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[Psieye]

Everyone else has said it, but to rephrase: everything is unnecessary until you've stabilised. There really isn't much to stabilising, here's my list in v0.40.xx:
> Embark in forest with soil
- Cut 3~4 trees
- Dig a small (e.g. 7x7) hole
- 7 beds (preferably make them individual 3x3 bedrooms without walls but with a ceiling)
- 5 tables and chairs (4 for dining room, 1 for bookkeeper office)
- 3x3 plot underground in a soil layer (plump helmets)
- Build still, give it barrels as need be

That's it. Don't even create a stockpile before the above are done, that distracts dwarves with hauling jobs (I get the impression you're not big on micromanagement). Just to be extra safe, turn [INVADERS:OFF]

[blackravenx]

I am not big in the beginning of micromanagement but don't mind.. like to learn the basics well before going forward. So if I turn that feature off I wont get invaded? sweet!

[blackravenx]

I am still on the stable version... got talked into it because of all the bug fixing. Also getting used to Dwarf Therapist  or I can turn on DFhack auto assign but that's really not going to help me learn.

[GavJ]

7) nice booze. Booze has a hidden quality modifier. Good brewers make drinks give happy thoughts too.

As far as I know there is no hidden quality modifier for booze. There have been many discussions on such, scattered all over the place. From what I recall, the variation in happiness gains associated with drinking are tied to the value of the entire *stack* of alcohol. So, for happier drinking dwarves, you need to focus on a skilled grower, not a skilled brewer, and potentially add in farm fertilization to increase stack sizes. You can also "dispose of" (forbid or trade away) near-empty barrels to force your dwarves to tap a new keg. Finally, brewing a crop that cannot be eaten raw will prevent your dwarves from pilfering a snack from the stack before it hits the still.

Never heard of the stack thing, but it's possible, and a pretty significant bug if so. If you have evidence of this, you should upload a save that demonstrates it to DFFD and post it on the bug tracker.

Also, keep in mind that booze has inherent material value as defined in the raws, which can explain for example, sunshine being more satisfying than dwarven wine, without having to invoke a hidden quality variable (doesn't mean there isn't one, though). Dwarves also presumably get extra satisfaction from variety, which could be another source of thoughts other than hidden quality.

[Verjigorm]

A little more complex of a start is to leave the axe at home.   Axes cost 60 somethign points on embark, and copper axes are crap.   A training axe can be made at a carpenter's workshop from a 3pt log.   So, you can spend 6 points on the supplies to quickly craft a wooden training axe that will cut down trees, then spend the other 50 something points on additional supplies(MOAR BOOZE). 

I tried doing the same without picks, but it takes too much time to get my first farm plot up if I have to smelt ore.   

this can also be used to brign a small supply of iron or copper ore so that you can forge up some weapons quickly.   

For that first trade caravan, I highly recommend ditching the stone crafts, and making trap components.  Menacing Wooden Spikes and Enormous Spiked Wooden Balls sale for several hundred in comparison to crafts.  That first caravan?   Buy as much food as possible.   All the food, if possible.   It gives a great cushion for later.   This is especially useful if you then cook food from those ingredients.   

[Shadow_Hornet]

in one of my older forts what I would do with traders was to buy all the food they have and sell them a little of my cooked food to pay for it.

[blackravenx]

Good advice on that trader. So far the game is going good ..and only about a couple of weeks into the game. It was getting late but plan on playing a lot more tonight. If I make it to trader this time it would be my first time so I am going to read up on how the process of buying/selling works.

[bigcalm]

My strategy is largely based on Peter Tyson's embark http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920022565.do, which takes enough food and drink to last pretty much the entire year - the only thing you actually need to do in your first year is get the food inside into a stockpile where it won't rot.  His comprises: 30 of each booze; 1 of each fish; 20 plump helmets; 40 different types of meat (different meats are stored in different barrels - hence, we'll end up with lots of spare barrels and will have to make less early on);

[Thorzog]

I didn't see it mentioned but make sure you have your fields set for each season. Also have one full time farmer. In the first season
they can gather wild plants. By your first migrant migrant wave you may even want a full time brewer. Also make barracks and a dining hall to put about a dozen beds and about a dozen tables each with two chairs. That should resolve any tantrums unless someone dies.

[Romegypt]

I basically make a huge elaborate design to be designated. Specialized workshops, bedrooms, dining halls, the great entrance (which includes depot and barracks, and depending if it is the last soil layer, farms). Then, I undesignate just enough of it so they don't dig it, and build a tiny underground little space, with room for a dorm, a farm, a food/furniture pile, and a masons and carpenters workshops. Get them started on chair/tables/doors/beds and what not, while I farm my plump helmets or cave wheat. Then, I re-designate the miners to go mine out the fortress, and by my second migrant wave, I'm good to move everything into the main fortress. I'll upload a save of one such world if anyone wants

[PDF urist master]

set up a farm and then make the fort seal-able as quickly as possible. In your first two years your military will likely be crap (unless you used danger rooms, cheater) and won't handle anything more than a squad of invaders. Make sure invaders can't get in and screw you over.

[UltraMagnus]

If you feel comfortable with handling aquifiers, then you can find a mountain with one so that you have an easily accessible water supply in the winter.
If the terrain allows it, such as if you have access to a moat, you can make an above-ground farm for strawberries for emergency purposes.
Construct a large amount of barrels.
If one of your dwarfs goes berserk or starts to go on a tantrum, watch him or her carefully. I've had berserk dwarves destroy my plots that generated my fort's food supply, nearly starving my dwarves. If a dwarf goes berserk, it becomes a potential target for the militia.

[blackravenx]

So far so good.. seems like everyone is happy and doing good. I will make the brewer full time as you suggested because that seems like a great way to keep them working. Also someone suggested to me Burrows? Force the people to not even leave lol

[TurboSlug22]

There can be a lot of misc. things that can make dwarves unahppy (some of those things you wouldnt see in the first year) but off the top of my head they are:

Lack of Soap
Lack of clothing (dwarves are shy about being naked around eachother)
and the standard things everyone's mentioned: Food, drink, beds, nobles/officers need their own blinged out rooms assigned to them.

A varriety of different food and drink types helps too.

Basically you want to think about it as fewer unhappy thoughts and more happy thoughts. Amenities bring happy thoughts, lack thereof brings unhappy thoughts. But you can combat unhappyness by providing things that make them exceedingly happy and you can encorporate this into your fortress design.

For example, placing a very high value item in a high traffic area will give dwarves happy thoughts when they walk by. you can see this in their info if you view it, it will say "Admired a very fine statue recently" So if theyre sad that they dont have a proper bed to sleep on, you can offset that with some other happy thought.

Basically, look into making a legendary meeting hall. This will solve all your problems. Essentially that means incrasing the value of your meeting hall as much as possible. This can be done easily with fine encrusted tables, statues and even a non-functional well with high value components.

Give it a shot and let us know how it goes

EDIT: I forgot to mention, losing a friend or loved one can make the entire fort lose their SH*T, so take care of your dwarves to ensure nobody has any unforseen fun