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[Ioric Kittencuddler]

We need these.

[Capntastic]

Thank you for the descriptive post explaining what these things are and how they would be used in game!

Also:  Geothermal heat = magma.

[Kagus]

Also: Idea = suggested before.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Of course it has.  I don't know why I posted this except that there was no current discussion of it going on.

Steam generators have been around for centuries.  Here's a wikipedia article on them.
Steam Engine

Geothermal generators, from what I can tell use steam generated by natural heat to produce power.

[RickiusMaximus]

Personally I think that steam engines are too high tech, the early ones are simply too low pressure to do anything important and the high pressure ones are simply to advanced.

I would like to see steam and steam pipes used simply as a heating system, something that has been around for ages and would add new elements to the game rather than simply adding another way to generate power...

[Sean Mirrsen]

A high-rev steam engine is, for all intents and purposes, a multi-prop windmill inside a tube channeling steam from a lot of evaporating water. So it's not all that high-tech.

However, I think that machinery such as this is beyond the current DF setting.

[Draco18s]

"Even as late as the 17th century, steam engines were created as one-off curiosities."

Based on Toady saying anything after about 1400 is a good indicator to NOT include something I'm thinking that steam engines would be no more than trinkets and crafts (the rotating ball seein in the wiki article).

[Kagus]

But then again, we're also making logic gates via pressure plates and water.   That's a bit high-tech.

[Asehujiko]

Why steam? Real dwarves pump magma arround.

[Fenrir]

Keep your filthy steampunk out of DF! Steam engines are the first step!

[Capntastic]

quote:Originally posted by Kagus:
<STRONG>But then again, we're also making logic gates via pressure plates and water.   That's a bit high-tech.</STRONG>

It's also completely meta-game.   If I arranged tiles so that they created a picture of Mario, it'd be much the same thing.

[Mikademus]

Ooh! Generate electricity by diverting water into magma and venting the steam through screws in tunnels! We need metallurgical refineries to create Wolfram, and we can make light bulbs! Can we dig for Uranium? And can the steam power a centrifuge to enrich U235 to Pl238? I want to make a reactor overload trap for my next Gobbo invasion! They can run but they will still melt!

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Grek]

Geothermal generators are not any more complex than a windmill. If windmills go in(which they have), building a windmill over a gyser or magma vent should too. Steam power, not so much.

[Digger]

For the record, the VERY first SE(steam engine) existed even in Ancient Greece(THAT's BC, < 1400), was called a "steam sphere" or steam ball. Lookie here for more info Did nothing useful though.

Personally I'd suggest 5x5(and x5 UP? Build in layers? Foundation, etc.) tile building that requires access to both water and magma, specifically on the opposite sides, needs 25(supposedly a crazy large number) steel bars, 20(a little less crazy) Bauxite blocks, 10 steel pipes, and 3-5-10-15? steel Ginormous CorckScrews(turbines       :p), has steam comin out on top, and produces 1000 power to satisfy the most power greedy dwarves' appetite. A pinnacle of dwarven tech.       :cool:

__\\M//
__xxmxx
__xxxxx
=========  <-Torque.
__xxxxx
__xxwxx
__//W\\

M - magma channel.
W - water channel.
w/m - water and magma underneath the engine.
/_\ - empty space

Should probably be disengageable by a lever and such.
When destroyed... It should explode! water, magma and steam everywhere, Ginormous CorckScrews, steel and bauxite blocks flying around...
Have it require exceptional/masterpiece items only? otherwise... it has a chance of getting self-destroyed when engaged, and the longer - the higher chance of a meltdown?

[ February 26, 2008: Message edited by: Digger ]