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[Khift]

So how would one go about generating a world with fewer z-levels of rock? All of the worlds I've played in have had the standard world gen settings and have all had close to 200 layers of mineable rock -- and they've all become so slow as to be nearly unplayable at higher population levels despite the fact that my computer should be able to curbstomp this game and I suspect the rock is the culprit. Looking at worldgen.txt, I see this:

[LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:15]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:5]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:2]
[LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:1]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:25]
[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:50]

That looks like the right settings to tweak... but those numbers are really, really small. Am I supposed to use decimals here? That doesn't feel right at all; nothing else in the document uses decimals.

In short, I want to try and generate a world with somewhere between 50 and 100 mineable layers of rock, not the ~200 layers I keep getting.

[JAFANZ]

the "Levels_Above_Layer_N" lines are Minima, I think what you need to adjust Elevations, Minimim Peaks, Minimum Volcanos, & any tendency you might have to embark on/near Mountains.

Personally I've been trying to increase my map depths, without any noticeable luck, which is why my posted param sets all have increased levels minimums.

[melomel]

So how would one go about generating a world with fewer z-levels of rock? All of the worlds I've played in have had the standard world gen settings and have all had close to 200 layers of mineable rock -- and they've all become so slow as to be nearly unplayable at higher population levels despite the fact that my computer should be able to curbstomp this game and I suspect the rock is the culprit. Looking at worldgen.txt, I see this:

[LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:15]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:5]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:1]
[LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:2]
[LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:1]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:25]
[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:50]

That looks like the right settings to tweak... but those numbers are really, really small. Am I supposed to use decimals here? That doesn't feel right at all; nothing else in the document uses decimals.

In short, I want to try and generate a world with somewhere between 50 and 100 mineable layers of rock, not the ~200 layers I keep getting.

Cave size doesn't matter--those are the special hidden locations where

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

the titans/megabeasts/cool kids hang out.

No decimals.

Cutting down the levels aboveground should help, but it lowers the ceiling on the whole game world and you won't be able to go back and change it if you decide you do want a 10-story above-ground tower.

Embarking in low-lying areas helps, a lot.  Oceans and major rivers seem to cause lag; wouldn't be surprised if volcanos had the same effect.  Playing in a smaller world seems to help--it definitely makes the generation easier.  And there's always forcing yourself to use a 3x3 embark, if you can do it.

[Grimlocke]

I prefer some extra horizontal space to work with so I removed the middle cavern layer. It took some modding to get all the creatures to still show up (everything that appeared first in the 2nd layer didnt show up at all) but it saves me enough z-levels to run a 4x4 in the lower lands.

[Khift]

I'll try embarking on a low-lying area, although my current fort was pretty low as it was. The elevation map had the forest biome listed as a 1 in elevation and the mountain biome between 3 and 5 -- barely a mountain, closer to a hill. And as for a 3x3 embark, well, I'm already in that and I still hit 30 FPS by the time I have 100 dwarves despite having a completely modern PC (Intel i7 processor).

There has to be some way to lower the amount of z-levels of rock. The save that inspired this search had a mere 60 levels of mineable rock compared to my current of almost 200 and it played smooth as butter 100 FPS with 80 dwarves on my computer. It was the same size embark (3x3) with all five cavern levels plus a volcano on the surface, too. The only difference I could note was that this save used a different tile set and had significantly fewer z-levels of rock.

[Grimlocke]

My current one has 39 layer of stone untill the surface, and another 19 untill the mountaintop. With it being right next to the mountain im actualy not so sure about the low lands thing. It might just be a matter of luck.

[melomel]

I'll try embarking on a low-lying area, although my current fort was pretty low as it was. The elevation map had the forest biome listed as a 1 in elevation and the mountain biome between 3 and 5 -- barely a mountain, closer to a hill. And as for a 3x3 embark, well, I'm already in that and I still hit 30 FPS by the time I have 100 dwarves despite having a completely modern PC (Intel i7 processor).

There has to be some way to lower the amount of z-levels of rock. The save that inspired this search had a mere 60 levels of mineable rock compared to my current of almost 200 and it played smooth as butter 100 FPS with 80 dwarves on my computer. It was the same size embark (3x3) with all five cavern levels plus a volcano on the surface, too. The only difference I could note was that this save used a different tile set and had significantly fewer z-levels of rock.

Hmm...  I've never used a tileset, so I'm not sure if that would change anything, but it might?

