Just lost one of my best forts so far to the greatest enemy to Dwarf-kind, Not magma, not Goblins, not undead raiders...water, Yes folks, my fortress pretty much
sunk. Heres how it happened, I was going over Dwarf therapist, seeing the general mood was content, not sure why really but I decided it was time to kick that happiness up a few notches. I heard that waterfalls were a great mood raiser, so I created a decently sized statue garden, complete with masterwork engravings and other shiny bits.
I then designated the rim of the room for channeling, I pretty much planned on making a circular waterfall
around the room, which would create alot of mist..or so I thought. I looked around and the only running water source was a nearby river, i carefully placed a floodgate,and assigned it to a lever in the dining room...turns out the lever or the floodgate weren't working, so it wouldn't open, i made a floodgate to prevent any..well...floods from occuring but I simply circumvented it because i am very impatient. This created a direct tunnel to my waterfall room with no safety measures...pshhhhh who needs em. As the water slowly drained down the tunnel i created I realized a horrible flaw, It was a running river, and I did not create enough space to hold the water alllll around the room, so naturally it flooded...but this flood was awful, it was fast, and couldnt be contained very easily but I managed to cordon it off with walls, sealing several dwarves whom drowned in their bed rooms, some with children
, until I realized that another opening was near the water tunnel, and that my friends, rushed down my entire fortress.
My walls I created sealed the fate of the dwarves inside, but I created the Nobles rooms higher then any others, so they got out in time( I wish they hadn't). I watched in horror as my lower class dwarves drowned(I separated working class dwarves from nobles, to keep things more organized, so I guess ALOT like the titanic.) At any rate it was an amusing experience, trying to save those poor souls, but only the rich snobs made it to the safety of the above ground fort, where my military trains, so I abandoned it, I'm sure there might have been a way to the save the fort,but I couldn't think of any way to drain the rooms when the river was still rushing through it.