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[penco]

I was very big into DF for a few years between 2008-2011 and then took a hiatus for a few years. I swear I was pretty good back then, but now I can't get my fortress off the ground. By the time I get food production and basic fort digging out of the way, I don't have any time to train and equip a decent outfit of dwarves and end up getting slaughtered in the first ambush/siege. My usual priorities are like this:

• Mine out an entry tunnel.
• Mine out a farm space.
• Mine out a small workshop zone.
• Build a moat/walls/drawbridge.
• Look for metals and start making armor/weapons.
• Start training military.

The big problem is that my miners end up being a bottleneck for everything else. My masons and mechanics can't do much until the miners have cleared some stone. My smith can't make anything useful until the miners find good metals. I also can't build any good traps without metal weapons. My farmer can't farm until the miners have cleared out some underground soil. Etc.

I also hit another bottleneck with my carpenter. He has to make training spears for danger rooms. He has to make wheelbarrows. He has to make beds. He has to make barrels for booze. I don't know what to prioritize, and I always lose track of the micromanagement.

I'm sure part of my problem is that I am kind of OCD about perfect, symmetrical, overplanned forts and layouts and don't want to throw up a temporary "crap fortress" that will uglify the eventual design I have planned. Do I just need to forget it all and carve out a quick hole for farming/workshops and then start looking for metals and training military? How and when do danger rooms fit into the equation? Can someone give me a description of their typical embark procedure, one that doesn't involve just immediately locking up the fortress?

[PaleBlueHammer]

Yep, I had this problem many times.  I am right there with you about symmetrical planned forts.  My solution(s):

- Build a temporary fortress at the soil layer.  A dorm, a small meeting hall with kitchen and still, a catch-all stockpile, a workshop room, and a training room.  Worry about metal armor an weapons later.

- Embark with at least three miners.  Draft at least one migrant from each wave to add to the force.  I am horribly nitpicky and reliant on miners to get an overall fort layout in place, including quantum storage and a big meeting hall, also elaborate bedrooms.  The only shortcut here is to mine out soil layers first before designating any stone layers, since soil breaks up much quicker and your miners gain XP quicker.

- Embark with one military type dwarf.  Give him odd jobs until you have some spare migrants to sacrifice volunteer for a squad.  Gather plants, make blocks at a mason workshop, whatever.  You may wish to add a very cheap set of armor and a short sword (or axe, or hammer, etc) at embark if you can afford it.  Use him to drive off any early annoyances.  Alternately: a hunter.  He will use his crossbow against enemies whereas a woodcutter will not use his axe.

- Wall yourself in early.  Use blocks.  Get a quick, fundamental wall built (with a roof) with any dwarves you're not using for mining.  Make sure to remember to establish a trade depot and either wall it in too with a drawbridge, or place it outside the walls.  Then you have time to concentrate on your fortress.  Trade if you care to.  After you're all established, you can always either tear down the existing walls, or build new stuff around it to enable surface farming, etc.  Just remember to build a roof on everything, as dwarves will CLIMB now.

- Before the new version, I used a mod called Modest Mod which made regular training sessions much more valuable and worthwhile, eliminating the need for danger rooms (which are a pain, and pretty cheaty, IMO).  Unknown if this mod works in 2014 versions, but if so I'll definitely be using it again.  If I can avoid it I will always avoid using danger rooms.  Big pain in the ass.

- Optionally, slap a training room on the surface.  Military dwarves will need sunlight exposure anyway eventually or they will barf all over the place.

- GLASS.  Use it and abuse it.  It takes a little time to set up the industry but once you have a legendary glassmaker, you can churn out A TON of trap components with breakneck speed.  Plain old green glass.  Also good for doors (portals), chairs, tables, and POTS, which replace barrels and hold twice the volume while being lighter.  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Pot  I use glass exclusively for trap components, except for the occasional piece of goblinite I don't want to bother melting.  If you're not familiar with the glass industry, definitely read up on it first.  Tip: cancel any empty bags at embark, and instead buy sand.  Any sand.  Costs 1 point and comes with a free bag.

- Got a spare duck or turkey or something else non-grazing?  Place it as bait in a goblin grinder:  http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Trap_design  Those things are effective.

Most of these tips I'm giving you presume you're not embarking on a hella dangerous piece of real estate.  Evil biome?  Get your ass underground ASAP and seal the entrance permanently, job #1.

[Tacomagic]

If at any time during the first year I get sieged, I either crutch on traps, or just turtle up and wait for them to go away.  There just isn't enough time to get the training in to make an effective military.  By the second year you can usually have some kind of competent military going depending on how lucky you get with iron deposits, but that whole first year you should be focused on getting defenses up to lock yourself in if/when you get sieged.

