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[Vehudur]

Yeah, Mechanics is pretty simple. Some people can do things with it that will make you weep tears of elven blood... but when used normally it's pretty easy.

 One of the first things I did with mechanics was use a screw pump to fill a moat. I realised that if I put a water wheel -behind- the screw pump, and connected it to the pump with a trio of gear assemblies and an axle, I could have the pump fuel itself if I used a dwarf to manually pump long enough for the waterwheel to provide power.

 Water reactors are just this realisation experimented with, tweaked, screamed at, flooded, burnt, coated in magma, encased in obsidian and with an almighty cry of "FOR !!SCIENCE!!" the current water reactor plans on the wiki were created. They are compact, they are self sustaining, and they are really easy to make.

 Of course some of us like to see huge arrays of water wheels powered by artificial rivers, but we're weird.

All sending power into one master axle, with a gear assembly at the end that you can attach whatever you want to - including more axles with more gear assemblies at the end if you need to power more than 5 things.

[meto30]

Start small and work your way up.

Probabily the most important tip to remember for DF newcomers. Dream big, but only do things you are quite confident of feasibility. First few forts are destined to be unorganized mess', but they give you valuable insight into the inner workings of Dwarf Fortress. Understand the inputs, processes and outputs of each major industry sphere, especially food. I do recommend assigning priorities to each industry and understanding them in order. My own priorities are as follows.

• Food Industry. Feeds your dwarves and keeps them drunk and happy. Dwarves work faster when drunk, too. Also, when managed properly can give you very high value goods to sell/donate to the caravans. However, it is EXTREMLY labor intensive, and in harvest season can occupy your entire workforce.
• Cloth Industry. A natural development from all the farming done in the food industry. This industry needs not be done in large scale(unless you want to export cloth items), but one of the industry's outputs is the bag, and bags are needed for all sorts of other industries that you will want at least one loom and one weaver.
• Metal Industry. Arguably the most unintuitive of the industries. It is also heavily dependant on natural resources at hand. Its complexities and difficulties(mostly concerned with fuel, rare materials, and mandate fulfilment) also makes it the most documented of the industries. Read the wiki for more info.
• Death and Terror Industry. Basically spoken, the industrial dismembering and decapitating of hostile creatures via the means of military intervention, mechanical contraption, political intrigue, etc. This industry is very important for the long-term survival of succesful forts, and thus understanding the proper requisites of fortress defence is crucial. This is also one of the top reasons you want skilled mechanics fast, because weapon traps are a godsend.
• All other industries(masonry, glass, wood, meat, gem, etc) should be researched AFTER you have proper grasp of the industries above. That said, some of the other induestries are so intuitive no one ever needs help.

[Jake]

Another pro-tip for you, though judging by the title you've probably gathered this; steer clear of volvanoes, lava pools or anything else magma-related until you've got a firm grasp of the basics.