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[zestorum]

Well... I have to admit, I abandon most of my fortress because I hate how I design them(even if they are well designed). I'd like to look how everyone here does there fortesses, do you make a little fortress and design your main fortress after that? I build my main fortress from the beggining and I hate how they turn out. Any tips?

[Gergination]

Definitely learn to think vertical.  I plan out my fortress around a central 3x3 staircase and try and keep things symmetrical and blocky.  It might not be super creative (that comes later in Megaprojects) but it helps keep things under control.

[Funk]

i build keeps up in to the sky made of wood to piss of the elves;D

[zestorum]

i build keeps up in to the sky made of wood to piss of the elves;D

1 Build giant wood castle.
2 Wait until elves come.
3 ??
4 Profit! 

[Fien]

i build keeps up in to the sky made of wood to piss of the elves;D

Have you considered adorning the top? Nothing will piss an elven caravan off quite being able to look up and see your citadel flipping them off for the last 10 miles to your fort.

[zestorum]

Definitely learn to think vertical.  I plan out my fortress around a central 3x3 staircase and try and keep things symmetrical and blocky.  It might not be super creative (that comes later in Megaprojects) but it helps keep things under control.

Thanks for that, but do you dig into the mountain or dig straight down? Also how wide are your corridors? Finally, do you dig a smaller fort first?

[Gergination]

Definitely learn to think vertical.  I plan out my fortress around a central 3x3 staircase and try and keep things symmetrical and blocky.  It might not be super creative (that comes later in Megaprojects) but it helps keep things under control.

Thanks for that, but do you dig into the mountain or dig straight down? Also how wide are your corridors? Finally, do you dig a smaller fort first?

Generally, I find a good spot and dig straight down, build walls and stuff around the entrance up top.  I usually just have place my dig designator in the center of the staircase, hit shift+right two times, shift+up two times, then designate shift+down 4, shift+left 4 times.  This is for storage and workshops.  My living quarters are generally the same size, but I only dig out 1 tile wide halls and then make 4 rooms in each quadrant of the square.

I've been thinking of expanding any and all halls to 3 tiles to alleviate traffic and FPS woes.

[zestorum]

Thanks, I might look into that idea.

[Bauglir]

-snip-

[silverskull39]

I dig into the side of a mountain, remove nearby ramps (about twenty spaces to either side) wall off the entire area ramps are removed from except for a four tile wide five-seven tile across draw bridge over a pit. the rest usually varies depending on the area.

[Grendus]

I use 31x31 microforts. They don't spread out at all, they're just upside down towers.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-7725-treatysmokes

Easy to set up, easy to work with, a pain in the ass to defend. You'll want to put serious thought into how to keep enemies out, either the liberal use of traps or full time military guard (or both). Beyond that though, they're good forts. Very efficient and easy to run.

[Meanmelter]

My forts are to Horizontal, but they are well designed, plenty of stockpile room, workshops less than four squares away from the stockpile, and much more.

[Aspgren]

I like to try new designs. I always put one or two in a new fort, but I'm saving up a bunch for the upcoming release ...

I have notes .. lemme get the notes ...... ah yes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A 5z level tall meeting/dinner/barracks/guard post room.
Narrow alleys,
a destructible house made mostly out of floodgates (it can burn!)
a weird house with lots of ramps; 3z levels high.
narrow streets designs and ideas to make a cool skyline
overly complex and destructible food storage,
authentic medieval mason's shop & authentic small castle
a system of fortifications so guards can always shoot anyone anywhere in the fort
ornate glass pyramid
7z-level tall underground rock blocks factory with destructible storage "shelves" for the blocks
huge destructible central stairway (great for cutting every level off from eachother in case the fort is overrun by evils. someone is bound to survive!)
destructible arrow tower
a overly complex aquaduct with breakable sections and maintenance access
bridge obstacle course.
watertrap
miasma torture device
"resetter" (construction that resets another mechanism automatically)
underground maze with sections meant to confuse the pathfinding
destructible mausoleums and ogre-accessible & ornate graves.
cemetery guard post, zoo guard post,
complex 4-level sewer system: lvl1, drainage, underground pools, farms, recycling. lvl2, doubles as beautiful waterfall followed by garbage dump (restricted access due to upcoming diseases) water flow takes the garbage to: lvl 3, prisoner disposal (lots of different traps they can fall in! for fun! and i want to watch them suffer when my garbage washes down there and diseases spreads) also! valuables get caught in grates. very limited access due to diseases and hostile creatures. lvl4. repeating atomsmashers, destroys excess garbage and anything that is caught in the lvl3 grates that i dont want.
different "last resort containment" cavein designs
intentionally elaborate and stupid defenses
notes on optimal royal guard bedroom positions,
statuary garden completely surrounded by waterfalls on the other side of glass windows. it has an overly complicated flood safety systems
overly complex magma safety system (that's likely to ruin the magma and drown the workers)
notes on the best control room to make use of nobles (leverpulling ftw) so i can reach all functions of the fortress conveniently in one place. guard post present in case of gremlins!
simplified water therapy (not needed in upcoming release)
design to combine archery practice with defense (basically make the entrance visible from the practice room
barracks deep underground meant to prevent cave sickness and miasma from food lying around
waterfall system (see sewers lvl2) behind windows to ease the spirits of dwarves in prison. and finally;
 designs for a guard central with offices, bedrooms, their own well and a prison that is possible to escape from - and has a flood security system in case a prisoner breaks a window and unleashes the waterfall (which i totally hope they will)

Edit: That block of text sure was unappealing.  fix'd!

[Dorten]

My signature. Also PageBend at DFMA. I got so used to this kind of layouts, that I make it, even if I don't want to...