Are there any major differences in fort design?  Bottlenecks in high-traffic areas can grind things down.  Pathing in general eats resources; speaking of, were you dealing with the same animal populations?  Loose animals do bad, bad things to FPS.

[puke]

what happens if you set the "layers above level x" to zero?  do the various cave layers merge together into a megacave?  trying this out on a pocketworld now...

hm... nothing, as far as i can tell.  looks identical to default cavern settings, if i edit the worldgen text to set all those levels to zero.  on an unrelated note, i happened to gen a pocket world with a mountain peak next to a haunted glacier.  comes with a 131 z-level peak above the glacier, and 91 below the level of the glacier.

[Khift]

I'll try embarking on a low-lying area, although my current fort was pretty low as it was. The elevation map had the forest biome listed as a 1 in elevation and the mountain biome between 3 and 5 -- barely a mountain, closer to a hill. And as for a 3x3 embark, well, I'm already in that and I still hit 30 FPS by the time I have 100 dwarves despite having a completely modern PC (Intel i7 processor).

There has to be some way to lower the amount of z-levels of rock. The save that inspired this search had a mere 60 levels of mineable rock compared to my current of almost 200 and it played smooth as butter 100 FPS with 80 dwarves on my computer. It was the same size embark (3x3) with all five cavern levels plus a volcano on the surface, too. The only difference I could note was that this save used a different tile set and had significantly fewer z-levels of rock.

Hmm...  I've never used a tileset, so I'm not sure if that would change anything, but it might?

Are there any major differences in fort design?  Bottlenecks in high-traffic areas can grind things down.  Pathing in general eats resources; speaking of, were you dealing with the same animal populations?  Loose animals do bad, bad things to FPS.

Major differences in fort design? Well, there was one -- I plan the entire fort out and then carve it out piece by piece, so by the time I had 80 dwarves I'd already carved out about 80% of the total fortress. The fort in this save was smaller, more compact. In terms of bottlenecks, he had a lot of one tile up/down stairs running through the center of his fort, four of them in the corners of a 4x4 area to be specific, while my fort was designed to have a huge central pit with ramps all over it and workshops radiating out from the center; travel time from any one part of the fort to another was crazy low because to get from any one place to the other you just walked up and down the pit. That's kind of an odd design, I know, and it was admittedly a bit experimental and could have caused the lag, but I've experienced this same kind of speed on all previous forts of mine as well (including the massive amount of z-levels). As for animals, I definitely had more of them, but except for the dogs and cats they were all chained or caged. His fort had some loose cats (living in the jungle they're the lesser of two evils, the other evil being vermin, vermin everywhere) but no loose dogs, and all of his livestock animals were either chained or caged as well.

I'm trying out Phoebus' tileset instead of Mayday's for this fort and unless I choose the embark point next to that terrifying ocean I'll be in a very low-lying area. Speaking of which, which embark point would you guys go for?

Embark #1 - Untamed Wilds with minerals
Located on a brook ten tiles south of a goblin fortress, one tile west of a volcano, at a spot where a region with a sedimentary layer runs into the volcanic region with igneous extrusive layers.
Pros:
- Unique spread of minerals; all four layers are well represented.
- Low elevation, hopefully means low amount of z-levels.
- Right next to a volcano so a higher chance of a magma pipe.
- Untamed wilds forest and mountain biome for excellent variety of tamable creatures.
- Sand and no aquifer, heavily forested and thick vegetation.
- Relatively close to a goblin fortress.

Cons:
- No granite, so no bronze.
- Cliffs map says the area is pretty much flat.
- Feels kinda boring, kinda uninspiring.
- Only flux is a single layer of marble on the bottom of the forest biome; likely to share a room with a cavern, so there won't be much to go around.

Embark #2 - Terrifying Ocean
An untamed wilds temperate shrubland with high cliffs overlooking a terrifying ocean. No aquifer on land, but the ocean biomes have aquifers (not surprising). Lots of sand, limestone layer on land, and both ocean biomes have sedimentary layers with aquifers.
Pros:
- Its terrifying, and its an ocean. I've done neither before, and new things rock.
- Untamed wilds for good tamable creatures.
- Tons of sand.
- A medium spread of minerals; lots of different layers, but most of them are igneous intrusive or metamorphic and are mostly useless.
- Sheer cliffs looking out into the sea makes for a cool concept.
Cons:
- No fresh water, will have to desalinate and that'll be a pain.
- No source of copper except tetrahedrite.
- Nearest goblin fort is a long, long ways away. The terrifying might make up for that, but if it doesn't it could be a boring game.
- Elevation is relatively high, the opposite of what I'm trying to test here.

