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[Crossroads Inc.]

So heres the thing.. I LIKE mountains, I like big steep cliffs, and narrow valleys... But what I really like, is a good place to care a dang intimidating Fort into!!! ... And so far... All I keep getting are embarks with low slops and a max of like 10 or so levels tall...

Part of the problem from what I see, is most "mountains" have very VERY large "footprints" of gradually decreasing hills.. Theres often 8 to 10 blocks of "very mild hills" before you could get to "mountains" with good steep cliffs. zoom in on any mountain area, and theres always this "border" around them that you are forced to embark on. 

now... in the OLD DAYS, I could find a really extreme mountain location that wasn't too far from a forest, and make an embark that was like 12 blocks long and 4 blocks wide to 'stretch' out to it... But... These days we get a max of 6x6.

Ive TRIED geeing more "mountainous" worlds, doing all the things I used to remember would cause increased mountains, volcanos, and steep cliffs.. And last world I penned had some truly massive mountain ranges!!!
After I did a "search map" specifically makeing sure to list "high terrain" (among other qualifies) I found something that LOOKED good.. A spot with a river and what according to the map were "steep" cliffs.. I ready my Dwarfs... I embark... And I find a place with hills that are 6 levels tall... What the Hell mate?

[Salmeuk]

ah, I've got you covered. there are a few settings to help increase the chances of tall mountains.

1. lower the number of Erosion Cycles from the default value to like, half, or a quarter. Low settings allow cliffs to remain as cliffs.
2. change the 'elevation x - y' variance to a higher value than default. this will allow greater, well, variance between nearby map tiles
3. turn off Periodically Erode Extreme Cliffs.. not a big effect but it makes for nice looking cliffs
4. increase 'maximum number of subregions' count to maximum value. this will allow for smaller and more numerous subregions... to be honest I don't think this affects physical terrain generation. but it will allow a greater chance of unique mountain biomes so that's cool I guess?

these are not the end-all be-all, things like drainage and whatnot can also affect the terrain. but these settings will often result in very dramatic changes between biomes. I have found recently multiple 80+ z-level cliffs recently.

if you look for lakes next to mountains you are almost guaranteed a really nice cliffside over the water!!

all this being said, due to the way rivers erode the nearby terrain, you will likely never find a true river canyon, even with zero erosion cycles. the river placement flattens nearby terrain regardless of geological composition, so we will never find a long river akin to the grand canyon, except for very short sections near confluences or waterfalls.. sometimes you find some dramatic terrain that results from bugged generation as well, which makes for really interesting embarks.

[Crossroads Inc.]

THANK YOU!  i found some advice about the erosion cycles, but i appreciate the other tips, especially looking for mountains near lakes, and the info about river erosion!