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[Laser Cake]

This is my current fortress after the fourth wave of migrants. If you have comments or a snapshot of your fortress please share!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Screen shot 2011-03-17 at 1.39.16 PM by laser cake, on Flickr

[Aramco]

23 idlers?! That's terrible! Nobody should ever idle, even if that means that they're hauling junk back and forth.

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

Pretty nice. Better than most forts I could make. (Due to my inability to plan in 2d)

[Laser Cake]

And there are two parties happening...  Gonna carve out some bedrooms, put those lazy idlers to work!  I'm still new to the game, does anything bad happen if there are too many idlers? I was really just happy to have 30 actually doing something.

[Aramco]

That's why the first thing I do is lock the door, and never let any migrants in.

[Thatdude]

The only thing that happens with idlers is that your dwarves have time to make friends. This is can either be a good or a bad thing depending on who you talk to. Friends mean it's harder to get into a tantrum spiral (because of the few extra good thoughts from talking to a friend) but once you get into one it's much harder to stop (with everyone getting bad thoughts from friend's deaths).
I think it's a good thing. More friends means more new relationships which means more babies so more dwarves! And I don't like to think of my dwarves as lonely loners.

[Girlinhat]

Nah, nothing real bad happens, except they may make some friends and that causes trouble when one of them dies (not "if").  I find individual bedrooms and no meeting hall prevent this, since they idle in their bedrooms and don't make any friends.  Many players like to make sure their dwarves have "busy work" which is fine and all.  Starting up a new industry or doubling a current industry can be fun.  It'll also help when economy kicks in and dwarves have to actually earn their keep.  Weaponsmiths will stay rich, but peasants will need to do a lot of hauling to earn chump change for their meager dwellings.  I generally don't care about my idle count.  I'll have three dozen idlers, but then an ambush hits, and I've got three dozen haulers, furnace operators, and butchers.

[Shook]

That's pretty neat, much more smooth and thought out than my fort. :U

Spoiler: main fort (click to show/hide)

I embarked in a swamp, and i couldn't be assed to dig it all out of stone. So, i had to dig AROUND all the lakes, making it look a bit curious. Also, the bedroom is one level below, though it's nothing special.

Spoiler: bedroom (click to show/hide)

What? Not my fault that the dorfs decide to strip naked when putting on armor. However, if we descend another 58z...

Spoiler: MAGMA (click to show/hide)

Magma and untold quantities of metal bars. Fuck yeah.

[khearn]

Speaking of ambushes, your front entrance is wide open. Any unwelcome visitors can walk right in. At the very least you need to get a drawbridge built and linked to a lever so you can button up if unfriendlies arrive. They'll waltz right in, take a right into your dining room and reduce the number of idlers, at least.

  Keith

[Laser Cake]

Hmmm, good to know about the depression spiral, I'll keep them happy with 24/7 parties!  I am quite happy with the efficiency of this floor plan, and not resorting to a symmetrical pattern.  I much prefer the look of an organic layout.   Shook, your fortress looks extremely efficient, although at this point I wouldn't know what to do with the magma. Khearn, next step: drawbridge, do I need to make a moat first?

[Girlinhat]

A drawbridge itself is defense.  Just make sure that it IS a drawbridge, and not a retracting bridge, and that it covers your entire fort entrance.  Remember that creatures can path diagonally!  If the bridge's inside wall (the direction it draws towards) is inside your fort, then it's safe from building destroyers, otherwise they'll smash it like a door.  A moat is always nice, but a bridge in a tunnel can become a wall and block off invaders.

[sharpie]

That's pretty neat, much more smooth and thought out than my fort. :U

Spoiler: main fort (click to show/hide)

I embarked in a swamp, and i couldn't be assed to dig it all out of stone. So, i had to dig AROUND all the lakes, making it look a bit curious. Also, the bedroom is one level below, though it's nothing special.

Spoiler: bedroom (click to show/hide)

What? Not my fault that the dorfs decide to strip naked when putting on armor. However, if we descend another 58z...

Spoiler: MAGMA (click to show/hide)

Magma and untold quantities of metal bars. Fuck yeah.

Your dorfs get a bad thought from other dorfs sitting at the same table.

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Dining_room

[Shook]

I have more tables than dorfs, so i doubt that's an issue. The pop cap is set to 40, due to performance issues on my laptop, so i probably won't be needing a bigger dining room any time soon.

[khearn]

A drawbridge itself is defense.  Just make sure that it IS a drawbridge, and not a retracting bridge, and that it covers your entire fort entrance.  Remember that creatures can path diagonally!  If the bridge's inside wall (the direction it draws towards) is inside your fort, then it's safe from building destroyers, otherwise they'll smash it like a door.  A moat is always nice, but a bridge in a tunnel can become a wall and block off invaders.

Yeah, what she said about making sure it's not retracting. Always test your bridges as soon as you link them to a lever. It really sucksIt's really FUN! to discover that you accidentally made a retracting bridge at your entrance when there's a siege inbound. Retracting is the default mode, so if you forget to set it your bridge disappears instead of blocking the tunnel.

   Keith
 

[Aramco]

That's pretty neat, much more smooth and thought out than my fort. :U

Spoiler: main fort (click to show/hide)

I embarked in a swamp, and i couldn't be assed to dig it all out of stone. So, i had to dig AROUND all the lakes, making it look a bit curious. Also, the bedroom is one level below, though it's nothing special.

Spoiler: bedroom (click to show/hide)

What? Not my fault that the dorfs decide to strip naked when putting on armor. However, if we descend another 58z...

Spoiler: MAGMA (click to show/hide)

Magma and untold quantities of metal bars. Fuck yeah.

Your dorfs get a bad thought from other dorfs sitting at the same table.

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Dining_room

They do? I thought they just wouldn't eat at a table with other Dwarves. Well, you learn something new every day.