I'm pretty new to the game, just started playing about 2 months ago and now have a pretty set method and path I follow now. I do spend a ton of time in worldgen, partly due to inexperience and partly due to trying to get that perfect spot. Lately I've been trying to always embark on a "good" biome which makes it take soooooo much longer finding a good world/site, especially since you cannot always trust the feature search to be very accurate or to pick up for example, flux thats in the sedimentary layer vs deep down marble, tho now I'm skilled enough to just use a marble deposit if needed.
For my fort I always dig a 3 wide hallway into a mountain or hill. Just need a single z-layer higher. I go about 2 or 3 shift arrows in then dig a down stair. I put a 5x5 depot as close to the entrance as possible leaving one space across so I can put a drawbridge as my front door. on the second level I make the 3 wide hallway extend back the way it came into the mountain so if my door is 2 shift arrow (3x22 I think) to down stair, I go the same distance back. Here is where I make my main central stairway for my entire complex. My stairs are always 3x3 also and my main hallways are always 3 wide.
I first dig out a temp area like many others do. From my main starwell I shift arrow out 3 times on each of the 4 sides of the stair. Makes a big + basically. Then in one corner of it I make a max size space (3 shift arrows each direction) This will be used for the life of the fort as underground pasture for all grazers I keep. I tend to only keep Rams/ewes, alpaca and llama's but you know how migrants are with their annoying pets. If I have not breached a cavern on this map yet then a temp stockpile would go here to move eveything inside. If this area is already growing underground moss and stuff then straight to pasture it goes. Elsewhere in this + I make a 1 shift by 2 shift (11x22 I think) spot for my turkeys. I make another big 3 shift by 3 shift that has 3x3 cutouts on its edge so I can put all my temp shops. Carpenter, mason, mechanic, blah blah. Finally in what is usually the last corner of my big + I dig a 11x22 or similar sized spot and put farms in right away, and a stock pile for seeds in bags only. I also stick an animal stock pile and a smaller pasture down a little bit of hallway so if I ever have caged goblins or trolls I need to release and kill I can dump them down a dead end and have my military dwarves in a room between them and my staircase or other buildings.
The big pasture, farm, seed and animal stock piles are all perm and will be whats left here when I get the main fort build. All the workshops and temp beds and table/chairs I setup here are temporary as well as the big 'everything' stockpile. Generally speaking this level is a sedimentary level either soil, sand or clay.
When I dug my entrance I also dug out my main central stairwell and usually just make it go 30 or 40 z-levels deep right away, or until I hit a cavern. If I hit a cavern I immediately stop and clear and block/destroy until one level above it. That way no sneaky cavern crap comes and gets me while I'm fresh and new.
I haev a rough plan in my head of how to do my fort and after the farm level near the surface I try to do my workshop level at least 10 levels lower then the bottom sedimentary layer since I will be mining the entire sedimentary layer out co0mpletely to get its metal and flux. That way mining noise doesn't annoy my dorfs.
So if my farming level was the first, then second would be my workshop level. I do another + out from the stairwell. It tends to always be roughly 3 shift sections long on each arm of the +. Always 3 wide since these will be main hallways on every level. Then I made 3x3 workshop cutouts along the sides of the hallways and behind those make a big 3 shift by 3 shift forstorage. Generally trhe Top arm has all my smelters and wood furnances, kiln, etc. With upper left big section for bar storage (always max sized stockpiles). Across from it to the upper right section of the + would be the wood stockpile also max sized. Top side of the right arm of the + is carpenters, bottom is masons. Etc etc. Bottom right of the + is the max sized stockpile for Ore and not junk stone. Then on the last section bottom left of the + its split up with seperate small stockpiles around gem making, clothing, a big one for furniture, etc. ALL of my industry is right on this level centered around that central stairway except food/booze, and the farmer stand, butcher, tanner, fishery are on the farm level.
Second level is my dining/meeting and food storage area. I make a max sized stockpile directly off the stairway and run the 3 deep hallways like a T. Lately I've been making this level sort of oddball shaped for rooms. Like hospital will go to the bottom of the T hallways and be a circle or glob of mini waiting rooms and surgery rooms, etc. Then on each side of the T hallway will go the meeting hall and a statue garden. Oh near the food and booze stock pile is usually 2 kitchens and 2 stills. My current fortress I made 2 stockpiles instead of 1 big one and seperated food from booze. My meeting hall and statue gardens were also shaped like wings in a logo or something.
Third floor is primary living space. I branch out in a + and then shoot off 2 wide hallways from each main arm, and on those I make 4x1 rooms. This way I can pack max dwarves in but still have enough room for a door, chest, cabinet and bed. I also put 2 shift arrowed rooms right next tot he central stair for dining rooms (but not set as meeting hall).
Fourth floor is for nobles. Same basic hallway design and each room is 5x5 in size. I tend to change the shape a bit here and there of the overall floor but the rooms are always 5x5 and always 3 rooms per dwarf. I usually make 6 apartments in total, each having a bedroom, dining room, and office. I also make sure that one main hallway direction off the main central stair has the king/queens areas. I like to make the throne room big and long with pillars and cubbies and wat not for tons of statues and armor/weapon racks, glass windows etc. Behind the throne room is the king Tomb. And to each side of the throne room is the bedroom and the dining room. Of course every room of the kings is decked out.
5th and final floor is my dungeon/crypt. I tend to only shoot 2 big hallways off the stairway here, sometimes 3 and make rows of coffins in a cubbhole sort of pattern. Like small hallway off the main, and down it a single tile opened spot every other on each side of it. Usually this small hallways is a shift arrow or 2 shift arrors in size, and I do a bunch of them. Also on this level I make some 5x5 rooms for personal tombs for nobles and one or two 5x5's as jails. I only use 2 chains per room setup so they share a bed, table and chair. Then I put booze and food stock pile around them.
I'm sure I'm missing stuff but if I try to get eveything then thsi post will get even worse for its tl;dr content.
Oh, and I think my building style is because of the main wiki website and guides. Thats what taught me initial ways of doing things so my forts always seem to follow those basic rules I pickd up.
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Topic: How far ahead do you plan? (Read 4550 times)