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[Starver]

Personally, I invariably have two miners.  Picked from ones with suitable stats (tough, untiring, that sort of thing, excluding any that are obviously meant to be something else), they are given maximum embark-time mining, although I know that's probably a waste.  Very soon, they become legendary, and while I may expand my mining squads with any "arrive as a decent miner, already" immigrants, I rarely have more than four distinct miners during the lifetime of the fort.

I always try to find one noble candidate.  Given the social and ancillary skills required to be broker, bookkeeper and manager, this individual has a suitable psycho profile for the job including lack of weird material preferences!  This is especially important as he'll start off as Expedition Leader and invariably become Mayor, and mandates for odd/spoilery stuff could be inconvenient.  It's possible that this guy becomes officially ennobled as/when the question is popped, but an immigrant might have arrived whose preferences are even better matched to the (prior to embark) unknown geological situation.  Frexample a lead-lover in a galena-rich area, whereas the original Expedition Leader candidate is more into brass where zinc ore turns out to be locally sparse and thus a tad more awkward.

For the remaining four:

• A farmer-type, decent growing skills (as per miners, trains up, but these days I don't usually max out from the start), and usually doubles up with elementary brewing, butchery, perhaps plant processing[1]
• A designated mason, doubled/tripled up with something non-stone[2], perhaps including woodcutting
• A designated carpenter, doubled/tripled up with something non-wood[2]
• If there's a dwarf with exceptional creativity, I'll set him or her to stonecrafting, for the usual tradecraft flooding and using up of stone.  I may also double this guy/gal up as an architect and train them up on making pillars of some material that I can spare.

These days I don't usually currently set aside points for on-settlement mechanical expertise, or clothing/leatherwork, and tend to wait until 'filler' immigrants come along with those skills before booting up those industries.  Same with the various metal craftsman (including armourer, weapon-makers, etc).  Most of my efforts are used to support the miners with food, drink and of removing the detritus (and often using it for trade goods purposes, as well as creation of furniture to equip the rooms) while they are busy pursuing the double-headed targets of exploration and the "lebensraum" digging towards whatever floorplan I'm currently obsessing over obeying to the letter...

I don't bother with hunter-types, these days, despite the bonus in getting a head-start in military, and equipment.  (And tend to remove immigrant hunters' job preferences, as I do with fisherdwarves, rather than letting them wander around on those tasks at all.)  In fact I don't buy any military skills, and again rely on immigration to show me the direction I should be going there (melee vs. ranged proportions, according to those with definite predilections, and I'm more a passive/architectural-defence person).

I've never done much with medical experts, prior to provision of them through uncontrolled immigration.  Which does mean that I'm often a while without having designated any decent diagnostician to be the EMH... erm...  CMD, rather..., and have to check hunger/thirst and injury levels manually until then.

But I'm still revising my plans, in light of the Vampire Menace (even though that has not yet occurred on the various short-lived forts I'm played in .34.01-05 games).  Relying on immigrants to fill certain gaps is probably something I'm ridding myself of, when I eventually get my Panopticon-Style Immigrant-Isolation Quarters design perfected.


[1] Unlike footnote-[2], I don't make provision for keeping my farmer farming while someone else deals with the produce.  This is inconsistent of me.
[2] If wood business is slack, the carpenter may be helping the mason, in some way.  If stone business is slack, the mason may be helping the carpenter in some way.  Usually in some pre-/post-supply way, so that when I need beds the mason can be woodcutting the materials and the carpenter making them.  Someone else (never a miner, they're de-jobbed of everything except the mining, and in this situation I'd also de-haulify the duty woodcutter and carpenter) will do the hauling between, as necessary.

[kaijyuu]

I have a armor/weaponsmith/metalsmith and a military dwarf. The rest are unskilled, while I bring along crap like some of each type of cloth for moods and a significant early store of food and drink.

[MrWiggles]

I also make sure that my Mayor has good personality traits for the job, and there likes aren't terrible hard to fulfill. I generally given them more social skills, like console or pacifier, but I dont give them skills like Appraiser or Organizer, since those will level up pretty well on their own.

