so I can change it to a better mix.
I suspect that you get 15 of the cheapest edible plant, 15 of the cheapest edible meat, and 60 of the booze from the cheapest brewable plant... ties be determined randomly. Or something like that, anyway.