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[iwog]

So I've designed some awesome spiral entrances for my fort and I wanted some feed back.  You'll find the designs here and there are 4 sheets of designs.  See if you can spot the obvious flaw in A1 and B1.

Currently I thinking of using the double 1/4 loop D1 or D3 but making the central core 5x5 so I can place my trade depot directly in the centre.

[Vicomt]

I've done the double 1/4 myself in the past. got bored with it and tried octagonal 1/4 and 1/8.... they just fried my brain trying to designate it, but were very fulfilling.

[boyhowdy]

You forgot to put "xpost from r/dwarffortress" in your thread title

I'm doing my entrance after FlareChannel's grand stairway.  It's not wagon friendly (though, I'm pretty sure traders still don't use wagons), so I plan on building my depot suspended over the pit near the surface.

[xmakina]

Pulled this off myself but had to abandon the fort due to crappy designations further along resulting in lots of dead dwarves. It's a nifty entrance, and certainly one that works even better if the opening to the fortress proper is several z-levels high with open space as the new arrivals descend to see a giant cavern, the entrance spiral rising up to the ceiling and the hustle and bustle of a thriving fortress laid out ahead of them...

[iwog]

I've done the double 1/4 myself in the past. got bored with it and tried octagonal 1/4 and 1/8.... they just fried my brain trying to designate it, but were very fulfilling.

Dammit, now you've got me messing about with octagons, just trying to get a perfect octagon in excel is hurting my head, especially when I seem unable to get my cells perfectly square.

You forgot to put "xpost from r/dwarffortress" in your thread title

I'm doing my entrance after FlareChannel's grand stairway.  It's not wagon friendly (though, I'm pretty sure traders still don't use wagons), so I plan on building my depot suspended over the pit near the surface.

 

Does the xpost thing really matter? or have I committed some great faux pas by not doing so? 

And whilst wagons may not be used any more there's something nice and traditional about making wagon safe depots, especially ones 10z levels down with intimidating entrances. My next great plan it to embark on a mountain just so I can make a spiral roadway up the mountain only to have a spiral rampway down on the inside.  Its just seems suitably Dorfy by being completely unnecessary.

[boyhowdy]

Does the xpost thing really matter? or have I committed some great faux pas by not doing so? 

Not one bit.  Just saw your post here and on the DF subreddit and thought I'd say hello to a fellow redditor.

And whilst wagons may not be used any more there's something nice and traditional about making wagon safe depots, especially ones 10z levels down with intimidating entrances. My next great plan it to embark on a mountain just so I can make a spiral roadway up the mountain only to have a spiral rampway down on the inside.  Its just seems suitably Dorfy by being completely unnecessary.

Couldn't agree more

[TolyK]

And whilst wagons may not be used any more there's something nice and traditional about making wagon safe depots, especially ones 10z levels down with intimidating entrances. My next great plan it to embark on a mountain just so I can make a spiral roadway up the mountain only to have a spiral rampway down on the inside.  Its just seems suitably Dorfy by being completely unnecessary.

Couldn't agree more

[wlerin]

This is what DF Designer is for.

[TolyK]

much funn(i)er my hand!

[Frelock]

I did a similar entrance once, but I also had a staircase in the middle though for emergency access.  My dwarves ended up using nothing but the stairs, but it still looked cool.

And the problem with A1 and B1 is that neither have a wall adjacent to their up-ramps, as you said, obvious.

Personally, I'd switch the center core to 7x7 so you can have pillars on the four corners supporting the ceiling above the trade center (though the side walls would technically give it enough support), and switch to A2 to give the impression of a larger marketplace rather than a small trade room. Of course, that also means a much longer traverse if you want to get up that ramp, but such is the price of greatness.

[iwog]

So last night I started my spiral on a new fort using the D3 design got down to the 3rd level (with only 1 death!) and realised I'd cocked up and the core was 6x6    Oh well I think I'm gonna keep going down the 10 levels I want and then collapse the roof in to hollow out the core in one swift action.  I may even ask for some willing volunteers to check the progress of the collapse first hand.

My death occurred from the adage "more haste less speed", I was trying to save time by designating multiple layers to dig out and Urist McBraindead decided to channel in the wrong order and took a trip down 3 levels making a tiny hole in the floor below.  Much to my surprise they got up and walked it off for a while until the bled out through their foot *sigh*  Also as they were the expedition leader and quite well liked it nearly started a tantrum spiral as the my current living conditions are a little squalid due to the fact they're only supposed to be temporary.

Finally DF designer is nice for some things but it doesn't support ramps so that renders it kinda useless for my purpose.

[Spitfire]

I found a flaw in A3, B2, C2 and D2, if you want your fort to be accessible for (non-existend) trade wagons. (As I do too, I hope that bug gets fixed soon. ^^)

Wagons need one tile of empty space after a downwards ramp.

Code: [Select]

#######
____V.#      _ Floor
____V.#      V Downward Ramp
____V.#      . Empty Space
#######      # Wall

I once designed a fourfold conic helix ramp staircase to the bedrooms of my short fellows, but it looked ugly.
I guess staircase designs shouldn't be too complex, because due to being only visible in layers, the design is easily lost.

[Hyndis]

http://mkv25.net/dfma/poi-24426-spiralrampsmain

The ramps are actually murder on your FPS when large numbers of creatures are pathing up or down the ramps. I think this is due to everyone sort of crowding on the inner side of the ramp spiral for the shorter path, but everyone bumps into each other and causes FPS issues.

2x2 or 3x3 blocks of up/down stairs are probably the most FPS friendly form of transport between levels.

I don't use ramps as an entrance design like this anymore due to FPS problems.

[iwog]

Well last night I completed my spiral, it was only 8 levels deep as I hit a cavern on the 9th.  I recruited willing volunteer No.1, pulled the lever and sent him on his magical mystery tour.  The results were interesting.

Before:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

During:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The idiot survied! Though if you look at his injuries he was caught in cloud of boiling magma.  So either the rock superheated and turned to magma when it landed or its a bug.  I prefer the first explanation though.

Well I say he survived, he's currently in the corpse stockpile after months of surgery by "house" and his team.  Apparently soap is actually important to prevent infection.  And having some before surgery was started would have saved his and my mason's lives.

[RTiger]

I prefer the 5 3x ramp spiral. It can cover much more Z levels with less work.