Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

DF2014:Damming

2015-09-20T13:41:16Z

Vanatteveldt:

You can dam off a (4 tile) river with just the starting 7 dwarves using the following steps:

1) Find out which way is upstream: loo(k) at the edge tiles, the downstream edge will sometimes be 5/7 or 6/7 when the water "falls off the edge" before being replaced. The upstream edge is always 7/7

2) Build a 2-wide floor 5 tiles away from the upstream edge (so 5 empty squares between edge and floor). If the river isn't straight, channel some tiles to create a straight edge.

3) Build raising bridges to wall off the upstream section. I used two walls on the corners but you can also make the bridges one longer:

[[Image:Dam_prepare.png|Step 3: create an upstream box to capture water.]]

4) Build pumps on the floor "bridge" that pump from downstream, e.g. south in my case, and raise the bridges with a lever. You've now created a box around the upstream section lined by bridges on the sides, the map edge and the inaccessible pump squares:

[[Image:Dam_ready.png|Step 4: Ready to start pumping.]]

5) Set all pumps to pump manually. The dwarves will start pumping the downstream water back into the walled off upstream section, where dwarven physics allows the overflow to drain off the northern edge.

[[Image:Dam_pump.png|Step 5: Pumping away]]

6) Build a wall to dam off the river: Keep an eye on the water in the downstream section just away from the pumps. It should go down pretty quickly. Once it reaches 1/7 with some regularity designate walls a couple tiles away from the section that's being pumped (you don't want to build the walls directly under the pump as then with every completed wall section one pump becomes nonoperational)..

This is somewhat annoying as the water level will fluctuate, and every time it is 2/7 the job is suspended. So just (q)uery the building every couple seconds and unsuspend when needed. Every time a dwarf arrives when there is 1/7 it will do a bit of construction, going from "waiting" to "initiated" etc, and at some point the wall is done:

[[Image:Dam_wall.png|Step 6: Wall constructed.]]

7) You can have the dwarves stop pumping now. This can be a bit tricky as dwarves are stupid near water, so it might be best to designate the river banks and bed as restricted to discourage pathing through the dry bed which will soon not be dry anymore. Or just hope that they learn to swim in time :). But getting a corpse upstream of the wall would be annoying, so maybe best do the designation.

If you wanted to dam the river permanently, you're done now. However, I usually want to build a raising bridge in the bank instead so I can do stuff downstream and later allow the river to start flowing again.

8) Wait for the downstream river section to dry up. This will probably take a couple months. Then, build a raising bridge in the dry bed:

[[Image:Dam_bridge.png|Step 8: Raising bridge.]]

9) Link the bridge to a lever and pull. Restart pumping so the section N of the wall is drained again, and remove the wall when it is dry (should be quick now since there are only a couple tiles to drain:

[[Image:Dam_removing.png|Step 9: Removing the wall.]]

10) Now you can deconstruct the pumps, bridges etc, and you're done. You have the river back in (more or less) original state, but you can dam off the river at any moment by pulling the lever that raises the constructed bridge:

[[Image:Dam_done.png|Step 9: Removing the wall.]]

For larger rivers, the principle is the same, just add more pumps/dwarves.

Note: I guess it should be possible to create a bridge immediately, but at least in my experience a bridge is much harder to construct in water than walls, since the walls are built one tile at a time, while the brdige (I think) requires all tiles to be 1/7 to prevent suspension. So, it's easier to build a temporary wall first, and then a permanent structure just downstream of it.

Also note that this can be done with the starting 7 (5 pumpers and 2 builders), but keep an eye on the pump operators becoming tired, since if they stop pumping you don't want any builders in the river bed. Once I noticed one of the builders going off to bed, I suspended the builds, stopped the pumps, and restarted when everyone was awake again.

Finally, it would be somewhat easier to use water wheels (at least for the dwarves), but this requires a bit of extra effort as downstream will get drained (stopping the pumps), while upstream will get flooded. So, you probably need to create an extra channel (with a diagonal connection to prevent overflow) from upstream to build a water wheel --- which is annoying since you have to drain it somewhere to get "flow". Thus, it might be easier to juist build some wind mills.

