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[Khym Chanur]

If a scenario for a fortress has really specific site requirements it can take a long time and some frustration to find the site you need.  There are various suggestions for improving the site finder, and various ways you can fiddle with world generation parameters, but what about altering a site in an already gen'd world so that it's exactly what you need?  That way if you find a site that's almost what you need, you just tweak it a little and then embark.

As for the interface, the way I envision it is:

• Something like the designation menu or building menu, to add (or remove) things like magma pipes, chasms, HFS, and so on.
• Select one of the existing biomes and alter it:
  
  • Select a layer and change it, which would have lots of uses:
    
    • Add sand for glass making.
    • Add flux for steel making.
    • Add a sedimentary layer for iron.
    • Make a glacier.
    • Add obsidian for short swords and high-value stone.
    • Remove (or add) aquifers.
  • Change the density of trees and vegetation.
  • Change the temperature.
  • Change the evil/good/savage/calm settings (or spheres in future versions that use spheres).

[RAM]

This is, basically, cheating, as DF attempts to be a bit of a world simulator. So maybe this would be best for a completely separate mode which does not gen a world at all...

[Capntastic]

Can't you already hand draw worlds?   I don't see why the game needs built in functionality to make 'perfect' sites.   Part of the fun is not knowing.  Most of the fun is playing in the semi-coherent 'world' that the game generates.   All of the fun is Losing.

[Eztuzt]

Hand draw worlds? With what?

Also, part of the fun is not completely knowing whats down there. If you could place HFS and know exactly where your underground river is, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?

[Osmosis Jones]

It's possible to gen a world that uses a supplied heightmap to create the world. There are pics floating around somewhere of a greater britain world map for example. Similarly, there is a paintbrush tool that lets you paint in elevation, savagery, etc.
The problem with both is they don't actually allow control of site maps, only world. It doesn't mean you can't do some things like make a really deep ocean next to a tall mountain, but it doesn't quite have the control I think Khym is going for.

Anyway, I agree with the Capn. A lot of the fun comes from knowing that this awesome site actually popped up out of pure random fractal math.

[RAM]

Which is why I suggest a sandbox mode, if someone really wants to just run some dwarves through a maze, or complete some sort of megaproject, then they can use a completely customised map(with options to randomise some aspects). I suppose an option to put a fortress from any compatible source into a world map could have its uses...

[Pilsu]

The game has been moving away from such things, not towards them. Don't hold your breath

What the game needs is being able to place civs more intelligently (relying on random placement is bad now that supply of materials matters) and less reliance on your own materials. Eventually we'll be able to import glass to recycle, flux and fuel in adequate quantities etc. That should make more locations viable without needing to hamfist in marble layers with the power of plot

[groo]

Part of the fun is not knowing.  Most of the fun is playing in the semi-coherent 'world' that the game generates.   All of the fun is Losing.

Speak for yourself. I get frustrated when I lose out on entire industries because my embark site doesn't have what I need for them. My idea of fun is having as much content to play around with in each embark, from enemies and monster to fight to resources to tap; there's a reason forum threads devoted to finding the perfect "dwarf heaven" exist, it's because people don't want their access to game features restricted in any given game. And as the game works now, it's fairly easy to play on a map with an underground river, lake or magma pocket and never even know it's there for as long as the fortress stands, unless you're alright with messing your site up by honeycombing it for features.

[Footkerchief]

This is part of a dev item:

# EDITORS: Draw your own region maps, create your own towns, creatures, items, start situations, etc. For example, you could create Earth at various time periods (or an amalgamation of various time periods).

However, as a post-V1 item, it's not likely to get implemented in the near future.