Dwarf Fortress - Quick Tutorial - Waterwheels and Pump Stacks.

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Dwarf Fortress - Quick Tutorial - Waterwheels and Pump Stacks.
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[@bomric1788]

I think the biggest thing missing from these tutorials is "why" you'd want to do all these things, but that's just me. There's so much you can do in this game, but how much of it is mandatory/niche/for fun/just nice to have/cosmetic/etc

[@superwill121]

I believe hes flooding that area so that mud will appear, that way he has a large, defended space to grow crops and keep his animals

[@joe14joe]

I agree - it seems cool to do and I largely understand how to do it as a new DF player I wish there was more of a focus on why I should be doing all of this stuff

[@magnus0017]

I mean, I get that, but at the same time, I feel like quick tips should more just be the how to do something. A place I'll come back to later to reference when I know I need to do this to solve x, rather than hey, why would I do this? After all, there wasn't a lot to question with "why do we need to trade?" or "why set up a metal industry?" Maybe that's because the problem they solve is easier to understand, but I don't think it's needed. Although, been wrong before, wouldn't surprise me if I'm wrong here again. And personally I have zero idea why I would want this yet, so there's that.

[@Pilvenuga]

everything depends on what YOU want to do, DF can be - but striclty isnt a competitive game. but for a few examples, i can think of a few reasons for a pumpstack: ice machine in a freezing biome obsidian casting an aboveground fortress water traps for flooding/drowning invaders training your dwarves in swimming at the meeting hall, while gently spraying them with mist therapy to make them happier when you start using magma-safe materials and start pumping magma, obsidian casting constructions (or the whole map if you hate the elves that much) is fun

[@DauntlessK]

Another thing to note, is this can be applied to lava- which I don't think he mentioned. But there's very good reasons to pump it up to your fortress from far below- easier/safer access to magma for the forge being one of them.

[@kban6748]

Loving the short, targeted tutorials. You are doing a great job of condensing this stuff down into "need to know" for the task at hand and its great. That said, for the regular video run times on DF, id say you could go 10 mins easy and still be a short video without worrying. Especially when feeling its 'too long' and still at a digestible amount of time, instead of having to rush through.

[@nukechicken4862]

6:45 you can use traffic assignments to essentially have them completely avoid the area, it's what I use to lava tap valcanos without the dwarf getting vaporized

[@imobik1]

Damn, you're pumping out those tutorials one after another, and i really need 'em. Thank you! Keep up the good work.

[@atlander4204]

A tutorial pump stack!

[@youtuechar]

for brooks, just channel them away...important is, that there is at least 4/7 water beneath the water wheel...brook is just a fancy floor, beneath is normally 7/7 water

[@SkadeDK]

Awww. I really wanted to know the specific purpose for the example. Linking new info together with "this is why you'd might do this" is always a good idea as it can help the brain retain it better.

[@magnus0017]

Cool video, I think it was clear enough, though it's complicated to explain I don't think you could have condensed it more. I understand the steps to do it, and I think actually doing it would take it from this kinda makes sense to actual understanding. Second point, seen a lot of comments on "but why?" which I think is a fair point, but I think quick tips is more a how, not why. But rather than keep hashing that here, how about a different idea: what if you did a problems/solutions video series? Like, this embark has zero/little wood, what can I do? And you work through as many options for how to get around it(like, make normal wood stuff of metal or rock, trade for it, cavern trees, etc) something to show off the different systems of the game and how to use them, and while there might be an easy option, I'd love to see weird ways to do a thing. Questions like: what do I do if there's a vampire? How can I defend against titans? What do I do if my fort triples in size overnight? (This one, please, went from 17 to 53 dwarves in a pair of migrant waves after getting none for a year and a half) Either way, love what you're doing and looking forward to whatever cool things you do next.

[@beep3589]

I DID IT! Using this pump stack method and a quickfort aquifer tap into a MASSIVE cave lake, I managed to create a stable plumbing system by taking water through the tap, and then pumping it back into the water source from the top of the cave system to avoid depletion. It powers itself by using an artificial stream ran directly from the tap. Cistern pools are stable and power streams are always running. So, uh, thank you ^^

[@BlindiRL]

👏

[@TylerChristensen69420]

Damn. It took this man 7 months to accomplish this goal. Just about as long as I thought it would take to understand

[@owenvenes]

This is really well explained. These mini tutorials are excellent. Would live to see more complex ones like this. Thanks

[@ClanHawkins]

This was excellent. For real. Clear concise and informative! And now I’ll give my head a moment to think about it and watch it again … and again. Like 42 times then I’ll get it.

