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[quintilius]

I've played this Armok-be-damned game since, what, some stupid blurb in a Wired magazine... I think the Mayday graphic pack had released and that was what I needed to ease into it... and every major release I wander back. Some, like I think 31, were painful. I remember dwarf caravan guards dying when a stream froze and their bodies disappeard - and the rampaging ghosts... or husks - learning the hard way that sometimes they'll just sit in the magma and smoke - forever... and that time the military just stopped working.
I've been a good monkey - and done my bug reports and found workarounds and thoroughly enjoyed the game - so nothing makes me happier than seeing these guys finally get a payday.

But that said...

I like the knowledge system stuff. It's getting interesting where that's going (i think).

I'm having trouble with the military again - i mean - rooms filled with food as they cycle through gear kind of trouble. I've sorted it - maybe... but the schedule got weird in the process. Off Duty dwarfs outfitting and training regardless (turning off the training at the barracks sorted that). Cleaning up military uniform stuff is something that got put off for too long I think - it needs some love (esp with the weirdness with ammo - and all the new players who're less likely to dork with it until it's working)

Very glad that getting in and editing the raws for steam was essentially the same - and i didnt see anything having to be redone post patching. I have an intense hatred for Creepy Crawlers and I'm flat out not putting up with that Rotter crap. Plus - at some point i'll likely decrease the non-hetero numbers (dont judge me - dwarfs have a responsibility to breed whether they like it or not - just be glad i'm not changing the rules on bbq goblin).

The labor system. Basically I end up with extra workshops for individual dwarves to do different things (which isnt so bad from a 'theorycrafting' standpoint, it's just different). Having them figure it out themselves doesnt work - the extra work details are the only way to make sure things get done correctly. Just because there's a graphic UI doesnt mean the dwarves got smart - they're still named Urist. It's altering my layouts - more vertical 'industrial' sections - and the workshops on the other side of the stockpiles (rather than the former method of stockpiles behind the workshops and up and/or down from there to limit pathing.) Again - doable - just different - and figuring out how to cope with the changes is what DF releases are all about.

The lack of a civilian alert is a pain - esp as it relates to pets - but I just have to put doors down that i can instantly use to forbid movement outside while i wait for the drawbridge to raise. Just means I go back to REAAAALY long tunnels to get to the Trade Depot. Another workaround for something that used to just work - but again - doable.

I do look forward to the classic release. Seriously. Maybe the mouse support in the steam release will be the same sort of gateway drug that mayday imagepack was for me... and for new players they're having fun learning and failing (i have friends finally playing after years... now i hear tales of 'my dwarves are being killed by giant kangaroos - what do you mean i need a hospital - how do i do that' or 'my fortress is flooding - how do i do this aquifer thing again') -- but i really think that once the early novelty wears off and we get to the players that keep at it, they're going to find the same sort of frustrations.  It's just not built for this - and I cant imagine how you 'fix' it without a 'keyboard only' version. A steam release with a keyboard only function might be better - but meh. The graphics dont do all that much for me anyway.

Still - it's a very 'playable' release - which is, well, I'd say a novelty but I don't want to jinx things going forward.

[Salmeuk]

agree with your points for sure.. I think you should chime in with a summarized list in the 'small issues and potential solutions' thread that is kicking around here. hopefully we get enough correlation between complaints that some of these described issues will be changed, or worked around

[Mungrul]

The lack of a civilian alert is a pain

I actually prefer the new burrow system and the fact that it's now unattached to an alert system.
I mean yes, once you have a large population, it's still a grind having to assign dwarfs manually to burrows But the simplicity of just turning them on or off with the pause button makes it a lot easier than dealing with alert schedules.
I've assigned all current Dwarven kids to a permanently ON burrow meaning the never step outside, while all other citizens are assigned to a paused "HOME" burrow. When I unpause it, all adults run inside, allowing the military to do their thang.

Although, the last Vile Force that arrived scarpered as soon as I issued the kill order, so I think the reputation of my steel-clad psychos has travelled.

