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[LordHamshire]

I'm super new to the game and I've been having lots of fun learning how to play it, but now, in my mind, the game starts off relatively slow: It takes some time to form a self-sustaining fortress and yet you can do it with an almost zero chance of failure.
I can make it a bit more interesting by starting in an untamed-wilds tundra type area, but even then, I can get down a fail-safe strategy. Any advice to make it a little more interesting?

[weenog]

Try looking for evil biomes, not merely savage ones.

[Garath]

when embarking, limit yourself in what your colonists bring with them

[Matoro]

There is no fail-safe strategy.

This is Dwarf Fortress.

[Garath]

in the average embark, as long as it's not an evil biome, it's very easy to set up a secure and thriving fortress once you've mastered the basics like the UI and having enough booze the whole year round

[Flarp]

Most early-game difficulty comes from pre-embark choices. Location (savage, glacier, aquifer, saltwater, evil if you really want a challenge) and supplies (skill-less, equipment-less, nothing but combat skills, etc.) all add extra Fun. Alternatively, breach the cavern layer as early as possible and carve your fortress into it.

[sabarjp]

There are a lot of embarks that are nearly impossible.  My last crazy one was an evil location next to a necromancer tower.  I lasted about 3 real-world minutes before everyone was slaughtered.  I was immediately attacked by undead.  There was water ONE layer below the open plains I started on.

[gchristopher]

I like staying close to vanilla, but trying to pack all the Fun vanilla things into a game as quickly as possible, too. Here's how that works for me:

Pre-scout the evil weather for the region. Not all evil regions are created equal. Make sure it reanimates. Look for evil creeping clouds that create thralls/husks. If the weather material is a dust, then leave all splatter spread on and the thralls will bring the evil dust to you.

Some very rare evil regions will appear to rain a harmless liquid, like blood, but have a weird quirk where any creature entering them instantly is taken by a thralling/husking curse. These regions are impossible to survive on the surface, (the game will end instantly on unpausing), but it can be a fun challenge to set up along the border.

Evil oceans are extra good. Pre-scout them to ensure they reanimate so the undead giant orcas can climb from the ocean and invade. Good times.

DFhack prospect to find a sandstone top layer and aquifer, so you have a chance of getting a 10-layer aquifer to pierce.

I like low population and hermit games, so some mods I always apply are:

In world generation, change the titan attack triggers to low population and production values, to get them sooner.

In creature_standard.txt:
Anywhere you see an [ATTACK_TRIGGER] tag, change it to [ATTACK_TRIGGER:1:0:100000] (Or even less for the last value.) Dragons and minotaurs will show up sooner.

In entity_default.txt:
Make sure any hostile civ won't wait as long before sieging by setting [PROGRESS_TRIGGER_POP_SIEGE:0] and [PROGRESS_TRIGGER_PROD_SIEGE:1], and removing any other [PROGRESS_TRIGGER_...._SIEGE] tags.

Consider doing the same with elves and humans and then making them hostile by adding the [BABYSNATCHER] tag.