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[Jazz Cat]

Lately I've been playing around with 1x1 forts, the smallest possible area. Typically, my go-to for stockpiles (stone, trade goods) would be to just section off an entire Z-level for a 30x30 stockpile and that would be fine; I dig out a lot of stone but 900 stockpile squares is enough to clean up most of my fortress.

But of course, me being me, I embarked on a volcano this time, so 70% of the horizontal space on every floor is taken up by magma. The big spiral walkway I have winding around it doesn't help matters either. The result is that I only have room for a few very tiny stockpiles here and there.

I can use bins, to an extent, for things like gems and metal bars and -dacite figurines of giant sponges-, but for most stockpile-y things (stone, furniture, etc), that doesn't work out. Other than quantum stockpiles, what are some things I can do to conserve space and get the most out of my stockpiles?

[Immortal-D]

Why not build above the volcano?  Stockpiles can be set on constructed floors.

[Madrigal]

For stuff like furniture, you could avoid making stockpiles and just allow things to pile up in workshops.

[Leonidas]

Build an atom-smasher and destroy everything you don't actually need.

[Jazz Cat]

Why not build above the volcano?  Stockpiles can be set on constructed floors.

My fort is underground, and I don't want my masons climbing all the way back up to the peak of the mountain to grab a rock and then carry it all the way back down again.

[Insert_Gnome_Here]

Use up spare bars by covering the floor in metal.

[Bumber]

Build vertically? You can store the stuff you don't need yet under the caverns or wherever.

[PatrikLundell]

Boulders is easy: just leave them until you need them, with only a few stockpiles close to the relevant workshops. In most cases boulders aren't in the way of the dorfs (but it may be offensive to the sensibilities of the overseer).

As mentioned, you can store stuff vertically by building (in caverns)/digging out floors above each other for storage. Dorfs don't have a problem with moving vertically, unlike real life humans who tend to quickly get out of breath from carrying extremely heavy loads upwards.

As indicated, you can also get bars/boulders out of the way by building floors out of them. I've occasionally done that to ensure critical building material (typically wood or metal) gets underground quickly in reanimating biomes (and I've also made workshops that way, so the workshops can be dismantled in an emergency). I also get rid of magma safe boulders in my magma heating tunnel below the magma workshop by building floors out of them directly where they are (magma unsafe ones are removed automatically when magma is let in).

And, of course, get rid of everything you don't need (atom smashing, caravans, magma...).

Linked stockpiles coupled with feeder stockpiles can be used to have haulers go to the top of the volcano to fetch a replacement boulder for the one your mason used. I don't use stockpile linkages much myself, given how easy it is to screw up, though.

[Jazz Cat]

I can't really build vertically too far--my fortress is arranged in two big spirals, so I only have one empty z-level between each floor. I'd prefer to keep things relatively close, too, as opposed to being down under the caverns--partly because I haven't breached the caverns yet and partly because that's farther than I'd like my dwarves to be going to haul things. Then again, if most of the stuff that goes down there is gonna sit in cold storage for at least a season, until the next caravan arrives... That might not be a bad idea.

I'm also starting to realize the advice here is just "Don't hoard so much shit." Which might well be the solution.

[Baffler]

If you're alright with exploits you can use quantum stockpiles too. For stone the easiest way to manage that is just dumping, but you can use minecarts to have dwarves automatically put stuff on them too.

[Leonidas]

My fort is underground, and I don't want my masons climbing all the way back up to the peak of the mountain to grab a rock and then carry it all the way back down again.

To move things downwards quickly, use a drop shaft: Dig a hollow vertical column, and then put a dump zone at the top. It works great if the ore you want is far above your smelters.

[anewaname]

For non-binnable items that crafters may use quickly (stone/logs), while avoiding QS of any sort, the feeder stockpile method is the best method.

Consider if you have six 4-tile stockpiles near the workshops and two 100-tile stockpiles elsewhere. Having six small ones allows for some to be a specific stone type for colorful or magma-proof stones. If the small stockpiles take only from links, you would have fast replenishment near the shops while the larger stockpiles refill fast enough to clean up rock from new areas.