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[SirSpence99]

What do you guys start with? I mostly care about professions. Thanks.

[NecroRebel]

As far as professions go, I always embark with 1 dwarf who has favorable preferences as a dedicated leader to be my noble. Ideally, they'll also be sociable so they actually become mayor when that arrives. As far as skills go, that one starts with 2 appraiser, persuader, judge of intent, negotiator, and consoler or pacifier, and basically serves as an early broker. My second dwarf is usually a proficient armorsmith and weaponsmith, as I bring bronze ores to make equipment on embark to save points. Third, a doctor, with 2 points in each of the 5 medical skills. If I have points remaining, I go with a mason/building designer, wood burner/furnace operator, and finish off with 2 dwarves with 1 point of Ambusher each (free hunter gear).

I try to embark with at least 120 drink and 60 food, an iron anvil, and enough ore and wood or coal to make 6 bronze items off the start. I don't embark with tools (that's what the bronze ores are for). I also usually embark with extra wood, one of each seed, and some spare spider silk thread and cloth for early health care if necessary. I'll embark with more bronze if I can spare the points. I usually only take 3 dogs for animals, but in my last embark I took cave crocodiles instead... Probably won't do that again, as it slowed down my embark too much to get the points.

[Eoganachta]

Carpenter - Carpentry, wood cutting/boyer skills
Mason - masony, design skills
Metal - Blacksmithing, metalworking skills
Metal - weapons, armouring skills
Doctor - doctor, appraiser, bookkeeping skills
Axe - axe and shield skills
Whatever I can to take advantage of embark else brewer.

It's mostly the same for all of my embarks.

[Poindexterity]

the same one noble dwarf thing necro rebel mentioned,
one other dwarf with 5 achitechture and 5 farming
the other 5 all skill-less.
they'll learn fast enough.

[humblegar]

As far as professions go, I always embark with 1 dwarf who has favorable preferences as a dedicated leader to be my noble. Ideally, they'll also be sociable so they actually become mayor when that arrives. As far as skills go, that one starts with 2 appraiser, persuader, judge of intent, negotiator, and consoler or pacifier, and basically serves as an early broker. My second dwarf is usually a proficient armorsmith and weaponsmith, as I bring bronze ores to make equipment on embark to save points. Third, a doctor, with 2 points in each of the 5 medical skills. If I have points remaining, I go with a mason/building designer, wood burner/furnace operator, and finish off with 2 dwarves with 1 point of Ambusher each (free hunter gear).

I try to embark with at least 120 drink and 60 food, an iron anvil, and enough ore and wood or coal to make 6 bronze items off the start. I don't embark with tools (that's what the bronze ores are for). I also usually embark with extra wood, one of each seed, and some spare spider silk thread and cloth for early health care if necessary. I'll embark with more bronze if I can spare the points. I usually only take 3 dogs for animals, but in my last embark I took cave crocodiles instead... Probably won't do that again, as it slowed down my embark too much to get the points.

Will that noble be your manager as well?

the same one noble dwarf thing necro rebel mentioned,
one other dwarf with 5 achitechture and 5 farming
the other 5 all skill-less.
they'll learn fast enough.

Is this for the increased challenge or more items?

I have been using the LNP-profiles and some from the tutorials but with less animals and more items.

The embark/profiles love to put two weaklings as miners though; often as different sex to ensure that whenever they are not on a break they will be running after an infant or going insane after they bring their baby to some random goblin skirmish

[Boogeyman]

1. "Clerk" for bookkeeping and manager: Organization and Record Keeping
2. "Trader": Negotation, Judging Intent and Appraisal. (this guy also gets to be expd. leader and later mayor)
3. Diagnoser
4. Suturer
5. Wound Dresser
6. Surgeon
7. Bone Setter

Other stuff can be learned fast enough.

[Jelle]

I go with 2 miners, 1 mason/mechanic who is also an architest, 1 farmer, 1 plant gatherer/brewer, 1 woodcutter/carpenter, 1 fighter/armor user/axedwarf.

