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40d:Design strategies
Fortress defense
See:
3D map format
It's important to remember that 1 z-level up or down is the same distance for dwarf to walk as 1 tile in any horizontal direction. So, rather than moving from a workshop a couple tiles to the door, and then a few tiles down a short hall, and then a couple or more into the side entrance of a "nearby" storeroom (total of maybe 7+), it's closer to put a stair or ramp in that workshop, and for that same dwarf to move over 1, down or up 1, and directly into the what could be the middle of a storeroom on the next level. While this is example uses tiny distances, the idea is the same for larger ones - 15 tiles on one level is the same "distance" as 14 z-levels up or down. And when that distance is repeated hundreds (or thousands?) of times over the life of a fortress, for workshops, for bedrooms, for dining and drinking and breaks, it adds up fast. Optimally, a fortress should be more like a cube, rather than a pancake.
For more information on how to dig passages and structures in a 3D map, see digging.
Interior design
It may seem obvious to experienced players but it should be stated explicitly: for maximal efficiency your dwarves should spend the least amount of time moving about and the most time doing productive things. Fortress interior design is critical to productivity.
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, 2-tile-wide hallway may appear as below:
║..║
══┼═══╬┼┼╬═══┼══
......┼..┼......
......┼..┼......
══┼═══╬┼┼╬═══┼══
║..║
The doors in the hallway lead to large, multifunction rooms. The paired doors at intersections present an excellent method of containment, as a prevention against flooding and also able to be locked against intruders or to contain misbehaving dwarves.
Diagonal design
In DF, one step orthogonally (East-West or North-South) is the same "distance" as one step diagonally. Diagonal paths thus provide faster access across distances that are not perfectly in line with each other up/down or left/right. Creating a setup with your main high-traffic areas on diagonals, 2 or 3 wide, is less simple to designate, but saves considerable time and effort for your labour force in the long run. Workshops can be grouped so they are staggered, perhaps 4-6 in a cluster, so that the diagonal halls serve them and still no workshop is isolated. Intersections tend to be larger than those of orthogonal passages, but can be designated with stockpiles of booze or other items to make good use of the space. Diagonal passages that are 1-wide act as barriers to both miasma and de-pressurize water (in case of floods), and can be included periodically throughout a design, especially in 3-wide halls where a single, central pillar will not bottleneck traffic significantly. Adding doors at these points is an additional precaution against intruders and accidents.
Bedroom design
See bedroom design.
Workshop Logistics
At a certain point, the most important thing for your fortress is not that you have workshops, but that they are placed efficiently.
Pair workshops that have similar inputs or similar outputs or where the output of one is the input of another. Examples: Pair a mechanic's workshop with a mason's workshop because both consume stone and produce furniture, or a forge surrounded by smelters. If multiple inputs are required (smelter, smith..), it is better to make specialized stockpiles rather than having a single 'input' stockpile because you want to make sure that there is always some of every input. Use the 'take from stockpile' interface to fill these subsidiary stockpiles from your main stockpile and vice versa.
One way of doing this is with the stockpiles on the next Z-level like this:
Level 1: Level 2 (above and/or below)
``````````````` ```````````````
`WWWWWW`WWWWWW` `iiiiii`iiiiii`
`WWWWWW`WWWWWW` `iiiiii`iiiiii`
`WWWWWW`WWWWWW` `iiiiii`iiiiii`
`..>>..`..>>..` ...<<.....<<...
``````````````` `oooooo`oooooo`
`oooooo`oooooo`
W = workshop `oooooo`oooooo`
i = input item ```````````````
o = output item
Alternatively you can place input above and output below the workshops or the other way round, depending, for example, on the location of your trade depot. Additional stairs may be useful.
