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[T3hMikey]

Okay, I want to channel out some lava underground into a pond of sorts so I can put in magma furnaces and stuff. As one might guess, this is risky business. One slip up, and I lose a highly valuable miner. I'd also like to channel out some magma to douse with water for the purpose of creating some obsidian. How would I go about doing this without killing people? I figure trying to use a stone floodgate isn't going to accomplish much, so what're my options?

[Fenrir]

I've ben told that you can pipe magma places, but I don't know how. I'd use channels to move magma to where you need it. Unlike water, magma is a finite resource, so creating obsidian is not advisable.

[T3hMikey]

quote:Originally posted by Fenrir:
<STRONG>I've ben told that you can pipe magma places, but I don't know how. I'd use channels to move magma to where you need it. Unlike water, magma is a finite resource, so creating obsidian is not advisable.</STRONG>

Well, I won't be mass producing it. I'd probably get me a good room full and use it for some good beginning weaponry or maybe some nice furniture and stuff. At least, if I remember right, you can use obsidian for weaponry. Either way, I'll make something work.

[Fenrir]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to make some obsidian, since I don't think smelters and forges use up magma. Just be careful of the steam.

[Grek]

Find a pair of z levels that looks like this from the side:

code:

     
~~~~~  wall
~~~~~~~~~~ ~ magma

Dig a room that looks like this like this from the top on the upper floor:

code:

~~~~~~~~
  wall
..__.. . floor
..__.. ~ magma vent
..__.. _ channel
..__.. # deeper channel leading
..##..    to obsidian factory

[Gangsta Spanksta]

channeling magma is really easy.

code:

  
                                #
  ##############################M
<-.............................#M 
  ##D################ ##########M
   #># <up>     #>#        #M
   ###              ###         #

First, instead of actually using the [h] channeling command, just go to the lower level and dig a tunnel to the magma, but don open the wall, instead add a saircase going up. Then

code:

          #M
               #MM
  ##############MM
  #..........._#MM
  #>#<--Down#####M
  ###

dig a small tunnel to use as a runway, and then channel one 1x1 square down at a spot where the lower wall would be. See the magma chambers don't align perfectly, and sometimes one is smaller than the other.  There usually, always is a spot where you can channel down where there would be a wall on the lower level.  On my current map I opened up 3 wall units to make the magma flow faster, before taking off the runway to beat the magma home.  Anyway, I don't think I'll ever have another miner killed by magma again.  Also magma won't flood the level above.  It can fill up a lower level and then finish the level of the breach though.

[T3hMikey]

Okay, so now I know how to get the magma out safely. How would I control how much I get, though? Like, for that furnace, I obviously don't need a room full of it. That makes it hard to fit the furnace in.

[Fenrir]

Place your forge partially over a channel full of magma.

1st. level:

code:

 
#########~
~~~~~~~~~~ magma: ~
#########~ wall: ~
#########~
#########~

2nd. level:

code:

###########
####_FFF__# channel: _
####.FFF..# forge: FFF
.....FFF..#        FFF
###########        FFF
  

[ November 05, 2007: Message edited by: Fenrir ]

[RPB]

Real dwarves channel magma by digging straight into the volcano and running like hell.  

[Gangsta Spanksta]

Real Dwarves, ... stand there and take it, like a dwarf!  I pity your cowardly dwarven colony.

[RPB]

Ah, but it's only cowardice if you are shirking from the call of duty. Your miners have no particular call to be magma-fried into Dwarf McNuggets, but they do have a solemn obligation to help remove the dangerous fire hazard posed by the massive amounts of flammable alcohol sitting in your food stockpile, and if they die in a magma channel they're letting the fortress down.

[Gangsta Spanksta]

quote:Originally posted by RPB:
<STRONG>Ah, but it's only cowardice if you are shirking from the call of duty. Your miners have no particular call to be magma-fried into Dwarf McNuggets ...</STRONG>

Shows what little ye knows!  Those Dwarf McNuggets will insure the survival of the colony come winter.

[Paul]

I did mine in these 10 easy steps:
1. Dig down a few levels to the point where the magma is at least level with the forges (and not on the same level as the river, if you need to move the magma across it). If you plan on using magma for obsidian, you may want to place it deep, so you have more magma to pull out before you start draining the forge room.
2. Dig a downward staircase where you want the hole for the forge to go, with matching upward staircase so you can get down.
3. Dig out a room as big as you want it below your magma workshop room. You can later dig more channels from above to add more forges/furnaces etc.
4. Dig a tunnel from this room all the way to 1 tile away from the magma.
5. Make you a staircase near the end of the tunnel all the way to the surface.
6. Smooth all the stone in your magma tunnel and room for style (optional).
7. Have your miner channel out the downward staircase in your forge room, then remove the upward staircase below it. You don't need stairs going into magma.
8. Have your fastest dwarf set to mining skill (doesn't matter if hes a good miner or not) and send him to mine the last tile. Un-assign other miners, and have a second tile set to mine on the surface.
9. Watch your miner dig out the last tile and immediately run up the stairs and outside toward the other designated tile. They have made it every time I tried, but you could be unlucky, so don't blame me if your miner is too slow  
10. Build a forge/furnace/whatever over the channel tile, then wait for the magma to fill the chamber.

Presto, stylish magma chamber with room for expansion. I have mine set up with 2 furnaces and 2 forges, my smiths churning out metal items like crazy.

[Gangsta Spanksta]

I play on Glacier worlds   so I need to build a tunnel so I can warm up the river. <G>

[Destroid]

I am currently working on tunneling down past an aquifer through a magma pool - I have been using water to make obsidian and then tunneling down through the obsidian (this is easier as the aquifer is at a higher elevation than the magma).  My main question is, how deep does an aquifer go?  How many levels will I have to create my obsidian shaft for?  I am playing on a glacier map.

Thanks.