WHY. IS. THIS. STILL. GOING!??!? The question is moot, too many people like the new channels for them to be entirely removed. What will happen will entirely depend on what role Toady One wants the two variants to play. End this discussion, please!
Incorrect. The vast majority of dwarf fortress players that can be bothered to say anything at all preferred the old way of channeling. People have simply ADAPTED to the new channelling and gone on to focus on other issues.
The old way of channelling permitted players to cleanly breach, and is something we hope will return in a future enhancement.
Either you're lazy or you're making rediculous ammounts of channels.
If its the latter, the new system works much better, I've done many successful stripmining operations with it, as my dwarves can get in and out without trouble.
So basically, I dont see what the issue here is, but it seems to be mostly laziness from that statement.
edit: Actually come to think of it, ponds and streams should have channels on their sides too.
Actually, the new system leads to a LOT of unnecessary miner death. Making defensive moats isn't really the main issue for most in the thread--- its been breeches and the increase in the amount of miner AI leading to death. Since the AI isn't going to get fixed for many, many years, the return of old style channelling will lead to less VERY MAD USERS at their only miner with the only pick having just idiotically killed himself and destroyed the pick due to the exposed behavior when a RAMP is nearby--- even if the ramp is covered in water or magma.
Sure, WHEN the Great Toad gets around to it, that will be corrected. But that is one of the "latter stages"--- a stage so far off, it isn't even listed on the DF roadmap anymore. But by restoring the ability to do OLD STYLE CHANNELLING (even if Toady leaves in new style, adding just another command to the (d)esignate menu), all those instances could then be avoided, making for a happy player base.
I do know about these methods, and both do not produce a hole that is capable of blocking invaders. I would also like to see you dig a channel into granite with a corkscrew.
The easy way to block invaders---
Ground Level (top view)
_VV_
_VV_
Ground-1 Z Level (top view)
_VA_
_VA_
Key:
_ = ground
V = down ramp
A = up ramp
It isn't as compact, but it will give you 2 z level ramp that slopes down, leaving one side "unreachable". Put whatever kind of bridge you want anchored on the protected side of the 2 wide ramping moat, and you are done. Advantage to this construction system is that you can channel out the first z level everywhere it is desired, and build the bridge over it without issue. If you go so far as to channel out an extra tile of length, you can even channel out the second ze level without raising the bridge!
It isn't as neat and tidy, but it will do until we get the features to let us do what we used to so easily.
Note this is purely for defense purposes, not aqueducting, but it very works well, quickly, and easily.
Yeah, I miss the old channelling, but it seems that ship has sailed. Best way to get it addressed is probably to send complaints to Toady directky by email, and leave off this thread. It's all been said many dozens of times now--- other then than single hole problem which has only been discussed two or three dozen times in this thread. Dig the ramp, put stairs in, go down, remove ramp, climb up, remove stairs. You will end up with whatever the stairs is made of left in the hole, but that's just how it breaks down currently. (yeah yeah yeah--- I know I should take my own advise--- I originally posted this one post to show the benefits of the double pass channelling is, and how easily it is to get done. This is consistant with my position in this thread--- defensively, the change serves no real purpose, impassable moating is still trivial to do. In fact, if you REVERSE the ramping, you can skip doing the bridge and just make yourself an unapproachable by land hill top if you like--- but then you have the problem of making a bridge to let land travellers, like dwarven woodcutters and traders to pass over your defensive moat so you might as well build that bridge and link it to a lever to start with.)