i don't play to win. i roleplay my forts, and often die early.
i don't use uncrossable trapped corridors or trapped training rooms, i don't wall up myself, and don't use steel or full sets of armor.
i don't design efficient forts at all
i embark on ironless locations, and play with high mineral scarcity. i've moded my civs to always have access to iron, though.
i've tweaked dwarves to learn 10 times slower, but also did that for all other mortal races, so invaders have manageable skill levels.
elves and their evil counterpart i moded in (the Elgblin) learn 10 times faster instead, so they're all legendary, which kinda overcompensates for their wooden equipment
i don't use any cheap food sources, i moded out organ meat, egg laying, and plump helmet or cookable plants, instead my staple farmable food are biscuits made of flour.
i've modded agriculture to give a very low yield, and farmers never skill up: half of my population is drafted into the planter army during the planting season
other non-increasable skills include mining, but dwarves get a racial skill of adequate,
brewing and cooking is also unskillable, and because of my learning speed mod, getting a decent engraver is now 10 times harder... keeping my dwarves non miserable is now a real chore
yeah, i'm one of those people that actually still believes in fun