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[Tyius]

From my experience with dwarven science, I have deduced that dropping things into volcano's is both fun and productive.  What I have yet to deduce however is whether if you drop a fully magma proofed modularized living space into a volcano, will it survive or be destroyed?  Anyone tried this yet?  What were the results?

[nanomage]

it will be destroyed because down there there is SMR. SMR eats everything.
Also, any living space requires a floor and a ceiling at least one z-level higher. On cave-in, any ceiling collapses.

[GreatWyrmGold]

So does hollow space--if the ceiling is a rock wall, it will fall in and crush your nobles migrants pioneers.

[Draxis]

Somebody came up with putting water on top of your roof

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         #~~~~~#
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         #     #that will become obsidian on lannding, but it does not solve the SMR.

[Organum]

If you don't mind cheating you could use dfhack to put a bed of obsidian where you want your module to land.

[nanomage]

okay, how about this design: (you'll need to mod amphibious dwarves and ice cages for it to work i think)
explorers are caged, cages are then placed into an exploration module and encased in ice. Dwarves will survive being encased in ice when in cages.
Then the dwarf containment (a small room with natural floors and walls filled with ice and with a ceiling of ice walls) is dropped down do the magma sea and lands on an obsidian platform previously created with dfliquids.the upper layer of ice melts and forms obsidian ceiling, then the lower layer melts and the cages melt, releasing the explorers.

[Tharwen]

You could perhaps drop the building, one-step down until it's right above the SMR, then save the game, turn off cave-ins, restart and load again. Presumably it would just stop in mid-magma.

I've been trying to visualise a complicated multi-level water buffer that stops it from moving when it obsidianises, but I can't seem to think of anything that would actually work.

[Girlinhat]

I've as-yet seen no possible way to drop a hollow shape and have it remain hollow.  For starters, this would best be run on dry ground, dropping bricks onto normal dirt.  If/when you discover how to drop a hollow shape, then progress towards actual magma runs.

I've not thought of casting obsidian mid-drop, that's a fascinating idea that will require more research.  Due to the way that things fall, however, cave-ins are instant while water will take its time.  Thus, timing the cave in to allow the water and magma to mix on the roof - and not in the room itself - will be the difficult part.

[Asteranx]

I remember this experiment being proposed a while back.  I'm not sure if it still works, and I never actually tested it myself, but it could make a good starting point.  What they came up with was this:

If you make a hollow space out of natural rock (cast obsidian, perhaps - constructed walls deconstruct as soon as they lose support), and put any amount of liquid inside it, the structure would remain hollow after collapse.  The general idea is to take a dwarf with some swimming skill, put them in a 2/7 pool and surround them with cast obsidian.  Then drop the whole thing.  Provided it still works, the only real question would be whether or not the structure remains sealed during the descent.  If not, you may end up creating obsidian as the water escapes, and losing your capsule's integrity.

[Corona688]

Also, any living space requires a floor and a ceiling at least one z-level higher. On cave-in, any ceiling collapses.

That's only if you dig out every single floor, I think.  I believe you could dig out every second floor, leaving thick walls as ceilings, which shouldn't collapse.  I don't think dug stairs collapse either.

[Girlinhat]

Walls drop upon collapse.  For example,

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WWWWW
W   W
WWWWWas a side view, this is a box made out of walls.  After collapse, it will hit the floor looking like,

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W   W
WWWWW
WWWWWbecause each wall settles to the lowest point it can.  Floors do this as well.  But only natural.  A constructed floor/wall will revert to its building material when it hits the ground, and only the topmost layer will remain usable, as the lower materials are instantly crushed by the layer above them, leaving a perfect 1 layer thick pile of loose stones.

The water-filled cave-in box sounds like it needs some testing, although any dwarf that can swim could survive in a 7/7 pool, so being exact about it isn't as required.  It would doubtless be best to - very quickly - take a slab of obsidian with walls.  Fill it with water, and deposit the passenger in the water.  Overfill it with water, so that the water is 2 layers deep, overflowing the obsidian walls.  Then pour magma over it to cast the ceiling - poured from one side so that every ceiling tile is supported and none end up caving in, which would happen if you simply dropped a layer of magma on it.  Quickly cut away any excess obsidian, attach supports, and let it fall.  The biggest challenge here, is probably attempting to cast the obsidian before the dwarf dehydrates, although that's not a huge issue.

For this method, I'm expecting one hilarious bug.  A cave-in into liquid displaces the liquid directly upwards.  By this logic, a box filled with water would drop an empty box onto the ground, and the water would splash over it a moment later.  This is still a very interesting idea, if it works it would let you place one wall tile as a constructed wall.  Upon dropping, the constructed wall would disappear and drain the water out, instantly deploying your military and/or nobles safely to the goblin siege.

[kotekzot]

I'm almost sure even legendary swimmers need open space over the z-level they are swimming on to breathe, otherwise they start drowning.

[Girlinhat]

Hmm, I believe you're right about that, actually.  So, cast an obsidian brick, dig out the interior, and make a hole in the ceiling.  Dump a pre-measured cistern of water into the box (preferably washing the passenger in with the flow) and fill it up to, but not above, 6/7.  Not sure how to safely cap that one ceiling tile with obsidian, but it should be fine.

[webber]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think 2/7 will be enough. We can use one more cave-in before the final launch to seal the "module" by dropping a roof on it. And we won`t need any obsidian.

[Girlinhat]

I like the way you write "seal" as if it's simple.  How do you cast an obsidian ceiling atop a 2/7 water without injuring the person in the water?