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[Calhoun]

Okay, EASY was the wrong word. But isn't the STANDARD method using bridges?

[Ilmoran]

Okay, EASY was the wrong word. But isn't the STANDARD method using bridges?

Probably.  But someone mentioned using floodgates in the channel, and that wouldn't work.  The closest working equivalent is hatch covers.  A step further from there is bridges

[jarganaut]

What I used to do for my entrances was create long s-shaped hallways.  Putting siege equipment facing the longer hallways that can just be redirected to face another long hallway.  Generous application of stone fall traps (by generous I mean every single tile of the hallway) since weapons will be hard to create en mass at the begging.  Mix in rows of cage traps.  As a last line of defense near your main stair case build cave-in traps that prevent invaders from reaching any other z-level.

As for industry organization I have 10 levels of stacking that have worked really well for me:
10: Noble Dorms
9: Dorms
8: Dining / Meeting
7: Farms
6: Kitchens (This include the cloth workshops because of pig tail storage and leather because I have no other place)
5: Hospital
4: Jail / General Storage / Trade Depot
3: Workshops (Both Wood, Stone and Magma - important for my glass industry, moving ash/potash/pearlash bars around)
2: Tree Farm (excavated level with the underground trees makes cutting and storage easier than using the outdoor)
1: Obsidian Farm

1 Primary stair case runs up and down all levels (3x3) while the farms, kitchen, dining room has a secondary set as well because the traffic in that area is heavy.  The exact order and placement to the entrance of the fort depends a lot on the z-levels available and which are stone.  Its easiest to put the farms below your water source, but because you can easily pond mode mud or pump water up its not a deal breaker.

[Mumbologi]

Well! Thanks for all these answers. So, this is what i should do:
1. Move the fortress back. farms, Rooms, dining room etc. to the stone side of the fortress for engraving and more traps.
2. Traps all down the hallway, or build a gatehouse with walls, then both later on.
3. Use third layer as major workshop area, fourth for magma.

Is that all? Or fill me in. What should i do with the huts? Let them be barracks or just leave them? And I made the entrance 3 swaures wide because the first tutorial said it was a good opening.

How wide should it be?

[Jurph]

Generous application of stone fall traps (by generous I mean every single tile of the hallway) since weapons will be hard to create en mass at the begging.  Mix in rows of cage traps.

If you plan to strip the armor and use the captured enemies as sparring dummies, don't set cage traps behind more than one or two rows of stonefall traps.  Stonefall traps can cause wounds that are lethal but not immediately lethal, and you don't want to waste a spot in your cage traps on an enemy who will be dead in a few more steps anyway.

My preferred trap setup is a thin line (2 rows) of cage traps and a thicker line (4 rows) of stonefall traps, followed by one or two rows of weapon traps loaded with whips and scourges.  The weapons that do gore damage tend to cause so much pain that the enemies pass out or bleed out long before they've taken a truly lethal hit.  One last thin double rank of stonefall traps is a nice safety net, but make sure to leave a killing field that has no traps in it.  You need a fairly large area where your military can safely fight without worrying about trap fratricide should they fall unconscious.

[Marconius]

I personally prefer to build my fortress deep underground. That means I start with ramps going down, and I only start digging rooms when I hit rock. Apart from this being more dwarvenly (the surface has elves, you know), it allows me to smooth all the rooms and make my beardies happier.

The downside is that I have to irrigate my farms, but 1) I like doing that 2) I have to do that in the new version anyway.

Plus it also means I won't be bothered by damp stone when I accidentally dig under a river... or a moat... or a lake... oh, and more room for traps! Traps are good!

[Mumbologi]

Thread Creator here again.

I have found not a single, and absolutly no metal at all. Just different types of stone and gems. Where should i dig to get some metal around here?

[Andir]

Thread Creator here again.

I have found not a single, and absolutly no metal at all. Just different types of stone and gems. Where should i dig to get some metal around here?

