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[Impaler[WrG]]

Its not unusual for people to suggest that water be used for making Alcohol or for irrigation of crops and while I whole heatedly agree with these sentiments It seems most have overlooked key area of water use, namely industry.  Even to this day water is used in huge quantities by industry and countless tasks should use water in DF.

Forging - water is needed to quench and harden metal and extinguish the forge when work is done
Gem Cutting - water wets the grinding stones used to cut gems
Fish cleaner and Butcher - occupationally water for cleaning these workshops
Cook - water is needed for many foods and to clean dishes
Dyer - all fabrics are dyed in vats of water
Lye Maker - water is an indispensable ingredient in making Lye from ash and thus for Potash as well
Tanner - water is needed to soak and soften animal skins before leather can be made

Water used for brewing, farming, hygiene and drinking would indeed constitute the majority of water consumption these industrial processes should be involved as well as this would further help to reinforce a strong dependence on water which is desirably from a historical realism point of view and for making things like sieges more threatening.

[Footkerchief]

Great ideas.  It might even be worth having a WATER tag in reactions (like the FUEL tag), meaning that the job requires a bucket (or some other container) full of water.

Quenching could produce a small puff of steam -- the game already has steam, so this would be easy and visually appealing.

[TettyNullus]

Would make more sense if water was importable/exportable, for those harsh maps without natural sources of water, though I guess it'd be possible with next version? Cuz otherwise, nobody'd bother with more rough terrians since it's a death sentence for sure.

[Draco18s]

Quenching could produce a small puff of steam -- the game already has steam, so this would be easy and visually appealing.

Urist McSmith has died to scalding burns.

[Veroule]

Excellent observation.  Water definitely needs to be more fully used.  I think historically more wars have been fought over water rights then religion, and that is saying a lot.

[Duke 2.0]

Excellent observation.  Water definitely needs to be more fully used.  I think historically more wars have been fought over water rights then religion, and that is saying a lot.

That depends entirely on the region. Although the middle-east would say a lot, seeing as that place has both an arid climate and a lot of religous strife.

 I would accept such a thing in DF if we had a better system of getting water.

[Footkerchief]

Quenching could produce a small puff of steam -- the game already has steam, so this would be easy and visually appealing.

Urist McSmith has died to scalding burns.

It's actually harmless right now, as far as I can tell.  I've had dwarves walk through clouds of it by the dozen with no injuries.

[BradB]

Tanner - water is needed to soak and soften animal skins before leather can be made

Isn't lye used for tanning too?

[Footkerchief]

Isn't lye used for tanning too?

Or lime, or urine.  And later on, dung or brains.  Lye and brains would fit DF best, I think.

[Impaler[WrG]]

It might even be worth having a WATER tag in reactions (like the FUEL tag),

Possibly for a 'quick' implementation, though their are certainly situations ware more or less then one bucket is appropriate.  my earlier thread on clarifying liquid volumes would help go a long way to understanding how water usage tags in a reaction would be handled.  Your topics on reagent containers is also relevant to this.

Would make more sense if water was importable/exportable, for those harsh maps without natural sources of water, though I guess it'd be possible with next version? Cuz otherwise, nobody'd bother with more rough terrians since it's a death sentence for sure.

Even in modern time periods water is not transported on large scale by any means other then pipes and aqueducts.  Having the wagon deliver barrels of water would be rather ridiculous considering the density of water and the amount that even a small community needs, the cost is just too high. 

I say just forbid embark in an area which lacks water.  An aquifer, steam or even murky pools count as water but if a none of these things is present the area should just be un-inhabitable because it ACTUALLY would be uninhabitable.  Also an improvement to how aquifers are represented in game (mostly part of the Underground diversity request) should allow aquifers to be almost universal (and not a total fortress ruining feature) which will satisfy the water requirement.

[Footkerchief]

^^^ I agree -- parts of the world SHOULD be more or less uninhabitable, for dwarves at least.  Plus, the game already gives you very explicit and helpful warnings if you pick an area without water.  Players don't embark to uninhabitable areas unless they're trying to.

