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[Urist McOverlord]

I put coffins everywhere.

Mined out gems? Coffins!
End of a hallway? Coffins!
Farms? Coffins!
Legendary dining room? You get the idea.

Also, I place tombs almost exclusively posthumously.
Further, I try to name my philosopher after a real philosopher. My current guy is named Henry Dwarfid Thoreau. I built him a wooden cabin near the river.
The hammerer is not to be killed, and is to be named Urist McHammer, so that I can imagine him kicking down poor Morul's door and screaming "STOP! Its justice time" before he goes about his dirty work.
Other than that, no dwarf gets a name. Ever.
Lastly, I force adherance to a very strict sequence of proffession naming, which is applied to all dwarves the minute I see them fail to conform.

Yeah, I think I qualify as eccentric.

[HastyLumbago]

That's going a little overboard, even for me. After all, where does the water come from in the first place? Either murky pools, which by definition are murky, or from streams and rivers meaning the water's so full of carp waste and offal you could probably burn it for fuel in your smelter.

Obviously we need to petition Toady to add water purification to the game.

Oddly enough this is another behavior I started recently. I build water towers. all drinking water is routed through a pump matrix with charcoal storage in it. I count that water as purified.

And yes, all constructions through which drinking water passes are made of non toxic materials. Glass if sand is available, and if it isn't? Marble and copper. Dwarfs aren't allowed to drink from unpurified sources.

Incidentally, thanks everyone for keeping this thread alive. having a thread this old, even one which someone Necro'd, and then noone complained... I feel like a part of the community. Thanks again.

[Garrie]

And yes, all constructions through which drinking water passes are made of non toxic materials. Glass if sand is available, and if it isn't? Marble and copper. Dwarfs aren't allowed to drink from unpurified sources.

NoNoNoNoNo! You're doing it wrong!
You are meant to use Lead and Yellowcake!
Why else do you think all those dwarfs have all those cool moods and get their ideas for building beds out of cast iron?

[mrbobbyg]

I smooth out all my magma plumbing, because it just looks prettier that way.  And doors.  I set make doors to repeat and door up every corridor, which are all 2x2.  I like to think this will come in handy in case of a catastrophic fun spiral, but it never really does.    But it does give me something to do with all that stone.

[mal7690]

I always have a massive cistern to manage all of my water needs.

This usually results in at least one instance of Fun when I forget which pipes need to be unpressurised and which ones need to be pressurized and half my fort gets flooded.  Emergency pressure gates to control the flow are commonplace.

The rivers also run dry after I get sieged.

[EliDupree]

This usually results in at least one instance of Fun when I forget which pipes need to be unpressurised and which ones need to be pressurized and half my fort gets flooded.  Emergency pressure gates to control the flow are commonplace.

That happened to me once, except that luckily only one dwarf died. Now I always put spare doors and hatches all over the place in water-pressure-related tunnels.

I'm not sure I've been playing long enough to have any great eccentricities... I guess in my current game, there's the fact that I've trained my Dungeon Master up to an Accomplished weaponsmith (and intend to train her up to legendary) forging menacing spikes for my traps. Might as well make some use of her, eh?

I'm also smoothing my entire mountain, but that's more of a pointless mega-project than an eccentricity.

[mrbobbyg]

This thread reminds me of how totally noobish I am.  I can do some pretty sweet stuff, make basic machines, but I still lack the DF skill to do totally preposterous projects.

[Rolan7]

This thread reminds me of how totally noobish I am.  I can do some pretty sweet stuff, make basic machines, but I still lack the DF skill to do totally preposterous projects.

Consider yourself lucky!  You can do with ease what us veterans are constantly striving for: have fun. 

By which I of course mean losing.  But I also seriously mean having fun.

[Fishbulb]

It's true. The very beginning, where you're still figuring out the basics, is the best part by far. Later, after you've "mastered" the basics (as much as anybody can master a game this complex), you'll start hitting limits. You'll find yourself coming up with really cool ideas that are simply physically impossible. The game is so rich it fools you into thinking it's boundless — and that's great! — but discovering that there really are boundaries out there takes just a bit of the shine off.

Enjoy the early game. Skip reading the wiki and build experiments of your own. Challenge yourself by embarking with an empty wagon. Try to build a fort that thrives only on farming. Explore. Have fun.

[viront]

Weirdest thing I do, remove all jagged cliff edges and flatten most mountains.

