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[Bogdanov]

Hi everyone, i hope i spelled this word correctly, i asked an online dictionnary for a translation so.. >.<

What i would like to see implemented is a new skill, which would be complementary to Mining : Prospection

It would allow a dwarf to detect what kind of stones are beyond his sight, thus making it easier to find gems/ores without having to dig so much into the mountain

For example, you could just mine "streets" in the mountain, and a skilled prospector would be able to detect what stones/ores/gems are between those streets.

Something a little like :

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By patrolling in the two streets "-" (you could designate a patrol route or a zone to prospect), the prospector would be able to reveal what stones are between the 2 streets, in the bold % given that these streets are not too far from each other, depending on the prospector's skill

This is sort of a rip-off of those white-bearded guys in Settlers 2 (for those of you old enough to remember it) who you would send into the mountain to find if there's gold or coal or iron.. or in a field to see if there's water below to build a well

I think this feature could fit nicely into DF, improving the gameplay a little and making sense, after all, dwarves should have knowledge about stone layers and geology.

Awaiting for feedback...

[McDoomhammer]

Yippee!

I'm not old, am I?

Anyway, it's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it enhances the game.  As far as the logic of it goes, yes, Dwarves would know about that sort of thing, but I'm not sure that makes them seismologists... the sort of knowledge they'd have, I would have thought, is the kind that's on the wiki- what rock lives where, not how to tell what's behind a big stone wall.

In terms of play, you would wind up wasting dwarf labour on something you could just as easily find out by mining through.  The only real benefit it bestows is reducing the amount of excess stone to haul after your miners are done mining- something I think is better tackled more directly.  Or not tackled at all, depending on how you see things.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I believe the matter has been discussed several times. Including the prospecting skill. Search around for a bit, there were a few nice suggestions.

[Capntastic]

Yeah this comes up every month or so.   I dunno what Toady plans.

[penguinofhonor]

.

[Sean Mirrsen]

No, I'm of the opinion that you should, at least, be able to tell the type of stone some 3 tiles deep. It's not 3 levels deep, just three-four tiles away, at most 2 levels deep. A special skill should be used for that. And it should use designations akin to smoothing stone, except that it would be applicable to any reachable surface. The prospector would run up, and loiter at the spot for a while, tapping at available surfaces and listening for what the rock tells. Then you would get a "memory sight" of the rock, grayed out, telling you the type of rock. You should see the ores and gems by the symbol, as well as different stone layers, but not what specifically is there - since you can't see there, looking will yield "unmined space" only.

[Draco18s]

I'd like to see some implementation of this, though I'm not sure what I'd like to see.  I'm sure whatever Toady does will be perfect.

[InquisitiveIdiot]

I think a Prospector would make a great immigrating noble, kind of the mining equivalent of house Fer/Ber/Rash.  In other words, your fortress is so well known for its mining that you've attracted someone who can friggin' smell useful minerals through solid stone.  You'll want to hold on to him.

Functionally, I'd like to see prospectors follow miners at random, exposing a few more squares of stone in the current level as well as those above/below, as if you'd dug out lines of down stairways.

[THLawrence]

I believe there was a previous suggestion like this with the prospector allowing your to see one tile farther. Even seeing one additional tile could be useful.

[McDoomhammer]

quote: I think a Prospector would make a great immigrating noble, kind of the mining equivalent of house Fer/Ber/Rash. In other words, your fortress is so well known for its mining that you've attracted someone who can friggin' smell useful minerals through solid stone. You'll want to hold on to him.

Functionally, I'd like to see prospectors follow miners at random, exposing a few more squares of stone in the current level as well as those above/below, as if you'd dug out lines of down stairways.  

That I like.