Dwarf Fortress > DF Dwarf Mode Discussion

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Krano:
A problem I've always had is deciding how to go about the first stage of construction. I tend to want to start right out and carve the fortress of my dreams, but provisions first need to be made for the seven dwarves. I often carve out a small, unsightly sector with tiny bedrooms and dining rooms and storing areas, with corridors that can't be expanded on. The issue is, it's difficult to start on a complex, efficient fortress with an ugly hovel of workshops and bedrooms right in the entrance. How does everyone deal with this?

smjjames:
Well, before, I always got the food and booze production started first along with a couple of beds, a chair and table so that my bookkeeper can get started when he/she has free time, and of course, barrels.

Urist Imiknorris:
I make a grid of nine 5x5 rooms. These house my early fort. When I decree that expansion is needed, I dig out and furnish the proper fort, and the rooms are reduced to a 5x5 trade depot room and a gigantic finished goods stockpile.

Paul:
I always just dig out a big cluster of an iron ore and some flux on the first stone layer (I always embark on limestone, dolomite, or chalk) and set up temporary residence there. I then set up forges and make some steel equipment for my early military (drafted from the first migrants) while my farmer gathers plants for food and my miners dig out a proper fortress in the depths. If I have good roaming wildlife (like elephants) I'll set up a bunch of wooden cage traps (I build a trap fence, bunch of constructed wooden walls funneling animals to my cage traps).

The dwarves stay happy enough if you provide them beds and a decent dining room, even if the beds are communal. If I dug any out I'll use gold to make some tables/thrones to spice up the room, if I haven't unearthed any gold I'll just use some excess steel.

Usually at the start of the second year I have a nice fortress shaping up, a well equipped military, and a decent stockpile of food from plant gathering and butchering excess animals (it seems kind of cruel to tame creatures and immediately butcher them, but it works). As soon as I get a good sized space deep in the earth I start moving everything down there, and usually I'm underground with military or excess animals stationed (or chained in the instance of animals) at the only way in before any goblin ambushes arrive.

Dorf3000:
If you have a small hill, it's the perfect location for your starting fort.  As long as you don't dig the z-level directly underneath it, you can collapse it all later and no evidence will remain.

You could also dig the fort as a long, 5 wide tunnel under the surface from where you start to the edge of the map.  Then it becomes a safe trade lane once you're done with it, and you can build the entrance however you like.  5 tiles is enough for a single corridor and 3x3 rooms for workshops, and will just fit a trade depot inside it.

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