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[Mimodo]

I decided to go for something a little bit different in this fortress, and it's actually quite fun.

I'm limited to only four of the original seven dwarves, and am building only above ground, using wood and clay products. No trading is to be done, and all migrants get killed (atom smashed).

I'm now 7 or 8 years in, and there have been only a few minor hiccups along the way, including a necromancer appearing, leaving two of the dwarves maimed.

The embark was a nice area (no evil, and no giant/deadly creatures), and sparse trees:

Sparse my Arse!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Anyway, this is what my little town looks like so far:

z=0

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

z=+1

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Each dwarf has a two-storey house, built from earthenware bricks, and wood (for floors and stairs). Workshops are the buildings bottom left, and the building on the bottom right is where the slabs for the dead migrants are. Currently over 200 of them have met their fate. Each year, I receive the message "Some migrants have arrived, despite the danger". What will it take to scare them off completely!

I've got a bit of housekeeping to do, like make new clothes for them all etc, but I want to expand. What things should I add? An outer wall? Wall upgrades? I've hit a blank, so I need suggestions. Since digging isn't allowed, that kind of ruins all suggestions including magma, sorry guys :/

[StagnantSoul]

Nice town! I suggest an outer wall, maybe a few ditches to make the enemy walk around for a while.

[Wumpi]

I've been playing games like this, and was about to start one exactly like yours.
Since you have so few dwarves and no way to get weapons, there's not that much I can think to suggest.
A townhall with full suite for the mayor. "Honeymoon suites" to help convince dwarves to marry by living in close proximity. A proper well in town would be handy - I can't see one there already.
A watch tower for aesthetics. Maybe siege weaponry? If you ever get a weapon, you could have a sheriff's office for your one or two guards. If you're looting migrant items, they'll bring a pick or crossbow you could use. Alternatively, just have him be a monk with a shrine instead.

Find your dwarves most commonly worshipped diety and build a suitable shrine to them. Jailhouse for bad times. Nursery for locking in children where they wont be snatched or drowned or hit by minecarts or fall off a building or get bit by snakes or fall asleep on a stone trap or throw parties. Floors for your dwarves. A water tower might be handy on occasion, if you're creative.  Build a totem to scare away migrants, aesthetically speaking. or maybe a statue of the diety of torment.

Digging in the soil might be a reasonable compromise. Even the most primitive dwarves can use their mouths to move dirt. Thus you could dig a ratway or  a sewer system complete with water and corpses.

[twwolfe]

one more bit of advice, make sure you cut down trees growing next to your walls. you want to establishes a cleared zone, otherwise things will just climb up and hop into town to maim your dwarves.

[StagnantSoul]

Turn some animals into leather, then some wood into shields. Use your copper picks and axes as emergency weapons. If you have crossbows, use them too.

[Mimodo]

I brought on embark with me a copper crossbow, and one of the dwarves has been training since the beginning. Legendary in Archer, Marksdwarf, Discipline, Dodger, and whatever the other one that combat drills train. Of course leather armour and wood shields as well... that's what the housekeeping bit is.

The trees are a constant issue, as even building dirt roads, they eventually come back. I periodically clear them out.

A honeymoon suite might be required actually, since I've had two dwarves as lovers for the past 6 years, which is yet to blossom into something a little more. They haven't even talked to each other recently.

Unfortunately I don't really have a source of water at all, so wells and water towers probably won't work all that well

[Skullsploder]

You can work around the clothing issue by just making every dwarf an inactive member of the military with a leather uniform. But anyway, you should build a one-storey curtain wall around the area you'll be expanding into, and then raise the original wall a level. The next time you expand again, do the same thing, and raise the inner two walls one level each. You should now have a 1, 2, and 3 z level high wall, for a really cool tiered-city effect.

Since no trading is done, I'm assuming your going to reject barony status. You could make a republic themed city-state, complete with an assembly hall and stuff, and your mayor's residence and senate house would take up most of the original inner wall area.

Of course, all this is far down the line, once you've actually got that exponential population growth thing working for you. For now, just claim a largish area around your village by building a wall around it, and get a forge built to ensure the safety of your starting anvil. You did start with an anvil, right?

