Is it possible to play in legends or adventurer mode while you have a fortress? It seems like there's only one game save of any type possible at any one time. They don't even let you create multiple fortresses at once.
Speaking of which, is there anything to do in adventurer mode? I recruited like 4 guys and I just wander around looking for towns that don't really have anything in them...the 3 towns I did go to didn't seem to have any mayor or anything. Plus it takes a while to go from worldmap tile to worldmap tile.
<!--quoteo(post=1586873:date=Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM:name=UltimaGecko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(UltimaGecko @ Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM) [snapback]1586873[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Is it possible to play in legends or adventurer mode while you have a fortress? It seems like there's only one game save of any type possible at any one time. They don't even let you create multiple fortresses at once. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Just go to dwarffort\data\save and duplicate your save folder. THt way you can have multiple saves for different forts by switching between your folders. Inconvenient, but the only way it works.
<!--quoteo(post=1586873:date=Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM:name=UltimaGecko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(UltimaGecko @ Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM) [snapback]1586873[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Speaking of which, is there anything to do in adventurer mode? I recruited like 4 guys and I just wander around looking for towns that don't really have anything in them...the 3 towns I did go to didn't seem to have any mayor or anything. Plus it takes a while to go from worldmap tile to worldmap tile. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Mayors are always in the mead hall, which can be a pain to find. They'll give you quests. On top of that you can go to caves or pyramids for tougher monsters, or search for a find your abandoned forts, which is tons of fun.
I even started in a random spot (picked it for the proximity to a small lake and the river); now who knows how I'm going to get all the silver and tin ore out of there without bringing the whole place down, but while keeping it all respectable-looking?
Wait, what's wrong with mining through ore? It doesn't effect structure in any way. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" />
NEO_PhyteWe need shirtgons!Join Date: 2003-12-16Member: 24453Members, Constellation
edited December 2006
Regarding Miasma: Already stated, odds are you've got rotting giblets in there, make/enlarge a refuse stockpile.
Regarding Ore: Silver/Tin is hella common, just leave it, you won't be able to smooth it, but its better than the current alternatives. *can't wait for the ability to undig areas*
Also, new version of Dorf Fort released, complete with the ability to overheat/freeze/burn to death :3
I can't help but point out that if you focused all that digging power on getting to the river and setting up a farm, you could probably be planting by late spring. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
SidCorwid of the FreeJoin Date: 2003-01-28Member: 12903Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1586923:date=Dec 10 2006, 11:26 PM:name=Gwahir)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gwahir @ Dec 10 2006, 11:26 PM) [snapback]1586923[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> I seem to have switched from constantly near starving to food overload.
I have 24 meat and 49 plant, and many more plants are on the way. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, until you get forty-three-[censored]-gajillion-[censored] Dwarves every [censored] season.
Yeah, but I'm over a hundred plants now... I doubled in less than a season.
btw, human traders have yet to come, even though I have a road all the way to the west from the trading post. The road is mostly rock made, not blocks, but that should be enough. The bridges are exactly 3 units high, I had to use 2 although originally I had one and just routed around a small pond. All stones in the path have been smoothed...
so what am I doing wrong? They haven't even sent mule caravans (dwarfs ones still come though).
Gecko: Traps are your friends...place traps in strategic point and you'll have no problem dealing with chasm creatures.
Also, one way to keep your fort safe is to have barracks here and there and a bunch of full-time soldiers. Course, you'll need a lot more dwarves first.
Fortifications are vital for prime defense spots. Eventually you will really want to keep the main entrance safe so basically you should focus on your design from the moment you start a fortress. Which basically is a heckload of traps and ballistas and catapults behind fortified walls.
I also have a child that's in a fey mood. She's in the crafts workshop and as far as I can tell, all things needed are available, but she only took the first one (blocks indicated by proper surface) Everything else is pretty clear, she just says it. rough gems, lots of bones, a shell, more blocks, metal bars. They're all available, so what am I missing?
I dunno, sometimes it's really hard to figure out what it is they want. My first strange mood dwarf apparently wanted to make a crossbow of wood and stone blocks. I had plenty of wood and stone blocks, but he just kept demanding wood and stone blocks until he went melancholy. Took him forever to go melancholy, too, and then it took him forever to thirst to death.
Come to think of it, he may have wanted blocks of different materials, such as glass.
