Recently (within the last 2 weeks) I've started using the following strategy and have really come to like it:
I've found that, much like everyone else, points sunk into raising dwarves in anything but metal-based skill are rather inefficient (unless you're in an evil biome and need soldiers asap). I go with a minimalist skill approach to this:
My dwarves look like this:
1x Armorsmith 5
1x Weaponsmith 5
5x Peasant
Since I typically don't create much metal craft stuff or furniture until much later in the fort, I find that I don't miss Blacksmith / Metal Crafter. I almost always get a metal crafter or blacksmith in one of first three embarks, so I don't worry too much. Everything else is trained easily enough, and my first 7 are so busy building infrastructure that they tend to end up as jack-of-all-trades anyway.
Items:
2x Copper Pick
1x Iron Anvil
80x Alcohol (split among available)
50x meat (I usually don't bother splitting it up so I get more barrels, but I split it enough to make decent lavish meals)
50x fish
21x plump helmet spawn
20x pig tail seeds
20x rock nut
10x Cave Wheet
10x Sweet Pods
35x Cassiterite
36x Copper Nugget
10x Bituminous Coal
12x Leather
1x Coke/Charcoal
1x Noneconomic stone
Animals:
1F Dog
1M Dog
1M Cat
1F Cat
1M Peafowl
3F Peafowl
1M Turkey
3F Turkey
Most of that is self-explanatory, but you'll notice a few odd things about my item spread. I'll tackle those:
1) 1 unit of coke
That's kind of an optional thing. I mostly use it so I don't have to take the extra steps to build a wood burner, assign the labor, and make charcoal in order to turn all that coal into coke (more necessary if I happen to embark where there aren't any trees).
2) No plump helmets
Raw plump helmets are more expensive than bringing extra meat/fish and extra seeds to cover the difference.
3) Anvil
I start my metal industry pretty much right away. Hard to do that without an anvil.
4) Lots of birds and two types
Eggs are awesome filler for lavish meals. Having 2 kinds of eggs really helps with this, as do having 6 layers. Also, I like having the peafowl around because they grow to full-size in half the time that turkeys do, which gets the meat industry jump-started.
5) So much ore! And why that extra piece of copper?
Yup, it all becomes bronze as soon as I can smelt it. That extra piece of copper becomes 4 more picks as soon as my metal industry starts cranking over.
6) What's with the leather?
Mostly I have that so I can make bags. Leather is cheaper to bring than cloth, so that's why I chose it.
7) Lots of food and booze
My first two priorities when embarking are always physical infrastructure (craft areas, dining rooms, bedrooms, above ground walls and defenses) and metal smithing. This is compounded by me almost always embarking with an aquifer that needs breaching. By bringing so much food, I can afford to ignore farming for awhile in favor of assigning extra labor to handling these priority jobs. I find I can safely ignore food collection until the second migrant wave if I really have to.
Variations:
There are 2 main variations that I'll use when working in areas with no trees:
If I'm doing a spot with no trees, I'll decrease the cassiterite and copper by 3 each and bring 12 pieces of wood, mostly so I can make beds before the first caravan.
If I'm doing a spot with no trees AND an aquifer, I'll decrease cassiterite and copper by 4 each and bring 12 wood and 4 stone. This provides some inexpensive stone to make mechanisms for the aquifer pierce. Of note, walling the aquifer in a no-tree embark will require using some metal or coke bars. These can be reclaimed later after there is stone access.
Just before the first unpause:
There is some house-keeping I do with every embark before I get started.
1) I use Fixster to make sure all my domestic animals are fertile.
2) Set some jobs for all the peasants (2 miners, an architect, a mason, and a carpenter to start, typically, as well as adding furnace operator and blacksmithing to the two smiths)
2) I set the wagon to disassemble (it becomes a craft shop and 2 training axes IF there are trees. Otherwise, I don't bother)
3) I designate the framework of the first level to be dug
4) Set up to build a smelter with that random piece of stone.
From there, it's basic fort building. Again, main objectives for the 7 is to pierce the aquifer (if present), get first crafting rooms dug, start on the above-ground fortifications, get a spot for the egg farming set up, and work on the first dining room, office, and 20 bedrooms. Most of those peasants will be bouncing between masonry, mining, and carpentry jobs during the whole first season as stuff gets built. Of note: it's very handy to rush-build the forge with a piece of coal so you can get those picks built.
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Topic: [DF2014] Embark Profiles (Read 19523 times)