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[Natti]

So...

I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for about 2 months, and now I encountered this new release.

As I've been using Mike Mayday's DF, now I'm lost. I'm utterly confused about making my own embark profile, as I've been using Mayday's.

Could somebody provide me with a good embark profile for a starter? Preferably pretty much similar to Mayday's.

[Urist McCyrilin]

The stuff the game starts you off with work pretty well. If you prepare carefully, make sure to add a dog or two to the mix and you have everything you need.

[Urist son of Urist]

Just go with a random loadout.  Picking your own equipment/skills is for wusses.

[Natti]

I've been told that using the "Play now" button is suicide. Is it really useful?

[LemonFrosted]

I've been told that using the "Play now" button is suicide. Is it really useful?

2010 "Play Now" is actually a pretty good loadout, especially initially since it covers some of the newer skills that you're likely to overlook if you're setting your own embark.

That said, there's nothing better for learning than spending 30-45 minutes building a custom embark that you think will be the awesomest settlement ever only to run into complete and total ruin Fun.

[Alkyon]

I've been told that using the "Play now" button is suicide. Is it really useful?

Not as much as it used to be.  DF2010 gives you a random, but decent mix-up of what you need to survive long enough to get a fort going.  Just gotta remember the bug with the new DF that says you can only grow plants on muddied surfaces.

Now, pray you don't get one of the accursed areas with lethal rain.

[Natti]

That said, there's nothing better for learning than spending 30-45 minutes building a custom embark that you think will be the awesomest settlement ever only to run into complete and total ruin Fun.

I did this about 1 month ago. It was really fun, and that's why I never do my own embark profiles.

I've been told that using the "Play now" button is suicide. Is it really useful?

Not as much as it used to be.  DF2010 gives you a random, but decent mix-up of what you need to survive long enough to get a fort going.  Just gotta remember the bug with the new DF that says you can only grow plants on muddied surfaces.

Now, pray you don't get one of the accursed areas with lethal rain.

Excuse me, WHAT THE HELL?

[Urist McCyrilin]

I've been told that using the "Play now" button is suicide. Is it really useful?

Not as much as it used to be.  DF2010 gives you a random, but decent mix-up of what you need to survive long enough to get a fort going.  Just gotta remember the bug with the new DF that says you can only grow plants on muddied surfaces.

Now, pray you don't get one of the accursed areas with lethal rain.

Where is the bug in that? Plants have new settings in their raws that determine it. Plants with the [DRY] tag (such as most aboveground plants) don't require it. I believe this is a feature, good sir. You can even give Plump Helmets the dry tag, enabling you to farm them on unmuddied underground soil

[Alkyon]

Now, pray you don't get one of the accursed areas with lethal rain.

Excuse me, WHAT THE HELL?

People have been reporting that they get a strange rain that kills their dwarfs.  They don't notice what's happening until they get the first "Urist McLuckless has bleed to death", and then they notice all of their dwarfs that were out in the weather has been pounded into hamburger from the waist up.  It's one of many bugs that DF2010.

Where is the bug in that? Plants have new settings in their raws that determine it. Plants with the [DRY] tag (such as most aboveground plants) don't require it. I believe this is a feature, good sir. You can even give Plump Helmets the dry tag, enabling you to farm them on unmuddied underground soil

*shrug*  I heard it was a bug in one of the threads.  If it's not, I really don't mind since it's not a hard hurdle to overcome...provided you know about it ahead of time.

[LemonFrosted]

Excuse me, WHAT THE HELL?

Yeah, a bunch of us have gotten areas where it'll start raining then a short time later (like 10-30 seconds) dwarves start bleeding to death. Mine were missing their torsos, others have reported a loss of feet and legs.

[Deathworks]

Hi!

There is the yellow warning, but surface farming works perfectly without any irrigation.

I am in my second fortress, and I am again relying on surface farming based on plants I gathered. (Okay, I did buy those rope reed seeds as I didn't find any in the wild).

I have been lucky as far as the rain goes, it seems...
Maybe those people are settling near active volcanoes?

Deathworks

[eviscerator]

I've started about ten forts in the new version, all in temperate zones, and never gotten the rain bug.  I think it's the hot climates.  In the really cold climates, I think rain turns to super fast hail (bullets).

Anyway, now that iron anvils are cheaper, and you can bring copper axes, things are almost too easy.  Except for the fact that if you want to explore the caves early you'll need 1 dwarf minimum for soldier, and a doctor would be good too.

I've found that 2 picks, 1 anvil, 10 bituminous coal, 5 wood, and 20 units of leather are good for starting.  Yes, bring food, drink, and seeds too.  May as well take advantage of the plentiful metals and forge your own axes first thing.

