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[Wraithsight]

So I'm trying to create a fort in the new version. I have taken a couple of stabs at it now but I keep giving up mainly due to my own lack of creative talent.
Problem is when I design all my forts are hyper efficient to the point where I can have a full time military and lots of legendary crafters pumping out goods and somehow I still have on average ten or so haulers idling in my meeting hall. On the other hand the nicest way I can describe them is "ugly as fuck". They are basically squares cut into the heart of a mountain.

So I'm going to start a new fort and I need ideas for its design. My first idea was something like Orzimar out of Dragon Age: Origins (if you haven't played, its basically all the structures formed in a circle around a central pit leading to magma).
The second one, and where the "location" part of the title comes into play, is creating a fort spanning across a natural valley above a river, complete with catwalks connecting the two sides. I'm thinking a island in the middle for the meeting hall. Problem here is I haven't been able to find a site with 6z-levels high cliffs yet. And again I'd probably just make square rooms.

So if anyone could share their more visually pleasing designs or if you know of a good embark for either Id really appreciate it.

[meto30]

This thread is full of cool and awesome example embark sites, saves, and worldgen parameters, so if you're looking for an intresting area to strike the earth you can go shopping there or ask for one with a specific critreria.

As for visually appealing fort designs, I believe squares are actually quite good, but aesthetics is personal and different for everyone. Being a relatively new DF player myself, I can (and will gladly) brainstorm with you for new and wonderful schemes, but I don't really have that many forts under my belt to flamboyantly display my 'proud works'. Only one actual advice I can give you is that circles are really hard to get right in the DF tiles, and require planning and practice to master, but once you get a hang of it circle-shaped structures are very pretty to look at in both the DF screen and third-party visualizers.

Another note is never forget the existence of the z-axis. being confined to the XY plane is pretty lame, methinks



If I make a suggestion, if you're thinking of a riverside cavern-like fortress, try googling (or wikipedia-ing) Nargothrond. It's JRR Tolkien's design, but the underground city has some interesting traits that might interest you

[Wraithsight]

..huh. That Nargothrond place from just a quick search looks good. Cheers for that.

Circles are easy actually. I stole a picture from a different thread showing how to make good ones so no worries there .

And don't worry I'm on-top of the z-axis (if you will excuse that incredibly bad pun) its part of what makes my forts so efficiency.

[meto30]

Circles are easy actually. I stole a picture from a different thread showing how to make good ones so no worries there .

May I ask you to teach me on the process, or perhaps provide a link to the post? Cricle-drawing is obviously a skill I yet lack

PS: glad you liked Nargothrond. In my opinion Tolkien is still the best source in the world for fantasy material

[Wraithsight]

Eh cant remember the thread so here is the picture.
This is not my work I take no credit for it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[meto30]

Thanks a lot for the pictures they will aid me greatly...

[JAFANZ]

My Thanks too, that will certainly aid development of my mega plans.

[WrathNail]

Cool, I'll be using these circles for things like stocks and meeting halls from now on! Though I do think that rectangles are still the best choice for workshops, considering those always take up at least a 3x3 area.

[Dorf3000]

Cool, I'll be using these circles for things like stocks and meeting halls from now on! Though I do think that rectangles are still the best choice for workshops, considering those always take up at least a 3x3 area.

You can put the workshops in the center and surround them with the relevant source stockpile(s), it looks neat and helps to identify the workshop without 'q'ing over it.

[JAFANZ]

Cool, I'll be using these circles for things like stocks and meeting halls from now on! Though I do think that rectangles are still the best choice for workshops, considering those always take up at least a 3x3 area.

You can put the workshops in the center and surround them with the relevant source stockpile(s), it looks neat and helps to identify the workshop without 'q'ing over it.

It also pretty much solves the question of "What's closest?"

[Gnauga]

A tremendous inverted dome. Space efficient and pretty to look at.

[Shoku]

To first get away from the square column you could try to just switch to the winding path. All of the forth just stretched out along one hallway that takes a step down after every major installment. It keeps your crafters from hopping up a bunch of levels to try and grab stone that's technically closer but many steps further away (probably) and you don't feel like you've lost something for using funky room shapes that won't fit into each other.

OR you could take the winding path and strange room shapes idea along with the column and your circle template to make a round column. Definitely less efficient but depending on how wide you're willing to make the circle you can have a lot of room next to the path. (Spiral ramps around the outer edge are an obvious option but you can also do an S bend right through the middle. Mix it up an make weird vine patterns I say~)

Or if you want to go nearly anti-efficiency you could try using a fractal pattern for everything. Bonus points if it's 3d (like 2d but different sizes of it as you go through the z levels.)

[ZhangC1459]

For rooms, I've become a great fan of the Raynard Whirlpool fractal... search it.  Perfect for peasant rooms and tombs.

[Shoku]

Looks like somebody modified the windmill fractal (on the wiki) to have a higher room density. You can't do much with the space in the middle of four of the things but they still fit together in the same spacing.