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[FantasticDorf]

Hello.

I've made a liquid collection thread in the past but this is a revised and more centrally simplistic addition in hindsight.

Water Butt/Tank itself and UI/Faculties

The water-butt (as per UK translation alternative being a water-tank) is civilisation tool, much like a cauldron (ill get to that later) that can be made and then physically placed with the intention of being a intermediary liquid holder.

With a maximum capacity of (/21) amounts of liquid (or liquid/viscous items like booze, slurry, milk etc.) they can assist in shipping liquids between one place and another by being a depositing and collection point for buckets of a liquid. The typical procedure for a water butt, is to either naturally accrue water or liquid by itself arriving in the top (or at a later stage by pipes as per the development goals akin to gutterage) over time with rainfall or liquids falling into it.

Individually a water-butt can assign drop off and load up zones in which dwarves will be tasked to pick up and put away the selected contents of a water butt, assigning a area for dwarves to collect a bucket, fill it up and return it to the water butt or empty it in a created zone. A typical slurry storage may end up having a water butt as a storage option, collecting the slurry in large numbers with a bucket and then using it on the press in smaller quantities using a jug with workplaces tapped into the waterbutt as a production line starting or ending point. (If you have not enough barrels, you might want to pour your stills into water butts temporarily and then have dwarves deposit it to linked stockpiles)

This way, say if you run a minecart through a body of lava/water via a hands off hauling route, you could instantly deposit it into your cistern via a link, the full amount stored inside the minecart without much fuss en-masse and move it around for your lava furnaces/projects.
 
Water butts can also be specified via details like menu, what the contents should be, to which offending contaminants not on the list will be removed and put into appropriate storage if not dumped into buckets.

Dwarves initially dislike drinking directly out of water-butts, but its a better option than drinking out of a river, naturally they'll drink out of a waterbutt if burrowed around it, and this would be a effective way of getting contaminants into selected individuals.

Climate, Vermin & Creatures

Without adequate quality, a waterbutt in most climates, particularly hot and cold ones will suffer adverse affects reflective of that.

In hot climates you may expect...

• Contents likely to become foul/curdle much quicker
• Contents very likely to evaporate

It goes without saying that in colder climates also, the likelyhood of water freezing directly into ice or becoming frozen (whether this was a the intended reaction or not *wink-wink*) also increases depending on how harsh the climate is too. Ice has a particular function in being able to be melted down into sterile undrinkable water, purified via screw pump and recollected if you so wish to apply your technical know-how.

Thanks to the /21 ratio, each cistern if supplied with a even supply of water and magma can form up to 2 obsidian stone inside them (at a very slow rate for the cost and hauling of magma from carts/buckets) at a time as to demonstrate some of the advanced reactions that can occur within a water butt. Ice will also be converted and stored within a water butt until it is cleared if the conditions are adequate.

In severe climates, every set of quality below artifact will be affected by the relevant climate regardless, if you expect to hold water above-ground in a particularly hot desert or tundra it will not work. Additionally, hot and humid climates, though they may seem appropriate to use waterbutts here on account of the regular rainfall, leaving them out may incur drawing in pests.

Very similarly to how ticks accumulate around large congregations of animals, poor quality and therefore insecure waterbutts attract certain varieties of vermin with great interest essentially like a insect hive. Blood sucking mosquitos particularly can cause issues such as negative thoughts and disease, and the contents can affect what is attracted to it (as per blood gnats hovering and breeding around your blood-butts where you keep the blood essence of your enemies & prey for trade or anything else)
 
> Suggestively because these waterbutts can host comfortable accommodation for vermin, a submerged water butt (therefore naturally immersed in water) can function as a egg box for aquatic/amphibious creatures and their spawn. In the worst case scenario you have hostile giant toads and mosquitos emerging from your flooded and derelict fortresses.

> Best case scenario may be the construction of mog-hopper (for extracts) and certain fish farms (in-fort oyster farms etc) by leaving out submerged/semi-submerged water butts, so that they are nearly always abundant in that area or can regenerate.

> Geographical rock formations (taking up the same vein as natural hives as entities on the map) can 'pool' up water like a water butt and over-spill to flood, this may be a common feature at the bottom of murky pools, since it would aid it via the overflow to replenish and propagate aquatic life. Any scientific names or basis i could put towards this as per contribution of readers of this thread would be very welcome to forwarding this point. It would be a solution to toady's goal that he has mentioned on finding issue how to integrate animals that source from the middle of the map such as frogs and toads surrounding murky pools etc as a 'wormhole' option until it is sealed up.

Water-butts can collect a numerous amount of liquids that fall near them passively, as per how rain works, so putting water butts in selective areas (such as beneath your tavern to collect vomit and dregs) can allow you to filter out via dwarven labour force, booze back into your system, and ferry vomit and unsavoury contaminants away into another purpose built stockpile, waterbutt or disposal pit.

Contaminant evil rain can be collected in water butts. However it is recommended that dwarves do not run out to empty them during a rain storm, apply it for your own use.


Cauldron Re-Vamp

In light of the liquid holding properties of the water butt (it can just be called a tank/butt if relevant and not used specifically for water) cauldrons when not drawing directly on stockpile barrels/containers can access the contents of water butts for thier own means. Meaning that as a component, cauldrons can draw off water/booze/generic liquids to create a selection of meals appropriate to the ingredients.

• Mix in water to create soups and stews out of even usually inedible components like bones by heating them up in the cauldron
• Apply appropriate liquids as a improvements in the kitchen, by drawing upon a 'glazing' of dwarven syup or cauldron cooked gravy upon a cooked roast meal via use of a jug.
• Deviously spike your food by being selective with water butts and cauldrons in fortress mode & adventurer mode, for a glaze of viper venom to ensure a low key assassination of a lord you wish to ursurp
• Boil living people in a cauldron for food/as torture not unless you're either possessing horrific ethics or happen to be a megabeast.

Alchemical & Alternative Uses

Naturally since you can collect a large amount of liquids, some of them are going to be useful for a bit more than pools of standing water

Traps designed out dangerous liquid types

• Pools of slime collected up to suffocate, nauseate and demoralise opponents
• Obvious pools of poison and dangerous compounds. Such as literally pitting a gnome into a pool of gnome-blight for quick disposal.
• Using liquid fire extracts in bulk to burn or conversely, golden salve (whatever it's typical properties) to heal via inserting into your water/food supply

Though in its present state, with most of the suggestions on this thread could be implemented into the games currently existing functions, it leaves much more out in the open to be used in the future since liquids can be moved around and stored better. Alchemy especially with all the extracts and syndromes in the game would receive a boon from such a object.

• Greater application of traps and weapons using collected acids/poisons and contaminents
• Modded and base-game syndromes having more ways to spread
• Akin to three-toes stories, a depository for the construction of acid based weapons
• A medium for chemistry developments in scholarship, and further applications for minerals such as mercury laced cinnibar
• Via careful use, crudely (or professionally via some job role) lace weapons and objects in liquids.

Feedback would be much appreciated.

Also, contributions for a better name for this object would also be appreciated. I personally feel a bit silly having to repeat the word water-butt all the time. Mc Dwarf Hammertime!

Bibliography.

Rainwater_tank - WIKIPEDIA

> Rain Causing Floods (Author-dudlol - November 25, 2014)

> Liquid collection/transferral zone (hybrid trading screen/locations UI) (author - FantasticDorf -December 23, 2015)