Within the first season I usually make 2-3 copper/iron axes and second season a chain or two for traction tables and perhaps a lot more chains if the dogs are running wild.

The skills you want are trickier to figure out, and largely are personal preference.  Since farming is harder to set up and dead animals yield so much more food, I haven't found farming skills as important to start off with.  Mining, masonry, and mechanics all still seem in constant short supply. 

Plus, you might want a guy who can make the valuable stone trinkets to trade with.

If you want to surface farm, I suggest bringing herbalists so you can get seeds sooner.

[Chthonic]

This is my minimal/cows profile.  It's a little inefficient since the single-skill-point-assignments just enable labors for the starting 7, to get the right distribution.  Enable architecture on one dwarf.  You start off building wood furnace, smelter, forge.  Dissassemble the wagon, burn it to charcoal, smelt malachite, copper axe, chop wood, smelt malachite, copper pick.

After that, you generally can have 0 idlers for quite a while, since the labor distribution keeps them sorted out a bit.  And you start cranking cattle out like mad after a season or two.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[PROFILE]
   [TITLE:MINIMAL COWS]
   [SKILL:1:MINING:5]
   [SKILL:1:BUTCHER:1]
   [SKILL:1:TANNER:1]
   [SKILL:1:WEAVING:1]
   [SKILL:1:STONECRAFT:1]
   [SKILL:1:APPRAISAL:1]
   [SKILL:2:CARPENTRY:3]
   [SKILL:2:COOK:1]
   [SKILL:2:FORGE_ARMOR:5]
   [SKILL:2:FORGE_FURNITURE:1]
   [SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:1]
   [SKILL:3:DETAILSTONE:3]
   [SKILL:3:PROCESSPLANTS:1]
   [SKILL:3:FORGE_WEAPON:5]
   [SKILL:4:MASONRY:3]
   [SKILL:4:LEATHERWORK:5]
   [SKILL:4:SUTURE:2]
   [SKILL:5:HERBALISM:4]
   [SKILL:5:MECHANICS:4]
   [SKILL:5:SET_BONE:2]
   [SKILL:6:PLANT:4]
   [SKILL:6:DIAGNOSE:2]
   [SKILL:6:SURGERY:2]
   [SKILL:6:WOOD_BURNING:1]
   [SKILL:6:ORGANIZATION:1]
   [SKILL:7:BREWING:4]
   [SKILL:7:CLOTHESMAKING:1]
   [SKILL:7:SMELT:1]
   [SKILL:7:BONECARVE:1]
   [SKILL:7:DRESS_WOUNDS:2]
   [SKILL:7:RECORD_KEEPING:1]
   [ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
   [ITEM:5:THREAD:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:SPIDER_CAVE:SILK]
   [ITEM:10:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
   [ITEM:2:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:MALACHITE]
   [ITEM:9:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
   [ITEM:1:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
   [ITEM:3:BOULDER:NONE:INORGANIC:KIMBERLITE]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:MUSCLE]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:BRAIN]
   [ITEM:2:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:KIDNEY]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:STOMACH]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:LIVER]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:HEART]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:LUNG]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:MUSCLE]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:BRAIN]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:KIDNEY]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:SPLEEN]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:PANCREAS]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:STOMACH]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:LIVER]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:GUT]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:HEART]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:LUNG]
   [ITEM:1:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:COW:EYE]
   [ITEM:1:WOOD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:FUNGIWOOD:WOOD]
   [PET:3:COW:FEMALE:STANDARD]
   [PET:1:COW:MALE:STANDARD]

[Satarus]

Pick the skills that you think will be useful and are slow to raise normally.  I like to start with 2 proficient growers since that lets you grow more food.  A proficient armor smith is nice as is a proficient mason and carpenter to get nicer furniture for happy thoughts.  You can also never go wrong bringing an axedwarf for early defense or hunting (and lumberjacking).

With anvils cheaper it is now worth it to bring one on your embark.  You can also ditch the starting picks and axes and bring some sort of copper ore instead.  That way you can smelt your own and get a quality modifier to it.  You don't have to since it slows your initial dig.  Bring some extra wood if you want. 

It's always a good idea to bring plenty of seeds and booze.  A few war dogs is always a great idea and it starts the puppy farm for your emergency food stockpile. A single piece of silk, leather, and pig tail cloth will let your first special mood go smoother in case you forget to buy/make them.  Spend whatever left over points on a single piece of every 2 point meat.  That gives you lots of "free" barrels.

[Loyal]

That said, there's nothing better for learning than spending 30-45 minutes building a custom embark that you think will be the awesomest settlement ever only to run into complete and total ruin Fun.

What, you don't save your embark profiles?

Hell, in 40d I ended up having multiple profiles saved for woodland, mountain (with or without magma), desert, and Evil biomes.