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v0.31:Sample Starting Builds

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The following are sample starting builds provided by users. They may be as specific as full skill and item specifications with a file that you can copy and paste to use yourself, or as general as suggestions on how you might set up your starting build.


Ashery

  • Military: 5 armor use, 5 dodge. Possibly a mix of dodge and shield use instead of max dodge, but that's up in the air. Set to start training the moment goods are hauled inside the fort's entrance. Also does woodcutting as needed.
  • Doctor/Leader: 1 appraise, 2 diagnose, 2 bone doctor, 2 surgeon, 2 wound dresser, 1 suture. Also serves as one of my primary miners and, once replacement miners come, the fort's first bookkeeper as well.
  • Farmer/Cook: 4 farming, 5 cooking, 1 armorsmith. Does most of the early hauling grunt work, but eventually is restricted only to food related activities. No mining is done in order to keep armorsmithing as the highest moodable skill.
  • Farmer/Brewer: 4 farming, 5 brewing, 1 armorsmith. Same as the cook.
  • Weapon/Armorsmith: 5 armorsmith, 5 weaponsmith. Does a sizable amount of the early mining, but is removed from duty before the mining skill gets too high.
  • Mason: 5 mason, 5 building design. Can help out with mining if necessary, but is usually busy constructing buildings or helping the farmers haul goods.
  • Carpenter/Mechanic: 5 carpentry, 5 mechanic. An odd mix, but mechanisms are my primary export.

Tarran

  • (every skill has five points put into it)
  • 2 miners/engravers (when they are not mining they are engraving)
  • 1 mason/carpenter (deals with all that stuff)
  • 1 mechanic/stonecrafter (when he is not making mechanisms he is making crafts)
  • 1 woodcutter/architect (when not cutting wood he is designing buildings)
  • 1 grower/brewer (deals with all my needs this early in the game)
  • 1 adequate armorsmith, weaponsmith, and metalcrafter. novice furnace operator, and wood burner (remove wood burner if you have magma)

Ancient Enemy

  • Leader with all his points distributed through negotiation/bookkeeper/appraiser/etc.
  • 3 dwarves with proficient mining
  • 1 proficient grower
  • 1 proficient brewer
  • 1 proficient cook

Proteus

  • Leader/Miner: 6-7 points into things important to become leader and broker (appraisal, negotiation, judge of intent, organizing and others, all at least with 1 pt), rest into mining
  • Doc/Recordkeeper +at least another productive job: 1-2pts into diagnostics, 1pt in each other medical skill, 1pt in recordkeeping, rest into 1-2 jobs
  • Cook: 4-5pts in cooking, 2-4pts in brewing, rest in fish cleaning and butchery
  • Farmer: around 3-4pts in Growing, at least 1pt in milling, plant processing and brewing
  • Crafter: Usually 5pts in stone crafting, rest in other crafting jobs (although that might change, as now bone carving has become next to worthless)
  • Clothier: 2-4pts in leatherworking and clothier, rest into weaving and tanning
  • Builder: Most of his points into Masonry, Engraving and Mechanics, as well as a few points into Carpenter (if no other dwarf already has pts in this job)

Cronus

  • Miners/Mechanics: 2 dwarves with max points in mining and mechanics; get the fort, then those traps, up quickly.
  • Woodcutter/Carpenter: points in woodcutting and carpentry; chop during initial dig then start pumping out beds and barrels
  • Farmer/Brewer: points in farming and brewing; get the wheat and helmets in and brew during the off-season. Can also serve as butcher in a pinch.
  • Crafter: points dispersed into stonecrafting, bonecarving, weaving, and leatherworking.
  • Mason/Architect: points into masonry and building design. Allows a focus on walls, doors, and bridges.
  • Leader/Trader: spread points among appraisal, negotiator, conversationalist, consoler, and comedian.

