v0.31 Talk:Magma piston

So, if I understood this correcty: If i have only 1 layer magma reservoir and i want to get the magma up to the surface i have to make the catchment 9x9 and the piston 7x7 fields big to have at least 4/7magma afterwards? Ashameron 20:34, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Interestingly enough, the basic idea of a magma piston might work in real life. Dropping a sufficiently large and heavy object into a pool will displace the liquid in it. If there is a small hole in the piston, the liquid would be forced up the hole, leaving most of it much further up the piston than it was previously. Of course, this may require a very, very tall piston depending on the amount of liquid being replaced and the distance the liquid needs to travel due to how buoyancy works in real life. If a seal can be made between the edges of the object and the edges of the construction the piston resides in, and the hole in the piston is relatively small, much of the liquid might end up in a reservoir partway or even at the top of the piston.

Revision: Ashameron, if you want to make 4/7 magma, put your cache for the magma off to the side, and let magma flow off the top of the piston into that; it doesn't matter how big your piston is. Your piston will move its cross-sectional area in magma, up to a depth of 7. Up above, you'll be able to pour almost 6/7 of that off into something one z-level below the top of the piston, which means you could get probably about 5/7 to flow off, so let's say 35 units of 7-high magma, into a tube you could use for smelters. The Real Marauder 05:33, 2 April 2012 (UTC)