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[Jreengus]

If i buil a room slightly off my magma vent which looks like:

code:

 
####D####
#~~~~~~~#
#~~~~~~~#
#~~~~~~~#
#~~~~~~~#
#~~~~~~~#
#########
#=wall
D=door
~=magma one level down 

and designate the whole squigled area as a pond will my dwarves then chuck water on the magma, and will this be safe?

[Kagus]

Actually, you don't even need water.  If you can shut off its connection to the magma source, it will cool by itself.

[Cthulhu]

I just dig out the edges of the vent, without breaking into the magma.  There's like 10 z-levels of it, so I doubt I'll run out soon.

[Markusw7]

When magma cools does it make obsidian rocks or does it refill open spaces with obsidian?

[N35t0r]

refill spaces. Sort of like with ice, only it doesn't melt again in summer.

[Markusw7]

ah so you could use such a method to make rooms out of obsidian

[Yourself]

Don't volcanoes refill now?  I know the one in my fortress did after I built the channels to my metalworks.

[mwoody450]

Out of curiosity, how do you shut off the connection with the magma source?  I was under the impression that magma obliterated the mechanisms controlling an open floodgate, making it uncloseable.

[Deon]

Adamantine.

[pushy]

quote:Originally posted by Deon:
<STRONG>Adamantine.</STRONG>

You'd use adamantine for mechanisms? Import bauxite. It's easier, and nowhere near as much of a waste (bauxite has no particular use except for the fact that it's magma-safe. Much better to safe adamantine for weapons, armour and stuff)

[Chariot]

quote:Originally posted by Kagus:
<STRONG>Actually, you don't even need water.  If you can shut off its connection to the magma source, it will cool by itself.</STRONG>

that is not true. someone put that on the wiki months ago but it has again and again proven to be false.

[GRead]

I'll second that; I've gotten in the habit of 'sealing' my magma forges by pumping water into the room; the forge blocks off an area of magma below, leaving a full square of magma surrounded by obsidian. In all my playing I've not had one of these little pockets cool off.
I've witnessed areas of 1/7 magma dissipate like water, albeit significantly slower, but they don't leave obsidian or anything behind.
as for ponding the area, I've never tried it; I usually just pump water over it from an aquifer or stream or something.

[xzzy]

Pretty sure magma "evaporates" just like underground water.. if it's depth 4 or deeper, it will never cool. 3 or shallower will eventually cool off, but you won't get blocks of obsidian.

To make obsidian, you need to douse it with water. Any depth magma will make a block of obsidian if you douse it, and all you need is a trickle of water. Never tried it by having dwarves throw in buckets of water though.. would be an interesting experiment.

I haven't set up an obsidian farm because I haven't tried since magma vents started refilling, but I've done the prerequisite work in the past by piercing aquifers with magma.

A careful setup with channels and a water pump is all you need. Drop the water into the magma channel where it connects to the magma vent, which cuts off the supply. Then trickle in more water to solidify the rest.

[Chariot]

quote:Originally posted by xzzy:
<STRONG>PNever tried it by having dwarves throw in buckets of water though.. would be an interesting experiment.</STRONG>

it works, but for some reason has to be from 2 levels up. you cant just dump it into a magma channel from next to it, you have to go up 1 level higher than that, otherwise it just destroys 1/7 magma, and the water

[Pickerel]

Oh... So for the dynamics of magma remaining molten, does it matter how fat it is channeled?  That is to say, if I channel it all the way across a map, so long as this tube is still attached to the main magma chamber, it will never cool?  I must know this for some future forts...