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[Granite26]

Granite's Law!!!

But seriously, Pirates are just a special case of generalized banditry.

[Impaler[WrG]]

As someone who's done metalwork; with a standard oil-barrel size quench bucket, you do not switch out the water every time you quench something unless you are utterly OCD; water lost from contact steam takes a whole lot to start losing any significant amount. Likewise, the amount of water used for (of all things) gem whetstonery for a single gem could fit in a drinking glass.

If you want to make it REALLY labor-intensive;

Yes I know quenching will not evaporate a whole bucket of water but their are myriad uses for water that easily add up too a bucket per item forged.  Water would be used to quench the coals of the fire when work is done, to clean and polish equipment, evaporation in the hot environment will result in more loss of water from the quenching bucket then actual quenching.

As for making it "REALLY labor-intensive" you betcha, metal working in the middle ages was a VERY labor intensive activity which is why metal was rare and valuable.  Having to fetch another ingredient in addition to metal and fuel is only scratching the surface, I think eventually having some air-bellows which need power supplied to them before any forging or smelting operation can be conducted would be a good start.

As for gems, I've always assumed that a raw gem bearing stone contained a large number of various sized gems and all of these get cut into a collection of stones, how else can you 'encrust' an item if not with a collection of gems.  Thus if each gem is using even a mouthful of water the grinding of all them will require a bucket of water.  Again a single bucket fetch task is almost trivially quick and gem cutting is currently WAY too fast, I have never needed to use more then one gem cutter to process all the gems I could find and even then the cutter will go through years of accumulated gems in a matter of days.

[Granite26]

I think speed is another good factor here.  Hauling water will slow manufacturing down significantly.

The question is, will it be worthwhile to build forging megaprojects (magma on one side, water on the other) for the relatively low amount of forging people do?

[Impaler[WrG]]

The question is, will it be worthwhile to build forging megaprojects (magma on one side, water on the other) for the relatively low amount of forging people do?

Your assuming I need to have a channel of flowing water next to the forge because only 'map tile water' is currently able to be collected in buckets.  But if it becomes possible to fill water barrels and create a stockpile of such barrels its a simple matter of having a peasant do the majority of the hauling while the crafter just run 3 tiles grab some water and bring it back to the shop.  Even the Pond system currently in place will allow you to offload most of the water hauling distance from the crafter to a dedicated hauler.

[Granite26]

I wouldn't say I'm assuming so much as extrapolating from players unwillingness to embark on magma-less maps that they would insist on building their forges over water (as water forges similar to magma forges).  You wouldn't HAVE to, but it might be worth it for efficiency if you're building enough stuff. (I.E. if the cost/time to build the megaproject + the stuff with it is less than the cost/time of the stuff without it.  But it would take a significant amount of stuff to make it worthwhile, I think...

[Warlord255]

Water would be used to quench the coals of the fire when work is done,

Another thing you usually don't do. If you have multiple metal jobs in succession, there's no way in hell you're going to waste heat by extinguishing the existing coal and starting all over.

[Dakira]

I support this thread.

It was mentioned earlier that sieges could be harder for the player with water playing a much larger role in the fortress. From my experience, anytime I've have to tap a river, ocean, or pond; I've always fortified the area in case I need to go back for any renovations or new additions. Normally it's for an expanded water system or power plant. Walls keep out invaders while floors and dams keep out demon fish.
Though there is still the concern for how to tap these rivers and oceans when demon fish are present. Stationing a squad or two would help, perhaps even allowing the construction of pipe sections vertically attached to a pump.

[Draco18s]

Quenching could produce a small puff of steam -- the game already has steam, so this would be easy and visually appealing.

Urist McSmith has died to scalding burns.

It's actually harmless right now, as far as I can tell.  I've had dwarves walk through clouds of it by the dozen with no injuries.

This is true, but the comment was appropriate. ;P