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[Deon]

WHat's wrong in this picture?
It says:
Inactive
Total power:0
Total power needed: 17

The river is flowing...

[Run Comrades]

did you make sure to build your axle FIRST? (as in, before the waterwheel, otherwise it will just be sitting on the ground)

Also, if there is a surface to your brook (I can't tell from your tilset), you have to channel out at least one tile under the waterwheel.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Run Comrades ]

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Run Comrades ]

[Deon]

OMG, i've build the wheel first =)
Thank you.

[Deon]

The problem was "and can not be powered if placed over brook tiles".
Dp you know why is it so?

[Deon]

OH SH*T I FULLED MY PRECIOUS CITADEL WITH WATeR =(((

Losing is not fun this time... FOOLISH MAN WHY DID YOU PULL THAT LEVER WHICH BLOCKED THE WATER? You were flooded 2 floors down and trapped in a small storage room, but you did your work...
Almost all of my dwarves (except fisher) are in big ornamented dining hall, all the doors are locked. And only water outside...
While poor farmer is starving on his field. He managed to barricade the exit with the flood gate from the furniture pile nearby, but he has no exit...
And my 2 super-miners forgot their picks in their chests in bedrooms which are flooded now...
Titanic.

Good bye, my precious fort... My first success... I though you can become a good fortress on the river...

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

[Deon]

Pshhhh, my dwarves who tried to run out of this water hell were ambushed by cobolds... Really terrible end of my homefriends...

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

[Gaulgath]

Hehehe, welcome to Dwarf Fortress. Enjoy your stay, and remember:

"Losing is fun!"

[Deon]

After some time when I was tired of mourning the death of my little funny settlers I understood the might of this game... Even when I lost, I made it the real way... And this brutal end was so unpredictable... Just a usual water wheel caused it.

WOW.

Is this game really SO awesome, or d0 I just imagine it? Are there a lot of ways to have a terrible death of your dwarfes from nowhere?

Now I'm going in all costs to find my forstress with my newbie adventurer.

[ February 07, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

[Untelligent]

quote:Originally posted by Deon:
<STRONG>Are there a lot of ways to have a terrible death of your dwarfs from nowhere?</STRONG>

More than mere mortals can possibly comprehend.

[Forumsdwarf]

I'm thinking the key to reliable underground power is a fat penstock and narrow tail race.

code:

      ~~~#*#       #####
pen-  ~~>WWW (z+1) <WWW#
stock ~~~WWW       #WWW#
      ~~~#*#       ####~~~ tail race
~ = floor intended for water flow
> / < = slope down / up
# = wall

Due to the way the game handles waterwheels it doesn't matter how fast water is flowing [above minimum], only how deep.  Cramming 4 tiles of water from the penstock into 2 for the wheel race then bottlenecking the tail race causes water to "back up" under the wheels.
The ramp is just to encourage more flow under the wheel not aligned with the tail race.  Note also that any water that flows into the non-aligned wheel must also pass under the aligned wheel to make it out the tail race corner.
I don't show it in the diagram, but I also try to keep the volume of the tail race as small as possible.

All underground water power systems lose water over time.  All "perpetual generator" designs will eventually start strobing as the pump moves too much water out of the tail race too quickly, then shuts down allowing the water to build up to a level where the wheels turn again.
This design keeps up smooth power delivery for a much longer period of time by concentrating the deepest water on the wheel race.
If perpetual motion offends your sensibilities squeezing the tail race also allows you to devote less real estate to evaporation chambers, although since you can put your evap rooms on the other side of the map that's not particularly important.

A strobing generator is actually useful for artificial waterfalls.  Waterfalls use up a ghastly amount of water.  A pump duty cycle makes them more efficient.  Milling, however, is impossible with the power constantly flickering on and off.

[Run Comrades]

hahahah!  Losing is fun!     :p

Deon: did you figure out that you had to make a one square channel under your water wheel for a brook tile?  I can only assume you did, since you fort became inundated.  That's fun stuff.

My first forts only died of starvation ever.  My first successful fort, my third one, is my current one.  And it is in the year 1070 now.  I can only hope I get a disaster to have a fun end to my fort one day.  Perhaps HFS will do it.

[Deon]

I have no luck.
Every fort dies... The last one was slaughtered by 10+ kobolds with crossbow.
The bad thing is that I planned an underground city with stalagmites and stalactites and the entrance was through the long bridge above my city with chasm under it and on the bottom of the chasm was my new city... The ravaging cobolds stood on the bridge raining the arrows from above on my poor citizens... When I succeded to make a decent squad armed with 2 daggers and an axe (my brave woodsman had it) I had my leader and farmer pinned down to earth (looks like insta death with 1-2 bolts due to heart/head shot). Then my squad leader rushed into them and killed 4 (1 fell down, 3 were cut in pieces). At this time he was a pin cussion and while trying to kill 5th kobold he bravely bled to death... Then from the door appeared rest of my squad, they in rage killed some kobolds barehanded... And died due wounds (except fisherman). Last few cobolds retreated (wow, I thought they were too afraid of my traps which doesn't appear to help a lot... At least 3 stone-falling traps in a raw couldn't kill a kobold).
I left with bleeding wounded dwarf and a cook which was safe in the kitchen few levels below...
Now I'm going to abandon this fortress and reclaim it with new party, because even immigrants (without skillz!!!) who came to soften my grief were too unexpirienced with new problems (cobolds stole 2 of 3 picks and resus monkeys who came after took a lot of food and water...

[Deon]

Run Comrades
Yeah I made a channel under the wheel but noticed in time that there's a tunnel under it so I blocked it with the floodgates system I had for something I don't know (they occasionally became useful). But strange thing happened - Fgates opened by their own will! It looks like a dwarf activated the lever but I didn't tell him this, so is it possible for dwarves to act by themselvesvand occasionally pool some levers?

[ February 08, 2008: Message edited by: Deon ]

[Run Comrades]

I think some dwarves when they go crazy can possibly pull levers, but I am not sure about that.

As for your fort that you are planning to retake.  You should build a roof over it on the bottom.  There is no way to effectively defend your fort if you have a bridge over it that opens all the way to the bottom.  You're just asking to get rained on by bolts and arrows that way.

If you're getting really frustrated with losing all the time, you could start in a more peaceful area, but that would be boring