Hi dwarvenfolk,

I'm a moderately-skilled DF player; I know most of the mechanics, can get industries up and running without things crashing down too often, but I was wondering what sorts of techniques you use to get a fort from embark to organized. I'd like to improve my processes so that I don't end up with many idlers at any stage, and end up with a well-designed, beautiful-looking fort.

My process is usually something like this:

• Carve out a space in some soil to be a temporary fort: build a few workshops and get crankin'
• Chop down trees!
• Find a spot for my real fort, make farms, and dig some kind of rudimentary entrance to be improved with traps and whatnot later
• I like to leave room to dig out a spot for militia near the entrance, and for a trade depot.
• Dig out a main floor for workshops, and plan what levels (vertical design) will be what: workshops, stockpiles, main hall, housing, hospital, prisons, plumbing, etc.
• As for plumbing, I'm not really sure how to execute a good plan to build this into my designs. I find that I'm not really able to get the sorts of elaborate plumbing systems for magma and water that you see here from time to time
• Build permanent workshops, dig out main hall

After this point, I usually start doing things in whatever order I feel like: make a military, build traps, housing, a hospital, then doing bigger projects like building a wall.

I also have no idea how to incorporate minecarts at all.

So, I was wondering if you guys could shed a light on the processes/build order you use. I'd be curious to hear about what these are, or even just minor tips to help a player like me improve! Thanks!