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[vjek]

I'm coming back to the game for the latest edition. I'd like to make sure a site has a decent amount of iron before sinking some time into it. Last version, I could use DFHack's Prospect tool to find out how much of various metals where there. But DFHack hasn't finished being updated yet. (Thanks for doing that, guys. I appreciate your hard work.) Are there other, stone specific tools? Other techniques?

I understand I can generate using the last version and play with this one, but I'd prefer to play in a world where dwarves have been using the new features for the past 1000 years.

Thanks.

42.04 works with dfhack, and prospect, presuming you're using vanilla df, and not LNP or some other mod, concurrently, which may create some unknown issues.
This world & site has iron, for certain, but if you want something different, just say so.    You can also reduce the embark size, I'm sure, and still have iron, coal, and flux.

[EBannion]

I'm playing a site that doesn't even have tin. My guys are outfitted in copper mail and such, and butchered the goblins last siege.

They do trade for iron to make weapons, though.

My last site only had gold.

Layer after layer after layer of gold veins.

Nothing else.

Made lots of nice gold crafts to sell to the caravans to buy, y'know, actual weapons, though, so it all worked out eventually.

[greycat]

My last site only had gold.

Layer after layer after layer of gold veins.

Nothing else.

Well, it should also have raw adamantine.

[EBannion]

That... isn't really a solution.

I mean, I seriously considered it, but then the new .04 Starter Pack came out and solved the situation for me - new version, new world is my personal policy.

Hopefully this one will have more... variety.

[Niddhoger]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Apart from DFHack (which is in alpha, and crashing instead of saving my games :S), you can always use the "well, its buy a river/lake and has shallow metals" heuristic.  IIRC, all three iron ores can be found in sedimentary layers, and these are also the only layers to find coal/lignite.  All but one of the flux stones count as sediment as well.  You also get jet, for super-light stone pots.  These will almost always have aquifers though, so beware.

I took tried sites with shallow metals and low mineral generation #s twice. First time I didn't strike iron after a while. Second time, I inspected visible layers, didn't see any, and then played something else. I did not know about the "by a lake/river" half of the equation.

As we keep saying, iron ores are found in SEDIMENTARY deposits.  These are strongest near rivers.  DF does have a limited geological-simulator.  You'll also find igneous layers near volcanoes.  Not just on the site of hte volcano, but in several surrounding regional tiles.  There could even be a nearby magma vent to some cavern layer causing the problem.  I settled on one site near a mountain and all the stone layers were obsidian and basalt.  I never found a vent, but I did find hematite (the only iron ore that can be found outside of sediment). I didn't have coal though (not a sediment) so was forced into burning a unit of charcoal for every bar of steel.

But to reiterate, iron is always a -shallow- metal.  Even igneous extrusive layers (found in high-volcanism areas) is only a surface layer.  Both will give away to either metamorphic or igneous inclusive layers.  It is here were "deep metals" reside, and iron simply cannot exist as a deep metal.  At least, I never remember finding it down within the caverns (that's always galena or zinc or gold or more tetrahedrite).  I also tend to play on mineral-poor worlds, so take that with a grain of salt.

[rylen]

If you are going to use dfhack then any site can have every kind of ore.

That's a bit more extreme then I do. I just use the prospect function to check that it exists in useful quantity.

If your site has elevation changes (so you can see the edges of "cliffs" as you move up/down Z levels), and you don't see any iron ores immediately upon embarking and looking around, then there probably won't be any iron.

Iron tends to appear in the shallow Z levels (sedimentary layers), not deep down.  It's pretty unusual (albeit not impossible) to find it only after digging.

That's been my procedure. Pick a site with surface minerals and other stuff I want. The surf the elevations seeing what is exposed.

42.04 works with dfhack, and prospect, presuming you're using vanilla df, and not LNP or some other mod, concurrently, which may create some unknown issues.
This world & site has iron, for certain, but if you want something different, just say so.    You can also reduce the embark size, I'm sure, and still have iron, coal, and flux.

Looks promising. I'm want one with a tower, but that has everything else one could desire. I need to page through the Cookbook thread again.

[Skorpion]

I'm playing a site that doesn't even have tin. My guys are outfitted in copper mail and such, and butchered the goblins last siege.

They do trade for iron to make weapons, though.

Well, after killing all the goblins, you then have iron, do you not?
Goblinite IS the fourth iron ore.

[Dunamisdeos]

I'm playing a site that doesn't even have tin. My guys are outfitted in copper mail and such, and butchered the goblins last siege.

They do trade for iron to make weapons, though.

Well, after killing all the goblins, you then have iron, do you not?
Goblinite IS the fourth iron ore.

That and the 4-5 bars the caravan bring has been the only source of armor/edged military material. I do have silver, so blunt weapons are common enough.

[AzyWng]

I'm playing a site that doesn't even have tin. My guys are outfitted in copper mail and such, and butchered the goblins last siege.

They do trade for iron to make weapons, though.

I had a site with only tin.

Not that I've been able to make it very far int he game without all my dwarves suddenly stopping what they're doing to get "NO JOB" or some other fun glitch like that.

[Melting Sky]

If you pick a site with both shallow and deep metals (plural), flux stone and a river or stream running through it the odds are there will be iron and even if you get unlucky and there isn't then you will almost certainly have other weapon and armor grade metals around to tide you over until you can either trade for steel or go for the candy. You would have to get quite lucky to have the iron readily exposed right off the bat so you will likely need to dig around a bit to find it but if you are on a map with that much metal you are going to hit something pretty quickly.

[zeves]

ive had more luck when embarking with a singular shallow metal

[Dunamisdeos]

Yeah I have lots and lots of economic metals, nothing military. I've got loads of everything from gold and silver to aluminum.

[Codyo]

In Advanced world generation, turn your mineral scarcity setting to 100. There will still be a lot of flux stone in the world, and tons of iron ore.

I usually find iron when I embark on a mountain with shallow metals.
Also flux stones are usually related with sedimentary layers. So choose a site with flux.

[ToadChild]

When looking for flux and shallow metals I have an annoying knack for finding sites with marble and tetrahedrite.