I use the Civilization Forge Mod, which adds tons of new civilizations. That tends to cause a LOT more invasions, and, consequentially, a lot more fun. I'd link you to the thread on it, but... well, the forums are gone. Yeah. You should be able to find it pretty easily on the Dwarf Fortress File Depot, though.
Basically, any mod that adds more civilizations will result in more ambushes and wars.
I will like it if you have found a way where i can make easy adamintine, when I added it to my smelter, it did not appeared at all. So if you found a way, let me know.