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[Naz]

I'm playing 40d and I've got a question about pump stacks. Whats the proper way to build them so that power will transfer up the stack? If there are floors built under both tiles will the next one up have power?

[Fossaman]

You need a floor under the walkable portion of each pump, and you need open space under the blocked portion. I'm pretty sure that's the only way to get it to work.

(Unless of course you're using a nonstandard stack design that uses axles and gears to transfer power. I personally think that's more entertaining, but it's also a lot more work.)

[Naz]

floor under the walkable and not under the blocked? Thank you, and yes, that is more interesting but I'm trying to keep this compact since its the pumps for a 12 story tall warhammer/fountain celebrating the martial prowess of my military.

[Flaede]

floor under the walkable and not under the blocked? Thank you, and yes, that is more interesting but I'm trying to keep this compact since its the pumps for a 12 story tall warhammer/fountain celebrating the martial prowess of my military.

I'm in the towerbuilding challenge. this was just the thread I needed to find out how to best transfer magma/water 100+ levels. (which will still need a waterwheel of power every 4 levels. Not sure how to manage that.)

[Naz]

lol, happy to be of service. I'll let you know how it ends.

[CppThis]

I find the easiest way is to build a big tall structure that looks like this on each z-level:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWW
WFFFFW
WWFFWW
  X 

Then cut out alternating holes to access the lower level and transfer power, wait a bit and  build the pumps, then replace the floor next to the pump-wall with a wall.  End result has each z-level look like this, with alternate z-levels being mirror image of all but the stairs

Code: [Select]

WWWWWW     WWWWWW
W.PPFW     WFPP.W
WWFWWW     WWWFWW
  X          X

It's a fair bit of micromanagement but much faster than manually constructing one z-level at a time, and with minimum risk of trapping dorfs provided you build the outer wall last (i.e. if they stand on the wrong side of the power-transfer hole they can path out diagonally.  It's optimized for constructions but digging just makes it easier thanks to channeling.

FYI if you're moving fluid up more than 40 z-levels or so I suggest breaking the pump stack up into two or three smaller ones and use cisterns to only have one engaged at any given time.  I haven't made any stacks that big yet but I've heard from those that have that a single huge stack creates lots of lag due to fluid calculations.

[Belgain_Roffles]

The DF wiki has a great article on pump stacks, especially in regards to power transfer.

[Golcondio]

floor under the walkable and not under the blocked? Thank you, and yes, that is more interesting but I'm trying to keep this compact since its the pumps for a 12 story tall warhammer/fountain celebrating the martial prowess of my military.

I'm in the towerbuilding challenge. this was just the thread I needed to find out how to best transfer magma/water 100+ levels. (which will still need a waterwheel of power every 4 levels. Not sure how to manage that.)

Good luck with FPS and boredom and stuck dwarves that SUSPEND THE CONSTRUCTION OF PUMPS ALL THE -ING TIME!!!!
I am currently building your classic flood-the-world device, because it's so messy when gobbos siege you and elves come peddle their crappy crap and then make an affronted face when I only seize cages with interesting wild animals...

[Dr. Melon]

You won't get stuck dwarves if you follow this basic blueprint for each layer:

Courtesy of the wiki.

[Golcondio]

Sorry I wasn't clear enough... the dwarves are never stuck themselves, and I just understood why I had all these cancellations:
- I always build and immediately "suspend" walls where I don't want the masons to get stuck
- I had designated a ton of floors and walls built somewhere else on the map
- the pumps were resting on a LOT of mined-out stone, which apparently I was selected for the masonry jobs
-----> the pumps got cancelled because their construction conflicted with the masonry jobs involving the stones they were sitting on

And btw the design of the wiki is too basic for my taste: every level I'm building has 4 pumps side-by-side! (OMG the power needed!)

[CppThis]

4 pumps in parallel?  Both designs should scale just fine for that.

[Retro]

I should add, as this is important: If your pump stack is east-west, you want your access to be from the north. If it's north-south, you want your access to be from the west. Dwarves will always stand a tile to the west or east of where they're working if they can, so if you do this you can get them to remove the flooring then build the wall behind them (otherwise they'll continuously wall themselves in unless you micromanage with suspended build orders).

[Golcondio]

I should add, as this is important: If your pump stack is east-west, you want your access to be from the north. If it's north-south, you want your access to be from the west. Dwarves will always stand a tile to the west or east of where they're working if they can, so if you do this you can get them to remove the flooring then build the wall behind them (otherwise they'll continuously wall themselves in unless you micromanage with suspended build orders).

Too true, I already noticed that (after a while of course): this is my first kiloproject (I don't know if it qualifies as "mega") and I've got lots to learn!