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[Shininglight]

Hello there, i've been playing DF for about a year now and i've followed the forum for a bit longer than that, however i've noticed somethign odd, all of my fortresses never seem to get fully smoothed or engraved. I've only had one fort get above 100 pop but it was killed by a goblin seige shortly after. What i don't understand is how everyone seems to have such nicely built, fully stocked and organised forts when i'm still trying to get my bedrooms dug for the 4th migrant wave. I was wondering how you prioritise and set thigns up to be able to get so much done so quickly. Help would be nice as i just can't seem to get my forts looking decent let alone as interesting as many of you seem able to do.

[Viking]

This game has been out for 6 years now or so thus the experience users have a good handle of things so maybe its just practice and experience. Knowing what the highest priorities are doing and being able to plan for things. The trick is probably knowing not to try to make everything all at once. Worry about smoothing everything once the essentials are up and running. If you don't already, make sure you can lock down your fortress so you can wait out sieges. Blessedly, they can't burrow into the ground yet to smoke you out so just throw up a bridge with a switch infront of your entrance.


Also dwarf therapist helps a heck of a lot. When you can commit whole new waves to be miners and stone smoothers or masons with a few mouse clicks things work quickly. I think everyone has trouble building the bedrooms fast enough by the way lol. We just buy time with dormitories.

[Shininglight]

I'd like to use DT but i use a mac so no mods for me As for the siege stuff that's what i do, i get all of my outer defenses done but then my ability to get stuff done seems to atrophy, idk if it's because my workshops are too big and taking up too much of my labor or what ( i use 10x10 workshop spaces with around 9 workshops in each space).

[Wrex]

It's all about security. Give yourself one, heavily trapped entryway with a drawbridge to close it off, and make yourself self-sufficent. If your dining room is good, forget about digging out individual bedrooms, or even bedrooms at all. If you make a crowded dorm, then assign each bed and the space around it to be a dwarf's room, it counts as a bedroom even if they actually don't have more than five feet of space on either side.

[Shininglight]

I guess i do spoil my dwarves when it comes to bedrooms, 3x3 for all, nobles who need offices get 4-3 with a 3-3 office.

[Sprin]

keep at it smooth a little at a time and dig rooms 1 at a time

[Supernerd]

There is seriously no need for 3x3 bedrooms for each dwarf. A 1x1 room declared from a bed will suffice, although you may want to make it 1x3 for a chest and cabinet as well. Your manager and bookkeeper will be just fine with a 1x2 room with a table and a chair and you only need to make one if you give a single dwarf both jobs.

[DanteThanatos]

There are ppl who make 1x2 bedrooms...the door and the bed XD and their dwarves are happy!

[Viking]

I tend to do 2x2 rooms with a bed and eventually a cabinet although I realize that is more a stylistic/empathetic thing and is not necessarily the most efficient method.

Dwarf therapist isn't a mod per se. Its just an application you run alongside with the main program. There are versions available for the mac if this link is to be believed: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Games/Dwarf-Therapist.shtml Note: I can't vouch for this link. Its an incredibly useful resource that does a lot to smooth out gameplay. If you don't use it, have you been assigning and shifting job duties manually all this time?

[Shininglight]

Yes.

[Rude]

ah well, I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that. It depends on what you mean by nice forts...

Sometimes I'm slow with the bedrooms, but it's usually because it's tedious and I don't want to be bothered with it.
Don't rush to smoothing things until you have more laborers than jobs. And then about 1-5 smoother should be enough (I aim for 2) -- just be patient and remember that the more dwarfs are smoothing, the more stone will need to be smoothed before they are legends (If you want Masterwork engravings: smooth everything, then engrave)
If you insist on having masterwork furniture in every room, you will never be on time unless you are very lucky with a mood. You might as well rely on dorms until you get a legendary furniture dwarf and enough supplies (Metal? Stone? Wood?).

Be ready for ambushes and sieges. You can just lock them out if you want, but 1 skilled soldier can stop an ambush, a well equipped squad can stop a siege. A legendary soldier doesn't really need armor and only really needs to fear being overwhelmed, stunned, webbed, or sniped while fighting and deadly dust type mega beast hax. Crossbows are great, but even a mass of skilled shooters won't guarantee stopping an ambush before they close. They need defenses like walls or another squad.
I've found that you can get close to legendary soldiers before the first goblin ambush -- no danger rooms, no exploits, nothing cheesy like beating armadillos with wooden swords. If you want details, ask.

