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[Theodidactus]

(this is my first post, so sorry if I've broken some unknown rules of ediquette*)

I don't play many video games...
why?
Because three years ago, I started an honest attempt to be the smartest human being on the planet...I've no time for games; except this one.
Why?
because this game has the most accurate metallurgy around, and like most savants my age, I LOVES me some good metallurgy.

At any rate, I've been playing since march of last year, and constructed a few delightful fortresses: A monastery, A polar research station, and a giant golden pyramid....still, I feel an urge to get a little more...geophysical.

So, my latest fortress is centered around a sizable magma vent; like most of my fortresses, it has a dedicated team of chemists, metallurgists, and a biologist interested in vulcanogenic life forms. This fortress will carry out research typical in these matters; but I have something special in mind for a team of test pilots and scientists.

Gentlemen, As we speak, a massive gantry is being constructed many z-levels above the magma. From it will be hung a truly gigantic, bullet shaped contrivance, pointed face down into the vent below. Constructed entirely of Steel, Nickle Silver, and Bismuth bronze; sporting diamond studded drill bits powered by bauxite gears and a self contained falling water drive, this state-of-the art machine will ferry my crack research team into the heart of the world and (Armok willing) out of another volcano on the other side**.

Inside will be a laboratory, a command center, and a stockpile of supplies necessary to sustain my crew on their epic journey. The whole thing will be rigged to drop with a flip of a switch inside the command module, sending the crew on a (truly) once in a lifetime journey to the inner reaches of our world.

Here's what I need from you
- Contacts with anyone else who has tried a similar project
- Input on other fun things I can put inside before the expedition begins
- Suggestions for mission patches, crew uniforms, and of course, the name of the vehicle




* besides misspelling etiquette and then not bothering to correct it.

** In a world where water is desalinized by pouring over a ledge, this may just work.

[3]

If memory serves, attempting to sever the capsule from whatever's restraining it will result in a lot of crushed scientists.
This is because cave-ins apparently drop at infinite speed, and the roof will thus drop faster than the dwarfs do. Not faster than the floor, mind, but the floor probably won't stand for much during cave-in state.

See this thread for more info.

[smjjames]

Welcome to the forums!

This is a pretty relaxed forum, so as long as you don't do stuff like troll or post porn, you'll be fine.

As for Crew Uniforms, you will be able to do that for the military very easily  in the next release, not sure about civillians though.

How are you planning on doing crew patches? I don't think there is really any way of doing it other than decorating LOTS of clothes and rejecting the ones with symbols you don't want, but its completely random. Making a mission logo in the floor is doable, plenty of people have made art mosaics using floor tiles.

You should talk to Itnetlolor, he recently tried a big spaceship type megaproject (which stalled/abandoned for various reasons, mostly problems with sieges/ambushes, but you could just turn off invaders), the thread is in this section somewhere.

[Theodidactus]

If memory serves, attempting to sever the capsule from whatever's restraining it will result in a lot of crushed scientists.
This is because cave-ins apparently drop at infinite speed, and the roof will thus drop faster than the dwarfs do. Not faster than the floor, mind, but the floor probably won't stand for much during cave-in state.

See this thread for more info.

I knew that, see, the trouble is now you've gone and told everyone. If this gets back to the scientists, they'll be pissed.

The other alternative I had mulled over in my mind was carving out a totally new shaft, building the shuttle at the bottom with a removable gantry through living rock, filling it with lava, then boarding our heroes in from the side, and finally detaching the docking platform...then it would just sit there inside a magma tube; not really falling, but one can always play pretend.

The sad thing is I can't decide if that's a good use of my time.

[Theodidactus]

This is a pretty relaxed forum, so as long as you don't do stuff like troll or post porn, you'll be fine.

Can I post troll porn?

[smjjames]

This is a pretty relaxed forum, so as long as you don't do stuff like troll or post porn, you'll be fine.

Can I post troll porn?

huh? lol.

[andrea]

You may try keeping the ceiling open ( or closed with open hatches, and pretend you close them after launch). This way, with carefully positioned dwarves, you should be able to launch. I don't know what happens at chasm tiles however.
Oh, the whole thing deconstructs the moment you sever it from supports I believe, which may be a problem. I suggest cast obsidian, but with a good enough imagination, steel and nickel is much more awesome.

This will need your magma pipe drained however, else your dwarves burn ( because you had to remove ceiling of the Earthship)

[Quietust]

Variants of this have been done before. Mostly, it's just for laughs, since it never actually "works".

[atomfullerene]

Yeah, just use imaginative license to say it will work when you launch it, and then stow away the save for some future day when it could theoretically work (not that this will likely happen, but its the thought that counts)

[RedWick]

Be sure to have a full menagerie of surface creatures along with you, so you can, in turn, test the effect on lava has on each of them.  Also, have representative examples of all the major surface materials (including horn, ivory, coral, etc.) so you can likewise conduct tests.

[smjjames]

Variants of this have been done before. Mostly, it's just for laughs, since it never actually "works".

It can also be a fun way to end a fort.

[MagmaDeath]

Variants of this have been done before. Mostly, it's just for laughs, since it never actually "works".

It can also be a fun way to end a fort.

You mean get rid of nobles.

[smjjames]

Variants of this have been done before. Mostly, it's just for laughs, since it never actually "works".

It can also be a fun way to end a fort.

You mean get rid of nobles.

Whatever you say.

[Canadark]

Of all the idiotic things dwarfs have been known to do, this is by far not even close to being among the worst.

[alway]

... this state-of-the art machine will ferry my crack research team into the heart of the world and (Armok willing) out of another volcano on the other side**.

** In a world where water is desalinized by pouring over a ledge, this may just work.

Well, if we work in the frictionless vaccuum enjoyed by physics professors ([url href=http://xkcd.com/669/]sorta[/url]), the gravity would indeed put you out the other side at the same velocity and height. Make sure to make the tip infinitely sharp and to cover the entire thing with lard so as to keep friction from stopping you halfway down.