DF2014 introduces a few new features.  The biggest one from my point of view is the multi-tile trees and the amount of wood that they produce.  That means that a woodcutter is much more efficient because by chopping at a tree trunk, they produce 5-25 pieces of wood to be hauled.  So as long as there is at least one tree within walking distance of your embark, you probably don't need to bring along any spare wood for the first season.

My standard embark for non-hostile locations is as follows:

Domestic critters:

When it comes to domestic critters, you only need one male and then as many females as you find affordable.  The male of the species should quickly be pastured somewhere safe and out of the way. Reproduction is still done via spores, so line of sight and proximity do not matter.

Egg laying fowl such as turkeys, geese, peafowl are still extremely useful when combined with nest boxes and cooking.
  • Dogs, 2 females and 2 male, can be chained as guard dogs (64 pts)
  • Cats, 2 females and 2 male, used to control vermin (44 pts)
  • Pigs, 2 female sows and 2 male boar, used for food/milk, do not require grass to graze so can be locked up underground (204 pts).
  • Turkeys, 3 females and 3 males, provides eggs, meat, and leather (36 pts)
  • Geese or peafowl, 3 females and 3 males, provide eggs, meat and leather (36 pts)
Total points for animals is 350-400.

Note: In DF2014 (0.40.x) there is now a 25% chance that any particular animal will not breed.  So if you want breeding pairs, you need to bring along at least 2 of each gender in order to have an 87% chance of being able to breed.  If you bring 3 of each, you have a 97% chance of being able to breed your animals.

Supplies:
  • 2 copper picks (mining)
  • 1 copper battle axe (wood cutting)
  • 1 or zero anvils (buy it off the first caravan in the fall, save 100 pts)
  • 5 copper metal bars (if you brought an anvil)
  • 31 units of two to four dwarven different alcohol types (beer, wine, rum, ale), going one over stack size results in an extra barrel.  Target should be 62-124 units of alcohol to make it until fall.  Less if you think you can get brewing up and running by the end of the first season.
  • 61 plump helmet would be more then enough food until the first caravan (stack size in a barrel is 60 units), but if you can get your farm and nest boxes / kitchen up quickly, you could go with just 30-40
  • 12 plump helmet spawn, 4 rock nuts, 6 cave wheat seeds, 6 sweet pod seeds, 6 pig tail seeds
  • 6 non-economic rocks like granite or gabbro, up to 30 if this is a "deep soil" area
  • 6 non-economic rock blocks (granite, gabbro), up to 15 if this is a "deep soil" area
  • 3 pieces of wood, up to 30 if this is a treeless embark
  • 1 piece of every fish type and 1 piece of ten to twenty different inexpensive meat types (search for "meat", pick different species and get more barrels), target is 20-40 pieces of fish/meat for cooking into lavish meals
  • 3 ropes (cave spider or pig tail)
  • 3 buckets (cheapest possible)
  • 10 bags of sand (inexpensive bags, and can jump-start glass making)
  • 5 lye (soap-making)
Once you are finished with supplies, you should have 100-200 points left for skills.