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[SimRobert2001]

Allright, i KNOW i have an underground river somewhere on my map, and i even know the general area. is there an easy way to find it? I have a champion who just got injured fighting a skeletal eagle, and i really don't want him to die of thirst any time soon. is there an easy way i can try and find it?

Note: yes, i'm sure its a river. it was revealed to me on the embark screen, right in one of teh corners, past the chasm. i already checked along the bottom of the map to make sure that it wasnt' emptying out of the bottom of the screen, and i found nothing.  what else can i do?

[kotekzot]

supposedly the trade depot access screen can reveal hidden underground features. haven't tried it myself though. if that fails there's always reveal.

[Neruz]

Easiest way is to go into the approximate area you know it should be in and dig a series of tunnels 2 z levels apart (so tunnel, rock, rock, tunnel, rock, rock etc) throughout the area; you'll eventually either find Damp Stone (you're 1 z level below it or on the same z level as the water) or you'll break through.

If you have 2 or more embark tiles worth of river (on the local map when you embarked) then you know approximately which direction the river is going in and you can dig intersecting tunnels instead of having to dig everywhere; ex; if i have an underground river that covers 3 embark tiles east-to-west i know that it will be travelling east to west, so i head to where i suspect the middle is and dig a series of north\south tunnels in the pattern above.


If all else fails, you can try save scumming and using Reveal. Generally if you paid attention to the embark map though it's not neccessary.

Also look up the 'Exploratory Digging' page on the Wiki for more info on how to find stuff.

[Albedo]

Easiest way is to go into the approximate area you know it should be in and dig a series of tunnels 2 z levels apart

Yeah, I disagree.

First, the "easiest way" is to have made a note of exactly where it is on your local map pre-embark.  If you have an idea about where it comes from, then you can dig 4 shafts down at 12 tile intervals across that area block boundary - only need to go down maybe a half-dozen z-levels, rivers are rarely very deep.

If those 4 don't pan out (meh, 75% they will), then dig between them, creating exploratory shafts at 6-tile intervals.  You'll find it.

(If it's only on one corner tile, you don't know if it's coming in from the top/bottom or the side - you'll have to dig both out.)

[Neruz]

Easiest way is to go into the approximate area you know it should be in and dig a series of tunnels 2 z levels apart

Yeah, I disagree.

First, the "easiest way" is to have made a note of exactly where it is on your local map pre-embark.  If you have an idea about where it comes from, then you can dig 4 shafts down at 12 tile intervals across that area block boundary - only need to go down maybe a half-dozen z-levels, rivers are rarely very deep.

If those 4 don't pan out (meh, 75% they will), then dig between them, creating exploratory shafts at 6-tile intervals.  You'll find it.

(If it's only on one corner tile, you don't know if it's coming in from the top/bottom or the side - you'll have to dig both out.)

Um, that works fine for pools, but rivers are usually only 4 tiles wide; you've got a very good chance of missing it if you only do vertical shafts.

Running tunnels perpendicular to the river's direction through the embark tile the way i said guarantees that you will find it, no matter where it is.

Also i've found underground rivers 4 z levels above the bottom before; in fact most of the underground rivers i've found tend to be fairly deep.

[Albedo]

Um, that works fine for pools, but rivers are usually only 4 tiles wide; you've got a very good chance of missing it if you only do vertical shafts.

Neruz - pools are entirely diff. You only need to dig one shaft in the middle of the area block - you find it, done deal.

UG Rivers are 3-5 tiles wide PLUS the "damp stone" at the edges - which means that ~if~ they run perfectly perpendicular to the edge, you still have something like a 70% chance to hit it at a 12 tile spacing - and more if they run at any angle. (You only need to dig next to the damp stone.)

A tunnel could be 30-40 tiles long, and you need more than one on diff z-levels - let's say 2 at an average of 23 tiles = 46 tiles dug.

An average of 6 shafts (generously assuming on average that none of the first 4 shafts hit, and not until the second of the secondary ones does) at 6 tiles deep is 36 tiles to dig out - ftw.

[Jim Groovester]

Dig tunnels perpendicular to the way you think it may be flowing every three levels. Either you'll break into it or get a damp stone warning. Expand the tunnels if you don't immediately find it.

[SquidDNA]

As others have said, dig an ever-tightening grid of corridors on every other level in the general area you remember the embark telling you it was in (or on the whole map if you don't remember.) Here's a thing, though, and this saved me one seaon-- keep an eye out for cave spiders or olms. Little white dots in your corridors. That means you're close enough to kiss it. (Same for fire snakes and magma.)

[ronin]

This might be an exploit, but I found one on my map with the stocks screen.  I didn't know I had an underground river, but I noticed "frog man bones" on my stocks screen and I had no idea what that was referring to, so I hit z for "zoom" and it put my at a point about 12 z levels below the surface where I had never been.  Tunnel tunnel tunnel, "Hey guys there's a river here!"

Good luck on finding your river.  :-)

[Lord_Shadow]

dig out the entire lowest z level. Cave rivers fall into a bottom pit, you will see it in the bottom of your fortress.

[Derakon]

Lord Shadow: That only happens if you have the end of the river in your embark zone, which is fairly unlikely if you're going for a small embark that has lots of features. Different story if you're going for a 6x6 embark zone, of course.

[Leafsnail]

If you just ring around the particular square, you're guarenteed to find it.  Plus, when you hit it, you get a nice deep moat.

[Albedo]

Or excavate the entire area block with channels, that'll work too.

[zchris13]

Ah, the good old hollow out the world.  My favorite.  Convenient with the collapse the world trick.

[Neruz]

Hmm.

Underground rivers start with a waterfall from nowhere and fall into a bottomless pit.


What would happen if you got the start and end points of a river on the same map and then collapsed the whole thing?