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[Hannibal Barcalounger]

1st Granite 201:
After a pleasant journey, we arrive at the designated site to carry out the orders of His Majesty Aban Ikthagtobul, King and High Sovereign of Nidostsarvesh. To bolster the waning fortunes of The Ferocious Furnaces, King Ikthagtobul sent scouts to every corner of Thur Niral to find suitable locations for a mountaintop fortress with two chief duties: become a new industrial powerhouse to replace the Mountainhome's sputtering mines, and stand firm against the tide of jealousy and anger it is sure to inspire.

I feel certain that we are the most fortunate of the colonization groups sent out. Our site is unique among all others considered: Two major peaks astride an uneven ridgeline formed with three other tops; salt marshes north of the ridge; sandy plains to the south that drop gently away to a brook. It's practically bursting with wealth - the initial survey listed several hundred Urist each of copper, hematite, galena, gold, and tetrahedrite ores, and as soon as we arrived we spotted veins of gold shining in sides of one peak!

The wealth isn't the most important factor, though. The key to our success is the hollowed hill between the major peaks. It was carved by a volcano, "The Cinder of Pim," that has since partly subsided into itself. The cinder may not be what it once was, but it still holds a powerful amount of magma, which we fully intend to harness.

We shall call it Litastnefek: "Torchfancied," in honor of the constant red glow along the cinder's hollow walls.

The only worry is that General Rulushrimtar refused to attach any qualified soldiers to our expedition. He even denied any of us the chance to train with the sergeant-at-arms before we left. The General actually mocked us, asking what harm we expected to befall us in benign grasslands before we might have the chance to strike the earth and erect a modest bailey. Easy for him to say when he's staying behind - if it turns out we're not the first to clue in to this site's obvious potential, we've only got the miners' copper picks and Iden's woodcutting axe to protect us. 

[Hannibal Barcalounger]

So, I've got this site:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

For reference, North is to the top left of that picture; the line of mountains runs E-W.

Basic Description

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There are four embark squares that spawned mountain peaks, a few that spawned hills, and the rest is flat. Two of the peaks are properly tall, and in between them there's a volcano. But the volcano negated all the peak space above the magma pipe, so the middle peak between the two tall ones is hollowed out and incomplete.

I don't know where the caverns are, but it looks there's a ton of Z-layers to work with. The plains south of the mountain line are at z=145, the magma tops out at 143, and the creek bed is 136. The obsidian walls of the magma pipe go all the way down to z=84, but the absolute bottom of the map is z= -67!!    Below 84, it still shows magma visually, but inspecting the tiles only lists Outside Light Above Ground, not any magma or semi-molten rock. So I'm not sure what exactly is going on for those 151 levels, but all except the bottom 6 still have the footprint of the magma pipe.

Initial Plan

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, the plan is this: I think I'm going to dig into the mountain to the right of the volcano, since it's the tallest, and organize a mostly-vertical fort in that embark square. With the exception of totally mining out any soil layers for massive underground tree farms, and putting the butcher, tanner, and refuse areas one tile north (I'll explain later), it's all going to be inside that mountain. I've got enough Z-layers to leave "blank" levels above and below each "working" level, which gives me a lot of room to put stockpiles above and below workshops, as well as mess with plumbing for magma and water without having to redo everything.

Here's Where I Need Your Help!
I have a plan for a sort of megaconstruction on the volcano tile, but it's all sub-surface work. I'm open for ideas on what to do with it aboveground.

What sort of construction could I do with the hollowed-out cinder? I'm thinking of building a glass skywalk over to the western peak, which will house nobles' rooms and a grand graveyard. The skywalk would have a statue gardenand artifacts as well as a view directly down into the magma pipe, and the nobles' rooms/graveyard would all have their outer walls replaced with clear glass (and maybe balconies) so that the occupants could gaze upon the volcanic majesty at their leisure.

Defense Plan & Other Features, FYI

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There will be a very large wall extending north of the main mountain, acting as the main defense area. It will have fortifications, corner towers, a main gate with drawbridge and portcullis, packs of war animals roaming the grounds, and a few kittens chained up just outside as ambush-bait. In the picture above, you can see that there's a bit of a hill north of the main mountain. I envision that as a sort of waiting room to enter Torchfancied: you have to walk up to the hilltop and request entry.

If the guards in the towers like you enough, they'll lower a drawbridge that reaches out to the hilltop, and you walk across. If the guards REALLY like you, they'll drop a second bridge that leads you on a path to the trade depot and into the main fortress; if they don't, you have to walk between two archery bunkers, past some traps, down a narrow hall with 2 or 3 ballista at the end of it, and into the barracks.