DF2014:Damming

2015-09-20T13:39:40Z

Vanatteveldt: Step by step guide to damming off a river

File:Dam done.png

2015-09-20T13:27:45Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam removing.png

2015-09-20T13:08:30Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam bridge.png

2015-09-20T13:08:18Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam wall.png

2015-09-20T13:03:33Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam pump.png

2015-09-20T13:03:17Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam ready.png

2015-09-20T13:02:56Z

Vanatteveldt:

File:Dam prepare.png

2015-09-20T13:00:17Z

Vanatteveldt:

Archery tower

2015-09-20T12:56:56Z

Vanatteveldt:

{{Quality|Superior|04:43, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

The '''archery tower''' is a common and useful piece of [[defense design]]. It is basically a pillbox in the form of a [[tower]], useful for spotting [[ambush]]es before they get close enough to do serious damage and for allowing your marksdwarves to fire on enemy goblins "in the field" without exposing themselves. The premise is simple: dig out an internal walkway to the surface and wall it off so that enemies cannot use it to enter your base. Curtain wall it with fortifications and you have a ready piece of defense engineering; to keep flyers out, roof the structure (or put a [[bridge]] over it if you want to be able to selectively allow them in for whatever reason).

NOTE: It is better to construct [[wall]]s and then carve fortifications into them, than to construct [[fortification]]s. The reason for this is that constructed fortifications do not provide an implicit [[floor]] on the layer above them, but walls do. Walls cannot be constructed without access from one of the four compass directions. Because of this, if you were to construct fortifications, when you progress to the level above, you would need to build a walkable path to the corner tiles. This path would need to be deconstructed before the wall or fortification could be built. Once deconstructed, the building material will drop onto the tile below with the fortification, trapping it until the fortification is deconstructed.

As discussed step-by-step in the article on [[mega construction]], this particular design is about as basic as it gets. As shown, it assumes entry from an underground tunnel, but a door or drawbridge (with moat!?) could easily be added, or even access via a protected sky-bridge.

{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
█ █
█ Side view: Below Ground Archer Roof █
█ ground: Level: Level: Level: █
█ █
█ (Fortress->) ╔═╗ ╔═══╗ ╬╬╬╬╬ ····· █
█ ___ ║<║ ║X..║ ╬>++╬ ·+++· █
█ ╬>__╬ ║.║ ║...║ ╬+╬+╬ ·+++· █
█ ___║X__║___ ║.║ ║...║ ╬++B╬ ·+++· █
█ <...... ║.║ ╚═══╝ ╬╬╬╬╬ ····· █
█ █}}

This can hold 3 archers/side, and has the potential to be as many "archer levels" tall as you wish. The fortification in the center of the building prevents low-level archers from standing there (since they are unable to fire through any non-adjacent fortifications) while allowing high-level archers a full 360 field of fire. Including a [[bed]] allows the room to be designated as a [[barracks]], so your marksdwarves can train while serving as lookouts and defending your fortress. Adding raising [[bridge]]s outside the fortifications will allow you to protect your marksdwarves when an elite enemy archer threatens. Building a secure "roof" will require a temporary exterior stairway. Alternately you can build stairs at the Archer Level in place of a non-corner wall to allow roof access, then once the roof is completed remove the stairs, put a wall in its place and finally carve fortifications into it. Remember to use the "corners first" technique when necessary. (See [[40d:Mega_construction#Towers]].)

All told, for a simple 1 archer-level tower, this takes just over 50 stones or blocks (plus 25/extra archer level).

This design can be further elaborated upon by expanding it, adding further floors, room, and so on. It is possible to build a whole [[barracks]] and above-ground military complex, or go even more extreme and turn your fortress into one enormous tower. For more ideas on how to put these together into a functional defensive grid, see [[defense guide]] and [[security design]].