Jake Grey

  • The Hunter: Ambusher, Marksdwarf, Hammerdwarf, Shield/Armour User, Dodger. Number two source of protein and useful military backup.
  • The Catering Team: One Grower/Butcher/Fish Cleaner/Tanner and one Grower/Cook/Brewer/Plant Gatherer/Thresher. Usually get the Record Keeper and Appraiser points as well, since they have probably the safest jobs, and some points in mining to get things dug faster.
  • The Artisans: One Carpenter/Woodcutter/Bone Carver, one Miner/Mason/Stone Crafter/Architect and one Miner/Metalsmith/Weaponsmith/Armoursmith/Furnace Operator. The blacksmith usually gets the Organiser points, as I don't embark with an anvil.
  • "Dr Fisher": Adequate Diagnostician, Wound Dresser, Suturer, Bone Doctor, Surgeon, Novice Fisherdwarf. The world's happiest on-call GP, feeds the fortress almost single-handed while waiting for someone to get injured.


The Stoners

The Dwarves:

  • Miner/Stonecrafter (mines and makes pots and crafts if needed)
  • Miner/Mechanic (mines and makes levers or traps if needed)
  • Mason/Building Designer (makes all the furniture and buildings)
  • Carpenter/Woodcutter (cuts wood, makes beds, bins, barrels, and cages if needed)
  • Weaponsmith/Armorsmith (will provide good quality gear for your militia)
  • Grower/Brewer (farms, makes booze, and does most of the hauling early)
  • Grower/Cook (farms, cooks food, and does most of the hauling early)

Supplies:

  • 2 Picks
  • 1 Battleaxe
  • 1 Anvil
  • 60 Booze
  • 30 Meat/Fish/Eggs
  • 5-10 of each seed
  • Spend the rest of the points on anything else you want like animals and ores. Copper ores are a good choice since they're very cheap.

Notes;

  • After hauling your wagon supplies indoors, have your smith work nonstop making fuel, smelting ores, and making weapons/armor. By the time your first migrants arrive you should have a full set of armor and a weapon for each. If not have the migrants help the smith out with smelting. Then draft them. By starting training early and having good gear your militia should do well.
  • Trading early on will mostly consist of stone crafts and any extra goods you have lying around like plump helmet roasts for example.


BillyBob and the Rock Nuts

Profession Skills
FarmerBrewer Grower-5, Brewer-5
MinerMason Mining-5, Masonry-2, Engraving-3
MinerJeweller Mining-5, Masonry-1, GemCutting-4
LumberjackHerbalist Woodcutting-4,Herbalism-3, Axedwarf, Armor, Carpentry
CookDoctor Cook-3, Threshing-2, Diagnose, DressWounds, Suture, SetBones, Surgery
CarpenterLeader Carpentry-4, Leadership-3, Negotiate, Appraisal, Record Keeper
CrafterArchitect Stonecraft-5, Building Designer-4, Mechanic

The lumberjack is the only one that _has_ to go outside, and all the rest can work indoors. Two main sources of income are farming (Sweet Pods->Dwarven Syrup) and Rock Crafting (to buy elven wood/barrels). 

[PROFILE]
	[TITLE:BillyBob and the Rock Nuts]
	[SKILL:1:MINING:5]
	[SKILL:1:DETAILSTONE:3]
	[SKILL:1:MASONRY:2]
	[SKILL:2:MINING:5]
	[SKILL:2:MASONRY:1]
	[SKILL:2:CUTGEM:4]
	[SKILL:3:WOODCUTTING:4]
	[SKILL:3:CARPENTRY:1]
	[SKILL:3:HERBALISM:3]
	[SKILL:3:AXE:1]
	[SKILL:3:ARMOR:1]
	[SKILL:4:CARPENTRY:4]
	[SKILL:4:NEGOTIATION:1]
	[SKILL:4:APPRAISAL:1]
	[SKILL:4:RECORD_KEEPING:1]
	[SKILL:4:LEADERSHIP:3]
	[SKILL:5:BREWING:5]
	[SKILL:5:PLANT:5]
	[SKILL:6:PROCESSPLANTS:2]
	[SKILL:6:COOK:3]
	[SKILL:6:DRESS_WOUNDS:1]
	[SKILL:6:DIAGNOSE:1]
	[SKILL:6:SURGERY:1]
	[SKILL:6:SET_BONE:1]
	[SKILL:6:SUTURE:1]
	[SKILL:7:STONECRAFT:5]
	[SKILL:7:MECHANICS:1]
	[SKILL:7:DESIGNBUILDING:4]
	[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK:INORGANIC:COPPER]
	[ITEM:2:WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_BATTLE:INORGANIC:COPPER]
	[ITEM:1:ANVIL:NONE:INORGANIC:IRON]
	[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_WHEAT_CAVE:DRINK]
	[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:DRINK]
	[ITEM:11:DRINK:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:DRINK]
	[ITEM:5:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:SEED]
	[ITEM:12:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:SEED]
	[ITEM:11:SEEDS:NONE:PLANT_MAT:POD_SWEET:SEED]
	[ITEM:11:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:MARMOT_HOARY:STOMACH]
	[ITEM:11:PLANT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:MUSHROOM_HELMET_PLUMP:STRUCTURAL]
	[ITEM:1:THREAD:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
	[ITEM:1:CLOTH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
	[ITEM:3:BOX:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
	[ITEM:2:CHAIN:NONE:PLANT_MAT:GRASS_TAIL_PIG:THREAD]
	[ITEM:3:BUCKET:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
	[ITEM:2:SPLINT:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
	[ITEM:2:CRUTCH:NONE:PLANT_MAT:ALDER:WOOD]
	[ITEM:15:MEAT:NONE:CREATURE_MAT:WARTHOG:MUSCLE]
	[PET:2:DOG:FEMALE:TRAINED_WAR]
	[PET:1:DOG:MALE:TRAINED_WAR]
	[PET:2:CAT:FEMALE:STANDARD]
	[PET:1:CAT:MALE:STANDARD]

