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[Fossaman]

Oh, I know exactly what will happen (which isn't to say I won't do it anyway). What will be entertaining is uploading the save and letting everyone else pull random levers. I also plan to flood and abandon the fortress so I can visit it with an adventurer, who will bravely swim down to the control room airlock and attempt to drain the fortress.

[XSI]

That is an awesome idea.

If possible, make it into a little puzzle for everybody to solve

May I ask how you got the underwater fortress underwater? Drained something or did you just flood it after construction?

[Fossaman]

My embark is on a lakeshore. I started off by digging the shape I wanted the fortress to be a ways south, like a normal underground fortress. Now I'm gradually removing everything but the rock I want left as walls from an area about 100 tiles square around the fortress. Once I've got all the machinery, levers, drainage tunnels, etc. in place I'll punch through to the lake and let it fill in. That may take a while, of course; the lake is three z levels deep, the flooded area will be 18.

[Hamster Man]

Er, concerning the windmills:

Yes, windmills will function even if completely submerged in water. HOWEVER if they're surrounded by walls, they don't have any access to "wind", thus - no power. So, so long as they're not walled in (if you open 1 tile on either side of them, they'll work), you certainly can keep them underwater.

[Savok]

http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/Windmill

Windmills work if their center tile is not subterranean. Yes, you can dig a shaft from the surface down fifty z-levels and put a windmill there in the heart of the mountain, and it will generate power.

(at least, last I checked. Which was in 40d, IIRC)

[Fossaman]

Eeeeexcellent...MUAHAHAHAHA

Although I'm not sure if I'll be using windmills or not, even with that little gem of knowledge. I haven't actually checked if my map has wind or not. If it's only a 20-power wind, it won't be feasible to use them.

[Neruz]

If you have all that water you might as well use waterwheels; they're much more efficient.

[Fossaman]

Primary excavation has been completed. Stone count: 80,000. The fortress towers are now freestanding, and scaffolding has been put in place on the left tower to allow the construction of axles and gear assemblies. These will power the drainage pumps. The next step will be installing the floodgates and controls for the tower-link bridges, followed by installing the drainage systems for same.

I've learned a few rather interesting things in the course of this project. It's much easier to create huge linkages if you install the items in order. Because newer constructions show up last on the lever list (alliteration!), you can use the minus key to jump right to the correct building. I did the floodgates in the towers one tower at a time, one set at a time (so stair floodgates left, stair floodgates right, outer floodgates left, outer floodgates right) so that I could link each to their master lever easily. I'm planning on using the same technique for the gear assemblies that directly connect to the pumps.

[Servu]

How about this:
1. Capture/purchase an indefinite number of monkeys.
2. Release monkeys in control room while the dwarves go about their business elsewhere.
3. Make jokes about your local government for great profit.

[Fossaman]

Monkeys are often entertaining, but alas, I don't seem to have contact with elves on this map. And I have yet to see any fauna besides the half dozen carp living in the lake. Given that I'm in temperate forest, I doubt I'd see any monkeys anyway.

If I ever finish this fort, I'll probably try and make a story out of a reclaim party or something. Actually turn on invasions for once, maybe. I usually don't like to, as it interferes with my obsessive desire for a smoothly run fortress.