I've discovered the red-colored pipe in the cook's building and I've already separated my team so that one guy is in the Pump Station, another is in the sewers below where he can turn the water flow on and off, and the third is in the cook's building so that I can study the red pipe with him (without having to move the other two out of position). Even then, it just isn't clear to me how to solve the puzzle.

I understand that it involves a red-colored pipe, and I see one in the Pump Station, but no matter how I turn the handle leading to it, my quest log doesn't show the quest is complete once I turn the water flow back on. I've fiddled with the other handles on the other pipes in the Pump Station, too, and still can't figure out what the right combo is. It's like there isn't enough information for me to be able to understand exactly what it is I'm doing. I don't understand, for example, how the handles relate to which way the water is flowing: Does it flow in the direction the handle is pointing, or in the other direction? It isn't indicated. And what do the other pipes with the other colors (some without colors, but with numbers like 2, 3, and 4) mean? Do I have to stop the water going to the other pipes and only have it go to the red one? I'm totally lost.

Hello Chubz, I'm Jakub, the other developer of Signal Ops.

First off thanks for giving Signal Ops a try, I hope (apart from this clearly puzzling section) you have had a good time so far with it!

I will follow in my colleague's shoes here and give you one more hint to help you along. Look around for arrows at the base of the pipes (in both the pumping station, and elsewhere). They should provide you with some DIRECTION.... sorry, I just had to do it. Also, the water must be coming from somewhere, so try following the flow. Hope that helps!

I've also seen the directional arrows and the little wavy "water" symbols, but I still have no idea what the handles do when they're turned (if the water flows towards where the red handle is facing or in the other direction) or what my overall goal is with the pipes.

I have to admit I am stuck as well. Do the handles flow water in the direction their pointing? Needless to say I am confused .

the handles do point in the direction the water is flowing. We are making the handle art more clear with the latest patch, which should be ready for monday (ish).

uff .. spend few hours trying to solve it ... no luck so far ... maybe more hints :-/

This puzzle could still do with some work to make it clearer/easier. I managed to solve it with a mix of thinking and guesswork (mostly guesswork). It's not clear exactly what the right combination should be, it doesn't help that the relation of where the pipes enter/exit the ground do not match up. One example, the water in pipe goes up from the sewers next to the red one, but in the pump station it comes up on the other side of the room!

The Puzzle bugged me so much so here's the solution, 4 switches from Left to Right in the pump station:

First: Down
Second: Left
Third: Down
Forth: Up

And a Picture in case words aren't enough.

Our very own walkthrough!
Thanks herobago, for making this clear for the few people who are struggling to get past this brain twister. For those still curious, we are addressing this issue some more in the upcoming patch (1-2 days if GOG hurries up). There will be a diagram in the pumping station that illustrates the pipe inner workings, hopefully setting people down the right path of thinking.

Happy Gaming!

I know someone has revealed valve rotation directly, but if you like to try other kind of hint,
here's my hint illustration.

This one bugged me very much too, and I have to admit I didn't find enough logic behind it to avoid some guesswork either.

IMHO the good take of this was to try following the pipes in reverse, starting from the red one in the sewers, but I remember having problems not finding a matching pipe between the sewers and the pumping station, or maybe two matching pipes, I don't remember I tried so many possibilities... So I finally decided to partially trash a pure logic solution and after eliminating a few "too obviously wrong" handle positions I ended up with three handles, trying all eight possible combinations, and it's how I solved it :
- Horizontal, horizontal, horizontal
- Horizontal, horizontal, vertical
- Horizontal, vertical, horizontal
- Horizontal, vertical, vertical

etc... you get it :D

Maybe I was too tired after all, maybe I will re-check later in case I missed something, but I spent so much time I wonder if Schrödinger's cat was not hiding there. You see, water flowing and not flowing at the same time... but the wave function finally collapsed :D