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[Aykavil]

As anyone had any experience in building mega constructions out of water and magma ?

I plan to carve a fortress out of a single block of obsidian. (My possessed dwarves keep making artifact rings, go figure). I have pretty much everything I need designed for my project (maps, formworks maps, etc.) but I'm pretty unsure of magma reactions. Is it okay to pour water over 3/7 magma ? Should I use less or more magma? What should I be careful of ? etc.

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Aykavil

[Andir]

Yes

yes, doesn't matter, lava creatures

If you have infinite water and a lava pipe/river then you should be fine.  I was working on an all obsidian pyramid a while ago but I got distracted with real life.  Once all the lava creatures are dead (a group of crossbowmen will do) then it's just you and whatever creatures normally visit a map.

[Aykavil]

Did I mention the artifacts have pictures of a burning dwarf ? I have four dwarves down, one fire imp caged, two killed, one roaming free on the surface, and a single magma man still at the bottom of the magma pipe. The fortress is still young, so no military yet. I think will give a shot at markdwarves

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Aykavil

[Andir]

Did I mention the artifacts have pictures of a burning dwarf ? I have four dwarves down, one fire imp caged, two killed, one roaming free on the surface, and a single magma man still at the bottom of the magma pipe. The fortress is still young, so no military yet. I think will give a shot at markdwarves

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Aykavil

Making lots of Obsidian is quite easy if you know how to pump water to the level of the magma vent.  Channel out an area for the obsidian "factory" (I prefer to drop just below the surface and dig (not build) a series of up ramps.  You don't have to worry about cave ins or getting stuck like channeling and as long as your ramps are only one z level underground, the dwarfs will clear out an entire area pretty quick.)  Prepare to pump water into this area by placing your last pump on ground level.

Create a channel leading from this new formed open area to the magma and let it fill up (even partially) with magma.  Pump water over top of this magma making sure not to cap the magma pipe to turn it into obsidian, channel out the factory originally and clear out the obsidian.  Rinse.  Repeat.

Side View:

Code: [Select]

_ = channel
X = rock
M = magma
~ = water
P> = pump from water to pit

above    P>
water ~~~XX______XXMMMMM

I normally place my crossbowmen on a wall surrounding this area if there are creatures in the lava.  The wall lets them get a good shot and it also helps control the water for efficiency.  Just don't put a wall where you need to dig out the magma channel.  (You can also build a floodgate out of magma safe material, but it's not the easiest stuff to come by.  Check the wiki.)

[ItchyBeard]

Making lots of Obsidian is quite easy if you know how to pump water to the level of the magma vent.  Channel out an area for the obsidian "factory" (I prefer to drop just below the surface and dig (not build) a series of up ramps.  You don't have to worry about cave ins or getting stuck like channeling and as long as your ramps are only one z level underground, the dwarfs will clear out an entire area pretty quick.)  Prepare to pump water into this area by placing your last pump on ground level.

Create a channel leading from this new formed open area to the magma and let it fill up (even partially) with magma.  Pump water over top of this magma making sure not to cap the magma pipe to turn it into obsidian, channel out the factory originally and clear out the obsidian.  Rinse.  Repeat.

I believe that Aykavil is trying to build a fortress out of a large solid chunk of obsidian rock (think "obsidian cube" fortress) - what you are proposing is an obsidian factory to generate obsidian pieces (for building with) which is something completely different.

An obsidian cube can be built one z-layer at a time (alternating magma and water on each level) to result in a block which you can dig/engrave/farm underground crops inside of/etc. An underground fortress above ground, as it were.

The only suggestion I'd have is not to flood too large an area of magma at once as it tends to replenish slowly. If it spreads out too much it will start evaporating before filling up. You might want to build a magma reservoir so that it can fill while you're building the rest of your scaffold. It's also safe to pour magma on 1/7 water as it doesn't form rock, so don't worry too much about letting individual layers dry out before pouring the next layer.

[Aykavil]

Reviving an old thread... making a magma mega project has taken some time indeed (still on version 40d). Trailcross, the castle of wonder has been uploaded to the DF map archive. I couldn't find out how to post images on this thread, pity.

[Urist Imiknorris]

[Aykavil]

Cool! here are two snapshots made with Khazad.
Completed castle


Outer wall still under construction

[NKDietrich]

Beautiful. Thanks for posting! Inspires me to go make something out of obsidian.

[meto30]

This fortress should be rated at least four stars out of five simply for the beautiful flying magmaducts. Thumbs up.

Oh, and kudos for continuing a single fort for 2 years.

[LuckyLuigi]

 

That's awesome dude !

[Patchy]

2 year necro, but at least he's adding something substancial XP

So, 2 years in the making, and the fort is finally unveiled. Looks really good, better than most. Keep up the good work.

[Aykavil]

This fort actually took around 18 months. The first attempt fell to an escaped fire imp, a magma accident, a pet explosion, and generally poor design. The second attempt fell to lag; it had an aquifer level and a 60+ dwarf population.

[BigJake]

Love the walls and gatehouses.

[Vehudur]

That is really fucking awesome.

Also, for the record:

Braaiiiinnnnnzzzzz