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[Gizogin]

The surface of my fort is around z-level 100.  After getting everything on the surface to the way I like it, I began digging for magma.  Bizarrely, I managed to dig a 2x2 staircase down to level -8 without hitting anything, until I finally got a warm stone announcement, which I guessed was the magma sea.  I went up a few levels, to around level 10, and finally breached a cavern.  After a bit of exploring, I located the magma pipe.

The magma is almost 90 levels below my fortress proper.  Is this normal?  More importantly, what would be the most efficient way to bring it to the surface?  I'm no stranger to pump stacks, but I'd prefer a way that isn't going to be so time-consuming.  The magma piston is a possibility, but the ideal would be to have access to a constantly-replenishing supply, without all the hassle that a piston would be.

[Blizzlord]

PTW. I wonder why this is too.

[Shinotsa]

Mine is routinely that low. Is it not normal?

[GhostDwemer]

Magma at z-100? This is what most people would consider normal, or even "near surface magma." z-200 would be abnormal. As for getting magma to the surface, you already know the only two ways to do it. Sorry. If you invent something better, let us know.

[nightwhips]

My fortress is around z100, my magma is at z-100. Normal.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

90 levels below your fortress isn't unusual.

I don't know why you feel the need to bring it to your fortress-- one option, always available, is just to bring your fortress to it.  Almost anything you can do close to the surface, you can do further down.

If you feel like it, you can always hack some in.  If not, I'd be surprised if you found a piston easier to use than a pump stack, especially for a replenishing supply.

[rawrcakes]

With unmodified cave size, 90 Z-levels worth of digging sounds about normal to hit magma and candy for me. I've only found a magma tube in the first layer once, and a couple times in the second, with the vast majority of embarks having it on such depths as those you describe.

[runlvlzero]

word, i have 3 caverns and 50-100 openness, its almost always at -60 below the lowest surface (outside) tiles, so 90 would seem strange to me, unless I was embarked almost exclusively on a mountain, then I can see it being as far as -100-140

[Loud Whispers]

And magma pipes tend to extend all the way to the magma sea, so no issues there either. Throw an animal/Dwarf down it just to be sure

[slothen]

And magma pipes tend to extend all the way to the magma sea, so no issues there either. Throw an animal/Dwarf down it just to be sure

they always extend to the magma sea, the question is how far they extend up.

[Gizogin]

I want to bring it to the surface mainly so that I can have it flowing down the sides of my giant bronze pyramid.  If a pump stack is the only way to do that, so be it.
I'm not used to finding magma quite so deep, though I can't say for certain where I normally find it.  It's possible that I'm just perceiving it as deeper because I didn't run into any caverns on the way down.  I seriously have a 100-level staircase that runs uninterrupted from my fortress to the magma sea.
Anyway, thanks for the quick answers.

[MiniMacker]

I've had magma tubes (pits? pools?) in the first cave layer quite often. Not sure what causes that.

[Michaelsoftman]

I like embarking onto surface volcanoes.

It's by far the best thing ever.

Magma moat for the fort!

[Intro1827]

I think that happens when embarking on mountains, because there's obviously more rock between the surface and the magma sea. All of my plains embarks have had magma 50-60 levels at most below the surface.

[GoldenShadow]

You just gave me a great idea for my next embark. Find a perfectly flat site. channel out a ring 1 tile wide, and 1 tile from the edge of the map on the surface and fill it with magma. Then make a 3 wide bridge on one spot for the caravan to arrive on. Concentrate your defenses on that spot and live in comfort that you will never be ambushed again.