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[Pantheon]

Hey, i've got a pretty slow computer, and so i run anywhere from 20 to 40 population cap forts. I care a whole lot about how my fortresses look, but i can never manage to create an entrance that is both decently protected (for a small fort) and looks good, both in dwarf mode and in "imagined 3d" (what it would look like in real life basically).

The many problems are: Trade depot needs 3 wide entrance, and this makes it hard to make everything symmetrical and have doors. Close to that i need a finished goods pile, as well as a craftworkshop and preferrably gem workshop and gem pile.

Any screenies or stuff that explain a functional AND esthetic entrance?

[FaultyLogic]

You could use floodgates that lead into a trade-depot room, and only lower them when a caravan arrives.

You could make a moat and courtyard, then perhaps doors wouldn't be necessary.

[Pantheon]

Yep so far i've settled with having an outdoor trade depot surrounded with walls and a tower, and a moat with a drawbridge as entrance to the fortress proper. I only open it when a caravan arrives, and then i station marksdwarves in the tower.

[RebelZhouYuWu]

It is not that hard to achieve symmetry with a 3 wide entrance, for doors you can do the trick of one door and each side with a wall in the middle, and if you count the tiles going straight down the middle of the 3-wide path as your line of symmetry then it is fairly easy.

[melkorp]

Accomodating a trading depot indoors feels wrong somehow, I always put it outside in a courtyard w/walls, moats.  Legendary field of vomit=bonus. 

[FaultyLogic]

My standard corridors are five tiles wide. I usually have one of these that extends a good bit into the mountain, then somewhere along the way another corridor extends from the main one, into a hall where the Trade Depot is located. Not really symmetrical I suppose, but very quick to make and easy to defend.

[Danjen]

For defence, I have a drawbridge 3 tiles wide over a moat; this should be sufficient until you get a military.


Every floor follows the same pattern for most of my forts. Basically, it is 2-4 z-layers with a layout like the following:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

+++++++++++++
+...     ...+
+...     ...+
+...vvvvv...+
+...........+
+...........+
+..+^^^^^+..+
+..+++++++..+
+...........+
+...........+
+++++++++++++
I find that the best places to build off from this would be from the wall sections on either side of the 2-height platform between the ramps. Of course, you could build hallways anywhere, but that's what I find works best for me.

Bottom z-level (contains trade depot):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

+++++++++++++++
+.............+
+.............+
+.............+
+....OTTTO....+
+....TTTTT....+
+....TTTTT....+
+....TTTTT....+
+....OTTTO....+
+.............+
+.............+
+.............+
+...+^^^^^+...+
+...+++++++...+
+.............+
+.............+
+.............+
+++++++++++++++
This is supposed to be the "grand" hall for the fort. Unlike the other z-layers, this room has a buffer of 3 tiles around the walls, and supports a trade depot. I like to throw statues in, and generally make it look as ostentatious as possible so outsiders are impressed by my dwarven might.

[piesquared]

Forget doors - build yourself a drawbridge. Also, the entrance has to be *at least* 3 wide, not *exactly* 3 wide. If odd numbers cause problems for your symmetry, make it 4 wide.

For further effective defense, just stick your barracks in the middle of the hallway between the trade depot and the rest of the fort. Set it from an armor stand or something, and put the soldier bedrooms and a small dining room complete with a well and stockpiles off that hallway. That way you have a room full of sparring soldiers between your civilians and any invaders. Ideally there would be a drawbridge between the soldiers and the outside world and another between the soldiers and the civilians, for emergencies.

[ed boy]

If I have a river running through the corner of the map, I like to dig a channel around most of the edge of the map, and dig a tunnel stretching from ground level to the bottom z-level , where I have the entrance to my fort.

I like to try and keep symetry on the entrance level, so I often have nothing but my depot, my dining room/meeting hall and stairs on that level. On the other ones, I keep rough symetry, but I'm not so picky. I use drawdridges to block both the tunnel (which is full of traps) and the ramps leading down.

[Lemunde]

Draw bridges and moats are totally overrated, especially for a small population map like yours.  Set yourself up a nice 3x3 entrance, fill it with traps and station a handful of guards nearby.  If you have any marksdwarves, build a floor over your entrance, surround it with fortifications and station them there.  Here's a good example: http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-7541-theblack-brewofguile

[bombcar]

My biggest problem is trying to determine what I want the entrance to look like when my fort is large while it is still small.

I think I need to start adding more empty space (non-mined walls) between things, so I can expand later. I.e, a 1 tile tunnel becomes 3 or 5 and it works because the rooms are set back enough.

[Blacken]

My biggest problem is trying to determine what I want the entrance to look like when my fort is large while it is still small.

I think I need to start adding more empty space (non-mined walls) between things, so I can expand later. I.e, a 1 tile tunnel becomes 3 or 5 and it works because the rooms are set back enough.

HAI BOMBCAR (spy sappin' mah poster)

I absolutely hate having no room to expand inside my fortress. My most recent Dwarf Heaven map had that problem - I built everything so tight and compact, with smoothed walls and floors, that the lack of contrast between rhyolite walls and rhyolite floors was killing my eyes. Having that black space in between the walls helps out a lot.

[betamax]

The many problems are: Trade depot needs 3 wide entrance, and this makes it hard to make everything symmetrical and have doors.

NO!

Odd numbers are the only way to have symmetry! The trade depot is 5 tiles wide, all workshops are 3 tiles wide, and all furniture is 1 tile wide. If you don't have rooms which are odd-numbers along the sides, you can't, for example, have a piece of furniture exactly in the middle, or furniture every-other-space without it looking odd.
Oddness is the true symmetry.

[Default Settings]

At the very beginning I usually build a tiny off-site fort for 7 dwarves while the miners carve out a PROPER entrance, fit for the king. As soon as the basic necessities are set up, everybody and -thing moves over to the new fort.

I also use odd numbers for symmetry, a typical workshop is 5x5, a bedroom 3x3.
Oddness is the true symmetry.

[Beanchubbs]

Normally I have my entrances set up like this:
_________________________
W+W+W+W++++++DDDDD++
+W+W+W+++++++ DDDDD++
W+W+W+W++++++DDDDD++
+W+W+W+++++++ DDDDD++
W+W+W+W++++++DDDDD++
----------------------------

D= trade depot
W= wall
+= floor

This allows your trade caravan to stay in your entrance corridor while not being able to pass your defenses (unless it isn't a wagon). This defense is also useful for protecting your melee fighters from bolts and arrows, and being able to remain in close proximity to melee enemies even if your dwarves have hammers/mauls. I also usually have fortifications in the side of the corridor that allow crossbowdwarves to shoot at the backs/sides of your enemies while they are engaged in melee. You can also stick bridges in this system for added defense. Not quite sure if this is what you are looking for, but this is what I use.