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[Brodiggan]

Part II: The First Aquifer Level

Time to start digging very, very carefully. Now that all four pumps are running you should see something like this on the first aquifer level:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Code: [Select]

ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
ooooooooo
o~oo.oooo
ooo.X.ooo
oooo.oo~o
ooooooooo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


The squares I've marked as being open space may show flickering water from time to time, but as long as the pumps are running above, should stay at 1/7 - 2/7 depth, and shouldn't interrupt your miners while they're working. The first step in mining through this aquifer level is to channel 8 tiles away around the work area, like this:

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oooHHoooo
o~oo.oHoo
ooH.X.Hoo
ooHo.oo~o
ooooHHooo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


Once that's done, you can safely mine out the 4 diagonal tiles adjacent to the stairs:

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oooHHoooo
o~o...Hoo
ooH.X.Hoo
ooH...o~o
ooooHHooo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


And channel out 4 more tiles, extending the trenches you've already dug like so...

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
ooHHHoHoo
o~o...Hoo
ooH.X.Hoo
ooH...o~o
ooHoHHHoo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


Now this next part seems to be the mildly dangerous one. One at a time, digg out the remaining tiles bordering the central stairs area and immediately channel out the square behind each, the square below where each pump drains. With these squares cut away you'll get a fairly blinding wash of mist, but you'll have finished making this level of the aquifer water tight. At this point you should have:

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
oooooHooo
ooHHH.Hoo
oH....Hoo
ooH.X.Hoo
ooH....Ho
ooH.HHHoo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


With the aquifer level now watertight, the cleared space around the stairs should begin drying slowly. Now that the pumps are no longer needed, dismantle the 4 pumps adjacent to the stairs above, as well as the horizontal axles between them, and cut a single channel at the end of the axle leading to the waterwheel (where the light square on the screw pump was prior to dismantling it). Place a gear assembly over this channel and you should end up with something like this:

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.........
.........
.H<@H....
.HWWW....
...|.....
...|.H...
...|.....
.H.*H....
...HXH...
....H..H.
.........
...H.....
.........


If you have no stone whatsoever you can use a screw pump instead of a gear assembly, in either case you may have to floor over one of the channels adjacent to the stairs to give your dwarves a place to work. If you are using a screw pump to transfer power, be careful placing it, if it's in the same position as the original pump but reversed in direction, you'll flood the level below. If it's in the same position but reversed and you've floored over the tile at it's exit, it will begin flooding the level ABOVE the aquifer. The safest position is to place it at the end of the axle, running in the same direction, with no open input or output, preventing it from doing anything but transferring power to the pumps below.

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.........
.........
.H<@H....
.HWWW....
...|.....
...|.H...
...|.....
.H.@H....
...VXH...
....H..H.
.........
...H.....
.........


On the first aquifer level, begin by walling off the 12 channeled tiles nearest the stairs, like so:

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
oooooHooo
oo###.#oo
oH....#oo
oo#.X.#oo
oo#....Ho
oo#.###oo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


Next, cut 4 channels adjacent to the stairs, north, south, east and west, and rebuild 4 screw pumps in the same positions as they were originally in on the level above:

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
oooooHooo
oo###^#oo
oH<@H@#oo
oo#HXH#oo
oo#@H@>Ho
oo#v###oo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


At this point, only one of the pumps should be running, so build 3 horizontal axles connecting the other pumps, again, in the same positions as you used previously.

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
oooooHooo
oo###^#oo
oH<@-@#oo
oo#|XH#oo
oo#@-@>Ho
oo#v###oo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


Congrats, you're ready to move on to the next aquifer level now. Cut a set of stairs down into the next level and you should have the following on each level:

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Above     Aquifer 1 Aquifer 2
......... ooooooooo ooooooooo
......... ooooooooo ooooooooo
.H<@H.... o~oo~oooo ooooooooo
.HWWW.... o~~~~oooo ooooooooo
...|..... ooooooooo ooooooooo
...|.H... oooooHooo ooooo~ooo
...|..... oo###^#oo oo~~~o~oo
.H.*H.... oH<@-@#oo o~oo.o~oo
...HXH... oo#|XH#oo oo~.X.~oo
....H..H. oo#@-@>Ho oo~o.oo~o
......... oo#v###oo oo~o~~~oo
...H..... oooHooooo ooo~ooooo
......... ooooooooo ooooooooo


More to come in Part III: Deeper Aquifer Levels...

