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[WanderingKid]

Alright, so, short version... I just flooded out half my site at surface with a dwarf operated screw pump to get some mud going on the surface.  Simple enough, right?  So, to confirm...



Now since the brook itself got muddy I'm assuming that it's iced over, particularly since underneath it and nearby I can see pods that are exposed that aren't frozen, just the surface is, but I can't see depth markers right there.  That, and it got muddy... oddly.

However, I'd expect a different error message when I'm trying to build a farm plot on muddy ground than this:


Now, I'm not sure if this place is frozen or not.  I've got a massive waterfall at the end of this brook on the map, and this is the first time I'd encountered it so I wasn't sure if that's why the brook isn't showing depth.  My other exposed water, which are a bunch of ponds, aren't frozen.  This WAS temperate... I think.  Is there a way I can confirm the local temperatures?  It's mid-autumn but nothing changes between summer and winter.

Also, if for some reason I am in a frozen wasteland, if I expose a lower level to outdoor light and then floor over it, will it be able to grow outdoor crops?  I've got 2 layers of soil here, in some places three, I was just trying to be lazy about it, since I'm running pastures and the like anyway.

[weenog]

Brooks, unique among the various river types, have a strange quasi-floor on top of them, which is why dwarves can walk over them without drowning nor even getting wet.  As you've seen this floor can get muddy... it also blocks water wheel access to the water, and must be channeled away if you want to use the brook for that purpose.  I doubt the brook is actually frozen.

Regarding the farm plot error message, ignore it.  Error messages for farm plots in general are a bit weird and inaccurate, and the ones for above-ground plots are egregiously so.  Just check back later on any plot location you're not sure of, see if it's being planted or not.

Exposing an underground tile to light and then roofing over it by constructing a floor on the level above does leave it lighted and above-ground.  You can never grow underground crops there again, nor will you see volunteer cavern plants pop up there, but you can build above-ground crops there, and if you aren't quick about putting down the plots you might see surface grass and tree volunteers pop up.

[WanderingKid]

Brooks, unique among the various river types, have a strange quasi-floor on top of them, which is why dwarves can walk over them without drowning nor even getting wet.  As you've seen this floor can get muddy... it also blocks water wheel access to the water, and must be channeled away if you want to use the brook for that purpose.  I doubt the brook is actually frozen.

Ah, that's good to know, thanks... particularly about the water wheel... considering I'd intended to try out some dwarven mechanics here eventually I'm sure it would have came up, I'm trying to NOT let this fort die to random silliness this time.

Helps make more sense that the area wasn't frozen, as well.

Regarding the farm plot error message, ignore it.  Error messages for farm plots in general are a bit weird and inaccurate, and the ones for above-ground plots are egregiously so.  Just check back later on any plot location you're not sure of, see if it's being planted or not.

Well, then, we shall see!  I'd assumed the error message meant I wouldn't even be able to build it, but apparently it allowed me to.  We shall see what (and/or IF) something grows!

Exposing an underground tile to light and then roofing over it by constructing a floor on the level above does leave it lighted and above-ground.  You can never grow underground crops there again, nor will you see volunteer cavern plants pop up there, but you can build above-ground crops there, and if you aren't quick about putting down the plots you might see surface grass and tree volunteers pop up.

Yeah, I was curious if that would be a workaround to the 'can't grow in tundra' problem.  I did it before (took a LOT of channeling) to get a farm down to my level at one point, and then I screwed it to heck anyway.  Was one of my trainee forts.

Thanks again, Weenog.  Hopefully y'all don't get annoyed with newb questions... I'm trying to do the homework in the wiki!  Just, damn, that's a big wiki.

[weenog]

Nobody knows everything about dwarf fortress.  It's too big, too frequently changing, and the code is not available for diehard spades to go source-diving and publish their findings like they could with, say, nethack.  Being lost is fine, we've all been there, and stumble back into that territory from time to time.  It's laziness that will draw a lot of hostility.

[Garath]

if the surface or level is soil (sand, clay, loam, anything but rock) there is no need to flood anything

the "error message" you see is RED when you can't build a farm plot there