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[Sludge Man]

I've been playing with machines for a while, and I think I may have encountered something that is broken.

These six water wheels work as I expected- by connecting them with axles, the power generated adds up to 600.
   

However, in this example, something strange happens. It seems like the total power should be 500- there are five water wheels. However, only the bottom three contribute any power to the system. The total power is shown as 300. The really strange part is, when I 'q' over the top two water wheels, they are also listed as a part of the 300 power system. They are connected to the system and turning, but they don't contribute any power.
   

edit: It seems like something funny happens when water wheels are connected to a gear assembly on both sides.

[ October 31, 2007: Message edited by: Sludge Man ]

[Sludge Man]

Oops! I figured out the problem. It was not what I originally described.

When placing water wheels, the direction of the flow matters. I placed the two top water wheels over channels that looked like this:

code:

..~.~..
..~.~..
..|||..
..~*~..
..~.~..

It wasn't generating power because it was perpendicular to the flow. The other, correctly placed water wheels were turning it with their own power.

[BurnedToast]

I have a water wheel that works perfectly perpendicular to the flow. it looks like:

code:

 
<------ flow direction
.........
~~~+~~~
~~~+=========
~~~+~~~
.........
+ <-- waterwheel
= <-- axle
. <-- land

and it works perfect. I don't think flow direction matters as long as it is a flow.

[Sludge Man]

That's odd, because I now have two water wheels set up like this, and the one on the right works and the left one doesn't.

code:

..~.~..~......
..~.~..~......
..|+|..~~|++..
..~*~.....*...
..~.~.........
. = dirt
~ = channel
* = gearbox
| = waterwheel with channel underneath
+ = waterwheel with dirt underneath

Flow appears to have some effect, I just don't know what.

[Toady One]

There is a perpendicular rule, but many horizontal rivers actually have diagonal flows -- it's hard to assign them perfectly tile by tile, since the rivers don't just travel in 8 directions.  In addition, it has to do it dynamically.  So you'll mostly get away with bad water wheels, but occasionally they won't turn.