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[mission0]

Basically I'm building a new fortress and I want it to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. The front gate isn't going to be much of a gate more as an entrance that you stare at in awe. The trade depot will be at the center of the fortress, and things will branch out from there.

However whenever I try to do something I always frown at my idea and restart it, so I'm asking for ideas from the df community. I may regrett this later but it's definately worth it.

Current BrainStorms:

Venice Style, with water surrounding everything with bridges that can be raised or lowered as needed.

Ideas I'm still working on:

Entrance
Military Tower
Civilian Tower - Needs both high quality and low quality living areas.
Noble Area
Farming Area
Smelting Area
General Crafting and such - I have never branched out beyond smelting, bone crafting, and gems so I may need a bit of help on this one.

[AtomicPaperclip]

For the clothing industry keep in mind you'll need farmers workshops, looms, dyers shops, clothiers shops, and either pig tails or rope reeds.
The closer these things are to the cloth/plant supply the better.

What works for me the best is opening up a different fort and planning out my fort by designating it underground in the black space. Then I can look at it for reference.

[mission0]

Yeah that's pretty much what I'm doing now. I have a small area that I'm using as a base of operations to plan out and keep everyone alive. I have 4 miners digging around the clock who will also double as engravers later on and also the beginnings of my military even farther on. The area is walled off to ensure that my work isn't disturbed. The others are One Mason, One Carpenter, and One Farmer to do the jobs that the miners won't be doing.

My inspiration is FlareChannel but I don't want to copy Quantum's ideas only use them as inspiration to make my own.

[Max White]

If you want something that really looks nice, may I suggest a Venice style design, with canals of water between buildings, and fancy bridges? It provides a nice source of water, and if something were to breach your defenses then you can raise and lower bridges to allow for civilians to escape and soldiers to attack. Whats never nice are marksmen on rooftops.

[mission0]

A Venice style would be a good idea, I have a river nearby I can reroute.

While over all ideas are welcomed I'm trying to figure out specific things right now and brainstorm them.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to put the military tower overlapping the main entrance without killing the aesthetic appeal.

[Lord Dakoth]

I had an Armokian inspiration for fort design a while ago. I must temporarily resort to story-form to adequately communicate said revelation.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The yawning hole gaped before the caravan, its ramp leading into pitch blackness. Within an hour, the human traders had rearranged and repacked the wagon loads so that the vehicles could fit into the narrow opening. The point guard hoisted a low-smoke torch overhead and timidly entered the hole. With a lurch, the first wagon started forward, horses nickering nervously.

The air inside the tunnel was thick, humid, and stifling. Wagons scraped against the rough stone walls, dislodging occasional pebbles and sounding deafening echoes down the passage. The uneven ground sloped downwards, then leveled, then sloped again. The guard signaled the caravan to halt, then raised the torch to examine a section of the wall. Rounded holes were carved into the wall, revealing deserted rooms behind the stone. The caravan followed the path for over three hours, passing abandoned dwellings, empty workshops, and silent graveyards. Scores of mounds lined the narrow road, graves for the commonfolk. Elaborately carved stone doors blocked entrance to the tombs of great warriors and leaders. The entire time, not a person spoke. The only sound was the steady clip-clop of horse hooves and the creak of wagon wheels.

After what seemed a lifetime and a half, the caravan entered an expansive cavern. The stone road morphed into a bridge, cutting across the expansive space. Dwarves worked hunched in muddy fungus farms below the bridge. Shanties made of dried tower-cap trunks formed a slum in the center of the cavern. A narrow ramp snaked up the walls of the cavern on the side opposite the wagons, leading into the blackness. Ovals of light dotted the walls of the cavern, marking where the wealthy nobles lived in ignorance of the plight of peons laboring far below, the peons who wordlessly supported the sloth of the nobles.

Another ten minutes, and the wagons reached the far end of the bridge. A caravan driver gestured to the path and muttered to his companion, "They expect us to take the wagons up that thing?" The other man shook his head, jumped from the wagon, and shouldered a heavy box. Shuffling up the stone ramp, he signaled for the driver to follow suit.

[mission0]

I can only say that will be one heck of a fort to go back and adventure in.

[Lord Dakoth]

Indeed. I also thought it would be awesome to attach pressure plates to doors on the houses, just to freak out the traders more.

[mission0]

[spoiler"]This looks like a safe house..."

crosses the doorway. "Hey guys come on in, theirs even a fire goi..." *shunk* Human Guard has been struck down by steel pike.[/spoiler]

Anyways finally decided on how I'm going to make the trade depot. I'll definitely be bring pics into the thread later on.

[ReverseWill]

I tried a Venice-style fort once, only I got too in-depth and tried to build it right on the ocean. There were some really weird things with ocean waves dumping water in totally-enclosed constructions, and it was twice the work because I had to mine the stone, then build it back up somewhere else. Took ages, and it didn't really go anywhere.

With the new cave system, however, a subterranean Venice-style fort based on an underground lake could be really cool.

[Dave Mongoose]

Bonus points if you set up pumps either end so the canals actually flow (although it would massively increase the risk of flooding)

For crafting ideas - recently I've tried to set up forts dedicated to the crafts I usually ignore:
* Clothing industry is good fun, especially if you aim to only use dyed cloth. Dimple Cups underground (for dye) + Rope Reed overground (for thread) is a combination you can use all year, or if you're going fully underground then pig tails (for thread), but they only grow in spring and summer. Silk is also an option if you don't mind braving the caverns.
* Clear Glass industry is good if you use magma glass furnaces and magma kilns, otherwise it just takes too much wood. Green glass is easier but less interesting and less valuable. You'd probably need to move magma up, too, if you didn't want to be hauling sand all the way down from (near) the surface.
* Soap is a really challenging one - you need a good supply of animal fat to make the tallow so having lots of livestock is important. Might be fun with the genetic traits in the new version to try to breed animals with lots of fat. This would combine well with leatherworking and bonecrafting, and you'd have good meat supplies.

I think clothing would be a good choice if you're going for Venice-style: if it's flowing water you could have your dye mills powered by waterwheel, and irrigation won't be a problem with all that water around.

[Lord Dakoth]

I propose that you build a MULTI-LEVEL Venetian town. Build your canals and houses and bridges... then roof over that section and build MORE canals and houses and bridges. Roof over THAT section, and...

Bonus points for making waterfalls, and also for each laborer that you unintentionally kill in the process.

[PsyberianHusky]

Your magma foundry should be in a tower above the rest of your fort and magma should be a delivered by pump stacks and then free fall many z levels back to its origin

[Duane]

Venice?
I am smelling a really, really awesome succession fort. Especially with the waterfall idea. That's brilliant.

[jarganaut]

Super bonus points for using magma instead of water for a Venetian fort.

Using a pump and drain for flowing water would be awesome as well.