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[Anticipation]

I've noticed that whenever I embark the first thing I do is hand out all the skills I think I NEED to run a sucessful (notice the difference between that word and Fun) fortress, but I find that I always have one dwarf left over.

So what I figured is that dwarf can be the Uber-Dorf of the fortress, destined to become legendary in as many professions as possible as well as being a nigh unstoppable warrior (I admit these dreams MAY be mutally-exclusive).

What would be some nice starting skills for this guy? I usally hand out armour and sheild using skills because I believe that it's the hardest skill to level, but does anybody have any different ideas?

[SkyRender]

 You could always take the Morul Cattenmat route and hand out totally useless skills to start with (Fish Dissection, for example).  Just a heads-up, though: age causes Dwarves to learn more slowly after a while, so be sure to train him/her up in the skills you definitely want before he/she becomes arthritic.

[NecroRebel]

You may want to look into Martin's work, Morul, the Most Interesting Dwarf in the World,, which involves such an uber-dwarf. Morul is legendary or higher in every skill that it is possible for a dwarf to be legendary in without modding, thus he well-deserves the title Most Interesting Dwarf in the World.

IMO, the hardest skills to improve are Strand Extractor, Fish Dissection, Milking, and Animal Dissection, since all  of those require resources that aren't very commonly available. Shield and Armor User aren't very difficult to raise, though; train a dwarf who wears armor and uses a shield to legendary in Wrestling, then switch to a weapon, train that to Legendary, and then switch to another more different weapon and by the time the second weapon skill is Legendary the dwarf should be Legendary in those skills without difficulty.

[Anticipation]

Hmm, I actually found Morul when it was relativly new, but I don't plan to go to quite those lengths. Having an unber soldior is cool though.

Shield and Armor User aren't very difficult to raise, though; train a dwarf who wears armor and uses a shield to legendary in Wrestling, then switch to a weapon, train that to Legendary, and then switch to another more different weapon and by the time the second weapon skill is Legendary the dwarf should be Legendary in those skills without difficulty.

It's been a while since I've played, but I was under the impression that dwarves that become legandary in a weapon won't change to a different one.

BTW, just started playing, the (random) name of the fortress is Merchantclubbed

[NecroRebel]

It's been a while since I've played, but I was under the impression that dwarves that become legandary in a weapon won't change to a different one.

That impression is wrong. If it was, Morul wouldn't have been possible; he's legendary in every weapon skill, after all. I also have a fort saved with 4 legendary wrestler/swordsman/armor user/maceman/hammerman/marksman/axeman people, so I know it's possible myself. You just have to use the military menu to switch weapons rather than the individual preferences menus, which is made inaccessible when they hit hero.

That may or may not have been the case in previous versions; I started playing with 40d, so I'm not familiar with the older ones. Confusion might also arise from artifact-wielding chamions, who won't drop the artifact and thus won't switch weapons and so can't be trained in anything except that artifact's relevant weapon type. Regardless, switching weapons on heroes and champions is very possible.

BTW, just started playing, the (random) name of the fortress is Merchantclubbed

You know what you must do: club merchants.

[Anticipation]

Tried quoting but the tags were crazy.

That's the plan Maybe this means that everyone can only be hammer and macedwarves.

Which reminds me of the first time I tried this trick, I made the dwarf proficient in wrestling and hammer using. It sounded like a good idea right up until he started sparing with raw conscripts 

I had to make more beds...

[Grendus]

7 dwarves:
1 weaponsmith/siege engineer
1 armorsmith/leatherworker
1 jewelcrafter/trader
1 metalcrafter/bonecrafter(/stonecrafter if you're into obscene amounts of low value trade goods)
1 farmer/brewer/cook
1 metalsmith/carpenter/mason
1 clothsmaker/weaver/dyer

And that's with a lot of doubling up and taking only a few points in some skills. How do you have extra dwarves?

[madjoe5]

7 dwarves:
1 weaponsmith/siege engineer
1 armorsmith/leatherworker
1 jewelcrafter/trader
1 metalcrafter/bonecrafter(/stonecrafter if you're into obscene amounts of low value trade goods)
1 farmer/brewer/cook
1 metalsmith/carpenter/mason
1 clothsmaker/weaver/dyer

And that's with a lot of doubling up and taking only a few points in some skills. How do you have extra dwarves?

Uh, where are your miners/wood cutters? This embark is extremely different than mine, which has generally three miners (one mason, another a architect, and another an engraver), a wood cutter/axedwarf, a planter/butcher/tanner, bone/stone crafter and a brewer/cook.

Leadership positions are spread out randomly. Idk why, but I can't stand to see my leader double as a record keeper, trader or manager or any combination of them.

[Anticipation]

7 dwarves:
1 weaponsmith/siege engineer
1 armorsmith/leatherworker
1 jewelcrafter/trader
1 metalcrafter/bonecrafter(/stonecrafter if you're into obscene amounts of low value trade goods)
1 farmer/brewer/cook
1 metalsmith/carpenter/mason
1 clothsmaker/weaver/dyer

And that's with a lot of doubling up and taking only a few points in some skills. How do you have extra dwarves?

I don't think of some things as very important lol

For me its:

1 Miner/trader/gemsetter
1 armor/weaponsmith
1 grower/brewer
1 grower/cook
1 carpenter/woodcutter
1 mason/gemcutter/gemsetter

So you see, things like weaver who I don't really think are NEEDED for survival just train up when I get imagrents. I'd rather dwarves specialised for one or two jobs then jack of all trades.

It's just a matter of prefrence I guess.

Also apart from the woodcutter they ALL start off mining

[Canadark]

It's amazing how much variance we all develop. I use this:

1 miner
2 miner
3 woodcutter/carpenter/axedwarf
4 mason/stone detailer
5 grower/brewer/fish cleaner
6 grower/cook/fisherdwarf
7 mechanic/appraiser/axedwarf

[Anticipation]

Well I DO find the lack of a mechanic annoying...

[bluea]

If you're comfortable getting a fort working, some of the "easy skills" are skipable. That's part of why you get lists with no woodcutting/mining etc. Getting an excellent weaponsmith is flat hard. Getting a legendary miner requires a pick and a little time.

Irritating to train: architect, armorer, weaponsmith, jeweler, siege engineer,
Needed near the start: farmer, brewer, cook,

Pick some and take seven picks and an axe.

[Anticipation]

Exacly what I do. Except I find the irritating to train ones less useful pretty much by definition (harder to tain = used less).

I bring along a good miner though incase I want to mine something and don't want it screwed up.

[Sutremaine]

Just a heads-up, though: age causes Dwarves to learn more slowly after a while, so be sure to train him/her up in the skills you definitely want before he/she becomes arthritic.

Does it, or are there other factors at work?

[ungulateman]

Check the wiki's page on starting build design for ideas.

I made one of them, btw. ;p