I have a list of jobs (a simple .txt file) and the number of dwarfs I want doing them as a default setup. about 40 - 50 positions (It varies depending on what I want to do with THIS fortress) . Also, DWARF THERAPIST! but since you don't have that, just assign migrants as soon as they arrive -- not when you're not busy with something else. If it's a full time job, then turn off hauling. Use nicknames so you can keep track of who is assigned to what instead of just guessing based on what profession the game thinks they should have.
I assign anyone that is a full time hauler or non-time-sensitive-profession to also do masonry and restrict my mason's shop to only allow my "real" mason to use it. This makes building walls and such much faster. You could also do that with mechanics, glass makers, carpenters, whatever.

I insist on 3x3 rooms, tho I will readily admit it is much more than necessary, but I also try to assign metal furniture and such when I can -- which is also much more than necessary. Success is clad in opulence. If you put a few platinum statues in a public room, you shouldn't have any happiness problems. Since the stones update, importing ores is potentially much more productive than mining them in the case of rare ores like platinum. If you can't afford them, then you obviously don't do cooking... Ask the liason for them.

[itg]

What's your typical labor plan? If you don't have enough miners, it will take quite a while to carve out a decent-looking fort. Same goes for engravers. I usually have around 5 full-time miners and 5 full-time engravers in a mature fortress, with several more part-time miners.

Security should be your first priority, though. I like to use a long entryway filled with cage traps, maybe 3x30, with a drawbridge at the end. It's a bit of work to set up, but that hallway will absorb a full siege, and the prisoners can be disarmed and pitted into an arena for training and racking up huge kill lists.

[FFXBHU]

Mac user as well

It takes a lot of micromanagement, but it's doable, just get a big workforce. I usually have about 7/8 miners (who double as architect/mason/mechanic after most digging), 3 masons and 1 or 2 full time engravers, all legendary. Works great, single dwarfs get a 3x3 room, couples bigger, with additional furniture on a 150+ fortress.

Just try to keep your idle count as low as possible and assign migrants to tasks when they arrive, build one industry fully working at a time and use the manager. I've had about 3/4 idlers in general (no parties) on forts, doing most managing straight after migrant arrivals.

A trapped detour for non caravan visitors works great for defence.

Edit: *Trapped detour, which doubles as beefarm

[Forteano]

I'd like to use DT but i use a mac so no mods for me As for the siege stuff that's what i do, i get all of my outer defenses done but then my ability to get stuff done seems to atrophy, idk if it's because my workshops are too big and taking up too much of my labor or what ( i use 10x10 workshop spaces with around 9 workshops in each space).

Mac user here too - you must never have heard of Dwarf Builder for Mac, which comes complete with DT and Soundsense. Basically the package builds you an instance of DF using your favourite graphics pack and settings, and builds you a DT app too.  It's here - http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=106974

[TSTwizby]

There is seriously no need for 3x3 bedrooms for each dwarf. A 1x1 room declared from a bed will suffice, although you may want to make it 1x3 for a chest and cabinet as well. Your manager and bookkeeper will be just fine with a 1x2 room with a table and a chair and you only need to make one if you give a single dwarf both jobs.

I find that whiled 3x3 is generally not necessary for bedrooms, it leaves you with the optimal room for improvement later on, when happiness becomes more of an issue. A fully engraved 3x3 with decent furniture will always be at least a fine bedroom in my experience, and significant amounts of masterwork in the engravings ups that to great or grand very easily. Anything bigger than this for non-nobles is a waste of time, and anything smaller requires high quality furniture to maximize room quality. Of course, this might not be your highest priority.

I've always solved the labor problem by having a group of five or so dwarves constantly digging away. The only rooms you need are two or three big storage areas for finished goods and weapons and whatnot, one or two barracks, a forge, bedrooms and a dining room, and maybe an enclosed depot depending on how active the goblins are around you. Don't go for exploratory mining until you finish these, especially since you will most likely find some nice stuff just digging these out, make all your hallways 2x2 or larger to avoid traffic jams, and don't worry about giving everyone furniture until everyone's got a bed. Also, whenever you get a cheesemaker or waxworker or something, just give them the mason, mechanic and architect jobs straight off rather than padding the military, which should be mainly used as a backup for a trap corridor until they all reach legendary. The above does not apply for marksdwarves, who shouldn't be in direct combat at all, but I've never managed to get them to train properly so I don't know too much about them.