So I've been working on this on and off, bit more this week to relax some after the last two crazy weekends. Might give those who haven't played Dwarf Fortress before a bit of an idea of how its architecture designs translate into 3D - heck, it is giving me better ideas, which is the point, and I've played DF!
Main note: It takes a lot of space to build a DF-style volcano lair in 3D. I'm continuously finding reasons to enlarge the design, and I'm loving it. I want a reason to build incredibly huge lairs and have every last spec be functional. It also looks amazing, and any difficulty managing stuff in 3D without simple z-layers from DF is going to be worth it. Although again, this is very long term for actual inclusion in Terasology with happy residents - for now I have to use my imagination
I'm doing it in Tekkit Minecraft to have more reasons to put more stuff into it, in particular machinery. On workshop levels I'm building 3-thick walls so they can fit wires and pipes. Residential floors I'm basing on the typical way I'd build in DF, but instead of one floor being one block the layers are larger and can be very neat too. Here's a cutout of a typical floor from one of my DF worlds, most of the NW quarter. Lower right is the central staircase, outer hallway is edged by 2x3 bedrooms, large 5x5 multi-room homes for nobles in the corners, and dining rooms with storage in the (side) centers. Closer to the central staircase is more storage and some 7x7 workshop rooms.
In a certain multiplayer world whose details might be hiding in a contributor-only forum around here somewhere we've got Tekkit enabled and volcanoes spawning in the world. I found a nice one and started hollowing it out, DF-style. So far I've got just three levels, top two just 4 open blocks tall each in 7x7 rooms, floors themselves are 3 thick, and the central staircase is also 7x7 around a central lava core (technically just a single column, but I'm expanding that to 3x3). Here's the entrance room from outside (not fancy yet):
Haven't put the wires in the wall yet or done much with it. Thinking piston-based large dwarven gate out front, but all that stuff takes time and I'm mainly just brainstorming - though I'd be happy to have help carving stuff out and adding some polish. We're resetting the world soon though when Tekkit is done upgrading for MC 1.3. Getting closer is the central spiral staircase area lit by lava including between floors (opening the middle of the 3 floor blocks for more lava visuals):
One level down is the only room I've actually put to use (since you barely need any space in MC) - a small farm to stay fed. To feed a lair full of happy inhabitants you'd probably need a whole layer dedicated to farming, or some stuff outside but I'm staying entirely within the volcano. Maybe another layer for livestock as well. And then more residents to help tend to all that ...
Third level is a larger Grand Hall residential level a full 7 open blocks tall with two sub-levels with 3-tall rooms along the edges, a balcony going all the way around at height 4. Or that's the plan, anyway, that's what I'm currently working on. Just using some placeholder dirt to size stuff out for now, and I haven't built it big enough, forgot to leave space in walls for wires and pipes, and so on. Which I'll come up with a reason for eventually anyway. Running water in every bedroom? Where do the dwarves in DF actually go to the bathroom...? Anybody ever dreamed of building a sewage system?
Initial design estimate would fit:
- 16 3x5 bedrooms in the lower corners
- 4 5x6 large bedrooms in the lower centers
- 4 5x6 large bedrooms with two 4x5 studies/offices attached in the top centers
OR just bedrooms and another 8 3x5 bedrooms
- 4 grand bedrooms with two studies/offices attached in the top corners
28 residences in the fancy style, 36 with the lower number of suites. In comparison my DF residential level holds 92 dwarves, only takes up a bit more than one big screenful, and includes dedicated dining rooms, storage, workshops, and tombs. You'd probably need a whole volcano in Tekkit to fit that one DF floor. The current three layers take up 23 height and the Grand Hall is about 40x40 currently (probably will end up closer to 60x60)
Center piece is the lava column in the middle of the hall surrounded by massive tables for feasting. Might have to add some massive fireplaces along the edges, perhaps some kitchens too. Wells? Garbage chutes? This is the floor that's a little similar to the DF layout up top, but with feasting tables taking up all the workshop / storage space.
Rooms are along the edge, although i'm thinking about doing hallways (like in DF) instead on the bottom floor beyond the current rooms, then could have rooms on both the inner and outer side of that hallway. That could allow upgrading the outer rooms to two-floor monstrosities, while still leaving nice rooms inside along the Grand Hall balcony.
