Conditional Water Sources (unlockable sources, wells, springs)

Comments: 50

Oldest • Newest • Most likes • Fewest likes

• Add a comment
• 07 Oct, '21
  Gin Fuyou System

  Highlighted comment
  
  "Water source/artificial well" (suggested by Falci on 2021-10-06), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 20 Sep, '21
  Vinny P

  Plan 'lets throw dynamite into a hole until we hit the water table' go! :D

  1 Copy link to this comment
• 20 Sep, '21
  Zam!

  Sounds hard to balance, but has a lot of potential for maps that"grow on you" the more you explore and expand. This would be a great map making tool as well.

  Copy link to this comment
• 23 Sep, '21
  Bliitziii Merged

  woudl be intresting to some buried water sources which you have to dig up with dynamit to get them going. Not sure how it would be marked but a small wetspot in a obviously water source place (end of a valley or so).

  Copy link to this comment
• 24 Sep, '21
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Buried water sources" (suggested by Bliitziii on 2021-09-23), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 26 Sep, '21
  Fof36 Merged

  Unlocking a new water source in middle/late game can be fun.
  
  feat. description:
  - add a new "inactive water source" block. Player can interact with it to make it start spawning water
  or
  - allow "water source" block to be buried. When buried, it stops generating water.
  
  Interest :
  - it will create a new exploration goal
  - it will add some drastic change on map topology, either good or bad if managed in a good way (new river to feed your growing horde) or wrong way (low altitude town become a lake).
  - portions of 256x256 maps are simply ignored if they are too far away form any water source.
  - blowing up a whole mountain (thousands of blocks) to create a new soil isnt' fun

  1 Copy link to this comment
• 26 Sep, '21
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Exploration - add activable "inactive water source" or "buried water source" blocks on map" (suggested by Fof36 on 2021-09-26), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 28 Sep, '21
  Andreas Merged

  Trees and good plantations give rain and more watersources in real life. Rain seems way to big to implement. But a late game research where we can research more watersources is a way to implement it in the game with rather small-
  
  My idea:
  1. In mapeditor ad "watersource to be activated later".
  1.1 The map creator in this stage decide if, how many, and where more watersources can be activated.
  
  2. A late game tech gives the "water finder house" (only possible to research if extra watersources exist)
  3. In the water finder house there is repeatable jobs for a high cost (lots of dynamite?) that can activate more watersources. When no extra watersources are left to activate "no extra within reach/map" message come up just as for the woodcutter without trees.
  
  the image is a rough edit of the plains map as I imagine it with two extra activated watersources

  Copy link to this comment
• 29 Sep, '21
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Late game - Research and activate more watersources" (suggested by Andreas on 2021-09-28), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 29 Sep, '21
  Gin Fuyou Admin

  Added image from Andreas suggestion

  Copy link to this comment
• 29 Sep, '21
  Andreas

  Seems like we was a couple who liked this idea - but at least I couldn´t find the others when I searched for it before writing my feature suggestion =)

  Copy link to this comment
• 06 Oct, '21
  Falci Merged

  There are some places in the map that seems suitable for a river source. But for some reason the game starts with just one. Which is fine.
  
  I'd like to have an option drill an artificial well.
  It could have 2 versions:
  1. a regular artificial well. Like the pump, but no need to bring the water.
  2. a powered version. This would provide a constant stream.
  
  Features:
  * It should be expensive in science points.
  * It should be affected by the drought.
  * It should require a beaver to operate.
  
  Opcional:
  * It could be allowed in just some predefined places (like mountain's peak). Anywhere is fine too.

  Copy link to this comment
• 18 Oct, '21
  Purser Merged

  It would be very interesting if there were inactive/dead water source blocks at the top of the other rivers and if there was some way your beavers could revitalize these old rivers to rejuvenate the land and expand their settlements.
  
  I thought of this idea while playing on the 'Mountains' map, which appears to have multiple dry rivers in its landscape and only the one central river with active water source blocks.

