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[Owly]

I've played a few fortresses now, and it seems like I can make a perfectly functional fortress without digging more than 1-3 layers down. It seems like wood can be used instead of metal for most things. For instance, some crossbowdwarves behind fortifications seem to be better than the (often slaughtered) squads of hammerdwarves for dealing with most threats. The two fortresses in which I did dig deep ended because of a FB and the HFS. So why dig deep?

[DS]

Once you overcome the various challenges inherent in running just about any fort (food/alcohol production, defending against sieges, etc.), survival becomes fairly simple. The deeper you dig, the more challenging the game becomes, as you've already observed.

[Bazzak]

Sure, it is not necessary to dig deep, but without it you're missing a lot.

First things first, magma. Everyone loves it. If not, you're an elf. Horrible.

Caverns itself contains loads of fun and !!FUN!!

There are metals in the depths aswell.

Not to forget candy.

And last, but not least, the circus.

As I said earlier, you don't have to. I personally find staying in the surface for too long extremely boring.

[acetech09]

Digging deeper only really accomplishes a few things:

1. More metals (not any better metals, normally ['till candy]). My industrious forts normally chew through the first few layers of metal eventually.

2. Caverns (exotic animals for traps, higher-value food/skins, zoos)

3. If you don't have a volcano, then you'll have to dig deep to get... err... I lost my train of thought. Perhaps necro can fix this.

4. You can visit the underground circus, go get some sweet sweet candy, meet the clowns...

[Loud Whispers]

Digging deeper only really accomplishes a few things:

1. More metals (not any better metals, normally ['till candy]). My industrious forts normally chew through the first few layers of metal eventually.

2. Caverns (exotic animals for traps, higher-value food/skins, zoos)

3. If you don't have a volcano, then you'll have to dig deep to get... err... I lost my train of thought. Perhaps necro can fix this.

4. You can visit the underground circus, go get some sweet sweet candy, meet the clowns...

5. Turn HFS into a villa

[Dsarker]

Necro's been muted for a week

[King DZA]

I normally never dig deep either. I've only breached the caverns and found the magma sea on my current fortress, and that was by accident. But since dealing with the various elements of the depths, I can definitely see the benefits it provides:

The most obvious, magma. Relying charcoal forever on anything but a heavily forested embark is extremely cumbersome, and even then, you might not want your dwarves running out into the open all the time to harvest it. And coke is never guaranteed.

Extra sources of wood. You can never have enough lumber.

Training/hunting grounds.

Access to cave spider silk. One less thing to worry about when a dwarf goes into a mood.

New ores and minerals. That's always a plus.

Access to water. If, like me, you suck at building wells, this is absolutely wonderful to have.

Candy is nice to have.

Once the caverns are breached, you can have animals graze indoors, meaning they won't be used as practice targets for invading forces.

So yeah, it's not necessary to dig deep, but it's not all that bad either.

[Loud Whispers]

Necro's been muted for a week

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

Spoiler: I HOPE NECRO SEE THIS (click to show/hide)

The closest thing I could get to Troollloolol and water.

Also, why NOT dig down.

You said HFS and FB's. I don't see the problem
Except that time where I made antmen spawn hundreds of chittering babies.

[proxn_punkd]

If you can enjoy playing with a surface fort instead of digging deep, that's your play style. Me, I hardly ever go below the first cavern layer except to excavate marble for my steel industries. Other people go cruising for that sticky red stuff, or all the way to the circus to see the clowns. Different strokes for different folks, and all.

[Loud Whispers]

If you can enjoy playing with a surface fort instead of digging deep, that's your play style. Me, I hardly ever go below the first cavern layer except to excavate marble for my steel industries. Other people go cruising for that sticky red stuff, or all the way to the circus to see the clowns. Different strokes for different folks, and all.

Surface forts? Oh that's an exception I accept.

They are the BOUSE.

[Sandrew]

I only dig deep to reach magma. Unless I have coal. Having coal is such a rarity that I actually intend to use it all before switching to alternative fuel sources.

Necro's been muted for a week

Thank god for that. Reading "MAGMAAA" every other two posts became quite aggravating.

[Loud Whispers]

I only dig deep to reach magma. Unless I have coal. Having coal is such a rarity that I actually intend to use it all before switching to alternative fuel sources.

Necro's been muted for a week

Thank god for that. Reading "MAGMAAA" every other two posts became quite aggravating.

The magma seas have always been annoying for me, either 150~ levels below ground, or literally 20~ below ground.
>_______________<
Plus, I never seem to be able to find coal, or iron. Adamantine and trees seem like the nicest choice to me.

[Monk321654]

I only dig deep to reach magma. Unless I have coal. Having coal is such a rarity that I actually intend to use it all before switching to alternative fuel sources.

Necro's been muted for a week

Thank god for that. Reading "MAGMAAA" every other two posts became quite aggravating.

The magma seas have always been annoying for me, either 150~ levels below ground, or literally 20~ below ground.
>_______________<
Plus, I never seem to be able to find coal, or iron. Adamantine and trees seem like the nicest choice to me.

I can find Iron quite well on most occasions.
It's usually accompanied by coke materials.
Plus, I just got an embark that includes Iron ores, and Flux!
STEEL, BABY, HERE I COOOOME!

[Loud Whispers]

Ha ha, on one of my 4x4 embarks, I didn't even bother looking for iron - Found 4 adamantine pillars.

Used bolt smelting exploit, bottom line is, after decades, I had over what I swore was 2000 adamantine wafer's worth of crap. Wait, that means I must've burnt down over 4000 trees....


O___O

[Dsarker]

I only dig deep to reach magma. Unless I have coal. Having coal is such a rarity that I actually intend to use it all before switching to alternative fuel sources.

Necro's been muted for a week

Thank god for that. Reading "MAGMAAA" every other two posts became quite aggravating.

Actually, he got muted for making rape jokes.




Uh, yes, that's true, I didn't find them funny at all.