[@sneakyomni]

It went a bit faster than I preferred but it was completely understandable. The only thing I struggle with this one is - why would I do this? Only thing I can think of is you ran into a pool of water on a lower Z level and you want to empty it out so you can use the space for something else

[@BlindiRL]

Drowning enemies, making a giant pool for the dwarves, turning lava into obsidian, giant fountains, waterfall gate. Lots of reasons.

[@pugbaccathegreat1073]

Example I needed to make a mistake generator for happy dwarves I don't have aquifer or river so I needed to pump water from cavern layers so -14 to +50 I need to move the water using pumps tacks so it's automated

[@GoblinArmyInYourWalls]

@@BlindiRL As a new player, it would be deeply appreciated if you covered that in the video. Sometimes I'm lost and without direction in this game, so having someone like you hand out tid bits of ideas and goals, especially as they relate to the content youre covering, would be great. This video is the only one I'd say needs any additional context, though, as your previous have been great. Also, I wouldnt mind seeing tutorials longer than 8 min. 10-15 would still fit into the quick tutorial for me, imo

[@kalaksed]

@@GoblinArmyInYourWalls someone replying to another comment suggested that these quick guides are the 'how' while his longer tutorial fort videos will likely hit on various 'whys'

[@siRrk1337]

@@BlindiRL so the "why" is move water around for fun. gotcha!

[@shoulderoforion115]

I personally love the fast paced videos. give me just enough to figure it out without telling me "why" so I can come up with my own reasons to use it. like getting a proper hospital set up for once.

[@AHersheyHere]

Covers the basic principles, showed tile layout, and common problems. Perfect video for someone who is just starting Dwarf fortress and am looking to drown my first fortress. This will take a lot of the guess work out of my design.

[@therustler30]

This is the best video on this complicated topic, I think it is hard in general to explain the concept in general but I think you did a good job, I'll return to this video as a reference point later.

[@Miss_Distress]

These tutorials are tremendously helpful! I admit though that this water stuff is a bit beyond me. I’ll have a play with it in-game, with your video as reference and see if I can figure it out.

[@jonnyb6570]

I really like that I can quickly get an answer/solution to an obstacle in DF with your videos! To me, there is nothing worse than finding a video with a problem/feature-specific title that is 2 hours long and somewhere hopefully that person touches on it. They are more like "Watch me play and ramble" videos... =-(

[@funcsam]

You should do a tutorial on burrows! I’m so confused when it comes to making them work properly

[@nerdoo143]

I think that you did a good job with explaining. It was fast but if you are familiar with the ui at all it’s not a problem. I guess I just didn’t play with pumps enough! I would display a list of what is required at the beginning of the video. Other than that it was great.

[@BurntCornMuffin]

Maybe break it down into smaller topics? I think "How Manual Pump Works", "How to upgrade the pump with a mechanism", and "how lever works" would be useful in isolation, because my current struggle is just getting a single pump to desalinate/filter for a well. Still, great job keeping them short and targeted! Most other tutorials are damn near an hour.

[@tsavolrae9994]

Blind thank you - more tutorials please. excellent work. this one was a bit longer but the content matter was complex. Your presentation was on point.

[@davidlazerz8564]

15 minutes or less I would consider "short". I would rather going a little longer and explaining less rushed than rushing to make an arbitrary 8 minute mark.

[@zachspringer314]

Ah, nice to know the pumps can power each other. I designed a stack that is powered via a central vertical axle. Haven't built it yet though.

