Or, you can embark on a terrifying map. Giant Zombie creatures are no joke. And, if you're at the ocean...zombie whales.
You may also wanna learn about world baking, so you can customize your maps to be more interesting. Just remember, you can't have too savage or evil of a place or Dwarves won't exist, unless you mod 'em. If you have a lot of civs and a few sites I think that also promotes war.
I usually put on 'high' sites, 'cause i thought it was the setting for how many 'good' places there are for YOU as the player, to settle.
What do the 'sites' setting do, anyway?
(oh, and after reading about deadly clouds and neverdying enemies, I somehow don't think a terrifying embark is in my league yet...
What's your population cap? If it's very low you may not be triggering invasions/what have you.
Have you doublechecked that you have invaders turned on?
Is it possible that you've been settling mostly on islands? Civilizations need a path to your fortress from one of their sites on the world map in order to show up at your door.
Also, Untamed Wilds isn't that bad unless you get the Person or Giant versions of badgers or keas. Coatis can be annoying too I guess, but it's the keas that are the worst. Back when Boatmurdered happened wildlife was a lot more aggressive than it is now. Elephants won't attack you unless you provoke them, for example. If I'm in the mood for a challenge I try to settle within range of one or more necromancer towers (pink Is on the world map). Necromancer ambushes/sieges are good Fun.
I saw a group of giant badgers before, but they never attacked my dwarves... I sent a squad to kill them, for fun.
I've set up shop on islands like 1 or 2 times. I tend to never do that, because aquifers (haven't learned how to remove them yet), so It's mainly mainland stuff.
I, err, don't know what a population cap is, or how to set it... Help, maybe?
And I don't think i remember(I haven't learned) how to turn on/off invaders. But I tend to get "Guests"(Forgotten beasts and a bronze colossi), So I THINK it's on.
Oh, and the necromancer Attacks seem awesome. Any way to find them with the map-searchy-thingy?