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[assimilateur]

One day, your pissy noble will demand that adamantine shuttle to the Andromeda Galaxy, the Hammerer will kill a legendary dorf, and cause a tantrum spiral that will cause wanton destruction, unstoppable fires, and the death of everything you know.

This sort of hyperbole isn't helping the OP, nor is it funny. All this folklore about tantrum this, tantrum that, is, in short, bull. Now, I'm not saying there's no risk of dwarves hitting or even killing each other, but it's all blown out of proportion.

[Danjen]

You can't win. There is only faliure or continued success.

Hey, just like life!

[armadilloHD]

Yeah, it's actually pretty hard to lose once everything gets going smoothly, even if you sabotage your dwarves a lot, you're still probably going to be left with a few.

[Dorfus]

I'm not convinced that it's totally out of proportion. It doesn't happen every day but it's to be expected that the exceptional stories are the ones most recounted. My first ever tantrum spiral saw a legendary hammer dwarf knock kids up and down my hallways and my first ever encounter with fire imps led to a pig tail sock rush that killed more than half of my haulers.

I find there to be two very satisfying elements to the game. The first is the flexibility within the game for megaprojects. The second is the way in which things can all go terribly, horribly and spectacularly wrong. I like watching my dwarves slowly construct a giant pyramid and I like watching my marksdwarf dodge a team of crossbow wielding goblins just to smack them to death with a dwarf bone crossbow. The game is just nice

[assimilateur]

It doesn't happen every day but it's to be expected that the exceptional stories are the ones most recounted.

I don't disagree, but the way they are recounted at times (and certainly this time, in the case I replied to earlier), it might suggest to the newbie that this sort of catastrophe was inevitable, which would be total bunk. It is also counterproductive in that it might discourage one type player from trying this game altogether, and disappoint another, who's actually looking forward to such mayhem.

[Arrkhal]

As long as you've got at least one sane dorf left alive and they have access to a pick and some other essentials, you could theoretically recover from absolutely anything.  Just activate all the essential labors and have that dwarf self-sustain (isolated from everything if necessary) until immigration picks up again.

Tantrum spirals and other disasters are more often a matter of "gah, I give up!" than being genuinely hopeless.

[Flaede]

Tantrum spirals and other disasters are more often a matter of "gah, I give up!" than being genuinely hopeless.

Definitely true!

Out of every 20 or so dwarves, I find at least one will end up "not caring about anything" during the dreaded (And overhyped) tantrum spiral. Then all you have to do is keep her alive, and then repopulate. If you really really want it, very few disasters in DF are ireversible. Except for exposing something underground to daylight.

So, to the OP, your fort will usually last as long as you and your indomitable will demand it. And hey, if something Fun! happens, you can still reclaim the exact same site, as it was just after the disaster, so the physical site need never be lost.

[assimilateur]

you can still reclaim the exact same site, as it was just after the disaster, so the physical site need never be lost.

Due to the buggy nature of reclaiming (problems like previously tasked items being unusable, and magma-related structures becoming deactivated come to mind, but there may be others), it is generally advised to revert to an earlier backed up save. Some purists might find this exploitative, though, as it apparently wasn't intended by the dev. EDIT: or perhaps it was, seeing how the init file includes an auto-backup feature.

[Skorpion]

Tantrum spirals are rare, and are generally a result of poor fort management. Nobles demanding the impossible are capable of setting it off, but so is a goblin siege killing the military.

The trick is just to either keep everyone happy, or make them so used to tragedy and disaster and death that they just power on through.
My current fort got a string of bad luck, so it's using the latter method to avoid a tantrum spiral after losing most of the military.
It's not the first time this has happened. The goblins used to love ambushing and sieging with archers.

[assimilateur]

What are you saying here? That dwarves who are "getting used to tragedy" or "[don't] care about anything anymore" will more easily be able to remain ecstatic (or at least happy or content) even in the face of death? I'm impressed, because I thought that was just fluff, so to speak, without any impact on mechanics.

[Beanchubbs]

What are you saying here? That dwarves who are "getting used to tragedy" or "[don't] care about anything anymore" will more easily be able to remain ecstatic (or at least happy or content) even in the face of death? I'm impressed, because I thought that was just fluff, so to speak, without any impact on mechanics.

It's true, I've had a champion that "didn't care about anything anymore." She lost one child from a snatcher, and 2 babies from archers. Then her husband and 3 of her friends died right after her two babies. She was ecstatic.

[assimilateur]

Ha, that's fucking excellent.

[alphawolf29]

Early advice for the OP

1. Build a farm ASAP. Brewery second. You need food and liquor to survive (will, not technically liquor. But it helps a lot)
2. Build a wall! A lot easier to defend your fort when you only have one entrance. Make sure not to make the wall too small as you will want room to expand within your walls. Also, if you like to fish, it helps if there is a pond or small lake in your wall or connected to your wall.
3. Dont get caught up in hunters, as they almost always die early on (In my experience).
4. Build a lot of crossbows, they can be used to deadly effect by almost anyone.

[absynthe7]

You -can- get your fort to last indefinitely... the main issue is that most forts end with either spectacular failure or players getting bored and just starting a new one. If you're looking for some "win conditions" to strive for:

1.) Make your fort completely self-contained - impenetrable to sieges and attacks and not requiring trade to survive or thrive.
2.) Build a mega-project successfully (giant statue, massive magma waterfall, perpetual motion machine, etc.)
3.) Reach (and sustain) the 200 dwarf population cap.
4.) Defeat the HFS.

[Skorpion]

What are you saying here? That dwarves who are "getting used to tragedy" or "[don't] care about anything anymore" will more easily be able to remain ecstatic (or at least happy or content) even in the face of death? I'm impressed, because I thought that was just fluff, so to speak, without any impact on mechanics.

This game is deeper than you think. Dwarves who're used to tragedy just don't give a shit about it anymore. Unreliable, flighty dwarves with no work ethic train slower than dwarves with an attention span greater than a fly.