Tatter's Ragtime Band

Designed to pair important time-consuming skills with important but quickly completed skills, moodable skills with non-moodable skills, and generally embark only with skills that can't be trained from "unskilled" quickly (for example, no mining skills). Tailored to minimize bugs in versions 31.12.

  • Boss: 5 points in Armor User, 1 point in Appraiser, Negotiator, Judge of Intent, Record Keeper, and Organizer. Will be your chief miner, militia commander, and all-around noble early on, and almost certainly will become expedition leader as well. As other dwarves arrive with mining and/or noble skills (even if they aren't as high-level as the Boss's), replace the Boss with them as soon as possible, to relieve his workload. Keep the Boss as your militia commander and broker, mining mostly to train his skill with a pick, until a dwarf with better skills for these tasks arrives. If you embark with dogs, give the Boss the Animal Trainer labor as well and have him train them into War Dogs for extra protection. Note: As of 31.12, training seems to finally be working as intended, making axe/sword/hammer/spear dwarves feasable. Swap the Armor User with any other weapon skills if you like, but Armor User seems to be the slowest skill to develop, and I personally prefer to stick with it for the Boss. Plus, picks being pretty crummy weapons will help if you decide to make a Sherrif or Captain of the Guard with poor weapon skills so punishing "crime" won't result in undue maiming. (Moodable skill: Mining)
  • Doc: 5 points in Carpentry, 1 point in Diagnostician, Bone Doctor, Surgeon, Suturer, and Wound Dresser. A doctor that can make his own beds, splints, and crutches (and tables and cabinets, if you have an excess of wood). Make him Chief Medical Dwarf right away, but replace him as soon as a better Diagnostician comes along. Make him a Plant Gatherer and Wood Cutter as well (until immigrants with better skills arrive), to give him something to do when he has nothing to build and nobody to heal. (Moodable skill: Carpentry)
  • Rock Farmer: 5 points in Grower, 5 points in Gem Cutting. Farming is more difficult to set up than it used to be, but no less time consuming. Gem Cutting takes little time and provides the fortress with the highest-value, lowest-weight trade items you're likely to find early on. You can also make him a Plant Processor and/or Miller if you need the materials for emergency mood satisfaction and/or cooking, but these skills should be provided at higher levels by immigrants fairly quickly, and cloth isn't critical for an early fortress (hunt and butcher wildlife with your militia instead, and make bags/clothes out of leather). Give him the Mining labor at least, though, as all dwarves who aren't Wood Cutting or Hunting should be available as backup miners and emergency militia. (Moodable skill: Gem Cutting)
  • Embalmer: 5 points in Brewing, 5 points in Leatherworking. Makes leather bags and armor early in the game, alcohol later. Assign him the Tanner and Butcher labors as well, until immigrants with better skills arrive, and the Miner labor, for the reasons stated above. (Moodable skill: Leatherworker)
  • Iron Chef: 5 points in Cooking, 5 points in Weaponsmithing. Makes the steel when he isn't making a meal. Assign him the Furnace Operator and Wood Burner labors, until immigrants with better skills arrive, so he can make the raw materials of his craft, and the Miner labor on general principles. If you're unlucky with immigrants, or determined to make additional forges or metal armor right away, you can give him the Armorer and Blacksmith labors as well. (Moodable skill: Weaponsmith)
  • Architect: 5 points in Mason, 5 points in Building Designer. Unlocks all buildings from the start, and will build nice stone ones that improve dwarven moods. The sheer amount of construction needed to build a secure and functional initial fort quickly may make it a good idea to turn OFF all labors for the Architect except Mason and Building Designer, at least until everyone and everything is safely underground. If you ever do finish building everthing you need, give him back any labors you turned off, and add Engraver (train him by smoothing stone first) and Miner labors as well. (Moodable skill: Mason)
  • Mech Pilot: 5 points in Mechanic, 5 points in any skill you want. I used to think Ballistae were awesome, but sadly they only work well on paper, unless built (and crewed) in large numbers. If you still want to use them, putting his 5 points in Siege Engineer is better than Siege Operator, for high quality machines straight away. Build some extra catapults and sling rocks around for training when your dwarves have some free time, if you still want to use siege engines. Otherwise, you can give him a quick crafting skill, possibly one of the job skills the other dwarves would be training up from Dabbling (Armorer or Blacksmith would probably be the best). Don't attach a seriously time-consuming skill like Wood Burner or Furnace Operator, though, because this dwarf should mostly be making mechanisms for your cage traps. (Moodable skill: Mechanic)

