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[rntrndrw]

I dont want some Chiweenie wall 1 tile high around my fortress. But I dont quite understand how to build walls taller.

If I pace steps next to the wall can they climb up and stand on the wall and build another layer?

Do I have to construct floors tiles around the wall with supports? If so that sounds like a lot of unnecessary building(and construction removal), and if a 1 tile tall wall will keep everything but flying creatures out I might as well keep it how it is.

It just looks so stupid, and I want to build towers...

If anything it looks like a stone corral then a tall wall.

Also is there a way to set up a three tile wall door? My fortress entrance is three tiles wide but since I cant seal it up everything comes and goes whenever it wants(kobolds, weird two legged lizards? and rats).

I read that toady removed caravans, so is a three tile wide entrance even necessary? (how the hell do elves carry all that shit on there person?)

Something just struck me, If I build those walls that you can shoot through in the front of my entrance then build a roof on top of that, nothing can get in right?

I need a little help setting up defenses...

[mrbobbyg]

Okay, lot here.  I'll start with a bit.

1. Steps: you must build up steps on z level 0, and then down steps at the same X,Y on z level 1.  then your dorfs can get on top of the wall and build.
However, you will want to build at least some internal floor or you will trap your dudes on the walls you are trying to build.
2. Supports: no.  As long as your floor tile is adjacent to solid structure on the N, S, E, W direction, it will be supported. 
3. 3 Tile wall doors: used to work if you build a wall, attached a door, deconstructed wall.  Don't know anymore.  Instead of doors, think about using floodgates, or a moat/pit and a drawbridge.  Doors don't stop kobolds or trolls anyway.
4. Wagons are gone.  They will likely come back, but I'm not building 3 tiles wide till they do.
5. Bunkers with roofs- that makes sense imo.  You can shoot out fortifications and the roof will keep flyers out.  Fortifications can be a gigtantor pain in the booty though, because you have to get your marksdwarves right up on them.

[Psieye]

If I pace steps next to the wall can they climb up and stand on the wall and build another layer?

Consider putting ramps instead of stairs. You can remove ramps from the ground level, whereas down-stairs need to be removed from above the ground level.

[rntrndrw]

Ok so about the stairs, would an up/down stair set work instead of building both an up and down on differnt z levels?

 I read ramps can get complicated the higher you want to build.

[JAFANZ]

Up/Down stairs allow the stairs on that level to connect to stairs both above & below them, whereas Up stairs will only connect to stairs above & will prevent anythign coming up from below, whilst Down stairs will do the opposite.

So if you want a stack going straight up in a 1x1xZ space, all levels but Top & Bottom must be Up/Down stairs, but the bottom level can be either Up or Up/Down, & the top level can be either Down or Up/Down.

Think (sideview):
D
X
X
X
X
U

Ramps are slightly more complicated, & cannot be built to traverse more than 2 levels in 1x1xZ space, the thing with ramps is that there must be a Wall adjacent to the ramp you wish to place for it to be usable, & they can't be directly above/below each other.

So if you build your 1st level of walls, then put a ramp in one corner, it will give you access to the next level, but you'll have to put the next ramp 1 tile over & build the wall segment supporting it, before you can use it.

[rntrndrw]

Ok so if I build the stack of stairs going up to the desired height the dorfs will build on the wall right? But as stated earlier I need some kind of platform or they get trapped, so would building a floor tile next to the stairs on the insides of the wall going up the Z levels prevent that from happening? Or do I need to build a walkway of sorts going down the length of the wall on the same Z level?

[dragonshardz]

Just build ramps alongside your wall, like so:

z0
=======
^^^^^^

z1
+++++++
vvvvvvvv

= = wall
^ = ramp up
+ = top of wall
v = ramp down

You only need to build ramps on z0. Then you can build another layer of walls atop the first.

For extra dorf-points, make your walls three tiles thick with a 1-tile gap in between to allow for access

ie,

wall
floor
wall

This will also allow you to build up using ramps, then you can replace them with walls.

EDIT: Quick correction, it isn't possible to put stockpiles over empty space. My bad.

EDIT2: Whoops, wrong topic.

[rntrndrw]

Hey thats a great idea! Thanks a lot!

Thanks, everyone for all the help, very much appreciated.

[Astramancer]

My scaffolds:

Build a Wall,  then a ramp next to it, then a floor grate on the side of the wall opposite the ramp, then a floor tile on a support just past the floor grate.

Code: [Select]

Side view:
  __
/X |

The point of this is so that your entire scaffolding has exactly one point of support, the pillar that floor tile is sitting on.  The rest of the scaffolding is only attached to that floor tile.  This way once you're done with it, after you're hooked up the support to a tile, you pull the lever, and the whole thing will deconstruct except for the floor grate, the wall and the ramp.  You can take the wall and ramp apart from the ground, leaving absolutely nothing behind of your scaffolding in three dwarf actions.  Just be careful that there is solid earth under all points of the scaffolding otherwise it'll crash through and poke holes in your fort (and possibly kill dwarves).

I stick this scaffold base 2 tiles away from whatever I'm building, and use retracting bridges (so the wall-section of the bridge is on the scaffold) to reach what I'm building.  I link those up to a lever as I go, and so when I pull the lever, all the bridges roll up and are no longer touching the construction.  This ensures that they don't stay put when the rest of the scaffold collapses (and they require less stones to build than an equivalent number of floor tiles or grates or whatever you're using to actually reach what you're building.

[Lord Darkstar]

The easiest way to scaffold for walls is to construct access stairs using up/down stairs. Once your new z + 1 up/down stairs is in place, you can build an inner ring of floor space so you can QUICKLY add walls. Tearing down the scaffold floor can then be done whenever you want. Although you will need to be somewhat careful in the order if you don't want to end up with isolated dwarves needing "rescuing".

If you just want to use the walls themself, you have to construct your walls very slowly, otherwise you will trap dwarves in inaccessable areas as they got walled in by a quicker mason behind them.

Towers are actually easier to build then just multi-level walls, as in most towers, you'd leave the "scaffolding" as part of the towers actual floor. With a tower design, it is fastest to build the FLOOR once you have access to a new z-level, and then build the walls (opposite walls first, or at least all the corners first then the walls).

Good luck!