[@MaliciousGrim05]

So... I have a brook outside of my fort that I can't use water wheels in because it's too shallow. But if I made an underground pathway (2-3 wide, 2 deep) with water wheels and then connect that to the brook above, would the wheels work and generate energy while the water from the brook washed down from the above z levels? I don't mean the water falling onto the wheels like a waterfalls, but running down the pathway, eventually hitting the wheels

[@thetalon100]

For one of your next ones, could you make one on how to handle caverns? I just hit my first cavern and it’s kinda throwing me off guard what exactly do do with it

[@YouGnomeSaiyan]

i cant believe you didnt spend a bit of time showing the pay-off of all your hard work! still an amazing tutorial, thanks

[@xezzee]

so the basic dig does not remove the layer between two layers but shovel will? Do to dig a bit you would use shovel? 🤔 weird how I take that from this video

[@tomrobertson5820]

These tutorials are great, may I suggest doing one on basic settings including population, fps, de-inverting the mouse wheel and creating more intuitive zoom keys.

[@silphone]

Why does everyone keep saying the mouse wheel is inverted? Scrolling up (away from you) makes you go up, scrolling down (towards you) makes you go down. If scrolling down/towards you would make you go up, it would be like yanking a flight stick towards you to make a plane go up - which feels correct, but is technically already inverted.

[@tomrobertson5820]

@@silphone I get that there's a logic to the way it is but it seems most people's muscle memory equates going down with zooming in I guess since in 3d games zooming simulates a change in camera height.

[@markopodoreski6840]

​@@silphone First thing I did was to invert the mouse (by that I mean - changed default settings). I understand the logic you explained, but for my brain "scrolling away from me" is like "zoom in" in a lot of apps/programs. So that's down in DF. And scrolling toward me is like "zoom out", so going up. It's just how my brain works. Cheers.

[@silphone]

@@tomrobertson5820 ​ @Marko Podoreški Makes sense - it's only the wording that's bugging me, since with the zoom example as well, scrolling inward (towards you, so down) also usually zooms you out, away or makes the camera go up depending on how you look at it. So even in that scenario i would argue that most people are already used to an inverted scrolling, since that behaviour is the default in many applications, as you both pointed out - which again, feels intuitive and correct, which is why DFs non-inverted scrolling may be percieved as inverted from the get-go. It's only the fact that many people say "i don't want this inverted scrolling" when in reality they probably mean "i want the inverted scrolling that i'm already used to from other games and programs"

[@markopodoreski6840]

@@silphone Oh, sure. I agree. My first though when the game started was "I need to invert the mouse". The important thing is that it's customizable :) Cheers and enjoy the game!

[@clintharris8519]

@BlindiRL ... would love to see you do a quick tutorial on hunting / fishing! TY for these awesome videos! SUPER helpful!!

[@silphone]

On the bright side, i'm about to finish my pump stack to get lava from the lava sea up to my fort - the not so bright side is; it's 120z levels and i went with a double stack like in your video... rip 500+ iron hehe

[@NewQuinnProductions]

Since you asked for feedback, I would prefer it if you slowed down, the information is a little fast. The diagram you drew was helpful, but it wasn't always easy to keep track of how what you were talking about connected to the footage. Thank you for your work though.

[@frugal10191]

How would you power it if you don't have a convenient river to run water wheels?

[@albinoitj]

Suggestion on how to make it easier to understand.. Make one at the time.. Make one pump.. One level.. Fill the hole with water manually.. Pump the water to the level above manually with a worker... This way people can visualize what you are doing instead os seeing a bunch of levels with dig / pump transparent orders that can only be done later. You can even do one more manual level.. So people understand the alternating side of it.. Once you have that manual, simple tutorial.. You can reference into this more complicated one. In my opinion this was too quick. I would use it in lower speeds or pausing a lot.

[@kban6748]

So theres a reason he cant do that. If water is filling the space, he couldnt get dwarves in to build the next one. Its pumping tons of water, itd just flood out his base while he watched dwarves get pushed away by the flow trying to build the next set. Long story short for this one tho, open side takes water, spits it out the other side. Rotate 180 degrees, up 1 level, repeat.

[@albinoitj]

@@kban6748 pumps can be manually operated by dwarfs. He will not flood his fortress if he shows how the pump works manually... Ask dwarfs to bring water in buckets.. A few is enough.. Ask another one to operate the pump.. See the result!

