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[blue emu]

AAARRRGH!... :mad: ... I cannot BELIEVE that it took me this long to figure out how to fill an indoor well properly!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: :rofl:

First, I'll explain the situation: I'm playing on my "Rocky Spire" map, which has one big disadvantage... it has no surface water except Ponds (which freeze solid in the winter), and it's so friggin' HUGE that I haven't yet found my underground river. It's hidden somewhere deep inside my 123 levels of stone.

... so any injured Dwarves are always in danger of dying of dehydration during the winter, when the Ponds are frozen solid. Eventually, I intend to channel Magma to a spot just underneath one of the Ponds, to keep it heated during the winter. EVENTUALLY, I may even find that mythical underground river.

But none of that helps me at the present moment.

As a stop-gap (Plan A), I decided to build a "dry" well indoors, designate it as a Pond/Pit, and have my Dwarves fill it up during the summer (by bucket-brigade from the nearest Pond), and then use it as an emergency water source (for treating the wounded) during the winter.

This didn't work. :mad:

The well filled very slowly, never getting deeper than 3/7, partly due to the fact that as each bucket-brigade Dwarf dumped in some water, he would just negligently toss the bucket down next to the well instead of putting it back in the Furniture stockpile... so the next Dwarf to draw bucket-brigade duty couldn't FIND the damn bucket, and would just cancel the order and do something else.

So (Plan B), I made a whole CRAP-LOAD of buckets.

This also didn't work...:mad: ... I just ended up with a whole crap-load of abandoned buckets lying next to my well, while my bucket-brigade Dwarves wandered off to find other duties.

So (Plan C), I cleverly designated all of the tiles adjacent to the well as a Furniture stockpile which holds only buckets... that way, when one of my stupid bucket-brigade Dwarves pours in some water and negligently tosses the bucket aside... it automatically lands back in the stockpile!

This ALSO didn't work... the water level in the well still never rose above 3/7, and I was at my wit's end trying to figure out why.

Then it finally hit me... FACEPALM!

As soon as the water level reaches 3/7, the well becomes usable... and at that point, instead of hiking outside to get water to pour into the well, my insane Dwarves were simply drawing water OUT OF THE WELL, and pouring it back in... then happily tossing the bucket aside, satisfied with a job well done.

AAARRRGH! :mad:

... so (Plan D), I used 't' to access the well's components, forbid them all with 'f', and sat back to watch. In less than a minute, my well was filling smoothly towards the 7/7 mark.

[atomicwinter]

Who needs water when you got booze? Or do you have some injured dwarfs?

[blue emu]

Who needs water when you got booze? Or do you have some injured dwarfs?

I do indeed. One of them passed through "Thirsty" and "Very Thirsty" all the way to "Dehydrated" before the northern-most Pond finally unfroze in the spring... just in time to save his life.

[orbcontrolled]

You can use "i" to place a zone over the pond, then designate it as the preferred water source. (make sure to include some land squares in the zone for them to stand on while filling the buckets.)

[Euld]

There's no need to designate a well with i, it makes no changes as to whether or not the dwarves use the well.  I'm very glad to know there's a way to fill up a well past 4/7    I've been cautious about doing such a long.

[CaptApollo12]

Your fortress sounds like a sweet embark spot. As for underground rivers. I find the spot with the underground river and know what section it is in when I embark... and I use reveal. Otherwize I wasted all that time looking for a suitable location for no reason.

When you have running water it is way easier

[blue emu]

Your fortress sounds like a sweet embark spot.

A 6x6 area, 108 above-ground levels of rock (plus the usual extra 15 levels above and below that, 138 levels total); Pools that freeze solid during the winter; a Magma vent at the surface; huge numbers of trees; soil, volcanic and plutonic rocks; contact with all the Civs; HFS; and (presumably) an underground river for Tower-Cap farming and a buried Chasm, although I haven't yet found either one.

No sand, no flux, and very little Iron Ore... although I've been mining more "Goblinite" (Steel weapons and armor brought onto the map by Goblins, confiscated and melted down) than I can find a use for.

[Shaostoul]

You could always try getting visual fortress (3d fort viewing utility) and have it "reveal hidden tiles" and play around with that program a tad till you figure it out and find your UG river.

[CognitiveDissonance]

You could always try getting visual fortress (3d fort viewing utility) and have it "reveal hidden tiles" and play around with that program a tad till you figure it out and find your UG river.

Yes, but where's the fun in that?
It's all about striking HFS as you look for the river.

[Kav]

and at that point, instead of hiking outside to get water to pour into the well, my insane Dwarves were simply drawing water OUT OF THE WELL, and pouring it back in... then happily tossing the bucket aside, satisfied with a job well done.

I'm sorry, but that is hilarious.

[evanvolker]

You could try digging and underground channel that leads from your pool to below your well, as I believe water underground will not freeze. Or, you could put a tad more time into it and use pumps to create a loop of moving water under your well. This way it will not freeze.