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[Nkosi_SW]

I'm trying to set up a "lap pool" to easily train my military up to legendary swimmmers.  It's set up as a narrow danger room barracks projecting out over a pool.  Once the dwarves dodge in to the pool, the only way out is through a long winding passage that they have to swim through, learning all the way.

Level 1

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Level 0 with dividing bridge lowered

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Level 0 with dividing bridge raised

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The problem is that when the bridges that form the winding maze out of the pool are raised, the dwarves won't path out at all.  They just sit on the bottom of the pool and drown.  But I know there's no problem with the system in general or the exit from the water specifically, because when the single bridge that divides the entry point from the deep pool in to the maze from the exit out of the maze is lowered (allowing a short cut that skips the whole maze), the dwarves quite happily swim out and run back around to the danger room for another go.

It seems to me there's a problem pathing around raised bridges in water.  Am I missing something, or has anyone else come across similar problems and if so, how did they resolve it?

[QuantumMenace]

It isn't the bridges, I had a similar problem with a flooded maze made of fortifications. Dwarves just don't path through water very well, at least if the path is indirect. I've noticed that even forgotten beasts just wander around randomly in water but head straight to the fortress once they end up on land.

[krenshala]

You might try lowering the water level to 4/7 instead of 5 or 6/7.  At least for the first part of the maze.

The one I keep meaning to try is to have the water flowing from the "exit" to the "entrance", getting shallower as it goes.  Dwarves that fall in should get better as they fight the current in steadily deepening water.

[doublestrafe]

That water's full of sevens. Of course they're dying. Get it all down to 4-6.

If it doesn't solve the pathing problem, at least they won't drown.

[Loud Whispers]

Dwarves don't path at all in 7's

[Nkosi_SW]

As I said, I believe this is a pathing problem, not a problem with the water depth, as the dwarves swim out fine when there is a shorter path.  I should have mentioned that the dwarves are all compentent or better swimmers, so they have no problem with seven deep water with space above it.  They only die when they don't path out of the bottom of the pool (which is multi-level to prevent falling injuries).  This has been confirmed by raising the water level at the surface to seven, and then lowering it to four (with a few tiles of depth five), and neither made any difference whatsoever.

Unless someone has a better suggestion, I'm going to start experimenting by making the path out variable length, and see at what point the problem occurs.

[TeleDwarf]

Fish never deliberately go from a more deep to a more shallow location (from 7 to 6). Dwarves may also be uncomfotable to go from less dangerous to more dangerous location (from 6 to 7) as they deliberately refuse to go from safe(4) to a bit risky(5) locations.

[Nkosi_SW]

Fish never deliberately go from a more deep to a more shallow location (from 7 to 6). Dwarves may also be uncomfotable to go from less dangerous to more dangerous location (from 6 to 7) as they deliberately refuse to go from safe(4) to a bit risky(5) locations.

Before starting my modifications to test the effect of the length of the maze on pathing, I've just now laboriously got all the water to a depth of four.  Still the same behaviour.  I think we've ruled out the possibility of water depth as the cause of the problem here.

[Nkosi_SW]

I've completed my testing on path length out of water.  The results are listed here.