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[Starver]

As to the bit about composing diagrams in notepad or a linux text editor, it's my understanding that most text editors (Open Office and MS Office I know from personal experience) have at least one fixed-length font, sometimes several, and you can always install one.

It'll be the computer that does/does not have fixed-width fonts.  (And, really, I doubt any computer doesn't.)  Both Offices (and most other software) will work with what's installed if there aren't any irregularities.  But using a word processor to edit text might be asking for trouble if you don't know what you're doing.  (Creating a batch file or raw HTML in Word[1], frexample, really only gives you what you want if you mess with a number of options in the save dialogue.)  I wouldn't class Word and OO's Writer component "Text editors", in general.

I also find it quite easy to hit (say) the "Windows-R" combination and type "notepad<enter>".  It's as easy as using "winword<enter>" (assuming that's installed, and not outside of the %PATH%/equivalent), without the aforementioned hassle, and far easier than finding the locally installed Word Processor in the start menu.  But then I'm a bit geeky, in that respect, and rarely use the mouse where I don't need to, and will put the i-tag around italics by keyboard rather than abandon it with one hand to move the mouse to (optionaly) select text and then click the form button I can see above..

Sorry, that's my last off-topic.

Ditto!  (Well, I hope.)


[1] Don't talk to me about saving a formatted document as HTML.  Messy, messy markup always results.  Sorry, my geekiness continues to shine out, I'm sure, but <DIV>s should be used sparingly and intelligently, not with repetitively similar styles for every paragraph, or <SPAN>s at each and every point where minor changes occur, never mind the overuse of "position: absolute"...  Right, I'm done moaning.  We now return you to you regular programme.  Or "program", if you prefer.

(Edited: because the oen disadvantage of typing tags, instead of using the mouse to select and modify sections of text, is that you can accidentally put a close tag instead of an open one!)

[Rose]

After you start chopping, could you check if the muddy sand left behind is harvestable?

[forsaken1111]

Also try trampling some of the shrubs with a military dorf set to patrol and see if it turns into sand

[smjjames]

I already have sand, I should have mentioned that part of my embark is on a desert.

What I'm trying to ask and haven't really gotten a good response to, is what sort of traffic/floor/road pathway layout should I use for such a huge area? Yes I could have done multiple levels, but clearing out the rock from there, filling, and then draining takes forever and a half. Actually, filling doesn't take too long, it's the draining that takes a while. I do have the patience, but I want to move on to other projects. Plus my wood consumption isn't exactly high and there is a (sparsely) forested savannah within my embark that I can use if I wanted to.

[Khyron]

My favorite way to do TC farms is like this :

(The 'F' is the floodgate)

Z level 0
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~F~   Intake
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -1
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -2
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -3
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..  Drain
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Water enters through the intake, fills the first chamber, drains down into the 2nd via the stairs, then into the 3rd, then into the 4th, and finally drains out entirely. Significantly reduces the amount of water needed to fill the entire place, and ensures that plants begin growing at the top
even while the lower levels are still draining. The 'o' in the top-left corner of each room is the garbage dump you shove all stone into. (Except Level -3, where you just chuck it all out the drain).

To ensure a minimum of trampling, designate the center path between stairs as High traffic, and the top/bottom halves as low traffic.

[Hyndis]

I just do a line across the map. Perhaps only 20 tiles wide, but spanning the width of the map from left to right.

Stairs are on the left as all harvesting is done left to right. On the end of each farm there are some channeled out areas where water can drop down to the next level, with the drain being on the bottom level of course.

This doesn't take up that much of the map but provides a huge amount of farming. Removing the stone is of course a huge undertaking, but by the time I'm going to work on a treefarm I've usually got 100+ dwarves anyways. The stone is then piled up near the stairs, and then my smelter guys just prospect tons of metal from all those useless stones.

[kaypy]

Another vote for the tower-cap tower layout here- I have 4 towers of 11x11 tiles x6 levels, 600 700 and counting logs, and the bleached bones of a former elven diplomat (it was goblins, honest).

I have a high-traffic path beween the stairs on each level, but dont really bother with much formal by way of taking care of the place, just mark off the entire area for tree-cutting and plant-gathering periodically. Its odd having legendary woodcutters and herbalists who haven't been outside since they arrived...

After you start chopping, could you check if the muddy sand left behind is harvestable?

I'm not sure if you need to already have sand elsewhere for it to work, but gathering sand from the tiles that go sandy works for my fortress.

[smjjames]

Well, okay, maybe I didn't need to do such a huge single chamber, I'm pretty new to the TC farming business.

Anyways, how close together should the traffic zones/pathways be to maximize TC growth?

[Hyndis]

Don't have any traffic there at all.

Just completely ignore the tower cap farm for years on end, then periodically send wood cutters and herb gatherers to clean out the area.

You can have multiple levels of a tower cap farm and harvest one level per year, which allows the other farms to grow back without any trampling at all.

[smjjames]

I'll keep that central passageway though, which is only a small strip 5 tiles wide and I'll put restricted traffic on the rest.

I haven't really decided whether I want to make a second layer because the bedrooms are on the bottom most layer (z -15 at that location) and the farms are at z -10. I don't want to disturb the sleep stuff too much. I'm working on some other digging projects right now though.

Still, having multiple z-level farms sounds like a good idea, although perhaps not quite so damn big.

[Martin]

My favorite way to do TC farms is like this :

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(The 'F' is the floodgate)

Z level 0
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~F~   Intake
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -1
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -2
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  Xo~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Z Level -3
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
X<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..  Drain
XXX~~~~~~~~~~~~~XXX
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  X~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Water enters through the intake, fills the first chamber, drains down into the 2nd via the stairs, then into the 3rd, then into the 4th, and finally drains out entirely. Significantly reduces the amount of water needed to fill the entire place, and ensures that plants begin growing at the top
even while the lower levels are still draining. The 'o' in the top-left corner of each room is the garbage dump you shove all stone into. (Except Level -3, where you just chuck it all out the drain).

To ensure a minimum of trampling, designate the center path between stairs as High traffic, and the top/bottom halves as low traffic.

I do something similar to this but I put a small room in the center of each TC room with the stairs that stays dry (each level is usually 50x50) and has a door on each side. Where you have the garbage dump I have a channel to bring the water to the next level, but the level below will have the channel in the alternate corner to ensure the room fully floods before the water drops to the next level. At the bottom I have a channel and exit pipe in the floor as I find water drains faster down than to the side.

I give that center room a little space so that I can put a plant stockpile there. If you don't plant gather periodically, they'll eventually take up all the growing spots on the floor and you won't get any tower caps. I don't find that traffic paths are needed if all you have are woodcutters and herbalists going in every few years.

[smjjames]

I had origionally made with that central corridor in mind. It doesn't see alot of heavy use though during normal operations, and the cave spiders are mysteriously missing from this embark map.