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[Nitrousoxide]

It got it into my head the other day that I must make an obsidian swimming pool, but not just any swimming pool.  I want there to be grass growing along the edges at the bottom of a long obsidian tube leading up the the surface, sorta like this...http://www.mkv25.net/dfma/map-4758-newcastle (go down z=levels until you find the bottom of Chamber T)

Though that example isn't filled with water and doesn't have obsidian walls.

I also want 4 giant obsidian pillars leading up to the top of the shaft which will be smoothed and engraved (just like the walls) with engravings of the highest caliber.

And finally, I want there to be 4 water falls starting from almost the top of the shaft and falling down to the bottom.    The pool will be regulated by pressure switches which allow for the water to flow in or out as needed to keep it at around a depth of 3-4.

Finally, I will have magma under the pool warming it and making the meeting hall a pleasantly warm area to be.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Where the green is where the grass should be growing, the black is obsidian, the dark blue is water, and the light blue is mist.

The pool will serve to clean, mist, and train up both social and swimming skills at the same time and in my mind's eye, just look really really cool.

The real question is, can I drop down the grass from the ground above and have it land exactly where I want it?

[inaluct]

I don't think you can drop the grass down. If you can muddy the tiles where you want it to grow and those tiles are exposed to sunlight, it'll grow on it's own in most biomes.

[Foa]

For a pool to be a swimming pool it needs to be regulated at a constant 4/7 depth, 5/7 is a hazard.

[Nitrousoxide]

For a pool to be a swimming pool it needs to be regulated at a constant 4/7 depth, 5/7 is a hazard.

Because the waterfalls will constantly be adding water I'm planning on setting the pressure plates to open half the drains at 4 and the other half at 5.  At 4 if I set it up correctly it should be filling up very very slowly.  At 5 it should immediatly trigger the additional drains to open and bring it down to the appropriate level.

Whatever the case may be, I'll make it so the water falls can't fill it up faster than it can drain with all of the drains open at once.

Edit:  On second throught, if I'm going to have 4 water falls, than 4 drains ought to be just the right rate of drainage.  I could set one to close if it gets too shallow and have a 5th one open if it gets too deep.

[Nitrousoxide]

I don't think you can drop the grass down. If you can muddy the tiles where you want it to grow and those tiles are exposed to sunlight, it'll grow on it's own in most biomes.

That would make things a lot easier.  I'd just need to flood the whole floor and smooth over the areas I don't want anything growing.

[Mrok Girl]

Hey, that's my fort you linked there!

I've done a few experiments with the grass and muddy floor. The grass doesn't grow just on muddy obsidian - the brown bits between the grass in my Chamber T are muddied ground and as you can see, no grass ever grows there even though it's Outside and Light. You can check that even a few years later it's still just muddy ground, no grass. There's also a little muddied channel under the bridge done exactly to check if the grass will grow.

Now if you want to drop the grass down from your soil level, it will require some planning. You'll have to channel the ground all the way around the bit you want to drop but also note that it only has to be channeled like that on the upmost level - after channeling it will just fall down where you want it.

What I'd suggest you do is channel a circle, drop it to where you want it to be and then dig your swimming pool in side that circle of grass.

Also note that aparently there's a bug somewhere that if a soil layer drops through rock layers it changes into that rock layer for the purposes of farming - but the grass will still grow on it, only no trees. It can also be used as a sand collection zone if you happen to drop a sand layer down (as mine is used).

I hope what I said makes sense 

[praguepride]

Remember that water tends to drain faster then it fills. Because of the fluid dynamics what happens is that if the water is pressurized, it just skips from the start to the end. What that means is that if you have 4 waterfalls and 4 drains, everything will eventually be at 1/7 depth. You will have to regulate it with pressure plates if you don't want everyone just playing in mud.

[Nitrousoxide]

Hey, that's my fort you linked there!

I've done a few experiments with the grass and muddy floor. The grass doesn't grow just on muddy obsidian - the brown bits between the grass in my Chamber T are muddied ground and as you can see, no grass ever grows there even though it's Outside and Light. You can check that even a few years later it's still just muddy ground, no grass. There's also a little muddied channel under the bridge done exactly to check if the grass will grow.

