Print

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

[Corbald]

After finding this site, I couldn't resist!
A major river, cutting through the mountains, from east to west, with a brook feeding it from the top of the cliffs to the south.
My plan: To dam the river, by extracting magma from the HFS far below, and casting a huge obsidian block, then carving it out, and smothing/engraving it. it'll have a glass floor that runs the length of the dam, which will also act as a bridge, and the fortress will fill the interior of the dam. Just below the glass floor will be my legendary dining room, and hydroponics, for which the glass will also act as a roof. Everything else will be built below that level, and in the cliffs to either side, and in the stone foundation. It'll have power generators that will provide energy for the fort, and large floodgates to control the flow of water to the lowlands. I'm also going to wall up the z-levels above the river, where it enters the map, from the east, and use the brook to fill the area, creating a reservoir.


Here you can see a very basic sketch-up of my idea, and my temporary barracks. The river is more than 9 z-levels below this point.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here is the brook (currently frozen) that will eventually be used to fill the reservoir, and will be used as the water source for casting the obsidian.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Finally, the source of the river.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A few questions though..

Q: Is there an easier way to move magma vertically besides pump stacks?

Q: Can I fill the entire casting with magma, then just add water for the desired effect, or do I need to do it one level at a time?

If anyone has any suggestions/advice for this project, or has done something like this before, let me know.

[Bronze Dog]

Not experienced with moving fluids myself yet (aside from some simple irrigation), but that'll look awesome if you succeed.

Super Special Awesome Bonus points if you have parts of the river flowing through waterwheels to power your fortress... And a nearby one somewhere out in the desert.

[forsaken1111]

Q: Is there an easier way to move magma vertically besides pump stacks?

No, pumping is the only way to move magma up z-levels.

Q: Can I fill the entire casting with magma, then just add water for the desired effect, or do I need to do it one level at a time?

No again. You must do every layer independently. If you fill the whole thing and then add water to the top, you will just get an obsidian crust. It MAY be possible to drop water on the top and make obsidian blocks 'cave in' to the bottom and slowly build the dam up that way but would be difficult and you wouldn't be able to do the sides as the obsidian would form attached to whatever the mold was.

If anyone has any suggestions/advice for this project, or has done something like this before, let me know.

Do it for SCIENCE.

[Rotten]

Suggestion: Build the entire mold hanging from one support in the air above the river, instead of on the ground. Then you can simply destroy the support via lever and the mold will break apart on landing (you can hide the rocks that result with d>b>h) instead of laboriously deconstructing the mold tile by tile.

Suggestion 2: Dam the river upstream with floodgates that you remove later, so that the water doesn't get in the way of casting the fortress-dam (such as engraving the outside, as I am 99% sure that a cave-in will destroy the engravings, so you'll have to engrave after it lands). After everything is cast and in place, you can lever open the floodgates and pretend it was the fortress-dam all along.

Suggestion 3: Make sure inleast the layer (maybe a few just in case) below where you are going to drop the obsidian is solid, as caveins will punch through floors.

Suggestion 4: Call it the Dwoover Dam. Joking, please don't. Please.

[Snook]

Alternatively, build the mold out of obsidian. You can't engrave the outside, then, but it'll still be awesome.

[forsaken1111]

There is something very clean and dwarven about constructing a stone mold for a cast obsidian dam and then dropping the whole thing into the river so the constructed mold breaks away into rubble leaving a nice pretty obsidian structure.

[Inspiration]

If I read correctly, your river freezes, right? You could build floodgates, ect. while the river is frozen, then you don't have to deal with magma pumping.

[forsaken1111]

But the whole point was to make an obsidian dam.

[Corbald]

@Bronze Dog: The generators will, indeed, be internal to the dam, and will run off of a controlled water flow from the reservoir, just like a real world hydroelectric dam does. I really couldn't, in good conscious, NOT have that sort of system. Especially since the falls from the generator shafts will looks SO cool! Also, not sure what you are referring to with the desert... there is no desert on this area.

@forsaken1111: Kinda thought those might be the case.. Just figured I'd ask those with more XP.

@Rotten: I was planning on using the mold as a scaffolding to allow my miners/inscribers access to the exterior of the obsidian plug, so deconstructing it tile by tile won't be an issue. I also plan on casting the towers in the same mold, and I don't think I have enough z-levels above the cliffs to accomplish this with a hanging mold. Good idea though, and it may come in useful later. I'm already going to be damming the river, as close to the source as it'll let me build. I'll be waiting until the winter freeze, and using constructed walls, and I'll be going up to one level below the cliff tops, to allow for the reservoir. I don't believe that the river will flow to higher z-levels than it's source tiles, so I'll be using the brook from the cliff tops to fill the reservoir. If only I could figure out a way to build a plug that actually meets the map edge, and build it just 1 z-level lower than the cliffs. This would allow water to overflow the top of the wall, and drain off the same tiles that it enters from, just 8 z-levels higher. That would make it look like the river is filling the reservoir, instead of leaving a gap. Any ideas in that regard?

Q: I remember reading somewhere that water washes away engravings.. Is this correct? Would I need to not engrave areas where water will be flowing?

If I read correctly, your river freezes, right? You could build floodgates, ect. while the river is frozen, then you don't have to deal with magma pumping.

Actually, this brings up another issue.. As forsaken1111 says, it's not the river flowing that's a problem, but the lack of a GIANT FRIGGIN OBSIDIAN DAM. However, one thing I'll need to know, before I release the dam holding back the river at it's source (and more importantly, the brook) Once my reservoir is full, and the winter freeze comes, will my entire reservoir freeze, or just the surface layer? If it's the whole thing, I may need to build some magma pipes below what will eventually be the surface of the lake to keep it thawed.

[forsaken1111]

As far as I know, all water outside will freeze once your map reaches a freezing temperature. That means all the way down to the bottom.

[Corbald]

As far as I know, all water outside will freeze once your map reaches a freezing temperature. That means all the way down to the bottom.

I suppose that's the big question then... Is the water on lower layers considered 'outside' or does the top layer form a 'roof?'

[forsaken1111]

Honestly I am not sure. How many z-levels are you planning? I believe ALL of it will freeze, but not sure.

[Bronze Dog]

Also, not sure what you are referring to with the desert... there is no desert on this area.

You know, human civ. Nobody ever sleeps there. Lots of gambling. What happens there stays there...

[Corbald]

Ah, yeah, Gotcha!

And I'm was planning on around 9 levels of water, but thinking about it, I could make use of the area that would be underwater to cast a 'Hidden' extension to the dam, to house more fort.

[Ubiq]

Once my reservoir is full, and the winter freeze comes, will my entire reservoir freeze, or just the surface layer? If it's the whole thing, I may need to build some magma pipes below what will eventually be the surface of the lake to keep it thawed.

The whole thing will freeze solid. You could always build a roof over it though and keep it from freezing. I had one fort on the edge of a lake that froze over for several of the winter months including the water directly below the well that stuck out the side of the cliff. I eventually built walls around and a roof over the well and the tiles directly below remained liquid the next winter.

You could building a bridge over the water to prevent the water from freezing, but I don't think that worked the last time I tried it.