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[uncool]

I've embarked on a freezing biome with a volcano, and am trying to get permanent running water. Technically, I've done this, but it's really slow to fill - I'm melting 18 squares at a time, and I think  it's around a thousand ticks for each melt. I'm hoping to speed this up, which probably requires understanding the micromechanics of freezing and melting.

Ice is supposed to melt immediately upon lava entering a neighboring cell. It's then supposed to stay melted until the lava is removed. What are the mechanics of it freezing once the lava is removed? From what I've seen, it seems to act similarly to fluid mechanics - I've seen "waves" of freezing. How long does it take on average - or better, what is the distribution of freezijg times? Also, what are the mechanics of freezing next to lava? I've seen it happen several times (though it then melts again quickly), I think exclusively for water in light, above ground cells.

[Fleeting Frames]

You may be interested in taptap's water generation plant. Not the most efficient possible, but a proven design.

Ice doesn't necessarily stay melted until lava is removed; all same fluid level can freeze sometimes for some reason. Having different levels of fluid in lava will help with this (though it costs fps, naturally).

[uncool]

You may be interested in taptap's water generation plant. Not the most efficient possible, but a proven design.

It looks intriguing; I'm returning from a whole away from the game, amd haven't started using tracks yet.

Ice doesn't necessarily stay melted until lava is removed; all same fluid level can freeze sometimes for some reason. Having different levels of fluid in lava will help with this (though it costs fps, naturally).

I am thinking of trying to exploit this to get water more often (and with less dorfpower), rather than removing it - if water is constantly melting and refreezing, I can probably extract some of the water automatically.

[uncool]

I'm not sure of the thread etiquette - whether I should modify my earlier post or post a new one - but I do have a few discoveries.

1) Ice only melts when an adjacent tile (in the 6 directions) changes the amount of lava it has (eta: this includes when lava falls into water - the squares around the new obsidian also melt). Correspondingly, the most efficient setup (that I have figured out so far) has lava on top of a floor over an ice area, with about half of the lava at 2/7, half at 3/7 (the actual amount doesn't matter much as long as it's all more than 1/7 to avoid evaporation; what matters is the half-and-half split, so there's almost constant movement).

2) Using a pressure plate under the freezing/melting water (set to open a drain at 6 or 7/7) was about 5 times as efficient as using the standard repeater on the wiki.

3) The pressure plate does occasionally fail, requiring a reset. This reset can be done by freezing the square the plate is on, then melting it.

I haven't yet figured out the freezing mechanics - I think it's likely that everything outside just freezes occasionally, and the game checks if things melt whenever lava moves.

[Fleeting Frames]

Pressure plate being on a downstair, with downstairs being drain I assume?

[uncool]

That's not how I set it up; I put the pressure plate about 3 squares away (directly north) from the down stair, and the attached bridge covering the down stair.

Code: [Select]

W++W
Dp+W
W++W
W++W
WbbW
WWWWW = wall, D = door (so I could connect the pressure plate to other things later, if I wanted), b = bridge and down stair.
Is there a reason your setup would be more efficient?

[Fleeting Frames]

It'd be mostly more compact; not necessarily better at generating water - just a guess how one might set it up. The plate would trigger sooner; if the drain is something like a floating door the plate would lose it's 6/7 or 7/7 status in under 14 ticks; as soon as water standing in air drops below.