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40d:Waterfall

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Revision as of 23:27, 18 June 2009 by Birthright (talk | contribs)
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Waterfalls can be found often in mountains. To locate them in the region map, check for rivers that cross tall cliffs.

Waterfalls, like any other falling water, generate mist. Mist gives your dwarves happy thoughts: "He was comforted by a lovely waterfall lately." Mist makes dwarves happy even if it's just from water cascading down a stairway, which in real life might be more of a cause for alarm. Note that dwarves must touch the mist to get the happy thought from a waterfall, just being near or seeing a waterfall will not generate a thought.

If it's cold enough for water to freeze, the waterfall will freeze as well, forming a partial wall.

Waterfall1.JPG

Water pressure within waterfalls

Water at the bottom keeps the pressure of the water at the top of the waterfall. Even water far away from the waterfall has the pressure of the first z-level of the waterfall. Channels dug after a waterfall will overflow.

Waterfalls can be used to drive water through a fort with nothing but gravity power: just push it through whatever channels you desire and back off the cliff side when it's done its course.

Artificial waterfall

By creating a stream of falling water with screw pumps, you can engineer a waterfall to take advantage of the happiness it causes. Such waterfalls can become highly complex indeed.

Placing such a device is most useful in crowded areas, such as your dining hall or a main hallway/stairway that all your dwarves pass through.

Design example (see pic at right)

A simple artificial waterfall, water position before starting pump

You need three z-levels to do this. On the bottom is the reservoir of water. The middle layer is the screw pump and the "meeting hall" where your dwarves will gather to enjoy the mist. On top is a narrow corridor that connects the pump chamber to the hole though the ceiling of the meeting hall. Under this hole is a grate that connects to the reservoir.

The pump pulls water out the reservoir and pushes it up above the meeting hall. The water falls down through the grate, back into the reservoir.

One dwarven waterfall can be seen here, at DFMA, in movie form. A mistake to note: Water is hitting the side of the bridges, which splashes the water around and can knock dwarves in.


See also

Water pressure

Worlds