It really depends on what layers you have in that embark location.  If you are not getting metals on the levels you have, try digging deeper then exploring a bit.  Look up Exploratory mining on the wiki if you don't have an idea on how.  Even on "gem" maps (of which I've had a few) you can usually find elements that when smelted produce a chance of metal.  Like Tetrahedrite  (look here)

[Shiv]

What version of the game are you playing?  In the 31 series the metal is abundant.  In the 40 series (which came BEFORE the 31 series), metal is relatively scarce.  I'd look at the wiki for 'exploratory mining' if playing 40.  I'd just dig out a base normally if playing 31. 

[Altaree]

Unless you have edited them, in Dig Deeper the orc are TRAPAVOID.  This mean that they don't set off any traps or pressure plates.  They are also building destroyers.  If you don't have a drawbridge over a moat that seals you in, they will get in by bashing down any doors/floodgates/grates/bars/etc.  They really like killing statues   I just wish it took them longer to topple one.  Statues would make a great orc delay device. 
So, to have a safe entrance:

• dig a channel between two walls, make sure that the orcs can't even get a diagonal on the raised bridge
• build a draw bridge over the channel (moat) so the orcs can't touch it when it is raised
• Build a lever
• link the lever to the bridge
• use o->i to get the dwarves inside
• pull the lever when the orcs arrive.

After this, build a nice little castle on the surface but have all the fortifications facing into the courtyard from over the main entrance.  The orcs walk through the entrance and get shot in the back.  This seems to reduce the casualties caused by ranged orcs.  Don't worry too much about steel with dig deeper.  If you have magma the orcs will keep you supplied!

[Lord Darkstar]

You should put floodgates across your entrance, and link them to a lever far back in your fortress proper. You can leave them down until attackers show up. When you have seigers, then you pull the lever, and you can defend as wide a hallway or entrance as you like.

For the record this doesn't work in the 31 version, if that's the one you're using.  Goblins come with Cave Crawlers and Trolls now, which are both building destroyers.

Not to start with, they don't. At least, I haven't seen the first goblins show up with any such help. By the time they do, my traps guarding the entrance have been replaced with large iron serrated discs (2 per trap, minimum), and that takes care of it.

But if I was going to ultimate defense, I'd build a 2 tile wide moat, and put a couple of draw bridges across it. 1 is only there to allow dwarves to cross out to get wood and plants while the main bridge is first being tested up. After that, it stays withdrawn for the rest of the game, unless needed. I had several main bridges destroyed in version 0.28, so that's just a habit of mine. Always have a backup way across your "impenetrable" moats. Although with the richer underground in 0.31, I suppose that isn't as vital as it once was. I like to have levers inside my fortress for controlling the bridges. That way, you don't have to worry about having someone run out and pull the lever and getting scared away from the job because of what is nearby.

What version of the game are you playing?  In the 31 series the metal is abundant.  In the 40 series (which came BEFORE the 31 series), metal is relatively scarce.  I'd look at the wiki for 'exploratory mining' if playing 40.  I'd just dig out a base normally if playing 31.

OP is using 28..40d from what has been said in the thread.

[Mumbologi]

Its all over fellas. I didn't realize what i was getting into using Dig Deeper. I got crushed, blood everywhere. I built a bridge. The dwarf was one square from taking it down. The horror as 15 gobins rushed in to my untrained squad. Blood, was, everywhere.

The expedition leader, named with my name was the last one to fall. He took down two Goblins before dying. My sad first loss and hopefully many losses in DF.

Thanks for the help though. I'll update with my new fortress tomorrow. Got a lot of digging that needs to be done. 

[Calhoun]

Goblins, you only got goblins? LUCKY!

Orcs are what you have to worry about. Oh god the Orcs. They're 10x meaner than any goblin!

[Kagus]

Yeh?  What about the goblins in the current version?  Those things are bastards.

[Calhoun]

Those guys have been beefed up, but mostly I lose to them because of them semi-working military system doesn't always work for me.

Still not as bad as Orcs.