How do I really limit the population cap? I keep setting it to 30 but keep getting upwards of 60 dwarves in less than a few years.
The leading theory is that dwarves will continue to come in waves as long as the population in under the limit. So, if the limit is 30 and you have 29, that doesn't affect the numbers of the next wave at all.
It has also been speculated that it only checks the cap once a year, and so sends migrants for a whole year if the cap has not been hit at the start of the year.
Also, what do you do with all those dorfs? I put down about 3 carpenters and 3 mason workshops, then a couple of the others and I can't keep them all active. I have more food than I could ever eat, make thousands of dorfbucks of treasure, deforest the map, and build all the stone furniture I could ever want with under 25 dorfs. A few of those are just peasants I keep around for item moving and stuff.
I usually have large numbers of idlers, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I would probably use more dwarves if I ever established a metalworks, but can never find the magma on my map.
I've never found magma. I'm just really terrible, I guess.
I've built a lovely barracks for my military with with statues and 18 beds. The dwarves don't seem to realize the beds are there and apparently just sleep on a random tile in the barracks, often not in a bed... Is this a bug?
Yeah, sleeping in a barracks is a bit weird. I recommend just giving each military dwarf a bedroom.