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Horizontal (into a cliff)

68 (71.6%)

Vertical (stairs down)

27 (28.4%)

Total Members Voted: 95

[Urist Imiknorris]

      |--------|
      |↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑|
      |↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑|
      |↑DANGER↑|
      |↑↑ROOM↑↑|
      |↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑|
      |↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑|
      |---++---|
      |........|
      |........|
<-out +BARRACKS+ fort->
  side+........+
      |........|
      |........|
      |---++---|------|
      |........|======|
      |........|======|
      |ARCHERY.+=AMMO=|
      |..RANGE.+======|
      |........|======|
      |XXXXXXXX|======|
      |--------|------|

[Shoku]

Even on flat embarks I just dig some ramps down, a bit of an entry tunnel, and then the fort proper.

[RedWick]

I do above ground gates for my entrances, and work my fortress in and around interesting landscapes.

[ISGC]

outside      |                    |         inside
________     |____________|   _______________
             \________________/

I have a combination of this underneath a wall which creates a large box around my moat leading to a horizontal entrance
it's essentially an airlock or a preliminary defense, however, and my real entrance is horizontal
now that I think about it, every fort I've made has had a double defense.

[breadbocks]

I usually make a sort of J shape downwards, with a hatch on the top of the short end. That way my fort can't be invaded, because things can't attack hatches from the bottom of them.

[Fayrik]

I usually make a sort of J shape downwards, with a hatch on the top of the short end. That way my fort can't be invaded, because things can't attack hatches from the bottom of them.

I tried this once, but never managed to confirm it.
Is it still working?

[Eric Blank]

I almost always dig straight down, and have a fairly vertical fortress layout. I build my main entrance as a series of horizontal halls filled with traps leading to a defensible depot room though.

[breadbocks]

I usually make a sort of J shape downwards, with a hatch on the top of the short end. That way my fort can't be invaded, because things can't attack hatches from the bottom of them.

I tried this once, but never managed to confirm it.
Is it still working?

Dunno. I still use .12.

[Interus]

I kinda wanna say both.  I like to start in the stone layer, so I usually build ramps down to it, which I'm sure counts as vertical, but once I get far enough down, I mine out a plaza with a gateway on the other side.

Mostly vertical though I guess.  My first fort few forts where horizontal, but I eventually got annoyed because I like building things outside my fort, and ramps give me a headache when building castle walls into a mountain, even if it looks cooler than building a castle in a field.

[schussel]

Horizontal through a cliff. However, the actual entrance of the inhabited area is vertical, going one level up. Side view:

outside      |                    |          inside
                |____________|   _______________
_________________________/

or

outside      |                    |         inside
________   |____________|   _______________
             \________________/


This way, if you put a retracting bridge over the internal entrance, nothing can get thorugh, not even building destroyers. Then I add guard towers at the external entrance and traps in the tunnel. In the second version, there is a bridge over the external entrance too, so anything that enters in the tunnels is trapped inside and minced by the traps.

this one is great with archery range and fortified holes in the ground just above the entrance tunnel to shoot invaders .. if you keep the entrance tunnel go large  by closing the short route with a bridge+moat  and cover all the long tunnel from above you can take down really large sieges of strong monsters with ease (and time) .. imagine 20 markdwarfes  focus firing a BC from above^^

[WrathNail]

Lately I've been strangely drawn towards making tower-like forts. So first I dig down vertically to set up the bare necessities and after a year or so my dwarves emerge from the hole to start building the tower. Once it's finished I move most of the stuff up there.

[FleshForge]

Vertical, as in a 15 or 20 z-level drop shaft that terminates in my rather enormous refuse pile.

[Lielac]

I prefer the entrance to be horizontal (less building needed!), but my current fort, Relicveils, began with a vertical entrance because I embarked on an area with no place to put a horizontal entrance. I do, however, have a decent over-land cap to my fort, which will be even more awesome when I finish the pyramid on top.

[gtmattz]

7 or 13 (depends on how many layers before the caverns) ramps down then some defenses (traps, archers, chained animals, death pits, drowning chambers, whatever im doing for that fort), then the trade depot(which is always its own self-contained drowning chamber).

[Naros]

Needs a third option; ramps.

I tend to build ramps down a good few floors, which end up in a cavern I caved out, with a walkway over it.
The walkway will be the horizonal entrance, which leads to a artificial cliff-size, covered in fortifications.

I chose a walkway because bridges are too gamey and hax even for me.

Also, more than one entrance is asking for ruin.