Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Brodiggan]

I don't usually have a discrete bedroom block, I like to put craftsmen as close as possible to their workshops and supplies, so I lay out most of my fortress in little hexagonal work blocks with a couple beds each.

I start by dropping three staircases down into the area I'm going to be building in like so:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'll be cutting out rough hexagonal areas between the stairs, but I don't start digging yet, just designate the area.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Each block will have up to 6 workshops (blue blocks), 2 beds(small B's), and storage areas for products, food, supplies, as close as I can get to providing everything the two workdwarves need.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For workshops that may be claimed by a dwarf in a strange mood, it's a good idea to leave some walls in place, so the only way to access the workshop is through a door (just in case you have to shut someone in). If you do dig out one of these walls by accident (or just want to use up some stone) it's easy enough to just reconstruct any walls you need. The specific square (or squares) dug out for doors depend on the workshop layout.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Just a side note, but one of the usual problems with putting beds near workshops is the noise, with the workshops spaced just wide enough, there are exactly two positions in the center where a dwarf won't have their sleep disturbed if someone starts working.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Grumman]

This is my latest design, used in two of the six towers that make up my castle:

╔===╦===╦===╦===╗
║FB ║FB ║FB ║FB ║
║   ║   ║   ║   ║
║   ║   ║   ║   ║
╠=D=╬=D=╩=D=╬=D=╣
║   ║       ║   ║
║TC D       D CT║
║   ║       ║   ║
╠===╣       ╚===╝
║   ║
║TC D
║   ║
╠=D=╬=D=╗   ╔=D=╗
║   ║   ║   ║< >║
║   ║   ║   D   ║
║ BF║ BF║   ║> <║
╚===╩===╝   ╚===╝

Once all the floors are built I plan to assign the two room apartments to soldiers, minor nobles and other valued dorfs.

[Criptfeind]

I also made some noble rooms.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The first is for the royal guard, than I am going to put all the nobles on the half circle. If the king comes I may add another level just for him.

Ignore the yellow, that is to help me build the magma cast.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

In Likotamas, I have beds scattered all over, in old noble's rooms or disused farms.
Fuck efficiency.

[zagibu]

Not really. A chaotic fortress usually also results in a fortress with bad framerate, because it's hard to streamline traffic when your dwarfs criss-cross all over the place.

[Bjiip]

For your enjoyment, my fractal-inspired layout:

I'd use the central area for workshops, and put small dining rooms in each thick arm.  The rest should be self-explanatory.

[forsaken1111]

Brodiggan, I really like the elegance of your design but doesn't it annoy you that the different hexes are interconnected via the diagonal walls? Do you find that this doesn't really impact anything? I was thinking that if you made the staircases 2x2 and spaced the hexes one square farther apart they would be self-contained.

[Slogo]

Does no one else use multiple z-levels for bedrooms? What I tend to do is have 1 level filled with 2x2 rooms in a grid pattern then below that a level with hallways and up/down stairs then below that another level mirroring the first. The mid level, if designed right, can also include more bedrooms

Code: [Select]

#########
.#..#..#.
.#.<#<.#.
#########
.#.<#<.#.
.#..#..#.
#########
.#..#..#.
.#.<#<.#.
#########
.#.<#<.#.
.#..#..#.
#########

####.####
####.####
#.#X.X#.#
#.##.##.#
#.#X.X#.#
#+##.##+#
.........
#+##.##+#
#.#X.X#.#
#.##.##.#
#.#X.X#.#
####.####
####.####

#########
.#..#..#.
.#.>#>.#.
#########
##.>#>.#.
##..#..#.
#########
.#..#..#.
.#.>#>.#.
#########
.#.<#<.#.
.#..#..#.
#########

This is just a small slice of what the setup might look like. I design it to make use of almost every tile in the area. In this example my 9x13x3 cube contains 20 full bedrooms and parts of some others (note the top and bottom row of the mid layer would also include more of the pattern but I didn't want to design it out. Travel time, is relatively short, not the most optimized solution for travel but you save a bit overall by not having your bedrooms occupy a large cubic area.

I use 1 width hallways as I usually find my bedroom hallways aren't over traveled. I usually have 4 stairways in a cube coming down containing a setup like this so the dwarves come in from all different angles and what not.

