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[Rallan]

Right, so I've decided that I need a large, complicated-looking, multistory dwarfopolis that sits on the seabed. I've never done any construction below the waterline before (I haven't even dammed a brook before) and I'm too lazy to see how this problem's been tackled in the past, but I'm sorta kinda sure that the method I'll be using should work. Maybe.

[elf-fondling human]

'splain.

[Rallan]

'splain.

1) Dig out big chamber underground. The roof of the chamber will be the sea floor.

2) Build fancy dwarf city in chamber. Make sure all structures have roofs that are a z-level thick, and that the whole complex is airtight.

3) On the surface, build a big ring-shaped gantry suspended above the ocean that exactly lines up with the perimeter of the chamber.

4) Collapse the entire ring simultaneously.

5) The ring hits the seabed, which is only 1 floor thick rather than a z-level thick, so the whole roof of the artificial chamber collapses simultaneously.

6) All the structures in the fancy city have roofs that are a z-level thick, so they survive the sea floor collapsing on top of them.

7) My frame rate collapses to a number so close to zero that mathematicians will debate on whether there's any practical difference between my framerate and zero, as an area several z-levels deep and covering a significant portion of the map is flooded by the ocean.

Catastrophic amounts of fun when it turns out I forgo to install a couple of windows, and the whole project (which naturally I've already moved my dwarves into) is flooded.

Assuming that my computer can survive the framerate problem and my dwarves can survive my incompetent building practices, the end result should be a bunch of buildings sitting on the bottom of the ocean.

[Tharwen]

It would be even better to build on the bottom rather than under it. That way you could remake Rapture rather than sticking it in a big hole

[elf-fondling human]

Try doing this on an aquifer, then you can just drain part of the ocean into that while you build, and once you're done you can plug the hole and let the water refill.

For extra !FUN! you can build the entire compound out of glass.

[Girlinhat]

The generally accepted method of ocean constructing is to drain the ocean.  Namely, dig a tunnel from under the ocean, to map's edge, and then smooth a fortification.  Then pop open the cave's roof, causing the water to drain through the cave and out the map, raping your framerate, draining the ocean, and leaving a lot of tasty whales very confused.  When finished, install a hatch, and link it to a lever, so you can control when to drain or not.

[Urist Da Vinci]

Back in 40d, I built a bioshock-themed fort on the bottom of the ocean. I started by casting obsidian walls into the ocean, which collapse to the sea floor. I did this in a location where the ocean depth was slightly less than the number of z-levels under the ocean floor. Once the city area was walled off, I had the dwarves drain the interior, which didn't kill the fps since it wouldn't refill. A multi-z-level city was built, using glass and thin ceilings in the design. All of the dwarves and their stuff were moved into the city, and then it was cut off from the shore camp by collapsing the bridge and the wall keeping the ocean back. The city was designed with internal doors and a redundant set of glass bridges and underground tunnels.

I now had an isolated city, with economy turned on, limited resources, a very mandating mayor, a spear-armed fortress guard, and no prison. Failed mandates -> guards kill random dwarf -> unhappy dwarves -> tantrum -> guards kill more dwarves to punish vandalism -> tantrumer breaks glass window, lets ocean inside -> access to parts of city cut off -> more tantrums -> chaos and murder everywhere -> end of fort.

[GreatWyrmGold]

If your ocean freezes for long enough at a time, you can just build buildings on the natural ocean floor.

1.) Build a platform out to wherever you want the buildings to go.
2.) Wait for the ocean to freeze.
3.) Dig down into the ice.
4.) Make sure you have access from build-site to surface. Dig to seafloor.
5.) Build walls and floors in areas you want to remain unflooded.
6.) Deconstruct constructions to remove surface access. Make sure that everything will remain standing when the ice melts.
7.) Add tunnels from unflooded area(s) to fortress. In fact, maybe do this before step 6.
8.) Evacuate flooded area(s) before the ice melts! Failure to evacuate quickly WILL lead to dwarven death and may lead to the destruction of your entire fort.

[Psieye]

And here I thought evaporating the ocean away with a burning lignite bin was the normal way to do it.

[Rallan]

The generally accepted method of ocean constructing is to drain the ocean.  Namely, dig a tunnel from under the ocean, to map's edge, and then smooth a fortification.  Then pop open the cave's roof, causing the water to drain through the cave and out the map, raping your framerate, draining the ocean, and leaving a lot of tasty whales very confused.  When finished, install a hatch, and link it to a lever, so you can control when to drain or not.

That all seems slightly too neat for my liking. Building underneath the ocean and then collapsing the seabed on top of it is much more dramatic, and it drastically increases my chances of catastrophic failu- errr, fun.

[BodyGripper]

I do rather like the idea of your dwarfs being crushed under a collapsing ocean.  You should try and get some elves under there too.  And maybe the humans' law-giver.

[Syrup Roast]

And here I thought evaporating the ocean away with a burning lignite bin was the normal way to do it.

You'll need an artifact bin for that I think, so it's fairly situational.

[Girlinhat]

Artifacts burn until quenched with water.
Normal items burn until destroyed or quenched.
Normal items in bins burn until destroyed, as the bin protects them from water.
Artifacts in bins burn forever, as they can neither be destroyed nor quenched.  Possibly removed by a ‼Dwarf‼ but not very easily.

[RCIX]

Artifacts burn until quenched with water.
Normal items burn until destroyed or quenched.
Normal items in bins burn until destroyed, as the bin protects them from water.
Artifacts in bins burn forever, as they can neither be destroyed nor quenched.  Possibly removed by a ‼Dwarf‼ but not very easily.

So wait, if you get yourself an artifact lignite whatever then stuff it in a bin and light it on fire then you get an eternal flame? Cool. 

[Girlinhat]

Or artifact woo, yes.  Until you d-b-d the whole thing and have a dwarf go commit suicide to remove it.  Must be a fire-safe bin, btw, like any metal type.  Otherwise a wood bin would just burn away and leave the artifact on the ground.