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[Toast024]

As we know, we send Dwarf from the Mountain home to the embark location with supplies. Dwarves need to eat. I propose that the items we give the Dwarves when embarking are also used during the trip. To add to the experience, we would choose the month we set off on. The Dwarves could get ambushed during their trip to the embark location. They could drown in rivers. Stop at towns to get more supplies. It would add several more levels of depth to the game.

[koruth]

Perhaps several levels too many.  Would make it even *harder* for newbies to get into the game (whether or not this is a good thing, debatable.) 

If what terrain types you're crossing matter, it'd make embarking on terrifying terrain fail before you even get there.  You'd lose too much to the inevitable waves of ambushes by zombie whales or whatnot.  Probably similar for glacier or deep desert forts.  You'd be limited to aluvial, or mountainous regions, that are relatively close to the mountainhomes.  Might have to play through several forts (and presumably at this point have a way of deeming them 'successful' and abandon for new fort without leaving them to animals) in order to set up logistics to get anywhere *interesting*

It'd also make  it harder to set up minimalist-startup forts.  You'd probably end up killing yourself trying to get the fort to begin with the one anvil and one copper nugget that you want it to, and none of the extra food, wagon axles, medical supplies, etc that you'd need to pack to have the dorfs survive the trip.

Possible solutions:

Make it turn-offable by init (probably recommended regardless)

Have the embark screen tell you exactly how many resources the dorfs will use in their journey (with chances of losing random dorfs/supplies or animals being slaughtered for food increasing as you deprive them)

Make it a whole other mode of the game.  Let's Play Dwarf Caravan!  Ply your way across the World! Trade at several mountainhomes! Ford the river, caulk the wagon, or make a bridge across by pumping magma up and damming it!  Avoid the dangers of Wagon Adaption!  Piss off the elves before you ever reach sweet OregonAles The Bloody Hall of Sorrow, your new home in Fortress Mode! (switching to fort mode being of course an option, or just send out more caravans in order to shape the Great Dwarf Empire)

[Toast024]

Actually it would make a cool gamemode.
And then, once the entire Adventure mode into Dwarf mode is finished, this could go in between. You could also start at the wagon mode, and enter Dwarf mode when finished. Of course, you could just start off in Dwarf Mode.

[thijser]

For it beeing hard for newbies there is a quick embark options which you could use any spawn normally if you are more advanced then a more complex system seems like a good idea.

[Andeerz]

I long for the day that my dwarves die of dysentery on the way to the embark site and ford a river that is too deep... Ah, the good ol' days!  :3

[truckman1]

How would they get dysentery? Alcohol is sterile? And if they were drinking water they're already doomed.

[Andeerz]

It's an Oregon Trail reference... :3

[Toast024]

Think about this.
You only have one Dwarf left, you hit a town. You recruit some new dudes to build the fort. That helps the problem with everybody dieing out, sort of.
You also wouldn't need to embark at the embark location you chose. Lets say you find a nice place half way there, you could just embark at that half way.

[Artanis00]

Imagine this in Dwarf Fortress.

Expedition Leader: "I'll take an anvil, a copper nugget, and all the crossbow bolts 1168 embark points will get me."
Shop Keeper: "Want any food or spare weapons? Each dwarf will consume--"
Expedition Leader: "No shop keep, just the bolts. Just the bolts."

And, of course, nothing beats having wiped out all mammals larger than groundhogs before you even get to your site.

[Farthing]

Should not be part of Fortress mode.

Should definitely be its own mode.

Possible use as a bridge between adventure mode and fortress mode?

[Pilsu]

Making it skippable would be good.

[TheyTarget]

I think this is kind of already being planned from something toady said about, having a reason behind your embark, which would change the embark options, like giving you soldiers and extra dwarfs, or very few dwarfs and lots of supplies like a few dwarfs ransacking an old lost fort, and taking everything or something. So I guess adding something like, during embark, half your dwarfs died, or a human caravan has joined you for protection, or something weird. Though I always assumed you were choosing what you have left after embark, like you brought enough supplies for the journey plus this.

[MW]

Actually, I once remember reading Toady wanted to make a merchant mode, where one controls a caravan and they need to go from fort to town to fort in an effort to make a profit. That would probably be a slightly better Dorfegon Trail because there is no no exact endpoint to win, and if you return home without a profit or you hoard too many goods for yourself then the king or whoever will try to kill you. Losing is fun, right?

[SirHoneyBadger]

I don't feel that this would unduly increase the learning curve. Only maybe put a slight kink in it, with the switching of gears...

Afterall, we're talking Oregon Trail. Any computer game actually taught in my elementary school, pre 'The 90's' (wherein even I knew more about computers than my comp-sci teacher) is automatically exempt from "learning curve" discussion.