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Author Topic: Growing Glaciers?  (Read 1365 times)

elwessweettea

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Growing Glaciers?
« on: January 02, 2010, 12:22:20 am »

Not the biome type, real-life expanding sheets of ice across the landscape. Anybody ever had one of these before? I smoothed my ponds one winter when they were all frozen over, and had some interesting results the next summer: one constructed a wall where the warmest [all-summer-unfrozen!] biome pond was beside the permafrozen biome; and then two ponds were in a biome that melted exactly on the 15th of Midsummer for a very short time. But because it had a smoothed ice floor that melted, it suddenly had ice walls on top of the pond as well as in the pond. Now the glacier is growing in this biome of very short non-freezing weather, and it's taking over the whole biome!

I tried putting a food stockpile on top, and food has enough time to fall *exactly* one z-level before it is refrozen. It doesn't actually get destroyed until it's stayed on the same z-level for two freezings, though. And it is a very, very short time of unfreezing:there's been mist and ice in the same spot when I've k'd over.

Anyone else managed to have glaciers grow?
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Retro

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2010, 12:49:31 am »

Wow. I've never heard of something like this... nor do I think I even fully understand it. So parts of the glacier are melting, then refreezing on the still-frozen parts of the glacier, thus making it larger? It's a bit confusing for me to understand, but it sounds pretty damn awesome.

smjjames

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2010, 12:50:18 am »

Interesting all right.

Who knows if this was intended behavior or not.

Could you post some screenshots?
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Diamond

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2010, 04:59:23 am »

Oh man, this is awesome. So as I understood, ice floor is melting into water above ice walls to become an ice wall on one z-level below, producing mist in the process ? We surely need more info on this, some more details perhaps ? I just love glaciers.
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fizmat

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2010, 05:28:10 am »

I think I get what happens. The key here is short summer, smooth ice just started the whole thing. Water melts and spreads to adjacent free place, but doesn't have time to evaporate before freezing. Next time it thaws there's two 7/7 water, etc. Because freezing doesn't respect conservation of mass.
Side view:
Code: [Select]
first summer
   7         232
"""7""" -> """7"""
winter
  ###
"""#"""
summer
  777       34743
"""7""" -> """7"""

What I don't get is where mist comes from. Does this somehow grow up z-levels?
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Diamond

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2010, 05:35:09 am »

What I don't get is where mist comes from. Does this somehow grow up z-levels?
Well, yes. A freezing water with a depth of 2+ produces an ice wall, and additionally ice floor one z-level above. Thawed water falls down and produces mist.
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Zeg

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2010, 05:07:37 pm »

It seems to be a rather interesting effect you've found here, related to smoothing the top of ice.

I guess its linked to the smooth 'tile'. Just as a constructed wall gets a floor on top of it on the next z-level, natural ice tiles get a natural ice surface on top. But (I'm guessing here), if you smooth that natural surface, the game has to change that tiles property something akin to building a floor on top of a natural rock tile, or another floor being placed on top of a walls 'automatic' floor.

I tested in a biome that freezes for much less time, so I didn't get growing glaciers, just excess water on top of the pools. And somewhat strangely, it seems to specificly create 2/7 per smoothed ice tile rather than a whole 7/7. Kinda logical if you imagine that an ice floor would be made of less ice than a whole tile, but still somewhat strange that there is a specific differentiation.
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Safe-Keeper

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2010, 07:01:42 pm »

Relax. Once everyone has magma forges going, global warming will make it retreat again.

If I had a growing glacier, I'd embark next to it and dig an entrance into the ground, for then to let it be covered by the expanding glacier. Presto - hidden siege-proof underground city, completely isolated from the outside world :) .
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expwnent

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2010, 07:28:47 pm »

That sounds awesome.
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inteuniso

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2010, 09:27:23 pm »

You have to get us some pictures. I just would love to see this in-game.
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Halceon

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #10 on: January 05, 2010, 07:16:55 am »

Relax. Once everyone has magma forges going, global warming will make it retreat again.

If I had a growing glacier, I'd embark next to it and dig an entrance into the ground, for then to let it be covered by the expanding glacier. Presto - hidden siege-proof underground city, completely isolated from the outside world :) .
No, no, no. Global warming will happen only if everyone chooses to abandon magma forges - coal needs to be burned.
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Danarca

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2010, 07:50:08 am »

Smooth the top of it every winter ^^
>:D

But nice find mate, will be hard to replicate though, sounds like you'll need 1 - 3 days of thaw per year max
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alphawolf29

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Re: Growing Glaciers?
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2010, 09:26:58 am »

Had this happen to me when embarking on Ice-sheet. My freezing-Rethawing time was a lot longer though. (I didnt experiment with it much as my 2nd summer something happened and the whole ice sheet melted- Just as trolls attacked me. My soldiers were panicking trying to kill the trolls and avoiding the ever-expanding water near them.
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