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[Elifre]

I generally go with mass graves, usually multiple parts of five chambers with room for twenty coffins each, and a sixth with room for engraved slabs in case of ghosties. For my military, I make reasonably fancy tombs, with elaborate ones for soldiers that have high kill counts before they die (i.e. ones with titles), or are militia commanders (I choose only Legendary +5 Miners for this job, except in the case of ranged squads). Probably the most dwarves / pets I've had dead before losing / abandoning a fort was around 80-90.

Nobles either get really fancy tombs to make them shut up, or just enough to make them content. The one exception for this is the dwarf I choose to have for a manager / record keeper / broker, as those positions are actually useful.

Oddly enough, death by magma is usually enough to keep the noble ghosts from coming back, with the occasional engraved slab just in case.

[Aspgren]

I think that a large catacomb is a good thing... sort of.

 If it has been filled with dwarves who died valiantly over the years, each of whom was given time and attention to recieve an ornamental and carefully constructed tomb - then it is good. It becomes a hall of heroes!
 If, on the other hand, the fortress is struck with famine, rot or some other disaster upon which most of the population keels over. Then the corpses are rushed into the catacombs and litter the hallways. Nameless dwarves with pointless deaths. It becomes a hall of terror. A reminder of the great cataclysm.

[Azure]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've been wondering what it says about a particular fortress if it has a massive catacomb with most of the coffins filled. Is it shameful to have (accidentally?) killed that many dwarfs? Is it a good thing to have a massive amount of dead dwarfs in little stone boxes, sort of a point of pride where burying all your dead required a mega project and an open weekend (its got a water fountain and a magma pond; look even all the statues match!) Most I've ever filled was about 35, most of those were from a massive elf ambush right when my population hit 50. It would be quite a thing to see if someone managed to take up an entire Z-lvl in a 4x4 zone into a huge burial area.

No shame at all unless your purposely hurling them off a 50 z-level tower.(Shame on you for not using them in medical experiments.) Most of us have hundreds of dead dwarves after all. Even if your not reckless, disease and lucky shots add up over the years. I have 7 9x9 rooms holding 41 or so coffins each.

Its pretty cool your spending the effort on making a nice catacomb for all your dwarves.

[Wannazzaki]

Depends how many i expect to die.

[rephikul]

I atom smash dead people and rune smite their souls.

[MagmaSolutionsInc]

Accidentally flooded my last big catacomb. Upon reflection, it seemed kind of appropriate. Plus I managed to salvage most of the unused coffins through autodump, so not much waste overall.

There were a couple of hundred dorfs at rest there.

[Broseph Stalin]

I've never made a catacomb with more than ten coffins. It's sort of a paradox, if I have time to make a catacomb I won't need it and if I need it having a catacomb is the least of my worries.

[MasterMorality]

Right now I have a small catacomb carved out, and a small tomb section carved out, for nobility and heroes. It's only partially carved and I've run out of coffins, but I think I have more dead than I can bury at this time. 

I usually have a lot of dead things.

[ThatAussieGuy]

830-ish in the first real fortress, about 930-ish (I think) in Swordthunders.  All dwarf corpses.  It would've been higher, but I'd driven the civ to extinction due to starting both forts in low double-digit years.  I generally just excavate one huge cavern and fill it over the life of the fortress, for the record.

[Gamerlord]

Does anyone else build slabs for the really tough enemies, I mean the ones that gave you a good fight?

[Broseph Stalin]

Does anyone else build slabs for the really tough enemies, I mean the ones that gave you a good fight?

I build giant lavish memorial halls for tough enemies. 

[Telgin]

In my current fort, I have 2 filled coffins after 5 years of in-game time.  Both civillians.  Both slain by dagger wounds to the head by a thief.   

I've got separate burial chambers dug out for each of my militia and fortress guard squads though, with a tomb preassigned to each member.  I wish it was easier / possible to make sure militia were buried together posthumously.

Anyway, in my previous fort, I think I lost over a hundred in about 10 in-game years.  Most of them to sieges, but maybe about 40 or so to a single forgotten beast with deadly dust that caused massive bleeding.  Didn't have enough coffins, so the bodies piled up and started rotting, but even that didn't push the fort into a tantrum spiral.

My burial chambers are pretty simple.  I should liven them up a bit with statues and stuff I suppose.  I was stupid enough to start burying too close to the surface in my last for though, so it's in a soil layer.  No engraving.   

[rephikul]

In my current fort, I have 2 filled coffins after 5 years of in-game time.  Both civillians.  Both slain by dagger wounds to the head by a thief.   

By the end of year 2 most of my dwarves already have some kind of headgears, a bone helmet at the very least. And wow 5 years of nothingness. I usually get 5 deaths from the first 2 seasons if not more.

[Telgin]

In my current fort, I have 2 filled coffins after 5 years of in-game time.  Both civillians.  Both slain by dagger wounds to the head by a thief.   

By the end of year 2 most of my dwarves already have some kind of headgears, a bone helmet at the very least. And wow 5 years of nothingness. I usually get 5 deaths from the first 2 seasons if not more.

I'm doing an above ground fort and have the pop cap set low enough to not get sieges yet.  Still, I haven't seen any ambushes for some reason... I don't think my fort value is that low, even for an above ground fort.

I think I will be trying the thing with putting civilians in squads so I can give them armor in my next fort.  If nothing but a helmet.  On the other hand, one of those civvies was decapitated by said steel dagger.  Don't think a helmet helps with that.  Or does it?

[Noodz]

I kinda like not making a central catacomb, but instead digging crevices in valuable veins and clusters along hallways. I bury my dwarves inside these crevices, trying to keep them buried close to the place they died, and then seal the crevice, preferably with a wall made of valuable metal. The result is a regular fortress where the dead are littered around, with the eventual rose gold wall remembering a dwarf who was strangled by a marauding ogre.