I agree that DF is one of the, if not THE most daring game I ever played. player creativity practically rewards itself, and the game just generates story after story.
however, I wouldn't say that useful balancing is impossible; it is absolutely POSIIBLE tp build a really well-balanced economy AND a useful military, while making all the little alcoholics happy at the same time. however, the motto of the game is "losig is fun", and so most DF-addicts will most likely make these perfect, but ultimately boring success fortresses more, ahm, interesting themselves. I remember building the most complex death-traps with the use of a tamed dragon and a series of labyrinthine corridors that really managed to terrify that goblin siege army. sadly, I was overrun the next season because I had forgotten to close the single last gap in my new and "improved" (= more grandiose) fortification, and so my military expected an attack from the gates while those lumbering trolls caused death and destruction three floors below, in the nobles' quarters. ah, good times.