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[R1ck]

So we all know that power can be transferred from either a waterwheel or windmill to a water pump, but I wonder whether you could make it work it reverse. Could you hook up a dwarf-powered pump to a millstone and make it work? Has anyone tried it?

[TettyNullus]

Nope, don't work, I once accidentally deconstructed a waterwheel when a dwarf was grinding at a pump, didn't see any power output from it. ( only happened once, so I can't say for sure, but looks like nope to me )

[JoshuaFH]

that would be pretty awesome though, just imagine it, it would be like hamsters in hamster wheels generating power for the whole city.

[TettyNullus]

that would be pretty awesome though, just imagine it, it would be like hamsters in hamster wheels generating power for the whole city.

And give more purpose to the masses that most fortresses might have teeming and idling 

[Jisaan]

Actually, that would both make sense and be incredibly cool... Somebody should make a topic in the suggestion forum, if it hasn't already been done.

[Neoskel]

All that power is good for is pumps and millstones. You can get dwarves to manually pump and make querns instead of millstones to mill manually. Until there's new uses for power which can't be done manually, there's really no point to a dwarf powered power grid.

[TettyNullus]

All that power is good for is pumps and millstones. You can get dwarves to manually pump and make querns instead of millstones to mill manually. Until there's new uses for power which can't be done manually, there's really no point to a dwarf powered power grid.

What about megaprojects with remote equipments and you don't have water power, or just have too many dwarves and the economy's kicked in? And what if you don't want to expose your workmen to some dangers? And what if the only power source is the plebes you have? (IIRC, somewhere in the development schedule, there're animal power, so I expect there be dwarfpower somewhere )

[JoshuaFH]

All that power is good for is pumps and millstones. You can get dwarves to manually pump and make querns instead of millstones to mill manually. Until there's new uses for power which can't be done manually, there's really no point to a dwarf powered power grid.

If we had something that was the equivalent of a dwarf-capacitor... we wouldn't need CONSTANT pumping anymore.

daydreams heh?

[Magua]

All that power is good for is pumps and millstones. You can get dwarves to manually pump and make querns instead of millstones to mill manually. Until there's new uses for power which can't be done manually, there's really no point to a dwarf powered power grid.

You tell that to my underwater (or undermagma) pumps. =P

[scribbler]

What if you dam the river? You could pump manually and when you stop, the water stops. Or fill a cistern for a dwarf capacitor, use a spillway and it powers while you work and keeps a backup reserve. Or, use pressure plates to dump water in predetermined amounts if a certain quantity is needed to turn the wheel... This is assuming it might work... Water wheels only work in rivers/channeled brooks according to the wiki, but we know various features are remembered by the game. Pipes and ponds can refill but I doubt any amount of rain will fill a dwarf made reservoir. Since the wheel doesn't even need current it might not even notice if the river dries up.
Or get really fancy and hook up an activation gear on the water/wind wheels and hook it to pressure plates. Make the buggers crank to keep the power going.

[TettyNullus]

What if you dam the river? You could pump manually and when you stop, the water stops. Or fill a cistern for a dwarf capacitor, use a spillway and it powers while you work and keeps a backup reserve. Or, use pressure plates to dump water in predetermined amounts if a certain quantity is needed to turn the wheel... This is assuming it might work... Water wheels only work in rivers/channeled brooks according to the wiki, but we know various features are remembered by the game. Pipes and ponds can refill but I doubt any amount of rain will fill a dwarf made reservoir. Since the wheel doesn't even need current it might not even notice if the river dries up.
Or get really fancy and hook up an activation gear on the water/wind wheels and hook it to pressure plates. Make the buggers crank to keep the power going.

Actually, I've had quite a few waterwheels that's in completelly artifical enclousre and they still generate power, as long as water's running through them. And murky pool helps, just slow as heck since it might take a few rains to fill up.

[Jisaan]

Actually, what would probably make more sense is to change gear assemblies so that they could be powered by dwarves the same way screw pumps are. Might mean changing the 'Pump Operator' skill to something more generic though, like 'Machine Operator'.

As for the uses... It might not be necessary, but few things in this game are. It would add more options for ridiculous scenarios, which are always good. Scribbler makes a good point though, technically we can do this and much more wit a bit of excessive engineering.

Hmm... Does anyone know if you can operate screw pumps in adventure mode? I can just imagine the sort of dungeons we could make if so... First thing that comes to mind is a completely submerged fortress with a network of pumps, power, and pressure plates, all of which add up to a mechanism which allows an adventurer to drain the entire fort after a few minutes of pumping, while at the same time triggering a time delay reset sequence which gives you a few minutes to search through the dungeon for treasure.

[scribbler]

Scribbler makes a good point though, technically we can do this and much more wit a bit of excessive engineering.

I'm waiting for someone to teach their fortress tic-tac-toe still. I figured out basic 2 and 4 bit displays but I'm too lazy to do the cpu. %}

[Neoskel]

All that power is good for is pumps and millstones. You can get dwarves to manually pump and make querns instead of millstones to mill manually. Until there's new uses for power which can't be done manually, there's really no point to a dwarf powered power grid.

You tell that to my underwater (or undermagma) pumps. =P

Does that actually work?

[scribbler]

Have you seen the movie where Markavian pumps out the ocean and builds walls?
http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-301-underwaterwalling