40d:Well guide

A well is an important part of any fortress. It gives you a source of water that doesn't dry up or freeze. It's indoors, so there's no threat from carp, goblins, or animals. You can even use it safely during a siege. Using it provides your dwarves with happy thoughts.

Wells can be intimidating to build. Draining water from the surface can flood your fortress if you aren't careful. This guide tells you how to build a well by draining a pond. Draining from moving water, like a brook or stream, is not recommended. That requires a reservoir, since there's an unlimited supply of water entering the map.

To build a well you will need a chain (which may be a rope!), a bucket and a mechanism.

Basic well

1. Mine a one-square wide tunnel to a place near the pond to be drained.

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2. Figure out how many squares of water are in the pond. You will need the same number of empty tiles below your well. Stairs do count as empty. The well does not need to be on the same level as the water. Building below this level will make ??

3. Channel though the floor the the end of the tunnel. Your well will be on this tile, or directly below it.

4. Dig a staircase down, just behind the channel.

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5. Repeat this stair and channel pattern as far down as you need. If in doubt, make it a level deeper than you need.

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6. If you run out of depth, just make the bottom wider.

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7. Almost ready to drain the lake! Check for any leaks. You might want to place a door behind the channel, as a precaution.

8. From the surface, channel through the last square separating the pond from the tunnel. Wait for all the water to drain into the well.

9. Build the well. You can make it anywhere above the water surface. You might want to widen the tunnel so more dwarves can access the well at once.

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10. Install a door to seal off the dry lake. (Or use a wall, but this might cause a dwarf to trap himself in the lake bed.)

Style points

• Widen the area around the well, and make it a meeting hall. Smoothed or engraved walls and floors will make your dwarves happy. The well has to be in a stone layer, not soil.

• Add a gap between the channel and the stairs, then construct walls in the gaps. This avoids the aesthetic problem of muddy stairs inside your well. Be careful, your well will need to be twice as deep.

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