Greetings fellow Gentledwarves,
Just popping over to join Bay12forums as I've been introduced to Dwarf Fortress relatively recently. Despite lots of Fun™, I have enjoyed the Dorfs experience and as such, love to make new fortresses to try and do things better every time. Which of course, leads me to the topic discussion:
I have had inspiration. A spark that now has found tinder and is growing into a flame of creation and experimentation. I've seen designs for pump stacks, but I haven't quite seen anything yet to suggest my particular idea. We dwarves often need to pump magma up from the deep, but what if we have a plentiful supply nearby? And what if we could exploit ready amounts of magma into a Mordor Approved Magma Trap™? All while furthering Dwarf Science whilst we do so! Yes, my inspiration was the LHC and the Fermilab International Linear Accelerator. And I thought, this must be done, must be experimented! We must propel magma at ever increasing speeds and distances! No goblin will ever be safe again!
I propose to you all a plan, an idea, a challenge. I propose... The Magma Accelerator. That's right, a Magma Accelerator. The principle is to see if a linear array of pumps will accelerate a particular choice of fluid (water or magma). For this, I've decided to start a new fortress just for the purposes of creating this project. From a nearby volcano, I will draw out a large enough pool of magma to act as a reservoir for the device. From that, I will create a tunnel and power system that will channel this magma out in a particular direction, and see how far I can spew the accelerated liquid. So, here's the setup I intend to build:
POWER-----#----#----#----#----#----#
PUMPS---->== == == == == ==_G<---Floodgate
MAGMA~~~~| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_____☹<- Target
The above example only has a few stages, but there can be as many stages as one might like (as long as you have the power to supply it all). From a chosen pool of magma, each pump will dump magma into a channel, from which the pump ahead will immediately withdraw and dump onto the next channel onwards. I want to see if this setup will accelerate the fluid flow as a function of continuous steps. The hypothesis is the more steps in the accelerator, the more the magma will be accelerated. And when the magma is then released from the linear accelerator, it will then fly out at an increased range, dumping a fiery wrath upon anything unfortunate enough to be in its range.
The power system and floodgate will be connected to the same lever. As such, the moment the lever is pulled, ALL pumps begin to work and the floodgate is open. The flow of the magma must not be impeded in any way, or there may be some Fun to be had. Also, aim will be rather limited so the device will function in the same way as a siege engine, only with the inability to even be turned. Probably advantageous to point the device along a channelled route for unfortunate goblins to follow in to.
So there, that's the idea. I will aim to build this, but if I'm not the first to do it, then that doesn't matter. What matters is that Dwarf Science is advanced, and that much Fun will be had. Anyone who wishes to implement their own accelerator can do so and post the results here. Note the number of stages and how many tiles the magma travels before falling a z-level. The device needs to be implemented at least two z-levels above an entrance in order to function. So, the project begins!
*Goes off to take over the nearest computer*
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Topic: A Newbie's Fey Mood: A Magma Accelerator (Read 5112 times)