Fort Designs?

[Red Heifer]

How do you design your fort?

I usually dig down a few z-levels and then create my initial stockpile that i eventually relocate the initial stockpile into several different ones for my industry.

Then i have been having trouble with this, do you split up your industries into multiple z levels, or do you keep them on one z-level? I've seem a few different strategies for this, so i'm not sure what's the best way to do this.

When it comes to the bedroom z-level, i usually put all these on the same level, since i usually go up to 300 dwarfs. This is where i would place a dining room and a tavern.

I usually put my jail and cages and doctors office on separate z-level, incase i need isolate Were[bite] victims, and i just like to keep my jail in a dungeon like area, in case i need to wall off or have a huge goblin petting zoo.

I usually put the initial farm up on a isolated dirt soil, once the cavern moss has spread.

I have been putting my kitchen industry near the tavern, just to cut down on walking space.

What do you do? Do you separate your industries on different z-levels? Do you have more then one tavern/dining room?

How do you build it?

[Veg]

I like having everything on one map so I make a big t shape and designate one end of t to industry, one to housing, one to government then dig down one Z level and put the stockpiles for each building under the respective building but connect them all below

[Fel]

I usually try to fit most things in one screen at default zoom, centered around the staircase.
Things tend to go a bit beyond that for bedrooms but I still keep it relatively small and have several levels worth of bedrooms (I think about 60 bedrooms per level as 2x2).

Each industry has its own level, sometimes with a level above or below for their stockpiles, sometimes in the same level.

Big rooms for nobles are in their own set of levels (1 at first but keeping a second just in case I need to house more nobles).
The mayor ends up with the nobles in case it's not the same dwarf.
Sometimes I put my manager/trader on that level as well (it is often the same dwarf because I try to pick my noble from the 7 dwarves during the embark).

Temples have their level, guild halls as well, the library shares the same level as the hospital.

My non-grazers are usually near the kitchen area unless I put my butcher at or near ground level, in that case only the egg-laying ones are near the kitchen area.

Many things are done without too much planning and on the fly though so my forts can end up pretty different each time.

[Jetrel]

I would put living quarters for all of my craft dwarves directly above their work stations, and all of their necessary materials directly below their workstations. main entrance goes through the barracks, and tavern just behind that. a double gated trade depot that links down to my main unsorted storage.

[Tokogawa [GER]]

Im really new but currently I have:

Overworld Level with the Entrance has Walls and a Bridge. Preferably a River so I can have Water, Power and Fishing. I also have a walled in Garden (Trees with Fruits) and a grazing spot for Animals.
The Trade Depot is directly next to the Stairs. I also put Trading Goods and Seed Stockpile up here (in the Hill of course not outside). I have a Field in Overworld soil with a open Roof so I can farm Overworld Fruits for Variety on small fields that change each season. Blueberries, Fisher Berries, Barley, Finger Millet, etc. etc. My Millstones are also next to the Fields

Under that I have my Barracks, Hospital and the muddy Farms for Dwarfen Fruits (plump helmets etc.). That way my Military can swarm outside immidiatly during training sessions. I admit they are far less organized during downtime thought

Next is the Living Layer. I put the Tavern upwards from the Staircase, a Kitchen, Brewery, etc downwards. It could look better but its my third Fort overall.
Rightway I have personal Rooms and the Noble Rooms. If neccesary I can expand
Leftway I have Space for other Rooms used for Living. My Library, general Temple, specific Shrines and the few Guildhalls are here. There is also Room to expand when needed

Then comes the Industry layer. Next time ill put it 8 Layers under the living Layer and use those Layers for Stripmining and later Stockpiling since I read Dwarfs get annoyed by Noise from Working

Currently thats it. Basicly just 4 important Layers and the Rest is just Ressources.

I should mention I have a max. Population of 120 Dwarfs as I prefer smaller Forts and believe this Number is big enough to get stuff done and have a decent Military but also isnt to big so Dwarfs feel unneccessary. I also dont use specific Dwarfs so everyone can do everything. Except Miners and Woodcutters but those arent forced to do only their Task 95% of the time. Plant gatherers and Fishers only get activated when Food or Booze runs low which basicly never happened yet because of my huge, diverse Farms

They seem happy though even if they get too much Sun for my Taste. Im also not ready to build this "Mist Generator" yet as im too afraid of moving Water into my Fort. Setting up these muddy cavern farms was my latest addition. Prior I just farmed them in a separated Room without sun roof on overworld/standart soil

[Brenticus]

the biggest thing for me is the entrance to the surface and caverns, can you seal off, does it look good?

my current fort has a surface bridge which will soon be over a spike pit. If my xbows can't stop you, I will use gravity. No handrails :)

[Sinclair]

I have a standard fort design that looks kinda like a medieval keep, 69x69 tiles, including outer wall. 8 or 9 staircases connect all Z-levels, with each level being dedicated to a specific thing: housing, industry, stockpiles, food, etc.

