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River

24 (44.4%)

Volcano

30 (55.6%)

Total Members Voted: 54

[Angel Of Death]

I'm not 100% sure what I would prefer. If you have a volcano, you have a great defense and you will not have to worry about using fuel to smelt, but if you have a river you can get farms earlier and you can get water in case of a booze drought.

[Girlinhat]

All maps have magma deep down.  Not all maps have infinite water.

[Angel Of Death]

All maps have magma deep down.  Not all maps have infinite water.

Really? I thought all maps had unlimited water in the caverns.

[Endiqua]

Maybe I've just been lucky with my embarks, but I've always had either murky pools I can use to fill a cistern, a brook, or cavern water accessible before I need it.  I was majorly river-focused for a long time, and I've had some fun with them to be sure.  A big supply of fish is good, plus water wheels are nifty.  However, I've gone the volcano route the last 3 or 4 times and really like how quickly I can get the metal industry going, plus the terrain is usually interesting, plus throwing stuff in is fun.  On my first one, I tried dumping some gobbo cages on a "plank" I built out over the edge with an eye to pulling the lever and yanking the support, only to have the cages disappear completely.  I burst out laughing when I watched the process and saw the dorf casually toss the cage over the edge, resulting in its disappearance.  I even like how rain drops cause little disturbances.  I carve fortifications in one tile to fill my magma pit for smelting, and the impassable tile goes over the holes above, so no issues with fire creatures.

[Untouchable]

It depends on what you consider to be more important; quicker access to smelting/metalworking industry and the like or an easily accessed infinite source of water and fish.

[Sir Iryn]

I almost always go the volcano route.

Especially if the volcano is wide and you can build a fortress wrapping around it.

If the lava also extends far up into it, you can create artificial eruptions and sieges become a thing of the past.

Besides, Water? Only if yer an elf. Gimme plump helmet wine any day.

[Naz]

Volcanos are sweet and man that's a hard vote to cast but I had to say river. With a river you have infinite water which let's you put your farms anywhere you want them, leading to cleaner fort design. Also with a river you can potentially build a hugeass power plants to pump magma wherever you want it and to run whatever absurdly complex mechanics your fort uses.

[evileeyore]

All maps have magma deep down.  Not all maps have infinite water.

Really? I thought all maps had unlimited water in the caverns.

It seems that the water is only "unlimited" if it touches a map edge, this causes it to have a "source" tile or two - enough to keep up with what pours off screen.

[dragoncurse]

Instead of take one, why don't take both?

[Angel Of Death]

Instead of take one, why don't take both?

Because it's too rare to find rivers with volcanos near them. I like to take the smallest embark to ease the pressure on my out of date computer.

[ArKFallen]

It's kind of funny but volcanoes can make themselves slightly redundant. If you embark with a volcano there will be obsidian. If you have obsidian you don't need to set up metal working as quickly. If you can handle magma you can deal with every vanilla siege. If you can deal with sieges weaponsmithing isn't as pressing.

Instead of take one, why don't take both?

Because it's too rare to find rivers with volcanos near them. I like to take the smallest embark to ease the pressure on my out of date computer.

If that's the case you'd probably be best off with a volcano (I personally go with river). They don't freeze, quick and efficient glass/metal working, it moves slowly(yay fps!), and magma doesn't freeze in winter.

Edit: I said freeze twice didn't I?

[Angel Of Death]

Instead of take one, why don't take both?

Because it's too rare to find rivers with volcanos near them. I like to take the smallest embark to ease the pressure on my out of date computer.

If that's the case you'd probably be best off with a volcano (I personally go with river). They don't freeze, quick and efficient glass/metal working, it moves slowly(yay fps!), and magma doesn't freeze in winter.

When I said out of date, I meant slightly out of date. Not 1.4 GHZ style out of date.

[Mungrul]

Call me crazy, but I think I may actually prefer an aquifer to a river now. Soooo many possibilities. There's the challenge of breaching it safely, plus aquifer-fed water reactors are awesome.
And they allow for fantastic flood traps.
And then there's the stupidly easy wells.

'course, an aquifer and a volcano would be the bestest thing ever. Think of the obsidian!

[Lectorog]

I actually prefer rivers much over volcanoes. I use them a lot more. Volcanoes are kind of cool, but have limited use.
It's great seeing what all things you can do with an infinite supply of running (and perhaps freezing) water.
A volcano lets you set up metalworking faster, and provides easy magma and obsidian. Quick weapons aren't really needed, and all maps have magma further down.

Don't get me wrong - magma is great; however, rivers are, in my opinion, more useful than volcanoes. They're also a hell of a lot easier to find (good) embarks with.

[ohgoditburns]

Call me crazy, but I think I may actually prefer an aquifer to a river now. Soooo many possibilities. There's the challenge of breaching it safely, plus aquifer-fed water reactors are awesome.
And they allow for fantastic flood traps.
And then there's the stupidly easy wells.

'course, an aquifer and a volcano would be the bestest thing ever. Think of the obsidian!

Volcano removes the challenge from aquifers.