Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.  (Read 5700 times)

C4lv1n

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« on: January 17, 2012, 10:16:33 pm »

I've been reading the articles on flow and waterwheels from the wiki because I'm trying to set up power to a pump stack. I understand that waterwheels need flow to work but the article on flow focuses on the more pressure related and exploit based ways to get flow.

What I want is much more simple, I plan on redirecting the brook on my map to go under my fortress (built around a volcano). I plan to filter out anything that gets in the river with vertical grates. It will then feed a cistern and pass through another grate and out the other side (ideally the water in the cistern would have flow). Then I would have a whole pile of waterwheels drawing power from the river. Then I want to dump it out the edge of the map using the fortification trick, I think that this would keep the river "flowing" in the waterwheel sense.

I just want to know if this is going to work. Would I have to use other methods of draining the brook off the map? For example sending it back arond to the original exit point, or meerly spliting the brook instead of totally redirecting it.
Logged
I've played a guitar with my penis.

Vehudur

  • Bay Watcher
  • [evil]
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2012, 10:27:12 pm »

Where do you plan to put the water after it's been used for your water wheels?

One useful note: building destroyers may destroy vertical grates.  Instead, use floor grates with the water coming from below:

Code: [Select]
Note:  This must be either 1z below the level of your brook OR your brook must be completely dammed for this to work.

W = water
X = wall
# = floor grate

(vertical view)

Z+0
XXXXXX
W#XWWW (water source this way -->)
XXXXXX

Z-1
XXXXXX
XWWWXX
XXXXXX

(horizontal view)

W#XWWW (water source this way-->).
XWWWXX
XXXXXX
Logged
Quote
...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

C4lv1n

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2012, 11:21:52 pm »

Off the edge of the map, via the fortification trick like I said in the original post.
Logged
I've played a guitar with my penis.

Vehudur

  • Bay Watcher
  • [evil]
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2012, 11:24:55 pm »

Off the edge of the map, via the fortification trick like I said in the original post.

I was just getting mixed signals with that - yes it will keep it flowing, also.  You'd just said you didn't like using exploiting methods, so that's why I wasn't clear on it.
Logged
Quote
...and a third died in his bunk of natural causes - for a dagger in the heart quite naturally ends one's life.

I used to have an avatar, but I was told to remove it after it kept making people go insane.

Minnakht

  • Bay Watcher
  • Green Eyed Monster
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2012, 11:54:15 pm »

Fortifications on map edge are no exploit. They're just a workaround for not being able to dig those squares out.
Logged
Giant badgers are cruel saddistic balls of fur and hate. Did anyone know they could paint a wall with a single dwarven baby?.... You know what, I made the Giant badgers sound like sane DF players.
A Kea has stolen a coke!

C4lv1n

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2012, 11:57:58 pm »

Besides that I never said that I'm against using exploity methods, the only reason I'm not making a dorfen reactor is because I've yet to make a design that I like.
Logged
I've played a guitar with my penis.

doublestrafe

  • Bay Watcher
  • [PONY_DEPENDENT]
    • View Profile
Re: Redirecting rivers and maintaining flow.
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2012, 12:53:54 am »

Rivers are automatically marked permanently flowing. An artificial river, even (I think) one based on a real river, won't have that, so when it's at 7/7, it won't have flow.

This reply to a question of mine explained to me everything I needed to know about getting artificial flow. It's a pretty awesome explanation. Based on it, I now have a 10 z-level switchback river with a compact stack of water wheels generating up to 2500 power.
Logged