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[Lytha]

How do you do it? First the casting form, then a bucket-brigade to form an ice wall, then the magma?

I'm asking because I know that 7/7 magma thinks that a bucket full of water is nothing to worry about. (No reason to turn into magma, that is.)


Actually, perhaps you don't even need the casting form, though there will be some magma mess.


... time to gen a freezing world.

[NecroRebel]

If you dump a bucket of water from the z-level directly above magma, the fluids both simply vanish. If you dump a bucket of water from more than one z-level above magma, however, it forms obsidian as normal.

Alternatively, you could have your water pipes above the surface surrounded by moving lava so that the water is kept liquid by the heat. You'd need to devise a different pump stack that allowed lava between the pump layers so that the water doesn't just freeze once through the pump. A spiral would work, perhaps, where each pump pumps at a right angle to the previous pump, though that would require more power.

[Lytha]

Wow, this sounds awesome in its complicatedness.

I think I will just use a bucket brigade from further up though... or perhaps not. Complicated = awesome.

My knowledge about magma not caring about a bucket full of water came from an unsuccessful attempt to seal off my magma plumbing with an obsidian wall once; from the z-level above the magma, that was. I was disappointed at first, and then I quite agreed with the magma.



Edit:

God grief, I've got 14.6k amethysts on this 2x2 embark. More amethysts than microcline (of which DFprospector finds none).

Let's hope that the 1 tile of freezing forest won't thaw during the summer. I hate thawing maps.

[Quietust]

If you dump a bucket of water from the z-level directly above magma, the fluids both simply vanish. If you dump a bucket of water from more than one z-level above magma, however, it forms obsidian as normal.

If you drop it from 2 levels up, the heat from the magma ought to keep it in liquid form, but dropping from 3 or more levels up would probably cause it to freeze in mid-air.

[Lytha]

Right. Back to the original plan of "first, the bucket brigade, then pour the magma on top of the fresh ice."

[greycat]

Do your caverns have any water that reaches the map edge?  If so, that is an infinite, never-freezing supply right there.

[Lytha]

Yes, but it's like 150 z-levels below the surface. I'm taking the water from my aquifer, two levels below the surface.

[evileeyore]

... you could have your water pipes above the surface...

Why would you put pipes above the surface?  Just build your forms subterranean, keep all your ducts subterra, and stop worrying about freezing.  Sure, it takes more mining but waaaaaaay less mussing about trying to keep your pumps from freezing.

[Lytha]

Erm, this isn't about having an obsidian farm. This is about creating an aboveground obsidian structure. Hence the need to make a thread about it, because the water plumbing would freeze in this freezing environment.

[Triaxx2]

Hmm... Consider this.

Code: [Select]

XXXXXXXXXX
XMMMO<MMMX
XMXXXXXXMX
XMXWO<WXMX
M=Magma
W=Water
X=Wall
O=Pump Output
<=Pump Intake

That should be enough to keep the water wet. Plus it brings the magma up to the top of the structure. Simple and Elegant. How undwarfish.

[Quietust]

Triaxx2: One problem - magma only heats adjacent tiles, so while it will keep the walls warm, the water itself will freeze.

[Lytha]

Yes, I think the water pipe would need to be on top of the magma pipes. Problems arise from this setup when you reach the final exit of the plumbing: You probably end up with an ice block past the floodgate/drawbridge/door of the water pipe, or with an obsidian block past the floodgate/drawbridge/door of the magma pipe.

I don't see how you could do this, unless you somehow could have magma at 1/7 around or at least next to the drop from the water pipe? That's extremely susceptible for errors due to that magma vaporizing randomly though.

[Triaxx2]

Hmm... you're right.

Perhaps we're thinking about this wrong. Does ice exposed to magma turn into enough water to become obsidian? If it does, then we just create a stockpile full of ice and then pour magma onto it. Probably less frustrating than trying to pump water up, just pump it into an ice pit with magma beneath it, then drain the magma to freeze the water. Mine the ice and drop it into the stockpile. Pour in magma, and repeat.

[evileeyore]

Erm, this isn't about having an obsidian farm. This is about creating an aboveground obsidian structure. Hence the need to make a thread about it, because the water plumbing would freeze in this freezing environment.

You're casting the whole structure outside?  In a freezing biome?  Are you mad dwarfy?

Personally I'd still just do it all inside and just make obsidian blocks and buld the structure out of blocks... but then I'd hate fiddling with all that ducting.

[Lytha]

Yeah, I want to engrave it. So it has to be cast or created with DFliquids (which would be a really cheap way out of the predicament.)

Ice stockpile. Also a good idea.

I'd do some experiments already if I weren't busy with something else; besides, the magma sea happens to be about 160 z-levels below the surface. So much about "coast regions with only 1 cave layer aren't really deep". So, getting the magma up nicely and neatly will take some dwarven years.