Humble beginnings: this is where we first struck Earth. Now, it is only an incredibly inconvenient trade depot located 38 Z-levels above the main workshop. After a management mishap and waves of migrants, food and drink supplies were exhausted so a hundred dwarves were mobilized to pick the surface clean of fruits. Many got nauseous from cave adaption. It was a sight to behold though. They picked the field like a horde of locusts and left a trail of vomit in their wake. A few seams of bituminous coal have been extracted.
With no drinking water available on the surface and no available aquifers, modest living accommodations had to be arranged while the primary focus was placed on locating the caverns. This outpost is now abandoned, with most of the furniture stripped away. A large seam of lignite was discovered along the wall of a former stockroom.
A cavern was discovered nearly 40 Z-levels below the surface. It had water which could be tapped for a well, and fertile soil to establish a farm. It wasn't all good news though. Very quickly, it became the sight of conflict with the indigenous population of Bat People. Sometimes wielding steel weapons and shields, these flying creatures have appeared in numbers up to 90 at a time. The farm has been completely enclosed by stone walls, and a fragile armistice has held for a couple years as both sides foolishly prepare to completely annihilate each other... one day.
Once water was discovered, we finally chose a place to establish more permanent industry and living spaces.
One floor of the high density dorms. This one also features a few hallways of tombs. Casualties of the war with the Bat Men lay here, including a Gorlak monster slayer.
At the bottom of the second cavern, some 41 Z-levels below the main workshop, a large family of Rutherers mills about, living a care-free life. These creatures are enormous and incredibly dangerous, but they have a benign temperament and won't seek conflict unless they are pissed off. The stray cats have been testing their patience, however.
As I near the end of the fifth year, the population of the fort has soared to 180. Hopefully this will be the one which manages to dig all the way to hell.
One of my silly designs has seen channels almost completely around my central staircase all the way down, then floors built in place of the holes. It helps with cave adaptation as a tile exposed to sunlight is always outside, but I think it ended up not mattering to the modded race I did it for so I can't be conclusive with results.
Cave adaptation doesn't seem so bad as long as it doesn't hit your military the moment a seige occurs. It doesn't cause any more permanent harm than dragging the 50th goblin corpse to the trash heap does.