Hi!
Currently, I am sweating blood and water awaiting the first and probably fatal mood to come around. My surface pools do not yield any turtles/fish at all, so I have no way of getting shell.
In an effort to get shell, I dug a small tunnel down to the first cavern layer early on, breaching its ceiling (so no walkable access yet). Initially, I put a flood gate in the tunnel so I could investigate later. I did so because I saw some normal cave spider webs, and I remembered that they were poisonous in the 2D version and I don't have a hospital yet. In addition, I had no idea what critters would be down there (no civ entry, no units shown on the maps or the unit list). Of course, I hoped the cavern was abandoned (which would explain the good frame rate I had in the start of the map), but then again, it might be that just some forgotten beast ate all the rest and was sleeping in some corner.
However, over time, I grew more and more nervous, so I decided to dig out an access to the flood there in hope of exploring. After designating the mining, I looked around again, and I finally noticed why there was no critters in the cavern: Strewn between the normal cave spider webs were giant cave spider webs! I remember meeting that giant cave spider in an early 3D version fortress when accidentally embarking right on the entrance of a cave - it was NOT pretty. So, I closed the floodgate and cleared the mining designation right away.
In the meantime, I had prepared the first line of weapon traps for the main entrance area so I decided to start testing them on non-animals, turning invaders ON.
One thing I learned is: You can't get the combat report for snatchers that get slaughtered by your traps without having been uncovered (^_^;;
Interestingly enough, AFTER turning invaders on, I saw the first critters in the cave as well. All of a sudden, a group of troglodytes showed up in the uncovered section of the cave, several years after I breached the ceiling uncovering it. Thus, I assume that their spawning was limited by the invader flag.
In other news, despite my efforts to encourage a clean fortress, I have again blood spreading over the surface area with no rain in sight. And underground cleaning is also going on less often then required, but that is because I have a very busy fortress right now (preparing the hospital, expanding my food storage, mass producing trade goods, producing weapon trap components and armor for my first soldier... ).
Ah, and I also got another scare. One of the first kobold thieves I had was uncovered by a dwarf. And that kobold thief immediately attacked the dwarf, bruising her throat!!!! Fortunately, the kobold then swiftly fled, but that word "throat" had me really scared, especially with no hospital around. But it seems that the dwarf will be alright.
Deathworks