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[Sam Harrison]

I have a fortress with no magma but lots of water. I'm wishing to create a gigantic, map spanning expanse of water (like a water tower) several z-levels above the general "activity level" of the map. I've already built the pump tower system but have yet to make the tank. Basically what this would mean is that the dwarves would have a dwarfmade ocean above them, teetering on a few fragile supports.

I want to make some hatches at certain points and space them apart, connected with levers inside the fortress so I can open them sometimes and have waterfalls raining down upon the land when I so desire. Perhaps create a choke point where I can drown out sieges from the HEAVENS! (although magma from the sky would be more fun...)

Does this sound like something worth pursuing?

Question:
Can bridges hold in water? I'm considering using them for parts of the floor of this thing since they'd save a lot of stone.

[Heron TSG]

I THINK they can hold water, but a grid of floors and floorhatches would be more accurate.

[rickvoid]

I have absolutely nothing to say that can help you here, other than that this is fricken awesome.

You could have some parts of the bridge retract to create a "rainstorm" effect. 

[Sam Harrison]

I'm gonna build a little "demo" model before embarking on the grand model. Perhaps link a pressure plate to the ground so the dwarf steps on it and gets a sudden shower. Maybe have the hatch made out of soap so it's washed. All immigrants are being trained up as masons to keep this thing going; except for the original ones and a few farmers, fishers, and soldiers to be safe. I'm thinking perhaps 7 z-levels deep since I have 27 aboveground levels to work with. If I had magma, I could see the bottom being made out of glass so the dwarves look up and see water when they go outside but it seems all I have in abundance enough to do it with is mudstone and gabbro.

If fish live in this, I can imagine a little tower leading up through a hole so the dwarves can fish in it. There's something very wrong with the idea of going outside and up 20 flights of stairs to fish. I like that image.

[inaluct]

If fish live in this, I can imagine a little tower leading up through a hole so the dwarves can fish in it. There's something very wrong with the idea of going outside and up 20 flights of stairs to fish. I like that image.

I just had an awesomegasm.

Anyway, you should have a lever that all of the hatches are connected to. In case the normal, ordinary amount of flooding from the sky isn't enough. Also, you might want to surround the map in a tall, thick wall with multiple large floodgate doors around it's perimeter and a green glass tube fortress above ground inside the walls. That way, if the outside just seems screwed, you can have Dwarven Rapture.

[Derakon]

I'm almost certain you can support liquids with bridges, but fortunately it's easy to test.

I hope for your sake that you're ready to build a hell of a lot of perpetual motion machines; you're going to need a lot of pumping towers to get any kind of acceptable fill rate on a tank like that. Also remember that you'll have to build walls around the edges since you can't build right up to the edge of the map, which would mean leaving a gap in the floor.

I would recommend digging out the entirety of one underground floor and placing levers directly below the vents they control in the firmament. A bit harder to get dwarves there on time, but you'll have a much easier time of figuring out which lever to pull.

[Aldaris]

Bridges hold up water fine right up to when they are raised/retracted. At whcih poin they don't hold water up.

[Sam Harrison]

Hmm... I can see it now... "Retracting bridges and mass flooding? In MY fortress? It's more likely than you think."

My chief mason managed to collapse part of a pump tower (somehow, I'm not sure) and now has a broken head. Shoot.
After the main thing is built, I think I'll build a smaller, secondary fortress suspended above the firmament so the dwarves will eventually be able to completely ascend to the sky if they so desire. Possibly made of steel. I think that might be hard to farm in, though.

[Kishmond]

Make the stairway up through the water inside a tunnel of green glass. Or do you not have sand?

[NFossil]

Bridges are fine. I sometimes build water tanks above my drowning pit just in front of the gate, dropping 2 or 3 z-levels of water on enemies. In my last fort the tank was water/magma compatible.

[punkideas]

Having built a large water tower that held a few thousand squares of water about 10 z-levels above sea level, I should warn you that you will get hardcore slowdowns along with some other fun unintended effects due to water pressure when you have uncontrolled drainage of that kind of water.  Go for it (just be prepared to force kill in case it gets too slow)

[Shooer]

I use bridges to insta flood the entryway in some of my forts.

[Eagle]

Hmm... I can see it now... "Retracting bridges and mass flooding? In MY fortress? It's more likely than you think."

My chief mason managed to collapse part of a pump tower (somehow, I'm not sure) and now has a broken head. Shoot.
After the main thing is built, I think I'll build a smaller, secondary fortress suspended above the firmament so the dwarves will eventually be able to completely ascend to the sky if they so desire. Possibly made of steel. I think that might be hard to farm in, though.

What do you mean hard to farm? Just make a small platform one z above the firmament, equip it with a pump, and you have farms.

[Sam Harrison]

Ah, so I can farm on constructed floors? It seems odd to be able to farm on solid steel, but I'll give it a try once it's built. Right now I suppose I should continue focusing on getting the thing built then I can tinker with it before flooding.

There doesn't seem to be any sand, so I suppose I will put some gem windows in the stair column instead.

[RedWarrior0]

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