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[eccentricheathen]

So unfortunately I had one of my awesome dwarves die in a stupid way (fighting a frogman, was either pulled or tossed into a river; drowned).  I would like to retrieve the dwarf's body and more importantly the steel armor and artifact weapons he was carrying.  However, I can't quite seem to figure out how.  The situation is thus:

=========
<~~~~~~~~
<~~~~~~~~
<~~~~~~~~
<~D~~====
=========

Where = is dry land, ~ is water, < is the direction the river is flowing, and D is the corpse.

I've tried to mine a stairwell on the dry land next to the dwarf, but even with all my dwarves set to mining, they seem reluctant to dig there.  I don't want to dam the river unless I can do so without stopping the flow of the river. 

So... is there anyway to recover this brave dwarf's last possessions?

[i2amroy]

If you set up a series of pumps right next to the spot where the dead body is it is possible to pump the water out of a given area faster then it can flow in. Of course water will go everywhere from wherever you set the exit spot to be, but with a little creative planning and a medium amount of power/lots of dwarves, you can retrieve his goods.

Basically

Code: [Select]

X|||||||||X
X|||||||||X
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~D~~||||X
X||X>X|||||X
X||X=X|====Xwhere |=screw pump and X= redirection walls for the pumped water (and >= down staircase

This should dry out that section of river where the pumps are enough that dwarves can get to the body to retrieve it. Also if you then reroute pumped water back into the river somewhere downstream it should be absorbed by the river with no ill effects (alternatively you could just pump it out and let water go everywhere, but hey, its your choice).

[Ipslne]

More Fun idea:

If you can cause a cave-in of a portion of the river bed where the corpse is, having it fall two z-levels down, then having a bridge close on the z-level in-between to stop the water from reaching the floor below, you should be able to drain out the room beneath and gather the corpse. I would explain in more detail, but I'm already stuck on how to cause that cave-in since you can't so much as channel the riverbed itself.

[Triaxx2]

In that situation, you don't need to dam the entire river, just the area around the body. Build a couple of pumps to the right hand side of the body and have some dwarfs pump. Or set up a waterwheel and a gear to run them off the river. Then channel down beside the river and you'll be able to recover the body. Then disassemble the gear, wheel and pumps in that order. Problem solved. The river will flood the ramp, but not rise up it.

[xelo]

In a freezing biome you could wait until winter, digging him out of the ice walls

[Kromgar]

In a freezing biome you could wait until winter, digging him out of the ice walls

Corpses and items disappear when frozen. *I beleive this is a bug*

It would be hilarious if a dwarf was encased in ice and survived.

Cryogenic Dwarf Chambers would be amazing.

*Urist Computer: Releasing Prisoner 915

*magma flows next to the ice in a channel*

*shuts off magma flow*

Prisoner 915 you are free to go.

Prisoner 915 walks out of the room and goes back to hauling rocks.

[Leonidas]

I would tunnel up from below. It sounds crazy, but it really works if you do it right.

Here's the general idea: After you've made various preparations, your miner digs a ramp up underneath the corpse. River water rushes down into your tunnel, carrying along the miner and the corpse. As the water rushes along, it travels through the following squares:

First, it comes down the ramp your miner just dug.
Second, it flows through a mechanism-operated door that's being held open.
Third, it flows onto a floor grate.
Fourth, it tumbles through the grate into a cistern or drain of whatever type, leaving behind the miner and the corpse.
Then you close that door, the water stops, and you have an soggy-but-intact miner and a corpse ready to be buried.

[cancel.man]

Use ramps instead of staircases when going down into water. Then build the pump to draw water from a ramped tile. Dwarves will go down the ramp to get the sunken items/bodies if they're right below the pump.

Then ramp the rest of your river banks and bodies of water so that this doesn't happen again.