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[YolkFolk]

In my fortress, I am having trouble finding gems. I have lost a half dozen dwarves to failed moods requiring gems, and have not found a single one.

I have a cliff of solid rhyolite, 8 levels high overlooking a plain that seems to consist of layers of marble that extend under the cliff below the level of the plain. Below the marble are many layers of granite. There is a volcano that vents on the top of the cliff that extends through all these layers. Although I am finding lots of different metal ores, and some areas of rock salt, I have yet to find a single gem.

Which layers should I be looking in to have the best chance of success? Help me save my tortured and inspired dwarves!

[Sean Mirrsen]

Gems don't happen in granite because there's bizsmuthinite there, and it overwrites the gems. Something very similar must be happening in rhyolite and marble.

If you need gems, you must look in gabbro. It's the stone where gems are plenty. If you mean your current situation....  Well, don't look in granite is the only advice I can give. I don't really remember what minerals are where, but if you see any smeltable inclusion of a small cluster size in a stone, you can be sure there're no gems in it. That's the current state of affairs anyways.

[YolkFolk]

So it is because of the small cluster sized metal ores that I cannot find gems? Would gems normally occur inside those ore clusters, or would they normally exist in their own areas alongside the ore?

[YolkFolk]

Hrm, looking at the wiki, Marble does not contain aluminum, bismuth or platinum ores. It can contain galena, but not native silver nuggets (which themselves contain the smeltable small clusters of horn silver)

Does this mean there should be gems possible in marble, even if small cluster metal ores do wipe out gems?

Is the overwriting of the gems by the ore a feature or is it an incoreect behavior?

[Another]

Here http://bay12games.com/dwarves/dev_now.html  (my homepage   ) Toady has stated that he already fixed it for the next version (.33f coming this Saturday if I'm not mistaken?). Your current fort may not notice the difference, though I bet that it will be somewhat fixed for areas that were not mined in and so minerals there were not allocated.

[xzzy]

If you have sand available, making "raw green glass" will count as an uncut gem, and you can cut them at a jeweler's workshop so they will function as a cut gem.

Very low value, but it's a cheap way to fuel moody dwarves.

[Eagle of Fire]

quote:Best place to look for gems?

Bay 12 website is a fair place to start.  

[YolkFolk]

Sadly, I have no sand on my map, just sandy loam and loamy sand. I have asked the dwarf caravan to bring me gems, but I am given to understand that they will bring me pre-cut gems instead of raw gems.

[Lord Dullard]

From those dev updates:

quote:
stopped dwarves from mining out/removing their own and each other's floor tiles,

This is the most beautiful thing I have ever read.