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[tase]

I just started playing DF, and saw an idea of limiting the population to start out easy, but that didn't work out (migration waves kept coming), and then I though it was sorta half-assed limiting the game, I already turned off strange moods since I don't know how to make stuff like shells and bones yet.

Anyway, so with all of the dwarves I get, what should I do with them, should I each assign them a job (I use Dwarf Therapist), like Urist A is Weaponsmith, Urist B is Blacksmith, Urist C is Armorer, etc... or should I have 1 dwarf doing all related jobs, like Urist A doing Weaponmithing/Blacksmith/Armorer, Urist B doing Carpenter / Woodcrafting / Crossbow-making, Urist C doing farming/plant gathering/plant processing. I just don't see the first option being optimal, since I dont really use jobs like Dyeing Clothier, so what should I do with those guys who either come in as Grand Master Dyer ? Assign them to some job like wood cutting or something else until I have a use for a dyer, or train them towards an other job?

And is there a ressource guide, like how many food/booze crop tiles I need to feed X amount of dwarves.

Also, I've been having problems finding ore to make weapons/armor, I had a couple of good starts, but with my recent fortresses, all I've been able to find is gold and lead. I usually settle on Sand-Obsidian places. Are there any biomes I should look for to find more ore, or world_gen templates to make ore more common? Or do I need to dig out whole layers to find iron.

I hope you guys can help me out with figuring all this, trying to start a fort and not abandon it out of hopeless. (side note, how should I lay out my fort?)

[blue emu]

Iron ores are found mostly in sedimentary rocks. Limestone or Dolomite is optimal, because it is a flux for Steel-making and commonly contains Iron ores. Copper ores are common in most rock types, but to make it into Bronze you'll also need Tin, which is found in Granite. Obsidian is nice... but it's also very limiting, since it's rare to find volcanics and sedimentary rocks in the same biome.

Dwarves with useless skills should be either made into haulers or drafted into the military... or just given a useful labor and set to work developing that new skill. I group related skills, like Lumberjack/Carpenter, Mason/Engraver/Architect, Mechanics/Trapping, Weaponsmith/Furnace Operator and Armorsmith/Furnace Operator.

A 4x4 plot of plump helmets will feed LOTS of Dwarves... probably 50 or so.

[Stuebi]

Ive got to 4x5 Farms, one wiht Plump Helmets and the other with Sweet Cups. I have about 60 Dwarfs in my Fortress and still im overflowing with Food. Also as far as i know Dwarfs drink more than they eat, do you have a Bookkeeper that lists youtr stocks? Its a good way to keep an eye on your Food Stocks. (If you dont know how to assign a Bookkeeper: Press n and search for the Bookkeeper profession, assign a Dwarf to it that does nothing important like a Peasant, then press s for setting and set them on Accurate. If you press z after a while you should now see your Stocks listed and be able to tell if your producing enough food and Booze)

Concerning the increasing Numbers of Dwarfs, well Military is allways good, primarly because your Soldier will have trained more until the next attack. An other option would be to check in Dwarf Therapist which proffesions are covered and which not. For Example it may be good to have two Carpenters, one for making Barrels that are needed for Booze the other for everything else. Also you could assign some slackers to farming, its relatively time consuming and will keep them occupied, or finally buy some Picks from traders to get some more Miners. They will help if you dig around in the Layers to find some Material for Iron and steel. If you really find nothing you can allways trade some Iron and Steel Weapons and such in, a bit Time consuming but your only choice if you cant produce it yourself, aside from abadoning the Fortress and searching a site with Limestone or Dolomite of course^^

[thegoatgod_pan]

And i'd turn on moods, but turn off assaults while I practice--moods are really fun and flesh out the game, and force you to quickly learn how to butcher animals, check rooms and buildings to see what is missing, as well as dead with maddened dwarves and their despondent relatives. 

[tase]

Alright, ill keep all the advices in mind when I start up a new fort. As for the Dolomite, are there any world gen templates that generate layers of Limestone/Dolomite that aren't under 5 layers of sand?

[blue emu]

What's wrong with five layers of sand? Digging sand is far quicker than digging rock, but gives your miners the same experience towards levelling-up. In sand, you can quickly carve out giant stockpile rooms (with no waste rock cluttering them up) and by the time you're done, your miners will be skilled enough to mine rock quickly and recover ores with little waste. You don't WANT to mine valuable ores with inexperienced miners... they'll just waste it instead of creating ore nuggets.

[Pawns4Mons]

I usually just tinker with the jobs until I have 0 idlers, I cant stand seeing my dorfs slack off. I usually det "make barrels" on repeat for 3 workshops, 3 brewerys with "Brew" on repeat, etc.

