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Author Topic: Aquifers: A Guide on How to Dig Through an Aquifer of Indefinite Levels  (Read 124780 times)

kzwix

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I do not think you would need any mechanism. I mean, you can create water reactors out of wood (pump 100%wood, water wheels and walls made out of wood too. So, if you manage to connect them together with axles and nothing more, then you can avoid the need for mechanisms.

Also, can mechanisms be made out of glass ?  Out of clay ?

And as for the pump stacks, a windmill stack seems a possible way of powering them. just stack them vertically and it should work with nothing but wood ^^
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QuantumMenace

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I don't think you can stack windmills vertically. Even if you can build them, the one on top will make the others be "inside" and prevent them from working.

You could build screw pumps as substitutes for gearboxes on the surface. They take and transmit power in any direction, but they require 10 power instead of 5.
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JarinArenos

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I recall seeing a design for a massive multilevel windfarm construct, but it was a while back. It took advantage of the fact that an open space only needs 4 squares open above it to be considered "outdoors" and only the middle tile of a windmill needs to be outdoors.
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ThirdSpartacus

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Also, can mechanisms be made out of glass ?  Out of clay ?

Just stone. But if you're really desperate, ordering stone from the merchants will cause the caravan to bring a couple the next year.

Hans Lemurson

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I just realized that a much quicker way of putting in the containment-walls when digging through a soil aquifer would actually be to use doors.  They construct MUCH faster than walls, don't block access to other construction sites, and can even be placed diagonally in corners.

I'm gonna try a "Wall of Doors" on the next practice-hole I make it my fort.  In terms of materials-cost, it's the same as walls, but it will take a bit more up-front labor to produce them all in advance.  You should probably have a furniture-stockpile set up to accept only doors nearby your digging site.

One down-side though is that a "Wall of Doors" will look really quite odd, but that's a small price to pay for convenience!  Also, you can employ a hybrid approach by just building walls in the easy areas and employing doors when there's more water sloshing about and it might be convenient to insert a water-stopper diagonally.  There are some places in the Quantum Menace's "Double-Slit Method" where I think the use of doors would be indicated.
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Foolprooof way to penetrate aquifers of unlimited depth.  (Make sure to import at least 10 stones for mechanisms)
Toughen Dwarves by dropping stuff on them.  (Nothing too heavy though, and make sure to wear armor.)
Quote
"Urist had a little lamb
whose feet tracked blighted soot.
And into every face he saw
his sooty foot he put."

QuantumMenace

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An annoying thing about doors is that they can be selected by "q" when finished. Usually I only have one wall construction active at a time so that pressing q automatically selects it so I can check for suspensions. Using doors would interfere with this.

Edit: You can modify the announcements.txt init:

[CANCEL_JOB:A_D:D_D:P:R]

This will pause the game and recenter where a job is canceled, so you don't have to keep checking the wall repeatedly. However, I think this applies to any job cancellation (couldn't find one specifically for suspensions) so you shouldn't leave it like this considering the number of things in the game that spam job cancellations.

Hans, what did you find with regard to pump reactors? I keep getting the bug where water flowing into the aquifer channel makes the entire thing "flowing" even after the water movement stops. Very easy to exploit, if it works on your map.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2011, 08:43:11 pm by QuantumMenace »
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Hans Lemurson

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I experienced the same bug where non-moving water seems to be providing unending flow.  I made a configuration like so (except that I actually used 3 wheels):
Code: [Select]
    wWw   <-- wWw is a water-wheel
  pP~~~H# <-- "~" is water, and "H" is a hatch which was closed the whole time
#~#####~# <-- "#" is aquifer-soil
The pump pumps water up from the aquifer and if flows down the channel turning the water-wheel until it reaches the end and drains back into the aquifer.  That was my plan, at any rate.  I had the hatch hooked up to a lever so that I could close the drain as needed to stop the flow to turn off the power as needed.  I decided to fill it up first, but then found that the wheels kept turning even when the channel was full.  Even when I disconnected the pump from power, the wheels kept turning.  No water going into the channel, no water coming out of the channel, but the "flow" remains powering my water-wheels which pumped water from my dig-site.  This is with a water-channel constructed above the level of the aquifer.

I have another idea though about constructing a standard "side-wheel" reactor by digging the V-shaped channel into the aquifer and then using it like normal.  Aquifers leak water much slower than pumps pump it out, so it should behave just like a normal Side-wheel reactor with the water continually cycling through it except that you never have to worry about it running dry or overflowing.  It certainly will have the advantage of not requiring complex machinery in order to hook the pump up to the power from the wheel.
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Foolprooof way to penetrate aquifers of unlimited depth.  (Make sure to import at least 10 stones for mechanisms)
Toughen Dwarves by dropping stuff on them.  (Nothing too heavy though, and make sure to wear armor.)
Quote
"Urist had a little lamb
whose feet tracked blighted soot.
And into every face he saw
his sooty foot he put."

hapes

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Hey, QuantumMenace, do you mind if I use your write-up to post this on the wiki?  I don't know if you have a user page on there, I would be glad to put it on your page (if I'm allowed to edit other User: pages), or I can put it on my User: page and give you credit.

The reason I ask is that while the forum has enabled me to get through aquifers (at least I've managed three levels), it might be nice to have a write-up on the wiki.
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QuantumMenace

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Yes, go ahead. (I don't have a user page) Please upload the pictures if possible, I just had to re-upload one of them because tinypic apparently deleted it.
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DrKillPatient

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If I use Quantum's method, the second tile I'm supposed to mine (to the right, directly across from the pump) is always too full or fluctuating too much to build a wall there. Do I need better pump materials?
« Last Edit: March 21, 2011, 08:58:24 pm by DrKillPatient »
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"Frankly, if you're hanging out with people who tell you to use v.begin() instead of &v[0], you need to rethink your social circle."
    Scott Meyers, Effective STL

I've written bash scripts to make using DF easier under Linux!

hapes

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One trick I found due to a suggestion by someone in this thread is to pause and one-step with the . key until there is 1/7 water then build.  Of course, still lots of cancellations.
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ThirdSpartacus

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If I use Quantum's method, the second tile I'm supposed to mine (to the right, directly across from the pump) is always too full or fluctuating too much to build a wall there. Do I need better pump materials?

With soil tiles, it will always fluctuate from 1/7 to somewhere around 2/7. The trick is to designate that wall when it hits 1/7 and keep unsuspending construction when it suspends. The progress your dwarves make on the wall will accumulate and eventually you'll have your wall! Tedious, but this is how soil aquifers are done.

RTiger

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I am trying to use quantums method.

When I get to the last quadrant, what order should I build walls/dig

I just ended up flooding the area when I went outer, then tried digging out the middle.
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Trails

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Seriously? Has no one yet made a "double-slit experiment" joke? Especially when the author of the method is QuantumMenace?
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hapes

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The trick is subtle.  Dig Opposite, wall.  Dig side, wall.  Dig under, wall.  But for the third section, do not dig under or you flood.
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