Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Alexei403]

My current design is somewhat like this... (view as a cross-section):

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7683/currents.png


and this, as shown, doesn't work effectively. My plan is to do this, using pumps made of magma-safe material (I might mod obsidian to speed things up, as it'll get annoying waiting with the 5 bauxite stones my dwarven friends bring maximum each year >_>)):

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/7503/planned.png


My questions are: A.) Will this work? and B.) How would I go about powering this? Large amounts of windmills?

Also I suppose C.) Will it obliterate my FPS? Running at around 50 now with 45 dwarves, but I sometimes jump to 70.

[expwnent]

Let me see if I understand your basic concept (phrased assuming that it's possible):

Magma pipes fill themselves until they are full. By taking magma out of it, and then putting it back in, you can trick the pipe into thinking it's not full when it is, causing it to overflow.

I'm not an expert with magma pipes, but I believe the way they work is that they fill themselves until they reach a certain level, then stop.* If that's how they work, then your planned design will not work any better than your current design.

*I'm not sure what happens if you reshape the pipe. I suspect it will fill any shape, but larger shapes will fill more slowly (and conversely, smaller shapes will fill more quickly).

If your problem is that it flows in too slowly, then the best you can do is have some kind of large "magma storage facility" underground near the pipe which you pump out at the same time as it when you hit the "end the world" switch. It's twice as much work, and after the storage facility and the magma pipe are empty, you're stuck with the same speed of lava flow. But if that burst is enough to cover the world in lava, it'll probably be enough to destroy it sufficiently. If not, build a bigger storage facility! Use math to calculate how big its volume should be, if you are so inclined. If not, just guess.



Powering it:
I like perpetual motion machines. If you don't you're stuck with either a river, or massive amounts of windmills. And tons of axles.

Draining from the base of the pipe will take a lot more work, but you'll be able to use ALL the magma stored in the pipe, because you can only pump out the stuff that's immediately below you, and that is only filled by the stuff above it falling back down (hope that made sense). So when you're pumping at a certain level, you can only drain the pipe to the level immediately below it (because pumps pump from one level below). The rest will just sit there.


Framerate:
No idea. I think it'll hurt it a lot, but it may or may not be crippling.

[Reese]

I have a question: why not just use the pump stack to feed your flood the world device from the bottom of the pipe?

also, I am a fan of perpetual motion devices for powering large magma oriented things.

[Alexei403]

I have a question: why not just use the pump stack to feed your flood the world device from the bottom of the pipe?

also, I am a fan of perpetual motion devices for powering large magma oriented things.

Too lazy. It doesn't sound like it'd be THAT much work, but...yea, too lazy. I'm probably going to just fuck the magma piping plan and use expwnent's giant storage facility method.

Though, question about that: If I fill it up and just let it drain into my main pumped path via a floodgate, would that sufficiently supply it or would I have to pump that along with what's in the pipe?

[expwnent]

If you allow it to flow in to your normal "path of destruction" from the pipe via a floodgate, aka sideways, it will flow much more slowly than if it falls in (via a hatch) or is pumped in. But yes, it should work.

[Magua]

Even with a circulatory system, magma refills very slowly. 

At the point where you're already pumping from the bottom, just connect those pumps to the WFD instead of trying to recirculate it.  Your recirculation plan just means that you'll have all this magma in the pipe that will still never reach your WFD.

[expwnent]

WFD?

[smjjames]

Either World Flood Device or World F*** Device.

[Overspeculated]

The device will work faster, magma will still "fill" at the same speed, but the magma you are using in the device should be pressurised and you will have more magma at your immediate disposition as you are raising the level of the pipe aswell.

[Alexei403]

So I just calculated that my storage room is 35*64*3 + 12 = 6732 tiles. Should be enough, I think. >_> (I just designated a large area. Guessing, as expwnent suggested. I like guessing large numbers.  )

[Truean]

Your major problem will be a feedback loop breakdown. It will kill your fps and mess up your magma refill rate.

I have tried this, it failed. Granted, it was an earlier version of DF, but I don't think the magma mechanics have changed too much since then. I found the refill protocol was screwed up by the influx of magma from my circular pumping system. I cried fiery magma crocodile tears... over elves.

Then I just dug out my massive circular pumping system and made massive magma storage reservoirs. This served my FWD and obsidian casting needs nicely. If you somehow survived the magma flood, you'd have to deal with my obsidian shortsword squads.... Good luck with the magma in that wooden armor you pointy eared bastards.

[Alexei403]

Your major problem will be a feedback loop breakdown. It will kill your fps and mess up your magma refill rate.

I have tried this, it failed. Granted, it was an earlier version of DF, but I don't think the magma mechanics have changed too much since then. I found the refill protocol was screwed up by the influx of magma from my circular pumping system. I cried fiery magma crocodile tears... over elves.

Then I just dug out my massive circular pumping system and made massive magma storage reservoirs. This served my FWD and obsidian casting needs nicely. If you somehow survived the magma flood, you'd have to deal with my obsidian shortsword squads.... Good luck with the magma in that wooden armor you pointy eared bastards.

Alright, so no go on the pump system. Didn't think it'd work. Good thing my huge  (really huge - see the post above yours ) reservoir is being dug out, then. >_>