Sweet Armok have mercy on me, for linking levers automatically assigns mechanisms by creation order in the Steam version. I pray the mechanism quality no longer affects timings, lest I go stark raving mad. The best strategy I've found is to forbid mechanisms such that linking levers eventually leaves a sorted list of mechanisms in ascending order of quality.
It also appears the Note system got nixed. Plumbing just got a lot more FUN.
In other news, industrial trading is a nightmare. And I'm not even talking about keeping the bins, but the fact that the bins and barrels are grouped by container material rather than container content. Sorting by value will be working overtime for large trade volumes. On the bright side, caravans don't seem to bring more kinds of items than what you asked for.
Additionally, I have begun studying the color spectrum. The rock colors are more natural now, it seems. Finding a broad spectrum of colors will be a challenge. I have found out that mica block walls fit rather nicely with smoothed limestone floor.
In fortress news, despite using sparse metals, I seem to have hit the motherlode. Beneath and within the conglomerate aquifer lies large seams of hematite and magnetite; below that a bedrock of limestone and chalk; and near the surface, layers of black sand, white sand, and fire clay. In a heavily forested cold biome. Only thing missing is bituminous coal and a volcano. With the Dwarven Farm Radar inoperable, I am forced to make the dwarves' home here in this bedrock—already plenty deep—and pray the caverns aren't too close. My mica mine some thirty levels below the surface have yet to hit any caverns.
As for the surface, the fort has been beset foul feathery beasts for years. Ravens and giant crows, something in these untamed wilds is making the birds agitated, and many a dwarf now lie entombed beneath the Highwood Tower. No doubt a scheme of the elves, for they have declared war with a sneaky ambush. It furthermore appears that doors and hatch covers can no longer be held shut for animals. This has decimated many-fold my animal stock. I'm forced to put my army on patrols! The horror!
Finally, has anyone figured out hunting works in the new version? It's hard to tell if the hunters are doing anything.
EDIT: I've also learned I need to manually assign all the dwarves to the safety burrows. Thankfully only once per burrow.