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[PLANKS]

Stupid dwarf trick?

Hahaha I completely forgot about about that wiki page thanks for the link!

[Kuikka]

After trying to play a "real" human town and failing three times, I found it was a worthy challenge.

- above ground buildings with a cellar
- small huts for people/families
- bonus for "dedicated" living areas: slums (new arrivals) and wealthier areas
- church/temple in the centre, graveyard/catacombs far from the village
- roads
- workshop-dedicated streets
- first only a wooden palisade around town centre, later outer walls and upgradeable to stone(blocks) with gatehouses and better defences (stonefall traps to simulate throwing of rocks above gates etc)
- when nobles come, build a stone fort/manor/castle
- farms are outside the village/wall, livestock can stay inside + small gardens for vegetables
- no deep mining (I dug only 4 levels max) or then use open mine pits -style
- military squads dedicated for some "militia"weapon (spearmen, bowmen, halberdiers etc)
- trading focus

[Dwarf4Explosives]

Try collapsing almost the entire map and build a giant dwarven spacecraft in the center of the massive hole in the ground that you've made. Stock it with lava, water (see if you can preserve an aquifer if you want a real challenge), food, armor/clothes and as many breeding populations of animals as you can get. Then "launch" it by placing booze under the "exhaust" and set that booze on fire, destroying the wooden support holding the spacecraft up. Laugh your ass off as the most epic fail in the history of spacecraft launch happens. Alternatively, you can just let your dwarves live in it and seal it off completely (collapsing the access system) as your "launch" and see how long you can survive like that. Bonus points if you can contain the HFS in an area inside the spacecraft. Double the bonus if you manage to turn that into dwarven Alien.

[omega_dwarf]

After trying to play a "real" human town and failing three times, I found it was a worthy challenge.

- above ground buildings with a cellar
- small huts for people/families
- bonus for "dedicated" living areas: slums (new arrivals) and wealthier areas
- church/temple in the centre, graveyard/catacombs far from the village
- roads
- workshop-dedicated streets
- first only a wooden palisade around town centre, later outer walls and upgradeable to stone(blocks) with gatehouses and better defences (stonefall traps to simulate throwing of rocks above gates etc)
- when nobles come, build a stone fort/manor/castle
- farms are outside the village/wall, livestock can stay inside + small gardens for vegetables
- no deep mining (I dug only 4 levels max) or then use open mine pits -style
- military squads dedicated for some "militia"weapon (spearmen, bowmen, halberdiers etc)
- trading focus

Yeah, you really can't go straight to building a village, since this is perpetual wartime, and you need defenses first (good defenses, because now things can climb.) I make my dwarves unskilled laborers and raise the first 3-6 z-levels of inner castle wall first (enclosing enough room for stockpiles, etc., with cellars beneath) while they live in a communal shack with beds and dining hall. Later, start working on military and build a more central keep that's sealable from air attacks. Once you have a military, you can start building wards/baileys, etc. Once you have an area closed off, you can build village structures in it (workshops, housing, etc.)

That's if you don't want to build your castle out of wood. If you don't mind wood, you can go a bit bigger with your first wall (logs are much easier to obtain in quantity than rock blocks, which require mining, transport, and masonry) and just bring all woodcutters/carpenters, waiting for migrants to turn into plant gatherers and brewers to get food supplies replenished. Palisades might be more realistic to start with for a small company of people founding a civilian settlement. I prefer the straight castle-building, though, because you don't have a bunch of obsolete legendary carpenters running around, and it feels more purposeful. Like the mountainhome commissioned a fortress to fight the gobbos (or whatever awful threat exists) from.

But yes, once you start building aboveground, you never go back

Edit: My first castle was in range of a necromancer tower. We were under siege most of the time, but certain geological phenomena (we settled on a plateau cut by rivers) ensured that we could continue to build up the walls on one side while the other was covered with zombs. It was really quite tough - and that was before they could climb and hold weapons.

[Nikow]

Next point for above ground fort!

[Ancalagon_TB]

Get a long and narrow map - say 2X8 instead of 4X4 - and don't just build a castle - build the "wall of dwarfia"  a long linear castle with archery towers, catapults etc to keep the invaders out!

[omega_dwarf]

Get a long and narrow map - say 2X8 instead of 4X4 - and don't just build a castle - build the "wall of dwarfia"  a long linear castle with archery towers, catapults etc to keep the invaders out!

Somebody actually did that before, and it was pretty cool! http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63784.0
I don't know if their three blocks of height would be useful in an invasion, but hey, what do I know? This was back from 2010

Another idea that somebody's done before (but still is cool): Building a bridge to link two continents. Would have to be a single embark (maximum 16x1) with land on both sides, or two embarks (maximum two 16x1) each with land on one side. This does actually work and links the two continents for trading, neighbors, etc. - or, at least it does with the single embark. I doubt that part would work for two embarks, but you would probably still be able to walk across it in adventure mode. Even if there was some small gap, you might be able to jump it.

[Dwarf4Explosives]

Giant dwarven* gramophone.

*As in "made out of gold". The disc should at least be gold, if not adamantine.

[Agent_Irons]

Huh. Maybe separate two continents. Find a narrow Isthmus and divide it with ocean. The deeper the better.

[omega_dwarf]

Huh. Maybe separate two continents. Find a narrow Isthmus and divide it with ocean. The deeper the better.

Then set up a toll bridge and wait for the tavern arc XD

[Aslandus]

embark near a necromancer tower and use cage traps to get yourself some necros to use as defenses against enemies... just make sure your walls can keep the zombombadoos out...

Dig out water tunnels near your main travel tunnels that allow your to flood your fortress (good for clearing out contaminants and/or making fortress destroying levers). Bonus overlord points for making a way for the water to escape without drowning all your dwarves. Bonus dwarf points for using magma instead of water.

[wobbly]

That's if you don't want to build your castle out of wood. If you don't mind wood, you can go a bit bigger with your first wall (logs are much easier to obtain in quantity than rock blocks, which require mining, transport, and masonry) and just bring all woodcutters/carpenters, waiting for migrants to turn into plant gatherers and brewers to get food supplies replenished. Palisades might be more realistic to start with for a small company of people founding a civilian settlement. I prefer the straight castle-building, though, because you don't have a bunch of obsolete legendary carpenters running around, and it feels more purposeful. Like the mountainhome commissioned a fortress to fight the gobbos (or whatever awful threat exists) from.

The new trees/plants are great for building wood villages fast. If your not too fussy about having floors/enclosed walls on the initial buildings you can set things up pretty quickly. My initial work areas are just open sheds if I'm in the tropics, no floors a 4x4 L-shaped wall & overhanging roof. Just take a heap of axes, a couple of carpenters & set up some make-shift work areas. Then shift to proper buildings,walls etc. & turn the old work areas into farming sheds, chicken coups & stuff. Unless it's a harsh biome 1 herbalist/brewer will grab enough food/drink out of the ground, so you don't even have to bother much bringing food/drink.