now that i've gotten alot of my game issues out of the way and gone through about 20 forts (and filled them with magma, i love the 'kill everyone' lever), i'm trying to build a fort without any 'exploits'. basically im trying to stick to things that should work instead of just what works easily but doesn't make sense. no more building a shaft over my refuse pile so it's "outdoors" permanently and then reflooring, gotta use grates instead. etc.
so i'm redesigning my auto-refilling well with a series of floodgate-locks instead of one instant-close door, and this time my fort is many Z levels below ground so the pressure's gonna be quite high.
but before i sink alot of time into it i just want to be clear on the way pressure-plate interacts with the delay on a floodgate.
my design (not to scale, and with bars/stairs ommitted for clarity):
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X1G~~~2G~~~3G~~
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
G= floodgate
1= pressure plate set to close it's adjacent gate when the water is 3 or above
2= plate set to 5+
3= plate set to 7
basically the water comes tearing in, gate 3 shuts almost immediately, then reopens as the water starts to spread further along, then reshuts, etc etc. basically the idea is to just mitigate the pressure so the well (over plate 1) doesn't flood for a few seconds every time the gate opens. I'm pretty sure it'll work (and it'll be fun to try) but it brings me to my main question (wow this is alot of (probably unnecessary) setup)
Will the switches always stay 'synced' up to their respective gate? i.e, if 0-6 = gate open to begin with, will it stay that way, even if it gets flicked on and off alot while the gate is going through it's delay? or is it possible for the gate to get 'flipped' in regards to it's trigger (0-6 now becomes closed and 7 = open), and get stuck open
the water is going to be sloshing around in there so each switch is likely to flicker on and off many times during the delay while it's gate is opening or closing. i'm not clear on how the switches work with regards to what they're hooked up to.
basically there are two ways the switch 'could' work:
a lightswitch hooked to a florescent lightbulb: no matter how fast you click the switch on and off, leaving it at off will always leave the bulb off
an on/off button on a tv remote: if you click it really fast, you might end up with the tv on, even if the last press would have been an 'Off'
++Bonus Question
What happens to the water on a floodgate/door tile when the gate closes on it? is it 'shoved' to either side, does it just vanish, does it remain on the tile but 'seep' out?