Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Fisherdwarf]

I made a new fort, and I just found a magma pipe. I hit "u" and saw that there were fire imps and a fire man in there. Is there a way I could make a lava moat without fire men going out into the moat? And do lava monsters spawn inside the pipe, or can they spawn in a moat? I want magma stuff, but I really dont wanna burn down my fort.

[Duke 2.0]

 At the moment magma creatures that are there when you embark are all you get. No spawning other than fire snakes, which are vermin that may or may not cause fires. I personally doubt it, so don't worry about it too much.
 As for keeping the current residents from filling your moat(Why would you do this? It's a perfect defense!), one option is to add fortifications to the pipeline to keep the creatures from entering the moat. Or just lure them out and kill 'em.

[smjjames]

They only spawn once, on embark. The lava monsters will generally stay in or near the magma pipe, but doesn't stop them from going to the other side of the map if they so chose.

Fire snakes though, will only spawn a certain distance from the pipe, but you only have to worry about those vermin if you see them in your booze pile or anywhere with flammable stuff

To keep them out of magma access pipes, use fortifications to keep them out. See the 'magma' entry in the wiki.

[Sensei]

A carefully monitored cat population us usually a good countermeasure for firesnakes, they take a while to set anything on fire and they move around a lot, so unless there's a ton of them it's not a big problem (aside from 'accosted by vermin' thoughts).

[Magua]

Be aware that sometimes lava monsters can be pushed through fortifications.  If you're relying on those, you should have two or three with gaps between them to prevent a nasty surprise.

Normally, I post three or four marksdwarves around the sides of the pipe.  Eventually, they'll have shot the little buggers to death.

[XSI]

For added fun, mod fire imps to be able to breed, there's usually a male and female in a pipe, which means there's plenty of time for them to make sure there's a lot of valuable bones. Fire snakes are nice to dissect at a butcher's workshop, especially if you feel like just making loads of rock junk is cheating to the trade.(Animal traps with meat catch them)

Besides that, lava creatures never really leave the pipe area, and any that do will be on their own, a single cage trap at the entrance tunnel will stop that. If there is no tunnel, not an issue, they're wussies anyway, a child can wrestle a fire imp to death, the problem is the fire they can cause.(Other magma creatures are a bit stronger, but still no match for an armed dwarf)

If you're worried about them getting into your moat, use magma-safe materials to install grates before filling, or use a pump, they can't go through that.  I expect there to be more/stronger magma creatures later, possibly even next update, with the underground stuff and all. Some players(Me included) believe fortifications don't work at all, but it's just one piece of rock anyway.

[snaggles]

If the passage is full of 7 deep magma, the fortifications are effectively nullified, and anything can go through them. However, it seems that floor bars/grates actually do their job well, so try this format (side view):

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
~~%%~X_~~~~
XXXXXX~~~XXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

X=walls
%% = screw pump (pumping to the left)
_ = floor grate/bars
~ = magma

Make sure the grate, the pump, and its mechanisms are made of magma safe materials.
If critters do end up getting through the grates, I'm pretty sure that they won''t be sucked through pumps. (If they can't be then the whole grate bend thing is unnecessary.  )

[smjjames]

Using carved fortifications always seems to have worked for me though.

Then again, I always use multiple layers of them.

[Fisherdwarf]

Wow...thanks for all the help, guys. I'll be sure to mess with lava now.

Oh yeah, if water and magma make obsidian, could I make a trap where I trap goblins in a room, start filling it with water, then drop magma on it to encase them in obsidian? I don't know how obsidian works.

I could have my own goblin obsidian tower if it works.

[Derakon]

Generally you want to lay down a layer of magma, and then pour water on top of it to make obsidian, instead of the other way around. Reason is that you almost always end up with some leftover liquids on top, and water evaporates a lot faster than magma does.

Still, yes, your idea would work.

[shadowclasper]

ALso, you can just make some simple bars? Probably the easiest thing. If ya have iron or nickle or steel.

[Tryptic]

Similar question:  I've just struck bauxite for the first time.  (After nearly a year.)
Could I make a cage trap (or 6), then fill a magma channel, and catch Fire Imps? 
Are they tamable? 
And will they need to be "induced" somehow to go down the channel?

[Fisherdwarf]

I like Tryptic's idea of catching them. Are cage traps a good way to stop them from being in my moat? If not i'll try fortifications cause I haven't found any bauxite yet....

[XSI]

Cage traps will catch them, but remember to have both the cage and mechanism magma safe, and a way to drain the magma so you can retrieve the cages.

It's easier to build cages at the top of the magma pipe, they go out every now and then.

As far as I know, they can not be tamed, but they have very valuable bones.

[Kel the Oblivious]

I just find the magma pipe, and on the same z level, just dig out a long corridor, 2 wide. One is channel from the magma, the other is the walk way. This lets me bring the magma to where I want it, without needing to worry about inquisitive little imps. It takes a couple of minutes for the magma to fill in the trench, and if you want to expand, do it slowly, otherwise your entire forge system will putter out as the magma evens out.

As for the imps, if they DO get nosy? I just put a few cages near the entrance. Mod them as tamable, and you have some wonderful fortification pets.