  Copy link to this comment
• 19 Oct, '21
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Add dead water source blocks (suggestion)" (suggested by Purser on 2021-10-18), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 31 Oct, '21
  Yamabiibaa

  Aquifers, yes please!
  Can be both a blessing and a curse if you accidentally dig into one, as every D̶beaver knows...

  Copy link to this comment
• 01 Dec, '21
  Neffster

  agree on unlockable water sources. there could be natrual ones that you preform an action to to unlock. i also suggest a well that provides minimal water that would work through the dry season. i mean that is what people have been doing for 1000s of years go get consistent water

  Copy link to this comment
• 21 Jan, '22
  Camasia

  A simple suggestion for an implementation. If negative water sources exist. (the mechanics are mostly implemented, but not available in the map editor yet). a water drain, single space, water source, and natural barrier would act as a well, all the water is drained out, until you managed to climb up to it, destroy the barrier, and block the drain.
  
  Currently it seems that water drains get disabled during the drought, but if that gets fixed, it would open up some map potential. I could imagine the mountain map having a spring at each peak.

  Copy link to this comment
• 11 Aug, '22
  Tomasz

  Current water source/s are limited to only having an On and Off switch. This should be expanded to increase the variability of water flows on maps. The suggestions to sources are:
  
  1. Have the water amount be in flux. Some wet seasons, a source has only 50% of normal flow or 4x as much (see below). This includes a chance to stay Off during a wet season or On at a reduced rate during the dry season.
  
  2. Add a monsoon season where the water flow is increased significantly to stimulate river overflow.
  
  3. Sources could have either a percentage chance of activating during the wet season or activate only every second, third, etc... wet season.
  
  4. Sources can either stay active the entire temperate season or a percentage of it. For example if the wet season is 5 days long, but a water source only remains active for 3 days and dries up.
  
  This would allow more flexibility in map creation and allow the additional difficulty scaling beyond increasing the length of the drought.

  Copy link to this comment
• 11 Aug, '22
  Jcheung Merged

  On some maps, it might be interesting if there was a hidden water source block or two deep underground to simulate an underwater river or aquifer.
  Instantly flood or wreck any dirt excavator present (doesn't apply if uncovered via explosives)
  
  To add a fun surprise element, on discovery it could trigger a geyser (column of water spawned in its tile and/or surrounding tiles) that risks temporarily flooding nearby settlements!
  
  Sadly I don't think the surprise part will last for long since unless these source blocks can move randomly on map generation they'll be mapped out pretty quickly.

  Copy link to this comment
• 13 Aug, '22
  FuryoftheStars Merged

  While I would like to see some additional methods of getting water, I’m not 100% convinced on this one.
  
  Typically with drilling for water, like for private home wells, you dig the hole deep enough to get below the ground water table plus some for storage, because the water level will never really fill above the ground water table level. My home’s well is over 400 ft deep to accomplish this.
  
  Unfortunately, you’re not actually going to typically find something that once you unbury will overflow or even spray up like a geyser with water. And I’d imagine in a post human world where the planet’s climate is wrecked that these would be even rarer.

  Copy link to this comment
• 18 Oct, '22
  PouffyPlacebo

  I like the idea of researching a "Water dowsing" building and then once you detect the water you have to dig for it. you could detect water in the middle of nowhere or smack dab in the center of your town. Could be a slow trickle or a geyser; you won't know until you dig it up. I like the potential for chaos late game with this option.

  Copy link to this comment
• 21 Dec, '22
  Gin Fuyou System

  "[suggestion] Hidden buried water source block(s)" (suggested by jcheung on 2022-08-11), including upvotes (3) and comments (1), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 04 Jan, '23
  Mark Merged

  This should be a relatively small change that when combined with independent draught cycles for each source allow for a migration game play element or rivers could change flow direction making the gameplay more complex.

