Bay 12 Games Forum

let me check and do some calculation.
|___X...|    z+1 (water pool) 
    |...X___|z (lava pool)
    |___|    z-1 (obsidian)

X = floodgate
. = open space
_ = pool/reservoir
| = wall

I have a lava pool size of 7x7 (x6 or x7 depth, depends on the flow of the magma) = 294 to 343 magma. Upon release the floodgate it is then flow (at least) 7x7x6 = 294 magma to a 13x13 = 169 obsidian farm. So the depth would be 1/7 or 2/7.
My water reservoir is sized at 7x9x7 = 441 and it is situated 1 z-level above the lava pool. upon open the floodgate at least 7x9x6 = 378 are flowing out to the obsidian farm. So I have 378/169 = 2.2 water per lava for the production of obsidian. Excess water is evaporate fast enough upon my miner's channeling activity.
I am taking into consideration of not 100% of lava/water from the pool/reservoir would flow into the farm.
So what is wrong with 3/7 of water? This would guarantee 100% forming of obsidian.
I can harvest at least 60 obsidian per cycle.

8 or 9 are too many of them.

I am now at the golden 80s dorf with only 2 fields, 5x5 = 25 each. I have 3 farmer+brewer. They are harvesting out more than enough plump helmet that I would need to cook/brew for the support of my civilians. I have 2 distiller workshop anyway.

I used a 7x9 (x7) = water drop to magma. the magma reservoir is also 7x7. the magma farm is 13x13 so I can have 2/7 magma, pour >2/7 water onto it. the 7x7 water reservoir has 2 floodgate output to 2 obsidian farms. It combines the water and magma effectively leaving 1 tile of excess water to evaporate. I purposely did this to avoid inadequate water to cover all the magma.

Meh, isn't that you should play the game? find something else within the game to do. Explore the mountains, check for new digging plans, lots of things can be done.

for me, I just keep on pressing 'a'-'space' once I got the message.

Yeah, they will, but the enemies will have to be at least 2 squares away from the base of the tower for yours (unless you build murderholes) only balistas, and catapaults can't fire multiple Z's

Yes and no to a certain extends.
More precisely you need a tower with fortification constructed.
Example:
╬ = fortification

http://www.shoden.org/images/roadtrip/GrandCanyonWatchTower_800.jpg

You shoot through the hole (fortification) at the watchtower. And, you do not have line of sight in someone that lean on the tower wall.

in DF, if your fortification is 3 z-level above, you can only cover 3 tiles away

designate a meeting area outside but secure.
Or, (my way) make the lobby of your bedroom apartments "outside" & "light" by channeled out the z-levels above. dorfs that wants to get out from their bedroom will surely passed the place.

Just look for volcano. Iron is not hard to get after you embark.

Build up your defense against sieges and you can get more than enough iron than you needed.

To me it is harder to melt them into pig iron -> steel, if I do not want to piss off the elves.

-Will dwarves be willing to path across the bridge if magma is raining down on it (since they won't be smart enough to know that the flow will stop)?

"Urist McDorf cancelled crossing bridge: dangerous terrain."
NO. Dorf are too afraid of magma.

-Will the magma clear off the bridge fast enough to allow them to pass?

define fast enough. A 1/7 magma would take around 10,000-15,000 frames (base on my observation) to clear off. A typical 50fps would takes about 5 minutes.

-What would be the best way to ensure that the water/magma doesn't start flowing again too soon. I could use a floodgate but I'd be worried about multiple dwarves stepping on it and screwing up how it works. Otherwise I can just play around with how the screw pump works and the size of the bridge or something.

That is the beauty part of DF. Play with it and let us know how it works out.

Well the map I ended up on has two magma vents right next to eachother of different heights. My entrance runs between the two. So my plan is to simply dispose of the magma by pouring it from the higher to the lower pool. My only problem at the moment is my mason seems to refuse to make a bauxite Grate If I forbid all stone but bauxite and queue up "Make Grate" he refuses to work at the workship even with no other tasks.

Edit: Turns out I don't think I even need a Bauxite grate as I have some nickel silver!

Did you enable the bauxite usage in the z-stone menu?
I always set up a stockpile of bauxite aside of the workshop in a lockable room, filled it and once I need to do bauxite stuff, get the mason in and lock up the room. Then only I enable the bauxite in the z-stone menu.