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[runlvlzero]

I did a quick search and couldn't find a thread comparing the different industries. So I figured I'de ask here to see what strategy the veterans use to start up their forts.

Lately i've gotten into the habbit of embarking with the materials to make steel or bronze right off the bat and that's the first industry I get going, then I get farming up for booze, and quarry bushes, bags. Usually I don't have enough labor so I end up selling lots of extra *masterwork* pots to the first caravan. I found it really helps to bring along a skilled furnace operator, weapons crafter for this kind of embark.

Anyone embark with gold/platinum and start metalcrafting figurines ASAP to boost their migrants? I have been thinking of doing this.

Also I thought about making a pottery industry immediately and creating all my pots from that instead of using stone large pots =)

[Michaelsoftman]

You can make a load of cash with Iron and metalcrafting.

Masterwork figures go for 1200 I think.  Most average 400 to 500 and you get more than 1 per bar.

[slink]

There's threads out the wazoo on the subject, but most people are always willing to express their opinions again.   

The first real industry, not counting farming, that I start up is stonecrafting.  That produces nest boxes for my turkeys as well as stone pots and saleable items.  I also build a jeweler's workshop in case someone gets a mood that requires that.  I head for magma as soon as I get water and food under control, and build all four magma-powered buildings.  I don't use them for salaeble goods but I need them.  I will have previously built the mason, mechanic, and carpenter workshops but don't actually use them for industries either.  Usually I need a leatherworking shop after two or three migrant waves because someone will need it for a mood.  Likewise the clothier's shop, but less often that one for moods.  Depending on the avaialable supply of leather, I make either leather bags or cloth bags for the miller and thresher to use.  Leather bags is easier but requires buying leather from caravans.  Cloth bags requires waiting for the pig tail crops to reach some reasonable size.  Cloth and thread are also needed for the hospital, as is wood-burning, lye-making, and soap-making.  The butchery and tannery are both built early on to get rid of the original draft animals but not used much until the turkeys start reproducing and the poults grow up.

Stonecrafting alone is more than enough to buy whatever my fortress needs, and it produces stone pots as a side-stream.

If you are just talking about buildings and not functioning industries, it looks like this:
1. Mason, Mechanic, Carpenter
2. Farms & Well
3. Butcher & Tanner (with underground refuse stockpile)
4. Jeweler, Crafting
5. Magma Kiln, Magma Smelter, Magma Glass Furnace, Magma Forge
6. Leatherworking, Clothier, Loom
7. Wood Furnace, Siege Workshop, Bowyer's Workshop
8. Quern, Kitchen Workshop, Kitchen, Still
9. Ashery, Soap Maker

[Girlinhat]

I usually stick to dyed cloth goods myself.  Especially with DFHack allowing the "workflow" tool I just queue up a few dozen ropes to be produced and ship them out.  Above-ground crops grow year-round and that's how long your dwarves work.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Personally, I just don't worry about a trade industry very much.  There is very little the caravans bring that I need (maybe wood for charcoal, at least for a while, or steel bars, but only eventually).  I wait for my first migrant wave, then set an unskilled dwarf to stonecrafts, and that'll buy me everything I need.  Metal is more valuable to my fort than it is to traders-- I'd rather have a gold bin than all of the trade goods 3 masterwork gold flasks could buy.

For fortress functioning, I probably build in roughly the following order, but it's because of how I spend my embark points:

1) Still, farm, farmer's workshop (first for cheese, then for spinning hair and processing quarry bushes)
2) Carpenter, mason, mechanic-- pretty much simultaneous with 1
3) Loom, clothier, leatherworker shop (ropes for well, bags for seeds)
4) Butcher, tanner
5) Craftsdwarf shop (stonecrafts, pots, bonecrafts)
6) Magma smelter, magma forge, wood furnace (if I've got makings for steel)
7) Glass furnace, bowyer, jeweler (mainly for strange moods)
Anything else I feel like bothering with, but maybe nothing else.

