Hi!
So, putting the previous comments together, I suggest you try 31.06, and if that does not work out, go for 40d :) :) :)
Note, however, that 31.xx has seen a lot of rebalancing and things, so your tactics may need revision.
Personally, I would recommend 31.06:
- The combat reports allow you to see clearly which weapons work and which don't work against what armor and you also get the dramatic information about how that forgotten beast ripped off the head of the tame grizzly bear.
- Announcements are highly customizable so that it pauses only when you want it to pause. For instance, by default, normal rock layers no longer pause the game, and I have activated a pause and box for whenever one of my pets has children (while I use it to cage unnamed kittens to send them to new homes via the caravans, I can guess that there are more sinister uses for that)
- Health care has improved significantly. This follows the trend we have seen over the last few versions, actually, where the fatality rate among patients was constantly getting lower.
- Details, lots of details: In health care, for instance, you get information about what problems the dwarf has, then the wound gets diagnosed, cleaned (with soap and water if possible!), dressed, or otherwise treated as is considered appropriate. Likewise, animals and dwarves have individual outside characteristics, and at least with animals, those traits are actually subject to genetics, so you can really breed fat mountain goats - with the bonus that they do indeed yield more fat then.
- Milking works and butchering is highly productive, giving you more options for a viable setup for your fortress.
- Megabeast conditions can be set during world generation and the general vertical size of the local map can also be set there (while you can't place the magma sea above the cavern layers, you can define how much distance there should be between the layers and the surface) - so you can have a map where you will dig up the fun stuff right away, or one where you can build a gigantic fortress underground before breaching even the first cavern layer, or any other setup you like.
Deathworks