I was thinking it might be a specific kind of x but I can't choose that for most things, I also wish that it wouldn't try to obtain everything in order... That way it would get what was available and there would be a lot less guesswork involved.
Actually, you don't need to guess. If your dwarf is missing something first check the workshop for what they already have. Since they get the materials in order, check what they want. The first material they don't have that follows a material they have is the one that they need. If your dwarf hasn't gathered any materials at all, though, you can only guess.
some bones and the first block, I think it either wants more blocks or metal bars...
I think I saw some tin somewhere on the map, that's the only kind I haven't made of what's available... not even mined yet.
What in the world could the kid want to make? bones, shell, stone blocks, metal, gems... lots of bones... and a few blocks... Some kind of evil idol is coming out of there...
I am in my sixth year and I have yet to receive a caravan from either human or elven civilizations. It might be because that they can't get to my fortress... or maybe the game is bugged.
Also, when a person in a fey mood asks for rough gems, they might be referring to a type of raw glass. Since it takes an awful long time to get all the necessary things to make raw clear and crystal glass, you should probably make some and just let it lie around in case somebody wants it. Also, make sure you have blocks made out of dark and light stone too.
<!--quoteo(post=1586914:date=Dec 11 2006, 02:02 PM:name=UltimaGecko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(UltimaGecko @ Dec 11 2006, 02:02 PM) [snapback]1586914[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> I'm all greedy and refuse to leave any of it behind...
leading to giant rooms like this
*snip*(picture)
which will probably come crashing down upon my 7 dwarves at some point (even though I don't let them mine the sides until the supports are complete). <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Actually thats not too bad you might want big hallways later once your fort get a lot of dwarfs I believe even 2 square wide hallways get a bit small... I have about 40+ dwarfs now and it already is starting to seem a little crowded.. Once I get a hundred or so I think my 2 square wide hallways are going to fill with traffic. Although yea ore and gems are annoying >< It will be very nice when we can rewall/undig places
<!--quoteo(post=1587058:date=Dec 12 2006, 12:56 AM:name=Shzar)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Shzar @ Dec 12 2006, 12:56 AM) [snapback]1587058[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> I am in my sixth year and I have yet to receive a caravan from either human or elven civilizations. It might be because that they can't get to my fortress... or maybe the game is bugged.
Also, when a person in a fey mood asks for rough gems, they might be referring to a type of raw glass. Since it takes an awful long time to get all the necessary things to make raw clear and crystal glass, you should probably make some and just let it lie around in case somebody wants it. Also, make sure you have blocks made out of dark and light stone too. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Hmm about the caravans what version are you using? I believe human caravans were supposedly bugged a while ago but i believe that has been fixed quite a few versions ago though. It's possible that your fort is just unaccessable to them i guess. I'll try and find the topic i was looking about it later.
Edit- I was wrong about it being fixed a while ago. Actually the newest version should fix it i believe. <!--quoteo(post=0:date=December 05, 2006 11:35 PM:name=Toady One)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Toady One @ December 05, 2006 11:35 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Okay, I've resolved the human caravan bug. While a number of these were caused by accessibility, the greater part are probably caused by the game selecting the undead human sites as your trading partners. The site civ didn't have the dead flag, while their parent civ did. It checks the parent civ during trade, and the site civ at the start, which explains the discrepancy. I've synched up the flags now and repaired old saves. Incidentally, when I was testing it, all of the salmon that the humans brought spontaneously combusted in the depot and set it on fire. I'm still working on that.
[ December 05, 2006: Message edited by: Toady One ]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Post from the Dwarf Fortress forums <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000706" target="_blank">here</a>. (scroll down abit I was too lazy to try and the find direct link)
As you can see the post was dated 5th of December so it probably was broken in 0.22.120.23a but should be fixed in 0.22.120.23b I should think.
Also as someone mentioned earlier a new version is out with fire and some bug fixes. Although if you are going to play it it might be a good idea to backup your saves because i think fire is kinda abit buggy at the moment <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />. Although looking at some posts on the official forums it looks like you can have some laughs in adventure mode from the bugs if you want to give it a go. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> <!--quoteo(post=0:date=December 10, 2006 10:41 PM:name=Toady One)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Toady One @ December 10, 2006 10:41 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><a href="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves" target="_blank">Download</a> (Click refresh on your browser if it doesn't show up)
I'm partly through the temperature rewrite. This release has a lot of bug potential. You should <b>back up your save folders</b> if you are updating from an older version.
