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[TheSilverHammer]

I would like for higher skilled miners to be able to 'see' farther to the surrounding rock.   That is, the revaled tiles of the minerals is wider for each level of skill the miner is.

Another method that might work would be that a miner or geologist will help you locate certain stones or minerals.  If you need a flux material or gold nuggets a dwarf might reveal these items if he passes within X tiles (determined by his skill) of such a materal.

It just seems to me, that dwarves who are all about living under ground might have some ways of figuring out where the mineral wealth is without having to mine out every square of every level.

[Captain Failmore]

On one hand, that'd make building a prosperous, metal-rich fortress a lot easier, but on the other hand, don't you think that might make things too easy?

Me, I take a look at what kinds of stone and soil might yield the materials I'm looking for and go off of that. We can already see what stone and dirt layers are present in a given area, and while we still don't know if any valuable material will be present, we can make an educated guess.

[TheSilverHammer]

It would make it less tedious, and it would be more realistic.   Even back in the days of Rome, people understood mineralogy well enough to recognize rocks that would have various ores or stones in them.   Do you think they just started mining every square inch of ground until the found a gold mine?  No, they recognized that gold is always found near quartz and quartz is found in volcanic rock of certain types.  

It would be completely ridiculous to think that an underground civilization who's main activity has always been mining has no way to figure out where to dig for certain minerals without mining out an entire mountain.

Furthermore, in a world where there is magic, which DF definitely has even though there arn't any mages or anything (yet, or ever) that even simple spells or magical items do not exist to aid in this task.   Rods of divining gold or divining chalk or divining water, etc... would make perfect sense.

I am not suggesting something to reveal the entire map or anything, but maybe some hints or something.   Maybe some blinking squares that indicate that it is likely such-n-such is in some area.  Maybe a UI that had a geological survey which might give you some suggested locations where things may be opposed to actually are.

[Xgamer4]

quote:Originally posted by TheSilverHammer:
<STRONG>It would make it less tedious, and it would be more realistic.   Even back in the days of Rome, people understood mineralogy well enough to recognize rocks that would have various ores or stones in them.   Do you think they just started mining every square inch of ground until the found a gold mine?  No, they recognized that gold is always found near quartz and quartz is found in volcanic rock of certain types.   </STRONG>

IMO, it would be sufficient if this was added to the Stones screen and if you had some way of viewing it in-game when selecting a location to embark to. Someone who can find ores or see beyond one square should be a hard-to-get noble or something.

[Helmaroc]

Lol.
Dwarf cancels smell for gold: Coughing
or
Dwarf cancels taste for gold: Coughing

[Tahin]

quote:Originally posted by TheSilverHammer:
<STRONG>It would make it less tedious, and it would be more realistic.   Even back in the days of Rome, people understood mineralogy well enough to recognize rocks that would have various ores or stones in them.   Do you think they just started mining every square inch of ground until the found a gold mine?  No, they recognized that gold is always found near quartz and quartz is found in volcanic rock of certain types.  

It would be completely ridiculous to think that an underground civilization who's main activity has always been mining has no way to figure out where to dig for certain minerals without mining out an entire mountain.</STRONG>

We already have that to a certain extent. If there were more rules as to proximity between different gems, stones, and metals, we would be able to take a glance at cliff and determine, with the help of the wiki, that there was a gold vein a few tiles in, just by the pattern of rocks and crystals and whatnot. I see little reason to have it as a skill. Instead there should just be simple, realistic patterns which hint as to the location of ores and gems. Kind of like what we have now, but more exact.

[Spiders Everywhere]

I do think an experienced miner should have some idea when there's a vein nearby, realistically speaking. I would expect that stone near a gold vein, say, would have a small amount of gold in it, even if not enough to be usable.

The question is, how to integrate this in the interface? Perhaps an unmined square could be designated for prospecting, which would mine it out much more slowly than regular mining, but would reveal more nearby squares.

[Pyro93735]

quote:Originally posted by TheSilverHammer:
<STRONG>It would make it less tedious, and it would be more realistic.   Even back in the days of Rome, people understood mineralogy well enough to recognize rocks that would have various ores or stones in them.   Do you think they just started mining every square inch of ground until the found a gold mine?  No, they recognized that gold is always found near quartz and quartz is found in volcanic rock of certain types.  

It would be completely ridiculous to think that an underground civilization who's main activity has always been mining has no way to figure out where to dig for certain minerals without mining out an entire mountain.

Furthermore, in a world where there is magic, which DF definitely has even though there arn't any mages or anything (yet, or ever) that even simple spells or magical items do not exist to aid in this task.   Rods of divining gold or divining chalk or divining water, etc... would make perfect sense.

I am not suggesting something to reveal the entire map or anything, but maybe some hints or something.   Maybe some blinking squares that indicate that it is likely such-n-such is in some area.  Maybe a UI that had a geological survey which might give you some suggested locations where things may be opposed to actually are.</STRONG>

Well, that kind of information could be determined mostly if you've read the wiki and understand what kind of things can be found in what stones. It almost sounds like you're just suggesting an ingame searchable GUI based off of a base mineral type that yields what rocks/ores can be found in it, or searching a specific ore/rock and what type of mineral you might find that in.

[qwertyuiopas]

Designate a wall to be examined, showing, minesweeper style, the total value of nearby tiles(including visible)?

[Captain Failmore]

quote:Originally posted by Pyro93735:
<STRONG>

Well, that kind of information could be determined mostly if you've read the wiki and understand what kind of things can be found in what stones. It almost sounds like you're just suggesting an ingame searchable GUI based off of a base mineral type that yields what rocks/ores can be found in it, or searching a specific ore/rock and what type of mineral you might find that in.</STRONG>

You know, that might not be a bad idea in the distant future. An in-game geology field manual of some kind, maybe. Of course, with the help interface being what it is right now, I'm all for keeping this information on the Wiki instead until Dwarf Fortress escapes Interface Hell. As of right now, Toady's got more important things to tackle.