I'm also thinking of making a dodge pit, not because I really need it, but because I tried one in my last fortress and couldn't get it to work. (Lots of blood, vomit, and corpses, zero dodging.) Should I make the dodge-pit part of my heavily defended path, or should I put it outside the walls? I kind of want to leave the interior courtyard pristine, or at least available for my tanner/butcher/refuse chimneys. I plan to dig out all the space above those (in order to make them Outside, Light, Above Ground as an anti-miasma measure) then fill it in with wall or obsidian, except for a 1-tile-wide chimney reaching to the surface.

I know it's not necessary to have a chimney, and that there are easier ways of dealing with miasma from refuse stockpiles (especially when you have a volcano!  ), but I'm aiming for more of a simulation fort than a power-gaming fort.

[Shinotsa]

I'd vote for a sacrificial altar on top of the volcano that either contains a pitting zone where prisoners are sacrificed to the lava god, or a chamber with floor grates where prisoners are stripped and pitted in with a unique soldier with the title of "Priest(ess)" who wears all bone armor and uses either a dagger or a bone weapon to kill them and let their blood drip into the volcano.

Essentially I'd like to see the mountain not rebuilt, but rather shaped so that the pillars are holding up a large and/or suitably epic structure to be suspended above an active volcano. It would make the best of the "living rock" and minimize constructions so it's certainly dwarfy. Maybe, if you could somehow manage a pump stack, do an aqueduct and bath house with a statue garden. Nothing like a heated bath!

[Hannibal Barcalounger]

Actually I just got inspired by the name. Torchfancied.

Torch, so I will make this rise from the cone.

Fancy, because it's going to be built out of copper, silver, gold, and whatever other alloys I'll need for proper shading.

[Shinotsa]

Sounds amazing, bonus points if you have a magma pump stack and burning artifacts lighting up the torch. Keep us updated, and don't focus so hard on the megaproject that war grizzlies eat all your beardlings!

Yeah... I didn't know I was at war with the elves

[Hannibal Barcalounger]

hmmm.  The magma pipe is 34 blocks wide, but there are only 42 z-layers from the top of the sky to the top of the magma. Scaling this will be interesting.

But you're right; first I should concentrate on keeping the dorfs safe, fed, and drunk.

[Loud Whispers]

Put the dodge trap over a magma reservoir. You will kill them with kindness. Magma is kind.

[Hannibal Barcalounger]

I had a complete implementation of the dodge trap last time, with a magma reservoir to clean the floor and hatches to drain it away. I was even careful to make the floodgates one level up and the floor hatches one level below so that building destroyers wouldn't wreck my design and cause uncontrolled flooding.

So yeah, Goblin Christmas is going to come with a self-cleaning option just like my oven. But should it be within my defensive wall somewhere? I can't see any real reason why. If I put it outside the wall, I still have all my other lines of defense intact in case something makes it through, or the traps get jammed, or some other mishap. And while I have to let military and/or goblinite collectors onto the trap floor, the methods I use to isolate and airlock that access will work just as well outside as inside.

Is there any real reason for the dodge-trap pit to be placed inside my defensive wall?

[Shinotsa]

Yeah, I can't think of a reason why you'd need it inside your walls. Seeing as how your military may be your last line of defense the last thing you want is for them to pull a Leroy and engage the enemy on your dodge trap. Think of how many good dodgers you've lost to murky pools, then multiply by ‼‼

[ansontan2000]

Would you happen to be dorfing people? If so, i would like to be your mason
Name him Anderz.

[Hannibal Barcalounger]

Sure, why not? Anderz the mason/architect/mechanic.

Between a packed weekend and potential turns in other succession forts I'm not likely to play any on this one til midweek next week, though.

[Khenal]

Perhaps my favorite defense that actually requires a volcano is the magma hammer.  Details are in someone's sig, but the basics are as follows:

1.) place winding pathway just over the level of the lava in the caldera.
2.) place water reservoir over caldera with defined leaking points.
3.) when foes come to say hello, start dripping water into the lava.  The new obsidian will be unsupported and cause a cave in, including dust.
4.) Laugh maniacally as invaders are forced off the winding path by dust.  Why let them dodge when you can force them to fly off?

I wish I could claim the idea as mine, but I can't. 

[Loud Whispers]

Sure, why not? Anderz the mason/architect/mechanic.

Between a packed weekend and potential turns in other succession forts I'm not likely to play any on this one til midweek next week, though.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? ANDERZ WILL BE THE DOOM OF YOU!!!


DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

[ansontan2000]

Loud whispers, way to ruin my reputation.
Where did you get that from?

[Loud Whispers]

Loud whispers, way to ruin my reputation.
Where did you get that from?

It's all !!FUN!!

:3