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[Tokeli]

I am absolutely obsessed with efficiency in my fortress, and the speed of my dwarves. Every fortress I've made so far has been off a central staircase with one thing per level (stockpiles, workshops, quarters, hospital, etc), and those things are always centered on the staircase.

Which one does everyone use? Horizontal seems more visually pleasing, but my mind just rebels at it.

[Aramco]

Vertical is slightly better, simply because stepping down 2 staircases is faster than walking 60 tiles to somewhere.

[Particleman]

Vertical is more efficient.

[Untelligent]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Vertical.

That's from 40d, I'm working toward another one in the current version.

[Shoku]

I've been shifting to a more horizontal design to make myself use space in more interesting ways. Plus there are a lot of things that don't really matter efficiency-wise. I really don't need the bedrooms within 50 steps of the depot and the farms can be even further from the forges.

Really just so long as I have the storage relevant to a particular job pretty close to that job things get done about as fast as in more compact forts, but without so many dwarves having to crawl over each other to do it.

[bbad89]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Vertical.

That's from 40d, I'm working toward another one in the current version.

Where'd you get that picture?

[kilakan]

I use a combination, my fortress usualy end up square, because while i want the efficentcy of the vertical, I still want all my bedrooms and the dining room on one level, without being crammed together.

[timtek]

I tend to build horizontal multi zlevel fortress's. They aren't as efficient but I feel like I have more room to be creative with the design of rooms and stuff. That's probably why my fortress's don't last long, but I don't mind.

[Leonidas]

I usually go vertical, with a cube being the ideal.  But in my current fortress I got only two layers of stone before the first cavern, and FBs keep wanting to visit.  So things are kinda pancaked right now.

Note that verticality only improves efficiency if you have plenty of stairs.

[pushy]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Vertical.

That's from 40d, I'm working toward another one in the current version.

Where'd you get that picture?

Visual Fortress, I'm guessing http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=39541.0

[Psieye]

Vertical, but with a central ramp instead of a staircase. Easier on the FPS that way I hear. Mind you, by "Vertical" I mean my bedrooms are between the 2nd and 3rd caverns, my magma workshops are right at the magma sea and my trade depot is near the surface alongside my farms.

[Aramco]

The best way is to, instead of designating your fort to be dug out, you designate it to be all up-down staircases. That way, everyone can get anywhere without having to go find stairs.

[Tokeli]

Vertical, but with a central ramp instead of a staircase. Easier on the FPS that way I hear. Mind you, by "Vertical" I mean my bedrooms are between the 2nd and 3rd caverns, my magma workshops are right at the magma sea and my trade depot is near the surface alongside my farms.

That seems like it would take ages and ages to walk from the top of your fortress to the bottom. Instead of stairs, they have to walk even further just to get to the next ramp down?

[Sir Finkus]

The best way is to, instead of designating your fort to be dug out, you designate it to be all up-down staircases. That way, everyone can get anywhere without having to go find stairs.

I don't think you can build stuff or make stockpiles on staircases. 

[Psieye]

Vertical, but with a central ramp instead of a staircase. Easier on the FPS that way I hear. Mind you, by "Vertical" I mean my bedrooms are between the 2nd and 3rd caverns, my magma workshops are right at the magma sea and my trade depot is near the surface alongside my farms.

That seems like it would take ages and ages to walk from the top of your fortress to the bottom. Instead of stairs, they have to walk even further just to get to the next ramp down?

Actually it takes less time compared to staircases. Stairs take an extra step compared to ramps. Plus, while the dwarf-travel-efficiency will be mostly the same, the FPS efficiency will be quite different. As you make mature forts, you will start to value FPS efficiency more than dwarf efficiency.

The best way is to, instead of designating your fort to be dug out, you designate it to be all up-down staircases. That way, everyone can get anywhere without having to go find stairs.

This is FPS suicide. It's also suicide for any unconscious beings: they treat stairs as empty space.