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[Haggoroth]

So I was digging deep and encountered a cavern for the first time in this game.  And I can safely say this is much more intense than anything I expected.  I immediately undesignated everything I had been building and then covered over the hole I had made while I contemplate how I'm going to approach this.  The cavern is huge.  40x50 squares wide on the top level (of what I can see), 11 z deep (again that I can see).  The most expansive levels are 100x100, and the bottom half are all filled with water.

Any recommendations on how to secure the entrance when breaching a cavern?  This seems trickier than above because I can't just easily toss a pit under my welcome mat.

[Magistrum]

Pretty safe option is digging through a pillar and then opening a entrance, seal it with a bridge, some war animals and cage traps.
Remember to send a squad when working in the caverns, but it should be mostly okay. Its just the outside with meaner bunnies.

[Pyrite]

In case you didn't know, any dirt or mud underground will now start to sprout cave moss and floor fungus, and occasional young underground "trees". I don't think these can grow to full size on one Z level, but on 2+ they probably can. You can graze your livestock underground now.

[anewaname]

Seal your first entry point into the caverns (build a wall, not a door). This gives you time to dig out a safer access point into the caverns.

Cavern critters are adept at climbing and flying into your fort, so limiting their access is important. You want gated access points, with some aggressive creature (on-duty military dwarfs and/or war dogs) in a room on the inside of the raising gate. This is important because many cavern critters do not picks fights with dwarfs and if those creatures freely pass the gate room, you will have issues with fights happening in dangerous places and valued civilian dwarfs dying from falling down 20-z of stairs. The raising gate is important because some forgotten beasts are too dangerous to let into your fort. The nearby military dwarfs are also useful for expeditions into the caverns to rescue civilians.

[Leonidas]

Before you put dwarves into the cavern, scout it from safety. Go to the edge of what you can see, then carve fortifications to see further.

[PatrikLundell]

When I find a cavern I plug the hole ASAP, typically by building an Up stair (as I normally find them by digging staircases). Once that's taken care of you can plan your cavern breach in peace and quiet (providing you don't get visits topside).

My careful/whimpy approach (there are others) is:
Dig a tunnel up to, but not through the wall where you want your proper cavern entrance to be. I then build a raising drawbridge (2 tile long to visually see whether it's up or down) by the wall, 3 cage traps inside that, an empty spot for a future upgrade with a repeating menacing spike trap (for FBs), another empty spot that could hold a cage trap, a wooden door (bait for FBs and building destroying critters you actually want to trap in the cage traps, as well as something you can lock as soon as the last dorf is inside when evacuating the cavern, both because it will block/delay anything following them, and to stop the cancellation spam resulting from the civilian alert). Inside of the door I place a second raising drawbridge (again two tiles long). The bridges are hooked up to levers, and the hookup tested (it's no fun to find you've accidentally built retracting bridges instead when you really need them raised).
Then I wait patiently, observing the cavern wildlife in the parts I can see. After a long wait (typically) I find that the cavern probably has a benign critter group that entered recently (and thus won't be replaced immediately with something nasty), and then I send a miner to dig out the last tile to breach the cavern, as well as a militia squad (typically consisting of a single dorf who's been assigned the spare axe, but with no training) stationed by the airlock. I also set up a civilian alert to exclude the cavern from civilian access so they won't all rush out and start to collect old desiccated skeletons). Once the miner has breached the cavern I station the militia at new positions in the cavern to explore it fully, retreating at the sight of anything dangerous for a new attempt later, but normally able to explore the cavern fully at the first attempt. As soon as the cavern is explored, the militia is restationed inside of the airlock, and the outer airlock drawbridge is closed. The door is locked behind the militia once inside (to cut the spam), and once the outer airlock bridge is closed the militia orders are removed, so the dorf can go back to the normal duties, and the door is unlocked. The civilian alert can be lifted as soon as the door is locked.

[Maul_Junior]

Seal your first entry point into the caverns (build a wall, not a door). This gives you time to dig out a safer access point into the caverns.

And/or remove stair/ramps (in the "d" menu), then build a floor ("b", "C", then select Floor IIRC) over the stair/ramp if you dug down into it.

[PatrikLundell]

Seal your first entry point into the caverns (build a wall, not a door). This gives you time to dig out a safer access point into the caverns.

And/or remove stair/ramps (in the "d" menu), then build a floor ("b", "C", then select Floor IIRC) over the stair/ramp if you dug down into it.

You don't actually need to remove stairs: it's possible to build an Up stair on top of a dug Up/Down stair. Presumably, the dorf builds if from above rather than from the side. An Up stair has a floor built in.

[anewaname]

But making sure the hole is sealed completely is the key. If some elkbirds fly through a hole, you may be wondering why your weaponsmith is dead at the bottom of a 100 z staircase.

[PatrikLundell]

But making sure the hole is sealed completely is the key. If some elkbirds fly through a hole, you may be wondering why your weaponsmith is dead at the bottom of a 100 z staircase.

The logic behind that statement is completely sane, but if I read the raws correctly elk birds can't fly. Bats, hungry heads, etc. can, though, and trogs are good climbers.

[nuget102]

But making sure the hole is sealed completely is the key. If some elkbirds fly through a hole, you may be wondering why your weaponsmith is dead at the bottom of a 100 z staircase.

The logic behind that statement is completely sane, but if I read the raws correctly elk birds can't fly. Bats, hungry heads, etc. can, though, and trogs are good climbers.

I'd be more worried about cave spiders. Mainly the giant variety, but even the small ones are dangerous.