Is it normal to go my first year with no orcs?
Not unheard of. I've gone for a year and a half, then got a four squad siege (which, sadly, ended with all their local leaders dead, so after that it was just butchering goblin ambushes).
As for suggestions, I have a few.
1. Darkmetal is too easy to get if you embark in an obsidian biome. I think you intended for it to be rarer, but it's a metal that right out of the smelter is harder than steel and in obsidian layers it's about as common as hematite in a sedimentary stone. I tried to write a mod where darkmetal was as hard as iron but makes darksteel by substituting it for iron in the steel reaction, but other changes I made broke it. Either way, Darkmetal is kind of imbalanced.
2. Bloodmetal could use some reactions too. I'd suggest either blood bronze, where it can be substituted for cassiterite, or crimson silver which just stretches your silver supply.
3. Cave Beehives have the same problem as Sweet Pods - too damn valuable. One Dwarven Honey is as valuable as an electrum bar. Dwarven Honey is in infinite supply, electrum is not. Anyone else see a problem with this? Guess I'm just weird, it bothers me.
Other than that I love it. It'd be kind of cool to see an easier version for newbies that sees the goblins siege from the start and the orcs ambushing and sieging later, but that's what broke my attempt at modding.
