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[Crust13]

Hello,

  I'm still fairly new to this game.  I have a habit of trying out new things so I'm constantly leaving fortresses to ruin just to start a new one to try something different.  Right now I'm looking for the most efficient way to run and manage workshops and stockpiles.  Right now I have a stockpile level above  my work shops then below that I have living quarters hospital and dining room then below that I repeat and mine veins.

If anyone has a some efficiency tips they would be greatly appreciated.  Layouts and screenshots would be cool too.

Thanks,

  XAN

[dwarfhoplite]

I hardly care about efficiency. Back when I cared, I was very perfectionistic and my fortresses were all very clinical and similar.

You may find it useful looking at maps at DF map archive. http://mkv25.net/dfma/

[Niddhoger]

You need to keep in mind that the game is technically 3D.  So instead of placing all your stockpiles and workshops on one level, you can layer them.  Farms above your still/kitchen/farmers workshop/millstone.  Below that you can have your textile industry with an "output" stockpile being fed thread by the farmers workshop(s).  Stone stockpile can be below your mason/mechanic/craftdorf... etc.  Instead of expanding a wing for your living quarters, just go down a level and make a whole new set of rooms.  Dorfs freely move up/down staircases just as easily as they would move orthogonally.  Diagonal movement actually does take a bit more though (40%).  The point is that a dorf heaving a heavy wheelbarrow full of stone pushes it up a staircase just as easy as he would push it across smoothed stone floors. 

However you decide to set things up, just keep the general flow of stockpiles in mind.  Wood is produced near the surface or deep in the caverns... either way is somewhat dangerous and on hte edges of your fort.  So even if you are using wood to power your forges, charcoal is easier to move than heavy logs.  So set up a wood stockpile just inside your fort (but still defended) and then set up your wood burners right next to it.  Have a bar/block stockpile that only accepts charcoal next to the wood burners (or above/below them) then have that stockpile feed a similar one near your forges... which should be near your (heavy) metal ore stockpiles.  Also the butcher feeds the tannery (which feeds the leatherworker) and the kitchen (tallow and meat/organs).  Bones and horns are also produced which feed a craftdorf workshop (crafts, decorations, bolts, armor) and also a bowyer (bone xbows are just as good as steel ones!) Hair is also produced when butchering and can be threaded at a farmers workshop (this is for hospital use only, no "horse hair trousers).  A soapmaker's workshop also is fed by tallow.  So... from one source (butchering animals) we feed an additional 7 workshops (one of which is additionally fed by another two...) Keeping this "flow" in mind helps you set up your designs.  Particularly because raw hide and food can rot in the butchers, a tannery should be adjacent and a food stockpile nearby.  Nothing sucks more than butchering 10 animals and having 8 of them just rot in your butchers.  The kitchen(s) should be on the other side of your food stockpile (or again above/below).  A bone stockpile (skulls and horn/hoof too) should also be adjacent to your butchers to quickly drop off the (usable) remains.  Then put a craftdorf/bowyer shop near those.... which additionally could benefit from output stockpiles of their own.

As you can see... this is a huge headache and half hte reason many people don't bother.  The other half is that dwarf labor is cheap when you have 100+ dorfs and nothing for them to do.  Others care more for aesthetics and symmetry. 

[Urist McVoyager]

I've been worryin' about efficiency for a while, myself, and always wind up with a cylindrical fort centered on a single 2x2 stairway. Gotta say, it really is boring that way, unless you focus entirely on conflict and what hell your dwarves go through instead of design.

[Crust13]

You may find it useful looking at maps at DF map archive. http://mkv25.net/dfma/

cheers

also thanks niddhogger

I'm gonna start doin hallways 2X2  the three by three is rediculous.

[xaritscin]

with so much issue with FPS i try to make forst as efficient as possible. my tips are:

1. try to make the entrance near the embark point

2. base the fort around an staircase system.

3. if you start near an elevation, build the first part there (barracks, farms, non-grazer pens and nest boxes, dinning hall, hospital, archery range).

4. if you start in a plain part, then use the first underground lvl for the buildings in point 3

5. put warehouses in the second lvl, i make 4 divisions, one for stone, one for wood, one for food and the 4th is a mix of the rest (finished goods, weapons, armor, gems, etc)

6. workshops follow the same design pattern of the warehouse and each division has a set of workshops. recently i make double carpentry, double masonry and double craftsdwarf stations.

7. the rest of the lvls are related to bedrooms. i use a pattern of a crossed hallway with branching rooms, each side has 10 rooms divided at both sides. and are 1x4 (1 square wide and 4 squares long). the idea is to stuff 1 bed, 1 container and 1 cabinet there for happy toughts, the remaining space is for the door. this pattern ensures 40 compact rooms in each lvl. and can be repeated easily

8. try to find the caverns a quickly as possible but only for exploratory purposes, if you dont perforate an entrance the better, if that's the case, wall it inmidiately.

9. the cave moss growing should allow for an inside pen for grazing animals. maybe an underground garden too.

10. try to find the magma sea for your fuel needs.

11. try to make a militia as quickly as possible if you have the spare dwarves. a group of 10 wrestlers works just fine against most creatures but you will likely to give them weapons. crossbows are an early good option. once you get metals try to give them armor and make melee weapons. by tht time they must have high skills and are experienced enough for fighting underground beasts.

that should be enough for a self suficient and quick start fort. the rest is up to you.

[paldin]

The 3D layout is absolutely the way to gain efficiency. Maps typically have so many z-levels underground that you're not realistically going to run out of space, and you only need a single chain of U/D staircases connected to your workshops for access (to keep design simple). The less squares your dwarfs (and everyone else) have to path through, the easier it will be for your computer to path them quickly. Bonus for not having to draw a whole lot on any particular z-level too. You just have to worry about the dwarfs slowing each other (not your computer) down from bumping past each other. For that reason, 2x2 staircases are preferred (but like you said 3x3 is too much).

Your system of stacking sounds good, just remember to do like Inception and never be afraid to go deeper. Keep your raw input warehouses near the z-level of the inputs, and don't worry about the rest. Wherever you decide to put your housing is fine, but don't go crazy with large megalopolises; those extra steps are another z-level closer you could have been. Also, dormitories are perfectly fine if you have other methods for happy thoughts (like statues in the dorm).

I'd suggest (for security) to connect your staircase on its corners, leaving a bottleneck to place a trap that invaders must path through. Clearing out your fort means that invaders would have to path through at least four traps on every z-level. And if you happen to flood the fort, the water pressure will neutralize through corners, giving you extra time to save the higher levels than you'd have if it rushed in immediately.

[Urist McVoyager]

An addendum to that last post: Place the bedrooms at least seven levels below the lowest surface level. Surface noise travels 7 Z-levels down, and can irritate your dwarves. If you want that perfect bedroom to go off without a hitch, it needs to be silent.

[Niddhoger]

At the end of the day, its your fort.  If you want to add special rules (Dwarf bedrooms of a certain size, everything is carved from stone, symmetry in design, all furniture same color) then obiously that is part of the fun.  Take all these tips and "rules" as just general guidelines.  If you hate how your fort looks from a centralized staircase then do w/e!