This fort was a wild time, it's been a bit since I played dwarf fortress for real, let alone the steam release so this turn was kinda disastrous to be honest. I don't think any previously born kids died during my run, but many other's did. Anyways here's the summary.
Starting off I kinda wanted to make a mushroom temple underground, just because, but the mining designations got a little unsafe and a few died in mining accidents.
But at least on the subject of things dying I started taking care of the chicken population.
More were killed than shown here, but there were probably more than one hundred chickens.
After this I got scared that even another dwarf might be killed,
But thankfully the duke is really weak so it ended up being just a small slap on the leg.
Also something really strange, I didn't get any caravans for the first year, and no animals were really born. Not sure what was up with that, eventually this happened:
I checked the map and the other units a few times but didn't see anyone, and the depot is toally accessible, so not really sure what happened, they ended up leaving a big pile of stuff at the edge of the map.
At this point I began focusing on trying to actually get a kid born as this is the goal of the fort. I feel like a problem with the current for is that about 25 of our 50 citizens are humans at this point, and they really get in the way of socializing. Also since our for pop is so small compared to the size of the fort, the dwarves weren't doing much socialization in the first place. Many of our dwarves were close friends with several humans and no dwarves, which isn't great for trying to get the dwarves married off. So I threw the humans into the military, where many of them already were, and decided to breach the first cavern layer:
On opening this layer it revealed about 100 rodent people invaders. While this battle was going on we started to have a problem with a minotaur on the surface as well. So I closed the gate to the caverns, the humans had been victorious.
I readied the ballistas at the gate and got the army in position up top. I thought this battle would be simple, but unfortunately there was a side entrance into the fort which seemed leftover from the moat operation:
At this point I was kinda worried since the minotaur was now just fighting civillians in the corridor who had been hauling stuff to the surface.
The minotaur killed someone, I forget who at this point, but ended up in a battle with a child, a poet, and a few war dogs. It seems the war dogs were able to inflict enough minor wounds that the minotaur passed out from pain, allowing the child and poet to go to town.
The fight ended as shown, with the poet killing the beast with the (large rose cut crystal opal) they were hauling. I renamed the poet Theseus to commemorate the event.
By this point about a year had passed, and we started getting caravans again
I kept trying for about a year in game time to get a kid, but the dwarves really just wouldn't comply so I just gave up and saved today. I may not have been successful, but I have a good idea of some of the issues that need to be addressed for the next ruler:
1. Too many humans - They really just seem to get in the way of socializing by forming friends with all the dwarves and not allowing them to become friends with each other.
2. Too many jobs - Dwarves are working almost constantly so very little socialization gets to happen
3. Too many zones - Even when dwarves do have free time, I find one dwarf in every location from temples, to statue halls, to the tavern, and no one idling next to each other.
Some other notes:
1. Don't open the first cavern without a good army, fewer rodent people now thanks to a blob of fire that throws fire balls:
2. Chickens are somewhat under control, but dogs are the next big problem, I spayed as many as it would let me, but there are quite a few.
3. Tried making a little self sustaining marriage tank, but burrows seem to work differently in steam release, and the units kept getting unhappy and waiting to attend meetings with the duke and never socializing.
Also happiness is a problem for a few dwarves, so be warned.
Good luck to whoever takes this on next.