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[twilightdusk]

How many z-levels up should my tower be?

I won't comment on the rest of this, but as far as this goes, not too high, the way maximum ranges work with weapons means that going up or down a z-level counts as one space, so a dwarf that can hit 30 spaces away at the same level can only hit 27 spaces away from 3 z-levels up. The higher up you are, the more of a blind spot you also have, a dwarf 3 z-levels up can't hit the area 3 squares away from the base of the tower and closer.

[johnalex]

Thanks!

And yeah, I've yet to use a trap, why use a trap when you can keep your medical dwarves happy with a nice flesh wound.

[Talvieno]

My longest, which I unfortunately don't remember the name of, lasted around 25 years before I got bored and quit. It had canals to channel magma anywhere I wanted... A huge Bloodbowl arena in the sky (which I liked to drop trolls from)... towers, skybridges, a 50+ z-level magma pump stack, huge magma resivoirs, a giant courtyard... It was pretty big. And not defensive at all. I kept it safe with masses of archers, rather than traps. Oh, and magma. I had the outer courtyard rigged so I could fill it to the brim, if I wanted to, and the inner courtyard too, like a giant bowl of magma. I never did, though... figured it would be too much to clean up (plus, the lag was unbearable). I only ever flooded the outer courtyard.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Did I mention it was in a terrifying biome? constant zombies. It was fun... I kind of miss it.


The longest I've ever heard of was 200+ years... I don't remember its name, either, but from it came the fable of Catten and the Giant Eagle. The fortress was huge, armies broke upon it like waves upon a cliff, there were dead dwarves all over the place, embedded in the constructions (which were sky-high), it had a carefully-designed temple that stood hundreds of feet tall, it had sky apartments, workshops on piers on an underground lake fed by a waterfall... It was incredible. Made anything I've ever done look like a toy.

edit: I was ninja'd by six responses... wow.

[Nan]

The holy grail for me is a stable fortress that remains accessible to caravans and migrants.  Someone else achieved this by using a network of underground tunnels that allowed traders and migrants to quickly escape the surface and travel underground while under military escort.

The trick to this is having a skilled full-time military (4-6 dwarves is fine) with all your haulers being marksdwarves. If enemies turn up, trounce them.

[Randy Gnoman]

The main problem I've had with older forts isn't boredom, because when you have a huge workforce you can build megastructures all over the place, and when you have a huge complex fort making renovations is fun.

It's been FPS death.  If you want to go for a survival record, pick a relatively flat embark, avoid liquid flows, don't build elaborate machines, kills pets, and get rid of as many items as you can at every opportunity.  Also, build wide hallways and ample meeting zones, since I *think* that dwarf-piles are worse for FPS than clear pathing.

[Loud Whispers]

Well my current fortress challenge is to make it last forever.

So uh...

Infinity?

[tommy521]

My absolute longest I made quite some time ago (year-ish) was over 36 years old. It's FPS was death.

[King DZA]

Gorerape, my longest lasting fortress, just had it's eleventh birthday.

I don't see why people find longer lasting fortresses boring. For me, the real fun begins when I'm able to focus on doing things other than not dying.

[darkflagrance]

The longest I've ever heard of was 200+ years... I don't remember its name, either, but from it came the fable of Catten and the Giant Eagle. The fortress was huge, armies broke upon it like waves upon a cliff, there were dead dwarves all over the place, embedded in the constructions (which were sky-high), it had a carefully-designed temple that stood hundreds of feet tall, it had sky apartments, workshops on piers on an underground lake fed by a waterfall... It was incredible. Made anything I've ever done look like a toy.

edit: I was ninja'd by six responses... wow.

That was Flarechannel, by the way.