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Style: the way it feels, if it looks cool and appealing;

Function: Ordered and Logical so you know where everything is;

Neither: You're fortresses are unordered and random.

[Polar_Atom]

Just wondered how everyone else plays, weather you plan everything out in a captain duck-ish way or have things like tetris blocks.

[joss]

Where does symmetry lie? It's functional but at the same time very aesthetically pleasing to me...

[Polar_Atom]

I'm not sure. But I would define style here as opposing any sort of order. When my friend plays DF he goes for style which inhibits any growth in later parts. I suppose its really weather you're fortresses are like american towns or european, if you catch my meaning.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Generally I play Dwarf Tetris.

[zwei]

Purely functional fortress is not going to be that much appealing as best functional design is to leave no walls and have je square plane with few stairs here and there. Hardly best looking and kinda borg-like.

I go for "european town style": small "old town" nucleus which gets new districts as needed. Growth is not really hampered when you realize one important thing: you can just tear down workshops and rebuild them elsewhere and reuse their old location (as rooms if needed be). And when you are making outside fort, you can always just add another level to house.

[Metroid]

I voted for functionality, but I also aim for an aesthetically pleasing fortress.

Generally I play Dwarf Tetris.

I loled.

[MonkeyHead]

one large 3x3 staircase centrally located behind some mad dwarven magma or water flooding device with all workshops, housing, heck everything around that... housing on the bottom to avoid noise, arranged spoke/hub around a great hall. all workshops symmetrical... very OCD with regard to symmetry. so, yea, functional in terms of proximity for dependant processes, but there is an elegance in there as well.

[Deon]

Well, the noise is no longer a problem, but I don't like to build everything around a central staircase. I think I still live with 2d designs which are built on top of each other .

[moki]

Style all the way. I love giant circular dining rooms, multi z-level thronerooms, tall towers, unnecessarily luxurious bedrooms and generally anything impressive. Of course, everything has a function, but it's not the most important thing.

Since planning out a whole epic fortress from the beginning is a little harder now with all the caves and Fun oportunites, I prefer just to make every room as grand as it can be without a proper concept for the whole fort.

[Retro]

My very first fort I tried function and found that my obsession with symmetry stopped me from having any fun with the design. Now I go for pure style, and don't have to worry about it at all My absolute favourite thing is naturally-shaped rooms and ramps.

[UnrealJake]

I build things as I need them, so my fort evolves as I play, what starts as compact farm/dining hall/stockpile/workplace for 7 dwarves rapidly expands, moving alot, though my bedrooms tend to stay the same. Dangerously close to the entrance, just the way I like it.

[sonerohi]

I designate a very functional fortress to be dug, and stylize it as I can. 

[KFK]

I voted random, but it really depends on what stage of the fort I'm in.

I start off more or less random with almost no consideration for style and very little planning. You could call it functional, in the sense that a butcher knife is a functional spatula. Before too long I'll have 30 or 40 dwarfs running around the place, and function becomes a higher priority. I start seriously examining my traffic flow, and partitioning it so that I don't run into frame-rate problems from too much pathfinding.

I find that as I build a functional fortress, it's impossible for me not to also build a stylish one: I decorate as I go, placing statues and what-not. I also have my little quirks, like building a bar for my metalworkers, which is style as well as functional. I'm not OCD about symmetry; I tend to go with the flow of the landscape.

By that point, I'm starting to see nobles, and style almost completely takes over. I like to build huge above-ground castles for my nobles and champions to live in. Like the underground fortress, the castle tends to follow the contours of the mountain, so each castle is unique. If possible, I like to find a hill top somewhere away from the fortress to build the castle. Sometimes I'll even channel away a section of mountain just for that effect.

[Greiger]

Function underground.  Though I will occasionally make something sorta stylish underground.  Like my dining room 1 z level above all of the barracks. The barracks being 2 levels tall, allowing the diners a wonderful view of sparring soldiers.  Dinner and a show.

For the surface though I tend to go for style more than function.  Usually building the surface sections to look like an old European castle. They were originally built to be good safe spots for crossbowmen to fire from, but even in the new version with crossbow military being absolutely useless, I still build it out of habit and aesthetics.

[Itnetlolor]

It sorta depends on my goal (missing choice: both, chosen: function).

I usually build for function dominantly. I need order when it comes to getting tasks done quickly and have things taken care of to the point of not having to worry about it. Then I work on style.

I think one of the best examples of this has to be the Bloodfist project. The fort was primarily for function, and some of the unintended style within the fort-scape was just that. As for the ship itself, it has both. I wanted it to function exactly how I wanted it to, but still have the stylings to make it a pretty airship. The concept was simple, but the process of creation was a bit of a challenge. I had to do a few re-designs while working on it to keep it consistent and functional.

Actually, most the time, that's how I design things. I make sure it's absolutely functional and use it's natural aesthetics. If it needs a bit of buffing out and shininess, so be it; but I'll need an extra moment or two to snazz it up.

Wavehandle eventually became this whilst the main design function was to have a sewer system for a water source (without a way into the fort from it) and waste management. It's other main feature was to also have a very nice dining room in a fractal layout on the ground floor, and a pretty setup when looking upward from the ground or downward from the balconies and windows.