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[Ganthan]

I seem to be stuck in the habit of constantly restarting due to little things going wrong with my great plans or things just getting too difficult to manage and plan.  Perhaps I need to start approaching my embarks with less or at least different focus.

I'm gonna try just dealing with basic happiness and security to begin with and decide on stuff like what industries to do based on what I find on the map, what migrants I get, etc.  To that end I've come up with the following skill spread:

5 Miner, 1 all healthcare skills x 2
5 Carpenter, 5 Mason
5 Grower, 5 Herbalist
5 Teacher, 5 Shield User
5 Cook, 5 Brewer
5 Appraiser, 3 Organizer, 2 Judge of Intent

With this I'll have a good trader for caravans, a basic Drill Instructor, two miners who can heal if the need arises, good food and booze and a farmer to grow what's needed, and good furniture for all the rooms.

The basic idea is this:  Get the dwarves happy early and keep 'em that way, THEN worry about what industry you'll do once you arrive and see what you get.  I can always trade overvalued prepared meals to begin with.

As far as items, along with the usual food, booze, seeds, tools and such, I also bring ten copper bars and a little coal for cheap blunt weapons in a pinch.  This might have been a little unnecessary for my latest embark, though, due to exposed veins of tetrahedrite and lignite.  Oh well.

[Vercingetorix]

I honestly start off with six peasants and one dwarf with a point in appraiser.  The savings go in to bringing more supplies and skills are learned on the job.  The drawback is it can take a little longer to get your industries up and running but you'll have plenty of food/drink; another upside I like is that it will delay the arrival of ambushers because your created wealth will be lower relative to your population, which makes it easier to get a military up and running and/or traps if you're short on weapons-grade metal.

[Diamond]

5 Miner, 1 all healthcare skills x 2

Useless. Either get skilled doctor, or don't get these skills at all - using 1 point is about the same as using unskilled for doctors.

5 Cook, 5 Brewer

This guy has too much free time at the beginning. Best used with some other full-time skill. I'd give either cooking or brewing to the second farmer.

I prefer embarking with 12+ dwarves lately. But for the seven I had:
1 miner + mason
1 miner + weaponsmith
1 miner + armorsmith (as with above for moods)
1 woodcutter + carpenter
1 diagnoser + wound dresser (chief medical dwarf)
1 appraiser + judge of intent + negotiator (trader and mostly leader)
1 cook + brewer + grower (and assign additional farmers/brewers later on)

[Mushroo]

My current experiment has been a lot of fun:

miner/brewer
grower
grower
thresher
thresher
cook
cook

It is now year 5 and I'm creating over 500,000/season in quarry leaf roasts (average value ~30,000). It is fun to watch how quickly my two legendary threshers process the entire 10x10 quarry bush plot. (The winter plump helmet crop is enough alcohol for the year.)

Population is capped at 20. All migrants (except for my chief medical dwarf/soap maker) are drafted into the military. Weapons, armor, and other supplies are easily acquired through trade. I've had an offer to nominate a baron, but so far I've declined.

[Necro910]

I do:

Carpenter/Bone Carver (Proficient, both)

Mason/Mechanic/Stonecrafter (middle, high, low. Varies by map)

Doctor (Novice all med skills, novice architect)

Two Miners (Proficient)

Smith (Novice)

Farmer/Brewer (Novice, Proficient)

[slink]

I use no points on skills.  I send seven peasants out with seven picks and one axe.  They dig like mad and make do for the rest until migrants arrive with non-mining skills.

[SenorOcho]

Yeah, the skills on your starting seven had a pretty big impact on the first couple of years in 40d, but not so much in 0.31-- you get some crazy skilled migrants now.  I've even gotten a High Master Strand Extractor this way, which was all kinds of exciting.

[McDwarf]

I usually go for a minimun amount of skills.
For all dwarves I put 1 point in a moodable skill (based on the dwarf's preferences) and 2 points in ambusher (for the free crossbows).
One dwarf gets 1 point in a social skill to control who is the expedition leader.
Excess points gets me wood and stone.

Top 3 professions would be miner, carpenter, and mechanic.
This lets me dig a hole and seal it up with a drawbridge, and fill it with beds.