Embark #3 - Advanced Guard fortress
Situated in the south straddling a brook, a tropical freshwater marsh and a mountain biome (all wilderness, unfortunately) on low elevation but massive local cliffs and, oh yeah, exactly one tile away from a goblin fortress.
Pros:
- Adjacent to a goblin fortress. Their arrows will blot out the sun. Definitely a military challenge.
- Both biomes have sedimentary layers. Lots of granite and marble as well. Great mix of minerals, although no igneous extrusive layers.
- Low elevation, but soaring cliffs. Don't ask me how that worked out.
- Never played in a marsh before.
- No aquifer.

Cons:
- No sand.
- Not untamed wilds, so I don't expect much from the wildlife.
- Wood will be a little sparse.

Edit: A fourth spot appears!

Embark #4 - Lake Placid. Temperate untamed wilds freshwater swamp bordering a terrifying cold freshwater lake.
Pros:
- Never played on a swamp nor a lake before, would be interesting.
- No aquifer, but plenty of water.
- Untamed wilds for interesting creatures (although wiki says swamps with it just means slugs and snailmen, which would be bleh).
- Terrifying lake, so woo undead fish!
- Chert for a sedimentary layer, marble for flux.
- Five tiles away from a goblin fortress, so the sieges should be intense.
Cons:
- No granite for bronze.
- No sand, so no glass industry.
- Not a big fan of cold climates, but at least it's not freezing.

[PeterMcBeater]

If you want way less Z levels set the number of caverns to 1. All the rest of the numbers are minimums and don't really affect what you want. I went through the same thing a little while ago and reducing the number of caverns got me what I wanted.

Specifically: [CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:1]

[Khift]

Okay, after playing around with these sites and some other throwaway sites, using DFreveal on the sites I don't plan on embarking on, I've come up with a theory. On an average site with medium elevation there will be about 50 z-levels of mineable rock. You can get less if you go for lower elevations, but not by much. However, totally regardless of elevation, if an underground feature requests more z-levels then it gets it, no matter what.

On my current map, if the magma sea was directly beneath cavern level three it would be pretty reasonable, close to about 70 or 80 mineable levels of rock. However, it isn't, it's 70 levels beneath cavern level three. Why did it do that? Because there's a 90 z-level adamantine spire and it wanted enough room to exist. Therefore the map added in 70 levels worth of diorite in between the magma sea and cavern level three so the massive adamantine spire could live in peace.

Looking at these sites and the various throwaway sites, the vast majority of them don't have anything like that. Most of them, even the high elevation embarks, had very reasonable (40 to 70) levels of underground z-levels. The terrifying oceanside embark, however, had 120. Why? Because all of it's cavern levels had ridiculous ceilings. No idea why. The first level was 25 z-levels, the second was almost 35, and the third was also 25. It just rolled straight sixes on height, I suppose.

I'm not certain that there really is any setting that can affect these features the way I'd want. I guess you just have to check in a throwaway embark to see if it has a berserk feature that went huge during worldgen. Add it to the list of reasons why you would skip an embark site, eh?

In other news, checking out the sites in throwaway embarks did help. Here's what I saw:

Embark #1, next to the volcano, was pretty boring. Flux wouldn't have been as bad as I expected, and it wasn't flat, but it just didn't speak to me. I used DFreveal here and didn't find any magma pipe, either, although with the map being the smallest of embarks and only needing to go like 25 levels below the surface to hit the magma sea I'm not certain it really would've mattered. Still, it's right out.

Embark #2, the terrifying ocean, is straight out due to berserk caverns. It had zero wildlife as well. Not even a zombie carp.

Embark #3, the advanced guard fort next to the goblins had some very interesting elevation features, was also very shallow in z-levels, and had a 10 z-level natural waterfall on it's brook. This is the one I'm going to pick, it's just very interesting.

Embark #4, the Lake Placid embark, was fairly boring. No wildlife, but the lake was frozen so that is almost to be expected. Elevation was uninspiring. However, it did have an upright spoiler -- an adamantine two-handed sword. Fairly shallow z-levels, about 40 in total. I didn't DFreveal it because I may come back to it later to claim the upright spoiler.

