Print

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

[DukeLeto2]

How do you build large (say 100-200 level) pump stacks in a reasonable amount of time? To my understanding, pumps have to be stacked on each other with no floor in between, meaning you have to wait until each pump is constructed to designate the next, which is tedious and time-consuming. Worse, if you have the misfortune to construct such a stack through mid-air (say, through a cave), it's incredibly annoying to build the reservoir, since constructions can't be designated until there's a valid path to them -- so you can't build the walls of the reservoir until there's an adjacent floor. Any tips on speeding up this process?

[Fleeting Frames]

Observe this screw pump:

||

It couldn't be designated to the south or north, as it wouldn't have the floor underneath blocked tile.

But it could be designated when there's a horizontal axle connecting to it (1 long was placed on grass, then 3 long placed attached to that).

And as for the axle itself?

Never built (marked and them immediatelly suspended).

||

Of course, if you delete it, the screw pump deconstructs.

Thus, you'd use a macro to place the horizontal axles, suspend them, and then place the pumps.

E: Of course, an unbuilt and even suspended screw pump designated above will also allow you to build a hanging screw pump, so the value of additional axles beyond the first one is dubious.

As for the aboveground constructions, yeah that's annoying. This dfhack script may help slightly, but it's not really supportive of 180° rotating T-casing pumps demand.

(Fair note: Never made large pump stacks myself.)

[PatrikLundell]

Yes, it's tedious. You can build from the top down as well as from the bottom up (assuming the top is connected to something, such as a gear or a power axle: I typically have a gear on top connected to an axle [with the axle built first, to carry the gear, that carries the top pump]). Once in a while you'd check the two build sites and designate another one (or unsuspend it).
If you build everything from the correct direction (the wiki has the details) the pumping is faster to start, although I don't bother about it.

And before building the stack you need to dig the space for it, which is tedious as well, as each level needs two holes, and they have to be dug in the correct order or the miner gets stuck in between them. However, you can make the first hole in the original designation set, and then add the other ones in a second pass.

[Iduno]

It's tedious as hell, and also takes the dwarves a very long time to build.

Make small areas for dwarves to bring pump parts to every few floors, and keep moving the stockpile when the building process is past the old stockpile.

[anewaname]

... Worse, if you have the misfortune to construct such a stack through mid-air (say, through a cave), it's incredibly annoying to build the reservoir, since constructions can't be designated until there's a valid path to them -- so you can't build the walls of the reservoir until there's an adjacent floor. Any tips on speeding up this process?

If you are building through a cavern, use a mob of dwarfs to build a multi-z wall around the pumpstacks's expected location to completely wall it in. The sooner you have that area sealed, the sooner your slower pumpstack construction activity is protected from fliers and climbers. If you remove potential distractions, the tedious part will be easier.

[Loci]

How do you build large (say 100-200 level) pump stacks in a reasonable amount of time?

Pumpstacks are optional megaprojects with little actual value, so time constraints aren't typically a concern. If you don't enjoy building them then the best advice is simply not to. Want to set up magma workshops? Invest in a few minecarts. Want to flood the world with magma? Embark on a volcano and punch a hole in the side. Pretty much the only thing you can't do without building a giant pumpstack is brag about the massive pumpstack you built.

If you build everything from the correct direction (the wiki has the details) the pumping is faster to start, although I don't bother about it.

Not only is it faster, it's also leak-resistant since 7/7 fluid is transported all the way from bottom to top in a single tick. That means you can do things like skip building containment walls and optimize your digging for a single pass (by adding access-stairs next to the stack).

[PatrikLundell]

:

If you build everything from the correct direction (the wiki has the details) the pumping is faster to start, although I don't bother about it.

Not only is it faster, it's also leak-resistant since 7/7 fluid is transported all the way from bottom to top in a single tick. That means you can do things like skip building containment walls and optimize your digging for a single pass (by adding access-stairs next to the stack).

Very good points. Thanks!

[Quietust]

Not only is it faster, it's also leak-resistant since 7/7 fluid is transported all the way from bottom to top in a single tick. That means you can do things like skip building containment walls and optimize your digging for a single pass (by adding access-stairs next to the stack).

Unless you're pumping into a reservoir and it fills up, in which case you're going to have an enormous leak to deal with...

[DukeLeto2]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. It does seem to be about as difficult as I thought! That's a shame -- I wish it were easier to construct buildings like this. I guess I'll have to learn to use minecarts.