[Mimodo]

You can work around the clothing issue by just making every dwarf an inactive member of the military with a leather uniform. But anyway, you should build a one-storey curtain wall around the area you'll be expanding into, and then raise the original wall a level. The next time you expand again, do the same thing, and raise the inner two walls one level each. You should now have a 1, 2, and 3 z level high wall, for a really cool tiered-city effect.

Since no trading is done, I'm assuming your going to reject barony status. You could make a republic themed city-state, complete with an assembly hall and stuff, and your mayor's residence and senate house would take up most of the original inner wall area.

Of course, all this is far down the line, once you've actually got that exponential population growth thing working for you. For now, just claim a largish area around your village by building a wall around it, and get a forge built to ensure the safety of your starting anvil. You did start with an anvil, right?

Anvil? What? Who needs an anvil if I'm not getting metal? :p

I kinda have a backstory to it all which means they're basically failure dwarves who rejected all forms of digging and metal, making them only use stone for slabs. I do like the tier effect though

[Baffler]

Beware: some dwarves may become lovers, but will never marry. If you use DFHack, you can check their orientation that way. Also, if you ever get tired of making slabs, you can turn off immigration by setting the population_cap down, but leaving the child cap and the strict_population_cap in place.

[Skullsploder]

You can work around the clothing issue by just making every dwarf an inactive member of the military with a leather uniform. But anyway, you should build a one-storey curtain wall around the area you'll be expanding into, and then raise the original wall a level. The next time you expand again, do the same thing, and raise the inner two walls one level each. You should now have a 1, 2, and 3 z level high wall, for a really cool tiered-city effect.

Since no trading is done, I'm assuming your going to reject barony status. You could make a republic themed city-state, complete with an assembly hall and stuff, and your mayor's residence and senate house would take up most of the original inner wall area.

Of course, all this is far down the line, once you've actually got that exponential population growth thing working for you. For now, just claim a largish area around your village by building a wall around it, and get a forge built to ensure the safety of your starting anvil. You did start with an anvil, right?

Anvil? What? Who needs an anvil if I'm not getting metal? :p

I kinda have a backstory to it all which means they're basically failure dwarves who rejected all forms of digging and metal, making them only use stone for slabs. I do like the tier effect though

Hahaha don't you know goblinite is the fourth ore of iron?
How do you raise and lower bridges btw? Did you embark with some mechanisms for limited use or are you allowed to do mechanics?

[arcturusthelesser]

Hahaha don't you know goblinite is the fourth ore of iron?
How do you raise and lower bridges btw? Did you embark with some mechanisms for limited use or are you allowed to do mechanics?

Can't you make mechanisms out of glass?

[Tacomagic]

Hahaha don't you know goblinite is the fourth ore of iron?
How do you raise and lower bridges btw? Did you embark with some mechanisms for limited use or are you allowed to do mechanics?

Can't you make mechanisms out of glass?

Nope.  You can make them out of metal, though.

[Mimodo]

Beware: some dwarves may become lovers, but will never marry. If you use DFHack, you can check their orientation that way. Also, if you ever get tired of making slabs, you can turn off immigration by setting the population_cap down, but leaving the child cap and the strict_population_cap in place.

Well damn... That might explain why they've been lovers for years. No way to force them to with DFHack?

I was originally going to embark with mechanisms, and no pick, but because of the need for slabs, I'm just going to have the dwarves as not knowing the use for anything, but still able to dig to create slabs

[MobRules]

Hahaha don't you know goblinite is the fourth ore of iron?
How do you raise and lower bridges btw? Did you embark with some mechanisms for limited use or are you allowed to do mechanics?

Can't you make mechanisms out of glass?

Nope.  You can make them out of metal, though.

You can also make them out of stone.

(It's trap components that can be made out of glass: giant serrated blades, et. al.)

[Urist McVoyager]

And yes, you're probably getting metal. It's called whatever weapons/tools your migrants come with. You probably could make them shuck all of that off before you kill them, you know.

ETA: Also, you could pave a large area around your town with the wood from the trees you cut down. That should take care of them growing back up.