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[Kanddak]

I like the ramps-in-rivers concept. The current rivers are pretty weird.
Serious rivers should have multiple z-levels of depth.

I'd also like to see the Fortress Guard take a hand in jumping into rivers to rescue drowning dwarves, if only for the hilarious consequences when the whole Guard are killed by carp.

[HAMMERMILL]

Well, it makes sense but drowning would almost never be a problem if Carp were not so vicious and dwarves didn't try to fight them by leaping into the water to wrestle the fish to death.

[HatfieldCW]

Maybe dwarfs like swimming.  You could designate a swimming zone, and they'd go there in their spare time to do a few laps.  They level up, they get a nice thought.  Have a special one just for nobles.  Very special.

[Derakon]

Some dwarves could like swimming. Having various special activity zones for dwarves with appropriate temperaments would be nice -- pools, gardens, statuary, galleries, zoos, markets, and so on. Several of those are already in the game but appeal to any dwarf who stops by; only the zoo currently provides good thoughts based solely on the dwarf's preferences.

[Eidalac]

Well, it makes sense but drowning would almost never be a problem if Carp were not so vicious and dwarves didn't try to fight them by leaping into the water to wrestle the fish to death.

Not really.

Carp have the CAN_LATCH tag, so they are able to pull dwarves into the water from the land.  I modded this tag out of most fish in my game, after my whole military was pulled under by a pair of carp after killing my first siege.  The carp died in the end, but all the dwarves drowned before I could dig some ramps.

But, yeah, I can kinda see dwarves being bad swimmers in general, but I agree that most bodies of water should have ramps to represent the banks, so it's not always an instant death situation.

I'd also say that, unless you are both legendary in swimming and have huge stats in toughness and strength, there should be no way to swim without dropping hauled items.  Wearing armor should also be deadly if you don't have both a high swim and high armor use.

Just think of this Fun:  Military dwarf gets knocked into the river by a goblin and is forced to drop the Artifact weapon in order to get out.  If you want it back, you have to drain the river.  Now think if rivers had multiple z-levels too. 

[Candlejack]

He wouldn't drop his artifact weapon, he would drown.

[Sensei]

I dunno, you can swim in adventure mode with a 300kilo backpack and a pair of giant, serrated discs and plate armor.

If we're going to make carried things drop upon swimming in fortress mode, we ought to revamp swimming rules entirely- which is a much bigger undertaking than telling dwarves to/not to swim and adding ramps to rivers.

[HatfieldCW]

With toughness, dwarfs are highly resistant to drowning, right?  How about if heavily armored/burdened dwarfs get the confidence to path through a certain amount of water based on their toughness, just holding their breath and walking along the bottom?  Sounds pretty dwarfy to me.

[Sensei]

I think drowning implies panicking.

[LordNagash]

The current rivers are pretty weird. Serious rivers should have multiple z-levels of depth.

Serious rivers do have multiple z-levels of depth. Try settling on a minor or major river instead of a brook and you find this out very quickly.

I once settled on a major river that was 20+ tiles wide, and three levels deep. It also had a minor river feeding into it by way of a waterfall. My embark FPS was about 30 but it was very impressive.

[HammerHand]

For added realism:  rivers alternate between steep sides and shallow banks based on the river's curve - and, of course, the local geology.

Rivers naturally wear away at rock at the far end of their curve harder than they do at the near end.  Given the right circumstances, you can quite often see a sheer cliff (rising out of the water, not just to its surface) directly opposite a shallow, sandy/pebbly embankment.  You might also see a deep trench of a river with cliffs on both sides, or a slow, shallow river with wide, ramped flood plains.

Rivers do lots of stuff.

Just think of this Fun:  Military dwarf gets knocked into the river by a goblin and is forced to drop the Artifact weapon in order to get out.  If you want it back, you have to drain the river.  Now think if rivers had multiple z-levels too. 

Or, you could have somebody (perhaps a later adventurer?) dive to the bottom of the river, braving the ravenous carp, to retrieve it as a quest.
Or maybe it's not an artifact weapon.  Maybe it's an artifact ring, and years later it's fished up by a pair of --
well, nevermind that.
But an artifact lost - even temporarily - to a river sounds like the stuff of legends to me, and so sounds like great Fun, indeed.

[Syff]

The current rivers are pretty weird. Serious rivers should have multiple z-levels of depth.

Serious rivers do have multiple z-levels of depth. Try settling on a minor or major river instead of a brook and you find this out very quickly.

I once settled on a major river that was 20+ tiles wide, and three levels deep. It also had a minor river feeding into it by way of a waterfall. My embark FPS was about 30 but it was very impressive.

I've made a hobby of checking out major rivers, but I don't think I've ever seen one more that had water more than just one level deep.  Could you maybe find that site and upload it to the map archive?  It sounds pretty sweet.

[Fossaman]

Where the waterfall is dumping water into the river faster than it drains doesn't count. The actual river and riverbanks are never more than one z-level deep, in my experience.

[Neonivek]

You can Drown in Rivers in real life.

However to my knowledge they fall in a few categories... but here are two of them

1) It is FREEZING cold!
and
2) It is a strong Current
-Actually you would be surprised how low the water in a River can be to be powerful enough to sweep you away and even drown you.

On a side note, not all Rivers would have Ramps. Some are just a straight fall in.

[HAMMERMILL]

Rivers would look ugly if they were lined with ramps.

That said, how about instead of making ramps, you just let dwarves climb out of rivers like you can in Adventure mode? If the water is high enough to drown in, the water should be high enough for you float to the top and to climb back out of it.

The water level is the same level as the land around it, it should be possible for dwarves to climb out without a ramp or staircase or whatever. Maybe make a strength or agility and skill check to see if the dwarf is able to climb out?

Or maybe let another dwarf on land help pull out the drowning dwarf if they cannot immediately pass the check to get out?