Anyway, this is my typical start in 0.40.xx:

For the first season especially I use a kind of floating priority job system.  Few if any specialists and I change jobs constantly to fit what needs to be done so it gets done fast.  Part of the trick to it is  in minimizing the amount of hauling you do until the third or fourth wave of migrants.  Typically this means you only build the bare minimum of stockpiles and instead build craft stations near where the materials are.  Once you have the manpower to start lugging stuff around, you can worry about making things neat, but until you get settled, dirty and quick is the way.

First, I keep 2 miners going full-tilt until I have all the basic rooms ready (farms, craft area, barracks, etc), no hauling allowed on either. Those aren't part of the floating priority system until they're done digging.  A third dwarf becomes the "keep everyone alive" dwarf.  He's a farmer, plant gatherer, brewer, and cook.  As well as any other odd-jobs I need done but don't find a big priority early on. Like weaving or plant processing.  He's basically just there to keep everyone fed.

The other 4 basically become jack of all trades whose jobs change as I need so I can get stuff done quick while still allowing enough hauling to get the embark stuff inside.  Typically this starts with 2 of them becoming lumberjacks and the other 2 carpenters.  I build 2 carpentry shops on the surface and start cranking out anything I need.  I also start building the start of my defensive walls while the miners do their thing.  Once I've got about 100-150 logs worth of lumber chopped down, the lumberjacks change over to carpenters and I start building walls like crazy.  The idea is to get at least the first level of walls up with a ceiling on it before the miners are done with their dig.  This gives me the basic ability to hole up if I need to and create some safe above-ground space for my carpenters and any pasture I need. 

Note: the whole carpentry phase could be skipped and instead fortifications can be made underground.  However, with the abundance of wood on the map, I find securing a decently sized above-ground space to be worthwhile.  Plus, it allows me to come back later and build fortifications and start a towers and killing zones.

Usually around the time that I've got a system of wooden walls up with a drawbridge built (not hooked up to anything), my miners have gotten enough space cleared to start working on stone crafting.  Around this time 2 of the carpenters become mechanics/stonecrafters and I start pumping out anything I need that can only be made of stone.  Typically just mechanisms and rock pots.  Once the first 3 mechanisms are done, I rig the bridge to close.  That's a big priority for me.

Meanwhile, my miners start working on the first space to be used as bedrooms.  Hopefully they'll hit metal while they're digging these out, but if not, no big deal.

Once I've got about 20 mechanisms and 20 pots built up, one of my stoneworkers changes back over to a carpenter and I start building walls on the second floor of my tower, the other gets set to either make rock crafts, or, if there's something easy to kill on the map, I turn him into a hunter/butcher/tanner so I can start to gather some leather and bone.

Meanwhile, by now the carpenters have usually turned out enough furniture to set up the first bedrooms, a dining hall, and a couple of offices.  At this point I have them concentrate on making trap components and training weapons.

Around the time the first bedrooms are dug out, the first migrant wave arrives.  I quickly disable everything but hauling on them and get all the bedrooms assembled.  Once that's done, 1 of these I turn into a crafter dwarf.  They get all the craft skills (stone, wood, and bonecraft) as well as making him/her a bower.  Their first job is to create a bunch of crossbows and then start pumping out bolts.  One of the others becomes a secondary "keep everyone alive" dwarf to assist the first one who has been run ragged up to this point.  One of the migrants becomes my catch-all officer worker (manager, broker, etc).  The rest are drafted into the military and begin melee training immediately with the training weapons the carpenters produced earlier.

Once the first set of bedrooms are completely done.  I start work on another set while also starting some exploratory mining for ores. It splits the work a little more than I'd like, but I find if I don't split it, one or the other doesn't get done as I'll over-focus.  At this point I'm looking for weapons grade metal of any kind.

By this time, likely one of my carpenters is running out of things to do, or at least I no longer have enough work to merit more than 1 carpenter.  I change the extra carpenter into a wood burner and start pumping out charcoal.  If I've found metal, the stone-worker/hunter is put on smelting detail.  If things really went my way, I'll be able to start turning out weapons and armor before the second migrant wave arrives.  Otherwise, if I'm having the kind of luck I usually have, I'll at least have enough wooden junk to get everyone training.

When the next migrant wave shows up, I draft enough of them into the military to set my population at about 50/50 workers/soldiers.  Once my first melee squad hits 10, I start building a ranged squad and get them training.

From there it's pretty much just keeping it going until something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

The whole gist here is that I try to keep my dwarves adaptable until things have settled in.  I prioritize things to the point of wholly ignoring others just so that certain things get done fast, rather than trying to bring the whole thing together all at once.

[Chief10]

Weapon traps aren't nearly as effective as cage traps, and cost a lot more in resource too

[vanatteveldt]

I admit I've not read the whole thread, but my (DF2012) experience is that the order should be reversed, assuming you have some supplies with you:

Mine out an entry tunnel.
Start training military.
Mine out a farm space.
Mine out a small workshop zone.
Build a moat/walls/drawbridge.
Look for metals and start making armor/weapons.

