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[barny]

First, dig in and make a farmplot; then brew some drinks or all your dwarves will die soon.

[Albedo]

(with blue arrows across the board? a little late for that, I'm afraid.  Or for finding the UG river, or anything.  Thirsty dwarves work slower.  And they aren't going to last the season, much less to harvest and brewing.)

jups, and the traders just left, so I cannot hope for quick refreshments XD... guess this will take awhile.

Just to mention:

I dont have any Booze

There should be an underground river somewhere on the map.

I dont have any trees, nor do I have plants outside.

All I have is a miniature sandy spot on the outer outskirts of my fortress (7x5 or 7x6), and two diggers who are still apprentice.

I do not have any outside crops

As stated above I do not have water

What you don't have is the experience to survive on the map you have chosen.  The problems you list are player problems, not map problems - not to coin a phrase, but... you have chosen poorly.

You should have had enough booze to get you through to the merchants, and from them bought enough to get you through to winter.  Meanwhile, you should have, by now, had some crops going - somewhere, somehow - and be harvesting, and brewing.  And you should have located near a food/water source rather than whereever you did.  You can channel magma to your location - you can't channel food.

You also should have noted where the UG river was on your embark map, to find it more easily as a priority.  You can also channel water to make food on your location.

And you should have brought (at least) one (semi-)experienced miner, especially on a map like this.

Bottom line, perhaps you should have chosen a friendlier map, since you're not prepared for these challenges.  Don't know what you have been doing, but you should have been taking steps to keep your dwarves alive instead of that.

All my dwarves state a blue downward arrow, so I'm f*cked  (I have a rather long way to go still

Yes, you are quite f*cked.  Perhaps irretrievably so, unfortunately.

Read "starting builds" on the wiki.  It talks about both considerations for choosing an embark site and what supplies to bring.  This will help you for your next fortress, because from your description, I don't think your dwarves are going to last long enough to see this one survive.

(Edit - The wiki suggests:

"...a minimum of about 25-30 food and about 55-60 alcohol, which should get 7 dwarfs through to the first caravan in Fall..."

That's minimum.  To answer your OP.

On a map without open water, plants or trees, and if you're planning on digging in away from soil, then more.  A lot.  Which you should have realized.  But every fortress fails, and every failure is a lesson.  Yours just came a little hard and fast.  )

[Angellus]

First, butcher two of your animals and craft their bones into crossbows, or if you have access to wood create wooden crossbows. Craft some bone or wooden bolts, and have a dwarf start hunting to take care of food problems. Make sure you've got a butchery constructed so the hunter will return their kill.

You should have one dwarf over at the sand planting plump helmets like crazy. Just dig out a small farm plot right below the surface. You can move your operations later, but for now if you don't set up a brewing center your dwarves will all die from dehydration.

If I forgot to post this, I have (more then) enough food for all my dwarves, the water is the problem XD.

Do exploratory mining for the underground river or savescum with reveal to find it, then muddyy a large area and harvest the bushes that will spawn, grow n farm plots in further muddy areas and put a well above the river or above a reservoir connected to the river, and put some grates over the river and fish, make sure to also eleminate the inhabitants of the river as they can cause trouble.

I wish to find a cheatless way which will not immediately render half the mountain useless to me (explaitory mining will, sadly).

Wait...What DID you bring? 2 Apprentice miners? Did you not buy them skills at the embark screen?

I say abandon the Fort and start somewhere more newbie-safe. A place with a brook and lots of trees is nice.

Also, when you embark, choose "Prepare Carefully" and then buy skills and booze and stuff.

I took along an 5 point miner, but it is all obsidian, so he still takes ages to cut trough it, the second one is a carpenter which I found out would have no work (I did not look at the tree population XD).

Also, why is the fertile ground on the other side of the map?

In other words, what's so great about your current location that you can't just rebuild over where there is usable soil?

A magma pipe, underground river, should be a small piece of chasm on the side of the map too... Did I mention the small piece of sand also? (Actually that's the small piece of usable land XD.

First, dig in and make a farmplot; then brew some drinks or all your dwarves will die soon.

I know, might just do that, but I feel like I'm 'scarring' the mountain doing so...

What you don't have is the experience to survive on the map you have chosen.  The problems you list are player problems, not map problems - not to coin a phrase, but... you have chosen poorly.