{{Category|Fortress defense}}

Danger room

2015-09-20T12:56:45Z

Vanatteveldt:

{{Quality|Exceptional|07:10, 17 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

"Danger room" is a term used to describe a place your dwarves go to be continually poked by [[Trap#Upright Spear/Spike|upright spikes]]. This serves two purposes: first, it trains your dwarves in [[Combat_skill#Equipment_skills|Armor User skill]], [[Combat_skill#Equipment_skills|Shield User]], [[Combat skill|Dodger]], [[Combat skill|Fighter]] and to some extent also [[Combat_skill#Weapon_skills|weapons skills]] (if they manage to block attacks with them). Second, it helps keep your [[doctor]]s' skills from rusting and your [[coffin]] makers busy (rarely).

Danger rooms are a useful feature and a great workaround for regular [[training]] being too slow and difficult for new players to figure out. Some people consider this an [[exploit]], because it requires next to no effort to build your dwarves combat skills to legendary.{{bug|3855}}

== Loadout ==
The first design challenge is to provide the proper level of lethality. Do '''not''' use actual spears. Do '''not''' use menacing spikes even if they are made of wood. Only use training spears. Up to ten spears may be placed in a single tile. If you want a lot of coverage and don't have much wood, one will suffice. The more spears are in a tile, the faster a danger room will work. Ten training spears will do just as much damage as one training spear, with the only difference being that bruised ears and broken thumbs might appear a little faster.

Additionally, it is *very* important to make sure that the dwarves you plan to train are indeed fully covered by [[armor]] or clothing. Dwarves that have any body part completely exposed are very likely to be skewered, fatally. (Conversely, dwarves with armor or clothing are extremely unlikely to suffer any health problems.) For the same reason, a corridor of tightly-closed doors before the danger room is encouraged to prevent unnecessary puppy killing.

== Access control ==
The second design challenge is access control. If you want your entire fortress to <strike>spank</strike> face these perils, then put the spikes in a major hallway. If you want only your military to be trained, put them in or behind a barracks, a patrol route, or some other place civilians are unlikely to go. Mind that while training spikes are mostly harmless to armored adult dwarfs, such traps are perilous for small animals, babies and children.

== Triggers ==
The third challenge is providing an appropriate triggering frequency. Some signal must be sent to raise and lower the spikes while the dwarves are on them. This can be accomplished by hooking the spikes to a [[lever]] or [[pressure plate]], or by using a [[repeater]]. If a lever is used, then it should be near the room, so you can keep track of what's happening in the room while still knowing where the control lever is.

== Results ==
The idea is that as dwarves stand on the trapped tiles, every time the spikes come out of the ground due to the trap being activated, they gain skills in whatever stops it - armor if their armor deflects it, weapon if they block it with their weapon, shield for shield, and dodging if they jump out of the way. Crossbow-armed dwarves gain skill as hammerdwarves, not marksdwarves, because they are using the crossbow as a melee weapon to block. As written here [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=85894.0], pick-armed dwarves get trained into ''legendary miners''.

== Specific Design Suggestions ==

Here are a few specific designs.

=== One Tile, extendable===

If you set the [[Door|door]] to locked, the soldiers will only have the spike tile as their barracks, for great efficiency. They will all stack on this one tile and train. Set the door to ''Internal'' to adjust the size of the barracks as needed. You might have to unlock the door for new squads so they can path to the armor stand once.

{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
═════╗ ^ Spikes
^+♫║ + Door
═════╝ ♫ Armor stand}}

=== Simple Minimal Manual Danger Room ===

Create a 1x4 room with each of the four tiles having upright spikes with training spears in them. A full room will of course require making 40 training spears. As always you can load each tile with less than 10 training spears if you need to, but additional spears help train [[armor user|armor use]] (only a single spear can be used to help train weapon skills at a time). Place a door on the room and forbid pets, or pasture all the pets. (See [[#Caveats|Caveats]] below.) Place a lever outside and link the lever to all four spike sets.