Crafting and Gem Setter skills should be available through immigrants, but the Stonecraft skill can be trained up easily and cheaply from nothing by any dwarf that spends much time idle, if you absolutely must have something quickly. Fishing and Hunting can likewise usually wait until immigrants arrive with these skills. Chasing wolves around with your militia can be frustrating, but eventually one of them will make the mistake of trying to stand and fight, and even simple clothes can deflect most animals' teeth, claws, and horns (just don't go after bears without metal armor!).

Recommended embark items:

  • 1+ copper picks (use any leftover embark points to buy up to 5 spares)
  • 1 iron anvil, to guarantee you can make more picks quickly.
  • 1 wooden training axe, or battle axe if the "training axes can chop down trees" exploit is ever fixed. This will keep you from being left without fuel for the forge if you run out of wood, but can be skipped if you're embarking to an area where there are no trees (or if you're going to DIY it).
  • 1+ of each type of seed, mostly for the bags, as you will probably be surface farming with gathered plants until the caravans arrive anyhow. Note that quarry bush seeds are edible, and dwarves will often consume your whole initial stockpile before you can plant them.
  • 35-40 units of meat/fish, one from each different animal or fish that is available to your culture for 2 embark points per unit. This will give you enough meat to keep your dwarves fed until the first caravan arrives, and the maximum number of free barrels as well. Meat is generally preferred by dwarves over organs that aren't prepared in a kitchen first (meaning the barrels will be empty and available for other uses faster). Note that some animals may not have meat available (vermin like cave spiders, for example), in which case organs are preferable to nothing at all. Note that dwarven nutritional needs seem to have increased since the 31.12 patch; the original recommendation of 25-30 food probably won't even last you through summer, and getting this minimum might not even last through autumn without farming or hunting some extra.
  • 31 each of dwarven ale, dwarven beer, and dwarven rum. Dwarven wine will be produced in large quantities on site once subterranean farming is ready to grow Plump Helmets, and this should be enough alcohol to keep your dwarves happy until a caravan arrives with more if you need it. Dwarven alcohol needs have increased a bit too, it seems.
  • Anything else that you may need more of than the site can provide right away:
    • Wood, if the biomes are devoid of trees (glacier, mountain, desert, etc.).
    • Metal ore, if you have plenty of trees but may need more/better metal than you are likely to find immediately (savage/evil biomes).
    • Metal bars, if you need metal but trees are scarce.
    • Weapons and armor, if you are mad enough to take on a Terrifying biome.
    • Flux stone, if you want to make steel quickly but the embark site lacks chalk, limestone, or dolomite (marble and calcite are normally only found far too deep to be of much early use).
    • Dogs, if you want a decent "militia" fairly quickly. Build a kennel and have the Boss train them into War Dogs. One male and the rest females will produce more dogs as quickly as possible.
    • Plaster bags, for the hospital. You can usually find some plaster-making stones on site, but turning them into bags of plaster powder for setting bones is a difficult, time consuming, and fuel burning process, until you can build magma kilns. On the other hand, if you aren't expecting serious combat before the caravans arrive, you can usually buy more than you will ever use from them fairly cheap.
    • Plump Helmets, as an emergency food/alcohol supply if you anticipate problems making a subterranean farm. Buy in quantities ending in 1, for the maximum number of free barrels. They're quite a bit more expensive than seeds, or other foodstuffs, but their utility makes up for that.

