I haven't run into any of the cons you mentioned, but I also like using the default layout for the Rider debugger more than the VS2022 one. Though VS2022 is a huge improvement over previous iterations (namely the snapiness of it), I strongly prefer Rider because it's still faster; IdeaVim > VsVim; Unity integration and it's remote debugging are a much nicer workflow.
First time playing and I'm enjoying it too. I strongly recommend flipping through the manual for directions if you feel lost, it's genuinely helpful for finding where to go next.
I felt pretty similarly about the movie. Still can't believe how much they jumped the shark when the went back in time and met Archimedes--I genuinely couldn't hold back laughter at the schlocky-ness of it all. Not an awful movie, but I'd recommend others skip it.
They hired a really talented programmer from the modding community to come in and make performance improvements. If you're at all interested in technical bits of Dwarf Fortress's development, checkout the update interviews they do on youtube here.