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[Skorpion]

How fast do they spread?

I'm planning to dump magma onto pristine grassland to set off a huge forest fire. However, I don't want to roast the human and dwarven caravans. I mean, they bring me absolute crap nowadays, but the dwarves are DWARVES, and I kinda like the humans.
So, how fast will forest fires spread? Can I expect the ground around the fort to be ash in the first few minutes, or will I have to button up for a few seasons? Or even years?

[Stargrasper]

It burns pretty darn quickly...ask my seven dwarves who all burned to death when the volcano apparently erupted...or something...anyway, the entire map was consumed in flame(except the cave which I was building my fortress in and which my dwarves refused to return to), but the thing burnt out to ash pretty quickly afterward.  If I remember correctly, it spread out in a ring of fire around the origin source about ten tiles deep.  As the fire expands beyond that, the inner part of the ring burns out to ash.

Note: Grass burns...fire WILL consume the entire map.

[Skorpion]

Note: Grass burns...fire WILL consume the entire map.

That's what I want. My entire aim is to torch the map entirely, to get all the goblin trash laying around and improve my FPS.
Oh, and to give the elves a nasty shock when they turn up next. 'Okay, the TREES are mostly here, but the grass is gone... OHMYGODWHYISTHEDEPOTFLOODIglub'

[Stargrasper]

Sounds like a good plan.  Grass burns quickly.  Trees/shrubs burn slightly less quickly but still nearly as fast.  Just make sure that there's nothing flammable on the exterior of your fortress.  And if I remember correctly, fire WILL travel across z-levels along all those natural ramps.  Don't quote my on that last one, though.  I'm pretty sure it happened, but got yelled at last time I suggested it.

[Skorpion]

Will it leap Z-levels when it's NOT ramped?

Ah, to hell with it. I just need to trigger the whole system from indoors.

[Stargrasper]

Will it leap Z-levels when it's NOT ramped?

Ah, to hell with it. I just need to trigger the whole system from indoors.

I honestly don't know if it will leap z-levels without a ramp or other normal means of getting there.  You'll have to lets us know.

And good luck, I look forward to hearing the story about this.  Hope my words have been helpful to your endeavor.

[Haven]

It won't, I'm afraid. I had many, many imp-induced fires that never made their way up the slopes. I had actually just finished a system to try for lava-activated punishment when my game fell victim to a fatal error.

Armokspeed.

[Jim Groovester]

Let me clear up a few misconceptions.

Magma itself won't ignite grass. You'll need a source of fire. A piece of charcoal is easy to obtain, and it will ignite quickly when you pour magma on it. I recommend a controlled source of magma, like one 7/7 tile that will dump only 1/7 magma on the charcoal.

Brush fires will spread very quickly, and they'll burn everything they can in a few minutes. Any creature that passes through them will be unharmed. I've had an elf caravan walk through a wall of fire without igniting, much to my dissatisfaction. Likewise, I've dwarves haul things through the fire and they came out unharmed. Anything that tarries around in the fire will be burned to death, though, like goblins sieges. Or dwarves in a booze stockpile.

Brush fires will not spread z-levels. Ever.

[Scruga]

Someone stated trees and bushes will burn slower than grass. Not true, only bushes will burn trees won't.

[Skorpion]

Let me clear up a few misconceptions.

Magma itself won't ignite grass. You'll need a source of fire. A piece of charcoal is easy to obtain, and it will ignite quickly when you pour magma on it. I recommend a controlled source of magma, like one 7/7 tile that will dump only 1/7 magma on the charcoal.

Brush fires will spread very quickly, and they'll burn everything they can in a few minutes. Any creature that passes through them will be unharmed. I've had an elf caravan walk through a wall of fire without igniting, much to my dissatisfaction. Likewise, I've dwarves haul things through the fire and they came out unharmed. Anything that tarries around in the fire will be burned to death, though, like goblins sieges. Or dwarves in a booze stockpile.

Brush fires will not spread z-levels. Ever.

Thankyou!
Now to make a charcoal stockpile under the magma-dropper.

[Byakugan01]

Or just get a dragon, tame it, and then put a hostile nearby. The world burns, just make sure the dragon doesn't burn itself. Alternately, do you have any men or imps in your magma source?

[Skorpion]

No dragon. One fire imp, but the magma source is entirely underground.

And the magmaducts are nearly complete.

[Byakugan01]

Trap the imp (get it from above) and put it into a cage. give it a chained cat to attack, and a room it can only get out of by fireballing the cat. Enjoy.

[Skorpion]

I still prefer dumping magma everywhere.

[Byakugan01]

Do the words "imp-zooka: Magma cannon compatible" bring a smile to your face?