Given how slow healthcare skills up I'm considering getting a very experience medical dwarf instead of the easy to learn skills.

[Sandrew]

1. Miner / Broker or armor and weapon smith
2. Axeman, armor users, dodger, blocker, fighter, teacher
3. Axeman, armor user, dodger, blocker, fighter
4. Swordsman, armor users, dodger, blocker, fighter, teacher
5. Swordsman, armor user, dodger, blocker, fighter
6. Carpenter, architect
7. Grower / brewer


I usually embark in terrifying biomes and have recently started using fortress defense again as well so I enjoy having a strong military around. My axedwarves start their training the moment I embark, the swordsdwarves the moment I have sufficient migrants to relieve them from tree cutting duties, often at the start of the first winter. The hardest part is getting four males that aren't all weak/fragile in the embark party as I don't like female dwarfs in my military.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On an unrelated note, has anyone else noticed that swordsdwarves are slow as fuck to train? I mean, I started training a second pair of axedwarves nearly a year after my swordsdwarves started and they reached high master in almost half the time both my other squads of swordsdwarves did. They actually passed them in experience at some point.

[AutomataKittay]

I only set one dwarf to be at least novice skill needed for trading, book-keeping and managing. Everyone else learns on the job, pretty much, never seem to make much of a difference to me outside of needing some skill for trading and book-keeping.

If I'm going somewhere rougher, I give some of my dwarves some skills in hunting and ambushing, just cuz!

[NecroRebel]

Will that noble be your manager as well?

Initially, yes. I usually end up assigning a pair of migrants without useful skills to be my permanent manager and bookkeeper later on, but that's one of the lower-priority things since the leader can do all that.



If I use a saved embark profile, I always reassign skills so that appropriate people get appropriate skillsets. As mentioned, the noble needs to have favorable preferences, like a metal I can probably get on site, items that I will be producing, and so forth. Dwarves who like bronze, steel, adamantine, battle axes, mail shirts, shields, or caps are ideal for the weapon/armorsmith, and if I can get somebody who likes both a favorable material and item type, so much the better. Actually, my top priority as far as dwarf stats goes is usually to make sure the prospective doctor has the right attributes; medics should like helping others, should be energetic, not given to procrastination, and otherwise should be quick to do medical work, as medicine is time-sensitive in many cases. My point is that you aren't required to use the exact same embark setup; altering skills to match preferences, in particular, is quite helpful early on and in the long run.

Also, weak miners doesn't really matter too much; strength mostly affects movement speed while carrying heavy loads, which miners don't do much early on. They'll stat up quickly, too. More important as far as physical attributes go is on soldiers; soldiers should be quick to heal and resistant to disease.

[TomiTapio]

