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[mek42]

Actually, I'm thinking for it to be a magmafall and I have a bunch of questions that I'm confused about.  I'm running 31.18 and just embarked.

I have a volcano on a tall cliff, so I am thinking to run the magma through some grates so it is visible in a statue garden (in an obsidian room with a window to the outside).  Other than a floodgate to turn off the flow, is there anything I can to to keep any magma nasties out?  I'm unclear as to whether things can swim through fortifications now or not.  More importantly, will an exposed magmafall flowing through a room fry my dwarfs?

Next, since I'll have a magmafalls, I might as well learn how waterwheels work and set one up with the magma, right?  Maybe I could use the magmawheel to pump water up (from the brook) and have a magmafalls and a waterfalls in the same room, wouldn't that be a happy place?

If I use the floodgate for the magmafalls judiciously, and also install a floodgate from the brook to a deep pool of water, I could make a self-replenishing obsidian pool.

I've saved my game since it is late and I'm excited about this - if I manage not to screw it up, this will be my first mega-project, even though maybe not so mega for many of you old dwarfs here.  Thanks for letting me think and ask questions here!

[Girlinhat]

1) Magmafalls give no good thoughts, unlike waterfalls, making them primarily useless, except for being awesome.

2) I don't think waterwheels work in magma.

3) Flowing liquids will push things through fortifications.  If you build the forts a bit away from the pump itself, then nothing should get pulled in due to the low amount of flow at that distance.  Alternatively, creatures cannot be pulled through pumps, so there's that bit of defense as well.

[Lamphare]

note that magma vermin, i.e. fire snakes, can spwan anywhere so long there is magma. fortification or anything will not stop them. and they generate an unhappy thought for dwarfs near them, also could start a fire.
and liquid flows kill FPS if on large scale.

[Girlinhat]

Magma pump stacks are worse for FPS even, because of the rapid temperature change that conventional pump stacks cause.  There's other, more FPS friendly pump stacks though.

[Lamphare]

you can try the piston method, i donno if it still would work though.
or simply turn temperature off.

Water wheels, if made of wood, would probably burst into flames upon contact with magma...

nether cap would never.

[ZetaX]

2) I don't think waterwheels work in magma.

Yes, magma has no such flow of any kind (tested with nethercap- and normal waterwheels, both submerged and over the magma; both for normal flow and teleporting flow by pumps).

[Lamphare]

lol yes they are called waterwheels for a reason.

[ZetaX]

This is Dwarf Fortress, where beards are chisels and cats are psychic supervillains.
But it's still a pity that we can't have dwarfen magma reactors.

If I remember correctly, the waterwheels didn't burn (those above magma shouldn't anyway as they are technically not on the same tiles).

[mek42]

Ok, the wiki agrees with you that there are no such things as magma wheels.  And since a magmafall won't generate happy thoughts, maybe I'll just try to make some space for a pump stack for water.  I've been looking for an embark that has a mountain stream at high elevation with which to make my own natural waterfall, but such sites are very rare.

So, I'll go with the boring magmafall to water pool, both controlled by floodgates for a replenishable obsidian farm.  If I put my refuse pile down there, I don't suppose "roach remains trapped in a chunk of obsidian" has higher value, like a chunk of amber?

[ZetaX]

I think there simply will be no roach remains left.

[Girlinhat]

If you dump water and then place magma atop it, it will encase (probably) but if you dump magma and then water, it will have melted by the time the water hits it.

Also, just breach the first cavern and find water (or DFReveal if you're feeling cheap), so you can pump stack it upwards, and, conveniently, let it drain back down into the caverns.

[silverskull39]

or, if you want a natural waterfall, gen a world with no periodic erosion of high cliffs and look for places where two rivers meet. Check the elevation sections of the sitefinder and find one that has high-extreme cliffs. In my experience these places are usually places where one river drains into another from a top a cliff.

[ZetaX]

Partially related: Any suggestions on how to efficiently find mid-river waterfalls (those which are not at meeting points of rivers but in the mid of a sole river). I know they exist as I have already seen one, but I found it rather hard to actually find them. Just looking for elevations is mostly useless, often rivers just flow in a canyon there.

[mek42]

Well, I learned something.  Damp obsidian may indeed be hiding an aquifer.

Urist McOverseer (i.e. me) to Urist McMiner: What do you mean the obsidian is damp?  Everyone knows that obsidian can't support an aquifer.  Keep digging!  My magma system needs to be put in there.

Urist McMiner: Um, ok boss.  <walks away muttering something about lifeboats>

Urist McOverseer then watched his fledgling fortress flood.

On the other hand, now I will keep an eye out for higher elevation aquifers with which to build a natural waterfall system.  (Natural as in "no machinery".)

[Lamphare]

finding natural waterfall is easy alone, assuming you set the world gen parameters to support just enough erosion and river start points, and hill tiles. too much eronsion means a somewhat flat world, while too few hills mean no terran for waterfall to form.
then go to embark screen, change to relative elevation mod, and cycle through region tiles that contain rivers joining together. that should be easy to tell. then in relative elevation screen, should you see something like a 'piston' with colours of higher elevation, stabbing into a strip with colours of lower elevation
like

Code: [Select]

LLMMLMLLLL
LMMLMMLLLL
LMMLMMMMMM
LMMHHHHHHH
LMMLMMMMMM
where M, L, H are medium, low and high elevation.then there is a waterfall

you can change to cliff indicator to see roughly how high the waterfall may be.

the hard part is to get waterfall along with all other things you want for you fort.