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[ZealousBlue]

Hi there!

So... Long time reader, first time caller... all that.

First up, I'd like to say thanks.  The forums are what drew me to this game initially, and convinced me to keep plodding along when the learning curve initially made me want to cut my extremities off.  The result however, has been a lot of entertainment, and a great way of taking my mind off my life's ever increasing chaos.

I wanted to offer up my own fortress for ideas, because I've run out of stuff to do.  Granted, I'm still kinda early on in the grand scheme of Fortress evolution (Yet to start the long and !!prosperous!! dig down) but it was my goal to create a self supporting fortress along with a couple other goodies along the way.

Since Pictures are 90% of the reason people visit this forum, here we go.

The Outside Keep!  (Bottom floor, but it goes up 3 stories, and is capped off at the roof.  To ensure no unwanted "Guests" have an easy entrance in)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Barracks!  (Branching off the main hallway)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The full layout.  (Ground Floor)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Plumbing.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To The Sub Basement!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The outline of the soon to be underground towers (About 15Z levels of housing with a penthouse for the Mayor and Duke, and about a 5Z level food storage/dining hall)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The top of the mountain... about 45 Z layers up. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The project for now... is to bring sunlight down to the center of the mountain.  The name had "Dawn" in it, so I figured what better way to embody this, than to bring the sunlight down to my short little alcoholics.  Admittedly... this is taking a long time.  To the point where I already have all the necessary glass for the dome on top, processed and ready to go.

TO YOU, the forum, What else should I endeavor towards?

Thanks! 

And continue striking the earth.

[Masked_Hunter1825]

Fight an exiled rift warden.

[Monk321654]

Don't just bring Light to your Dwarves.
If you ever get that far, bring light to the ENTIRE UNWORLD!

[Corai]

Make a tunnel to the surface, breach the circus, wall off so they use the tunnel, FIGHT OFF THE SIEGE.

[KodKod]

Drink strawberry daiquiris in candyland. Made from candyland-grown strawberries.

[WaffleEggnog]

My question about this fort, and all other forts i see on the forums, is why do you make everything so big and complicated? Do you have any idea how compact my fort is? I never knew why people have the urdge to make everything in their fort so huge and hard to understand. From the beggining, i made my forts as small as i possibly can, without even noticing it. Then when i went on the forums and saw other peoples massive temples and throne-rooms, i was just like "lolwut?". The habit has always seemed to stick to me in almost every  sandbox game i play. Il see people with massive bases, and yet in my small hut il be the same tier as them. My last base is as big as, mabye, your surface base, and few big rooms, if you combine all the floor-space, and it didint have any complicated plumming or power or lava or whatever, and was the home of 130+ ectastic dwarves.... cept the naked children.

Edit: pics of my newest base here; http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107601.45 . In my older base, there wasint even that big open area, it was just rooms, and a few tables/chairs. I tried to less minature this time around. If you saw how small my first real fort was, you would scream.

Sorry, i edited this about 4 times xD

[King DZA]

My question about this fort, and all other forts i see on the forums, is why do you make everything so big? Do you have any idea how compact my fort is? I never knew why people have the urdge to make everything in their fort so huge. From the beggining, i made my forts as small as i possibly can, without even noticing it. Then when i went on the forums and saw other peoples massive temples and throne-rooms, i was just like "lolwut?". The habit has always seemed to stick to me in almost every  sandbox game i play. Il see people with massive bases, and yet in my small hut il be the same tier as them. My current base is as big as, mabye, your surface base, and  few big rooms, if you combine all the floor-space, and is the home of 130+ ectastic dwarves.... cept the naked children.

Edit: pics of my newest base here; http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107601.45 . In my older base, there wasint even that big open area, it was just rooms, and a few tables/chairs. I tried to less minature this time around.

Aesthetics>efficiency. Always.

[Patchy]

My question about this fort, and all other forts i see on the forums, is why do you make everything so big and complicated? Do you have any idea how compact my fort is? I never knew why people have the urdge to make everything in their fort so huge and hard to understand. From the beggining, i made my forts as small as i possibly can, without even noticing it. Then when i went on the forums and saw other peoples massive temples and throne-rooms, i was just like "lolwut?". The habit has always seemed to stick to me in almost every  sandbox game i play. Il see people with massive bases, and yet in my small hut il be the same tier as them. My last base is as big as, mabye, your surface base, and few big rooms, if you combine all the floor-space, and it didint have any complicated plumming or power or lava or whatever, and was the home of 130+ ectastic dwarves.... cept the naked children.

Edit: pics of my newest base here; http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107601.45 . In my older base, there wasint even that big open area, it was just rooms, and a few tables/chairs. I tried to less minature this time around. If you saw how small my first real fort was, you would scream.

Sorry, i edited this about 4 times xD

Quite simply, lots of people want to be able to imagine their forts as grand monolithic marvels of architecture. Small cramped efficient utilitarian forts just don't exactly fit into that vision. That and e-peen contests or e-boobs as the cases may be. I'll admit I like the grand multi-z halls and the like for my living and dining areas, though the industrial areas tend to be small and efficient. Sort of a dark underbelly to the granduer that is my forts main halls.

