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[Riemann]

Since I started trying to find a decent starting spot in 33g I have abandoned 4 forts in otherwise really good spots because they have little or even no iron. It seems rarer now then platinum was in 33d. Usually there is 1 or maybe 2 decent hematite seams in an entire map. In 33g I have never seen any magnetite, limonite or even any damn coal.

When you also consider that tin continues to be extraordinarily rare (as you can only get it from 1 ore which only shows up in 1 kind of rock, which is incredibly frustrating itself) you are stuck with copper and wood for weapons. Not even damn bronze. Importing the stuff is still basically broken considering how heavy it is and how little the dwarven merchants can carry. Yay, 2 units of iron a freaking year. That's sure going to be fun to play.

So, is this just a fluke or did Toady really completely gimp the metal economy in the world gen changes?

[Riemann]

Oh, almost forgot, since 33g now instead of finding decent amounts (or even ANY AT ALL) of the metals that are useful I am finding in its place loads of the ones that don't do anything. Tons of garnerite, cobalite and cinnibar just sitting there mocking me with their not-ironness. GRRR!

[Sean Mirrsen]

No. Magnetite appears frequently, and in all sedimentary rocks.

If you seek a perfect steelmaking spot, go for a chalk layer. Chalk itself is a flux, and is also sedimentary, allowing for rich pockets of magnetite and large veins of coal. Not to mention valuable gemstones from the bauxite, and bauxite itself for working with magma, should you find it.

[Riemann]

Just abandoned yet another fort. Finally broke down and used reveal as I had found nothing both copper so far. Not a single god damn bit of iron in the mountain that I could see (reveal doesn't work right with the current version in that it only shows tiles near features). Tons of nickel (woop de shit) and copper. No coal. No iron. No tin.

[Tamren]

just learn the stone types. I make a lot of magma fortresses which end up having gold and silver and aluminum in huge amounts but no iron.

Wouldnt be as much of an issue if we could trade for stone and metal in large quantities.

[Stregone]

Make wooden spike traps. Wait for goblins. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

[Chariot]

every place ive settled in expecting it to have lots of magnetite has had lots of magnetite. ive seen no evidence its rarer at all. hematite may be another matter, but magnetite is still as plentiful as ever and thats what i settle for

[TotalPigeon]

It is a fluke. Magnetite is everywhere. I guess, if you can't get anywhere, you are extraordinarily unlucky. So, use a seed someone else has found. You can't go wrong then.

[Thallone]

Actually, it probably comes down to not settling in the mountains as far, as you're less likely to have sedimentary rock there. if you're insistent on having magnetite, better be willing to sacrifice performance and/or cave features.

As for Reveal not working, it works just fine if you follow the directions, Select the Entire lowest level for digging then deselect it, then run reveal.

Also, keep in mind that a single magnetite node will produce about 7-800 iron, since they're about 25 wide and 40 long ovals, so if you have even one, that's enough for an army in iron.

[Fedor]

I myself have never seen a fortress with sedimentary rock that didn't have iron (as magnetite).  It's energy to smelt the stuff that's the bottleneck in my experience; if you don't have magma, the coal and wood will often be exhausted more quickly than the ore.

I do agree that non-iron metals (platinum excepted) can sometimes be a bit too rare.  Endless expanses of plain and colored rock without a single vein can happen and entire layers with only a few veins all of a single kind of metal are even more common.  Combine with a lack of glass, and we're talking about a seriously sub-par fortress site.

If you have the machine to handle it, choose reasonably large fortress sites or check out some cliffs.  The latter both means more z-levels to mine and give you a sneak preview of the mineral attractions.

[Janus]

quote:Originally posted by Fedor:
<STRONG>I myself have never seen a fortress with sedimentary rock that didn't have iron (as magnetite).</STRONG>

I've found plenty of sedimentary layers with no magnetite after searching through about 20 worlds. This was using Regional Prospector and Reveal to find smaller locations with magma, admamantine, trees, running water, flux, and sedimentary layers with iron and preferably coal (even better if bauxite and obsidian are available too).
Some of these locations with no magnetite will have a bit of hematite (or rarely limonite), but often enough no iron whatsoever.
Sedimentary layers with no fuel do seem to be even more common than those with no iron, though.

EDIT: copper on the other hand does seem to be present in pretty much any location; I don't recall seeing any through my hours of searching which didn't have it.

[ January 20, 2008: Message edited by: Janus ]