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[Kogan Onulsodel]

So, I'm fairly new to Dwarf Fortress, and especially to the forum, so I wanted to start out by asking whether the !!SCIENCE!! that I want to do has been done.

Nether-Caps are special. Magma-safe trees. So my thought is, could you make a nether-cap waterwheel run... on Magma? Actually, this project is almost done (if it works, I'm hoping to have Dwarven Magma Reactor after the next chance I get to play Dwarf Fortress... though a Forgotten Beast found its way into the magma chamber I'm going to pump from, and my military is woefully unprepared right now... he seems content knocking over gear assemblies for now, so I'm gonna throw up a wall to keep him out until I'm ready for him... but as soon as I've taken care of the beast, I should be able to get my Geothermal Plant up and running, it's just bad luck that he showed up right when I'd gotten the nether-caps that I need). So hopefully that all works out, and I'll have word on Dwarven Geothermal Plants.

But I had a couple of other questions that seemed just as interesting. Well, first of all, there's Dragonfire. What if you captured a dragon, incorporated it into your defense, and built its enclosure out of nether-cap logs? Is the awesome power of the nether-cap dragonfire proof? Seems like it should be. Sadly, doing that experiment seems hard... I'll need a dragon to attack, and I'll need to be prepared when it happens.

Finally, I was wondering: if you could get nether-cap high boots, could a dorf walk in 1/7 magma?

[Hans Lemurson]

I believe that nether-cap's temperature is in fact absolute, and so will resist flame, magma, and dragon-breath.

As for generating power from flowing magma, I think I remember reading that it won't work simply because magma tiles will never be designated as having "flow".  However I have never done the experiment and I welcome your experimental results.

I don't know if nethercap armor will protect the dwarf wearing it, or merely result in a charred skeleton wearing perfectly preserved equipment.    If steel armor won't save a dwarf from armok's embrace, I don't think nethercap will.  Nether cap armor could only be made in a strange mood (and a very strange one at that) so would be indestructable artifact quality regardless of its resistance to lava.  It will probably not catch fire though.

Something else you might want to add to your experiment list is Nethercap crossbow-bolts.

[Larix]

Several people have tried building the magma reactor, including yours truly. It doesn't work, because, like H.M. said, power generation depends on the 'flow' attribute of the fluid used, and that attribute is exclusive to water, magma/lava, even when moving, doesn't 'flow'.

If you want to have 'un-flammable' wooden armour pieces, you'll need to change material properties in the raws - only elves can make wooden armour, and they have no access to nethercap (because it's a deep-underground material; even dwarven civs have no access to it). Even strange moods won't help.
Nethercap boots falling into magma would probably still be destroyed on the spot - afaik, loose items submerged in lava automatically get destroyed if they're not made from metal or stone; this allegedly circumvents the magma-immunity of glass and nethercap, while buildings made from such materials are safe. I've never tried this rigorously, though.

[Kogan Onulsodel]

What about nether-cap bolts? I'm sure I can make them, but what should be special?

It's too bad about the magma reactor, though. I guess it doesn't flow right because it has no pressure, or is there something else to it?

Oh, and is there something wrong if I'm *hoping* for a dragon attack so that I can actually test a dragonfire-proof nethercap enclosure? I think it should work...

[DS]

Nethercap boots falling into magma would probably still be destroyed on the spot - afaik, loose items submerged in lava automatically get destroyed if they're not made from metal or stone; this allegedly circumvents the magma-immunity of glass and nethercap, while buildings made from such materials are safe. I've never tried this rigorously, though.

I can confirm that this is not the case. Admittedly, these tests were conducted during the previous major version (.31?). Nether-cap, for all intents and purposes, appears to be completely magma-proof in my experience.