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[Dood]

Hey guys,

I think I just managed to build a new kind of waterclock.
In my current fortress I was annoyed by the large amounts of forgotten beasts (5 or six distributed among all three cavern layers). The first layer is completely filled with water, as are big parts of the second one. The third one contains more dry soil and a conveniently placed magma pipe. What intrigued me was the fact that directly above the magma pipe the caverns were only separated by floor tiles, with no "solid" rock in between. So I hatched a plan: Drain layers 1 and 2 directly into the magma pipe. A quick cave-in later the dwarven waterclock was born. (See Illustration)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What I thought what would happen (all the water from the first two cavern layers rushing down and completely filling the third cavern) didn't. Instead I have a slow but steady stream of 7/7 tiles of water dripping into the the center of the magma pipe. Each 7/7 hitting the magme creates a huge plume of steam and a single tile of obsidian, which immediately drops down to the bottom of the magma sea and somehow vanishes. Therefore the pipe is not being capped by the usual crust of obsidian, which means the clock will keep ticking until the upper caverns run out of water.
The Impact on my FPS isn't even as hard as i thought it would be. DF still runs at 30 fps, although every drop hitting the magma slows it down a bit for a fraction of a second.

Well there you have it: Precision timing using all of the four classical elements plus SCIENCE!

[Christes]

I can hear the clock ticking...

A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed
A section of the cavern has collapsed

[antymattar]

hehe. Sound interesting. So what happens when you run out of watter AND magma? thats a big spoil of resources.

[Dood]

hehe. Sound interesting. So what happens when you run out of watter AND magma? thats a big spoil of resources.

I think I could keep it going indefinitely. I embarked with a large river and the magma pipe is directly connected to the magma sea, which is creating new magma constantly.

P.S. Im so happy there's announcements.txt in the new version.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Well, if you wanted, you could always make a clock that consisted solely of a reservoir, draining off the edge of the map, attached to a water source.  The problem would be figuring out how long it took the reservoir to drain and refill.

[Noble Digger]

Not only that, but trees grow up on watery tiles of 6\7 or less. Once this happens a few times the water flow gets all jacked up (my cistern pump had to be freed up after 2 years worth of tree growth slowed it to a trickle). This would add an uncertain element to your clock

[Eagle_eye]

Not only that, but trees grow up on watery tiles of 6\7 or less. Once this happens a few times the water flow gets all jacked up (my cistern pump had to be freed up after 2 years worth of tree growth slowed it to a trickle). This would add an uncertain element to your clock

flush it with magma every year.

[wyldmage]

Or pave it before it gets filled the first time (or drain it entirely elsewhere first).

[Christes]

An automated magma-cleaning system is dwarfier

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Ehh, when I'm making reservoirs, I just designate them as ramps all the way through.  Trees won't grow on ramps.  (Or on pressure plates.)

[expwnent]

Or on stockpiles, I hear. That could be an easier way.