[@lunar3720]

Seems like theres some crucial information missing? How are the ones not connected to the water wheels being powered

[@FattyDragon013]

love these tutorials, but could you do one about wateer? I have difficulties understanding how to build a water reservoir along with waterfalls and mist generators

[@navi1615]

It could be interesting explaining the reason of doing this, like, why do I need this, or what do I need it for

[@TenInfi]

I don't have an access to any river. Can I operate this pump stack with dwarves only?

[@JulianSkies]

I do have a question. As you pump up the water (or lava in my case), will it cap out at the pump's level or is it possible to... Flood upwards, if you pull enough? I did plan on attempting a pump stack of some lava a bunch of levels higher so my magma smelters are closer to where my other stuff is, and was planning on making a huge pump stack for it, but i've also had flooding incident with a well I tried to build using channels (pulling water from a surface brook down using channels and a floodgate) so i'm a wee bit wary.

[@jamjalopie9286]

It'll cap out at the level of the pump - if you fill the output room, it'll stop. Magma also has slightly different behaviour - it doesn't retain pressure after dropping down z levels, which makes accidental floods less likely. Probably a good thing!

[@FungusTrooper]

How did you get an underground river like that, tho?

[@justintorres2033]

perfect vid man but how do i get my drink up by using water i am just making beer and wells and im at 300 pop now so its alot of wells

[@BlindiRL]

Dwarves do not drink water, its like making humans drink vinegar. You need more brewers and stills.

[@CraFteRmdV]

i don't understand

[@shukterhousejive]

So if you power the bottom pump in a stack it makes connections all the way up? Huh, I figured you'd need a vertical drive shaft for the whole thing, this makes this way easier!

[@billy-jomason7904]

Transferring power between pumps on different levels is why there was a second channel carved out above the actual pumps instead of just the one on each level to access the water below.

[@lucidd4103]

Would be the same for magma right? (except you'd need to use magma safe materials)

[@BlindiRL]

Working on it

[@fosanthros4686]

Thanks, just what I needed.

[@thefinn12345]

So, wait, you can just place ALL the pumpstacks down at once now? DF41 you used to have to do them one at a time because otherwise they'd build them out of order and the whole stack of them would fall apart.

[@BlindiRL]

It's been awhile since version 41

[@zanemchugh7745]

This may seem dumb, but can you do a tutorial on how to build a moat or something like that creek you made in this video? I've been struggling and I'm sure I'm missing something very obvious

[@BlindiRL]

Coming in my let's play series.

[@locklanh]

this was perfect, thanks!

[@siRrk1337]

quick feedback, i think u should start these with a section on what is this for :D

[@MrMaffy96]

This videos are awesome! Please make soap ropes and bags video later! Why would I need a waterwheel or water in my fort?

[@BlindiRL]

To power millstones to power pumps to power minecarts. That's why you need water wheels.

[@Sideway8]

thanks for these vids, gonna try this and hope I don't flood my fortress lol

[@BlindiRL]

:D

[@worrisomemachine]

The diagram really helped

[@oOPTICKZz]

Can you do a video on farm animals or hunting. I have the pen, but have no meat. Is there a way to farm, farm animals, or how do you actively get meat ?

[@Spudcosmiccc]

For meat you need to make a butcher's workshop. You have to order livestock to be butchered at the animals screen and a dwarf will take the selected animal to be butchered. Hunted animals will automatically be taken to the butcher's workshop by your hunters. Dwarves with the hunting labor enabled will equip a quiver of bolts and a crossbow if available and periodically go out to find a wild animal to kill (assigning your hunters a trained hunting dog will make this job easier for them and they'll waste less bolts). Don't forget to also build a tanner otherwise your hides will be left to rot. Dwarves will automatically tan raw hides into leather when one is produced at the butcher shop. The leather can then be used for clothing or other crafts. Additional farming: Milking orders can be made at the farmer's workshop and the milk can be further processed into cheeses. If you build nest boxes in a pen with egg laying animals the animals will produce eggs in the nest boxes which will be collected by your dwarves and used for food.

[@adrianb3869]

woudl this work for magma?

[@draftyowl]

maybe explain pump stacks or show uses for them

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

This was very helpful.

[@BlindiRL]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ShepWinsAgain]

You say you dug the creek yourself @1:27 but how did you actually do that?

[@neepers]

My waterwheels won't spin. I put them all over the place, in streams, different heights, directions--nothing.