Moody Dwarves
One important consideration of workshops includes design to account for moody dwarves. Open workshops might be easy and convenient, but make containment in the case of a berserk dwarf difficult. One such layout that takes this into consideration is as follows:
````````┼.. `WWW`WWW`.. `WWW`WWW`.. `WWW`WWW`.. ```┼`┼``┼.. ....X...... ```┼`┼``┼.. `WWW`WWW`.. `WWW`WWW`.. `WWW`WWW`.. ````````┼.. W = workshop X = up/down staircase ... = hallway
Access and stockpiles are placed above and below the room. Similar workshops can be grouped together for easier checking on, and doors can be locked should a moody dwarf's wishes be unmet. This concept can be used for your entire fortress:
Below you can see a piece from around the central staircase, to see how the design should start. Notice that it is pretty modular, you can have two workshops pushed together, or you can separate them all, and you have a couple options on how you set up your entrances, connecting two workshops with one door, or leaving them with separate entrances. Up to you. Notice the initial diagonal terminates at a workshop, and starts the grid pattern.
`WWW`.`````.`WWW`` `WWW`.`````.`WWW` `WWW`.`WWW`.`WWW`` ````┼.`WWW`.┼````` ......`WWW`....... ``````┼```┼```┼``` WWWWWW`.`.`WWW`WWW WWWWWW``X``WWW`WWW WWWWWW`.`.`WWW`WWW ``````┼```┼```┼``` ......`WWW`....... ````┼.`WWW`.┼````` `WWW`.`WWW`.`WWW`` `WWW`.`````.`WWW`` `WWW`.┼WWW┼.`WWW`` `````.`WWW`.`````` `````.`WWW`.`````` `````.`````.``````
The floors alternate workshop/storage. On workshop floors the diagonals immediate to the main stairway are mined out a couple spaces to make room for the first workshops; around those you can start mining in straight lines and start a grid pattern. For storage floors you can leave a wall of stone around the staircase with only one or two walls mined out for access; then mine out everything around it. On the ground level you start by mining into a cave, clear out space for a trade depot, and mine out one spot where you build a single downward staircase; here the entire fortress starts. It works great and is very efficient, though it takes a while to get setup right.
Decentralized Workshop Complex
Designed for use with the decentralized living plan, this plan emphasizes fine-grained planning with many small, specific stockpiles and planned workshop quarters. It therefore requires some micro-management to get going. However, once you have it working, things work extremely smoothly and you should never have a significant delay in production again.
Total workshop loadout for 1 floor:
- Sixteen (16) 3x3 workshops
- Four (4) 4x3 workshops
- Two (2) 5x5 workshops
Maximum walk to stockpile on same wing: 18.
The light gray crosses are optional doors. They can be useful for sealing off a Kitchen or Butcher's Shop to keep miasma from annoying the neighbors. Beyond that, the blue field is the stairwell access (recommend separate up stairs and down stairs for safety reasons), and the gray fields are stockpiles.
4x3 workshops are useful for workshops with strange blocked square formations (the Bowyer's shop is an example). They can also be nice for setting up a tiny 1x2 or 1x3 stockpile for a specific workshop - with bins, this can be a significant reserve of material. Imagine a Clothier or Leatherworker with 3 full bins of cloth or leather right next to them.
The 5x5 workshops are useful for shops, kennels, and siege workshops. You can even put your trade depot in one of them if you've got a mind to. Maintaining proper security can be a nightmare in that situation (remember that trolls and others can break down doors and floodgates), but if you manage to get it done it can be a trader's dream come true. They can also be useful for making a specialty shop with a few stockpiles designed to accomplish only one thing (encrusting statues with gems, for example).
The 3x3 workshops are best organized into wings, where a pair of workshops share a similar function with the pair directly next to them. They share stockpile space better this way. When set up correctly, less than 10 dwarves will regularly use each stockpile room, so traffic is a non-issue. There tends to be a lot of dwarves in the halls, though, because peasant haulers visit the workshops frequently, hence the 3-wide corridors.
Finally, this design offers lots and lots of wall space for smoothing and engraving. Free wealth is good.
