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[daggaz]

In the interests of controlling/optimising everything in the known dwarf universe, plus being a victim to OCD (obviously, I play DF), I cant seem to get past the embark screen.  I want my leader to lead.  I need my doctor to be wise and compassionate.  And I'll be damned if my miners are gonna be any pansy-arsed beardless elf kissing wimps who "tire quickly" or are victims of their own "meager willpower".   

Ugh.  Its taking forever.  Bad enough trying to find a decent embark site with flux, shallow and deep metalS, a river, trees, clay, soil, and a calm, cooling breeze most of the year around (and NO aquifier, F you very much, find function).  Once I finally did, and I _finally_ got a solid three dwarves for the more intensive jobs (and some suitable miners), then the game crashed on me when I pushed e.  And I have to start over.   

So I have a feeling its a huge waste of time, considering dwarves are idiotic suicidal drunks, by any reckoning. 

That said, how much attention do you guys pay to traits and such?  Ignore it and assign jobs straight down the list, passing glance, horribly addicted to the restart button (why o why cant I just hit a button to reroll the party instead of redoing the whole thing), or do you just bypass it completely and embark immediately?   Just kidding, I know you all have awesome starting builds, so feel free to share them here, too. 

Thanks.

[NecroRebel]

First, I check to see if anybody has any good metal preferences, like bronze, steel, or adamantine. If exactly one dwarf does, they're my starting weapon/armorsmith. If more than one does, I check their item preferences to see if they like an armor or weapon type that I'm going to be making a lot of and give the skills to the one with the best of those (mail shirts, caps, and battle axes are best). If nobody has any metal preference that I like, I usually cancel the embark and do another one to generate dwarves again.

Second, I check the remaining dwarves for people who don't mind helping others, who are moved to pity, and/or who are impetuous. The dwarf who best fits these categories becomes my first doctor.

Third, I look for dwarves who don't have penalties to their healing rate or disease resistance, and make 2 of them novice ambushers; these become my first soldiers. If there are a pair with bonuses to those attributes, great, but otherwise, it doesn't matter much. Also, every other attribute I don't care about for soldiers, because they'll become stronger, tougher, and so on with training.

Last, I look through the remaining dwarves for the person who likes crowds most and make them the group leader/broker. The other two become a mason and grower basically at random.



Since I've only got one category that makes or breaks a group (metal preference), I only rarely have to redo the embark to get a decent set. I don't think I've ever had to redo it more than twice. I could do without even that; none of it matters terribly much, though compassionate doctors save lives more readily and sociable leaders are more likely to hold the mayor post longer, and quick-healing soldiers are more likely to stay alive.

[VerdantSF]

I've been messing around with starting builds and pretty much each one is new.  I generally look at strength and endurance first for my soldiers, then other traits later.  My current 7:

3 Hammerdwarves who also share carpentry duties.  I train them from the start, with 2 active each month.
2 Miners (1 also a Mason, the other also a Stonecrafter).  I don't use d-b-d quantum dumping.  I clear stone by building blocks and stone crafts.  After my miners open up an area, they get to work clearing out the debris.
1 Woodcutter
1 Doctor/Manager/Trader

I used to be super OCD, too, but lots of interesting things can happen with imperfections.  I used to rage if I couldn't find iron on a map, but these days, as long as I have flux, I'm fine.  I just import the rest of what I need.

[Mechanist]

I think that DF should have some kind of system to choose your starting seven, like some kind of list of dorfs in a great hall in the mountainhome (a random number, maybe 50 or so, but you can choose only 7) with a quick reference of the important traits listed

[VerdantSF]

Oh, I like that idea, Mechanist!

[daggaz]

I think that DF should have some kind of system to choose your starting seven, like some kind of list of dorfs in a great hall in the mountainhome (a random number, maybe 50 or so, but you can choose only 7) with a quick reference of the important traits listed

Seriously do like this idea.   I want to fine tune my initial idiots, after all. 

[VerdantSF]

Alternatively, it would be cool if our 7 dwarves were clean slates and traits were purchased with points just like with skills, with flaws giving more points to add in different areas.

