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[Deadrefridgerator]

So, I'm a new player, and my fortress is growing.  I know I may start getting goblin attacks soon, so I'm setting up a squad, and I tried to dig a moat around my fortress.  The problem is that I'd like to fill it with water, but I don't know how.  I channeled from a nearby water source into the moat, but it seems like it dries up eventually.  I've checked the wiki, but didn't find any specific explanations of how to transport or manage water.  Advice?

I removed all the ramps in the way of the flow of water, but it's still happening.  The original pools seem to be fine. 

[callisto8413]

Are you channeling water from a river or a pond/lake?  A dry moat will work just as well.  Maybe cover the bottom with traps?

[Delioth]

Your problem, as it sounds, is that you're using a pool- pools only refill with rain, and aren't unlimited at any single time (They'll refill by themselves, but it takes a while)

If you want to fill a moat with water, your best bet is a river, or a pump stack from a cavern with water.

Although, because I'm required to, and I guarantee that it's the community's opinion- just use magma.
With that, you'll want a volcano, or a lower level cavern that has a magma tube

[Deadrefridgerator]

Are you channeling water from a river or a pond/lake?  A dry moat will work just as well.  Maybe cover the bottom with traps?

Pond.  That's probably my issue. 

I guess I'm limited to traps or lava.

[Delioth]

I guess I'm limited to traps or lava.

Use Both.

[Henny]

A water moat is actually worse since it will mean amphibious creatures can now cross it. Yes, goblins never bring a ladder.

In case you're just doing it for flavour - channeling it from anything but a river or lake/ocean is a bad idea since it will almost inevitably mean evaporation*. If you don't have a river, probably the best idea is a pond with water level set to 7. The only other option is a really elaborate pump system.

*Obviously, water moats in climates below Warm is counter-productive since water freezes to ice.

[arcturusthelesser]

No, seriously, water filled moats are not good moats. Realistically, you're best off just having a weapon trap-filled trench. No one is immune to spears!

[TruePikachu]

(been playing lots of KSP recently)

Moats are best left dry; both because of amphibious creatures, but also because it is less fatal for your dwarves when they get spooked by the local wildlife. I personally used a moat which enters into a trap-filled covered section (so dwarves don't set off the traps when they fall in).

[SixOfSpades]

As said previously, wet moats can be more susceptible to infiltration than dry ones. But, you can have security and flavor simply by digging your moat more than 1 layer deep, and making sure that (at least) the topmost layer is dry. A note, however: Toady has dropped hints that the coming update will feature climbers, and/or give existing creatures the ability to climb. So, while a simple 1-layer high "wall" made of sand is currently enough of an obstacle to bring an army of bronze colossi to a standstill, that may change in a BIG way come the update. So in short, higher walls + deeper moats = better.

The prospect of filling your moat with traps and then water is an appealing one, but I don't know what might happen if/when the water freezes--it could possibly destroy the traps.

As for water itself: To fight evaporation, move it short distances at a time, and in sections. Instead of putting the pump at one Murky Pool and running a pipeline halfway across the map, dig little pools to act as "way stations" in between, and just pump from each one into the next. This way, the water spends far less time at depths of 1/7th and 2/7ths--the only depths at which water will evaporate. Similarly, divide your moat into subsections. As each one gets filled, open the floodgate (or tear down the wall/whatever) to allow the water to flow out & get the next section half full. Repeat.

[Naryar]

Water ? You are clearly not enough of a dwarf if you want to fill your moat with anything else than magma. Or bins with !!lignite!! inside.

Alternatively, 2-z deep dry moats work pretty well. Also you can bring back your dwarves alive.

[Uggh]

Everything has already been said but let me add that ramps wont block water flow so no reason to remove them to fill a moat (however, removal is essential for a dry moat).

[TruePikachu]

Regarding the climber issue, I currently surmise that the logic for how to climb will be pretty much the same as it is for Minecraft's spiders and Lemmings' climbers. Specifically, if assembled so that there is a ledge, it would be impossible to pass said ledge. In this case, the ideal construction would be:

Code: [Select]


gg    ☻☻
▒▒▒  ▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒   ▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
where the left side is the outside, and the right side is safety. Perferrably, put an up-stair to the outside somewhere, and do NOT put upright spears in the setup (to avoid a bug).

[SixOfSpades]

In this case, the ideal construction would be:

Code: [Select]

     ▒▒
gg   ▒▒ ☻☻
▒▒▒  ▒▒▒▒
▒▒▒   ▒▒▒
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒


FTFY

[wooks]

I believe there is also a smooth vs rough wall climbing feature, which might require those walls be made from blocks.

[nickbii]

Water ? You are clearly not enough of a dwarf if you want to fill your moat with anything else than magma. Or bins with !!lignite!! inside.

Alternatively, 2-z deep dry moats work pretty well. Also you can bring back your dwarves alive.

It has to be two-deep because trees grow 1 Z-level high, and tree tops count as a floor. So if you're one-deep, a dry moat, and you're in a heavily forested area and you don't send a lumberjack to clear out the trees every 5-10 years there'll be a couple spots where a gobbo can walk across the tree-tops right into your fort.

I get away with a three-wide/1-deep moat, filled with water, and walls right by the moat. I still get trees, because a drowned sapling will still grow into a full tree, but no new saplings will take root. Dry moats tend to be pointless for me, because I almost always embark right on a river, it's a pain to build a dry moat for a fort that has direct access to the water, and even if the moat was dry I'd still have major problems with amphibious invaders.