Is the spread visible in the VF pic on the way down? It seems that if you want it to be more efficient, a chute for the water would keep things in a 1x1 line up, maybe with a pump halfway to boost?
Or you could keep it open and try having some sort of midway station to boost it?
Regardless wouldn't be easy, but isn't that the point?
Or am I missing the point?
The pump would "reset" the pressure instead of boosting it. Water pressure is determined by the exit point of the last pump it touches. So the water should shoot up to the level of the last pump in the tower and no higher.
The question on if the spread is created by the falling water or if it's from the rising water is a good one though. I put the grates on the ground level to suck up the falling water, but if the geyser is formed because the water has no horizontal path... then those would be counter-productive and would need to be moved further away from the exit point.
I'd be willing to accept a perpetually flooded area below as you'd need a source of water and hovering a fort over a water source would be as acceptable as over dry land, IMHO. You could also setup a small collection area below the fort for water runoff. Or use one of the other methods of using an extreme jet to propel water above the fort to "rain down" through some wheels for power... then collect that water runoff to shoot back up.
I gotta start a few forts and try this out now.
Also, the "point" is to provide water to the fort without a chute, so that would invalidate the point.
Edit: Now you got me thinking about a support pillar being "in" the "water chute" for an almost totally isolated fort:
with water wheels at the top for fortress power
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