Bay 12 Games Forum

Lakes are formed whenever you have a river 'ending' that doesn't exit the map or reach the ocean.

Are you looking for something like this:

Or more like:
FFF
FLF
FFF

I'm looking for FFF
FLF
FFF
, but from the examples you gave, the first fits the bill the best even though it doesn't perfectly match the pattern, because it large enough.

Is this possible?

a "lake embark", ideally 3x3 but possibly 4x4 with a central lake at least 5Z deep, flat or mildly hilly dense connifer forrest surroundings with at least 1-2 layers of soil. Bonus: coal and metals. Extra bonus: volcano at bottom of lake (with obsidian "cap").

...in a world that is as small as possible and has 1-2 civs of each (dwarv, elf, goblin, human), not overwhelmed by towers/necromancers. World must have steel (somewhere, not necessarily on the lake embark, just able to import it from other civs). Bonus: world conditions are met with history over 250 years (e.g. civs don't die before). Extra bonus: world has at least one ocean edge.