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[DanielCoffey]

Hello folks - I am a new player with a Linux LNP+Meph32 43.03 install and I would appreciate some pointers to secure a water source in my current situation...

My embark is in a 3x3 Temperate Woodland. There is a roughly oval hill rising in the centre of the map by about 7 Z-levels with a bald, flat top surrounded by the woodland. The river passes very close to the foot of the hill to the North. I do not think there is an aquifer.

I understand that normally I would be expected to dig a tunnel from a cistern almost to the river then order a Channel Down at the river once everyone was out of the cistern. I have read advice that I should install a flood gate attached to a lever at the river side in case I ever wish to drain the cistern. I have read that I might want to install a U-Bend with a floor grate to prevent Swimmers getting in and this is where I need specific advice. Please could you give me a step by step on how to construct the secure U-Bend. I don't know what order to assign or clear stairs and the place the grate. Do I need a well above or should I allow stair access to the cistern?

In an unrelated subject, is there a way to change the Fort Name and Group Name after Embark? I forgot to do it before embarking and I would really like to keep this location. I also ended up with five good Dwarfs, one godly Dwarf and one Derpy McHaulerson who, strangely enough I have bonded with. I just don't want to be known as those Dwarfs living at Fluffypillows, The Vibrating Lance or something silly (not the actual names but pretty close!).

Cheers.

[GhostDwemer]

Secure U Bend Instructions:
Start from at least three z-levels below the river.
Dig a tunnel over from your cistern towards the river leaving 3 tiles width between rivers edge and the tunnel
Channel down, dig those three tiles over
Dig up stairs, then up/down stairs in a stack up to the river's edge.
*channel out a clear drop next to the stair well, one uninterupted hole
On the same level as the long tunnel, make a bypass from one tile before the channel down, to the stairs.
On the level below, remove the ramp up.
**Install a raising bridge in the middle of the lower level. Link it to a lever.
Install a grate over the channeled out hole.
Build a wall in the bypass
Channel down from the river's edge to your hole

*This step is not strictly necessary but I have noticed problems with water flow some times when I skip it. Not always but enough to be annoying.
**The raising bridge is also not strictly necessary but I find it useful to have a shut off that is as close to the water source as possible, as well as the flood gate next to the cistern. It's also an invader fail-safe as a raised bridge is immune to building destroyers.

Speaking of the flood gate next to the cistern, I like to install it so it opens only diagonally into the cistern, thus relieving pressure. I also put a door next to it, so workers can bypass it when the system is dry without having to open it.

[PatrikLundell]

- Flood gates can be destroyed by building destroyers, so I'd use a raising drawbridge instead.
- Due to the quirkiness of DF water pressure logic, the water level on the other side of the U bend will be one lower than at the source side, so your cistern should be constructed accordingly. However, I'd actually use an airlock, i.e. two raising drawbridges with a tunnel in between (10 tiles long or so) and only have both open when filling the cistern (at which time I'd have the inside cistern access blocked by a wall), and then only open one at a time when I needed to top the cistern up with water.
If I was going to use grates exploiting the building destroyer quirks I'd do this (seen from above):

wdddwwdd
wwwwWWww where:
w = natural wall
d = dug tunnel
W = Wall grate in dug tunnel
and
the water source is to the left and the cistern to the right.
You'd install the leftmost grate first and the rightmost afterwards. The back-to-back grates will protect each other, and the bend will ensure no building destroyer can be in the destruction position (two tiles in front of the grate). Also note that the diagonal will destroy any water pressure so water on the right side will not rise higher than the tunnel's level.

If I was to make a U bend I'd channel straight down and build a stair two tiles away from the bend, connect that stair with the tunnel, and then brick up the access to the tunnel.

I believe it should be possible to change names using DFHack's gui/gm-editor, but the name structure doesn't seem to be trivial to work with. It ought to be possible to write a script to modify the names, but, again, it would require some work, I think.

GhostDwemer answered somewhat differently while I wrote. Pick and chose!

[Dunamisdeos]

I love getting to post my little paint diagrams. 8>

So here is how I do this. I do not lose dwarves to drowning, ever, with this method. The way to get water from anything 100% safely is through water pressure, floor grates, and diagonal water movement where the wells connect.

I like to include drains in my designs in case a crundle or noble gets into the works somehow and drown. It's also noteworthy that you can link floor grates to levers, making them passable at need with stairs beneath them. I also like raising bridges as opposed to floodgates since they are impassable when raised.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here is another diagram for how to pierce the water source from the edge of the source from above. Works just was well at the edge of a cave pool than at a surface lake/river.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[DanielCoffey]

Many thanks for the comments and suggestions. As expected I have more questions...

Do I leave stairs in the vertical shafts? I assume I can place a floor grate over the top of a Down Stairs?

Early in the game in the absence of Caverns, what do I use as a drain? Is it just into a broad chamber so that the water in the "pipe" can spread out and evaporate over time?

What escape facilities do you design into your cisterns in case a Dwarf near the Well decides to engage in watery "fun"? I assume it is a ramp to a stair to a door?

Do I let Fisher Dwarfs down to the Cistern area or tell them to fish from the well top?

For a typical fort, given a River as the water source but a Temperate or Cold climate, how big a cistern is "enough"?

Is it worth adding a "t-junction" in the main run to the cistern before filling in case I ever want to take water elsewhere in the fortress or is one well usually enough?

[Fleeting Frames]

Drains: Caverns don't take that long to reach (if you dig straight down, you'll almost certainly reach them before 100z is dug (~equivalent of digging a 10x10 rom), but you might want to not use them as drain. In that case, if you dig to the map edge in stone layer and smooth and then carve fortifications into stone there you have an alternate drain option. A more compact if not as fast drain is a minecart on a track stop set to dump into wall - unlike items, water just gets erased. (Sometimes done with 1x1 hole to avoid water sloshing moving around the minecart).

I use a ramp spiral, but I know some use only stairs as well. Up to you, though it shouldn't happen without combat or sparring nearby.

Your well should be right above water, as bucket takes time to travel. Fisherdwarves can fish there, though if they get anything depends on the availability of pond turtles.

How much water do you need? Well, assuming your booze requirements are fulfilled, you need water for hospital and washing (and mist generators, should you make them). In non-evil biomes there isn't much washing needed, though, so I'd stick with just reserve of enough for "oops I accidentally forgot to brew and caused a mass cavein of ew" - say, 2/7 per dwarf.

Of course, most of the cistern can be far away from well.

If you plan to run obsidianizing elsewhere, maybe. For small things like misters, I stick with bucket brigade. Can also change things later, so no biggie.

[Dunamisdeos]

I use stairs, you can put grates over them no problem.

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks for  all the advice. My poor dwarfs are still stuck outside in the rain while I deal with a few Skyrim mod issues then I will get cracking!