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[KaguroDraven]

The thread title pretty much explains it. I've heard lots of mentions of Magma Cannons but I have no idea how exactly to make one, or exactly what one does.

[squeakyReaper]

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Basically you have MULTIPLE pumps pump from the left into a walled off section.  Then when the walled off section is all 7/7s, open the flood gate and the magma will spew out.  The more pumps, the more pressure, the farther the lava shoots.  Works better with water, but water doesn't (usually) melt critter's skins.

[Quietust]

Note that it won't shoot outward - it'll just form a large circular glob centered at the end of the barrel.

[KaguroDraven]

Ah, thank you.

[Shrugging Khan]

Would the pressure be greater if I put the pumps atop each other vertically? Perhaps even shooting it past several tiles?

[squeakyReaper]

Would the pressure be greater if I put the pumps atop each other vertically? Perhaps even shooting it past several tiles?

Possibly.  I've never actually thought of that.  I'll try it out later.  I know that'd work for water, but I dunno about magma because it doesn't work the same way.

[Shrugging Khan]

Afaik, Magma cannot be pressurised to move vertically upwards. Whether this renders it impossible to make magma overcome gravitation for some distance...huh.

[Schmlok]

You could put it above the target and pressurize it straight down

[Urist Da Vinci]

Note that it won't shoot outward - it'll just form a large circular glob centered at the end of the barrel.

Indeed.

If your magma cannon is a hole in a wall, it forms a half-circle discharge. Sometimes pumps can pump faster than fluids can fall, but if you want to make sure that the weapon has the correct range, you need a certain number of pumps working in parallel.

Code: [Select]

range volume/pumps
1 1
2 4
3 9
4 16
5 25
6 36
7 49
8 64
As you can see, it becomes expensive to shoot long distances, and the "muzzle flare" is massive 

[squeakyReaper]

Valuable scientific knowledge I appreciate and will utilize later.

On one hand, it's horribly inefficient to shoot very far, and you're still screwing over any of your dwarves that are remotely close to the magma.  On the other hand, you're making a cannon that fires liquid death.  Totally worth it.

[Xenos]

I recommend building a pipe network above the surface of your map that will drop cisterns (at least 5x5x2) of magma onto the target with retracting drawbridges.  This results in much magma being deployed very quickly.

[Shrugging Khan]

Why no hatches?

[Keldane]

@Khan: In theory, you could build a single 5x5 drawbridge that would allow you to instantly empty the entire chamber above it with only three mechanisms and a minimum of construction time. If I'm not mistaken, that is.

[Shrugging Khan]

Saving on mechanisms...seems reasonable.

BUT! Can anyone link me to a list of the trigger delays for the various hatch/door/floodgate/bridge devices?

[Loyal]

I believe Bridges and Floodgates take 100 steps to activate, and everything else is instant.