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[gcpasserby]

Hello, noob here.

Just discovered this amazing game a week ago and have been reading wiki and watching tutorial non stop to learn it.

One question that I can't find answer on the Internet is that, while I choose non Aquifer area to embark (the blue Aquifer indicator was not there in the embarking screen), I almost always encounter damp stone all over the map while trying to dig down a couple z level.

Why is that? I read online that damp stone all over the map indicates that there's Aquifer in that area, right? But I have check every time to choose areas with no Aquifer before I embark, why do they still show up?

I'm so confused, could somebody explain to me please? Thanks.

[Moeteru]

I think there is a bug where an aquifer can be present even if it doesn't show up on the embark screen.
You can also run into damp stone if you're trying to dig underneath a river or lake.

I'd just try digging through it and see how it goes. It's probably only a light aquifer, and those are pretty easy to deal with. Just make sure you construct walls anywhere where water seems to be leaking in, and don't try digging any rooms immediately below the aquifer. Go down a couple more z levels, otherwise you'll get water dripping in through the ceiling.

[gcpasserby]

I think there is a bug where an aquifer can be present even if it doesn't show up on the embark screen.

So that IS Aquifer, right?

You can also run into damp stone if you're trying to dig underneath a river or lake.

I did intentionally choose an area with a river running through, so that's the problem I guess. Btw, is it necessary to choose an area with river in it? If not, how will I have access to water? And if there's no water on the map, is it a big problem for a beginner?

Just make sure you construct walls anywhere where water seems to be leaking in

Ok, I'll try digging through it and construct walls around the damp stone, and see what happens then.

And thanks for your reply!

[Moeteru]

It's only caused by the river if you're trying to dig right underneath the river. If you're more than a couple of tiles away from the river horizontally, then it's just a normal aquifer.

You definitely don't need a river. There's a very good chance that one of the cavern layers will contain pools of water, although you'll need to engineer a way to get that water into your fort safely. It can be especially annoying if your only water source is in the third cavern layer, 80 z levels down from the surface. I tend to prefer using a light aquifer as a water source rather than a river, mainly because I can tap into it without leaving any holes in my defences.

If there's absolutely no source of water on the map it isn't the end of the world. It just means that hospitalised dwarves can't have their wounds cleaned and won't be brought anything to drink, so any injuries will tend to be more lethal. Also, if you run out of booze for any reason, your dwarves may all die of dehydration.

[PatrikLundell]

As already mentioned, a light aquifer is an excellent source of fresh water at the cost of a little hassle to secure it (which obviously is a hurdle for a new player, before getting the hang of that on top of everything else).

The bug is that DF doesn't display any aquifers to the south and to the west of the diagonal from the top NW corner of a world tile to the bottom SE corner, while the diagonal itself and the area to the N/E is mostly correct (there is another bug that can cause DF to report the presence of an aquifer when there isn't one at high elevations).

Referring back to the river: you can safely dig through tiles under rivers and pools even when you get damp stone warnings, but. as mentioned, the level below an aquifer will leak through the roof (no, it's not consistent...).

[Starver]

Yes, inconsistent in that you "detect dampness" beneath the river-bed (you can assume the 'floor' of that water-tile is impervious and not waterlogged, despite the dampness-detection) but an aquifer tile is wet for the whole rocky volume, including the "floor slice", so digging below exposes you to the water in the wet upper.

It is more logical with detecting magma (you can feel heat through that layer, and also sideways through walls, without expectation of 'seeping', though if you overstep the mark and (wrongly) ignore the warming-warning you've got a potentially larger issue on your hands, and feet.

The worst case scenario (not sure how common to encounter a boundary in just the right/wrong spot) is if you have an actual aquifer inhabiting the layer immediately passing under a clump of water (river, pond, pool, ocean) and you dig into it knowing that the warning+cancel was just the liquid tile (from checking what you can see of that), expecting a sufficient floor/ceiling separation from actual-wetness, but then discover the rock-seep exists and have to deal with the consequences of that.

(I've only made this error long ago, when there were just normal aquifers, no weaker ones. But in either case the seepage would probably be less than if I had breached the actual river involved, with its gravity and (for a river) continuing feed.)

Mis-puncturing a static pool of liquid is probably not as bad, and I've deliberately done that for tapping cavern-water, albeit with prepared diagonals and ready-to-reshut floodgates to moderate the flow immediately after breakthrough. If in doubt, prepare? If you've already dug a two-tile-wide (or more) corridor up until the danger-zone, build a mini chequerboard of 'temporary' walls in the lead-up to allow miner access/exit as you test the front but if/when the water starts the diagonals rob enough of the power of the flow to put in an emergency wall (back where there is orthagonal access to do so, also should stop the builder from walling themselves on the 'wet side') and learn from the experience.

Although even if you get that wrong, perhaps because I explained it badly, you still learn from your experience.

[Leonidas]

Flooding is probably the leading cause of fort death for new players. Here are two tips:

1. Any time you deliberately tap into water or magma, always put a blocking bridge at the access point, and put the lever for that bridge away from any potential flood.

2. While you're learning about water, build lots of doors and hatches. If a flood starts, you can lock them to limit the damage.

[Moeteru]

Speaking of diagonals, it's worth noting that they only cancel pressure. They don't slow down the flow of unpressurised water any more than a normal orthogonal connection. I've tried using sequences of diagonal connections to regulate flow rate in the past and it just doesn't work.

The safe way to tap any kind of water source is to install a door, floodgate, bridge, or hatch before you have your miner dig out the last tile. Doors are particularly effective since the miner can run through them but they automatically block water even when just closed normally. You can then send a mechanic down later to link the door to a lever, even when the other side of the door is 7/7 water.

[PatrikLundell]

Speaking of diagonals, it's worth noting that they only cancel pressure. They don't slow down the flow of unpressurised water any more than a normal orthogonal connection. I've tried using sequences of diagonal connections to regulate flow rate in the past and it just doesn't work.

The safe way to tap any kind of water source is to install a door, floodgate, bridge, or hatch before you have your miner dig out the last tile. Doors are particularly effective since the miner can run through them but they automatically block water even when just closed normally. You can then send a mechanic down later to link the door to a lever, even when the other side of the door is 7/7 water.

Make sure the miner isn't standing in the open door when mining out the last tile (i.e. have a free tile on the other side of the door for the miner to stand on), as the bugger probably will drop a worn sock that blocks the door from closing otherwise...

[Leonidas]

The best answer is all of the above. Line up two or three doors, then a bridge, then a fortification, then a grate. Or skip the doors and dig down from above to open the channel, then construct a floor over the hole.

I wouldn't rely only on doors or floodgates to keep out water. One swimming building destroyer could wreck your whole fort. Bridges are the best. And if you're being ultra-paranoid, use retractable bridges. Drawbridges can break if they raise or lower on big creatures. But nothing can stop a retractable bridge from extending.

[gcpasserby]

Thanks for all the reply!

I don't think I understand properly of the information given above, I'll try my best to put the information into practise though.

[Leonidas]

When you're still figuring out how water works, build reasonable precautions against flooding---and then double them. Assume that the water will find some way to destroy you.