You can set fire to shrubs as an adventurer using the "g" command when you are standing near one. This is not a permanent command.
The temperature behavior of flows has not been implemented yet. Very hot/cold creatures do not change the air temperature yet either. There are a number of features that are in progress regarding temperature.
The problem with dwarves being stuck outside during the stay-inside order should be fixed, as well as a number of other bugs. You can now move the cursor quickly by using shift + direction.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->From <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000013" target="_blank">here</a>.
Regarding fey moods and other related moods: While you may have the correct items available (blocks, bars, rough gems, etc.), it probably isn't the preferred type. Some dwarves are REALLY picky when it comes to their materials. In other words, check the dwarf's preferences and see if they prefer a particular type of material (i.e. "Moonstone. Light stone just won't do. And since you don't have any, I'm going to go insane and become berserk and kill all your farmers" .... bloody mason >_<)
yeah, the kid went insane and is annoying the manager now. And so soon after that one, I have mother carrying her baby around (the first dwarf birth in the place) that took over a workshop and I think she needs some kind of gem, or I need to make a glass furnace...
That baby is probably going to end up in the arms of an insane woman.. or worse, a homicidal one.
heres the beginnings of soon to be wonderfully grand dorf fort! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
ok so theres quite a few problems with it but it's mine!!
<!--quoteo(post=1587393:date=Dec 12 2006, 01:57 AM:name=Gwahir)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gwahir @ Dec 12 2006, 01:57 AM) [snapback]1587393[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Thems some big food stores, planning a dinner party of mythic proportions sometime in the future?
And.. where do they sleep? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wasn't sure how much I was going to need so I went big. the sleeping quarters (the far top right) are currently under construction with 1 room done (one more waiting for a bed and one still being mined out)
tomorrow I'm going to finish the sleeping quarters and have a hallway running to a barracks to the left of the food storage area and hopefully find the river.
so long as you have wood, make some barrels and you'll have many times the space you need for food.
Don't forget to leave space at the front of the cliff for fortifications, I didn't and I'm having to improvize. And doors... you'll have plenty of stone, so make some doors.
And when you make sleeping quarters, just start off having one room crammed with beds and make it a barracks. It's still way better than letting them sleep on the floor.
And Pyt, you can (or perhaps even should) make a room on the other side of the walls which face the hall entrances, smooth and fortify those walls and place a few ballistas and catapults in those rooms, facing the hall (shooting through the fortifications that is).
a little thing I discovered about fortifications: always have an extra wall behind the ones that make the outside because that tends to be partially damaged (like partially mined walls inside) and you can't smooth or fortify them. Then you just clear the stuff in front of your good wall away, and you're good to go.
do you have to micro-manage your dwarves forever? It sounds like you eventually will have hundreds of dwarves. you have to give each and every one a job? and keep track of which ones die so you can give their jobs to new dwarves? or do they eventually get smart and will automatically take over jobs that no one's doing, etc.
It's more that eventually you have so many of them you don't need to specialize them anymore. Once you have specialized glassmakers or weavers or whatever you can switch off the peasants from doing that job (if they haven't gotten really good at it yet, or if you just don't want that many people looking for silk) or you could just leave him there and let one work at your loom while the others just kind of haul stuff around. Once you have 100 dwarves or so you're not really worrying about whether or not you have enough miners (heck, my new fort got so many immigrants at the first winter that I have 4 miners and 4 masons...I have trouble finding something for them to mine usefully).
The micromanaging is limited to how efficient you want the fortress to be; the only thing you really have to manage is your military, and that's really only when you've got an attack coming or there's tons of lizardmen butchering people in your halls, pouring buckets of dog blood into the underground river and making a mess of your fort.
The greatest micromanaging problem I find is that I've got to set herbalists and lumberjacks to chop down a specific section of trees instead of just letting them go all willy-nilly...like I care what plants they pick or what trees they chop down.
The addition of the manager is a big help, too. With him you can queue up orders, like "Make plant fiber shirt, 20/20" and you'll get a happy message when 20 shirts have been made. Micromanaging isn't nearly a big a problem as I thought it would be. I have over 120 dwarves now, and there is enough hauling and cleaning to keep the bored ones busy, and if not, I just tell them to chasm a bunch of stuff.
