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[synyster31]

I've recently got back into DF after a little hiatus and I have a few questions i'd like answers too if anyone can help 

1. What size map do you play on? As in the size you select on the embark screen.
2. How do you go about getting enough leather to outfit archer squads? Or you simply try and buy most of it?
3. When I make a pasture for my geese/chickens with numerous nestboxes, I lock the entrance doors to try and get eggs to hatch and boost the numbers but they just sit on the boxes and nothing happens until I unlock the doors and a dorf comes and collects the eggs, I can't seem to get them to hatch, am I doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance!

[UnicodingUnicorn]

1. 2x2. Balances FPS and space.
2. Early on, trade. Later when there is a sizeable meat industry, fortress stocks sustain the leather industry.
3. Now, if the version is .40.19 or later, animals only breed if they are standing next to each other.

[Pencil_Art]

Meaning leave a rooster inside the chicken pens.

[Wheeljack]

1. I usually always play the default 3x3, with the region being small or medium to balance the FPS. I run around 100 FPS typically, for reference.

2. I bring sheep or pigs or both at embark. Usually 3 females and 3 males. I dump a lot of the stuff I can make at embark or won't need immediately. It's enough to start getting babies pretty quickly. I also buy out the caravans of all their leather. Spam them with mechanisms and you can pretty much buy what you like while also training your mechanic. I also dump furniture that doesn't meet standards on them (exceptional or masterwork only for my dwarves :3)

3. You might have a male that isn't interested in breeding with females, or as Snail555 said, the most recent versions are touch based breeding. I have a 3x5 Peahen coup, with nest boxes in the middle and my male roams on either side of the nest boxes. I forgot to unlock the door once and had fifty chicks running around in there in my latest fort.

[bluephoenix]

1. I usually always play the default 3x3, with the region being small or medium to balance the FPS. I run around 100 FPS typically, for reference.

Default is 4x4.

[puke]

1 - as small as possible to encompass the features I want -- never larger than 3x5.  I try for 2x2, but I guess now 1x1 and 1x2 will be options.

Usually I want some combination of Caldera, Cliff (or steep hill), River, and Aquifer.  Fortunately some of these things commonly go together,  like Caldera and steep slopes.  Often, I need to stretch to get flowing water included.

2 - I buy it.  It's cheap, and stone crafts are plentiful.  In older versions I'd process it myself, but I can't seem to get the same absurd volumes of butchery going on since grazing became a thing, and wild animal populations got caps.  If someone has meat / leather industry tips, I wouldn't mind hearing about it.

3 - This has been hit-and-miss for me, even before animals got gender identities and proximity became required for breeding.  One time, the first few batches of eggs didnt hatch, but then they started being fertalized.  Not sure what the deal was.

[Detros]

1 - as small as possible to encompass the features I want -- never larger than 3x5.  I try for 2x2, but I guess now 1x1 and 1x2 will be options.

"Allowed embarks with x/y dim 1" option is already in 0.40.24. They just got omitted from "Find desired embark location" but hopefully should be there for next release:

I would like to remark that the Find Desired Location routine is still limited to 2x2 embarks.

Ah whoops.  I'll update that for next time, whenever next time ends up being.

[Nikow]

1. What size map do you play on? As in the size you select on the embark screen.

3x3, central 1x1 is "for my dwarfs", all around are for stuff, some buildings, experiments and enemies.

2. How do you go about getting enough leather to outfit archer squads? Or you simply try and buy most of it?

I just ordered from caravan leather from gaiant thingies. What looks tought and there is leather for it, i want it for my leather needs.

3. When I make a pasture for my geese/chickens with numerous nestboxes, I lock the entrance doors to try and get eggs to hatch and boost the numbers but they just sit on the boxes and nothing happens until I unlock the doors and a dorf comes and collects the eggs, I can't seem to get them to hatch, am I doing something wrong?

First way is always not fertalized. And now, males must be locked in the same room like females and have access to them.

[synyster31]

Thanks for all the answers, very helpful. Something may have happened to my rooster on that game then i'm not sure!

2. Early on, trade. Later when there is a sizeable meat industry, fortress stocks sustain the leather industry.

I can never seem to get much meat, I always end up with "there is nothing to catch in 'x'..." Is this because there is nothing for my hunter to catch? I've done the usual, assign arrows, unassign and reassign hunting labour when they run out, etc. They seem to be actually going out to hunt but there's nothing there? This happens on pretty much any biome I play on.

[Naryar]

1-3x3, 2x2, 2x3 usually

2- What, you mean leather armor is actual armor ? It's good for goblins, and maybe civilians. I armor my marskdwarves in metal, maybe less heavily than the melee ones but still in metal.

I used to buy all the leather from the caravans, but dogs and pigs make good leather producers.

3- Apparently the first batch of eggs is always nonfertile. And you need your males to touch (heh) your females now.

[Chief10]

I can never seem to get much meat, I always end up with "there is nothing to catch in 'x'..." Is this because there is nothing for my hunter to catch? I've done the usual, assign arrows, unassign and reassign hunting labour when they run out, etc. They seem to be actually going out to hunt but there's nothing there? This happens on pretty much any biome I play on.

You need to bring tame animals at embark, or else buy them from traders. Sheep and chickens/geese are my favorite, especially since chickens/geese don't require grass to pasture. Hunting is rarely productive enough to sustain a fort.

[synyster31]

You need to bring tame animals at embark, or else buy them from traders. Sheep and chickens/geese are my favorite, especially since chickens/geese don't require grass to pasture. Hunting is rarely productive enough to sustain a fort.

Hmm ok thanks. I thought hunting seemed a bit hit and miss.

[Bearskie]

1. 2x2 embark works best for me, the lag is much more bearable.  If I'm attempting a specialist fort, I use 1x1 for even better fps.

2. I find that without a thriving animal industry, leather is rather difficult to come by.  Caravans often bring bins FILLED with leather if you request them to, so I usually rely on that source.

3. Make sure there is a male bird in the nesting room too, as the eggs need to be fertilized as well.