Equip your units with full armor, a shield, and ideally make them all wear a cloak to help protect the face. (The cloak will actually stop most of the hits to the body.) Manually order your unit(s) to move to the far tile of the room and lock the door once they're all in. (They won't all move to this tile, but they should move to within 3 tiles of it fitting them all into the room.) (It does not appear to matter if you have a multitude of dwarves packed into 4 tiles.) Add a (P)ull The Lever task to the lever and set it to (r)epeat. Leave the dwarves inside until they start to get unhappy from the long "patrol" then let them leave. This trains the Fighter and Shield skills very quickly. However, if you want to quickly train Weapon skills, make the dwarves unequip the shield before entering the room.

A larger than 1x4 room may work better for training dodging but this is unverified. You can easily enlarge your danger room without constructing excessive training spears and mechanisms by installing [[statue]]s along the walls. Dwarves will dodge into statue tiles, then step back out onto the spiked floor for more "training". (Using statues can sometimes result in body parts getting lodged under/behind them, which causes endlessly failing attempts to "Place item in Tomb" stating that the item was misplaced. This only happens if you have a death in the room of course, but to avoid the issue you can deconstruct the statues, or don't use them in the first place.)

=== Simple Semi-Automated Danger Room ===

As above, but use [[scheduling]] along with a [[burrow]] to cycle trainees through the room. Define a burrow that covers the inside of the room, then schedule some number of dwarves per unit to "Defend The Burrow". Add a repeating pull the lever task to the lever. The dwarves will rotate through the danger room according to schedule. The constant lever pulling will of course require a dwarf.

=== Fully Automated Danger Room ===

Same as above, but use a [[repeater]] to eliminate the need for a lever pulling dwarf. The advantage is that you no longer need a dwarf to pull the lever repeatedly, but a repeater is somewhat complex to set up and is slower than a repeating lever pull task.

=== Semi or Fully Automated Fort-Wide Danger Room ===

Instead of placing the training spear "spikes" in a room, place them in a high traffic area of the fort and use one of the methods above to set up repeating extension/retraction of the spikes. Over time this will expose most or all of your dwarves to the spear attacks, but it is advisable to make sure that all of the dwarves are at the very minimum wearing a cloak to protect them from injury, and ideally wearing full armor.

Doing this will probably kill all of your animals eventually unless they're confined to a [[pasture]] or otherwise confined, and will eventually kill all infants (and possibly children) unless child-carrying females and children somehow forbidden from the area using a [[burrow]].

=== Coinstar Room ===

As a complement to a standard danger room, a '''coinstar''' or '''popcorn''' room trains [[armor user]] skills via repeated (unblockable/undodgeable) impacts of small objects such as [[coin]]s. The safest training material is currently unknown (since the bug which made coins completely harmless has been fixed), though [[coin]]s ([[DF2012:Exploit#Infinite_Adamantine_.2F_Metals|split]] into stacks of 15 or smaller), [[seed]]s, [[sock]]s, [[leaves]], and other small, light objects are likely contenders. Note that unarmored dwarves may experience injuries; a full suit of armor is recommended for coinstar training.

To construct a coinstar room, first dig a small 1x2 trench, then build two 1x1 '''retracting''' bridges on the '''floor''' of the trench (shown in green), and connect them to a [[lever]], [[pressure plate]], or [[repeater]] (not shown).

{{diagram|spaces=yes|\
z-1 ║ z
╔═╗ ║ +++
║[#0D0]╬║ ║ +▼+
║[#0D0]╬║ ║ +▼+
╚═╝ ║ +++
}}

Please note that, although the bridges cover the up ramps they are still usable; adding another way out is not necessary. Do, however, remove any loose stones or other large objects in the trench. You should also avoid constructing any extraneous tunnels within 3 tiles on the bridge level, or your dwarves may stand there instead of in the coinstar room when you issue them a station order.

