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[evictedSaint]

I wonder how hard it would be to change the procedurally gen'd fort layout?  I don't have the software or know-how to look into the code to do that, but as long as the infrastructure is there I doubt it'd be too hard...as long as it's randomly gen'd in a modular fashion, like Fortresses in Minecraft.  It'd certainly make it easier to leave the fort in adventure mode, since player forts tend to have a more sensible layout.

[mndfreeze]

Argh, well I managed to finish my workshop level and clear all the boulders and stuff and place the storages and buildings, so I took screenshots of it and some of the other layers that are mostly done just to show you the start and general layout, but I just realized I cannot upload photos directly to the forum software, at least I see no button or way of doing it.  Being I play at work, and my work blocks file sharing and image sharing sites I cant upload them elsewhere and link them.  DAG NABBIT.

[Urist_McDagger]

My fortresses are usually quite claustrophobic. Even the grandest of my dining halls are only 15x15. However, for big rooms, I try to make them at least 2 z-levels tall, and quite often with balconies.

I try to avoid stairs whenever possible, preferring to have large networks of ramps. Most of my forts nowadays center around a large 7x7 spiral ramp (so the caravans can get to the interior trading post) with most rooms being expansions of one of the landings. Additionally, I like to use minecarts, even when unnecessary or even inefficient, so my mature forts are honeycombed with track chutes. It sometimes leads to great ‼fun‼ when I make a mistake in my bridgework and a titan paths through the network and into my kitchens.

I try to design for expansion, but often fail, leading to sprawling, inefficient labyrinths of workshop.  My latest experiment has been a 3D "woven" pattern, with a grid of 7x7 workshop rooms with each side being a ramp up or down. Going in cardinal directions leads you to stay on the same(ish) level, while going diagonally leads to either descent or ascent.  I have had problems integrating magma distribution.

Are you me and why can't I remember posting this. Whenever I use stairs I tend to build a centralized stairway that leads through all z-levels and I absolutely hate the look of it, so I use ramps instead.

[pondicherry]

Is anyone else ever disappointed that generated fortresses look nothing like player fortresses?  It's too bad you can't mod it...

Those are complete mess (messes?) with no sense of geometry and symetry so it does look familiar to me.

Exactly 

[KingKaol]

Here's my current fortress fully annotated. my last few forts have been based on this layout, a central-shaft design. starting on a reclaim is nice because you start out with the outer walls and a pre-existing shaft.

currently at 26 dwarves, room for at least 40-50.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-12428-hoistpapers

here's an svg of the layout (where all the stockpiles and workshops go) though it's rotated 180 degrees from how it is on the map above:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iglsl1g8uf5tr75/layout-vert.svg?dl=0

[Iamblichos]

I generally wrap the fort around a central 3x3 u/d staircase, though the location of the fort may vary - sometimes near the surface, sometimes at one of the cavern layers (if I need water and there's a pond), sometimes almost down at the magma sea.

Generally there is a farm and food processing area on one level;

Next level in the direction of the fort is the dining hall/hospital and offices/throne rooms;

Then crafting stations arranged in sealable rooms around a large (25x25 or so) central stockpile area centered on the stairs;

Then rooms for the dwarves (occasionally noble rooms are here, but usually nearer the dining halls);

Then tombs and mausoleums;

Then (just above the magma sea) the deep forges.

Trade depots are usually built on the surface, but I have recently begun building them at the bottom of ramps leading down, separated from the main fort by retractable bridges and either natural or dwarfmade chasms.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Here's an early form of my design.
It speaks for itself.

[Ops Fox]

Typically I break the fortress up into four primary layers a farm layer with food and booze related things which connects directly to the main hall. On the next layer down I have the main hall with a entrance to the farmlands on one side and a entrance to the central stairwell on the other. The main hall typically shares its layer with hospitals, noble offices, lever rooms, temples, and gardens. Below that layer is the housing layer where I stick 3 by 3 houses, 3 by 7 dorms, and noble housing. And finally I have my workshop area and storage for linked stockpiles.

