Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Andir]

I'm assuming Magma pipes regenerate, but what regenerates them?  Does the lava come from the lowest level or the very top layer?  If I look at the pipe in 3Dwarf, there are red "floor" tiles on some of the positions.  Are these the "generators"?  Does anyone have experience with this?  I want to reform my pipe and don't want to loose the ability to regen lava.  (I want to reform it by capping, channeling, dumping water, rinse/repeat... to form a cylindrical cone structured pipe that I can build a pyramid like fort around.  (if that makes sense).  I've been playing with lava and water on another map and I think I can make this work with some patience, time, and the right map location.

I just don't know what generates the lava.  It's not as obvious as aquifer tiles.  

[edit: better title]

[ June 12, 2008: Message edited by: Andir ]

[MaxVance]

It comes from the bottom. Take a look at the bottom Z-level of the magma pipe and the tiles there should say "magma flow" on them.

[Andir]

Awesome, thanks.  I assume it has a predefined limit to it's height (kind of defying the "lava doesn't flow up" rule?)

[MuonDecay]

The "lava doesn't flow up rule" is not a hard rule so much as a rule of thumb generated by observers.

There's a lot of room for exceptions in that rule but in general situations it's often right.

[Reynard]

Actually... from my experience attempting to drain a caldera, new magma is actually materialized at the top of a defined volcano space. If there's empty space where the game recognizes there's supposed to be magma, it generates a tile of two of magma at where it thinks the magma level ought to be. So it teleports in and rains down.

[Derakon]

I'm inclined to agree with Reynard. This can make draining magma pipes rather dangerous...

[Duke 2.0]

quote:Originally posted by Derakon:
<STRONG>I'm inclined to agree with Reynard. This can make draining magma pipes rather dangerous...</STRONG>

Indeed.

There has been more evidence of magma "Appearing" at the z-level where the magma was at the beginning than bubbling up.

Although when volcanic instability comes into play, I expect much bubbling to happen.

[Andir]

That's going to make this interesting then as I just capped and channeled out the top layer in preparation for channeling into the magma where I want the next level of walls when I open up the water pumps...

code:

XXX====|           Water "spout"
XXX_ _____ _XXXXXX Previous magma level (channeled obsidian/floor only)
XXXMOMMMMMOMXXXXXX Second layer of Magma
XXXMMMMMMMMMMMXXXX
XMMMMMMMMMMMXXXXXX

I was planning on channeling out a circular area on the current obsidian floor and dump more water in forming the walls just below the current floor and continuing until I hit the bottom.  I have not had lava rain since channeling out the top layer.  Maybe I'm lucky?

[corc]

quote:Originally posted by Duke 2.0:
<STRONG>

Indeed.

There has been more evidence of magma "Appearing" at the z-level where the magma was at the beginning than bubbling up.

Although when volcanic instability comes into play, I expect much bubbling to happen.</STRONG>

Hmm, I should of taken a video of my last fort, I drained 3 levels of a pipe and it does not generate from the top.  It bubbles up from tiles that have direct line to the bottom.  I've tunneled down the center of the pipe by dumping water on it to create a glass observer walkway through it, and then channeled the top layers off again and the lava is filling back up slowly one level at a time.  Plus, if I remove a floor tile from the dwarf-made tunnel into the pipe, lava will come up through it in small bursts.  I believe it comes from the bottom tile--has a set z-level limit--and then uses the fluid flow method described in Toady's recent interview: if liquid can't move into the square adjacent to it, it checks the neighbors for empty neighbors until it finds a tile to fill up... and moving up, it would go all the way to the top of the current lava level.

[MuonDecay]

I am relatively impressed with Toady's simple but functional means of making fluid calculations more efficient, too.

The way fluids can check their flow, set "static" tiles, and then skip those tiles to save processing power is really simple but prevents a lot of unnecessary calculation.