[King DZA]

I enjoy the randomness factor when assigning skills/jobs to my dwarves, makes it more interesting for me. What I do is assign all of the dwarves their respective skills/job and then read through status. It just feels like it has more depth if everything isn't perfect for each one. My mayor/baron/broker is very friendly, but has crap willpower, and some sort of fetish for gauntlets and pig iron. So the easy-to-fulfill mandates are nice, but most of his stats would make him more of a good friend, rather than a good leader.
My chief medical dwarf also dislikes helping people, but he's really fucking good at it, I'm assuming he has an attitude similar to Dr. House.

As for the jobs of my starting dwarves, it changes a little every time, and depends on what I'm planning for that fort, but it's usually something like:
Rockworker(miner+either mason or architect).
Rockworker(miner+either mason or architect).
Militia commander(combat focused skills).
Crafter(crafting focused skills).
Chef(cooking/brewing).
Farmer(tending the plants and animals).
Woodworker(woodcutting and carpentry).

And they all get custom names, so I can keep track of them easily.

[melphel]

I check dwarf attributes for those that have good stats for combat (mighty, agile, tough, rarely sick, quick to heal).  They get one point ambusher, and three points in each of dodger, fighter, and armor user.  Then I turn off their hunting skill and recruit them and have them fight off the wildlife that pesters me while setting things up.  After that they will be relegated to mining/masonry/odd jobs, and eventually be worked in as full time soldiers when I have more migrants (if they live that long).

The other dwarves get the standard layout of jobs without thought to preferences.  I mean, so what if my cook has poor creativity?  It won't stop him from churning out tons of fine roasts, and since he will spend nearly all of his time doing so, his creativity is bound to improve eventually.

[daggaz]

so mad right now...  I took a break, then tried one last time thinking to use the advice of looking at the metal preferances for my smiths which I did.  I lucked out again and got a fairly solid set of dwarves (for the most part), and this time, thinking myself the wiser, i pushed "s".  Yeah..  Save.   Sure.   Game stalls out on "e", I reload and look for my save, which is not there.   FFFFUUUUUUU!!!!

Im pretty sure this is God's way of saying to let it go.. or maybe the devil is whispering "try a few more times kid, your luck is sure to change."   

EDIT: Thank god I always listen to the devil, right?   Team Awesome was there, just had to try and embark first.  *whew*

EDIT EDIT:  I hate this game again.  It saves the settings, not the actual dwarves.  HOW. LAME. IS. THAT.

[VerdantSF]

My chief medical dwarf also dislikes helping people, but he's really fucking good at it, I'm assuming he has an attitude similar to Dr. House.

You know, that's a really good point.  In the past, I've had some pretty comical combinations of job and traits.  I'll think I'll go back to that after my current fort.  It'll sure speed up the embark process!

[King DZA]

EDIT EDIT:  I hate this game again.  It saves the settings, not the actual dwarves.  HOW. LAME. IS. THAT.

I'm actually a little surprised you thought that would work.

My chief medical dwarf also dislikes helping people, but he's really fucking good at it, I'm assuming he has an attitude similar to Dr. House.

You know, that's a really good point.  In the past, I've had some pretty comical combinations of job and traits.  I'll think I'll go back to that after my current fort.  It'll sure speed up the embark process!

Yeah, it's always fun when you realize that your future militia commander is the weakest of the seven and can't handle stress, and even more fun when he actually ends up kicking ass.

[daggaz]

I'm actually a little surprised you thought that would work.

Im new here. Any reason the game suddenly will not get past the embark part?  It just freezes up each and every time.  Im trying the thing with selling weapons and making your own with ore, but havent got to actually try yet...

[BeforeLifer]

I dident even know you can look at the stats before embarking lol. Must have never noticed that lol.

[Namfuak]

I very rarely look at traits at all.  I've actually noticed them a lot more now that I use Dwarf Therapist, since I don't have to navigate a maze of screens to find them.  As for my starting seven, usually something like this:

2 Axedwarfs/1 sword 1 hammer (I try to get bronze axes/swords silver hammers at embark for them to use, and maybe a boot or something to train armor skill)

2 miners (usually they are just miners, but if migrants take a long time they may be a brewer or mechanic as well)

1 woodcutter

1 herbalist

1 Mason/Carpenter

Usually I just make a little hidey-hole and start deforesting and digging to get enough stone and logs for some tables, thrones and beds.  Then I just use the herbalist to get food and let my embark drink supply tide me over until I can assign a migrant to brewing.