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[PhilD]

One minor problem I've run into is this: when planning my farms near the underground river, I tend to dig too far and open the way to the river, making my whole farm plot naturally floodable.

OK, so maybe I should leave some more space to be safe, but isn't there a better way? Do you guys only dig one space at a time, detecting the river?

I also tried putting a support pillar, hoping it would be uncrossable, but I think my dwarves cross them, so that probably means water can too.

[Mechanoid]

When you reach the river, build a bridge and dig a bit on the other side, creating a river bank as you go. [Or simply dig a river bank along the left side.]

This will allow your dwarves to see the wall on the left side of the river and thus allow you to plan properly.

[ August 30, 2006: Message edited by: Mechanoid ]

[Rollory]

Watch for limestone.

When you're digging in limestone, you know you're close to the river.  (Well, 90% chance.  There are limestone deposits elsewhere, sometimes.  Better safe than sorry.)

[UncleSporky]

I usually dig my farms in rectangles, and if I have the choice I dig them in a way that I know I won't hit the river.

code:

 +++==/
 +++ /
 +++/
====\
     \
      \

= is a tunnel, + is the farm, / is the river.  Something like that.

[RPB]

The problem is that the river has offshoots, so if you try that you still might run into a waterfall or something even though you can see the main river isn't bending back that way.

Building a bridge and scouting from the other side is a clever idea. My usual strategy now is just to make a big muddy mess in my starting hallway and farm there for the first year, and build my real farms on the other side, so it's usually not a concern for me since I get a good view of the other side to begin with.

[UncleSporky]

Hmm.  I know it's got offshoots because I've seen a few, but I've never run into one.  Maybe my farms are just way smaller than everyone else's (6x7?).

[genmac]

I usually just tunnel straight for the river, erect a bridge, and then set up my farms on the other side.

[pauli]

all my farms are just inside the cliff face. lately i haven't been hitting the river until some idiot goes into a fey mood and starts demanding gems and ore.

[PNB]

I have a full nile set up.

[gimlet]

When digging biggish areas, I do 2 things:

1) Try to dig a corridor along the river.  Make sure there's a door in place at the start, and also place one every so often, just to be extra safe.  This is nice cause it finds the river branches, and then only the last bit of the corridor is screwed.  Then I can dig out from the previous bits to make my bigass rooms.

2) I dig in "rooms" - I designate a door square, place a door, and then a 6x10 or so area beyond it to be dug, with one square for the next door at the bottom of *that*.  Then, if I accidently hit the river, only the last dug room is exposed.  If I want the space, I dig out the walls from previous "rooms", leaving appopriate supports.

[Fuzzpilz]

I generally put the farms a good bit away from the river, connecting it with a tunnel 4-6 tiles long (using a channel-and-two-floodgates setup), plus a "maintenance" tunnel leading to the channel for my mechanics' use. Like so:

code:

▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒~~~
.................╔══
...тт............╚══
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒┼▒▒▒▒┼▒▒▒~~~
     ▒.....▒▒.▒▒▒~~~
     ▒.....▒▒.▒▒~~~
     ▒.....X___X~~~
     ▒.....▒▒▒▒▒~~~
     ▒.....▒   ▒▒~~~
     ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒    ▒~~~

I've never had problems with river branches in that context. Two levers for kobold safety.

[ August 31, 2006: Message edited by: Fuzzpilz ]

[flap]

Hey, how do you draw things like that ? Do you use any kind of specific editor ?

[Fuzzpilz]

No, for things I can't type I just do it the good old alt+numpad way. For example, alt+200 -> ╚, alt+176 -> ░. It's generally a bit risky to rely on anything above 128 due to charset differences (can't accurately reproduce DF screenshots in text here even disregarding colours, for example), but on here everything should be ISO-8859-1, so that's not a problem.

[ September 01, 2006: Message edited by: Fuzzpilz ]

[PhilD]

quote:Originally posted by Fuzzpilz:

I've never had problems with river branches in that context. Two levers for kobold safety.

[ August 31, 2006: Message edited by: Fuzzpilz ][/QB]

What's this "kobold safety"? Do kobolds like to pull random levers and flood your farms while there are farmers in?

[Fuzzpilz]

If not kobolds, then something else. I've definitely received "something has pulled a lever" messages (and, indeed, something had). It hasn't happened in any of my more recent games, though, so maybe it's out temporarily, or maybe I've just been luckier lately.