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[Moleculor]

It's been a year or two since I've played DF, and the most complex thing I've ever done was start in a heavily forested area near a mountain and build an underground (self-filling/maintaining) cistern and well.

I'm looking to try out DF2014. 250 years of world generation seemed to basically spread dwarves over every inch of valuable land, leaving any fortresses I build to essentially be 'the town two miles down the road' rather than 'brave adventurers out in the wilds of the world'. So I tried a shorter history.

This left one valuable spot of land, filled with flux and metals... but it's hot, 15/16ths no trees, vegetation, or soil. Only the northwestern corner has sparse trees and vegetation with a little soil.

I DO have a river. No aquifer.

I'm pretty sure the standard embark profile won't be ideal.

Any tips on what I should change or bring with me so that I can survive long enough in the beginning to get at least marginally self sufficient? Logs are an obvious choice...

[Orange Wizard]

Yep, bring lots of logs. Bring lots of booze and plants to brew to booze. Bring some geese along if you want to set up an egg farm for loads of free food.
Use the soil you do have to set up a farm. You don't need much space for it, farming in DF is really overpowered.

If you have lots of valuable metals on the site, consider bringing some coal/lignite along and a dedicated furnace operator. The extra supply of coke will give your metalworking industry a kickstart and that should cover the costs of any extra food/booze you import.

[Urist McDworf]

I agree with Moleculor. I would focus on underground farming because of the heat, bringing seeds for food that can only be grown underground.

[NobleNecromancer]

You might want to consider punching into the first cavern and then sealing it so you can have underground moss and trees growing in the soil layers.

[i2amroy]

Personally I like turkeys more than geese, but other then that yeah, just embark with lots of logs. You can also request maximum logs on each of the different types when the traders ask you what they should bring, and they will bring quite a bit more each year.

[g2knee]

I just embarked in some badlands...no trees.

I brought a few logs so I could forge axes and build a few beds...then dug to the 1st cavern and got chopping!  Who needs the surface anyways.

[Melting Sky]

Due to the pathing problems with flyers you should stick to turkeys. I believe geese can fly but turkeys won't.

Since you have flux and metals but few trees you should bring some serious coal with you on embark. Remember to bring a single coke or charcoal with you as well to start up the coke making process. Without a good wood source coal will prove very useful up at least until you breach the caverns and can start getting wood that way. Bringing coal will also allow you to use the few trees you have for making beds. You might want to even consider bringing a little wood with you for that purpose.

You can purchase 30 bituminous coal for a relatively small amount of embark points and it should be enough to keep your metal industry going long enough to outfit your first squad decently.