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[zahmir]

There has been a lot of threads on this topic, so my intent is not to add the deluge, but really... Dwarf Fortress has gotten a little boring. I want a sprawling civ, with apartment high-rises and noble mansions.

Two questions: (1) What's the best way to build a ceiling on the top of a large building?  (2) We all know that ground touched by sunlight will forever be "Above ground", right?  But is there anyway to take ground that's "above ground" and make it "underground"?  This is for purposes of farming.

[vjek]

There are above ground plants, such as wild strawberries, fisher berries, and prickle berries, that are farmable above ground.

You can gather the plants, put them in a food stockpile, and the dwarves will eat them.  After eating them, there is a chance a seed will be produced, allowing you to use that seed on a muddied/farm plot/tile.

To be sure, as of this posting time/date in 34.11, above ground, I built some walls.  On the top of those walls (Embark/Z+1), in between the air space between them, I built some floors.  I then muddied those floor tiles, built some farm plots on the mud, and planted those three types of berries plus rope reeds in those same farm plots.

A while later, the crops grew, were harvested, and replanted, as expected.

[Kon]

Edit: deleted response -- see following response

[Dwarfotaur]

Make everybody a mason. Everybody.

You want to be constantly turning rocks in to blocks so you always want a mason free. Plus masons built rock constructions such as walls/floors.

Easiest way to tile the roof of a building is build a temporary access stairway on the outside.

e.g
M = Floor below
W = Wall
F = Floor
U = Up stair
D = Down Stair
. = Ground/tile below

Code: [Select]

Ground Floor:
..U..
WWWWW
WFFFW
WFFFW
WFFFW
WWWWW

First Floor:
..D..
MMMMM
MFFFM
MFFFM
MFFFM
MMMMM

That will create a very basic 3x3 shack. You can extend them as you see fit and can even use the stairs for multiple floors if you use up/down stairs instead.

One things to note: Walls cannot be built on top of floors but they can be built anywhere the floor has access. I tend to plan my building out with just the floor first, leaving gaps where I want to place walls later. This is mainly a problem when expanding a building later on (say adding a floor to an apartment block) as you have to strip out the floor.

[Telgin]

I used a similar structure to Dwarfotaur for some apartment blocks in my community fort, which was above ground.  I built these in 10 apartment long sections, which saves a few walls on the internal walls.

It's not hard to do really, but it is brutally slow initially.  Until you have a dozen master masons, it takes a long time to construct an apartment.  You're likely to get swarmed by migrants before you can get rooms built for them.

I highly suggest turning down the pop cap to like 40 or so, and then nudge it up slowly as you prepare 10-20 rooms in advance.

And as an aside: do not try an above ground fort near a necromancer tower without very meticulous preparation.  I wasn't able to get the place secure before the zombies arrived. 

[zahmir]

I used a similar structure to Dwarfotaur for some apartment blocks in my community fort, which was above ground.  I built these in 10 apartment long sections, which saves a few walls on the internal walls.

It's not hard to do really, but it is brutally slow initially.  Until you have a dozen master masons, it takes a long time to construct an apartment.  You're likely to get swarmed by migrants before you can get rooms built for them.

I highly suggest turning down the pop cap to like 40 or so, and then nudge it up slowly as you prepare 10-20 rooms in advance.

And as an aside: do not try an above ground fort near a necromancer tower without very meticulous preparation.  I wasn't able to get the place secure before the zombies arrived.    = fun!

[Dwarfotaur]

Just today I abandoned my above ground fortress in a Terrifying Biome. It took me two in game years to complete the Inn (the first structure I build, shared dining room/sleeping areas) as I was constantly losing dwarves and having to worry about military. I lost to tantrum spirals (no dining room or bedroom for a year is bad) and zombies.

Oh and if you have lots of masons, it's better to build those access stairs in pairs (at least) so they have a gap to step past each other.

[Anathema]

The easiest way to roof a tall building is to make a ramp inside on the top floor (next to a wall so it'll work). Then roof over everything except the tile directly above the ramp - when that's done, roof the tile over the ramp last (a dwarf can do it from below while standing on the ramp), then deconstruct the ramp and replace it with a normal floor, you're done. No need for a stairway going all the way up the outside of your building.

Edit: I take it back, it must have changed when Toady redid the where-dwarves-stand-as-they-build-things code. It's incredibly frustrating now, can't reliably get them to do the floor from underneath. Just use stairs

[Nexii Malthus]

If your intention is a high density urban city, it might be more efficient to do mass terraforming -- dig up the soil and carve out your city downwards from the top.
Ceilings and roofs on the top layer, and then starting to carve out the shapes of the streets as you go mine down the layers.

