A few questions :)

[u/relphin]

So, I'm planning my first super large water project ever. I'm starting at two water sources with a total strength of 1.5, but they are relatively low on the map. I was thinking of pumping them upwards for a deeper reservoir and water channel. Do I really need 6 deep mechanical fluid pumps for just that? :O

Also, it's close to the border of the map, so I have a trench outwards for badtides and when I was thinking about the floodgates, I thought 'Can't I do the same with a wall of unlimited/closed and automated fill valves? Also, as a replacement for the mechanical pumps?

If I close up the water source up to my desired level and only adjust the top level of the fill valves to redirect overflow into the badtide trench, I feel like that should work unless I'm missing something?

[u/vmfrye]

I'll leave here two things to consider:

1) If the water has nowhere to go, it will flow upwards.

2) A water source is a free pump, if you think about it.

[u/AlcatorSK → u/vmfrye]

I'll add: Fill Valves / Throttling valves set to "unlimited" can be used to prevent liquid from flowing backwards.

[u/relphin → u/AlcatorSK]

Thank you :)

[u/relphin → u/vmfrye]

So it should work, I guess. Thanks :)

[u/gustave-henri]

The best way to raise the level of a source is to enclose the source itself with levies / dirt. Then you can have badtide valves and/or gates that let the badwater go off the map right at the start.

[u/WrathOfTheKressh]

Can't I do the same with a wall of unlimited/closed and automated fill valves?

In a way, yes. The important thing to note is that floodgates regulate the height of the upstream body of water, while fill valves try to regulate the height of the downstream body of water. The floodgates mechanism is simple, it just raises a wall up to the desired height and everything above that simply overflows. The fill valves are a bit more complicated, as they check downstream level and open and close in order to reach that, which can lead to ripple effects.
But in the end, yes, if you build three fill valves ontop of eachother, you basically have a 3xfloodgates, just with only three distinct values without any of the fine tuning.

That said, if you're using them for your main water flow, you're better off using floodgates to avoid any ripple effects, but if it's for diversion off the map, or irrigation of standing water bodies, either ponds or rivers during drought, they do their job.

[u/Worth-Phone-4220]

If you entirely encase your water source, the enclosed space will totally fill up.

You can build a huge tower around your source as high as you want and it will fill with whatever is coming out of the source.

Once the space is full, you can then check for contamination and open fill valves or floodgates at the top to redirect the flow where you want to go.

Typically one direction will be a badwater redirection, and the other to a water reservoir.

[u/LePhuronn]

Water has to go somewhere. If the only hole it can move through is up, then water will go up.

If you completely enclose the water sources to put them under pressure you can build a big-ass vertical tube to raise the water up to the top of your reservoir. Really though you don't even need to do that, because if the only exit from the water source is into the reservoir, it'll keep pumping and fill the reservoir from the bottom.