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1 | #notes label(help) |
2 | This blueprint will help you get a safe, everlasting source of fresh water from a light aquifer. See https://youtu.be/hF3_fjLc_EU for a video tutorial. |
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4 | Here's the procedure: |
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6 | 1) Locate an area with a light aquifer. DFHack gives light aquifer tiles a two-drop icon that appears when you are in mining mode. If you dug through it on the way down, take note of the elevations where it's likely to be (but be aware that there is regional variation and there's no guarantee that it exists on the map where you want it to be). If you are having trouble finding the boundaries of your aquifer, you can run prospect all --show features to discover the general elevations or gui/reveal -o to see the actual tiles. |
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8 | 2) Dig a one-tile-wide tunnel from where you want the water to end up (e.g. your well cistern) to an area on the same z-level directly below the target light aquifer. Dig a one-tile-wide diagonal segment in this tunnel near the cistern side so water that will eventually flow through the tunnel is depressurized. |
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10 | 3) Pause the game. From the end of that tunnel, go down one z-level then designate for digging a staircase straight up so that the top is in the lowest aquifer level (a tile with a two-drop icon). Your original tunnel should connect to the staircase one z-level above the bottom of the staircase. |
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12 | 4) Apply this blueprint (gui/quickfort aquifer_tap /dig) to the z-level at the top of the staircase. The tiles will be designated in "damp dig" mode so your miners can dig it out without the damp tiles canceling the digging designations. This blueprint also changes the staircase tile below the tap to a vanilla "blueprint" tile (shaded in blue) so your miners don't dig the tap before your drainage tunnel is ready. |
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14 | 5) You can now unpause the game. From the bottom of the staircase (the z-level below where the water will flow to your cisterns), dig a straight, one-tile wide tunnel to the closest edge of the map. This is your emergency drainage tunnel. Smooth the map edge tile and carve a fortification. The water can flow through the fortification and off the map, allowing the dwarves to dig out the aquifer tap without drowning. |
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16 | 6) Place a lever-controlled floodgate in the drainage tunnel and open the floodgate. Place the lever somewhere else in your fort so that it will remain dry and accessible. |
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18 | 7) If you want, haul away any boulders in the tunnels and/or smooth the tiles (e.g. mark them for dumping -- hotkey i-p -- and wait for them to be dumped). Enable prioritize in gui/control-panel to focus dwarves on dumping tasks and make it go faster. You won't be able to access any of this area once it fills up with water! |
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20 | 8) Convert the "blueprint" stairway tile to a regular up/down stair dig designation to allow your miners to dig out the tap. You can haul away any boulders if you like. There is no rush. The water will safely flow down the staircase, through the open floodgate, down the drainage tunnel, and off the map as long as the floodgate is open. |
21 | 8b) Sometimes, DF gets into a bad state with mining designations and miners will refuse to dig the stairway tile. If this happens to you, enter mining mode, enable the keyboard cursor if it's not already enabled (hotkey: Alt-k), highlight the undug stair designation, and run dig-now here in gui/launcher. You might also have to do this for the down stair designation in the center of the aquifer tap. Your miners should be able to handle the rest without assistance. |
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23 | 9) Once everything is dug out and all dwarves are out of the waterways, close the floodgate. Your cisterns will fill with water. Since the waterway to your cisterns is depressurized (due to the diagonal tunnel you dug), the cisterns will stay forever full, but will not flood. |
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25 | A diagram might be useful. Here is a vertical view through the z-levels. This blueprint goes at the top: |
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27 | j <- down stairs, center of this blueprint |
28 | i <- up/down stairs, initially in "blueprint mode" to prevent digging before drainage is ready |
29 | ... <- up/down stairs, make this as tall as you need |
30 | i |
31 | i <- cistern outlet level with diagonal tunnel to depressurize |
32 | u <- up stairs, drainage level |
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34 | Good luck! If done right, this method is the safest way to supply your fort with clean water. |