Construction Strategies

You can get the game to build just about any type of building you want, as long as you use the right command from the correct level. Terms like floor and wall are applied from the level you are currently on. For example, walls mean blocks that are on the same level as you, while floors are the thin covering on the blocks of the level below you. If a command is not doing what you want, you're probably not on the level you think you are.

Terrain Commands

 * 1) Mine is used to dig through walls and to add upward stairs and ramps in existing walls. Walls made of block cannot be mined and must instead be deconstructed to be removed. Note that while stairs and ramps automatically remove the floors above them, mining walls leaves the overhead floors intact.
 * 2) Dig is used to create holes, stairs, and ramps down into existing ground.
 * 3) Remove is used to eliminate existing floors and ramps. Block floors may require deconstruction rather than removal.
 * 4) Replace is used to change the type of floors and walls that are already present.

Build Commands

 * 1) Terrain_Walls is used to add new walls where none currently exist.
 * 2) Terrain_Floors is used to add floors where none currently exist. Note this does not add the entire underlying block, just the floor covering. Floors can be free standing (no ground underneath), but they will need stairs for your gnomes to reach them from below.
 * 3) Terrain_Stairs is used to build upward stairs in empty space on the current floor or to add downward stairs into holes in the floor.
 * 4) Terrain_Inclines works like Terrain_Stairs.
 * 5) Terrain_Ramps - ditto.

Multiple Story Housing
You can build on top of existing walls as long as you go up one level and add a floor to the top of it first. Stairs, although they look better with landings, do not require them for the gnomes to use them. You do not need walls in order to create a second story. If you go up one level, you can build a floor in the air. Just return down a level when you're done mapping it out, and build an upward staircase so your gnomes can reach the higher floor. (You can, of course, add walls if you want them.)

I like to stack floors: lowest to highest = living quarters (lower), needed raw goods (lower shop), workshop of lower tenant, workshop of higher tenant, finished products of lower shop used as raw goods for upper shop, living quarters (upper), finished goods of upper shop (roof). I start this at the depth that best accommodates my town. Usually that puts the lower workshop at ground level, but not always. The multi-story arrangement is easy to customize since you can always dig down or build upward to make more lower or higher floors.

Advanced Mining
Start by digging four adjacent holes, in a line, along the bottom of a hillside. Build four sets of stairs down in the holes. Go down one level and mine the walls (four abreast) directly in front of the stairs. Extend this into a straight hall, stay four-wide for the entire length. Make it about 10 blocks long. Dig another four side-by-side holes at the farthest end. Wait for your miners to finish these holes completely before you do another row of four at the end of the now shorter hall. Repeat this until you're one row short of reaching the stairs. Mine four more sets of stairs into this last row, extending your initial stairs down a floor. Again, go to the end of the hall and dig a row of four holes... Repeating this process will quickly take you down into the depths and usually reveals plenty of ore along the way - which I use to decide which floors deserve a better search (wall mining wherever veins appear). Then I return to my main shaft whenever a floor seems exhausted.