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[CheatingChicken]

I'm planning to teach my dwarves to swim. Sadly, the wiki couldn't answer all my questions about this topic, so i'll just ask them here, hoping one of you knows the answer.

• What exactly creates experience in swimming, simply being in water of depth greater than 3 or moving around in it?
• Also, i got a modded caste which does not breathe. Can i train those by dropping them in 7/7 pools of water, or will that not work?

[Jenniretta]

Just drop them in 4/7 or greater water and they should skill up very quickly, as for the none-breathers, I am not 100% sure but I would imagine they can't drown.

[Nan]

The smartest way to train swimming up to an "adequate" level (which is enough for most intents and purposes) is to drop them into water which is between 6/7 and 7/7 deep. There are a number of easy ways to achieve this, including filling a pond to 7/7, then channeling out one more tile (you'll need to prevent the ramp being used, by building walls), or using pond zones to add/remove single units of water. A dwarf will not drown because of the 6/7 water, and once they are adequate they can get out without a ramp in 7/7 water.

Training swimming to an even higher level is generally more tedious.

[peskyninja]

The smartest way to train swimming up to an "adequate" level (which is enough for most intents and purposes) is to drop them into water which is between 6/7 and 7/7 deep.

6.5/7

[Loud Whispers]

You could alternatively just dump them in a dry swimming pool, then raise the water from there

[Crashmaster]

The more passive method I've considered was to have a meeting area (or barracks) full to 3/7 with say 10% at 4/7, dwarves will happily path into and stay in it but will gain swimming experience every time the 4/7 moves to where they are.

Although, I kind of figured if I went to all this trouble they would still just dodge into magma or open pits. Can an adequate swimmer get out of magma without a ramp?

[Nan]

Although, I kind of figured if I went to all this trouble they would still just dodge into magma or open pits. Can an adequate swimmer get out of magma without a ramp?

An adequate swimmer will bleed to death even if he gets out using a ramp. A more highly skilled swimmer - if completely naked (or wearing magma safe clothing?) to avoid being burnt to death by the burning clothes - might be able to get out and survive to tell the story. It calls for Dwarven Olympics really. Involving swimming in magma.

Unfortunately dwarves are doomed if they fall into magma deeper than 1z. Apparently dwarves are denser than magma, they just fall to the bottom and sit there until they melt. So if there was going to be a depth diving competition, there would need to be a way for them to safely get off the bottom of the pool - perhaps exploiting the fact that magma doesn't pressurize so there could be a "diving bell" of sorts for them to get into. Presumably prizes would be awarded posthumously, for example by the length of the blood smear they manage to leave after getting out of the magma. Though survivors would be awesome.

[Jenniretta]

Although, I kind of figured if I went to all this trouble they would still just dodge into magma or open pits. Can an adequate swimmer get out of magma without a ramp?

An adequate swimmer will bleed to death even if he gets out using a ramp. A more highly skilled swimmer - if completely naked (or wearing magma safe clothing?) to avoid being burnt to death by the burning clothes - might be able to get out and survive to tell the story. It calls for Dwarven Olympics really. Involving swimming in magma.

Unfortunately dwarves are doomed if they fall into magma deeper than 1z. Apparently dwarves are denser than magma, they just fall to the bottom and sit there until they melt. So if there was going to be a depth diving competition, there would need to be a way for them to safely get off the bottom of the pool - perhaps exploiting the fact that magma doesn't pressurize so there could be a "diving bell" of sorts for them to get into. Presumably prizes would be awarded posthumously, for example by the length of the blood smear they manage to leave after getting out of the magma. Though survivors would be awesome.

wouldn't a "survivor" just die from the magma covering their bodies when they swam out anyway? (or, if temp is off or something, get magma all over the fort so if temp is turned on the mountainhome explodes)

[Loud Whispers]

wouldn't a "survivor" just die from the magma covering their bodies when they swam out anyway? (or, if temp is off or something, get magma all over the fort so if temp is turned on the mountainhome explodes)

Magma doesn't contaminate. So no, they wouldn't die from the exposure (unless they were gravely burnt, which is most often the case). Though it's highly likely their clothes will set on fire and continue to burn the dwarf from there.

[Jenniretta]

wouldn't a "survivor" just die from the magma covering their bodies when they swam out anyway? (or, if temp is off or something, get magma all over the fort so if temp is turned on the mountainhome explodes)

Magma doesn't contaminate. So no, they wouldn't die from the exposure (unless they were gravely burnt, which is most often the case). Though it's highly likely their clothes will set on fire and continue to burn the dwarf from there.

Ah, I've never had a dwarf actually escape from magma, I always thought it covered in a fashion similar to water, basically turning covered dwarves into quickly-dieing bearded candles.

[Triaxx2]

Does the opening and closing of floodgates alter water level within an area? Such that if a 10x10 room is filled with 3/7 water, and has two walls lined with Floodgates, will closing those walls and reducing the room to 9x9 raise the water to 4/7? If so floodgates linked to a repeater could be used to effectively train dwarves with a small chance of drowning.

Unless I'm wrong, which is well within the realm of possibility.

[Sphalerite]

When a door or floodgate closes, it annihilates any water in that tile.  So no, closing doors don't raise water elsewhere, they just destroy it.

[Triaxx2]

Rats. Oh well. Hmm... pumps to draw water up into a tunnel that cycles it back in? Generates fake flow, shifts water?

[Crashmaster]

floodgates are better used to set water levels by over-filling a room and cycling an extra floodgate to annihilate excess water until the desired level is reached.

if you have a body of water that is not uniform (ie 3/7 and some 4/7) the 4/7's will 'flow' and 'shift' around randomly by themselves without the need for pumping or changing water levels manually.