To fill your coinstar room, designate a [[dump]] zone on the top level immediately adjacent to the trench. After making sure that all other dump zones are disabled (and all other refuse is *not* marked for dumping), dump 100-1000 small objects into the pit (more objects = faster training). Once filled, disable the dump zone and verify that your dwarves didn't dump any platinum bars or loose stone into the pit.

To activate the coinstar room, station a dwarf in the chamber, then have another dwarf {{k|P}}ull the Lever/R, trigger the pressure plate, or engage the repeater. The objects will be flung about in the chamber, hitting your dwarf repeatedly and providing 9 armor-user xp per impact and increase in all "military" stats. When training is complete, remove your trained dwarf with a station order (canceling the original station order will cause your trainee to drop any worn out clothes, which might prove deadly to future occupants).

Training a single dwarf at a time is recommended because only the "top" unit in a stack will be hit by flying objects. This method does not train weapons, shield use, or dodging, but it quickly trains Armor User and, more importantly, increases vital stats. There are some advantages to using slightly larger objects such as cats (injuries train [[DF2012:Attribute#Willpower|willpower]] and [[hospital]] staff), however [[DF2012:Health_care#Infection|infection]]s from broken ears can prove quite deadly. Read the [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117154.msg3659504#msg3659504 original forum thread] for more useful information (including [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117154.msg3854543#msg3854543 how to split coin stacks], passive training method and dangers of it).

===Pool 'o' Fun===

It's possible to simultaneously train [[Swimmer|swimming]] by arranging a means of flooding your danger room and locking your military within. (A depth of 4/7 is recommended, but you can fill it up to 6/7 if you <s>dare</s> want.)

== Caveats ==
Note that pets will attempt to follow soldiers into the danger room, getting perforated in the process, and leaving corpses and causing [[thought|unhappy thoughts]]; if there is a refuse stockpile or tomb that the pet can go to, a flood of job cancellation messages may result until the spikes cease their triggering. The same applies if a soldier who is carrying an infant enters the danger room.

Pets (even non-grazers) can be put in a [[pasture]] for their safety. Alternately, having the door to the room set to "Keep tightly closed" prevents ''most'' pet deaths, but one may occasionally slip through.

To deal with the babies, you can either avoid recruiting (married) females into your military, or you can create male-only squads which you send into the danger room. Once you have dwarves who are very experienced in dodging and shield use, they will be able to train other dwarves much faster than if you simply have beginners training with each other. You can disband your male-only squads when the males are experienced enough, and mix them into all of your squads so that they can help train the rest of the soldiers.

Some players consider children a waste of resources. Letting them get speared does provide extra practice for your medical dwarves, but you'll also need extra tombs, and to make sure there's enough alcohol on hand so the parents can quickly drown their sorrows - legendary fighters cause [[Fun|legendary tantrum spirals]].

==Mod exploitation of danger rooms==
If you are not averse to cheating-by-modding, change the required skill for a weapon in the weapon raw text. Dwarves will gain that skill while in a danger room at the same prodigious rate. In this way it is possible to train legendary marksdwarves or even teachers using training axes.

==Note==
Keep in mind that after using the danger room for a long period of time your dwarves will eventually grow attached to a worn or wielded item. This is particularly bad when all of your military dwarves are wearing civilian clothing; try to avoid training improperly equipped soldiers unless it is an emergency.

{{Military}}

Dam

2015-09-20T12:55:08Z

Vanatteveldt: add link to damming (page to be created)

{{Quality|Superior|12:01, 26 January 2015 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

[[Image:dam.jpg|right]]

A dam can be built across a [[river]] or [[brook]]. This has several uses:

*Stop a river from flowing altogether
*Modify a river's path
*Create a pretty lake or functional reservoir
*Create water-based traps

A river will not "overflow" its banks above its starting level because of a dam. (Note - if a waterfall is upstream, the ''upper level'' is the "starting level"!)

