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[Kazang]

Such modifications would be also helpful in managing brooks.  However, considering how Toady works, be careful what you wish for.  There are a lot of unrealistic things about DF water that favor the player, and he's apt to "fix" those first.... 

For instance, at present if you do manage to dam a sourced water flow, it stops coming once the water behind the dam is 7/7.  In real life, the level would just keep rising until the water finds a new way through.

I would be totally ok with that.  It is how I would like water to be, an on going mental and planning challenge, not a short but tedious micromanagement problem.

If it was changed to be like that without a way to effectively dam flowing water then I would be pretty disappointed, but given the changes I mentioned before I would completely support more realistic water.

[pisskop]

I am glad Im not the only whos upset by aquifers.  Ive yet to successfully pump through them manually, as all my attempts end with several drowned dorfs.

[Draco18s]

I am glad Im not the only whos upset by aquifers.  Ive yet to successfully pump through them manually, as all my attempts end with several drowned dorfs.

Very easy-to-make-happen-without-mishap method:

Did a 6x6 square into the aquifer, giving you a nice swimming pool.  Construct 24 pumps along the edges.  Dig a trench in front of the pumps.  Build a wall around said trench to avoid spillage.  Activate pumps (using gears and axles to connect them all together, add a windmill / waterwheel).

Watch as 36 squares of water virtually disappear.  Add dwarves to the pit to construct walls (make sure to construct corners first).

[GreatWyrmGold]

Or don't construct the walls and have a nice, impenetrable entrance...

[Draco18s]

Or don't construct the walls and have a nice, impenetrable entrance...

You kinda need the walls to keep the water from flowing down the stairway....

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I, for one, have always avoided aquifer areas ever since Toady decided to add them into local sites. I've never had a legitimately fun time trying to game the aquifer with pumps so I could place some damn stairs and walls to not ever have to think about the 1-tile-thick area that somehow always spews water.

If it's more than 1 tile thick of aquifer, it's an instant abandon. Especially if there's no cold season in the area.

[muzzz]

The aquifer-piercing itself isn't much fun, I suppose. You might feel an overwhelming sense of pride the first time you pierce a multi-layer aquifer without messing something up, but that's about it. After a while, the cancellations get pretty tedious, even if you temporarily mod announcements.

Still, as others have pointed out, the rate of seepage seems fairly balanced with respect to pumping speed. And if both get lowered, I'm afraid it might negatively impact other pumping-related endeavors. I'd much rather leave flow rates as they are, and increase the submersion threshold from 2/7 to 3/7 instead.

But even with the tedium, in my opinion, aquifers >> any other water source.

[Chromasphere]

I absolutely love the aquifers. 

First, because when you are learning how to punch through them, you can have all kinds of trouble and eventually make a big mess and just abandon the site.  As an adventurer travelling through the area, it's neat to come upon a  site where a 'group of people' unsuccessfuly tried to engineer a home.

Second, the easy to access clean drinking water.  You have to have water or booze (I play a human race so they are not booze addicted like the dwarves) so wells are great for sustaining them.

Third, it's a nice initial challange and just one of the 'problems' I have to overcome if I want to live in that particular area.  As there are also sites you can choose where you are attacked almost immediately... shall we get rid of dangerous creatures too just so we can embark anywhere we want?

Fourth etc..., I like the fact that Toady One is using realistic geology.  It makes you think.  I find most new games these days have the 'console mentality' and make things too easy or don't pay attention to detail or simply do most of the thinking for you and thus just hand 'goodies' over to the player.  In DF, it's thankfully very different.  Aquifers is just one example of how you don't always get something handed to you.  You have to work a little bit for it and be innovative or even be forced to embark elsewhere.  Sometimes I don't feel like breaching an aquifer so I have to choose a site that at least has some non-aquifer area.  I like being forced out of an area if I'm being lazy.  That's the price.... or you can just turn them off.  Hehehe.

[Blucher]

For a game this is really backwards and leads to problem a upside down difficultly curve, where the game gets exponentially easier instead of more difficult.

That's pretty much DF right there.

First it is indecipherable.
Periods.  Commas.  Smiley faces?  What the fuck??

Then it is Insurmountable.
I was doing fine until some & popped out and accidentally my whole fort!  What the fuck!

Finally, it is inconvenient.
Well that's annoying.  I'll just mod it out.  Eh, what the fuck.

But for the most part the game is just simply incredible. :-)

[GreatWyrmGold]

Or don't construct the walls and have a nice, impenetrable entrance...

You kinda need the walls to keep the water from flowing down the stairway....

Not if you keep the pumps running!
Ideally combine this with some mechanism to seal the fortress's entrance when you stop the pumps.

[anti_kuketski]

Aquifers provde infinite amounts of water to drink and drown goblins process goblinite! If only there was fast method of breaching them!
Usually my favorite embark areas(moist tropical forest+flux+metals) come with aquifer, so its really annoying - to do same breach AGAIN. Because of that i started to love freezing biomes!

[SmileyMan]

Or just set the site finder to find aquifers. Then every aquifer tile will have a nice flashing X on it, and you can select a suitable embark rectangle (although make sure that the site info says aquifer, even if it's got flashing tiles)

Wow, I hadn't noticed the site finder was improved.  (Although probably not enough that I'd actually rely on it....)

But it doesn't help with this problem.  It can (very slowly) mark every region tile that contains an aquifer.  But it doesn't mark the embark tiles in the leftmost "local" map.  So it is no help with choosing an embark site with both some aquifer access and also a safe spot to dig.

Actually it does exactly that, and I use it for exactly that purpose.

[Michael]

But it doesn't help with this problem.  It can (very slowly) mark every region tile that contains an aquifer.  But it doesn't mark the embark tiles in the leftmost "local" map.  So it is no help with choosing an embark site with both some aquifer access and also a safe spot to dig.

Actually it does exactly that, and I use it for exactly that purpose.

No it doesn't; I tried.

The flashing Xs on the local map do not have anything to do with the site finder; they mark biomes, not compatible sites.  You see them even if you never use the finder.  You won't see them if the embark rectangle is entirely contained in one biome.

The game will report aquifer presence separately for each biome, which may give the appearance of marking all aquifer tiles.  However, many biomes include both aquifers and non-aquifer tiles, so this does not give full information.  Often if an aquifer is identified, you can find some subset of the flashing Xs that do not trigger an aquifer warning when the embark rectangle covers them.

[SmileyMan]

(massive edit due to being completely wrong)

Just did some testing and you're right, individual squares within the same biome can either have or not have an aquifer.  Worse, this doesn't show up on the site finder, although it's still useul for finding the edges of the aquifers for those of us who like the half-aquifer embark.

Sorry for doubting you!