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[ahonek]

Howdy!

I've decided to cast a 20x20x10 block of obsidian within which I will build my fortress proper. It'll be suspended a couple of z-levels above the ground, for additional challenge.

I've got my pump stack set up to fetch magma from the sea, and I've got another small stack to fetch water from the river. Now, I've done two levels of the obsidian block and everything is going as planned, except the building of floors around each level, then a wall on the inside edges of the floor, as well as curving the output "spout" of every second pump in the stack (since they face opposite directions) is becoming fairly tedious. Not that that's a huge problem, since projects like this are fun because they aren't easy.

However, I was wondering whether there were any established standards for design patterns for this sort of thing. Surely "Pure obsidian fort in the sky" has occurred to each and every one of you at least once.

[Urist Imiknorris]

The established standard has always been "just use your imagination."

[Urist McGyver]

I actually cheated my way into infinite obsidian in Minecraft and made a huge, totally awesome castle in the sky. There was a tower on the ground level call "Darkstone Tower", as it is in the Might and Magic: World of Xeen game. Then I made a 3x3 vertical corridor(that is a hollow 9x9 block with a ladder inside) all the way to the said Darkstone Keep, which was a small fort with rooms, etc. The only problem was that every time I made a mistake I had to wait 30 seconds for the bloody diamond pick to mine the obsidian.

...the only things I can think after writing this are "Wow, that's sure nerdy" and "Cool story, bro".

Anyway, build a fort of doom or something in the line of that

[Triaxx2]

Well, you could increase the height of the stacks up to the highest necessary level, and then start them up. The water/magma will fall to the ground and become obsidian and don't have to be at the level necessary, so if you suddenly find that the top level is the wrong way, you can simply go up another level and have it going the right way.

I'd love to see work in progress screen though.

[Hellmoob]

Howdy!

I've decided to cast a 20x20x10 block of obsidian within which I will build my fortress proper. It'll be suspended a couple of z-levels above the ground, for additional challenge.

I've got my pump stack set up to fetch magma from the sea, and I've got another small stack to fetch water from the river. Now, I've done two levels of the obsidian block and everything is going as planned, except the building of floors around each level, then a wall on the inside edges of the floor, as well as curving the output "spout" of every second pump in the stack (since they face opposite directions) is becoming fairly tedious. Not that that's a huge problem, since projects like this are fun because they aren't easy.

However, I was wondering whether there were any established standards for design patterns for this sort of thing. Surely "Pure obsidian fort in the sky" has occurred to each and every one of you at least once.

Making a 34x34x8 obsidian cube right now... Three Z levels above ground, five below. For the pump stacks above ground, which feed into the top level of the cast (Z level +4) I just use dwarf power, because that means no need for extra generators or linkages, and no need to worry about linking the pumps vertically. I was originally going to use retracting bridges to drop the magma/water, but I forgot that bridges can melt so that didn't end well. I've just been pumping directly into the cast and it's been equally efficient, if a little more tricky to micromanage.

[ahonek]

Oh, that's a good point. I hadn't thought about manual power for the above-ground levels. That will certainly save me time. Pumping straight to the top is a good idea that I hadn't considered as well, I'll just have to make sure I don't overfill a level.

Speaking of which, if you have level Z filled with 7/7 magma, and level Z+1 is entirely covered in, say, 1/7 magma, what happens when you drop water on that? Will you end up with isolated pockets of magma inside your obsidian block?

[Hellmoob]

Oh, that's a good point. I hadn't thought about manual power for the above-ground levels. That will certainly save me time. Pumping straight to the top is a good idea that I hadn't considered as well, I'll just have to make sure I don't overfill a level.

Speaking of which, if you have level Z filled with 7/7 magma, and level Z+1 is entirely covered in, say, 1/7 magma, what happens when you drop water on that? Will you end up with isolated pockets of magma inside your obsidian block?

As I understand it, if you have Z+1 completely covered in magma, then the obsidian will still form and leave a layer of magma below it, or potentially (if it forms in a way that leaves it initially unsupported) cave into the magma layer below and displace it upwards. If it's only partially covered in an "extra" layer, then yes, you'd get the pockets of magma.

[Girlinhat]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be possible to do a very violent casting?  Fill up the entire block with magma, which means getting a wall in place around it to hold the magma.  Then, plump water onto the top of the whole thing.  It will cast obsidian, which then falls to the bottom of the tank and displaces more magma upwards, which then gets cast into obsidian, etc.  To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Statues don't hold fluid.

[Hellmoob]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be possible to do a very violent casting?  Fill up the entire block with magma, which means getting a wall in place around it to hold the magma.  Then, plump water onto the top of the whole thing.  It will cast obsidian, which then falls to the bottom of the tank and displaces more magma upwards, which then gets cast into obsidian, etc.  To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

I don't see why that wouldn't work, but it would be less magma-efficient, less water efficient and (with the potential for magma mist and massive amounts of cave-ins) much less friendly to FPS and Dwarves.

[Urist Da Vinci]

... but I forgot that bridges can melt so that didn't end well. ...

Bridges don't melt if you make them, and their mechanisms, out of magma-safe materials.

[Misterstone]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be possible to do a very violent casting?  Fill up the entire block with magma, which means getting a wall in place around it to hold the magma.  Then, plump water onto the top of the whole thing.  It will cast obsidian, which then falls to the bottom of the tank and displaces more magma upwards, which then gets cast into obsidian, etc.  To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

I'm not 100% positive, but I think if you did it your way the magma on the top would stick to the walls (if a magma next to a wall tile crystallizes), and you'd eventually end up with a constructed box with crust on top and a liquid center.

[Hellmoob]

I'm not 100% positive, but I think if you did it your way the magma on the top would stick to the walls (if a magma next to a wall tile crystallizes), and you'd eventually end up with a constructed box with crust on top and a liquid center.

She had that accounted for, I think:

To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

[Urist Da Vinci]

... To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

Unless you "float" the floodgates/doors/windows, the obsidian would stick to the floor under that floodgate/door/window.

[j0nas]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be possible to do a very violent casting?  Fill up the entire block with magma, which means getting a wall in place around it to hold the magma.  Then, plump water onto the top of the whole thing.  It will cast obsidian, which then falls to the bottom of the tank and displaces more magma upwards, which then gets cast into obsidian, etc.  To prevet the top layer from sticking, you can make the top-most walls from floorgates, doors, or statues.  Anything that holds fluid but doesn't support a wall.

This + bridges for the top layer 'lip'.  I like it.  Extremely simple and efficient compared to the standard methods, seems like.