==Dam Building==

Finding the direction the water flows is probably a necessary step to take. This is actually fairly simple - at one end, the river falls off the map, and so is of a low water height. Check the outmost tiles of both ends of the river.

===Ice Method===
The easiest and quickest method of Dam manufacture is only possible if your map freezes during winter. Simply dig out a thin section of [[channel]]s across the river and build a wall out of floodgates, blocking the path of the water.

===Draining Method===

Another way is to drain the river. This can be done by building a tunnel next to the river that dumps into a chasm or deep valley. The dumping tunnel should only be one square wide, with a single floodgate to control it, as long as where the water first enters it has a fairly large number of squares of "Open Space" to move into. The water over Open Space will rapidly force its way down, forcing the rest to flow at warp speed. Be sure the floodgate is operational, as this sort of flow imposes terrible game lag while active. The more edge tiles drained from, the faster the level will go down enough to allow construction.

You can also dig to the map's edge, where it consists of rock, smooth it and carve the smoothed rock into fortifications in order to let water/magma flow off the edge of the map.

An alternative method to this is to use a large number of pumps to move more water out of the river than can be replaced by the water flow. For a river with a width of 4 tiles, you will need <s> three on either side </s> four pumps spanning the river pumping it into channels or tunnels, ideally off the map, a waterfall, or somewhere where flooding will not be a concern. While the pumps are operating, it will be drained enough to build the dam. A little more mechanic intensive method is using nine pumps, four to pump where your floodgates will go, four to pump out places for your workers to stand up/downstream, and one to keep a ramp clear to retrieve the dwarves. This method has the advantage on not needing channels/tunnels saving that layer for future construction.

If you don't mind obvious exploits, you can also [[Damming|build a row of pumps across the river, pointing upstream]]. In reality, this wouldn't work. In Dwarf Fortress, the water is pushed upstream and teleports off the upstream map edge. You need to wall in the pump outlets in order to contain the water and force it to teleport rather than spread.

If your dwarves are persistent enough you can also dig out a large chamber under the river at Z-1, channel out holes on both sides at Z0, and cover these holes with walled-in bridges. When you raise the bridges the water drops down; when you lower them it starts flowing again. This avoids the 'infinite hole' bug that can result if you use collapses to punch holes in the bottom of brooks.

If you wish to avoid loss of dwarven life then use staircases instead of channelling or cave-ins. Dig a row of up/down staircases (at least 2 z-level deep) under the river, then order downstairs be dug into the floor of the river, the dwarves will complete these from below, and ''provided you have a proper infinite drain'', either map edge, caverns or aquifer, there is no chance at all of dwarves drowning. This trick can even be used to safely drain oceans (although just because it's safe, doesn't mean it's smart).

One other possible method of disposing of that water is channelling it to an [[aquifer]] lower than the river, it will absorb the pressurized water. The best part of this method is that the [[aquifer]] will likely be almost directly under the river, minimizing the needed construction.

[[Image:DammingEfforts.png|left|thumb|200px|An example of how to construct a magma dam.]]

===Magma Method===

If you have access to a [[magma]] source, you can pump magma into the flowing water. When the magma and water collide, the result is a tile of [[obsidian]]- an added bonus if you're in the market for making obsidian items. Pump enough magma into the river to reach both banks for a stretch at least 3-4 tiles wide in order to give your dwarves enough space to channel out the obsidian and place [[floodgate]]s.<br />
'''Beware:''' Pumping magma too close to the edge of the map could result in permanently damming your river! Obsidian tiles created on the edge of the map cannot be mined out! However, they can be opened to flow via smoothing and carving them into fortifications.

If you wish to move magma over a brook without damming it, constructed floors over the brook tiles work.

===Natural [[Cave-in]] ===
If your river is underground, you can use [[channel]]ing to collapse a section of rock into it.{{verify}} If this rock was [[construction|construct]]ed (i.e., you built it as walls or floors), it will revert to its component stones and sink to the bottom, not blocking the river at all. However, if the rock is '''natural''', it will retain its shape and block the flow of water.

