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[Naz]

How much does water scatter when its falling? I'm planning on building a 10x10 (or maybe smaller) waterfall going from the bottom of an aquifer my fort is under all the way, 50z to the bottom where it will drain out. I want to build a double helix style ramp around it (props to Towersoared for the idea) for my dwarves to move between z levels but I don't want stray water making plants grow on the ramp or washing dwarves off the side. Anyone know how much water will scatter when its falling from a big hole in the ceiling?.

[Jingles]

I think it can only move one square away from the edge of whatever its falling off.  In any direction.  So from a 1x1 hole it would cover a 3x3 area.  If it hits something on the way down it will scatter again so if theres a heavy flow I think its possible that it may hit something else thats falling (like a falling tile of water thats 7/7) and scatter too, though I'm not sure about that.

[Korva]

In my experience with dwarf-made waterfalls, falling water doesn't scatter unless something is in the way. Other water counts as "something" be it standing, flowing or, apparently, falling -- or at least that is the only explanation I have for a small flooding incident after dumping LOTS of water down a fall that was already at pretty high capacity. The flooding occurred both at the lowest level of the fall, and on the highest level (below the source). In both cases it spread about 4 tiles in each direction. Never had that (mid-drop flooding/scatter) happen before or since.

[Girlinhat]

Pressure does strange things to water.  Depressurize any waterfall at the waterfall's outlet (as in, right above your dining hall) to prevent crazy.

[Naz]

The issue is that theres really not any way to depressurize the water in the design I have. I'm building a cylinder fort under an aquifer. I'm going to have a huge room 2z under the aquifer so I have a buffer layer to dig up through and that huge room is going to breach the aquifer in about 30-40 places, the water will flow from my water room out of 4 huge holes in the floor, fall ~50z and land in big ponds I'm going to dig where it will then flow out of my fort, going past waterwheels along the way. Normally I'd depressurize like anyone else, but I need to make sure the volume of water coming out is sufficient to keep the wheels going, not to mention the 50z of empty space kinda precludes building pressure breaks.

I'm combining the 4 massive waterfalls with a 50z tall clear glass column full of magma, should make for a pretty impressive effect.

Edit: To add further complication to it I'm challenging myself to have the entire place (with the exception of places I need to breach the plumbing n such) dug out of the natural stone so I can engrave EVERYTHING.

[Girlinhat]

Suspend a structure under the main outlet.  Where the waterfalls originate in the ceiling, build a large floor under them.  Then, place walls in a grid pattern to null the pressure.  It will probably help a lot if you make this a 49Z fall, and use that top layer to depressurize and redistribute water, as well as include emergency shut-off hatches.

When it comes to projects like this, it's better safe than sorry.

[Durian Hohlades]

when you let the water in from the aquifer, water will scatter around the center tile by 2 fields sometimes

XXXXX O
WWW. O
XXXXX O

W Watersource
X Walls/Stone
O Squares water will drop down on.
U Scattered Water(can pull dwarfes into your artificial sea or somethin and drown them)

 . U U U
U U U U U
U U O U U
U U U U U
.. U U U

Maybe the corners are affected too but this should help you maybe

[Girlinhat]

I think this is most often caused by pressure.  Pressurized water will move to the nearest empty square, so it will spread out as a sphere from the ceiling.  Except it falls, so that sphere is only 3-5 tiles diameter depending on pressure.  At null pressure, it should fall straight.  Untested, but this follows the rules of pressure.

[Naz]

Oh believe me, I'm planning several ways to shut the water off and, pending some experimenting with pressure plates, an automatic failsafe to shut off the source and open emergency floodgates to drain excess water. Aside from power and looking awesome I also plan to completely flood the bottom 2z of my fort once to muddy them, the upper level will be farms, the bottom one will be a tree farm/underground pasture.