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[Wilm0chimp]

So I downloaded the latest peridexis LNP pack, and I am noticing a disturbing lack of iron ores on any embark I pick. I've tried prospecting with dfhack, and all I can find are 3x3 embarks with 20000 gold or tetrahedite or silver, but NEVER magnetite or hematite. I am picking locations with flux stone since iron ore is supposed to be in sedimentary layers, but no luck.

I tried a fresh download since I had been fiddling with worldgen settings and raws, and its the same story. 3x3's overflowing with ridiculous amounts of gold, and not a drop of iron. Thats using vanilla worldgen settings in an unmodded/untweaked game.

Whats going on?

[PDF urist master]

You're not guaranteed to find iron when you embark on an area with flux stone. when you're area has shallow metals, you have the greatest chance for iron, but there's still a bunch of other other metal ores that you could run into.

[lechium]

Sometimes small worlds seem to have barely to none iron. An indication is if the civs in the respective regions don't have iron anvils before embark.

Edit: And flux (marble) doesn't have to be in the sedimentary layer.

[greycat]

You want shallow metals (plural) on the embark, for the greatest chance.  Ignore flux.  You're very likely to find marble deep in the ground (around the cavern layers) which won't show up on the embark screen anyway.

Most iron is found in sedimentary layers, which are shallow (close to the surface).

[Bumber]

Limonite is also an iron ore. Just in case you forgot.

[Remuthra]

Basically, iron is gotten from certain kinds of stone. Most of these are in shallow sedimentary layers, along with coal for smelting, so you want to find a sedimentary layer. Sedimentary layers are primarily characterized by many shallow metals, and flux stone, since all but one flux stone is sedimentary. However, you could wind up getting an igneous extrusive layer instead, so some trial and error is required.

[PDF urist master]

igneous extrusive layers can still have hematite in them, which is a form of iron ore. though you are less likely to find flux stones unless you encounter marble in the metamorphic layer.

[lechium]

To maximize the amount of sedimentary layer levels, you can look for more z-levels over ground at embark. (Correct me if i'm wrong) 

[catpaw]

Just melt what the goblins are going to bring to you. Goblin killing is soon to be your biggest industry anyway.

[MasterShizzle]

To maximize the amount of sedimentary layer levels, you can look for more z-levels over ground at embark. (Correct me if i'm wrong)

I find the opposite, usually. The further away I get from mountains and the like, the more iron ores I tend to find. Semi-flat is what I look for. Sedimentary layers usually include flux stone, so setting the site finder to "Multiple" for shallow metals and "Yes" for flux is a good start.

The biggest obstacle I had back in my earlier days was depending on the presence of volcanoes. Setting your worldgen to have high volcanism is basically asking for NO sedimentary rock whatsoever. Embarking next to a volcano is almost impossible get along with flux and iron, which is probably why it's one of the most requested things on the Worldgen Cookbook thread. And once you've got iron, finding bituminous coal is the next impossible thing. I've had 2x2 embarks with over 22k iron, and no coal or trees in sight. Steel was problematic.

Eventually you realize that ANY metal is so much better than nothing that bronze or copper armor / weapons are perfectly fine to use. Iron/steel can come later, once everyone's all trained up. If you end up on an otherwise excellent map and you're only missing iron, just save up for what you can and melt down iron crap from the caravans and Goblin Christmas. Train your metalworkers by making and selling small mountains of copper armor and axes. Then use that precious precious iron to make masterworks a little at a time. Honestly, there are almost NO enemies you come across in the first few years where iron makes a difference but copper won't.

[Remuthra]

Personally, I look for flat areas anyway. I like building things, and become heavily annoyed when my ground is not almost completely flat.

[Fluoman]

If iron (or steel) is the only thing missing from your embark, you should consider importing one bar and using the coin exploit. It's a 1P game.
I only embark in words with mineral scarcity ramped all the way up. Less useless metal bars that I d'ont care about.