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[johnnybeltz]

I have had a sudden impulse to create a sprawling above ground city fashioned much like Minas Tirith in LOTR, and I thought it would be challenging and fun to play the game for the most part out in the open, and build an immense underground complex to fall back on in an emergency.

I have already erected the beginnings of two gaurd towers that enclose what will be my main gate, and have excavated a large mound to accomodate them. A sturdy wall 1 z-level tall (or two if I am ambitious) will encircle my mountain face, and fortifications will be built for my marksdwarves all along the wall, and a moat will ensure that my enemies will not get too close to it. My temporary barracks have been placed  inside the gaurd towers' bottom stories, and my real barracks will be placed in opposition to the main gate (to ensure quick response) into the face of the mountain, extending a little inwards for an archery range.  A road will zig-zag up said  mountain (about 5 z-levels), and buildings will be placed along its face as the road twines upwards. Private bedrooms will line the third z-level mountain face in a multi-story apartment complex, thus adding extra road space on the higher levels. Fortifications will edge each cliff face for citizen safety and military convenience in case of a breach, and my trade depot will be in the far corner of the bottom of the mountain along with the workshops and stockpiles. A dining room and meeting hall will be erected directly under the apartments and into the mountain, and it will also serve as an entrance to the deeps by way of staircase. At the top of the mountain, a large nobles' hall and quarters will dominate the scenery, and a private tunnel will provide access to the second z-level for convenience and easy food reach.

Well, this is what I've got planned so far... 
By all means, feel free to express your own ideas and opinions on the subject of above ground fortresses, and I would be happy to recieve comments and suggestions on my grand plan.

Oh, and I am building it as I go to discourage symmetry. I have a tendency to want to pre-plan and make everything symmetrical, but it gets boring real quick.   

[Village_Idiot]

You should make it entirely from wood, in an elven "village" strip every tree in the area and hunt every unicorn you can find, then build towers from the wood and soap form the unicorns.

Do everything to piss those elves off!

[Incendax]

The only issue I have with Above-Ground Fortresses is that you need an entire Z-Level full of walls between each useable Z-Level to give you the full range of construction options. That can be tedious and time-consuming.

[Martin]

I have an above ground in my sig that might be worth a look.

It's above-ground, but done differently in that I excavated down the sides of the mountains to reveal the buildings. Much less tedious than all the construction (there's plenty of that too) but the real advantage is that it's never seen daylight, so it's all dark subterranean, which means that dwarves will take shelter in there if you tell everyone to stay inside, and if you have a soil layer, you can farm underground plants.

If you look in my fortress you'll see the farm pretty near the center of the town. It's got 3 farming levels and 2 of the 3 are subterranean sand, but are at z=0 and z+1 to the town. The top is above ground farming.

I've been away from that fortress for a while but I'll return to it soon. The main limitation on it is that it's pre-orc, so it gets ambushed constantly but never sieged because the pop isn't quite high enough.

[ousire]

so as i get this, your basicly making a big city built into a mountainside, with the road 'looping' back and forth the higher you go?

heres my pointers:
-all must be made from stone, tahts how minas tirith was made.
-at the corners of the 'loops', make big solid walls and gates for protection. after all, minas tirith was a massive 7-layered city
-at the top, you need a biiiiiiig courtyard (statue garden?), with that classic massive spire jutting out over the rest of the city

[Leafsnail]

I've always liked the idea of making a completely open fort, above ground with no walls or defensive structures at all.  You may mine, but not place any buildings there.  The only way you'd be allowed to defend yourself would be with soldiers or traps.  Would this be at all feasible?

[Wahad]

If you have a bazillion ore with which to make traps, armors, and weapons from, sure.

If not, you can't really make a large fort.

Me, I'm not really into above-ground fortresses. I might make one in the future, but for now I'm sticking to underground.

[Pjoo]

I've always liked the idea of making a completely open fort, above ground with no walls or defensive structures at all.  You may mine, but not place any buildings there.  The only way you'd be allowed to defend yourself would be with soldiers or traps.  Would this be at all feasible?

Pillars and kind of treetop kind fort. No walls, just pillars(ok, technically wall but), bridges, staircases and floor

[Leafsnail]

Eh, that would count as a defensive structure  .  What I meant was like a fort with no chokepoints or anything where you basically have to fight any enemies head on.

[Pjoo]

Eh, that would count as a defensive structure  .  What I meant was like a fort with no chokepoints or anything where you basically have to fight any enemies head on.

Might run out of floor space tho
Well, not sure about that, but it can get kinda crowded.

[Leafsnail]

Yeah, I thought that too.  But then again, once you've got your workshops, beds and stockpiles you'll be ok.  Noble "Rooms" don't have to be inside, I think.  Of course, you'll lose a lot of civilian dwarves in every attack, but hey, that's fun, right?

[Ivefan]

If you ignore the fat wall, is this the kind you ment with an open city? though there will always be strategical points due to buildings.
 
http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4344-woundtonetemplecity

[Tuxd]

Mine has started out pretty slowly, but with the area, I think it will look pretty good in 3Dwarf when its done. The only thing I've got underground right now is food/farms.


Starting area..

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As of now (one season has passed)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm going to try and give every dwarf there own house (as I can, that magma pipe is going to get allot of use eventually), or I'll start stuffing the peon/peasant types into the basements.

I was going to try and build all of these building up to a certain z-level, build platforms on the sides of the map, and make a connecting series of bridges/floors, flood underneath (Dwarven Venice? (: ), but I don't think there is enough room..

[They Got Leader]

Build a city like the Humans. Little houses of about 4x4 via wood. Bring a couple stone masons and dig a quarry for stone and metals. Only major issue is that most dwarves (that ive seen) dont like being in the outdoors often. (Complain of draft)

[Tuxd]

Build a city like the Humans. Little houses of about 4x4 via wood. Bring a couple stone masons and dig a quarry for stone and metals. Only major issue is that most dwarves (that ive seen) dont like being in the outdoors often. (Complain of draft)

I don't pay attention to my moods much (probably should), but I've never seen that one. Learn something new everyday.

A human like city is what I'm going for, but I'm making most of the houses themselves 5x5 (for a 3x3 room in the end) and 3 stories tall (Dining room/office/bedroom), all with a basement that interconnects to a shaft beneath the streets should anything go, you know... right?