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Author Topic: Discovered a way to train swimming  (Read 2040 times)

Particleman

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Discovered a way to train swimming
« on: January 06, 2012, 12:31:17 am »

So I discovered, quite by accident, a (possibly) new way to deliberately train swimming.I hollowed out the hills on my map to get some more room to farm trees, and for the hell of it I figured I'd muddy the soil to see if that made them grow any more densely.



As you can see, the "operator" section of the pump is wedged in between two walls and the pump itself is next to the river. Have a dwarf operate the pump by hand...



And he'll quickly wash himself into the river. Due to the way the fluid mechanics work he'll probably quickly accumulate 3/7 or 4/7 water on the "operator" tile of the pump, which is evidently enough to knock a dwarf off his feet. Here Bomrek has been washed into the river and has to swim for the ramps I've carved in case something like this happened.

I know this is probably already known, but I stumbled across it independently and thought I'd share it.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2012, 01:19:18 am »

Well I for one didn't know this, but I just dump them in a swimming pool ;P

Cellmonk

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2012, 01:26:55 am »

I've never much luck with swimtraining. It seems like they sit in the pool for hours, and don't learn a thing. Do they have to actually move through it? I use 5/7 water usually.
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Chilton

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2012, 02:13:21 am »

Well I for one didn't know this, but I just dump them in a swimming pool ;P
Noble Bath:

Pool=Pipe=Floodgate=Water
0000=0000=0000000=Stone
0000=0000=0000000=Magma

I like to think that the Water is Warmed by the Heated Stone, before being released into the Pool.
 8)
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Mitchewawa

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2012, 03:09:52 am »

I developed something similar to this ages ago for my league of atomic superdwarfs. Essentially, you need a corridor filled with water. At both ends are ramps leading up to a 1x1 raising bridge, each with a separate lever and a wall behind them. At one of the ends is a door you keep locked. You drop a dwarf into the flooded corridor, they swim to one of the bridges. You activate the lever, the bridge raises, sending the dwarf back into the water. He goes to the other one, you raise it (and lower the other one). He keeps going back and forth, training his swimming. The longer the corridor, the faster he trains swimming. It must be flooded to 5/7 minimum, as 4/7 doesn't count as drowning so he wont try to move (swim) to safety. This also only works one per dwarf; I tried it with 10 and a couple got stuck in eachother and drowned (it was a long corridor). I ended up making 10 'swimming' lanes.

Anyway, they ended up getting minced by an attempt to breach the circus without the use of traps or cave-ins. Oh well.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2012, 03:38:26 am »

Turns out swimming skill doesn't help you fight demons, huh?

Loud Whispers

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2012, 03:55:17 am »

Turns out swimming skill doesn't help you fight demons, huh?

Everyone knows Demons are a myth.

*Picks up copper pick*

Cellmonk

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2012, 07:47:47 pm »

I developed something similar to this ages ago for my league of atomic superdwarfs. Essentially, you need a corridor filled with water. At both ends are ramps leading up to a 1x1 raising bridge, each with a separate lever and a wall behind them. At one of the ends is a door you keep locked. You drop a dwarf into the flooded corridor, they swim to one of the bridges. You activate the lever, the bridge raises, sending the dwarf back into the water. He goes to the other one, you raise it (and lower the other one). He keeps going back and forth, training his swimming. The longer the corridor, the faster he trains swimming. It must be flooded to 5/7 minimum, as 4/7 doesn't count as drowning so he wont try to move (swim) to safety. This also only works one per dwarf; I tried it with 10 and a couple got stuck in eachother and drowned (it was a long corridor). I ended up making 10 'swimming' lanes.

Anyway, they ended up getting minced by an attempt to breach the circus without the use of traps or cave-ins. Oh well.

I hear that 4/7 will train swimming, without drownings. If they have something to path too (like a station command on a bridge which repeatedly raises and lowers) then they should train well. Its good to know that they only train if they have to MOVE through water.
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Mitchewawa

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2012, 07:59:21 pm »

Turns out swimming skill doesn't help you fight demons, huh?

Actually it does. Swimming raises all the important fighting attributes; strength, agility, endurance, willpower, spatial sense and kinesthetic sense according to the wiki.

So, uhh... I weaponised the doggy paddle.
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bombzero

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2012, 08:09:07 pm »

Turns out swimming skill doesn't help you fight demons, huh?

Actually it does. Swimming raises all the important fighting attributes; strength, agility, endurance, willpower, spatial sense and kinesthetic sense according to the wiki.

So, uhh... I weaponised the doggy paddle.


there was a multi page forum thread about what you could weaponize in DF. turns out, everything, that Includes the doggy paddle.
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DrKillPatient

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Re: Discovered a way to train swimming
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2012, 08:29:20 pm »

I developed something similar to this ages ago for my league of atomic superdwarfs. Essentially, you need a corridor filled with water. At both ends are ramps leading up to a 1x1 raising bridge, each with a separate lever and a wall behind them. At one of the ends is a door you keep locked. You drop a dwarf into the flooded corridor, they swim to one of the bridges. You activate the lever, the bridge raises, sending the dwarf back into the water. He goes to the other one, you raise it (and lower the other one). He keeps going back and forth, training his swimming. The longer the corridor, the faster he trains swimming. It must be flooded to 5/7 minimum, as 4/7 doesn't count as drowning so he wont try to move (swim) to safety. This also only works one per dwarf; I tried it with 10 and a couple got stuck in eachother and drowned (it was a long corridor). I ended up making 10 'swimming' lanes.

Anyway, they ended up getting minced by an attempt to breach the circus without the use of traps or cave-ins. Oh well.

Do you have a screenshot/diagram of the swimming lanes? I find the description a bit confusing... is the lever directly next to the bridge, and if so, how do you assure that the dwarves are on them when they retract?
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