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[100killer9]

I want to play a fortress inside a volcano. However, there's the problem of not being able to expand without draining the magma, which I don't want. So... How can I build a way to expand into the magma, possibly using obsidian?
EDIT: My idea is to have the bottom floor be a resovoir, and to make the bottom floor of that out of hatches. They will open by one lever and create a new floor of obsidian. Would this work?

[ed boy]

Even if you drain the magma, it will reappear, so you can drain it temporarily.

With a magma pipe, the bottom is considered the same as a bottomless pit, so unfortunately you cannot drip water on it to create obsidian spires from the bottom. However, the sides are irregular, and you can create obsidian spires going most of the way down by constucting a platform over, designating a pit/pond and using a bucket brigade.

[100killer9]

Even if you drain the magma, it will reappear, so you can drain it temporarily.

With a magma pipe, the bottom is considered the same as a bottomless pit, so unfortunately you cannot drip water on it to create obsidian spires from the bottom. However, the sides are irregular, and you can create obsidian spires going most of the way down by constucting a platform over, designating a pit/pond and using a bucket brigade.

I'm challenging myself not to drain the pipe except for caravans. Migrants die.
But what do I construct a platform over? I want the fort to not touch the sides of the pipe, if that's possible.

[ed boy]

The only was to do it I can think of is this  (This is only theoretical, I have no idea if it will work or not):

Code: [Select]

#=natural wall
PL=pump to the left
PR=pump the the right

top of magma pipe:
########################################
##################    ##################
############## PL      PR ##############
########## PL              PR ##########
###### PL                      PR ######
## PL                              PR ##
## PL                              PR ##
###### PL                      PR ######
########## PL              PR ##########
############## PL      PR ##############
##################    ##################
########################################
Screw umps work incredibly fast, and magma flows very slowly. With the crew pump pumping away all the magma from the area below, if should be possible to construct walls beneath, and start to pump out the next layer of magma.

[MrFake]

If the fort's not touching the sides, then it has to be connected at the top somewhere.  It's not currently possible to build constructions downward, nor to drop natural obsidian into a space without it falling out the bottom or landing on something, and so be touching the sides.

You may be able to keep to your challenge by turning temperature off so dwarfs don't burn in magma.  Then I guess it might be possible.  You dig a stairway down the side of the magma pipe, start digging your volcano fort from the bottom up, using a scaffolding to get out to its lowest point, remove the scaffolding when it's done (make sure the fort is connected elsewhere), pump or drain the magma out of the fort itself, and finally turn the temperature back on.  That may be possible, but I couldn't say for sure.  The dwarfs may still not be able to survive in the magma even without temperature.

[A cool idea similar to aquifer breaching]

Magma flows just as fast as water.  This is not impossible without turning off temperature, but you'll need some luck and extra dwarfs to pull it off.  However, to keep building lower, you'll have no choice but to drain each successive level in that fashion.  Once one level is cleared, you move down and start pumping from the next level.  What you'll end up with is ... well, a drained magma pipe.  So, better to just tap a hole into the side at the bottom and drain the entire thing out completely, build the fort, then let the pipe fill back up. 

[Shrike]

Magma will not pressurize without a pump, making it possible to drain away magma from the level below your intended build floor (perhaps to surround a premade entrance) and build in relative safety. Just need to make sure it's been depressurized by using a diagonal wall.


Temperatures off will mean dwarves can still drown. However, if you turn temperatures off, expose dwarves to magma, and then turn it back on, they will immediately start to burn unless kept in water (by having them in beds that are 4/7 water or lower) for a long time.

[Derakon]

Magma does pressurize. What it does not do is flow upwards in U-bend situations. So if your fortress had a reservoir of water at the bottom, maybe you could make a ring of obsidian hanging off the bottom of the fort, then pump out the magma "inside" the ring, then make constructions in there, and repeat. I don't see how you could avoid having the system taper as it goes down, though.

[MrFake]

Magma does pressurize. What it does not do is flow upwards in U-bend situations. So if your fortress had a reservoir of water at the bottom, maybe you could make a ring of obsidian hanging off the bottom of the fort, then pump out the magma "inside" the ring, then make constructions in there, and repeat. I don't see how you could avoid having the system taper as it goes down, though.

That's possible, except to create the next floor down, you need to expose the magma to pour water over it.  Once you do that, it starts filling up again.  The current abstraction for magma pipe filling is magma shooting up from the magma flow (or whatever they're called) tiles at the bottom, until it reaches the first non-7/7 tile, which it fills up to 7/7 magma.  Since you can't pump out 1/7 fluid, you'd end up not being able to create obsidian any farther down, since it just keeps spawning into your pumped space and flowing around as 1/7.

You could do it in any space that's not above a magma flow tile, but you can also just drop an obsidian block right down like the popular ocean fortress method.

[100killer9]

How about I make a constructed cap over the area I'd be dropping water from? Then I cab keep making layers of cast-obsidian like Derakon suggested and not worry about magma flowing back up.