Lately, I've been also experimenting with different layouts, some of them asymmertical.

I usually start by digging a 3-wide entrance ending with the trade depot room, with the initial stockpile behind it. This stockpile will later be converted to a specialized stockpile for use when trading. This, plus the guard barracks, are usually the only rooms on the entrance level. The trader entrance is open most of the time, with at least two drawbridges at the ends forming an 'airlock'. I have a separate 'visitor entrance' for receiving uninvited guests.

[Jetrel]

Anyone else obsessed with making rooms circular whenever possible?

[Fel]

I definitely had a time where I used circular rooms except for individual rooms (you need to make them bigger for it to be round after all).

My current "obsession" would be making the entrances through underground tunnels.
I spend way too much time digging them, building them (roads, walls, bridges...), to the point where many other things end up stalling for a good 3-4 ingame years.
It's fun for me so that's fine but I end up with too many levers to pull to channel the enemies in the right one...

[gooberwoc]

I just go about adjusting things as I go. I've been doing it pretty organically especially since my current fort has a massive aquifer which covers 20 z levels down and half my map.

[Jetrel]

Originally posted by Fel:

I definitely had a time where I used circular rooms except for individual rooms (you need to make them bigger for it to be round after all).

My current "obsession" would be making the entrances through underground tunnels.
I spend way too much time digging them, building them (roads, walls, bridges...), to the point where many other things end up stalling for a good 3-4 ingame years.
It's fun for me so that's fine but I end up with too many levers to pull to channel the enemies in the right one...

what do you mean? like make your base only accessible via the tunnels? Would be interesting to make your base deep in the cavern layer and have its only entrance on that level, and across the map, a staircase up to the top layer.

I was also going to say a while ago, does anyone else drop the top layer down deep and then put a ceiling on top of it with grates to make an underground farm? I did that last play through and it worked quite well.

[Fel]

Why "with grates"?
It's a well-known way to make "safe" above-ground farms (growing above ground crops).

What I meant was that even when I have a part above the ground, the bridges that usually serve as entrance are only used in very specific cases.
The real entrances are close to the edge of the map, with 3 tiles wide ramps (to allow trade wagons to enter as well), usually with a proper road build from it to make sure a path exists that's not obstructed by trees.
The ramps continue down a bit (depends on the aquifer layers really) and join up before branching out again (sometimes on the same level sometimes on a different one).
There are bridges to secure all of the paths close to the ramp, usually to prevent enemies from fleeing.

One of the paths goes to a trade depot, that has a bridge closing the path (to make it safe once merchants reach the depot) as well as a bridge closing another path that goes straight to the heart of the fort (usually closed unless currently trading with a caravan).

A second path goes to the fort as a short path, closed by a bridge (that is closed unless I need to let my dwarves out on the field with a short path back, during cleaning of goblin corpses for example).

A third path is meant for invaders, it technically goes into the fort as well (with a bridge in case I can't stop the enemies) but this portion is where I actively kill them.
One of my stronger squad is set to train there so that even thieves or dangerous animals that are invading without a message can be dealt with.
Sometimes there are traps in this path, sometimes ballistas are set there as well, same with a place for marksdwarves.
A lot of it depends on the mood at the time.

[Jetrel]

Oooh.. I had never thought of doing it like that.

[Sinclair]

I make surface farms by channeling the surface down one level, and covering the hole with a bridge. It's cheap and looks good. It allows outdoor access for bees, and is siege-proof.

[Fel]

Bees, it's been forever since I did anything with those.
I mean, you require a ton of prep work, they don't produce much or quickly and there are a lot of steps to get things out of them.

Still fun to do once in a while as a side project I guess.

[Sinclair]

Originally posted by Fel:

Bees, it's been forever since I did anything with those.
I mean, you require a ton of prep work, they don't produce much or quickly and there are a lot of steps to get things out of them.

Still fun to do once in a while as a side project I guess.

It's not a very prominent industry for me, but I love seeing the bees fly around.