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DF Dwarf Mode Discussion / Re: Does this embark team make my butt look big?
« on: June 05, 2014, 07:13:14 am »
Alright, here we go! Obviously all of what I say comes down to personal preference, but I'm quite obsessive about efficiency and efficacy:
Generally speaking, I find you want to pair one skill you'll be using very often (grower, carpenter, mason) with another that you'll use much less frequently (mechanic, building designer, gem setter). This way, dwarves don't have a conflict of interest between their professions; you can plant seeds all season and then occasionally decorate a particularly fine sword. For the same reason, I find that weaponsmith/cook and armoursmith/brewer actually make pretty good combinations: unless your population really gets out of control, you shouldn't need to cook and brew that often.
Woodcutter and miner aren't necessarily worth it as embark skills - they train quickly and the resources for training them are near enough to infinite. The exception is if you're embarking in an area with very little soil (you want to move inside as quickly as possible, so mining skill will be useful).
Doctors are pretty worthless, as noted earlier. By the time you see your first combat, any embark medical skills probably will have rusted, too.
I find that a military dwarf can be a good move at the start, particularly if you're embarking in an area with more aggressive wildlife (nothing worse than embarking on top of a Giant Eagle, who proceeds to rip all your dorfs to pieces). Also, any arriving migrants with military skills can immediately be equipped and set to spar with your existing military dwarf. Option B, as mentioned earlier, is to take two military dorfs and have them start sparring immediately (this is, in my experience, the most efficient set-up that doesn't involve cheating: squads of two dwarves set to train all year round.)
Other than that, I'd avoid woodcrafter since you'll be using that wood for superior enterprises (beds, barrels, bins, burning) and also because you can't trade wood to the elves, and make sure you get a good grower in there: high plant yields + good cook/brewer = lots of lovely dorf-bucks.
Strike the earth (and all that)!
Generally speaking, I find you want to pair one skill you'll be using very often (grower, carpenter, mason) with another that you'll use much less frequently (mechanic, building designer, gem setter). This way, dwarves don't have a conflict of interest between their professions; you can plant seeds all season and then occasionally decorate a particularly fine sword. For the same reason, I find that weaponsmith/cook and armoursmith/brewer actually make pretty good combinations: unless your population really gets out of control, you shouldn't need to cook and brew that often.
Woodcutter and miner aren't necessarily worth it as embark skills - they train quickly and the resources for training them are near enough to infinite. The exception is if you're embarking in an area with very little soil (you want to move inside as quickly as possible, so mining skill will be useful).
Doctors are pretty worthless, as noted earlier. By the time you see your first combat, any embark medical skills probably will have rusted, too.
I find that a military dwarf can be a good move at the start, particularly if you're embarking in an area with more aggressive wildlife (nothing worse than embarking on top of a Giant Eagle, who proceeds to rip all your dorfs to pieces). Also, any arriving migrants with military skills can immediately be equipped and set to spar with your existing military dwarf. Option B, as mentioned earlier, is to take two military dorfs and have them start sparring immediately (this is, in my experience, the most efficient set-up that doesn't involve cheating: squads of two dwarves set to train all year round.)
Other than that, I'd avoid woodcrafter since you'll be using that wood for superior enterprises (beds, barrels, bins, burning) and also because you can't trade wood to the elves, and make sure you get a good grower in there: high plant yields + good cook/brewer = lots of lovely dorf-bucks.
Strike the earth (and all that)!