And the best way to get ore is to smelt stone, dig out large areas of stone and either load up on fuel or use the power of magma.

[slothen]

like Urist A is Weaponsmith, Urist B is Blacksmith, Urist C is Armorer, etc... or should I have 1 dwarf doing all related jobs

1 dwarf doing all related jobs (at least metalworking jobs) is bad for moods.  If you go with the dwarf A dwarf B dwarf C, you can give them a non moodable other job in their spare time, or before you get metalworking up.  Then when mood time runs around, if A gets a mood you're guaranteed a weapon mood, if B gets a mood, you're guaranteed an epic artifact table or whatever, if C gets a mood you get artifact armor, etc etc etc.

If all those jobs are in one dwarf, you'll have less dwarves with their highest skill as something useful.  If that one dwarf gets a mood, then his ONE artifact will be whatever he's highest in at the time.  On the other hand, if any of those other dwarves get moods, you're guaranteed some shitty bone or microcline miniforge.

[tase]

I see, I trained up my dwarves on limestone an other stones before hitting the veins.

And I settled in a "Calm" Biome, will I ever get ambushed or have creatures spawn on my map? I haven't seen any wild life since I got here.

[shlorf]

Calm only means that the wildlife isn't hostile, so you won't see anything dangerous like werewolves or giant lions travelling into your map. As long as you're not on an island the hostile civilizations will still visit you once you have enough wealth and dwarves.

[UristMcDwarf]

Bones: Build butchery.
Press X.
Go to animals.
Mark animals for slaughter.

Shells:
Hope fisherdorfs catch turtles.
Build fishery shop
Process them

huzzah

[Encased in burning magma]

Make a "bitch" profession enabling every profession you don't use or where quality is not relevant (masonry, hauling, cheese-making, strand-extracting, w/e).

Give every dwarf without useful skills (such as boozemaking, farming, cooking, smithing, carpentry etc) this profession.

Do set up a few workshops Profiled so only legendaries can go in; if you want masterwork beds or something, request them made here and your bitch legion won't pump out crap.

[VinWij]

I use certain groups in Therapist. My current setup:

Farmy: farms and cuts trees (has an axe)
Worker: Digs, builds things of stone (has a pick), also building objects because in the beginning only the mechies won't do.
Crafty: Biggest group, contains all create-things you use only rarely, and mostly they build wood stuff of detail walls/floors
Mechy: Mechanics, pump operation and building buildings and traps
Foody: Butchers, cooks and brews
Fishy: Fishes. I never have more than 3 since I always overflow with food
Hauler: No jobs, only haul stuff. Only group that buries.
Smithy: Has all 5 metalworking categories on, so makes stuff of metal, smelts stuff and deals with glass

Then I have some specialist groups for nobles (no tasks, but the bookkeeper, broker, doctor and mayor are in there) and soldiers or marksdwarves.

I try to keep the task groups around 12 dwarves each, and the rest are haulers. I try to assign them based on their skill, but otherwise they'll level themselves up. Only with Workers I am a bit more cautious, so they don't waste too much ore. I never have any problems. And migrants are initially put in hauler until I decide to make another group of recruits or some dwarves die.

As for food, a small 4x4 farm can probably feed over a hundred dwarves if you combine it with some fishing and an occasional butchered cow. Though it helps to grow some variety, especially aboveground crop is good for booze (whip vines, longland grass and strawberries, easily acquired by gathering or from the elves). I have about 50 squares in use for a variety of crop, and my fortress is exploding with food. I sell lavish meals to buy stuff I can melt, so I have access to more metals.

For finding ore, you could use dfhack's reveal to see how layers are composed, and use that knowledge to learn about the relation between layers and ores. I usually find a massive amount of ores, coal and other stuff, although it's mostly between layers 5 and 15, the rest is gold and other odd ores. Having flux is good too, so you can make steel.

[Namfuak]

Besides sedimentary layers, the only rock layers with both iron and a flux (hematite ore and marble, respectively) are igneous (intrusive?) layers.  As luck would have it, those are the kinds of rocks that form from cooled magma, IE near volcanos.  So, if you want a volcano for easy magma, check that it has a marble layer, since hematite will form inside the marble and other layers.  This way, you can make steel.  The only disadvantage is that these layers won't contain bituminous coal or lignite, which means you'll need to be burning trees for your steel industry.  Even on a treeless glacier you can usually get the wood you need from caravans and the first cavern layer though, unless you are expecting to make everything in your fortress out of steel.

As for the jobs, it's personal preference, but definitely don't make the same person a woodcutter and carpenter, at least not of your first dwarves, because inevitably when you want beds made the guy will decide every tree on the map must be cut down before he can do any other tasks.

[rephikul]

marble is metamorphic.