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[Miuramir]

I was thinking earlier, what are some interesting designs for an automatic failsafe to block magma from flowing down a hallway?  It should not be a FPS hit when passive, should not block normal dwarf or animal traffic, and should operate automatically to seal the hallway if magma tries to get past (no dwarf or player action needed). 

The obvious solution seems to be a burnable or melt-able barrier holding back some water; the magma burns/melts the barrier, the water rushes out/down, obsidian plug is created.  Has anyone experimented with this?  I'm thinking you may want at least two squares of water, to make sure the magma doesn't route around a single plug through the former reservoir. 

[evictedSaint]

Doors.

You're thinking of doors.

Magma-safe doors.

[Naryar]

Simple magma plug. Very easy, 100% effective unless you are pressurizing magma. It may or may not stop water though.

Doesn't block movement, stops magma from both sides and the easiest plug you can make.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR     z+2
RRRRRR   _   RRRRRR     z+1
_______^R ^_______      z
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR     z-1

R being rock, _ being a mined tile, ^ being an upwards ramp, and a blank being empty space.

[Miuramir]

Magma-safe doors.

Doors are not automatic, and can be opened by dwarves, diplomats, invaders, thieves, snatchers, demons, sometimes even pets, and destroyed by stronger invaders.  I'm looking for the dwarven turned-up-to-11 equivalent of automatically closing fire doors which require no intervention on the part of the occupants or the overseers. 

Simple magma plug. (u-bend / speed bump snipped)

Putting a "speed bump" in various places is not a bad plan; it is cheap, simple, doesn't affect pathing or FPS, and always-on.  It does depend on things not being pressurized, so it's not really powerful enough for serious problems; but it's a good first level precaution. 

Tiles *next* to magma are heated to 10075 U, so a "fuse block" would need to be something that has a IGNITE_POINT and a HEATDAM_POINT below that, and probably a low SPEC_HEAT so it heats up and/or fails faster. 

(This could also be used in reverse; a hallway blocked by such a material could be designed to be impassable under normal conditions, but become a causeway for magma on demand.  Magma vents on your artificial volcano, perhaps.)

[wierd]

Magma safe raised bridge. (ALL MATERIALS must be magma safe!)

Use the bridge to close the opening. Safe from building destroyers and skulking filth. Not openable by pets or errant dwarves/diplomats. Small creatures (Like magma crabs) that get under the bridge can be smashed into oblivion-- EG, they cant clog the closure.

Still vulnerable to clowns taking a molten lava spa treatment before entering the fortress though.

[Bumber]

Pressure plates can detect magma. Link a magma-safe one to a magma-safe drawbridge that seals the corridor or to anything that unleashes water from above. Building destroyers don't, to my knowledge, target pressure plates.

Or you could build a magma-unsafe bridge over a drain. Magma destroys bridge, diverts down below, and is led through a tunnel leading off the map. It doesn't exactly seal the corridor.

[Vattic]

Could forgo the water and drop a chunk of rock to block it (burnable support), water is probably simpler, though.

[Falconbridge]

Just a quick idea:
how about a reverse speed bump ( downward ramp a couple of digs and upward ramp ) filled with lvl 2 or 3 water ( not familliar what level will allow passage while not evaporate) via bucket brigade ?
so any magma would make osidian and plug itself on contact with the water.
would double as a footwash for contaminant as well.

[AnnanFay]

^ http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/User:Uristocrat/Dwarven_Bathtub

Would it work?

Edit: would need to be larger on the bottom to make a seal.

[KingBacon]

Doors.

You're thinking of doors.

Magma-safe doors.

Non Magma Safe Doors.

Graphite Doors in particular.

Though I second the Speed Bump idea since magma doesn't exert pressure like water. Super passive.

[Vattic]

A grate or two over a vertical shaft. Any magma would fall through and drain into the caverns.

[Bumber]

Could forgo the water and drop a chunk of rock to block it (burnable support), water is probably simpler, though.

It's kind of bulky and needs to be recast from obsidian each time to reset:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWW   Top
W     W
W WWW W
W _W_ W
WW I WW   Bottom/tunnelW = Wall
I = Support
_ = Bridge (doesn't provide support, blocks climbers/flyers from ending up in stupid places.)

