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[Heliomance]

I just had the twinklings of an idea for a megaproject on a scale never before seen, and I thought I'd discuss it here to gain insight into how possible it would be, and what to do with it.

As all good megaprojects should, it involves magma. The idea I had is to embark over a magma pipe, redirect the magma to the edge of the map and abandon. Reembark on the same map, find the artificial magma river, and extend it. Repeat with every source of magma in the world until you have a massive central reservoir of magmathat draws from every extant source.

My question to you is, what to do with that much magma?

[Muz]

Ohhh... I know! Dump it into the ocean!

[Ralith]

Giant Aqueduct with bauxite floodgates/mechanisms that allow you to dump loads of magma into the ocean at once, then go harvest it and begin anew.

[Lord Dakoth]

Ohhh... I know! Dump it into the ocean!

F*** that.
Dump it on the elves.
ALL OF THEM.

[Sukasa]

Unfortunately, since you can`t dig all the way to the edge of the map (1-tile off), this won`t work.
 

[Lexender]

And you can't partly reclaim a site. It's all or nothing.

[Igfig]

I was actually thinking a while ago about how to make something like that work.  I think the trick is to set it up so you can do the final step in Adventurer mode, which will let you get past the edge-of-the-map problem.

I think what to do is build the big aqueduct right up as near to the edge as possible, so there's only a 2-square space at the edge of the square.  Then mod an adventurer with a really heavy ITEMCORPSE (neutronium statues or whatever), have four of them stand in the spaces on either side, and have them suicide.  It should look something like:

Code: [Select]

......,,,,,,
......,,,,,,
=====AA=====
......,,,,,,
......,,,,,,
=====AA=====
......,,,,,,
......,,,,,,

where the periods are one site, the commas are the other, and the A's are the adventurer corpses.

Now, if I remember correctly how fluids work, the statues should block any magma from getting out.  Have a fifth adventurer open the floodgates, and I think you should have a multi-site river of magma.

Hmm... I may actually have to try this if you don't.

[Untelligent]

Statues don't block magma unless you use them to build statues.

[Lexender]

Could you use water and magma to create an obsidian wall at the edge of the map?

[Igfig]

Yeah, just checked the blocking and you're right about statues.  Never mind.

Okay, so yeah the best bet is water+lava.  The big question is of course, how can we put sides on the aqueduct without walling off the channel to the point of impassability?

I'm going to try a prototype.

[Eduren]

Cant you overlap embark sites? Wouldn't that work?

[Igfig]

Fraid not.  The only way to get land that was claimed by an earlier fortress is to reclaim.

Also, discovered a minor problem: it's actually not possible to build within five squares of the edge if you're outside. It's still possible to dig up to one away, though, and build stuff underground there, so we'll just have to use the lay of the land to our advantage.

[Ampersand]

How about this.

There are some areas that have a small lakes or ponds at the confluence of several rivers. Why not dam up all of the brooks and rivers near the source, and fill the remaining empty channels with magma?

[Igfig]

Hey, that's a really good idea.

I made an important discovery: screw pumps disassemble when you abandon a fortress.  Any lava flow we use will have to rely entirely on gravity.

[Heliomance]

Can magma flow through fortifications? And if so, is it possible to smooth and fortify the edge tiles?