Print

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

[ActnMoviHeroBoy]

So, when making my magma foundries, I tend to begin like this:

Code: [Select]

MM|
MM|--------
MM|++++++++
MM|--------
MM|
Then put a magma-safe wall grate in:

Code: [Select]

MM|
MM|--------
MM|#+++++++
MM|--------
MM|
Attach it to a lever, open it, dig out the last tile, get my miner to safety, and close it again to keep out the nasties. Ends up looking like this:

Code: [Select]

MM|
MM|--------
MMM#MMMMMMM
MM|--------
MM|
In my current fort, something interesting has happened. After digging out the last tile, I closed the grate and went looking for the darker magma tile to confirm closure. I found nothing. In my entire fort, there is not a single wall grate. I had six mechanisms, four used (one in my well, one that made the lever, one in the lever and one in the grate) and two unused. I now have five. Two are in the lever, one is in the well, and two are in my stockpile.

Everything is made of bauxite.

Thankfully there aren't any magma creatures on the U screen right now, but since I don't think there's any way for me to fix this I'm just gonna have to deal with them when they come. Any thoughts?

[krenshala]

Have you checked your stocks screen to see if it agrees with you on the count?

[ActnMoviHeroBoy]

That's how I got the count.

[Sphalerite]

You could just have the miner carve a fortification, instead of bothering with a wall grate.  Wall grates don't stop creatures from passing through them when submerged any more than fortifications do.

[Hotaru]

You could just have the miner carve a fortification, instead of bothering with a wall grate.  Wall grates don't stop creatures from passing through them when submerged any more than fortifications do.

Wouldn't the most sensible thing to do be installing a floor grate, anyway? Don't they block creature movement regardless?

[Sphalerite]

Yep, floor grates are useful for blocking creatures from getting in from the magma sea.  Only problem with them is that magma doesn't flow uphill on its own.  When I'm setting up a magma smithing area and want to be sure nothing can get in, I use a floor grate and a magma-safe pump to pull magma out of the magma sea and fill a dedicated reservoir safely.

[darkflagrance]

So I assume that by corollary, your wall grate must have melted with its mechanism, and bauxite is no longer magma-immune.

[NecroRebel]

So I assume that by corollary, your wall grate must have melted with its mechanism, and bauxite is no longer magma-immune.

Either that or you accidentally made the grade and mechanism out of something that's not bauxite. That seems more likely than the laws of (dwarven) physics suddenly changing.

[Name Lips]

I've made iron wall grates, with no mechanisms, to try to keep out magma monsters (though reading above apparently that doesn't work anymore) and had them deconstructed by the lava.

[darkflagrance]

So then fortifications are indeed the only answer. Except that they don't work either.

[ActnMoviHeroBoy]

Well the wiki page for fortifications says to use grates instead, since they don't let creatures through. I'd really like to know the reality, since this might mean I just need to rethink my magma use for the future.

[Starver]

No idea why it disappeared, but here's my method for tapping magma.  It also involves fortifications, and quite safe for the dwarves concerned, too...  You just need to find a 'corner' in the magma-source's wall, and head towards that.

Code: [Select]

Approach   ..Nearly   ..Smooth   ...Build   ....Open   ...Carve   Walk off   Let fill   ....seal
77█   %    77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     77█  %     
77█        77█        77█        77█        77█        77█        77█        77█        77█       
77██████   77██████   77╔═════   77╔═════   77╔═════   77╔═════   77╔═════   77╔═════   77╔═════   
7███,,,,   7██,,,,,   7█║+++++   7█║X++++   7R║+++++   7█╬☺++++   7█421++☺   7█777777   7█7X7777   
7███████   7███████   7█╚═════   7█╚═════   7R╚═════   7█╚═════   7█╚═════   7█╚═════   7█╚═════   
7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   7█     %   
7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       7█ %       
                                 (& link)(Tried to do that with colour under Courier font, but it wasn't as proportional as I thought it should be, so revamped it under the [code ] tag.  Hope you can work it out, anyway.)

Anyway, pretty safe, unless something sneaks in before the floodgate is reclosed.  And safe from emptying effects of megaengineering and other causes making the lava tube level drop.