Edit:
While I've not got quite so many hours in yet (I'm at 69 dude!), my biggest bugbear is list filter limitation and search consistency.
Different lists have different filters available, some have no filters at all (most irritatingly, the trade interface), and Search is sometimes not present, or if it is, sometimes doesn't work.
For example, I'm now at the stage where all "Finished Goods", the staple of my trade economy (bracelets, crowns, rings etc.), are automatically stowed in bins. This means they no longer appear as a category of goods to move to the trade depot, so I have to select bins and individually tick off each bin that contains finished goods or even worse, the goods themselves (because, as noted, when I search the list of bins for "finished goods", even though many are labelled as such, the list doesn't filter out non-finished goods bins).

I understand the drive was to simplify the user interface, but it's gone a little too far and a little too illogically for my liking at the moment.

[Orange-of-Cthulhu]

The lack of a civilian alert is a pain - esp as it relates to pets - but I just have to put doors down that i can instantly use to forbid movement outside while i wait for the drawbridge to raise. Just means I go back to REAAAALY long tunnels to get to the Trade Depot. Another workaround for something that used to just work - but again - doable

There is one, but you do it in the labor settings instead. You set the outside-jobs to nobody does this and in a another place in there you set  some jobs to "don't do during invasions."

It's actually better than the burrows. OK it's a few more clicks now, but on the bright side, the new system doesn't distrub dwarves that are doing stuff unrelated to the alerts, like if they're digging and melting on the deep floors, the new alert setttings don't affect them at all and then can just carry on.

What was annoying about the burrow was it also grabbed dwarves in safety and made run to the tavern.

[Bumber]

There is one, but you do it in the labor settings instead. You set the outside-jobs to nobody does this and in a another place in there you set  some jobs to "don't do during invasions."

There are animal people invasions underground. Haven't had any that are an actual problem, but it bears mentioning.

[Findulidas]

So far I personally think the worst issue by far is lack of keyboard support on many many actions.

[Salsa Gal]

I've also noticed that it seems to run significantly slower on my computer. That's something I liked about classic, I don't have a good computer but I can play it just fine. I'm hoping when the ASCII mode comes out the performance gets a bit better. I also find it easier to read ASCII graphics, a pound is (almost) always a metal, in the graphics pack it's harder to tell whats metal at a glance, as well as some other things. I'm really tempted to just stick with classic even if just for the performance, but hopefully things get ironed out.

[Stormfeather]

Weird, the game's seemed to be running a lot faster for me in the Steam version for longer. At least I think... I always start doubting myself.

My wishlist for the Steam version would be:
-Add back some more screens to look at general info (the Civ screen, petitions, a place to look at relgions and guilds without going to a zone for them, place to look at your fortress info overall including what you need to become the Mountain Home, etc.)
-Add back in civilian alerts. Maybe also keep the present system for those who prefer it, but I really miss being able to send all my citizens scurrying for the safety of inside the fort with a click rather than having to assign each and every freaking civilian to the burrow. Just a slight bit more time to set up the civilian alert, but way easier in the long run.
-Move general announcements back to where you can actually see them (bottom of screen or whatever) or at least give us the option, rather than constantly making us click on the notices to the side of the screen.
-Maybe roll back some of the stuff that makes the game feel so, honestly, easy now.
-Graveyards rather than having to make each. and. every. grave. a. tomb.
-More accuracy of values. Like, if I need 2000 value to make my "guild hall" into an actual guild hall (or whatever the next step up is), please tell me just what my current value is rather than "oh it's around... 1000" for ages while I slowly add more and more. Like, AFAICT 1000 could be "1001" or "1999" or anywhere in between. Do I need one more tiny bit of value to flip it over? Huuuuge overhauls? What?

[feorh]

I'm also returning after 10+ years of hiatus.
I think lots of issues that the game has (performance & various bugs, like the military) are outweighed by the depth and sheer awesomeness of the stuff we're free to do.
Let's just with the toads long years of life, iron health & unfaltering devotion to the cause.
I initially bought the game without really planning to play it, just feeling ashamed for not sending the postcards (is it still a thing?).
I'm ~100 hrs in, my 5th fort turned 7 years old, but it's struggling, and I'm definitely having fun.