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[astaldaran]

a compromise?

I'm not if am for the idea but if it is done this is one way it could maybe............be done(still tech concerns..)

1) Dwarfs can't build it on their own but if you have a human join your fort as a consultant who is able to build solar thermals then you could build this--otherwise you couldn't.  This would come in when you start receiving visitors besides traders and diplomats.   Maybe it would also come in after inventions--in some worlds it has been invented and others it hasn't.

[Deimos56]

1) Dwarfs can't build it on their own but if you have a human join your fort as a consultant who is able to build solar thermals then you could build this--otherwise you couldn't.

Why would humans know how to build this? They don't even use power at all yet, as far as I can tell, unless they've been turned into a civilization that can be controlled. In which case they act like dwarves, so I'm not certain that should be counted.

How mirrors can be implemented in a orthogonal grid?

Well, presumably as a line (|/-) that's angled to represent which angle it's pointed. Or possibly ├ ┴ ┬ and such, although that raises the question of what an angled mirror would look like... We already have one-way engravings (proven by past science, see spoiler at bottom.), so something that's only a mirror on one side should be possible.

Spoiler: Dwarven Science (click to show/hide)

Ah, but engravings only improve the value of the room the side it is engraved on. So, do smooth walls act like engraved walls?
Edit: Sorry for the double post.

Can you verify that? have you tested it, or read an actual test? Or are you just repeating what you heard (which is exactly what this thread is here to disprove. that kind of stuff.

Ok, i'll do a test, we'll see what happens.

Well well well.

I used the following setup

Code: [Select]

############
#..........#
#.########.#
#.#......#.#
#.#......#.#
#.#....B.#.#
#.#......#.#
#.#......#.#
#.#......#.#
#.###D####.#
#..........#
#.#......#.#
#####D######
A bedroom, so i could measure the value of the room down to the dwarfbuck, with locked doors to decide where it was engraved from.

At the start, the room was worth 284 D_bucks. After smoothing all the walls from the outside with engravers, it was worth 388 D_bucks.
Myth  Busted. It does not matter what side of the wall you smooth from.

I then proceeded to engrave the walls of the room with my adept engraver (the legendary+5 one is currently running around babbling ). At the end of this, the room value was.... 388 D_bucks.

Myth confirmed. The side of the room that engravings are done from DOES count.

Yes, it's old, but presumably engravings still behave the same way. So I'd assume a mirror would be able to tell which way it's facing.

[Footkerchief]

As shown by a search for "solar thermal", this has already been suggested and extensively discussed: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=32830.0

[knutor]

Kudos to the Suggester of Suggestions.  Another nice use of the glass code to make it safe to use mirrors and sun, to growing outdoor crops, while safely indoors, somehow, dunno yet, but somehow.  It sure would help booze variety and dye colors.  I'm happy as a lark this was suggested, but it is not a 'good fit' like the OP said, it is a 'PERFECT fit.'  Here's hoping it gets the nod.  *thumbs way up*

Sincerely,
Knutor

[GreatWyrmGold]

Reminds me of an episode of Mythbusters I saw once. They used a large number of mirrors representing Greek (?) warriors with polished shields, focusing sunbeams on a mock ship that they made out of the most flammable contemporary materials.

It failed to work.

Think about that. I can't imagine any pre-industrial or even early industrial society being able to use mirrors to start fires with any kind of reliability. As with many other ideas, like catapults firing angry dragons, trade agreements with elves, and nobles, you're better off using magma.

[Drago55577]

200 mirrors focusing sun into a magnifying class would hurt.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Sure, if you can focus it properly. And aim it. It seems likely that, barring a fey mood, the dwarf would get tired, possibly tantrum, and just build a magma cannon. You don't need precision to build those, and while both magma cannons and magnifying-mirror-arrays are hard to aim, the magma cannon's spread negates that.

[G-Flex]

Yeah, most weapons don't work well when they have the fatal flaw of needing your enemy to wait in a very specific location a very specific distance from the weapon itself... which is easily ruined by splattering mud on it.

[Drago55577]

MAGMA?? cannon?

How makez

[SuicideJunkie]

From memory:
1) Tall reservoir of magma
2) Multiple pumps feeding from the *bottom* of the reservoir (faster inflow)
3) Above pumps pumping into a 1-tile wide barrel.  (faster moving outflow)

Quick search should turn up some blueprints.