Explain Dam please

[󠁳 ⁧HardLimiter]

I know the basics from a dam but I can´t get it to work.
I saw many comments that there are problems and it´s not easy to get it to work.

To me:

I have a vanilla huge hill, I added few water spawns there. They make a big river, which ends in a small sea.
There is my dam and the outside side, where I still change few things for a good output for energy.
I changed the output side to very low (terrain) which gives me a huge buff.
BUT after time, the water reaches a higher terrain and there isn´t a big different between input/output water level.
And this reduce my energy again.

It´s doesn´t matter how many water spawns I put in the hill, because the output side from my dam is always at the same water level.
Only if I pause the game, change terrain to the same level and change it back to like 500m deeper, than I have a small buff.
Because the output has a lot of space now.

I just want a "normal looking dam" not these dams in a sky for max power.

I had 600mw for a short time if I unpause the game. But the output will fill up with water, so the different is smaller again. And it go back to 60-100mw.

I would be very happy if I know what gives me energy at the end?
Like, is the terrain different important, how much water is in the input?
I only noted that the output must be much lower from his terrain, makes sense.

[caseyas435943]

In CS1 they are next to impossible to get to work. If water backs up behind a dam, they should work but they don't. They are so poorly designed and it sad. Dams should work on any map but good luck getting 1 watt out of them without some serious land shaping if that even works.

[atelier.aks]

Q:
I would be very happy if I know what gives me energy at the end?

A:
"A big different between input/output water level" multiplied by the flow rate
(on the surface, not at the bottom of the river)

[mbutton15]

Usually I do the big lake on top of a hill/volcano thing.

Here's my most natural looking dam I've made. Can't remember the output, but it works. I guess it is still lake on a hill, but just happened to have a valley to run down. So I created a banked pathway for the water to run into the sea/lake (can't remember which).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1491412973
And I think that's why you loose power if you are saying the water level eventually rises on the output side. The power is measured by the drop in height between the water on either side. So if the output side rises then it will lose some power.



If really interested here's the map used in the above screenshot, which is actually a very minimalistic 'no-frills' map I made: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1731700056


EDIT(typo):
Actually I remember now, looking at the image on the right of the workshop map, you can see it's actually a stream I made to spring out of the side of a hill. So the stream is already in existence all the way to the sea/lake. I just needed to insert the dam and I have a feeling I did need to raise the riverbanks to stop it overflowing.

The important bit is the power is measured by the drop in height between the water on either side. And you may need to do a bit of terraforming to make sure you don't flood parts of the map.

[OneJasonBradly]

Since you are using water spawners, place a spawner on the output side and adjust the spawner disk or cylinder lower than water level. This turns the spawner into a sucker or remover, of water. Your issue I think is the little sea may not have a spawner in it or a tiny volume/capacity one, so the water keeps rising as it runs through the dam reducing the force need to turn/rotate the generator to produce power.
EDIT: To adjust the level water level of the spawner it needs to be placed first. Then click and drag (very slowly) the top edge of the spawner cylinder up and down and examine to where it will set the water level to. Find the level you wish and let go. The spawners capacity slider (in the tool window) adjusts the diameter of the spawner which regulates the volume per second it can push out or remove.