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[HastyLumbago]

OK, so I'm no genius. I've never managed the gleaming crystal glass towers, the indoor giant waterfalls, I've never survived more than about twenty minutes after realizing there was magma on the map, and I've never breached the aquifer.

That said, I love DF, and I play the hell out of it. I've got no less than 5 copies on my compy (one completely vanilla, one with light mods for cat mouths and butcherable cats and dogs, as well as exotic-trainable beak dogs, one mayday graphics set version, one modded for super-cheatyness for epic construction testing purposes, and one which I use to screw around with various modding ideas) And I've developed, over time, a few odd little behaviors which I do for my own amusement, which have little to no impact on the game:

1. In any area I'm about to enclose in solid walls, I designate a single-tile custom dwarven wine stockpile, so that when the last wall tile is built, and the dwarf who does so is inevitably walled in, I can imagine him screaming "For the love of God, Montressor!" until he starves to death.

2. I replace my bookkeeper's table once per year, so he can have a fresh surface to chisel the records to. The old table, I move to a dedicated records room.

3. I nearly always name my first dwarfs for the days of the week.

4. Once per year, in winter, I cancel all jobs, take a few rooms I've places statues in, and designate them as statue gardens, thus encouraging my fortress to party for Dwarfmas.

So, my question is this: do any of you do similar things? What are they?

[shadowclasper]

My dwarven fortresses almost ALWAYS have an enormous goblin bone industry. Seriously, it's a freaking holiday after goblins arrive. They go into the roach-motel of trapped doom, no survivors, let them rot because NO ONE goes into there unless absolutely necessary. This period of allowing them to rot away is filled with much celebration in anticipation of the new influx of supplies for the goblin bone industry.

[gerkinzola]

i smooth and engrave every surface possible with my soon to be drafted cheese makers and peasants.

[chinkeeyong]

In any area I'm about to enclose in solid walls, I designate a single-tile custom dwarven wine stockpile, so that when the last wall tile is built, and the dwarf who does so is inevitably walled in, I can imagine him screaming "For the love of God, Montressor!" until he starves to death.

You win.

I don't really have a dwarf-mode personal eccentricity, since I never play seriously for more than half a dwarf year. When wrestling in adventure mode, though, I find it disturbingly entertaining to gouge both eyes, break every joint, and strangle my opponent until he bleeds to death. Extra wrestling points!

[XSI]

I've sort of made a sport of trying to get as many sparring injuries in my forts, masterwork steel weapons for everyone, we'll see about armour later.

[JubalHarshaw]

I've sort of made a sport of trying to get as many sparring injuries in my forts, masterwork steel weapons for everyone, we'll see about armour later.

Agreed, military service in most of my forts is an "Only the Strong (or Lucky) Survive" type of scenario. I figure if they die in training, they didn't have what it takes anyway.

Other eccentricities include noble-quality bedrooms and tombs for my Starting Seven dwarves, and if I'm feeling lazy and cheater-like, I usually de-construct the trade depot when a caravan is on it to loot all the stuff.

[Goron]

In any area I'm about to enclose in solid walls, I designate a single-tile custom dwarven wine stockpile, so that when the last wall tile is built, and the dwarf who does so is inevitably walled in, I can imagine him screaming "For the love of God, Montressor!" until he starves to death.

You win.

Chinkeeyong called it right.
I am not sure how you expected other people to post anything nearly as awesomely eccentric, HastyLumbago...
I think I may start copying you with that... Every new big construction project of mine will involve bodies in the walls- literally:-)

I also like your Dwarfmas celebration. It is the little things like that- completely in the hands of the player and not really forced by the game- that make playing DF even more fun.

I suppose the most frequent quirky stuff I do is the same as many others- such as recognizing the original seven with special rooms, statues, monuments, or whatnot.
Some others:
I like to design 'real' rooms rather than 'economical' rooms- you will never see 'best possible layouts' of sleeping quarters in my forts. I try to make them natural and realistic. I also love to form rooms against cliff faces, a practice that usually results in a lot of wasted space but I think it looks cool.
Along that note, I will usually split out the offices or nobles from their living spaces. It seems most people make the noble areas three room apartments (office, dining, bed). I'll usually make the living space contain a furnished bedroom with an adjoined dining area but have the offices in a separate area of the fort that acts as the administrative area.
The dining rooms are never just a table and chair- I'll make a four table block (or more) to resemble a large dining table.
I also love double doors. Pretty much every noble room has a double door.
And last I can think of for now: I make shared bedrooms for couples. I will make a double bed and assign the baron to one and consort to the other. Sure, it makes it harder to make the room 'nice' enough to please them but I figure they should sleep in the same room- married peasants do it.

[Skorpion]

- Lots of masonry. I keep my fort employed with masonry.
- Skull totems. Lots of skull totems.
- Goblin clothing is dumped, then either reclaimed and sorted or destroyed with magma.
- I tend to clear and smooth corridors to improve transit times.
- High-density dwarven living, in 2*2 rooms with a bed and maybe a cabinet, set out in lines.
- Huge stockpiles of everything, because I don't know how to NOT produce huge amounts of stuff. This means enough food and booze to last a year or two, trade goods for a decade, and huge amounts of metal. The earth is plundered and stacked neatly in patches of cleared ground.
- A large standing military, with a squad or two on guard at all times. Traps are imperfect and endanger valuable dwarves, whereas the military is trained and armoured and entirely male to prevent babies being wounded.
- Recycling! I will buy exotic metal items off caravans and melt them down, melt down items from invaders, and even individual bolts. I have no shortage of labour, so it's worth the effort for every time I get a whole bar of iron out of melting down one single bolt.

[jseah]

- Massive food industry for the first two or three years, then once I have 160k food and drink, I stop it completely

- If there's sand, clear glass will be used in all fancy stuff

- High density dwarven living mkII.  No corridors.  Every room has 4 doors and doubles as a corridor as well.  All rooms are adjacent to another room.  Porous Fort. 

[cerapa]

I never let dwarves go idle. If they dont work, they go engraving.

Needless to say, all my fortresses are completely smooth.

[Demonic Spoon]

I like walling off my ant/termite colonies and starting wagons with clear glass. The dwarves can then visit the wagon museum and learn about the efforts of the brave first settlers or admire the natural beauty and ingenuity of the brave ants etc.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

I only spend effort on the dungeon masters room. all other nobles get the cluster room.

[Duke 2.0]

 SYMMETRY!
 YOU! GROUND! I don't dig you 'till I figure out the absolute perfect thing to add to you. NEVER 'TILL THEN!
 You leader, you will be named after a god. YOUR POSITION IS RA, SUN GOD.
 I need a pit! I'm not even going to drop anything down it, I just want a pit! And no weaksauce 5x5 pits either, half the goddam mountain is gonna be an underground pit when I'm done.

[Demonic Spoon]

SYMMETRY!
 YOU! GROUND! I don't dig you 'till I figure out the absolute perfect thing to add to you. NEVER 'TILL THEN!
 You leader, you will be named after a god. YOUR POSITION IS RA, SUN GOD.
 I need a pit! I'm not even going to drop anything down it, I just want a pit! And no weaksauce 5x5 pits either, half the goddam mountain is gonna be an underground pit when I'm done.

I'm not seeing anything strange or out of the ordinary here?

[Duke 2.0]

 I play as Humans.