I have my peeps pretty satisfactorily now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[PROFILE]
   [TITLE:3200_BETTER_HANDAXE3] 3200points, latest Genesis version, hand axes
   [SKILL:1:WOODCUTTING:1]
   [SKILL:1:PROCESSPLANTS:1]
   [SKILL:1:SHIELD:2]
   [SKILL:1:ARMOR:2]
   [SKILL:1:MELEE_COMBAT:1]
   [SKILL:1:DODGING:3]
   [SKILL:2:CARPENTRY:2]
   [SKILL:2:PROCESSPLANTS:1]
   [SKILL:2:CUTGEM:1]
   [SKILL:2:WOODCRAFT:1]
   [SKILL:2:STONECRAFT:2]
   [SKILL:2:BONECARVE:1]
   [SKILL:2:SWIMMING:1]
   [SKILL:2:APPRAISAL:1]
   [SKILL:3:MASONRY:1]
   [SKILL:3:SMELT:1]
   [SKILL:3:FORGE_WEAPON:2]
   [SKILL:3:FORGE_ARMOR:5]
   [SKILL:3:APPRAISAL:1]
   [SKILL:4:MINING:5]
   [SKILL:4:ANIMALTRAIN:1]
   [SKILL:4:MECHANICS:2]
   [SKILL:4:DODGING:2]
   [SKILL:5:BUTCHER:1]
   [SKILL:5:TANNER:1]
   [SKILL:5:PLANT:2]
   [SKILL:5:HERBALISM:1]
   [SKILL:5:STONECRAFT:1]
   [SKILL:5:LEATHERWORK:2]
   [SKILL:5:BOWYER:1]
   [SKILL:5:SWIMMING:1]
   [SKILL:6:MINING:1]
   [SKILL:6:CARPENTRY:1]
   [SKILL:6:MASONRY:1]
   [SKILL:6:TANNER:1]
   [SKILL:6:WEAVING:1]
   [SKILL:6:CLOTHESMAKING:1]
   [SKILL:6:COOK:1]
   [SKILL:6:PLANT:1]
   [SKILL:6:DESIGNBUILDING:1]
   [SKILL:6:DYER:1]
   [SKILL:7:SMELT:1]
   [SKILL:7:DRESS_WOUNDS:2]
   [SKILL:7:DIAGNOSE:2]
   [SKILL:7:SURGERY:2]
   [SKILL:7:SET_BONE:1]
   [SKILL:7:SWIMMING:1] --don't drown, miss doctor
   [SKILL:7:DODGING:1]

   [ITEM:5:POWDER_MISC:NONE:INORGANIC:PLASTER]
   [ITEM:1:LIQUID_MISC:NONE:LYE:NONE]
   [ITEM:10:CLOTH:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:LLAMA:HAIR]
   [ITEM:10:SKIN_TANNED:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:GOAT:LEATHER]
   [ITEM:2:CHAIN:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:SHEEP:HAIR]
   [ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
   [ITEM:3:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
   [ITEM:3:ARMOR:ITEM_ARMOR_MAIL_SHIRT:INORGANIC:COPPER]
   [ITEM:20:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:CAVE_PUMPKIN:DRINK]
   [ITEM:24:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
   [ITEM:20:SKIN_TANNED:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:PIG:LEATHER]
   [ITEM:4:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
   [ITEM:5:WOOD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:TOWER_CAP:WOOD]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:CAVE_POTATO:SEED]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:LEAF_HOPS:SEED]
   [ITEM:3:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_HAMMER_WAR:INORGANIC:COPPER]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:CAVE_BEAN_ALBINO:SEED]
   [ITEM:4:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_HAND:INORGANIC:COPPER]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
   [ITEM:13:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:CAVE_CACAO:SEED]
   [ITEM:10:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:CAVE_PUMPKIN:SEED]
   [ITEM:2:HELM:ITEM_HELM_MASKED:INORGANIC:COPPER]

   [PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:STANDARD]
   [PET:1:DOG:MALE:STANDARD]
   [PET:1:HORSE:FEMALE:STANDARD]
   [PET:1:RABBIT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
   [PET:2:RABBIT:MALE:STANDARD]

[Lexx]

Miner, Hammerer, dodger, fighter
Miner
Grower, brewer
Grower, cook, butcher, tanner
Woodcutter,carpenter
Mechanic, mason, architect
Leadership/trader dorf

I then take 4 pickaxes and a hammer (copper, bronze or silver ) and a bronze/copper breastplate for my miner/fighter dwarf. The two farmers do mining till the farms are running. The leader usually gets to make stone or bone crafts so I have something to trade with the first caravan. I take no wood. I use the disassembled wagon to make a training axe for my woodcutter to use. I used to take a dorf with basic medical skills but now I just appoint the first immigrant with medical skills to chief medic dwarf and it does the job. I also bring 2 male wardogs and 2 normal females and a pair of cats. This usually helps a lot with the puppies/kittens going towards food stocks if need be.  Though usually I've killed enough wild animals in year one to have plenty of meat. The rest of my points goes on extra booze, seeds and food so that I can take my time getting set up. Most embarks I can handle with this setup with little to no problem.

