Print

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

[MystRunner]

So I'm currently trying to figure out how to get some magma from the magma sea up into my fort so that I can set up my magma forges. I was wondering if anyone has any good suggestions that doesn't require a lot of smelting and production on metal to be able to get it to work.

[Darkmere]

Well, it's either magma piston (check the wiki, I don't have a link handy) or pumps. Glass pumps are magma safe, so you can make them without metal. However, by far the easiest option is to build forges near the sea to start with.

[NecroRebel]

You could make your pump stack out of glass... That wouldn't require any smelting of metal! Would take fuel or a magma furnace, though.

If you use the magma piston method instead of a pump stack, note that you can support things from above, so if you have only a minimal amount of magma-safe material that you need to use for catching the magma once it is pistoned up, you could have your support and attached mechanisms made from non-magma-safe materials.

Anyway, you really only need at most 3 metal per z-level that you're pumping up magma, and since you're going to have access to the magma sea anyway, there's little reason not to set up a temporary magma smelter, forge, or glass furnace down there, make your pump stack components, then use the hole that powered the workshop to pump up out of.

[MystRunner]

Okay. I had read about the magma piston idea on the wiki but I'm not entirely sure how it works.

[NecroRebel]

Basically, if natural stone walls cave into liquids, the liquid that was where those walls end up is warped to the top of the stack of newly-settled walls. A magma piston is just a tall block of natural stone walls that is intentionally allowed to drop into a magma-filled chamber, putting magma at the top of it, and the magma is then caught and used.

If you don't understand it, it isn't a big deal; pump stacks aren't actually that much more difficult to build and are much less complicated.

[AutomataKittay]

You're gonna either need a pump stack, which have to be magma proof, or at least high-temperature materials for higher part of stack. Glass and iron will do, which will need you either using fuel to start production, or workshop down by magma sea. Since you only need to power the forges, you can get away with one-wide stack, or just tap off the line your obsidian farm runs on, if you have one.

[MystRunner]

My only issue is with how deep have have to go to get the magma. Right now on one map I have dug from around 130 z-level all the way to 0 z level without finding magma. I have other forts that I have to dig at least 50 to 60 zlevels below the bottom of my fort before I ever start hitting magma.

Basically, if natural stone walls cave into liquids, the liquid that was where those walls end up is warped to the top of the stack of newly-settled walls. A magma piston is just a tall block of natural stone walls that is intentionally allowed to drop into a magma-filled chamber, putting magma at the top of it, and the magma is then caught and used.

If you don't understand it, it isn't a big deal; pump stacks aren't actually that much more difficult to build and are much less complicated.

As for what gives me issues with the magma piston is how to capture the magma when it gets to the top of the piston. from what I can gather yeah it goes to the top BUT all the designs I have seen don't exactly explain HOW to capture the magma when it gets to the top. what they show at the top to me would result in you loosing your magma because it's just sitting on top of the piston.

[Khym Chanur]

My only issue is with how deep have have to go to get the magma. Right now on one map I have dug from around 130 z-level all the way to 0 z level without finding magma. I have other forts that I have to dig at least 50 to 60 zlevels below the bottom of my fort before I ever start hitting magma.

You can put living quarters and food/booze stockpiles down there, then assign the bedrooms to your smelters and metal workers so they don't have to make any long round trips.  Or even move your entire fortress down there.

[NecroRebel]

As for what gives me issues with the magma piston is how to capture the magma when it gets to the top of the piston. from what I can gather yeah it goes to the top BUT all the designs I have seen don't exactly explain HOW to capture the magma when it gets to the top. what they show at the top to me would result in you loosing your magma because it's just sitting on top of the piston.

The usual way is just to have a ring of magma-safe bridges or hatches surrounding where the top of the piston will be, then just pump or let it flow off. You could also have a ring of pumps that catch the magma as it falls back down, but that's more difficult, and takes more magma-safe materials.

[Montague]

Dwarves move very rapidly up and down stairs. They can travel 60 z levels down as fast as 60 tiles horizontally.

Its a bit of a walk still, but you'll probably save more time setting up food stockpiles and a meeting area near your forges like Khym mentioned then trying to get magma closer to the main body of your fort with a pump stack project or anything.

[Psieye]

Alternate question: what need is there that your fort has to be so close to the surface? Sure when you fresh embark you need some shelter immediately but once you're established there is no need to have the fort near the surface. This includes trees - just grow them near the magma sea.

[Montague]

Alternate question: what need is there that your fort has to be so close to the surface? Sure when you fresh embark you need some shelter immediately but once you're established there is no need to have the fort near the surface. This includes trees - just grow them near the magma sea.

Generally, the top few layers are dolomite, limestone, marble, ect which are worth twice the architectural value as digging out a fort in worthless gneiss or felsite or whatever. The top sedimentary layers are also where all the good ore is at and it deserves the attention anyways.

That said, think vertical. I build a main body fort in my sedimentary layer with a long staircase down to a cavern level, where I have a food stockpile, meeting area, the hospital, wells, fishing, ect. then down to the magma layer, where I have food, meeting area, furnaces, forges, craftshops for strand extracting and other industries.