All elevated surfaces end up as a rectangle or if I have time, a square. This started when I made it part of the dwarf training regiment. I always end up killing a bunch in collapses. I think I'm flattening surfaces incorrectly... My last fort discovered the magma pipe by collapsing 3 dwarfs into it. I guess I should have noticed the obsidian

Migrants all follow this process:

*Assigned to Wrestling for 1 or 2 skill levels before champion (so they can fight later without becoming champion).
*Once they reach high enough wrestling level I grant them their dwarf name. This could be anything but it makes them show up differently in dwarf manager so I know they have completed the first process. Last game I picked character names from various games.
*I assign the dwarfs to mining and begin flatting the land. I usually pick large embark areas so this never gets done.
*Once they reach at least professional mining I assign them to build constructables like walls/bridges. If I have a project I have them do that otherwise just build some tower then deconstruct.
*Now they are assigned to smoothing. I stopped engraving because that seemed to make the value of fortress sky rocket and bring to many migrants.
*Dorfs that aren't gaining stats like I want them to are assigned to sweat shop pumping rooms. Otherwise skip to next step.
*I assign many to civilian tasks like hauling, these keep their names. Royal Guards get a RG at the beginning of their name, G for Guards, S# (s1, s2, s3) for squad dwarfs, X for my crossbow squad.

All starting dwarfs receive 4x4 bedroom, study, and dining room. Eventually they get statues and other fancy crap when my mason is legendary. Migrants receive 2 rooms, one has study and dining room and the one is bedroom with 2 containers on opposing sides. This becomes a nightmare when economy starts but I insist on leaving it on to torture myself. I try to assign dwarfs to tasks that make them decent money.

I always follow this process and its very time consuming. Sometimes I don't make it all the way or plans change.

Edit: I forgot one. I pamper the baron consort or baroness (whichever ends up being female). I go out of my way to give them things they like and make all of their stuff (except bed) out of rose gold to get a purple room. I was able to make all the walls and some of the floor rose gold once. I usually assign a squad of 2 to guard her room (in addition to the standard royal guard) and make them follow her when she feels like walking around. I also try to get exotic pets as long as she doesn't dislike them. Giant eagles are my favorite along with large felines. I think it was panthers... If I feel that I've just about done all I can for her I will start in with platinum or gold if that's unavailable for her male counterpart.

[Lord Shonus]

Laately, I've been building my royal tombs with a single-tile shafet from outside, directly over the coffin. (I build the room first.)

[Quantum Toast]

Laately, I've been building my royal tombs with a single-tile shafet from outside, directly over the coffin. (I build the room first.)

Nice and efficient. But how do you close the coffin lid after dropping the noble down there?

[EliDupree]

It's true. The very beginning, where you're still figuring out the basics, is the best part by far. Later, after you've "mastered" the basics (as much as anybody can master a game this complex), you'll start hitting limits. You'll find yourself coming up with really cool ideas that are simply physically impossible. The game is so rich it fools you into thinking it's boundless — and that's great! — but discovering that there really are boundaries out there takes just a bit of the shine off.

For me, the boundaries are actually the fun thing. There are so many little quirks that many things you wouldn't expect actually are possible, it just takes a ton of thought and experiment to find out how to manage them.

For instance, right now I'm working on an automatic food transport system based on the fact that flowing water moves light items with it.

[RantingRodent]

I am really particular about profession names. I use Dwarf Therapist to maintain a very regimented set of profession names. I also insist on giving all of my dwarves decent accommodations. I refuse to kill off nobles, although I wouldn't be entirely adverse to interfering with the Hammerer's ability to do his job. Is there any semi-reliable way to relieve a dwarf of both of his arms?

It would be a great fortress challenge to collect a bunch of the realism and dwarf cultural quirks people have mentioned in this thread and build a fort all the way to a getting the King while obeying those restrictions. I've been struggling to find a fortress challenge that really grabs my interest, maybe this one will do it.

[Solifuge]

I tend to rarely specialize my dwarves, instead opting to let them perform a variety of thematically related tasks: For instance, I have a group of "Rangers" who cycle between woodcuttters, herbalists, axedwarves, and hunters. "Cooks" are often Butchers and Fish Cleaners. "Farmers" often branch into Herbalism, Milling, or even Animal Training. Sometimes I have a "Military" leader, who is an intimidator, trained in melee combat skills, and operates as Record Keeper. He or she always goes and deals with big monsters, or Sieges personally.

Also, I create a heirarchy of laborers, based on experience level, length of time in the fortress, achievements, etc. There will be a Master Mason, who has a workshop which only he is allowed to use, or a Master Trapper (mechanic) who strictly sets, resets, and cleans traps, operates levers, etc.

Oh, and Fishers are always trained Swimmers and Wrestlers too, in case an errant Carp or Sturgeon comes by.

Urist Erwin: "Look at the soize o' that one! Ain't she a beauty!"