I read many posts that says DF is un-playable without using DF Hack.
Hello, my name is Starver. I don't use DFHack.
Which is not to say I haven't used it, nor to say that I wouldn't consider using it or that I consider it cheating[1] or anything, but I just never got around to considering it since the revamp (of however long ago it was) from being a collection of command-line tools to the integrated thing that apparently it now is.
Perhaps if/when I come across the "trader who is not a trader" bug (or is that "not a trader, but thinks he is" instead?) then I will go and download myself the new DFHack to solve my situation. Not happened, so I've not worried about it.
(The following written without reference to what anyone else, or even the DFHack documentation, things. Thus probably not accurate.)
I think there's probably three levels of Hacks available. Firstly, there's downright 'cheats', but useful when trying something sandboxy, like the liquids spawning (also, by logical extension, obsidian spawning). Although even these I would consider to be possible "mistake retractors", for example undigging some bit of rock one
really hadn't meant to dig out.
Secondly there's "enablers". Going beyond what is normally possible but it's really only a short-cut. There's one to autodump things, I think (mark as dumped, run the macro and everything so marked is teleported to the current quantum storage). It
can be used to cheat (equipment dropped during one battle being teleported within the safety of walls during further hostilities... and can it be used to
strip) enemies? ...someone will know), but clearing detritus quickly without bothering the haulers
could be seen as legitimate. Similarly the Reveal function could be either completely cheaty or just, by some measures, speeding up the inevitable. It's quite possible that Dwarf Therapist (which I
do use) sits well within this ambiguous middle-ground.
Thirdly, there's the bug-squishers. Much as discussed, but I can't think of any more examples, right now. I think it'd be your
right to use those, for anything you encounter. (Of course, the definition of irretrievably broken bugs and mere 'inconveniences that you can circumvent or ignore' is open to interpretation.)
Others will go into more detail (or already have done), but I need to reinstall the browsers on this machine, to see if I can sort its performance out and not take half an hour writing however many paragraphs I've just written on this potable version.
[1] Apart from anything else, I'm quite clear that one cannot 'cheat' anyone but oneself when one has the ability to do so many things that make the game easier, or the ability to
not do many things that make the game harder, if one follows the local variation of 'The Dark Side' for one's philosophy. Oh, apart from saying "all my dwarves are going to be wielding only spoons" in the forums but then secretly either enabling a knifedwarf squad or modding the spoon to be "7H3 UL71M47£ K1LLZ W34PUN" even while continuing with the charade.