Print

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

[NightWatchman]

Okay, this image is the only metaphor I could think of.

How do I make a diversion, like the handle shape, at a diagonal angle down into a few z-levels, so I can put a well over it without flooding my fort? I figure if I can provide a way for the water to get back out, it won't flood my fort? Or is this not possible? How should I provide water to my dwarfs in case of being locked in their fort?

I apologise for the really poor image. Just imagine the porcelain is water.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/9729/brookchannel.jpg

[Mr. Svinlesha]

Well, there are easier ways.  Use floodgates!

Start by digging a small room near the bank of the river.  Then tunnel a passage from the river to your well.  In my current fortress I carved downward stairs for about three z-levels on the way to my to the well room, which was a basically a 10x10 room one level below my well.  Depending on the distance between river and well, you might want to make this passage a couple or more squares wide, as it can take some time for water to flow from the source and fill up the room.

Obviously, you build your well above the room filled with water.  I put a lever in that room as well.  When everything else is ready, I place a floodgate or two at the far end of tunnel, facing the river, and connect it/them to the lever.

Once everything is in place, I build channel on the surface level from the river to the floodgates, if you understand what I mean.  This is easier, safer, and just as effective as opening the gates and digging that last tunnel square to the river.  Once the channels are built, the water flows into them, you open your floodgates, and after a while -- e voila -- your well is ready!

Remember that a well requires at least 3 squares of water under it to work.

Finally, in my experience, you don't really need the floodgates.  I've left them open this entire time and so far the water in the room under my well hasn't risen above 7.  I'm not 100% sure, but I kinda doubt it can flood the level above it.

[slink]

Make your well one level underground, if you can.  The reservoir goes two levels underground.  The water will not flow out over the well because of the way water works in the game, even though the well is one level below the water.

First level below ground.

X = undug
O = dug
S = stairs (down in this case)
C = channel

RIVER
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XOSOX
XOCOX

Second level below ground, reach via stairs.  This is the reservior.  Make it as larges as you like.

X = undug
O = dug
S = stairs (up, in this case)
R = ramps, which should be removed (z) after they are dug.

RIVER
XXXXX
XRRRX
XOOOX
XOSOX
XOOOX
XOOOX
XXXXX

Channel from river, which fills reservoir.

RIVER
XXCXX

Final result on first level below ground.  Notice the channel behind the undug wall, which is the result of the ramps cut and removed on the second level below ground.

X = undug
O = dug
S = stairs (down in this case)
C = channel

RIVER
XXXXX
XCCCX
XXXXX
XOSOX
XOCOX

This is quick and dirty, but can save the lives of your Dwarves.  It does not filter out fish or other waterlife, who may be able to climb out of the well in some instances.  For those circumstances you need to take out the wall between the stairscase and the channel, on the first level below the surface.  Place grates over the channel and rebuild the wall, hopefully not sealing in a Dwarf in the process.  Do this before you cut the final channel, of course.   

[Derakon]

Here's my well source:


The (underground) river source is off to the left, and my well is above the irregularly-shaped right section. The fortification is actually a raised bridge, and there's a floodgate where the cursor is. The floodgate and the bridge are linked to the same lever. Thus, regardless of how I set my levers, it's impossible for the river's pressure to be transferred to my well; either the bridge or the floodgate is always blocking flow.

[Albedo]

How do I make a diversion, like the handle shape, at a diagonal angle down into a few z-levels, so I can put a well over it without flooding my fort?

To answer the OP...

First, dig the route for the water, but do NOT dig out the connection to the river/brook. You can use ramps, or dig over, then down with a double-stair (which will later get removed, channeled from the top down one level at a time) and then over again.  Install some sort of linked flood control where that last tile will be dug out to start the water flowing.  (Floodgates or doors (or hatches) are fine, but drawbridges (at least 2-long) don't jam.)

Next, build your drain system.  This will either be a route to the edge of the map, and those last tiles smoothed then carved into Fortifications, or a pump stack (see wiki, "pump").  Make sure you have more drainage than inflow!

Last, give one last test of all linked devices, and dig out the last tile with the gate SHUT. Open then shut your floodgates - again, just enough to test. Look around for leaks, make sure your drain is working as expected.

From there, you're on your own.

[NightWatchman]

How do I make a diversion, like the handle shape, at a diagonal angle down into a few z-levels, so I can put a well over it without flooding my fort?

To answer the OP...

First, dig the route for the water, but do NOT dig out the connection to the river/brook. You can use ramps, or dig over, then down with a double-stair (which will later get removed, channeled from the top down one level at a time) and then over again.  Install some sort of linked flood control where that last tile will be dug out to start the water flowing.  (Floodgates or doors (or hatches) are fine, but drawbridges (at least 2-long) don't jam.)

Next, build your drain system.  This will either be a route to the edge of the map, and those last tiles smoothed then carved into Fortifications, or a pump stack (see wiki, "pump").  Make sure you have more drainage than inflow!

Last, give one last test of all linked devices, and dig out the last tile with the gate SHUT. Open then shut your floodgates - again, just enough to test. Look around for leaks, make sure your drain is working as expected.

From there, you're on your own.

Thanks for the advice, but it turns out, I don't need it.

Despite I swear it happened on a previous fort, the water has NOT come up the channeled hole I made for the well.

Thanks, everyone.