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[Kagus]

I recently set up an underground treefarm, and had placed a few doors to act as floodgates for when everything was ready.

Well, I checked a couple times and saw various mechanics happily plugging away at the doors, and hooking them up to the lever on the floor above.  I then went on to something else, leaving them to their job.

Some time later, I check back, and nobody is working around the doors.  There aren't any loose mechanisms lying around either, so I figure it's safe to channel out the rock back behind the doors and pull the lever when ready.

A short time later, I get a series of job cancellations of the "seeking infant" variety.  Looking for the proud parent, I hop on over to find an engraver sitting in the treefarm.  And then I notice it.

Two of the doors I had placed in my four-wide lineup weren't where they were supposed to be.  They were lying off to the side as loose items, and a steady rush of water from the cave river was pouring into my treefarm unabated.

The engraver is now stuck.  I think she may be fighting the current, but I'm not sure.  Her baby is in the tile next to her, and wondering what the hell is going on.  A farmer who happened to be grabbing a rock from the treefarm excavation is also down there, and now he's stuck.

They're all gonna die unless I can either plug the hole or get them our of there.  They're not going to make it out on their own, the water's too high now, and the current is pushing them away from the stairs.

I'm guessing that the doors lost their support when the wall behind them was channeled out, so all this could have been avoided by using the slightly slower floodgates.  It's either that, or I've got a lazy mechanic that I need to execute.

What I'm wondering is, are there any utilities that work for this version that can help me?  I'll go with teleport.exe if I have to, but I'd really like to save this treefarm.  If I can't plug that hole, it's a lost cause and I may as well turn it into a fishing pool.  Help?

[Deathworks]

Hi!

Okay, first of all, I don't know any cheat tool.

However, I think there may be a way to save the tree farm and maybe even the dwarves (depending on how many miners you have and how dire the situation is.

First thing that could be tried would be a normal cave-in, although I am not sure whether it could block a waterway.

The certain - I believe - way to save the tree farm would be to divert the water. This assumes that you have made some kind of channel from the water source to the forest along which the now uncontrolled water flows - that is excavated tiles:

First, dig out a reservoir at least one level below the tree farm which also extends under the target channel area. Seal it with a flood gate so no dwarves can get into it.

Then cause the floor above the channel to cave in. If you have time to spare, using a collapsing pillar is probably the safest bet (provided they still work in this version).

Remember that cave-ins will breach all floors until they reach a tile that has some kind of wall or wall-like (?) in them. So, the actual cave-in-trigger can be even more than 1 floor above as long as its vertical path is "open".

At least theoretically, this should create a connection to the reservoir so the water will no longer push into the farm. Maybe you need more cave-ins to actually drain the farm but I believe this should at least help a little bit.

Once the farm is drained so that you can construct things, you should seal the faulty channel on the farm side so that it won't be flooded once the reservoir is full.

This is all untested and just my theory, so you better backup first, I suppose.

Good luck!

Deathworks

[ March 04, 2008: Message edited by: Deathworks ]

[Kagus]

The ground above my water inlet is fishing ground.  It is the outer edge of a sharp 90 degree elbow in my exceptionally short cave river, and does not lend itself easily to cave-in territory.  There is no channel, I simply dug out the treefarm directly adjacent to the river.  

However, you've given me an idea.  I might be able to save the treefarm after all, by digging out the tiles directly after the inlet from underneath.

It will be tricky, but with a setup like this:

code:

 z 0
~~~~~~~~~~~~
====~~~~====
..==~~~~==..
...=~~~~=...
 z -1
   =....=
   =....=
   =####=
   =RRRR=
 z -2
   =.... -> to chasm
   =....
   =....=
   ======
R - upward ramp designation
# - floor grate

The idea is that the miners undermine the inlet, causing the water to fall down instead of flow in.  The water comes down the ramp, falls into the floor grate, and continues on its merry way towards oblivion.  I thne set up a new floodgate system using constructions in the treefarm above, and when ready, build a bridge or somesuch so that the water can pass over the hole and come through.

[Zardus]

How did it turn out? Curious minds want to know!!

[numerobis]

The best way to save the dwarves is to dig a rescue tunnel, Quecreek style.

The best way to recover your room is to pump it out.  You can build under an active pump, though it's a bit painful at times (dwarf suspends for dangerous terrain / you unsuspend / lather rinse repeat until the thing is finally built).  That should let you block off the intake.  Then, pump all the water out; in my repeated experience, a single hand-operated pump can empty out a 40x40 area in about a month (you may need a few pumps, to send the water somewhere appropriate).

[THLawrence]

As a cheat tool you could use DF companion but I don't know if its been updated to the newest version yet. Then you can teleport them out.

[Kagus]

I'm going to see if I can get Rick's teleport.exe to work on them.  If I can get them out of there, I'll start work on the drainage pipe.

I suppose pumping is also a possibility, I could set up four pumps and hook 'em up to a water wheel for power.  The inlet is too big for just one little pump to take care of.

As for getting these imbeciles out, I don't think it's going to take anything less than cheating.  They're standing a single tile away from the stairway and haven't moved an inch, either towards it or away from it.

[Mel_Vixen]

If your map is Cold or Freezing you can maybe freeze the water where it rushes in and then drain or pump the not frozen watertiles away.

[numerobis]

If they're close, then when the water stabilizes a bit and they start to drown, they'll likely make their way up.

[Kagus]

Heh heh heh.  I don't think freezing is an option.

Firt off, this map is nice and temperate.  Second, I'm tapping into the underground river, which is about eight levels underneath my dining room.  And I do mean underneath my dining room, not just under the level on which I have set up my dining establishment.  The inlet is under a spot in the lower-right hand quarter of the room.    

And I'd like to believe that they'd make their way up and out, but I think something went a bit wacko with these guys.  It's not the water-current shuffle that's holding them in place, they're just standing stock still.  The engraver's baby is actually one tile down-flow of its momma, so she could just go with the flow and pick her baby up.  Ain't happening.

[numerobis]

Maybe they're just enjoying the nice clean water.