User:Midna/Pillars

The reason I'd designed this was because I'd often noticed that, when I had to route liquids to certain places, I'd almost always encounter problems. Generally, these would be something to the effect of "how do I get liquid through here without messing up workshops and moving everything around?"

This design has helped alleviate the problem, while also improving on efficiency. (I'd previously used the 3x3 workshop style; this layout involves less hauling for the dwarves working at any particular workshop.)

The models on the left are of the "all-purpose" version; the ones on the right are very slightly modified for usage with magma workshops. The ones just below each of these are side views.

Key:

.      Floor (path)
_      Channel
W      Workshop
≈      Magma
=      Stockpile
█      Stone/unused space (reserved for plumbing)

Layout:

Z -1:

╔═══┼═══╗ ╔═══┼═══╗
║WWW.WWW║ ║_WW.WW_║
║WWW.WWW║ ║WWW.WWW║
║WWW.WWW║ ║WWW.WWW║
┼...X...┼ ┼...X...┼
║WWW.WWW║ ║WWW.WWW║
║WWW.WWW║ ║WWW.WWW║
║WWW.WWW║ ║_WW.WW_║
╚═══┼═══╝ ╚═══┼═══╝

║WWWXWWW║ ║_WWXWW_║

Z -2:

█████████ ╔═══════╗
█████████ ║≈≈≈≈≈≈≈║
██╔═══╗██ ║≈╔═══╗≈║
██║...║██ ║≈║...║≈║
██║.X.║██ ║≈║.X.║≈║
██║...║██ ║≈║...║≈║
██╚═══╝██ ║≈╚═══╝≈║
█████████ ║≈≈≈≈≈≈≈║
█████████ ╚═══════╝

██║.X.║██ ║≈║.X.║≈║

Z -3:

╔═══════╗ ╔═══════╗
║=======║ ║=======║
║=======║ ║=======║
║=======║ ║=======║
║===X===║ ║===X===║
║=======║ ║=======║
║=======║ ║=======║
║=======║ ║=======║
╚═══════╝ ╚═══════╝

║===X===║ ║===X===║

The rest is a repetition of the normal (non-magma) Z -2 and Z -3, alternating. I recommend using workshops that are similar - while this makes it harder to contain berserk dwarves, placing any kind of traps around the workshops should help prevent this. Z -2 is considered to be a "plumbing" level.

An example magma setup (side view):

║_WWXWW_║ <- Workshop layer
║≈║.X.║≈║ <- Magma (power for workshops above)
║===X===║ <- Stockpiles (holding material for workshops)
██║.X.║██ <- "Plumbing" layer
║===X===║ <- More stockpiles
██║.X.║██ <- "Plumbing" layer
║===X===║ <- More stockpiles
█████████ <- (Repeat above as necessary)

Finally, note that up and down staircases are recommended on all levels; it saves time in building the same pattern upwards, if such is required. (Best to be prepared, right?)