  Copy link to this comment
• 09 Jan, '23
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Multiple water sources" (suggested by Mark on 2023-01-04), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 24 Feb, '23
  Mephistokles Merged

  It came to my mind very late in the game. Since the science points are more useless than when the game starts, why not add a researchable water source? I think it will be a nice feature for builders like me who want to do landscaping and such things in the late game. Of cause the cost should be very high and for every other source you should be researching again. Also the costs could be growing for each additional water source, so one will be forced to build research centers. I think with a mechanic like this, it wouldn´t feel like cheating.
  I apologize if my spelling is not correct, I am not a native speaker -.-

  Copy link to this comment
• 12 Mar, '23
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Researchable Water Source" (suggested by Mephistokles on 2023-02-24), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 02 May, '23
  Wilwur Merged

  complementing a spot with a new way of getting water.
  In said spot he gave a solution to find underground water in the late game that seems good to me since in my case I cannot exceed 1000 beavers without having to sacrifice 80% of them at the end of the drought (24 days). Another Alternative are new trees and crops that provide even a small amount of water satisfaction, for example, orange trees, tomato plants, watermelons, fruits with high levels of water. Also a rain system that when a drought ends or every 2 o 3 cycles it rains on the whole map, so you can increase the water level faster and adding a bit of complexity since if you do not have a drainage system it can destroy the crops. Sorry if what I write is not well understood since I am from Argentina and I am using the google translator to be able to share these suggestions. Have a good day and don't forget to drink water.

  1 Copy link to this comment
• 13 May, '23
  Gin Fuyou System

  "different sources of water" (suggested by Wilwur on 2023-05-02), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 06 Jul, '23
  Lucas

  As a more simple solution a new well building could extract water when placed on bedrock. For balancing the wells could extract a new resource called ground water which can drunk be beaver or used in recipes but not by the water dump or irrigation tower.

  Copy link to this comment
• 17 Jan, '24
  Tak Merged

  For now, beaver population is closely tied to the water source. Total number of beaver is quite limited due to limited amount of total water output in some map with low number of water source. It also causing severely bot-dependent late game. (Yes, for now, there is absolutely no reason to use beavers over bots)
  
  I think the game needs a form of highly advance water pump that does not depend on the water source. Another word, a groundwater pump / source building for the late game.

  Copy link to this comment
• 18 Jan, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Add deep groundwater source in the game" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-17), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 11 Feb, '24
  Z

  I'd suggest faction-specific options for wells. The folktails get a pretty classic well that works like a water pump, but just needs to be built on the ground. The iron teeth meanwhile would get one based on the mechanical water pump - takes a somewhat considerable amount of horsepower, but spits the water out directly onto the ground (and in somewhat larger quantities). During droughts they'd slow down but not stop entirely. During badtides the folktails one would be less efficient while the iron teeth one would spit out contaminated water.

  Copy link to this comment
• 03 Jul, '24
  Mathias R Merged

  On some maps i just notice that the flow of water doesnt seem to be enough to full up a mega damn unless you shut the valve on it for a moment, after opening you instantly seem to lose all the buildup water.
  
  Like it could be a fun mechanice on a wonder where you charge it with extract or can spend science in it to increase water flow by X procent.
  Probable also leads to an intresting end game issue where the flow become so powerfull/amount of water generate so much that you need to find new ways to divert it
  
  Think it also would remove a hard cap on beavers amount, water supply becomes lower then the beaver consumption (extreem late game issue, game probable crashes before it becomes an issue)

  Copy link to this comment
• 12 Jul, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Some way to increase waterflow in end game" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-07-03), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 15 Jul, '24
  Gietmex Merged

  This one in particular is for inland water sources. Depending on the surrounding vegetation, it will affect the water source level. A dense forest surrounding a water source will have a higher level compared to a water source left barren.
  
  By level I mean it will output more water.

  Copy link to this comment
• 29 Jul, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Water Source health" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-07-15), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 20 Aug, '24
  Mink Merged

  I would love to be able to find water sources under a mountain or some hill, mostly on big maps such as Terraces in which, in order to be able to conquest the whole map, I would need more than 3 water sources since the map is so big so it could be fun to be able to expand and get more water sources

  Copy link to this comment
• 24 Aug, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Findable water sources" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-08-20), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 23 Sep, '24
  Jared Merged

  A neat idea that would help in bigger maps is an ability to use late game resources to create a one tile water source. Have it be constructed out of treated planks, gears, and metal blocks. Im thinking it would use 1 water and 2 processed bad water plus power to create 5 water on its block? Just an idea for maps like the first one where hard mode makes it nearly impossible to expand far as the water sources in the map just cant fill enough resevoirs to move water to the far right well.