A great advantage is that you can build most of the street level rooms out already beforehand so you that you can have your fortress running normally in peace. This makes logistics a lot easier as it means no temporary/outpost is necessary before you can move into your megaproject.

[Telgin]

The easiest way to roof a tall building is to make a ramp inside on the top floor (next to a wall so it'll work). Then roof over everything except the tile directly above the ramp - when that's done, roof the tile over the ramp last (a dwarf can do it from below while standing on the ramp), then deconstruct the ramp and replace it with a normal floor, you're done. No need for a stairway going all the way up the outside of your building.

Edit: I take it back, it must have changed when Toady redid the where-dwarves-stand-as-they-build-things code. It's incredibly frustrating now, can't reliably get them to do the floor from underneath. Just use stairs

As an addendum to this, it might be worth having the stairs outside as  permanent feature if they don't bother your sense of aesthetics.  If you're using a mod with fliers or happen to have a dwarf dodge up onto a building, having a path down is lovely.  Else they'll chill up there until they starve or thirst to death and usually with little or no warning.

[Clover Magic]

I've actually found the easiest way to do ceilings is to leave a single space open in your wall.  Place a ramp there and designate your ceiling to be built (Remember that walls create floor above them, so you don't need to put floor on top of walls.  You do need to floor over the tops of fortifications and raised bridges though).  Dwarves will climb the ramp and build, using the wall as a walkway.  Once done, remove the ramp and replace it with a wall.  This seals it up nice and tight and prevents outside scaffolding cockups.

[Ashsaber]

I tend to build clusters of buildings instead of freestanding houses, so I use the lower, one story houses for scaffolding onto the higher buildings wherever necessary.

This is my current Above Ground Fortress.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Note that this is with invaders off and 100 Pop.
Not seen: massive underground mining operations, a sheep farm to the south of the area in this screen, massive cheating underneath the furnaces.

LEGEND
The big empty square on the top is the barracks/training center. It's got a second floor bunk room (unfinished) and two basement weapon storage levels.

To its immediate right is the inn and two houses, hopefully belonging to the people running the inn. The inn has a basement food/booze storage and a 2nd floor bedding. It currently accesses the mines in the center of the inn.

All the road-looking pluses are indeed roads.

The building to the far right is the Palace, currently still under construction. It has underground farms.

Immediate south of the trade depot (in the center of the square) are the cheat furnaces.
Z+1: Housing for the metalsmiths.

South of the cheat furnaces are the residental quarters.
I don't really care who lives in those.

Right of the cheat furnaces is the Carpenter workshop, as well as their housing.
Z+1: Lumber storage.

This took 4 in-game years of no invader action to build. so yes, get masonry for everyone.

[Drazinononda]

I've actually found the easiest way to do ceilings is to leave a single space open in your wall.  Place a ramp there and designate your ceiling to be built (Remember that walls create floor above them, so you don't need to put floor on top of walls.  You do need to floor over the tops of fortifications and raised bridges though).  Dwarves will climb the ramp and build, using the wall as a walkway.  Once done, remove the ramp and replace it with a wall.  This seals it up nice and tight and prevents outside scaffolding cockups.

If you want to do any multi-Z rooms, this method can also use stairs the same way. You just might have to check when you go to remove the stairs that the top set is removed from below, rather than from the roof, so that your builder doesn't get stuck.

[Flare]

Here's mine with the corrosion zombie invasion mod from a few years back: http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-10730-throwerflickered

The main thing that stuck with me in surface-building was simply how labor intensive it was compared to hollowing out a few rooms. As you can see Ash's pic, large room with wide corridors probably aren't going to permeate your fortress. The cost of rooms becomes much higher, you probably won't be making them will-nilly like under ground.

As a tip if you are going to build on the surface, I find if much easier to build the structure of the building first- walls with floors completed, and then filling it up with obstructive blocks like windows, statues, doors, floodgates, and supports to make the rooms.

[Halceon]

The easiest way to roof a tall building is to make a ramp inside on the top floor (next to a wall so it'll work). Then roof over everything except the tile directly above the ramp - when that's done, roof the tile over the ramp last (a dwarf can do it from below while standing on the ramp), then deconstruct the ramp and replace it with a normal floor, you're done. No need for a stairway going all the way up the outside of your building.

Edit: I take it back, it must have changed when Toady redid the where-dwarves-stand-as-they-build-things code. It's incredibly frustrating now, can't reliably get them to do the floor from underneath. Just use stairs

Or alternatively you could knock down a wall, build a ramp in its stead. That way you can get up, build the floor, get back down, take down the ramp and replace the wall. No standing problems along the way.