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[DeKaFu]

So, I probably won't be playing DF for quite some time, due to my assorted computers all having failed in tandem. Hopefully this can make my next run all the more interesting.

Here's my problem:
I've been playing DF on-and-off for over a year now, and I have never encountered a tantrum spiral, fell mood, fort flood of water or magma variety, etc.

The closest I ever got was in my third fort or so, which was next to a river and plagued by generations of homocidal hippos, one of which memorably used an unfinished water passage to enter the middle of my fortress and entirely dismember several citizens and my entire fledgling military. Even then, everyone got over it and the fort just got abandoned when the FPS got too low.

Since then, all of my forts have been extremely safe. I don't want to actively try to lose, just set myself up in challenging situations. But even when I embark in terrifying locations, I can usually build a wall and plug up holes and everyone lives without a care. I have a very careful playstyle so I've usually prepared for any dangers long before they hit.

I know part of it is my stubborn unwillingness to actively search out hidden features... I've never encountered HFS, because I want the first time I find it to be by accident.

I also don't want to mod my game to be stupidly hard just for the sake of it. I've done stuff like beef up megabeasts, but they come so rarely it doesn't make a big difference.

I've also tried hermit challenges, dealing with aquifers, no-stone challenges and the like, but they tend to get boring before anything too tragic happens. And even my overcomplex megaprojects involving water and magma were built with failsafes so they could be fixed safely when they didn't work.

So, what is the secret to failure? Playing badly on purpose isn't fun, but neither is unchecked prosperity.

I'm looking for any tips or advice you guys can offer.

[ousire]

have you tried playing with no traps at all? have no traps, but dont seal off your fort. go out and fight every goblin seige out there. much harder to prevent a tantrum spiral if half your guards all get killed

oh, and do this with or mod for mega Fun

[Emperor Iones]

Orcs. Civilization Forge. No traps, military and porticullis only. Only digging one z-level down into clay. Castle.
Final destination.

[detinith]

Genuine Fun is by definition an accident I think. You need to do dangerous and weird things, stuff you never did, to really introduce the chance of screwing up. Or just be careless

Don't try to challenge yourself with restrictions, just work with the HFS you haven't encountered yet. I haven't either, but I'm now making a fort like this:
Dedicated to exporting adamantine products. I didn't peek where it was on the embark map, just Found a location. I'm gonna keep military high, but I'm not gonna build checkpoints everywhere or anything. I like to underestimate the enemy

[AtomicPaperclip]

Build your fort in a magma pipe on a terrifying desert with orc mod without locking any doors or walling yourself in.

Something HAS to go wrong.

[Shaostoul]

HFS could be fun, but with a little proper planning and luck, it'll be easy as pie. No easiness guaranteed though.

Modding will make the game more fun. Harder enemies is almost required. Goblins are too easy.

I'm running Civ forge and Orcs. A lot more fun. However I'm thinking of making almost all the civs hostile. cept dwarves, humans and high elves.

-shrugs-

Embark on a terrifying ocean or major river.

Skeletons aren't really hard, it's getting the right skeletons that's hard. Camels are push overs.

Other than that, best of luck.

or in this case...

worst of luck.

Oh and that not locking doors or sealing in bit, very important, don't do it. Also... no traps.

[sev]

I also have this difficulty where I can't screw things up on purpose, but still need to come up with some kind of challenge.  So, I come up with the best stories I can that threaten, but do not guarantee, "fun".  Most of what I've come up with is food-related:

Instigate a one-month-a-year religious holiday in which all alcohol is forbidden.  Or a festival month in which the dwarves enjoy parties and no jobs are queued (this causes all sorts of havoc after the economy kicks in, though).

Turn off all farming every winter -- the outside at the very least.

Make the whole fortress subsist on a diet comprised only of the foods the nobility likes best.

Make stunning halls filled with millions of turtles worth of shiny furniture in an attempt to lure in bigger invasions.  (not working so well for me, yet.)

Keep myself from whatever my usual money-making industry is, because it's probably unrealistic to be able to trade off that many geegaws for such fine prices anyway.

Defy export restrictions on purpose.

I also tend to allow enough immigration that I have lots of idlers, so the dwarves get more upset when their friends die.

[Blackburn]

How about, for a challenge, you start a community fort and do anything and everything that the members suggest, without question (unless it's how to do it)?

Just a thought.

[Byakugan01]

Embark on a map with aquifers, punch below it, build your rooms, then ignore all damp stone warnings. Channel your magma forge tunnels without looking to see what might be below. Make a size 40, amphibious, river dwelling creature with 3:6 gore damage. Let everyone become one big happy family. Send ONE of them to their dooms.

[Ieb]

Think of a megaproject. Doesn't matter what.
Now, think how you could probably build it safe and without any danger to the wellbeing of anyone. Start building. See if your vision is right or not. If yes, congrats. If not, congrats.

[SanDiego]

I'm not aware of something like "safe megaproject". Number of things that can screw up is just so high that propability of fatal screw-up reaches almost 100%

[Someguyo]

Yes, but if you're amazingly lucky, you still avoid that 99.9999999% chance of failure!

[Jimmy]

You want fortress-ending tantrum spirals?

Play the 2D version.

[Grimlocke]

The forts I have to most fun with are usualy the ones that are, well, the most horrible places ever. Like the one that had 12 bridged running over magma, all 1 tile wide. So many flaming babies in my deseased list...

General apathy for the wellbeing of your dwarfs makes the game 'fun', as you can just laugh at your captain of gaurd smashing one of those bridges while standing on them, or at peasant number i-lost-count being torn to pieces by a hippo.

[piesquared]

Hrm... well my latest fort ought to be more interesting then the last few:

Orc Mod.  Civ Forge mod.  Major river, with the intention of building a castle on each side and to sink a small tower *through* the river.  No traps.  Never shut off the entrance to *both* castles at the same time.  Let the fun begin!