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[Comrade]

I've been playing dwarf fortress for some time now and i am still unable to pass through the aquifers. I wikied it and those methods dont work for me or im just not understanding them. Anyone have a model or a way to help me pass them? I usually just turn them off in the code, but now i want to overcome my challenge.

[Aramco]

Best aquifer penetration method ever.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79224.15

[SpiralDimentia]

Best aquifer penetration method ever.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79224.15

I actually have no idea what goes on in that method. The tileset confuses me, because I'm a simpleton I guess, and trying to follow his directions... well, let's say I partake of a certain plant that makes me lose interest halfway through.

[Comrade]

Same thing happens to me also, but i tried it and i ended up with an all wood civilization.

[Zesty]

All that is too ridiculously fancy.

I just use a plug.

For your reference, I went to the trouble of making these:



You have your dwarves here. Note that this is a side-view of what you would see in-game.

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Dig all the way around underneath like this. You'll need the stairs to have at LEAST 5x5 soil between them.

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Dig/Channel out empty space all the way around this plug you made. You'll need to channel out the area underneath the aquifer as well to expose the water. Make sure you leave a single unchanneled piece so the whole thing doesn't collapse on top of anyone.

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Channel out that piece.

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The plug now penetrates the aquifer.

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Construct a floor in an empty space to get to the plug. Dig stairs down through the plug.

[SpiralDimentia]

All that is too ridiculously fancy.

-Plug-

This is what I normally do. But sometimes it doens't plug deep enough.

[Zesty]

Make a BIG plug to start, then make a plug in a plug with the same method.

Still better than pumps.

[SpiralDimentia]

Yeah, I just mean sometimes the aquifer is like 3 zlevels down form the surface, and when I drop it all into the aquifer, I'll dig down the middle and still hit water.

[Cotes]

Yeah, I just mean sometimes the aquifer is like 3 zlevels down form the surface, and when I drop it all into the aquifer, I'll dig down the middle and still hit water.

Shape the plug into a series of rings and start by dropping the outermost first, pump the water from inside the ring, and drop the next one.

There's a better explanation for around somewhere, but you should get the idea. Just channel the layer you want to drop into a square dartboard shape figure out the rest from there.

[Qwernt]

I only aquifer where there is either volcano or freezing temp.  So, I am either digging through obsidian or ice.  In the case of ice, you have have to make sure you get the walls up before the thaw.

(note, if you haven't done it with ice, just make a hole that lets outside freezing air touch the channel'ed aquifer water; presto instant wall - you need to channel a 5x5 if you want a 1x1 stairway as it will have a 3x3 wall around it)

[wuphonsreach]

Very nice graphics, Met.

Have you added those to the wiki?

[ahonek]

The advantage to the pump methods is that they keep a constant profile the whole way down. I've once encountered a 9-level aquifer. I would have had to use the whole friggin' map as a plug if I used that method. Luckily, the Lemurson Method saved the day, and I ended up with a nice, aesthetically pleasing aquifer punch. I highly recommend it.

[Dwarfoloid]

All that is too ridiculously fancy.

QuantumMenace's method (linked above) is actually very simple once you get how the aquifers flow. The real beauty of it is that you can design your entrance anywhere you want to without taking into account how deep the aquifer is at the spot. And it's very, very compact and also fast to build (you'll breach through even multi-lever aquifer during spring, even with just one carpenter/mason). And looks nicer than results of cave-in plugging.

[Comrade]

Thank you met, i've passed the level and i a dwarf child died in the process.

Now fuck this elf living style. I am going underground.

[Mickey Blue]

I may have to try to master this whole pump thing, I've been using the cave in system (fast, easy to do, takes very few special materials, etc) but with the new version it has one serious flaw, you no longer can see how many layers of aquifer you have (so far as I can tell), caving in plug just to find out there is another layer sucks, making a multi-plug system just to find out there is only one sucks (I guess you can leave it up as a cave in trap..), its a problem.

Unfortunately I share the view of the OP poster in that due to a different tileset being used (I use vanilla graphics modified to be square) it is kind of hard for me to figure out what is what.  A good project though, mastering both gives me the option of which to use and pumps certainly have some advantages.

In other words, if I know I'm dealing with one or two layers (maaaaybe three..) then a plug is a great way (IMO) to go, more then that its gonna have to be pumps, and since there is no way of knowing this adds an extra problem to the plug as if you build too few you are stuck and if you build too many you've wasted time.

-MB