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[Spectre9000]

So, I'm contemplating using this mod, as it seems to add a massive amount of content to such a scale it could be considered a glimpse perhaps at what the final DF should look like.

That being said, it's a mod, and mods are traditionally unbalanced and buggy in many regards (though vanilla DF has issues and big imbalances itself... *cough* undead heads and skeletons *cough*)

I'm hoping the community could give me some of the pros and cons of the mod, as well as what the most stable configuration is to avoid as many issues as possible, whilst keeping as much content and depth as possible.

[GhostDwemer]

Masterwork has a very active developer who works hard to squash any bugs, and listens to player input to achieve balance. It's not perfect, but then neither is DF itself, as you mention. It is one of the older mods, and has been under active development for a long time, so it is pretty stable and balanced. IMHO, this latest version is the best yet. The previous version was a bit too "and the kitchen sink.. no wait, TWO kitchen sinks!!" The latest version has some of the more "steam-punk" elements stripped out. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Pros:
*The caverns. Oh wow, the caverns. Just wait until your first breach, I won't spoil it. Keep going and look at them all, though.
*Simplified leather and wood. Just four kinds of leather, and only a few types of wood VASTLY cuts down on stock screen nightmares, and boosts FPS somewhat.
*Dwarfier pets. Specific, dwarf themed animals for you to raise.
*More challenging enemies. More races, including more playable races, some quite evil.
*Greatly expanded workshop options, with custom workshops for each playable race. Make things from blocks to save on stone!
*Overall, better "late-game" options to keep your interest up longer. You won't feel like you've achieved everything the mod has to offer for a long time.

Cons:
*Requires dfhack, so will always lag behind the latest DF release somewhat.
*A lot of new things to learn, if you consider that a con, and not a pro, but then what are you doing playing DF in the first place?

[vonsch]

I think the differentiation among the playable races makes it much deeper in a way that 999 kinds of wood or leather does not.  Each race has something unique to make playing it slightly, or greatly, different.  I couldn't pick a favorite.  I tend to rotate from one to another and on, then circling back through them again.  I hope we see the return of a few more, or the addition of a few more!

I haven't played vanilla in, well, I forget how long.  Maybe a decade?  I just play this.  The launcher lets you strip out a lot of custom mod features, if you feel nostalgic for something a bit more vanillaish.  It's very configurable, though the defaults are just fine.

One con is you can't just add in interesting mods because this is a mod.  Things interact.  Usually not well.  But Meph is great about adding in things that are worthwhile and fit the general theme he's established.  And he plays nice with supplemental modders so we get more than just his own efforts into the mix.

As long as I've been hanging around, with the occasional hiatus to binge on other games, I keep learning new things and learning to use new features.  Today it's carpets and dyeing them.  Tomorrow, who knows?

[zakhad]

Pro - Always more interesting stuff than official vanilla release.
Pro - Faster at squishing bugs.
Pro - Can actually tailor interest to what you want (config options).
Pro - Faster developing pace than vanilla.
Pro - You're not restricted to just dwarves.
Pro - Adaptability to environment, the masterwork workshops allow to to easilyer adapt/makeup for what you don't have.
Pro - More control over gameplay mechanics than vanilla.
Pro - Theres usually something new and fun to play with with each update; extending the shelf life of the base game.

Con - More likely to be buggy.
Con - Restarts are more common than vanilla due to how new features are added standard fare with mods usually.
Con - Way too many armour configurations and having to look through the raw data to figure out which items are best.
Con - Trail and error with new features means you're going to have to restart/regen map depending on what's enabled if you don't like said new feature.

Pro and Con - More things to do / steps necessary to achieve goals.

[Evans]

Just give it a go and see for yourself.

Pros:
- Simplified products (just wood, leather, meat etc) really make it easier to navigate your stockpiles screens
- New races. I recommend turning on White Tigermen, Succubi and Pandashi especially. This makes world much more vibrant and alive than vanilla
- New buildings and reactions. You can use them, but you don't have to. Some are the ones you might always wanted in vanilla
- Uses DFHack, which lets you to utilize a wealth of commands like clean all for example or exterminate undead to get rid of those indestructible hairs etc.
- New weapons (many optional), plants, clothes etc
- New creatures( most optional)
- Other mods that you can turn on or off (like the Return of the deep ones)
- You can play other civs than dwarves. Strongly recommend.
- Updates weekly

Cons:
- Depends on DFHack, so far no 64bit version. We are at 0.43.03.
- Sometimes gets buggy (I usually fix stuff for myself merging new files from new versions back to my current one)
- Some races in config menus are not that obvious. Beak wolves are useless. Ferric Elves are a good source of Iron.
Pandashi are amazing civilized race that sends out many schoolars. White Tigermen are more aggresive and succesful in wars than Goblins. But until you see them in game you will never tell from missing descriptions.
- Limited by DF features. This is bad thing because some of the things in Masterwork are sooo awesome, getting some dev support for them would be great. But as it is now they are limited to what options basic DF provides.
- You need to generate worlds with shorter histories due to the increased activity and interaction between civilizations. Worldgen can rapidly go into millions of events than crash. I usually give it 200 years because afterwards it gets very messy.

Masterwork DF is a mod that stays true to vanilla DF in a sense of the way it should be played. It is not a 'total conversion' like some others mods, it is simply greatly enriched vanilla DF.

Strongly recommend. 

[Putnam]

Masterwork DF is a mod that stays true to vanilla DF in a sense of the way it should be played. It is not a 'total conversion' like some others mods, it is simply greatly enriched vanilla DF.