I just heard about this thread. So apparently Dwarf Fortress in the past was a more fun game than nowadays, am I right? I wonder. I mean, Tarn could get around the situation by making the game harder instead of removing things from the game - making merpeople more powerful or faster in the water, or even sing a kind of magic song that makes dwarves sleep, anyway, making the value given to bones equal to or less than the effort required to get them. Not removing such a value. (yeah I understand that I can change raws by myself, but many people who came to play this times, don't. I'm just thinking about it)
I think varying the relationship between them and the dwarves would be enough, for example: a random event where at some point in history an dwarf met a mermaid and they became close, so that particular dwarves civilization becomes friendly to mermaids and they don't conflict. Dwarves are creatures of the earth and mermaids from the bottom of the sea. different languages, deaths and all sorts of problems are more than expected, aren't they? Even with dwarves ethics included.
Anyway, I'm late but yet, I wonder.
I wonder... I think there are a lot more wonderful things and possibilities in the old versions that have been removed in the new versions. In my opinion, this wealth of content should be maintained.
* sorry about my bad english writing