[Brodiggan]

Part III: Deeper Aquifer Levels

The aquifer levels after the first follow the same basic design, but require a little more care. Starting from this:

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ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oo~~~o~oo
o~oo.o~oo
oo~.X.~oo
oo~o.oo~o
oo~o~~~oo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


Cut out the same 8 channels, extending out from the clear areas near the stairs, in the same pattern used on the first level. At this point, the pumps will be struggling to keep up, and your dwarves may repeatedly postpone their work due to dangerous terrain, don't worry though, this part should be safe, just nerve wracking.

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ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oo~HHo~oo
o~oo.oHoo
ooH.X.Hoo
ooHo.oo~o
oo~oHH~oo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


Once that's done, mine out the 4 tiles diagonal from the stairs. Then one at a time channel out one more tile at the end of each trench. Channeling these 4 tiles is particularly delicate, be sure that all 12 walls are in place on the level above, and do each tile individually or you may lose a dwarf in on of the open channels. For safety, designate 4 ramps on the level below, one on each side of the staircase and adjacent to it, to the north, south, east and west. If a dwarf is swept into one of the open channels, the ramps should allow the dwarf to walk back up out of the aquifer without excessive injury. ((First two tests this worked great, but the third time the currents are inexplicably stronger, preventing the dwarves from working, trying different scenarios/designs now to determine why.)) When you're finished, you should have the following (/ represent Ramps):

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ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
ooHHHoHoo
o~o./.Hoo
ooH/X/Hoo
ooH./.o~o
ooHoHHHoo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


Again, use the same basic steps as the level above, mine out each tile bordering the central stairs area and immediately channel the tile behind it. Once this is complete you're safe, and you can begin moving down the pumps from above. At this point you should have the following:

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ooooooooo
oooooHooo
ooHHH.Hoo
oH../.Hoo
ooH/X/Hoo
ooH./..Ho
ooH.HHHoo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


Follow all the same steps for moving the pumps down, with a few changes. First, after the pumps are removed on the previous aquifer level, wall in the "output tile" they were pumping into, or you'll get too much water flowing into the next level you're attempting to dig out, and may lose miners. Second, where you placed a gear assembly on the level above the aquifer, simply build a vertical axle on each level of the aquifer. In the end, you should have the following on the first aquifer level (where the \ represents a vertical axle):

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ooooooooo
ooooooooo
o~oo~oooo
o~~~~oooo
ooooooooo
ooooo#ooo
oo###.#oo
o#.\/.#oo
oo#/X/#oo
oo#./..#o
oo#.###oo
ooo#ooooo
ooooooooo


And this on the second...

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ooooooooo
oooooHooo
oo###^#oo
oH<@-@#oo
oo#|X/#oo
oo#@-@>Ho
oo#v###oo
oooHooooo
ooooooooo


Simply repeat these steps for each level of the Aquifer. On the last level of the aquifer, you can simply wall off the 4 squares adjacent to the stairs, and proceed down, digging out at least one extra level under the aquifer before spreading out. (If you begin digging out directly under the aquifer, you may flood everything below, so leave that level untouched.)

[Brodiggan]

If anyone else would like to add that to the wiki, please feel free, after typing it all up and testing it I'm a little too brain dead and fried to handle reformatting it again.

[Elliott_Thinas]

Brilliant work Brodiggan I'm putting this page into my bookmarks and look forward to finally punching through that aquifer.

[Brodiggan]

Thanks! And sorry my first post was less than perfect, still hammering out details as I go I guess. Still, it's getting better and better. For Science, Strike the Earth!

[Elliott_Thinas]

I just have one last problem. When I reach a non-aquifer tile, it still manages to get slowly flooded because although the pumps work very well, they still allow tiny amounts of water to squeeze by and after 7 of those amounts make it they flood my new stairwell. Obviously if I know where the last aquifer level is in advance I can hold off building my stairwell until the walls are done, but this is not realistically possible unless I've already messed up an aquifer building. What can I do to prevent/unflood?

[Brodiggan]

I just have one last problem. When I reach a non-aquifer tile, it still manages to get slowly flooded because although the pumps work very well, they still allow tiny amounts of water to squeeze by and after 7 of those amounts make it they flood my new stairwell. Obviously if I know where the last aquifer level is in advance I can hold off building my stairwell until the walls are done, but this is not realistically possible unless I've already messed up an aquifer building. What can I do to prevent/unflood?

Hmmm... well, the easiest way would probably just be to carve out the bottom aquifer level like each of the other levels (instead of just walling off the 4 tiles adjacent to the stairs). Then at the end, instead of digging a channel on each tile N/S/E/W of the stairs, just build a pump and pump out the stairwell.

