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[Mantonio]

Because I can't understand how anyone can see them as the geological equivalent of that weird smelling kid in pre-school. You know, the one you didn't particularly like, but had to put up with Especially when your mother invited him to your birthday party, where he spent his evening drinking all the cola and wetting himself...

Where was I? Oh, right.

To me, seeing one of those blue squiggly lines instantly makes the site Not Worth It. I have to spend a good part of a season or two to cause a cave-in and make an entrance. And that's only assuming you've got two layers above it! If there's only one layer of soil above it you're screwed, because you can't make pumps without brining the stone with you!

And if there are two or even THREE of the bloody things, then I steadfastly refuse to go there. I mentally mark it as impossible to dig into without hours of frustration, and leave it alone.  Of course this means that plenty of wonderful sites are bypassed because they had the dreaded two to three aquifer layers, which makes it even more annoying.

So... yeah. I honestly don't see the appeal. You could say 'For the challenge' but if that's your thing why don't you just cut out the middle man and have both hands tied behind your back and build a fort by pressing keys with your tongue.

[Musashi]

Simply put? If you manage to master the damn thing, bam! Infinite water! They can also make an awesome sponge if you need to drain the water off something, or can even be manipulated into deadly freezing traps in the right biome.

[ChairmanPoo]

I love aquifers because they provide huge possibilities. Unlike a river, which produces a limited continuous quantity of water, aquifers allow you to create OR destroy as much water as you want. Not to mention that they are very fps-friendly.

Besides, breaking through them is not that hard. There are plenty of methods to do so.

[Vehudur]

If you don't feel bad about cheating, get DFliquids and make obsidian caissons.  End of problems, you still get your nice site too.

[Fishbulb]

Early in on my Dwarf Fortressing, I had a traumatic experience with an aquifer. Had never encountered one before, didn't know anything about them, it was a catastrophe.

So I modded them out of the raws.

I feel bad about it. Really, I do. But I've just never gone back and restored them, to challenge myself to figure them out.

Now I feel terribly guilty.

[Musashi]

I should get on a map with an aquifer next time too, because despite (or because?) of everything I've read, I'm a bit scared of stumbling upon one. And yet, what wouldn't I do for infinite water...

[slothen]

I've really only done one fort on an aquifer, and it wasn't much of a problem.  Aquifers occur near the top stone layer underneath the soil.  It seems that if you build most of your fortress deep underground, then it shouldn't be too big a hassle.  If you try to build half above the aquifer and half below near the magma, you'll spend way more time messing with it.  Also build lots of doors and hatches in case you pierce one from below.

[Mickey Blue]

I've been like the OP mostly but I've been taking a break from fortresses recently and working on improving my science training, trying to master aquifers (I can breach one, though its often clumsy), but I've never even tried to breach two or three, and I've seen four and heard of five!

Like the OP I have passed up many a great site because of them and I don't want to be limited by them anymore, want to get fast and efficient at breaching them with minimal time, then I can just live far below them (maybe using the dirt above them as stockrooms, at least early on).


Also trying to master the piston method of getting Magma to the surface, so far that has been a complete disaster.

-MB

[Shrugging Khan]

I almost always go for multi-biome embarks, so I just make sure there's some way of sneaking past the aquifer. Usually works, unless I somehow manage to drown my starting seven by means of "just fucking dig the tile you cowardly son of a...!"

[BurnedToast]

Simply put? If you manage to master the damn thing, bam! Infinite water! They can also make an awesome sponge if you need to drain the water off something, or can even be manipulated into deadly freezing traps in the right biome.

Rivers and such also provide infinite water without the annoyance. Caverns also are almost certain to have some water too. As for draining the water... pumping it into an aquifer is usually more difficult then other ways of getting rid of it.

I don't like them and tend to avoid them at all costs. All they do is add an extra, annoying step to starting your fortress then they might as well not be there.

[Brianide]

Simply put? If you manage to master the damn thing, bam! Infinite water! They can also make an awesome sponge if you need to drain the water off something, or can even be manipulated into deadly freezing traps in the right biome.

You can also get fish from them, if your embark is not possessed of a river or fish-bearing cavern.

Having a very small aquifer is often preferable to not having one at all; it's just a matter of finding the right biomes overlapping to get one.

[Musashi]

Simply put? If you manage to master the damn thing, bam! Infinite water! They can also make an awesome sponge if you need to drain the water off something, or can even be manipulated into deadly freezing traps in the right biome.

Rivers and such also provide infinite water without the annoyance. Caverns also are almost certain to have some water too. As for draining the water... pumping it into an aquifer is usually more difficult then other ways of getting rid of it.

I don't like them and tend to avoid them at all costs. All they do is add an extra, annoying step to starting your fortress then they might as well not be there.

To each their own. I may be praising them for the time being, but after all, maybe aquifers will completely traumatize me when I take a try for real...

[gopa4]

Simply put? If you manage to master the damn thing, bam! Infinite water! They can also make an awesome sponge if you need to drain the water off something, or can even be manipulated into deadly freezing traps in the right biome.

You can also get fish from them, if your embark is not possessed of a river or fish-bearing cavern.

Having a very small aquifer is often preferable to not having one at all; it's just a matter of finding the right biomes overlapping to get one.

I actually got very lucky, decided to try an aquifer for the first time ever. It turns out that I have about 1/3 of the map with no aquifer.

[Shrugging Khan]

Being a paranoid anti-fun builder, I'm also very happy about aquifers providing water without opening my flank up to infiltration by swimming building destroyers.

[Aner-Dyfan]

I think I would quite like an aquifer, I'm trying decentralised forts at the moment and the sheer amount of tunnels and passages I would have to build from the river to where it is needed, as well as having large cisterns for flood traps, it pretty much means I've got a layer of just water anyway. I reckon an aquifer would reduce FPS death in this fort design.