You can start training as soon as you have one weapon per person, either a training weapon or bring 2-4 metal weapons on embark. When more stuff gets made (wooden shields, helmets etc) they will incorporate it.

Alternatively, I like taking 4 picks and 4 dwarves with a couple points in mining and the rest military, and have them start training after mining out a temporary fort. This gives the other dwarves time to smelt some ore (bring the ore and coal) and make a first batch of weapons/shield/helmets. Progress on other stuff will be slow when you only have 3 productive dwarves, but all you need is a farm plot, a still, and some furniture. Once migrants come in stuff will get done again. You can have your 4 dwarves training non-stop by early summer, which should get them decent by the time the first bogeys arrive.

[Xinael]

I am kind of OCD about perfect, symmetrical, overplanned forts and layouts

This is both a help and and a hindrance. Your wonderful plan for where you want your fort to go is useless if it can't be bootstrapped into existence. What's the solution? Add another layer of complexity to the plan by including development over time!

You could for example plan a big open area for something like a superbly grand dining room. If you design this room so that a bunch of smaller rooms fit inside it, you can dig those out for while your fortress is growing, and then knock down the walls later once you're free to expand. You could mine out some tiny bedrooms to get started, and then turn them into some much bigger noble accomodation later. There are so many possibilities!

And yes, abusing glass for trap components is a good method. Cage traps are also pretty good defence early. Taking a couple of guys with teaching skills and a range of military skills and setting them to training asap is also a good idea; they can then teach new guys later. I have those guys dig the first bit, and then swap to training full time as soon as there's enough room inside to fit everything. Then other dwarves with nothing to do can take over.

[Nevenrial]

I start with all but two woodcutters as miners; no other skills. Get enough picks with the extra points. Get 80 food and drink which is enough to dig out and get industry started.

 First wave of immigrants gets drafted and outfitted with the two copper axes  then bone armor from animals they practice killing. Just cut a lot of wood with the two wood cutters but only let them harvest.
When the first wave arrives, turn off the wood cutters labor and use the two dropped axes as weapons.

[Slogo]

Bringing Tetrahedrite for a silver warhammer + copper for additional picks and some armor is a good way to start. If you need an early barracks just make an armor or weapon stand from stone or wood and use one of your first indoor tiles for it. You can have a temporary barracks of like 2-4 tiles and your military won't really mind. Getting a piece of armor + shield on your dwarf early is important so they start developing armor user and shield skills.

Usually if I want early military I give one guy hammerer and maybe a point or 2 in teaching and leader so they pass their knowledge on to your first migrant recruits.

[vanatteveldt]

barracks don't need to be inside, you can just designate it outside near your entrance, which doubles as a fortress guard.

[penco]

Thanks for all the suggestions. So it sounds like you all mostly neglect marksdwarves for the initial phase of the fort? For melee, which is better of hammers vs maces? And how important is it to have a slashing-weapon squad?

Also, regarding glass, how do you all manage to get that industry running so quickly with the fuel cost? 3/4 of my worldgens have no bituminous/lignite available at embark, and I find digging down far enough to create magma forges so early is a disaster waiting to happen (magma death, cavern monsters, etc). Wood burning seems to take forever and is totally not worth it except in a major pinch to crank out the first few picks and weapons.

[Slogo]

Thanks for all the suggestions. So it sounds like you all mostly neglect marksdwarves for the initial phase of the fort?

Also, regarding glass, how do you all manage to get that industry running so quickly with the fuel cost? 3/4 of my worldgens have no bituminous/lignite available at embark, and I find digging down far enough to create magma forges so early is a disaster waiting to happen (magma death, cavern monsters, etc). Wood burning seems to take forever and is totally not worth it except in a major pinch to crank out the first few picks and weapons.

Markdwarves take a ton of bolts/arrows to train up and when you're at a small fort population you won't really have the supplies for that. Once you're at like 30+ dwarves and can have a meat industry and/or a fishing industry constantly supplying bones you can make enough bolts to train the dwarves well.

Also I'd probably do something early on with the idea of exhausting the ammo supply of bowmen and xbowmen though that may not be as relevant in 40.10. Either turtle up and let them hunt things around the map or maybe bait them with an animal they can only shoot at. Bowmen are always a risk, but they're going to be especially dangerous early on if your skills are weak.

[Tacomagic]

Also, regarding glass, how do you all manage to get that industry running so quickly with the fuel cost? 3/4 of my worldgens have no bituminous/lignite available at embark, and I find digging down far enough to create magma forges so early is a disaster waiting to happen (magma death, cavern monsters, etc). Wood burning seems to take forever and is totally not worth it except in a major pinch to crank out the first few picks and weapons.

