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Author Topic: Should I fill my moat with water?  (Read 758 times)

Ebonblade7

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Should I fill my moat with water?
« on: October 13, 2013, 04:28:55 pm »

The title pretty much sums up the question.
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itg

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2013, 04:50:24 pm »

Nah, it just gives invaders a chance to swim across. Magma, on the other hand...

gtaguy

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2013, 09:17:58 pm »

Melts the bronze colossi and destroys the statue  :'(
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Garath

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2013, 05:50:15 am »

If something falls in that you want to get out, you don't have to drain the whole moat, so no, no need to fill it
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jcochran

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2013, 08:27:19 am »

Trolls swim......
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bigcalm

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2013, 09:09:36 am »

No.  All you do by filling it with water is allow monsters that can swim a way to access your fort, so just leave it as a trench.
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Niccolo

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2013, 09:36:22 am »

Alternatively, a really deep trench.

That's filled with water. From a river.

That flows down a drainage pipe into the caverns/magma sea.
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What's wrong with using magma? That's almost always the easiest method.
I have issues channeling it properly to do that method. I end up flooding the fortress with magma.
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LMeire

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2013, 09:52:08 am »

Nah, moats only really need water if you've filled them with swimming critters like crocodiles, sharks or snakes. Or zombies, zombie-moats are fun.
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Sutremaine

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2013, 01:24:07 pm »

You can fill it with water if you leave a level between the ground and the surface of the water. This display a bunch of blue dots at ground level instead of a bunch of blue sevens.

Magma would be better if you really wanted to fill the moat, with one exception. If you teach all your military dwarves to swim well and then conduct fights over the moat, they'll have a huge advantage in the water.

If you do end up filling the moat, add a drainage system. A retractable bridge at the bottom leading into a cistern with a pump stack will be fine, though you'll need a way of replacing fluids lost to evaporation or cooling.
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Quietust

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Re: Should I fill my moat with water?
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2013, 10:04:13 pm »

You should also take your local climate into account - if it gets cold enough during the winter, your moat will freeze and invaders will be able to walk across it.
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It's amazing how dwarves can make a stack of bones completely waterproof and magmaproof.
It's amazing how they can make an entire floodgate out of the bones of 2 cats.