Channels are KIND of like rivers, but a lot of the functions that work on the river simply don't work on channels (you can't have a mill running from a channel's water supply, nor a magma forge running from a lava channel's magma supply). They are usually used to get a flood started somewhere else, i.e. if you wanted to farm all the way in the mountain you could use a channel to get the water there.
Aqueducts are used to pass over different liquids that you DON'T want to touch; i.e. if you wanted a moat filled with lava, you'd have to aqueduct it over the chasm and the river before you could get it to the front gates. They're kind of buggy right now though, I haven't used them at all so I'm not too knowledgable on them. The openings on the aqueduct designate (I'm pretty sure about this) both ends of the duct, so if you want a aqueduct going right over the river and you were doing it in a left-right sort of fashion, you'd want the openings on both the left and the right.
Flood gates can be used on both channels and the river. When they're activated, they basically become a different kind of tile. It's important to note that gates attached to the river will become channels when you open them, but gates attached to channels will become flood spawn points when you open them. So if you wanted to flood a plot right next to the river, you would put two floodgates next to eachother like so:
code:
....~~~
.....~~
....~~~
..XX~~~
.....~~
......~
......~
That way, the first floodgate, when opened, becomes a channel; the next floodgate causes the flood to happen. If you want a plot to flood that's some distance away from the river, you might do it this way:
code:
###################...~~~
#.....##############...~~
#.....#############...~~~
#.....X______________X~~~
#.....#############...~~~
#.....############.....~~
####################....~
Where X are floodgates, # is walls, . is floor, _ is channel and ~ is river spaces.The floods are infinitely large. Yes, INFINITELY large. If you flood an unclosed area it WILL flood the entire map and you'll all die. Something very important: if the floodwater from a channel EVER touches the outside river, it will permanently flood the entire map and you'll either have to give up or find some way of causing an unflood event, but I don't know much about this.
To support a fledgling fortress, 30-40 squares of farm plots dedicated to growing Plump Helmets should be sufficient. This number will definitely grow as you get more farmers and of course more people.
Levers open and close floodgates, but traps (I think) are mostly activated by themselves, on their own square. But you can set up pressure pads and link up floodgates, bridges, etc. to them. It opens the way for a lot of ingenious player-designed traps.
Wells don't need a channel, all they need is an architect, a miner, some stone blocks and a bucket. I assume the miner needs a pick too.
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Topic: Mmhmm... (Read 1004 times)