Editing Flow

{{Quality|Masterwork}}

[[File:flow_demo_anim.gif|thumb|260px|right|Water filling a channeled out hole.]]{{Material properties}}:''The term '''flow''' can be used to refer to several completely different things in Dwarf Fortress: things like [[miasma]] and [[smoke]], and the mechanism by which [[water]] and [[magma]] move. This article describes the latter.''

'''Flow''' is a game mechanic used to simulate the motion of '''fluids'''. The two fluids that exist in ''Dwarf Fortress'' currently are '''[[water]]''' and '''[[magma]]'''. You can identify fluids that are flowing by looking for a tile that is blinking between {{Tile|≈|1:0:1}} and {{Tile|~|1:0:1}} tiles. If you have turned on [[Technical_tricks#Tiles|SHOW_FLOW_AMOUNTS]] you will see the fluid '''depth''' indicator of {{Tile|1|1:0:1}} through {{Tile|7|1:0:1}} instead and will not be able to easily tell if the game considers a tile to be flowing or not. Flow is typically present any time a fluid is in motion, but there are some exceptions which confuse things a bit.

*Note: In the current release, flow does not seem to appear in magma. Magma follows the same rules of fluid motion and flow, it simply doesn't have flow in the sense that would allow it to power a water (''or magma, in the case'') wheel.

'''[[Water]]''' and '''[[magma]]''' both move in much the same way, following a fairly simple set of rules. The only difference between the motion of [[magma]] and water is that magma behaves differently with regards to [[pressure]].

Here is a quick example of how fluids can move to adjacent tiles. Also, as water moves to an adjacent tile, flow is generated in both tiles. This flow will remain for a short time before reverting to being non-flowing water. Falling water does ''not'' generate flow, so only the 3rd example will result in flow (in both tiles).  

There's one way to push a fluid higher than its starting level, but it might be considered a bug in the flow mechanics and probably will be changed in following versions since it allows for what could be considered exploits.

When done in a u-bend example, the pushing above original fluid level can be easily appreciated, although it breaks the laws of regular fluid physics:

This is the basic principle that the '''[[magma piston]]''' exploits, if you want to anticipate a future fix or simply want to simulate regular physics fluid behaviour, you can do something like this:

Trying to move natural flow up or down to a different z-level may have unpredictable results. Pumping water from [[river]]s and [[brook]]s on the surface always results in naturally flowing water. Water falling to a lower z-level almost never becomes naturally flowing. Draining water into [[aquifer]]s is very likely to create natural flow, even if water is pumped from one channel to another. Draining water off the map edges horizontally through [[cavern]]s or [[fortification]]s is the only way to create a natural flow underground.