Ahhh, yes. It's good to get back to roots. I think I was a little too experienced in this game for my own good -- wall off from world, magma-encase all opponents, all that jazz. So I started over. Dirt fort in a jungle with an infested river and double aquifer -- heyyyy, there's rocks over there! Quarry them out!
A SECTION OF THE CAVERN HAS COLLAPSED. Wha? ...oh, a tree fell on him. Should've cut those. Miner #1 has two broken legs. Oh well, I've got two more miners -- heyy, there's gypsum by that waterfall! I need that to cast his legs!
URIST MCRETARD HAS CANCELLED DIG, DANGEROUS TERRAIN. An aquifer from above, draining into the river, has pushed BOTH REMAINING MINERS, one after the other lemminglike, into a river full of alligators.
No live miners, at least, none that can move. No picks at all. No broker. No expedition leader. Nothing but a small mossy hobbithole to live in, filled with a few meager rocks, two cut tigereyes, enough farm space to survive on, with migrants cramming in like sardines every minute. None of them miners of course. Lots of woodcutters with their own axes -- cut all that green crap! Make wooden crafts! More! Faster! Encrust those mechanism -- no, not -- goddamn it. Jeweled bucket. Oh well, I've got wood coming out my ears... Bridge over that narrow gap, make more more spots to put beds in! Yes, you can make wooden bridges! Never done that before.
The caravan finally comes. Diplomat instantly leaves unhappy, oh well. Trading without prices! Haven't done that in years! I'm... not sure I'm not being ripped off here. But they brought FOUR basic bronze picks. Hallellujah. Flatten that hill to nothing! Make rock crafts! Wooden cages!
So I'm well past the point I'd usually savescum and still elated somehow.