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[Therosfire]

Okay so I have a map with 17z levels of very steep cliff. Up ramp touching down ramp practically the entire way up. I was wondering what the best way to flatten that out and make it a sheer cliff would be.

I'm thinking probably remove ramp, then upramping the next level, tedious but effective. Any other thoughts? I was going to put windows in it and make defensive towers leading off it, held in the air. Plus there would be a tomb for my original 7, attempting to shape it into a face using walls and test the view using 3d viewer, and when they all died and were placed inside, I would seal it and flood it with Magma.

[TheDJ17]

Make sure that your Dwarves don't get stuck on the cliff.

[Therosfire]

Ya thats the only worry I have about doing it that way. I may have to throw a couple of stairways up there just to be safe.

[Mount]

Channeling out all tiles touching an up-ramp makes the ramp disappear too..  so: 

Code: [Select]

#####
#####
AA+AA
.AAA.
Channeling out the + would result in:

Code: [Select]

#####
#####
AA.AA
.....
So, basically..  you can just pick a line at the very top of the cliff-to-be, channel it out, then channel every layer under that, down to ground level.  If you do it top-down, one layer at a time,  the miner that digs out the last tagged tile can be standing on it, and fall harmlessly down one level. 

[timmeh]

Ya thats the only worry I have about doing it that way. I may have to throw a couple of stairways up there just to be safe.

This would be the safest method, using the stairs like scaffolding.  On the other hand, maybe the dwarfiest (is that even a word?) way would be to dig out the layer behind the current edge and just collapse the front, to give you a sheer cliff-face...

[Guy Montag]

Yeah, channel it out in the shape you want, mine the bottom level, attach to a support, or a single constructed floor and, BOOM. Let gravity and mass do the work for you.

I did something like this to create a -15z level chasm with sheer edges and it worked great.

[Duke 2.0]

Designate the top level to be carved out as ramps. Continue down for every level that way until you reach the bottom.

 It's like channeling, only dwarves can exit the holes and islands they make.

[Exponent]

You could just designate the top layer for turning into ramps.  Should only be one tile wide.  Once that is complete, designate the next layer below (should be two tiles wide).  Then the next layer (three tiles wide) and so on until you've finished the lowest level.  Then remove all the ramps at the bottom and you're done.

Here are some side-view diagrams:

X = solid wall
\ = ramp
R = solid wall designated for digging into a ramp

Initial State:

Code: [Select]

X\
XR\
XXX\
XXXX\
XXXXX\
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Second State:

Code: [Select]

X
X\
XRR\
XXXX\
XXXXX\
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Third State:

Code: [Select]

X
X
X\
XRRR\
XXXXX\
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Fourth State:

Code: [Select]

X
X
X
X\
XRRRR\
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Fifth State:

Code: [Select]

X
X
X
X
X\
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Final State (after removing remaining ramps):

Code: [Select]

X
X
X
X
X
XXXXXXXXXXXX
[edit]What Duke said, with diagrams added.[/edit]

[Therosfire]

Okay, so the way I was planning to do it is the easiest way to go. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

[Stromko]

I've done something similar before, although I was digging a graduated canyon out of a mountain. The first thing I found out is that digging up-ramps is processor intensive and lags the whole thing down immensely. Also when you're dealing with the cliff face, there'll be the occasional collapse as precipices / peninsulas become detached. Finding each one and removing that piece with a channel would work, but took a lot of time and attention.

Ultimately the least difficult, least messy way to reshape the mountain was with controlled collapses. That way every part of the cliff face would be supported until the last moment. I'd start by simply mining out the whole area that I want to get rid of, placing a support attached to a lever in a safe spot, then channeling out all the ceilings and other supporting materials.

If you remove any earth with up-ramps, and there's scattered up-ramps remaining after all the surrounding rock has been removed, be sure to remove them manually while your dwarves can still reach the area. I had a bunch of floating ramps left in thin air after one collapse, and I couldn't do anything to get rid of them.

[Maggarg - Eater of chicke]

Make a face out of the cliff.
Now.

[Aldaris]

Make a face out of the cliff.
Now.

Mount Uristmore...
This has to be done.

[salttotart]

Make a face out of the cliff.
Now.

Mount Uristmore...
This has to be done.

I would be overtly impressed since there is no real way to check yourself as you go.  I would love to see the finished product in 3-D though.

[Albedo]

It might be an idea to build in a couple of narrow-ish "ledges", and route traffic out there and then back in to avoid cave adaptation.  It would also save time on channeling out every last tile below there.  Kinda cool to have walkways up that high too, where nothing but flying critters could worry them.

But if your goal is a vertical plane, then nm.

[MiamiBryce]

On the bottom most level you want to clear, designate steps up.  All levels above that designate up/down stairs.  you may need to designate some down stairs on some of the surface squares to facilitate movement.  after all the stairs have been dug, you can designate channel level by level w/out worry of cave-in because the up stairs hold the next level up (also they channel from below so you dont have to worry about reaching from the side.  when all you've left is a layer of stair-ups, just z them off and you should be good.