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Author Topic: Minimalistic Waterfall  (Read 3135 times)

yfwong31

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Minimalistic Waterfall
« on: August 12, 2013, 09:58:39 am »

I am designing my fort and considering a waterfall. I read from the wiki that waterfall (flowing water) kills fps so I want a minimal one. I am thinking of a dwarf filling a well with water from the well itself. How can I designate the well as a water source as well as a pond zone? Will water evaporate mid flight?
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jcochran

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2013, 10:29:09 am »

If you don't want to worry overmuch about FPS loss from a waterfall, make it switchable so you can turn it on and off as needed. One type of waterfall I've made several times is a single aquifer block at the top center of a 3x3 stairwell with a wall surrounded hatch cover just beneath it. If I need the good thoughts from the waterfall, I simply open the hatch and all the dwarves get the joy of seeing the waterfall. Then when I have enough happy thoughts, I turn it off. Rather impressive having the sucker going from Z=100 or so down to Z=-20.
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edgefigaro

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2013, 10:35:07 am »

If you have a waterfall from an aquifer tile that dumps into a one or two wide channel that routs off map, it won't be so bad.  What really kills FPS is a the water spreading out in all directions over a flat surface. My water related projects will lag while they are filling, but once all the pieces are full, stuff won't even flow, it'll just pressure to right by the exit.
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_Ivan_

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2013, 11:47:25 am »

Don't pour water down your stairwells. I did this once by building a well 1 Z too low. At first I was pleased with the result. My blood soaked stairs were clean. The dwarves were happy as clams. I considered leaving it open until I followed a dwarf who was mysteriously on a recover wounded job. All went well until he slipped and fell 20 Z down the wet stairs and landed next to 2 others.

I haven't played with water since, other than a well surrounded with soap bars.
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jcochran

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2013, 01:15:09 pm »

Chuckling softly....

If they're clumsy, they need to be gotten rid of. May not be able to breed 'em for brains, but darn well can do so for agility and ability to heal rapidly.
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yfwong31

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2013, 09:17:54 pm »

Don't pour water down your stairwells. I did this once by building a well 1 Z too low. At first I was pleased with the result. My blood soaked stairs were clean. The dwarves were happy as clams. I considered leaving it open until I followed a dwarf who was mysteriously on a recover wounded job. All went well until he slipped and fell 20 Z down the wet stairs and landed next to 2 others.

I haven't played with water since, other than a well surrounded with soap bars.

What if you surround the opening by statues?
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Oaktree

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2013, 11:47:23 pm »

If you have an aquifer a simple waterfall that drains out down a narrow tunnel works pretty well.  Just remember to make the grates restricted traffic to avoid "dangerous terrain" spam from dwarves walking into the flow.

If you don't have an aquifer and have power than building a mist generator is a possible solution.  Just uses a series of pumps and if the power stays consistent you only have to load it up once with six buckets of water - you can strip out the holding tank once it is running.  (My current fort has a simple 4-pump one running around the entrance to the main dining hall so that most of the dwarves have to walk past/through the mist to eat.  Downside is that the area gets mucky/icky from mist rinsing crap off the dwarves - so lots of cleaning action there as well.)
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WanderingKid

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Re: Minimalistic Waterfall
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2013, 12:01:11 am »

If you have an aquifer a simple waterfall that drains out down a narrow tunnel works pretty well.  Just remember to make the grates restricted traffic to avoid "dangerous terrain" spam from dwarves walking into the flow.

This is unnecessary if you put grates across the floor and let it drain out 1z under the corridor.