[@bitey073]

Honestly the MOST helpful drawing of what a pump stack is doing I've ever seen.

[@gurkengerd9981]

He stole it from the wiki without giving credit. It is also 12 years old by now, so if you tried searching for an explanation, you would've found it.

[@bitey073]

@@gurkengerd9981 I don't see it on the wiki, not sure what you're talking about.

[@zaddyzank3512]

did you ever build this before ?

[@battlemode]

I think the length was perfect. I'd like to see a video with some examples of some of the wonderful things you can do with water features... drowing traps, waterfalls etc

[@LuckyLlamaLiam]

just lacking a bit of context as to what your doing this for would really help and aid the understanding of how it works and how to better extrapolate for your own needs

[@Mel-mu8ox]

I have a world full of dead fortresses, each one testing something like this XD think I'm getting better tho :D

[@Lysaenai]

Good video!

[@igorcarlson136]

Thank you 😌 you can make it longer than 8m

[@Dangit420]

ah, yes, this is much more effective than my giant smelly pit of dead bodies and miasmic water. that, or i should invest in floor grates before unleashing the river...

[@lameassloser]

you almost lost me with the explanation but the visual aid helped a ton. good video !

[@Jrock420blam]

a great tutorial but i would prefer a longer format for these more complex systems and their uses

[@TheLukeSchnabel]

Hell yeah keep “pumping” these videos out!! (See what I did there?)

[@MetaRaxx]

i think you should redo this video due to all the brain jumping. i suggest writing a step by step guide and then put that guide into words and a video. i am lost once you started the pump section

[@jefferylegere]

yea, there is no logic on how this works.

[@paknbagn9917]

take your time in videos

[@elchewbacco]

Slow down man

[@IDontReadReplies42069]

good things there's settings?

[@elchewbacco]

@@IDontReadReplies42069 and?

[@IDontReadReplies42069]

@@elchewbacco so you can fucking slow it down yourself? For however slow your brain is

[@CombustibleToast]

water wheel

[@BlindiRL]

Metal Gear?

[@devinl6093]

why are my waterwheels hanging

[@Davvg]

Thanks, blind!

[@Tealeafs1]

Dude good info but toooo fast slown down plleeaase

[@suntzu6122]

Legit without people like you I feel like this game would die. They can make a super complex and deep game but if there isnt someone there to hand you the learning curve at a nice pace people will just give up on the game. Its videos like this and getting wrecked that makes me want to do much better the next times around. I just figured out you can buy the steel anvil for 300 (at initial startup phase) and immediately sell to first caravan for 1000. WTF!

[@Ki_Sunwalker]

wat ?

[@SchamaliDhali]

Completely understandable. If you find it isn't perhaps df isnt the game for you.

[@MOISECRIMI]

Support commentp

[@acediadekay3793]

I don't get why you would want to do all of this...

[@Spudcosmiccc]

Use your imagination. Don't want to build your magma forges all the way down on the magma sea and have dwarves haul ore to the bottom of the map? Just pump the magma up to your fortress. Or you could build a sealable chamber that could be flooded with water to drown entire goblin invasions. You could even build a fancy waterfall in the middle of your tavern. The mist created by falling water gives dwarfs a huge mood boost because they just love waterfalls so much for some reason.

[@Dontgiveoutmyemailyoutrash]

The one thing I don't understand is why you have two 2x1 holes on each level. What's the point of the one covered by the pumps?

[@BlindiRL]

They transfer power. Without them dorfs would have to manually pump them.

[@Ximen1994]

How are your rock types so uniform? I find that every map I embark on is a clusterfuck of diffferent strata.

[@lucasmetro]

the visual aid along with the actual building was perfect. if you could show it from a 3d model that would be best but new players like me need to start visualizing 2d dwarf fortress in 3d for ourselves eventually. great vid

[@gammavector79]

I think anything under 15 minutes is a good length - some concepts just need more time to be properly discussed! This tutorial went a little faster than I would have liked, but it was overall very helpful. (I just wish you'd gone a tiny bit slower with the pump placement. I wound up watching it several times and eventually got my head wrapped around it, lol. I'm so not used to thinking in z-levels)

[@TheKetsa]

Take your time and dont look at the watch. This one feels rushed and it's annoying.