Despite how long it takes to make charcoal, it's a major part of an early glass industry.  You just have to bite the bullet and suffer through the initial training of your wood burner.  You can speed it up a bit by making sure you build the wood burner on the surface near a few downed trees and only letting 1 dwarf do it so they get trained up and work faster.

Usually in wave 3 I pick one dwarf and make them dedicated to wood burning until I've built up a supply of at least 100 charcoal, possibly more if I'm actively building glass items.

Another way you can do it is rush the magma sea.  It's riskier, but with proper precautions, you can get magma forges going before the end of the second season.  The issue here is that if you don't get lucky and find sand in the lower caves, the time you lose in hauling sand down from higher up is probably unequal to just making charcoal.

[Nasty]

I dig straight in to the first stone layer, a quick ~20 tile long, single tile wide entrance corridor, then stairs back up into the first soil layer. I then dig out a 12x21 area in the soil (digs out very fast and gives an xp boost to the miners). Now everything except the wood can be brought inside and a carpenter, mason and mechanics workshops thrown down. I only take two miners and my woodcutter doubles as the mechanic. He makes 5 mechanisms (lever and two bridges). Straight away after getting everyone busy moving in, the moat is dug (3x wide for good measure, something like 11-15 tiles from the entrance stairs so there is a small surface pasture level). Wooden bridges are thrown down as soon as the spots for them are dug out, the inside ramps are removed and a few tiles are dug out by the entrance hall for what will be part of the barracks, and a lever thrown in and linked to the bridges. You are now safe from sieges and your miners are free to dig out as you please, usually starting with farms, large area past the barracks for the wood stockpile which will also house the bowyer/carpenter workshops, metalworking industry, stone furniture areas etc.

I generally only start my military from scratch with the first migrant wave, with the goal of having two melee and two crossbow dwarves at the second migrant wave before winter. Crossbow dwarves have a separate stair access to the battlements (using blocks you can very rapidly build a sealed stairway to the surface with a block stockpile underground near the stairs, and turn the start of your wall project into a functional tower), and by autumn even a single dwarf behind fortifications up there can force a couple of goblin squads into retreat.

This approach has the advantages of keeping everybody busy while only needing two picks and a single axe, leaving a lot left over for dwarf skills, unnecessarily large amounts of food, sandbags, ingredients to kickstart metal industry and whathaveyou. In fact its so effective its making me bored and considering going back to having an unsealed entrance.

[Dorf and Dumb]

In the new version wood is much more common, so just give all your dorfs carpenter skill and throw up a small palisade, leaving enough room for some farm plots, butcher shops, refuse pile.  (It only gives one block from wood for some reason so there's no point to build them)  Use stairs to the palisade and build fortications out from it so they overhang and stop many potential climbers (no promises... for some reason one was able to climb up when over the stream and shoot bolts IN from the fortications.  Ouch.)  Build an inner keep with fortications right around the main stairs extending up, just 1x1 on the inside so they can't stand the wrong place no matter how hard they try, that can lock out all fliers and give your crossbowdorfs someplace to shoot at them from.  Don't forget to build hatches in when you put up the temporary floors so you can build the fortications, that way you can lock the little bastards in it if you want.

To equip those crossbowdorfs, wooden crossbows, wooden bolts, and bring a whole bunch of leather at embark for quivers backpacks etc.

Doors out from the palisade and the inner keep are set one outside the wall (with their own little side-walls) so you can have a mostly-finished wall right behind them.  When something is bashing down your door you're building up the wall, in theory.

[Ravendarksky]

I'll keep this short and sweet. I go for a rapid surface military embark. My early dwarfs live frugally and focus on honing their skills.

Embark with 6 picks and one axe/anvil.

Build carpenter
Dig out a 7x3 area, put 7 wooden beds, tables and chairs in it
Dig out a 3x1 area, put one table and two chairs in it, now you can assign manager (for making correct charcoal/smelt/weapon/armour ratios)
Dig out an underground soil 3x7 area, make it a farm and produce plump helmets
Build kitchen, Still, 30 barrels, 6 wheelbarrows
Dig out food/drink underground storage next to farm
Build wood furnace/smelter/smith and make coal with carpenter while 6 miners find metal.
Swap your carpenter to food/drink production... once your production is OK have him make giant wooden corkscrews to trade
swap 5 miners to melting metal and making charcoal
swap final miner to crafting armour/weapons
Trade giant wooden corkscrews for leather/cloth to make the rest of the equipment you want (capes, robes, waterskins, etc).

Using this aggressive armour producing strategy I've found that by the time my first migrant wave hits I have enough copper/iron armour for all of them to straight away become soldiers. Even terrible new soldiers are good enough to fend off early waves when they are fully encased in copper/iron with a weapon.

At this point you can properly start digging out your fort, safe in the knowledge that you've got a decent chance of holding off any early pushes.