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[Ianflow]

I have questions on power sources

I've tried reading the wiki at times, and the pump station bit is slightly confusing for me, but not too bad
Windmills I feel like just avoiding, due to confusion

Though I want to figure out what I want to do
I know windmills mill stuff into flower, but as I understand they do other things, which is general power

I am wondering if there is a chart for how much power is generated by what windmill based on what biome the windmill is in

Also wondering if a water wheel still can infinitely power a screw pump (along with other screw pumps)

[gestahl]

Either 40, 20, or 0 power biome wide, I'd assume it's plain old random but it might be weighted by biome type.

[joeclark77]

Windmills produce very little power, but should be enough to power a pump I think.  Water wheels produce a ton of power and one can power many pumps.  Water wheels require running water, of course, and rivers freeze in the winter, so that's a drawback if you are trying to play a strictly realistic game.  Another drawback is that you would have to dig some kind of tunnel from the dangerous outside world into the safe inside of your fort where you need power, creating a tiny vulnerability in the process.  It's possible to make this entirely safe (i.e. with a u-bend and grate in your water intake pipe) but you have to be very aware of what you're doing..

If you don't mind a little exploit, however, there's an easy way to build a perpetual motion machine with two water wheels driving a pump that continually pours water back over the wheels.  Look for "dwarven water reactor" on the wiki.  This can be built completely underground, so it doesn't freeze in winter or make your fortress vulnerable.

[Ianflow]

It sounds good, but I just considered using a water pump from a river into a closed in room, and then using a water wheel to infinitely power that pump, along with powering a second pump underground to make an entirely new pump to reduce dependance on said above ground power source
I'll look it up

I worry that windmills are susceptible to building destroyers, which is why I am considering somehow making a windmill on top of a tower akin to a marksdwarf tower, or furthermore, a 'caged' windmill in the event it is possible.

[Xinael]

You're quite right that windmills suck, for all the reasons mentioned, and your intuition is correct about water wheels - they provide 90 power per wheel and a pump only takes 10. The most popular design powers two wheels on one pump for 170 net power produced per generator. This wiki page will be very enlightening!

[gestahl]

Windmills need to be "outside" not just "above ground" so the (flying) destroyer proof windmill would have to be one built one level below the top of the map (which can be anywhere from the typical 5-10 z levels up to ah-f-it).

check out
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2012:Water_wheel#Dwarven_Water_Reactor
as well as the pages on screw pumps, power, and machinery

Basicly, unless you only need power for a millstone and are at/very near the surface, windmills just look pretty.

[jimboo]

One major difference: windmills produce power without “flow” so there’s no FPS drop.  Many players use huge windmill farms to bring magma to the surface.  There’s a thread on Bay12 where one ingenious player used a series of Dwarven Perpetual Motion Pumps to bring magma up 30 levels each and that works if you have several large reservoirs and switch off each pump afterwards – but your FPS can take a major hit meanwhile (like, down to single digits).  Most single windmills generate 40 power which turns three millstones but you’ll seldom be using use more than one or two at a time.

 “Caged windmills”: a windmill which is walled in and covered still – somehow – generates power.  But I’ve never had a building destroyer pay much attention to them and, anyway, covering is unnecessary because there are no flying building destroyers on the surface (FBs are only subterranean in the current release).  Just build a wall around ‘em if you’re concerned.  In one old fortress, I had a large farm (much wood) to pump up magma but pistons are just a lot less keyboarding and time consuming. 

And a single windmill is pretty to look at.   

[Lida_Brainbroken]

“Caged windmills”: a windmill which is walled in and covered still – somehow – generates power.

The center tile must be tagged as "Outside", so no floors or floor grates allowed.  Tried, but it killed the power immediately and I had to deconstruct.  Building it on a raised platform, or pump house, with the access deconstructed, or channeling around it and "z"ing the slopes keeps it safe in most cases.

Before starting any project, always build a random windmill first to check power yield.

[enizer]

windmills provide 40 20 or 0 power, and i believe it's fully random, i build them on every map i settle, and i have yet to see any pattern whatsoever

millstones and pumps take 10 power if i remember correctly, gear assemblies 5, and axels 1

it can be quite fesible to move windmill power down two z-levels without special precautions and at 40 power is enough for most single things, like for a single pump or a millstone or two

the waterwheel makes a lot more power at 100, however requires flow, which depending on your hardware, may be undesirable, as flow can lower your fps, this is especially true with the unstable flow of some water reactor designs

water reactors though, can operate at any depth, instead of needing to be at surface level, which makes windmills very difficult to use for any non-volcano magma pumping

i use windmills whenever i can because of this, and take note, making things automated that dont need automation, can result in unexpected FUN
this is especially true for automated magma pumps