Main note: It takes a lot of space to build a DF-style volcano lair in 3D. I'm continuously finding reasons to enlarge the design, and I'm loving it. I want a reason to build incredibly huge lairs and have every last spec be functional. It also looks amazing, and any difficulty managing stuff in 3D without simple z-layers from DF is going to be worth it. Although again, this is very long term for actual inclusion in Terasology with happy residents - for now I have to use my imagination
I'm doing it in Tekkit Minecraft to have more reasons to put more stuff into it, in particular machinery. On workshop levels I'm building 3-thick walls so they can fit wires and pipes. Residential floors I'm basing on the typical way I'd build in DF, but instead of one floor being one block the layers are larger and can be very neat too. Here's a cutout of a typical floor from one of my DF worlds, most of the NW quarter. Lower right is the central staircase, outer hallway is edged by 2x3 bedrooms, large 5x5 multi-room homes for nobles in the corners, and dining rooms with storage in the (side) centers. Closer to the central staircase is more storage and some 7x7 workshop rooms.
In a certain multiplayer world whose details might be hiding in a contributor-only forum around here somewhere we've got Tekkit enabled and volcanoes spawning in the world. I found a nice one and started hollowing it out, DF-style. So far I've got just three levels, top two just 4 open blocks tall each in 7x7 rooms, floors themselves are 3 thick, and the central staircase is also 7x7 around a central lava core (technically just a single column, but I'm expanding that to 3x3). Here's the entrance room from outside (not fancy yet):
Haven't put the wires in the wall yet or done much with it. Thinking piston-based large dwarven gate out front, but all that stuff takes time and I'm mainly just brainstorming - though I'd be happy to have help carving stuff out and adding some polish. We're resetting the world soon though when Tekkit is done upgrading for MC 1.3. Getting closer is the central spiral staircase area lit by lava including between floors (opening the middle of the 3 floor blocks for more lava visuals):
One level down is the only room I've actually put to use (since you barely need any space in MC) - a small farm to stay fed. To feed a lair full of happy inhabitants you'd probably need a whole layer dedicated to farming, or some stuff outside but I'm staying entirely within the volcano. Maybe another layer for livestock as well. And then more residents to help tend to all that ...
Third level is a larger Grand Hall residential level a full 7 open blocks tall with two sub-levels with 3-tall rooms along the edges, a balcony going all the way around at height 4. Or that's the plan, anyway, that's what I'm currently working on. Just using some placeholder dirt to size stuff out for now, and I haven't built it big enough, forgot to leave space in walls for wires and pipes, and so on. Which I'll come up with a reason for eventually anyway. Running water in every bedroom? Where do the dwarves in DF actually go to the bathroom...? Anybody ever dreamed of building a sewage system?
Initial design estimate would fit:
- 16 3x5 bedrooms in the lower corners
- 4 5x6 large bedrooms in the lower centers
- 4 5x6 large bedrooms with two 4x5 studies/offices attached in the top centers
OR just bedrooms and another 8 3x5 bedrooms
- 4 grand bedrooms with two studies/offices attached in the top corners
28 residences in the fancy style, 36 with the lower number of suites. In comparison my DF residential level holds 92 dwarves, only takes up a bit more than one big screenful, and includes dedicated dining rooms, storage, workshops, and tombs. You'd probably need a whole volcano in Tekkit to fit that one DF floor. The current three layers take up 23 height and the Grand Hall is about 40x40 currently (probably will end up closer to 60x60)
Center piece is the lava column in the middle of the hall surrounded by massive tables for feasting. Might have to add some massive fireplaces along the edges, perhaps some kitchens too. Wells? Garbage chutes? This is the floor that's a little similar to the DF layout up top, but with feasting tables taking up all the workshop / storage space.
Rooms are along the edge, although i'm thinking about doing hallways (like in DF) instead on the bottom floor beyond the current rooms, then could have rooms on both the inner and outer side of that hallway. That could allow upgrading the outer rooms to two-floor monstrosities, while still leaving nice rooms inside along the Grand Hall balcony.
