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1 (11.1%)

I may never sleep again...

1 (11.1%)

OHGOD, THERE'S DEATH EVERYWHERE! WHAT DID YOU DOOOO?!

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Nah, Fun happened.

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Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: August 12, 2011, 08:58:21 am

[ThatAussieGuy]

Above Level 4.  The water's pumping, it just has to be pulled to engage the final pump.  It's the Marble lever.

And i just locked them into the dining hall and let them sort it out themselves.  I'm already sealing off those side bits in my modifications, so that should make things interesting.  Might block off the side-most pumps so i can block the gaps left by the vertical axle on either side.

[ThatAussieGuy]

Well, I fixed a major flaw in the design.  Removed the goddamn construction walkway that blocked the screw pump intake on Level 2.  Now it'll actually circulate water instead of just end up on the bottom level.  /headdesk /headdesk /headdesk

 


Okay, here's the current save with version 1.1 ready to be started. 
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=4818

It works, but it's only outputting about 8kuW.  I did a bit of math, looked at the waterflow and i know what's wrong - the water is only actually "moving" under 4 wheels (the first and last ones on both floors, would be my guess) The rest of the water is just staying as a sort of lake.  I'm going to try and fix this by dividing Level 3 into a series of channels using walls to see if that makes it flow more consistently.

[BloodBeard]

The problem is still too much water, it needs to be reduced to the point where the water under the very first waterwheel oscillates between 6/7 and 7/7. I haven't tried running your reactor so I don't know how far down the water will be able to turn waterwheels, but there is a limit unfortunately. This reactor may be over the limit, i'm trying to find that out. If anything this will provide an informative guideline on size for this design and can be improved from there  .

[ThatAussieGuy]

That was indeed the problem, but you're number's off.  You want about 4-5/7 in order to keep decent oscillation going through all the water wheels.  Managed to get the thing sitting steady at 25-27k UW  .  According to the math, if ALL the wheels were active (pretty impossible, but still a rough outline) It should get up to 47k UristWatts.

[BloodBeard]

No, i'm talking about the first line of waterwheels at the pumps output that should be 6-7 when running.

Got my first wet test. Averaged like yours around 25-26k UW and peaked at 29,400 total power, or 19,830 and 23,730 Uristwatts of usable power. I didn't change any of the waterwheels or pumps, just some reworking of the walls and floors.

The water depth stayed high suprisingly far down the length of the channel, but is pretty consistant in becoming useless at a certain distance. I think I could shorten the whole thing by 2 waterwheel sections while increasing total power output and dramatically increasing free power. I'm thinking I can get an average of about 30k UW when i'm done.

My own reactor averages 78% working waterwheels and I got this one going at 51%. Should increase when I remove the dead weight.

[ThatAussieGuy]

I tend to agree.  Oh and i don't know if you saw it on yours, but my Age progressed to "The Age of Legends" a little after i finished the modifications.  It certainly is, considering the average output we're playing with here.  Even with it only working at 50% efficiency

[BloodBeard]

You probably killed some megabeasts. I didn't want to bother with upkeeping your fort when modifying the reactor (don't think I could even if I wanted   ) so I turned invaders off aswell as giving dwarves no_eat and no_drink. My computer can't handle large populations and tall maps very well so I basically canceled everything and put every dwarf to work on the reactor. I'm still chugging along at 6fps though.

Did you do that thing you were talking about with adding more pumps?

[ThatAussieGuy]

I tried that, but it actually reduced the power output.  I returned it to just dropping down to the bottom level and it worked much better.Also, i generally get about 15-20+ fps on my PC :-P. 

You might have a little trouble filling the reactor if the power from the other one stops.  It's at F4, fills up from the NE channel out of the reservoir at F8.  Pull the lever just north of the reservoir BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.  That'll drop it down from 14/7 to 7/7 and you won't immediately flood wherever you send the water.  Close it up again after the water's initially flowing so you get a decent bit of water flow.

[Elisebambi]

So, related, I guess, but.

Embarking on a lake (fed by some lil iddy biddy rivers), and uh.. Making several dams, massive reactors, etc. :x

[ThatAussieGuy]

You want advice, i take it?

Dig a reservoir underground that draws from the streams (an x-by-x-by-2 size is generally better than one layer) and build a few channels out from the bottom level with lever-operated floodgates.  They don't have to go anywhere, they just need to exist.  That'll set you up for controlled and useable water for whatever you might need it for (wells, reactors, killing mandating nobles, etc).

If you want an example of what i mean, grab the latest save (should be around here somewhere) and push F8.  It'll take you to the reservoir so you can get an idea of what to build.

For a cheap source of power, dig and smooth out a long channel (d->z will remove upward ramps, if you don't know) and divert the rivers through it (make sure it goes on to the lake, for obvious reasons) and just slap some waterwheels mounted on riverside gears over it.  Free, constant power and no hassle (unless you're in a biome that freezes in winter).  Just don't fill THEN build wheels or you're gonna wind up with dwarves getting swept away if you're building multiple wheels over the channel.

[Samoorai]

Check the power reactors in Roadhouse (second link in sig). Simple, easily scaleable. All you need is a river or brook, or even an underground lake. Any water source that replenishes will do.

[ThatAussieGuy]

That's quite a good design for sensible output and use.  We, however, are going for power outputs so high it makes physicists weep and drives dwarves mad from the sight of it's undulating waterwheels. 

[BloodBeard]

I actually decided to bypass the lever pulling and manually pumped the water. I only wanted to fill the bottom level to 7/7 and manual pumping gives you more control over when to stop.

[Slythe]

Check the power reactors in Roadhouse (second link in sig). Simple, easily scaleable. All you need is a river or brook, or even an underground lake. Any water source that replenishes will do.

A little side note and a quick question about your Roadhouse design.  I haven't experimented much yet with pumping water, but I notice you tap the river and drop the water down a few levels before it gets to your waterwheel area.  I thought water would try to rise back up to be even with the level it originated from.  What keeps the water from doing that in your fort, is it purely the action of the pumps keeping it flowing, or did I miss something?

[BloodBeard]

Holy fuck 

My first wet test had a little too much water so I gave it another go before thinking about any changes, and that little less water made reactor haul ASS.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That was the highest recorded power output I got. Just about every waterwheel was turning except the 2 lines at the north end of the 4th level and the 2 lines at the south end of the 2nd level. There were a couple 4's but didn't have enough water under them.

The lines at the very end can probably be junked to save on the power requirement but I hold hope for the 2nd to last. If you look at the pictures on the topic Eric posted on the 2nd post, you'll see what I did with pillars to funnel higher levels of water between them. Something like that can be done to maybe get a little more juice out of it.

The reactor can fluctuate so wildly it's hard to get a good average, but after the water settled down and got into a rythm i'd estimate I got an average of about 27-28k UW. I've actually decided against shortening the reactor and keeping it the way it is. Demolish the waterwheels I mentioned and put in some of those pillars and I think it's as good as it'll get. I want to do one more thing and then i'll upload the region.