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[Hommit]

can you draw arrows how tha cart goes? i'm not quite get this.

[Crashmaster]

can you draw arrows how tha cart goes? i'm not quite get this.

I added arrows to the images in my last post.

Also burned a fair percentage of my dwarves.

http://youtu.be/GE2EApblCeQ

The full version should burn every one.

[Russell.s]

Undeterred, I tried a more compact design on the north gate:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

z=-1

z=0

This design is made up of 6 self contained units, each firing a minecart north then south:

     _____
     #   #
     #▲F▲#

The symbols are as before, with inward facing ramps/rollers, and a constructed fortification. The unit is roofed over to keep it compact, although this isn't strictly necessary. As long as the minecarts have wall to hit, whether at z=0 or z=1, they would fall back down.

I'm loving this device! I'm having trouble understanding exactly what is going on though. In this more compact version, are the minecarts being flung from a north and south facing ramp/roller back and forth over the 3-tile track you've set up (that is, parallel to the path invaders take)? Or are they being flung east-west over the path that invaders take?

When you say 'inward facing' ramps, does a side on view look like this... __/F\__  where F is the fortification? So that the minecarts jump back and forth over the fortification, parallel to the path?

If the carts are going north-south, do you power the central section of track? If so, in which direction do you power it? If not, how do you turn on the machine and get the minecarts out of the central track? Or do they come to settle on one of the powered ramps?

What do the fortifications do? Just allow a greater amount of magma to slosh around?

Thanks for your help. This contraption is awesome and I'd love to build one, but am a bit of a noob when it comes to miencarts .

*edit* sorry for the ton of questions, I'm just trying to figure it out so I can build one too

[rhesusmacabre]

Well done Crashmaster! It's also worth noting that magma-mist generators can easily be adapted to water-mist generators, for use in dining rooms and so on.

This is one I've used in one of my forts:

z-1
███████
%%▲╬▲%%
│█╬█╬█│
%%▲╬▲%%
███████

z+0
+++++++
++≈≈≈++
++≈Ω≈++
++≈≈≈++
+++++++

z+1
....█..
.█.....
.......
.....█.
..█....

Key: █=wall, ▲=track ramp with powered roller, %%=pump, ╬=fortification, │=axle, +=floor, ≈=surface of water, Ω=statue(optional!), .=openspace

The rollers are set on highest power and, like the ramps they are built on, are set facing anti-clockwise. The minecart (just one is used) is flung up 2 z-levels to hit a wall, before splashing back down onto the next ramp/roller and continuing around the square. The pumps are a way of providing power to the system while blocking off the water, but other methods could be used for this.

I'm loving this device! I'm having trouble understanding exactly what is going on though. In this more compact version, are the minecarts being flung from a north and south facing ramp/roller back and forth over the 3-tile track you've set up (that is, parallel to the path invaders take)? Or are they being flung east-west over the path that invaders take?

Each unit is self contained, with the minecart travelling north/south in my example.

When you say 'inward facing' ramps, does a side on view look like this... __/F\__  where F is the fortification? So that the minecarts jump back and forth over the fortification, parallel to the path?

Yes.

If the carts are going north-south, do you power the central section of track? If so, in which direction do you power it? If not, how do you turn on the machine and get the minecarts out of the central track? Or do they come to settle on one of the powered ramps?

There isn't really any central section of track. The space above the fortification is just that, not even a floor. When the power is switched off, the cart settles on a ramp.

What do the fortifications do? Just allow a greater amount of magma to slosh around?

I wanted to stop creatures from pathing in front of the minecarts. The device would probably keep functioning if they did, but it is designed to burn them not smash them. Normally a ramp requires an adjacent wall to function, but I discovered that a constructed fortification (which has no floor above it, unlike a carved one) works just the same in this instance.

[Russell.s]

I'm loving this device! I'm having trouble understanding exactly what is going on though. In this more compact version, are the minecarts being flung from a north and south facing ramp/roller back and forth over the 3-tile track you've set up (that is, parallel to the path invaders take)? Or are they being flung east-west over the path that invaders take?

Each unit is self contained, with the minecart travelling north/south in my example.

When you say 'inward facing' ramps, does a side on view look like this... __/F\__  where F is the fortification? So that the minecarts jump back and forth over the fortification, parallel to the path?

Yes.

If the carts are going north-south, do you power the central section of track? If so, in which direction do you power it? If not, how do you turn on the machine and get the minecarts out of the central track? Or do they come to settle on one of the powered ramps?

There isn't really any central section of track. The space above the fortification is just that, not even a floor. When the power is switched off, the cart settles on a ramp.

What do the fortifications do? Just allow a greater amount of magma to slosh around?

I wanted to stop creatures from pathing in front of the minecarts. The device would probably keep functioning if they did, but it is designed to burn them not smash them. Normally a ramp requires an adjacent wall to function, but I discovered that a constructed fortification (which has no floor above it, unlike a carved one) works just the same in this instance.

Thanks for that, very clear explanation. As soon as I twigged on the side-on view of things it all started making sense, and it's understandable why there is no 'central tile' as such.
Now just to bring the magma up those annoying, ~170 levels and get this thing started!