Additionally, there is no dry land whatsoever in the river's cavern, so I guess I won't have an underground forest either. And my chasm (which was also hidden) is quite sparsely populated, too. The biggest threat my dwarves have right now is a single magma man that emerged from the magma pool I ran into. The only local threat left is hidden fun stuff, but I haven't started digging it out yet.
Anyway, is this the way cave rivers are supposed to be? Or did I just have bad luck and had one with a chasm that all it's inhabitants fell into and died?
I'm really thinking about abandoning this fort due to lack of local hostiles. I specifically searched with Regional Prospector for a place with plenty of baddies to keep me entertained, and now I'm sorely disappointed. The current fort doesn't have any iron, anyway (at least I haven't found any).
But before I embark again, I'd like some tips on finding features that are rich in bad guys. For example, do I need to select a cave river that has no ends in my fortress' local area, or will I lose frogmen even if there is no chasm for them to fall into?
That said, if you want lots of bad guys, you could try a terrifying region (purple areas) or just embark into the middle of a goblin fort.
But you have been unlucky with your cave river, DJ. I don't know if the chasm was visible on the embark screen (although I suspect it was), but it seems one seeking challenge should avoid zones where cave rivers flow next to a chasm since it appears that the waterfalls cause great mortality among the underground aquatic critters.
(There is a thread somewhere about that : there it is).
You may give another try with another river.
About underground forests, you could try a cave lake. Those have an irregular shape and may give birth to tower caps on their banks, but nothing quite like a real underground forest.
However, you can farm tower caps after irrigating a dug area with (any) water after you discovered the cave river or lake.
Alas, farming is quite less entertaining than a good old fight with lizardmen. :p
[ February 01, 2008: Message edited by: Maître Smaug Capello ]
Also, my queen arrived dressed as a peasant, dropped all her clothes upon entering the map and went to buy two socks and a dress. Does this mean economy has started? BTW, my fort is totally unprepared for the queen. The only metal I have in abundance is copper, and I don't think that'll do for royal furniture. I'm making some aluminium stuff, but it's taking ages for my dwarves to smelt more aluminium and furniture takes a lot of bars.
Anyway, I guess I won't just go and abandon this fort. I'll try to get it destroyed by hostile forces.