So I have a new world for 40.08, which is a volcano that rises up out of a vast, sun-blasted plain. There's nothing around for a ways except for my volcano. At the moment the main entrance is on the ground level, but that will be sealed off soon, and the only way to get in will be to travel to the very top of the volcano, where I will be placing my (semi-)permanent depot. Below is what I envision for this fort:
So imagine this for a moment. The plain where this fort is situated is in the middle of a scorching plain. We do not have any surface water, even in winter. It is so hot that I've seen fires (they say campfires, but....) burn year-round because of the sheer heat. For miles and miles around it is just a dry, grassy plain. And then, out of nowhere, a mountain juts up out of the ground, with Magma inside of it.
There is no way to get into the mountain except up a long, narrow path, that is overlooked at many points by towers where marksdorfs can fire down on invaders. The sides are perfectly vertical. Every single square inch of the outside is engraved. At the top, about 48 levels up, there is a trading depot that sits in the caldera where the volcano shaft used to be, surounded by traps with a single entrance into the fort that is lined, again, with traps.
If the fort is about to be overrun, there is an emergency measure where the entire depot platform can be dropped ten floors to a killing floor, where the invaders are sitting ducks for marksdorfs waiting to pepper them with bolts. If any invaders survive this, a magma bath may be unleashed to cleanse the invaders (and water so the trap can be reset). If any invaders survive the traps, the fall, and the magma, they are worthy opponents, and after a climb they will be greeted with open arms and steel blades.
This is Itonizeg ("Hallapes"). This is my mega-project.
at the moment I have the "top" (14 floors up) of the volcano sealed off with wood, and that will do just fine for a temporary depot location, until I can get masons out to cover up some of the clay with stone, and extend the caldera up 34 more floors (one side of the tube ends at level +14, three sides remain up to around floor 48).
The volcanic shaft will be the main forcus of this fort.
I have plans to set up the royalty in a floor of the volcano--just an entire floor dedicated to the King/Queen when they show up. probably the floor directly above the main smelting operation--because the more noble you are the closer you are to the magma, duh. Baron will get the volcano shaft directly above the King/Queen, nobles the next couple floors up.
The top 20 floors or so will be designed to thwart sieges. 24-21 will probably be trade goods. 20-11 will be barracks, armories, training grounds, etc. 10-1 (1 being the very top of the volcano) will be the fall trap (+38 and 10=same thing), while 1 (+48) will be the depot level. I'm considering a permanent magma moat around the fall area on the floor where the collapsed depot will end up, except for one tile. 5 floors above this tile is the entrance to the fort for invaders, lined with traps, war animals, and, of course, dorfs.
There will also be dining hall with the best seats in the volcano stack (with food services one floor down, with the main food stockpile/workshops being prepared directly below the dining hall, a la Hogwarts, and livestock/farms on the clay/stone that surround the volcano shaft). There will be 4-5 floors of nothing but engraved stone above the level of the dining hall.
And, of course, the very top, paved over with wood (and 34 levels below where it will eventually end up, for time's sake) will be the main entrance/depot.
Free stuff! And (because the entire convoy will be up there), no escapees!
Also, I've got a Legendary Clothier, a Master (12) Weaver, and just got a High Master (13) Dyer. I think my main crops will be Pigs Tail and Dimple Cup. and just export ridiculously expensive dyed clothing. And use ridiculously expensive dyed bags for seeds?
heh.