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Author Topic: Secure Power generation  (Read 1341 times)

ltprifti

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Secure Power generation
« on: January 10, 2021, 09:28:45 pm »

Ive had windmills be the downfall of my forts, how do yall generate power safely/securely;

will it work to make a water wheel off my secure water shaft in the middle of my base somewhere?  would prefer wind power, is there some way of making it secure?
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Eric Blank

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2021, 04:59:14 am »

Yeah, I like to build one from an aquifer or something, draining down through a middle level where rows of water wheels are, and then further down and out and off the map, with a failsafe to drain off into the caverns if it overflows.
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Schmaven

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2021, 04:47:36 pm »

If you don't mind exploits in the form of perpetual motion machines, the Dwarven Water Reactor is a very nice solution to all your power needs.  And the micro-reactor a nice step up in power density from there. 

Here's my attempt at diagramming my go to power solution, the micro-reactor:

WWW = Water wheel
F = Floor
W = Wall
S = Track stop set to dump toward the ramp
R = Ramp

WWWWWW
FF  FF
WWSRWW


It's simple to construct, and gets you 2 water wheels worth of power.  With their small footprint, I usually just build a couple wherever I need them rather than have a massive centralized power plant.  Just create a hauling route with a track stop at that stop, assign a minecart to it, and then fill the hole with water.  But before you fill it, link the track stop to a lever so you can turn it off whenever you want a slight boost to your FPS.  If you build one in a light aquifer, time is working against you on that lever linkage.
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Bumber

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2021, 06:23:07 pm »

You can obsidianize an axle, or run power through a screw pump that building destroyers can't reach.
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ltprifti

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2021, 10:43:21 pm »

If you don't mind exploits in the form of perpetual motion machines, the Dwarven Water Reactor is a very nice solution to all your power needs.  And the micro-reactor a nice step up in power density from there. 

Here's my attempt at diagramming my go to power solution, the micro-reactor:

WWW = Water wheel
F = Floor
W = Wall
S = Track stop set to dump toward the ramp
R = Ramp

WWWWWW
FF  FF
WWSRWW


It's simple to construct, and gets you 2 water wheels worth of power.  With their small footprint, I usually just build a couple wherever I need them rather than have a massive centralized power plant.  Just create a hauling route with a track stop at that stop, assign a minecart to it, and then fill the hole with water.  But before you fill it, link the track stop to a lever so you can turn it off whenever you want a slight boost to your FPS.  If you build one in a light aquifer, time is working against you on that lever linkage.

oh, now i think i remember using something like this; thanks for the link
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gchristopher

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2021, 10:56:27 pm »

Another perpetual motion exploit is to channel out a heavy aquifer, build water wheels above the channel, then drop a bucket of water from 1 z-level up into the full aquifer layer, creating permanent flow.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Aquifer#A_benefit_of_heavy_aquifers
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ltprifti

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2021, 11:05:28 pm »

Another perpetual motion exploit is to channel out a heavy aquifer, build water wheels above the channel, then drop a bucket of water from 1 z-level up into the full aquifer layer, creating permanent flow.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Aquifer#A_benefit_of_heavy_aquifers

how can i find how strong the aquafer is and find them?
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gchristopher

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Re: Secure Power generation
« Reply #7 on: January 12, 2021, 11:46:04 am »

If you channel into a heavy aquifer tile, it will fill almost instantly, while a light aquifer fills very slowly, over a season.

Or, you can use dfhack to inspect the tile. If your cursor is over a particular aquifer tile, this one line of lua will print the true/false flag that indicates whether the tile is a heavy aquifer. So, in dfhack, type "lua" then paste in the following:

Code: [Select]
print(dfhack.maps.getTileBlock(pos2xyz(df.global.cursor)).occupancy[df.global.cursor.x%16][df.global.cursor.y%16].heavy_aquifer)
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