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[Sjotrik]

So, i really wonder how you guys build your forts. So post whatever designs you normally build with. Is it a looong stairway down, into a great fort? Or is it spread out over alot of Z-levels? Or is it all on the same Z-level? Post it here!

Reason i post this, is because i need inspiration, and I`m curious on how others do it.

I usually build it this way: I start out with a looong hallway, with a little space for a trade depot and alot of traps. ( traps make me go Zzzzz, yet still useful ) Further inside, i do a 90 degree turn, and make my barracks. this is to easily defend against enemies, and keeping my dorfs safe. Then, i build my industrial quarters. A laaarge room for universal stockpiles, and smaller rooms for different kinds of workshops. one for carpenters, one for masons etc etc. all of the room have access to their own stockpile for resources. ( like metal ore and coke, for the metalsmith ). Then, i make a staircase or two, 9 Z-levels down where i build my dining room and sleeping quarters.

One Z-level above that, I build my hospital.

Oh, i forgot to mention that my farm is by the industrial quarter, and has its own staicase down to the kitchen, where i store all my food and booze. ( seeds have their own stockpile just beside the farm ).

EDIT: i forgot one more thing. xD in between the industrial quarters and hospital, i make strip-mines in the sedimentary layers, for iron and coal. And some gems, of cource. For deeper mining operations, i build myself a staircase within the barracks, which leads a Loooong way down to the more dangerous places, like caverns and such.

Now, I have posted my design, It`s YOUR turn! Have fun!

[Necro910]

It depends on the mountain, but this is my general layout.

I have a 1 tile wide road (wagons are bugged, so might as well have fun) about ten tiles long lead to a trade depot. Then, about 4 tiles then a food stockpile to your left. Then there's an intersection, with a path forward and right. Two tiles to the right is a barracks, with a (HUGE) dormitory somewhere at the end of the forward one. Near the food I have a farm. Near the barracks I have a staircase down, to the workshops. Then there's a staircase down, to the workshops and possibly other things (such as wells). Below that is the "factory". The factory is a collection of smelters and wood furnaces all working together, to power the forge! (Of course, I move the factory when I find magma) After that, I have nobles' rooms. Later, we come across the caverns. Prepared, I place a barracks ontop of it. I change when appropriate.

[Vorthon]

I usually try for a fractal design, with hallways being at least three tiles wide, or, if it's likely to see heavy traffic, five tiles wide. I also usually dig out any coal veins exposed to the mountainside (I can always patch up the holes later, or if I feel like going for the 'army of dwarves pouring out of many tiny cave mouts, I widen them a bit and line 'em with traps as a precaution.).

[Yoink]

I haven't had that many decent forts, so I haven't really worked out that many trends yet...
But I like hallways. Lots of hallways, one on top of the other, with living quarters on either side.
And I like building multi-storey buildings above ground, too... Although I like building deep down in the rock, for the engraving opportunities.

More to the point, my forts usually end up as a big, screwed-up mess of abandoned projects, forgotten plans and general stupidity. And statues. Hooray!

[Vorthon]

I haven't had that many decent forts, so I haven't really worked out that many trends yet...
[snipped]
More to the point, my forts usually end up as a big, screwed-up mess of abandoned projects, forgotten plans and general stupidity. And statues. Hooray!

Haven't had many decent forts? By the sounds of it, good sir or madam, you've had many excellent forts!

[Cydonian Monk]

I'm a fan of the vertical micro fort (VμFort), specifically the 20 z-level version I've used for the last several releases (20μFort). 

The bulk of my fort is built in a single embark tile (on a 2x2 embark), with only the Trade Depot and a few select buildings in another tile.  They tend to be about 20 z-levels tall, with food production (and pastures and bees) at the top, meeting areas and workshops in the middle, and beds and tombs at the bottom.  If I have surface water the main meeting area is a well, if not it's a statue. 

The central 'pillar' of the fortress is a nine-tile per side octagon with a three-wide hallway along the edge to connect all the points of interest.  I dig out the central pillar only for a 3 z-level open ampitheatre for the main meeting area (complete with seats and sloping ramps).  I used to channel out the entire central pillar so I'd have a 20 z-level 7-tile octagon open pit, but I've recently proven (to my satisfaction) that such a large open space kills my FPS.  (I can only imagine dwarfs trying to pathfind down the pit... 'Well, I could jump down 20 levels and get there faster, but that might hurt!'.)

The rooms in the fort tend to be a fractal/organic mix, and are usually "round."  All important rooms are at least 2 z-levels open (ex: mayor's office) with a viewing gallery on the upper levels.  My dining halls each have a 3x3 open area in the middle, around which the tables are placed (so 12 tables per floor).  The two dining halls in FireHome, my most recent fort, are 2 and 3 z-levels each.  Also, most of the rooms in the fort are 'Dwarf Fortress 2D Compliant,' meaning there's no stretch larger than 6 tiles without a natural stone pillar.  There are exceptions to this rule (7x7 stockpiles, the ampitheatre), but not many.

