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[Neruz]

The concept you're looking for is "Forward Bases"

[Outcast Orange]

I can't wait to see what sort of towers people come up with now!
All of that extra space...

*Rolls over and babbles uncontrollably*

Hm, what?
Oh yeah, cabbage.

[CobaltKobold]

Oh my. With this much space, perhaps we will actually get some megaprojects*!

*i.e. measured by quantity of material consumption

I suppose it's technically possible if you get a big-Z map now, just a 100x100x100 (full) tower or something.

*applause*

[Rose]

coming up next: the dorf Saturn V

[Greiger]

A thousand z level tall tower that uses every speck of mineable rock that ever existed on the map. All connected to a single support and lever.

[smjjames]

Its a big IF whether your computer can handle that.

Is there an actual height of one z-level or is it an abstract thing? I figure its probably abstract since one tile can hold a size 20 dragon, or 200 dwarves, plus quantum dump piles.

I know its a question that just about anybody can answer, but I'm asking Toady what he thinks.

So, if we go by one z-level being about size 7 (the max water level) and ignore that dragons and the like can somehow stuff themselves into tunnels that size, 1,000 z-levels would be something like 5,000-6,000 feet?

[Sean Mirrsen]

I measure the tiles by the most common denominator - i.e. building levels or "floors". Here in russia, a level is roughly 3 meters high. So, a thousand Z-levels is about one third of the way to Everest.

[diefortheswarm]

When toady says "the number of z-levels minimum between each layer" I think he means each layer of stone.  Say you have a layer of Dolomite, you can now set how many Z-levels it should take up.

[Kennel]

When toady says "the number of z-levels minimum between each layer" I think he means each layer of stone.  Say you have a layer of Dolomite, you can now set how many Z-levels it should take up.

I guess it means "each layer of underground cave complexes".

[smjjames]

6,000 or 9,000 feet would still make for proper mountains.

I have a feeling that now we are getting towards more natural geology and geological dimensions, we could put in some proper multilevel veins or entire sheets of ore. However, I think that would have to be in another update as we will have to see how things work with the caverns.

@Diefortheswarm: I'm talking about z-levels as a concept and the height of one z-level. Still, setting the minimum levels between layers (meaning how thick each layer is, if I'm interpreting that right) should be fun to mess around with. I wonder if it is a generic setting for all layer stones or if you can set it for individual types in the raws.

@Kennel: I think he would have said that if it were the case, but it isn't.

[AbacusWizard]

After reading the latest dev note I got this uncontrollable urge to donate. There's quite a lot what one can do with that one. Some very interesting building projects.. hmm.. *ponders*

Building projects on Toady's newly clean apartment floor? 

[Neonivek]

After reading the latest dev note I got this uncontrollable urge to donate. There's quite a lot what one can do with that one. Some very interesting building projects.. hmm.. *ponders*

Building projects on Toady's newly clean apartment floor? 

I don't even want to imagine his appartment if it will take a whole week to clean.

I mean, it only takes me around 3 hours to clean my kitchen.

[Demonic Gophers]

Question: Will the new control over z-levels influence adventure mode?  Will flying creatures have some actual sky to work with, even in flat areas?

[Footkerchief]

Is there an actual height of one z-level or is it an abstract thing? I figure its probably abstract since one tile can hold a size 20 dragon, or 200 dwarves, plus quantum dump piles.

I know its a question that just about anybody can answer, but I'm asking Toady what he thinks.

Came up a couple DF Talks ago:

Rainseeker:   Right. Well, I have a technical question here; 'How exactly long, wide and tall is a tile in Dwarf Fortress? Are they cubes?'; this is from Lonewolf.
Toady:   What the traditional answer is [is] that they're not so big that a dwarf doesn't have to crawl under another dwarf to get through a corridor but at the same time they're big enough to hold a thousand dragons as long as nine hundred and ninety nine of them are lying down. On the other hand it's a serious question because so much would ride on giving an answer; that's why I haven't so far. Because the second that you give an answer the game becomes constricted and you need things to make more sense; suddenly everything needs to make sense. I'm not ready to do that; I think there's something to be said for it - something to be said for nailing that down - but it would really kind of invite things like multi-tile creatures and stuff that I'm just not ready to do. There are some good things about multi-tile creatures; I think they'd be kind of cool. But path finding would need to be changed heavily, and there'd be other issues with them. Would they be too easy to kill for example by hiding off somewhere that they can't get to and shooting at them or whatever; so they'd need to be smart enough to avoid situations like that which might be difficult. So that's kind of one of the main problems - the large creatures - why I haven't established a number yet.

[SirPenguin]

As much as I enjoy having modding options, I've always been one to stick to the "vanilla" or "default" options, as I feel those are the options Toady meant the game to be played at (and thus things will be balanced with those options in mind). Having said that, Toady,

What are the current average heights for the sky z-levels and the ground z-levels?

I know you have specifically mentioned in the past how the 15 z-level thing is "gone", and we've seen screenshots of layers that are 40, 50, 60 levels deep. But where did you end up landing when deciding on the default values?