Bay 12 Games Forum

Not "entirely" true; there are other catch-22s you can get caught in, like embarking with no seeds on a desert/zero vegetation embark. (Yes, caverns CAN be devoid of plants too!) In that case, the only way to get seeds is to buy them, or bring them.

The real thing with playing with minimalist embarks is that it teaches you how to recognize those situations, and take what you will really need, and eschew the rest.

Like I said, I only do a custom embark if the situation calls for it. (Either it is some eldritch nightmare made real that rains rotting puss from the sky that rots your eyeballs out, or a challenge embark with house rules, whatever.) Otherwise, the standard embark is good enough for practically anything.

If I'm embarking in an area with trees, I take:

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 Nothing

If on a glacier, desert, or otherwise treeless area, I take:

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 1 copper pick

If I want to play 'easy mode,' I'll take:

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 1 pick, 1 anvil, 5 of each seed/spawn

I really don't like hauling jobs at the start.

"Embarking now" gives you 2 axes (random material), 2 picks (usually copper), about 60 units booze, and 50 units meat, plump helmets, and the like, and 1 anvil.

Its toady's generic embark profile.  It's good enough for most embarks, but not well suited to "extreme" ones. (Though using it on such embarks can be FUN!)

It isn't the same as doing a custom embark, and unselecting everything.
(Though that could be quite challenging too... theoretically, you could possibly survive that if you had access to trees.  Dismantle the wagon for 3 logs, use one to make a carpenter's shop, and then 1 to make a training axe, then use the training axe to cut trees. Use wood floor over a clay deposit to expose a bare clay patch, etc. You still need 1 stone boulder to make a kiln to do the collect clay job, but after that you could do clay surface construction and NEVER dig. You could possibly get that from the trade caravan using a wooden trade depot, and trading wooden goods.)

But, here's what you would need to survive an "everything unselected" embark challenge:

Heavily forested temperate biome with abundant surface crops, shallow minerals, non-terrifying, non-savage.

Step 1, disassemble wagon and make a food stockpile.
Step 2, assign an herbalist, then mass designate collect plants.
Step 3, assign a carpenter, make a carpenter's shop from 1 of the logs, make a training axe
Step 4, assign a woodcutter, cut trees, designate lumberyard
Step 5, make barrels and still
Step 6, make a bowyer's shop, make crossbow, make wooden bolts
Step 7, assign hunter, turn him loose
Step 8, make butchershop and tannery
Step 9, assign butcher/tanner.
Step 10, make leather armor and crafts
...

You get the idea.  Use the trade caravan and a wooden depot to get essential equipment.
After that proceed normally.

The starting equipment just helps you get to a level of stability quickly, and that's it. Same with starting skills.

*shrug*

I just use the default embark...
I don't mind unskilled starting 7; they tend to become legendary in multiple skills anyway, so why put them in boxes like that?

It depends on the embark site, of course.  Glacier?  Bring extra wood.  And so on.  Unless I know I'm going to have lots of trees, and time to cut/haul wood, I usually bring 5 logs or so just for beds.

A few granite stones, just to cut into blocks.  That's because my miners will always dig out whatever needs digging in the soil layers first before moving on to rock.  While they're digging I use the blocks for workshops or whatever needs doing.

One anvil, one hen and one rooster (for eggs, breed the first batch and then collect them, butcher all roosters except one), and sometimes one sow and one boar (pigs do not need to be pastured, and you can milk them).

If I think there will be sand on my embark (and I always try to have sand), I spend a few points buying SAND from the embark menu.  Why, you ask, when sand is an infinite resource?  Because sand comes with a free bag and only costs 1 point.  The sooner I can get a green glass industry up and running, the sooner I can start churning out infinite doors, tables, thrones, and trap components.  And pots!  I loves me some green glass pots.  1/4th as heavy as a barrel and twice the capacity.