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[phil701]

Whenever I play, I always feel like I always either rush everything too much, so my fortress and layout feel rushed and I am left doing too many things at once, or I move too slowly and feel unprepared for an unexpected challenge.

How fast do your forts get put together? How can I pace it well so I am up and running soon without having an unplanned layout and half-baked industries and economies?

[《monty》]

I typically build in two phases - first is a gatehouse area to be later turned into defenses (walkway over a spike-filled pit, traps, maybe a maze, etc.) and fill that with an unattractive scattering of workshops. I'll use that for a few years until the fortress itself is excavated, then disassemble everything and get my industries set up proper.

[Blue_Dwarf]

I use somewhat standardized layouts and priorities, so it all works out in the first year more or less. The main issue early on is the manpower.

Basically I dig out four symmetrical rooms in the soil layers to be used as farms later, and use them for early storage/workshops. Then my miner starts digging a central 3x3 staircase down, and gradually digging out rooms for dwarves and workshops from the staircase. The dwarf rooms are all on the same floors in a symmetrical pattern, that I plan out from the start.

[anewaname]

By the start of summer, I have a supplied safe zone that can survive a couple of years of siege (usually with access to water via aquifer or the caverns and a gate above and below), then I switch focus... with the objective of working on only one risky project at a time.

[mikekchar]

Lately I've been limiting migration with the population cap.  Then I lazily do whatever I want, increasing the population cap to hit the triggers as I see fit.  For me that's the most fun.  I sometimes get badger people or whatever attacking (and were beasts, of course), but even without any defences at all (not even a bridge entrance), I have no problems.  I make sure I have my defences in place by the time I'm over 80 dwarfs.

But even if you have no population cap, it takes a couple of years to get to the 80 trigger and as long as you have a single entrance with a bridge, a water source and an underground farm, you can wait out sieges.  There is no reason to rush (unless you just like doing that).

[callisto8413]

There are a few things I know I NEED - bedrooms, dining area, workshops, stable food supply - and a few things I WANT - temples, tavern, library, drawbridges, secure water supply.  I normally focus on the stuff I need first and get it done within a year or so.  The rest maybe within three or four years.  I would say after four years I get bored and start "fun" projects.

[Staalo]

I'm slow. It's usually third year or even fourth year before I finally get all the necessities in place; I tend to designate and re-designate stockpiles and build and tear down stuff while I work through several temporary locations for everything.

I think I had my personal record in Mountain of Failure where I had "only" year and half to get basic amenities built before handing over the fort. I felt I had to cut a lot of corners there, but that's the nature of game.

[Immortal-D]

Balancing expansion with Dwarf-power has always been a challenge for me, it's something I had to learn over time.  That said, first thing I always do is dig part of a space that will eventually become my main entrance.  I use this to bring all of my supplies underground, then add a Masonry & Carpenters for doors & beds, respectively.  After that, I dig around for a large chunk of soil layer and build the farms.  All of that is completed by my first Summer.  Once I have doors and food, I start planning the Fortress proper.

[TheEqualsE]

I dig in while a carpenter's shop operates on the surface.  I'll add a butcher shop on the surface if we kill anything.  I build a farm right away and then dig down to rock and make almost all the fortress in rock layers.  I usually make some steel the first year and get a forge set up, but I never manage to crack into all the caverns year one.  Some time after the end of year one I'll reach the magma layers and set up some magma forges.  I usually make some really large rooms or water features and those are not built fast until the fort's population is big enough.

So, to really answer the question, I get a farm and a front door and a tavern right away, and after getting a few essential things fast, spend years building all the bedrooms and projects.  I usually get bored of a fort after 12 or 14 years when I have no more construction projects in mind for it.

[Pvt. Pirate]

There are a few things I know I NEED - bedrooms, dining area, workshops, stable food supply - and a few things I WANT - temples, tavern, library, drawbridges, secure water supply.  I normally focus on the stuff I need first and get it done within a year or so.  The rest maybe within three or four years.  I would say after four years I get bored and start "fun" projects.

same, but it varies greatly how fast i get there. sometimes i get the whole defense and water supply running within the first year and before the first werebeast - or it takes ages and i have to wait out their sieges, losing many dorfs each attack - or i haven't even got a maingate done and cannot lock down anything.

[Ghills]

I also like to use standardized layouts and can get things up and running pretty quickly.  I also turn off invaders because I'm just not interested in that.

[snow dwarf]

I usually build a first starting fortress that at the time I stop using will have been able to house 50 dwarfs with around 27 different workshops, temples, dining room (tavern), a library and a barrack. It takes about two years to reach the end of 'fortress one' expansion. By that point I will have started the digging out and furniture production for the grand fortress which I always get an idea of what I want to do with. I always plan ahead to choose a material that I want to make all the furniture of and I make sure that the fortress is going to have enough z levels until the cavern or between the caverns to house all my plans.

[GPeter]

I usuallly dig my first farm on the soil layer, then go down a few Z-Levels (Roughly 25 levels) and start to dig my fortress there, Large 7x11 rooms which can house up to 6 workshops, and also dig a 11x11 storage attached to each room. then I separate the fortress per Z-Level. In one Level goes the bedrooms, in another level goes the tavern, food storage and kitchen, usually I get 4 levels for workshops. Usually I get 2 or 3 workshop areas ready by the first year, always of course with an easy and quick way of sealing the fortress from the outside. This way, at the end of the second year, maybe the third, I have the fortress up and running, and ready to begin constructing my projects.

[Iduno]

I usually put down a few temporary workshops outdoors while the 2 miners create a small entrance hallway, trade depot space, a long hallway that will eventually become the guard area, dig down a few levels, a short hallway with spaces for doors at both ends, then dig up for the farms. That keeps the inside and outside separated. After that, I start digging down to find the magma sea (hopefully also finding metal and caverns on the way down), so I can plan out how far apart workshops and living spaces can be without having the forges be unreasonably far away (usually about 5 levels between each level I actually use for workshops/bedrooms/whatever). The exploratory stairway takes a break about every ten levels so I can add another space for doors/walls in case areas need to be quarantined.

By the end of the first year, I have crops, a trade depot, a few bedrooms, and temporary indoor workshops. I try to dig out cubicles with doors for workshops before dwarves start trying to make artifacts, and a nice dining room before they start getting upset about that. Once I have "enough" doors, tables, and chairs, I start having the mason make chests and cabinets for bedrooms and the hospital. The hospital usually gets built just in time for my now-rusty surgeon to attempt to save lives after getting the fortress attacked by whatever, with a well if I didn't already remember one. Bedrooms are likewise expanded sometime after I get too many migrants.

The miners mostly retire after 2 years, so they get some kind of crafting as a secondary skill or get chucked into the military. Until then, I've got them on almost-constant projects.

I can get a fortress up and running pretty quickly, but I don't usually start with more than one military dwarf. Werebeasts attacking early is very bad. Most dwarves who have redundant skills (only need 2 of most things, zero or fewer fisherdwarves) get drafted, which means I have a functional civilian fortress complete when I have a mostly-novice army and a few pieces of armor.

[NordicNooob]

For me, on an average fort, I get them running smoothly and mostly constructed by year three. Most constructions are made in the first year, but many minor add-ons like a kill chamber, functional/protected well, and a library, as well as some minor industries like clothing and gem cutting don't get developed until later.