[Lovechild]

Here's a quick sketch of my typical fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[ragincajun]

I've never been artistic enough to do an aesthetically pleasing fortress..lol.

I've modified a few things over the years.  Currently I mine into a mountain with 2-3 passages (1 tile wide) that I trap the heck out of and then a 3 wide passage to a Depot room.  I then make a 1 wide exit widing out the back of the depot.  My 1-wide passages then meet at a 3x3 staircase. 

I go down 10 levels and make a winding passage in a u-shape that I block both ends with bridges.  Both bridges are hooked to a lever in the one room on this level at the end of the hall past the second bridge.  This is my meeting/panic room.  I then build ballistae that can fire into each hallway for defenses.

Past the second blocking bridge and the panic room I end in a T-junction.  One side goes a 3x3 staircase back up to the 1st underground z-level for farms, storage, still, etc.  The other goes down 10 levels (I work in 10 level blocks) in another 3x3 staircase.  At the bottom of this section are my workshops.  One level up I do a dining hall with food storage and drink storage.  One more level up I do living areas.  Nobles would go in the levels above here, up to the panic room level. 

Below here is all mining and exploration.  I work down 10 levels at a time with staggered halls (when I reach the 10th level I'll build a 30 tile long hall that I can trap/bridge/etc and then do another 3x3 stairwell.  (So each stairway is never more than 10 levels deep with a defensive zone built in.)  I continue this until I reach caverns.

In my current fortress I dug down to the magma sea to find magma and built my forges there with some living areas and dining hall and food storage for the smiths in the bottom four levels.  All storage is back towards the top for easy disbursement.

[Urist Arrhenius]

Here's a quick sketch of my typical fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I like this design a lot actually. It seems to follow a very realistic logic that would be used by dwarves.

[utunnels]

This is the ground level of my current fort. I'm using a quantum stockpile for everything but food and coins so it is quite compact.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The second level. Barracks, refuse, animals and more bedrooms.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is the roof.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This is a mining site.
A well, remains of old bedrooms, more food stockpiles and coins. The stair in the middle leads to the tombs, and the southwest stair leads to an island.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Button]

My entryway usually consists of three hallways: the safe one, which is long, full of war dogs, and leads to the trade depot; the one for sieges, which also leads to the trade depot, but is shorter, traverses over a long pit trap, and has~30 tiles of cage trap at the far end to catch runners or big things; and a very short hallway, which is an artifact-baited building destroyer trap. All of the entryways have bridges to close them off if I need to route traffic.

Since my first year is largely devoted to building my entryway, I usually have a big ~10x20 room near the trade depot for a big "get it all indoors" stockpile, a small dining room, a couple beds, and assorted early game workshops.

Once I'm secure, I try to discover the first cavern, so I can plan my living quarters level. This is usually a couple levels below the bottom of my pit trap, unless the cavern gets in the way. My living quarters level has 3-tile-wide main corridors dividing it into 23x23 blocks. One of these big blocks closest to the stairwell holds a 21x21 hospital, and another holds my 21x21 main dining room. All the other 23x23 big blocks I carve into 9 7x7 dwelling-blocks, each of which I make into either a 5x5 noble room (with 4 pillars inside), or 4 2x2 bedrooms. I usually reserve a dwelling-block near the hospital for a well. I have different well designs depending on if I'm getting water from above or below - if from above, I only need a 2x5 space and so the well can have two bedrooms next to it; but if from below, I need the whole 5x5 space.

I usually start with just the four big blocks around the central staircase, and expand out only when I need to.

I set up a big farm block on the level below a big flat space of ground, so I have room to dig down and create surface-plant "greenhouses." Depending on how much room I have, my farming-related workshops will either be on the same level as my farms, or on the level below, connected by a staircase-hallway so that the dorfs don't have to go alll the way back to the central staircase.

I set up my magma forges a couple levels below the living quarters, so that I don't have to thread magma supply up through the living level. If I have sand, I'll put a couple magma glassworks up near (but not inside) the farming block, and let a hauler fill it from a minecart.