I know, but that's something I did to make the game more fun (did I mention I added Orcs? =D)

You should have had enough booze to get you through to the merchants, and from them bought enough to get you through to winter.  Meanwhile, you should have, by now, had some crops going - somewhere, somehow - and be harvesting, and brewing.  And you should have located near a food/water source rather than whereever you did.  You can channel magma to your location - you can't channel food.

I expected the merchants to have some booze on them, but they only had one barrel >_<.
Actually you can mine for fish on this map
Serious, if you channel the river to the fortress, you can fish ^^
Also I did not expect to have only that little piece of sand on the edge of the map XD, I always do all my farming underground.

You also should have noted where the UG river was on your embark map, to find it more easily as a priority.  You can also channel water to make food on your location.

That would probably have been smart, yes ^^

And you should have brought (at least) one (semi-)experienced miner, especially on a map like this.

I did, max level from embark. He just seems to hate obsidian for its sturdiness.

Bottom line, perhaps you should have chosen a friendlier map, since you're not prepared for these challenges.  Don't know what you have been doing, but you should have been taking steps to keep your dwarves alive instead of that.

And miss al the FUN of keeping them alive now? ^^ I actually like it, but it's rather hard to find a way too keep them alive, hoping for migrants now

Yes, you are quite f*cked.  Perhaps irretrievably so, unfortunately.

Read "starting builds" on the wiki.  It talks about both considerations for choosing an embark site and what supplies to bring.  This will help you for your next fortress, because from your description, I don't think your dwarves are going to last long enough to see this one survive.

You got me there, think I'll do that next time ^^...

Thanks for all the advice, I'll probably see how far they'll come with this, then if neccesairy reclaim But it will be allright, it will always be allright


--------------

Wait, will they tauntrum due to dehydration?
I never dehydrated my dwarves before... (I always overdo it with my food supply's =D)

[LegacyCWAL]

If I forgot to post this, I have (more then) enough food for all my dwarves, the water is the problem XD.

Then make a still and get brewing ASAP!

[Albedo]

It's probably all meat and fish.

But yes, brew ANY plants you have into booze.  Now.  If you're short on barrels, forbid all food that is not a stack of "1" to free them up.

and two diggers who are still apprentice.

For future reference, 5 points into Mining does not yield an "apprentice".

Obsidian takes no longer than any other stone - your dwarfs are dying of dehydration, and so all slowing down - walking, hauling, mining - not to put too fine a point on it, but you're about to lose them all. 

Also I did not expect to have only that little piece of sand on the edge of the map XD,

It's right there, plain as the beard on your face, on the Embark map that you chose.

I wish to find a cheatless way which will not immediately render half the mountain useless to me (explaitory mining will, sadly).

You are creating more problems than you have the experience to solve.  Respect for trying, but you have grossly under-estimated the difficulties you've created, and are still embracing. 

I know, might just do that, but I feel like I'm 'scarring' the mountain doing so...

Are you a dwarf, or an elf?  (Note - dead dwarfs have much in common with many elfs.)

Your fortress is weeks away from failure. You don't have time for planting.  Find the effin water. NOW. Or plan your next fortress.  Or cheat.

Those are your only options.  Sadly, and seriously.

[Albedo]

(I'll add this, too - since you're only a few seasons into this, you could re-gen the map and start over at the same embark site, but this time with lessons learned.

Search for "restart same map" or something sim, should do the trick.

And this time, take some notes on that embark map.  The different biomes, the features, the layers.  )

[Angellus]

It's probably all meat and fish.

...

Yes

... all of it... seriously (meat and prepared meat, got a trigger-happy ranger XD)....

and two diggers who are still apprentice.

For future reference, 5 points into Mining does not yield an "apprentice".

Obsidian takes no longer than any other stone - your dwarfs are dying of dehydration, and so all slowing down - walking, hauling, mining - not to put too fine a point on it, but you're about to lose them all. 

Ah... well that sucks a bit.

I know, might just do that, but I feel like I'm 'scarring' the mountain doing so...

Are you a dwarf, or an elf?  (Note - dead dwarfs have much in common with many elfs.)

Heh, I actually rather like the elves. But should dwarves not be to mountains what elves are to forests?

