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[mr_seeker]

Well, I have some rules that I have found out in all my "wisdom" and "shame", and like to share them with you. Its my guideline for starting a fortress, without having the problems that I have to abandon my fortress within 5 years.

• Never embark on watery soil, unless you know a way to get through.
• Never embark next to someone else.
• Try to embark next to a river. Chances of fish are high in those areas.
• Know your surroundings. Evil areas are more annoying than calm areas.
• Strike the earth ASAP. The faster you are underground, the faster you can get your dwarves to sleep in a bed.
• Plan your fortress ahead. Know what you want to design.
• The less walls, the better.
• Farms need water, lots of them. Making a pond takes too long.
• Never connect caverns directly to your fortress.
• The ideal width for a large road is 3, for a medium sized road its 2, and a chokepoints is 1.
• Design your trading depot after the traps.
• Cage traps are good, but only useful for survivors. Slaughter the enemy first, and cage any survivors.
• Never think that caverns are safe. Underground can be worse than up
• Some animals can swim! Dont think that if you dont see animals, that they are not there!
• Always have some traps in the cavern entrance. This makes sure that nobody gets in.
• Forgotten beasts have trouble opening doors. Adding a door makes a huge difference between a surprise attack and a long wait for the enemy.
• Always have an army prepared, no matter what the size of your fortress is.
• Forgotten beasts can be attacked with lots of brute force at the same time.
• Give the army weapons, else they will be wrestlers/cannon fodder
• The ideal size to kill someone with weapon traps is 3, combined with 2 cage traps behind.
• Cage traps are effective if you want to keep monsters alive.
• Flooding works best by first making the trap, then making the flood. Not the other way around.
• Automated refill of a trap gives a good boost for when under siege.

If you have more rules for a good fortress, please put them below and I will add them to the list.

[WrathNail]

Rules? Nah, guidelines maybe, but most of these aren't really set in stone (haha.. stone)

And as far as I know forgotten beasts don't bother opening doors; they gleefully destroy them.

[iEpinephrine]

24. Don't forget to make soap!  It'll be too late to start after you realise your militia have infected wounds.

[caknuck]

Just because that mule is missing a leg, it doesn't mean it can't be chained up outside to sniff out ambushes.

[celem]

Place your first meeting hall and bedrooms as deep as you can.  You want to A) escape the noise from the surface where you likely have a lot more construction.  B) You need stone walls so you can smooth/engrave

If you are planning on having magma workshops deep down then you may want to invert this.  I usually prefer workshops uptop and quarters below

Related to the above:  Smooth all your bedrooms and dining/meeting areas asap, it increases room quality and trains up your engravers.  Once engravings are added then it takes a lot to get the resident dwarves out of their ecstatic little worlds.  (I prefer to save engravings till the dwarves have some skill in it...(and have some epic battle to engrave scenes of).

[Tsarwash]

Farms need water, lots of them. Making a pond takes too long.

Dwarves can fill ponds remarkably quickly. Farms really don't need to be too big to feed a large fortress. A single 5x5 should easily be able to feed a hundred dwarves. Currently I have one 3x3 feeding fifty dwarves. Rather than having lots of average farmers, I just have one very good one. Additionally this saves on the amount of barrels that you need. 

[Namfuak]

Don't be afraid to start with a small hollow and start making your superfortress only after you have gotten farming established.  On the other hand, if you are going to do that, don't wait too long or you will have to start worrying about defense.

Also, having a stockpile that accepts everything can be very useful, especially at first.

[drvoke]

Flooding works best by first making the trap, then making the flood. Not the other way around.

Shit made me laugh.  Good tips.

[Gatleos]

Don't be afraid to start with a small hollow and start making your superfortress only after you have gotten farming established.  On the other hand, if you are going to do that, don't wait too long or you will have to start worrying about defense.

Also, having a stockpile that accepts everything can be very useful, especially at first.

This. Progress is painfully slow if you try to do everything at once. Start small and get the essentials, and your efficiency will skyrocket. Also, build all the different kinds of workshops as soon as possible, lest every moody dwarf go on a murderous rampage because you didn't have a leatherworks...

[AngleWyrm]

24. One 5x5 farm plot is enough.

[Namfuak]

24. One 5x5 farm plot is enough.

24a.  But 6 5x5 farm plots are dwarfier.

[AngleWyrm]

24b. The [f]allow command is useful for temporarily stemming the tide of way too much crops.

[ungulateman]

24c. Make a 10x10 farm anyway. "There Is No Kind Of Kill Like Overkill".

[Namfuak]

24d.  As long as you are going for overkill, you may as well make every farm plot farm nothing but plump helmets all year.

[Jake]

25. Before your settlement can support one squad of marksdwarves and a few masons, magma is more hindrance than help.
26. Cooking booze except in times of starvation is a bad idea, especially if you leave cooking tasks on repeat.
27. Forbid death items is your friend. Really.