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[Slayer1557]

So I'm on a map that has a few features that I requested at embark.  Mainly magma.  And I got a bonus chasm as well, and I was rather pleased.  The only thing is that it does not have an infinite source of water (brook/lake/river).  There are about a dozen or so murky pools, however.

I wanted to do some new things with my fortress using water, such as a mist generator, and some water based traps.  But without an infinite source of water, it is going to be difficult to get enough water.

I had a plan, that is working to some degree.  I channeled out around the murky pools, to lower the water level to about 4/7.  Then when it rains it fills up the new, larger pool a bit.  So in this way I can slowly increase my water supply.  But progress is slow, and I have a few questions.

I know that the murky pools fill up when it rains, but if I make a man-made pond outside, will that fill up when it rains?  Or what about the extended area that I channel out of murky pools, does that fill up from the rain or just what flows from the murky pool tiles?

Any other ideas how to get enough water for my plans?

[Ravenplucker]

Water will only collect in tiles that say "murky pool" when you look over it.

One idea, you can wait until they fill up, and then pump it up to a large cistern above your fortress, this gives the water the pressure it might need to do anything cool

[Slayer1557]

Good idea.  Dwarves just seem more and more like farmers.  Farming plump helmets, farming obsidian, and now, farming water!

Still this is a neat challenge that I have never encountered before, so it'll be lots of Fun.

My trap idea was going to have a narrow walkway that must be crossed to get into my fortress, with floodgates on the side, and a pit on the other.  So they come across, and a pressure plate will open the gates, and the water pressure will knock them off into the pit.  Then this will continue a few times, knocking them down lower and lower, until they reach the bottom where there will be a spike pit.  I did a flooding chamber in my last fortress, and I wanted to do some cool stuff with water pressure in this one, so, yea.

[wagawaga]

If you're planning to make such a water-pusher, you should find a way to recover used water, as it eats water quite fast.

[gtmattz]

I commend you for taking on the challenge of a water-pusher trap on a map with limited water.  I look forward to hearing about your results.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

I think you should try for a water gate or magma gate before doing a water cannon on a waterless map.
 You'll need 3 pumps and 2 z levels, and a steel door.
Or I suppose 5 pumps and no steel doors but an extra z level.

As for cisterning water, I find it much easier to use the miners method, and and essentially drain all the maps large ponds into a giant underground basin whenever it rains.

You could also try for the Waterbox challenge, where you use flood gates to actually build yourself a wall through use of fluid logic bugs.

[The Architect]

When harvesting water from pools, draining it or pumping it to an underground cistern is very efficient. The one thing to be careful of is emptying them too much; if they get below 2 then water will evaporate during and in between rainfalls, and you will lose a great deal of possible water collection.

Edit: Grammar-nazi'd myself.

[wagawaga]

You could also try for the Waterbox challenge, where you use flood gates to actually build yourself a wall through use of fluid logic bugs.

I don't understand. What bugs do you refer to?

[The Architect]

He's talking about something completely inapplicable to a non-infinite water source.