Since above-ground rivers normally do not pass beneath natural rock, this strategy is difficult to apply to them. But dwarven ingenuity should never be underestimated.

==Your Dam==

===The Dam===
[[Image:Dam2.JPG|left]]
After your dam has been completed and looks something like the image, you can expect water to just stop flowing UNLESS there is a waterfall. If that is the case, the water will just flow around it after flooding a fair amount of space around it. If you messed up while making a magma dam and permanently obstructed the edge of the map, you can expect the entire world to flood up to the point where water enters.

===Actually Building===
Once the river has been drained (which can take a VERY long time), you may have to dig into the riverbed by ordering a channel to be dug in the open space tile above the tile you want to build on. The result of this, however, is that the tile is no longer considered a brook/river and it behaves like any other storage of water. It no longer colored a pretty light-blue and nothing (including dwarves, caravans, goblins, etc.) can walk on top of it. This can be very annoying, so be prepared.

However if your dwarves have access to the river bed they can 'mine' the bed out leaving the pretty blue surface (or dull grey surface when there is no water). you should leave some form of access to the <s>bed</s> channel at the farthest downstream point to let wanderers out of the bed if you decide to open your dam

===Further Possibilities===
[[Image:Unfillable Dam.jpeg|thumb|right|400px|Baboonanza's Unfillable Dam [[megaproject]]]]
*Most of the above techniques can be used to puncture oceans and lakes, for dikes or random under-water bunkers.
*You can create a massive flood if you build a dam out of floodgates and open them all at once. Good for traps. Works with magma.
*Being in control of your local river/brook makes you more of a <s>man</s> dwarf.

{{Water FAQ}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Dam

2015-09-20T12:53:48Z

Vanatteveldt:

{{Quality|Superior|12:01, 26 January 2015 (UTC)}}
{{projects}}{{av}}

[[Image:dam.jpg|right]]

A dam can be built across a [[river]] or [[brook]]. This has several uses:

*Stop a river from flowing altogether
*Modify a river's path
*Create a pretty lake or functional reservoir
*Create water-based traps

A river will not "overflow" its banks above its starting level because of a dam. (Note - if a waterfall is upstream, the ''upper level'' is the "starting level"!)

==Dam Building==

Finding the direction the water flows is probably a necessary step to take. This is actually fairly simple - at one end, the river falls off the map, and so is of a low water height. Check the outmost tiles of both ends of the river.

===Ice Method===
The easiest and quickest method of Dam manufacture is only possible if your map freezes during winter. Simply dig out a thin section of [[channel]]s across the river and build a wall out of floodgates, blocking the path of the water.

===Draining Method===

Another way is to drain the river. This can be done by building a tunnel next to the river that dumps into a chasm or deep valley. The dumping tunnel should only be one square wide, with a single floodgate to control it, as long as where the water first enters it has a fairly large number of squares of "Open Space" to move into. The water over Open Space will rapidly force its way down, forcing the rest to flow at warp speed. Be sure the floodgate is operational, as this sort of flow imposes terrible game lag while active. The more edge tiles drained from, the faster the level will go down enough to allow construction.

You can also dig to the map's edge, where it consists of rock, smooth it and carve the smoothed rock into fortifications in order to let water/magma flow off the edge of the map.

An alternative method to this is to use a large number of pumps to move more water out of the river than can be replaced by the water flow. For a river with a width of 4 tiles, you will need <s> three on either side </s> four pumps spanning the river pumping it into channels or tunnels, ideally off the map, a waterfall, or somewhere where flooding will not be a concern. While the pumps are operating, it will be drained enough to build the dam. A little more mechanic intensive method is using nine pumps, four to pump where your floodgates will go, four to pump out places for your workers to stand up/downstream, and one to keep a ramp clear to retrieve the dwarves. This method has the advantage on not needing channels/tunnels saving that layer for future construction.

