Editing v0.34:Wealth

Wealth is sum of everything of [[value]] in your fortress: basically, everything except corpses and remains, which have absolutely no worth whatsoever. This includes [[stone]]s, [[building]]s, engravings, and any and every kind of created good, all of which contribute to your total wealth to various degrees. [[Artifact]]s are usually one of the largest influences of fortress wealth. Artifacts made of precious resources and heavily [[decorate]]d can easily be worth thrice the value of the rest of your fortress in the early years.

The display of your wealth on the main status screen is broken up into several categories: [[weapon]]s, [[armor]] and [[Clothing|garb]], [[furniture]], other objects (like [[finished goods]]), [[architecture]] ([[building]]s and such), displayed, and held/worn (items created internally claimed by certain dwarves, like clothing).

On the plus side, it increases the amount of [[migrant]]s you get per wave. Assuming that you are equipped to handle the new dwarves, this is usually a good thing, except when you are producing so much wealth that your migrant arrivals outstrip your ability to house them and give them useful things to do. Drowning in migrants is a very real danger - make sure you are always equipped with surplus beds.

A certain level of exports and overall wealth is required to go up the [[noble]] ladder: a [[baron]] requires 100k of wealth, a [[count]] 200k, and a [[duke]] 300k; the [[monarch]] has some fairly complicated requirements based on a few different categories.

On the negative side, more wealth attracts more attacks. At first this will be an above-average amount of [[thief|thieves]], but as the game progresses and your wealth continues to grow, this will develop into [[ambush]]es, [[siege]]s, and visits from [[megabeast]]s, all of which are attracted to increasing amounts of wealth. This keeps the game from being boring, but too much [[fun]] is also a bad thing; if you have a hard time dealing with the numerous waves of immigrants, you're certainly not equipped to deal with a full-on siege.

Building wealth is simple - just commit more people to useful industries and continue growing.  

You will want to establish a major [[industry]] and commit a dwarf to it (producing [[finished good]]s is the easiest way), allowing you to spend grand sums on caravans and get everything you absolutely need quickly and painlessly. If you intend to go this route, be sure to create tons of extra [[bin]]s and [[bed]]s, as your dwarves will make short work of both. It also requires you be very quick with your mining, as you will need a lot of digging designations to keep everyone busy and productive.

On the opposite side there are the fortresses that would much rather establish a baseline of sorts before embarking on an expansionist binge - getting a full defensive grid up, for instance, or penetrating the [[aquifer]] without having to waste precious reserves on more dwarves and more enemies. These players concentrate on low-value activities like carpentry, masonry, and mining, and only produce enough trade goods to get what is necessary from the caravans. Although they are slower to grow, they also afford their players more time to plan and to lay the groundwork for the future of the fortress. Note that no matter what you will have to deal with some growth - besides the natural expansion of your mountainhome, there's also the issue of [[artifact]]s. Do what you will, but every once in a while a dwarf will claim a workshop and produce a valuable trinket, and all you can hope for is that it's not worth much.

Most players chose to walk the middle line, getting together the necessary industries but concentrating on the [[metal industry]] early on to get together their arms and armor. Although [[steel]] is worth its weight in [[gold]], it is much more useful in deflecting goblin arrows from your fortress' defenders then would be a statue looking pretty in your lobby.