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[Tacomagic]

I've got a level 6 aquifer under my current fort.  I've dug through it just fine, but in digging through it I noticed that in several of the aquifer levels (all of them are sandstone) there appear to be significant deposits of both kinds of coal (Hit 4 veins of coal digging through the aquifer).  Since all the layers are sedimentary, I'm just going to assume that there are significant deposits of metals and gems in there too.

I'm trying to find out if anyone has devised a method for digging laterally through an aquifer for the purpose of mining it out.  My preference would be to not have to channel it all out from above and then work on strategic walling, as the level directly above the aquifer is currently my fort's craft rooms and dormitory (I have a whole 2z above the aquifer to work with).

If there is no accepted method yet, then I'll try !!SCIENCE!! and see if I can come up with something that's efficient and results in the least number of steps per mined block (and the least amount of drowned dwarves), but I'd rather not re-invent a wheel.

I tried searching the forums for a method, but came up with threads discussing how to dig through one, using them in other useful ways, and various complaints about flooding etc.

I'd also prefer not to have to Swiss-cheese the aquifer level below the current one to use as a drain, just because I think it looks messy to have all those stairs to nowhere.  If push comes to shove, I may just have to dig a checkerboard of stairs across the level as I advance, then remove the stairs, which basically digs out both levels.  I'm sure there's some kind of relationship between distance from the aquifer and the usefulness (or lack of usefulness) of the drain which could be used to optimize the process.

Cheers,
Taco

[laularukyrumo]

PTW, I've got this problem myself (several layers of conglomerate where all my delicious iron and bauxite are holed up in) and I would love to see a solution other than what I've ended up doing, which is basically swiss-cheesing the layers below. I was considering strip-mining and then just walling off the edges (or you can smooth walls, as that stops them from making water although I DON'T KNOW if it stops them from leaking if you dig underneath a smoothed tile) and then filling in everything with constructed clay walls, but that would be a big time-sink and I'm kind of focusing my attention on the ZOMBIE HORDE that's dancing on my lawn.

[Brilliand]

One method would be to dig out the layer below the aquifers, and set it up to drain off the map (using a carved fortification - be sure to put a barrier between the drain and your main stairwell).  You could then dig out the aquifer as up/down staircases.

Setting up the drain would be tricky, though, because IIRC, an aquifer will immediately drain into a tile that's dug out beneath it.  To cope with that, you could first set up the drain two layers down, then dig out staircases on the layer directly beneath the aquifer to open up the drain.

For safety, I suggest using staircases for everything here - up staircases on the lowest level, and up/down staircases on all other levels.  That way, dwarves that fall down for any reason could get back up instead of drowning.

EDIT: Silly me, missed the last paragraph on my first read-through.  Looks like you've already thought of this idea.

[Tacomagic]

Started a few rounds of !!SCIENCE!! and found that pretty much the max distance for mining away from an aquifer is about 4 squares, provided you are also smoothing the walls of the main channel as you go.

From there the pushing gets to be a little too much.

However, I think I may have a method to extend this distance a bit, possibly up to double.  More !!SCIENCE!! before I send Urich McProfesser in here to explain it.

[Porpoisepower]

freezing Terrain + Pumpstack + aquifer + zombies = less aquifer + zombsickles

[pisskop]

If you can get between three layers you can channel every tile for a net gain of no water.   The game actually seems to treat water from above falling into below as not being present.   If you put grates on the floor to walk on you are good to go.   Within limit.


AAAAAA
GGGGGG
AAAAAAA

Where G is grate and A is water bearing stone.   Just Channel.

[gchristopher]

Lateral multi-layer aquifer digging is pretty straightforward to do, even with huge sections.

Summary: you want the entire edge of the hole through the aquifer layers to be made of stairs, and leave one intact aquifer tile in the bottommost flooded layer so the entire lateral piercing only ever floods in the bottom layer.

The first and most annoying step is to do a standard piercing down to the bottom aquifer layer. Pick any available method. Generally, I do two piercings, one to reach stone and raise magma, and the other to be my eventual gigantic aquifer piercing. (I did this in a hermit game for a single-dwarf-built cannon and in another for a giant vertical surface tree farm.)

Once you are starting with a hole in the ground, the bottom of which is some kind of infinite drain, deconstruct/reconstruct/dig/whatever the edges of it to be stairs. This is probably easiest from the bottom up. The goal is to have every currently layer instantly drain straight down, while still allowing dwarves complete freedom of movement.

Once that's done, you're good to go and dig the whole thing laterally as far as you want. Just designate all z-levels of a particular x,y location to be stairs. You can designate an entire wall at a time, but only one tile laterally at a time. There will be lots of job cancellations, but miners are persistent and re-task quickly.

The bottom layer will always be flooded, unless you do an off-map drain or somesuch, but that's easy, if tedious, to address with magma minecarts.

If you want to obsidian-wall off the entire gigantic piercing, then dig down stairs out one z-level above the outer tiles of the piercing. Construct a track stop that dumps onto one of the tiles, then dump one cart-load of magma at a time until the entire column is obsidian. Repeat, slowly and tediously, around the entire circumference, one column at a time, around the entire piercing. Tell me if you find something less micromanagement-intensive.

To obsidian cast the entire thing, alternate pouring in magma and water. Lots more work than digging it out laterally in the first place.

[laularukyrumo]

freezing Terrain + Pumpstack + aquifer + zombies = less aquifer + zombsickles

Implying that everyone gets freezing terrain. I'm in a scorching swamp, so THAT option is out. You fool.

[Gigaz]

A vampire doesn't drown. Maybe if you have one he could become an under water-miner. Then you'd just have to figure out how the ore can be fluid-pushed where you need it.

[laularukyrumo]

Fluid-pushing is unreliable and has been known to place items randomly in a phantom quantum state. But he WOULD be good for clearing out the last level, after draining everything into the bottom level and then isolating aquifer tiles and smoothing the rest of the edges. The excess water can be pumped into the remaining aquifer once the majority of the z-level isn't pissing everywhere.

[Lielac]

A vampire doesn't drown. Maybe if you have one he could become an under water-miner. Then you'd just have to figure out how the ore can be fluid-pushed where you need it.

I dropped a vamp miner into a cavern lake and he's not moving even after I designated stuff nearby. And it's not because the fall broke anything; he's annoyingly unharmed. Just lazy.

[pisskop]

All dwarves refuse to operate in water 4/7 or above.   Even if they can swim or don't breathe they'll only move to escape Toshallow water/dry and

[ChuckWeiss]

PTW. These aquifer threads have the best !!SCIENCE!! around.

[Tacomagic]

Important consideration when doing !!SCIENCE!! with aquifers.  Don't forget that the layers above can create liquid below.  Much fun is had when you forget this and attempt something new.

[Sutremaine]

PTW. These aquifer threads have the best !!SCIENCE!! around.

Water is inimical to !!anything!!. No !!science!! to be found here.