If you don't mind obvious exploits, you can also build a row of pumps across the river, pointing upstream. In reality, this wouldn't work. In Dwarf Fortress, the water is pushed upstream and teleports off the upstream map edge. You need to wall in the pump outlets in order to contain the water and force it to teleport rather than spread.

If your dwarves are persistent enough you can also dig out a large chamber under the river at Z-1, channel out holes on both sides at Z0, and cover these holes with walled-in bridges. When you raise the bridges the water drops down; when you lower them it starts flowing again. This avoids the 'infinite hole' bug that can result if you use collapses to punch holes in the bottom of brooks.

If you wish to avoid loss of dwarven life then use staircases instead of channelling or cave-ins. Dig a row of up/down staircases (at least 2 z-level deep) under the river, then order downstairs be dug into the floor of the river, the dwarves will complete these from below, and ''provided you have a proper infinite drain'', either map edge, caverns or aquifer, there is no chance at all of dwarves drowning. This trick can even be used to safely drain oceans (although just because it's safe, doesn't mean it's smart).

One other possible method of disposing of that water is channelling it to an [[aquifer]] lower than the river, it will absorb the pressurized water. The best part of this method is that the [[aquifer]] will likely be almost directly under the river, minimizing the needed construction.

[[Image:DammingEfforts.png|left|thumb|200px|An example of how to construct a magma dam.]]

===Magma Method===

If you have access to a [[magma]] source, you can pump magma into the flowing water. When the magma and water collide, the result is a tile of [[obsidian]]- an added bonus if you're in the market for making obsidian items. Pump enough magma into the river to reach both banks for a stretch at least 3-4 tiles wide in order to give your dwarves enough space to channel out the obsidian and place [[floodgate]]s.<br />
'''Beware:''' Pumping magma too close to the edge of the map could result in permanently damming your river! Obsidian tiles created on the edge of the map cannot be mined out! However, they can be opened to flow via smoothing and carving them into fortifications.

If you wish to move magma over a brook without damming it, constructed floors over the brook tiles work.

===Natural [[Cave-in]] ===
If your river is underground, you can use [[channel]]ing to collapse a section of rock into it.{{verify}} If this rock was [[construction|construct]]ed (i.e., you built it as walls or floors), it will revert to its component stones and sink to the bottom, not blocking the river at all. However, if the rock is '''natural''', it will retain its shape and block the flow of water.

Since above-ground rivers normally do not pass beneath natural rock, this strategy is difficult to apply to them. But dwarven ingenuity should never be underestimated.

==Your Dam==

===The Dam===
[[Image:Dam2.JPG|left]]
After your dam has been completed and looks something like the image, you can expect water to just stop flowing UNLESS there is a waterfall. If that is the case, the water will just flow around it after flooding a fair amount of space around it. If you messed up while making a magma dam and permanently obstructed the edge of the map, you can expect the entire world to flood up to the point where water enters.

===Actually Building===
Once the river has been drained (which can take a VERY long time), you may have to dig into the riverbed by ordering a channel to be dug in the open space tile above the tile you want to build on. The result of this, however, is that the tile is no longer considered a brook/river and it behaves like any other storage of water. It no longer colored a pretty light-blue and nothing (including dwarves, caravans, goblins, etc.) can walk on top of it. This can be very annoying, so be prepared.

However if your dwarves have access to the river bed they can 'mine' the bed out leaving the pretty blue surface (or dull grey surface when there is no water). you should leave some form of access to the <s>bed</s> channel at the farthest downstream point to let wanderers out of the bed if you decide to open your dam

===Further Possibilities===
[[Image:Unfillable Dam.jpeg|thumb|right|400px|Baboonanza's Unfillable Dam [[megaproject]]]]
*Most of the above techniques can be used to puncture oceans and lakes, for dikes or random under-water bunkers.
*You can create a massive flood if you build a dam out of floodgates and open them all at once. Good for traps. Works with magma.
*Being in control of your local river/brook makes you more of a <s>man</s> dwarf.

{{Water FAQ}}
{{Category|Guides}}