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[Imic]

For fvarious reqsons, I would like to put forward a question: If you were to design a Fort after those constructed across Europe by the ancient Roman Empire, how might that be laid put with DF’s requirements for a fort? And would it be practical?
It’s an odd question yes, but it makes sense.

[Merlota]

What distinguishes a Roman fort from a middles ages one or a wooden stockade to keep savages out? 

[therahedwig]

Er, it'd would require a very specific playing style, because Roman forts are not really that interested in production compared to Dwarf Forts(and Dwarf Forts in turn seem to be more seats of power than fortifications).

So where in a DF a fort the workshops would take up almost half as much space as the sleeping quarters, and barracks are used as both sleeping areas and training grounds, the Roman fort has training happening outside the camp, and the barracks seem to take up 3 times as much space as the workshops do. You'd also have to trade in most of your stuff from outside because of the lack of production on the inside.

On top of that, in the Roman army men were expected to make their own food and take care of their own repairs most of the time, which Dwarves do not. Their recreational area seemed to have been outside of the barracks for each legion, which may be a little intense for most dorfs.

Other than that, temples are mentioned on the wikipedia page, and basically everything else is covered, it's just a little hard trying to figure out how to supply these guys as a dwarf fort and a roman fort tend to be build for very different purposes.

[Superdorf]

A quick Google search yielded this Wikipedia article. Very nice, worth looking into.

Exact designs vary with size, but it seems there's a couple defining features that most Roman fortifications shared:

- A rather short (1-3 z-level?) square or rectangular encompassing wall, with a ditch or moat surrounding.
- Four gate-houses, one for each cardinal direction.
- Some kind of central building, perhaps with a walled courtyard in front of it.
- Long, thin buildings, in which the soldiers were housed.*

Within those parameters, you've got a lot of wiggle room. Larger Roman sites might contain, say, a temple building, or a mess hall.
*This being a dwarf fortress, you could also these buildings as workshop floors, stockpiles, whatever. It's an awful lot of space for a few barracks, after all.

[Areyar]

Yup, my first thought reading topic was essentially what above said: "Make it square"

[daggaz]

Yup, my first thought reading topic was essentially what above said: "Make it square"

Make it square, then leave the gate open and let the barbarians in.

[Spriggans]

And rename all your dwarves so their names end in "us", like in "Tyranus".

Bonus points if you make funny names with it ! eg : "thatshilarious", "imissedmybus" , or "maytheforcebewithus"

[Superdorf]

And rename all your dwarves so their names end in "us", like in "Tyranus".

Bonus points if you make funny names with it ! eg : "thatshilarious", "imissedmybus" , or "maytheforcebewithus"

Yeeahhh! Asterix fortress!

[Grand Sage]

Im gonna assume you are talking about a "standard" roman Castra, Like the one from wikipedia a littel further up this thread. I was actually building something like that and planning to put it up on the forums, as a suggestion for dwarven military camps in forests and flatlands. but, as allways with my projects, i got stuck, bored, or just had other stuff to do...

I did get a few things done though, that i can share here:

1) step 1 in building a castra is to channel out a rectangular area, the size of your fort. This is mainly for removing murky pools, but it also makes it a little more dwarven. I still have to find the right size and ratio, but im hopefull 75x55 can accomodate 200 dwarves. (height by width)

2) Build fortifications on the edges of the fort, leaving only 1 enterance, and construct a walkway on the inside for your Marksdwarves. Notice how the fort from the screenshot is flawed: the walkway is to close to other constructions, and therefor military station orders would not always end up next to the fortification.

3) Build barracks. There are pictures of them further down. Make sure to leave 4 spaces between them and the wall, so that there roofs dont conflict with station orders on the walkway. The barracks are built in the upper left and upper right corners of the fort, with 3x4 barracks in each corner (height by width). this should leave room for a 5 tile wide road in the middle.

4)build catacombes. some sort of structure at the north end of the fort, which serves as enterance to below ground tombs and graves. if the aquifer is low enough, these tombs can extend below the fortifications and outside the original area.

5) set up traning areas and restrains in the lower right and left corner. Restrains can be used for either justice or live training.

6) Build command structures in the middle. Its not clearly defined what you want here, but you can start with a 13x13 building around the middle of the fort, and can then go up, down, left or right for another structure that size, or several. I recommend having at least a hospital in one of them, but dining halls, commanders quarters, workshop areas and more are available. They just need to fit into a 13x13 area.

7) your basically done now. tavern recruitment offices for auxilia troops, towers, Ballista emplacements and much more can be constructed, but thats up to you.


Screenshot with wrong size/ratio:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And how the barracks are supposed to look:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Barracks: Barracks are made by first channeling out a 6 tile long channel. on the z level below, the upper 5 tiles are mined out. next, we construct a 5 tile long wall on top of the channel, and ramps on each side of the wall. Thats basically it! there is now room for 5 beds on each side, meaning it can house an entire squad. Of course, som barracks may serve as temples or storage instead. If you want, you can improve uppon the barracks by replacing the dirt walls with wood, and adding a wooden floor. maybe even a trap door on the entrance. (Thx to Baffler for suggesting this design!)

Thats what i have for now, I decided it was better to post it here, since i probably wont finish it, as always I hope it answeres your question.

[FantasticDorf]

Id recommend taking up modding some humans (or apt fantasy romans) to try and fufill your immersion since its a reasonably easy archetype to follow, the general advice remains much of the same but atleast your 'fortress' would stand out compared to the villages that dot the world for the usual humans.

[Pvt. Pirate]

i tried designing my fort aboveground ( *panicked screeching*) with the typical drymoat, wall, towers, gatehouses (i added drawbridges)
having 2 main roads crossing the fort, meeting at the main building which features the trade depot and noble rooms (during first years just the depot and dormitory-meetinghall)
later i would add barack buildings with workshops and dormitories, but we got overrun pretty early each try, so i gave it up completely.