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My dams do not work anybody a solution
I am facing the same problem.
It worked for a while, producing a couple hundred MW. But now it stopped
Seems like the water flow has stopped despite the lake resovoir being full.
I decided to lower the dam now this is going on
I have no clue what i have done but I like it
Dam is stil producing no power
I have no clue what i have done but I like it
Dam is stil producing no power
Dams can be a little tricky to place correctly since they require enough water in the reservoir, but also enough water flow through the dam (difference in water levels on either side of the dam). Sometimes the dam will go out of operation for a period of time if the water level lowers too much and the water level needs to raise again to an operational level. This might be the case in the third screenshot posted in this thread (the crater lake).
Also, if there is too much water flowing, the dam cannot contain the water and there won't be required difference in water levels on each side of the dam.
My advice is to:
- check that the dam's Estimated Power Output is more than 0 MW when placing it
- If the dam does not become operational, try to rebuild it and place it's walls a bit lower
- Avoid building to places with low height differences
Please let us know if there is some persistent problem with the dams and we will have a look at it.
Also, if there is too much water flowing, the dam cannot contain the water and there won't be required difference in water levels on each side of the dam.
My advice is to:
- check that the dam's Estimated Power Output is more than 0 MW when placing it
- If the dam does not become operational, try to rebuild it and place it's walls a bit lower
- Avoid building to places with low height differences
Please let us know if there is some persistent problem with the dams and we will have a look at it.
I have the same problem. Tried it very often, but I've always dams with 0 production. After a while the "higher" side is flooded by water and the other side has none. I lowered it, I raised it.. nothing.
Edit: I demolished every dam and now my town has no water and electricity. But everything is green. Even, after weeks. Seems, it is bugged. :sad:
Edit: I demolished every dam and now my town has no water and electricity. But everything is green. Even, after weeks. Seems, it is bugged. :sad:
If the power output is 0 MW, the water level might be too low or there is not enough flow.
Please check if you can build the dam a bit lower, so that the water level will be higher (approximately up to the point where the dam wall makes an about 45 degree turn towards the top of the dam).
But in the end, not all locations are optimal for building dams. Looking for a good spot for a dam might be harder in maps which have flat terrain for example.
Please check if you can build the dam a bit lower, so that the water level will be higher (approximately up to the point where the dam wall makes an about 45 degree turn towards the top of the dam).
But in the end, not all locations are optimal for building dams. Looking for a good spot for a dam might be harder in maps which have flat terrain for example.
I started the map with the crater in the middle for testing and it's very strange:
The water in the "tank" is raising, until it's nearly the same heigh as the street. The other side has nearly no water at the meantime. Then, there is something like a heartbeath and the dam makes 4 waves with production and then the production is zero for a long time, until the "tank" is filled again. Then, it repeats.
The water in the "tank" is raising, until it's nearly the same heigh as the street. The other side has nearly no water at the meantime. Then, there is something like a heartbeath and the dam makes 4 waves with production and then the production is zero for a long time, until the "tank" is filled again. Then, it repeats.
Same issue here. It appears that the water flow through the dam needs to be tweaked.
I tested Lagoon Shore map with the crater lake and after trying out several spots in the river I was able to reproduce the case where the dam produces power for a while, but then goes out of operation. But I was also able to place dams that worked fine. Here for example:
For a dam to be operational the water level needs to reach approximately the red line:
Like this...
If you find out that the water level does not rise high enough, you can try to build the dam to another location so that the dam walls are lower and the water level can reach the required level. If this cannot be done, then the terrain is most likely not suitable for building an operational dam. This should show in the Power Output estimates as 0 MW before building the dam, but it's just an estimate and the actual functionality might be affected by various reasons that cannot be predicted in the estimates.
Showerhead: I would guess that the problem with the dam in the picture is too low water level, but it's difficult to say that for certain from this angle. I could give this map a test as well and get back to you in case I find something out of ordinary.
I hope this clears out a bit how the dams work and what to take into consideration when building one
For a dam to be operational the water level needs to reach approximately the red line:
Like this...
If you find out that the water level does not rise high enough, you can try to build the dam to another location so that the dam walls are lower and the water level can reach the required level. If this cannot be done, then the terrain is most likely not suitable for building an operational dam. This should show in the Power Output estimates as 0 MW before building the dam, but it's just an estimate and the actual functionality might be affected by various reasons that cannot be predicted in the estimates.
Showerhead: I would guess that the problem with the dam in the picture is too low water level, but it's difficult to say that for certain from this angle. I could give this map a test as well and get back to you in case I find something out of ordinary.
I hope this clears out a bit how the dams work and what to take into consideration when building one
dams seem really confusing, i've just build my first dam and it still randomly stops after running for weeks with no problems. Right after building it behiavior was completely eratic because of the inital wave from building the dam i guess. but then it seemed to have balanced out and ran for a few weeks and now it stopped and water level actually only visibly dropped after the dam stopped and its just sitting there and no water seems to be coming back.