The other one I look for is a doctor dorf, this one is more dependent on personalty traits. I try to go for dorfs with good work ethics or higher then normal empathy, and I make them into a doctor.

The other five dofts are left untrained. I generally place with more generous mineral wealth so I have plenty of ore to level up metal industry.

[FuzzyZergling]

I usually do something like this:

5 Miner/5 Mason
5 Miner/5 Mechanic
2 Woodcutter/5 Carpenter/3 Other
5 Grower/5 Herbalist
3 Judge of Intent/2 Appraiser/5 Diagnoser
5 Cook/5 Weaponsmith
5 Brewer/5 Armorsmith

[Nameless Archon]

All skills at 5.

5 miners. 1 carpenter/mason (early stone/wood goods, mostly the latter, often gives up masonry to another later or is replaced by a better carpenter migrant). 1 grower/herbalist. Copper nuggets, lots of wood and stone, more fish and plants, less booze (brew it!), and sheep (milk/cloth/meat), dogs (defense), with blue peahen (less eggsplosion, faster maturing). Add sand and milk (make cheese) for bags and barrels.

The right raw supplies can be made enormously more potent/valuable with reprocessing, both in terms of dorfbux and utility.

[Kaos]

Unless it changed social skills like:
Comedian
Consoler
Conversationalist
Flatterer
Intimidator
Judge of Intent
Liar
Negotiator
Pacifier
Persuader

Are trait related, and some won't increase if the dwarf doesn't have the appropriate traits, since you can't control which traits your dwarves get, by assigning points in those skills you may end up wasting them in a dwarf that won't be able to increase the skill further


I usually let them develop the social skills on their own and after they get a visible dot on therapist I know that I can use them, this way I avoid checking for traits.


Notice that Liar and Consoler are mutually exclusive, I select dwarves with all the above attributes (except Consoler) for Traders and the ones with Consoler (and without Liar) for manager, exp. leader/major, baron, etc...


As for embarking profiles, I don't assign skills, I bring:
* 1 cheap pick
* 3-5 seeds per type
* 1 of everything I can get for less than $10 (and get a cheap barrel):
** meats
** vermin brains (don't have any meat)
** eggs
** milks
** plants
** Lye
** Drinks
** cheeses


* all the powders to get a cheap bag:
** sands
** gypsum plaster


* lots of woods
* lots of stones
* a couple of each animal under $100
* an anvil


My 7 dwarves:
1 Miner -> soil first when he gets to legendary moves on to stone
2 Cook -> cooks everything except seeds and milks
3 Farmer/Other -> plants all seeds then Book keeps, makes the starting milk into cheese, milks and shears my animals and hauls stuff until I get migrants and delegate each job.
4 Plant Gatherer -> gathers new plants to brew
5 Carpenter -> builds the axe for the wood cutter, a table and chair for the Book keeper and starts producing spiked balls to trade
6 Wood Cutter -> gets wood to feed the carpenter
7 Brewer -> brews the plants I brought for the barrel then keeps on brewing the new ones being gathered can help with hauling if there's nothing to brew, can also split the other jobs with the farmer (Planter shears and brewer milks or vice-versa)

[knutor]

Yeah, I also feel behind the 8-ball starting up without two capped miners.  The HUGE supply of rock in the Dump uptop as a result of hauling up stone, really helps me get into the swing of topside Fortress building.   Without that fast supply of rock, my masons tend to bog down in the quigmire and setback which the soil and sand layers produce. 

At one time, I took a block to build my first Mason workshop.  But not anymore, I just rebuild it.  I'm trying to spread out my Dwarfcrafts Workshops this time, those workstations really seem to vaccuum up the rubble, in short order.  Knutor

[talysman]

I used to play with the "all miner" or "four miner" profiles, to try to get the fortress started as quickly as possible.

The last profile I used for an embark was tailored for more of a challenge. Only one dwarf with craft skills of any kind at the start, others concentrated on noble/social skills. I've modified it below, based on some comments in this thread about things I didn't know about (limits on social skills based on traits, fast training on Appraiser.)

