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[Uzu Bash]

I've got a system that isn't behaving as expected, so it's causing more maintenance problems than I foresaw.

At the top, two pumps merge into a single flow which channels down twice then rises once.

Side view:

Code: [Select]

~~~\ \_/ _
    \~~~/
      vThe u-bend has two vents at the bottom (the v symbol), but those empty into a reservoir that fills completely, so the pressure should become constant enough to push past the rise. But there's only a rare 1/7 trickle that evaporates into mud where it should be flowing. Do vertical diagonals also depressure water flow?

Even if that's the case, another downward vent drops directly down a z-level into a circular canal that should generate flow according to floodgates.

Overhead view, in brief:

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   |X|
|~~~~~X~~~|
   |~|--|~|
|~~~~|--|~V
   |~|--|~|
|~~~~~X~~~|
   |X|
The V on the right is where the canal fills up, X are floodgates, the left are dead ends awaiting future expansion. To the north and south are actually two more intersections with dead end left and right before continuing to the exit floodgates. With north intake and south drain open, or vice versa, I would expect flow along the center to stabilize after all the dead ends fill in. Yet a row of 4 waterwheels hanging across it aren't doing anything but requiring power. If I disengage the connecting gears from the rest of the system, they only require 53 power, but they aren't contributing any.

[AbanShakehandles]

Thank you Uzu, for giving me the puzzle I needed to reopen DF. It's been too long.

As to problem the first, I wouldn't suspect an upramp to depressurize the water. I always attributed the depressurization to the water squeezing between the little crack in a diagonal space.

As to problem the second, I suspect the dead ends on the left of the circle as the culprit for flow interruption.
Have you tried installing flood gates there to keep the "tube" closed below the wheels?

I'll do some science later today and let you know what I can discern.

[Loci]

For problem 1, "pressurized" water will always take the lowest first exit to the system. If there are any aquifer tiles, map-edge tiles, or open tiles in your diversion the water will never continue past the u-bend. There was also a bug where "pressurized" water would disappear around z-level 0. If none of that applies, I'm going to need more than ascii art to diagnose the problem.

For problem 2, "pressurized" water teleports, and teleporting water causes no flow to power your water wheels. Add a diagonal passage to disable "pressure" teleportation, forcing the water to flow normally and your water wheels should spin.

[AbanShakehandles]

Late report: I'm blaming the sweet sweet nectar that comes from cave wheat.

Results: I forgot how to science.

Forgive my ineptitude.

[Uzu Bash]

As to problem the first, I wouldn't suspect an upramp to depressurize the water. I always attributed the depressurization to the water squeezing between the little crack in a diagonal space.

Closing vents at the bottom of the pump stack, just before the vent uptake, made it pump full pressure at the top, but I don't see why that should be. The only place there's a diagonal is right at the bottom pump's uptake, after the vent. It's still all pressurized water going down the stack vents and coming from each level of the pump.

Illustration:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

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|~|
|~v~|~~~|
|~|-F---|
|~~~|~~~|
|~|-F---|
|~|-F---|
|~~~|~~~|
|~|-F---|
|~v~|~~~|
|~|


The water squeezed horizontally into the Fortifications is where the pump uptakes are, and this keeps debris out from under the waterwheels, so I guess it would prevent swimmers, too. There's another experiment for you.

The vents are closed with drawbridges that raise to the left, so when open both vents and pump uptake get water squeezed diagonally, and this controls the flooding effectively. The vent merges with the vent at the top of the pump stack, so two different pressure levels mingle at their lowest points. Perhaps because the bottom vent enters the channel first, it cancels the pressure at the top level? With that closed, only the top level's pressure enters the reservoir, and when it fills to the top pump's level, water rises out of the u-bend at the end.

For problem 2, "pressurized" water teleports, and teleporting water causes no flow to power your water wheels. Add a diagonal passage to disable "pressure" teleportation, forcing the water to flow normally and your water wheels should spin.

Huh? I've used a similar model before, and found that pressurized water flowing downhill still has enough pressure to 1) overflow the bank of a curve with enough force to smash dwarves and cats to bits and 2) continue to power waterwheels along the watercourse it empties into. Perhaps because the end of that course emptied into a source with constant flow? That was a cavern that was already submerged from end to end; this is a cavern that has dry land where I'm dumping all my water. The draltha better learn to love the tops of those mushroom caps.

[Uzu Bash]

I tried what I intended to do when I first started the stack, but it started automatically and I was so impressed by the power levels that I didn't think about it. I closed the output to let the whole stack fill up and submerse itself. Power jumped 1k over the peak I had seen before, and it was stable; I could power everything downstairs with plenty of surplus. Even without the canal turbines contributing, there's enough to run the cart around the entire map, though not nearly enough to bring magma up to the market district.

I decided to make the water run to the end of the map on all levels. I still have a lot of flooding up top; like everything else aboveground the engineering is more trouble than it's worth, but in the cavern I've got the north side piped off to the edge. The south side I don't think I'll have to, because judging by the eddies across the surface when I dumped water on it, there must be a natural water border. I just have to secure it and make it my water border, so I can greet swimming beasts properly.

If you want to look at it, it's uploaded there: http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=10622