Since room is a bit tight on each aquifer level you may have to cut out on channel adjacent to the stairs and use that to pump them out just long enough to build a wall, like this:

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Aquifer   Dry(ish)
ooooooooo ooooooooo
oooooHooo ooooo~ooo
oo###.#oo oo~~~o~oo
oH....#oo o~oooo~oo
oo#.X.#oo oo~oXo~oo
oo#.H@>Ho oo~o#oo~o
oo#.###oo oo~o~~~oo
oooHooooo ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo ooooooooo


To prevent this sort of thing, I should probably look at maybe carving the stairs down to the next level later in the process. Since you can't really build on the first non-aquifer level anyways (you just get flooded from above), I guess there's really not much of a downside for cutting out the full pattern on the last aquifer level as well.

[Elliott_Thinas]

Yeah after the thing was flooded I tried treating it like a normal aquifer level but the problem was that without an aquifer level below the channels I carved would not accept the water but instead filled up. My poor dwarves are going to have to start their 3rd aquifer piercing attempt now that they know when the aquifer ends.

[Brodiggan]

Ouch, good point, I hadn't considered that. Ah, hmmm.... I guess the only good answer is to not designate the stairway for the next level until the current level is done. I'll change the guide appropriately. I still feel like there should be an answer using a screw pump, but I'm too foggy from work to figure it out at the moment. 

Edit: Actually.. other than looking at the rock type (and even that isn't always certain) I'm not exactly certain how you'd know you were on the bottom aquifer level other than drilling down twice. I'll see if I can think of something clever for testing that you're on the last level and clearing the stairs.

[Brodiggan]

Ah! Got it, a bit of dinner and some coffee and some TV (and maybe some loafing around building my fort) it was obvious.

Immediately after breaching each new aquifer level you'll have the following:

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ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oo~~~o~oo
o~oo.o~oo
oo~.X.~oo
oo~o.oo~o
oo~o~~~oo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


With the pumps running, and before digging out any channels or stairs into the level below, build four walls adjacent to the stairs, like this:

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ooooooooo
ooooo~ooo
oo~~~o~oo
o~oo#o~oo
oo~#X#~oo
oo~o#oo~o
oo~o~~~oo
ooo~ooooo
ooooooooo


The wall construction may be suspended a couple times because of momentary blips in the water depth, but be persistent and your dwarves will eventually finish all four. Once those are in place, you should only have 1 or 2 water lingering on the stairs, and no more flowing in from the sides. Designate the stairwell on the next level and wait just a moment. If it fills to 7/7 you know the next level is an aquifer, and you need to remove the walls, then proceed with the usual steps. If it stays at 1/7 or 2/7, then the next level is the first dry level, simply leave your walls in place, and continue down. Viola.

[Elliott_Thinas]

Alright, I'll ensure this is put into action on my next attempt at a breach. I think you've finally perfected your aquifer breaking method and me and my surviving dwarves give our thanks. Very nice work.

[ChairmanPoo]

PROTIP: if you have a large enough workforce, you don't have to use automated pumping systems.

[Quatch]

Then I sent my slaves dwarves in to smooth the walls of the aquifer, which nullifies it.

AAAAAaaaugh. *headdesk*

Smoothed walls stop it? *sigh*. I used a huge inverse-pyramid open pit mine with banks of pumps going to get a clear zone to build walls. It took ages to get past the cancellation spam.

[Brodiggan]

PROTIP: if you have a large enough workforce, you don't have to use automated pumping systems.

True. Of course, the method I posted above works just fine with whatever power system you choose including a large workforce, I just used the example of a waterwheel because it's the one power supply I could guarantee was available and reliable. (Some maps have no wind, handpumping can get your miners killed if someone decides to take a break, but if you have an aquifer, you've always got the option to use waterwheels).

Take out the power system part, and all you really have is a reasonably efficient way of using a small amount of space to breach multiple aquifers. Cave ins only work on one or two levels, ice can take you several years if you have to breach more than one aquifer, and traditional pump methods (hand pumped or otherwise) start taking up waaaaaayyy too much space if you have to pierce more than one level. Cutting through 3 aquifer levels with a traditional open pit and pumps method, for instance, would require you to cut out a 13x13 block on the top floor, and line the edges with way too many pumps.

Using magma isn't half bad though, breaching 3 aquifer levels would require just a 5x5 cutout on the top floor, but the construction costs for getting magma into place safely can be painful, especially for a fortress that may have no access to new stone (other than obsidian, obviously) until after the aquifer is breached.

[Brodiggan]

AAAAAaaaugh. *headdesk*

Smoothed walls stop it? *sigh*. I used a huge inverse-pyramid open pit mine with banks of pumps going to get a clear zone to build walls. It took ages to get past the cancellation spam.

Smoothed walls do indeed stop it, just remember you can't smooth dirt, loam, peat, sand, clay, or silt so this may not work on every level of every aquifer.