I'm pretty excited about the next release (after this one.)
I'm currently (barely) hanging on to my current 31.16,
just because I have a pretty good fortress going and, the world has a bit of history from the adbandoned/destoryed forts and the lost adventurers.
and I'm using the excuse of waiting for an even number release, so bugs will have been fixed. (haven't heard about too many in 31.17 though).
Still 31.18 sound likes awesomeness to come:
11/13/2010
After another release to work out some of the issues with adventure mode, the caravans begin to roll. The peasants are free from their hovels, tilling the fields and tending to their pigs and chickens. Great walled towns import food and goods from all over the world. You will be able to run one of these caravans, buying and selling across land, guided by the law of supply and demand. Not only that, you can do it on a horse.
One of the most exciting things about this next arc is that fortress mode and adventure mode will be bound together more than ever before. The dwarves will be forced to deal with the economic situation of the outside world, and adventurers will be able to experience the vast amount of dwarven goods your fortresses dump onto the market. It should be much fun.
By the ound of this we're either going to be able to run a fortress concurrently with an adventurer, or instead of abandoning, "Hand over to self governance")
How else would we see the emense amount of dwarvengoods we are "dumping on to the market"
Hopefully tro tie in with the global economy we'll see a rebirth of the local economy again. (with fixes so that if the average bedroom is royal, then peasents can affort to live like kings)