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Around 20

16 (11.4%)

Around 40

41 (29.3%)

Around 80

29 (20.7%)

I don't lower the population cap.

54 (38.6%)

Total Members Voted: 140

[Lemunde]

I like to keep my population cap at around 30 and my child cap around 5.  The benefits are a much more easily managed fortress, better performance and a generally easier game since I don't have to deal with invasions and mandates.  The drawbacks are I never get to see some of the more advanced features of the game such as the economy and I really have to ration my workers which forces me to specialize my fortress in only a few industries.  But it lets me focus on making my fortress look good and deal with mega-projects.

[Skorpion]

Dwarves to 150, kids to about 15 or so.

[ChairmanPoo]

I keep it to 80-100.

I havea childcap of... ten, or so.

But I genocide them regularly. I hate children, you see.

[jerank]

I never lower my pop cap, I quadruple it. I hate starting a map capable of supporting literally thousands of dwarves and be limited to 200.

I do kill off my nobles, however.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I keep it at 200, since i prefer to run 6x6 or 7x7 maps.

[Foxbyte]

I usually employ strict immigration restrictions; I start off with a 35 limit. Once I have a decent metalworks and farm [Two growers at least Master] up with the ability to also product bolts and such I increase again to 70. Then my goal is a military and a sheriff with a couple guards, fully fleshed out prison, and a small castle for my nobles. Then I go up to 100 and make a larger castle.

The worst problem I have is that first entrance. I've started over this map over 50 times because I just can't think of where I want to dig down. At this rate I'll build a surface fortress.

[lucusLoC]

i keep it around 20 when megaprojecting, and whatever my comp can handle when just playing a fort. i set no limits on children, as i like the atmosphere they bring. maks a town seem real.

[Draco18s]

I've lowered my popcap to about 100.  I think children are unmodified at the moment.  I suppose I should have lowered it further for the megaproject, but 100 dwarves is about perfect, I think.  I'm at 150 and going a little sluggish, I think it's time for a purge (last time I was up over 120 I had a tantrum spiral that brought me back to about 30, half of which were immigrants).

I've kept them all fed with a single farm plot 7x7  running year round.  I've got enough barrels that I can start brewing and end up with 2000+ drink (and then forget about it for two years).

I'd say about a third of the population are mason/architects (well, if they ever gained any EXP for building walls).  The spare population is there to haul rocks into the megaconstruction's three small stockpiles.

[Itnetlolor]

I don't lower cap. I usually don't reach cap.

At least, I don't count on it, unless I'm committed to it. Meaning, unless I feel like boosting population, will I focus on the task, and thus increase pop.

Unfortunately, I wish that helped with my megaproject. Now I'm back to square one.

[Charmander]

Mine's varied anywhere from 10 to 40, but mostly because I want the buggers to breed.

It's harder than it sounds, and frankly, quite tedious trying to force sparring buddies and rotate and try not to get too inbred.

And having seventeen legendary comedians isn't exactly my cup of tea.

Otherwise? I lowered it to about 120, I think. So not really that much, or that significant, really.

[Helmaroc]

I recently set mine to 20, because once I get around 40 I start to lag. And I just like the idea of a small fort, it's easier to manage.

[martinuzz]

I usually set it to 100, and no child cap.
With enough children, I'll get a King.
Also, babies are good at drawing goblin fire.
However, if my population rises above 150-ish, I really need to start purging for FPS' sake. (FPS drops below 15, that's when it starts to annoy me)

[BurnedToast]

I cap mine at 50.

Fortress runs MUCH faster with less dwarves, and there's really no reason you would ever need more then 50 or so. Even for megaprojects and huge hauling jobs 50 is enough to get it done in a reasonable amount of time, and legendaries work so fast you never need more then a single dwarf per job type (except arguably farming). 5 in the military trained up to champions will stop any siege - hell, even a single dwarf trained up enough would though he can't spar with himself.

I wonder what the hell people who have 200 dwarves do with them all. Even with just 50, the vast majority spend years idling in their rooms unless there is something to haul or dump.

[Holy Mittens]

I cap out around 80. That keeps me hovering around 25-30 FPS, which is the slowest I can manage.

[Niveras]

I never lower my pop cap, I quadruple it. I hate starting a map capable of supporting literally thousands of dwarves and be limited to 200.

What the heck do you do with them all. I'm running into issues with expandability, given that I have enough dwarves to keep my fort running smoothly and have no idea what to do with the last ~50 immigrants, let alone the next 50 it'll take to reach the cap. I already have most of them pumping useless pumps or practicing at my indoor catapult range, a full complement (and then some) of guards, royal guards, and at least 20 champion and near-champion military dwarves (and probably more as I thin my useless stocks my drafting them). Kind of running out things to make them do..

Perhaps I'll make a giant mason factory and turn out blocks and crafts.