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[itg]

If I understand the principle correctly (I haven't tested anything yet)

1. The corners are not necessary as there is no diagonal support.

2. A continuous 1x1 column connected to the sky will not support anything attached to its sides (I know this from previous "nailed to the sky" research). It will also prevent the transmission of "support" through the column.

3. The minimum size of the device should be 4 columns surrounding a 1x1 space, which will become a 1x1 shaft once the space is complete.

4. Normally the device will trigger instantly when the last column's support is installed. Does anyone know of a way to assemble the device such that it could be remotely activated/completed?

5. If we collapsed the map onto a cave-in proof surface just above the magma sea, instead of being "eaten" by the SMR we would end up with a hole filled with "compacted" solid rock?

Correct on all counts!

I think the only way to remotely activate the device would be to cast obsidian/ice in the final slot. It's worth noting that that final piece would not have to be at sky level. Even a gap in line with the ring near the bottom of the plug will allow support to "leak" through and prevent a cave-in, and filling that hole would cut off support. Simply building a wall to cut off support would work, too. It's not exactly a remote activation, but it would be totally safe if done underground.

[KingBacon]

Correct on all counts!

I think the only way to remotely activate the device would be to cast obsidian/ice in the final slot. It's worth noting that that final piece would not have to be at sky level. Even a gap in line with the ring near the bottom of the plug will allow support to "leak" through and prevent a cave-in, and filling that hole would cut off support. Simply building a wall to cut off support would work, too. It's not exactly a remote activation, but it would be totally safe if done underground.

Not if the dorf is in the interior of the ring when he plugs it

[Vattic]

Nice find. PTW.

[itg]

New result: You can use this technique to cave in the unminable tiles on the map's edge. The catch is, you can't build supports within 5 tiles of the edge of the map, so you would have to cast obsidian to make this happen.

Spoiler: See the hole on the left edge. (click to show/hide)

[wierd]

intriguing...

This means that with careful and clever planning (or DFHack Liquids), you could de-support the ENTIRE embark.

(The NEW and IMPROVED version of the self destruct system! Once Urist cuts the final support, oblivion's jaws will open! If that support square is well protected inside the fortress, it's just as deadly as a lever.)

[Mictlantecuhtli]

New result: You can use this technique to cave in the unminable tiles on the map's edge. The catch is, you can't build supports within 5 tiles of the edge of the map, so you would have to cast obsidian to make this happen.

Spoiler: See the hole on the left edge. (click to show/hide)

Mother of god, what have we done..

[Aslandus]

intriguing...

This means that with careful and clever planning (or DFHack Liquids), you could de-support the ENTIRE embark.

(The NEW and IMPROVED version of the self destruct system! Once Urist cuts the final support, oblivion's jaws will open! If that support square is well protected inside the fortress, it's just as deadly as a lever.)

Embark? You're thinking too small, with enough time and perseverance, we could turn the world into a giant magma pool

[Mr S]

New result: You can use this technique to cave in the unminable tiles on the map's edge. The catch is, you can't build supports within 5 tiles of the edge of the map, so you would have to cast obsidian to make this happen.

Spoiler: See the hole on the left edge. (click to show/hide)

Mother of god, what have we done..

!!Science!!, my friend.  !!Science!!

[itg]

intriguing...

This means that with careful and clever planning (or DFHack Liquids), you could de-support the ENTIRE embark.

(The NEW and IMPROVED version of the self destruct system! Once Urist cuts the final support, oblivion's jaws will open! If that support square is well protected inside the fortress, it's just as deadly as a lever.)

intriguing...

This means that with careful and clever planning (or DFHack Liquids), you could de-support the ENTIRE embark.

(The NEW and IMPROVED version of the self destruct system! Once Urist cuts the final support, oblivion's jaws will open! If that support square is well protected inside the fortress, it's just as deadly as a lever.)

Embark? You're thinking too small, with enough time and perseverance, we could turn the world into a giant magma pool

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can only cave in the map's edges if they have somewhere to go. The edges over the magma sea can fall in and disappear, the edges over the caverns can fall a few z-levels, but anything that's already sitting on SMR is supported, and there's currently no way to remove that support.

[wierd]

How unfortunate..

Oh well, instead of uncorking the circus in epic fashion, it will just cause a massive sinkhole.
Still, it would be profoundly effective at removing surface bastardry from a successful siege force when you intend to abandon. --and it would make the reclaim attempt so much more interesting!

[itg]

I just confirmed my hypothesis that SMR is the primary source of support by using dfhack to spawn SMR floating inside a sky support ring. That SMR supports constructed floors, while anything built inside the ring but not attached to the SMR collapses instantly.

[itg]

Big news: I have discovered that is in fact possible to cave-in the semi-molten rock. If you extend the sky support tube down through the SMR to the slade floor below, fill the tube below the SMR, then cause a cave-in below the SMR, that cave-in will pull the SMR down with it. Further testing is definitely needed, but it appears it MAY be possible to:

a) create holes of arbitrary shape and size through the SMR, provided that they are placed over a deep enough portion of Hell, and provided you can access the SMR in the first place (draining the magma sea might be necessary). I need to confirm whether it's actually possible to cause this type of cave-in over an eerie glowing pit.

b) move some SMR into Hell, if that's something that interests you.

c) cave-in the ENTIRE embark, leaving nothing but the slade with some SMR sitting on top.

I will definitely be doing testing and giving more detailed info (pictures, too) as soon as I have the time. It may be a few days.

[wierd]

ITG, I think you should get the nickname Dr Strangelove.

Seriously, complete elimination of the entire embark down to the slade floors of hell itself is basically the quintessential doomsday machine.

However, supporting a dangly chunk of SMR above the world on a tiny thread and then building a massive colony on that support is interesting. Does that mean that spawning a single obsidian wall at the topmost portion of the map, putting a single "wall" of SMR directly undearneath it, and then normal constructed wall underneat that, that you could build an entire colony off from it like a wasp nest?

[Urist McKiwi]

Oh wow. This is truly dwarvenly.

Can these methods be used to create a moat? I'd love to try making the worlds deepest magma moat using this kind of trick....

[wierd]

If you choose NOT false-vacuum collapse the unminable "walls" of the embark, then you would end up with a 1 tile wide "rind" of the original material of the embark, surrounding a craterous "hole" all the way down to the slade at the bottom.

However, ITG seems hell bent (hehehe) on transforming the whole site into one giant eerie glowing pit; doing that would make it impossible to fill with magma, because it acts like a bottmless chasm.

You would have to stop just one thin layer of tiles away from exposing the madness core of the planet if you want to have an epic magma moat.