Fortunately, journals are just crafts, so you can just have somebody crap out shell crafts by the truckload and hope you get a journal early.
Yeah! But finally I obtained a journal crafting the wood (very painful in a desert). I think that the diseases should be balanced, it is really funny play with them, but are too much aggresive. I suffered two epidemics, losing three dwarfs in the first year, when the settlement have less than 30 dwarfs (that mean, around ~10% mortality). Basically, two of them become crazy and attacked one of the musk ox... The last one was a merchant that attacked their comrades, being killed in the process...
At least, one year later, with a functional Apothecary and many medicines, I not suffer any epidemic again, also it is true that I not receive any inmigrant during the second year. My wealth is very very low (~20,000 dwarfbucks at the start of the second year), I needed one year for buy a pick and another year for breach the aquifer.
Due to this I have three questions:
1) The lack of epidemics is due to not receive any immigrants or thanks to a provision of medicines?
2) Did I not receive any immigrant due to the low wealth? Or another cause?
3) Finally... In the second year, with a very small fortress and less than 30 dwarfs, living in the surface of the desert: when rain my FPS fall to ~50. It is normal? I put all the diversity stuff (plants, animals, minerals, diseases...) on, with the exception of trees.
Thanks you very much!
PD. Sorry for my english, not is my native language.