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[Buckley]

Hey, so... curious about something.  Usually I tend to build out my fortress within the first 15-20 z layers so I'm relatively compact and close to the surface.

But... there are layers of mostly uninterrupted marble down around z30 and beyond that I'm thinking about digging to to build my great hall, throne room, etc. etc. 

Why?  'cuz engraving and smoothing.  I'm a tad obsessive compulsive so I like to build walls and such out of the same materials, so going deep may help me avoid having to build where there are veins of ore that create inconsistencies...

So, curious how deep you dig your layout? 

[Taffer]

I usually dig straight down to a cavern layer and begin building there. I like the added challenge that walling off a section of the caverns provides, and it's good practice for glacier embarks. I like that I can embark just about anywhere on the map without adjusting my strategy much. (Aside from some military and a doctor for evil embarks, of course). I don't need a river or trees, for example. I have a long three tile ramp leading down into the depths to allow trade caravans to descend, and I often leave some guard dogs and a bridge near the surface to seal everything on the surface off if an invasion comes. The biggest risk is that the cavern layer is dead, meaning I need to import wood or run all the way up to the surface to get some (assuming I embarked somewhere with trees). Even this is rarely an issue, it just means that I'll have comparatively boring scenery and it'll take longer to get beds for everybody.

Occasionally I've actually started a fort all the way down to lava in order to get decent forges running. This is, of course, absolutely impractical. Hauling all of your goods to the bottom alone occupies most of my time when I do this. This isn't as bad if I build in the first cavern layer, so I usually do that. On the plus side, this means charcoal free forges in your "main" fortress without using a volcano.

[StagnantSoul]

I refuse to build any part of my fortress less than 20 z levels down.

[Buckley]

I usually dig straight down to a cavern layer and begin building there. I like the added challenge that walling off a section of the caverns provides, and it's good practice for glacier embarks. I like that I can embark just about anywhere on the map without adjusting my strategy much. (Aside from some military and a doctor for evil embarks, of course). I don't need a river or trees, for example. I have a long three tile ramp leading down into the depths to allow trade caravans to descend, and I often leave some guard dogs and a bridge near the surface to seal everything off if an invasion comes. The biggest risk is that the cavern layer is dead, meaning I need to import wood or run all the way up to the surface to get some (assuming I embarked somewhere with trees). Even this is rarely an issue, it just means that I'll have comparatively boring scenery and it'll take longer to get beds for everybody.

Occasionally I've actually started a fort all the way down to lava in order to get decent forges running. This is, of course, absolutely impractical. Hauling all of your goods to the bottom alone occupies most of my time when I do this. This isn't as bad if I build in the first cavern layer, so I usually do that. On the plus side, this means charcoal free forges in your "main" fortress without using a volcano.

Very interesting strategy... might have to try that sometime.  For this fortress I decided to stick with my normal method of keeping things relatively close to the surface... I'll just have to suck it up and build some walls once I mine out some of the veins & stuff.  I think my next embark I'll have to try your method... go deep!

[Taffer]

I'm a tad obsessive compulsive so I like to build walls and such out of the same materials, so going deep may help me avoid having to build where there are veins of ore that create inconsistencies...

In an unrelated point: I also tend to mine out veins of ore, valuable/interesting stone, and gems wherever I find them. This is much, much easier with the new auto-mining feature. I like a more organic approach, and you can always just build new walls and floors where you mined to restore symmetry. Having dwarven halls in the middle of a network of mined out ore veins feels much more "dwarfy" to me than rooms with smoothed over gems and ores. (Surely the free ore and gems would be more desirable than the short-term symmetry of the room?)

[Buckley]

I'm a tad obsessive compulsive so I like to build walls and such out of the same materials, so going deep may help me avoid having to build where there are veins of ore that create inconsistencies...

In an unrelated point: I also tend to mine out veins of ore, valuable/interesting stone, and gems wherever I find them. This is much, much easier with the new auto-mining feature. I like a more organic approach, and you can always just build new walls and floors where you mined to restore symmetry. Having dwarven halls in the middle of a network of mined out ore veins feels much more "dwarfy" to me than rooms with smoothed over gems and ores. (Surely the free ore and gems would be more desirable than the short-term symmetry of the room?)

Agreed completely.  No good, properly drunk, dwarf would leave a vein of ore or gems un-mined for the sake of convenience or laziness.  And all the halls & floors must be of consistent composition....

[vjmdhzgr]

I generally dig a hallway into a hill then go down a level and down another. If that layer is stone (or flux stone if I know there's layers of it) then I'll build there, if not, I'll keep going down until the layer is stone. Then my fortresses are generally 5 z levels deep.

[Loyal]

Not counting things like waystations guarding the entrance to the caverns and HFS, I usually keep to within 5-10 z-levels of my fort entrance. I like making outdoor constructions. Walls, ramparts, moats, etc. Doing so is ... trickier, underground.

Actually, that gives me an idea.

[i2amroy]

I tend to make a "shallow fort" in the first few levels under the surface (often mostly in the soil layers, even), then simultaneously hollow out a giant cavern with a single-piece fortress inside of it down near the lava (I adjust my worldgens to give me more room in that area usually) and use all of the stone from said cavern to build a giant fortress aboveground. Surprisingly most of the time my embark ends up crumbling before the fortresses finish, but it's certainly a dwarven undertaking while it lasts.

[tussock]

I like to have deep processing chains all nice and tightly linked up, inputs and outputs moving up or down z's depending on source and destination. You can pretty much fit an entire working fort in an 11x11x11 cube that way, with just a few steps needed for each task. But then things happen and everything ends up all over the place, and I end up with big 3- to 10-layer chunks of fort splayed over the entire map from various things sitting out on the surface to workshops and stockpiles within the magma sea, and various "temporary" working areas to speed various activities along absolutely everywhere between.

I use the mined veins for cemeteries, generally, now the floor's not so nice after digging. Natural gemstone pillars in the middle of noble rooms, the prison, and the dining hall are still all the rage. The ovals are easier dug out and any walls, stairs, and furniture rebuilt from the find.

[utunnels]

I seldom build my fortress below -5.
But I usually dig deep, which can be a problem because of long hauling routes.

I also like above ground structures: it is easier to build a archery tower above than underground.

[C27]

I prefer a lot of verticality, so my forts generally go from aboveground towers down to into the first cavern, sometimes skipping some layers here and there. I rarely use much magma, unless it's near the surface - though I'll make an effort to obtain it if I'm short on wood and don't have coal.

[Arx]

I usually choose an area with the most extreme cliffs I can (border of mountains and something else) and then hollow out the hill parts on the level of the flattest available ground. I then build a large above-ground fortification, so I have pastures, garbage dumps, and farms exposed to the air but safe from invaders.

I almost never breach the caverns without ridiculously extensive preparations, and have only broken into the magma sea once or twice.

[Lytha]

I usually start out very shallow in the soil layers, maybe some rock layers too. Then I initiate the "let's move further down" project, which involves several things (getting some light and muddy tiles for enhanced farming down there; getting some magma up; getting some water down; getting a treefarm up; moving the trade depot and trapped hallways further down...). In the process of doing that, I usually get bored with the fortress. :p

The current fortress prevailed a bit longer than usual, because the vampires, necromancers and wereeaters are rather amusing.

[MDFification]

I typically dig my fortress very close to the surface, starting in the first stone layer. I then dig/build defensive emplacements on each cavern layer and the surface.