If there are two seperate landmasses, but you're able to have an embark which spans between them, do you get visitors/merchants from both sides? Can civilizations/visitors from the formerly isolated landmasses now make contact with one another?
Yes and no. Your map /should/ only receive visitors that can path to your fort. This means if the east continent has Dwarves and Goblins, but the West continent has Elves and Humans, you'll only receive visitors from whichever side of the water you're on. (I believe performance troops might still show up, as they're often pretty unattached.)
Once you dig/build across, though, you'll have made a bridge between the two continents, which can be used for armies, trading, missions, etc - the AI will also use it, yes making contact that was previously impossible.
Okay not to spam questions but I've got another. 6 albatrosses have been at my fort without leaving for multiple years now. They just stay in place right on the edge of the map unless some dwarves come near, then they scatter and eventually settle at the edge of the map again. How can I get them to leave? none seem to be stuck in any trees so that's not it
It's likely that you caught the lead bird in a cage trap, or the lead bird is stuck just off-map somehow. Check your cages, and slaughter/tame any albatross you don't want. Send the military in, otherwise. You can also just wait until goblins/undead show up, who will likely take potshots at the birds, just to satisfy their cruelty.
oh boy I'm back from the dead
So. Real quick one, but I haven't seen any scuttlebutt about this particular issue in my brief search. Still playing the Classic version like a filthy income-deprived pleb, but, I remember downloading I wanna say 50.04 and playing for a bit, but quitting when I realized that I couldn't, like. Actually tell the game which side to raise drawbridges? There are little arrow doodads in the pop-up, but clicking them (or anywhere else) doesn't seem to do anything. All of the video tutorials I saw were using the Steam release, and there were, in fact, helpful graphical buttons that were very obvious. I tried to cross-reference the location of those buttons in the ASCII version, but no dice.
It's 50.09 and this problem still exists. Am I just a turbo-dunce or is this a case of a missing placeholder that somehow slipped through the cracks and hasn't yet been addressed?
I think this is an issue people have already complained about. I'm unaware of a work-around, unfortunately. Classic mode is certainly "unfinished" and far more than the usual meaning of that word when it comes to DF.