End result:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWW   Top
W     W
W     W
W~~W~~W
WWWWWWW   Bottom/tunnel~ = Probably displaced magma. 1/7 to 2/7 units each, likely to evaporate.

Edit: Views are a cross-section of the tunnel, with traffic moving in/out of your monitor.

Side view:

Code: [Select]

WWWWW    Top
W   W
W W W
W_W_W    <--These bridges hopefully form a seal for pressurized magma
__I__    Bottom/tunnel (floor)
And now I have to wonder if these bridges are going to remain intact after the collapse:

Code: [Select]

WWWWW    Top
W   W
W   W
W~W~W    <--These bridges + displaced magma
≈≈W__    Bottom/tunnel (floor)

[Larix]

Doors from non-magma-safe stone will only melt if they're open and magma flows over their tile. There can be magma on both sides of it, as long as the door remains shut (or only stays open for a short time), it will stay intact. I casually blocked off a volcano with rhyolite and claystone doors (not magmasafe) and they've held up for years without issue. I think they just are at "adjacent to magma" temperature, "touching" the hot stuff isn't taken into account (might be different for wooden doors; or not). A meltable bridge or hatch cover over a "drain" would melt when magma flows over it, serving as "physical fuse".

^ - haven't messed with it in detail, but bridges typically deconstruct when a cave-in drops through any of their tiles.(x) So the top design would smash the bridges, the bottom design would probably work. Dumping a tile of water into the magma at a bottleneck, e.g. from a hatch opened by magma-sensing pressure plate underneath, would certainly be an easier way to make a plug.

(x) P.S. including a cave-in of constructed wall dropping through a bridge tile while the bridge is retracted.

[Dwarf4Explosives]

You could just set up a bridge and use the bug where bridges allow fluids through if you order them to be deconstructed and then cancel that. Just put the bridge in the line of the magma flow and dig a pit under it and presto, you've got a safety measure that you can activate manually rather than having to wait for a dorf to put in the effort.

For fully automatic flow-canceling, you could just leave the bridge in the fluid-passable state. Just opening the bridge might be a better solution; dwarves might walk into the lava if you give them the chance.

[Bumber]

^ - haven't messed with it in detail, but bridges typically deconstruct when a cave-in drops through any of their tiles.(x) So the top design would smash the bridges, the bottom design would probably work. Dumping a tile of water into the magma at a bottleneck, e.g. from a hatch opened by magma-sensing pressure plate underneath, would certainly be an easier way to make a plug.

They're all the same design. The bridges directly under the cave-in are expected to be destroyed. It's the adjacent ones I'm worried about.

Top-down view:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWW Z+4     WWWWWWW Z+3     WWWWWWW Z+2     WWWWWWW Z+1     WW...WW Z+0
WWWWWWW         W     W         W     W         W.BBB.W         WW...WW
WWWWWWW         W ... W         W WWW W         W.#W#.W         WW.I.WW
WWWWWWW         W     W         W     W         W.BBB.W         WW...WW
WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WW...WWW = Wall
. = Floor (implicit)
# = Bridge or floor grate (will be destroyed)
B = Bridge (should be intact)
I = Support

I'm pretty sure they'll be fine. I was misremembering that one caveat about tiles unsupported from below.

Projected aftermath:

Code: [Select]

WWWWWWW  Z+4    WWWWWWW  Z+3    WWWWWWW  Z+2    WWWWWWW  Z+1    WW121WW  Z+0
WWWWWWW         W     W         W     W         W1BBB1W         WW232WW
WWWWWWW         W     W         W  .  W         W11W12W         WWWWWWW
WWWWWWW         W     W         W     W         W2BBB1W         WW777WW
WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WWWWWWW         WW777WW(Assuming worst-case pressurized magma and support doesn't break instantly. Otherwise there'd be a lot less magma splatter.)


Does anybody know if this means constructions can survive falls onto certain tiles:
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Cave-in

Constructions will deconstruct when they collide with solid terrain.
Any terrain crashes through multiple floors and ramps, and stops only upon reaching solid ground, a mined up-stair, a constructed wall, a multi-tile tree, or a support. Natural terrain piles up and constructions deconstruct.

It could mean obsidian casting is unnecessary if a constructed wall lands on an up-stair, support, etc. I doubt it, but it's ambiguous what is meant by 'solid'.