water mechanics.

[StellarSkys]

How does water work? i spent literal years in game trying to figure out how damp walls and waters actually work, to the point i couldn't build the base how i wanted to, got invaded by a plains titan that killed almost 100 population in under a minute all while trying to figure out how to expand to build a barracks.

i started encountering damp walls, and just figured that meant there was a pool of water between me and the tile behind it, something i thought from my experience in games made sense. so i built a wall around it, mined out one block and hope the dwarf digging it would run for their life. for nothing to happen.

mining damp wall = nothing. no water no pool, no anything. so i start digging a larger swath and become annoyed when it would cancel dig orders because a wall is damp when it meant nothing. then eventually after like 40 tiles dug, 1 block of 1 layer of water appeared. and eventually after digging like 1 blocks i'd get 1 more. :shrug: who cares its not much water at all so it still felt like nothing.

eventually i figure okay this water has to be becoming from somewhere, with the game cancels dig orders when you find it, it gives you pop ups the whole shebang so it has to mean something. so i make sure everywhere i dug is contained, and start digging around over the damp walls and under the damp walls original location and over/under where i dug out. and nothing, just more damp walls infinite damp walls following a similar mechanic. i ask around a little in a discord server i was in before trying to figure out the mystery of the damp and how to get the water gone, and get a loose answer of "you need to pump it out"

by this time i start noticing water is just starting to pool in the original area i dug. to a concerning level, something that didn't happen before somewhere somehow water was coming it without any more blocks getting dug.

taking the answer i heard before and seeing how water is pooling up, i go and dig 1 big to my ideas lake, and make it 2 deep. build a flood gate between the lake and the area the water is pooling and like, job done eventually where ever that water is flowing from, will run out of water this lake bed i've dug is larger than any source of water i've seen so far in the game so it will likely fit.

eventually the lake fills and very little water is left so i start digging around in that layer again, still trying to figure out mechanically what is happening, eventually the water gets back up to dangerous levels, so i dig out a lake a good bit bigger than the last and dig it down like 5 layers. and open the flood gates again, and start digging 2 layers up still searching for what is making the walls "damp" in the first place trying to solve this mystery of the damp. this is about when a plains titan that had be battling a echidna for a hour irl decides the echidna isnt interesting and just instantly kills everyone in my game with one shotting ranged attacks. how does something fight a echidna for literal months in game just go around one shotting dwarfs?

anyways of course with no population left my keep is ended, and i'm still left with the mystery of the damp eluding me.

so please can someone actually explain to me what is happening because whatever it is, it is clearly beyond me.

[Teemo]

I would recommend these two tutorials. Should answer virtually all of your questions. Leave me a comment if this doesn't clear it all up for you:

Only 7 Minutes
https://youtu.be/MoHx9wcxQ88

16 Minutes
https://youtu.be/CicawtANFZ0

[OldZenGamer]

I think this video is perfect on how to deal with an Aquifer. https://youtu.be/3qADNEbvl70?t=728 you should not need to pump it out. but you have to delve and wall it off with wood or stone. does not matter. You need to dig below it. this video by Das Tactic is perfect. he is my go to when I forget things. Aquifer's can be awesome water sources, but you need to learn how to deal with them first. also, make sure you are not digging to close to a lake or river without a plan. can get nasty.

[Barbiz]

A damp/hot wall is a wall that is 1 block away either X/Y/Z or diagonal from water/magma. Or it is an aquifer level and while you don't see a water source, water will seep out of the walls.

Pumps are mostly used as one method of breaching the aquifer layer, or in larger mostly magma projects of relocating liquid for forges or traps.

If it is an aquifer or aboveboard a flowing river that connects to the edge of the map. Those water sources do not run out.

The titans do be op like that. Good thing there are less then two dozen of them in a normal world.

It sounds like you embarked in a light aquifer layer. In real life an aquifer is water sequestered underground and may even flow as an underground river. It is under presser so when it is dug up it tends to pool very well. In game it does the pooling thing very well. You might not notice a lot of water at first. but think of it as every wall (I forget if ceiling tiles also count) that are exposed just spawns water for free at a slow rate. When you mine more and more the collective rate gets less manageable.

A light aquifer means that the rate per block is small. So little water produced. A heavy aquifer can be nearly constantly pumping out 7/7 water. An aquifer layer can be and often are more then 1 Z level deep.

[StellarSkys]

so simply put, a damp natural wall just infinitely produces water, regardless of anything. so to stop that, you need to remove all the natural tiles, replacing them with floors, and walls to prevent further spawning of water.

sometimes a damp wall can signify a actual body of water, but generally its a aquifer, which are just large areas where every natural wall is considered a spawn point of a tiny amount of water.

but yeah you just need to dig out what you need, then wall it, replace the floors, wait for it to dry naturally and boom workable area.

my problem was coming from waiting for it dry first, then wanting to work in it. because it will never dry until walled off, as each natural tile will spawn water.

[Barbiz]

Only an aquifer layer will produce the water. A damp or hot wall will have no effect on anything otherwise.

An aquifer will be noted when you select embark location. Not all locations have aquifers. They are located in the first few layers often in the non stone layers.

But you are correct a wall called damp will never "dry"

[StellarSkys]

Originally posted by Barbiz:

Only an aquifer layer will produce the water. A damp or hot wall will have no effect on anything otherwise.

An aquifer will be noted when you select embark location. Not all locations have aquifers. They are located in the first few layers often in the non stone layers.

okay, so the layer needs to be labeled a "aquifer" layer either light or heavy. if a wall is damp, and on such a labeled layer, then it will leak water.

you can tell which maps will have such layers on the embark menu.

normally aquifer layers are on the higher up floors and will stop appearing as often as you dig down, which dwarfs cannot dig to deep.

[Barbiz]

There should only be 1 aquifer layer, but it may be a couple Z deep.
But yep!

[StellarSkys]

Originally posted by Barbiz:

There should only be 1 aquifer layer, but it may be a couple Z deep.
But yep!

ah thank you.

[Robert]

Originally posted by Barbiz:

But you are correct a wall called damp will never "dry"

Sorry, but that's wrong. When walls are touched by water, they become damp. After the water is gone, they become normal tiles after a while. Unless of course they belong to an aquifer tiles, in that case they stay damp and spawn water.

[Barbiz]

That's true, I was thinking of only the tiles you find while mining. If you get some flooding, stuff does dry up.