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This fort was a wild time, it's been a bit since I played dwarf fortress for real, let alone the steam release so this turn was kinda disastrous to be honest.  I don't think any previously born kids died during my run, but many other's did.  Anyways here's the summary. 

Starting off I kinda wanted to make a mushroom temple underground, just because, but the mining designations got a little unsafe and a few died in mining accidents. 




But at least on the subject of things dying I started taking care of the chicken population. 



More were killed than shown here, but there were probably more than one hundred chickens. 

After this I got scared that even another dwarf might be killed,



But thankfully the duke is really weak so it ended up being just a small slap on the leg.



Also something really strange, I didn't get any caravans for the first year, and no animals were really born.  Not sure what was up with that, eventually this happened:



I checked the map and the other units a few times but didn't see anyone, and the depot is toally accessible, so not really sure what happened, they ended up leaving a big pile of stuff at the edge of the map. 

At this point I began focusing on trying to actually get a kid born as this is the goal of the fort.  I feel like a problem with the current for is that about 25 of our 50 citizens are humans at this point, and they really get in the way of socializing.  Also since our for pop is so small compared to the size of the fort, the dwarves weren't doing much socialization in the first place.  Many of our dwarves were close friends with several humans and no dwarves, which isn't great for trying to get the dwarves married off.  So I threw the humans into the military, where many of them already were, and decided to breach the first cavern layer:


On opening this layer it revealed about 100 rodent people invaders.  While this battle was going on we started to have a problem with a minotaur on the surface as well.  So I closed the gate to the caverns, the humans had been victorious. 



I readied the ballistas at the gate and got the army in position up top.  I thought this battle would be simple, but unfortunately there was a side entrance into the fort which seemed leftover from the moat operation:


At this point I was kinda worried since the minotaur was now just fighting civillians in the corridor who had been hauling stuff to the surface. 

The minotaur killed someone, I forget who at this point, but ended up in a battle with a child, a poet, and a few war dogs.  It seems the war dogs were able to inflict enough minor wounds that the minotaur passed out from pain, allowing the child and poet to go to town. 




The fight ended as shown, with the poet killing the beast with the (large rose cut crystal opal) they were hauling.  I renamed the poet Theseus to commemorate the event. 

By this point about a year had passed, and we started getting caravans again



I kept trying for about a year in game time to get a kid, but the dwarves really just wouldn't comply so I just gave up and saved today. I may not have been successful, but I have a good idea of some of the issues that need to be addressed for the next ruler:

1. Too many humans - They really just seem to get in the way of socializing by forming friends with all the dwarves and not allowing them to become friends with each other. 

2. Too many jobs - Dwarves are working almost constantly so very little socialization gets to happen

3. Too many zones - Even when dwarves do have free time, I find one dwarf in every location from temples, to statue halls, to the tavern, and no one idling next to each other. 

Some other notes:

1. Don't open the first cavern without a good army, fewer rodent people now thanks to a blob of fire that throws fire balls:



2. Chickens are somewhat under control, but dogs are the next big problem, I spayed as many as it would let me, but there are quite a few. 


3. Tried making a little self sustaining marriage tank, but burrows seem to work differently in steam release, and the units kept getting unhappy and waiting to attend meetings with the duke and never socializing. 


Also happiness is a problem for a few dwarves, so be warned. 

Good luck to whoever takes this on next. 

Hmm, I went back and checked my version of 47.05 and it seems like you could see it under the affiliations part of unit view, u-v-enter in that version. 
If there isn't a way to do this in the steam version I think there should be as it can be kind of nice to know when a dwarf will age up for both practical and roleplay reasons. 

Can I take a turn after Thomasasia? I've recently gotten back into dwarf fortress and want to give a community fort a go. 

---Overseer BudTomazi’s Journal Late Summer 202---
I must begin by noting that we have had the great misfortune of losing Inod the mute in these past months.  The circumstances of her death are strange, but we will get to that later. 