Fluid workshop locations
Alternatively, you can employ a "work site" methodology where workshops are constructed and destroyed as necessary. For example, if you mine out a huge dining hall and it is completely filled with stone, build a masonry shop in the hall to manufacture tables and chairs. This eliminates the need for a stone hauler because your mason only has to travel a few squares to get raw material. In addition it makes furniture hauling more efficient because the tables and chairs are right next to their eventual location. And of course it clears stone out of your dining hall, eliminating the need for a refuse hauler to dump it all.
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. One or more magma forges would be down the hall from the bar stockpiles.
╔════════════╗
║SMSSMSSMSSMS║
║SSSSSSSSSSSS║
║SSSSSSSSSSSS║
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
╠++═══++═══++╣
║............║
║............╠══════╗
║..╔═....═╗..+OOOSMS║
║..║>>BBBB║..+OOOSSS║
═════╝...>>BBBB...║OOOSSS║
.........BBBBBB...║OOOSMS║
.........BBBBBB...║OOOSSS║
.........BBBBBB...║OOOSSS║
═════╗...BBBB>>...║OOOSMS║
║..║BBBB>>║..+OOOSSS║
║..╚═....═╝..+OOOSSS║
║............╠══════╝
╠++═══++═══++╣
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
║OOOOOOOOOOOO║
║SMSSMSSMSSMS║
║SSSSSSSSSSSS║
║SSSSSSSSSSSS║
╚════════════╝
*S = Smelter
*M = Magma access (lines up with unpassable tile on magma smelter)
*B = Bar Stockpile
*O = Ore Stockpile
Miscellaneous strategies
Use for soil layers
Soil layers (such as clay, loam, etc.) - which may at first seem to be of secondary importance - are very useful for large storage areas, as they do not leave rock behind when dug through and may be excavated much faster by comparison. You can also farm on soil tiles without first making them muddy.
Since soil cannot be smoothed or detailed, it is a less than ideal medium to assign rooms in. Workshops do not have happy thoughts for increased surrounding worth, so if proximity to another area is not an issue, soil is a great place to put them.
Since soil is primarily located near the surface, where a trade depot is often built, it is very useful to dig out large spaces for furniture and finished goods in soil for several reasons. First, it produces no stone, and is thus very fast to dig out. Secondly, having finished goods as close to the trade depot as possible is necessary for efficient trading.
Curtain Walls, Orchards and Farmland
Just because your fortress is underground doesn't mean it has to start there! If you have the labour and the means, a wall outside of your fortress gate, enclosing an area, can be a great way to claim a little land for yourself. You don't even necessarily have to use your front gate either, as you can wall in an area completely, with no entrance, and then open a door through the mountain. Though time-consuming, this will allow you to better weather sieges, by a variety of means. The area can be used to plant above-ground crops, or allow trees to grow as an emergency reserve. Natural ponds can be walled into your fortress's overall design, and clever use of underground rivers to feed them can provide fish and turtles even in a siege. Dwarves can also safely work here to avoid cave adaptation. Furthermore, with a good supply of stone you can just mine straight down and build a curtain wall around the entrance, so if you're challenging yourself on a map without a mountain, this is a good long-term strategy for defense against siege.
C-Chute
The C-Chute, or Casualty Chute, is a special internal construction for fortresses with large underground areas mostly disconnected with the surfaces, especially if a fortresses defenses are primarily internal. Basically, a deep pit within the fortress walls, down which goes any dead goblins, wildlife, kolbolds and so forth. They are allowed to decay, but the miasma is too far from the areas dwarfs use to affect your fortress. Once they have rotted away completely, you can enter the chute to retrieve their bones, without ever having to go outside! Also useful for fortresses often under siege, where moving bodies outside is not always possible. This is better than using a room to dispose of the bodies, as the dwarfs dumping the bodies will not have to deal with miasma from other corpses in the dump zone.
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.
Dams
See dam.