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[Ozymandia5]

How the hell are you even supposed to get the stuff. In 40d, you just found a magma pool and made a pump stack to get the glorious liquid up to your level.

Now I have to dig through the mess of Microcline Swiss Cheese called the Caverns to get any, and it's nigh impossible getting it to the upper levels. I can't draw any straight lines for a stack through because of some cave system full of cave crocodiles getting in my way. It might as well be cheaper and faster to just use all this bituminous coal laying around...

So, how do all of you get some of the molten awsomesauce?

[Jacob/Lee]

I build all the forges where the magma is, give the furnace operators their own little fortress down there, and have dwarves restock it on occasion.

[Ozymandia5]

I build all the forges where the magma is, give the furnace operators their own little fortress down there, and have dwarves restock it on occasion.

Building down there is an option, but I don't like the thought of making my dwarves go on a huge expedition to the center of the Earth just to deliver food. Seems like a creepy outpost, cut off from the rest of civilization.

[Gatleos]

I'm incredibly anal, so I've actually built 40-z-level-tall pump stacks that zig-zag around the caverns before. It's the most needlessly complex way to do things (i.e. DWARVEN), but I end up with a quickly-accessible infinite magma reservoir on the bottom level of my fortress.

Also:

Building down there is an option, but I don't like the thought of making my dwarves go on a huge expedition to the center of the Earth just to deliver food. Seems like a creepy outpost, cut off from the rest of civilization.

Dwarven Fortress = creepy outpost cut off from the rest of civilization

[Ozymandia5]

Building down there is an option, but I don't like the thought of making my dwarves go on a huge expedition to the center of the Earth just to deliver food. Seems like a creepy outpost, cut off from the rest of civilization.

Dwarven Fortress = creepy outpost cut off from the rest of civilization

The elven caravan descends 50 z-levels into the depths. They pull their wagons slowly through the tunnels. They stumble upon a cavern of slade and obsidian filled with magma, wondering why they ever decided to venture here. They spot a few dwarves, smelting away at their magma smelters, who then turn around and walk towards the elves.

"Have you got any food?"
"Uh...No..."
...
"Well then, I guess we'll have to make due with what we have now."

[SkyRender]

 Embark somewhere relatively flat and the magma sea will be much closer to the surface.  Alternatively, gen a custom world with only 1 cavern layer (but don't eliminate all cavern layers unless you want no Dwarven civilizations to have underground crops).  You can also control how tunnel-happy vs. cave-happy the cavern layers are; it's actually better to set them to have fewer tunnels, as the tunnels zigzag all over the place and make it almost impossible to get a consistent downward path to the magma sea.

[Pagan]

These days I only embark on volcano's, purely so I dont have to dig down.

Back when I did though, I made all the forges and smelters right down at the magma, as well as a small dining room and dormitory for the workers, and a food/alcohol storage that takes from other stockpiles. Burrows work well for keeping workers working down there.

That being said though, volcano's = awesome!

My current one had an aquifer, but I avoided it entirely by digging down next to the lava chute. Now I'm sorted for magma, water and iron. Even have flux. Life is goooooooooood.

[Pukako]

Same - try for volcano's.  Sometimes I don't, an enjoy the novelty of coal, etc, but eventually it wears thin...

[Encased in burning magma]

I usually build down there, with the fortress designed vertically around a shaft (I route a river in it to irrigate or create obsidian).

[celem]

I usually weaken and use reveal to plan my stack.  As you said its a nightmare threading the cavern layers, the only thing worse is doing it 'on the fly'

[Marthnn]

You just have to set up a small troup of soldiers, say 3-4, equipped with bronze or better, train them in a danger room to get legendary shield using. Then you can protect your masons from the cavern dangers while you build walls, floors and stairs where your pump stack breaches into a cavern.

Setting up a small army for wild and forgotten beasts is fairly easy. I recently had to because a giant popped on the surface, but training was fast enough that only an elven caravan got trashed... I mean liberated... somehow.

Since my carpenter was mood-legendary, my training spears were mostly exceptionnal or masterworks. But with bronze armors and lousy leather robes, nobody was wounded. I don't know where the rumors of impalement in .18 comes from, or even the importance of spear quality, but I believe it's nonsense.

Of course, all those army efforts were done before I realised said giant could be trapped in any well-set cage, letting me live happily(?!?) without violence whatsoever. Except for the cage hauler. That one would get a hard time.

[Herbiie]

I don't know where the rumors of impalement in .18 comes from, or even the importance of spear quality, but I believe it's nonsense.

Tell us what happens next time your Dwarfs go into the Danger room Please

Sods law says a massacre

[Marthnn]

Tell us what happens next time your Dwarfs go into the Danger room Please

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No, I won't let unarmored dwarves enter my danger room. Want me to try with a recruit?

Edit : There, a recruit. Maybe I shouldnt have taken a mother of 3 children, but oh well...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Herbiie]

Tell us what happens next time your Dwarfs go into the Danger room Please

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No, I won't let unarmored dwarves enter my danger room. Want me to try with a recruit?

Edit : There, a recruit. Maybe I shouldnt have taken a mother of 3 children, but oh well...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Anti Climax

[nomad]

in my current fortress i actually decided to move down there after i found 2 adamantine veins close together (which i 'found' by accidently breaching HFS) and right next to a magma pipe up to level 80. (also because i aparrently dont have any sedimantary layers in my embark, so no lignite or bitumous coal :-( )
food will come from a farm in cavern level 3 a few levels up but thats a work in progress i have more than enough for now.