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[Taugosz]

Hello all,

I'm rather new to this game (excellent, I will be donating very soon  ), and have recently been attempting to drop a well down into a cavern reservoir. However, I screwed up on my channeling designations, and have thus encountered a curious situation. My well path is currently an open 1x1 hole about 9 z-layers in length, directly adjacent to a stairway that runs along the length, allowing my dwarves to escape should they fall in (there is a floodgate at the bottom to hopefully keep uninvited guests out).

My problem is that in the middle of the hole for the well is a single tile of cavern floor that I cannot remove. There is open space for the four z-layers above and below this tile. I cannot designate it for digging (obviously), channeling, stairways, or as a ramp. I have tried placing various constructions above/on/below it and subsequently removing them, but this has not worked either.

I have confidence in my dwarves' digging capabilities, but not in my directing capabilities. I am sure it is possible to remove this somehow, though my searches through the wiki and this forum have thus far been fruitless. Thank you for any and all suggestions!

[Teronsuke]

I'm new enough myself that I'm not sure what it is either, but have you tried Remove Construction? (d-n)

[Taugosz]

Hi Teronsuke,

If I remove the constructions, they are merely dismantled while the natural floor tile beneath goes unaffected. Thank you for the suggestion, however!

[qoou]

I don't understand; you said you have a staircase right by the well shaft. Can't you just

1. Pasture some animal at the bottom of the well shaft.
2. Channel into the tile.
3. Hope the animal doesn't move so the dwarf can land on it.

[Taugosz]

Hi qoou,

I think my dwarf should be able to channel from the stairway itself. Either way, I am unable to "designate" anything on the tile - for example, if I try to mark it for channeling the designation does not stick. This is the same as if I marked a pile of dirt for tree removal; the area does not stay marked. On the other hand, I did not know animals could help break falls, so that's good to know.

[forsaken1111]

Try building a floor tile or constructed wall one z-level abover this phantom tile and then intentionally collapsing it by removing support.

[Taugosz]

Hi forsaken1111,

Unfortunately I can't. My stairway and well hole are the center blocks of a 3x4 pillar of stone that descends through the cavern ceiling into the reservoir. I would have to dig out the area surrounding the tile above my "phantom tile" in order to create an unsupported floor/wall there, which would open the path to creatures from the caverns.

I am surprised there does not seem to be an easy way to remove a single layer of stone!

[KtosoX]

Upload the save. It's hard to fix stuff remotely :S

[forsaken1111]

I am surprised there does not seem to be an easy way to remove a single layer of stone!

There are easy ways, but you said you cannot designate the tile to be dug which means this is a bug.

[Taugosz]

Hi KtosoX,

I have uploaded a compressed version of the save to rapidshare : https://rapidshare.com/files/4185608260/regionTAUGOSZ.zip

The save should be centered on the tile in question - I hope the problem is laughably simple!

[forsaken1111]

I'll check it out as well once I get home. hopefully I can help.

[KtosoX]

You got a stone on that tile, so you can't see if it is marked. I designated the floor for channeling, removed one of the walls on the lake level and the well is active.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Just d -> h -> aim at the floor -> double enter.
I got a question: Why did you build 2 wells on top of each other?

[Taugosz]

Ah, how embarrassing! I did not realize the stone would hide the tile marking; I assumed it would flash the tile regardless. It most definitely worked.

To answer the question about the stacked wells, the last paragraph in the "Building a well" section on this wiki mentioned that wells are not solid structures, and so do not block each other. I was testing this, because I wasn't sure a single well would be able to provide water fast enough for my oft-thirsty hospital patients.

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Well

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and help, especially KtosoX! May your fortresses grow prodigiously!

[Eddren]

If that wasn't going to work, I was going to suggest making sure the ground below it was hollow, then channeling out the area around it to create a cave-in.