All floors are connected by a single 3x3 stairwell at the periphery of the central pillar.  There are some local stairwells, such as connecting workshops to stockpiles, but the central stair is the only connection between every level.


That's the target, but that's not how I start.

I start by building a 5 z-level nano fort (5nFort) centered around the Trade Depot.  This is the main control point of the fort, and typically the second line of defense (after surface traps, et cetera).  [This is built such that the dining hall and sleeping area can be converted into a Tavern and Inn once those features are implemented.]  Craft and mechanics workshops are located here, keeping the haulers from carrying trinkets and mechanisms all over the fort on trading day.

I usually start excavating the farms and building the pasture walls for the 20μFort first, or at least simultaneously with the 5nFort.   Next in I build the barracks, hospital and inner defenses between the 5nFort and the 20μFort, and then start on the 20μFort proper.  Move-in happens around year 2 or 3, barring complications.


Once moved into the 20μFort I usually build surface fortifications and a 7x7 10 z-level tower using the pasture walls as a base.  For FireHome I did this first, because FireHome is really being used to check construction parameters and their effect on FPS (as such invasions are off until the experiments are complete).

[Draxis]

I used to dig in and have a vertical shaft going down, and different layers designated for different things (beds, workshops, etc...), but that was boring, so now I find some sort of gap in the mountain and dig outwards from that, planning very little.  It always ends up an inneficient mess, but it is much more fun.

[Sjotrik]

awesome construction methods here. i try to find as many different ways to build a fortress, because i HATE pattern-play. ^^ So i try to make it different. Yet, it doesent always go as planned. It`s hard to make a farm lower than surface, really. :/ i need those pools.

[Vorthon]

It`s hard to make a farm lower than surface, really. :/ i need those pools.

Not since ~31.19... What version are you using?

[wuphonsreach]

My most favorite layout is now a cube of sorts, but it might be horrible for pathing.  I build a grid based on the following pattern with 2-tile wide corridors.

2x2 stairs - 1 tile gap - 11 tile area - 1 tile gap - 2x2 stairs
(repeat until I have nine sets of stairs, with four 11x11 tile areas in the gaps)

That makes the entire footprint of the underground fort 32 tiles by 32 tiles.  I don't build outside of the outer stair perimeter unless pressed, and I'll go for at least 5-6 Z levels and preferably 8-15 Z levels within that cube.  The hard parts are working an entrance ramp for caravan wagons into the design as well as figuring out where to put the well room or dwarf baths.

Some levels are wide open with big 5x11 or larger rooms for storage.  Other levels are dense warrens of 2x2 rooms for sleepy dwarves.  Some end up as a mix of 2-tile corridors and rooms.  But the nine 2x2 stairs are the primary architectural element.  Sometimes I'll put a 1x1 stair shaft into the middle of the big 11x11 area to connect a few levels together where I expect high traffic to/from a workshop and its stockpiles.

[Sjotrik]

It`s hard to make a farm lower than surface, really. :/ i need those pools.

Not since ~31.19... What version are you using?

Im using .21 . i have to have my farm pretty close to the surface to get water there. (without channeling)

[Darkweave]

I build a big spiral staircase that leads down to a corridor to my 40x40x10 smoothed main hall filled with 3x3 smoothed pillars. A number of these pillars have a door in one side and a downstair in the center that leads to a corridor of downstairs that go down in to the bedrooms. The bedrooms have up-down stairs inside and I build more floors of bedrooms below until I have enough to accommodate 200 dwarves, usually 63 bedrooms per floor with three floors in total.

Branching off of the main hall I have corridors and spiral staircases that lead to a hospital and themed industry areas. Now that I (finally) have some experience in all of the major industry types and in setting up a decent military I'm planning on moving my food production areas down to the caverns and building a 3-z high glass arena suspended from the pillars inside my dining hall so that my dwarves can watch all manner of brutality while eating their dinner. I might add some waterfalls too. Eventually the entryway to the main spiral staircase will be made in to an artificial cavern with magma-falls.

I like huge sprawling fortresses that take up the whole embark area with random frivolity.

[Vorthon]

It`s hard to make a farm lower than surface, really. :/ i need those pools.

Not since ~31.19... What version are you using?

Im using .21 . i have to have my farm pretty close to the surface to get water there. (without channeling)

You can farm underground without mud now, as long as there's at least 1 full layer of soil underneath your farms...

[Sjotrik]

It`s hard to make a farm lower than surface, really. :/ i need those pools.

Not since ~31.19... What version are you using?

Im using .21 . i have to have my farm pretty close to the surface to get water there. (without channeling)

You can farm underground without mud now, as long as there's at least 1 full layer of soil underneath your farms...

Oh, awesome! I should get updating then.

[psychologicalshock]

Used to move my fortress back deeper and deeper into the mountain but now I just build a lot around the entrance so instead of moving deeper I have more defenses built outside. Right now I am making an emergency tunnel with a chained grizzly + a ton of traps to avoid having to keep the main entrance open for fleeing dwarves. I really prefer building a lot since you can really restructure an area + add a lot of value by doing some mason work.