Editing Magma piston

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'''Magma pistons''' are used to move [[magma]] near the surface. This approach was developed by players as an alternative to [[screw pump#Pump stack|pump stack]]s. Magma pistons are used because they require less time and fewer precious materials to construct than pump stacks. However, magma pistons are a bit more complicated than pump stacks, so it takes more time to understand how to operate and build them.

== The concept ==
The piston method is based on a clever [[exploit|abuse]] of [[cave-in]] [[physics]]. The basic principle involves channeling out an area around a huge stone pillar, hundreds of z-levels tall, which will become the "piston" that drives magma to the top. Rest the piston on a single support, then carve out a tank at its base which will be filled with magma pumped from the magma sea. ('''Beware:''' building the piston directly over the magma sea will '''NOT''' work. The piston must be made entirely of ''natural'' (non-constructed) walls.) Once the tank has been filled, drop the piston by removing its support. Liquids displaced by a cave-in will "teleport" straight up to the nearest available space; here, the nearest available space will be the catchment area you thoughtfully prepared earlier atop the piston.

A simple magma piston works as shown in the following diagram:

 '''Key:'''
   
   '''#'''    = '''Wall'''
   <font color="#F00">~</font>    = <font color="#F00">'''Magma'''</font>
   <font color="#777">S</font>    = <font color="#777">'''Support'''</font>  
   <font color="#970">_</font>    = <font color="#970">'''Floor hatch or bridge (your choice)'''</font>

{|style="border: 1px solid #0b0; background: #dfd"
|+'''Basic magma piston design (side view)'''
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When the support is destroyed, the wall sections in the middle will fall down into the magma. The magma will teleport to the top of the piston, as shown in the following diagram:

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== Construction ==
A magma piston is composed of 4-5 parts: the catchment area, the magma reservoir, the support, the piston, and the obsidian caster (optional).

=== Catchment area ===
:The '''catchment area''' is located at the top of the piston. After the piston is dropped, the magma will spread out around the catchment area. In a repeating magma piston, some of the magma is used to cast obsidian on top of the piston, in order to reuse it. The volume and size of the catchment area must be carefully calculated to ensure that you won't have too much or too little magma above the piston for casting. Ideally, you want the depth of the magma above the piston to be 2. If the depth is 1, then the magma might evaporate and you won't be able to repair your piston. If the depth is greater than 2, then you're wasting magma if you cast it into obsidian. You can also make the catchment area multiple z-levels deep. If you need a catchment area smaller than possible with bridges or floodgates, you may use a floor-less [[Floodgate#Placement|floodgate]] to prevent the magma entering that square, while keeping the piston free to fall.

=== Magma reservoir ===
:The '''magma reservoir''' is dug out near the magma sea. You can't actually drop the piston directly into the magma sea because the bottom of the magma sea is [[semi-molten rock]], and it will completely destroy any piston dropped into it. The magma reservoir is artificial, so it won't have a floor made of semi-molten rock. This will allow the piston to rest on the floor of your reservoir. The magma reservoir needs three parts: a magma inlet, a magma drain, and an access corridor. After letting magma in, and dropping the piston, you'll want to dig out the bottom of the piston so you can drop it again. To do that, you need to drain any excess magma and let your workers in through the access corridor.

=== Support ===
:The '''support''' is what prevents your piston from dropping until you decide to pull the firing lever. The support can be located either at the bottom of the piston, as shown in the simplified diagram, or at the side of the piston (shown in the following diagram). If the support is at the bottom of the piston, then the support and the mechanism it uses must both be [[magma-safe]]. If it's at the side, then neither need to be magma-safe. Here's an example of a side-mounted support:

: '''Key:'''
   
   '''#'''    = '''Wall'''
   '''P'''    = '''Piston'''
   '''X'''    = '''Up/Down stairs'''
   <font color="#777">S</font>    = <font color="#777">'''Support'''</font>  
   <font color="#970">_</font>    = <font color="#970">'''Floor hatch or bridge (your choice)'''</font>
   <font color="#444">=</font>    = <font color="#444">'''Constructed floor'''</font>

:{|style="border: 1px solid #0b0; background: #dfd"
|+'''Side-mounted support'''
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:In this diagram, you can see the catchment area at the top, and the piston in the middle of the shaft. The support structure is to the left. When the support element collapses, the two constructed floors will become unsupported, and then the piston will collapse. The stairs and hatch to the left of the constructed floors allows for convenient reconstruction of the support.

=== Piston ===
:The '''piston''' is the heart of the scheme. It may be 100-200 z-levels long, so it will take quite a while for your miners to dig it out. You may encounter trouble with caverns. Ideally, you should scout out the caverns and find a clear path straight down. If you can't find such a path, you can fix the problem as follows:

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:First, smooth the top and bottom, like so:

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:Now drop the top of the piston on to the floor of the cavern. You can use a cave-in to destroy the stairs quickly, if you remove all up-stairs first.

