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[davidc]

I've messed up my init files, and I'm curious if someone could tell me how to configure them to allow my initial 7 to have babies, but to disallow migrants.

I have invaders set to YES, but I haven't had any seiges yet, etc. I'm walled off and I haven't been trading, though.

Also, I would appreciate comments/advice on this: I've found that as far as establishing a fort goes, it's really easy everywhere except for terrifying, where it is impossible, although ice wolves on a 1x1 embark glacier ended a fort instantly.    So I'm curious if there's a difficulty level below terrifying, that's actually difficult.

[martinuzz]

first, they need to get romantically involved, then married, then they will poop out babies soon enough, unless it's a gay couple.
To encourage this, give your dwarves lots of free time to socialize, preferably in a tiny meeting area so they huddle closely.
It's not guarantueed to get a breeding couple going from the starting 7, but usually there's at least one couple formed eventually, in my experience with 7 dwarves restricted playthroughs.

If you want to know if it's possible to mod your dwarves in such way that they will poop out babies like wildlife does, without marriage, you have more chance of finding an answer in the modding section. Not sure if that's even possible but you never know.

EDIT: oh sry, misread your question.

It is not possible to restrict your fort to the starting 7. You will always get at least one or two migrant waves. You can also not restrict your population to 7, because 10 is the minimum possible population to stop immigration. So until you have 3 kids from your starting 7, which will add up to 10, you will keep getting migrant waves.
So to stick with the original 7, you'll have to 'dispose of' those migrant waves, until you have the starting 7 + 3 kids, and the outpost liaison has reported back to the mountainhomes that your population cap has been reached.

in D_INIT you should set POPULATION CAP to 10. (You can set it to 7, but the game engine will see this as 10 as well) This will still allow your dwarves to have babies. STRICT POPULATION CAP controls the cap after which they will no longer make babies.

[greycat]

So I'm curious if there's a difficulty level below terrifying, that's actually difficult.

Difficulty is almost entirely a matter of which game features and strategies you choose to use, and which you choose to skip.  At least for now, while the invaders don't have siege technology.  I'd imagine that some day, in some future release, Toady will give invaders battering rams, ladders, catapults, possibly even pick-axes....

It is not possible to restrict your fort to the starting 7. You will always get at least one or two migrant waves.

I keep seeing this, but as far as I know it is obsolete knowlege from older versions.  The "two hard-coded migrant waves" thing hasn't been true since at least 0.40, possibly even farther back.  There are plenty of reports of people embarking from "dead" civs and getting more than two migrant waves.

[martinuzz]

I think this is a different case specifically at game start, regardless of dead civ or no dead civ. It's not about trying to get more than two waves, it's about trying to get less than two, preferably zero. As far as I know, you will always get at least one wave, to bring your population over 10, because the cap doesn't work with lower numbers. I also remember something about the init cap not coming into effect until you had your first outpost liaison leave the map.

But maybe I am outdated on my knowledge, that could be.

[Telgin]

I know that Toady at least changed it so that the pop cap takes effect immediately upon starting the game, stating that he wasn't sure what the point of it requiring a caravan visit in the first place ever was.  That was changed in one of the .40 releases, but I don't know which.

No idea if the minimum population was changed too.

[Larix]

Population cap has no enforced minimum any longer and takes effect from game start. If you set population cap to one before embarking, you don't get the first-year migration waves.

AFAIK that's been introduced somewhere in the 0.40 cycle and it's the case for 0.42 as well.

[PatrikLundell]

My understanding is that a dead civ only get the two initial immigrant waves (provided the pop cap doesn't block them) and then no more. However, a dying civ get (or at least can get) more. The pre embark warning doesn't specify whether your civ is dead or "merely" dying. If you get a monarch it was the latter.

[taptap]

As to the "How long does it take..." unless you *really* organise around maximised socialising, it could take a very long time for your dwarves to marry in 0.40. (I had starting dwarves romantically involved for three decades before marrying, that was with some attention to socialising, but not exactly efficient architecture.) Socialising has probably changed dramatically in the new cycle (all the new skills, activities...) though.

Once you learned to control difficulty / terms of engagement ALL embarks will become easy (or instant death). Sounds like you reached the point, where invasions are just hauling job generators. Even in a terrifying embark, you just have to make it underground in a piece and be alert with reanimation or environmental effects... if you don't, you start a new fort / reclaim, if you do, then you don't even need a military. Either play challenges (grow only pig tail and dimple cups and eat seeds, embark with nothing, no metal use, no military, no traps, no digging) or do projects (mechanisms and minecarts are your friends), but none of your forts will fall to goblins from now on, unless you play sloppy on purpose.

[Loci]

It is not possible to restrict your fort to the starting 7. You will always get at least one or two migrant waves.

I keep seeing this, but as far as I know it is obsolete knowlege from older versions.  The "two hard-coded migrant waves" thing hasn't been true since at least 0.40, possibly even farther back.  There are plenty of reports of people embarking from "dead" civs and getting more than two migrant waves.

There is indeed a lot of misinformation floating around. The two "hard-coded" waves are very much alive and well--the game ignores created wealth, danger, and even extinct civilizations when creating the first two waves. However, the hard-coded waves are (and were previously) subject to the population cap value. Because of the way the population cap used to be activated by the liaison's visit, blocking the hard-coded waves only occurred if you used dfhack to update the liaison's information prior to the two waves appearing. Now the population cap applies immediately, though, so it is much easier to block the first two waves.

There is also a distinction between "dead" and "dying" civilizations; the former will produce no migrants after the hard-coded waves, while the latter will produce an infinite stream of immigrants.