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Author Topic: flooding the fort  (Read 1586 times)

malkmus

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flooding the fort
« on: December 13, 2007, 08:13:00 am »

currently i'm building a long and wide channel around my fortress and plan to flood it with water. however, i'd like to have the option to drain the water out of the channel. i'm afraid pumping will not work as these channels will carry lots of water. the alternative of course is flooding my fortress - i could either flood the lower levels without living quarters and workshops only - or flood the whole fortress. (i'm not sure wether there is enough space on the lower levels to absorb all the water).
so my question is: will my dwarves drown when i flood the fortress or will the water distribute itself equally in my fort, preventing deaths this way.
and are there any water related damages in the storage rooms, when flooded - it would be perfectly reasonable that cloths get spoiled and arms and armor start to rust. in fact when fires get extinguished, the damages caused by water are usually higher than those caused by the fire itself.
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AlienChickenPie

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Re: flooding the fort
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2007, 08:41:00 am »

If you have a chasm, build a gravity-powered system that drains the fortress into it. Securing the channel that leads to the chasm would be a good idea.
If you don't have a chasm, you could exploit the fact that water eventually evaporates when it reaches a depth of 1, and plan your flooding system in a way that creates 1-deep water all over your fortress, or gradually drain each level into a large evaporation pool.

[ December 13, 2007: Message edited by: AlienChickenPie ]

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Xort

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Re: flooding the fort
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2007, 11:20:00 am »

You could also just dump it overland if your moat is at a higher elevation than some part of the surrounding ground.

Using floor hatches at many locations leading to a very wide (6 titles) flow channel will quickly drain your moat.

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MyBeardIsOnFire

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Re: flooding the fort
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2007, 11:38:00 am »

If there's lots of water, it may take a while for it to distribute itself evenly over a large area, so the ones caught in the biggest initial flow will likely drown. While it's perfectly reasonable for items to be damaged by being in water, I have not, personally, seen it happen.
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Havlock

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Re: flooding the fort
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2007, 09:28:00 pm »

Another thing you could do, if there's an aquifer nearby, is drain the channel into that. Right now, as far as I can tell, aquifers appear to be able to absorb an unlimited quantity of water. This may change in the future, and I havn't had much experience with draining this way, so you may want to pass on this method. But whichever way you go, we'd like to know what you do. So please reply later.
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