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Author Topic: Building a Dam  (Read 748 times)

Wronghorn

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Building a Dam
« on: December 30, 2007, 01:50:00 am »
Sorry if this has been answered, I checked the wiki and did a search and couldn't find anything terribly specific.

My question is: I have a brook running through a fortress zone, and I'd like to put grates in each end, and then cover those with walls, so that I'd basically have walls all the way around my entrance/farms/outdoor activities.  I have a drawbridge for trader/dwarf access, and eventually I'd build up a couple levels with fortifications and walkways for marksdwarves.  Is it possible to construct a temporary dam in a brook and then install whatever structures I want?

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MyBeardIsOnFire

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2007, 02:19:00 am »
You'd have to temporarily redirect the brook somewhere using pumps in order to build anything in it, and that includes the dam. A cave in would produce an instant dam, but that's impossible since surface rivers have all rock cleared above them. Pumps are your answer.
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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2007, 02:29:00 am »
Or, if you are in a temperate or cooler climate, wait until winter and the river will freeze, allowing you to work.
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Flame11235

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2007, 02:52:00 am »
What exactly happens if you dig out a frozen brook? To be more specific, if I just stick a wall right up against the ice, what happens when spring rolls around and it becomes liquid again?
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Slappy Moose

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2007, 03:19:00 am »
quote:
Originally posted by Flame11235:
<STRONG>What exactly happens if you dig out a frozen brook? To be more specific, if I just stick a wall right up against the ice, what happens when spring rolls around and it becomes liquid again?</STRONG>

The water would act like the wall is ground, it wouldn't go through it.

It's what you would think.

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Torak

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2007, 04:02:00 am »
Building a wall onto the brook and then collapsing it would probably cause new walls to from in the bottom of the water, but im not sure if walls cave in like unmined tiles do.
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Kagus

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2007, 04:54:00 am »
They cave in alright, but they don't produce walls down below.  They just break up into whatever was used to build them, which quickly gets washed downstream.

Unless something changed recently.

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Luckymoose

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2007, 04:57:00 am »
Can't you just build a plain wall over the brook? The water goes under it anyway.
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Flame11235

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2007, 09:22:00 pm »
quote:
Originally posted by Slappy Moose:
<STRONG>

The water would act like the wall is ground, it wouldn't go through it.

It's what you would think.</STRONG>

So does it overflow over the top of the wall then?

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BurnedToast

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2007, 10:06:00 pm »
quote:
Originally posted by Flame11235:
<STRONG>

So does it overflow over the top of the wall then?</STRONG>

unfortunately, no, flows are not quite that advanced yet.

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Wronghorn

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2007, 11:45:00 pm »
quote:
Originally posted by Luckymoose:
<STRONG>Can't you just build a plain wall over the brook? The water goes under it anyway.</STRONG>

I ended up doing this.  My dwarven civil/mechanical engineering skills aren't up to scratch to do complex constuction yet.

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TheSilverHammer

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2007, 11:59:00 pm »
You can get enough pumps to stop a brook where you can build a dam?  That must be a lot of pumps.

I did desginate a brook as a grabage dump and near the end where it exited the area I noticed it has a bunch of items and the water level was like 2/7.   I wonder if I kept piling stuff up if it would eventually get to 0/7 and be walkable.

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Wronghorn

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2007, 12:08:00 am »
quote:
Originally posted by TheSilverHammer:
<STRONG>I did desginate a brook as a grabage dump and near the end where it exited the area I noticed it has a bunch of items and the water level was like 2/7.   I wonder if I kept piling stuff up if it would eventually get to 0/7 and be walkable.</STRONG>

Sounds like the Hudson River.

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Torak

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2007, 12:28:00 am »
I miss granite.exe. Your situation would be solved in a few keystrokes if it was ever updated.
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Thallone

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Re: Building a Dam
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2007, 08:28:00 am »
quote:
Originally posted by TheSilverHammer:
<STRONG>You can get enough pumps to stop a brook where you can build a dam?  That must be a lot of pumps.

I did desginate a brook as a grabage dump and near the end where it exited the area I noticed it has a bunch of items and the water level was like 2/7.   I wonder if I kept piling stuff up if it would eventually get to 0/7 and be walkable.</STRONG>

If you look close all rivers/brooks are lower in the last couple tiles where it exits the map. Too bad you can't use this fact to build water wheels there.

If you're going to try to pump out a brook, be sure to dig out(channel) the surface tiles first or you'll flood the map as the lighter brook tiles at the surface are walkable floor and do not pass water! failing to do this can create a mess. So says the voice of experience.

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