I have ran into a problem though with water pressure. I did a test run where I filled up the reservoir all nice a full and I released the flood gates. All the water from the reservoir flew out extremely fast, flooded the middle of the dam and left the reservoir at one level high. My problem with this is I want to be able to keep the reservoir topped off and somehow control the flow of water leaving the dam.
I also tried out pumps to regulate the flow without having to deal with water pressure but I found that they suck up water faster than my river can replenish it. I was hoping that someone has some alternative ideas they could throw my way.
[ May 18, 2008: Message edited by: Analfish ]
Or, skip the tiers and just make the opening at the top for a nice waterfall.
Or or, build a section down at the bottom right outside your floodgates that measures out a specific amount of water. Switch between filling the chamber and opening it up to the outside. This allows for a greater deal of control over the water flow, but can be rather tedious and cannot be set to "auto-annihilate" like the other designs.
code:
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Diagram not to scale/design.
Using a lever, you open the floodgates to the far right. Water rushes in and pushes down on the pressure plates, which are set to activate the left wall of floodgates. The left wall of floodgates opens up, and water pours out. The pressure plates which are set to activate the right-most wall of floodgates when dry will now "deactivate", thus sending a signal to the right-most wall of gates to close.
Mind you, I haven't even seen the pressure plate menu yet. I have no idea if this is possible. Also note that unless you put in a third row of floodgates commanded only by lever, you will not be able to stop the flow.
having multiple floodgates controlled from a series of level would work best, unless you want an automated flow. if you have a 3-level reservoir, openeing only the bottom gate give you just one level of water, with 2 more stored. less pressure, and a reserve still available. downside is you need to floor each level of reservoir.