[blue emu]

Two dwarves with Miner(1)
One dwarf with Miner(1)/Mason(1)/Engraver(1)/Architect(1)
One Dwarf with Lumberjack(1)/Carpenter(1)/Ambusher(3)/Axedwarf(1)
One dwarf with Grower(5)/Weaponsmith(1)
One dwarf with Cook(3)/Brewer(3)/Armorsmith(1)
One dwarf with Mechanic(1)/Architect(1)/Appraiser(1) plus lots of social skills (Persuader/Judge of Intent/Negotiator/etc).

Three picks
One Axe
Four female and one male dog
One cat of each sex
One Turkey Gobbler and six Turkey Hens
Assorted thread, mostly Cave Spider Silk
A few bits of Leather
Six to nine stones, if embarking on an Aquifer
Twenty-one of each type of booze
Twenty-one Plump Helmets
Sixteen Plunp Helmet Spawn
Nine Sweet Pod seeds
Six of each other type of underground seed (but no Dimple Cups)
One piece of meat from each 2-value creature, no duplicates.
One Bucket
One Splint
One Quiver
... probably some other crap that I can't recall.

EDIT:

There's method to my madness. Drink comes ten per barrel, so I take 21 to get an extra free barrel per type of drink. Seeds pack five per bag (IIRC) so I take six or sixteen of each, to get an extra free bag per type of seed. Meat packs with each type of creature in a seperate barrel (eg: Deer Liver and Deer Meat will pack in the same barrel, but Cow Meat goes in a different barrel) so I buy only one piece of meat from each type of 2-value creature, to get as many free barrels as possible. And so on...

[Starver]

As with others, None oble (novice skills in the social and normally also trading skills[1]) who is chosen as the one with the handiest easy/useful material/object preferences for when mandates happen[2].

Two miners, maxed out (5/10 point assignment) in mining and nothing else.  They're going to be doing all initial and future underground room creation and raw rock quarrying duties from the very beginning to the point of death (personal and/or fortress).

The rest varies vastly, except that I tend to have a dedicated planter/farmer (with farm-produce sidelines, like brewing, because farming can have a lot of down-time at first, wile others are plant gathering prior to their industries being set up and the underground fields aren't yet dug), and I may mix woodcutter with mason (need logs: woodcut; otherwise: at least make blocks) in one dwarf and carpenter with bone carver (wooden beds and bone bolts being not-at-the-same-time industries in my early forts, generally).

The above to be shaped by intended fortress goals (although even massive-dig megaprojects tend to still only start with two miners, and usually only add to that with the more decent miners coming through the immigrant pools, current 5yo fort still only has four actual miners, with one more 'official' miner who was dabbling only and has been just hauling since he arrived), and any interesting personality/preference points in each Dwarf's character might suggest something, like an 'introductory' armorsmithing skill level, but immigrants generally come along with skill levels that completely overthrow any "Grand Plans" I arranged on embark.



[1] To become Mayor/Manager/Trader building up a sideline of Stonecrafting from bae zero in his/her spare time).

[2] Slightly subverted in my current fort, as it turned out I didn't have the expected common metal, so when I got asked to create a Baron (now a Count) I found a schmuck with more locally-conducive preferences to take on that position.  Original Expedition Leader is still Mayor and Trader and and Legendary stonecrafter in his spare time, but a third dwarf (immigrant with far better skills for this) is now my Manager.

[Number4]

Farmer/Cook, Farmer/Brewer (guys that like plump helmets or stuff), Carpenter/Bowyer (likes wood, crossbows, beds or something), Weaponsmith/Armorsmith (likes steel ideally, otherwise breastplates and the like), Mason/Mechanic, Swordsdwarf/Shield User (Guardsdwarf) and the 7th is flexible, but if not wanting a special industy he becomes a noble.