[Randy Gnoman]

I like jewelers, a lot.  They have the potential to increase the value of your furniture dramatically, which is great for building an extravagent fortress- by the time I've got my essential industries running, all I usually import are gems, for decorating and for windows.  And now that they can use regular stone, a jeweler doesn't spend most of the first year idling, so they can make a strong contribution right at the beginning (a <<+table+>> is a way better beginning for your first dining hall than a +table+, and a <<*bed*>> is the cornerstone of any decent apartment).

[runlvlzero]

I like jewelers, a lot.  They have the potential to increase the value of your furniture dramatically, which is great for building an extravagent fortress- by the time I've got my essential industries running, all I usually import are gems, for decorating and for windows.  And now that they can use regular stone, a jeweler doesn't spend most of the first year idling, so they can make a strong contribution right at the beginning (a <<+table+>> is a way better beginning for your first dining hall than a +table+, and a <<*bed*>> is the cornerstone of any decent apartment).

I noticed they cut stone too now, and yeah, keeping dwarves all very happy is a good thing =) I never thought about going this route much, but it sounds like a brilliant idea for the first year. If you make dwarven apartments, will they automatically claim dining rooms like they do bedrooms?

Also I probably could get into the habit of building magma forges (and I'm not fond of volcanic embarks), I've always been lazy and gone for mass deforestation of the surface myself. Stockpiling 700+ tree's (if the biome permits), otherwise a tree farm surrounding my regular farms and food stockpiles.

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts =)

[martinuzz]

The first few years, I use biscuits, stews and roasts for currency. After that, it's usually dyed GCS clothes/crafts with dyed plant cloth images on them for added value.

[miauw62]

Actually, the first two migrant waves are not wealth-dependant

[Pagan]

I've been experimenting with jewelers the last couple nights. Have a legendary cutter cutting obsidian and a legendary encruster doing it. It doesnt add that much difference to items but its still quite an increase.

Jewels are still the way to go though, Managed to get a fibre bag up to 51k value, and most the cabinets average 10-25k. I'm on a map with plenty of gold and jewels though, so I'm planning to do this on a massive scale. Rocks are at least a nice way to train dwarves before working on the jewels.

[plynxis]

skimming through the thread (cause i need to sleep ) i discovered noone starts off with bone

most of my forts are bone based, as far as economy goes - especially after the goblinite imports. serrated discs make the process faster and well organized refuge piles make things go really fast. if goblinite is in short supply, i try to get lots of animals or hunters. its practically a free resource and after you get masterwork craftsdwarves, you can sell a bunch of bins full of useless bone jewelery and make more money than they can trade you for.

[Girlinhat]

Helps if you've modded raws to allow butchering sentients, then you can sell goblin bone crafts and make plenty.  Otherwise, I don't find myself slaughtering enough wildlife to sustain a bone industry.

[Flying Dice]

Simplest method for trading: Make rock crafts, buy up all useful supplies from first caravan, request iron and steel ore, bars. Make  SSRs, buy all ore and bars (more than enough to cover the discs), plus whatever else you want. This is the easiest way to get more useful metal onto your embark.


As for industry: Beds>Food>Barrels>Brewing>Misc. furnishing>Rock Crafts>Metals>etc.

Building the outer keep and mining out the interior are ongoing projects that are more important than anything except food and metalworking, until the former becomes self-sustaining and the latter has provided enough for trading and early militia.

[Doro]

First year industry: Make rock mugs out of everything, tons and tons of rock mugs. they are not pricey, but iirc 3 are made from single stone. plus, it quickly trains your craftsdwarves into legendary stonecrafters, which is rather useless skill however.

Later... i just sell everything i dont need, if i happen to need something from caravan.

[zehive]

I use stonecrafting as a staple of my industry until I get the ball rolling with migrants. Once I get migrants I get really seriously heavy into metalsmithing in all forms, with a good metalcrafter and an embark with some kinda valuable metal I buy full caravans from dwarves and humans (until their diplomat arrives and I get the chance to piss them off for good) and have plenty left over, leaving me to easily focus on military. Food industry becomes basically defunct because all I request from the caravan is booze and food


forgot to mention jewelers, those are very important. A good gem setter and gem cutter are important, having very nicely encrusted crafts massively increases the value