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[Fossaman]

So, I've never really cared for the traditional pump stacking method, as it doesn't fit symmetrically with my odd-numbered fortress layout (5x5 room base, usually). So I came up with this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

Floorplan sans pump:
OOOOOOO
O+++++O
O+++++O
O^+_++O
OO++++O
O++v++O
OOOOOOO

With Pump:
OOOOOOO
O+++++O
O+++++O
O^+%++O
OO+%++O
O++v++O
OOOOOOO

^ is an up ramp
v is a down ramp
O is wall
+ is floor
_ is channel


Rotate ninety degrees clockwise for each level above this.

I haven't gotten it wet yet, as it's the spine of a thirty-story megaproject. But I'm pretty confident that it'll work, if less efficiently than a standard pumpstack. This method appealed to me because I'm trying to leave as much of the natural rock in place as possible: The ramp system lets me dig all the way to the bottom of the map, and provides access to construct the pumps without knocking out any of the stack's walls.

The one sticking point is probably going to be my power system. I currently plan to power it using a variation on the dwarven perpetual motion machine, using an open loop instead of a closed system. Water at the bottom of my lake flows through diagonal openings to kill pressure, then past a series of waterwheels, then to a pump that pumps it into the pump stack, providing both water and power to the system. Of course, this will make it very problematic to shut off once it's going. I think it would actually be impossible to start a second time, since the pumps at the bottom would need to be dwarf-started, and the water would be trying to move into the already-filled pump stack. That doesn't work, does it?

A diagram of the power feed:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[code]
     _
     %
  OOO%OOO
  O++|++O
  O++|++O
_%%==*==%%_
  O++|++O
  O++|++O
  OOO%OOO
     %
     _
[code]

I'm waffling a bit about the level below this one. I can either put in pressurized feed lines to the pump stack, to guarantee sufficient flow, or drain lines, to make sure I can stop and start it. It's possible I could manage both, I suppose. What would you do?[/code]

[Hyndis]

I use the standard pump stack. Usually 2 pumps wide to ensure sufficient flow. It is accessible by a staircase along the side with doors allowing access to the pump so that the system can be manually pumped if I really wanted it to.

Power is preferably supplied by a gigantic windmill farm on top of my castle or castle walls. If no wind is available then I used a massive series of waterwheels for my power plant, easily producing tens of thousands of units of power..

If I need to get a liquid from a higher elevation to a lower elevation I instead use an empty drop. Smoothed and engraved of course. At the bottom is a pump hooked up to a mechanical source of power which eliminates the pressure problem.

My fortresses have a very large amount of plumbing and machinery tunnels, with gear assemblies, axels, and pumps to transfer power through walls while keeping things water-tight. There are also maintenance crawlways so that everything can be maintained unless the area must be sealed off, such as the business end of a pump in a pump tower. To minimize maintenance problems I build a paved road on those two tiles in front of the pump so that no tower caps will clog it up, ever.

Most of these maintenance and sewers are never used, but should I need access to repair of modify anything there are ways for dwarves to get around without having to shut down the whole system. Close a valve, isolate the area that needs to be worked on, have dwarves go in through the access tunnels to do th work, and once its done seal the doors and open up the valve again.