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[GotIt_00]

Hey All,
The last several forts I've tried have been larger scale projects for me. Each time, I've endeavored to channel several z-levels into the ground, leaving a huge structure for my dwarfs to eventually carve out the interior of and populate.

I've had lots of fun in the several failed attempts, learning to use cave-ins, modify the population cap, etc. I have finally managed to dig 10 z's into the ground with a giant potential structure left, to which I'd like to link water and magma plumbing systems. I've got an entire floor for underground farming, the topmost layer I'll wall off and use for animal breeding and overground crop production, and the rest will go to workshops, personal bedrooms, zoos and gardens, etc.

I have designated, and then removed designations, several times now on the potential structure. I've looked at the designs others have used, read up on pump stacks, and all of this has really just slowed me down all the more.

Does anyone else end up stuck like this? Do you make giant plans and find yourself anxious about moving forward? Do you just dive in and hope for the best?

[GreatWyrmGold]

I just dice in and discover caverns or something in the middle of my design. It happens.

[misko27]

I just dice in and discover caverns or something in the middle of my design. It happens.

Yup. Jump in, repurposing where applicable.

[GotIt_00]

Yeah, guess there's no choice really, other than to do everything on a test map first to be certain it works the way I'd like it.

[i2amroy]

If you get really OCD about it (and are on a Windows version of DF) then you can use reveal in DFHack to make sure that you have space to do whatever you want to do. Also increasing the "levels above layer X" settings can give you a little more space between and above the cavern layers while not sacrificing the diversity of the caverns themselves.

[Russell.s]

I go through phases of either planning obsessively or no planning at all. The forts I end up loving are almost always the ones I just build without much planning. I find smoothing everything really helps make a fort more appealing, and I try to put some thought into the more important rooms in a fort (dining rooms etc.). My advice is to just get in there and have fun. You can always just dig another fort below the caverns if you don't like your first!