The nice thing about putting bedrooms on a different z level is that you can create the actual bedroom once you put the bed in there and add hatches later. You don't have to worry about the bedroom zone 'overflowing'. Also you get 2 4 tile bedrooms for 9 tiles of space (the 4 tiles of bedroom x2 + 1 for the mid level stairs) while still being able to lock individual bedrooms. If you wanted to save even more space you could put the up/down stairs where the 4 bedrooms meet and have 3 staircase tiles per 8 bedrooms + more bedrooms on the middle floor.
It also works well for dwarven economy/notable people if you plan it out from the start. The top/bottom level 2x2 rooms can be combined for 2x4 rooms and the mid level can fit a lot of 1x3, 1x2 or 1x1 rooms for the poor.

[Rowanas]

I use z levels. One wing of my fortress is always bedroom all the way down. I give my dwarves way too much space, but it keeps them quiet, so I'm happy. The corridor layout is the best in my opinion, it may lack efficiency slightly, but it makes organising them a lot easier

[Lord Dakoth]

This is one that I use when I make aboveground forts. Of course, it would work just as well for underground as well.



I make towers out of these, typically 15 Z-levels tall. Each floor houses 4 dwarves, so each tower has room for 60 dwarves. The apartments have 4 floor tiles, so I usually stick in a bed, a chest, and a cabinet.

Although they're not the most efficient, enormous towers look pretty cool in 3Dwarf. And coolness *is* a valid reason for everything.

[AdeeMij]

My twist is a waterfall for every dwarf.  This is based on a Banach fractal (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banach_fractal_-_rose_2.png).  As drawn, there are 81 rooms with 41 floor tiles and 36 wall tiles.  Can split in half or quarters for up to 324 rooms.  Footprint is 121x121x4.  Probably not the most efficient, due to the hallways up top, but pretty.  Good luck getting power to the pumps.  Scale is 2x2 pixels per block.

[Ironhand]

In one of my forts I'm experimenting with a honeycomb pattern:



It's cool because all the access stairways are on the same latitude.
Then you just stack them on top of each other, with up/down stairways.

I think they're pretty.

BONUS: You can scale them to any size.

Also BONUS: No doors!

[Itnetlolor]

I must applaud to all you architects. I gotta use some of these designs.

I can't think up any effective designs at the moment, but that's pretty epic work everyone's done.

[MC Dirty]

In one of my forts I'm experimenting with a honeycomb pattern:

[/img]

It's cool because all the access stairways are on the same latitude.
Then you just stack them on top of each other, with up/down stairways.

I think they're pretty.

BONUS: You can scale them to any size.

Also BONUS: No doors!

Wow, this is awesome! I would have never thought of that. Definitely going to try that in my newest fortress.

Hmm, I just thought a bit about a similar design with rectangular rooms and it's very much possible!

The red dots are up-down stairs and these are 2*3 bedrooms. You just repeat that design however you want to. I'm pretty sure it can be resized without problems.
There are only two problems:
1) Lotsa stairs! At first, I thought about making one single staircase in the middle of every four rooms, but that would be much too much traffic. Even now, it could become problematic. Another idea is to make a 3*3 staircase in the middle but I don't know if your dwarves complain if they don't have strictly seperated bedrooms or if you could even make a 3*2 bedroom without leaking and overlapping rooms.
2) The 4-room tile looks kind of like a swastika.

Edit: I just tried a bit here and there and it's really easy to edit a whole lot of stuff while still maintaining the symmetry. A dining room in the middle? No problem! Noble quarters? Extremely easy (3 3*4-rooms, using 3 4-room tiles with well placed stairs, provide room for 3 nobles)! A big ass corridor right through the thing? Just break through a bunch of walls and the rest still works just fine and looks pretty.
Of course, you could also make square rooms, but those look boring.

[Fist_Of_Armok]

My current design is based around corridors-and extra Z levels.

I'll space 3x3 rooms, then put them two spaces back, and put an up/down staircase in the middle, leading to rooms above and below the main corridor.

Nobles and Administrators get bigger rooms at the ends of the corridors, with offices below, dining rooms in the middle, and bedrooms above.

Saves space, and makes me feel clever to boot.