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[targetstar]

When you choose to embark what skills do you give your dwarves and what items do you take with you... like what is the neccesity (needed).

[Niccolo]

There's no real set necessity, I guess. One popular challenge is the 'zero point' embark, where you start out with nothing but two livestock, three logs (from the empty wagon) and your peasants.

Still, there is a recommended opening move:
At least two miners (I prefer three), a carpenter, a mason and a woodcutter. Most people like to take a brewer/farmer along, too.

Enough picks for each miner to have one and an axe of some kind for woodcutting - the rest most people spend either on food and booze or whatever they want.

[gestahl]

A pick and a shroom

[gunnarig]

i like to take 2-3 miners a woodcutter. then i like to take a hunter with his ambushing skill higher than his crossbows this means he starts out with leather gear and a crossbow. then i take one witch is an armor wearer a shield user and X weapon along with the teacher skill. this guy then forms the core of my militia as the first military leader. a farmer is allways nice but you really dont need a high skilled one as by the time you have enough dwarfs he will be legendary.  then i bring dogs. sometimes i bring some farm animals. pigs goats or sheeps. sometimes some type of egg layer.

[jimbobobby]

I usually like 2 miners, a woodcutter, carpenter, mason, farmer who does everything and a mechanic. For pets, 2 female cats and a male cat, same with dogs, a hen and a rooster. If I go with no anvil I take 2 more cats, female and male. Can't have enough cats in my forts, they're just food. I love dogs too much so they're just war and hunting animals, chickens are another food source. If I have enough point I usually bring 50 plump helmet spawn for safety.

[Coalwalker]

Personally I don't bother assignment common skills to dwarves at the beginning. Miners can be trained in loam - for free, if they have picks. Woodcutters don't really need skill, just the assigned labour. I take an armoursmith, weaponsmith, blacksmith, mason, and engraver (usually in just two dwarves.) Sometimes also an animal trainer, though it's usually safe to wait for a migrant to arrive with that skill. For items, one male and female dog, three sows, one boar, three hens, and one rooster. Dogs make okay guards that automatically attack without waiting for the interruption spam. Pigs don't need to eat and so are an easy way to get meat. Chickens (or whatever other egg-layer) make free food, and can be confined to create amusing and possibly useful () birdsplosions at a later time. You can bring a cat if you absolutely detest vermin. You can remove any wood products and manufacture them as needed at a later time, if you're embarking to a wooded area. If not, remove all useless crutches, splints, wheelbarrows, etc. and just bring logs. They're cheaper and can be made into what you need using only time, which is plentiful. Two picks are good, as well as battle-axes. Only bring armour if you're embarking to an evil or otherwise crazy place, or if there are no metals, in which case it may be, again, cheaper to just bring the raw materials and forge them in-situ. If it's not presently needed (dwarves screaming "OH ARMOK UNDEAD ALLIGATORS EATING MY FLESH" immediately after embarkation) then it can be made later.

And that's my two cents. I'm no master of Dwarf Fortress, but I hope I'm not too far from a good idea.

[zach123b]

lately i've been starting with 10 native copper ores and an anvil as to make plenty of picks while i build a small camp on top which i later convert into area for farming
i use the rest of the points on food and animals with a few points on skills that matter like weapon/armor smithing and carpentry/masonry

sometimes just a cat, an anvil and a copper ore for fun ^^

[Brackev]

I use the default setup and give myself 2 male cats - taking away some dwarf levels.  I dislike vermin eating my food and drink.  I don't like catsplosions, hense the male cats.  Everything else comes with time.

[Itnetlolor]

Come and think of it, a raw material start is actually a good idea; provided an adequate start location/material-wise. Gives you more to spend on other things.

I got lazy, and just boot up a lazy newb pack or related pre-set, and modify it from there to my liking. But I always invest in a pair of cats, at least a pair of war dogs, and maybe a pair or tribbles bunnies for a consistent meat supply, seeing as cats and bunnies are explosive breeders; and cats keep everything else vermin-free, and are cheap to start with.

But yeah, about raw material starts, just make sure you have plenty of wood to make fuel, and make an axe, then chop more wood, make more fuel, and make some picks (cost is lower if you have magma). You can easily save up a bundle of points to spend on more animals or food/drink, or a set of armor if you want a soldier/hunter at the start as well.