I did find a fifth embark point while looking that, while I'm not going to use it for my personal game, I am going to reserve it for use in a succession game my friends want to start sometime soon. The rest of the thread may be interested in it too because it is just epic. It had:

- Absolutely amazing cliffs. Completely sheer at spots. Thirty z-levels from the forest floor up to the top of the map. A brook carves it's way through the mountain in the western part of the map, creating even more interesting cliff-age.
- Moist tropical broadleaf forest and mountain biome, both untamed wilds. The jungle is hot, the mountain is merely warm. Should provide just about the largest variety of creatures possible.
- Excellent mineral wealth. The visible part of the mountain is made up of layer after layer of shale with large pockets of marble and slate. There is a granite layer below, as well, for bronze. The forest floor is yellow sand.
- 15 regional tiles from a goblin fortress, so goblin raids should be of above average strength.
- Fairly shallow map; 40 z-levels from the bottom of the forest floor to the bottom of the map and 30 z-levels from the forest floor to the top of the mountain.
- Access to all civs and no aquifer. No visible magma, but with a map this shallow that shouldn't be a big issue. After getting used to making 100+ z-level magma pump stacks the prospect of pumping only 20 or 30 levels just doesn't seem like a big deal.
- In the world gen settings I tripled the amount of titans, increased civilization count by 50% and set the world generation end date to 399. Also replaced [PET_EXOTIC] and [MOUNT_EXOTIC] with their more mundane settings, so enemy civs should actually have exotic animals tamed (as well as allowing you to tame them).
- And the best part: it has an upright spoiler.

If someone is interested in the save and/or worldgen settings + directions to the site, let me know. I genned it in a DF version using Phoebus' graphics pack, so dunno if that would interact oddly with other unmodded games. I know when I loaded Chopper Dave's fort save which was in Phoebus while I was using Mayday's it made all the stone walls look like colored trees, which was really odd and unsettling, but I don't know if that would happen with a region save as well.

[rmunn]

That fifth site sounds worthy of posting worldgen params and a directions to the embark site. And I'd be interested in where to find embark #3 as well.

[Khift]

Okay, here goes. This was a large region with a lot of civs so it took quite a while to generate, so be warned. Other than that the only thing I really altered was the savagery tile count.
Worldgen parameters

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Created in DF v0.31.12.

[WORLD_GEN]
   [TITLE:LARGE REGION]
   [SEED:829001099]
   [HISTORY_SEED:4027039257]
   [NAME_SEED:3516508442]
   [CREATURE_SEED:3241838796]
   [DIM:257:257]
   [EMBARK_POINTS:1274]
   [END_YEAR:399]
   [BEAST_END_YEAR:300:80]
   [REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
   [CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:1]
   [ELEVATION:1:400:800:800]
   [RAINFALL:0:100:400:400]
   [TEMPERATURE:25:75:400:400]
   [DRAINAGE:0:100:400:400]
   [VOLCANISM:0:100:400:400]
   [SAVAGERY:20:100:400:400]
   [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [TITAN_NUMBER:70]
   [TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:80:0:100000]
   [DEMON_NUMBER:60]
   [GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]
   [EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:100:1000:2000]
   [PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:50]
   [PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:2]
   [COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]
   [VOLCANO_MIN:20]
   [REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:1032:7:6]
   [REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:1032:7:6]
   [REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:4128:13:12]
   [REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:8256:9:9]
   [REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:8256:7:6]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:8256:13:12]
   [REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:8256:13:12]
   [EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]
   [RIVER_MINS:400:400]
   [PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:0]
   [OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]
   [SUBREGION_MAX:2750]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:3]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:50]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:100]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:20]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:100]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:10]
   [CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:70]
   [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:1]
   [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:1]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:15]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:5]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:1]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:1]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:1]
   [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:2]
   [LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:1]
   [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
   [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
   [CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
   [MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:100]
   [NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:200]
   [ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
   [TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:75]
   [TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:15000]
   [PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
   [ELEVATION_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]
   [RAIN_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]
   [DRAINAGE_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]
   [SAVAGERY_RANGES:8256:16512:24768]
   [VOLCANISM_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]

Embark #3

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Top Z-level: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Khift/MartyredhoundstheW-44-region1-400-9.jpg?t=1283635461
Bottom Z-level: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Khift/MartyredhoundstheW-34-region1-400-9.jpg?t=1283635461

This embark is a 3x3 because that is what I was going for, but you can obviously make it larger if you wanted. Just remember to include the top brook tile; that's the one with the waterfall.