The It-Do-Yourself Steel Option weApon Pair Strategy or TIDYSOAPS

This is a power-gaming strategy that can be integrated as a component of a starting build, in lieu of a pair of steel weapons. In the current build, a steel pick costs 660p (embark points), and a steel battle axe costs 1020p. All told, we can get two steel weapons at better Template:L for more or less 312p. The weapons, able to double as logging/mining implements, can give your squishy Template:L and Template:L an advantage in battle.


Prepare for the journey carefully:

At the Template:L screen, choose the following items:


For a minimum total of 172p. 312p with the skills, and those too will last you a lifetime. It's steel for the price of Template:L! What a... steal. *uncomfortable cough* This gives you a savings of up to 1868p, which means you roughly double-and-a-half your embark points.

In comparison, the embark prices are: 2 steel battle axes (2040p), 2 steel picks (1320p), 1 steel battle axe and 1 steel pick (1680p), 2 Template:L battle axes (136p), 2 copper picks (88p), 1 copper battle axe and 1 copper pick (112p), 2 bronze battle axes (340p), 2 bronze picks (220p), 1 bronze battle axe and 1 bronze pick (280p).


For each successive weapon pair: (72p)

Also, this build can extend to provide for any number of weapon pairs. One would just need to double all of the raw materials replacing the wood with an extra Template:L. The rough cost is 72p per successive pair. Your only constraint is time and dwarfpower.


Substitutes for above grocery lists:

Due to extenuating circumstances, such as the variability of the goods your Template:L has available, some substitutes may be used:

  • Substitutes
    • Fuel:
      • 3p x 3 logs of any type of wood from the Wood category instead of the Wagon wood
      • Don't deconstruct wagon
      • 3p x 5 logs of any type of wood from the Wood category instead of 3 Bituminous coal
        • Make 8 charcoal
      • 10p x 1 units of Template:L and 1 Bituminous coal instead of wagon wood
        • Don't build wood furnace
      • 10p x 8 units of Template:L instead of wood + coal
        • Skip wood furnace and coke making
    • Single option sub. to save time:
      • 50p x 1 iron bar + 50p x 1 pig iron bar instead of 2 iron ores + 1 flux stone + 1 Bituminous coal + 1 log of wood
      • 150p x 2 steel bars instead of 2 iron ore + 2 flux stone + 2 Bituminous coal + 1 log of wood


Strike the earth!

  • Build a Template:L using the fire-safe stone from the deconstructed furnace
    • Smelt 3 bituminous coal (powered with 3 charcoal) --> into 9 units of coke
    • Smelt 2 iron ores (powered with 2 coke) --> two iron bars
    • Smelt ONE iron bar + 1 flux stone + 1 coke (powered with 1 coke) --> 1 pig iron bar
    • Smelt 1 iron bar + 1 pig iron bar + 1 flux stone + 1 coke (powered with 1 coke) --> 2 steel bars
    • Deconstruct the smelter
  • Build a Template:L using the fire-safe stone from the deconstructed smelter + iron anvil
    • Using 2 steel (powered with 1 coke) forge 2 weapons
    • Deconstruct the forge
  • At the end of which, all you will have left relevant to the strategy are:
    • A unit of fire-safe rock
    • Two steel weapons
    • An iron anvil
    • Possibly an extra coke

You could then, for instance, embark with several copper picks since pick material doesn't really help actual mining much[Verify], then forge axes. Lots of them. Only 72p per pair. Wowza. Why buy picks? If you're running this setup it's cheaper to get steel.

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