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Difference between revisions of "40d:Water flow"

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'''Water Flow'''
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'''Water flow''' is an informal term used occasionally by players to denote the ability of specific water tiles to power a [[waterwheel]]. While there obviously is a game feature at work, the specifics are unclear/unknown and seem counterintuitive at times.
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''(Why isn't my waterwheel turning?)''
 
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What is [[water]] flow? I want to be clear that this is about water flow, not about water depth. This is about whether or not water is considered to be flowing. Since the only real tool to demonstrate water flow is the [[waterwheel]], it will naturally be mentioned periodically on this page.
 
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The obvious answer would be moving water, but things seem more and less complicated than this in practice. A [[waterwheel]] needs flow to function, and it needs 4/7 or higher water. These are two different things. a stagnant loop of 4/7 water from a murky pond will not power a waterwheel as it is not flowing. However a dead end channel from a [[river]] or [[brook]] will. In fact twice I have tested and show that a dead end channel from a river or brook will continue to power the waterwheel after you block it off with a floodgate. Strange. Nor does distance seem to matter other than for the time it takes to fill the channel to 4/7. I went from corner to corner of the map, a nice long path on a 3x3 map, channeled directly from a river, dead end, and there at the extreme end of the dead end is a happily turning waterwheel. I blocked it off with a floodgate again and laughed. Either floodgates or sourced water seems to have a bug. Floodgates prevent water from passing, but the flow necessary to power a waterwheel seems to go straight though with a smile.
 
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Water that is not directly from a brook or river is much more difficult to satisfy a waterwheel with. Water that is not directly connected to a river or brook has no natural flow. This can be because you used a diagonal baffle to eliminate the pressure so you can safely take the water down to your fortress, or it can be because you pumped the water in, or it can be because you took the water from a murky pool, or it can even be simply because you drew the short straw and got a river or brook that isn't considered to be flowing.
 
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whatever the reason, your water doesn't have any natural flow. Generating flow with a screw pump to satisfy a water wheel is a lot more picky. Here if all three tiles under the waterwheel are the same level i.e. 4/7 then chances are your waterwheel just stopped. On the other hand it does not seem to matter if one of those three tiles is 0/7 as long as at least one of the tiles under it are 4/7 or higher. It can be very tricky to get a waterwheel to reliably turn with water that doesn't come straight from a flowing river.
 
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Multiple waterwheels hooked up together will turn together, even if some of them do not have flow. Which is to say they will look like they are turning, but if one is not getting flow, you don't get the power for it. If they are all hooked up together with gears and axles they will all turn together as long as any one of the wheels finds flow. While this wastes 10 power for every extra wheel you use in this manner, it can be a real useful problem solving trick for keeping your underground machinery working reliably. I personally find it ironic, since an active water pump pushed water around much faster than any river, but since the water is not sourced flow is assumed to be zero unless there is an obvious difference in the water levels.
 
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*Sourced water (river, brook, spring) behaves differently than unsourced water for powering a waterwheel.
 
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*Dead ends don't seem to be a problem with water flow from sourced water.
 
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*Floodgates do not seem to stop flow from sourced water. Bug?
 
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*Unsourced water is more difficult to show flow in. More testing needed.
 

Revision as of 20:18, 4 August 2009

Water flow is an informal term used occasionally by players to denote the ability of specific water tiles to power a waterwheel. While there obviously is a game feature at work, the specifics are unclear/unknown and seem counterintuitive at times.

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