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[AncientEnemy]

Figured someone might find this useful, just a design for a simple device to send on/off messages over and over:

Code: [Select]

~~XXX XXX
~~XXXWXXX
~~CbB1BbX
~~CbB2BbX
~~XXXXXXX
~~XXXXXXX

~ Brook or River
X Wall
W Constructed wall (access during construction)
C channel these tiles from above after it's all set up

bB Bridge, raises to right
Bb Bridge, raises to left, hook this up to a lever and raise it before letting the river in
1 Pressure plate 7-7 linked to bB (and any devices you want to repeat)
2 Pressure plate 0-6 linked to Bb (and devices you want to repeat on an opposite cycle to 1)

once it's all set up, you connect it to the river.
- both pressure plates fill to 7/7
- bB raises and cuts it off from the river
- Bb lowers, crushing any water behind it, and lets the water on the plates drop below 7/7
- Bb raises again, crushes the water on it's raised tiles
- bB lowers, river flows in, cycle repeates

I've had this going for over a year now with no problems

- isn't susceptible to the 'splashing water screws up pressure plates' thing (i'm pretty sure) since when it's open to the river the water can only raise, and when it's open to the 'drain' side the water can only go down from 7/7
- doesn't require a drainage system since the second bridge smashes half the water in the room whenever it switches
- small, shouldn't affect FPS significantly since only a coulple tiles of water flow every couple seconds
- won't get gummed up by objects since the bridges will just smash them

optionally you could add another bridge or a couple floodgates to seal it off from the river so you can add/change what's hooked up to it after the initial setup.

Movie of it in operation here: http://mkv25.net/dfma/movie-1218-automaticswitch
I think the tiles look weird because I use a graphics pack, and the one in the video is oriented 90* versus my diagram here, but the idea is the same.

when you set it up, try to make it so your access tunnel is on the west or the north, i had to sacrifice a dwarf to build the wall closing it off (since I couldn't build a 'suspended wall' on top of the pressure plates so he wouldn't stand there)

If anyone else has neat little mechanical setups, post em here

[AncientEnemy]

I also finished my Micro Water Fall:

Code: (Z-1 (below)) [Select]

XXXXXX X walls
X+XXXX + floor
XXXXXX


Code: (Z 0 (mist comes out here)) [Select]

+++XXX
+o->+X open space, -> screwpump
+++XXX


Code: (Z+1) [Select]

XXX+++
Xo<-o+ <- hanging screwpump
XXX+++


Code: (Z+2 (optional windmill power)) [Select]

+mmm.. hanging windmill (or gears linking to another power source)
+mmm.. works on maps with weak wind too (only 20 total power needed)
+mmm..

just fill the 1x1 space on the bottom with 7/7 water (using buckets), and build the windmill (or hook it up to another power source. one 7/7 tile cycling through the system will last for months (possibly years) before it evaporates, and still produces quite alot of mist. since there's never more than enough water to fill 1 tile in the system, it can't overflow, or in my testing even muddy any of the floors around it. I prefer -not- to build a grate over the open space, so A) there's no mud in the middle and B) dwarves won't bother me with 'xxx cancelled; dangerous terrain'

[Walliard]

when you set it up, try to make it so your access tunnel is on the west or the north, i had to sacrifice a dwarf to build the wall closing it off (since I couldn't build a 'suspended wall' on top of the pressure plates so he wouldn't stand there)

That's why I use locked doors for these sorts of things. Much less micromanagement. Still a nifty design, though.

[AncientEnemy]

That's why I use locked doors for these sorts of things. Much less micromanagement. Still a nifty design, though.

right, right. I'm so used to dealing with magma (where an open door = doom) I forget about using doors for this sort of thing

[AncientEnemy]

made a cross section diagram of my waterfall, dunno if it's clear enough though:

[Jim Groovester]

Those designs are pretty ingenious. The bridge repeater thing, especially. That's a lot less complicated than some of the other repeater designs out there.

[AncientEnemy]

no one wants to share their cool designs?

[Musluk]

Mine aren't cool enough

[Coaldiamond]

Well, since the OP wants to see mechanical designs, my former fortress of Waterguards was built to test my idea for an automated drowning chamber. I even made a video of its ambush. The first test didn't go too well, but the chamber worked.

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-4406-waterguards

The above link has a ton of POIs explaining the design. In any case, another player took inspiration and built a more reliable drowning chamber by rearranging the mechanisms into a horizontal configuration.

[Randominality]

When i finish my auto goblin incineration device ill post my fortress. But it isnt anything massiveley spectacular.

[Hagadorn]

Does it innvolve Magma?

then its awesome.

Does it innvolve Booze?

then its MORE awesome.

Does it innvolve a living creature?

Then its MORE DOUBLY awesome.

Does it innvolve water?

then its MORE DOUBLY awesomeLY COOL.

[Puck]

Well, I posted it someplace else, but I have a somewhat useful repeater/alternator with a much much slower cycle time but also a lot less CPU usage 

PCP (who's old enough to find that funny?)

Pressure plate, chain, pressure plate. All in a 3x1 room, accessible by a door locked for pets. chain one animal up. the animal will keep either one of the things linked to the plates active, or none. You could build that thing for 1-8 things you want to activate. One state, however is always "activate nothing". Make sure the animal you use is male, if possible.

But since pressure plates do work with cititzens again (they didnt register dwarves for a few versions, when I started playing) you could just put one in a well frequented area to get a quickndirtycheap fast repeater.

Other things I'm proud of are my 7 level waterfall dining rooms. Usually only 2-3 levels of falling water, the upper levels are used for the pipes that spread the water input across the room, usually to 8 seperate waterfalls. The pipes are carved out of the dining hall, so you can see they are there, fully engraved. But that's nothing fancy or overly smart, just patience and some dedication.

I finally got my automatic waste disposal to work properly, using the animal alternator and a reservoir, but I opted for not using it (after I'Ve been fiddling around for so long  ) since it tends to kill the framerate, with all that flowing water, bridge smashing, and quick opening and closing of several floodgates between the garbage room and the river...

[Randominality]

Does it innvolve Magma?

then its awesome.

Does it innvolve Booze?

then its MORE awesome.

Does it innvolve a living creature?

Then its MORE DOUBLY awesome.

Does it innvolve water?

then its MORE DOUBLY awesomeLY COOL.

Unfortunately it only involves magma and possibly water if you include the obsidain farm the waste magma is fed into.
However in a more elaborate version on a different fort which i never got round to finishing, living creatures and repeater mechanisms are involved.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

My waterfalls are pants-on-head-retardedly simple.
Often it's just a re-routed cave river that loops back to the chasm, or even a surface river into a cavern.
If i have to use mechanics, it generally works quite well(read: Not badly enough to kill people)

[Puck]

Seriously... everything that involves lots and lots of mechanics and tinkering around is usually the main reason...

...I always keep coming back to dwarf fortress.
...my forts are always doomed from the start because I overlooked one simple detail.
...my framerate starts to crawl, hence I should just not do it, but I can't just not do it, and so I do it. And shortly thereafter,
...everybody dies.