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Volcano.

43 (35%)

Magma Sea, via pump stack.

23 (18.7%)

Magma Sea, via magma piston.

3 (2.4%)

Magma Sea, I send my dwarves down to use it.

36 (29.3%)

I don't use magma. (I'm a sissy elf)

18 (14.6%)

Total Members Voted: 123

[Patchy]

Usually a magma pump stack, though on occasion I build forge and dorm area jus above the sea and use that. I played around with a magma piston on 1 map.

[Lightning4]

Should have an option for those lucky enough to find a vent directly below their fort like me.

It's only on the second cavern level, but it beats going down another 50-something z-levels to the magma sea.

[Prepaid Lenin]

Dig down, hollow out a room under the other room I hollow out. Smooth walls and carve fortification. Safe magma!

I have pumped in the past but with hotkeys for zooming it's not a problem. Especially if I engineer a stairway straight down into the forging sublevel from the meeting hall.

[lanceleoghauni]

my current fort has a vent in Cavern 1. I dumped my wastewater from the dining room water feature onto the vent, capping it, then dug into the cap to avoid the army of FBs running around down there. (I have no military and no ability to work metal)

[Deteramot]

.... I'm a sissy elf.

That's right, I don't use Magma. Mostly because I haven't ever had a fort last long enough to get to the magma sea.

[Vercingetorix]

Depends.  I like volcanoes for their ease of use and safety, but at the same time they have a shortage of flux that makes steelworking more difficult.  On the other hand, the magma sea is often difficult to reach and can be very dangerous if not properly secured.  Generally, what I do is use my on-site resources to develop my metalworking industry and equip the military, and then go for the magma in the caverns once supplies of wood for charcoal simply no longer meet our needs.

On volcanoes, magma is top priority because wood is often scarce and needed early on for furniture and storage.  The charcoal that is made is needed for steel itself.

[Urist Imiknorris]

.... I'm a sissy elf.

That's right, I don't use Magma. Mostly because I haven't ever had a fort last long enough to get to the magma sea.

So you prefer the ABC method? (Axe, Blood and Coal)

[Noble Digger]

Pump stacks are a pain in the butt, but when it's finally finished I love the idea that the magma goes where I tell it to go. I'm considering for my next megaproject a fortress designed with 2 open layers in between each habitable layer so that I can have a water pipe system, magma pipe system, and separate sewers for drainage of each. Ideally, every bedroom will contain a magma grate to help keep the dwarves warm, and a personal toilet connected to the effluent water sewer, and perhaps some way to sprinkle water down the toilet from a floodgate or some manner of thing. The amount of extra space that will have to be left alone to support all this engineering is probably pretty large...

[blackmagechill]

I don't use magma from the magma sea. Volcanoes or nothing. Or charcoal, y'know, because I like watching green peace piss themselves when they see that half the fort is built out of charcoal.(What? You thought I smelted with it? I buy coke from caravans.)

[Avaline]

Funny timing with the poll.  I just completed my first piston successfully .

It took a few tries. since dwarves kept running into the shafts while I was causing cave-ins to create the piston or else I slip and cause the piston to drop early.  Last night, though, I set it up perfectly, then with one level press a simple 5x5 stack of magma shot up 50 floors.  Now all I have to do is pool it up the way I want to and start up my metal operations properly.


Before this, I would just plan on my entire fort to live underground by the magma.  I even placed the Depot down there and forced the merchants to travel 100+ floors to trade.

[izraqthedark]

First off how does using magma make you a sissy elf since you aren't burning wood and burning wood makes elves cry.  I go down to the magma sea and create a big area for it to run free complete with floodgates sealing off the nasty creatures and then channel from above and create a level for workshops.  Its annoying especially because of stupid crundles but I am lazy and I suppose I could build walls around my cavern level stairs if I really wanted to.

[Noble Digger]

Funny timing with the poll.  I just completed my first piston successfully .

It took a few tries. since dwarves kept running into the shafts while I was causing cave-ins to create the piston or else I slip and cause the piston to drop early.  Last night, though, I set it up perfectly, then with one level press a simple 5x5 stack of magma shot up 50 floors.  Now all I have to do is pool it up the way I want to and start up my metal operations properly.


Before this, I would just plan on my entire fort to live underground by the magma.  I even placed the Depot down there and forced the merchants to travel 100+ floors to trade.

Does this happen to affect the total time the merchants remain on your map? E.g. do you ever notice that they trek down to your depot and then leave relatively soon after?

[thijser]

There is a combination methode with pistons and stacks. You can make a piston and for each time you use it instead of casting a new top you build a new level of your stack.

[KillerClowns]

I build a seperate burrow (bedrooms, dining rooms, food stocks, the whole lot) for my metal-and-glass industry, floating on the magma sea and isolated by walls from the rest of the third level of underground flora and fauna.  (Save perhaps a walled off plantation for level 3 trees.)