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[Rusty Mcloon]

Greetings. I'm mostly a lurker but I decided to post a topic.

Are you the kind of player who likes to sprawl out inside a single Z-level when you build, or do you want to fill as many Z-levels as you can with an ant-like network of rooms and workshops?

[RPharazon]

I usually use 2-3 small z-level spaces for the main brunt of the fortress. The rest of the 2x2 fortress area (I only use a 1-block space most of the time) is left to my weird constructions and devices.

I like making nice compact fortresses.

[Makrond]

I use any soil layers I have to make large stockpiles, such as food and refuse (although I could always set that up outside). This usually leads to massive, sprawling rooms on the highest z-levels connected by narrow hallways, which I subsequently outfit with traps to guard my stuff.

I usually then have a massive quarters level on the first rock layer. On this level I also usually have my workshops, as far away as I can feasibly put them. This stops me from having problems with noise, as I don't need to put workshops under my bedrooms. I also mine out any ores I find on this level and rewall any rooms that are destroyed in the process. It looks bad, but it gets me plenty of copper 

I usually have a fairly large area (at least default size); haven't had many problems with lag, at least not that I've noticed, anyway.

[Mel_Vixen]

I tend to fortresses with 10 - 15 Z levels because i use an vertical Quarter design to shorten the ways in my fortress.

[Erk]

I start with 4 and expand vertically. I have a main hall with subhalls riding off the sides; workshops bud from the sidehalls and stockpiles sit as "bridges" over and under the sidehalls, with larger stockpiles bridging the wider main hall as well. As I need more stock space I keep building more bridges lined up, and slowly make each pile slightly more item-specific.

I keep the residences somewhere separate, and often build it as a 3-floor structure: floor 1 has a dining hall and bedrooms, floor 2 has a statuary and offices, floor 3 has a zoo and private dining rooms. Lately I have taken to building chaotic, freeform bedrooms pressed against cliff faces and other natural structures. It's nifty, and having exterior windows that actually look out on things makes my Geek Sense tingle.

[LASD]

When I started playing I used 1 to 3 levels and had tons of different stuff on each level. Now I have come to a point where I try to use as many floors as I can and have a distinct function for everyone of them. One level for food (stockpiles and workshops), one for the entrance, one for goods, the one(s) under that for goods/furniture storage, and one or more levels for bedrooms, usually in the bottom level to avoid noise. There's also the levels for the weird stuff in every fort.

[SoylentNinja]

Before I just randomly dug tunnels, rooms and corridors mining veins of stuff.  But I found that to be tedious, so I try to keep it a bit organized by keeping stuff in roughly the same spot, but going down for many z levels.  It's so easy trying to keep track of things now.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

I'd like to build a vast, organised fortress spanning many levels, but I'm still in dungeon keeper mode.
Long corridors with rooms tacked on sprawling on 1 or 2 levels.

[Moogie]

I'm really bad at this. But in general I try to keep things organised.

Like the first level, where the entrance is, I put a bridge over a deep pit, with archery ranges either side and a barracks on the same level. The trade depot also goes here.

Underneath that, raw materials stockpiles.

Under that, workshops. Usually I stick finished products/furniture/etc on the same level, or one level down.

Under that is the main dining hall, with the peasant quarters on the same level.

Under that is the noble quarters. I just stick their bedrooms, dining rooms and offices in the same 'building', seperated with doors.

And that's where I start struggling to find space to have falling waterfalls, statue gardens and other frivalties.

[Alaern]

My fortresses usually spread on more than 10 z-levels, but I prefer to leave 2 levels intact between each level I use for living rooms, graveyards and workshops. That way, I can dig air ducts and make lots of water- and magma- falls and artificial underground rivers that are useless for the most part, but are damn fun.

[Benitosimies]

Especially for magma fortresses I like to have a level, and then below that is primarily a drainage level, where the magma and water flows as well as all the holes go from the pits I dig for various purposes.

I've been considering constructing an enormous Armok Well to toss goblins down. At least 13 levels deep and 21 tiles wide. Just need to find a good place for it.

[BurnedToast]

Usually 2, not counting the soil layer (which I never build anything except maybe a farm in) or the surface (which sometimes gets the trade depot and walls).

First rock floor is workshops, stockpiles, and the trade depot if I decide to make it underground.

Second is the dining room, bedrooms, and noble rooms.

Pretty much everything else goes unmined, just because it's too annoying to find ore in this version and too annoying to make anything out of it unless you have magma.

[Sukasa]

I usually start with one or two, depending on available space, using a third level for accesses and mechanical, if it won't fit on the first level.  As my fortresses expand, the level usage can begin to expand quite quickly, as workshops and more and more storage space becomes necessary.  In time, I start on megaprojects and computing setups that use up more and more space, leading to 10-Z-level forts with actual use on each Z-Level.  Generally, in a developed fort, about 40-50% of the floorspace is storage, since I throw nothing away.

[Duke 2.0]

 I try not to go much beyond 5 z-levels into the earth. However, I have no limit on tower height. The problem: All of my towers are thick, so they rarely get over 5 z-levels before something horrible happens.

 Also, when creating a surface-heavy fort I like to have a layer of solid unmined rock, so cave-ins from constructions won't create a hole to the bottom of my fortress.

[Frankmanic]

I usually have a level for store rooms, a level for workspaces, a level for living quarters, and a level for the military. It goes like this.

The ground level has nothing except for a heavily defended staircase, the depot, and a fairly complex gatehouse. The level above is given over to military barracks, justice, and training spaces, so that in the advent of an assault any military troops will be near at hand. The stair case goes down to the warehouse level, then another stair goes down to workspaces. Below workspaces are apartment blocks, kitchens, and the great hall, and below that is plumbing and the crypts. Everything is close at hand so things get done quickly, and I can get away with only one entrance to make defense more reliable. Mines are entirely separate shafts, which is inefficient but helps with defense and reduces the chance of accidental cave ins.

Living space is on the bottom because I figure dwarves, being dwarves, like to be as far underground as possible when they can manage it. Crypts are always on the lowest level for the same reason.