Comments
Speaking of which, is there anything to do in adventurer mode? I recruited like 4 guys and I just wander around looking for towns that don't really have anything in them...the 3 towns I did go to didn't seem to have any mayor or anything. Plus it takes a while to go from worldmap tile to worldmap tile.
Is it possible to play in legends or adventurer mode while you have a fortress? It seems like there's only one game save of any type possible at any one time. They don't even let you create multiple fortresses at once.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Just go to dwarffort\data\save and duplicate your save folder. THt way you can have multiple saves for different forts by switching between your folders. Inconvenient, but the only way it works.
<!--quoteo(post=1586873:date=Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM:name=UltimaGecko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(UltimaGecko @ Dec 10 2006, 10:04 PM) [snapback]1586873[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Speaking of which, is there anything to do in adventurer mode? I recruited like 4 guys and I just wander around looking for towns that don't really have anything in them...the 3 towns I did go to didn't seem to have any mayor or anything. Plus it takes a while to go from worldmap tile to worldmap tile.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Mayors are always in the mead hall, which can be a pain to find. They'll give you quests. On top of that you can go to caves or pyramids for tougher monsters, or search for a find your abandoned forts, which is tons of fun.
<img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g247/UltimaGecko/silverandtin.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
I even started in a random spot (picked it for the proximity to a small lake and the river); now who knows how I'm going to get all the silver and tin ore out of there without bringing the whole place down, but while keeping it all respectable-looking?
Regarding Ore: Silver/Tin is hella common, just leave it, you won't be able to smooth it, but its better than the current alternatives. *can't wait for the ability to undig areas*
Also, new version of Dorf Fort released, complete with the ability to overheat/freeze/burn to death :3
Wait, what's wrong with mining through ore? It doesn't effect structure in any way. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" />
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm all greedy and refuse to leave any of it behind...
leading to giant rooms like this
<img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g247/UltimaGecko/giantroom.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
which will probably come crashing down upon my 7 dwarves at some point (even though I don't let them mine the sides until the supports are complete).
I have 24 meat and 49 plant, and many more plants are on the way.
I seem to have switched from constantly near starving to food overload.
I have 24 meat and 49 plant, and many more plants are on the way.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, until you get forty-three-[censored]-gajillion-[censored] Dwarves every [censored] season.
*Pant, pant, pant.*
btw, human traders have yet to come, even though I have a road all the way to the west from the trading post.
The road is mostly rock made, not blocks, but that should be enough. The bridges are exactly 3 units high, I had to use 2 although originally I had one and just routed around a small pond. All stones in the path have been smoothed...
so what am I doing wrong? They haven't even sent mule caravans (dwarfs ones still come though).
Also, one way to keep your fort safe is to have barracks here and there and a bunch of full-time soldiers. Course, you'll need a lot more dwarves first.
Fortifications are vital for prime defense spots. Eventually you will really want to keep the main entrance safe so basically you should focus on your design from the moment you start a fortress. Which basically is a heckload of traps and ballistas and catapults behind fortified walls.
Come to think of it, he may have wanted blocks of different materials, such as glass.
If your dwarf hasn't gathered any materials at all, though, you can only guess.
I think I saw some tin somewhere on the map, that's the only kind I haven't made of what's available... not even mined yet.
What in the world could the kid want to make? bones, shell, stone blocks, metal, gems... lots of bones... and a few blocks... Some kind of evil idol is coming out of there...
Also, when a person in a fey mood asks for rough gems, they might be referring to a type of raw glass. Since it takes an awful long time to get all the necessary things to make raw clear and crystal glass, you should probably make some and just let it lie around in case somebody wants it. Also, make sure you have blocks made out of dark and light stone too.
I'm all greedy and refuse to leave any of it behind...
leading to giant rooms like this
*snip*(picture)
which will probably come crashing down upon my 7 dwarves at some point (even though I don't let them mine the sides until the supports are complete).
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Actually thats not too bad you might want big hallways later once your fort get a lot of dwarfs I believe even 2 square wide hallways get a bit small... I have about 40+ dwarfs now and it already is starting to seem a little crowded.. Once I get a hundred or so I think my 2 square wide hallways are going to fill with traffic.
Although yea ore and gems are annoying >< It will be very nice when we can rewall/undig places
<!--quoteo(post=1587058:date=Dec 12 2006, 12:56 AM:name=Shzar)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Shzar @ Dec 12 2006, 12:56 AM) [snapback]1587058[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
I am in my sixth year and I have yet to receive a caravan from either human or elven civilizations. It might be because that they can't get to my fortress... or maybe the game is bugged.
