yeah, in the previous 2010 versions goblins were friendly, and all other races were hostile. Now they're all hostile...
Huh, that's strange. I'm willing to say it was something in the normal changes to vanilla DF (adversely most likely), because there hasn't been a change in KC that I could imagine change the interactions between entities whatsoever.
In other news, more messing around with adventurer, I made kobolds dwell in towns instead of the normal caves, so that they show up in the world map when you create a kobold adventurer. This worked (and I didn't end up attacking people after talking to them), however, it seems to treat you as an enemy when you go to a different hamlet, even if it's part of the same civilization (or should be anyway.)
So it's not impossible, it's just a bit rougher having to only get quests from one hamlet, it makes that the one little spot you can go to, a tiny little safe haven. Which I wouldn't actually mind, but going to a hamlet 2 hours away and having the kobolds zerg rush you is a little disenchanting. I may work on this, seeing if there's something fixable about it, when magical inspiration hits me to do so, as well as work on various suggestions for KC dwarf mode. Maybe make them be in forest retreats, that may work well, even better. (I haven't seen a kobold town or fortress, but that may just be me trying to not die.)