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[Jamuk]

I do something similar with 11x11 blocks, but I put only one tile walls between the rooms and connect them by putting doors in the corners.  Workshops and stuff that require more than 1 block get the walls in between the sections opened up every other space so there are still lots of places to put doors.  Another nice thing about this design is it blocks miasma, and it's perfect for walling off sections if necessary, as there are no main hallways, just a grid.  Bedrooms are designed the same way, in dimensions 5, 2, or 11. Also, by removing the walls on one side of the room and placing channels, you can create a network of water or magma for access throughout your fortress while dwarves can still travel across the diagonal doorway tiles.

[Andir]

The hardest part for me is picking the final resting spot.  I'm currently building a pyramid over a magma vent.  The hardest part to that was finding the 2x2 center of the map and moving up z levels to the top of the map then imagining where the ramps will be in each corner working back down to ground level.  I then start digging channels out around it and down.  Being right next to the magma, I pumped water from the aquifer to cap the vent then mine out the obsidian.  When I need more, I channel it out and let the magma grow back up a level.  Rinse/repeat.  I build the farms around this as I have water/mud available then.  I dig under the aquifer by using the obsidian and place all the living quarters on the bottom layer.

I get an idea of what type of fort I want to build.  I decide on the best floor plan on the fly and pick the map based on what I want to do (cliffside, magma, strip mining, etc.)

[DarkMagnus]

Also, your first six dwarves, in my experience, should be Miners/Warriors, with the last an Appraiser/Organizer/Social Skills Guy. This allows you to spend the first year burrowing out your fortress proper, and once help arrives you have a six dwarf guard with obscene stats.

Any more details you can give on this? I was thinking it would be nice to start with more miners since it still takes me about a game year or two to layout my fortress like I want, but this would allow it to be done much quicker. I guess you take along a lot of provisions to survive initially right? Or once the game starts do you set a couple to grow/gather food just in case?

Alright, I'll go more in depth, with the most recent example.

My current fortress, Thalalgeshud, is located near a brook and a magma vent. I decided on a fairly bare bones layout, then brought along six Proficient Miners/Proficient Swordsdwarves. My seventh dwarf was a Social guy, with all those Clerk/Trader Skills save for Record Keeper (I'll explain why in a second).

So, starting off, I built into the soil underneath the brook a massive open space, which is now the center of my fortress and my main stockpile. I dug little 3x3 burrows into the wall around it, which are now my major production workshops. Two of the future workshops I built into a barracks/dining room for my original seven, and one became a tiny office for my social guy (who luckily turned out to be the Expedition Leader).

Then I got to work. I told the Leader to train to highest precision, (which takes like 2 seasons to get to legendary even if he doesn't have Novice Record Keeper) and started mining out the bedrooms, magma industry, farm plots etc.

It's the first week of the third year, my fortress is worth 400k and my guard of six is made up of Legendary Miners/Master+ Woodcutters/Swordsdwarves. I think my captain of the guard just one-shotted an Ettin.

I used swordswarves, by the way, because I knew I'd have obsidian. Even with a magma industry steel is kind of annoying to make, and you need ridiculous amounts for armor.

As far as what I took with me on embark, let me give you a rough estimate.

100 rum
100 wine
100 ale
100 beer
300? turtles (be prepared to have more bones and shells than you can throw a +=turtle bone bolt=+ at)
7 wood (for beds)
2 dogs
2 cats

I think there may have been something else, but that's the gist of it.

EDIT: Oh, and if there's anything I'd recommend doing differently, I'd say take some plump helmet spawn (50-100) at the cost of dwarven wine. You won't get through half your stocks by the time immigrants arrive, and it's nice to take some of the useless ones and immediately have your farms going.