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[diefortheswarm]

I decided I wanted to start at the top of a very high mountain.  I downloaded the start anywhere utility.  I used it to start in the middle of
(what I thought) were very high mountains.  When I embarked, I found I only had about 15 z-levels from top to the deepest underground level.  I went back and skimmed over the whole map and found there were not any extreme cliffs anywhere!  Did this utility screw up my world or did I mess up my world parameters somehow?  The parameters I used are posted below.  I tried creating several more worlds with the same results in each of them.  I tried fooling with lower elevation variance to no eval.

[WORLD_GEN]
   [TITLE:LARGE]
   [DIM:257:257]
   [END_YEAR:300]
   [BEAST_END_YEAR:200:80]
   [REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
   [CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]
   [ELEVATION:1:400:1600:1600]
   [RAINFALL:0:100:400:400]
   [TEMPERATURE:25:75:400:400]
   [DRAINAGE:0:100:400:400]
   [VOLCANISM:100:100:1600:1600]
   [SAVAGERY:0:100:400:400]
   [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:100:100:100]
   [EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:6000:6000:6000]
   [PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:0]
   [OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:1]
   [VOLCANO_MIN:200]
   [REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:0:0:0]
   [EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:0]
   [RIVER_MINS:800:800]
   [PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:0]
   [OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:0]
   [SUBREGION_MAX:5000]
   [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:500]
   [CAVE_MAX_SIZE:500]
   [MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:800]
   [NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:800]
   [ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:1]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_RIVER:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_POOL:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_M_POOL:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_M_PIPE:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_CHASM:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_PIT:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_OTHER:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
   [TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:100]
   [TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:-1]
   [PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
   [ELEVATION_RANGES:0:0:0]
   [RAIN_RANGES:0:0:0]
   [DRAINAGE_RANGES:0:0:0]
   [SAVAGERY_RANGES:8256:16512:8256]
   [VOLCANISM_RANGES:0:0:20000]

[Proteus]

Steep cliffs only appear when there is a large height difference.

If all of the tiles on which you embarked were mountain tiles, there is no such difference,
in contrast to the situation when one tile is a mountain and the other tile is flatlands.
Starting in an all mountain area very probably just means that you start overall higher (maybe heightlevel 200 instead of just 50-100).

[Footkerchief]

If you want steep cliffs, you should tab through modes on the embark screen until you get the cliff map.

[userpay]

If you go to the link in my sig theres a save file that has some pretty good cliffs and plenty of other stuff at the location described in there. Plus you could join the parrell fort 

[Core Xii]

You can find high cliffs easily by exporting the elevation map of the entire world, then look for high contrast areas. A light pixel next to a dark one means there are high cliffs between those tiles.

[diefortheswarm]

Yeah I know what cliffs are.  I should have worded that better.  I am not actually looking for cliffs.  What I want is to start on top of a mountain and be able to mine down hundreds of Z levels.

From what I have seen, I have reached the following conclusion.  You can't start on top of a mountain and expect to mine down to the bottom.  It will treat it as ground level and only let you go as far down as if you were on the surface.  THIS SUCKS!!!!  What should I do to live out my dream?

[Proteus]

Yep, it is exactly as you said.
The total number of height levels on a map is kind of
([highest Ground Level]-[Lowest ground Level]) + [certain number of levels in air] + [certain numbrs of levels below ground]

So if you just want to maximize the number of levels you have the only way to do so would be to embark on maps with steep cliffs.

[Derakon]

Yeah, you get fifteen Z-levels that are completely underground, plus whatever includes a ground layer and a few sky-only layers. This is hard-coded. You could ask Toady to change that, but otherwise I suspect your only option is to try to hack the program's assembly code.

[puke]

From what I have seen, I have reached the following conclusion.  You can't start on top of a mountain and expect to mine down to the bottom.  It will treat it as ground level and only let you go as far down as if you were on the surface.  THIS SUCKS!!!!  What should I do to live out my dream?

Well, I guess you should try playing on this seed that i've got right here.  first one's free:

Created in DF v0.28.181.40d.

[WORLD_GEN]
   [TITLE:LARGE]
   [SEED:3410955590]
   [HISTORY_SEED:1458998346]
   [NAME_SEED:674119496]

there is a mountain range in the SW part of the world where you will find a mountain peak (^ icon on the world map) directly adjacent to a mountain valley. 

theres something like 226 z-levels between the mountain peak and the valley floor, you just need to make a slightly long and narrow embark selection to get the whole height difference.  there is even a cave river between the peak and the valley, with a massive waterfall into a bottomless pit.

its the region im playing a fort on now, and it looks something like this:

[userpay]

From what I have seen, I have reached the following conclusion.  You can't start on top of a mountain and expect to mine down to the bottom.  It will treat it as ground level and only let you go as far down as if you were on the surface.  THIS SUCKS!!!!  What should I do to live out my dream?

Well, I guess you should try playing on this seed that i've got right here.  first one's free:

Created in DF v0.28.181.40d.

[WORLD_GEN]
   [TITLE:LARGE]
   [SEED:3410955590]
   [HISTORY_SEED:1458998346]
   [NAME_SEED:674119496]

there is a mountain range in the SW part of the world where you will find a mountain peak (^ icon on the world map) directly adjacent to a mountain valley. 

theres something like 226 z-levels between the mountain peak and the valley floor, you just need to make a slightly long and narrow embark selection to get the whole height difference.  there is even a cave river between the peak and the valley, with a massive waterfall into a bottomless pit.

its the region im playing a fort on now, and it looks something like this:

Would this be it?

If it is then I might do this one after my current fort. If it isn't then you might have to provide the exported world gen settings if you still have that world.

[puke]

thats the right world, but thats the wrong spot.  im talking about a place where you can embark ON the peak because its right next to a valley.  here, underneath my yellow "X" on the region map there is a "^" mountain peak:



the fortress in the "local" map goes one row south of where the peak is, and the northmost row is the grassland you can see in my image above.  you could make the whole thing one row shorter and not get the back slope of the mountain, if you wanted a slightly smaller area.  you could also make the whole thing only two squares wide, or even one square wide if you are using the nano-fortress mod.  You get more grass and trees if you pick the left two columns, and you get more cave-river if you pick the right two columns.. 

[userpay]

Ah found the spot, might one day use it.

[lordnincompoop]

Just so you guys know, there's some very interestiong features here. I genned it in a practically-vanilla 40d14, and in it there is an actual 5-tile chasm (21 tiles, corners removed. I mean the kind of tile that a tree or a dwarf can occupy, not a region tile or anything) and an underground river running into it, creating a natural and enless waterfall. Smallest chasm I've seen so far. No floors in it, which is  odd, nor any critters.

[Shakma]

Just so you guys know, there's some very interestiong features here. I genned it in a practically-vanilla 40d14, and in it there is an actual 5-tile chasm (21 tiles, corners removed. I mean the kind of tile that a tree or a dwarf can occupy, not a region tile or anything) and an underground river running into it, creating a natural and enless waterfall. Smallest chasm I've seen so far. No floors in it, which is  odd, nor any critters.

Every cave river drains into one of those on one end.

[slink]

Just so you guys know, there's some very interestiong features here. I genned it in a practically-vanilla 40d14, and in it there is an actual 5-tile chasm (21 tiles, corners removed. I mean the kind of tile that a tree or a dwarf can occupy, not a region tile or anything) and an underground river running into it, creating a natural and enless waterfall. Smallest chasm I've seen so far. No floors in it, which is  odd, nor any critters.

there is even a cave river between the peak and the valley, with a massive waterfall into a bottomless pit.