Now if you want to drop the grass down from your soil level, it will require some planning. You'll have to channel the ground all the way around the bit you want to drop but also note that it only has to be channeled like that on the upmost level - after channeling it will just fall down where you want it.

What I'd suggest you do is channel a circle, drop it to where you want it to be and then dig your swimming pool in side that circle of grass.

Also note that aparently there's a bug somewhere that if a soil layer drops through rock layers it changes into that rock layer for the purposes of farming - but the grass will still grow on it, only no trees. It can also be used as a sand collection zone if you happen to drop a sand layer down (as mine is used).

I hope what I said makes sense 

Aye, that helps a lot.  Thanks for the help.

[Protactinium]

My dining halls always have grass because I channel the surface down a level.

[Cheshire Cat]

dropping a stone floor will create a rough stone floor on whatever surface it lands on. ive got little spots of microcline all over the native gold floor of my dining hall thanks to this. collapsing blocks or floors allways land directly below the tile they fall from, but they do spread cavein dust all around where they fall and land, which will move items around, destroy buildings and knock dwarves, pets, and goblin sieges unconcous.

if stone makes a stone floor when it lands it is not unreasonable to assume soil will do the same thing if you drop it down from the surface. also, once light has reached an area you can never make it go away, but i think the indoors tag may stop the grass from growing. no problem there, you allready have a shaft all the way to the surface which you used to get the soil down in the first place, just stick grates or bars over the top. remember though that grates, bars and bridges will not support any constructins, so you are actualy going to need those obsidian pillars you mentioned to hold the roof up. obsidian is very pretty irl, like black opaque glass, sometimes with colourful bands in it.

this is not only going to keep your dwarves clean, happy and sociable, its also going to stop cave adaptation. im thinking ill try and put one of these in my next big fort as well, its an awesome idea. make sure you post the map or at least pictures when your finished, or if you manage to do something amazingly wrong and colapse the whole middle of your fort and flood the now hollow shaft.

some tips - when collapsting things be super extra sure you dont have a hollow under the spot you want to colapse on, or it will go right through. a single falling tile will make a hole right through the middle of your fort if your not careful, and you may not have another soil layer to try again with. make a backup save beforehand. once i accidentaly collapsed something onto a floor with a stack of apartments underneath. dwarves were sleeping in most of them, and their beds were all right above each other in the cavein tile. at the bottom was a high pressure water resovoir. that was an amazing disaster.

[Nitrousoxide]

If you put a roof over the pool it'll turn on the "indoors" tag.  Dwarfs who are indoors do not combat cave adaption.  As I understand it, putting bars over your roof will turn the area covered into "inside."  Doesn't make much sense to me.  What I was planning on doing with the pillars at the top of the shaft was just having one tile walkways leading directly between each other and leading to the closest bit of the surface.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Squirrelloid]

I'm almost certain that light/dark and inside/outside are identical at present - a constructed roof will not and cannot make an area 'inside' (as stupid as that sounds).

[Nitrousoxide]

I'm almost certain that light/dark and inside/outside are identical at present - a constructed roof will not and cannot make an area 'inside' (as stupid as that sounds).

"Curing and prevention of cave adaptation are achieved through the same means: regular, extended exposure to outdoor sunlight. Indoor sunlight will not treat, nor will it trigger, cave adaptation. An outdoor area to fight cave adaptation may be accomplished by having a meeting area or statue garden exposed to sunlight, with no roof.

Occasional or brief exposures to sunlight cannot prevent cave adaption. "

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Cave_adaption

[Exponent]

I'm almost certain that light/dark and inside/outside are identical at present - a constructed roof will not and cannot make an area 'inside' (as stupid as that sounds).

It is light/dark and above ground/subterranean that you're thinking about.  To my knowledge, all tiles are either light and above ground, or dark and subterranean; there are no light but subterranean tiles, nor are there dark but above ground tiles.  I suspect that this could change with any release, however.