[Andal]

My question about this fort, and all other forts i see on the forums, is why do you make everything so big and complicated? Do you have any idea how compact my fort is? I never knew why people have the urdge to make everything in their fort so huge and hard to understand. From the beggining, i made my forts as small as i possibly can, without even noticing it. Then when i went on the forums and saw other peoples massive temples and throne-rooms, i was just like "lolwut?". The habit has always seemed to stick to me in almost every  sandbox game i play. Il see people with massive bases, and yet in my small hut il be the same tier as them. My last base is as big as, mabye, your surface base, and few big rooms, if you combine all the floor-space, and it didint have any complicated plumming or power or lava or whatever, and was the home of 130+ ectastic dwarves.... cept the naked children.

Edit: pics of my newest base here; http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107601.45 . In my older base, there wasint even that big open area, it was just rooms, and a few tables/chairs. I tried to less minature this time around. If you saw how small my first real fort was, you would scream.

Sorry, i edited this about 4 times xD

I find it ridiculously easy to achieve an ecstatic large population of dwarves once you've mastered the basics, and the industries pose little challenge either.

I find my key enjoyment is designing for aesthetics, as King DZA mentioned, and satisfying my imagination, as Patchy said. The reason people do crazy things in sandbox games is because the sky's the limit. If I wanted efficient, tight gameplay with a checklist of goals, I'd fire up Starcraft. I'd rather build epic mountain bases in DF or Minecraft.

But in the end, your methods may vary. I'm glad you in enjoy the game, even if its in a way I don't quite understand. You and quite a number of others truly enjoy designing for efficiency and min-maxing industries etc. Personal enjoyment is the key, and there's no right or wrong way to play.

[ZealousBlue]

Monk: A worthy endeavor indeed. I will contemplate this idea.


Conrai: This may be a good idea for fun stuff to do.  There have been multiple sieges, but to my disappointment, none have made it past my trap-lined entranceway.  (Note: My weapon traps include three copper serated disks apeice.  We're not talking some crazy WMD style TowerDefense type of planning here.)  I realize that the clown car contains far stronger opponents that are immune to traps, so I will consider this once my marksdwarves have trained up a little more.  I'm currently having trouble getting them to use the damned archery targets that I set up for them.


KodKod: Come now.  We both know that Strawberry Daquiris are reserved for Yard-Long plastic receptacles within the bounds of Las Vegas.  (As every embarrasing facebook photo from last year's boondoggle will prove) Your point is not lost however. 

Side note:  I read your blog.  Cheer up chickie. 


Waffle: I've done the uber-efficient forts before, but it just seems like I'm missing out on the story that DwarfFortress has to offer.  I think it comes down to trying to "Win" vs trying to enjoy your time played.  I do the "Play to win" in every other aspect of my life.  This particular game however, I feel as if I can back off on the ambition and be more creative.


King DZA: You nailed it in 3 words.  lol


Patchy AND Andal: I tend to agree with you.  I think designing forts in the manner you described, gives them more character and lets one connect more with it.

[KodKod]

KodKod: Come now.  We both know that Strawberry Daquiris are reserved for Yard-Long plastic receptacles within the bounds of Las Vegas.  (As every embarrasing facebook photo from last year's boondoggle will prove) Your point is not lost however. 

Side note:  I read your blog.  Cheer up chickie. 

The only emotion I possess is deep-seated, inescapable rage that comes in three flavours: Righteous Rage, Vengeful Rage and Placated Rage.

I suppose 'Strawberry Wine' would suffice, should daquiris be out of the question. The important thing here is to bring light to the darkest of places and make a mockery of what dwells there. It would be no small feat, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a worthwhile goal to consider when all other successes have been achieved.

[ZealousBlue]

Hah.  Fair enough.

I had planned on Livestreaming some of the fortress play tonight, but I got wrapped up in League of Legends and a case of beer that won't hurt anyone ever again. 

Ah well lol.

[martinuzz]

I must say I like the OP's fort. It looks pretty decent for a new-ish player.
Now, not only make sure that dawn breaks the underworld, but also build a clear glass multi-z-level lens over it, that focuses the sunlight into a ray of !!FUN!!

[Finn]

My question about this fort, and all other forts i see on the forums, is why do you make everything so big and complicated? Do you have any idea how compact my fort is? I never knew why people have the urdge to make everything in their fort so huge and hard to understand. From the beggining, i made my forts as small as i possibly can, without even noticing it. Then when i went on the forums and saw other peoples massive temples and throne-rooms, i was just like "lolwut?". The habit has always seemed to stick to me in almost every  sandbox game i play. Il see people with massive bases, and yet in my small hut il be the same tier as them. My last base is as big as, mabye, your surface base, and few big rooms, if you combine all the floor-space, and it didint have any complicated plumming or power or lava or whatever, and was the home of 130+ ectastic dwarves.... cept the naked children.

Edit: pics of my newest base here; http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=107601.45 . In my older base, there wasint even that big open area, it was just rooms, and a few tables/chairs. I tried to less minature this time around. If you saw how small my first real fort was, you would scream.

Sorry, i edited this about 4 times xD

I find it ridiculously easy to achieve an ecstatic large population of dwarves once you've mastered the basics, and the industries pose little challenge either.

This +1.  My first forts were small and compact with no fancy features, but once I learned the basics the more complicated stuff became interesting.  I still remember the first time I redirected water in a river so that I could work on the back wall of a waterfall.  I was ecstatic.

[rtg593]

I go small and compact simply to keep the fps up. Every time I get close to the point of exploring the first cavern, I'm down to like 30 fps. Current fort I'm doing better, not producing anything unnecessary, wealth is only 785k 5 years in, starting training on a military squad, have weapons and armor in production... Pop 80,popcap 40...looking good so far. Only 10 kids! Lol.

Once I get fps under control, I'll probably stay making bigger forts :p