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[MisterLich]

So yeah, I think the only time I ever embarked on an aquifer was my very first fort and then I ended up always avoiding them after that, but I've seen a lot of people actually utilizing them lately and up until now they had always just meant to me that the site was inhospitable to deep digging, and that don't sit well with me.  The wiki is cryptic at best with how people have been using aquifers and getting past them, but I've decided to ask all of you.

What do you do when you embark on an aquifer site?  Such as how are *you* using it to better your fort, or at the very least not letting it interrupt your plans in any way.  Or are you like me, and just avoid them all together?

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

When I get an aquifer, Like in my current fort I dig out in the soil layer my future farms/ farm related workshops, and the storage area. I then build a temporary living quarters in the storage area, Just like a huge room with some beds and tables off in the corner. Next I breach the aquifer. Then I build/dig in the stone layers, and use the upper layers for farming and storage.

It's a little harder to do if you have multilayer aquifers and/or an evil biome. In my current fort, evil/aquifer/no_flux I had to quickly build above ground so i could get in the neccessary workshops to make screw pumps to get past the aquifer. I then used the aquifer as a trap which makes an instant moat which knocks the skele's into a deep pit floored with grates. it's pretty cool.

[Prologue]

If I were to embark on a terrifying biome, I use them so supply my dwarves with water. Or when doing big projects involving with water. They can produce an infinite amount of water and can absorb them too. Right now I'm using the water to make an artificial waterfall inside my fort. Last thing I used it is for waterwheels.

[mikelon]

If I were to embark on a terrifying biome, I use them so supply my dwarves with water. Or when doing big projects involving with water. They can produce an infinite amount of water and can absorb them too. Right now I'm using the water to make an artificial waterfall inside my fort. Last thing I used it is for waterwheels.

last time i tried this i flooded the cavern. Contrary to popular belief edges do not absorb water.

[Prologue]

Since an aquifer can absorb an infinite amount of water, it can function as a drain for anything above it. For instance, digging a pit in a lower Z level of an aquifer, then connecting it to a breached aquifer a level above through a channel dug a level above that will create a permanently flowing, compact, secure water/power source completely contained within the fortress.

And if you're talking about the edge of the map, I'm pretty sure water can flow out.

[daggaz]

last time i tried this i flooded the cavern. Contrary to popular belief edges do not absorb water.

contrary to popular belief, you actually have to read the instructions to get most things to work.  this includes DF.  dig to map edges. then smooth the last remaining undiggable stone, then carve fortifications into it.  water most definitely will flow out in an infinite manner, provided the edge itself isnt part of an aquifier or other large body of water. 

[ThatAussieGuy]

Most definitely friend.  You can slap water wheels atop one and get pure stable power that never fluctuates.

That and create a suicide device for any level of the fortress lower than it with a few well-placed floodgates and fast-running miners.

[Chilton]

Friend.
Youve just gotta know how to use it.

[Dutchling]

Friend.
As long as you remember to mod them out.

(I've never breached an aquifer in my life)

[Chilton]

Friend.
As long as you remember to mod them out.

(I've never breached an aquifer in my life)

Pumps.

[IronyOwl]

Mixed bag for me.

On the one hand, I really enjoy having a permanent source of water like that. The fact that I tend to embark on glaciers and such has a lot to do with that.

On the other hand, they really are a pain to get through, made worse by the fact that I dislike ugly solutions like channeling out a massive space to freeze them or causing caveins, and am thus generally stuck using pumps. Lots and lots and lots of pumps.

[blue emu]

(I've never breached an aquifer in my life)

Concentric cave-in method.

[Triaxx2]

Hey, Aquifers are awesome. Remove them and you're missing tons and tons of FUN. Nothing is as awesome as pumping water of an Aquifer filled reservoir in order to create a massive 30z fountain of water.

I like to set my embark, so I have a small corner with Aquifer, so I can pump water out of it, without having to punch through it for my actual fortress.

Unless I embark somewhere with lots of other goodies.

[FearfulJesuit]

One thing I've always wanted to do is to use an aquifer as an infinite source of water to make a giant, multi-Z level tower filled just with water.

[Chilton]

One thing I've always wanted to do is to use an aquifer as an infinite source of water to make a giant, multi-Z level tower filled just with water.

...Presumably, You would then Seal Your Fort off, and use a Sacrifice to Pop it open like a Cork, and see how much You screw up the World?