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[Aichuk]

I'm in year 3 and I've only mined until level 100. How can I mine down fast? I get really tired of Down-staircases, Up-Staircases, Mine, Repeat. And my legendary miners with all hauling turned off takes forever.

[misko27]

c[h]annel.

Or using up-down sta{i}rcases.

[Azated]

Assuming you're in the latest version, you can designate through multiple z levels.

On the surface, dig a down staircase. On the level below, designate an up-down staircase, scroll down to the bottom of the map, then press enter. Viola, a surface-to-SMR staircase designated in less than a minute.

[misko27]

But seriously, use the up down staircase. It goes up and down and takes ten seconds. Unlike bees.

[AutomataKittay]

Turn all hauling off your miners, or if you can't, take stone hauling off, have a lot of miners, possibly up to half of your fortress if you really need to strip mine. Have some dedicated stone haulers using wheelbarrows to stone stockpiles.

Using up/down stair is good way to get movement speed up, but I prefer sinking a column of up/down stair down and regular mining everything. Well, except for cavern layers. Put occasional hatches down every dozen or two floors on the columns because I've noticed dwarves not being too bright sometimes and accidentally tapping of water and magma.

[Bigheaded]

Erm one miner can do it in a year for a 2x2 staircase, and only take ~3 minutes to setup, including diversions after hitting caverns.

Begin by getting into the ground, dig through a wall, or channel the flat ground.
Once your in just set up/down stairway 2x2, remember you do NOT have to do each Z level one at a time (i used to think this was needed lol! facepalm moment) so just set a huge long line to go down to Z level 60 or so, as you'll probably hit caverns. Then just move to somewhere away from the caverns and continue heading down.
literally, stack them one on top of the other, a 2X2Y60Z area.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Re-designating each z-level was once needed. Yay DF2012!

[Xob Ludosmbax]

Two more things.

Macros.  Ctrl-R to start recording.  Ctrl-R to stop recording.  Ctrl-P to replay that set of keystrokes.  (Also Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-L to load.)

And if you dig in the corners of the map, you're more likely to hit SMR or the magma sea without hitting caverns, or hitting fewer caverns. 

[Cool Guy]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Macros
They record your keystrokes and can then play them back at at a faster pace (The shorter the faster, so keep them generally short) You could designate 10 mining levels while recording then play it 10 times and BAM! 100 z level mine designated in about 30 seconds.

[Sutremaine]

Re-designating each z-level was once needed. Yay DF2012!

You could hold the mouse button down while changing levels and painting with the mouse.

[Putnam]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Macros
They record your keystrokes and can then play them back at at a faster pace (The shorter the faster, so keep them generally short) You could designate 10 mining levels while recording then play it 10 times and BAM! 100 z level mine designated in about 30 seconds.

Or, paint 2x2 on top level, go to bottom level, press enter, BAM, you have it all.

[Buttery_Mess]

When you get to about 100 z-levels down, miners will tend to turn up, mine a couple of squares, and then go back up for a drink or a meal, have a kip, or go for smoke-o. This makes building the bulk of your fortress just above the magma sea (many advantages, btw!) a torturous process. The solution is simple; ensure that your miners cannot claim beds, and create food stockpile and roughly forty z-level intervals down. Place a couple of beds (as dormitories, or just plonked down) and a couple of chairs and tables. Set up each stockpile to give to the next stockpile down and to take only from the next stockpile up. This will greatly speed up your mining activity, and is always handy for any fort in any stage of development.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Or dig living quarters nearer the magma sea...

[Buttery_Mess]

Or dig living quarters nearer the magma sea...

It's quite long-winded to do that on most maps without at least one intermediate 'inn'.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Or dig living quarters nearer the magma sea...

It's quite long-winded to do that on most maps without at least one intermediate 'inn'.

So?
Yeah, you might have a point. So, plan:

Surface: Woodcutters, woodworker's quarters
Near surface: Base camp, trading, most quarters
Cavern Layer 1-2: Farming, miner's quarters
Magma Sea: Smithing, etc, smith's quarters