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[Iche_Bins]

How did you manage to close the open magma hole and cover it with soil?

[veok]

What's the fort made of? I assume the black is obsidian, but what's the dark blue?

[Aykavil]

The fort is made of solidified lava (i.e poured obsidian), except the outgoing roads that are made of obsidian block floors. The roofs, hoardings, and internal tower-bridges are made of clear glass blocks (12281 clear glass blocks have been used). The map can be checked on DFMA.

The magma hole was normally closed by pouring water on it, which produced an obsidian cap. Floors were constructed and de-constructed on top of the cap, which produces default ground (mostly soil on z-lvl 0) in version 40D.

[veok]

You've convinced me to restart my magma megaproject -- in order to build something bigger and grander!

[Aykavil]

You've convinced me to restart my magma megaproject -- in order to build something bigger and grander!

Trailcross hit the 15 z-level above ground limit of vanilla 40d. I believe it's now possible to build much higher. You could go for something along the lines of Orthanc or Barad-dûr, that'd be awesome.

[Vehudur]

You've convinced me to restart my magma megaproject -- in order to build something bigger and grander!

Trailcross hit the 15 z-level above ground limit of vanilla 40d. I believe it's now possible to build much higher. You could go for something along the lines of Orthanc or Barad-dûr, that'd be awesome.

Tempted to do Minias Tirith, Orthanc, and Barad-dûr in the same world, it'd take me like 3 weeks.

But I'm wondering one thing:

how high is one Z-level in feet?  Or do we not know?

[Aykavil]

Tempted to do Minias Tirith, Orthanc, and Barad-dûr in the same world, it'd take me like 3 weeks.

But I'm wondering one thing:

how high is one Z-level in feet?  Or do we not know?

Why, it's 8 dwarven feet* and 4 inches*** high, of course.

* A dwarven foot is the length of the foot** of the legendary King Urist McTwistedlegs, who may or may not have existed in a distant past.
** Relics of said foot do exist, a late count mentions 17 big-toe bones scattered across the dwarven kingdom.
*** The definition of an inch is a bit more complex, but it is not the same in the imperial system or in the customary one, and its length differs in any case from tribe to tribe.

[ungulateman]

It is both infinitely large and infinitely small, depending on its occupant.

[Vehudur]

So in other words, we don't know?

[meto30]

So in other words, we don't know?

The highest extra z-level allowance is 100 tiles, i.e. it is currently impossible to have more than 100 z-levels above the highest ground in the 16x16 region tile. I don't know what the theoretical height limit for ground shear is, but a reasonable guess would be around 100, so anything higher than 200 z-levels is impossible, and higher than 180 is implausible(i have a site that is 169 z-levels from surface to sky limit, and I settled with it).

So, whatever the actual measure for a single z-level is does not matter. All we have to do is set Barad-dur(the tallest structure in Middle-Earth in the Third Age)'s height to the tallest possible height, and calculate the heights of the rest of the structures from their respective tallness to the Dark Tower.

In my case, I'm simply building a Barad-Dur that is on-scale with the movie version and is exactly 169 z-levels high.

[darkflagrance]

Couple of questions:

How did you cast the outer walls out of magma? Did you mold giant rectangles and then carve the shape of the turrets out? Or did you create a mold that traced the outline of the finished structure?

Also: what was the average fps over the course of the project, and how did it change from when you began to when you finish?

I'm trying to figure out how much patience you'd need to create something this excellent.

[Vehudur]

Firstly, I will construct the foundation.  I will build an open pit next to it to cast obsidian there for the outer walls.  Then, I construct a tower first with a magma and water pump stack out of anything I can next to the site.  I will then use material created in the open pit to construct the outer walls, and then fill it one level at a time and carve out the rest from the inside.

[meto30]

Firstly, I will construct the foundation.  I will build an open pit next to it to cast obsidian there for the outer walls.  Then, I construct a tower first with a magma and water pump stack out of anything I can next to the site.  I will then use material created in the open pit to construct the outer walls, and then fill it one level at a time and carve out the rest from the inside.

Due to the fact that complex scaffolding takes an absurdly long time to designate, I usually simply cast an obsidian monolith and 'sculpt' the entire structure from it. In my opinion this takes less of a hassle. The problem is, of course, that while all this is happening your dwarves cannot use the monolith for anything, so a separate, fully functional temporary fortress is required.

[Vehudur]

Firstly, I will construct the foundation.  I will build an open pit next to it to cast obsidian there for the outer walls.  Then, I construct a tower first with a magma and water pump stack out of anything I can next to the site.  I will then use material created in the open pit to construct the outer walls, and then fill it one level at a time and carve out the rest from the inside.

Due to the fact that complex scaffolding takes an absurdly long time to designate, I usually simply cast an obsidian monolith and 'sculpt' the entire structure from it. In my opinion this takes less of a hassle. The problem is, of course, that while all this is happening your dwarves cannot use the monolith for anything, so a separate, fully functional temporary fortress is required.

Well, when I build it I'm not building scaffolding exactly - I'm building stairs upwards just on the inside, with entrances via holes.  I seal the holes up before I begin to fill it, and then I fill it.  I build the entire outer casing at once.