Aye, the game is easy enough to bring 0 points worth of skills and flourish That said, smithing is hella useful to pick. Preferences make a huge difference early on- I believe its the equivalent of 2 extra quality levels on average So unless you settle on a volcano or make a beeline towards magma forges, starting with an armorsmith that likes bronze/iron/steel will save you tons of time making coal and banging out trash pieces. Diagnoser is another- its awkward to level and a pressing skill to have when !FUN! starts.. Mechanic quality for cage traps and levers are irrelevant (only for to hit/chance to jam on weapon traps+value) so I tend to skip that. I also load up a dorf with trading+ useful social skills (consoler) that lacks ANY item preferences (or easy ones like barrel). This guy is groomed to be mayor (no annoying mandates or micromanagement to reinstall him). Mason and carpentry level fast enough too. Make blocks and bins/pots on repeat after churning out some crappy furniture for now (7 beds and dining room tables/chairs). A couple military dorfs (favoring armor user to equip heavier pieces sooner) pairs well with that armorsmith. 5 extra armor use points lets a dwarf go full metal off the bat. You can immediately pierce the cverns for "live training" for extra hides+meat. You'll have the Doc to patch them up too
I only plant-gather early on (no enemies and so much quicker food), but still bring a grower. Unskilled farmers can fail at planting, and I'll want reliable farms to balance production chains (textile/dyes usually) sooner or later- its much safer once ambushers and beasties begin to visit anyway... Totally not kidding on how gathering out-strips farming though. In thick biomes with a skilled herbalist we are talking several hundred a season... without tree picking!
Cooking quality only effects value (not happiness), and dorfs happily eat most foods rawr. Combine the expoity nature of roast values (they get 5 stacking value multipliers!), the need to keep wealth low early, and the utter lack of necessity for one (no penalty for eating raw food) and I can't fathom wassting points bringing one. You have more pressing tasks to see too first before dealing with flour/liquid foods. I suppose if you really want to push early wealth through the roof... I feel the same way about bringing craft skills. Wealth is to be minimized early on, and crafting often becomes a dump task to clear out stone/busy work. Churning out rock/wood pots will level it just fine- who cares about pot quality!?
I bring some lye with me too. Making it is a serious bother. I can just throw up a quick soapmaker after butchering pack animals and get a few years worth of soap out of the way. I also ditch all cloth and bring 20+ units of 5 cost leather. While the smith is hammering out armor and tools and the miners are carving out my fort, someone can make tons of seed bags to keep my food stockpiles from flooding. I also bring sheep to shear. I've never liked the free-food nature of pigs and egg-layers (the animals never eat but keep making food!) so I dont bring those. Instead, the remaing points usually goes into a mountain of coal.
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Topic: The First Seven Dwarfs (Read 4666 times)