EDIT: seems a dam must not be to high or it wont work for long, i build the dam a little bit lower now and power output is even higher then what was shown while placing it. And its running without any interruptions.
its really not very intuitive
EDIT2: after checking out the map editor, i suppose the problem is that a water source doesn't have a real outflow volume but a desired waterlevel (and some sort of arbitrary outflow value between 0 and 1) and if a dam is higher then the desired water level, water just stops coming if that water level is reached at the dam, even though its supposed to be a river that never stops bringing in more water
and its just sitting there and no water seems to be coming back.EDIT: seems a dam must not be to high or it wont work for long, i build the dam a little bit lower now and power output is even higher then what was shown while placing it. And its running without any interruptions.
its really not very intuitive
EDIT2: after checking out the map editor, i suppose the problem is that a water source doesn't have a real outflow volume but a desired waterlevel (and some sort of arbitrary outflow value between 0 and 1) and if a dam is higher then the desired water level, water just stops coming if that water level is reached at the dam, even though its supposed to be a river that never stops bringing in more water
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This conditional operation for dams is not self-evident and certainly not very intuitive. Dams are a huge investment, and they need to work when placed. At least, the predicted power production needs to be accurate, so you can tell for real whether or not it will work before you place it.
I think, the power of a dam is calculated wrongly...
It seems as the electric output is calculated by the pressure (arrows pointing at the dam) instead of the height difference (as it should be and the tooltips suggest). Furthermore, the dam only lets water through, if there is enough pressure on it.
Right now, you can easily dry out a river by placing a dam as high as the water source. The new lake will have no flow and no direction.
Lowering the dam helps in most cases, because you lower the fill height below the height of the water source and thus create a flow.
Miska, can you check this?
Edit:
Ill leave 3 Pictures here to illustrate the problem:
Big Dam:
Real Power Output:
Working Dam:
It seems as the electric output is calculated by the pressure (arrows pointing at the dam) instead of the height difference (as it should be and the tooltips suggest). Furthermore, the dam only lets water through, if there is enough pressure on it.
Right now, you can easily dry out a river by placing a dam as high as the water source. The new lake will have no flow and no direction.
Lowering the dam helps in most cases, because you lower the fill height below the height of the water source and thus create a flow.
Miska, can you check this?
Edit:
Ill leave 3 Pictures here to illustrate the problem:
Big Dam:
Real Power Output:
Working Dam:
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Dabiggy I found that out to it's really a shame that is works like this because it gives you less options there is no need for a max level on a water source in a river because if you place the dam it will let enough water go through the dam so it does not overflow the max level of the water source only makes sense in a lake if you want to overflow the river by shutting down the dam. You should be able to do that
Dams are too unintuitive because their behaviour are too simplistic and unforgiving.
First of all, instead of the heartless "reach the red line or you are bust", the dam should have a much higher operational range.
It should have a more complex operational range.
Barrage width should set the number of turbines. Number of turbines increase maintenance costs.
The height difference between reservoir and river sets the amount of energy each turbine generates. Height also influences maintenance costs.
The red line should set the 100% power level. As the reservoir lowers, the dam would gradually generate less energy. It should be much more forgiving about differences about water level than it is now, going as low as 20% or even 10% of the theoretical capacity before shutting down.
The player should be able to close or open gates to manually influence how fast the reservoir replenishes/depletes. This would influence the river stream (as it should). Opening dam gates would not create an additional energy surplus, it would merely be used to avoid overflowing the dam.
The disasters DLC would then take advantage of these mechanics to justify the player being forced to open/close the dam gates. Or even breaking the dam gates open and creating a flash flood downstream.
First of all, instead of the heartless "reach the red line or you are bust", the dam should have a much higher operational range.
It should have a more complex operational range.
Barrage width should set the number of turbines. Number of turbines increase maintenance costs.
The height difference between reservoir and river sets the amount of energy each turbine generates. Height also influences maintenance costs.
The red line should set the 100% power level. As the reservoir lowers, the dam would gradually generate less energy. It should be much more forgiving about differences about water level than it is now, going as low as 20% or even 10% of the theoretical capacity before shutting down.
The player should be able to close or open gates to manually influence how fast the reservoir replenishes/depletes. This would influence the river stream (as it should). Opening dam gates would not create an additional energy surplus, it would merely be used to avoid overflowing the dam.
The disasters DLC would then take advantage of these mechanics to justify the player being forced to open/close the dam gates. Or even breaking the dam gates open and creating a flash flood downstream.
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I really like Joe's idea. When I tried to make a dam in my city's huge and fast river and get 0 power from it, while the water started flowing backwards, flooding the city... That was a DAM for me.
Showerhead: I would guess that the problem with the dam in the picture is too low water level, but it's difficult to say that for certain from this angle. I could give this map a test as well and get back to you in case I find something out of ordinary.
I hope this clears out a bit how the dams work and what to take into consideration when building one
Yeah confirm that rebuilding it a little bit lower lets it generate a little power. Is it possible that i built it at a level above the water spawner and so the water couldn't build up to the required height?