Your fortress is weeks away from failure. You don't have time for planting.  Find the effin water. NOW. Or plan your next fortress.  Or cheat.

Those are your only options.  Sadly, and seriously.

Hmmm... I really hope to find some miracle...
Would love the orcs to rush in right now
I'll search... but that will take longer as getting to the planting grounds, so I'll do that anyway ^^

(I'll add this, too - since you're only a few seasons into this, you could re-gen the map and start over at the same embark site, but this time with lessons learned.

Search for "restart same map" or something sim, should do the trick.

And this time, take some notes on that embark map.  The different biomes, the features, the layers.  )

I had done that, just did not care for the little amount of sand I will however look more to that next time

If it should go horribly wrong I'll reclaim, see what that does

------------

Alt question, is it possible to let time pass after abandoning a fort? (So that the fort is empty for lets say 50 years before re-entering?

[Albedo]

Only way to do that would be to go to another location on the same map and make time pass at a fortress there. Or via adventures mode on the same map.

No tweak/cheat that I've heard of.  (Doesn't mean it's not there.)

[pushy]

Only way to do that would be to go to another location on the same map and make time pass at a fortress there. Or via adventures mode on the same map.

No tweak/cheat that I've heard of.  (Doesn't mean it's not there.)

Quicker way would be to make a second fort, abandon it right away and then constantly reclaim and abandon until the desired length of time has passed - every new fort or reclaim will advance time to the start of the following year Would get pretty annoying having to reclaim and abandon a fort 50 times, but it's a hell of a lot quicker than trying to run through that timeframe while playing the game properly.

[Grendus]

First off, you broke the cardinal rule of dwarf fortress - never let your dwarves get sober. The first priority is to make sure you have access to booze, either through large stockpiles brought with you or farms. You focused on getting your perfect fortress set up instead of getting a temporary set up going, which is far more important.

You may want to try starting on a heavily forested map. Usually they're packed with wild plants you can eat in a pinch, have several layers of easy to mine, arable land and have at bare minimum some murky pools which your dwarves can drink out of if they become dehydrated. Dry, mountainous maps are more difficult to build on if you don't come heavily prepared.

Also, the dwarf caravans always come loaded down with at least 5 stacks of Plump Helmets in my experience, did you get those? Breweries are very easy to set up, and that would have supplied you with enough Dwarven Ale to see you to the first harvest of Plump Helmets out of your new farms.

[Angellus]

First off, you broke the cardinal rule of dwarf fortress - never let your dwarves get sober. The first priority is to make sure you have access to booze, either through large stockpiles brought with you or farms. You focused on getting your perfect fortress set up instead of getting a temporary set up going, which is far more important.

You may want to try starting on a heavily forested map. Usually they're packed with wild plants you can eat in a pinch, have several layers of easy to mine, arable land and have at bare minimum some murky pools which your dwarves can drink out of if they become dehydrated. Dry, mountainous maps are more difficult to build on if you don't come heavily prepared.

Also, the dwarf caravans always come loaded down with at least 5 stacks of Plump Helmets in my experience, did you get those? Breweries are very easy to set up, and that would have supplied you with enough Dwarven Ale to see you to the first harvest of Plump Helmets out of your new farms.

I did not get them with several stacks, I got a few plump helmets, but they were brewed quickly and there was one barrel with booze.
I'll find a way

[Albedo]

From your description, I'll be impressed if you do (and don't cheat). 

We await news, of your unexpected success or the familiar ring of a new earth being struck.  Either way, we'll want to hear the story!

[Angellus]

From your description, I'll be impressed if you do (and don't cheat). 

We await news, of your unexpected success or the familiar ring of a new earth being struck.  Either way, we'll want to hear the story!

Tomorrownight I shall continue my adventure there!

First lots of work and my girlfriends gratuation evening

[Lord Dakoth]

Abandon fortress, restart...

Whenever I start a new fortress, I always aim for about a year's supply of consumables. 60 units of food and 120 units of booze will support 7 dwarves for a little over a year.

[Albedo]

It's not that hard to get some farm plots going in season 1, and then harvest a season's worth of food in season 2 - and that allows for brewing by mid-summer or so.  Less than half what you're bringing is ample so long as you can do that.  And the Autumn caravan brings even more - but depending on the environment, that may or may not be something to count on.