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[Salkryn]

I'm getting ready to start a new fortress, and I'm trying to strike a balance between "nothing ever happens" and "entirely too much !!Fun!!". I've been embarking in savage tropical biomes for the most part, and I haven't been seeing the number of large predators/terrifying elephant encounters that I had come to expect. On a similar note, none of the past five or more fortresses I've built have had any kobold incursions. What advice would you gents give to a player who has got the basics, but isn't quite ready to tackle embarking in an evil biome just yet?

[skyte100]

Embark in goblin range.
  OPTIONAL: Embark in an active war.

[Salkryn]

I always try to embark near goblins, and I've been able to weather my fair share of sieges. It just seems that even when I set the savagery and number of beasts in world-generation to maximum, I am still only getting a goblin siege every other year or so and not many forgotten beasts, titans, or werecreatures. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but most of my fortresses have been almost depressingly benign. I'll get to the point where my fortress has its industries going at full blast and become a Mountainhome, and my military is smiting goblin sieges with impunity. My last siege on my fortress was nearly 50 goblins and trolls, I won with only three fatalities and no permanent injuries to my dwarves. I find myself getting bored at this point, because I've got a strong military and huge piles of wealth, but for some reason I haven't attracted the attention of any of the larger beasts. Short of popping an adamantine vein, I'm a bit unsure of how to progress.

[Skuggen]

You could embark on the border of an evil area. Giant animals coming in from one side, undead and clouds from the other.

[Salkryn]

Latest fortress fell quite suddenly when I breached the first level of caverns early on. The troglodytes weren't a threat, but the web-spitting forgotten beast made out of mud destroyed my military with little effort. Attempts to reclaim met similar fates. Side note: no thieves or snatchers ever showed up. This has been happening fairly consistently for me. Could it be because I set the beasts and savagery to maximum in the presets? I had goblins on my civilization list, but no kobolds, but I'm not sure if kobolds are supposed to show up on the civilization list as I've never seen them there.

[blue emu]

... I've been embarking in savage tropical biomes...

This is my next megaproject... a savage tropical embark, so that I can build an Elephant Gun that fires REAL Elephants.

[AceSV]

Latest fortress fell quite suddenly when I breached the first level of caverns early on. The troglodytes weren't a threat, but the web-spitting forgotten beast made out of mud destroyed my military with little effort. Attempts to reclaim met similar fates. Side note: no thieves or snatchers ever showed up. This has been happening fairly consistently for me. Could it be because I set the beasts and savagery to maximum in the presets? I had goblins on my civilization list, but no kobolds, but I'm not sure if kobolds are supposed to show up on the civilization list as I've never seen them there.

You could try living on the surface.  You'll eventually get titans and dragons but those are generally not as bad as the worst forgotten beasts.  (I've only seen one Titan, so I don't know if they are always friendlier than FBs)  You can dig a little bit, but don't specifically try to reach the caverns.  This keeps the FBs out and lets you build a strong fortress first. 

A lot of people are wondering where the baby snatchers are.  Kobolds show up on the civilization list after you've seen one, but I don't think they show up on the neighbor list at embark. 

[Klisz]

(I've only seen one Titan, so I don't know if they are always friendlier than FBs)

I think they use the exact same generator.

[Slogo]

Surfaces just aren't that deadly anymore/at the moment. I don't know exactly when it happened but the wild life presence calmed a lot at some point.

I really wish there was an option to set the wildlife presence. One pack on the surface at a time just doesn't cut it .

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

i had a bit of luck with terrifying tundra biomes. a good number of slow movie undead creatures, on the map most of the time, and getting settled in is a bit more challenging. the real trick is to get a place where you still have decent access to all of the other civs, though.

[TheFlame52]

(I've only seen one Titan, so I don't know if they are always friendlier than FBs)

I think they use the exact same generator.

Can confirm.

[maxcat61]

i had a bit of luck with terrifying tundra biomes. a good number of slow movie undead creatures, on the map most of the time, and getting settled in is a bit more challenging. the real trick is to get a place where you still have decent access to all of the other civs, though.

I do the same, it's great fun. Last fort I tried this on had a population of 2 for about 3 years. Their job was to make slabs for the migrents that died when they ran into the hoard of undead. The only thing you have to really do is
a) make a moat
b) make a block wall by the moat
add a bridge, and the fort is impenetrable

[TheFlame52]

i had a bit of luck with terrifying tundra biomes. a good number of slow movie undead creatures, on the map most of the time, and getting settled in is a bit more challenging. the real trick is to get a place where you still have decent access to all of the other civs, though.

I do the same, it's great fun. Last fort I tried this on had a population of 2 for about 3 years. Their job was to make slabs for the migrents that died when they ran into the hoard of undead. The only thing you have to really do is
a) make a moat
b) make a block wall by the moat
add a bridge, and the fort is impenetrable

NOT AGAINST FLYING WEBBER TITANS

I almost lost Bastiongate that way. Make sure your marksdwarves always have ammunition, you never know when !!FUN!! may strike.

[Salkryn]

In my current fortress I accidentally embarked directly above a sasquatch lair. Five of my initial seven dwarves perished, but the sasquatches are dead and I have a small fort emerging from the ashes. Now it's a matter of seeing if the dwarves of Knifetarget can survive through the first year despite their inauspicious start.

[AceSV]

I've had Fun trying to go straight for the magma.  You make a quick camp on the surface, then try to dig down to magma sea immediately.  Your main entrance should open up to the 3rd cavern layer, so you've got ... Stairs to Surface -> 3rd Cavern -> Fortress.  Ideally you would pick some place with sand or clay so that the magma is immediately useful.  Most of the time, if you've got sand or clay on the surface, your caverns will have sand or clay floors, so you don't even have to commute for that.  For extra fun, embark somewhere with no water or trees so you HAVE TO dig to survive in the first place. 

So far, all of my magma fortresses have been destroyed very quickly by forgotten beasts.