I’ve recently noticed water in my colony, and I found that this water basin was leaking slowly. [Edit: The white tiles were built after the fact to stop the leakage. Before that the water was just contained by the natural tiles you see.]
I don’t think the game explains this at all, so I’m asking here: Which materials allow water to pass through them, and which don’t?
Typically solid materials don’t allow liquids to pass through them. When this happens it’s because the tile is getting damaged and will eventually break; the wiki explains how it happens, but to keep it short, it depends on the liquid and the solid.
That basin doesn’t look specially big, so if you want to stop the leakages, you probably could do it by surrounding it with normal tiles, usually they’re more resistant than natural tiles. Diagonal building helps wonders in this situation (so the water doesn’t flow out of the basin while you’re strengthening it).
Thank you!
No solid tiles allow fluids to pass through, with the exception of constructed tiles that are explicitly stated to be permeable.
See the white damage lines across the bottom tiles of that pool of water? Depending on the water pressure (ie amount of water on top of a tile) they will start to take damage based on their hardness (I think that’s the stat, it’s been a while), and eventually. More tiles makes it more resistant, up to 7(?) deep to never break.
I suspect the water leakage is from tiles about to break, but again it’s been a while so I’m not sure. It’s also possible you’re getting a mess from somewhere else.
IIRC blocks you build just one layer, some poreus natural material like dirt at least require 2? Just build your own bricks around it if necessary
Is there an animation of that? I don’t recall ever seeing that mechanic at play, but I’m a few years since my last playthrough.
Yes, there is. The liquid was very obviously dropping from the ceiling of the room below. Unfortunately, I don’t have a screenshot of that.