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=== Obsidian caster ===
:The '''obsidian caster''' is what allows you to rebuild your piston and get more magma. It's an application of techniques drawn from [[obsidian farming]]. The caster just needs to precisely dump water into the catchment area in order to form obsidian. A caster is composed of two parts: a water inlet, and a retracting bridge. Here's a sample design:

: '''Key:'''
   
   '''#'''    = '''Wall'''
   '''P'''    = '''Piston'''
   <font color="#970">F</font>    = <font color="#970">'''Closed floodgate'''</font>
   <font color="#00F">±</font>    = <font color="#00F">'''Retracting bridge with water'''</font>
   <font color="#F00">±</font>    = <font color="#F00">'''Retracting bridge with magma'''</font>
   <font color="#F00">~</font>    = <font color="#F00">'''Magma'''</font>
   <font color="#00F">~</font>    = <font color="#00F">'''Water'''</font>

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:When you retract the bridge at the top, the water will fall straight down, and you'll get the following result:

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== Operation ==
The general procedure for operating a repeatable magma piston is as follows:

#Pull your firing lever to collapse the side support, thus dropping the piston into the magma.
#In the magma reservoir, close the inlet and open the drain to empty the magma and allow workers in later.
#Retract the bridge of the obsidian caster to drop water onto magma and rebuild the piston.
#Extend the bridge of the obsidian caster and open the inlet floodgate, to refill your caster's water supply.
#Reconstruct the side support and re-link it to your firing lever.
#Pump/drain any magma you want to use out of the catchment area.
#Allow workers into the magma reservoir when it's safe and empty, and dig out the bottom of the piston.
#Get the workers out of the reservoir and lock the door.
#In the magma reservoir, close the drain and open the inlet to fill it with magma.
#Remember to close the inlet floodgate of your obsidian caster.
#Make sure that your side-support is clear.
#When the magma reservoir is full, use your firing lever to restart the process.

== More information ==
The original discussion of this trick, including how to make the piston reusable, can be found in [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59894.0 this forum thread].
[[ru:Magma piston]]
That being said, I will link this here so that those who attempt this concept in the premium version have access to this guide. 
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2924657714

== Magma Piston ==
So here I will begin the editing of a new chapter in magma pistons after the premium version has been released. The work that Fenwah and others on bay12forums began is still going on. 
This page teaches you to:
*Finding the right spot using Dwarven Sonar
*Induce multi floor cave-in (to channel multiple floors very fast)
*Magma Tapping (breaking into the magma sea to get a source of magma for magma reservoir)
*Using portable drain ( For draining magma )
*Using Supports to drop the piston ( massive pillar of rock, 120 blocks high )
*Using water to reload the piston

== Dwarven Sonar ==
Now, how to do it? it is mentioned as follows :
*Go to build -> farming -> farm plot
*Drag and drop a square at any plot that is suitable for farming, but make sure to only select the starter tile and not the placement click.
*Now drag a big square, do not end the placement, max size plot, now scroll to lower tiles
*When you drag the mouse wheel and go below, the places where farm plot is place-able is visible
*Underground in undiscovered regions, where there is farm plot, there is a cavern
*I have shown a gif of how to do it below, it shows what is written here applied, in full.
*We have discovered 3 caverns in the mentioned manner.
*Where ever there is a cavern, it is visible by a different manner in placement pop-up
*Now when you discover the caverns, note the levels where you discover them and dig carefully.
*Cancel the placement option
Here is the big Gif, I have cropped the empty frames in the Gif. The relevant frames are kept in here.

[INSERT FILE HERE]

== Detailed Video ==
*5th April 2023:
*Youtube video:
[Youtube Video Link Here]

== Making a Portable Drain ==

A portable drain is a mine-cart dumping infinite amounts of water in a wall .
A quick TL;DR
*Make a track stop dumping into wall
*Place (Magma-safe material for magma) mine-cart on it with empty conditions/give or take stockpiles/
*Make sure the set-up is made one floor below the region to be drained
*one can place a pump, pumping fluid in to the mine-cart but then that needs automation
1. What you need is:
*A mine-cart -> Material depends on what you intend it for.
*A proper track stop - that - dumps - in to - a - wall, (maximum friction )
2. This is my portable magma drain design:
*[ INSERT IMAGE HERE ]
* Water -> Any mine-cart
*Magma -> Magma-safe material for cart
*The location of the drain is important.
*I usually channel a room and make it 1-Z level low, so the entire magma goes to the cart and drainsup, leaving the upper floor totally empty when needed.
*This will clear it up.
*[ Insert Image here ]
3. Now we set the IRON drain dump stop:
*[ Insert Image here ]
4. Now we set the drain dump mine-cart
*Go to set mine-cart hauling routes, add a new route, then look at the index described below:
*[ Insert Image here ]
5. Now we do this:
*Set track stop to the Iron track stop we made
*Set an IRON mine-cart to the stop
*delete every single conditions and leave it empty
*We do not want any conditions in it, we do not want it to take or give from any stockpile, nor do we want it to take any specific item. So we leave the below tab empty, except for the names
So I will re-cap this :
1. Add new track stop. 2. Click on iron track stop and name it. 3. Click on add mine-cart and add iron mine-cart. 4. Name the track-stop if you will. 5. Remove all conditions. 6. Let the items to be placed in be empty. 7. That should do it.
6. Now if the dumping into a wall and mine-cart with all empty and normal placement is there then it will work absolutely fine. There is only one way to test, fill it up with water or magma, it will drain the floors above its current floors, it will drain up to only 6/7 of the floor it is placed on. So the reason for its one floor lower placement. It is very important that you don't place the dump on the same floor as your desired draining floor.

== Magma Tapping ==