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[mko]

I played DF some time ago and decided to restart by playing a succession game.

Smallhands ( http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175473.165 ) were nearly ruined (at one point there was a single living dwarf), and it was rescued. And now it is my turn. So I prefer to avoid causing complete catastrophe due to missing something.

I am not looking for fort specific things (like "remember to not break wall sealing part of fortress with undead camels") but something as generic as possible.

Is there something like that existing already?

If not I plan to assemble it from http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=161243.0 https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Strange_mood#Demands https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/From_Caravan_to_Happy_Dwarves https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Health_care https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Metal_industry https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/User:Vaevictus/New_Fort_Checklist

And then the zombie horde bum rushed in.
The upper level has been compromised.
And then Granite came, and it ceased to be my problem.

This. This here. In three sentences, you have hit upon the very root of why succession fortresses spin so madly out of control!

Spoiler: Smallhands, Bigimage (click to show/hide)

 

[muldrake]

I played DF some time ago and decided to restart by playing a succession game.

It can be helpful to start by making a backup and retiring it to look at Legends mode.  Sometimes there will be useful information in there about the particular fort that the previous custodian "forgot" to mention.  You can then bring up the actual fort and check it out with that information in mind.

[mko]

I played DF some time ago and decided to restart by playing a succession game.

It can be helpful to start by making a backup and retiring it to look at Legends mode.  Sometimes there will be useful information in there about the particular fort that the previous custodian "forgot" to mention.  You can then bring up the actual fort and check it out with that information in mind.

Legnds mode will also reveal hidden identifies of werebeasts etc from what I remember so it feels a like cheating.

And in such case I am OK with things exploding. I just want to avoid "ops we made no soap" type of mistake.

[delphonso]

I appreciate you trying not to sink the ship, mko.

Personally, I spend about an hour before unpausing when I get a succession game. I find it hard to understand fort layouts just from images, so I spend some time getting familiar with the fort/the changes from last time. Figuring out what rooms are what, and where everything is.
I then set a project or two for myself for the year. In previous games it's been 'solve the miasma problem', 'build and fill bedrooms for everyone and the next two waves of migrants', 'organize the military', 'reduce the overall stress'.
Then I mostly react to whats happening elsewhere. Observations of weird and humorous things make for good reports.

That might only be me, though - my report was an entire year, where everyone else broke theirs into multiple sessions and reports. I haven't participated in any of the forum succession games - only ones with friends - so I'm curious to learn how others do it here as well.

[muldrake]

Legnds mode will also reveal hidden identifies of werebeasts etc from what I remember so it feels a like cheating.

It would depend on the rules of the succession fort.  But identities of werebeasts is something even lazy overseers usually put in a report.  If werebeasts appear, don't they usually appear in were form with an announcement?  And if they've injured people who have contracted lycanthropy, you'll know in a month anyway.  I've never had people show up as normal visitors and then suddenly transform.  Does this actually happen?

I suppose there are also vampires.

So maybe don't check legends.

[mko]

Legnds mode will also reveal hidden identifies of werebeasts etc from what I remember so it feels a like cheating.

It would depend on the rules of the succession fort.  But identities of werebeasts is something even lazy overseers usually put in a report.  If werebeasts appear, don't they usually appear in were form with an announcement?  And if they've injured people who have contracted lycanthropy, you'll know in a month anyway.  I've never had people show up as normal visitors and then suddenly transform.  Does this actually happen?

I remember this happening for me, but it was long time ago. So I probably confused it with vampires or I missed that dwarf was bitten.

[NordicNooob]

Succession forts are typically problem-riddled because of conflicting playstyles: if I handed one of my forts off to somebody they'd balk at the lack of stockpiles (which works well with how I generally play) and then stick a bunch of hasty crafts and finished good stockpiles everywhere, wasting everybody's time.

There's so many things that can be done very quickly or just through menu changes that can drastically improve the state of any fort:
-Hammering out major inefficiencies (stuff like keeping everybody from hauling rock to the QSP 24/7, making sure there aren't any exceptionally long walks for often used workshops, that kind of stuff) is a decent thing to do as a quick start-up.
-I also strongly prefer to order labors well. If you're really into the fort, you might want to make a document detailing what each labor setup does, and allow for the next players to expand upon it.
-Security improvements are also typically quick fixes: scour the fort for anything incredibly dumb like somebody who woodcut over the farms, open stairways into unsecure caverns, and places that can't be quickly and effectively sealed.
-Name levers and everything linked up to them. Seriously. You don't want to get the Fuck-The-World lever mixed up with the Open-The-Depot lever. I name both the lever and each thing hooked up to it the same thing, which helps clarify better than just saying this lever is "Cavern Gate S" and leaving you to wonder which gate is Cavern Gate S.
-Set up work orders for essential things. If nothing else, make one for drink brewing. But you can also make orders for melting if you have melt-designated items, making clothes every few years, processing plants, and cooking meals.
-Make some QSPs. A QSP rock pile can be a good idea, just make sure it uses wheelbarrows so no more than three dorfs are wasting their time hauling rock.

