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[Dorfus]

Just a question - now that magma is only found very deep down, how do you make use of it? Do you pump it up to a cistern or take your forge and traps down to it? Something else? I never know what to do.

[Il Palazzo]

You can always make your life easier, and start by a volcano.

[OmnipotentGrue]

Pumping takes the most time, obviously, but once it's up there and you've got a stable system going on, it's worth it. Making your forges down at the magma sea isn't actually that bad if you have a single staircase going straight up, but the best way, by far, is to just play on a volcano. If this isn't an option though, it's really just your choice - if you have the time and the resources, then I would say the pump method, otherwise the other way works well.

[Larry421]

I've modified worldgen to bring it closer (15 or 20z instead of 150z). Cheap; magma is so useful and dangerous and powerful and Fun that it should take some effort to get!
I've pumped it 100z to the surface (great feeling of accomplishment when you get it all working!)
I've tried setting up 2 forts, with magma & industry below and everything else above. It's a pain, and requires lots of micromanaging and burrows which I'm still not very good with.
In my latest fort, I'm digging a 130z vertical shaft to just above the magma sea. I'll dump different types of objects down and see if any break (has anyone done this before??). When everything's ready, I'll dump every object in my fort down the express cargo elevator and move everyone down there.

You could always be undwarvenly and, youknow, survive without magma. Coal and lignite should be around in abundance.

That's one of the great things about this game; you make your own challenges and have your own type of Fun.

[Jake]

Personally, after my first encounter with fire imps I decided magma was more trouble than it was worth, and actively avoided it for a long time afterwards. It's still something I'd rather not contend with until I've got at least one squad of good marksdwarves and a few fire-breaks sorted.

[Lemunde]

Personally, after my first encounter with fire imps I decided magma was more trouble than it was worth, and actively avoided it for a long time afterwards. It's still something I'd rather not contend with until I've got at least one squad of good marksdwarves and a few fire-breaks sorted.

There are ways to use magma and not allow magma critters access to your fort. A common technique is to channel out a single hole for your forge or smelter and build it so that the impassable tile is over the hole. A technique I started using is digging out all my magma ways, smoothing them, then carving a fortification into the wall by the magma. Usually my engraver doesn't get burned. Usually.

[Da Spadger]

Dig down and make a fort 2 or 3 z-levels above the magma sea. The surface world is highly overrated anyway. 8]

[ThrowerOfStones]

I had been always embarking next to volcanos, but afer trying a few times just digging a straight shaft down to the magma sea at the get go and setting up forges there, I think I'll stick with that. It's just as fast practically and way easier to gen a embark you like.

[Leonidas]

One approach is to leave the magma at the bottom and dig a hollow shaft all the way down.  Leave a small crew at the surface to harvest the stuff that you want, like flux, wood, and iron ore.  Then dump it all down the shaft.  Just be careful when digging the shaft, or you could lose a miner.

[Psieye]

I'm another who builds his fort deep underground. Personally, I still like the surface so I embark in areas where the magma is some 40 z-levels below the surface and I build my fort across that entire vertical space. That means my living quarters are 20 z-levels below the surface, equal distance from the magma and the surface.