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[Zeg]

Okay, this is just a short question that underlies a much larger and more complex plan.

I'm fairly sure I've seen various cases where objects get pushed around by water flow, but I was wondering if anyone can tell me in a more quantifiable way how much water is needed, or if there's certain objects that are exceptions and won't move at all.

What exactly is a 'flow' of water? Is it necessary to have more vertical z levels of water add more flow force at the base, or will a sufficiently large room on one z level be enough? Does the material the object is made of effect its being pushed around very much? Or its weight?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[JoRo]

I've heard that water needs to be less than 7/7 in order to push, due to the way the flows work.  My only experience with pushing things with water was when the pump backwash knocked my woodcrafter, her baby, a lye maker, and my clerk into the cave river.  Not sure how much water was actually involved. 

[Erom]

Yeah, you need less than 7/7 water, as when the water goes from, say 4/7 to 5/7 there is a chance it will move something, but going to 7/7 just instantly submerges the object.

Also, the water seems to damage stuff - things that can be worn out tend to wear quite quickly when being pushed, similar to when they are on fire (but not to that extent).

[Lord Dullard]

It's funny, I had an idea about this just a little earlier today and contemplated making a new topic about it, but decided against it.

At any rate, I've been meaning to dam the brook on my current map for quite a while. What I eventually thought would be a nifty method of garbage disposal would be to dam it, dig a set of stairs down, and set a stockpile of whatever goods you want destroyed in the river. After that, install a pressure plate on the closest spot to the map edge you can on the river bed and set it to activate on a depth of 1/7.

When the water reaches your pressure plate the floodgates will automatically close, and stay closed until the water over the pressure plate evaporates. At that point they'll open again. You'd never have to tend to the process aside from perma-closing the floodgates when needing to restock the junk-pile because the water would automatically switch on/off and keep pushing things off of the edge of the map.

[Zeg]

Yeah, you need less than 7/7 water, as when the water goes from, say 4/7 to 5/7 there is a chance it will move something, but going to 7/7 just instantly submerges the object.

Ah, thats useful to know. My original design had the water drop directly onto the object from above from a hatch, but since thats just dropping a 7/7 depth square of water onto the thing instantly I guess that wouldn't work.

[Kidiri]

A while ago, I was thinking of making an elevator: you built a U-bend connected to a cistern that goes all the way up. On every floor, some vertical grates or bars. You open all of the bars between the bottom and a couple of levels above. Make sure there is enough water in the cistern, pull the floodgate-lever and watch it fly. Pull the lever to close the floodgate and the bars/grates on the floor you want it on and watch as the water level drops and your item/creature too. However, for some distances, it would be faster to walk. But it could make for a nice ambush-system: Grates randomly placed around the map, station some dwarves on the bottom and have them pop up behind the invaders who are enticing your main force.

[Quatch]

Yeah, you need less than 7/7 water, as when the water goes from, say 4/7 to 5/7 there is a chance it will move something, but going to 7/7 just instantly submerges the object.

Ah, thats useful to know. My original design had the water drop directly onto the object from above from a hatch, but since thats just dropping a 7/7 depth square of water onto the thing instantly I guess that wouldn't work.

drop the water 1 square to the side, so that it spreads out first?

[R1ck]

A while ago, I was thinking of making an elevator: you built a U-bend connected to a cistern that goes all the way up. On every floor, some vertical grates or bars. You open all of the bars between the bottom and a couple of levels above. Make sure there is enough water in the cistern, pull the floodgate-lever and watch it fly. Pull the lever to close the floodgate and the bars/grates on the floor you want it on and watch as the water level drops and your item/creature too. However, for some distances, it would be faster to walk. But it could make for a nice ambush-system: Grates randomly placed around the map, station some dwarves on the bottom and have them pop up behind the invaders who are enticing your main force.

That probably wouldn't work for objects, or dwarves with poor swimming skills.