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[J Lensher]

Can anyone give me advice on building a tower to defend my entrance, so far I have only been able to construct one level.... What I had in mind was pretty much a firing platform for marksdwarves and siege egines.

On this note should someone add a guide to the wiki about towers, and other constructions? I checked it, and it comes up blank, I realize that this may be part of the game, figuring out how to do this yourself, but surely a rough guide, or a few pointers can't hurt

[Derakon]

You need to build staircases to give access to the upper levels. It works like this:

An up staircase on Z gives access to the tile directly above it (on Z+1).
A down or up/down staircase on Z+1 will then give access to the tiles NSEW of that tile. An up/down staircase also (naturally) gives access to the tile directly above it, on Z+2.

So to make towers, you need a lot of staircases to get access to the upper levels. You can deconstruct them when you're done. I'd recommend making a lot of peasant masons, and maybe setting up a stone stockpile near the construction area.

[Duke 2.0]

Some things to keep in mind:

You can't make (C)onstructions on built floors. You need a wall? You need to get rid of those floors. Floors created on top of walls can be built upon. Doesn't stop other things like beds and such.

If there is an area of high traffic, make sure it's inside. You don't want fear/missiles/flying nasties getting to 'em.

Make SURE that any defensive wall has the floor on top of it off-limits. You would not believe how many dwarves think it is a good idea to go up there for no reason at all. Any defensive areas for your dwarves should have fortifications as their only way of interacting with the outside world.

When making a second floor, it's often wise to make walls in the same position as the ones on the lower level. Also do corner walls first. Dwarves can't build diagonally.

For every level up, a blind spot appears beneath your dwarves. This circle of blindness increases one layer for every level up. Don't expect xBow dwarves to shoot goblins next to the tower from 20 z-levels up.

[psychologicalshock]

quote:

For every level up, a blind spot appears beneath your dwarves. This circle of blindness increases one layer for every level up. Don't expect xBow dwarves to shoot goblins next to the tower from 20 z-levels up.[/QB]

But principally they shoot further as well right?

[Quiller]

When I was building a tower, I found it useful to have a bar/block stockpile nearby, set to only allow rock blocks, and pulling from a main bar/block stockpile.  This lets bins of blocks be carried next to the construction and can give you a lot more building materials in close proximity than using stone stockpiles.  Of course, I'd already been working my masons on making stones into blocks for a long time previous to that, if you haven't been making rock blocks it doesn't save you much time.

Another useful tip, when building the staircase(s) use up/down staircase unless you know you have reached the top.  Since, if you cap off the staircase with a down staircase entry you will not be able to start a new one on a nearby floor tile.  (You can however deconstruct the down staircase and replace with an up/down one, but you are better off not bothering in the first place.)  Recognize that these are built staircases, not designated ones like you will use underground, so you need to go through a different mechanism.  (That was something that screwed me up at first.)

[Duke 2.0]

quote:Originally posted by psychologicalshock:
<STRONG>

But principally they shoot further as well right?</STRONG>

I'm not sure. I believe if there are fortifications height makes sure you always have an advantage over anything on the ground. And it's not like enemies can shoot at you from the blind spot.

Any bonuses other than that we need to look at Toady for.

[Joseph Miles]

I've had a lot of experience with constructions in making my various above ground, and floating, forts. Some tips, don't build fortifications, but rather build walls and carve fortifications. This takes more time, but saves materials because you will still have the extra floor above it as though it were a normal wall, which you wouldn't have by just building fortifications.

Second, what was said above is very true: Build corners first. Though, dwarves CAN built diagonally, they will either refuse or be unable to if there are two walls near it making the only way to build there diagonally. I've had dwarves really piss me off when they go diagonally to build a wall or floor after they refuse to build the corner wall diagonally.