[@raspel9159]

Many people are asking, why bother with waterwheels and pumpstaks. For me it's a strange question. I'd like to have a reservoir full of water nearby. Just imagine those nice drowning chambers for goblin siedges: lure them into room, close exits and open floodgates. Also, dwarves like waterfalls, having one in your fortress will improve their mood. And last (but not the least): you can pump magma up to your smithing district (just use magma-proof materials), so your metalworkers will not have to travel 100 levels downstairs to their magma forges every working shift. And magma drowning chambers are even more fun for goblins (burning their bodies and clothes, so you will not have to deal with them)!

[@alpharesearch2]

If you make it 4 to 5 minutes longer I would still consider it a quick tutorial. I guess KZbin algorithm dictates some kind of time around 8 minutes to be optimal, but I would not give a ... 😉

[@benhickson6149]

I think the quick tutorial should be able to go longer than 8min, I love them. hopefully 12bay add theses tutorial to the game, they are not enough to figure the basic, the reason i came to your channel is because my dwarves were dying to dehydration & i didn't know why

[@TheStevenWhiting]

5:15 Guides are good but I think when it gets that complicated you need to slow down. That bit was so rushed it was difficult to follow.

[@bocamax]

Whoa dude, slow down. I can't even find your latest video because you are spamming KZbin with content. I genuinely appreciate seeing some DF content on YT. But you are building in ridiculously inefficient ways. I've never seen anyone build how you build in this haphazard, inefficient, throw everything against the wall and see what;s stick method. It's time to start over again. Build things logically. In the correct order. Using at least a touch of efficiency in design. Because a new generation does not need to thing that THIS is how you play the game. No one plays it like "this". Dude sits outside in the rain for an entire season without building a bed, enough said.

[@Draggon211]

Love ur tutorials but this one was really quick if u could maybe explain it a bit slower :) . I had to rewatch the axel/mechanism and other stuff couple times but maybe im just a slow learner ^^

[@yourikhan4425]

I believe DF players have an attention span that hasn't been destroyed by TikTok. 8 minutes is pretty short.

[@Baraz_Red]

Wow, that is rather advanced (impressed by the dev) and it is a very Dwarvish thing to do :P

[@yourdream8]

Hi Blind. Can you make a tutorial on steel production and money making? Thank you.

[@PumpkinDog33]

If you feel the tutorial is too long you can always add chapters to help people find the piece they're struggling with. I'd take a 10-20 min tutorial over no tutorial any day :P I can skip around to find what I need.

[@iRiDiKi]

Can't build a pump over open space

[@shoobie4299]

why build extra pumps ?

[@sohandre]

Hey Blind! I came back to this video after finding it impossible to grasp at first (and having watched your whole quick tutorial series so far). As I said, due to not only the advanced mechanics but the loads of visual information, it feels very much overwhelming. Yet it got me thinking: why not another split series of "advanced techniques" alongside the "quick tutorials"? Anyways, since you asked for feedback during the video, here it is. Thanks for all the videos, they're pretty good GG

[@daxtron2]

Every time I run into an issue you seem to have released a video about it an hour before I had it 😂 I tried to get water from the river down to a well with some cheeky channelling. Didn't account for water pressure and it shot out of the well at full speed and flood a third of my fortress before I could wall it off. One of my dwarves fell in to the channel and his corpse is just stuck at the bottom of the well now 😂 hopefully this'll help dry him out a bit so I can bury him

[@inzainiaplays]

nice, short and sweet. people are asking for why's, who cares about the why, its the how. hes not trying to inspire you on what to do in your fortress, hes telling you how to accomplish a task that you will eventually need, and believe me you WILL eventually need this. sure you might not know why right now, but there will come a time when you are thinking hmmmm, id like to bring this magma closer to my forges, closer to the surface and make it safe, or move this water over here etc.. and you will search, how to move water, or pump water or pump stack, and find this short how to video, mixed in with all the bloated 30 minute videos of people going on and on about why's, and i would prefer this short version so i can go back to playing and figure out my own why's!

[@DankBlastBeats]

Was waiting for this one! Thanks for the awesome tutorials. It's really helped me get back into this game!