Print

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

[Darkwhite]

Hi,

I'm having big problems with my waterwheels (again). I mined out a long, two tiles wide corridor with ramps at the end of it leading to another corridor, two z-levels down, going straight to the edge of the map. Then I cut some fortifications into the two tiles at the end of the map and dug some holes into the ceiling of the first corridor, build four waterwheels in a room just one z-level over this corridor, connected the corridor with a river to flood it, so there's always 7/7 water in the corridor. Tada... water wheels are not working. Or better: Are sometimes working, sometimes they are labeled being unpowered. Additionally, sometimes only some are unpowered.. 

Guess that has something to do with the mysterious thing called flow. Why is there no flow in corridor, connected to a river leading to the fortified edge of the map? How am I supposed to build a room with waterwheels and mills not either flooding that room (and the fortress) but have the waterwheels powered?

Can I run a waterwheel with depressurized water like this here: (f being fortification at the edge of a map)?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
^~~x~~~~WWW~~~f
^~~~x~~~~~~~~~ f
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks

[Lytha]

How is the connection to the river done? With diagonals?


I myself always build my waterwheels in dwarven power plant fashion: the waterwheels are attached to a screwpump which pumps the water around, causing a current. One screwpump can cause enough current for up to 4 waterwheels.

If you construct such a power plant over some water that is being replenished by some means (an aquifer or being fed by a river/brook/ocean), then you don't need to worry about evaporation of the water at all.

[Darkwhite]

Yes, this time I connected the corridor with diagonals so that the room one level above will not be flooded through the holes in the ceiling.

Thanks for the idea with the dwarven power plant, might try it for the next fortress.

[Lytha]

Diagonals break the water flow, this is why your waterwheels sometimes aren't powered. They are basically only powered if one of those water height levels is just randomly moving below your wheel.

[Darkwhite]

Oh... I see. Thank you, then I will have to change that.