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[bloodtoes]

So I want to build a giant cauldron (say, 5-10 z-levels) to store some magma or water or something in. It'll be the same shape all the way down, and I want it to be as clean as possible; that is with zero scaffolding remnants and no walled-off tunnels other than on the top level. Is this possible? Is there a method for removing things from a layer below without getting a dwarf stuck?

One way I've thought of was to dig out all the layers without channeling them yet, then drop the topmost floor on them. Problem is this would be above where my dwarfs are already living.. I don't particularly want to collapse a mountain of stone on their bedrooms.

[Girlinhat]

I'm assuming there's a bottom for this?  So that you can drain the magma for use in some trap or cleansing?  Channel out one layer, wait for it to finish.  Channel the next.  Continue until finished.  Remember that a dwarf can channel out the tile that he's on, and drop down safely if there's another layer below him.  Then dig the drainage outpour from the bottom and let the miner escape.  Or don't let him escape.  Copper pick and dwarven bones are utterly destroyed in magma.

[SmokedRWA]

My only experience with this was for my magma reservoir. I had a dwarf that I deemed uselesss be the one to make the final channeling and smoothing touches to the very bottom. He got a nice memorial slab overlooking the edge of the reservoir.

[bloodtoes]

I'm assuming there's a bottom for this?  So that you can drain the magma for use in some trap or cleansing?  Channel out one layer, wait for it to finish.  Channel the next.  Continue until finished.  Remember that a dwarf can channel out the tile that he's on, and drop down safely if there's another layer below him.  Then dig the drainage outpour from the bottom and let the miner escape.  Or don't let him escape.  Copper pick and dwarven bones are utterly destroyed in magma.

Yeah that is ok except that I don't want a tunnel at the bottom, if it can be avoided. Can I start from the bottom and work my way up, removing the lower level ramps/stairs/whatever as I go?

My only experience with this was for my magma reservoir. I had a dwarf that I deemed uselesss be the one to make the final channeling and smoothing touches to the very bottom. He got a nice memorial slab overlooking the edge of the reservoir.

Hmm that might be the way to go.

[Girlinhat]

Sometimes dwarves will remove a stairway while standing above or below it, but will often do so while standing beside it.  I think (unsure) if you place and suspect construction adjacent to the stairs, they'll deconstruct if from above, allowing you to "pull up your ladder" of sorts.

[bloodtoes]

Sometimes dwarves will remove a stairway while standing above or below it, but will often do so while standing beside it.  I think (unsure) if you place and suspect construction adjacent to the stairs, they'll deconstruct if from above, allowing you to "pull up your ladder" of sorts.

I have tried that before with the suspended-wall trick, but in that case the dwarf ignored them and stranded himself anyway.

[forsaken1111]

even easier: Designate the entire dig area as up/down stairs except for the bottom level which should just be up stairs, and the top level is just down stairs. Once it is entirely dug out, you can remove it level-by-level safely (they will actually channel out the level above them if they can stand below it, and they will never get stuck) or you can pick a sacrificial dwarf to channel away the sides and bottom except for one tile and have the sacrifice pop that last supporting stairwell (or support if you like, linked to a lever)

[Patchy]

He can try a wooden staircase for his reservois. I don't know if it'll burn once submerged in the magma due to the construction immunity rule. But then again constructions are immune cause the magma usually can't enter the tile it's on, but stairs have no such problem.

I usually find the escape tunnel at the bottom a much easier solution and I usually turn it into a magma drain tunnel so I can do maintenance on my systems occasionally.

[bloodtoes]

Wooden staircase.. that just might work Either that or sacrificial miner (I think my baronness is a miner...)

Thanks for the tips!

[SmokedRWA]

(I think my baronness is a miner...)

Even if she isn't, she will get some firsthand experience pretty soon.

[INSANEcyborg]

Okay, this is what I've come up with:

1  Dig out the area.
2  While digging, make a non-magma safe stairway supported from the top.  Make sure its constructed.
3  When done, deconstruct the stairs on the bottom level.
4  Flood the bottom level so the dwarf stuck there can swim out. 
5  Drain the water.  Can use a pump stack, a pump connected to a atom smasher, or DFhack.
6  Remove the support at the top to collapse the stairs.  Being constructed, it will revert to what it was built from.
7  Fill with magma. 



For 3 & 4, you should probably train your dwarf in swimming first.  Last time I tried this I used a no skill dwarf, And he was able to survive long enough to get out on his own.  But there's still a risk of him drowning/starving before he gets skilled enough to climb out.

[Girlinhat]

Wooden staircases don't burn.  Anything built as a construction is immune to everything.  I'm in favor of sacrificial miners, myself.  I'm assuming this will be a death pit anyways, correct?  What better way to christen it?  (Don't pretend it's not.  It's DF, everything is a death pit eventually.)