After the alligator incident, progress was rapid, and we have crossed the aquifer and begun mining out the fortress proper. 
Along the way we breached into some underground caverns that are quite expansive.  We walled them off, but Olon got trapped on the other side.  Rescuing him was easy enough, but a cat is now locked in the caverns in his place. 
Thankfully the cat has been able to do much of the exploring for us, and has conveyed this information back through scratching at the wall. 

Soon after this we were greeted by the arrival of some dwarves who had ventured here on a sort of safari expedition. 
This was confirmed when a clerk with them began hunting the giant kea’s that had moved into our area. 

Drafting them into our workforce, we began preparing for the coming year.  Prime among these tasks was creating a farm underground with the fortress, behind the defense bridge.  We had a plan in place with floodgates and drainage to pull in water from the caverns above and bring mud with it.  We sent Inod the Mute to puncture the ceiling into the underground lake, and begin the process.  To the surprise of everyone, nothing happened.  After 2 more attempts we went to look in the tunnel, and sure enough, above us we could see into the blue lake-water.  It was floating in the gaps above our heads.  One of our mechanics tried to explain it with something called surface tension, but it didn’t really make sense. 
After some pondering, Inod went back for a last attempt.  A few minutes after she closed the door behind her, there was a tremendous crash.  In a single instant the room had filled to maximum capacity, and the reservoir along with it.  Inod was left in the tunnel, and although no corpse has yet been found, it is clear that no dwarf could have survived such an event.  I have ordered a slab be constructed in a room below the fort until such a time as we can recover her body. 

While this loss is tragic, it will not be in vain.  For already we are working to use the rooms now flooded as farmland and a source of water. 

This incident does serve to remind me that in half a year now, the time will come when all preparations of this sort must be finished, or else we all shall face our end too soon. 

OOC:
Yeah, I think I ran into a somewhat known bug with water pressure.  Puncturing the ceiling didn't work, but when I built a staircase into a wall of the lake, the entire area connected on my side instantly, filled with 7/7 water.  Otherwise stuff is going reasonably, and I don't foresee any issues in finishing preparations in the last 2 seasons. 

That was my initial plan, although I could see how that may remove much of the point of even allowing the trade depot.  My main concern was that since a trade caravan is around for so long, it could give the player free reign to open bridges to wherever they wanted.  At the same time, this whole thing works on the honor system, so allowing door/bridge management for trading alone doesn't seem unreasonable.  I'll edit the original post to allow it. 

There's an idea for a succession fort I've had for a bit, and I decided to start it up while I have some time.  The premise is as follows:

1. Each turn will last 2 years, still 2 weeks irl.
2. You will be allowed to play as normal with the fortress for the first year. 
3. For the second year the fortress will run autonomously, with no player input. No manager stuff, no workshop orders, no military command etc., just unpausing the game when it auto-pauses.  The goal is to leave the fort in a state such that it won't die during this year. 

In the interest of the fortress, however, there are some exceptions for this second year:
1. Trading - During the hands off year you can still interact with the trade depot as much as you like.  It is also permitted to manage doors/bridges for the express purpose of allowing dwarves to reach the depot.  This could be a lifeline if food is running short and hopefully this isn't too easy to abuse. 
2. Letting in migrants.  In general opening doors or bridges is prohibited, but for each migrant wave you can unlock and relock doors or open and close bridges to get them in the fort.  This is probably more abuseable, but I think forcing migrant waves to be locked out for a year or more might be unplayable with stress and hunger. 

I'll probably start playing the first turn soon, but I'd be curious to get feedback or suggestions, and see if there are any obvious exceptions I missed that would make this game unplayable.  This fort is meant to be a challenge in preparations/automation so I don't want to allow too much, but I also want to see it survive at least a few turns. 

If anyone is interested in a turn or a dorfing please let me know. 

Overseers:
BudTomazi (Current)

Here are some screenshots from the game, these are definitely elves. 

Elf 6 z-levels in the air
https://imgur.com/zPJJezS

Unit List
https://imgur.com/xP2h7DA