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Author Topic: Staircase design. Making Armok proud.  (Read 3544 times)

anqxyr

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Staircase design. Making Armok proud.
« on: October 23, 2010, 10:43:56 am »

I was thinking about building a big dwarf-worthy staircase in my fortress for several days now, but still can't decide which design to use.
Staircase will span from 150 to 250 z-levels, and must connect to fortress every tenth level.
This is what I came up with:
(▲►▼◄ - ramps, ▬ - floor)
(note that this is not what would be build on one z-level, but rather projection of several z-levels on one plane)
#1
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

#2
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

#3
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What design would you prefer? Or, better yet, show your own designs.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2010, 03:43:59 am by anqxyr »
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Double A

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2010, 11:17:07 am »

What, you want more than one entrance? That's insane!
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AngleWyrm

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2010, 11:26:27 am »

There are only eight levels between the surface and the first layer of caverns in my current fort. And what's with the four-wide hallways? They make it even bigger, as if it weren't too big already.

Also, compact can be dwarfy; dwarves are very compact ;)
« Last Edit: October 23, 2010, 11:45:43 am by AngleWyrm »
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anqxyr

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2010, 11:44:52 am »

What, you want more than one entrance? That's insane!
The whole fortress should look something like this:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Single entrance, walls outside, and one big staircase deep inside the mountain.

Quote
There are only eight levels between the surface and the first layer of caverns in my current fort. Those stairs are just too big.

I have ~ 80 z-levels from HFS to the top of first cavern, ~70 z-levels from there to the ground level, 100 z-levels high almost sheer cliff, and 50 z-levels on top of that. So, no, not too big.
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The forgotten beast Namicamela has come.  It is a colossal fluffy wambler.  It has thick, soft fur and undulates adorably.  Beware its awwwwww, aren't you a fuzzy widdle guy.
In software development, the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.

Sfon

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2010, 12:17:37 pm »

I've just been doing a simple spiral ramp. The first of the three shows all four different floors, the next two show the different ways I usually branch from them.

3x3 would be more efficient, but I don't like the feel of ramps in different directions right next to each other. Also the inside corner of each 4x4 is a good place for a nice statue or something.

Code: [Select]
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬         ▬ ▬ ▬                         ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬         ▬ ▬ ▬                         ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬         ▬ ▬ ▬                         ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬   ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
▲ ▲ ▲       ▼ ▼ ▼     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬   ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬     ► ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ◄ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬       ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬               ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬   ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ◄ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬         ▼ ▼ ▼                 ▼ ▼ ▼   ▬ ▬ ▬
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ◄ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬                                       ▬ ▬ ▬
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Shoku

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2010, 12:22:25 pm »

I'm surprised that nobody skipped the text to say that ramps need walls behind them.

I like the 3rd one but it would get messy if you breached the caverns.
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anqxyr

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2010, 12:40:32 pm »

I'm surprised that nobody skipped the text to say that ramps need walls behind them.

I like the 3rd one but it would get messy if you breached the caverns.
They have walls behind them, they just not shown.
For example, thats how this part
Code: [Select]
▬▬▬▬►►►►►▬▬▬▬
▬▬▬▬►►►►►▬▬▬▬
▬▬▬▬►►►►►▬▬▬▬
▬▬▬▬►►►►►▬▬▬▬
would look from the side:
Code: [Select]
##>
###>
####>
#####>
######>
############

And, about caverns, I suppose I could just start to build staircase instead of digging it. And even if I decide to stop this staircase above caverns, it still would be 150 z-levels high.

The biggest problem with the third design, is that corridors to the rest of the fortress are on different sides depending on floor. If only someone could somehow combine it with the first...
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The forgotten beast Namicamela has come.  It is a colossal fluffy wambler.  It has thick, soft fur and undulates adorably.  Beware its awwwwww, aren't you a fuzzy widdle guy.
In software development, the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.

AngleWyrm

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2010, 01:15:07 pm »

My central stairwell:

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Quietust

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2010, 02:12:27 pm »

My central stairwell:



Um, you do know that those up-ramps are completely inaccessible, right?
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anqxyr

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2010, 04:20:37 pm »

OK, I think I finally figured it out.

This is projection:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This way corridor is always on the same side, and staircase still fully symmetric.
Well, this could be a little confusing. I should probably make more detailed per-level schematic tomorrow.
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The forgotten beast Namicamela has come.  It is a colossal fluffy wambler.  It has thick, soft fur and undulates adorably.  Beware its awwwwww, aren't you a fuzzy widdle guy.
In software development, the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.

AngleWyrm

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2010, 11:10:41 pm »

Um, you do know that those up-ramps are completely inaccessible, right?

Yeah, I found that out the hard way. It should be possible to leave a couple tiles of rock next to them to make them work though, right?

Edit: It turns out all that is required is to build a couple wall tiles next to them. This works fine:
« Last Edit: October 24, 2010, 02:52:21 am by AngleWyrm »
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anqxyr

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2010, 02:24:08 am »

So, detailed schematics.

z-0:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
z-1 - z-4: ramps
z-5:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
z-6 - z-9: ramps
z-10:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
z-20:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, I think you get the idea.
Now corridor always on the same side, and we still can dig nice little hole in the center to cast goblins into.
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The forgotten beast Namicamela has come.  It is a colossal fluffy wambler.  It has thick, soft fur and undulates adorably.  Beware its awwwwww, aren't you a fuzzy widdle guy.
In software development, the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.

anqxyr

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Re: Staircase design
« Reply #12 on: October 24, 2010, 03:06:10 am »

And, of course, this is !!DWARF FORTRESS!! so I felt that this topic would be incomplete without Crazy Unreasonably Large Staircase Armok Himself Could Be Proud Of.
Well, here it is:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Staircase itself 34x34 tiles large. And if you want to add walls around it (and believe me you want), make it 42x42.
Well, now I'm happy, yes.
« Last Edit: October 24, 2010, 03:14:42 am by anqxyr »
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The forgotten beast Namicamela has come.  It is a colossal fluffy wambler.  It has thick, soft fur and undulates adorably.  Beware its awwwwww, aren't you a fuzzy widdle guy.
In software development, the first 90% of the project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%.