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[Captain Willy]

I usually start a farm at the last soil level then have a floor for each thing going one floor deeper. Stockpile floor, workshop file, living floor, graveyard floor, ect ect. But then when my metal smiting with a magma forge They are really deep and have to run all the way up.

So how deep is the majority of everyone else fortress. 

[Lielac]

Most of my fortresses are dug from the area of ground level to -9, this being a hollow block of fortress with an overground area cordoned off from the goblins for livestock and free-range trees. Magmaworks are wherever I find magma, but that's just magmaworks and a checkerboard if I get around to one of those again. -9 is so that above-ground shenanigans don't wake my dwarves, that lowest level being for the bedrooms.

[misko27]

Well, its about 6 z levels to start with, only use really 3 or 4 of them in the early stages. After I fill out the fort levels i dig deeper. I try to keep a balance between vertical, and horizontal space.

Theres a outpost by the caverns, stocked with food and water, in case of the fort failing. Theres a deep magma smelting zone.

[Drazinononda]

Mine vary widely depending on the embark. On a flat map, I put farms in the lowest soil layer and start the rest of the fort in the stone under that. If I get flat cliffs or extremely steep straight mountains rising from a flat plain, I usually cut a huge courtyard into the face of the mountain and dig up from the level of the plains, with rooms facing into the courtyard with windows. But generally, my entire fort (magmaworks notwithstanding, assuming I ever get around to them) fits between 5 and 10 levels under the entrance.

[Supernerd]

My current fortress is mostly aboveground, in the form of a large structure made of blocks. I have a few underground farms in a soil layer and some mining operations a few layers below that, but the majority is between 0 and 5 layers above ground level.

[Kamin]

I've always just had this strange dislike for building vertically, so I tend to build horizontally and then build a level below when necessary. When I want to mine, I just dig a shaft down and network out on each successive Z level. I've never used more than 2-3 Z levels for my forts--I imagine any community games where I am Overseer for the first or second year would really make people hate me.

[Callista]

Usually on the 5th to 20th z-levels, depending on where exactly the first caverns are, and then eventually some floors near the magma sea. My oldest forts are like an underground skyscraper.

[itg]

The layout of my current fort, which is pretty representative of my style:

1-7: Surface farm, Trapped entryways, Large-scale construction projects.
-2: Tree farm. Well, maybe more of a large mushroom farm. Normally I just wall in an area, but there's evil weather to deal with at this site.
-6: Barracks. First usable stone layer.
-7: Stockpiles, arena pitting area, silk farm
-8: Stockpiles, arena
-9: Workshops
-11: Dining room
-12: Hospital, jail, offices, noble bedrooms, zoo.
-15: Bedrooms
-25: Farm. Enclosed on the floor of the first cavern. Usually I'd put them on the last soil layer, but I was feeling adventurous.
-134: Catacombs. Dwarves deserve to be buried as close to Armok as possible. Well, at least as is convenient.
-137: Forges, glassworks.

[ExecratedDwarf]

I prefer to immediately dig down ten levels. I then put my farms on the lowest soil level, then it goes input storage(stones, ore, wood), workshops, output storage(finished products), skip a couple levels, dining hall, bedrooms, nobles, jail, tombs.  So that's only 9 levels actually used, but I'd say I'm usually 15 to 20 levels down, and two up. I like having extra space for things like danger rooms and better bedrooms for any elite soldiers.

[Captain Willy]

One thing I always do is put my stockpiles on dirt levels, because I like my stuff sorted and at least in the beginning having to dump all that stone with like 11 dwarfs sucks.

[NESgamer190]

Excluding the whole mine shaft with a minecart (If applicable), my fortresses tend to go just under soil level.
Surface:  Entry point.  (Spiked balls and disk traps applied.)  Trade Depot likely will be around there, with a likely back door to evacuate via underground.
1-2 below surface:  Underground farm/pasture (If possible.  Otherwise, I WILL have to muddy the cave floor.)
3-6 below:  Facilities (All them workshops!)
3+ below:  Bedrooms in another prong.

[Diamond]

I've always just had this strange dislike for building vertically, so I tend to build horizontally and then build a level below when necessary. When I want to mine, I just dig a shaft down and network out on each successive Z level. I've never used more than 2-3 Z levels for my forts--I imagine any community games where I am Overseer for the first or second year would really make people hate me.

So do I. Vast majority of my fortresses consist of 1 main level, usually directly below soil levels, with soil level above used for stockpiles and farms. Good example is my current fortress in my sig. And yeah, I find fotresses spreading though z-levels distasteful, though they are more efficient maybe.

[AmpsterMan]

For me it depends on what I want my fort to be. My current fort is supposed to be my civ's first outpost, so it's a small agricultural hamlet above ground. Homes are like townhouses along the central river. I also have an industrial sector with workshops on the ground floor and and single bed homes in the second. Only thing underground are farms and main stockpiled. (each workshop has a small input pile nearby)

[sadron]

I tend to put things all on the same floor together, keeping them close by with a workshop+stockpile floor one Z level below.

[Mushroo]

I like to build on the sides of mountains, digging out the entire soil layer but leaving the natural contour of the rock. Then I make the soil part the tree farm/public garden and dig the fortress proper into the rock. Kind of like my dwarfs are uncovering the natural beauty of the rock formation hidden by all that dirt.