Quite a few projects are opportunistic for future overseers that don't really benefit you, and are more industrial:
-Getting magma forges up to the fortress proper is a PITA, but isn't labor intensive, and is pretty highly suggested for most serious forts.
-Likewise, major smelting operations for military equipment and furniture can be useful- never know when your noble's room will end up orpulent when it needs to be royal, and extra gear for those who want to draft all those useless peasants is nice.

And then megaprojects are a great way to pursue glory, long as you make them useful:
-Taking over the HFS is a multi-turn event, but if you're confident in the next overseer's skill and cooperation, it's easy enough to finish in two years and has a tangible benefit of letting you mine all of the candy. Contrary to popular belief, it's not that labor intensive either, except in terms of miners and sometimes dwarven lives.
-If there isn't one yet, some kind of siege cleanup mechanism is pretty essential. Be it a Fuck-The-World lever, an atom smasher corridor, or just a bunch of dump zone pits on the surface, there should be a quick way to get rid of corpses from sieges and underground monsters.
-Walling off a cavern layer is quite useful as well; if you do the third layer you may be able to capture some very useful monsters by abusing a single entry point with cage traps and the fact that more wildlife comes onto the map when the former group leaves, is killed, or gets captured.

[Sarmatian123]

My list from currently played game (continuing my very first embark).
1. Pause game and take your time to fix all job assignments on Dwarves. No kidding!
2. Cancel all jobs and mark all stockpiles as accepting from links only.
3. Build a well hidden atom smasher. Destroy all sentient bodies ASAP. Engrave some slabs for Dwarves.
4. Fix locations and pastures to proper ones and DO NOT IGNORE PETITIONS. Use steel mechanisms (10k worth) in levers in 3x3 guildhalls.
(start your military squads from wrestling only and throw at first chance leather armor and metal chain mail for armor training)
Like on regular embark:
5. Get farming into shape.
6. Stone hub: get masons, mechanics setup with their hauling and quantum stockpiles. Get some stones.
7. Start construction (or dig) of your favorite embark home. (you need to make living quarters to your standard)
8. Wood hub: Get carpenters, wood furnaces, asheries and lone soap maker up with their wood/bar and quantum stockpiles. Get some wood.
9. Set up crafts workshops between stone hub and wood hub
10. Get butchers going and refuse. Keep bones, but automate totem and such crafting.
11. Then fix kitchen, drinking area, dinners and offices. You need furniture.
12. Cloth industry (you will need some bags!)
13. Forges and smelters. You can upgrade furniture to more expensive clear glass type giving all Dwarves positive mood from sleeping.
14. Automate farming, brewing and milling.
15. Get 9 steel minecarts and 9 steel wheelbarrows and use minimalist lava fetching. Build magma forges and smelters. Get master weapons and armor. Shields last.
16. Build cistern under your underground hospital and pump in some water.
17. Underground mass pit with 10x9 atom smasher. Cage-corridor for invaders.
18. Last is a bug fix for all those annoying bugged water buckets. Add/replace the script in spoiler into region1/raw/objects/reaction_other.txt, which works in every save to allow screw press to empty buckets from water and automate it. The mixed names for reactions are on purpose, to force vanilla game to recognize additional reaction.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[REACTION:MAKE_SOAP_FROM_OIL]
   [NAME:empty water bucket]
   [BUILDING:SCREW_PRESS:CUSTOM_W]
   [REAGENT:water:1:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:WATER:NONE][PRODUCT_DIMENSION:150]
   [REAGENT:B:1:NONE:NONE:NONE:NONE]
      [CONTAINS:water]
      [NOT_IMPROVED]
      [PRESERVE_REAGENT]
      [DOES_NOT_DETERMINE_PRODUCT_AMOUNT]

[REACTION:EMPTY_BUCKET]
   [NAME:make soap from oil]
   [BUILDING:SOAP_MAKER:CUSTOM_O]
   [REAGENT:lye:150:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:LYE]
   [REAGENT:lye container:1:NONE:NONE:NONE:NONE]
      [CONTAINS:lye]
      [PRESERVE_REAGENT]
      [DOES_NOT_DETERMINE_PRODUCT_AMOUNT]
   [REAGENT:oil:150:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:NONE:NONE]
      [UNROTTEN]
      [HAS_MATERIAL_REACTION_PRODUCT:SOAP_MAT]
   [REAGENT:oil container:1:NONE:NONE:NONE:NONE]
      [CONTAINS:oil]
      [PRESERVE_REAGENT]
      [DOES_NOT_DETERMINE_PRODUCT_AMOUNT]
   [PRODUCT:100:1:BAR:NONE:GET_MATERIAL_FROM_REAGENT:oil:SOAP_MAT]
      [PRODUCT_DIMENSION:150]
   [SKILL:SOAP_MAKING]

Now everything is automated, well placed and self maintaining.
You can max population, train military, domesticate caverns, conquer FUN! and do mega-projects.
Good luck!