40d:Architecture design

It is one thing to design a fortress to be useful and functional, but many dwarves are also very artistic in their design as well.

Modern

One means of fort design is the no-nonsense modern design. Modern style architecture revolves around a no-nonsense approach to space usage, usually with long straight corridors and multi function rooms that contain multiple workshops or other points of interest. A typical modern hallway may appear as below:

       ║..║
 ══┼═══╬┼┼╬═══┼══
 ......┼..┼......
 ......┼..┼......
 ══┼═══╬┼┼╬═══┼══
       ║..║

The doors in the hallway lead to these large, multifunction rooms. The doors at the intersections present an excellent method of containment, stopping both water and allowing to be locked against intruders or to contain misbehaving dwarves.

Grave Importance

Dwarves have a long tradition of honoring their dead and while some forts may be too bitter to spare resources on proper burial, others can honor and pay respect to their dead. In this design method, hallways do not always intersect, sometimes leading to dead ends where coffins can be placed as well as statues made in the likeness of the former living. Likewise, workshops can also be placed in the center of a 5x5 grid, with the back and side walls used for statues in coffins. Once the current area is exhausted and the past dwarves are satisfied that their work has been completed, the workshop can be disassembled and the dead left to rest in piece.

Waterfalls

Waterfalls have a strong effect on people, man and dwarf alike. Some enjoy incorporating this into their fort. Waterfalls require a system to dispose of the water, either pumping it back upwards to be recycled or dumping it into a large reservoir where it can be allowed to evaporate. It is a good idea to set up a boundary to prevent clumsy dwarfs from dodging into a watery grave. This can be done using vertical bars, or possibly with windows. It is possible to set up a waterfall such that the dwarfs will walk through it. If you consider doing this, place a ring of floor grates around a central floor tile for support. A support adjacent to a wall will not work as well, since the water could collect and cause a large number of job cancellations from dangerous terrain. In any case, when designing a waterfall, it is important to consider that the water will spread out as it falls.

Smelting Operations

In very resource-heavy maps, 10-12 smelters may be necessary to keep up with mining operations. I've had very efficient results with this setup - and it looks good, to boot. The stairways lead down into a high Z-level mining operation (keeps the noise away from the bedrooms, too), with additional bar storage 1-2 levels below.

• S = Smelter
• M = Magma
• B = Bar Stockpile
• O = Ore Stockpile

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