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[DizzyFoxkit]

Is there really a *good* way to plan your fort so that it's easily expandable when immigrants come, and allows you to start up new industries if you want? I know there are some good things about bedrooms in the wiki, but I'd like to see some overall plans for a fortress.

[Sidhien]

I like to do sprawling fortresses. During the initial few years every time I need to dig a new area, I do it well away from existing ones, and interconnect them with passages / stairs. That way once the fort is more mature and I need to expand either a lot or by just digging a new room or two I'll have plenty of space to do it in. Also gives the fort a nice organic feel.

[BlueMagic]

Usually I like to mine out my rooms beforehand and put unclaimed beds in them. I always allocate a "Bedroom level" with stairs leading to the workshops in the dwarves's rooms.

[TheKaspa]

I start digging a general stockpile in level z-0, then I dig down at least 10 levels for the bedrooms.
Workshops always in the first rock layer, although later I'll create a few specialized districts.

[darklord92]

I tend to have one central meting hall with two large 3-5 wide "roads" through the stone on each side the left to workshops right living quarters.

[AndreaReina]

One of the first things I dig out after the entrance is the trade depot area with a finished goods stockpile and, early on, everything else that didn't get its own stockpile yet. An are for apartments is set aside and designated but only one section at a time is dug out, as needed. Workshops are grouped together in large rooms -- at first it's anything I need, then as dwarfpower and needs increase I dig out additional factories and group workshops together by industry. Modular, easily expanded, easily reconfigured in the case of workshop space. I'm pretty happy with it.

[itg]

I like to organize my fortress around a central staircase, with one level for farming, a couple levels for storage, one for workshops, etc. It's a great way to minimize travel distance between rooms, since dwarves climb stairs just as fast as they walk down a hallway, but the hallways tend to be ten times as long. Expansion is never a problem--just open up a new level.

[chaosgear]

I like to organize my fortress around a central staircase, with one level for farming, a couple levels for storage, one for workshops, etc. It's a great way to minimize travel distance between rooms, since dwarves climb stairs just as fast as they walk down a hallway, but the hallways tend to be ten times as long. Expansion is never a problem--just open up a new level.

This is what I usually do, although it can be hard to defend against invaders.
For my current fortress, I decided to try a long, single hallway that spirals downward. it's sloppy, inconvenient, and ugly as heck. Never trying this again.

[megahelmet]

I've become pretty enamored with spiral ramp staircases lately. I finally hit on a design I like and big enough for trade depot to travel down. I make it the center of most floors. Center of the dining hall. Industrial complex. Etc. Once my fort is in good shape, I will start building upward. A great tower for archers and bees.

 I took the time to channel the entire thing out from the surface and build it back in this fort to try to fight cave adaptation. I'd say that it's only mildly successful. A few craftsdwarves still have the 'nauseated by the sun' thought.

[Loud Whispers]

Is there really a *good* way to plan your fort so that it's easily expandable when immigrants come, and allows you to start up new industries if you want? I know there are some good things about bedrooms in the wiki, but I'd like to see some overall plans for a fortress.

The easiest would just be to dig a bunch of empty squares around your fort, sealed off with locked doors or walls. When you need more space, clear walls/unlock doors for easy renovation.

[Ruhn]

I haven't tried it, but there once was an idea to have multiple "silos".  The proposal was that each industry have it's own silo, and the dwarves would work, eat, and sleep around the central staircase for that industry.  Connections would exist between the silos to move goods and food.

More dwarves arrive?  Dig down another level and add what's needed.

Siege?  Let them in the military silo full of traps and defences.

!!Fun!!?  Close off the connections so only 1 silo is lost.  There should be few unhappy thoughts since all the social connections are within silos.

[Psychobones]

I haven't tried it, but there once was an idea to have multiple "silos".  The proposal was that each industry have it's own silo, and the dwarves would work, eat, and sleep around the central staircase for that industry.  Connections would exist between the silos to move goods and food.

More dwarves arrive?  Dig down another level and add what's needed.

Siege?  Let them in the military silo full of traps and defences.

!!Fun!!?  Close off the connections so only 1 silo is lost.  There should be few unhappy thoughts since all the social connections are within silos.

Tried this once, back in .31.03 or something like that. Worked great until !!!FUN!!!!. The idea of closing off connections didn't work, as it just caused a tantrum spiral. Also took a long time to move food/booze from one point to another.

[ExecratedDwarf]

I used to design all my fortresses around a central staircase with each level being dedicated to a specific function. It would go farming, raw material storage, workshops, finished product storage, hospital, bedrooms, noble and elite military rooms, throne room and finally tombs. But now I've taken a fancy to making my holes in the ground less holey. I've come up with a spiral staircase design I like which I put three of around a courtyard. Then I spread outward. I try to make it look as realistic as possible, so I use columns to support the "ceilings" of large rooms and I connect things with long, complicated hallways. Some rooms use multiple z levels, such as a noble's room. I always embark on the edge of a mountains now, so usually I have a spiral staircase that goes all the way up, ending in a huge apartment for the king with turrets and ramparts and usually a balcony. I find that if I don't edit the pop cap, and just allow migrants and invaders to appear naturally, the game is quite challenging. It takes a lot of advanced planning and micro-management. I absolutely love it. And it a really sweet site to explore in adventure mode.

[Gentlefish]

I haven't tried it, but there once was an idea to have multiple "silos".  The proposal was that each industry have it's own silo, and the dwarves would work, eat, and sleep around the central staircase for that industry.  Connections would exist between the silos to move goods and food.

More dwarves arrive?  Dig down another level and add what's needed.

Siege?  Let them in the military silo full of traps and defences.

!!Fun!!?  Close off the connections so only 1 silo is lost.  There should be few unhappy thoughts since all the social connections are within silos.

I may do this. It's more x/y than z but that's almost desirable. It allows for storage to be dug into the soil layers for quick and easy expansion. But each hive/silo would need one miner in order to keep expanding and prevent the silos from becoming overcrowded.

[Varnifane]

I'll use a central staircase and set up different industries on different levels in two different groupings. Bedrooms are added to the outer perimeters of the levels.

By the end of year 2 I have 10+ z levels of 20ish by 20ish open floors for the upper zone and 5+ 20ish by 20ish levels in the lower zone.

Upper zone
Farming,brewing, cooking, and pasturing (if open expanses of soil)
Textile
Rock crafts (Pots) and mechanics
Mason (to be moved to layers with more desirable stone)
Main Dining hall/bedding
Clothier and leather working

Lower zone
Storage Glass goods
Storage Metal goods
Storage bars
Storage ore
Magma forges

If I have a particularly deep embark site I will set up a middle zone and move my upper zone down here over the years.

I also set up tortuous paths to the caverns that may(sometimes) or may not(usually) be centered on my main staircase.