Also, when a person in a fey mood asks for rough gems, they might be referring to a type of raw glass. Since it takes an awful long time to get all the necessary things to make raw clear and crystal glass, you should probably make some and just let it lie around in case somebody wants it. Also, make sure you have blocks made out of dark and light stone too.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Hmm about the caravans what version are you using? I believe human caravans were supposedly bugged a while ago but i believe that has been fixed quite a few versions ago though. It's possible that your fort is just unaccessable to them i guess. I'll try and find the topic i was looking about it later.
Edit- I was wrong about it being fixed a while ago. Actually the newest version should fix it i believe.
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=December 05, 2006 11:35 PM:name=Toady One)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Toady One @ December 05, 2006 11:35 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Okay, I've resolved the human caravan bug. While a number of these were caused by accessibility, the greater part are probably caused by the game selecting the undead human sites as your trading partners. The site civ didn't have the dead flag, while their parent civ did. It checks the parent civ during trade, and the site civ at the start, which explains the discrepancy. I've synched up the flags now and repaired old saves. Incidentally, when I was testing it, all of the salmon that the humans brought spontaneously combusted in the depot and set it on fire. I'm still working on that.
[ December 05, 2006: Message edited by: Toady One ]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Post from the Dwarf Fortress forums <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000706" target="_blank">here</a>. (scroll down abit I was too lazy to try and the find direct link)
As you can see the post was dated 5th of December so it probably was broken in 0.22.120.23a but should be fixed in 0.22.120.23b I should think.
Also as someone mentioned earlier a new version is out with fire and some bug fixes. Although if you are going to play it it might be a good idea to backup your saves because i think fire is kinda abit buggy at the moment <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />. Although looking at some posts on the official forums it looks like you can have some laughs in adventure mode from the bugs if you want to give it a go. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=0:date=December 10, 2006 10:41 PM:name=Toady One)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Toady One @ December 10, 2006 10:41 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><a href="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves" target="_blank">Download</a> (Click refresh on your browser if it doesn't show up)
<a href="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html" target="_blank">Changes</a>
I'm partly through the temperature rewrite. This release has a lot of bug potential. You should <b>back up your save folders</b> if you are updating from an older version.
You can set fire to shrubs as an adventurer using the "g" command when you are standing near one. This is not a permanent command.
The temperature behavior of flows has not been implemented yet. Very hot/cold creatures do not change the air temperature yet either. There are a number of features that are in progress regarding temperature.
The problem with dwarves being stuck outside during the stay-inside order should be fixed, as well as a number of other bugs. You can now move the cursor quickly by using shift + direction.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->From <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=000013" target="_blank">here</a>.
That baby is probably going to end up in the arms of an insane woman.. or worse, a homicidal one.
ok so theres quite a few problems with it but it's mine!!
<a href="http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/Pvtbones/Dorf%20Fort/dorffort.jpg" target="_blank">clicky</a>
And.. where do they sleep?
Thems some big food stores, planning a dinner party of mythic proportions sometime in the future?
And.. where do they sleep?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wasn't sure how much I was going to need so I went big. the sleeping quarters (the far top right) are currently under construction with 1 room done (one more waiting for a bed and one still being mined out)
tomorrow I'm going to finish the sleeping quarters and have a hallway running to a barracks to the left of the food storage area and hopefully find the river.
Don't forget to leave space at the front of the cliff for fortifications, I didn't and I'm having to improvize. And doors... you'll have plenty of stone, so make some doors.
And when you make sleeping quarters, just start off having one room crammed with beds and make it a barracks. It's still way better than letting them sleep on the floor.
And Pyt, you can (or perhaps even should) make a room on the other side of the walls which face the hall entrances, smooth and fortify those walls and place a few ballistas and catapults in those rooms, facing the hall (shooting through the fortifications that is).
The micromanaging is limited to how efficient you want the fortress to be; the only thing you really have to manage is your military, and that's really only when you've got an attack coming or there's tons of lizardmen butchering people in your halls, pouring buckets of dog blood into the underground river and making a mess of your fort.
The greatest micromanaging problem I find is that I've got to set herbalists and lumberjacks to chop down a specific section of trees instead of just letting them go all willy-nilly...like I care what plants they pick or what trees they chop down.