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[Boingboingsplat]

Since magma and water are usually deep underground, usually I'll just throw a fort together at the surface, and then I can move deep underground and design an elegant fort down there. The only annoying part is if I want to get a Trading Depot that my dwarves don't have to treck 100 z-levels up to. Usually it's easier just to wall my self off from the outside world entirely.

[Wolfius]

It varies depending in the terrain specifics, but generally I figure out how I want to build, then use the mouth and initial rooms of my future fort for temporary workshops and stockpiles as it's dug out. ie, a future farm might be used as a temporary food stockpile, or a barrack be filled with workshops, beds in the hall, etc.

Once, I decided I wanted my fort to be a corridor in a cliff, leading to a 'block house' fortress, housing the military and connecting the three wings of my fort to be built off that, with an, iirc, 10-20z moat(with hot and cold running... liquids), and the trade depot located in an "island" between the Block House and the entrance, everything connected by drawbridge.

Took years(and looked cool, imo - died to FPS on my old computer), but that just meant I had to set up in rooms designed for other purposes, and relocate my stockpiles and farms and workshops as areas intended for them were completed.

[AncientEnemy]

what tileset ect is this ? looks cool with the bricks for walls

RantingRodent 's. those pics are from 40d, I'm not sure if there's a 31.0x version out yet or not. search the modding forum. as for the 40d version, it's here:

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=29706.0

[edit]: also you might want to tweak the color he uses for brown in the init. it's kinda ugly by default (as seen in my pics)

[Plazek]

I build an entrance (expandable for when I am feeling grand) then build like a mini fort at the end of it. This will eventually become my military area and trading depot. Then I start digging further down and build my real fort building each industry as and when I need it or there is not enough room for it upstairs.

[Gabeux]

There are many cool strategies in this post, unfortunately I'm too sleepy to read them all now, but I need to mark this for later :]

Well, I start by planning ahead all my fortress, it's entrance, defense, a spot for a ballista, then I designate everything I can. It goes like this ['fortress design']

I usually do the Depot/entrance in the same Z-level, nothing complex, with four access-stairs protected by doors and hatch covers, around a hall which contains the Trade Depot. Somewhere near, is where I build Barracks (initial Dormitory) and Animal Stockpile (for cage-trapped badies).
A Z-level below, I build the stockpiles. A big one for food/finished goods, and another big area for wood/stone. Also many smaller ones for every other stockpile type.
Also, the meeting-area is on this Z-level, near the food supply, and a farm complex with inside/outside plants (like 10 plots).

On the below level, I make it the "workshop" level, building all kinds of workshop, below and near the stockpiles of goods they use, with stairs near them.
9 levels below, I use for the "Dwarven Personal Rooms", which I start designating/building after I get 30 dwarves. And 1 Z-Level below this, I build the nobles rooms.

After all this is half-way built, I start building things as the Miners progress.
It can take a while, but with 3 Miners you're set.
The problem is, it's a lot for miners to do, so it can slow down EVERYTHING.
If they don't get the farms dug first, or the workshops, or take too long to make stockpiles, your dwarves will get hungry or thirsty soon, so you're forced to build workshops and stockpiles outside.

The plus side is, after you define all that, all you need to do is worry with military/defences/bigger projects. Which, in my current game, is the phase I am right now.

-
To make it short, I:
1) Design the whole fortress.
2) Get a general idea of how defenses will work.
3) Start worrying with the slowness of miners, and thirsty/starving dwarves.
4) Fortress gets ready, industries start working, resources gets produced, food and drink is abundant.
5) The gameplay changes from a Survival game to a Waiting-for-Migrants-to-go-BIG game.
6) Tons of fun, bigger projects, killing miners by digging channels and getting cave-ins, building even more defences and maybe a castle...etc.

Also, it's the first time I deal with magma, I'm building in a volcano. It's awesome.