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[Ephemeriis]

I like to surround the entrance to my fort with a nice moat and a couple drawbridges.  A 3-tile drawbridge for caravans, that is only lowered when they're incoming, and a 1-tile drawbridge for dwarves that stays down more often than not.  I'll usually leave a good outdoor area encircled by the moat...  Put a wall up on the inside edge of the moat...  And build some wells, barracks, etc. in there.

The entry hall is generally 3 tiles wide, with a trade depot stuffed in there somewhere.  Usually some traps and whatnot between it and the outside world.

I'm pondering doing something more spectacular in my current fort though...  I'm thinking of doing some magma falls or something like that.  Something visually impressive that can double as a defense.

[Psieye]

I would never completely block off my entrance. Those damn gobbos spend enough time sitting around doing nothing outside of my fort when there is a completely wide open** entrance.

**laced with traps

Incidentally, anyone know of a way to stop those bastards from just sitting around forever?

Have you tried placing cage traps as your last line of defence (not first) and having a meeting hall?

[greggbert]

I do it anthill style. 

My entrance is a simple down stair in the middle of a large flat area at river level.  The trade depot is placed adjacent to the down stair and then I build a tiny 8x8 to 10x10 keep/walls around the stair/depot section.  The keep has an upstairs section where my archers stand and shot anyone who gets close.

The keep has North, South, East, and West entrances each 3 squares wide, each with it's own drawbridge.  When trouble comes I can raise and lower the drawbridges and force the invaders to run around the outside of the keep while my crossbowdwarfs shoot at them for a while before I need to button the whole thing up.  It's amazing how long you can keep the enemy running in circles just by opening and closing drawbridges.

Eventually I will build a "city wall" that is more like 40x40 which also has 4 entrances and 4 drawbridges.  2 of the entrances go directly in for traders and two of the entrances go into mazelike structures with traps and stuff.  But all eventually lead to the keep in the middle.

[Hyperturtle]

Currently I have a 3x3 hole dug into the top of a hill.  The area around it is heavily trapped.  On the side of the hill is a ledge with a drawbridge, and inside the hill is the depot with an area carved out for all finished goods, so dwarfs don't have to walk more than 10 or 12 tiles to get a bin.

[Internet Kraken]

I usually opt to use drawbridges to separate my fortress from the outside world. I make sure they are long enough so that they can be closed easily without letting invaders in. This forces them through the trap maze, a long winding path that ends in another drawbridge connecting to the courtyard. If the enemy still has a considerably bulky army, I raise this drawbridge to deny them access to the courtyard while I think out my next plan. The courtyard contains the trade depo and other additions like farms depending on the map. Basically, it's an area the military can easily defend without risking the main fortress. The courtyard itself is connected to the main entrance with another drawbirgde, only to be raise in dire situations in which the military falls an all surface access must be shut down. The entrance is just a long hallway the leads into the lower levels of the fortress, with the hospital, barracks, and lever control room tunneled into the side wall.

[userjjb]

I've tried a couple of different entrances, but I find that I like going through a cliff for my entrances.

I use a 3 wide hallway for about 6 squares which leads directly to barracks.

Behind the barracks is the trade depot (yes, the merchants go through the barracks room to get to the trade depot.

Next to the depot, I have my finished goods stockpile along with some secondary workshops (jewelry/clothing/leather/craft to improve the goods), and the main stairs to the rest of the fortress.

I place a drawbridge in the tunnel, just before the barracks, with some animals restrained near the entrance to act as guard dogs.

Then I litter that hallway full of weapon traps, (and one line of cage traps just before the bridge just in case).  This is usually finished before the end of the first summer.

I then build a zig-zagging 1 square wide secondary hallway that's filled with traps that connects the barracks with the outer end of the initial tunnel, so when the main draw-bridge is closed people can still go in and out, but has to go through a tunnel and encounter about 10 times more traps than the short main hallway.  The hall is usually finished before the first caravan comes, but maybe not quite full of traps yet.

When I have more time, I tend to build some sort of fortifications just outside the entrance and have some surface crops walled in as well as an outdoor statue garden on the roof of the gatehouse.

This is precisely what I do, I mean exactly. Do you have cameras in my room?!

[grufti]

I really like the entrance of my actual fortress:
http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-8895-waterfalls (well phoebus tileset has somehow f**ed up the map tool, but I think you can see the concept)

I really like the idea of having an outer fortress far to see from the caravans (so they won't miss ist ), and then a long, narrow path down the cliffs to the lower riverbed to the real entrance of the fortress. Human and Dwarven Caravan guards are also the last standing against any intruder who makes it past the barracks just below surface (you can't really see on the map, but the barracks are where the two beds are on z41)

Though its somehow bugged and I get frequent crashes, I will abandon it and start a new one when 31.05 arrives.