Embark #5

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

River z-level: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Khift/Yearlingboat-42-region2-400-4.jpg?t=1283635463
Bottom z-level: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/Khift/Yearlingboat-35-region2-400-4.jpg?t=1283635462

A 4x4 embark this time. Don't remember exactly which tile has the upright spoiler, but I think it was one of the center tiles. Expanding the embark north would probably net even more epic cliffs, giving you more room to expand into the side of the mountain.

[rmunn]

Here's a world gen I like, with two good embark sites.

Params:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Created in DF v0.31.12.

[WORLD_GEN]
    [TITLE:Mount Dwarfmore]
    [SEED:3735326720]
    [HISTORY_SEED:4068441316]
    [NAME_SEED:3488631096]
    [CREATURE_SEED:1788434008]
    [DIM:129:129]
    [EMBARK_POINTS:1274]
    [END_YEAR:1050]
    [BEAST_END_YEAR:200:80]
    [REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
    [CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]
    [ELEVATION:1:400:1600:1600]
    [RAINFALL:0:100:200:200]
    [TEMPERATURE:25:75:200:200]
    [DRAINAGE:0:100:200:200]
    [VOLCANISM:0:100:200:200]
    [SAVAGERY:0:100:200:200]
    [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:4:2:0:1:0:1]
    [RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
    [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
    [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
    [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
    [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
    [TITAN_NUMBER:9]
    [TITAN_ATTACK_TRIGGER:80:0:100000]
    [DEMON_NUMBER:28]
    [GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:6:63:0]
    [EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:6:63:0]
    [PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:3]
    [PARTIAL_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]
    [COMPLETE_OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:4]
    [VOLCANO_MIN:1]
    [REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:66:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:66:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:264:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:528:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:528:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:16:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:33:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:528:0:0]
    [REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:528:0:0]
    [EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]
    [RIVER_MINS:25:25]
    [PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]
    [OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]
    [SUBREGION_MAX:2750]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_COUNT:3]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MIN:0]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_OPENNESS_MAX:100]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MIN:0]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_PASSAGE_DENSITY_MAX:100]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:0]
    [CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:100]
    [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_1:1]
    [HAVE_BOTTOM_LAYER_2:1]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_GROUND:15]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_1:5]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_2:1]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_3:1]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_4:1]
    [LEVELS_ABOVE_LAYER_5:2]
    [LEVELS_AT_BOTTOM:1]
    [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
    [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
    [CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
    [MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:5]
    [NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:10]
    [ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]
    [SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
    [TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:10]
    [TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:15000]
    [PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
    [ELEVATION_RANGES:8000:1056:528]
    [RAIN_RANGES:528:1056:528]
    [DRAINAGE_RANGES:528:1056:528]
    [SAVAGERY_RANGES:528:1056:528]
    [VOLCANISM_RANGES:528:1056:528]

The first embark site has a steep mountainside that could easily be carved into a vertical cliff, overlooking the river. A great site for Mount Dwarfmore. It also has:

• Volcano
• Sand
• Brook
• Aquifer on southern edge of map, but not covering whole map
• Granite (contains cassiterite for making bronze)
• Marble (flux, and contains many valuable materials)
• Untamed wilds biome in a freshwater swamp - giant eagles, alligators, probably other animals

Location:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The second embark site is a 100% Savage Good biome (Joyous Wilds), containing:

• No volcano - magma is VERY deep underground (about 130 Z-levels). Build that pump stack or piston!
• Very tall caverns with a good mix of passages and some open space
• Unicorns galore, and probably other creatures as well
• Lots of trees and surface plants
• Ten layers of flux: five of dolomite, five of marble
• Lots and LOTS of layers of granite (plenty of bronze available on this map)
• All kinds of metals
• Sand
• An aquifer in one part of the map (one row's worth of embark tiles) so you can get infinite water when you want it, but you don't have to worry about piercing the aquifer to start your game

Location:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Supersquee]

This may not be the place to ask this but I need a hand with my generation. Somewhere in my messing about I must have gone wrong because when I use my world gen I can only ever go down about 39 Z-Levels on the map, while the vanilla gens let me get down to the -128s.

The thing is I left the caverns alone when I was changing the parameters, just increased the numbers of volcanoes, rivers, removed eroding and such to give me a lot of sheer cliffs and waterfalls.