I've got some pretty advanced plans for my next fort, but I'd like some feedback before I go out. Hopefully people will be able to point out the faults in my plans. Water motion and water pressure play a pretty big part in this, and I haven't done much with it before, and it's been a while since I played, so this is uncharted territory for me.
First up is the entrace. The concept behind it is that the entrance includes a three tile wide bridge that water flows horizontally over. The purpose of the water is so that any ambushers who walk over it get washed away. Here is an example side-on view:
_=Floor
~=water source
#=wall
D=door
.=floor grate
##~
_D ___ #
.###.#
_____#
The water comes in from the water source marked at the top of the diagram. It falls vertically downward and lands on the rightmost tile of the entrace passage. The water will then travel two ways: left or right. If it travels to the right, then it will simply fall off the edge, pass through the gate and end up in the collection system and the bottom. If it travels to the left, then it will flow across the bridge, falling off the edge of the bridge and hopefully sweeping whoever is on the bridge off to the left. Once there, the beasties on the bridge will be left on the left floor grate, while the water passes through to the collection system at the bottom. The floor and the door on the left are for the shooting gallery. If I feel like it, I will station some marksdwarves and possible a tamed GCS there, so they can fire bolts/web at attackers. The door is so I can close them off if I want. The channel on the right is so the missed bolts fired by marksdwarves can be collected. The wall underneath the channel is so the floor grates are supported. In the event of a trade caravan, the water flow can be stopped and the trap stopped. However, I have some questions that will affect how well this works:
-Is there any chance that the creatures will be swept to the right under this design?
-Is it possible that the the creatures will be swept too far to the left?
-Will friendlies (e.g. trade caravans) be able to path through the flowing water?
-What downwards angles can marksdwarves fire at?
Now is the other major feature; the transit system. The purpose of this system is to try to reduce hauling as much as possible. In the upcoming fort, workshops will be placed on every other z-level. Each worshop will have two stockpiles associated with it - the input and the output. The fort would also have three mechanisms that run it; a repeater, and a delayers, such that the delayer fires the same signal as the repeater before the repeater fires the opposite. Each workhop area has two types of alcove: Input and output. This is a structure of an input alcove next to an output alcove.
#=wall
I=input stockpile
O=output stockpile
X=staircase
D=door (without mechanism)
d=door (with mechanism)
S=workshop
H=hole in floor
W=wall grate
+=single tile retractable bridge over hole
R=Raising bridge
z
#########
# DI#
# SSS ###
D SSS d+#
# SSS #W#
# XdO#
#####H#
z+1
#R#
#R#
#+#
#W#
#H#
z-1:
###
#W#
RO#
X#d#
# #
The concept is as such:
All the components start in the off position. That is, the bridges are down and the doors are closed. Water flows from the top of z+1. The items are swept along by the water, passing over the bridge, but are blocked by the wall grate, so are left on the retracting bridge. The water, without any items in it, passes through the grate, and into the hole. It drops down to the level z, where it lands on the closed bridge. Since the doors are closed, the water passes through the wall grate, and sweeps any items on the upper output stockpile into the hole down to the level z-1. The items drop onto the level z-1 just below the closed door, and get swept away down the corridor. The dwarf in question is taking material from the input stockpile and placing it on the lower output stockpile.
The repeater then fires, causing all the bridges to retract/raise, except for the retracting bridge and lower raising bridge on level z+1, as well as the door on the lower level. The flow of water into the system is cut off. On the upper level, the remaining water mostly flows down the hole. In level z, the water flows directly downward. In level z-1, the water will land on the wall grate, and sweeps the stuff that was on the lower output stockpile away.
After a short while, the delayer fires again. By now, most of the water has drained from the top level, and the upper output stockpile area. The rest of the doors and the remaining bridge open. the dwarf now switches to depositing finished goods in the upper output stockpile. In level z+1, the retracting bridge fires, attempting to scatter the objects on it. However, there is nowhere for them to go, so they fall straight down into the hole onto the input stockpile. The mechanized door in the level z opens, so some mist is let into the room and makes the dorf happy.
When the repeater fires again, the lower raising bridge on the level z+1 prevents water going into the system until the delayer fires again, and the system is restores to how it was.
The water is forced along the channels. Instead of having a continuous flow, the flow will instead take the form of many pulses.
However, I have a few questions:
-Are there any problems with this setup that I have missed?
-Will evaporation likely be a problem?
-Will there by any loss of items to the mechanics involved?
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Topic: Advice with fortress design (Read 527 times)