  Copy link to this comment
• 26 Sep, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Late game way to mine water" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-09-23), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 15 Nov, '24
  ullrik Merged

  Add hidden sources (1 x 1 water & badwater, solid) under several layers of terrain that can only be discovered by using dynamite or the Dirt Excavator.
  
  Reasons: Late game fun & a bit of uncertainty digging deeeeep.
  
  Using the Dirt Excavator digging through the entire map made me feel like a dwarf in Tolkien, but then neither treasures nor balrogs or similar evil appeared. Might be relatively easy to implement, if the sources are reworked.

  Copy link to this comment
• 19 Nov, '24
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Hidden sources" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-11-15), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 01 Jun, '25
  Konrad Merged

  Timberborn is my favorite Game. But I always have the same problem: I don't have enough fresh water in the Late Game (Hard Mode: Water Season ~7 Days, Dry Season ~28 Days).
  
  SUGGESTION: Add an (expensive) Late-Game Building, that can generate additional water.
  Like a Water drill for the IRON TEETH (10 working Beavers like in the mines and consumes like 500 HP; Could look like a 5x5 Engine for example)
  And for the FOLK TAILS a big building with "sails" that collects Water from the air (Like People do in the Mountains).
  
  BACKGROUND: I'm currently playing the "Canyon" Map with only 4 Water Sources; Iron Teeth; ~160 Beavers (+100 Robo-Beavers). I already minimized evaporiation by:
  1. Building my Reservoir higher
  2. Slimming the Reservoir for short Water-Seasons
  3. Slimming down the river

  f597zqna7j85k8k01bhf.png

  2 Copy link to this comment
• 02 Jun, '25
  Amanda Merged

  How about a feature that allows the player to place a spring/water source in game. Much like a man made spring works, it would supply water to a new location and be an underwater feature. This would allow us to build ponds and other water sources in locations that can be placed at any level. We have the current pump option but that causes issues that you have to have the water sources side by side & it is quite frankly creates a chunky, ugly metal structure where a spring would provide a more natural look. the spring system can either require stored water to maintain or have the option to funnel water from a river source to the desired location via an underground tube source.

  Copy link to this comment
• 04 Jun, '25
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Water Generation Building (For Hard Mode/Maps with few Water Sources)" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-06-01), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 04 Jun, '25
  Gin Fuyou System

  "Beaver made spring" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-06-02), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.

  Copy link to this comment
• 13 Jun, '25
  Alex

  This is mostly already in the game. Just put a blockage or a terrain block above a buried water source, then demolish/ dynamite it. Or make a water source that flows directly off-map where you will need to redirect it. Really it's up to the map designs.

  Copy link to this comment
• 13 Mar
  Konrad

  This is NOT DONE :-(
  
  We wanted an Endgame Mechanic to produce more Wather than the Water Sources Allow because there is simply not enough water in hard mode to keep the map beautiful and green during a drought!
  
  Somehow this suggestion turned into the 1.0 Water Drills. But they STOP WORKING during a drought!
  (They are an interesting addition to the game but not what we wanted!)

  Copy link to this comment
• 04 May
  Abe

  So this feature is marked as "Done," but does anyone have an idea for how it's been implemented? How do you find and use these new water sources?

  Copy link to this comment
• 05 May
  Gin Fuyou Admin

  @Abe
  I believe it's marked by developers directly. I guess they consider it's implemented by adding aquifers and configurable as well as 3D terrain being able to "lock in" sources. I don't remember if there are configurable sources beyond badwater one.
  
  Anyway it's not exactly what many players wanted, but you have to create a new topic adapted to existing capabilities now.

  Copy link to this comment