Start off with some sand bags as well (or a bunch of seed bags, make a few farms, and recycle them as sand bags (if you have access to them), and start a glass industry immediately afterwards), and you're off to a great start, if you have access to magma at the start, or are in a heavily forested biome, at least. Alternatively, you can always start an earthenware industry at the start for easy building. This is especially if you want to preserve the underground if you're making aboveground stuff primarily. My first foray into being primarily aboveground is at least looking like this, and it's looking pretty on the surface, preserving the woodlands for wood industry, got easy access to sand and clay for all kinds of industry at my beck and call; and masonry, along with metalworks, although secondary, are better-managed for even prettier AG-structures and such, therefore making for some much prettier creations, and farm ore valuable goods for my citizens and nobles. Just wait until I put them all to work in defenses. What were invasions and sieges again?

[joeclark77]

If I'm not specifically challenging myself:


2-3 copper picks
2-3 wooden training axes
1 iron anvil
5-10 of each seed type
50 bags of sand (for the bags)
20+ units of meat, each from a different animal (for the barrels)
60 booze (15 of each of 4 types)
10-20 pretty stones (e.g. cinnabar) if there's an aquifer
10-20 wood if I expect the embark won't have enough (e.g. desert/mountain)
male and female cat
male and female dog
male and 4 or 5 female pigs
male and 4 or 5 females of any poultry species (usually geese)
1 or 2 full set(s) of copper weapons/armor if i have the points
assorted stuff for moods: 1 leather, wool cloth, silk cloth, plant cloth, rough glass, turtle (for shell), metal bar, etc.

[Lich180]

Recently i've taken to raw material embarks as well. Taking bismuthinite, cassiterite, malachite, and bituminous coal, with a piece of coke to start smelting the coal right away. Bismuth bronze gets you slightly more bars to work with for cheaper than plain bronze I think. An anvil rounds out my initial production setup.

Then for seeds I take 9 of each underground crop except dimple cups, 15 of each alcohol and assorted meats (preferably brains) that cost 2 points each. Only take one of each, up to a total of 40 total so I have a good number of barrels for cheap. No plump helmets, or picks, or anythimg like that.

As for skills, I take a farmer/cook, weapon/armorsmith, mason/mechanic, carpenter, 2 dwarves with a weapon skill, defensive skill, and proficient teacher. The last one is a protonoble I use for broker, bookie, and CMD.

Serves me well on any embark that isn't an evil reanimating area.

[TastyMints]

I like to embark with egg layers and shearable livestock. I've recently taken to digging straight to the first cavern level after digging a trap system and trade depot to keep the merchants safe. The egg layers provide a stable source of food without the requirement of going outside for a relatively decent amount of time and can be quickly expanded as necessary.

The shearable livestock do not require much grazing space and provide a safe source of cloth, and with a breeding pair this can also be expanded as necessary. Butcher as necessary. Combine this with underground farms churning out underground crops and one can create a scalable food and drink industry that grows with your fortress.

Cavern layers present their own dangers, but with smart usage of walls, a half dozen temporary masons/carpenters, and good timing you can consolidate a defensive position underground with no casualties very early on. Grazers can eat moss, and there's plenty of space to expand many Z levels underground. With any luck the caverns have a lake. With extreme luck the caverns have a lake and a volcano.

Skills don't matter as much. Having skilled miners and brewers is a plus but they'll be doing their job enough that it won't matter. What you want is at least one military dwarf that can teach, along with a doctor. Oh, and dwarf therapist.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=66525.0

As far as items are concerned, I like to take some anthracite (in masterwork fort vey dense coal, but don't take too much. It processes into 12 units of coal which can clog a stockpile in a big hurry, it is also heavy and time consuming to haul), but it's not in the vanilla game so you'd want bituminous coal, a couple anvils, two or three picks, two battle axes. Food and drink as necessary.

Edit: Removed some typos, redundant words. Man, was I drunk when I wrote this post?

[KtosoX]

Miners can be used as make shift militia, so I usually take 2-3 with some levels in dodge.
The rest usually depends on the embark and what industries you intend to abuse exploit implement.

[Mushroo]

I do the default "Play Now" so I can spend more time playing the game, and less time figuring out how many plump helmets I should bring.

[Spy227X]

Miner, judge of intent, swordsdwarf or wrestler