I've got a bunch of questions, though I think they're simple enough that they're not threadworthy.
First, how do you guys deal with idlers? I'm having to deal with at least half of my population at one time (usually 40/90 or 30/90 dwarves idling in my dining halls), and not much for them to do. Should I build more workshops or what?
Second, do metal ores begin to appear? I'm about four or five Z-levels down and haven't hit a cavern or any metal veins yet, and my military has to deal with imported and goblinite weapons and armor until I can find some metal.
Third, about the military, is there any way to keep my melee dwarves from equpping the leather armor I make for the marksdwarves, besides just making metal armor for them first?
Lastly, along the same vein as my first question, when should I expand my workshop areas? I've got around 90-100 dwarves now and two of each kind of workshop, but half of them sit around unused except for the main ones like the brewery, carpenter shop, masonry, and the butcheries.
It's been forever since I've played DF (about since 31.25 was released), and I just started getting back into it, so I'm sure these are pretty simple things I've just forgotten from lack of playing. On the bright side, I just trapped my first megabeast, a Cyclops if I remember right. I'd be playing right now, but I'm on vacation with nothing but my netbook, which can't even run adventure mode very well.