Editing Where in my area should I build my fort

If your area has any slopes or hills at all, you can [[mine]] straight into it. It doesn't have to be a tall, flat cliff; you can build into a low slope just fine. A low slope that goes up one level isn't quite as useful as a cliff that goes 3 or more levels up, but it's good enough. Try to avoid digging into a small hill though, as you may want some room to build on the first level.

By digging into a hill, your fortress' front gate is generally easier to defend. An area surrounded by cliffs can make navigation for your enemy (and you) time-consuming, but building into a wall forces your enemy to come at you head-on in one direction. In addition, you can take advantage of the natural landscape to "funnel" enemies together, or carve your own funnel-like entrance, making them easier to hit with [[Siege engine]]s and [[marksdwarf|marksdwarves]] in safer locations. Also, this works well with an entrance full of [[traps]].

While this kind of fortress works, it takes more work to properly defend the entrance. As it is, any enemies can come at you from any direction. Without building some inside defenses, you may become victim to a [[siege]] early on.

Another way to restrict access to your fort is to dig a channel around your entrance and place a single bridge that you can retract. If you want to fill it with water, there are many ways: pumping from a aquifer, diverting a river, or if you're really sadistic, having your dwarves haul water in buckets. Simply add a bridge and link it to a lever. When a siege comes, call in all your dwarves and throw the lever (if you're the particularly pacifist type). This proves to be a simple, but powerful defense. For added fun, fill the moat with magma instead! There are a few potential downsides to this method, however. All expansion in the next underground level is constrained by the size of your moat. You can solve this by building a "reverse bridge" by tunneling under the channel. The other major problem is that this method does not protect against flying foes; an Undead Skeletal Giant Eagle will scoff at your moat as he mauls your poor dwarves.  

Instead of mining into the ground, you can make your settlement more human-like. By taking [[wood]] and stone, you can build walls and [[floors]] that resemble houses, warehouses, castles, towers, and so on. As long as it has four walls and a floor above it, you can make a room out of it. You can even use a bridge for a roof if resources are tight. This works well on flat lands, but you can do this pretty much anywhere, building towers jutting out of mountainsides or fortresses ringing a volcanic peak.

Be on the lookout for these features in your area - probably the most annoying features to deal with when making your fortress, and can be avoided just by paying attention to your [[biome]], usually.

===Pools===

These things are just about everywhere, except in scorching or freezing climates. They are not a threat really, just annoying. A [[murky pool]] may hinder your designs if you build too close to them. As far as mining is concerned, they only go down one level, so it's fairly easy to dig underneath them (though any digging designations directly beneath the pool will be cancelled the first few times you place them). Same goes for rivers and brooks and the like.

Don't build on an area that might have dangerous [[creatures]] - the worst kinds are [[elephants]] and [[giant eagle]]s. Don't even think about building in [[haunted]] or [[sinister]] areas and the like, unless you think you're up for the challenge. Look up your biome, then compare them against the creatures list to see what you might be up against.