Although I don't think there's a need to actually forbid embark.  The warning is enough.

[TettyNullus]

Even in modern time periods water is not transported on large scale by any means other then pipes and aqueducts.  Having the wagon deliver barrels of water would be rather ridiculous considering the density of water and the amount that even a small community needs, the cost is just too high. 

I say just forbid embark in an area which lacks water.  An aquifer, steam or even murky pools count as water but if a none of these things is present the area should just be un-inhabitable because it ACTUALLY would be uninhabitable.  Also an improvement to how aquifers are represented in game (mostly part of the Underground diversity request) should allow aquifers to be almost universal (and not a total fortress ruining feature) which will satisfy the water requirement.

Following your arugment, it'd be then ridiculous to bring barrels of booze in first place and it's done in the game already all the time. Beside, barrelful of water'd also allow for better managment of isolated areas where it's likely to have dangerous water sources in first place ( Carp infestions anyone? ) or to make industrial processes move faster by stockpile placment of resources and careful managment. I say, have barrels of water, rather than nothing at all. It'd be important enough even if areas have water, it might be dangerous, not enough avaliable, or only seasonally avaliable or possibly even just too far from workshops to have it running as fast as it could be.

^^^ I agree -- parts of the world SHOULD be more or less uninhabitable, for dwarves at least.  Plus, the game already gives you very explicit and helpful warnings if you pick an area without water.  Players don't embark to uninhabitable areas unless they're trying to.

Although I don't think there's a need to actually forbid embark.  The warning is enough.

For those player, it'd be better to allow import/export of water resource, rather than simply cutting them off. Worldgens should follow what you said, but the players don't have to follow the worldgen, and the oppounities to actually survive should be present, otherwise it won't be fun in any way 

[JoshuaFH]

I say, if water becomes much more valuable in the future, i say then give me more ways to get it!

example 1: rain-catchers. it'd be like a workshop that catches rain in barrels. when it rains, it fills up the barrel a little bit every couple seconds, and when it's full, a dwarf will replace it with an empty one.  simple.

example 2: drink blood from animals. i've seen some african tribes on tv surviving off of water and the blood from cows and such. You just need a process of collecting blood from animals.

example 3: legitimate desalination plants. for oceans, pumping water through a corkscrew is sorta... weird. So lets create a water distillary. requires maybe a pipe section and some glass vials to build. how it'd work is like this, you put in a barrel of saltwater, and some charcoal or other fuel, and the the water is evaporated and recondensed into another barrel as fresh water.

example 4: service from the mountainhomes. instead of as a trade good, the king shows his appreciation for you by sending large parcels of water your way every season, and perhaps even constructing artificial rivers/aquaducts to your site if he likes you enough. of course this one is a farfetched one, and would probably require a couple more arcs to be done, but i'm leaving it out their.

[Granite26]

I don't have a problem limiting world development of races who need water to not include deserts.  I don't think you should force people not to embark there, just... if it doesn't have rain or pools or springs or rivers or whatnot, it warns you (just like the aquifer does)

[Impaler[WrG]]

If all we did now was require 1 barrel of water to make 1 barrel of alcohol then it would be possible just barely to support yourself entirely on water brought by wagon assuming that ~20 barrels is the most that can be brought in on each caravan.

BUT if the half dozen other fixes that need to be made such as watering plants to any significant degree go into effect then it becomes untenable to have any agriculture without domestic water supplies.  Agriculture has historically been the largest consumer of water, in area that need to be irrigated the necessary volume of water is measured in Acre-feet, an acre-foot it the water necessary to cover an acre of land a foot deep in water.  Multiply by hundreds or thousands of acres and that much water is not going to be brought in by wagon.  Cities have always been built in areas that have a water supply such as a river or aquifer and only cities have the resources to even build large aqueducts or water projects which only happen when a cities outgrows its original supply.

I suppose if your fortress is so profitable that it can trade for ALL its food and water needs without agricultural production of its own and the citizens neglect bathing then transporting all water in by wagon would be possible but one decent siege (enhanced siege AI needed) and your toast.