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[pokute]

I remember reading somewhere that water drains through fortifications carved at the map edge while magma does not.  But I can't seem to find the source for this for the life of me.

Can anyone confirm this is correct?  Of am I hallucinating again?

[Derakon]

Water in general drains off the map edge, while magma does not. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's also true when you carve fortifications into the edge.

[gtmattz]

In general, yes that is true.  However, on some embark areas you will find that carving fortifications in the edge of your map causes water to flow IN, which can cause untold amounts of FUN if you are not prepared.  This is usually if you are near/in an aquifer biome or near an ocean or lake.

[Hyndis]

In general, yes that is true.  However, on some embark areas you will find that carving fortifications in the edge of your map causes water to flow IN, which can cause untold amounts of FUN if you are not prepared.  This is usually if you are near/in an aquifer biome or near an ocean or lake.

Yup. Using this trick gets you a drain on the edge of the map.

However what is not guaranteed is which way the water drains. 



Also, magma will never drain off the edge of the map, ever.

[gtmattz]

Also, magma will never drain off the edge of the map, ever.

Which can be used for some quite interesting purposes, as hyndis has proven in the past and which I thank him for bringing to my attention, as I love building forts like this.

[Hyndis]

That was a fun map to build. I still have the save file, I think. Haven't been playing much DF lately. I'm waiting for the new version to come out.

The new version will make this sort of magma moat to be somewhat obsolete. Its actually a workaround for the current version and lack of burrows.

So yes, I flooded the entire world. With magma. As a workaround. 

Its so I could station my entire military at the main gate and have no meeting zone, allowing my dwarves to freely roam in a very realistic way rather than continually stay in a party hall. But because goblins can only approach in a single area, the military keeps the civies very safe, and they can get massive kill counts while doing so.

[expwnent]

(A less dwarfy solution would be to just put a wall around the world.)



What about flying invaders?

Solution: magma cieling.

[Hyndis]

A simple wall is insufficient.

Wall off the world. Then flood the world with magma.

[Derakon]

I actually tried to make my own version of this, with the idea being that the entrance area would be a clear glass tunnel completely surrounded by magma on one half, and water on the other half, and the fort would have a magma moat up to the edge of the map on one half and a water moat on the other. I got a 2 Z-level wall made from rock salt blocks, set up my pumping towers and cisterns, got the magma moat up and running...and rediscovered that water flows off of the map. I could have "fixed" it with raised drawbridges along the edge, but the scope of the job, particularly needing to protect the civilians continually while they built all the bridges and connected them to a lever, was such that I lost interest.

If I were to retry this project, I'd keep the clear glass entryway, but I'd also completely surround the fortress with magm -- that is, not just on the edges, but also in the sky.

[Hyndis]

Just turn off invaders during that building phase. Once I have the magma moat up and running I'll turn them back on to give my military something to do, but trying to build that outer wall while under continual attack, and having your dorfs always be working at the very edge of the map where enemies spawn is just too hazardous to pull off very well.

Its doable, but too aggravating to be worthwhile.

Alternatively you could do what I did. Channel out the area where the wall will be. This prevents anything from going over that channel, keeping your dorfs safe. Then build the wall over that channel. They can do so in safety, though jobs may still be interrupted from time to time. Build the bridges at the entrance and then wall off the brook as you can't channel through that, but thats much, much faster. Only 2 bridges and maybe 15 sections of wall to build, along with the channeling. But channeling is easy to do. Just make copper picks, hand them out, and get digging.

[Derakon]

Oh, the wall was no problem. I had the first level complete pretty quickly, and then had plenty of leisure time to add the second level of thickness and the second Z level. It was putting the raising bridges around the edges to hold the water in that I found annoying. I suppose I could have turned off invasions, but that strikes me as cheating somehow. Oh, well.

The channeling's a good idea; wish I'd thought of that. I floored over the brook (and a few ponds) instead of walling it off, though.