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[Vehudur]

Which is about as close as we can get to conditions in real coal mines. 

The syndrome is a bit too hardcore for real coal mines.

Yeah it is, they really overshot it quite a lot.

[Loud Whispers]

Which is about as close as we can get to conditions in real coal mines. 

The syndrome is a bit too hardcore for real coal mines.

Yeah it is, they really overshot it quite a lot.

You should see the radiation mods

[Sadrice]

Hehe, yeah. Have you been mining coal? I don't use Masterwork my self but I recall some one mentioning that there are pockets of special "coal" the boil on being minded out causing a syndrome "black lung" which is quite deadly.

That's an optional feature, easily disableable (called Harder Mining, IIRC).  If you're willing to wait for farming to take off, you can produce fuel from rock nut oil and booze, or use compact peat, if you've got any.

The radiation mods annoy me, natural uranium deposits aren't nearly radioactive enough to cause damage without very long term intense exposure.

[Vehudur]

Which is about as close as we can get to conditions in real coal mines. 

The syndrome is a bit too hardcore for real coal mines.

Yeah it is, they really overshot it quite a lot.

You should see the radiation mods

I have - and facepalmed.  Radiation is not nearly as deadly as your average person idiot thinks it is.  I can confirm that this graphic is nearly spot on.

[Koremu]

Which is about as close as we can get to conditions in real coal mines. 

The syndrome is a bit too hardcore for real coal mines.

Yeah it is, they really overshot it quite a lot.

You should see the radiation mods

I have - and facepalmed.  Radiation is not nearly as deadly as your average person idiot thinks it is.  I can confirm that this graphic is nearly spot on.

Quite. You can (and German Miners in the 16th century did) mine Pitchblende with no more specialised equipment than your average newly embarked dwarf.

That's not to say it has no problems whatsoever. Due to Radioactive Decay, Uranium Deposits tend to exhale Radon, which can lead long-term to lung cancer.

But then, compared to Coal seams, which tend to exhale highly explosive Coal Gas, it's fairly safe.

Remember if you want realism in your mining experience, it's perfectly possible to set an entire coal seam on fire - there's one in China that has been burning continuously for over a century and several in Europe which have been (or still are....

[Loud Whispers]

Remember if you want realism in your mining experience, it's perfectly possible to set an entire coal seam on fire - there's one in China that has been burning continuously for over a century and several in Europe which have been (or still are....

Humans are unbelievably Dwarfy.

How do you think that fire started?

Urist McHuman lighting a lamp on top of the lignite stockpile...

[Masta Crouton]

i would enjoy a risk of coal explosions.

[Koremu]

Remember if you want realism in your mining experience, it's perfectly possible to set an entire coal seam on fire - there's one in China that has been burning continuously for over a century and several in Europe which have been (or still are....

Humans are unbelievably Dwarfy.

How do you think that fire started?

Urist McHuman lighting a lamp on top of the lignite stockpile...

If you want Dwarfy, look at the reference in that article to Great Morwell Open Cut mine fire. It was started by ‼Incendiary Devices‼ and extinguished by using high explosives to breach a river and flood the mine.

Seriously though, Coal Mining is hard dangerous work. Real Coal Mines have to keep the Coal Face permanently damped down to prevent the Coal Dust from igniting. How do you fancy having to build screw pumps, pipes, hoses & sprinkler heads whenever you advance the face more than 15 yards? _{actually to be honest I'd totally go for that}

You don't even have to put a naked flame nearby. Coal Dust spontaneously ignites at room temperature. So Urist McMiner goes on break, comes back to a burning Coal Seam.

At least Pitchblende doesn't actually set on ‼fire‼

i would enjoy a risk of coal explosions.

Knowing the DF playerbase, you are not the only one.

[TurkeyXIII]

You don't even have to put a naked flame nearby. Coal Dust spontaneously ignites at room temperature. So Urist McMiner goes on break, comes back to a burning Coal Seam.

...new modding project?

[Koremu]

You don't even have to put a naked flame nearby. Coal Dust spontaneously ignites at room temperature. So Urist McMiner goes on break, comes back to a burning Coal Seam.

...new modding project?

Hmmm, well...

If you wanted to represent coal mining accidents with reasonable accuracy, you'd need to represent the various gasses, and the chances of both worked coal and the as yet unworked seam itself igniting.

The gasses are Firedamp (methane & other natural gas), Blackdamp (CO2 & Nitrogen), Whitedamp (CO), Stinkdamp (H2S, Hydrogen Sulphide, rotten egg small) and Afterdamp (essentially Black & White damps mixed).

Of those, 3 (Fire, White & Stink) Explode. They will all (in high enough concentration) cause Oxygen Deprivation, asphyxiation & death. Most of them will also react with anything else you take nearby - including water.

I honestly don't know if it's possible to set light to unworked mineral blocks in DF (i.e. bits that are still terrain), but worked coal will already burn. In addition, mining out coal causes Coal Dust, which also explodes. Coal Dust explosions can be prevented by keeping the area wet - I have no idea how you would go about representing that.

Coal Mining accidents are deadly because if just one thing goes wrong, you tend to get a disaster dominoes effect happen. Firedamp used to be a big killer not because it created big explosions - it didn't - but because it could set off the Coal Dust, as the shockwave took it airborne & the heat dried it rapidly. The Coal Dust explosion was much bigger, which then set light to the seam, which would then ignite further pockets of gas.

Also, Coal Deposits that are near Iron Deposits are bad news. Swing a pick at a Coal face, hit a tiny inclusion of Iron Ore, get a spark with even a tiny amount of Firedamp nearby... I'm sure you can see where that one is going.

In short, accurately representing Coal Mining in the game would include enormous opportunities for ‼FUN‼

Bonus points if you can mod in canaries as a safety feature though.


(EDITED because I actually went and looked things up on the other wiki to refresh my chemistry knowledge... oh DF, what have you done?)