Third, if this is going to be a defensive tower then some ideas you may want to implement. Have the entrance to it be by a staircase accessible only from inside the fort, not a door on the ground level. Destroy all ramps  to the upper part of the mountain near it so it's only going to be hit from one side. Build a wall with a 5 square wide bridge as a gate, so sieges will have trouble getting through but wagons and such still can. Try making a moat with a brudge instead of the wall and bridge mentioned above, if you can.

Fourth, from what I've heard you can't fire from one Z-level to another.

[Kagus]

Dwarf bow range is a sphere, and as that sphere moves up it will lift off the ground and actually limit the range on the ground rather than extend it.  However, it also means that bowgoblins have to move closer before they can shoot at your dwarves.

And they are actually pretty good at shooting straight down at something that's directly adjacent to the tower they're in.

[Deon]

THe marksdwarves will happily fire from one level to another. But siege engines (catapult/ballista) shoot only targets on the same level so you may want to build them on the land level: dig moat, build fortifications behind moat and place ballistae/catapultae behind those fortifications (they shoot through).

[Elvenshae]

I'm a bit ... odd ... about making absolutely sure that there's no way into my fort other than my pre-approved entrances, and this includes, say, the ability for certain megabeasts to claw their way through constructed walls (but not natural walls).*

Accordingly, whenever I build a tower, I do something like this (for a simple 4x4 tower):

Ground Level:

code:

      
      ____________
      ____________
      __        __
      __ WWWWWW __
      __ W    W __
      __ W XX W __
      __ W XX W __
      __ W    W __
      __ WWWWWW __
      __        __
      ____________
      ____________

No entrances, channeled out 2-square-wide moat surrounding the whole thing with an extra square of buffer.  Then, on Ground Level-1:

code:

     WWWWWWWWWWWWWW 
     W            W
     W            W
     W  WWWWWWWW  W
     W  WWWWWWWW  W
     W  WW    WW  W
     W  WW XX WW  W
     W  WW XX WW  W
     W  WW    WW  W
     W  WWWWWWWW  W
     W  WWWWWWWW  W
     W            W
     W            W
     WWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Here, you can see that there's no actual access to the moat.  And, finally, on Ground Level -2:

code:

      
     
     
     
         WWWWWW
         W    WWWW
         W XX   -> To rest of Fort
         W XX 
         W    WWWW
         WWWWWW
         

I put fortifications in starting on Ground Level +2.

* Ever since a colossus decided to open up his own backdoor in a residential area.

[Name Lips]

I was doing this exact same thing with my recent fortress. Except I got a stick up my butt to make the whole thing out of green glass blocks. Hey, I had a volcano, and sand...

Anyway, this is my floorplan:

code:

Z-0:
 ********
**++++++**
*>+++++++*
*++++++++*
X+++++++\*
X+++++++\*    X = floodgate
X+++++++\*    \ = down ramp to main fortress
*++++++++*    * = walls
*++++++++*    <> = stairs
**++++++**    # = fortifications
 ********
z+1 - z+3
 ********
**++++++**
*<>++++++*
*++++++++*
*++++++++*
*++++++++*
*++++++++*
*++++++++*
*++++++++*
**++++++**
 ********

z+4
 ########
##++++++##
#<+++++++#
#++++++++#
#++++++++#
#++++++++#
#++++++++#
#++++++++#
#++++++++#
##++++++##
 ########

Some spare booze and ammo is stored in the middle z-levels. Also there is a switch to raise/lower the floodgates on the second story. I leave them open so caravans can get in.

For some reason, though, I've had lots of thieves and ambushes, but after 4 years, no sieges. It's a map full of lava, iron, lignite, and gems. I have tons of steel armor and weapons, and a military with several champions. But no sieges to use it all against...

[RickiusMaximus]

quote:Originally posted by Elvenshae:
<STRONG>the ability for certain megabeasts to claw their way through constructed walls (but not natural walls). Ever since a colossus decided to open up his own backdoor in a residential area.</STRONG>

It is definatly one hundred percent impossible for anything to destroy a wall