Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[FoiledFencer]

So, when I embarked on a cold region I had anticipated the frozen stream and the frozen pools. When they did not thaw in the summer, I realized that my carefully dug reservoir system was useless and dug for the caves.
Then fun happened.
While digging out a new storage room my miners found some damp stone. I thought that was odd, given that they were several z-levels below the level of the stream and many levels above the water level in the caves, so I had them go ahead and dig anyway. Lo and behold, multiple streams of water spring from the rock and causes a panic in the miners and the haulers who were supposed to carry away the stones. A swift mason walled himself inside the new storeroom to prevent the submersion of the dormitories below and was rescued with a lightning action from a legendary miner who dug his way from the old reservoir to the rapidly flooding room. They both made their getaway and the reservoir is safely filling as we speak. Soon, fresh, clear water will flow to the well-system of the fortress - especially that of the hospital and noble-rooms.

But the mystery stands - have any of you ever had experience with underground aquifiers before?

[noodle0117]

So... you dig out a damp stone and your fort gets flooded.

What exactly is the mystery here?

[Nan]

Aquifers can be found 10 or 12 z-levels below the surface, particularly on maps with fairly "Broken" terrain.

[peskyninja]

But the mystery stands - have any of you ever had experience with underground aquifiers before?

ever had experience with underground aquifiers before?

experience with underground aquifiers before?

underground aquifiers

 

[Quantumtroll]

Congratulations! You found your first aquifer, and it seems like it's only on part of your embark so you can easily dig around it!  That's awesome!  Use it for fresh water, waterfalls, and as a power source.  Note that the aquifer can absorb an equally infinite amount of water as it can produce, so you can use it as both the source and sink of useful flow.  Beware of the FPS hit of too much flowing water, though.

Good luck!!

[Endiqua]

Oh, my yes.  Aquifers can be daunting at first, but I've found them to be kind of fun to play with once you get the hang of it.  Mine are usually only 1-2 z's down, though.

I would just run a search for aquifer, possibly starting with just the Gameplay Questions forum, and you should get some interesting reading material.

[Wayward Device]

Aquifers can be found 10 or 12 z-levels below the surface, particularly on maps with fairly "Broken" terrain.

I've cut into one twenty Z's up the side off a mountain before. Fun times.

[FoiledFencer]

So... you dig out a damp stone and your fort gets flooded.

What exactly is the mystery here?

I am familiar with the workings of aquifiers and the damp stone warning. I was, however, unaware that aquifiers could be so isolated.

*On re-reading my first post I sort of see that I was not being clear. I'm not suprised that aquifiers exist underground; I'm surprised that they can be confined to a handful of squares as opposed to filling out z-levels. Usually I hit them by digging down, not sideways

[NightlinerSGS]

If you have multiple biomes on your map, chances are only one of them has an aquifier, or the aquifiers in different biomes are on different levels.
It's actually common (at least for me) to find aquifiers by digging sideways. I usually embark on a plain with bordering hills/mountains, and since I dig down inside the hills I don't hit the aquifier unless I build a tunnel towards the plains. It's quite normal.