Code: [Select]

[PROFILE]
[TITLE:BAREBONES]
[SKILL:1:FORGE_WEAPON:2]
[SKILL:1:FORGE_ARMOR:2]
[SKILL:1:FORGE_FURNITURE:2]
[SKILL:1:STONECRAFT:2]
[SKILL:1:METALCRAFT:2]
[SKILL:2:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
[SKILL:2:DIAGNOSE:5]
[SKILL:2:SURGERY:1]
[SKILL:2:SET_BONE:1]
[SKILL:2:SUTURE:1]
[SKILL:2:ORGANIZATION:1]
[SKILL:3:RECORD_KEEPING:5]
[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:STEEL]
[ITEM:2:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:NATIVE_COPPER]
I've eliminated all supplies except an anvil and two copper, so you can use this for extreme survival. Otherwise, I'd add turkeys and another pair of fowl for eggs, any tripe/sweetbread that costs 2, 25 of each type of booze, and 6 of each seed. Those that don't want to make their own tools could add an axe and a pick, or multiples of either, plus whatever you prefer for cloth, thread, bags, and rope.

#1 is my crafter in "hard" materials. #2 is my doctor and (noncombatant) militia commander. #3 is my bookkeeper. I assigned broker and manager to two other dwarves, to keep them available. Carpenter, woodcutter, mechanic, mason, miner, cook, brewer, and other farm skills get assigned after arrival; I keep cook and brewer mutually exclusive, since I will often have both on repeat for extended periods. I've occasionally turned on architect for all seven and mason for most or all of them at the beginning, to get walls and floors done faster.

I haven't been examining traits the way I should be... Woodcutters should probably like the outdoors, miners should be slow to tire, and the social nobles should like one or more social activities.

[knutor]

If your not using a starting hunter, try one.  34.05 fixes some drowning issues.  I could see it before, but this new release makes it better than ever to Hunt.  Its so fun with the ramps in the pools now, aslong as ya avoid the waterfalls-mist bug, drowning isn't all that prevalent, especially since they reach out and use a ranged wpn.  Give an embark with a hunter a try, sometime.  They are a blast to watch slink around, doing their jobs.  The beginning of the game is when they really shine.  There towards the end, they get murdered out there.  I do understand not taking one.  Knutor

[Starver]

If you're not using a starting hunter, try one.  34.05 fixes some drowning issues.

Has that been a problem?  When I did habitually use a hunter, I never had him drowned (leastwise, not without CARP!!! being involved).

I actually stopped using one when I realised that animal husbandry gave me more than enough meat, for such purposes, and to fit in with my "enclose the wilds!" policy.

Actually, it was probably even before that, when I was "caging the wilds", and tamed what I inevitably caught.  Elephantexplosion[1], anyone?


[1] This was before pasture-hunger saw to diminish the viability of large herbivores, of course.  I had loads and loads of them chained up in huge arrays and in the middle of strategic wagon entrances and, in one of my few moddings-in, allowed... War Elephants!  But I digress.

[Mushroo]

If you never had a hunter dodge into a stagnant pool and drown, consider yourself lucky.

[Kaos]

there's also the trick of giving everyone 1 point in ambusher skill, to get the free equipment and have a starting militia ready.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

It's easy enough to get away with everybody being unskilled.  I used to think a proficient weaponsmith and a proficient armorsmith were necessary, but these days, I'm getting better migrants before those start skilling up anyways.

A proficient miner makes things easier for me, so I take one.

Other than that, it's novice weapon/armorsmith (for the mood potential), some military skill, and proficient teacher.  Teacher's one of the harder things to skill up, and I believe it makes a big difference in military training.  (Student's equally hard and equally important, but I figure teacher is better for my starting dwarves.)

[kevbost]

Thanks for this post, it touched on variables I hadn't considered.  Let the Mason help the carpenter  when he ain't got nothin to do, etc.   Enlightening for sure.

[barkalot]

3 miners
1 woodcutter
1 carpenter
1 mason
1 grower

LOTS OF DOGS and a few cats(dwarves hate rats)