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[Wahad]

I have a very simple one.

DDD
dXd
UUU

D being down-stairs, X up/down-stairs, U upstairs, and d just dug-out tiles.

[doctorspoof]

Fun suggestion:

Make your entire fortress out of up/down staircases.
Never again will you worry about dwarves spending too much time between places!



Especially spending too much time away from the bottom Z-level!


Hurts your eyes mind :|

[Soralin]

I usually put my fortresses dump in the mains stairwell, like so:

XXX
X_X
XXX

X=Stair,_=Channel

Its an exploit, but I dont care.

I made one like that, but instead of a dump, I stuck a waterfall running all the way down the middle.  http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4371-feedtorches  Much happiness when all the dwarves have to go next to the waterfall to get between levels.

[Stromko]

For a long time (about half the time I've spent on the 3D version of DF) I'd make my fortresses on a single Z-level, since this seemed to drastically reduce pathing lag. I've always been a bit of an FPS whore, I pretty much give up on a fort if it's consistently under 30 FPS or has massive lag spikes. Lately though with 40d3 - d9 I've built forts that used the Z level again, and my current fortress is heavily standardized in that regard.

The concept is that it's a tower that will be dug out from the ground (with concentric rings of ramp-cut terrain going deeper and deeper to expose more of the tower, bit like a crater), so that the dwarves will all live in the tower and if I tell them to stay inside, they'll stay in the tower. They'll occasionally complain anyway, even when every part of their task is located indoors, but 99% of all work continues uninterrupted during a siege.

The main block is a 11x11 (or whatever a shift-diagonal arrow gets you) room, in the middle 3x3 square I have a single-file line of up-stairs, a space between them, and then a single-file line of downstairs, and these will alternate each level. So:
<<<      >>>
. . . and . . .
>>>      <<<

I carve out additional 5x5 rooms around this in a standardized pattern. At each corner of the main 11x11, starting 2-squares in (diagonally), I dig out a 5x5 room. It comes out looking like a very chubby X. 1 room is also made in each cardinal direction by digging out a 5x5 block between the gaps left by the corner rooms, connected to the main chamber by doorways. I can exclude areas from being excavated to leave natural walls wherever they need to be, or connect it all into one massive chamber for storage.

One concept I was toying with was to leave 9 8 columns of rock un-excavated around the 5x5 open section that has the stairs in the middle. Between each column would be a 2-square gap, small enough to seal with doors and provide a modicum of protection. It would also allow any level to be independently cut off by locking all those doors, without blocking the dwarves on the other z-levels from using the stairs.

Eventually of course I had to create tunnels leading out of the tower-block for exploratory mining, and I also have a couple of horizontal shafts carrying magma and water into the tower (dangerous I know!). As time goes on I'll probably dig out under the magma and water shafts so they hang in the air like aqueducts, and I can seal up the mining works before I ramp down that far and then reconnect the fort and the mines deeper down. So far only 6 (inside, subterranean) levels of the tower are exposed on the outside, with five more levels dug out below.

[Katsuun]

I usually put my fortresses dump in the mains stairwell, like so:

XXX
X_X
XXX

X=Stair,_=Channel

Its an exploit, but I dont care.

I made one like that, but instead of a dump, I stuck a waterfall running all the way down the middle.  http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4371-feedtorches  Much happiness when all the dwarves have to go next to the waterfall to get between levels.

I actually tried running a waterfall down that design, but my CPU crashed so I had to abdandon and deleted my closest fortress to achiving that so... yeah...

[Andir]

I usually put my fortresses dump in the mains stairwell, like so:

XXX
X_X
XXX

X=Stair,_=Channel

Its an exploit, but I dont care.

Exploit how?

[Hectonkhyres]

When I get ornate, I mean crazy ornate, I build a 3x3 block of alternating up stairs and down stairs on a 7x7 island surrounded by waterfalls and a 3x3 moat. Bridges extend in all three directions. the next Z-level down is mostly empty except for drainage channels and storage. Beneath that I repeat the crazy ornate level. Corners are filled with statues and cages.

Usually though? Plain 3x3 block of updown stairs covered with hatch covers every level.

[Andir]

When I get ornate, I mean crazy ornate, I build a 3x3 block of alternating up stairs and down stairs on a 7x7 island surrounded by waterfalls and a 3x3 moat. Bridges extend in all three directions. the next Z-level down is mostly empty except for drainage channels and storage. Beneath that I repeat the crazy ornate level. Corners are filled with statues and cages.

Usually though? Plain 3x3 block of updown stairs covered with hatch covers every level.

I got tired of crazy ornate.  The game interface is a pain as it is.  When I get crazy ornate, I end up spending hours just drawing it out.  My latest fort is a 72 diameter cylinder with a dome top, a circular central shaft, and odd shaped rooms off the central spire.  It's a PITA to dig out.  I usually get tired of doing it and never go back to them.  I even took inspiration from the bio-hazard symbol for one of mine using the sign as a layout for the hallways and rooms filling the gaps.  I gave up pretty early on that because of all the designation required.

[Katsuun]

I usually put my fortresses dump in the mains stairwell, like so:

XXX
X_X
XXX

X=Stair,_=Channel

Its an exploit, but I dont care.

Exploit how?

Its like a quantum dump, all of the stone lands on a single tile, which is just physically infeasable.

[Andir]

Its like a quantum dump, all of the stone lands on a single tile, which is just physically infeasable.

You can do the same with a single tile though.  No need for stairs.

[Katsuun]

Yeah, but I like my way. Puts all the stone somewhere out of the way.

[father_alexander]

Yeah, but I like my way. Puts all the stone somewhere out of the way.

i do something similar with my dump, i place dumps in all levels in the same place, then channel and put a hatch, wen i get too many stuff i dont want (like stupid things i get from killing the elves) i press the lever and everything comes down to my incinerator (a.k.a. a room with magma)

[Musluk]

Multiple dumps aren't something I like... so one dump, on the same z-level with masonry and butchers.

[Chromie]

Code: [Select]

xxxxx xxxxx
xDUDx xUDUx
xUxUx xDxDx
xDUDx xUDUx
xxxxx xxxxx
repeat ad infinitum...
D=down, U=up, x=floor. Much more floor if it's the "lobby" of a bedrooms floor, then I put a statue garden there.

[RAM]

Wait, what? Can you have multiple down or up stairs stacked on top of each other for one-way movement?