Well. I think I've cured myself of 2 bad habits over the last couple of fortresses.
1) Clearcutting everything and storing several thousand wood below ground, and trying to keep up with cutting down *all the trees* and storing them all even if I can't keep up with log use
2) Bringing *all the animals* with me on embark--a habit that started when I wanted to make an *ark* on an island where nobody else could reach me in case the civ fell. Especially when I ignore them for ~2 years, and I look up suddenly to realize that I have 230 animals running around, and even with a couple butchers I have difficulty keeping up with the birth rate *and* not wasting any hides.
Next habit to break:
Building Smelter/smith/Wood Burners on the surface (not bringing axe/pick for efficiency's sake--though I plan on keeping the latter part), building up stockpile/piles in the shops of 1-3k bars, then for years afterwards when I decide to move inside have *Store Item in Stockpile* jobs because there's so much to move inside.
*ditto Early-game all-but-seeds Surface Food Stockpile*
What I'm most annoyed about is that I spent 2 IRL days
digging channeling out this MASSIVE hall (intended first to be Dorf-only dining room, then a year in to be the most bad-ass Tavern I could make it), engraving everything on the way down, right next to the waterfall (with fortifications to allow some spray to come in).....and was just starting to work on the massive piles of stone that had built up during the mini-megaproject when DF crashes.
with 3-5 years put into the fort.
And I hadn't saved once.
Still, I was trying to do everything at once, instead of focusing. I do wish I could have used some of that gold. At the end I had something like 1k gold bars saved up (until I could get a militia going because the gobbos wold probably show up once I started using/exporting the gold).
and I was *just* getting the militia going and fit (afte 3-5 years).......
ah well.
time to make a new world and mod the child maturity rate in half, then start again with a new purpose.
EDIT: I will say, though, that this fort has codified my standard (non-bad-ass/beloved by me) Tomb:
a 1x2 slit into the side of a wall, approaching/inside the tavern or meeting area or temple (that people will pass by), with Legendary Engraving about said Dorf all along.....the Coffin at the back, and a Statue of the entombed in front of the Coffin to prevent shenanigans with tantrumming. If I have time (and mats), Coffin/Statue made out of their favorite materials/color(s). Possibly have the Statue up before they die. Then deconstruct the statue, insert coffin and/or body, rebuild statue.
EEE
SCE
EEE
E=Engraving
S=Statue
C=Coffin
EDIT: new fort. Spent a bit of time on a symbol, which is unusual for me.
http://imgur.com/a/GMrL7 "The Gilded Sieges," the symbol of "The Armory of Amazements" who settled in what would become known as the Fortress "Earthsavages" in the Year 2.
I hereby predict that because I did all kinds of bad things to Goblins in the symbol, it will be demolished in a Goblin siege in year 2 or 3.
EDIT: hrm. no hemp nor WEED_BLADE--er, blade weed. I may have been using getplants too much.
I do have Hide Root (yay dyes), but I don't have the non-evil dye trifecta this time around, nor do I have a surface cloth plant.
And I only have Cassiterite showing on the surface, AND I have Alligators/Alligator Men in the river.
On the other hand, I have both Lignite AND Bituminous Coal deposits showing, and my bridges (more specifically the Cage Traps I throw up next to the Bridges) over the rivers always produce all kinds of interesting animals to train and/or butcher.
EDIT2:
Aaaaaand slaughtered within a month by 3 Alligator Men.
so much for that.
EDIT3: New fort symbol: An Image of Dwarves and Stones. The Dwarves are striking a triumphant pose. The Stones are falling.